Imperial Taskforce 16.1 has just arrived in the Culara system, but the planning for the campaign started over a year beforehand. As the regiments were drawn from their posts and sent to the muster point, Lord General Domitian and his leading subordinates met in council to determine on a broad course of action.
This thread is out of character, but as well as general chatter it would be good if you could sort out a few things as well.
Esprit de Corps
There is a list of the 24 regiments (and a battalion presently part of but detachable from the 20th Khazak) in the Campaign Info tab, presently Unassigned to any Corps. How should they be organized?
I suggest a short discussion of what you think your Corps should do (see the third point maybe?) and then each general PMs me a list of the ten regiments they most want to command (in order) and I can sort out preferences and post the formed Corps, giving everyone as many as possible of their chosen units. At the moment the commands are:
I Corps: Lieutenant General James Kimes
II Corps: Major General Gauis Marcus Arvitus
III Corps: Ginearálta Aedán O’Hern
IV Corps: Marshal Lucius Ovidius Firmianus
V Corps?: ????
Military Intelligence
- Cularan System Defense forces are expected to have a minimal presence in-system, and no warp-capable vessels. Vice Admiral Doheri intends to sweep the system with escorts and attack craft upon our arrival.
- The rest of the system is vulnerable to the Imperial Navy and its armsmen, but ground-to-orbit weapons fortified all around the planet make orbital bombardments in areas not already secured by the Imperial Guard hazardous in the extreme.
- At the time of the revolt, Culara had six Planetary Defense Regiments, one an Armor regiment. Administratum tithes required one Guard regiment be mustered every decade; analysts predict that through the Heretic Davias' influence, as many as four Cularan Defense regiments may have been raised.
Plan-etfall
So we're going to invade a planet, right gentlemen? Only... how?
Have a look at the map from the last planetary census. While the Hive Prima marked are still proto-hives by the scale of some worlds, they are still the largest settlements by far. Landing directly on top of any of them would be... a brave choice, with the (possible) exception of a major spaceport facility.
On the other hand, having a spaceport will be a huge boost to your war effort - and will let the tread-heads among you start landing combat vehicles, which should make Arvitus happy at least!
Logistics
On the first day of the invas- er, liberation, the Navy can land up to four regiments if required. After that, they can only land a single regiment each day along with the required supplies for combat operations.
Combat vehicles can only be landed at a spaceport. There are three on the planet (marked on the map linked in Campaign Info) that could be seized - the Imperial Navy's preferred option.
Alternatively basic spaceport facilities could be constructed over time by a dedicated engineering battalion that could possibly be seconded from Imperial Navy ratings. Assuming the Lord General could talk the Vice Admiral into donating her ratings (and was himself persuaded to do so), the battalion would take the slot of a regiment that could otherwise be landed that day.
I'd like to take a support role in the fight, supplying reinforcements and upping morale.
I'd grab the droop troopers and the shock troopers. I could move towards a first strike role, but that would mean securing one or two mechanical corp just to make sure i can ensure a foothold on the hive.
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It looks like our roster looks sort of like this? This was just a rough idea from our first posts, so do feel free to add corrections if I mis-read something:
Lieutenant General James Kimes -- drop troops
Aedán O’Hern -- Finreht Highlander Ginearálta -- Infantry (?)
Lucius Ovidius Firmianus -- Supply/Logistics (+1 mech?) (Do you also want the penal legions? I only ask because often "shock" can be pronounced as "expendable". =)
Major General Gauis -- Mech/Armor (3 mech, 1 armor?)
(At the moment the roster for the 1252nd Imperial Guard Army has 24 regiments on it, including 14 Line Guard, 4 Mechanized regiments, 1 Armored regiment, 1 regiment of Harakoni Warhawks (so drop troops but not from Elysia), 1 of rough riders and 3 vast penal legions.)
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@BlindKitsune: Just so that we're not making mis-leaps of logic (and I 'll do that at the slightest provocation, so don't dare me. =) for this intro please treat me as if I'm very, very stupid (and I'm really not that bright, so it's not a big leap. ^_^)
1) Why are we invading? Reading it one way says it's a planet taken over by Tyrnids. Reading it another it's just a human-based non-compliant world. (If so, what level of destruction is acceptable? And what's the diplomatic attitude?)
2) How much and what kind of flavor do you want in our RP? I'm a bit of a Military history buff, so I could go on and on about...um, anything, so if you want a limiter, now's a good time.
3) At first blush (*blush* ^_^) it seems like a major consideration will be where and how many of their ground-to-orbit weapons they have. So could you please expand on where they are? Can they be put on the map, or is it some standard like "six around every hive" or something?
In Phase one, I'd be requesting the I.Navy to blast open a "landing corridor" so at least what troops we drop won't have to worry about being shot out of the sky, without an honest chance to die in glorious combat.
