The Heghland 1st - Only War (Inactive)

Game Master PhilOfCalth

None I'm highjack from your buddy.

Commissars don't have buddies... No comrades either

Neat. Dark Heresy's getting a second edition.

Dark Heresy

Have the beta. Sent it for printing. Due to get the bound copy back on Thursday...

Indeed, instead I have special abilities I can buy, like executing one of you to cheer the rest up! Or something like that...

Hey, I'm the Happiness Officer here! I get to inject people with the Good Stuff so that they'll keep fighting in blissful homicidal ecstasy. Or something like that...

You're the dealer?

We can always team up. My murderous rampages against my fellow squadmates promote unity and fighting spirit, and your blissful concoctions help them forget they might be next on the list! Its a win win!

Hurrah! And I'm the wheeler dealer.

so are we ever going to do this?

Sorry I meant to post last night but I got caught up in real life.

The basic plan is to roll random events every day until the convoy comes. I'll get something up tonight. In the mean time why don't you get your characters to get to know eachother in the camp or while setting up the traps?

Got it.

http://www.beardybastards.com/comics/2011/10/10/dwarf-stars/ - Of squats and nids

So pretty sure my character just forgot what war is lol.

... But it sure is prety here...

Ohhhh wait I know according to the big popup book of war the best way to defeat an enemy is to strip naked paint myself in woad and run at them naked screaming waving a claymore and my man bits at them right? Lol.

That's the Irish way :D

Celtic lol but yeah and did we all just fail our rolls?

@Wikv alright get the angry drugs and the blue paint ready.

Blue paint? You must be joking. Red paint is where it's at because RED WUNZ GO FASTA.

Heresy! Foul Xeno lover!

Hersey quick shot the doc before it can spread in the nsme of the hambuger patties of war....

I assumed I could fire back at the fellow who fired at us. I would have fired the bolter had I realized he was in cover

aw well

That was the guy that fired at you. They're all wearing armour anyway, so the bolter's ap won't be wasted.

its alright, i probably didnt read the post well enough. i will just switch next round to that or the suppression fire

yea quick draw

Actually I thought I said he moved "into the cover of the loose rock", but I just said "into the loose rock". Trooper 1 is in cover. It'll be clearer when I get a chance to update the map.

Map updated. Hit Ctrl+F5

If my math is right I can make it to the big ole tree on a run. If so could you make it so?

Done :D

Woops, I forgot to take away toughness bonus for both of those shots, and I forgot to dodge... I'll remember moving forward.

For future reference in all encounters you are assumed to start with 1 weapon readied. You can choose which weapon that is now, and it will always be so. I'll assume the following otherwise:

Cormeg MacCammon - Autocannon
Cort Darfrain - Lasgun
Eirik Baldur - Boltgun
Garion Valkof - Lasgun
Jermaie Dael - Boltgun
Wikvaya Shoodii - Boltgun

Also to make the amount of weapons Cormeg and Cort are carring believable I'm going to say their comrades are carring some:
Cormeg - Carno is carring the missile launcher + Missiles
Cort - you don't seem to have rolled up a comrade. Please do so and say they're carring 1 of your weapons. That will mean you can't use quickdraw to ready it, you'll need to buy the comrade advance to ready it as a free action.

I did, I didnt know I ahd to do anyhting other than have his name

Harmon and he is Green.

I am looking at this after posting, so I guess he has to be carrying myautogun for now, since I have said I have used the other two, and the bow would be kind of cheesy :)

I know it gimps me in this encounter slightly, but always assume I have my chainsword or bolt pistol ready, not the lasgun. Just makes more sense for my character.

I did, I didnt know I ahd to do anyhting other than have his name

Harmon and he is Green.

I am looking at this after posting, so I guess he has to be carrying myautogun for now, since I have said I have used the other two, and the bow would be kind of cheesy :)

Sorry, I just didn't spot him on your profile. Yea I wasn't counting the bow as it's light and yours.

You can change whatr weapon(s) harmon carries for you any time out of an encounter.

I know it gimps me in this encounter slightly, but always assume I have my chainsword or bolt pistol ready, not the lasgun. Just makes more sense for my character.

No worries.You can change it when you're not in an encounter

Okay and that run is my whole action right?

Yup

End of turn 2 summery.
Dominate trooper 1 - Pinned, av2 cover legs and body
Dominate trooper 4 - Pinned, not in cover
Dominate trooper 5 - Dead
Dominate trooper 6 - Pinned, av 6 cover head, legs and body

None of the troopers have moved, so feel free to take your turns before I update the map or after, as you wish. Also, even after I've updated Garion and Eirik let me know if I've misinterpreted what you wanted to do and I'll fix it ASAP.

It is now turn 3 and everyone is up again.

I thought I was moving to that thing that looks like the biggest tree trunk kn the land. Then on to cort for my two rounds. So if yiu have that we are gravy.

Can you specify a bit more. Are you talking about the yellow tree in the SE corner of the map? Considering you haven't shot yet I've no problem completely re-moving you.

