Enh, I'm just wondering if this rulebook was really necessary. Your characters in Rogue Trader, Dark Heresy, and et al. can have a lot of freedom to do what they want but as a Guardsman? It'll be all, "Take that hill!" and "Yes sir!" Maybe it could work but I can't feel myself working up a hankering to play some nobody in a trench.

Smaggler said:

Band of brothers?

DW is nice with its high powered heroic space knights fighting for honour and what not, but there is something to be said about playing characters as the real heroes of the imperium.

"Alright men, all we got are 4 lasguns, 2 charge packs, and 1 krak grenade. We've been ordered to take that bunker, so by the Emperor, we're gonna do this!"

If left only in the DH system, you basically would lose alot of resolution, mainly forcing players to be some variation of guardsman. Techpriests and psykers could be present, but scum, arbites, and to a certain extent adepts would be out of place. Clerics would need a new xp table. Battle Sisters would be a tad bit too effective in a combat only setting.

Not to mention that DH would not codify a system for choosing your guardsman's home company (Catachan, Cadian, Tallarn, Mordian, Krieg, Vallhallan, etc.).

The actual fighting of a "war" over say the more surgical style of Deathwatch could also come up. Players could in theory affect troop movements, and engage in campaigns over a greater distance.

Also, a setting where you're put through hell, and surviving to the bitter end is an actual accomplishment is rather cool.

macd21 said:

*SNORT* Laying off almost your entire staff?  Downsizing and altering a direction in the way that they have is survival, not growth.  Pull off their financial report and records, it's public domain information, as is CCP's.  Do Fantasy Flight as well while you're at it, you'll see the diffefrence between a 'strong' and a 'weak' company. 

That was a very, very uninformed comment.  

KommissarK said:

Pretty much this. For some folks, mortal humans appeal more than space marines. I imagine this system will be quite similar to Deathwatch in some respects (building your own regiments, setting out on discrete missions with discrete objectives, etc). Really looking forward to seeing how it's made.

Indeed, while a Band of Brothers theme may work, I think the Deathwatch actually better encapsulates it. To me, the Imperial Guard is all about human assault waves, meat grinder campaigns, and teeming millions.  Death World Veterans and Stormtroopers (already in Ascension) are the major exceptions, and of course Gaunt's Ghosts will be a major influence. I would rather role play guardsmen on a 4' x 6' miniature battlefield.  FFG should have released this as a hefty add-on to DH, much like Ascension was a sort of stand-alone-able add-on. They then could have concentrated their creativity and marketing on the existing five 40K RPGs (let alone the other non-40K RPGs).

Given the track record of cool sub systems in each new game.  I'm really hoping that this one will include some form of Mass Combat Tracking table or rules to take into account the battle around you, win or lose, and how your PC's actions affect it.  More ideal yet would be if it is possible to be on the losing side but still do awesome stuff as PCs.    Similar to how L5R has its mass combat tables but still leaves a way to focus on the PCs role.

 If one reads through the DH forum you would quickly realise that the amount of information in "only war" plus the various updates to the game mechanics of "BC" Plus the Absolute necessity of including the more famous IG vehicles (And by extension the rules for say, crewing a tank) are much more than would be appropriate for a "DH add on". It is in fact a whole new game intended to take the game to a whole new level. Remember that the IP for 40k is entirely about a war torn universe! I think it's entirely appropriate for a game about the nitty gritty of this "Total war" environment to exist!

Well actually I like the idea. It allow for a lower level War RPG than Deathwatch whcih I consider to be perhaps to high powered for some types of play.
I was allready on planning a military campaign but I'll put that one on the burner until I have this book.

Love the concept...

I'm okay with this.

I've never really liked the "feeling" of DW, BC is fine and so is RT and DH but DW never did it for me. It seems like OW will fit in nicely in what I want from the FFG Wh40k RPGs although a larger pause and a universal system for all purposes would have been nice too.

Sorry FFG - really not feeling this one.

I'm sure it will be a beautifully put together book. However, it should have remained as a supplement. Wars are one of the main themes in 40K, and having a big book to help run them in the RPG style would have been perfect. War is an excellent escalation and raising of the stakes for the other games. The acolytes discovering dark secrets leading to wars, succession wars in Rogue Trader, etc. But just a whole new game for the IG seems like a waste.

//off topic//

Also, personally, I hoped that FFG would have been a little more imaginative if it came to marketing an IG game. I am disappointed that the first thing I see, when I click on a "soldiers" link, is "brotherhood" being advertised. This kind of self-congratulatory, exclusive masturbatory privilege is offensive to a lot of people (including me, if you hadn't guessed). It is a bit of a trend at the moment, to glorify this specific form of machismo.

