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For a hundred centuries, the Imperium of Man has stood strong against the countless threats both from within, without, and much worse. Through the might of the Imperial Guardd, had its worlds stood under the God-Emperor’s light. It is by the blood of countless martyrs that the Imperium stands. Of course, such sacrifice is pointless, if not directed by their betters, one of whim, you just so happen to be, by the blessing of your birth, the depth of your skill, or just plain luck, it has led you to heights unimaginable.

As happens so often in the Imperium, for no conceivable or justifiable reason at all, a world has turned from the Emperor, earning the ire of His Imperium. The planet ? Insignificant. The population ? Negligible. The industry ? Sort of there. These sorts of thoughts ran through the head of a Departamento Munitorum senior officer. For the last three centuries, the world’s defection had gone unnoticed, until the Imperium had gained enough strength to launch a minor crusade within the surrounding sectors, the planet was to become one of the logistics hubs for such an operation, so it had come as quite the shock, when the records were checked, and it had become apparent that no tithes had been received for a truly long time.

With the swiftness of the brightest of the Administratum, due to the new-found strategic importance of the world, a small invasion force had been rapidly assembled in a mere thirty years ! Sadly, the appointed general had passed away due to old age, which had thrown a wrench in the plans of the Munitorum, luckily for them however, such a headache of a command decision is not for them to solve, bur rather it is a problem for the Segementum command, one that they would be hard-pressed to solve swiftly, due to the real concerns of an army arriving to contest the planet without any general staff to actually command them !

And so, on his fortieth consecutive work hour, the Assistant-Assistant-To-the-General-Segmentum-Command-General-Staff, after taking another dose of stimms, since the recaf has long since stopped working, had finally narrowed down his work file to the last task for the hour, to choose a commander for an insignificant world. There was something vaguely important about it, but he had long since forgotten. With a sigh, he had taken a look at the files piled before him, and almost at random, made the choice for:
>>
>>6464043

>Aram ne Drusus Puglius of the vaunted house af Magdenus. The third-born son fated for a fine career in the Astra Militarum, educated by the finest tutors in the art of war ! So what if he whored through most of the classes, he still managed to reach the rank of general in the young, young age of thirty-five, wholly through his own effort and definetly not because of nepotism.
SPECIAL: Political Animal. Nobles live politics, and you more so than most, as such, it is most natural for you to be able to easily navigate the difficulties of Imperium’s politics. Can take an extra Politics action and Cultivating Relations is easier.

>Rodger af Norim. A minor noble whom had clawed his way to his current position through a well-placed word, dagger, and a bottle. An ear to lend makes for many friends, and allows for quite a few rivals to be dealt with.
SPECIAL: Charismatic Bastard. Having been an officer for a few decades, this man has gotten quite good at dealing with overly ambitious military men, how to control them, how to destroy them, how to lift them up, this man knows how to do it all. Easier to raise or lower Gravitas of subordinate Commanders. Conversations are guaranteed to reveal at least one Commander Trait.

>Maximian Lex. A commoner whom through grit and toughness managed to reach his current heights, despite the dangers of his foes, and more importantly, the dangers of his new peers.
SPECIAL: Old Bold Soldier. Starting from a lowly guardsman, through luck and determination, this man has reached the rank of a General. Due to this soldiers under his command trust his leadership far more and they both take decreased morale damage and recover lost morale faster. Alongside this, the man’s old regiment followed him and his Devoted XO became its new commander.

>Write in
>>
Greetings everyone ! After a long while, I am back with a short quest here that will be crunchier than usual and will hopefully be updated more often as I figure out its mechanics so that I could use them for other quests that will be returning.

The mechanics are outlined here:
https://rentry.co/b7mig5go

I also have a twitter with which I announce when updates come out:
https://x.com/NewbQm
>>
What's the option that'll let us get access to cool shit like knights or baneblades?
>>
>>6464046

Politicking is what could potentially get you such things. So that would be the first option.
>>
>>6464044
>Aram ne Drusus Puglius of the vaunted house af Magdenus.
I'll pick this one, then.
>>
>>6464055
+1
>>
>>6464044
>Maximian Lex. A commoner whom through grit and toughness managed to reach his current heights, despite the dangers of his foes, and more importantly, the dangers of his new peers.
>>
>>6464044
>Maximian Lex. A commoner whom through grit and toughness managed to reach his current heights, despite the dangers of his foes, and more importantly, the dangers of his new peers.
A common guardsman who lives this long and is competent enough to rise this high has to be pretty cracked. Lex is not a Sir, he works for a living.
>>
>>6464163
Well, sure, he might be cool, but counterpoint: no one's gonna give a commoner the COOL toys.
>>
>>6464173
I'm sure we can make do. Besides, with a sleazy nepo baby politician like Aram in charge, it'd all probably end up being captured by the enemy or blown up due to his incompetence anyway.
>>
>>6464196
Well I don't *want* to make do. I want have the big vehicles with big guns. Not infinity+ fodder with flashlights
>>
>>6464043
>Aram ne Drusus Puglius of the vaunted house af Magdenus. The third-born son fated for a fine career in the Astra Militarum, educated by the finest tutors in the art of war ! So what if he whored through most of the classes, he still managed to reach the rank of general in the young, young age of thirty-five, wholly through his own effort and definetly not because of nepotism.

The action economy bonus is a godsend. Though the others aren't too shabby either, given that we're a general and will be working through our staff and subordinates. One loyal and competent regiment pales in comparison to Rodger's social-fu or the political dynamism of Aram though.
>>
>>6464044
>>Maximian Lex. A commoner whom through grit and toughness managed to reach his current heights, despite the dangers of his foes, and more importantly, the dangers of his new peers.
>SPECIAL: Old Bold Soldier. Starting from a lowly guardsman, through luck and determination, this man has reached the rank of a General. Due to this soldiers under his command trust his leadership far more and they both take decreased morale damage and recover lost morale faster. Alongside this, the man’s old regiment followed him and his Devoted XO became its new commander.
welcome back Newb
>>
>>6464261
>One loyal and competent regiment pales in comparison to Rodger's social-fu or the political dynamism of Aram though.
This is what I'm trying to say. "A loyal regiment" ain't gonna do SHIT against a baneblade.
>>
>>6464044
>Maximian Lex. A commoner whom through grit and toughness managed to reach his current heights, despite the dangers of his foes, and more importantly, the dangers of his new peers.

Nice to see you back Newb.
>>
Aram 3
Maximian 4

Alright, seems that Maximian Edges out a win. Writing.
>>
Ah, right, yes. Maximian. the Assistant-Assistant-To-the-General-Segmentum-Command-General-Staff thinks to himself, reading through the file and the reports, before putting down his official stamp on the transfer documents. With a further yawn, the thoughts of amasec flow through the man’s mind, as he, doing his best impression of a thoughtless servitor, moves on with his work.

About two years later, Adeptus Ramanus, of Sector Ramanus, had looked in his office window with deep sadness and resentment. The promotion did not come at a good time, and it explains why his predecessor had died from a simple heart attack. His continuously growing belly, sadly did not match his continuously thinning hair. The reason for this stress ? The feckless Lord Ramanus, the mounting pressures of the tithe, as xenos press against their borders. A problem, he had hoped, would be solved soon, but lo and behold, the entire campaign was delayed by years, due to the death of the would be General in charge of establishing the beachhead, he had to extent his already thinly spread resources even further, he may even have to give up his ambitions of becoming the Master of the Administratum, as he may very well be unable to appropriate, the appropriate amount of resources for such ambitions ! Truly, a sad state of affairs.

And now ? Some up-jumped peasant has been put in charge, from no known house, coming from nothing. What absolute nonsense, he even had to double check with the Astropaths, well, his subordinates had, he is not going anywhere near those freaks. He can only hope that this Lex, a name only commoners whom only know low gothic would pick, proves capable, or dies off fast enough for someone of proper breeding to come in. In if most nobles are in possession of half a brain at best, the ridiculous number of connections and gelt they have makes up for it.

With continuous grumbling, Adeptus Ramanus turns his attention to the long-forgotten goal of the war, the reconquest of a once formal Imperial world, which hopefully will be added to Sector Ramanus, for there is always a need for more taxes. Maybe even enough infrastructure will remain intact at the end to net him a tidy profit. Sadly, right now, he has to prepare a line of local logistical supply for the incoming regiments and fleets, wouldn’t do him much good if everyone starves to death when they get there. Not that Adeptus Ramanus cared about the deaths of the Imperial Guardsmen, but they are a precious enough resource to see him hanged for such a failure.
>>
>>6464494

>Anis VII.
A frozen world with barely enough light provided by its distant star to allow someone to see about a metre or two before them. The intense winds chill to the bone, and the underground is crisscrossed by tunnels dug by a xenos race called Sanguinus Perfodio, or burrowers, by the locals. Blind, but possessing keen hearing and the ability to feel ground tremors and to swiftly narrow down heat sources, these beasts tend to jump out from the ground and devour their victims alive. Alongside these…charming creatures, there is a permanent population of greenskins, that somehow, against all logic, still exist on the planet. Due to these circumstances, the local PDF forces, whilst not numerous, are surprisingly well equipped and battle hardened.

>Herod’s End.
A murderous world with constant wet heat that makes one sweat to death, and that is only a slight exaggeration. With a massive world spanning equatorial jungle, arid, rocky zones making up the outside, and a thin line of temperate weather around the poles. This has led to gigantism in the local flora and fauna, which has a strong preference for sunlight and living flesh. Due to the large population centres around the poles, the area is generally heavily urban, though not reaching the level of a hive city, meanwhile everything outside of it is a labyrinth for even the locals, not to mention foreigners. While the records of local PDF are nothing special, the terrain will be hell to slog through and will certainly lend a considerable advantage to the local defenders.

>Virtous Endeavour.
An once resource rich world set up by pilgrims looking for blessings in the God-Emperor’s eyes through labour, much of the resource wealth had long since been stripped, leading to vast underground caverns that house the massive populace and the numerous industrial zones, that have surely gone quiet since the world’s defection from the Imperium. The planet lacks an atmosphere, as such, any groundside facilities will be difficult to set up, but this also means that the large populace has probably since starved to death, so undoubtedly it will be an easy campaign. If this assumption proves false, however, an endless tide, of decently equipped foes, will fight for every milimetre of their tunnel homes.
>>
Anis VIII sounds nice and all but "old grizzled commander in snow world" is LITERALLY just winter assault Electric Boogaloo
>>
>>6464500

Fuck, I just realized that !
>>
>>6464496
>Virtous Endeavour.
>>
>>6464496
>Virtous Endeavour.

Seems like they're all going to suck, but if we're lucky this one might suck less
>>
>>6464496
>Herod’s End.
I'll vote for this because Urban Combat sounds more interest than trench and tunnel digging hell
>>
>>6464496
>>Virtous Endeavour
I like tunnels
>>
>>6464496
>>Herod’s End
Big world. Wonder whats the enemy here beside rebels
>>
>>6464496
>>Herod’s End.
>>
>>6464496
>Herod’s End.
There are falmer and orks on Anis VII. Gross. I'd vote for it but we've got a tie.
>>
>>6464629
+1
>>
>>6464496
>>>Virtous Endeavour.
>>
Virtuous Endeavour 4

Herod’s End 5

Once again, a close win for Herod's End. Hope you anons like Guns N' Roses.
>>
Squinting his eyes, Adeptus Ramanus stares at the name of the world – Herod’s End, and he wonders, who the frack is Herod ? Someone that was probably of marginal import at best, he comes to a swift confusion and instead looks through the files of the planet.

The records themselves are, naturally, vastly out of date, while it will give a rough idea for the invasion where things are or were, undoubtedly, much has changed over the last three centuries and a bit.