In Phase two, some of the top priorities would be the neutralization of more G-O weapons, so we can expand the landing perimeter.
This is typical pre-invasion doctrine. i.e. During Operation Desert Storm, the first thing that the US did was send in Stealth Bombers to destroy the Iraq anti-air defenses (starting with radar). This was followed by a flight of craft that made -sure- that the AA was out. Once air superiority was assured, the general operations of murder-death-killing began.
(See what I mean about talking shop? Somebody stop me! =-)
4) How long would the ratings&co. take to construct a spaceport?
5) When you say "mechanized" do you mean the usual "infantry in trucks" or are we talking storm troopers?]
6) There is no number 6.
Finreht Highlander Light Infantry
They also have Reconnaissance and Guerrilla, but are mainly light infantry.
Flak vest, helmet & kilt.
They are chaos traitor mutant commie scum! What more reason do we need?!
-ahem-
My thinking was to land near Kalfour, it's a good defensive position in that troops coming from the capitol would have to first cross a sea, then some mountains to get us. I doubt any major forces would be stationed out there, given they have at most 11 regiments. It's a big enough city that we should be able to get supplies to construct a space port easy enough. And once we get enough forces on the ground Hive Elson is in easy striking distance.
The biggest issues would be:
Air support, hopefully the navy can lend enough anti-bomber support with thunderbolt squadrons to keep us safe while we make a landing area. But that will be true of anywhere we land.
Hive Elson, if they have major forces stationed there they could attempt to push up towards us and force us off planet before we can bring down the big guns. Best way to handle this would be scouting and harassing. I'd like to send a scattering of drop troops along the various paths they could take. Their main job would be to report on enemy movements and slow them down in any way they could. Blow bridges, lay mines, etc. With luck if the enemy does start moving on us the drop troops can delay them long enough for us to line up some defenses or let the Navy bombers go crazy on them.
Finally, our lack of intel is kinda bothering me. We think they have a max of 11 regiments, but don't know. No mention of air power is made, we don't know if they are receiving support from xeno or heretic forces, we don't know why this revolt started or escalated to this point...
In terms of what regiments I want, dibs on the drop troops and then light infantry (not penal legions) or mech infantry. I'd like to have fast moving regiments so no heavy or line infantry please.
...Esprit de Corps
There is a list of the 24 regiments (and a battalion presently part of but detachable from the 20th Khazak) in the Campaign Info tab, presently Unassigned to any Corps. How should they be organized?...
@Orion: That sounds like a plan. You may have some competition for a few of your regiment choices, but if you're willing to take on a support/reserve role I doubt most of your fellow commanders would mind. A first strike Corps could also be useful in seizing the planet.
@Arvitus: There's a complete list of the available regiments, their types and strengths in the Campaign Info tab. I'm pretty sure from context that Kimes has found the list, and possibly Orion as well. There will be more regimental information coming (at this point probably after they're all assigned to Corps) but it's more detail than I had for you all in the recruitment thread.
1) I certainly didn't mean to say the planet had been taken over by the Tyranids. What did I say that implied that? At this point the best Imperial intelligence (as of 7 years ago, to be fair) indicates that the world is non-compliant and as such even if they surrender the moment the first Guard boot touches dirt they are due a purge. There are follow-on garrison elements, Arbites and priests bound for Culara for precisely that duty, though they aren't meant to arrive until after your campaign is finished.
In essence, no more damage than is required (as there may be loyal citizens still living in some of the cities) but any damage that is required is authorized and any innocents that die, well... the Emperor will know his own.
2) Flavour is fine. If I need to ask what you mean about something I'll PM you, and possibly ask for mercy eventually. For now, just make sure you're clear on what you're asking your regiments to do.
3) There's... a lot of them, more around the larger settlements. Enough that it's impractical to mark them all on the map, though their slow and ponderous nature means they're not that crash hot at targeting attack craft, and low-flying craft can find safe corridors between their coverage. They're mostly intended to make orbital bombardment extremely risky, and they're fortified enough that they're easier to seize or take out from the ground. It's pretty standard fare for an Imperial world, and a large element in why the Imperial Guard isn't just along for cleanup after the Navy eliminates the enemies of the Emperor from orbit. That said, the Navy may be able to support the initial Planetfall if required, although it may be fairly risky for the ships involved.
4) Possibly 7-10 days to set up basic spaceport facilities, though they'd need to keep working after that. General Kimes is correct to think that the extra supplies available if Kalfour is seized would help to expedite this.
5) Think Steel Legion. Many of the vehicles might be light barely-armed tanks, but they're all armored to some degree even if they aren't (mostly) up to the standards of a full-blown battle tank.
6) Noted :)
@O'hern: Unfortunately the Finreht Highlanders are presently unavailable, being reconstituted over on the Spinward Front. You may find the 14 000 shock troops of the 28th Scyllan Highlanders to your taste however; not 'heavy' as in heavily armored, but as in powerful and aggressive attackers.
