Pa-Soa Sieng's page

Only vaguely aware of the shadow war being conducted between the Astartes, the General is pleased by the progression of her forces through the no man's land. The battle of the Hives had swung decisively in the favor of the Imperium.

Crack the fallen Hive open! she orders the battle tanks and the House Elephant Imperial Knight. Then they would be joined by the stormtroopers, two units of line infantry, and the Chimera to breach the city while the House Raven Knight provides Overwatch and moves up with the artillery which will shell the inside of the city if need be.

Might be fun to have the comm be a discord channel?

Land the rest of our forces. Set up the MASH in the secured area of Raised Shield and cycle the weary ground forces through to get them back to fighting strength and add them to the defensive forces holding the Hive. Everything not on defense is to advance through the trenches to the fallen Hive under the protection of the House Elephant Knight, while the House Raven Knight and our artillery softens the enemy with a creeping barrage as our assault moves in!

Pa-Sao gives her clipped commands.

On defense
1 unit Line Infantry
87th Atria Line
1 unit veteran Defensive Siege
1 MASH unit.
Remaining PDF

On offense
1 House Elephant, a Knight Valiant Pattern Knight advancing with shield up with Front Line
1 House Raven, Knight Crusader Pattern. Advancing with Artillery and acting like an artillery unit to take out high value targets
Earthshaker unit to carry out creeping barrage
Front line
1 Veteran Trench Warfare Infantry
3 regular unit of Line Infantry
1st Atrian Stromtroopers
Chimera
Sentinel
Leman Russ Demolisher unit to break Riposte open
Leman Russ Destroyer Unit to defeat any enemy Mechanized Infantry alongwith the Loyalist.
Once the shell of the Hive is cracked, House Elephant will move in to support the assault while House Raven keeps watch for other threats best destroyed from range.

Fine by me.

I don't know. It seems to be adding a decision point which really feels like rock paper scissors and that isn't very satisfying to me.

In a lot of grand strategy computer games all that stuff is resolved by just unit type counters rather than adding a tactical overlay to it.

I really believe that to be a good strategy game you have to abstract away a lot of tactical decision making. That might be just me though.

Honestly most of the time Sieng is going to be well well back from the front lines sitting in the sector's equivalent of the Pentagon.

Yeah, that's what I meant too :), our characters decide to teleconference each other so we can RP our strategic decisions!

Maybe after this we will agree to have a regular teleconference where we can argue over what needs to be prioritized?

If you want to have a good strategic or grand strategy game then you *have* to pull back and abstract on the tactical side of things otherwise the more granular actions will make the higher level decisions less important. It's like how it doesn't matter what your tactics are if you've got a Rambo type character that can succeed no matter how bad of a tactical situation they're thrown into.

So I'm in favour of 1 as well. Only get into a lot of detail for the most important battles.

We're supposed to be the people pushing the pieces around on a map. Not the people managing what happens moment to moment like we're doing right now.

The Naval part of the game is very boring to me also especially when we're going round to round tactics rather than strategic because it means I'm not doing anything for weeks.

Stalling! Nothing to do!

My compliments Lord Admiral Sieng voxes as the path to the beleaguered planet is cleared. The Lord General gives the command for the Guard transports to start advancing while remaining behind Naval cover.

Sieng pinches her nose. Traitor Marines. Of course. Why should she be surprised by this turn of events. While the general population was kept in the dark of their very existence one did not become Lord General without learning some very distrubing things about the nature of their war torn galaxy.

If the Lord Admiral and the Archmagos are unable to deal with the naval blockade heading our way the there is nothing the Astra Millatarum can do to relieve Raised Shield. I would suggest that the heretics be dealt with swiftly.

Nothing for the IG to do right now of course.

A bit of a narrative disconnect here. I don't think a Lord General or Lord Admiral would be physically present in almost any conflict. They'd be voxing in somehow which doesn't really fit the narrative of incredibly imprecise long range communications in 40K. But holding to that messes with RP as what would be happening is Sieng assigning forces with a general overview of strategy and then finding out months later what actually happened.

Fires of Industry also makes the Knights for Glory B. It might as well be the mechanicuses diplomatic outreach planet.