Herod’s End, by last estimated records, is officially, or well, was, a civilized world. Lacking extensive industry or food production, the world, by all means, is unremarkable to the wider Imperium, reaching a population of about 4.3 billion, with the majority of that populace clustered around the thin temperate line around the north and south poles. The area is heavily urbanized, leading to a confusing network of streets and alleyways, all the while large towering sky scrapers dominate the skyline, though nowhere near as tall as one would see upon even the youngest of hive cities. This area is also where the largest amount of the planet’s industrial capacity is located, protected by a singular large wall, both north and south poles are isolated pockets of civilization upon the world. Where the naturally formed ice used to supply the two massive cities water.

It is from this area, that a few Imperial Guard regiments had been levied from the world. From the reports, said regiments had las weaponry and flak armour, but lacked anything particularly heavier, already being the extent of the world’s industrial might, or lack thereof. All this combined means that the local PDF is mostly equipped with locally produced autoguns and armour.

As for the areas outside of the poles, they are primarily inhabited by small hamlets, mining settlements and frontier towns, besides a series of railroads connecting the small walled settlements, most of the world is wholly in the hands of the local fauna and degenerated human tribes.

The aforementioned tribes, possess limited firearms and tend to live in the harshest of environments, trading with their settled kin while themselves contantly migrating across the world. Still, their survival skills are noted as exceptional, and many of the tribesmen, when inducted into the guard, had served with distinction, specifically in leading roles as forward vanguards and scouts.
>>
>>6464906


Now, the savannah and arid Badlands in between the temperate zone and the equatorial jungle is primarily dominated by the occasional inland lake, with many of the seas dying off, with their water supply coming mainly from the snowmelt of the poles, this had led to a mass die out event and an increase of powerful winds and storms running through the area. The only reason why plant life still exists is due these storms that form due to the conduction of cold pole air and the hot humid air of the jungles and the singular remaining ocean around the planet’s equator. And the life there is dominated mainly by small creatures, capable of prolonged periods of hibernation and water conservation. Primarily tending towards isolation and avoidance of conflict, it is theorized that these species were pushed out of the jungle and settled here, though certain aspects, such as incredible toughness and vicious murderous nature, still remains. If isolated, or weakened prey presents itself, it shall not survive for long. Due to this, and the dangerous of prolonged battle, many of these creatures tend to attack form the distance with vicious venom.

When it comes to the jungle, few, if any humans live there, by official records, there is only a singular railway leading to and from the area where a small, but vitally important space elevator is located that connects to the largest space station in system. It is through this network that imports and exports to and from the planet were conducted.

That is because the jungle is fundamentally hostile to all life, the overly large amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and the humidity of the area has led to large insectoid species dominating the surroundings. These insectoids had forced their own kind to evolve ever greater aggression, stronger carapace and sharper claws and teeth to survive. Due to this, the herbivore creatures had grown equally ferocious, which forced the flora to turn aggressive in turn, often times spewing poison that attacks the nervous system, or shoots out thin, ultrasharp needles that paralyze the body and unleash deadly venom that melts the victim from the inside. This, combined with the abundance of corpses, had seen the plants also turn carnivore.

All in all, Adeptus Ramanus thought, not a place I would build a vacation home at. Still, plentiful water, food with salt, anti-venom. So much needed. He sighs again, and begins to write up a series of orders. This campaign will be a success, for both his own personal gain, which barely significant and not at all important, and the glory of the God-Emperor !
>>
>>6464908

The Ordinator looked upon the orders passed down by Adeptus Ramanus, he could barely contain his giddy. Were it not for him own limp, he would have been guard, ah, to go out and bring forth the God-Emperor’s glory against the filthy traitors that would turn from the God-Emperor’s order, the order of his Imperium. Unacceptable. And now, the great and honourbale Adeptus Ramanus had taken personal interest in such a case, this could only mean that it will lead to greater things to come still ! As such, with great gusto, the floor that he managed was put to work to procure the needed supplies all from the sector.

As he looked through the list of the regiments being deployed, he took another look at his dataslate, so he’d have more accurate numbers, therein he found:
>>
>>6464909

>A large infantry force backed by artillery.
Five imperial guard medium foot infantry regiments, backed by a motorised medium artillery regiment. All equipped to imperial guard standard. The infantry has flak armour, las weaponry, and a few heavy gun emplacements, but nothing of true interest. The artillery regiment is primarily made-up basilisk batteries alongside a few hydras and specially designed communications sentinels, while they no longer possess combat abilities, they are able to act as forward spotters for the artillery, and act as powerful vox relays for friendly regiments.
Though, the Ordinator, with a hint of disappointment notices that not a single one of the regiments has any service history besides the fact where they were raised. Meaning that this would be their first campaign. Hopefully, the mettle of these men holds when they are judged by the God-Emperor.

>A small elite mobile force.

Only a single medium tank regiment, alongside a light drop regiment to back it up. With a long list of honours for both, the tank regiment has quite a few Leman Russ variants, allowing them to deal with numerous threats and to punch through the heaviest of frontlines. All the while, the drop regiment either strikes behind the enemy lines, cuts off their supply, or simply pins them in place, or just mops up the remains, they fufill the ever-important menial’s role of supporting the rolling assault. This does mean should the drop regiment be cut off, they simply lack any ability to survive prolonged combat, even with fire support always on the line by their Valkyries, and the tank regiment could easily be overwhelmed and outflanked by a larger infantry force in entrenched positions.
When it comes down to it, these men will fight probably to the last. It’s just that their numbers are small, and if either regiment fails, the other fails as well.

>A conservative everything force.

One regiment of undistinguished medium foot infantry to hold the line, though only having seen a couple minor campaigns, a light armoured regiment, with a few Leman Russ tanks, and only a couple of variants, backed by sentinels and hellhounds, the regiment makes an excellent armoured fist against light-to-medium fortifications, they would stall against anything heavier, though the troops of the armoured regiment have such degraded equipment because they are battle-hardened veterans that had to make do with what was available over a multitude of campaigns. Finally, a motorised medium artillery regiment brings up the rear to support both. Though seeing just how green the regiment is, you’d rather not trust their accuracy.

>Nothing at all !

The records must have been lost somewhere ! The Ordinator will have to do quite a few estimates, as he will only really know what is there when the campaign commences ! A dice roll is made to determine the amount of regiments, their experience, officers, etc.

>(Write in)
>>
>>6464910
>Nothing at all !
We GAMBLE
>>
>>6464910
>A conservative everything force.

Don't be tempted by the logic of 'avoiding being weak everywhere, means being strong nowhere', we need the variety for proper combined arms. We chose the veteran, so our guy is competent enough to bend these soldier's into shape and make good use of them. Even if that means not being as good at getting the fancy stuff or managing our command relationships.

Also, this is a pitiful number of forces to take a planet of billions, I hope these 'regiments' are MASSIVE, or this is a doomed campaign.
>>
>>6464921

Due to GW fuckery, I basically view a regiment as a full blown army capable of taking numerous objectives, rather than a 1,000 or so strong force. This is why I am keeping numbers vague.
>>
>>6464929
I'm pretty sure that's pretty much what a 40k guard regiment *is*, it's never used like a real life regiment.
>>
>>6464929
>>6464931
My limited recollection is basically that 40k regiments vary considerably in size. It's just that I defaulted mentally to them being RL sized with the absence of any specificity as to their size here. That, and I was expecting a lot more formations, just in general. Like, reading through the list of assets for a crusade, there's just so much shit. We're only taking one planet, so obviously there would be less stuff, I just expected to be overwhelmed by a gorillion regiment names anyway.
>>
>>6464910
>A large infantry force backed by artillery
>>
>>6464910
>>6464910
>Write-in
>A distinguished light force
A reconnaissance regiment, followed by a mechanized regiment and a proven HQ unit trained by Maximian Lex himself. All of them are distinguished and have seen battle, though their list of campaigns is not long. The reconnaissance regiment is well trained in scouting, ambushing, and being able to act on their own even far away. But most of their firepower is what men and abhumans' ratlings can carry. Las carabines, Lasguns, and Sniper rifles are their bread and butter, alongside grenades, mines, and daggers. The mechanized regiment consists of Guardsman infantry supported by Chimeras and Tauros vehicles. Using these vehicles, they are able to deploy ahead rapidly and receive the correct indications and information from the reconnaissance regiment to properly strike at the enemy. The HQ unit itself is small, but elite. A battle-proven heavy guardsman infantry with different types of weapons at their disposal. This unit serves the role of striking the enemy at weak points, exploiting them, and creating further damage across the battlefield.

Overall, a professional formation, but it is light and has no great firepower or powerful vehicles.
>>
>>6464910
>A large infantry force backed by artillery.

I want Mechanized or maybe Air Mobile but a bunch of bodies gives us options for later once we establish our supply situation.
>>
>>6464910
>A large infantry force backed by artillery

Bringing a large force of green infantry into Urbanized and Jungle Hell. This can only end well.

I wonder if we can try and recruit some of the Locals. Those Jungle Fighters or Tribemen or whatever sound like they'd be useful with a bit of equipment and training.
>>
>>6465097
+1
>>
>>6464910
>Nothing at all !
let's roll
>>
>>6464910
>>Nothing at all !
Rolling up your army and then complaining that it's shit is a time tested classic.
>>
>>6464910
>>Nothing at all !
Oooooo mystery box
>>
>>6464910
>A large infantry force backed by artillery.
I hate how predictable anons can be. Always the fucking mystery boxes.
>>
>>6465243
The WHAT mystery boxes?
>>
>>6465244
There's a tiny daemonette inside.
>>
>>6465097
We are being sent on a massive rebel world. And this forces are what the Administratum guy gives us. It doesn't seen we will have much else beside what the Administratum guy decides to assign us right now.

Or send us in the future. So I think we will be on our own for a while ?

>>6465114
We can probably recruit locals after taking over regions. And if there is any loyalists here to recruit from. And we likely can only equip with local wargear until we can gather more help.

>>6465224
I mean at the moment we are still playing the Administratum guy. So we are throwing our general random stuff with that option. Could be bad combos or good ones. The general cant do much about it until given the regiments lol.
>>
>>6464910
>Nothing at all !
Critfails here we come
>>
Nothing 5
Conservative 1
Infantry 5
Light 1

Alright, it seems we have a tie here. I will give it an hour before I make a roll between making more roles or a infantry force.

>>6464931
>>6464942

The regimental size depends heavily on the author and the story they are trying to tell. As for commanding dozens of regiments, I feared that would prove too cumbersome, so I am keeping their numbers small in a campaign that the Imperium wouldn't even consider a minor skirmish. If the system proves more than capable of handling this, the scale will expand, you can also call in more regiments, your own regiment is yet to be rolled up as well. The hundreds of regiments might come if this experiment continues as far as system conquest if not sector conquest, wherein you are ordering a single general in charge of dozens or regiments, etc.

>>6465243
B-but this is explicitly NOT a mystery box, I said very clearly that it is just random rolls, at best, this is gambling. Which is arguably worse, now that I think about it.
>>
>>6465351
>B-but this is explicitly NOT a mystery box, I said very clearly that it is just random rolls, at best, this is gambling.
That makes it a mystery box, anon. We don't know what it is. It could be really bad or it could be really good. Or it could be neither. It's functionally the same.

Frankly, I think that makes it a lot more interesting. I'm hoping we'll go for that.
>>
>>6465352

I mean, fair enough. Mystery Box usually leads to benefits, or something interesting. With the RNG, it could just be shit. I always go by the rolls in my quests, so I will not pull punches if there are ones rolled or if you somehow get lucky and just receive a regiment of super heavy armour.
>>
>>6465353
Well, that's the point. It's fun. Either we get a decent regiment regardless, or we get a super hardcore challenge mode, or we get a power fantasy where we curbstomp them into dust. It's a lot more interesting than just going for the standard conservative option.
>>
>>6465351
I assumed those regiments would be subsumed into larger formations and we wouldn't be command individual regiment commanders, but other generals leading these larger formations.