@Kimes: Sadly I'm now short on time to comment, but it looks like you have a good grasp of the situation and are making excellent steps in beginning the planning. My pet Traitor commander hasn't told me where he's putting his units (yet), but I should know that later today.
I will say that your dearth of intel is mostly because all contact with the world was lost after it seceded. You're likely to start picking up more information shortly after you make planetfall, as some loyalist/mercenary elements among the locals will find a way of getting word to you. You'll have the opportunity to change your plans if you see anything suspicious on the way in-system, but the Army needs to have base plans before Sector Command would authorize the mobilization of the Army to head to Culara.
I'll try to comment more later everyone, either as me or on behalf of Domitian, Doheri or Nyall.
Excellent start!
I'm really sorry about this but I'll be overseas so I won't be able to join the discussion for 3 days or so. I'll take whatever leftover regiments there are at worst.or fulfill any leftover roles.
It's fine, throw me a PM if you can of the regiments you'd most like and we can keep the ball rolling. I doubt we'll get far past the landing in 3 days, so enjoy the trip!
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"General Kimes, I recognize the strengths of your plan, but I may be able to offer an improvement.
It's true that the bulk of their strength will probably be placed at the major population center. Standard procedure, we did it at Tarsis Ultra.
The danger we run at landing at Kalfour, is that we have actually boxed ourselves in.
With no way to go North or South, we are at risk of facing a response from both Culara Prime _and_ Hive Elson.
If they are quick, and we are unlucky, our 4 initial regiments could be crushed between a pincer of 6-8 of theirs.
Now, let's look to the East. Hive Ardent, the third Spaceport, is relatively isolated. Cut off from the large reserves of Culara Prime by a massive mountain range, we would have no fear of a surprise envelopment.
If we landed in the clearing just north of it, our rear would be secured by the Silverwood, and we could reduce it and the surrounding hives without worry.
That done, we could use the spaceport to bring down the army in its full strength, and march on the Capital via the route South of the mountains.
Throne! If they over-commit all their forces and meet us with all their strength there, we could simply use the spaceport and hop a few regiments into the unprotected rear.
To sum, Hive Ardent is separated from the other major centers and therefore the danger of counter-attack is low. Landing will give us a default secured position which we can husband to bring in our full strength and then reduce the opposition.
Does this seem reasonable?"
"I am extremely hesitant to land anywhere near one of the major hives until we know where the enemy forces are. If we land our initial regiments so close to their main force they could easily swarm us before we got any kind of defenses in place.
We believe they have 11 regiments in place, which means if they center their forces on hive cities, which only makes sense, we could be dealing with armor and heavy infantry before our troops are off the transports. Unless we are certain we can take the city with only those units we can land on the first day then landing so close to a hive is too risky.
If our landing area is far enough away from any major population centers that it will take several days for them to get into position to make any real attempt to push us off planet. With enough space to allow drop troops to harass and slow them down we could easily set up a good perimeter before whatever forces at the hive reach us.
As for them boxing us in... I almost hope that they try. As you said we can use the space port to re-position our forces, once we're down we'll have a better idea of where their units are, making secondary landings near hive cities less of a risk.
In short, unless you are certain you can take Hive Ardent with four regiments of infantry in one day... I can not agree to that plan. Attacking fortified locations is a bloody proposition at the best of times, doing it without armor or artillery support and little knowledge of what is waiting for us..."
An té nach bhfuil láidir, ní foláir dó bheith glic. he clears his throat and eyes both generals.
Yer man who is not strong must be clever. as he approaches the holo display highlighting all hives and space port with a marker.
Dis wee places roi 'ere are fortified hives. Dis is textbuk defense, an' you've run dis more times dat oi can count an' ye'll be gran'. jist if ye' really nade ter take wan av dohs wee yokes, keep ye're first landin' spread an' blast up de defenses wi' al' ye've got. nigh dat sounds loike a craic..."
O'Hern turns to look at one of the men attending them in the deck "Pass me another drink me lad!" turning his attention back to the officers.
"Yer clever lasses, oi wouldn't loike ter gie oyt ter someone, dat wud be s&&+e! you've got naw time for it. Nigh fend me a wee place away av dat" as he points to the hives "We nade a place ter set a foothauld in dis wretched place so we can begin our campaign in earnest."
Kimes looks around nervously
"Can we get a translator in here?"
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Gauis concentrates purposefully on the kilt-wearing general's monologue. At last he seems to get the gist, and speaks up. "I believe what our overly-liquored colleague means to say, is that he in essence agrees with your assessment that landing so close to a major population center is folly, and that we should instead choose a more isolated area for our 'foothauld'.
Hence, I'll agree with, General Kimes, that we should have a more isolated initial landing.
Hence, what say you to, say, just north of Maxarpa?
