New 40K campaign book - Crusade of Fire

Gw are releasing a campaign book, Crusade of Fire, that includes a bunch of rules for gaming that includes the gladiatorial arenas of Commorragh . Sounds like it could be fun?

Worth a look maybe?

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440160a&prodId=prod1780018a

Sounds awesome!

I ordered one about 30 minutes ago.

I'm also very curious as to what the expanded rules for flyers will be. Wondering if they'll include some more balancing elements (maybe some universal upgrades to give certain units skyfire, etc)

For £25, US$41, Cdn$49 - release December 1st(?). Limited edition is being mentioned elsewhere.

Looks very interesting, and not just because it includes Commorragh. I would hope to see some sort of new xenos terrain to accompany this.

GW wrote:

Crusade of Fire
Crusade of Fire is a campaign system for Warhammer 40,000 that enables you to join the campaign to control the Corvus Sub-sector. Whether you choose to join the Crusade of Fire itself, the foul Servants of Ruin or the bloodthirsty Prophets of War, the fate of the sub-sector lies in your hands.

This 96-page, full-colour hardcover book features exclusive artwork and a host of dynamic new rules. As well as the campaign system itself, the book contains rules that can be used in any Warhammer 40,000 game, from massive multi-player scenarios fought in low-gravity environments or in bunkers deep below the ground, to expanded rules for Flyers. It also features rules for playing games in the gladiatorial arenas of Commorragh as well as for fighting battles on the surface of a Daemon World.

Crusade of Fire also features the story of nine hobbyists as they play through the campaign, including detailed battle reports, fantastic army showcases and turn-by-turn accounts of their conquest.

I'm surprised this hasn't generated more buzz around here, I was excited to hear that there would be a new campaign book but rules for fighting in Commorragh?

INSERT TAKE MY MONEY GIF HERE.

probably fighting in commorragh arenas should be one hq versus another, or a squad against a wyches squad!!!

sounds interesting!

I will have to wait and see it to really get excited for it... but we will wait and see

I had not bother to look at this until now. It looks exciting. Can't wait to see what it bring us.

Saw it mentioned Commoragh (having spent the good part of 20 minutes explaining to some Tau manic how to say his eventual gravesite) and especially the arena and was sold...

I've had my copy pre-ordered and will be delivered via an unmarked Raider at an undisclosed location, privy from interception and secure...

I pre-ordered my copy from my LGS as soon as I heard about it, it sounds worth getting to me regardless.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for Xmas, but hey this is Commorragh after all!

According to GW's web site, Crusade of Fire is no longer available for order in North America

He's right.

What the hell...?

It was a limited edition (while stock lasts right on the website), so I quess they ran out of stock.

Sold out in 4 days then.

Nice planning, GW. Not like anyof us might put it on a Christmas list or anything...

Still available in the UK.

Didn't think it was going to sell out that quickly at all, will be placing my order right now then.

Well the US white dwarf for December and January are delay because of the hurricane, it could be the same situation with this book?

Australia still has it in stock as of this morning ... But if I was a desperate foreigner I would try the uk first!

helvexis wrote:

Australia still has it in stock as of this morning ... But if I was a desperate foreigner I would try the uk first!

From what I've heard of Australian prices for GW products I think I'd try Mars first!

Reading my new White Dwarf, it says the book includes three expansions for 40k, one of which is Arena of Death. It recreates fights in the arenas in Commorragh, rules for duels, gaining the adulation of the crowd and surviving the hell of captivity.

This makes it sound like a good old fashioned, well, arena of death, characters versus other characters, maybe wyches etc, not just DE in the fight.

Either way it seems we're getting a lot more than just a small section.

If they're easily transferrable and work well we could have an Arena of Death section on the forum.

Picked up my copy today and haven’t read it thoroughly at all yet. But here are some initial impressions.

First, the book is 96 pages long and is a Planetary Empires-based campaign. A copy of Planetstrike and Cities of Death will also come in handy for completing at least one of the scenarios, as will FW’s Apocalypse.

There are 18 or so pages of introductory material, including some new Grand Warlord traits to use, background fluff, and blurbs on the 9 studio armies used to create the campaign – Phil Kelly’s DE (bee-yoo-tiful!), 4 Chaos and 4 Muh-reenz of various flavours.

Then there are the three parts of the campaign occupying the next 32-33 pages. Each part has a special scenario - one for Void/Zero-G fighting, one for Apocalypse, and one is for fighting in a Bunker complex. Each special scenario gets 2 pages of rules (which seem just fine) and the other 8-ish are background fluff, studio battle reports and Planetary Empire campaign maps.

And finally, there 3 sections for special fighting rules - Burning Skies (11 pages), Daemon Worlds (5 pages), and the Arena of Death (5 pages, but only 2 of rules).

Burning Skies allows 2 flyers to dogfight at the end of a Movement phase if certain positioning and dice-rolling conditions are met. Each dog-fight then comprises 3 rounds – Pursuit, Lock-on and Destroy – and will obviously lengthen your regular games considerably. There are rulesets and tables for the attacker and defender in each round. There are also sets of special manoeuvres for the flyers of each army – except for Tyranids and Daemons.

