Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

A pretty mediocre book overall, in terms of lore. You might still buy it for the new rules, but as someone who has retired from the tabletop scene, I am quite disappointed with this. Some major issues that ruin it for me are:

+ The book is 90% just normal stuff: Tau vs Astra Militarum vs Genestealer. The 10% about cool gak happening is mostly glossed over. Halfway through, I begin asking why is it call Psychic Awakening if the whole book features so little in terms of the development of psychic powers. There is never at any point where psychic powers are used to turn the tide and achieve victory.

+ The part focusing on the Astra Militarum never mentions the term Genestealer or Tyranids, only referring to the enemy as cultists and xenos. However, the secondary snippet where the Governess speaks with the priest about accepting help from the Tau, the term Genestealer appears, implying the characters are fully aware of the nature of the threat. This is so jarring due to its complete absence from the main part. Overall, the Genestealer threat is very widespread and every Imperial world should know about it. It makes no sense for the writer to avoid using the word whatsoever.

+ The battle briefs are overall good, but the conclusion of the Astra Militarum part is just bs. Very anti-climatic. I thought I was reading the escalation, but then it abruptly ended.



What? For a moment, I thought the Genestealers were neck-to-neck with the Imperials. The next, they are all dead. Where is the part where the Imperials slaughter them in their thousands within their dens? Where is the part where bodies are piled up to burn? Where are the Patriarch and the Magus? Nope, the Genestealers ran out of places to run, so they just all die. I'm not saying it's nonsensical, but the presentation is so poor. Seriously, did M.night Shyamalan write this?

I heard Phoenix Rising and Ritual of the Damn are bad. So has Phoenix Rising been a miss in terms of lore?

I don't think anyone thinks there is any significant value in PA books in terms of storytelling....

Its essentially a codex update / paywalled game patch.

PA is a way to push out marine updates disguised as content updates for everyone else.

Change my mind.

Change my mind.

Don't need to, don't care what you think. Change my mind.

Justyn wrote:

Change my mind.

Don't need to, don't care what you think. Change my mind.

he seems to think it's a horriable crime that Marines get content. I think he's playing the wrong game

The PA books are primarily a rules expansion. Lore content is added as a reward for spending the money on the rules, so you'll likely be disappointed if you're not interested in both lore and rules.

Having said that, Psychic Awakening is more of a name for the series than any promise of content. Warpy things are happening all across the setting, but the stories aren't always going to be Warp related.

bibotot wrote:
+ The part focusing on the Astra Militarum never mentions the term Genestealer or Tyranids, only referring to the enemy as cultists and xenos. However, the secondary snippet where the Governess speaks with the priest about accepting help from the Tau, the term Genestealer appears, implying the characters are fully aware of the nature of the threat. This is so jarring due to its complete absence from the main part. Overall, the Genestealer threat is very widespread and every Imperial world should know about it. It makes no sense for the writer to avoid using the word whatsoever.

The size of Genestealer threat is a secret of the Inquisition, so the restricted use of the term is actually well in line with the setting.

Lammia wrote:
The PA books are primarily a rules expansion. Lore content is added as a reward for spending the money on the rules, so you'll likely be disappointed if you're not interested in both lore and rules.

Having said that, Psychic Awakening is more of a name for the series than any promise of content. Warpy things are happening all across the setting, but the stories aren't always going to be Warp related.

bibotot wrote:
+ The part focusing on the Astra Militarum never mentions the term Genestealer or Tyranids, only referring to the enemy as cultists and xenos. However, the secondary snippet where the Governess speaks with the priest about accepting help from the Tau, the term Genestealer appears, implying the characters are fully aware of the nature of the threat. This is so jarring due to its complete absence from the main part. Overall, the Genestealer threat is very widespread and every Imperial world should know about it. It makes no sense for the writer to avoid using the word whatsoever.

The size of Genestealer threat is a secret of the Inquisition, so the restricted use of the term is actually well in line with the setting.

Maybe the actual size of the Tyranids should be suppressed because of morale, but you must know the enemy to defeat them. What is the point of not letting Imperial leaders know the Genestealer threat and then have the entire world overrun? There is a difference between grimdark and cringeydark.

At this point, "Psychic Awakening" seems a really poor choice of name for the series of books.

