https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/8/7/enemies-without/

Excellent

Really looking forward to this! Enemies Within was alright, but it could definitely have done with less long-winded prose and more material. I hope this one will be better in that regard.

Looking forward to learning more about the Inquisitorial side of the Ordo Xenos. Often we just hear about the Deathwatch blasting away all the aliens.

Cool! I'm really glad they went with the long-neglected Ordo Xenos before the Ordo Malleus.

Since this is the inter-webs, I suppose it's required that I complain about something , so I'll say that I'm a little disappointed that only the 'standard' 40K aliens are mentioned, and not any new ones. Given the popularity of the Yu'Vath, Slaught, Stryxis, and Rak'Gol in other WH40KRP games, I would have thought that FFG would want to spotlight some new setting-specific xenos.

I find it odd that the Tyranids are mentioned when IIRC, the Askellon Sector is right next to the Calixis and isn't anywhere near a Hive Fleet. That doesn't rule out Genestealers, but still.

Maybe some old, ancient xenos will be statted out for the ruins that abound in Askellon?

No one's more surprised about the Tyranid mention than me...

BYE

Yeah, Tyranids in the Askellon Sector...

Two possibilities, first seeing as the Askellon Secotr is tainted with Warpstorm events maybe some of Hive Fleet Dagon spills into the Sector. Unlikely as it seems but you know unfortunate...

Second, as in DH1.0, what we have is littered Tyranid spawn (Genestealers mostly, with the odd Carnifex here or Termagents there). Which I think is more likely.

Could open the way for the Genestealer cults yet doubtful because that would require rules for Genestealer-hybrids which I ain't seen since an excellent fan-created supplement by Paul Manders (Santiago) that may still be on the Dark Reign 40K site.

Saying that there is Kroot in the Askellon system, which is intersting...

I really thought we were abandoned after the 'nothing' at GenCon. It's good to see that we are going to keep getting supported for a while longer. Ideally, I'd like another 'Forgotten Gods', but I'll probably be buying a copy of this either way. I wish we could move away from splat books though and get something like Haarlocks Legacy again.

Something as deep as Haarlock Legacy would be so nice!

Kroot get everywhere, though - they see service as mercs on sector over in the Koronus expanse, so there's no reason not to expect them a kindred or too here.

Tyranids - with the hive fleet (leviathan? Kraken?) Coming up on the galactic plane from below, a splinter fleet could appear anywhere.

I guess they're trying to go with more classic enemies..,

The mention of long forgotten ruins and artifacts does drum up images of the Yu'vath. If not them then perhaps another interesting, long lost Xenos race native to the Askellon Sector.

Maybe I am a bit to radical but I was hoping to see another role for either a mercenary xenos or xenos slave used to hunt and kill their own kind, much like how mutants appeared in Enemies Within . I realise this would only work in certain circumstances but I've always thought the idea would be cool.

The main thing I'd like to see in any Dark Heresy expansion is something making Askellon different from Calixis. The Pandemonium is their version of the Tyrant Star, but it isn't nearly as well developed or interesting. The main difference really seems to be that Askellon is older than Calixis, but they don't really build on this too well. There should be buried horrors of old wars all over the sector. 'Forgotten Gods' started building on this, but the sense of panic that worlds are going to be consumed and warp travel is very risky isn't well established. The horror elements have also been scaled back. Dark Heresy started off as a horror game in many ways and that has totally been lost in many ways. Haarlock was a Cthulhu-like villain.

I think what would really help is sector wide events. The psyker plague develops leadership and gestalt consciousness for example.

I think something that has made the game lose its Cthulhu like ambiance is by making the Chaos Gods a little bit boring and one dimensional (and yes I know there are other aspects of the Gods that can be highlighted and emphasised but as written there's not a lot of depth to them).

Also by removing unaligned daemons (at least of any power) it removed a great deal of the mystery and unknown from the line as these daemons gave a great deal more depth than the standard Chaos Gods and their aligned daemons and also allowed for creatures of unknowable origins, motivations and powers. As HP Lovecraft himself said one of the greatest fears of man is the unknown and this feeling has largely been lost from the warp powers in 40K (and yes I realise the characters may not have a great knowledge of the warp and what it holds but to the players it has become well codified and well, in my opinion anyway, a little stagnant).

Definitely agree with Fog1234 that the sector is underdeveloped but then I still prefer to have the source books as I am quite happy to make up the mysteries and creatures myself. Also Enemies Within did have good resources for creating cults and conspiracies so I am hoping Enemies Without gives some background for creating Xenos Cultures and cults/conspiracies beyond all the usual Xenos they are mentioning.

