GW brings us a preview of what to expect in the final psychic awakening book: Pariah!
The Psychic Awakening saga has taken us from one side of the galaxy to the other. We’ve seen epic battles take place, and new heroes have risen. Now that we’ve reached the conclusion, it’s time to see what Pariah has waiting for us.
Contents
Pariah is absolutely packed, and the contents page has some hints at what you’ll find inside.
As with all of the Psychic Awakening books, Pariah has a section on the exciting narrative of the conflict, which sees Humanity take on the Necrons within the mysterious Pariah Nexus. The book also features a selection of missions allowing you to recreate the key battles of this war.
Inside, you’ll find updated rules for fielding the Inquisition in games of Warhammer 40,000 and datasheets for Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus, the Daemonifuge – Ephrael Stern – accompanied by Kyganil, and Illuminor Szeras. New models for these characters are coming out alongside the book and they’re going to be a real boon for Inquisition, Adepta Sororitas and Necron armies respectively.
Finally, there are Theatre of War rules that let you recreate many of the war zones that the epic Psychic Awakening has been fought over. You’ll definitely need to refine your strategies so that they work on these thematic battlefields.
Background
The Psychic Awakening has been the story of psychic mutation running rife across the galaxy, and it has seen every faction drawn into ferocious warfare. Humanity’s answer to the Cicatrix Malediction, and the mayhem spread in its wake, has been the Indomitus Crusade – battle group after battle group of warships sent to reinforce the buckling defences of the Imperium. Now, one such fleet has arrived at the Nephilim Sector to find an eerie silence.
As Battle Group Kallides pushes deeper, they are shocked by what they discover – vast blackstone pylons arranged in patterns of non-Euclidean fractal crypto-logic that defy explanation. They call this horrifying region the Pariah Nexus, and it is the Necron’s response to the Psychic Awakening.
Within the Pariah Nexus, the warriors of the Imperium find themselves wracked with anxiety, succumbing to exhaustion and a growing lethargy. Executions by Commissars reach epidemic proportions as Imperial Guardsmen abandon their posts and speak of giving up. The psykers aboard the battlegroup suffered terribly from this phenomenon dubbed the Stilling. Clearly, the Pariah Nexus was to blame, and it had to be destroyed. But the Necrons weren’t going to sit back and let that happen…
Rules
Pariah includes new Theatres of War rules which let you transform your battlefield into one of the blasted war zones seen throughout the Psychic Awakening saga. For example, the Daemon world rules can be used to represent any planet twisted by warp-spawned sorcery, such as Sortiarius from Ritual of the Damned.
These rules offer both a thematic way of playing Warhammer 40,000 and a new tactical challenge. Let’s see how you cope when the mere surface of the unnatural and terrifying Daemon world is enough to send your finest warriors out of their minds.
There’s also something mysterious about the objectives. Roll a D6 before the game and see what effect your objective markers have on the battle. Sometimes you get a boon, or perhaps it’ll be a curse. Maybe they’ll be dedicated to Khorne and your warriors will be filled with bloodlust.
There are also battlefield twists, which affect the entire game. For example, on a Field of War everyone becomes more dangerous.
This will make close combat units even better, which is sure to please the Blood God.
The Theatre of War rules are great for giving your battles that little bit of extra flavour, and you’ll really get the feeling that you’re fighting on a vicious Daemon world – or on a Necron tomb world, or in the depths of a perilous jungle.
Psychic Awakening: Pariah is available to pre-order from Saturday. Stay tuned, as we’ll be taking a look at some of the rules inside the book throughout this week. In the meantime, grab yourself the Start Collecting! Daemons of Khorne box so that you’re ready to spill blood and claim skulls on those Daemon worlds.
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