Creatures Anathema Review (Dark Heresy)

[Imperial Overlord]

Creatures Anathema is a basically a monster manual for Dark Heresy. Yes, it has Lictors, Genestealers, Eldar, Orks, and Daemons. Without further ado, I'll get to the review.

Appearance and Art: Nice cover and back art. Attractive interior work. Interior art isn't quite as good as previous Dark Heresy products, but it's still quite nice. High marks.

Organization: The book is broken down into chapters. The first is mutants, then follows forbidden science, death worlds, vermin and predators, xenos, forces of chaos and adversaries. Adventure seeds are included for each entry and fluff commentary is common. Common gear is also detailed.

Flaws: There are a few typos. Also the book is thinner than I would have preferred. There are an acceptable number of entries, but more would have been better.

The Meat: It's good. The last section deals with optional mook rules and adversary upgrades, something some GMs will find useful. There's some advice for generating horror and moral quandries. Classic daemons are stated as are some new ones as well as a variety of nasty fauna and constructs.

The book really shines when it comes to the classics. Enslavers, orks, genestealers and the rest are stated as is some of their signature gear. The Eldar Dire Avenger is, like the Space Marine, a TPK waiting to happen. The genestealer is bad, bad news, but not unstoppably vile. Since this will be asked, the following are stated out:

Dire Avenger
Ranger
NPC Corsair

Shuriken Pistols, Avenger Catapults, Ranger Long Rifles

Boy
Nob
Gretchin
Attack Squig

Slugga, Shoota, Choppa, Mega Armour, Snazzgun

Overall: It's good. Not flawless, but good.

[Bedlam]

I picked it up today, its very nice to look at but horrible priced, almost £30 for less than 150 pages.

As stated aboe its got the standard Zenos the Orks and Eldar also Genestealers and Lictors. A nice mix of other things as well various local nasties and a few new alien species. Nice to see Enslavers again, they've been mentioned in the more recent editions fluff but not stated sice rogue traider days.

[andrewgpaul]

Talking of new 40K RPG products, FFG have just put up a page for the Rogue Trader book.

[Imperial Overlord]

Cool. I really liked their 4 page booklet about what's coming out for Dark Heresy this year. The Radical's Handbook and Ascension have me licking my chops.

[Ford Prefect]

Haha, oh wow. Lictors? As in 'so fast these Space Marines didn't see their decapitations coming' Lictors? Hilarious!

And I really like the sound of that Rogue Trader book. Being a Rogue Trader >> being some Inquisitor's latest mook.

[Imperial Overlord]

Haha, oh wow. Lictors? As in 'so fast these Space Marines didn't see their decapitations coming' Lictors? Hilarious!

Yeah, they're bad, bad news. The one stated out has the whole nine yards, feeder tendrils and flesh hooks and dodging like a mongoose on speed.

And I really like the sound of that Rogue Trader book. Being a Rogue Trader >> being some Inquisitor's latest mook.

Well it is supposed to be the next power level up . . .

[andrewgpaul]

I liked the fact that CA includes stats for Nurglings.

[NecronLord]

Enslavers? Shiny. I was planning to use them in the Recondite War game last year, before it died... It'll be interesting to see how they compare with my version (Scarier by far, I expect)

Any Dark Eldar (though of course, there were a couple in Purge the Unclean, I forget, offhand, if it had an ordinary warrior too or just the scout guy) or advice for other types of Eldar (though that's all you really need, in truth; DH acolytes aren't tough enough to justify anything scarier than a squad of Avengers, as a rule) NPCs?

[Imperial Overlord]

Enslavers? Shiny. I was planning to use them in the Recondite War game last year, before it died... It'll be interesting to see how they compare with my version (Scarier by far, I expect)

They're very faithful to the fluff. Depending on which one was the typo, Psy Rating 4 or 6.

Any Dark Eldar (though of course, there were a couple in Purge the Unclean, I forget, offhand, if it had an ordinary warrior too or just the scout guy) or advice for other types of Eldar (though that's all you really need, in truth; DH acolytes aren't tough enough to justify anything scarier than a squad of Avengers, as a rule) NPCs?

No Dark Eldar. Purge the Unclean had Dark Eldar Warriors, a Mandrake, and a scout. Creatures Anathema has, as I mentioned in my first post, Dire Avenger and Ranger stats as well as a Corsair NPC
because

1) these are the guys most likely to be encountered by PCs

2) dealing with one of these guys is bad enough. Eldar gear is very, very nice and their stats and skills are good. A single Dire Avenger is bad news and a risk of TPK.

The Avenger Shuriken Catapult is even worse than the common version stated out in Disciples of Dark Gods. d10+4, Penetration 6, Reliable, Tearing. And the range is better and Dire Avengers have Mighty Shot for +2 damage.