Battle Missions: The inside scoop!

Right then guys, I have seen and had a good look at the shiny new battle missions book, and I've come to share what I have learned! First off, lets get a good look at the missions themselves, in full:

Chaos Marines

1. Pillage
2. Black Crusade
3. Scorched Earth

Chaos Daemons

1. Night Fight
2. Invasion
3. Fight to the Death

Dark Eldar
1. Dawn Raid
2. Slave Raid
3. Feigned Retreat

Eldar
1. Pre-emptive Strike
2. Flank Attack
3. Mobile Defence

Imperial Guard
1. Prepared Assault
2. War of Attrition
3. Trench Warfare

Necrons
1. Ambush
2. Reconnaissance in Force
3. Implacable Advance

Orks
1. Blitzkrieg
2. Waaagh!
3. Cut & Run

Space Marines
1. Vanguard
2. Surprise Attack
3. All-round Defence

Tau
1. Vertical Envelopment
2. Counter-Attack
3. Fighting Withdrawal

Tyranids
1. First Contact
2. Wave Assault
3. Infestation

Universal
1. Kill Team
2. Linebreaker
3. Clash of Heroes

Quite a list!

So then, what else can I tell you. Well, first the book itself is very nice. Its well put together, some good bits of fluff and some great shots of models/battles.

I'm also happy to say I can allay some fears about the race-specific missions. Although they are clearly designed with each army in mind, this is more from a fluff point of view. It is clear that any army could happily play any mission, indeed this is expressed in the foreword. There is no reason why a Marine army couldn't play the Counter-Attack mission in the role normally filled by Tau, for example. This means we are in effect getting 33 new missions, as opposed to the few for whatever races your gaming group has.

As far the missions themselves go, they are a mixed bag. Some are subtle changes of deployment zone or objective placement, while others are really off the wall or ingenious. My personal favourite so far is a Guard mission that has a random bombardment. This involves cutting out bombardment counters, holding them 36'' above the table and letting them 'flutter' down. Where ever they rest suffers a large blast hit. I think this is a really simple but awesome idea (though not one for tournaments...). There are other similar surprises throughout the book

Finally I'm going to highlight the last three missions. Not only do we see a slightly modified return of Kill Team, but also a hero centric battle where only characters are allowed to kill off other characters. These seem like a real blast to play, and I'll be trying them out as soon as I can.

Anyway, that's all I can recall for now, I hope its been of interest. From first viewing I can recommend the book, I'll be getting a copy when it comes out...