That big thing on the cliff edge ne of where we started and yeah it looks yellow to me. Really just looks like a huge tree trunk. It would but me nearly in line with cort....

so what are the cover situations for the troopers close to me? Only one has patrial right the other has full?

@Cort - The one closest to you on the map 5 is dead. #6 is second closest, only his arms don't have cover of av6. The guy on the other side of the valley #1 has av2 on his chest and legs. the last guy #4 is completely exposed, no cover. Can you not read their numbers?

@Eirik - Do you mean that you were heading towards the brown tree that Cort and Jermaie are under? Is that the tree you're talking about? I'll move your token as if you ran both turns in that direction.

Yeah pretty much. I was trying to make my way to them and thay seemed the best way.

I can't view the map on my phone. I will target the exposed one at normal range right? If the range is wron gplease just adjust my numbers

It's close range for you. The map link for the "current encounter map" never changes, so if you save the shortcut you should be able to see it on your phone.

ty. I have a palm phone that doesn't show images sometimes. Our map happens to be one pf those :(

but unless a full round not moving adds 20 to my attack I missed

Single shot would have added 10 I'm going to assume you fired semi-auto.

no single shot.

not that it matters still. but Cort always fires single shot.

OK dokes

So I had this idea for a regiment taken from a feudal world/death world by a desperate commander given minimal training, poor equipment and thrown into the worst scenarios, because no-one really cares if they come back or not.

I've made the regiment up using rules from the core rulebook and the new supplement Hammer of the Emperor as follows:
Home World: Feudal World
Officer: Maverick
Regiment Type: Guerrilla
Training: Survivalist, Infiltrators(Jungle)
Draw backs: Condemned, Rivalry, The Few

Equipment will be poor quality bolt weaponry (they're be a lot of jamming), solid projectile weaponry, low tech weapons and feudal plate armour. Representing what the characters took from their home world and what the commander could scrounge up. Some specialties will have their starting equipment tweaked to avoid las-weapons or tech heavy weapons and chain weapons. Everyone will get weapon training(bolt) plus some extra XP to spend. Support characters (commissar and priest only) will be from the Catachan regiment, as is the commander. However, players will interact primarily with the Mordian Iron Guard.

As for scenario, I was thinking that we could play through Old Soldiers from the Game Master's kit with a bit of tweaking. It fits nicely with the theme of the regiment.

I'll post full rules/background if I get enough interested players. I'm looking for at least 4 players, including someone willing to play as a commissar.

So to bump this idea a little I want to answer the unasked question. Why use this regiment rather than one picked from the book or one made by the players themselves? On this I have multiple points:

* This unit has good reason to be acting alone, unlike most Imperial Guard units who generally only maneuver as part of huge formations.
* Characters will be seeing the horrors of the 41st millennium and the evils Imperium itself for the first time, giving them plenty of scope for conflict and role play on and off of the battle field.
* The unit will be viewed as savages by most of the regiments that they work beside. They will have to work hard to find friends/allies.
* In the long term the unit will have to question if they want to remain in the Imperial Guard and/or the Imperium. This will lightly come down to if they have managed to find a place for themselves or not. What they wish to do at that juncture should lead to interesting scenarios.
* Characters will have to think on their feet and constantly rely on their low tech weapons (which they will have a choice of) and stealth/guerrilla tactics rather than the standard tactic of line infantry.
* I’m hoping that slapstick nature of regularly jamming weapons will create an enjoyable cowboy style while the extra power of bolt weaponry should allow the unit to engage the same number of foes at a time.
* Tanks and armour will be a real problem for characters, forcing them to think laterally about how to deal with them. The fact is that the characters will have an instinctive distrust of any technology that they haven’t been trained with and armour is foremost amongst that distrust. I fact I wish the unit to have a conflict dangerous rivalry / conflict with the Iron Legion artillery regiment.
* Creating regiments or the like in a forum situation, in my experience, is lengthily process that can lead to conflict between players with different interests, and often kill a game before it starts.

I'm somewhat interested in this game's concept. I'll mull over it and see what I come up with.

I'd certainly be interested. I got the book but have had nobody who wants to play it.

I'd be willing to go with the Commissar, but I'd be much more interested in playing just the dog-trooper.

When I put up the actual recruitment thread with all the rules we can see if someone else steps forward for the position of Commissar. I'll wait until I get at least 1 more player before I go that far though.

* Tanks and armour will be a real problem for characters, forcing them to think laterally about how to deal with them. The fact is that the characters will have an instinctive distrust of any technology that they haven’t been trained with and armour is foremost amongst that distrust. I fact I wish the unit to have a conflict dangerous rivalry / conflict with the Iron Legion artillery regiment.

Wow that was a bit of a mess. let me try again:

* Tanks and armour will be a real problem for characters, forcing them to think laterally about how to deal with the situation. The fact is that the characters will have an instinctive distrust of any technology that they haven’t been trained with, and armour is foremost amongst that distrust. In fact I wish the unit to have a dangerous rivalry / conflict with the Mordian Iron Guard artillery regiment.

