While Angron busies himself with transforming an entire Indomitus Crusade fleet into slavering monsters, the grand architect of the Arks of Omen saga edges closer to completing his inscrutable goal. A key piece of his puzzle lies deep within the Rock – the mobile space fortress of the Dark Angels Chapter and all that remains of their homeworld Caliban – and the time for subtle manipulation has ended.
The Arkifane unleashes his full might in Arks of Omen: Vashtorr, the third book in the latest narrative expansion series for Warhammer 40,000. Long preferring shadowy machinations in the background, Vashtorr now takes direct action and the Dark Angels are in for a shock.
Making a deal with an Abominable Intelligence* to predict the movements of the Rock, the Soul Forge King launches an all-out assault with forces gathered from the Black Legion, Iron Warriors, and his own cabal of indentured daemons. The largest and most terrifying Ark of Omen yet spearheads the attack – only to be bitterly resisted by the freshly ascended Grand Master Azrael.
With 30 pages of story and a spectacular model showcase, Arks of Omen: Vashtorr also introduces a narrative campaign for Boarding Actions entitled The Rock Besieged. This series of interlocking missions follows the story of Vashtorr’s attack, and can be played using the forces depicted in the book or used for your own campaigns starring any factions.
Each mission in the series has a special Campaign Outcome rule that grants bonuses for later missions. For instance, Find the Signal Data tasks the Chaos player with hunting down the Rock’s location – the sooner they manage their task, the fewer Command Points the Imperium player will have in the later Drastic Defence mission.
Six factions meanwhile gain Enhancements and Stratagems in the book, supplementing the Boarding Actions mustering rules for Chaos Daemons, Necrons, Tyranids, Genestealer Cults, the Death Guard, and the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Tyranids can project psychic abilities through solid walls with Shadow Connection, while the Genestealer Cults hustle Insidious Infiltrators into ship vents and crawlspaces, to spring out and catch enemies in deadly crossfires.
On top of all that, there are Boarding Actions rules for the Killzone Upgrades: Shadowvaults set, which add automated turrets and searchlights, while players taking the role of Attacker can deploy a Breaching Robot to carve through hatchways.
Arks of Omen: Vashtorr is coming to pre-orders later this month, so join us next week as we delve further into the book with datasheet downloads for Vashtorr and Grand Master Azrael.
* You can thank a clueless Inquisitor of the Ordo Astartes for that, Dark Angels
