Warhammer 40K: Surprises and Secrets of Warzone Octarius: Rising Tide
Today we take a look as the lore and surprises within Warzone Octarius: Rising Tide.
The Setup
The Inquisition is taken aback by the Octarius War fought between the Orks and Tyranids orchestrated by Inquisitor Kryptman. While it is buying the Imperium time, both races getting stronger, not weaker in fighting each other. The Imperium devises a new plan and has formed a cordon of doomed worlds around the warzone to vacate and abandon, while fortifying an outer ring of worlds against whatever tries to break out of the war.
Of course it all goes wrong and both Orks and Tyranids bust out at several key worlds which the action follows. There are some key moments and surprises along the way:
Tyranids Think Orks Are Delicious
“On the other side, the Tyranids were consumed colossal quantities of of Orks to produce ever more – and ever more diverse bio-forms.”
Did You Say Mega-Gargants!
“The Titans of Legio Crucius and Legio Kopides dueled Mega-Gargants over the ruins of fane-shrine 21DF730…”
There’s A Mystery BIG Psychic Bug
“…they deployed large numbers of Zoanthropes, Neurothropes, Maleceptors, and even larger psychic bio-monstrosities.”
Orky Know-how Can Overcome The Hivemind
Deathwatch Kill Teams discovered an Ork Mekanik invention that disrupted the synaptic signals controlling and coordinating the Tyranid Swarms. It was captured by the Deathwatch (still attached to the previous owner’s head), and dubbed Baddkrasha’s Crown.
Imperial Eldar Team-up
The Inquisition and Deathwatch are forced to team up with a trio of Eldar forces inboard a crashed Aeldari Spaceship in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the Ork invention. The plan fails under constant Tyranid attack and they self destruct the vessel and leave the doomed location.
Hello World Eaters
Vodha Bloodprice, a champion of the World Eaters is drawn to the campaign by the nonstop carnage and happily begins to hack his way through Octarius space with his warband. He also has a very nice 2-page spread of new artwork… hint, hint…
Some Prime Orks?
“The Skarboys of Stugbrog the Faceginrda were among the largest our agents have ever recorded, almost comparable to the greenskins described in the Apocrypha of the War of the Beast.”
New Bugs
“We have identified a number of these bioforms that fall even outside the alphus, betaro, gammis and kappun strains we have categorized. Local defense forces dubbed two of these ‘tri-claws’ and ‘cyclopeans’ “.
“…I have seen very few battlefields where the Tyranids have deployed such a concentration of apex-level bio-titans. A number of new varieties have been identified, named as ‘Monstrum Gravitarmis’, ‘Bestiagladio Gigantis’, and ‘Rhinotia Arabidus.’ ”
The Campaign ends inconclusively, but there is still a part-2 to come presumably. I have a feeling that GW is as usual throwing out a combination of red herrings and hints of upcoming minis. I would not be surprised to see a handful of new bugs, in particular big psychic ones in the next Tyranid Codex, and that two-page aside out of nowhere involving named World Eaters sure seems odd…
~What are you reading in between the lines?