 Dysartes wrote:
At this point, "Psychic Awakening" seems a really poor choice of name for the series of books.

it makes sense if you follow some of the plot arcs being touched on in the book

bibotot wrote:

Lammia wrote:
The PA books are primarily a rules expansion. Lore content is added as a reward for spending the money on the rules, so you'll likely be disappointed if you're not interested in both lore and rules.

Having said that, Psychic Awakening is more of a name for the series than any promise of content. Warpy things are happening all across the setting, but the stories aren't always going to be Warp related.

bibotot wrote:
+ The part focusing on the Astra Militarum never mentions the term Genestealer or Tyranids, only referring to the enemy as cultists and xenos. However, the secondary snippet where the Governess speaks with the priest about accepting help from the Tau, the term Genestealer appears, implying the characters are fully aware of the nature of the threat. This is so jarring due to its complete absence from the main part. Overall, the Genestealer threat is very widespread and every Imperial world should know about it. It makes no sense for the writer to avoid using the word whatsoever.

The size of Genestealer threat is a secret of the Inquisition, so the restricted use of the term is actually well in line with the setting.

Maybe the actual size of the Tyranids should be suppressed because of morale, but you must know the enemy to defeat them. What is the point of not letting Imperial leaders know the Genestealer threat and then have the entire world overrun? There is a difference between grimdark and cringeydark.

Genestealers are amoung the most subtle and insidious threats to humanity, even more so than Chaos. Planetary may know there are things such as Tyranids and Genestealers, but all the masses need to know is to shoot the Xenos. Even governors know little of their true threat, no one out side the Holy Ordos and maybe the chamber militants are trusted, lest it be used against them. Knowledge is Power, hide it well.

 Eonfuzz wrote:
PA is a way to push out marine updates disguised as content updates for everyone else.

Change my mind.

You post this trash in a thread about one of the three books that have nothing to do with Marines.

Well done!

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Eonfuzz wrote:
PA is a way to push out marine updates disguised as content updates for everyone else.

Change my mind.

You post this trash in a thread about one of the three books that have nothing to do with Marines.

Well done!

He's got a bit of a complex don't he?

Ironically, I think it was the best written PA book in terms of fluff. Now that doesn't mean it in any way lived up to the "THIS IS THE BIGGEST THING SINCE THE EYE OF TERROR!" nonsense but by this point I think we've all accepted that was marketing talk and has meant nothing.

But whilst it doesn't really do anything at all for the narrative, because there's no Marines to swing around and go, "THEY'RE TRULY THE BESTIST EVER, OH NO IT'S SUCH A DANGEROUS SITUATION BUT LUCKILY THE MARINES PREVAIL!" it's allowed them to show all three of the factions getting some wins, suffering some losses, and generally operating in ways that play to their core themes and strategies rather than serve exclusively as punching bags to market the new Primaris release.

 Arbitrator wrote:
Ironically, I think it was the best written PA book in terms of fluff. Now that doesn't mean it in any way lived up to the "THIS IS THE BIGGEST THING SINCE THE EYE OF TERROR!" nonsense but by this point I think we've all accepted that was marketing talk and has meant nothing.

But whilst it doesn't really do anything at all for the narrative, because there's no Marines to swing around and go, "THEY'RE TRULY THE BESTIST EVER, OH NO IT'S SUCH A DANGEROUS SITUATION BUT LUCKILY THE MARINES PREVAIL!" it's allowed them to show all three of the factions getting some wins, suffering some losses, and generally operating in ways that play to their core themes and strategies rather than serve exclusively as punching bags to market the new Primaris release.

In fairness I've not read the BA book, but F&F and ritual of the damned didn't exactly do that eaither. not in an overwhelming degree. in fact F&F was kinda dissappointing, from a narrative POV

Yeah I heard this one was the best so far ? With several different warzones each one being played differently and showing different way of warfare and being generally balanced and in theme ?

My complaint with the book is how little the IG and Genestealers got in terms of content.
40 bucks for 5ish pages of rules...yay.

GW's ability to write compelling fluff and background has been basically nonexistent for several editions, and unfortunately PA is just the newest instance of that. Particularly outside of FW, the main GW studio hasn't put out much of real interest in terms of fluff in gaming stuff since probably 4th edition.

PA is basically a mid-edition refresh release to keep up interest with a handful of rules for each faction that mostly just add power bloat to the game (more +'s to hit or rerolls and the like) without introducing much in the way of genuinely new mechanics, units, meaningful options, or game concepts. The fluff is just filler to justify the $50 price tag.

