Imperium is a weekly hobby magazine from Hachette Partworks. In this 90-week series, our intrepid magazine-receiver will be reviewing each individual issue, its included models, and gaming materials. A Premium subscription was provided to Goonhammer for review purposes.

The cover of this issue proclaims that there is a new 6 page story within its pages. That’s at least 10% as long as my year in review posts! Let’s hope it rambles half as much, and twice as well.

The Magazine

Slaanesh gets point of pride this issue, with our first few pages detailing these devious devils. As with the previous three issues and their respective focuses on Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch, this article hits the high points of what this god is about and what their daemonic menageries consist of. Slaanesh is all about temptation, the pursuit of perfection, excess, and pain, and their daemons reflect that. I feel like this series was okay at introducing the Dark Gods, but given how core that pantheon is to the 40k setting, they probably should have come earlier.

Of course our time in Slaanesh’s thrall is not yet over, as we have the longest story yet included in Imperium – The Crystal Heart (emphasis theirs) – pitting these daemonic invaders against the forces of the Inquisition. This story takes up the entirety of the rest of the narrative section this week. It spins some effective body horror, with a store-brand Human Centipede, crystals growing out of peoples’ eyes, and all the violence and viscera you could hope for. The extra length of the story also gives room for more tension to build and atmosphere to soak in, as our Inquisitor protagonist delves ever deeper into a crystal mine with his retinue. There are quite a few typos that let it down, such as “She shook her head as if awaking from a dread.” There is also the errant apostrophe here and there, and no small number of sentence fragments. Now, we’re all human and we all make mistakes, but every short story I have read in Imperium required at least one more editing pass. I don’t know if they just fell outside the standard editing process or what, but they lack the polish of the rest of the magazine. All that being said, I did enjoy this story. It just made the part of me that grumbles about grammatical errors particularly irritated.

The Hobby Materials

As the part 2 to our previous issue’s kit, we get not only the second half of the Catacomb Command/Annihilation Barge, but a painting tutorial as well. There’s a spare base in here so you could put the Overlord on foot if you wanted, or at the very least mount him on it for painting. The final results in this painting tutorial are generally pretty great. You’ll probably kill whatever’s left of your pot of Imperium-issued Nuln Oil shading this thing, but the results look well above tabletop standard. The instructions even get to painting some glowing effects on the Barge which really make it pop, though I still think the blend for the Warscythe (a process repeated throughout Imperium‘s run) looks wonky.

The Gaming Materials

This week we finally go Into the Breach, where the Imperials have reached the Necron Dolmen Gate. The Necrons have withdrawn to defend this gate, as it’s their only way to beam reinforcements to Kjalma’s Skull. The Imperials, meanwhile, are heavily depleted, and this is their final all-or-nothing attack to bring an end to the roboner menace. This mission has 4 central objective markers with your typical scoring for holding them, but with an asymmetrical deployment. The Imperials deploy on one half of a standard Hammer and Anvil deployment, while the Necrons deploy opposite them in a large wedge. A little area in the back of the Necron deployment zone represents a breach in Necron defenses. The Imperial secondary objective is to have as many units as possible in that breach, scoring points equivalent to their Power Level at the end of the game. The extra wrinkle is that no forward deployment or pre-battle moves are allowed, so those Infiltrators (pictured above, obvs) will have to start in your deployment zone. I like breakthrough missions like this, but it’s a long walk from point A to point B for the Imperials.

Final Verdict 78/90:

We did the math last time, but between this issue and the last you’re saving more than 50% off a Catacomb Command Barge’s $60 list price. That ain’t bad! The rest of the issue makes for some good reading, but I genuinely think it could have used another editing pass. Hachette Partworks, should you be interested, my rates are very reasonable.

See you next issue, warhams.

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