With both North and East secured, and so far away from the major three Hives, we can bring our selves up to strength, while at the same time sending out testing-attacks on Ardent.
Surely by Day 2 or 3 we'll have:
1) A solid intel count of the forces around Ardent and
2) Enough forces to be sure of taking it.
There's some decently open country between Maxarpa and Ardent that we could cover quickly enough.
And without any of the major centers nearby, we need not worry about being attacked in the initial phase.
How's that sound?"
O'Hern sigh at the other generals
"Aw sure look it" he says "We're going to have a grox of a time 'ere." then takes a long breath and speaks in a slower, still heavy accented tone.
"I am not drunk, dis be my wee appetizer" as he raises the drink "And aye speak ye common tongue" he slams it down disturbing the holo display momentarily and a death gaze looming over Kimes and turns to Marcus "Its an agreeable place we can secure, but it would be grand if we can find a second. This will put their hearts crossway I wager" the effort to spear more fancy and proper is not to his liking but he does forget his accent and local.
A pint of gat or something a bit wee stronger, dis lasses goin' to age me more by the end"
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Gauis nods sagely at General Gin's point.
Oh, true, true. It is a secure point.
Mind you, so long as we're this heavily outnumbered, I would reserve splitting our forces for a later stage operation. If he launches an attack while our forces are divided, we've a good chance to simply have the splinter force be overwhilemed.
As rule of thumb, you try to keep your forces together unless you outnumber the enemy 2 to 1. Or if you know for certain that he's overly cautious.
We've no intel on the enemy commander's personality, so if he is as agressive as the Nine Hells, an initial split-attack might end us before we start!
I do not mean to say we'll never do that, simply that it might not be the best for an opening move, alright?"
"I... I doubt we'll be able to take a major hive till we have armor and artillery on the ground. Two or three days won't be enough to get a makeshift star port up in order to land them. I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but we should take the first week of the invasion slow. Gather intelligence, reinforce our beach head, get a place to land heavy armor.
"The first few days of the invasion are very important, and I really don't want to mess it up by over extending. In my previous campaigns to take worlds like this we didn't consider assaulting major hives till weeks, or sometimes months into the campaign. They are simply too difficult to crack without major force on the ground, and too dangerous without sufficient intel.
"Sorry, but I won't be committing any troops to a major assault like that till we have armor and arty backing us up."
"I concur with the excellent points raised by Generals Times, O'Hern and Arvitus," he sips his tea and casts a thoughtful glance at the other silent figures around the table. "While it would be invaluable to secure a city or hive in the first days of our arrival, we must be chary of moving too aggressively and risking a setback. Unless you can come up with one of your clever little ploys, Genie?" He seems content to preside over the planning rather than setting the tone of it - or maybe this free-form brainstorming is his tone.
A black-haired trim young officer bearing the star and crescent of a Communications Adjunct approaches the planning table. "Sirs, we have received further intelligence sourced by Inquisitor Adelborn, through the usual channels." She produces a data-slate and places it on the table with a click, before reading out a summary. "It seems agents of the Cularan Government have been sighted attempting to acquire military assets from some of the shadier suppliers in the subsector, presenting themselves as Imperial Agents. The Inquisitor's agents have been making it known that anyone dealing with these persons would be seen as heretics or worse. They have not as yet been apprehended, though they were last sighted attempting to purchase armored fighting vehicles some three months before the current date. They may have succeeded in acquiring less... obvious weapons without drawing the inquisitorial attention."
What do they know about us? Is our presence known?
Day one doesn't start until we're found out.
We need recon, stealth, eyeballs. Misdirection, make them show their hand.
Seems we need become shadier suppliers in the subsector. Offer then concierge service, for a price.
Ask what they need to compliment what they got and to equip ask their forces over time. Make then prioritize.
Ask how much they can afford.
Ask who they're fighting, indigs or aliens?
Ask for delivery coordinates. Offer black ops support, to take out insurgents, rebels. Gather more information about these enemies, probably imperial sympathizers. Friendlies.
The Adjunct braces her hands behind her back and turns to the infamous "Genie", the origin of some of Lord General Domitian's most out-of-the-box strategies in recent history. "Until the Taskforce arrives in the Culara system, we have no reason to believe they suspect our specific presence or the composition of our forces, Sir. As Inquisitor Adelborn appears to have operations running in that part of the subsector at the moment, we could send some further requests for intelligence his way or suggestions of operations. However if the requests are too elaborate - or hard for his agents to execute - we may not receive the information until some time after we are already in-system."
"I think for now we should determine our main landing site and focus on which regiments to drop first, in what order, and if we can pull any tricks to keep the enemy guessing... mmm" The young General leaned over the planetary map.
