# Monstrous Arcanum



## Troublehalf

I recieved my copy today and was really impressed with the contents. Some of the stuff was brilliant.

You Lizardmen plays, like myself, will be happy and surprised. We didn't get the Coatl or anything like that. We got something called a Dread Sauriian. These are said to feed off Stegadons and are bigger than Carnosaurs. Which is surprising, since Carnosaurs are said to be the apex predator in Lustria. Still, this Dread Saurian is awesome. Has great stats, costs a fair amount and even has additional options which increase it's cost even further! It looks like a mix between a Carnosaur, Saurus and Kroxigor.... Not sure if I like the look, but this is artwork, not a model. It has a long snout... Might be more akin to a prehistoric crocodile/alligator than the modern ones Kroxigor are based off. I guess it's more like a Lizardmen version of a Spinosaurus, just like the Carnosaur was based off T-Rex.... Shame that means no more giant carnivores 

Only a few creatures base cost is larger than this ones, if you include all the option upgrades, it's pretty big.(that I remember), but I'd rather take a Dread Saurian for my Lizardmen army any day! I'd love to post it's stats and whatnot, but I cannot, due to the forum rules, hell, I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to post this <_<

The book contained some stuff covered in Tamurkan: Throne of Chaos, but apart from that there is a fair amount of cool stuff in it. The artwork is fantastic and I can't wait to read through everything in it  If you guys like big monsters or interesting creatures, buy this book, it's well worth it  I can't wait till Monstrous Arcanum Vol.2 

Did anybody else get it? Did anybody else enjoy it? What are your views?


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## Troublehalf

Since I can't believe nobody else is interested in this book, I've decided to write down the list of monsters/creatures it covers, in the hopes it sparks discussions. The following are in chronological order in the book.

Incarnate Elemental of Fire
Incarnate Elemental of Beasts
Chaos Siege Giant
Bile Troll of Chaos
Carmine Dragon
Toad Dragon
K'daai Fireborn
K'daai Destroyer
Bale Taurus
Bull Centaur Render
Colossal Squig
Incarnate Elemental of Death
Basilisk
Dread Maw
Necrofex Colossus
Brood Horror
Exalted Vermin Lord
Mourngul
Wolf Rats
Curs'd Ettin
Fimir Warriors
Khemric Titain
Dread Saurian
Rogue Idol of Gork (Or Possibly Mork)
Skin Wolves
Shard Dragon
Merwyrm (With more powerful versions named the following: Pagowyrm & Sciowyrm)
Preyton 
Arcane Phoenix
Warpfire Dragon
Magma Dragon

There we go, in my eyes, the most powerful creature on the list is the Exalted Vermin Lord, it's stat line and abilities is insane. Then followed by the Emperor Dragons. With pretty powerful ones such as the Necrofex Colossus Khemeric Titan and Dread Saurian are all pretty powerful. However some are option dependant. Still, Skaven Players will love the Exalted Vermin Lord, I would with the stat line he has! But I still love Lizardmen creations, so Dread Saurian is sweet. So is the Arcane Phoenix, the artwork is really impressive. The best artwork in the book for me, is a battle line moving forward, it's limited to the bottom of the page, but it's a Lizardmen army, with a Carnosaur and Dread Saurian, rain coming down on the Saurus Warriors. Was really impressed.


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## Sworn Radical

Not that many surprises in that list of creatures, sadly.
Some of them were already covered in Tamurkhan, and others had their _'experimental'_ rules released on the website.
Hmm, but Kudos to you for posting the list, now I know I don't need to order this one.


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## Troublehalf

The ones I know were covered were:

Chaos Siege Giant
Bile Troll of Chaos
Carmine Dragon
Toad Dragon
K'daai Fireborn
K'daai Destroyer
Bale Taurus
Bull Centaur Render
Basilisk
Brood Horror
Exalted Vermin Lord
Wolf Rats
Curs'd Ettin
Fimir Warriors
Rogue Idol of Gork (Or Possibly Mork)
Skin Wolves
Warpfire Dragon
Incarnate Elemental of Beasts

That's 18 out of 31 (33 if you include Merywyrm variants). Not too bad, more than half are new. Not to mention the experimental rules have been added/changed/tweaked/balanced so now they are GW Approved! I might of forgot some from Tamurkhan, which I also have, but either way, cool new stuff, nice artwork and rules! Furthermore,all Experimental Rules have been removed, so if you want to use these models in Warhammer or Storm of Magic, you need the book. For £30 I didn't think it was bad. The fact they've added a cool carnivore dinosaur in the Dread Saurian, which is supposed to be Spinosaurus..... Now, I wait for Coatl (which are talked about in Lizardmen Codex and shown next to page 4) But I expect those to be a release in their update whenever it happens. I also wonder what the creature drawn on the art-page on page 5 (shown opposite page 4, with the Coatl on it) behind the Carnosaur and next to the Stegadon is..... Not sure if it's a Thunder Lizard or Arcanodon or something else. I wonder if they'll change the basis of the Carnosaurus... will it be the Giganotosaurus I think it's based on... or will they change it.... They could base a new creature on Carcharodontosaurus, which would be between a Carnosaur and a Dread Saurian..... Oooo I love Lizardmen and they're creatures! I want a giant snake creature!, maybe based on a Titanoboa.


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## Morhgoz

Colossal Squig was covered also, but with out point cost, in campaign part of the book, I think chapter 5 was it? Rules are bit lame, I must say, I would rather use mangler squigs instead... Would like to get the book, but Forge books are hard to get around here, so I propably have to do same as with Tamurkhan and wait till find illegal pdf copy somewhere... Atleast until I get physical copy...


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## karlhunt

Wow, so this book has now gone from a book I might want to at least track down a PDF of to not even worth the bother to do that. 
Thanks for the heads up.


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## jondoe297

I'd disagree, the book is excellent, looks fantastic better produced than the IA books I own/seen. For 30 quid it is a steal!


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## Troublehalf

I think it's fantastic for the price. £30 ($50?) and has high quality artwork and stuff to read. I'd much rather have a physical copy than a PDF version. I mean, I got the PDF of the old Lustria Campaign book and it's nowhere near the same as picking it up, slumping in bed with a hot drink and flicking through it. I still love reading rules. I mean I often buy books just to rule read. I have books for armies I've not even thought about getting. I'll have to cut down on this, of course, but it's still good fun.


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## revan4559

The Necrofex Colossus are the best in my point of view as for when you fully upgrade them(wizard levels including) they are going to be extremely hard to put down. I think due to the Colossus beast rule (d6 wounds instead of death from anything like Heroic killing blow, the dwellers below, bit of shades etc) that it only takes d6 wounds even if it rolls the misscast which would normally kill the wizard. But i worked out my Necrofex Colossus will cost me exaftly £100 (zombie dragon, ghorgon/cygor, khemri war sphinx) and its going to be huge!


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