And there D3 Fighter Ace upgrades available for 50 pts for the flyers of each army – except for Tyranids and Daemons, and ….. *drum roll* ……. Dark Eldar! Black Templars, with their extensive selection of hangar queens, get an Ace Upgrade, but not us.

It is possible that this merely an error that will be corrected via an Errata/FAQ document. The book is full of appalling spelling and grammatical errors, and the writing level of some of the fluff will make Thor’s hair stand on end (if not fall out)! The entire product was obviously rushed to market with little or no proof-reading, so who knows what they might do to fix it.

Oh, and all the artwork is from the 6th ed. Rulebook and the recent 6e CSM codex. Nothing new, except for the photos of the studio crew in the battle reports.

Fighting on Daemon Worlds is apparently based on the hazard tables produced for WD Death Worlds (which I am not familiar with), with some new rules and special scenarios. Seemed OK, but again, I haven’t read it fully yet and the Death Worlds reference is from another comment elsewhere that I saw about it.

The Arena rules (or “Areana of Death”, as it is spelled in the page headers) are 2 pages in length. Fighting on a 2’ x 2’ area, you follow the usual 40K phases but then each of you use a deck of 12 Manoeuvre Modifier cards (which you have permission to photocopy) to resolve the Fight sub-phase. There is also a thumbs-up, thumbs-down crowd rating like in the Roman movies to help determine whether or not you perish or live to fight again.

This has nothing to do with your regular games, it is a separate game system completely for individual characters/models. Again, it seems OK but the real test will be on the tabletop.

Is the book worth the price of admission? The quality of production is extremely poor in many areas, and the amount space dedicated to other people’s battle reports and showcasing their armies is very, very disappointing. But the book does provide new specialised rules and is intended to help you generate ideas to expand your gaming horizons. It will be interesting to see how widely used the Dog-fighting rules become, given how long they will side-track any normal game and the fact that are not extensive enough to be utilised on their own in a separate game like the Arena rules.

If you use it, you will eventually get your money’s worth out of it, just like that mono-pose Grot (or Grots) you purchased. If you need to further get your hands on Apocalypse, Planetstrike and Cities of Death, that would suggest not shelling out for this campaign book.

It’s tough to say about overall value, but it looks like the limited-edition nature will solve that conundrum for most people anyway. Definitely not a must-have, but intriguing nonetheless.

Perhaps the Eldar ace table is meant to be all inclusive, for craftworld and dark eldar?

Sounds like they've just shoved the 40K section of a few White Dwarfs into a hardcover book. I've ordered a copy but am sharing it with 2 other players so only paying about £6. Probably worth it at that price but not sure I would have bought it on my own!

Sounds like a GW flop, sigh. I mean "Areana of Death" facepalm... come on!

I got my copy today.

I'll add to the cries across the internet about the lack of editing and proof reading, Wahammer 40,000? Some of it is actually embarrassing, far worse than the IA last xmas. However we obviously all know it was rushed out.

It feels like a couple of ideas from the studio that have been floating around and just chucked into a book.

However.

I like it.

I find the rules and ideas for Burning Skies really cool, I play with two flyers, my friend is getting some dakka jets and my other regular player as night scythes, yes it will make the game a bit longer but will add a little bit of extra fun - really dissapointed by the lack of a DE fighter ace but we'll assume it was missed out.

Arena of death is really fun too, its essentially a mini game played on a 4x4 where you pit a character against another or waves of troops. For you to win you have to make back your points cost, either by killing enemy models or by winning the crowd. It relies on a card system, each card has a positive and negative effect, based on a lot of factors such as your positioning, 2d6 and other things you establish your speed and whether you get the positive or negative effect and adds to the complexity of the game. What is fun is how much more you can do. Phil talks about how he had space marines fighting off wyches, then khymerae followed by succubi and finally a carnifex (helllooo rancor.). I think theres scope for a lot of fun with this.

Theres a page of everyones army, all MEQ apart from Phils Dark Eldar, stuff for campaigns and some other extra stuff.

If you dont think any of the content will appeal to you then dont buy it, sayeth captain obvious. But if you wanted to add some extra flyer rules, find some inspiration for your own campaign and play a neat mini game, themed on DE then have a look.

I did find the fact the Phil Kelly's Dark Eldar (led by the Duke, of all people) won the campaign a nice break from my expectations, though I'm not sure how "scripted" that result is, given that we have at best breezy summaries of the actual battles.

It does strike me, however, that Dark Eldar are well equipped to handle most special scenario games - our mobility means we can be the first to the gimmick if we need to be, and allows us to efficiently negotiate the complex terrain such battles often involve.

Also, others have mentioned that the Dogfight rules slow down the game, but I really do love the unpredictability and choice they add to interactions between fliers. I was thinking something similar could be done using the Arena of Death rules in challenges, making them a lot less cut and dry than normal close combats.