"First off we can eliminate landing on the island to the south, while it would be the safest location we'd be forced to conduct a secondary landing rather quickly. For obvious reasons I'd like to keep a hundred klicks... uhhh... kilometers at least between our landing and any major hives. Any anti-air they have will hamper landing attempts as well as leaving us open to easy counter assaults. Same basic idea is true of the smaller hives, but positioning closer to one of them might be advantageous if the enemy commander leaves it lightly defended."
"Given those facts I think our best bets for landing will be...." General Kimes considers for a moment before pointing to a few smaller cities, "Misra, Kalfor or Maxarpa."
"As for landing order, at any of those three locations I can use my drop troops to slow any potential counter attack, so they are a must. I'd recommend at least one regiment of line infantry, to secure the area, probably two would be better to ensure we take the city without any major losses. We still don't know where the loyalty of the local's or PDF lay... Last slot of the first day could go to any infantry unit really but line or heavy would probably be best. Then we bring down as many infantry regiments as we can till the star port is up when we switch to armor, arty, and super heavy."
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Gauis pays little heed to the Lord General weighing in. So, too, the information from the Adjunct is so much noise. He assumes they have AFVs(Armored Fighting Vehicles), so the stating of it is of no value.
"Excellent ideas, General Kimes. I concur that the island would help us none at all.
We must remember that time is not our friend. As soon as the first boot makes planetfall, the enemy will begin mass-conscription, and unarmed areas will soon become morays of militia.
But, so too, that will not happen right away. Hence, we may look at two different plans.
The first is what is already on the table. The opposition to Kalfor as too exposed is well known, but Misra and Maxarpa and heady targets. Maxarpa is slightly more advantageous simply because forces from C.Prime have more of an obstruction between them and it.
Which brings the second plan.
But first, let's put on the table the numbers.
The intel puts the enemy at having, en total, 8-10 regiments. Let's round that to nine for simplicity. And he has 3 spaceports. Hence, we may expect 3 regiments in the theater around each major hive. Possibly one in the immediate area, and two on wide-spread orbit.
Hence, if you like misdirection, we can give him one, by landing almost on top of Yelept.
It's possibly the most remote part, so it's probably lightly populated and all but undefended. We could drop there, take it, cut off communications, and all he knows is that we are here.
Then we take Rhegour.
To him, that puts us moving West, swinging around, trying to roll up his minor hives as we gain time and forces, heading for Elson.
But after we take Rhegour, we race East.
With luck, his Prime units will cross the small ford and be racing West to ambush us in the Matygdan Woods. But we plow toward Ardent!
That will give us about a week on planet, so we can have enough armor down to make sure to slice through whatever AFVs he has.
Mind you, I favor the first plan of landing near Maxarpa. To sum, it
1) is far away from C.Prime that we don't have to worry about being outnumbered.
2) Is close enough that we could start to prob Ardent, and
3) also gives us the great advantage of possibly tempting Ardent to attack us. Even if we only had 4 regiments, I would take on 8 if we had enough warning to dig in, and we would.
I only keep harping on taking a spaceport, because at that point we have won. With the ability to bring down everything we have at a rapid pace, it's just a question of 'when', not 'if'.
Of course I concur with the composition of the first drop. Drop troops, Two Line, and either Heavy or Mechanized, in case we encounter AFVs the first day."
I have three notes of regiment preferences; when the other three commanders (or at least two of them) get a chance to pass me a list of what they'd prefer in their Corps, I'll finish assigning elements to each Corps on the Lord General's behalf.
Everything's going well so far though, good to see the brainstorming getting to the wheres and hows.
"I believe our best option would thus be Maxarpa. It is isolated enough that if we can take it without too much resistance we could have our foothold in place before they could bring reinforcements for a counterattack properly, enough that we might even be able to move to a second attack venue before they have time to organize their forces. If we catch them by surprise enough we could very well fortify the city enough to last us the campaign," said Yorke as he sipped at a cup of tanna tea.
"However, if we are to make a secondary landing, I would therefore propose using a site north west of the Silverwood, that is south east of Maxarpa, for our other forces right at the base of the mountains. If we can find a suitable place there, the second landing can act as a possible buffer for anything coming from Hive Ardent and intercept any reinforcements they might send over. An armored column or cavalry contingent, or both working in concert, would be capital for such a placement. At worst, they would be in an ideal position to create a second attack front against Maxarpa if we encounter more resistance than expected."
"I dislike the idea of going after Yelepf, not because of any misdirection, but for the fact that anyone attacking that area would go relatively unsupported and likely cut off quickly. I do not enjoy sending men to their deaths needlessly, so unless we have a better idea of what is there to make it viable, I do not believe it a good choice. In addition, it is too far from the other hives for us to move on quickly from to capitalize any surprise we might gain, and the enemy would be well prepared to fight us wherever we went from there..."
"Take it from me, Arvitus, you never... ever... land right on top of the a potential enemy strong point, are you trying to get everyone kil-" before he can continue a hand is placed on his shoulder from behind. Somehow sensing the upcoming outburst one Sargent Major Ericson had moved behind her Commander.
