REVIEW: The Imperial Munitorum Manual

[General Biakal]

WHATS THE BOOK?


The Imperial Munitorum Manual


PRICE?
£12




WHATS THE THINKING THEN?

I sort of see why this book is expensive. Its very niche, hell even in a niche like 40k its only really interersting to IG players and real hardcore geeks, its very nicely bound and on high quality paper. Considering how few in comparison it will sell £12 seems sort of understandable. and make no mistake, this is a nice, high quality book.

Purporting to be an actual Imperial document (a deceit carried over onto the fly sheet and publishing pages- nice touch) it contains a guide to the uniform, equipment, weapons, decorations and beaurocracy of the Imperium. And of course all with the usual 40k/geek level of humour lurking on most pages. one section states along the lines of

"the feet of the Cadian infantry are the single most important factor an any guardsman. to this end each trooper is issued a pair of high quality boots in a choice of three sizes"

THREE??? thats the kind of stuff you will find in many sections and will always bring a chuckle once the penny drops.

there are also lots of diagrams and pictures... mostly quite blocky and hand drawn/MS painted if you ask me. Add a handfull of B&W prints of Creed and other stuff and the blocks of text are broken up well. there are also several DM forms and a couple are even "filled in" by actual IG personel. one is reporting the fact a trooper has broken his lasgun during cleaning. the wonderful "OFFICERS COMMENT" box on this form contains some very funny lines that i won't spoil...! the selection of sample DM forms in the rear are also very good.

the description of the weapon effects and firing is very interesting, even though the diagrams of the weapons are a bit out of style... mostly all of the pics are 3rd edition kind of style actually- but never the less they look good and "official".

the decorations and medals section is also very good- the pics are of a higher standard and the text is very witty and well written. They also can give you ideas for your own fluff or even to model on your favourite minis... my standard bearer has a medal that i took inspiration from this section on.

Also keep an eye out for its companion book- The Infantrymans Uplifting Primer.


6 GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK:

1. high quality binding and paper
2. not much filler and pretty informative
3. its always fun to read good fluff
4. obviously a labour of love/side project i feel- very much for geeks by geeks
5. a few very nice pics and prints
6. great level of humour on almost every page- but not OTT

6 SHIT THINGS ABOUT THIS MODEL

1. even tho the binding is nice the gold printing on the cover is fragile and mine is rubbed off
2. its price might put people off buying it
3. much of its information on uniform and weaponsseem to be stuck at 3rd Ed
4. some VERY small text in places- so no wanking boys or you will miss stuff
5. a few small sections do feel a little "filler" ish...
6. some of the assumptions are silly to anyone with even a tiny military back ground

LONG STORY SHORT...
I like it but then I did get it free. The price would and did put me off getting it in store for a long time but if they could somehow drop the price down to £8 ish i would give it the full General Biakal seal of approval. as it is, i prett much recomend it.


WORD.