Hey guys I'm going on vacation starting tomorrow for about five days so any posting will be real sporadic until the 16th or so!

Also I'm starting a new job on the 22nd. I have NO idea what that'll do to my posting rate but at least for a while it'll be slow for sure as I figure out how much free time I will have. Might even be more as the commute is shorter but we will see.

Sieng's eyebrows shoot up when an Astartes communication comes in. Space Marines were... capricious to say the least but she would never turn them away, not only for their awesome power but to keep it from being turned on her troops under suspicion of heresy.

Shadow Captain. The fighting on the ground is concentrated on the two hives of the planet. There is no communication from Hive Riposte and likely fallen to traitors, while Hive Raised Shield is fighting the remnants of the loyalists as we speak. As the ArchMagos and the Admiral take control of the battle moons my forces will land to buttress Raised Shield before pushing the fight back towards Riposte.

It seems unreasonable to have an IG super heavy assigned to anything less than a big/important battle. So none of my regular battlegroups will have a Knight. That seems correct.

I'm good with that. This is all a calibration round anyway.

I'd say that the Mechanicus would actually work similarly wouldn't they?

In terms of preparation then I'd say the IG and IA can only assume the presence of each other in Phase 1. In terms of the game then they might 'over prepare' whenever one of the other forces decide to show up and that can be sorted out in adjustments in Phase 2.

Thanks for the well wishes.

So right now I'm going with

0.5 superheavy
2 armor
4 special
6 regular

which is 26 'units'. (1 regular being one unit of strenght)

Can I say very roughly that 12-14 'units' of strength is a battlegroup?

By the way guys, this is Azih!

Also I'm going to be starting a new job on the 22nd. Unknown what that'll do to my ability to post. Probably definitely not good though.

Lord General (or Pa-Soa as the title of her own homeworld) Sieng steeples her fingers as she considers the defences. They were of her own general design, a steel shell with long arms to hold off the ravenous biological menace of the Xenos Tyranid. To have it turned against her by Warp worshipping Heretics was irritating to say the least.

Still the rest of the sector was, for the moment, tame, and so she had a free hand to crush this insolence. She sends out her orders.

We will buttress Raised Shield and then begin an assault on Riposte.
2 units of Line Infantry are to be sent to Raised Shield as well as a MASH unit and our veteran Defensive Siege specialists to hold Raised Shield. The ability of the remaning loyal PDF will be asssed on landing but the 87th Atria Line shall most likely be committed to the defense of the hive alongwith them.
I have called on the forces of Glory-B and they have responded. We shall have a member of House Elephant, a Knight Valiant Pattern Knight, as well as a House Raven, Knight Crusader Pattern. Elephant will move with the assult to protect against the enemy Artillery while Raven will stay near the back to destory it along with an Earthshaker unit to pound on them as well.
The front line of the assualt will be 1 Veteran Trench Warfare Infantry, 2 regular unit of Line Infantry in conjuction with a Chimera, a Sentinel, a Leman Russ Demolisher unit to break Riposte open and a Leman Russ Destroyer Unit to defeat the enemy Mechanized Infantry alongwith the Loyalist 1st Atrian Stromtroopers. Once the shell of the Hive is cracked, House Elephant will move in to support the assault as welln while House Raven keeps watch for other threats best destroyed from range.

That's half of a superheavy (2 knights). 6 Regular (4 line infantry, veteran trench, veteran defensive). 4 special (MASH, Earthshaker, Chimera, Sentinel). 2 armoured (Leman Russ Demolisher and Leman Russ Destroyer) committed to the fight. Seem reasonable for this level of engagement?

As her orders start to filter out she notices other allies responding to the distress call.

It is good to see the Guard does not stand alone here, in this case at least. Shadow Captain if your scouts are able to root out the Heretics then their service would be most useful in both Hives of the Planet. On Raised Shield to root out any heretic insurgency and on Riposte to kill them and find out the extent of the heresy while our assault moves into position.