Anyways, I'll change from my vote >>6464921 from the conservative force to the mystery box. Lets get this show on the road.
>>
watch us roll a 1
>>
>>6465359

>I assumed those regiments would be subsumed into larger formations and we wouldn't be command individual regiment commanders, but other generals leading these larger formations.

That would be correct, yes. You would still have to assign said regiments, and you would have a pretty impressive list.

Alright. GAMBLING TIME.

To start with, I would like to request one anon to roll me a 1d100
>>
Regiments very wildly from sub 1k to over 100k, but if I were to say an average, it would be 10k.
So you can say that you got a giant line infantry regiment or you can say that you got a hundred regiments and conglomerated them into one army, either is actually fine, especially if said units were raised for your conflict specifically rather than just nabbed out of the wild.
>>
Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>6465364
LESS GO
>>
>>6465366
well, that's awfully mediocre. not even a funny low like a critfail.
>>
>>6465366

Not great, not terrible.

I need 4d100 to be rolled twice.
>>
>>6465371
I'll leave it to another anon this time around.
>>
Rolled 2, 55, 18, 58 = 133 (4d100)

>>6465371
Rolling, hopefully
>>
Rolled 90, 99, 84, 20 = 293 (4d100)

>>6465371
Rollin'
>>
And that's all I need folks. Writing.
>>
>>6465374
I-I...uh, wow. That's the luckiest I've been for a couple days. Too bad it is probably for regiment types and not quality (which I assume the first d100 was for).
>>
>>6465378

If you want a hint, look at the spoiler.

Type, equipment rating, experience, commanding officer.
>>
>>6465380
Holy shit, top tier kit led by veterans and a retarded officer. Peer kino. Unless the officer roll is for temperament/personality type, and not quality?
>>
>>6465380
Alright, so that's
Type 2 (Whatever that is) with mediocre equipment, no experience and a decent-ish officer and Type 90 (Whatever that is) with Near-Peak Equipment, Lots of Experience and a Dumbass Officer

That should be interesting.
>>
>>6465380
Type, equipment rating, experience, commanding officer.

2, 55, 18, 58
Lmao, we just picked up random people off the street and stuffed them into the transport with whatever surplus garbage the local PDF had to throw away.
>>
You are Maximian Lex, now a general within the Imperial Guard, the mailed fist of the God-Emperor and the enforcer of His will upon Terra. It still feels surreal. For forty years, you had fought the Emperor’s enemies, you had personally slain an Ork nob with a well-aimed grenade throw into its gaping maw. That had earned you the corporal’s spurs. Through sheer dumb luck, years after you reached sergeant, you stumbled across the leader of heretical rebels, both of you disturbed by the massive artillery bombardment along the kilometres long trenchlines. Through the mud and rain, you had found a rock and beaten the fraking bastard to death. That’s how you made lieutenant.

It is through these actions, a combination of bravery and luck, that you now ended up, affixing the general sash upon your own chest. The crimson red frayed with gold stands out against your brand new light green uniform that masterfully blends in with the freshly delivered suit of custom fitted carapace armour. You check to make sure your reliable laspistol is by your side, a queer sight in comparison to the rest of your outfit, as unlike everything else, it is not brand new, the aquila upon it is scratched and damaged, the grip discoloured and worn out, a testament to its extensive use. The weapon had followed you since your days as becoming a commission officer, and it will probably follow you to your grave.

After a once over in the mirror, you think you do look stately enough, or at least what most people imagine when they think of a general, though probably a bit more scared than most. The most noticeable part would be the rough augment glowing green where your left eye would be, hiding a gnarly scar that was inflicted by a hormagaunt, when your position had been nearly overrun. You still offer prayers to the artillery men and their uncanny accuracy that day, otherwise you would not be standing here.

Speaking of standing, your right leg groans, as it too is an augment, a gift by the damnable Eldar, they had descended upon your regiment when you had made captain after a tough battle, you swear one of them purposefully nicked your leg with one of their rifles, by the saints above, you felt like dying right there and then, if were not for the swift reaction of the field medicae that had, rather crudely mind, lopped your leg off, the vile toxin would have left your crippled and in constant pain, like had happened to quite a few of your friends.

Taking your general’s cap, a rather foppish looking one with enough gaudiness to make sure everyone knows your rank, you turn to leave your command tent. As you step out, the light reflecting from the distant spires above you assail your eyes. It takes a moment for you to adjust, and as you turn to your side, the familiar face of Alian Lucor whom, with a stone-cold face, holds the ceremonial saber, another cumbersome part of your new uniform.
>>
>>6465406

You take it without exchanging any words, he had been your XO for fourteen years, you had fought and bled alongside one another enough not to need pointless platitudes. Strapping the blade to your side, you wonder how much use you will find from a shaped piece of steel when you are pushing your mid-fifties, but who knows, you might live long enough to get some rejuvenation treatments and get to swing it about once or twice. Though a situation like that would certainly mean that something has gone terribly wrong.

Making your way towards the centre of the camp, you watch the crisp steady lines of the guardsmen before you, all of them looking as if they were promoted, their chests puffed out, their shoulders straight, and their heads held high. You don’t think even a commissar’s inspection would make them look like that. Perhaps Ciaphas Cain might, after all, he is the hero of the Imperium. Even the thought that you might be able to meet such courageous vaunted figure of the Imperium gives pep even to your step.

Having reached and impromptu raised platform, made from a collapsed section of an upper spire, alongside a few crates in leu of steps, you finally take the sight of your regiment. So many men, all of whom you’ve gotten to know as close as if they were your own brothers. This battle, was the last battle in which you will lead personally, while there is a pang of disappointment in your heart at that knowledge, it does not stop you from carrying out your duty. You were chosen for such a burden and honour, and by the Emperor, you will see it done to the best of your ability.

“Guardsmen !” You shout out, your voice cutting through the air, drawing attention of not only your men, but of those other regiments around you, as well as the civilian populace that is currently being combed through to find those traitors still hiding amongst them.

“I’ve bled besides you for forty years. And Emperor willing, I shall for forty more. Now, I am called for greater command, to lead even more souls into battle, and towards their ultimate sacrifice in the Emperor’s name, in the name of your fathers, in the name of your sons, whom shall one day bleed, or have already bled. It is on the blood of the martyrs that the Imperium still stands. That your loved ones live in peace and prosperity.” You start off putting fire in every word you spew forth.

“While the foul xenos threatens your home, will you stand aside ?!” You continue to shout out.

“Sir, no, sir !” Your regiment, with a booming voice responds.

“While the traitor schemes in the shadows against your kin, will peacefully rest ?!”

“Sir, no, sir !”

“While the heretic spits forth his lies, will you let your faith waver ?!”

“Sir, no, sir !”
>>
>>6465407

“While horrors from beyond approach your families, will you cover ?!”

“Sir, no, sir !” This time, your soldiers scream at the top of their lungs.

Feeling that the crescendo has reached its peak, you decide to time has come to wrap up this little speech of yours.

“Guardsmen, will you follow this old man to another war ?! A war against whatever dares to think, it can stand against you ?!”

“Sir, yes, sir !”

“Then move out ! Another victory awaits !”

“Victory !” Your men mirror your words as they begin to move.

Taking a moment to rest your voice, you take one final look at the departing troops and watch:

>Lines upon lines of tanks.

With enough Leman Russ tanks to fill out any required role, it is a medium tank regiment accustomed to a wide variety of tasks and battle.

>Small organic formations, seemingly gliding over the terrain.

A light infantry reconnaissance regiment. Made up of light infantry wherein each soldier is expected to take initiative and to operate despite numerous obstacles and odds. To find the enemy, to sabotage the enemy, and in general, make life to the Imperium’s enemies a waking nightmare.

>The glow of plasma weapons and hellguns.

A heavy infantry regiment, these men specialise in breaking through even the toughest of enemy formations.

>(Write in) This regiments starts with high level gear and type.
>>
Anybody got any ideas for a kewl write in? As much as I'd love a Baneblade it's probably not a very good idea if our main terrains are going to be Stalingrad Urban Nightmare and Jungle Green Hell
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>>6465408
>The glow of plasma weapons and hellguns.

Our choice of loyal regiment's kit, hm? While the light infantry would be great out in the jungle, sahel, and moutains, the bulk of the resistance will ultimately be in the polar cities. We want a hammer for those centers of resistance.

The speech reminded me of the Starcraft: Dominion trailer that just dropped. Hopefully the result isn't the same. I'd hate to run into 'Nids on this planet.
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>>6465416
>spoilers
The average lasgun toting guardsman apparently has canonically 600,000% of the life expectancy in the battlefield of one of those stacraft guys. I'm not joking.
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>>6465408
>>Small organic formations, seemingly gliding over the terrain.
It has a part of the write-in I made. Good enough for me, and we need it here. Too much difficult terrain, too much wild.
>>
Okay, wait, just an idea here. Would there be a difference between the heavy infantry option and like...shock troopers? I feel like there's a difference between heavy and shock.
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>>6465418
I mean...it is canonical that a typical Starcraft marine has the life expectancy of 9 seconds. That is not youtuberslop gossip, it is a direct statement from the original Starcraft manual. I know, I've owned it since I was a kid. Though to be fair, that was meant to describe marines under the Confederacy in Starcraft 1, not Dominion marines.
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>>6465422
Historically, not really. In 40k and fiction in general? Maybe.

'Shock' infantry in a pre-modern context just means any infantry that does its killing up close in the melee. In the modern context, I guess it would mean any infantry used in a close-in, decisive assault. But shock in a looser sense can also mean shock and awe, which is typically used in the context of artillery or air power usually, but in a fictional setting, could refer to terror troops. So, for us, abhumans, mutants, some sort of critters/beasts as assault elements, psykers, troops trained in psy-ops, etc.
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>>6465422

Equipment variety. Shock troops are meant to close the distance and crack tight confines open. Heavy infantry like this is mean to fight with at least some distance and to destroy everything in their path at range. Shock troops would deal poorer with vehicles than heavy infantry and do better in very confined quarters, heavy infantry just brrrrts everything before it, but if it runs into something that really closes the distance or can just shrug off their hits, they are not fast enough to get away or maneuver.

>>6465416

>spoiler

Honestly, I might have, since I recently watched it as well, though it was not a conscious call-back. Fucken game comes out on '30, and that is without delays, and we don't know if it will even be good.
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>>6465433
Okay, well, given our terrain, I suppose I should go ahead and suggest....

>>6465408
>(Write-in) Shock Troopers, with actual quality equipment, whatever that means for that.
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>>6465433
Who knows. Only time will tell. At least it's a good number of years for any solid long-term project. The first trailer was very cool in my opinion. Very gritty and grim (and instead of professional, veteran, or convicts CMC infantry, they show a batch fresh out of training. Sure, the comics show green infantry from time to time, but not full volunteers indoctrinated XD)

>>6465418
That's Koprulu Warzones for you. Better hope you have a shield, stims, and a field medic behind XD. Or, you know, sitting in bunkers with defenses.
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>>6465408
>Write In

>A Super Heavy Infantry regiment
A trio of Storm Lord Super Heavies stand like mountains of metal before ranks of carapace armored infantrymen. While the infantry lack much heavier firepower then they're standard las weapons their mighty steeds more then make up for this deficiency
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>>6465441

Veto.

Carapace inf. would be the preset option, or you guys choosing regular infantry line regiment, they'd lack the sheer quantity of hellguns and the like, due to larger numbers, but you could have them.

