Hey all!

I just had a question: a few months ago I happened to see a preview of a new DH book that was going to provide details on the Imperial Guard. I was looking forward to this supplement to use in my Deathwatch campaign, but I haven't been able to find any new information on that book recently. Does anyone have any information on this book?

Thanks guys!

It's going to be called "Only War", and it's now out yet. On page 2 you can find a thread full of speculation about what it will include.

Thanks bud, I appreciate the help! I'll check out the thread.

Blood Pact said:

This supplement is something I await with the greatest anticipation, as it is a great KEY to future planned campaigns where all of my players are lowly IG troopers. So much fun to be had!!

But what did you mean with "On page 2 you can find a thread full of speculation about what it will include."?? Page 2 of what?

dracopticon said:

Of this forum: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=70&efcid=3&efidt=564568

Something I noticed the other day is booksellers have it on their website as a publish date of sometime January mid Jan, but I can't find it on upcoming on this very site, so I'm not really sure we know when it's coming out...

This will be one of the most useless books for a Dark Heresy Campaign (except for the vehicle rules) but the most eagerly-awaited to bridge the gap between the other W40K games.

But like Charmander said, this product isn't even in the development if we can believe the Upcoming side.

Kain McDogal said:

Care to explain? Because see this book as something quite useful, especially for my guardsman character.

And the book is probably in development and will be announced when it's status is "at the printer" or even "on the boat", it's not like FFG hasn't done this a few times before.

Why do you say it will be useless?

Kain McDogal said:

Unless you wanted to play a campaign based around Imperial Guardsmen? The Guardsmen profile in DH is _okay_ but it has a lot to be desired, and doesn't really explore specialists, officers, ogryns, ratlings, commisars (yeah I know there is an advanced class but it's really meh), tankers, medics, etc. There is a huge wealth of places to explore within the guard that aren't at all covered by the DH book.

Even in a traditional DH campaign I can see it's use, as it might allow you to *gasp* play something other than a guardsman combat monkey. And if you want to play a Guardsman based campaign, where everyone is actually in the guard, I see this book as even more helpful.

I kinda see Kain McDogal 's point (I'm the one that started the uproar about the minimal usefulness of Baneblade stats in the Only War thread...), since the vast majority of people won't be playing 'all-Guard' campaigns, but I think there will be enough useful bits to make it appealing to people playing 'baseline' DH campaigns. I'm especially hoping for details on the War Worlds of the Calixis Sector. I've had a Saving Private Ryan (Ryanus?) scenario in mind for a while now- the Acolytes sent to rescue a seemingly inconsequential grunt (who holds the secret to identifying an arch-heretic) lost in the dreaded Soot Warrens of Tranch...

Heresy and other conspiracies happen within warzones too. It need not be an "all guard" game for the acolyte team to end up on a battlefield.

And don't mind that speculation thread, people are getting silly and thinking that the book will/should include things of limited usefullness that would be, frankly, a waste of space in the book. Like a whole Commissar career.. really now ? That's as bad as the people over on Lustria Online who think the next Lizardmen book will include PACKS of Carnosaurs as a unit choice.

I doubt people expect an entire Commisar career. Something like the Blood of Martyrs non-militant sororitas orders which piggyback off of other classes using an alternate rank one is what I'd expect. The Chaliced Commisairat advance is not, infact, an Imperial Guard Commisar and is significantly different in function, so it doesn't really fit.

Dare I say.. 'In the Grimdark Future there is ONLY WAR!'.

So there should be the most useful background book around.

Like Blood of Martyrs it's fullest use would be an entire Guard campaign, of which there is an absoloute pleathora of material to work with if you decide to go down this route. The number of IG related background books and novels for 40K is second only to the Space Marines.

Secondly, as it's title suggests the Imperial War machine is almost omnipresent, there's PDF on every planet and IG from many, this doesn't come up much in the stories but it's massive part of the background. And not just the background or potential story settings but as your Acolytes get more advanced, Ascension and even Rogue Trader these guard forces are often drafted into service. Sure tanks may seem like overkill but it's easy enough to have fit out the Enemies of the Imperium with stuff that requires it if that's the way you want to go.

Finally and arguable the most important, when I'm making a Guard Character I need a lot more character options. Not just overpowered gear or backgrounds or alternative home-worlds or alternative career ranks, but just backgroud material as much as any of these. It's nice to come up with a entire regiment to hail from, but it's better to come from a regiment that is written down and isn't going to contradict your own in a future book (or even knowning what is written down what your homebrew regiement can be like in keeping with the existing ones).

So I've been looking forward to this for a while.

I think that "only war" should brign new homeworld...at least two: Fortress world and Prison World. The two appears on "Into the Storm" and i think that are suitable for dark heresy background.

CodenameXXIII said:

Are there any such worlds in the Calixis? AFAICT there isn't even an astartes presence.

Penal worlds in the Calixis sector :

- Kummitzar (Azeroth)

Astartes in the Calixis sector :

- Sacris (Drusus' Marches / Storm Wardens)

Fortress world is not an astartes world. A Fortress world is like Cadia.

And I think the likelihood of someone coming from an Astartes homeworld is so remote that giving it a special entry would be a waste. Even without it's a background I'd be quick to scrub.

signoftheserpent said:

Not everyone is playing in the Calixis sector. DH is not geared towards Calixis-only games as the core mechanics are not Calixis specific.

Kain McDogal said:

That does not compute. It's almost natural that a GM might want to start out a bunch of new-to-40k Players as Guard to give them time to learn the universe and mechanics before jumping into the Inquisition. Then, use the first Haarlock adventure to bridge them to full Inquisition service.

signoftheserpent said:

Not as currently detailed, but a character could come from across the Sector boarder in either the Scarus or Ixaniad Sectors. The 'old-timey' map inside the covers shows a cluster of Ixaniad worlds connected by stable warp routes to Fenksworld; it makes sense to me that the one closest to the boarder would be a Fortress World, originally established to guard against the Yu'Vath and now falling into decay and used as a gathering place for mercenaries, smugglers, and other unsavory types...

DarkLoic said:

Thats a wierd one since the area was not reclaimed by the Imperium til after the Age of Apostacy (M36) in which the Nemesis Incident takes place. Sinophia is not even founded until M37. We have space marines hanging out in the sector before the Angevin Crusade (M39) and probably well before Drusus and Angevin are even born.

andrewm9 said:

Well with the Age of Apostasy you had a big ole' civil war and some warp storms, it doesn't seem to be too far of a stretch to say that one of a thousand Space Marine homeworlds was cut off from the rest of the Empire, or were to preoccupied with problems locally to be troubled with trying to reclaim the whole sector.

My point was that the area wasn't even settled by the Imperium according to Calixis history from DH. I also seem to remember reading that the Calixis sector had no native Space Marine chapters in DH though I can't place that comment to any one sourcebook or page number. I was commenting more than anything else becuase its odd. Its also odd that they did not participate in the Angevin Crusade that rolled thourgh their area and that they were missed by the Crusade itself. That seems like it would be clash worth noting.

andrewm9 said:

Bear in mind that much of the Storm Wardens' history has been deliberately erased, and the fact that their homeworld is within what is now the Calixis Sector (it's not unusual for Astartes homeworlds to be found in frontier or wilderness space, at least initially, simply because it's often those kinds of places that produce threats worthy of Astartes attention) is a secret known only to a handful of individuals within the Sector - officially, Sacris is a forbidden world, reclassified as such by the request of a previous Chapter Master.