ArchMagos Fulcurm. Lord Admiral Nibal, our forces will not be able to land securely on Atria unless those battle moons are not brought back to the Emperor's light. My forces shall land in and around Hive Raised Shield. Thus the battle moon watching over it is of primary concern. Once landed my forces will move as a slow march on Hive Riposte making use of a creeping barrage to pacify the trenches as we advance. Once at Riposte, our Knights will move in and, alongwith Armor and Infantry, delve into Riposte, attempt to link up with local resistance if possible but with a primary objective of purging all heretics off the face of the Hive and then the planet.

Take care of yourself first GM!

I will take first watch then the monk says

Ahh.. perhaps I should let you know what that talisman of mine means Pa-Soa fingers the simple amulet that hangs around his neck and does a slight bow towards his new companion. It means, in Tian, The Wind Is Also Strong, that strength comes from unexpected places Then with a deep breath But enough of looking backwards, yes? Let us look forwards!

Ready to move on!

It is not so much exile as I, uh, fled. Pa-Soa admits shame faced. But enough of that. Why is it that you are cursed? Very few have companion like Kell

Pa-Soa, woodenly recalling events that he'd really like to leave behind continues In Quain there is rare delicacy where soup is prepared by cooking live King Crab in boiling broth right on table so broth has fresh flavour. It is a famous dish! So Lord Mayor stumbles back from headbutt, yes? He is stunned from blow and tries to right himself by grabbing onto tablecloth. On table is this boiling hot broth. Whole pot with coals falls on him.

The young monk starts tugging on his braid as he goes on Also, Live Crab was just placed with tongs in broth. The tongs go flying yes? so not only is Lord Mayor scalding with boiling broth and clothes burning from fire but there is also a very large and very angry crab freed right in Lord mayor's face. Pa-Soa looks away It uh, it all happened very fast.

Pa-Soa, sitting cross-legged, tugs at his braid for a bit before taking a deep sigh and forcing himself to relax Yes, very well. I suppose it would be good to speak on this before we all get eaten by Walrus Linnorm. he pauses amidst the spray of the ocean and the strong sea breeze, as he tries to decide how to best explain his life story, for that is what Bryndis essentially asked for.

There were events that happened, before and after the chopsticks this is true. But first I must tell you of Quain. It is a part of Tian Xia that is dedicated to the martial arts. Every city and village has dojos and schools and temples that teach the arts of physical combat, and I found myself, as a child without parents, in one of them. I learned later of my misfortune that my village, Keihai, is regarded as home of the most incompetent martial masters in the whole of Tian Xia, let alone Quain.

Pa-Soa shrugs But I did not know this growing up. I was adopted as apprentice in one school after another and dedicated myself to each master but was kicked out as soon as I seemed to excel. I found out later that none of the masters of Keihai care about perfection of the craft and the merit of the student, but instead cared only to pass on their institutions to their own children or clan. Every student was expected to 'lose' to the martial arts 'genius' of the chosen successor of the school and when I naively defeated them in fair combat I brought turmoil and chaos by exposing their lies and so was thrown out for one excuse or another. It is a place of Fumeyoshi even though they pretend to be dedicated to Iro-Shu

Pa-Soa sighs In any case this is how I grew up moving from one school to another, confused by what was happening to me. Finally I was a young man doing menial chores in the biggest school where the sheer number of students made it easy for them to justify me not rising in the ranks.

Being the biggest school Pa-Soa continues They host, every year, the Lord Mayor of Keihai in a grand feast. Everyone of the school is invited. Even the newest of the initiates, except for me the young monk grimaces Everyone spoke of the wonderful food that is served that even the lowest of the low were permitted to enjoy one time, except for me. The first year I thought it was an oversight, the second year I knew I was being left out so the third year...

Pa-Soa frowns here I dishonoured myself by sneaking in. I came in through the back and I peeked in to the wonderful smells and sounds of the grand feast. I saw an empty spot near me so I walked in and sat down as the meal was served. I saw many angry looks but I did not care as they dared not cause additional disruption by admonishing me and dragging me out when the Lord Mayor was present. And he was! Sitting right next to me! I was sitting at the head of the grand table.

