Review - White Dwarf 302

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>"P Bowles" <pbowles@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20050127170412.00127.00000008@mb-m15.aol.com...
>
>> BLOOD BOWL
>>
>> Skeleton with chainsaw £5
>>
>> I suppose there's a reason this is needed.
>
>well, it's a skeleton with a chainsaw. I sure can't think of a
reason why
>NOT.

Wait until you've seen the model. It takes Blood Bowl to get a
skeleton wrong.

>> Most of this is reprinted and there's very little on Biel-Tan
history -
>> disappointing, though at least it doesn't introduce anything that
conflicts
>> with my Biel-Tan fluff. Introduced is the idea of just what an
Autarch is, >and
>> this idea (an Exarch that has explored several Aspects of the Path
of the
>> Warrior) seems to conflict with long-established fluff which holds
that an
>> Eldar is confined to one Aspect when he chooses the Path of the
Warrior.
>
>that's not the inconsistency; I don't think it's even been stated
that an
>aspect warrior can't follow multiple aspects in his lifetime.

I've since wondered about that - it's implicit and it seems to go
against the way the Eldar compartmentalise their lives, but I can see
the Autarch more as tweaking tradition than flagrantly violating rules
of the Paths, and that's how I'll incorporate him into my Biel-Tan
fluff - I'll dispense with the idea that he literally follows several
Paths, but maybe portray him as a Warrior who starts on one Aspect but
gets so obsessed with exploring the military side of his character
that he stops off to train in other Aspect shrines on occasion. This
fits quite well with the fluidity I imagine in the Path structure,
rather than the rigid division into cults that some others think of,
and in truth it makes him more interesting than just another type of
super-Exarch (plus it explains why his Epic incarnation gets both a
ranged and an assault weapon while Exarchs get only one or the other).
Of course I know the real reason - in rules terms, GW wants to be able
to get away with making one Autarch rather than eight and allow him
access to the full list of Shrine goodies and warrior powers.

an exarch
>>though, on the other hand...

It's very badly worded, but I think the idea is that the Aspect
Warrior explores several Aspects before becoming Trapped - that
instead of becoming an Exarch of one Aspect, he becomes Trapped as an
Autarch.

What does make me uneasy is the prominence given to the Court of the
Young King - when it was introduced I wasn't too keen on the idea as
it contradicted the established Chamber of Heroes (which had the same
function in government but didn't let GW sell extra Exarch models) and
I'd rather see the Court as a basically ceremonial representation of
the Biel-Tan Warrior Cult rather than a significant political entity,
but I can work around it.

Philip Bowles

 

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"Philip Bowles" <pbowles@aol.com> wrote in message
news:587631d1.0501280727.5b156d0f@posting.google.com...
> >"P Bowles" <pbowles@aol.com> wrote in message
> >news:20050127170412.00127.00000008@mb-m15.aol.com...
> >
> >> BLOOD BOWL
> >>
> >> Skeleton with chainsaw £5
> >>
> >> I suppose there's a reason this is needed.
> >
> >well, it's a skeleton with a chainsaw. I sure can't think of a
> reason why
> >NOT.
>
> Wait until you've seen the model. It takes Blood Bowl to get a
> skeleton wrong.

oh, I saw it. the best I can say about it is that it's certainly no worse
than the first-generation BB undead figs. although then I remembered that
those were made 20 years ago...

 

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"Philip Bowles" <pbowles@aol.com> wrote in message
news:587631d1.0501280727.5b156d0f@posting.google.com...
> an exarch
> >>though, on the other hand...
>
> It's very badly worded, but I think the idea is that the Aspect
> Warrior explores several Aspects before becoming Trapped - that
> instead of becoming an Exarch of one Aspect, he becomes Trapped as an
> Autarch.
>
> What does make me uneasy is the prominence given to the Court of the
> Young King - when it was introduced I wasn't too keen on the idea as
> it contradicted the established Chamber of Heroes (which had the same
> function in government but didn't let GW sell extra Exarch models) and
> I'd rather see the Court as a basically ceremonial representation of
> the Biel-Tan Warrior Cult rather than a significant political entity,
> but I can work around it.
>
> Philip Bowles
Wasn't it in one of the old supplements like Epic Renegades or and old WD
that it talked about the Eldar path? IIRC it said that and Eldar can go upon
the path of the warrior more than once and become different aspects? Then if
one stays on the path of a particular aspect for too long he becomes trapped
and becomes an Exarch? It still fists that is your were a rare one and
kept just rotating through the aspect and never going back to other paths it
would still lead to the Autarch being created. Or do I have it all wrong?

