by Ed Fortune
Warhammer 40,000’s Arks of Omen series of scenario and setting books have been a bit of a treat. Games Workshop uses these campaign books to move the story of their vast Warhammer 40,000 setting forward and, at the same time, promote new models and rules for their popular miniatures skirmish game. Warhammer 40,000 Arks of Omen Farsight is the fourth book in the series, and it’s a lot of fun.
The broad plot of the Arks of Omen series so far has revolved around vast fleets of weaponised space flotsam (that happen to be full of demons) searching the galaxy for the components to create an ultimate super weapon and also further empower the demonic demi-god of technology, Vashtorr.
In Farsight, this elaborate fetch quest brings monsters to the edge of the Tau Empire, one of Warhammer 40K‘s ‘not totally evil’ factions because they default to trade and negotiation rather than warfare. Demonic invaders have targeted the Farsight Enclave, a splinter faction of the Tau Empire led by the heroic and conflicted Commander Farsight, a heavily armoured alien who wields a cursed magical sword. The Tau tend to be ignorant about demons, magic, and other hellish things, so wackiness ensues.
The book covers, through illustration, prose fragments and general storytelling, the events of a three-way war between the demonic force of Chaos, the marauding Orks and the Farsight Enclave. It’s a good story, well told, and it’s a nice bit of inspiration for anyone who paints and collects those ranges. It’s also got Chaos being sneaky for a change, which is nice. We get some interesting surprises, and under-served elements of the 40K world finally get some attention.
Rules-wise, Arks Of Omen Farsight has less appeal as the new edition of the game is on its way, but the entire Arks Of Omen series have broadly been to introduce a whole new mode of play, Boarding Actions. (Which uses special close-quarters terrain usually reserved for games like Kill Team.) This ‘fighting on a spaceship’ rules set is practically its own thing and will make these books sought after long after the game moves to a new edition. You’ll need the previous rules in the Arks of Omen Abaddon book to use this one.
We get rules for using troops from the Tau Empire, the Adepta Sororitas (space nuns) and all the playable types of space elves, namely the Asuryani, the Ynnari, the Drukhari, and the Harlequins. These are all well thought out, and we especially liked the way the flame-thrower-wielding Sororitas just become incredibly lethal in close quarters.
We had a lot of fun with this book (and thanks to the Warhammer team for sending it across), and we think 40K fans will get a lot out of it as well.