And you are not influential enough to have Stromlords. If you want to be a heavy armoured regiment, you could have a few Maclador's and Macharius tanks alongside some Leman Russ back ups, though you would be limited in number.
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>>6465414
Could use a mechanized regiment with Guardsman infantry + Chimeras and Tauros vehicles. Those vehicles can go just fine inside urban zones and in rough terrain.
>>
Honestly, though, I am fine with reconnaissance or heavy infantry; we can use tanks too, sure, but this world doesn't sound capable of producing anything too armored. Leman Russ might be slow here. I guess we could easily blow up buildings and walls with them, though.
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>>6465445
I suppose? Regardless, I wanna go for a shock regiment. In an urban scenario, having troops capable of taking important locations without turning them into rubble is very important. Otherwise we'd just bomb the whole thing from orbit.
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>>6465451
Well w0cwby1Z) anon asked. Is a cool write-in to me.
Go for what you think is best ! Not like we can get anything new anytime soon.

>Otherwise we'd just bomb the whole thing from orbit.
Afraid that's out of our power. Gotta ask the Navy, and well...they are a problematic sort with the Guard lol. Besides, there is nothing too difficult to take that needs orbital attacks here.
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>>6465454
>w0cwby1Z)
That's me, anon, I was posting from my phone with mobile data.

>Afraid that's out of our power.
That's kinda what I'm saying, anon, if they're sending us to retake it, "blow the whole thing to pieces so the tank can move through" isn't really something we should rely on.
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>>6465408
I'll switch >>6465416 to support >>6465436

Good for urban combat.
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>>6465444
Can't blame a guy for trying
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>>6465408
>Lines upon lines of tanks
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>>6465408
>write in: motorized infantry, with all the trucks they need to move around, a handful of pack animals for difficult terrain and a few well armed chimeras
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>>6465471
We rolled well we might as well grab a bunch of Chimera and Taurox instead of Motorized. Boring answer Anon.
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>>6465408
>>The glow of plasma weapons and hellguns.
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>>6465408
>The glow of plasma weapons and hellguns.
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>>6465532
>>6465550
Heavy Infantry is a poor choice, as the QM said they need some range to do their work and none of the terrain we're going to has any of that
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>>6465408
>An Ogryn Regiment. As tough as Space Marines, and almost as heavily armed.
Funny
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>>6465408
>Small organic formations, seemingly gliding over the terrain.
>>
Heavy 2
Recon 2
Shock 2
Tanks 1
Motorized 1
Ogryn 1

We've got a three-way tie. Will give it an hour before I just roll.
>>
Here's my final argument for Shock Troop - If we ever have to fight in the jungle, all our plasma and melta wielding soldiers will become completely useless since they'd jus tend up setting fire to themselves, or straight up breaking due to the humidity.
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>>6465789
Recon.

This will be a war won by flexibility.
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>>6465805

Locked in !
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A recon squad with no strength to back it, wonderful. We're getting fucked at the first fortified point.
>>
Your men simply disappear in the surrounding terrain, the loud noise they had once unleashed being nothing more than a mirage, and before long, they had mounted their transports and begun the cumbersome ascent into orbit. One part of commanding this regiment you will not miss, is having to deal with other officers whom would show up to complain about their missing equipment and supplies, and judging by the swearing you’ve heard from the officer’s lounge a couple of days back, you are quite certain that your regiment’s ratlings took your promotion, and the fact that you will be going away soon, as a blessing to acquire as many supplies as they physically could. It wouldn’t be so bad, if we’re not for the fact that they undoubtedly bribed your guardsmen into assisting them.

Now, this is going to be Alian’s headache, and knowing him, it will be a literal headache of anyone that annoys him, which will, probably in turn, become your headache again. Still, at least for a little while, you will be able to rest, though you have to admit, being in the void unnerves you, going through the warp, doubly so.
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You want to bash someone’s skull in. The expression on your face must have been plain to see, as Alian had already strategically disappeared, leaving the poor Ordinator that was supposed to deal with your supplies had been given the frak-end task of informing you of the brand new regiment, that had been raised by the efforts of the entire sector by the order of Lord Ramanus, though you doubt that he is even aware of your existence.

In an empty parade ground upon Trenavorum, the capital world of this damnable sector, there is a mob, parading as a regiment, ill-fitting black uniforms with red trim would strike a decently impressive sight, if they were not made by the cheapest bidder within the industrial zones of the world, and the same applies to the autoguns clenched in the hands of men that could be your grandfather, shaking already from the exertion, and children that were as young as you when you joined the guard. Still, you were made to lug crates, bring forth ammo to entrenched positions, not fight on the frontline !

Most embarrassed of all however, looks the think line of officers before the mob, their uniforms at least fit. You do feel a bit bad for them, having been saddled with the task of herding these people to their deaths. Unsurprisingly, the stone-faced commissar and his numerous juniors appear completely non-fussed about the matter as they stand at the back of the formation, watching soldiers for any signs of insubordination.
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>>6465840

In stark contrast, would be the regiment besides them, striking a completely different sight. Their armour, wholly carapace you note, alongside even some power armour ! Now that does improve your mood a bit. Their fine weapons and the like alongside plenty of transports showcases a proper force, were it not for the fact that the HQ is missing their regimental commander ! And the continuous binaric chant of the techpriests does begin to grate your nerves too, whom appear to be wholly integrated in the regiment.

“M-my lord.” The Ordinator stammers out.

“Yes ?” You say with harshness in your tone, causing the lad to shrink.

“I- I am supposed to inquire, my lord. Where will you be placing your headquarters ?”

Now that, is a good question. One that actually slipped past you, since you were so used to going where your regiment is. But yes, as high command, you are too important for that. After a moment of pondering all of the officers you had served under, you decide on:

>A frontline deployment.

Riskiest of all options, as you could easily fall in battle if things go wrong, but with this, you will instantly receive combat reports, not to mention that your soldiers will fight harder, knowing their general is at their side. Though this will also come at the cost of any political opportunities that might come your way, since no fancy envoy’s going to dirty his boots in a trench.

>An orbital deployment.

You will have to tolerate the navy for this, which is already a massive downside in your opinion, but it should strike a nice balance overall, slightly delayed reports, as you can only imagine what is happening down on the surface. Most important folk won’t make their way towards you, but some representatives could flow in, alongside some news being received from the astropaths. Still, such a position would make a nice place to rest for your officers, especially if you want to have a quiet talk and find out more about them, and to make sure everyone’s pushing in the same direction.

>Trenavorum itself.

The beating heart of political life in the sector. With this, you will be able to take your time dealing with politics, pushing yourself even further than beyond ! This would come at the cost of reports coming in massively delayed, and your commanders being distant strangers rather than close subordinates.


Info on regiments and more:
https://rentry.co/obsyb962
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>>6465841
I'm not sure whether a frontline or an orbital deployment is the best. Definitely not Trenavorum.
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>>6465841
>An orbital deployment.

The terrain we'd be fighting in on a frontline deployment is too constrained to successfully isolate our command post from enemy infiltration or fire, unless we achieved absolute local dominance. This gives us versatility, and a cushy place to rest our officers. Ultimately we aren't a political officer though, so we're best off either in orbit or on the front, rather than in the political capital of the sector.
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>>6465841
>>A frontline deployment.
This fits our origin best, although I feel like it's not a good idea to make this permanent, we will eventually want to get off the front lines to go beg for more stuff.
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>1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment: Medium Irregular Infantry
This is less of a fighting force and more of a recruit pool. If we throw them into the trenches as is, they are bound to take high losses, but if we make an effort to comb through the personnel, sort them and then hand out proper training, we could make a few okay units instead of one shitty blob. Some of them might be just useless shitters, but there's a place for those in the army too.
And some might be taken as apprentices by the 133rd Kasyx.
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>>6465841
>A front line deployment

I particularly think we should place ourselves alongside the "Volunteers" they'll need whatever steel we can put into their spines if they are to make it through any serious combat.
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Wouldn't a frontline deployment cuck us out of any reinforcements whatsoever though? If we ever run into a situation we got nothing for (aka enemy armor) we're just fucked
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>>6465874
>If we ever run into a situation we got nothing for (aka enemy armor)
We have heavies with plasma cannons, they'll sort the tanks out.
The bigger problem is that we have no counterbattery capability and have to rely on infiltrators to fuck up enemy artillery.
And if they have an air force, we might have a bit of a problem.
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>>6465876
>We have heavies with plasma cannons, they'll sort the tanks out.
I still wouldn't put them up against a Leman Russ detachment or a Baneblade unless they had a really good positioning.

Either way, not having reinforcements, I dunno. We did choose a frontline general, I guess, so he would be best used there, but we'll probably run into issues eventually.
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>>6465841
>Elianus Alrenan
Uncertain commander this one. How the hell did they send him from his previous position and education to lead this.....group of civilians taken at random ? Something is being done here politically. To this guy specifically. Punishment ? Attempt at throwing shit at his carrier ?

>1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment
This guys are groups of civies taken at random. They are not soldiers or warriors. Standard PDF is better than them. An Imperial Cult Militia is better than them. An Underhive Gang? Feudal World Levies ? Feral World tribals ? All better. This group of civilians need an actual bootcamp. Otherwise they are just going to be target practice for the enemy. The 1st Ramanus will just die and crack under pressure even with Commissars, if they arent given proper training.

>Vorian Lucyx the Great Seventeenth Lord of the 9th
A noble. Nothing to show. All bad signs so far. Cant count on him in a fight. Maybe he leaves everything to his subordinates.

>Lucian 9th Fussilier Regiment
This guys are elite. And great. Their equipment, discipline, wargear, training, vehicles. Even servitors and techpriests. We can count on them

And we can count on our men and Alian.
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>>6465873
That's what the commissars are for. They'll be fine.
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>>6465899
>Doubt
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>>6465863
First thing to do is training them. And dividing them in different units.

Otherwise they will shit their pants just because an animal growled in the distance. An average march might see them all tired to death before even a quarter of it is completed. A simple skirmish nevermind a battle might see half of them dead, wounded, lost, fainted, incapacitated or even captured. Basically we cant count on them at the moment, whatever training they have given them was actual shit, because they still all remained the civies taken at random from the streets, jobs, homes of hours, days or weeks ago.

>>6465841
>A frontline deployment.
I am not sure about orbital at the moment with us having a shit-tastic regiment and two unknown commanders (likely bad). The noble will be a pain and i expect the other one to offer a lot of resistance as well. Very high chance they might do what they like instead than following orders. And we have nothing in common with them. What do you even talk about...

Ah if we could establish a ground fort.... maybe we could change between orbital and field deployment ? Depending on whats the situation on ground and if they need our help or to babysit them.

>>6465899
Commisars might be more of an issue because this are basically civilians. They aren't guardsmens that break morale but can be put in order by commissars.

The 1st Ramanus might need to genuily stay back in the landing zone and be trained for some months there. As they are they are just bad.
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>>6465841
>A frontline deployment.
Alright, well, I've been convinced, those officers are too much of an unknown and our roll for them was pretty baaaad. I guess we'll just have to do without reinforcements.
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>>6465841
>An orbital deployment.
Overall a mixed bag of regiments, more good than bad though. The 1st Ramanus will be a problem though, they'll need to be babysat so they don't run at the first sign of trouble. Good for menial guard duty though. I'm not worried about the commanders, they'll prove themselves one way or another, we just need to ensure we don't put them into situations where they'll lose their heads.
>>
Staying in orbit does also help with getting to know our officers, which seems to be why everyone's picking front line deployment.
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>>6465841
>>A frontline deployment.
We die or have a good story forever
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>>6465841
>A frontline deployment.
Our general actually knows how to fight and can handle himself otherwise, I wouldn't vote for this.

In terms of regiments we have one cannon fodder regiment but if they survive long enough, they'll become useful IF they survive.... One mechanized regiment for punching through heavy resistance that has heavy admech support, making them very difficult to slow down or disable. Downside is the Administratum despises them but the Admech like them. One regiment of elite recon. We have nothing for vehicles, air support, or artillery. The only vehicles we have are troop transports for the mechanized admech regiment. We are playing with heavy infantry support and fuck all for anything else. If we encounter any heavy resistance, we can only pray the mechanized regiment can punch through. If they have any vehicles, artillery, or air support we are gonna have a really bad time. As we are almost entirely an infantry army and our ability to mobilize is also limited, with a strong lack of troop transports.