James Kimes met eyes with the grizzled NCO, who simply looked at him, didn't move, didn't say anything for a couple seconds. James sighed and returned to the table.
"Needless to say, I will not be dropping any troops on a hive, even a minor one. If we want a distraction, I can lead the drop regiment and act like we're attacking another city though. If we do land at Maxarpa like the Marshal says, my drop troops could land at... Wilton or Torton, try to lead the enemy away. It will only be temporary, we won't be doing any fighting if we can avoid it. And we'll need backup once you guys secure your city. It won't be much but it may just lead any counter offensive astray."
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Gauis chuckles. "Don't be so literal, Kimes. I didn't mean 'on their rooftops', just close enough to attack it presently.
But I like this idea of drop troops landing at Wilton. You could run around and make a great mess and havok, and just fade into the Silverwood if pursuit ever threatened.
You make good sense, Marshall. Didn't like Yelepf much myself, but just a thought.
If the good Kimes makes his flanking drop at Wilton, we shouldn't aught need another secondary drop. I'm sure he'll create enough sound'n'fury to buy us time enough. And if they do come a'charging, he'll probably just kick 'em in their butt for their troubles."
Andrej arches a brow and irritably waves the adjunct away from the table when it looks like she's on the brink of forgetting her station. "So we are agreed in principle then; a major drop by two or three regiments on or near our primary initial objective, while the Warhawks perform a secondary drop in the same theater to draw off the immediate response. The exact locations of these drops is still up for discussion, but there are a few points I would like to see addressed." He sips the last of his tea, hands it to an aide and waves vaguely toward the vast china samovar in the corner.
"Firstly, are we talking about sacrificing the Warhawks? If not, are they expected to make their way to the main bridgehead or to hold out until the remainder of I Corps can rejoin them?
"Secondly, should we land the naval work battalion as part of our first wave, or one of our reinforcement drops? It would doubtless improve the efficiency of our landings - at least in the short term, until we secure a full spaceport - and the armor will definitely make our campaign easier. It should also allow Vice Admiral Doheri's attack wing to be based planetside, freeing up the Fist of Valhalla for extraorbital operations." The tea is ready, and he accepts it without even a glance for his aide, sipping the steaming beverage appreciatively.
"The final point I want addressed; a rough timetable for the liberation from day one through to our complete victory. I will not permit this to become an open wound in the fabric of the Imperium, a perennial warworld where the fighting will continue for centuries longer than any of us will be alive. I have reliable word of a forthcoming Crusade into the Sabraxian subsector, and a glorious performance here will surely see us play a pivotal role in that endeavor." The very model of an ambitious senior officer of the Imperial Guard; always looking toward the next rung in his career and bringing his trusted subordinates along with him.
"I've no intention of sacrificing the warhawks, our primary objective is to draw the enemy off of our main landing force. Once contact is made we'll retreat and assess the situation, I'll try to keep them following us as long as possible, laying traps and ambushes to inflict easy damage without meeting in a full on engagement. Which is why I'd like the warhawks equipped with an extra supply of explosives for the drop. We should be able to keep them occupied for at least a day. Depending on how good their communication is, and how cunning their commanders are, it could be longer than that. In any case, after a couple days we'll do our best to break contact permanently and make our way to the main landing site.
"For this reason Kalfor and Maxarpa are our best bets, as they would give me room to break away, other options would give me precious little maneuvering room."
Following the lead of the Lord General James accepted a cup of tea, but after a sniff and a polite sip he put it aside, likely to be forgotten.
"Our total operational time on planet will likely vary based on intel we don't have currently, such as enemy numbers, local support for them, if they have outside assistance, etc. But assuming the local populous at least isn't openly hostile to us, and there are only 11 regiments of hostile troops, the upper end of the reports I've seen, we should be able to break their main lines in a couple weeks to maybe a month. After last bastions are broken, all hives taken and all is said and done we should have control of the planet within three months at the outside.
"The biggest issue being if the enemy falls back and spreads out to fight a guerrilla war. Uprooting them from an entire planet could take years, decades even. However by the time that's become the case we should be able to raise some local PDF regiments, station a line regiment or two of our own and leave them garrison duty before moving on.
"in short, once we have our full force on the planet it'll be a simple issue of mopping up. With an operational star port that should take only a few weeks. After that it's a matter of wiping as many of them out as we can before they resort to hit and run tactics.
"As for landing order, in my experience the first wave is reserved for combat troops only. If fighting goes well we bring the engineers down day two. If not, then more infantry till we are certain we can defend the starport. Even without the engineers we could still get the process started, blow down trees, move rocks, gather supplies from the city, that sort of thing."
Before anyone can reply Kimes turns to his senior NCO, still standing behind him, though at a more polite distance.