Joe (hairless tree sloth) Boster

 

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In article <G7GKd.33488$IV5.13723@attbi_s54>, "Desert Lurker"
<ironavengers.spam@ridgenet.net> writes:

>>> What does make me uneasy is the prominence given to the Court of the
>>> Young King - when it was introduced I wasn't too keen on the idea as
>>> it contradicted the established Chamber of Heroes (which had the same
>>> function in government but didn't let GW sell extra Exarch models) and
>>> I'd rather see the Court as a basically ceremonial representation of
>>> the Biel-Tan Warrior Cult rather than a significant political entity,
>>> but I can work around it.
>>>
>>> Philip Bowles
>>Wasn't it in one of the old supplements like Epic Renegades or and old WD
>>that it talked about the Eldar path? IIRC it said that and Eldar can go upon
>>the path of the warrior more than once and become different aspects? Then if
>>one stays on the path of a particular aspect for too long he becomes trapped
>>and becomes an Exarch? It still fists that is your were a rare one and
>>kept just rotating through the aspect and never going back to other paths it
>>would still lead to the Autarch being created. Or do I have it all wrong?
>

Not that I remember, and Renegades is currently too inaccessible for me to
bothered fishing it out and checking it. However, this is how I've interptreted
Autarchy in a piece that I'll insert into my own Biel-Tan fluff:

The Autarchs

On nearly all Craftworlds it is expected that an Eldar, after exploring the
militant part of his character through the Aspect that best suits his
personality, will leave the Path of the Warrior and embark upon another.

However, the pursuit of any Path is a highly individual endeavour, and while
the way in which an Eldar follows the Paths is to a large extent constrained by
tradition there are few rules limiting how they may be followed. Thus it is by
tradition rather than doctrine that the Path of the Warrior is so rigidly
divided into Warrior Aspects, and it is not unknown for rare Eldar who are
strongly drawn to the art of battle to attempt to explore more than one,
blurring the distinction between Aspect Shrines.

Most often, though certainly not exclusively, these Eldar are drawn from the
ranks of the Dire Avengers. On Biel-Tan this seems be due in part to the
Aspect's pre-eminence, but the same trend appears to exist on other
Craftworlds. It has been speculated that Eldar of the necessary temperament are
first drawn to the Dire Avengers as being among the least specialised of the
Aspects, and so offering the opportunity to explore the greatest range of
battlefield skills.

Such Eldar do not actually abandon the Aspect they first chose, but instead
elect to spend some of their time training in one or more of the Craftworld's
other Aspect shrines at various points during their time on the Warrior Path. A
shrine on most Craftworlds is not a closed community, and the Exarchs will
train any Eldar who is willing to adopt that Aspect, even for a time. It is not
hard to see why on most Craftworlds this way of following the Path of the
Warrior is treated as an aberration; for the Eldar of the Craftworld the rigid
division into Paths and Aspects, and the belief that following no more than one
at a time is crucial to maintaining their emotional discipline, has been
unquestioned since the very founding of the Warrior Shrines. Warrior Eldar who
spend a portion of their free time among the Aspects are seen as dangerously
obsessive.

Rarer still than Eldar who explore several Aspects of the Warrior Path are
those such Eldar who survive to become Trapped, existing in much the same
proportion as Exarchs to the general population of Aspect Warriors. The largest
Craftworlds might not be expected to have more than a few Autarchs at any one
time. In many ways Autarchs are more formidable in combat even than the
Exarchs, as the skills learned by generations of Eldar following multiple
Aspects are housed in the spirit stones of Autarch armour. Their combat
capabilities are therefore more varied, and their leadership experience and
strategic ability greater, than those of other Exarchs. Consequently, Autarchs
are often given battlefield commands.

Autarchs are rare even on Biel-Tan, but considerably less so than on other
Craftworlds. This is of course a natural consequence of the Craftworld's large
Aspect Warrior population, but there is also a sense in which the Biel-Tan are
less wary of Autarchy than other Craftworlds. While divergence from the
traditional Path structure is not encouraged, it is not stigmatised where the
Path of the Warrior is concerned, and Autarchs are treated with as much or more
reverence than their fellow Exarchs, for embodying the ultimate mastery of
warcraft.

Philip Bowles