Really, we have to fucking pray they don't have any mechanical support or we are gonna get fucked hard. Strong defenses that can hold off our mechanized regiment are also troublesome. Good news is we have an admech contact through a regiment under our command that allows us to talk to the Admech who have their own goodies and supplies that doesn't require a mountain of redtape to get anything. The downside is they mostly blow their budgets chasing STC myths...

I suspect the admech connection is stronger there, given how questionable their officers are but somehow they're still effective plus the Administratum have to be pissed off for a reason. They probably hoped we would get the troublesome regiment wiped out for them to remove a headache. They also dumped a trash cannon fodder regiment on us and we only have an elite recon regiment that is trustworthy. Administratum and Admech relations are very strained because the Imperium uses logistics to force the Forge Worlds to obey and depend on them. However, the Admech have extremely extensive savings and slush funds should they be in the mood but require extensive technical expertise to utilize and maintain which is why so much of it is so rare among the Guard or outright nonexistent. That appears to not be an issue with one of our regiments given the toys they were given and the maintainance they offered freely by the Admech despite getting sabotaged by the Administratum so they HAVE to be getting supply drops directly by the Admech to stay combat effective. Are they close to the Knight Houses? That would explain their feudalism and being close to the Admech...

Cannon fodder regiment if they stay alive long enough can become useful. Especially the younglings, if they can get the needed experience. The old ones are mostly meat shields if they don't have skills that were overlooked.
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orbital 2
frontline 6

Alright, a pretty clear consensus. Writing.
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Over 9000 hours in mspaint and severe weekend boredom.
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>>6466079
Sure can work kek. Probably anything beyond grunts will require buying new equipment. But thats a Maximian problem for later.

Our men are likely going to start calling the 1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment in the Ramanus Sector Volunteer Boot Camp instead.
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You’ve made up your mind. This is your first deployment as an overall commander of a planetary invasion, and sitting in a stuffy smoke-filled room with unbearable, self-centred narcissists sounds worse than being actively shelled by enemy artillery formations. You also had the option of sitting in orbit, but being in reaching distance of your soldiers all the while they risked their lives, fought and died, that just sits ill with you. It’s not strategically sound, you realize that, but you shall still do so, both for yourself, and your men.

“On planet.” You growl, your voice an octane deeper than usual.

“Oh…Oh !” The Ordinator appears surprised by your words, but you can also see a strange sparkle in his eyes at your words. “I will ensure to inform Adeptus Ramanus immediately, my lord. Do not worry, everything shall be arranged to perfection !” He states before rapidly limping away from you, only now his injury becoming apparent. Maybe the man was a soldier once as well, you allow yourself the idle thought.

With that done, you turn to leave the inspection, your own regiment dispersing as they will without further orders, no doubt going to raid the local pantries and ammo depots, but that is no longer your problem. Meanwhile, the mob shrinks at the shout of its officers and commissars, whom begin to heard them like animals rather than proper guardsmen. Oddly, the Lucians stand immobile, completely stalwart, all awaiting their missing commander, of nothing else, it is a good sign of discipline.
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The knife in your hand easily cuts through the grox steak, spilling a small amount of blood onto the ceramic plate. The meal continues on in awkward silence, as you, alongside Rear-Admiral Domelia Renorer. After the first dinner aboard her flagship, a Lunar-Class cruiser Indominable Will. You’ve found little in common with the Rear-Admiral, she’s a high-born noble lady, you are commoner. She’s from traditional naval family and is carrying on their legacy, you’re just some orphan picked up by the regiment you called your own. You, a balding-grey haired man in your mid-fifties, she a lovely brunette in her mid-twenties, or two-hundreds, its hard to tell, as you did note a few acts of hers that would fit a grandmother, rather than a young woman. You had never asked her precise age, your battle-honed instincts screaming their warnings.

“We shall be arriving in-system within the week, or some the navigator proclaims.” She breaks the silence, reaching for a glass of amasec.

“Good. Will the local void assets prove difficult ?” You ask the most pertinent question, all the while chewing on your steak, only belatedly realizing that this might upset the blue blood.
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>>6466094

“No. Granted, the reports are ancient, but at most, we will encounter local system patrol boats, converted freighters. The only thing in system that could pose a danger to my force would be the voidstation in orbit, alongside any extra extensive defences they may have erected. I doubt it shall be anything impressive.”

“What are your orders regarding it ?”

“To take it intact if possible, or to leave it enough of it behind so that it could be rapidly rebuilt. Besides that, the pole cities are to be untouched. That is the extent of my orders.”

This gives you pause for a moment as you think of the implications of your own orders. As much infrastructure must survive as possible, though at the end of the day, a habitable world is what the Departamento Munitorum truly cares about. “We might need assistance in the jungles, or the arid Badlands.”

“We will have to wait and see.” She says noncommittally, as her servants move in to replace her dishes. “The poles have macrocannon emplacements, it provides almost complete planetary coverage. I shall assist with the initial landing, so you better make it count, General. Afterwards, all I can truly offer is that I shall try my best to ensure that nothing else gets on world that is not on our side.”

“Suppose best I could ask.”

“The best my orders give you, General.”

You reply with a grunt, and just grab yourself an amasec bottle, rather than waiting for one of the plodding servants to pour some for you in a tiny crystal glass. Though it is of an interesting make, as light hits it, the glass’ colour shifts and changes. You can only wonder how expensive this little knickknack actually is.
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.
.
It had taken nearly four months from your arrival in system before you had reached Herod’s End. The initial engagement had gone as Domelia predicted, a few system voidships were swept aside, forcing a few others to retreat under the coverage of planetary weapons. The voidship that you were on had shook like hell quite a few times, which did unnerve you quite a bit, however, from what information you received, the voidshields held, while the traitors’ shields didn’t, if they had any to begin with that is.

As for the voidstation – its newly formed look of molten slag that is still slightly glowing looks rather mesmerising, in a disturbing sort of way. You had observed the awesome firepower unleashed by the battlegroup, though what disturbed you the most was the fact that the station, in combination of fire coming from the planet’s surface, had broken the back of a Dauntless alongside another Sword frigate.
>>
>>6466095

“The auspex still reads power signs within the depths of the station.” Domelia, seated upon her captain’s chair, lazily remarks, resting her head to the side, seemingly undisturbed by anything. “That means it is still somewhat operational. My armsmen will secure it for future use. And you General, have you made your decision ?” She asks, as if thousands of lives do not depend on a few of your words, her body staying still, and only her emerald eyes looking at you.

Though, it is a good question, a question you had pondered ever since you had received reports about the world you are supposed to conquer, and you decided upon, even though you knew that the knowledge you have is centuries out of date:

>The northern pole. The city of Herod

With a population of 2.2 billion people, it is the world’s capital, housing the oldest and most extensive infrastructure and governmental buildings. Undoubtedly, this would be the most defended location on the entire planet.

>The southern pole. The city of Amelia.

Housing 1.8 billion, Amelia had been settled as the need for industry grew, housing the numerous factorums and industry, the planetary training grounds where PDF and guardsmen regiments were raised in the past are also housed here.

>The clearing around the space elevator, deep in the jungle.

The lifeline of the world’s interstellar trade, heavily fortified clearing meant to deal with vast quantities of cargo. It is isolated in the depths of the jungle, but it provides ease of access concerning your own supply lines.

>The jungle outskirts.

The area of the planet where the majority of farms and ranches are located, this general area is perhaps the least confusing of all, though still filled with kilometres long fields of man tall wheat and the like. This does leave you with no real natural borders to protect you from encirclement.

>Deep in the confusing Badlands.

Lacking waterm constantly beaten down upon the oppressive heat, only crags, old river beds, the occasional deadly wildlife and savage human tribes is what dominates this area. There is absolutely nothing of import here, so you are rather unlikely to be shot at by the enemy.

>One of the port towns around the Sweltering Ocean.

The last large-scale body of water on the planet, your back will bes secured, the local fishing and transportation industries would allow you to supply yourself and strike deeper into the farmlands or the jungle.

>(Write in)

Feel free to ask questions about terrain or other details.
>>
>>6466097
If we take the space port, can we expect it to be useful for resupply considering the enemy macrocannons?
Or can we expect it to be too risky to send ships down to help us until we take one of the polar cities with the gun batteries?
>>
>>6466097
We probably want to aim for one of the pole cities or the space elevator. Clearly we can't expect much orbital support otherwise, I expect destroying or disabling the macro cannons will be a priority.

>The southern pole. The city of Amelia.
Probably their military HQ. We hit it hard and fast and if we take it we deal them a deadly blow.
>>
>>6466097
>The southern pole. The city of Amelia.

Make use of our only period of orbital assistance to smash our way through the hardest defences. This is when our formations are at their highest degree of strength, before attrition winnows them down. Disrupt the rebel war materiel production, conscript the populace, use the local factories and training grounds to train them up and add to our war effort. From there we can strike outwards to the jungle outskirts and secure our food supply, then into the jungle to secure orbital supply. If we are rebuffed on our initial entry into the city, then we can do much the same with retreating into the well supplied jungle outskirts, then back towards the space elevator.

That being said, the plan is risky. Some anon is already typing "amateurs study tactics, professional study logistics" or some variant of "logistics win wars", I can hear it. I'd be just as fine setting down in the port down by the ocean and working our way to the farms or elevator. Or taking the space elevator first. Or in a less conservative move, splitting up and dispersing our force initially, perhaps our recon regiment can take the space elevator, while the mob and heavier elements land separately and strike out at a city. The enemy will probably be dispersed themselves initially, either between the two poles, or into rural areas because of lack of information about how willing we are to bombard the cities.

Lots of options initially.
>>
>>6466101

The area around the space elevator has been cleared enough to allow for large-scale ship landings. You could be resupplied through there via shuttlecraft rather than any large landers, and any voidships that sit there are bound to be asking for trouble, but as I said before, you should be able to get resupply as long as local flak is disabled or friendly.

If you anons want to, you can split deployment by regiments. Just be warned, they will be isolated and without assistance if worst comes to worst, and the enemy is very likely to start jamming vox signals the moment they realize that a ground invasion has arrived.
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>>6466097
>The southern pole. The city of Amelia.
Frankly, I want them to have as little extra training time as possible. FURTHERMORE, given how absolutely fucking garbage the equipment our volunteer regiment has, acquiring guardsman-level equipment from the city would be a very big upgrade.

Like, solely from the logistics perspective, switching over the rabble from autoguns to lasguns would be an insane upgrade. Lasguns don't need ammo, they self-recharge.
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>>6466109
Do we have any idea as to what's going on planetside? Like who is running which city, who is running the starport, what kind of subfactions we can try and get on our side, why they haven't been paying taxes in the first place and such?
Can we try to establish communications from orbit in search of loyalists or informers or subfactions?
>>
>>6466113
I imagine we'll probably learn such things when we manage to capture some locals.
>>
>>6466097
Thats a lot of rebel population. I don't think we could have taken the cities no matter the initial regiments we brought down. We need to break walls, defenses and the armies in there. While the navy might not give full support with that AA on both poles.

Lets take the regions outside of the poles and starve them. We will see what we are up against with the first interrogated locals taken. And if any of them can be recruited or if they are disloyal.

>One of the port towns around the Sweltering Ocean.
I am not counting on the taxmen and beancounters to give us food supplies. Local food supplies are better. Here, near and will be under our control.

If our back is secured by the ocean thats also good. Though rebels might be capable to build military water ships for all we know. Eitherway a conquest of coastal port towns sounds feasible with our initial regiments. Should be a good enough place for create the Ramanus Sector Volunteer Boot Camp too.
>>
>>6466113

>Do we have any idea as to what's going on planetside? Like who is running which city, who is running the starport, what kind of subfactions we can try and get on our side, why they haven't been paying taxes in the first place and such?