1. GW removed unaligned Daemons, not FFG.

2. Of course the setting is underdeveloped. It has had 2 releases outside of the rulebook/GM kit. It's pretty silly to compare it to DH1.0's 17+ products.

BYE

Do the DH1 books still reference unaligned daemons, or were they removed back then as well?

Edit: I should say their power specifically.

And yes, I find it to be a very bad move from GW.

Do the DH1 books still reference unaligned daemons, or were they removed back then as well?

And yes, I find it to be a very bad move from GW.

Yeah, unaligned daemons were fantastic. I personally completely abuse the rules for creating them in DH1 (you know, in that bok that let you play Grey Knights ) - they're just fantastic! RT also had a few unaligned daemons in there - my personal favorite is the one in the Koronus Bestiary.

Hm this supplement has the feel of an Only War supplement rather than Dark Heresy, IMHO. Dark Eldar, Kroot, Tyranids: those are enemies to be met on the battlefield by soldiers. But Dark Heresy is a game of investigating in the shadows. We need new and different xenos for that. In DH1 we had the Slaugth and the Simulacrum and the Cryptos, stealthy and horrible infiltrators into human society.

I must say that the 2nd ed of Dark Heresy, except for some needed changes in the rules, continues to underwhelm me.

Hm this supplement has the feel of an Only War supplement rather than Dark Heresy, IMHO. Dark Eldar, Kroot, Tyranids: those are enemies to be met on the battlefield by soldiers. But Dark Heresy is a game of investigating in the shadows. We need new and different xenos for that. In DH1 we had the Slaugth and the Simulacrum and the Cryptos, stealthy and horrible infiltrators into human society.

I must say that the 2nd ed of Dark Heresy, except for some needed changes in the rules, continues to underwhelm me.

To me, Dark Eldar and Tyranids make perfect stealthy and horrible Infiltrators into human society, and Haemonculi masterminds are just as awesome, deadly and full of "Body Horror" as Slaught.

The real problem is that most players and GMs will see them as races suited for open war (as their visoin of them was heavily shaped by the 40k tabletop fluff), so they will often be used the same way in the RPG. But this is a perfect occasion to showcase how Haemonculi and Tyranids can be perfect for RPGs, with infiltrating horrors, Xenos Hybris Corruption at it's worst and genius masterminds with flocks of deluded/mindless servants and agents.

Hm this supplement has the feel of an Only War supplement rather than Dark Heresy, IMHO. Dark Eldar, Kroot, Tyranids: those are enemies to be met on the battlefield by soldiers. But Dark Heresy is a game of investigating in the shadows. We need new and different xenos for that. In DH1 we had the Slaugth and the Simulacrum and the Cryptos, stealthy and horrible infiltrators into human society.

I must say that the 2nd ed of Dark Heresy, except for some needed changes in the rules, continues to underwhelm me.

That is a bit unfair to say with only the short (and not very specific) announcment text to go from. I'll wait for a more in depth view and the actual book, to form my opinion. But I'm very happy to finally get another book.

Also this:

To me, Dark Eldar and Tyranids make perfect stealthy and horrible Infiltrators into human society, and Haemonculi masterminds are just as awesome, deadly and full of "Body Horror" as Slaught.

The real problem is that most players and GMs will see them as races suited for open war (as their visoin of them was heavily shaped by the 40k tabletop fluff), so they will often be used the same way in the RPG. But this is a perfect occasion to showcase how Haemonculi and Tyranids can be perfect for RPGs, with infiltrating horrors, Xenos Hybris Corruption at it's worst and genius masterminds with flocks of deluded/mindless servants and agents.

And don't forget all the human cults that build around these Xenos. That's a nice way to cross over Ordo Xenos with Ordo Hereticus and more stealthy, subtle ways to encounter the Xenos.

It will be nice to have more general use enemies, Enemies Within had way too many things that were specific to the sector or a planet (though adjustments are always possible).

I am hoping they give us many more relics as they did with Enemies Within, alien-related of course.

~ alemander

Awesome! I really hope we'll get some kind of Xenos generator for this one like the cult generation in Enemies Within.

Particularly looking forward to seeing what kind of unique xenos tech gear the book provides. Especially if it includes some stuff native to Askellon of murky origins, functional and yet helping to build a better picture of the sector.

Hey, my Campaign probably an't gonna be in Askellon anyway, at least not at the start. Rather they will be on frontier worlds, perhaps outside the bounds of Askellon, but not far enough to be immune to some of the sectors influence. To me a Xenos campaign should be fought on the outer edges of Imperial Space.