Imperial Armour: Volume Three - The Taros Campaign review

Forge World's Tau supplement by Tony Cottrell and Warwick Kinrade

by Dave McAwesome

The first two books in the relaunched Imperial Armour series focused on technical specifications and combat summaries of land and air vehicles. The third book, The Taros Campaign, is the biggest of the bunch at 317 pages and is divided in half, the first of which is the story and history of the campaign itself. It's a welcome addition to the series, usually heavy on technical line drawings and camo patterns.

Because the book is ostensibly a rules supplement detailing the armor and airpower of the Tau, ya kinda figure the outcome of the battle is going to tilt in their favor. Taros is a sparsely populated, mineral rich planet in the far eastern fringe of the galaxy. Belonging to the Imperium, it borders the small but growing Tau empire. The origin of the conflict is nicely written in that it takes no shortcuts. A lesser writer could've scribed, "er, they don't like each other...and uh, a miscommunication at a trading outpost sparked a war. Now! Let's talk invasion and orbital bombardment!" Instead, it begins by something more prosaic: an audit. The audit sets off a chain of events that ultimately finds the Taros Governor working in concert with the alien Tau. Beginning with a surgical strike mission, the campaign expands to include invasion and defense plans from both sides, the naval battle for the Taros system, a series of desert battles, an airbase raid, and a daring strike by Elysian Drop Troops.

The account of the campaign is good, buffeted by unit organizational charts and page-long details of the weapons and equipment of infantry soldiers. It's like a History Channel show in text format. Anyone who gets off on the Battlefield: World War II, 20th Century Battlefields and similar Military Channel and History Channel shows will feel at home here. As with real history, military actions are colored by ambition and incompetence as much as they are by training and experience. Would a commander send out an army group on an arduous march without air support? Not rationally, no. Would he do it if his superiors were pressuring him for speedy results? Perhaps. Motives for decisions on each side and considerations for morale and supply convoys make for an engrossing tale. Such thoroughness would turn off casual fans, but no casual fan would read this anyway.

From page 141: "We will fight you every step of the way."

The comedy of errors in the Taros Campaign begins to stretch the bounds of realism (within the inner logic of the fictional WH40K universe). If Space Marine companies could be knocked off so easily, they wouldn't survive as functional fighting complements (given their small numbers). They are the elite of the elite, and it's rather frustrating to see a troop of regulars take them down so casually. The assault on the Imperial airbase is also questionable. An extended campaign would not include adequate anti-aircraft defense to protect one's own airpower without which the entire army group is doomed? Who's leading this bunch, Montgomery? Or one of the drunken, incompetent Union generals from the American Civil War? One wonders if there was this much mismanagement on the Imperial side during the Taros Campaign, why is it noteworthy at all? Surely there are other more compelling campaigns in the known universe.

The balance of the book details the Tau vehicles (both ground and air) and a few Imperial pieces such as the massive Warhound Titan. There are also 16 pages of scenarios for recreating the major battles of the campaign within the WH40K, Epic, Battlefleet Gothic and even Kill Team rules. As has become custom in this series, the mock battlefield photography is superb.

Next in the series is Imperial Armour: Volume Four - The Anphelion Project which details the organic forces of the Tyranids.

For more details on Forge World and Imperial Armour: Volume Three - The Taros Campaign check out the Forge World Web site.