"Oh, Ericson, remember to have my sentinel loaded for drop with the Warhawks, multi-laser... you know my setup." The large, muscled woman simply nodded as James turned back to the war table with the quite confidence that it would be done.
Have the inquisitor interview the suppliers contacted. All who cooperate and whose information proves useful will be thought of in high regard.
I've had a word with my friendly pet traitor, and he's gone and arrayed his forces based on what (very) little information he has on what the Imperium is likely to send and his own objectives. That's his part of this done until we reach planetfall.
Can we get boots on the ground or beneath orbital altitude without detection?
No, the moment the taskforce arrives in system the Governor and his men will be aware of it. Strictly speaking two hours and thirty seven minutes later, but the point holds. There may not be much they can do about it, but they can see what and where you're doing it.
This is unlikely to be a sneaky infiltrationy thing; there's just too much and too many people involved in it.
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Gaius turns to Nyall. "Adjunct, coordinate with Inquisitor Adelborn and please forward our requests for the most basic of intelligence. That is, intel on large, obvious troop formations. I don't need to know if he has snipers in the trees or the PIN numbers on his AFVs, but if he could just tell us:
1) If, yes, there are lots of troops around Central, and
2) where the other regiments are.
I understand that he will probably not be able to nail down every little local regiment, but, if there are three or more together, would it be too much to ask to know that?
Quite simply, the only thing scares me is if they are acting like Chaos! If he has his major forces spread out, leaving the major hives undefended, in essence, anticipating exactly what we are thinking, then we might be in trouble.
I just want to make sure that he hasn't accurately looked at the map and said 'I would not be surprised it all those guys thought I had a bunch of troops around Central and then landed at Ardent. So, Imma put 7 regiments at Ardent!'
I just want to make sure that is NOT happening. Would that be reasonable?"
Does Jene have regiments (1-3?), or are her people attache to regiments?
The only role I see her filling is recon and communications. Land, scout/stealth and transmit intel
At least 1 such regiment should be in the initial 4, day one.
Can we jam enemy communication? Ourselves using another band, frequency or technology.
Suggesting we transmit communication to friendlies, rallying support.
I don't want to step on toes, but yes.
Do we have vehicles and just heavy vehicles need a spaceport?
Do the enemy have military starships, or just civilian spacecraft and G-O weapons?
With these rules, can light infantry be further specialized into recon or stealth?
Most light infantry (other than the penal legion) are specialized toward recon and stealth in the terrain types that closest correspond to their homeworld. For the Selwyn Foresters that's the woodlands while the Guillech Yeomen are better in the hills and mountains.
The Murafi Long Patrol aren't especially optimized toward any terrain type (except possibly plains) but the ongoing low-level fighting on their homeworld means that any trooper mustered offworld has some experience with months-long patrols in at least quasi-hostile territory living off the land.
Originally you were going to choose which regiments most interested you and PM me a list, and I would divide them all equally into Corps while giving everyone as much of what they want as possible. If you're still interested in a full Corps, by all means look at the unassigned regiments in the Campaign Info tab, send me a list and I'll work out a roster. If you'd prefer to only have 1-2 regiments, V Corps could be a more specialized formation working on specific goals and operations - potentially trading regiments in and out of other Corps depending on what you're working on at any particular time.
Kimes is also very interested in light infantry though, so he's likely to take any of those regiments that don't fall under your auspices.
Light vehicles like Sentinels and some crew-served weapons can be landed by Valkyrie (or in the case of the Warhawks, dropped out of Valkyries) but any armored transports, tanks or artillery larger than mortars need a spaceport for larger transports to land at; an open field isn't going to cut it.
The Adjunct will reply in-character soon on some intel questions Arvitus and Genie have raised. And when I say 'soon' I mean 'some IC months later in the planning stage'. Or alternatively 'in 1-2 hours'.
Sorry if I'm slowing things down...
What are Rifles vs. Dragoons? Guess, how are the types unique?
What book can I pick up as reference?
We're doing this homebrew, but if you have the Only War book there's some useful colour there about some different regiment types.
Also have a look here or simply ask. 'Rifles' are traditional line regiments that tend to include a number of snipers but are mostly las gun with support weapons. The Charybdis Dragoons (well represented in the 1252nd) are drawn from the upper classes of that Imperial world and are built along the lines of the Armageddon Steel Legions; they can fight rapidly from and beside their armored vehicles, or as infantry supported by their vehicles from the rear.
Don't worry about slowing things down, I think we're still considering the where and the how so there's still plenty of time to look at the who's. Speaking of which, time for Adjunct Nyall to have a word...
"I was under the impression that the Warhawks would not drop alone, but supported as a full landing. I agree with quick and mobile, but one regiment alone might wind up facing more of a problem than they can handle. I highly suggest taking either the Murafi Long with you or the Foresters," Yorke said with a thought.