The monk starts to grow a bit agitated and gets to his feet as the story goes on Sun WuKong knows even this may have been fine as the Lord Mayor did not care who was sitting next to him as long as he was fed. But then Pa-Soa starts pacing I picked up the chopsticks to my left which were the Lord Mayor's chopsticks. I say, how was I to know? I was just the lout pulling pails of water around the ground for years, no one taught me that the correct place to pick up blasted chopsticks would be from right side of the plate and not left Pa-Soa exclaims So I pick up the Lord Mayor's chopsticks, yes? And the Lord Mayor is, of course, angry. So I jump up to apologize and bow, this is fine, yes? It was what I was supposed to do and I would just be thrown out of yet another school. But The Lord Mayor is rising from his seat in anger at same time, yes?, and as I bowed my forehead cracks into his fat nose, yes?

Here Pa-Soa pauses. It seems like there is more to the story....

Ah well Pa-Soa says a bit defensively. I picked up the wrong chopsticks at a meal and people took offense. And you? Why are you 'cursed'?

Press a little more and he'll come clean!

Pa-Soa looks up, confused, at the bright cloudless sky. As you say Master. How long till we get to the Islet?

Is the Prof Sailor upgrade actual ranks? Because that would get Pa-Soa's class bonus to Profession to kick in as well!

Level up Prof: Sailor: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Pa-Soa sighs as he pauses at the ropes and takes a deep breath. A drunk survivor of the Goldia claimed the ship was destroyed by a giant walrus. I believe the name he used was 'The Old Czar'

The monk shrugs Everyone else seems to think the story a myth. But in a place named for Linnorms how out of place would a large walrus be? Certainly many ships have been disappearing at Orlov's Islet.

Int: 1d20 ⇒ 20
Reflex: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Pa-Soa grimaces as Jovun starts shouting what seems like gibberish at him. The young monk takes a split moment to center himself and take a breath before sharpening his eyes and willing himself to figure out what the captain wants of him. He springs into action and hopes fervently that he's doing the right thing and won't accidentally capsize the boat.

I did not Pa-Soa notes Walk from Tian Xia to here

So I have sailed, only once, but it was a long journey

I think Pa-Soa says with a bow you did not ask

Pa-Soa touches the still healing claw slash on his shoulder and shakes his head at Jovun.

We found out The Goldia floundered on some rocks near Orlov's Islet. We thought perhaps if we find ship we may find clues. he says in any case.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Pa-Soa is a bit irritated and the obvious gouging and cracks his kunckles Perhaps you can reconsider this?

Pa-Soa is very poor at the moment! But he'll tag along with Bryndis

News of this ship wreck on the rocks should be enough to convince him that we have some clue to follow. Back to the ship?

I think we will not find out anything more then. Thank you for your assistance. Pa-Soa bows to the unfortunate survivor as well as the priestess All we can ask for now is a blessing from the Drunken Master for we are to go to the Islet to hunt this Czar.

Would there be a way of finding out where these rocks are with enough accuracy to find it on a map?

Pa-Soa bows to the priestess and to the unfortunate one Would the ship still be there on those high rocks? Would you be able to locate it on a map? If we could read what your captain wrote then that would be of much help.

Then many Captains are being drunk in the last little while Pa-Soa says to the heckler. Is there a scholar or master who would know about this Czar?

Ah sorry, I do not know what this Old Czar is. Pa-Soa says apologetically.

The reason she is lost is what concerns us, honoured sir Pa-Soa says We've been, ah, asked, to stop it from happening again

Ah, no Venerable one. We seek one who recently survived a disaster at sea

Pa-Soa adds a coin of his own and then enters the temple.

Should be back up to speed Tuesday.

Hah, I am unlucky as well. Let us go though perhaps I should go in first there

I am going on a vacation for a week starting tomorrow! I think I will be able to keep up with a once a day pace but maybe not!

I'm assuming the Spit and Spray doesn't have a crew then? It's only Jovun

Pa-Soa looks around and, without any other clue as to who to actually talk to goes up to a random sailor. Greetings sir, my companion and I heard tell of a ship that sunk.... Goldia's Pride? They say there were some survivors that might know what happened to it. Would you know where we can find them?

Whoops missed the question completely! Sorry

Pa-Soa hesitates as Bryndis asks the obvious question. He is not a good liar he has discovered, probably because his heart is never in the attempt, so he settles on being evasive There were people in my homeland with whom I had... disagreements then he turns the question around And why were you staying at The Black Gull?