Legion of the Damned Mini-Dex - rated - Meh to cool

  Always have had a soft spot of these guys, and this new $16.99 mini-dex promised tons of fluff for them.  Needless to say, I handed over my money, pre-order fashion and waited...

  Then the great computer debacle of 2014 occurred, which has led to a completely lost weekend as I upgraded to 2 new computers... blah blah blah, I'll spare you the details.  You don't care about them (unless you like the thought of 2 brand new Macs on my desk, muahahahaah!!!!)  So, I was able to read and digest the mini-dex yesterday and last night.  All in all, I would give it a B... a solid B, but not the A+ I hoped for.

  So, as far as a mini-dex goes, it's not too bad.  It concentrates on 1 thing, the LotD, obviously.  It does also make them different from the standard marine codex entry in many ways.

  They are now a detachment unto themselves, which seems to be a new rage with GW things.  They can ally with the usual suspects, Battle brothers with Imperium, hate Xenos totally, and are meh to Eldar/Tau.  They have a force org for their detachment so you can take a nasty big amount of them.  They can also nominate a warlord who gets some gonzo abilities and a relic of his own.

  One of the warlord traits is a great one called Never too late, Never too early, which allows them to arrive via reserve at will, no roll required, starting on turn 2, have to be in by turn 4.  Very nice to know you will have them when you need, but alas, only a 1 in six for that.  The other warlord traits are pretty nice, but no game changers.

  The squads are as you would expect, no major change to their stat lines.  The special rules are bumped a bit, and makes them a bit more fluffy.  They have the rule, Aid Unlooked For, which makes them unable to have ICs join them, requires reserve entry via deep strike, but does allow you to re-roll scatter dice if you want.  they also get Fear, Fearless and Slow and Purposeful.  The other rules they get give them Ignore Cover and a 3+ invul save.  All in all, a nice package of rules.

  Also in the dex are some missions, an Apocalypse data sheet for them and some other goodies, plus some really nice art. 

  So, why the B?  CUZ THEY DIDN'T ANSWER THE AGE OLD QUESTION IN THE FLUFF!!!!  (Sorry for yelling, just frustrated).  Everyone who has been in the game since the olden days (remember Rogue Trader?) has opinions about just who these blokes are and why they are here.  Yes, this codex adds ALOT of really nice fluff, background stories, first-hand witness accounts etc, BUT NO ANSWERS.  (I say that with tongue firmly in cheek.)  Still, the fluff is really quite good, and the legion are now much more configurable and can go anywhere, with anyone.

  Can you make a LotD army list?  Nope, not that I can see.  No vehicles, no troops (all LotD are elites, but they are their own detachment, so they don't count against you) and no ICs.  (I think if you make them primary detachments though, they become scoring units, so you just might be able to pull it off).  They will make a very nice, powerful add on to an imperial list, or give some real flanking punch to one of their more erstwhile allies.  These guys are tough hombres and you have to kill them dead, dead, dead to make them go away.  Since they are, like Codex Inquisition units, a detachment unto themselves, you could conceivably have 7 units on the board (3 from main force org elite slots and 4 from this detachment slots).

  I think I just saw a Sisters of Battle army becoming viable???  :)

  So there you have it, my thoughts after a good nights reading the mini-dex.  Hope you enjoyed it!  See ya soon.  Need to get to work on my new Imperial Knight :)