Warhammer 40K Arks of Omen The Lion Review

The huge Warhammer 40,000 narrative event concludes in the final installment of Arks of Omen, this time with the newly returned Primarch of the Dark Angels, The Lion, who comes to face off against his former brother Angron and hopefully bring an end to Abaddon and Vashtorrs plans. Arks of Omen is the next phase of the Warhammer 40,000 ongoing narrative and continues with Arks of Omen The Lion. In this article, we'll look at what's in the book and what it adds to games of 40K.

What Are The Arks of Omen?

The Arks of Omen are a series of Warhammer 40,000 books that, along with containing details of the next stage of the 40K narrative, also include new rules for playing, focused on the included narrative campaign.

The Arks themselves are great space hulks, drawn out of the warp by Abaddon and his new ally, the chaos demigod of inventors, engineers, scientists, and artisans, Vashtorr, who is the focus of the third Arks of Omen book. Abaddon and Vashtorr have twisted these space hulks from their floating mass of dead ships, into powerful frigates that Abaddon filled with his warriors and sent out in search of powerful key fragments, that would see the dreams of Abaddon and Vashtorr fulfilled. We've already covered the previous Arks of Omen releases, including our review of Arks of Omen Abaddon, coverage of Arks of Omen Angron, a look at Arks of Omen Vashtorr, and our overview of Arks of Omen Farsight.

In Arks of Omen The Lion, the Lion, who has been gone since the end of the Horus Heresy 10,000 years ago, has returned and faces off against the combined might of Angron, Abaddon and Vashtorr in an attempt to thwart their plan to conquer the galaxy.

What New Rules Are In Arks of Omen The Lion?

Games Workshop has said that following player feedback, there won't be any new rules in Arks of Omen for standard games, instead, in Arks of Omen, there are the rules for a whole new game type, Boarding Actions.

Boarding Actions take place in the close confines of the twisted corridors of space hulks, using the walled scenery recently found in Kill Team Gallowdark series. 2 sets of the Kill Team scenery are required to play a standard boarding action game, so if you own both of those Kill Team sets, you already have all the scenery you'll need. If you don't, the Warhammer 40,000 Boarding Action Terrain set includes all the scenery you need to play in a single box.

Arks of Omen The Lion includes the rules for a variety of forces for use in Boarding Actions, which we detail below, along with several new missions datasheets for 40K units, but you will need a copy of Arks of Omen Abaddon for the Boarding Action core rules that Arks of Omen The Lion builds on. You can check out our review of Arks of Omen Abaddon here.

Which Factions Have Rules In Arks Of Omen The Lion?

Arks of Omen The Lion focuses on a few factions, adding special rules and list-building options for the following:

• League of Votann
• Thousand Sons
• Adeptus Custodes
• Agents of the Imperium

Each included faction has rules for Mustering a Boarding Patrol, Rules Adaptations, Enhancements, and Boarding Patrol Stratagems.

The Agents of the Imperium also get datasheets for the Rogue Trader and Voidsmen at Arms from the Elucidian Starstriders, and the Imperial Navy Breachers and Adeptus Arbites from Kill Team. Commander Dante of the Blood Angels and the Lion himself also get datasheets here. To learn more about Commander Dante, The Lion, and more (including coverage of the Datasheets) check out this week's Warhammer 40K new release roundup.

The Agents of the Imperium have a reactionary stratagem to help them out when facing fire in Boarding Actions, they can use Into the Breach during your opponent's shooting or fight phase to subtract 1 from the strength of the attack that targets them. The Thousand Sons get an incredibly thematic Stratagem, Entombed Automata, that allows them to deploy Rubric Marines anywhere within 6 inches of an entry point as they enact a plan decades in the making and activate Rubicae that have been secretly hidden in the bowels of the ship. The newest faction for 40K, the Leagues of Votann, get a warlord enhancement, Strength of the Hold that allows any friendly unit not in engagement range of the enemy, and within 6 inches of the warlord to be automatically set to defend.

Arks of Omen The Lion also includes 2 new types of missions, Dread Encounters, and Breaching Actions. Dread Encounters are 6 missions from the narrative moments of the Arks of Omen books, and Breaching Actions use the breached walls upgrades from Kill Team Soulshackle, in the 12 new missions in the book.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On The Warhammer 40K Arks of Omen The Lion?

The narrative in Arks of Omen the Lion is the best so far in the series. It's an incredible read and a great conclusion to the series, and what it means for the ongoing Warhammer 40K narrative. The new missions are fun to play, but the real focus of the book feels like an Agents of the Imperium update, and for Kill Team players, it gives you some great options and chances to use the forces and scenery from those sets. Dark Angels players will have to get The Lion for their Primarch's rules and while the narrative is almost solely focused around them, they will have to pick up 3 different Arks of Omen books to get all the rules they need.

Should I Buy Warhammer 40K Arks of Omen The Lion?

The narrative in Arks of Omen The Lion is the best yet in the series and a joy to read through. If you don't play boarding actions, then this won't have anything else for you as a player unless you're a Dark Angels player where you'll get the Lion's rules for 40K, or if you want to play Agents of the Imperium, where you get a lot of new datasheets. If you do play boarding actions, but don't field any of the factions included in The Lion, then the Dread Encounters and Breaching Actions are still decent, but you will have to pick up the Kill Team SoulShackle Terrain upgrade set when it's available for the breached walls. If you do play boarding actions and one of the included factions, then this will be a great purchase. The faction-specific rules add some great depth and uniqueness to the different factions. If you're a Kill Team player, you will actually get the most out of this if you want to play 40K Boarding Actions as you will already probably have the scenery and several of the forces presented in this book.

The copy of Warhammer 40K Arks of Omen The Lion used to produce this review was provided by Games Workshop.