Forge World's Monstrous Arcanum - A Lovingly Negative Review

Let's start with a question: what do you do when two things from different times in your life - both of which you think are great - collide in a way that results in one of them looking like total shit. The answer? Tell the internet! And so begins our delve into Forge World's Monstrous Arcanum...

This is a book that I really wanted to love. I've had it for a few weeks now (as soon as it was announced on pre-order, out popped my credit card) but I haven't really known what to say about it: until now. My mind was made up during a conversation with my esteemed friend Dr Bargle. It was he who first said "compare the stuff FW put out with the old Realm of Chaos books..." and from that point the fate of this Monstrous Arcanum was to be forever sealed (in my own, humble opinion, of course). 

The positives

• Gorgeous art and design

As with Tamurkhan the artwork is gorgeous and really captures the essence of the book. Similarly, MA also has the feel of an artefact from the fantasy world, which has reasonable fetish value.

• Interesting rules

The narrative section at the front is superfluous so I'll skip that and get on with the rules. Quite a few monstrous beasts here: the elementals look fun, some others are reasonably inventive (e.g. Colossal Squig), while there will be plenty of scope for kit-bashing and scratch-building (e.g. Necroflex Colossus). A few new deployment ideas and a short campaign of sorts quickly round things off.  Interesting, but not much more...

• A somewhat caged urge to push boundaries?

Picture this: someone shouts "it's your game, do what you like!" always echoed by "as long as you use Storm of Magic and all the other official rules provided by GW!" So: be free, but don't ever forget that the corporation will crush you... which leads me to...

The negatives

• Gorgeous art and design

Hang on! Wasn't this a positive? Yes, but you can have too much of a good thing, and the artwork in MA is extensive, leaving little room for anything else, meaning that...

• Lack of scope and ambition

It's difficult not to look at MA and see a lack of ambition. There are hints through the sketchy fluff and rules - hints - at something much broader that never came to light. There is, or could be, a whole world buried here but we never get to see it. Maybe the whole project was shackled for some reason? Perhaps it was a rush job so that the next campaign book is ready in time for Games Day? Whatever... What we have here is perhaps 30 or so pages of useful expansion and little else.

• Mistakes!

K'daai rules replicate unit rules from the Fireborn to the Destroyer - the curse of cut-and-paste... Dread Maw is a monster but rules refer to units... These kind of errors in a book no longer than 20k words in length are embarrassing, unprofessional and lazy.

• Compare and fail

The Realm of Chaos books, published in 1988 and 1990, are the benchmark for works produced by GW - yes, they're jumbled and difficult to navigate, but that's because the ambition, scope, aim and imagination of these books outstrips anything else GW has ever produced. Looking back at Tamurkhan now, having seen how MA has taken the formula forward, I can only feel sad. Tamurkhan remains a good book, it's just not the great book I thought it was, given hindsight and some perspective brought by MA.

The verdict

I wanted to enjoy MA and in some ways, I do. This positivity runs dry, however, when I look to the dusty and dogeared books on my shelf from 'back in the day'. Perhaps it's age? The Realm of Chaos books came out when I was 13 and 15, so how can I expect to have a similar reaction now I'm a near-middle-aged man? No, it's not just age. I read Slaves to Darkness now and it's still brilliant - mad, chaotic and jumbled, but brilliant nonetheless. I feel the same when I look at the 3e Warhammer army lists: aside from all the 1/2 points and other odd calculations, it was just better then.

So the verdict is... I'm an old fart. No, I think we knew that. The verdict is: MA is a sticky treat that is full of empty calories (and likely to leave you with a headache) that dangles temptingly in the jaws of the GW venus flytrap. Avoid...      


Snap! 

Tamurkhan Review - Campaign and Rules

Plenty has been written and debated elsewhere about the Chaos Dwarf list included in Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos. It's very hard to escape the excitement surrounding the 'official' return of Hashut's favoured sons (as demonstrated by the fact I'm mentioning them from the off...). I actually find them - as with all dwarfs - rather dull, even if some of their siege engines look rather nifty. So enough about them and on to some of the interesting aspects of the campaign rules, creature and character lists that provide that real meat of the Tamurkhan book.   

Campaign Scenarios 
Rules are included that allow players to organise all the phases of Tamurkhan's campaign. What is especially welcome are the designer's notes that explicitly encourage altering and expanding the narrative is multiple ways - this makes the book wilfully inspirational and illustrative of the kind of imaginative depth that can be reached through the hobby. For those who seek and prefer a little more 'official' structure there are six new scenarios based on the saga that could easily be adapted to stand as regular WFB scenarios: simply roll a D6 on this list instead.

Chaos Beasties
Rot Knights... Bile Trolls... It's impossible not to be drawn to the filthy wonders of Nurgle! For me though, it's the Siege Giant that really shines in the new Chaos bestiary. The rules for the 'regular' giant make it one of the most entertaining monsters in the game and, similarly, it's 'pimped' cousin comes with a raft of special rules and upgrades that have taken it right to the top of my monster purchase list for the new year.

