Just checked with my Friendly Local Game Store and they've got their copies. I think I'll pick one up today. I hope my whiny players will find something good in it for them (they're just now moving into their second careers). I feel confident I'll find plenty good (or bad) to inflict upon them.

Just picked mine up.

Here's a quick review of the cards I just popped out of the box.

Careers are good, and it's nice to see a return of classics like Veteran, etc. The only exception being a misprint on the Preceptor (head of a knightly order) being a "Basic" Career requiring completion of Knight of the Inner Circle but that's easy to catch.

I gotta say I was a little let down by the Severe Wounds...15 total and 5 of them are scars (three copies of one)..."Impressive Scar" even adds two fortune dice to all fellowship rolls. How is that severe again? My players are supposed to quake in their boots because they have a chance to draw a scar? Weak dude... However, it opens up the doors for new severe wounds to be included in any future supplements so that's dandy. My expectations were obviously just set a bit too unrealisticly high. Additionally we do get to have severed hands, fingers, legs, etc...so I need to buck up and quit my dang whining

A couple cool Khornesque mutations

Three new typical talents and a series of Oath talent cards representing the classic WFRP knightly orders (can I get an AMEN).

The new "Enhance" actions are cool, allowing modification of dice pools to gain certain effects. For example "Half Haft Grip" allows you (weilding a two handed weapon) to remove Fortune, Expertise and Characteristic dice from your pool to gain additional damage and crit modifiers if you succeed. Having roughly flipped through the other action cards there seems to be some good mojo in there, nothing detailed popped out at me just yet.

The new NPC and adversary cards bring in welcome additions like Skaelings and other heavy metal theme song foes.

Two new follower horsies for the knights and outriders "Trusty Horse" and "Battle Bred Warhorse".

I haven't had a chance to read the books yet, but Chapter 6 of Omens of War supposedly digs further into mounted combat so hopefully we'll get some guidance on other less impressive mounts than the two followers mentioned above, etc.

All in all a great time to be getting into 3rd edition! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

Thanks for the sneak peak! I'm really excited about this expansion.

Thanks for a sneak pick. I can hope that I will get my copy very soon (pre-ordered it a couple weeks ago).

Will it be to much to ask for some pick of what's in the box and a more detailed review of this expansion.

Wrie if You can how many of each type of cards are in it. How many pages have does book and what careers we are getting. Please!

PS. I hate errors. Thanks God that this one with Preceptor is a easy one to see and fix.

Awesome, now I just need Amazon to get their finger out and stock this in the UK, would be awesome to have this by the session I'm running on Friday!

New Careers: Captain (Adv), Duelist (Adv), Knight (Adv), Knight of the Inner Circle (Adv), Marksman (Adv), Outrider (Adv), Pistolier (Basic), Preceptor (Adv..says Basic as mentioned before), Sergeant (Adv), Veteran (Adv)

Followers: Battle-Bred Warhorse (Knight Only), Trusty Horse (Outrider Only)

New Talents (typical): Tactic: Footwork, Tactic: The Bigger they Are, Tactic: Outdoorsman, Reputation: Fights With Flair

New Knightly Oath Talents: Reiksguard, Knights Panther, Knights Griffon, Order of the Fiery Heart, Knights of the White Wolf, Knights of the Blazing Sun

Conditions: Frenzied (two copies)

Mutations: Spikes, Iron Skin, Weapon Limb, Weeping Blood

Marks of Khorne: Three copies

Severe Wounds: Garish Scar (three copies), Torn Ear, Impressive Scar (/faceplam), Gammy Leg, Bum Knee, Gouged Eye, Severed Leg, Severed Finger (two copies), Severed Sword Hand (main handedness), Severed Shield Hand (off hand), Nerve Damage, Head Shot

New Actions: 15 Adversary/Chaos Actions, 5 Mounted Combat Actions (new rules), 2 Slayer Actions, 2 Judgements, 15 Melee Actions, 4 Ranged Actions, 7 Support Actions, 6 Enhance Actions (new rules)

New Locations: Precarious Height, Burning City, Crumbling Watch Tower

New NPC's: Mercenaries (Willi Ziege, Zara Bok, Mann Hirsch)

New Daemons: Bloodletter, Flesh Hound (Khorne Dog), Juggernaught, Bloodthirster, Skulltaker, Karanak, Daemon Prince of Khorne

New Chaos Frenemies: Chaos Knight, Marauder Horseman, Skaeling Marauder, Tuula Bloodhair (Unique), Olaf Warhound (Unique), Valkia the Bloody (Unique), Pit Fighter Cult Leader, Pit Fighter Cultist, Chaos Champion of Khorne, Chaos Warrior of Khorne

New Items: Golden Hand (magik prosthetic hand), Crimson Rain (Spear), Von Finklemann's Fantabulous Finger-Gun (prosthetic finger)

Still haven't read all the way through the books, but Omens of War provides a lot of good fluff on military regiments, the knightly orders and the various martial pursuits of the Empire and its denizens. Chapter 6 does in fact provide a quick but effective run down (in like 3 pages I think) of mounted combat rules. They also provide stats for warhorses, draught horses etc. There is essentially a basic stat block for a horse and you add certain qualities to it. They have three examples but it won't be hard to come up with home-brew nags, mules, etc. Apply the wind mechanics to existing beasts and you can ride just about anything...or anyone?

and what about the fighting styles? How does that apply?

sinkarna said:

The article was pretty informative.

any refinement of mass combat?