Alright. So stylistically, our background would have been similar to a medieval europe aesthetic? We'd be draftees from among the peasant stock, correct?

The homeworld will be a feudal/death world. So almost everyone is a warrior to some degree or another. The rules in hammer of the emperor for feudal world seem to imply that players can choose if they are of noble or common descent. Certainly I would imagine the Sargent to be noble, but I won't enforce that.

Considering recruitment into any one platoon is never taken from just one region, I will leave the aesthetics of the plate armour up to the individual player, representing the style of his own town/village/region/family. I imagine a mixture of King Arthur style with more wild looking styles, such as those based around bones of over-sized predators. The only common point will be that each suit will have it's chest-plate branded with the imperial guard symbol (not even centered or universally in the same place).

This should add to their separation from other regiments. I can't see the Mordian Iron Guard thinking well of even the most noble of feudal worlders. Indeed anyone from a civilized world will consider them little more than dogs, at least at first.

In terms of the culture of the homeworld, it will be as diverse as that of medieval earth with some minor tweaks, such as an common language (kinda) and some common cultural points. So individuality players have a huge amount of freedom in terms of background, as well as how they react to something new. EG One character might see a carnofex as new alpha predator to be hunted and dominated, the next might see it as a daemon, yet another might see it as a god of war. It will be down to the commissar and priest to put a stop to any dangerous/unacceptable thoughts like this.

I'm going to give this 1 last bump to see if I can catch some players. Otherwise I'll save it for my gaming group in a few months time when we're starting new games.

If we only get 3 players and no-one really wants to play the Commissar, I'll NPC him. But if we get more, someone will have to play as him. It's my experience that NPCing PC characters adds a lot of stress to the GM, and can take a lot from the PCs, especially when the character achieves things. EG a Commissar would probably be good in hand-to-hand combat, and might end up regularly stealing kills in that way.

Interested, but I only have Deathwatch and Dark Heresy. :( Good luck though!!! I love the 40k universe, but no one in my area plays.

Ummm let me see if I can find the book at the lgs and I would love to play if not will pick up the pdf. I know they have the free trader book hope they have this too.... if need I can play the commisar however be aware that without good reason I will drag us traitor at the drop of a tau if I'm in charge lol .

If the fluff mankind would be better if they would let the emperor die so he can be reborn. But they don't know that its kinda sad really.

Ummm let me see if I can find the book at the lgs and I would love to play if not will pick up the pdf. I know they have the free trader book hope they have this too.... if need I can play the commisar however be aware that without good reason I will drag us traitor at the drop of a tau if I'm in charge lol .

In the fluff mankind would be better if they would let the emperor die so he can be reborn. But they don't know that its kinda sad really.

Shadoven seems to be the most eager to play the Commissar, and he sighted Ciaphas Cain, so I think he should have the character.

There is a lot of controversy over the popularity of the Commissar career and how the character can be used to break the game. A google search will find plenty of threads on this, however my favorate example of how to do it right is here:
http://www.fandible.com/category/actual-play/w40k/only-war/
Not a million miles away from Ciaphas Cain...

I'll post Character creation rules in the OOC thread and I'll make a wiki for the full background and for encounter maps, etc. This will take me a day or 2.

For the Emperor!

The character creation info is up in the "discussion" thread now. The wiki-links don't work yet. I'll get them up tomorrow, so you can do your character backgrounds.

Bump for players

Bump for recruits.

We're still open for 1 or 2 more players. If you don't have the OW rules I can help you out.

Bump for players. I'd rather have a 4th before starting. I'm OK with 5.

Come on folks step who will help us defend the imperium and the name of the Emperor? ?

So we got:
Commissar - Shadoven
Weapon Specialist - Rasputin17
Operator (with some medicate skills) - divineshadow

If someone wants the Medic I'm sure devineshadow will happily give up his medicate skills/equipment.

Yep.

Did someone call for a Medic?

What? Pretty much everyone on the battlefield? I guess that's par for the course!

Here, let me help you . . . oh, you look like you have a headache. Lucky for you I know the perfect cure: DECAPITATION.

I'll have to go over the rules and stuff but I'm interested!

Oh no blamo. Run........ lol sup rashly?

Did someone call for a Medic?

What? Pretty much everyone on the battlefield? I guess that's par for the course!

Here, let me help you . . . oh, you look like you have a headache. Lucky for you I know the perfect cure: DECAPITATION.

I'll have to go over the rules and stuff but I'm interested!

Cool stuff. I hope to get the game running in the next few days. Ask me if you have any questions.

I like the only war system. As I say it's the most refined version of the 40K RPGs

Gotcha! And heya, divineshadow. Nuthin' much, just going through the system.

hey divine invited me, am always interested, but where do i find the system? I like playing with both rashly and divine so am game, but might not be waht you want

If you can get your character together quickly then OK. I'll PM you with the info you need.

I might even make the first few posts without you.

That's me at capacity. Recruitment is closed with 6 players.

Hi all. So I'm now re-recruiting for our heavy again! He's a heavy gunner with an auto cannon, an axe and a tendency to fly into a frenzy. Anyone interested?