By greatest Imperial traditions, you haven't got the foggiest, why would anyone turn from the Emperor's light, just a bunch of ungrateful traitors, really. Your job is to crush them, so the only info you got was related to that.

>Can we try to establish communications from orbit in search of loyalists or informers or subfactions?

You could ask the Rear-Admiral to do a planet wide vox broadcast, yes.
>>
>>6466116
>Thats a lot of rebel population. I don't think we could have taken the cities no matter the initial regiments we brought down. We need to break walls, defenses and the armies in there
With what? I don't think a few plasma guns are enough.
>>
So in summary, we could go for one of the cities but that's a blind all in gamble, we could go for the starport which gives us a logistical line to the wider Imperium, we could do the safe thing by taking a port town and then leveraging the ocean to our advantage or we could go into the desert and starve to death.
The starport or the ocean I think both lead to the same kind of situation because once you take one you will naturally want to grab the other before massing for an assault on one of the cities.
The initial orbital support lends itself to attacking a polar city, but we literally haven't a clue as to what's waiting for us there, so I personally wouldn't bet on that working out.
Oh, also, the space elevator is on the pole where we will be dealing with severe heat stroke problems.

I'd say the best odds of not getting shit on as soon as things start is the port town.
>>One of the port towns around the Sweltering Ocean.


>>6466120
>With what?
With the giant space cannon.
>>
>>6466123
>With the giant space cannon.
Which we won't get outside of our first attack unless we take down AA? We only get orbital support on the landing.
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>>6466097
>The clearing around the space elevator, deep in the jungle.

Also a question Newb do we have any aeronautica assets assigned to this operation or will whatever air cover we have be provided directly by navy squadrons?
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>>6466127

>Also a question Newb do we have any aeronautica assets assigned to this operation or will whatever air cover we have be provided directly by navy squadrons?

The navy will provide initial air coverage for the landing, afterwards, you're on your own.
>>
>>6466097
>Feel free to ask questions about terrain or other details
Any previous history/records of the world available to us, prior to the rebellion ? Beside this info already given:

>A murderous world with constant wet heat that makes one sweat to death, and that is only a slight exaggeration. With a massive world spanning equatorial jungle, arid, rocky zones making up the outside, and a thin line of temperate weather around the poles. This has led to gigantism in the local flora and fauna, which has a strong preference for sunlight and living flesh. Due to the large population centres around the poles, the area is generally heavily urban, though not reaching the level of a hive city, meanwhile everything outside of it is a labyrinth for even the locals, not to mention foreigners. While the records of local PDF are nothing special, the terrain will be hell to slog through and will certainly lend a considerable advantage to the local defenders.

Also will there be a basic paint map of the world ?

>>6466120
I meant that no matter what we brought down of initial choices. We had different choices before deciding to go for the mystery box, which doesn't quite cut it for taking cities. This cities seems too much work for the presented initial regiments options. We need more regiments to take them, what we have now or the other options we could have picked genuily don't feel like enough in terms of strength. Thats the impression i have.

There is also the uncertain aspect that we know little of this rebellion, and what military it might have. We could break in a city and take it. We could also meet steel that pushes us back out.

And this is a Newb quest so ..... any enemy is potentially dangerous and usually doesn't die without a fight (Newb doesn't mistreat any faction or race of 40k in his quests. They have ALL their lore strengths and weaknesses. Any minor alien races he creates are also given the same treatment. We can expect the same for this rebel faction in front of us).
>>
>>6466129
My point, anon, is that we will only have support from the Navy during our first landing. If we want to use that support to break down their defences we need to go for a hard target first.
>>
>>6466130
Sure they will give us breaches at least in a city walls/defenses.

That doesn't mean we have the guarantee to take said hard target. The navy will not risk critical infrastructure in the bombardamenti and i assume will not remain there too long firing from orbit.

And our assault to either two of the cities has a crucial problem: we have a whole regiment which is made up of scared armed civilians, with no training and no morale. Only numbers. A landing with a direct assault to a city is an hard fight. We can count on our own regiment to fire from long range or use the sewers for attack from different vectors. We can count on the fusiliers for direct range combat. What can we count upon with the 1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment ? Likely dying and routing. And if the Regiment Commissars are too eager in killing them for keep discipline, they arent going to obey them for long. They might just run or turn on the commisars and then their officers. And then the rest of our army. Do you feel like gambling with this weakness in our army.
>>
>>6466144
Yeah, well, this is us at our BEST. We chose the frontline options so that means no reinforcements. It's either take city now with some support or take city later with zero support and already decreased regiments.
>>
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>>6466129

>Any previous history/records of the world available to us, prior to the rebellion ? Beside this info already given:

Not specifically, Herod's End is a backwater that would have gone unnoticed were it not for the planned minor crusade. The scant historical records of the world's founding had been redacted, but it is clear that at least a partial penal system was implemented in the original attempts to colonize the planet.

Most of its history comes from the Weeping years, a series of conflicts that saw Ramanus sector suddenly become a border sector of the Imperium. A great number of the world's population had volunteered to fight for the Imperium and its economical and industrial capacity had been pushed to the breaking point and beyond, yet the people had stayed loyal and, if the records are correct, at least full fifty Imperial Guard regiments had been raised, and had been reinforced throughout the conflict that had involved Tyranids, Orks, Necrons, T'au, Eldar (you've no idea what kind, you don't even know that there's a division.), and at least another half dozen minor xenos races alongside mass uprisings and heretical wars.

The closing days of the Weeping years had seen the Imperium mass withdraw forces towards Ultramar and other more important worlds, leaving skeletal garrisons with orders to make do and hold the line.

They didn't.

Herod's End had been on the edge of the Brinorum Sector, that had, until the discovery of Herod's End's betrayal still been an official sector of the Imperium. There is strong symbolism in bringing this world back to compliance, for those who care about that.

>Also will there be a basic paint map of the world ?

Ask and ye shall receive.
>>
>>6466166
So the railroad, which is the main traffic connection between the two cities, goes through the starport and if we take the starport, we effectively cut and control trade/logistics between them.
And the ocean goes pretty close to the starport as well, there has to be a port with a road to it.
I would guess that fish of some kind is a relevant food source that gets caught in the ocean, then shipped to the port, then trucked or trained to the starport where it's distributed to the poles.
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>>6466183

That is correct, the main railway that is. There are minor railways and roads crisscrossing the planet, but this is the main way of transportation where easily tens of thousands of tons if not hundreds of thousands can be transported at once via absolutely massive trains that are closer to buildings. They also tend to be heavily armed. The single downside is that they are exclusively bound to this main artery that has been custom built to accommodate such giants.
>>
>>6466166
Good to know. Well the planet is not unfamiliar to making armies thats for sure.

Thanks for world map.
>>
>>6466097
>The clearing around the space elevator, deep in the jungle.
I don't trust the cities without recon first and the other spots would waste the one time favor from the navy. Use the naval favor to blast the defenses around the space elevator and then we capture it. Then we can entrench ourselves and guarantee our own logistics, which would otherwise suck since we are almost all infantry. Later on, the Recon regiment will shine and let us determine our next juicy targets. I suspect the desert tribes can be useful recruits if they aren't Chaos corrupted. Capturing the ocean port settlements will help to start choking out the rebels.

Plus I wanna point out that with our infantry, jungles are our friend. They cannot easily deploy vehicles or air support against us in the jungle. Which is otherwise a huge weakness of ours.

>>6466116
I want to point out the navy is providing a ONE TIME favor to break defenses upon landing. If we choose a super easy target, that will waste the favor. Think about what we can handle with out naval guns and what we cannot. Albeit the cities are too risky for me but blasting the defense around th orbital elevator will work great since there is no way its not fortified target and its too distant from the two cities to be easily reinforced. That gives us a precious window to capture it and entrench ourselves around it before they can react.

>>6466117
Ask the rear admiral to do so and stay in touch with loyalist forces. We can later get reports through supply drops to get past the jamming about them.
>>
>>6466183
Problem with the railroad is that while we have a highway into either pole city, they both have a direct line to us. We could very easily be surrounded.
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>>6466416
If we capture the space elevator, we break their main logistics chain with their train network and their ability to connect the two cities. They would be forced to route through the badlands and jungle, which is a huge time consuming and costly detour. Even if we target anywhere else the same is true. This is a rebel world after all no matter where we go we are gonna be surrounded. Its a question of how easy our deployment is and how badly we can slow them from responding properly.
>>
>>6466429
I mean we also break it by taking one of the cities. Personally I still think there is no chance in hell we're ever getting the south pole if we don't do it while we have naval support, but I'd take the space elevator as a secondary choice if I had to choose something else
>>
Amelia 3
port 2
clearing 2

Alright, ballsy move to take the industrial heartland of the planet. Writing.
>>
“We take Amelia.” You say with a nod. It would be a lie if you were to say you made this decision without much pain, in fact, this option had barely gotten over the more conservative choices you’ve been strategizing about. Still, if you take the industrial heartlands, you secure your own local supply line, a vast civilian populace that may still hold a degree of loyalty to the Emperor.

For once, you catch surprise and shock in the eyes of the Rear-Admiral. You get a feeling that she wants to make a comment, but following her orders, she holds her tongue, before picking a more diplomatic answer. “I will not be able to engage with an extensive orbital bombardment of the area.”

“I know, just find us a way in.” You simply nod and cut her off. “I will be waiting in the landers for your go ahead.”

“You’re going down there ?”

“I cannot ask my men to risk it all without risking it myself.” You say it as a matter of fact, and before she even has a chance to protest, though you assume only because of the risks to her voidships, you depart the bridge.

Rapidly finding yourself in the hanger, where already menials are preparing your landers and the naval aerospace assets.

“Sir ?” Alian raises an eyebrow when he notices your presence.

“We’re going to Amelia.” You state as a matter of fact, going past him and into a personal aquila lander where a few of your bodyguards have been put on notice the moment you reached high orbit.

“Understood. Going to be a shaky one.”

“More than you know.”

“Doubt it will be any different compared to Mudix.”

“Well…” You say taking a seat in the lander. “…we had to hide and disperse in a desert; this will be Badlands.”

“Always wanted to see the sights of the galaxy.” With a small joke, Alian marches to his own lander.
>>
>>6466510

You are flight commander Lucoran, and your Lord had just order you to assist a suicidal general in throwing his life away, sadly, it might also include yours. Within your Lightning, you feel the entire cockpit shake as licks of fire continuously take over your sight as you break the atmosphere.

The space before you is instantly filled with airbursts from hundreds of flak cannons.

“Glory squadron, left, left.” You give out the command and bank away from the largest quantity of explosions.

“Lead, enemy craft, dead ahead.” Over the vox you hear one of your flight squad reports, and sure as sight, primitive local-make craft move in to intercept.

“Move to intercept, protect the landers at all costs !”

>1d100 DC 50 for the initial dogfight.
Base DC 50 It will always be 50, you have to ROLL UNDER
-30 Heavy enemy AA
-10 Enemy number superiority

+10 Imperial Naval Training and Experience
+10 Superior Craft
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>6466512
Emprah protect us!
>>
Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>6466512
FOR THE GOD-EMPEROR
>>
Banking to the right, you dodge an incoming missile and unleash a barrage of your own, striking two enemy craft that explode, simply lacking the manoeuvrability that you possess, all the while moving rapidly, you unleash your wing mounted lascannons and manage to burn out one AA turret upon the ground placed upon a large civilian building.

You own vox screams as men shout for help, and you notice one of your flight take a nasty blow that destroys his aft wing causing the pilot to go into an uncontrollable spin falling somewhere down below, where you are unable to witness his fate.

Still, one thing is clear. “This is Glory squadron wing lead, area clear, area clear, move in, now !” You shout into your own vox to the lander pilots, as while you are winning, it is clearly only for the moment.

