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The new Astra Militarum/Imperial Guard book puts forward a well-balanced army with a greater emphasis on infantry forces and cuts down on the artillery. There are a few units that could have used a bit more thought, for instance, the Wyrdvane Psyker squad is inferior to the Primaris Psyker in almost every way, but costs more points.

Most of the other developments are positive, including a streamlined artillery section that is more complementary and less of a crutch for the army. The new wyvern and the returning basilisk can dish out wounds against poorly prepared armies, but lack the unforgiving firepower of the medusa and colossus that could ignore cover with AP3 or deal long-range demolisher blasts. On the other hand, infantry are more affordable and more effective through the new orders and their command system. The redone specialists are a great change, they’re cheaper and potentially more powerful (though less reliable): astropath, commissars, priests, etc.

While the army list is good, the “enhanced edition” isn’t. First of all, for its cost over the ebook version, one would expect a well put together book. However this book has its share of typos, unless my rough riders are supposed to have 7 attacks and 5+ hull points. The formatting is generally poor, the reference section (which in 5th edition was compiled onto a single page) is frusteratingly spread out over 16 pages at the end of the book, making it almost useless as a reference section. This is complicated by how slow the book is when flipping pages. I love the linked text, which will take you right to whatever rule you’re interested in, but just flipping pages you will notice the lag (even on my brand new Mac).

There are other choices that are annoying, for instance the choice to incorporate the named special characters in the main army list (rather than in a separate section). As someone who doesn’t much care for the named characters, this design choice makes navigating the army list that much slower. This book also oddly removes some of the most popular named characters (namely Sly Marbo and Al’ Rahem) without adding any new ones or even any old favorites (like Solar Marcharius).

This book also incorporates a rudimentary army builder, and I do mean rudimentary. The “requisition” section allows you to put together an army list but it is very sloppy. It allows you to create illegal units, and won’t stop you from spending points on items that units already have (every Chimera comes with searchlights and smoke launchers, but the army builder offers them as choices). The army builder also doesn’t let you edit your units once you’ve attached them to your army, making it very frusterating when you have built a list but are trying to cut back to a certain points level. You will have to remove the entire unit, and then add a new copy of a unit and select all the same options.

So far I like playing the new army list, but after buying the enhanced edition I’m having serious regrets considering I could’ve bought the hardback and supported my local store.

I don't mind the enhanced version, its the first one I have bought because I couldn't get to a shop easily this week, but I wouldn't get another one. I still prefer an actual book and you are right it is quite slow.

Also, I don't know if this is the case in the book as well, but its very annoying not having a charaters rules under thier fluff. You have to go to the points section and read the links, which works, but takes longer!

The builder at the end isn't meant to be a list builder, it's a way to keep track of a collection. That's why it lets you build illegal units - you might own one of every special weapon for each squad, so this lets you catalogue it.

Not defending how poor it is, but you're not evaluating it on what it actually is.

 -Loki- wrote:
The builder at the end isn't meant to be a list builder, it's a way to keep track of a collection. That's why it lets you build illegal units - you might own one of every special weapon for each squad, so this lets you catalogue it.

Not defending how poor it is, but you're not evaluating it on what it actually is.

I never knew this. I thought GW said it was an army builder when it started with Space Marines, then Tyranids. Now when I use it for my Nids, I can look at it at a different way. Thanks for pointing it out to us. Now it won't be so frustrating to use.

 -Loki- wrote:
The builder at the end isn't meant to be a list builder, it's a way to keep track of a collection. That's why it lets you build illegal units - you might own one of every special weapon for each squad, so this lets you catalogue it.

Not defending how poor it is, but you're not evaluating it on what it actually is.

I'm not sure why that would be useful. And that's not how it works. For example, it will let me choose a heavy flamed for my vets and 3 more special weapons (clearly against the rules as in the army list) but when I select the third special weapon it grays out the other options, so even though I have plasma, melta, etc in my collection, I can't add all of those. The builder fails for both functions.