 Vaktathi wrote:
GW's ability to write compelling fluff and background has been basically nonexistent for several editions, and unfortunately PA is just the newest instance of that. Particularly outside of FW, the main GW studio hasn't put out much of real interest in terms of fluff in gaming stuff since probably 4th edition.

PA is basically a mid-edition refresh release to keep up interest with a handful of rules for each faction that mostly just add power bloat to the game (more +'s to hit or rerolls and the like) without introducing much in the way of genuinely new mechanics, units, meaningful options, or game concepts. The fluff is just filler to justify the $50 price tag.

Yeah. I mean, there have been a FEW legitimately interesting things added that didn't up the offense to crazy levels, but they're mostly just packaged in with stuff that...does that.

LIke hey, my Thousand Sons get cults now! What a cool, subtle way to introduce a difference between my exalted sorcerors who look TOTALLY DIFFERENT while being TOTALLY IDENTICAL in game terms.

....Too bad in the same book they introduced the ability to, for 2cp, infiltrate a unit of 20 rubrics into the midboard and shoot them twice in the shooting phase, slamdunking a huge swathe of my opponent's army if I get the first turn

offense vs defense in 8th is borked beyond belief. Look at this: What does 1CP buy you? two rules from the same book

1CP: Resurrect 1 dead model from a unit of rubrics or heal D3 wounds if any models are wounded but not killed, IF you manifested a psychic power on a natural roll of 9 or more.

Also 1CP: SHOOT TWICE with a unit of rubrics that didn't move. For a normal unit of 10 rubrics, that puts down 20 S4 AP-2 D1 shots at BS3+.

bibotot wrote:
A pretty mediocre book overall, in terms of lore. You might still buy it for the new rules, but as someone who has retired from the tabletop scene, I am quite disappointed with this. Some major issues that ruin it for me are:

+ The book is 90% just normal stuff: Tau vs Astra Militarum vs Genestealer. The 10% about cool gak happening is mostly glossed over. Halfway through, I begin asking why is it call Psychic Awakening if the whole book features so little in terms of the development of psychic powers. There is never at any point where psychic powers are used to turn the tide and achieve victory.

+ The part focusing on the Astra Militarum never mentions the term Genestealer or Tyranids, only referring to the enemy as cultists and xenos. However, the secondary snippet where the Governess speaks with the priest about accepting help from the Tau, the term Genestealer appears, implying the characters are fully aware of the nature of the threat. This is so jarring due to its complete absence from the main part. Overall, the Genestealer threat is very widespread and every Imperial world should know about it. It makes no sense for the writer to avoid using the word whatsoever.

+ The battle briefs are overall good, but the conclusion of the Astra Militarum part is just bs. Very anti-climatic. I thought I was reading the escalation, but then it abruptly ended.

Spoiler:

The fighting remained arduous
nonetheless. Blade-limbed xenos
cultists inflicted appalling damage, tearing apart Imperial infantry with
frightening ease before they were
put down. Hulking brutes wielding
immense picks, and hammers
shrugged off all but the heaviest
weapons fire as they crushed
their enemies to pulp. An entire
Thaxarillian Guard regiment even
fell to the xenos taint, turning on
their allies in a terrible surprise
attack. It took months of gruelling
fighting to finally destroy them, in
which time other units also had to
be purged; the same corruption had
somehow spread from the cultists
to thousands of Imperial troops.
Nevertheless, these were all but
minor setbacks. The cultists had
nowhere left to run.

Eletyrio was eventually judged
secure, though sporadic fighting
continued for months after the
official declaration of victory.

What? For a moment, I thought the Genestealers were neck-to-neck with the Imperials. The next, they are all dead. Where is the part where the Imperials slaughter them in their thousands within their dens? Where is the part where bodies are piled up to burn? Where are the Patriarch and the Magus? Nope, the Genestealers ran out of places to run, so they just all die. I'm not saying it's nonsensical, but the presentation is so poor. Seriously, did M.night Shyamalan write this?

I heard Phoenix Rising and Ritual of the Damn are bad. So has Phoenix Rising been a miss in terms of lore?