Pimp my Giant

While most people have been over the moon with the Chaos Dwarfs, I'm far more interested in the prospect of seeing some Great Hosts of Chaos take to the table, with warriors, beastmen and daemons in a combined force. On first glance this might seem to be an overwhelmingly powerful prospect. However, some very straightforward rules on the paragon, disciples, antagonism, and the tide of conquest will likely make fielding such a host an unpredictable and highly entertaining task.

The Empire of Men and some Bound Monsters

As I'm not really a fan of special characters it's the Land Ship that sent my imagination flying. This would be absolutely insane to field and I find it difficult to envisage it doing anything other than rolling across half the battlefield before blowing itself up - but what an extraordinary model! Once again the spirit encapsulated in these rules perfectly replicates the attention to detail and narrative that I try to develop around my own armies.

Soon to be commanding my very own Dread Host

If only the Land Ship wasn't so expensive... Especially when compared to the exquisite Carmine Dragon (No. 2 on the must buy list for 2012).

The Best Bits and Hidden Gems
For me, this is where things go from the great to the sublime. I've mentioned before that I prefer fluffy rules to balance rules. I'm not against balance - I just think it's of lesser importance. In this frame of mind Tamurkhan is a goldmine. Here are a few of my favourite examples:

• The conquest of giants scenario: A brilliant capture the monsters scenario that opens up the basic WFB game to dozens of different interpretations that don't all have to hinge on the 'my plastic toys are killing your plastic toys' approach.

• Colossal squigs: Paint an evil face on a pumpkin, roll it randomly around the table, and when it gets blown up, anyone too close is drowned in a torrent of guts.

• Tamurkhan's possession attack: Oh, so you think you've killed my general? Well he's now possessed your champion. Cheers then!

• The Dread Host: Commanded by a dragon and using Storm of Magic as an army book, core troops drawn from the monstrous infantry and monstrous beasts lists, special choices are monsters costing less than 150 pts, with rare choices (all non-daemonic) costing over 150 pts. My next army without a shadow of a doubt.

And so ends my brief journey alongside the horde of Tamurkhan. Of course, I think this book is fabulous and I congratulate everyone involved, especially the marketing people at Forge World who have now convinced me to spend hundreds of pounds on chunks of resin. Roll on Monstrous Arcana.

Tamurkhan Review - Narrative and Fluff

Alan Bligh looks every inch the fantasy writer. In this interview he talks a little about working on Tamurkhan, and while it's not exactly packed with revelations it does highlight some of the key aspects of narrative and fluff that characterise the book.

There is a huge amount of background material here, with almost half of the book consisting of what might be called the 'saga' of Tamurkhan and his assault on the lands of men. The story here serves a purpose and is reasonably entertaining even if it would make for an extremely bog-standard novella. However, what the saga lacks in character development or story arch is certainly made up for by an abundance of atmosphere and rich description. I really enjoyed getting a taste for the seldom visited realms beyond the fringes of the Empire, particularly the north and the mountain domains of the ogre kingdoms. The interspersing of non-narrative descriptions - covering, for example, the tribes of the north - alongside more storied vignettes helps break-up the saga narrative while adding to the 'found artefact' flavour of the book (although the fancy type-script used for these latter parts is difficult to read in places).

Of course, this wouldn't be a GW publication without a healthy dose of typos and a few other errors, which I find really annoying: if I didn't want to like this hobby so much, this kind of sloppy attention to detail would ruin it for me. How hard is it to employ a copy editor or even carefully check your own work? 

These bugbears aside, the fluff here is great, and the fact that the campaign is set within a decade of 'current' time in the Warhammer world means that it provides ample source material for fluffy gamers like me. With a further book focusing entirely on monsters on the horizon I'm practically bursting at the seams with excitement. I might even offer to copy edit it for them.  

Tamurkhan Review - Design and Art

This week I'm reading Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos and it really is a book that deserves some serious attention. In this spirit, I'm splitting my review into three short sections, with the first looking at the design and art.

As many people have noted, this is an absolutely gorgeous book. When placed next to Blood in The Badlands that particular offering seems seriously underdeveloped and rather naive in comparison. Tamurkhan is very well bound (I used to work in the book trade so I always pick up on these things) and the quality of the paper is superb. Above all though the art work shines through. I've included a couple of photos here, but these can only begin to indicate the wonderful illustrations inside - I urge you to take a look at a copy if you've not already had a chance. The art captures an essence of Wahammer that I feel has been missing since the Chaos books of old. The tone is grim and murky, the characters rendered as harsh and callous no matter their allegiance, while the rancid pestilence of Father Nurgle almost wafts off the pages. 

The absence of photographed miniatures helps elevate the book to an entirely different level from the standard GW texts. I thought I liked Blood in the Badlands. I still do. It's just all of my expectations have been raised to an elevation I wasn't aware existed. If this is what we can expect from Warhammer Forge then many treats await us in the coming years. I may just be developing a fetish.