I would have preferred FFG, whom I respect, to have promoted their new game in a less obtrusive and upsetting way. I'm not a marketing expert, but would have rather have seen something like "Operation: Ground and Pound" or "Over the top, over the top action in the 41st Millennium". Something, anything, less offensive. The worst thing to me is when people do not even realize how this is offensive.

//off topic end//

Still, we will see how the book turns out before purchase.

My main worry for the book, is that it will not cover enough of the 40K universe, and that a lot of stuff will fall to supplements to cover. The table top game has numerous books, one for each force, plus the "specialist" books covering siege warfare, aerial battles, etc. There is no way I can see, that one core book is going to cover all the foes the IG might face, on all the scales, in all the locales. I'm not even sure, with the core rules taking up precious pages, that the book will cover all the IG weapons and tanks.

Even though it is a classic, I kind of hope that the book doesn't cover orks as a central foe. We already have loads of stats for orks in the other FFG books, and the IG rules supplied will serve to cobble together a fearsome Blood Axe Clan, I'm sure. So I'm hoping for something else. If I could choose one, I'd vote Eldar. Very different, and would provide 1-on-1 matches for the IG stuff. E.g. Psykers vs. Farseers, Chimera vs. Falcons, Rough Riders vs. Jet Bikes, etc. This would be a nice way to showcase the rules. If the coverage was not as in depth, I guess two different choices would be better, to focus on the differences between the ways in which the IG must wage war. E.g. Tyrands and Tau.

#1 Fan wish, would be a decent set of simple mortar rules, that was more than a glorified Perception check.

Best wishes to everyone involved in the project!

Saygah said:

I feel that this going to be great!!! Core or Sup it doesn't matter to me, I use all my core books as sups for the games I run. I'm really excited to see the setting and where they are going to put it.

I'd say Only War could fill the Band of Brothers slot quite well - it's probably the second-most-common setting in Dark Heresy campaigns already (right after Inquisition, of course). And to be honest: The DH-powerlevel could use a rules overhaul. In a system of essentially four editions, DH is the first and it shows.

@Saygah

Also, personally, I hoped that FFG would have been a little more imaginative if it came to marketing an IG game. I am disappointed that the first thing I see, when I click on a "soldiers" link, is "brotherhood" being advertised. This kind of self-congratulatory, exclusive masturbatory privilege is offensive to a lot of people (including me, if you hadn't guessed). It is a bit of a trend at the moment, to glorify this specific form of machismo.

I would have preferred FFG, whom I respect, to have promoted their new game in a less obtrusive and upsetting way. I'm not a marketing expert, but would have rather have seen something like "Operation: Ground and Pound" or "Over the top, over the top action in the 41st Millennium". Something, anything, less offensive. The worst thing to me is when people do not even realize how this is offensive.

I've got to admit that I don't. "The enemy may be powerful enough that we may as well be carrying flashlights, High Command thinks of us as disposable toys to be moved around on someone's tac screen, but we few, we happy few, we Band of Buggered..." is exactly the feeling I hope to get out of this game.

Even though it is a classic, I kind of hope that the book doesn't cover orks as a central foe. We already have loads of stats for orks in the other FFG books, and the IG rules supplied will serve to cobble together a fearsome Blood Axe Clan, I'm sure. So I'm hoping for something else. If I could choose one, I'd vote Eldar. Very different, and would provide 1-on-1 matches for the IG stuff. E.g. Psykers vs. Farseers, Chimera vs. Falcons, Rough Riders vs. Jet Bikes, etc. This would be a nice way to showcase the rules. If the coverage was not as in depth, I guess two different choices would be better, to focus on the differences between the ways in which the IG must wage war. E.g. Tyrands and Tau.

Considering Tau and Tyranids are two of the main enemies in Deathwatch, I doubt it's going to be them. However, I really hope it's not Eldar. Bringing those down to the level where a common trooper has any chance against a farseer would do a huge disservice to them and their lore.

I agree with the OP...

This is definetly one too many!

Also, in general, FFG is releasing too many RPGs and Card Games and Dust Tactics stuff lately.
The entire Site becomes more and more boring for a "Boardgamers" heart....

Dulahan said:

+1

It's funny because I just said to my Rogue Trader players a couple of weeks ago: "I wish we had some rules that the mass combat table of L5R but for Rogue Trader".

I would really like to see something like that.