I thought the book was like okay. Tank Aces are cool. Custom Regiments have a better-than-normal chance of taking off since the existing IG "good" options for relics, stratagems, and orders was so dispersed as is and people were picking Catachan for the trait anyway, though OTOH with the great importance of melee this edition I'm not sure if they'll displace Catachan. None of the melee ones are better than +1S, and there's only like 1 infantry shooting one that's okay. Tempestas Scions stuff was cool, I now want to buy 2 more stormtrooper squads and an extra tempestor to have them in a separate detachment for their cool stratagems and stuff.

The lore itself was adequate. It was exactly what I was expecting, and to be honest, I kind of prefer it being in the general sense than the specific. I uh, don't really care about the specific lore of characters and stuff doing important things, the lore should just give atmosphere.

PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

The Salt Mine wrote:
PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

I won't deny the possibility, and certainly there is precedent.

But personally, I think the annual campaign + small release for every faction is the new business model, and I think they might stick with it. I hope they do; the game can move forward, with new units, new factions and we can finally see the end of finecast.

I actually don't really mind the PA model in theory if they're gonna keep in going on a yearly basis, but I wish they'd be more creative than just ramping up the killing power for the most part. I mean, looking at the Guard stratagems in Greater Good for example, it's pretty much all just direct attack power increases ("reroll wounds, add 1 to hit rolls, improve AP by 1, use maximum shots value") with a couple damage mitigation abilities. Same thing for most of the doctrines and Tank Ace abilities. It's almost all direct attritional combat bonuses of some sort.

Maybe have a stratagem allowing a squadron of hellhounds to create a wall of LoS blocking flame instead of shooting or force a unit to disembark from a structure, maybe allow Sentinels to reveal objective values in games with randomized values or to allow them to act as LoS for other units, maybe have a Tank Rider stratagem that allows infantry to treat any tank as a transport with the caveat that they can be shot at as a separate unit using the tank to measure LoS & range, maybe have a Combat Engineers stratagem allowing a unit of Veterans to create bridges/crossings for impassible terrain, etc. Stuff that adds new options and mechanics that genuinely add some depth and perhaps a reason to take certain units that offer unique stratagem capabilities to express their roles that aren't just straight combat bonuses.

Alas...as is tradition with GW, they take a fundamentally good idea and really bork the execution.

PenitentJake wrote:

The Salt Mine wrote:
PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

I won't deny the possibility, and certainly there is precedent.

But personally, I think the annual campaign + small release for every faction is the new business model, and I think they might stick with it. I hope they do; the game can move forward, with new units, new factions and we can finally see the end of finecast.

I think its safe to say that finecast is going the way of the dodo regardless of what happens rules wise. But the current model really isn't sustainable with the amount of rules bloat they keep adding with each new release. It is already past the point where some armies require a library to play the game. I played a game that required my to use rules for 7 different books last weekend it was pretty dumb.

The Salt Mine wrote:

PenitentJake wrote:

The Salt Mine wrote:
PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

I won't deny the possibility, and certainly there is precedent.

But personally, I think the annual campaign + small release for every faction is the new business model, and I think they might stick with it. I hope they do; the game can move forward, with new units, new factions and we can finally see the end of finecast.

I think its safe to say that finecast is going the way of the dodo regardless of what happens rules wise. But the current model really isn't sustainable with the amount of rules bloat they keep adding with each new release. It is already past the point where some armies require a library to play the game. I played a game that required my to use rules for 7 different books last weekend it was pretty dumb.

Yeah having to flip through 4 books every 2 minutes to see if your guy does something when shot at or shooting/attacking is pretty infuriating.

The Salt Mine wrote:

PenitentJake wrote:

The Salt Mine wrote:
PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

I won't deny the possibility, and certainly there is precedent.

But personally, I think the annual campaign + small release for every faction is the new business model, and I think they might stick with it. I hope they do; the game can move forward, with new units, new factions and we can finally see the end of finecast.

I think its safe to say that finecast is going the way of the dodo regardless of what happens rules wise. But the current model really isn't sustainable with the amount of rules bloat they keep adding with each new release. It is already past the point where some armies require a library to play the game. I played a game that required my to use rules for 7 different books last weekend it was pretty dumb.

7 books? what army was that?

you dont remember what the stats are for units you're running? weird

PenitentJake wrote:

The Salt Mine wrote:
PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

I won't deny the possibility, and certainly there is precedent.