>1d100 DC 45 for continuing air contest.
-30 Heavy enemy AA
-15 Enemy number superiority

+10 Imperial Naval Training and Experience
+10 Superior Craft
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
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115 KB JPG
You sit upon your captain’s chair, watching as macrocannons from the planet’s surface damage your pride and joy. You’ve made Rear-Admiral through your own effort, and you will be damned before you lose your Flag to some gung-ho ground pounder. Not only that, the madman demanded you to begin bombing one of the targets you’re supposed to take intact.

Whatever. You will give him his bombardment. And if things go wrong, it shall fall on his head, whether it is attached to his body at that point is wholly irrelevant. And if things go well, who knows, maybe the crusade will need another Admiral.

“My Lord.” Your master of Ordinance draws your attention. “We are ready to fire on your will.”

You nod. “Lance.” You wait for a second, allowing the tension to remain in the air. You wished to just level the town, but alas, orders are orders, and you’d rather a surgical strike, than apocalyptic destruction.

“Fire !”

>1d100 DC 40 for accuracy of bombardment.
-20 Void shielded buildings.
-20 Lack of intelligence
-20 Heavy enemy AO

+10 Imperial Naval Training and Experience
+10 Rear-Admiral Domelia Renorer
+10 Lance Accuracy
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>6466525
On wings of fury!
>>
Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>6466528
Ruh roh!
>>6466526
Fly closer, I want to hit them with my sword!
>>
>>6466528

Okay, would someone give me a 1d3 ?
>>
Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>6466532
Please, hit the mob's lander and not us!
>>
>>6466531
Could have waited for someone else
>>
File: soz.gif (1.36 MB, 498x466)
1.36 MB GIF
>>6466535
soz
was over eager
>>
>>6466536
Well rolls happened now. Cant take them back, more importantly this will be a good showing for understand what i meant by this being a NewbQM quest.

It was gonna be an hard battle regardless. I dont mind that you did this but other anons might not like it. Is in general poor showing to roll everything. Dont do it in the future unless no one shows up for several hours, and ask if you can first.
>>
Anyway since we are attacking a city has our first invasion move, its not going to be easy or guaranteed.

Has suspected the people of Herod's End built up a military, got their own fighter craft. You don't build those if you don't have anything else first.

Here is a way we can go about it if we want to try and win (it will not be said and done since there will be a lot of enemies troops here so we can in fact lose and be left stranded. Amelia walls might remain breached for some months but thats about it. If everything goes badly us and the 133rd Kasyx could survive well even if we lose and retreat).

- First Frontline : first to meet the enemy.
1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment
Colonel Elianus Alrenan
They will die. They will break. They can easily rout, paralyze or even turn traitor. This battle is an hard one, and they basically did almost no training and the one they did was bad. They arent ready and they are probably scared by the sounds they hear outside. They will crack during this battle. This has an high chance to happen even with us on ground and with commisars. We put them in front so they can die in the fire between us and rebels if they turn traitor. The only thing they have is numbers, their equipment is okaish since is at least PDF but everything else they have is bad. The Commander is an unknown. Might just die, since the regiment given to him is garbage. Happens.

- Second Frontline : the ones that will advance over their allies corpses
Lucian 9th Fusiliers Regiment
Archcolonel Vorian Lucyx the Great Seventh Lord of the 9th
The Commander is bad. Might not even be in a lander at the moment. We can count on the regiment to fight though and push inside the city, since they are elite.

- Split : An half of the regiment fighting long range and the other half using the city sewers for attack from different vectors the rebels (explosives, sudden attacks from the back, new sniping positions)
133rd Kasyx Regiment
Colonel Alian Lucor
General Maximian Lex

I think we can put Max in fighting long range, allows him to concentrate on headhunting officers/leaders/powerful weapons squads. Alain instead goes in the sewers, he is uncoventional so its perfect for him. The 133rd Kasyx will likely win us this battle or at least create a lot of losses even on the enemy side.

If we fail, we will need to do a fighting retreat, while detonating a lot of things from the sewers. The 1st Ramanus will be likely wiped out with a defeat.
>>
If we win. We discover what kind of rebellion this is. And how ideological driven it might be.
>>
>>6466538
I'm high, not new lol. Both in general and to NewbQM's quests. To my knowledge, I've played in every one of his quests except the 40K AI ones, including the Border Prince one. Still, I'm sorry anons, I jumped the gun.

>>6466539
Almost nothing to add to this at the moment.

I wonder if the enemy has raised regiments using the local megafauna in various roles. Or if they use the local venom in specialized rounds for their autoguns. Would suck if so. Probably not though, because despite having a large industrialized populace, they haven't conquered and settled the jungles and other inhospitable environs. I'm not even sure the nomad degenerated tribes are friendly to the planetary government, despite trading with them and serving in tithed guardsmen regiments.

If we end up having to retreat, we must do our best to make sure it is an ordered one, though I don't hold out much hope for the 1st Ramasus. A frantic rout into the badlands would see the uncoordinated die of dehydration, or under the enemy's guns trapped against the mountains. If the routed make it to the jungle outskirts to 'forage' then they might survive. Further into the jungle the wandering tribes and megafauna will eat anyone alive. We need to stay together, coordinated, this planet is too harsh for the weakened and dispersed.
>>
“Throne damn it all.” You spill out a curse, as warnings blare across your controls and you struggle to keep your Lightning steady. You got caught in a flak burst and you think it damaged your engine as it sputters in random intervals. Still, you offer your prayers to the techpriest that had looked after your Lightning, for it is still struggling, rather than failing upon you.

“Lander three, incoming from you rear, incoming from yo…!” You watch as a squadron of enemy aircraft cuts through your own escorts unleash a barrage of missiles upon one of the massive landers that begins to list and enter freefall, you can see the pilots struggling as their thrusters become overburdened, putting everything into their power in order to crashland at least with some survivors.

Someone should survive that; you are certain of it. Otherwise, your men would have died for no reason at all.

Suddenly the clouds part, and you are momentarily blinded as a bright red lance strikes the planet and scars its surface. You watch as the massive walls surrounding the city over which you had been so ferociously fighting for fall, a clear cut evaporates a good few kilometres of the surrounding area, turning it into superheated area filled with what once was humans, and bubbling glowing metal and destroyed ferrocrete is all that remains. A perfect landing zone, just made at a blink of the eye. Said blink still appears whenever you close your own. Finally, the two large landers, alongside a dozen smaller ones land, their own mounted weapons firing, finishing off the unfortunate few survivors that had probably wished for their own deaths at that point.

Meanwhile, you watch as the third lander finally smashes through half a dozen buildings and carves out a miniature canyon before coming to a halt deeper into the city.

“Glory squadron, our job’s done, retreat, I repeat, retreat.” You give out the order, and begin to slowly rise back into the void. You’ll need a drink.
.
.
.
This is not your first time witnessing the aftermath of a planetary bombardment, and you doubt you will ever get used to it, the heat, the smell. Those caught in the impact zone evaporated and at least died swift deaths, those further away saw the water in their own blood explode outwards as steam, giving fast, if painful deaths. Those further still have been blinded, their skins blistered and debilitating life injuries shall follow them for life. Finally, those a bit further away than that have been only really blinded, either permanently or temporarily.

Your own small collection of bodyguards, staff officers and assistants filter out of the various Aquila landers and move to rapidly set up a series of fortifications and weapon emplacements alongside vox equipment.

With some disturbance, you quickly note that only two bulk landers had made it down here.
>>
>>6466558

You feel a rise in your choler when the landers open up, unleashing a disorganized mob in PDF uniforms, while the second lander unleashes the orderly line of elite fusiliers, whom nonchalantly begin to fire upon the struggling survivors and whatever scattered rapid response forces that had made their way towards you.

Your own 133rd is nowhere to be found.

“Sir. Your orders ?” A man clad in carapace, coloured red with white trim upon his left, and gold with red trim on his right asks you, clearly a lower officer of the 9th.

Now aint that good question. Regardless of what you choose, your own HQ will be able to hold the landing zone by themselves thanks to your landers, though a dedicated assault would break you, if the enemy were to grow wise that only your HQ is present.

You only have the 9th and 1st regiments and your disposal. Chose where they will move or what they will defend. Regiments cannot be split. HQ can move separately, but will default to holding the landing zone. Once you make your choice, please clarify which regiment is assigned to it. Should you survive long enough and dig in, this will be considered the completion of turn 0

As your servants set up a small tent, a table, and a map in the middle of the landing zone, you look at what information was gathered by your aircraft and what you had known from nearly 3 centuries back, and you decide to:

>Your regiment has crashed somewhere, you better find it.

>There’s a series of factorums near you, if nothing else, they should make for a good foothold.

>You need to secure the local hab-block, it houses the local traitors and they may decide twice about anything extreme if you are able to secure it.

>There’s a mustering grounds near you, undoubtedly it will be fortified, but it will also hold a good amount of equipment for you to use, or to simply deny the enemy. It will also deny them a muster point near your position.

>According to the plans, an area close to here is a small noble estate owning the surroundings, you doubt it moved, and capturing some minor functionaries might yield some good information and maybe force the locals to accept your conquest as a given fact.

>This was fool-hardy, stupid even. Pull out to the Badlands while you can. (Ends Turn 0)

>(Write in)
>>
>>6466560
>Your regiment has crashed somewhere, you better find it. [HQ and 1st]
>There’s a mustering grounds near you, undoubtedly it will be fortified, but it will also hold a good amount of equipment for you to use, or to simply deny the enemy. It will also deny them a muster point near your position. [9th, specify to take what equipment they can intact, to better arm the 1st Ramanus, or to equip locals that we press into service.]

Take the initiative, strike with great violence of action, etc, etc.
>>
I miss one update and you cunts lose us an entire regiment
>>
The way I see it, we have three things to do fast - find our missing guys, secure the enemy weapons in the mustering grounds and hold the landing zone.
The Fusiliers are our strong unit, but they like to fight at long range so sending them into the city to search is bad when we aren't even sure where to look. A heavy assault on a fortified location might be more along their skills.
The volunteers should at least be able to hold the line and fend off an attack while we get our bearings and HQ can focus on organizing and getting information.
Lucian 9th Fusiliers - secure the mustering grounds
1st Ramanus Sector Volunteers - hold the landing zone
HQ - hold the landing zone and work the radio to establish communications with the 133rd first and orbit second, ask for intel/sensor readings from above.
>>
>>6466564
>I ACCIDENTALLY ALL MY SCOUTS
>IS THIS BAD?
>>
>>6466560
9th Fusiliers
>There’s a mustering grounds near you, undoubtedly it will be fortified, but it will also hold a good amount of equipment for you to use, or to simply deny the enemy. It will also deny them a muster point near your position.

1st Ramanus
Secure and Hold the Landing Zone

Our own regiment should be able to take care of themselves, their main skill is pulling out with minimal casualties.

Anyway,

TEMPO TEMPO TEMPO
>>
>>6466560
Can we contact the 133rd by vox ? Or is the vox jamming already going? I imagine Alain and the 133rd survivors are dodging out of this mess already. Hopefully in the city sewers. Dont need them to be surrounded by the enemy and cleaned up. Cant exactly survive that fighting with numerous enemies. The 133rd is light on armor afterall.

Regiments cant be split ?Goodbye to that plan then i guess.

>There’s a mustering grounds near you, undoubtedly it will be fortified, but it will also hold a good amount of equipment for you to use, or to simply deny the enemy. It will also deny them a muster point near your position
{9th Fusiliers, HQ and 1st Ramanus}
Drop that little table shit and grab our weapon. We are fighting and on the move.

All regiments have landed. The LZ is outside the walls of Amelia. We get in now. There is no more regiments coming down and being in the open is of no use for us, so no reason to stay in this LZ unless we want to be smoked by rebels and give them time to fortify that breach at the walls. The Landers can protect themselves.

>Write-in
>Tell Alain and the 133rd to get in the city sewers and do some damage.
If we can vox them. If not there is a 100% chance they will do it on their own anyway.