Omens of War is 48 pages long:

Page 4 - 8: A description of some of the more famous battles in the history of the Empire, and some discussion of notable eras like the Time of Three Emperors.

Page 9 - 18: A description of the significant battles fought in each of the provinces of the Empire.

Page 19 - 23: A description of the conflicts involving other races, and menaces in far flung parts of the world like Lizardmen

Page 24 - 31: A description of the knightly orders of the empire

Page 32 - 40: Military organizations of the empire culminating in a description of two sample armies that fought in significant battles. I believe the army lists are intended to show the actual numbers involved in a battle more than anything else.

If mass combat is what you want...GW and FFG would grab you by the shoulders and point you toward Warhammer Fantasy Battle (regardless of how you feel about the ol' girl). If the FFG crew even scribbled some mass combat alternate rules on a napkin there would be murders in the night.

Page 42-48: New Expanded combat rules. Horses and moutned combat reach from 42- 47. Fighting styles are given half of page 48 and the new Enhance action card anatomy is explored on the other half of page 48.

Overall I like that the book is generally fluff, even if I do own in it several formats already...or can just pop over to Lexicanum and read it online for free.

Haven't ripped through the Khorne book yet...as I'm still at work and have had to smuggle my reading in between tasks lol

Doc, the Weasel said:

Huummm...true. I guess I was expecting something more than just card traits...my mistake!

So according to Callidon's description there is only one basic career. I wonder what the break down of the Advanced careers are, such as which ones are intermediate (or rank 2) and which are truly advanced (rank 3)?

Outrider, Duelist, Knight, Marksman, Sergeant, Veteran are all Intermediate

Captain, Knight of the Inner Circle and Preceptor are listed as Advanced. Although Preceptor requires completion of Knight of the Inner Circle to enter which should make it easily a Rank 3 if not Rank 4 career seeing as Knight of the Inner Circle requires completion of Knight to enter.

sinkarna said:

I'm actually pretty pleased with this. It allows flexibility... they can just be action cards, after all, but they are thematically very cool. Now I want to play a fencer/dueler. I mean, a lot. And as GM who has banged the "traits aren't restrictions" drums pretty hard, I think I'm going to strongly encourage players to stick within one style. But that being said, I'm pretty sure that left to themselves my players would drift to the one style that suits them.

I am thrilled that they have a style for bowmen. I also like that the enhacement cards are tied to the different styles. That didn't occur to me, but I think it's way cool. (Is there an enhancement for each style? I didn't think to look.)

I am thrilled with my first look over at all this crunch; it seems like a really a strong expansion.

I might even read the fluff.

Alright finished looking through the Liber Carnagia. It is 48 pages long

Pages 3-11: A friendly introduction to Khorne, some of his cults, his relations with other chaos powers. There is also some discussion about his influence over the barbarian tribes that inhabit Norsca and the Chaos Wastes. Finally you get a bit of information on the kinds of "gifts" Khorne hands out (at the end of a sword point).

Pages 12-15: Discuss Severe Injuries, and how to dove tail them together with disease and trauma/madness. The real shining light of this section and, to me at least, both books is the section on losing limbs and prosthetics. Have you had a chance to wonder what the weapon stats are for a hook hand? Look no further. Also some good suggestions on how to cope and the challenges it will bring, because that peg leg isn't just going to appear when the leg is lopped off.

Page 16 - 24: This is the creature section of the book that expands upon the cards and gives some fluff to back them up.

Page 25-48:The Adventure Crimson Rain for Rank 2 or 3 characters

RARodger said:

Not saying that it's bad thing per say, It's still in theme with the way everything in WFRP 3rd is made.

Callidon - thanks man, now I can pre-fill my binders in anticipation getting my Omens of War on Friday!

Can't wait for this! The adventure sounds hilarious. Valkia the Bloody! Chosen of Khorne AND a lord choice in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. And I'm running a campaign with commoners...

doc_cthulhu said:

Spoilers!

</River Song>

I wonder when this will hit the danish stores...

Looks very nice all in all, those careers will be heaven-send for our soldier and bountyhunter, both who'll be ready to change careers fairly soon.

very glad Omens is out and the reception seems to be pretty good so far, it was a lot of fun working on it- my first publication!

Spivo said:

Oh another dane Yes it's always late here.

yep, still not on "Faraos Cigarer" or "Fantask" webshops... dammit...

Got mine in Sacramento, CA (Store had two for three buyers. Glad I pre-ordered).

I'm liking the variety in the Severe Wounds (although I wish there were more). The ones that have multiples are all different, sometimes in effect (2 misfortunes instead of 1) and always in severity.

I also like that they break the mold as far as having a non-permanent basic effect, and a permanent severe effect. Some are never permanent. One (bum knee) is permanent from the get-go, but has has a bad effect whenever the threshold is reached. Sometimes you lose attribute points, sometimes it's permanent fatigue or stress.

All in all, a nice set.

Doc, the Weasel said:

Doc! Where in Sac did you find it? I cant find it anywhere. *Grumble*

Gtizman