Games Workshop re-released the first edition (titled Rogue Trader) of Warhammer 40,000 to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary, and I'm reviewing it chapter by chapter. This post covers the second half of Chapter 3: Age of the Imperium.
So far, Age of the Imperium has provided a little lore and a handful of options for building a unit for each faction. Personally, I love the concept of rolling for unit profiles, at least in theory. I can definitely see how it could get over-complex for a player with more than 1 or 2 units on the table to remember which unit has which special features. And I assume that it would have been common to re-roll unit profiles before each game, which admittedly seems like a lot of work and yet more variables to try to keep in mind. When you have static definitions of what a given unit is, you can learn the units you own to the point of never needing to look in a book for what number you need to roll to hit this time because it's the same every time. It suggests to me that early games of Warhammer 40,000 may have been smaller than modern games.
Alternately, maybe the intent of Rogue Trader was that there would be 3 or 4 players, each with an army unit, playing against the Games Master. I love that idea, and I definitely want to try it myself. However, I gather that for many people, myself included, one of the advantages of modern 40k over a roleplaying game is that it only requires 2 players. It's a lot easier to schedule a game with 2 players than juggling the schedules of 4 or 5 people.
The second half of Chapter 3 provides profiles for abhumans and non-humans. Some of the factions and creatures listed still exist in the game today, and others have been all but forgotten. Here's a complete list of what's provided.
It's hard to tell heading from subheading in Rogue Trader, but I think what we would call the "Xenos" section of the chapter starts with the Eldar. The book basically doesn't use the term "xenos" (I vaguely recall seeing it written once, but now I can't find it).
Strange entities dwell in the Warp. Each one listed gets a profile and, usually, a cool special rule to surprise players with. This section is obviously intended for the Games Master (even though it's not obviously separated or "hidden" away in a separate chapter). This begins what I would consider the bestiary section of the book, and I wish Games Workshop provided something like this today. I just end up making my own rules for them, but I enjoy throwing miniatures from other games into my 40k scenarios, and at least among a certain set of gamers I think it's a little naïve to assume players don't have a box of D&D and Cthulhu and who-knows-what-else miniatures waiting to be included.
Last but not least, there's the "alien archives" (to borrow terminology from Starfinder) section of the book. This section feels like yet more ways to put those random miniatures you have lying around to good use, and some (like dinosaurs) are explicitly included because the authors expect you to be able to find them in any local toy store.
Some of my favourite threats in a 40k game are environmental. Logically, you'd think they'd be easy to avoid. After all, whatever the threat, it's right there on the table for all players to see. Surely they'll just go around it. Yet in the heat of battle, a unit can end up next to a lava pit or localised elecrical storm or whatever, either by being forced back into it or by running bravely through it while hoping for the favour of the dice gods. Rogue Trader agrees, I guess, because dangerous flora is abundant.
Chapter 3 is an interesting mix of player options and player threats. I very much admire Rogue Trader for not separating rules for players and Game Masters, as if the 2 roles were completely different. I dislike the perception that a Games Master is a specialised and unique role in tabletop roleplaying games. I prefer the attitude of Rogue Trader and HeroQuest, where everyone is a player, but one player may have a different set of tools than the others.
The next, and final, chapter is The Advanced Gamer, with extra rules, tips, and tricks to make games faster, fun, and ferocious.
Header photo of book, glasses, and dice is licensed Creative Commons cc0.