But personally, I think the annual campaign + small release for every faction is the new business model, and I think they might stick with it. I hope they do; the game can move forward, with new units, new factions and we can finally see the end of finecast.

Accurate. The turnover of models and rules has created this weird card game like atmosphere.
Except without any of the balance and thorough design thought-process that is involved with (the popular) Card Games.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Racerguy180 wrote:
you dont remember what the stats are for units you're running? weird

Some people just don't have the headspace to know the rules.
I play RPG's with a guy for four years, whos' only *now* realising it has rules because he's playing the Videogame RPG version of it (Kingmaker).

The entire time the dude says "You didnt tell me i could do that" "u expect me to read this" etc

Lammia wrote:

bibotot wrote:

Lammia wrote:
The PA books are primarily a rules expansion. Lore content is added as a reward for spending the money on the rules, so you'll likely be disappointed if you're not interested in both lore and rules.

Having said that, Psychic Awakening is more of a name for the series than any promise of content. Warpy things are happening all across the setting, but the stories aren't always going to be Warp related.

bibotot wrote:
+ The part focusing on the Astra Militarum never mentions the term Genestealer or Tyranids, only referring to the enemy as cultists and xenos. However, the secondary snippet where the Governess speaks with the priest about accepting help from the Tau, the term Genestealer appears, implying the characters are fully aware of the nature of the threat. This is so jarring due to its complete absence from the main part. Overall, the Genestealer threat is very widespread and every Imperial world should know about it. It makes no sense for the writer to avoid using the word whatsoever.

The size of Genestealer threat is a secret of the Inquisition, so the restricted use of the term is actually well in line with the setting.

Maybe the actual size of the Tyranids should be suppressed because of morale, but you must know the enemy to defeat them. What is the point of not letting Imperial leaders know the Genestealer threat and then have the entire world overrun? There is a difference between grimdark and cringeydark.

Genestealers are amoung the most subtle and insidious threats to humanity, even more so than Chaos. Planetary may know there are things such as Tyranids and Genestealers, but all the masses need to know is to shoot the Xenos. Even governors know little of their true threat, no one out side the Holy Ordos and maybe the chamber militants are trusted, lest it be used against them. Knowledge is Power, hide it well.

That is 100% cringeydark, not grimdark. I very much hate how grimdark has gone to become so slowed. We are in the year 2020, not 1980. GW has not grown for 40 years if that is what they are going for.

Imagine season 8 of the Walking Dead where someone gets bitten and the other survivors just disinfect and bandage up the wound.

Seven books is realistic- BRB, CA, Dex, Supplement, Vigilus Book, PA Book- that's six for a monofaction army. Here's the thing though: the Vigilus and PA books are optional- most of the stuff in them isn't particularly game breaking, and going without it against someone who is loaded up with it doesn't necessarily hurt your odds too badly. Now if you happen to like the stuff in those books and you want to use it, of course, that's fine, but then why complain about bloat? You like it and want to use it.

I use no books when I play- just my notes.
What I do is write out the units I'm using with all of their stats and special rules from all the various sources on a single page per unit. Yes, this means re-writing every rule that applies to each unit, redundant or not- the idea is every single thing you need to know about that unit is written out on its page: absolutely no cross referencing. Ever.

I even add a list of recommended strategems and synergies for each unit to help me make decisions quickly, and I include page numbers in case my opponent calls shenanigans.

Takes a bit of prep, but makes the game super smooth. The bonus is that writing all that stuff out assists with the memory work too. You can save a copy of every load out and just cut and paste to build an army. I like using a spreadsheet where every unit gets a page. Saving the template makes the process of entering the data really easy.

Before you argue that you shouldn't have to do it, which is valid, let me say that this is something I've always done for every edition- I always thought it was just part of the hobby and I'm kinda surprised there are people who don't do it.

PenitentJake wrote:

The Salt Mine wrote:
PA is just a cash grab before they drop 9th edition and invalidate all the rules you just spend money on. Its been par for the course for the last couple editions to drop a new edition once all the codices are out and they drop a few supplements.

I won't deny the possibility, and certainly there is precedent.

But personally, I think the annual campaign + small release for every faction is the new business model, and I think they might stick with it. I hope they do; the game can move forward, with new units, new factions and we can finally see the end of finecast.

The game can't move forward because of the core rules though.