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What are Rifles vs. Dragoons? Guess, how are the types unique? What book can I pick up as reference?
Hi there! Mind if I field this question? BlindKitsune has already given a good answer, in that the "Rifle" part describes foot-based infantry. As in, they are named after the weapon that the carry.
Whereas the title "Dragoon" is a Ye Olde English term that described infantry that would ride to battle on horses, but then get off and fight on foot.
As horses were replaced by machines, the term hung around to mean roughly the same thing; that is, infantry that are moved to battle via some manner of transport, and then disembark and fight on foot. (As opposed to, say, Armor, where the guys stay inside their vehicles.)
The technical term in modern armies is "Mechanized Infantry", which I believe is also listed next to the units, for ease of reference.
Got any more questions? Maybe something harder?? Come on! Gimme all ya got! =)
Light vehicles like Sentinels and some crew-served weapons can be landed by Valkyrie (or in the case of the Warhawks, dropped out of Valkyries) but any armored transports, tanks or artillery larger than mortars need a spaceport for larger transports to land at; an open field isn't going to cut it.
I'm putting those with Line Infantry, but not with Light. They're also droppable without needing a spaceport (or even landing in the case of the Warhawks). They're definitely present with heavy infantry, in one configuration or another.
Possibly a smarter and more 40K-savvy person might disagree with me, but it's my party and I can do it that way if I want to, lol.
Time passes; it is three months before the communications officer has all the information that's been requested, mostly through the Inquisitor's sources. It seems that Adelborn does not view the requests of the Lord General's council as urgently as his own operations in the region, whatever they may be. Still, though the date of the invasion draws closer, the same men and women are in the same room planning for the same thing; Planetfall on Culara IV.
Adjunct Nyall approaches the table with another of her data-slates, inclining her head to Major General Arvitus. "Sir, the Inquisitor's agents have succeeded in discovering much of the information you seek but not without cost. There are some reports of weapons fire, and two agents did not make it off-world; it is safe to assume the Traitor Davias is aware the eyes of the Imperium are turned to his world."
Brown eyes drop to the dataslate and she clears her throat. "The presence of approximately fifty thousand traitors to the Emperor at Culara Prime is confirmed. They are believed to be the most loyal followers of Davias and his Cult of the Four-Armed Emperor though no physical signs of the presumed genestealer cult have been sighted by inquisitorial agents. Inquisitor Adelborn is shifting more of his assets to the system now, and believes they should be in place to provide some local intelligence support by the time the invasion force arrives." The Adjunct returns her gaze to the slate and continues reading off the received intelligence.
"The Inquisitor's agents report no more sightings concentrations of three or more regiments, although they do note indications of a secondary concentration of forces at Hive Ardent. Apparently the concentration there is classed as the enemy's 1st Corps and is entirely composed from previously identified elements of the PDF. One of the fallen Inquisitorial agents reported having records indicating the disposition of five local Corps, but she was captured before she could reach the dropship and the data was lost along with the agent. If true however, our Analysis office questions Military Intelligence's conclusions as to the number of enemies we face. Unless a clumsy bluff, the minimum number of enemy regiments Analysis is projecting is ten, two per Corps."
The black-haired young officer turns to Jene Rodriguez, laying one data slate down on the table and producing another from an inner pocket. "Lady Rodriguez, the Inquisitor was alarmed enough by the signs of the Cult that he promised a limited amnesty to some of the implicated suppliers he believes are not beyond redemption. They reported hearing of transfers of heavy mining equipment, las guns, crew served weapons and approximately eight hundred AFVs to Culara over he past two years, over and above what the world could produce on its own. In each case there was no information to implicate the supplier, but only other suppliers in competition with them. A purge is underway." She sets down the slate and produces a last one, that appears to be mostly empty. "There is no evidence to suggest any increase in the enemy's spaceborne presence in-system from the two system patrol vessels present at the time of the insurrection. Vice Admiral Doheri has been copied this information and notes her intentions to eliminate the SPVs with a sweep of destroyers upon the Taskforce's arrival." She straightens and snaps a crisp salute, stepping back three paces from the table to resume taking notes. "This is a full precis of all intelligence received in answer to our inquiries."
Culara Prime is obvious... Hive Ardent is smack in the middle of that continent. Very obvious as well. But, look at these other hives here, here and these. We'll get back to that later.
Human nature is to distance your self from what you abhor. So, I'd expect those not aligned with this cult to have sought refuge away from the axis created by Cukara Prime and Hive Ardent on the main continent, when we simply connect the dots. Perhaps far west, way over here. Or, I'd go to this Jaedena Isle.
Her finger touches each hive on the map, stopping at Hive Ardent. This is the only hive not on the coast. Perhaps, capable of deeper excavation. Could they have gone underground, literally? Could they be hiding forces?
By Cukara of course, Jene meant Culara.