>>6466563
Okay i guess.

Well their air wings are more than capable to fight us. Time to find out how their land army acts.

>>6466564
Heh my roll didn't even pass through and it was a 13 so worse than the 35. The regiments are on ground. Lets fight.
>>
>>6466573
It's a roll under system, so your 13 would've been good actually.
>>
>>6466577
Too bad then.
>>
>>6466573
This feels like a good question, I would hope we have some manner of battlefield communications.
>>
>>6466573
>>6466650

>Can we contact the 133rd by vox ? Or is the vox jamming already going?

Vox communication is being set up in the HQ right now. There is a limited range to how far it can go, especially in a dense civilian area like this where you have to figure out which frequencies and signals are clear, moving the HQ will put a pause to this until the soldiers are able to set up again. You could use the lander voxes, but they would still need to find the right frequency, and it would take time.

The enemy is most certainly aware of this fact, and are also racing to figure out your frequencies. If you want to, you can attempt immediate short-range vox transmission, for that I would need majority vote.
>>
>>6466654
>If you want to, you can attempt immediate short-range vox transmission
What would this mean, exactly?
>>
>>6466655

You would use standard military vox frequency with a squad-vox. Presuming the 133rd is able to receive the message, they will. The downsides of that is that the enemy might be listening in, your message could very well not reach them simply due to how many communications are going on right now, and even if your message reaches them, there are no guarantees how much of it will reach them and if they will be able to respond.
>>
>>6466666
Damn, Quints.

Still, I think it would be better to do so if we could. Since the enemy already knows where our landing area is, it's not gonna hurt if the 133rd knows too.

As for our actual plan, I'll support the idea of >>6466569, if our Mechanicus-tier Assault Regiment can't take a single fortified position we are well and truly fucked
>>
>>6466560
Just caught-up! Very cool quest. Of all the regiments to lose in hostile enemy wilderness, the 133rd is probably the best. They're light, nimble recon with plenty of experience. They should be fine to fend for themselves... for now.

>>6466569
I'll support this strategy. The 1st is a liability in open combat but should be able to hold a Landing Zone decently well.
>>
I don't personally have any particular plan on how we should proceed but it seems the winning plan at the moment involves sending the Fusiliers on an assault while leaving the Volunteers to hold our current LZ.

While I can't think of any great options other then pursuing this plan I do worry about the Fusiliers pushing to far to fast (there a good unit of some supremely equipped infantry) and inadvertently creating space between themselves and the Volunteer's giving the enemy the opportunity to surround and isolate both of our regiments.

I know it's a risk we kinda have to take but I felt it was worth while to share my concerns
>>
>>6466721
As I've said, we only have three regiments and one of them are scouts, if our mechanized fusiliers can't take care of a single fortified location by themselves we're already dead.
>>
>>6466721
I agree that there's a lot of risk, but the enemy is still reacting to our invasion. If we move the regiments separately at all, this is the time to do it desu.
>>
>>6466560
>There’s a mustering grounds near you, undoubtedly it will be fortified, but it will also hold a good amount of equipment for you to use, or to simply deny the enemy. It will also deny them a muster point near your position.
We do not have any scouts; we only have a regiment of mechanized infantry and cannon fodder. Blitz and take over their nearest mustering grounds to deny them the rallying point and give us a secure place with supplies to fight from. Use both regiments to attack. A good regiment and commissars should hopefully keep the cannon fodder fighting and not retreating into the guns of the mechanized troops who definitely have their targeting systems calibrated to kill deserters. I would suggest we attack with them. Go all out.
>>
>>6466766
Is it a wise idea to leave our HQ undefended, althoughbeit
>>
>>6466654
Ok consider it a full no from me then. No intention of wasting time on a vox. We attack.
>>6466573
Dont count my write on here for obvious reasons now.

>>6466721
I had a plan before but it cannot be fully done now. The 133rd will need to go in the sewers and do things on their own initiative. They can start to attack from unseen angles and detonated buildings from underground with their own brilliant minds.

The rest of my plan can still be done through. We go in Amelia right now. The 9th Fusiliers, HQ and 1st Ramanus. We need to push in and take ground. With that done, our HQ has a position inside the city and we can have the 9th and 1st advance. While the 133rd does damage on their own.

The LZ serves no purpose and we cannot waste time defending it. Its outside the city walls and exposed. We need to push inside Amelia and start to crack the enemy army right now, not later. Because if the rebels realize how few we are in comparison to them, and that we have no reinforcements and the navy support is on a timer....they will be very motivated to fight for their city. More than what they already are likely.

The Landers have also weapons and can fly low and retreat. So they are pretty much safe from enemy land units.

With the current options being voted if the Fusiliers go inside the city walls breach, and cant take the Mustering grounds they become cut out from us while we sit outside with the 1st Ramanus that couldn't fight a bunch of kids and the Landers.
>>
If we can crack their army, then we have a chance to get the city. Of course though we don't know how large their army might be. We do know records of the past and what kind of world Herod's End is. And with that information the rebels here could have created actual guardsmens level armies. Supported by quality PDF.

And if the nature of the rebellion is something different than usual, they will be ready to fight. The 2 billions population of the city might join them too.

Thats why cracking their army now when the surprise landing is still fresh, and with the navy supporting us is imperative.
>>
>>6466569

Looks like this is the winning idea. Writing.
>>
You take a deep breath and consider your options. Out of all the worst possible outcomes, the 133rd getting shot down is not the worst, they specialize in getting out alive against all odds, they will disappear in the streets, the buildings, in the enemy ranks, the sewers and through any other possible means. The only flaw with your logic here, and one you are painfully aware of, they will only be able to do that if they can get out of their bulk transport fast enough to avoid being surrounded, though by the same metric, you also have your doubts that the enemy had expected such a bold move from you.

A moment of pondering later, you turn your gaze towards the patiently waiting 9th's officer. “Muster your men. There’s a gathering ground here. I want it taken, the supplies within secured, and the traitor slain.”

“Thy will be done.” The soldier returns a salute, using the symbol of the cog, rather than the aquila.

Good thing you have no Ministorum attachments, your whole invasion force was rather haphazard after all, but when they do come, you can already smell trouble brewing. Not like you can tell them to go bother someone not actively fighting. Besides, you will need the Emperor’s blessing to survive even today.

“Get me Colonel Alrenan, tell him that the first is not in charge of holding our landing zone, and our only mean of egress. That should put some backbone in his men.” You tell one of your aides, whom is quick to salute and rush off.

Now, as the highest-ranking commander on the field, all you can do is rub your hands and wait. Wait till the vox network is established, wait on the 9th’s push, wait on the 133rd in hopes that they just pop-up. Wait. Wait. Wait. You never imagined it could prove so torturous, not even as a regimental Colonel, but that is the duty demanded of you.

Muttering a quick prayer underneath your breath, you gaze upon your surroundings and try to read the flow of battle, any bit of advantage will be crucial in deciding whether this was a bold action, or a reckless one.
>>
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>>6467544

+Unit S-P 5/3 is within transportation unit.+

+Transportation unit finishes acceleration motion.+

+Transportation unit begins deceleration motion.+

+Transportation unit begins munition discharge procedures.+

+Blessings of the Machine-God, Motive Force, and the Omnissiah. Prayer giving initiated by command of command unit.+

+Transportation unit cease motion.+

+Movement order given to unit S-P 5/3.+

+Unit S-P 5/3 obeys. Thrice blessed hymns of activation recited.+

+Unit S-P 5/3 is now in dangerous/hostile/heretical environment.+

+Unit S-P 5/3 registers pain upon his left most extremity. Logged as ballistic munitions discharge. Unit S-p 5/3 sends request of activation of blessed plasma weapon to command unit.+

+Comman unit denies request.+

+Unit S-B 5/4 is ordered to discharge bolter munitions.+

+Unit S-B 5/4 obeys. Discharges bolter munitions. Liquidates threat vector Alpha-1. Threat vectors Alpha-2 through Alpha-15 have ceased combat action after bolted discharge.+

+Command unit orders continuous fire.+

+Threat vectors Alpha-2 through Alpha-15 are liquidated.+

+Threat vector Beta-1 detected.+

+Error. No known record is available for threat vector Beta-1. Requesting command unit for further instructions.+

+Instruction received. Tech-heresy producted armoured motion units. Order given to Unit S-P 5/3 to discharge plasma. Order obeyed. Blessings of the Omnissiah.+

+Threat vector Beta-1 liquidated. Seaching for more threat vectors.+


>1d100 DC 90 for 9th's assault.
-20 Unknown terrain.
-20 Enemy number superiority.
-10 Lacking leadership

+10 Combat veterans
+30 Overwhelming technical superiority
+10 Used to assaulting fortified locations
+20 Heavy weapon support
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
>>6467545

Mudbred is a very lucky halfling. He is part of the 133rd Kasyx Regiment, most whom, not only not hate his kind, but also seem to actually sort of like him and his family. Sure, there’s the occasional beating and harassment, but eh, military service. Compared to other regiments, this is practically heaven, he gets paid on time, he gets full rations, though he still finds those lacking. Luckily, so does most of his regiment, which is why they are more than happy to help him and his buddies in procuring a few extra supplies here there. Yup, life’s good for Mudbred.

Mudbred is a truly unfortunate halfling. Not only the freighter he was in got shot down, his hidden cache got burnt down, including his back up cache ! He then had to crawl his way out of the smoke filling chambers through the ventelation shaft, which was not a fun experience, and his eyes still sting from that. And when he gets out ? People screaming at him, or his general surroundings, a few rocks get flung his way, but that’s okay, he can just throw them back, but then some fraking groxshit for brains in the saddest looking uniforms show up and start shooting at him with autoguns.

Yup, in hindsight, Mudbred is a very, very unlucky halfling, especially now, when his brand-new Colonel, which all in all is a decent chap, decided to hold the ground here until everyone’s able to get out of the transport. Not only is that suicidal and fool-hardy, Mudbred couldn’t even offer an argument because he, by some miracle from the saints above, made friends with humans within.

And now ?

“Get ready !” Colonel Lucor shouts out, having grabbed Mudbred by the scruff, with surprisingly muscular arms.

“I am not ready for anything, I am also afraid of heights !” Mudbred could only shout out in panic, dreading what is about to happen.

“Throw !” Completely ignoring him, the Colonel and two other men fling poor Mudbred, whom screams his lungs out across and up a building.

Despite his panicked reaction, Mudbread quickly grabs on to the ledge, cursing the colonel’s family’s five generations and scrambles upwards while trying to dodge whizzing bullets, all the while colonel and a few others whom had managed to get out provide covering fire for him.

Finally, covered in sweat, and with a hint of, well, a great deal of panic and beating of his heart, Mudbred grabs his longlas, plops his generous rear on the ferrocrete, looks down his sights, and spots someone in a foppish hat. Which, by the by, reminds him of the last colonel, whom is now their general. He too, is a decent chap. It’d be pretty sad if all of them died here.

Squeezing the trigger, he’s able to cause the enemy officer’s head to exploded in a mist of red vapour, whilst still generously splattering the surroundings in blood and gore. That has thrown the enemy into a bit of a pickle.
>>
>>6467546

“Keep covering us, we’ll get them out !” Lucor shouts out.

“Aye sir, will do.” Mudbred responds with a sigh, making sure to steal himself a swig of amasec before firing off another shot.

>1d100 DC 80 for 133rd getting into combat shape.
-20 Unknown terrain.
-20 Enemy number superiority.
-20 Regiment trapped

+20 Combat elites
+10 Technical superiority
+30 Business as usual
+10 Ratling snipers
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>6467545
watch me get a hundred
>>
>>6467547

Sevian Moren, having recently graduated from the schola progenium had been excited, despite the steel will drilled into him. A chance to prove himself before the God-Emperor, to serve on the field of battle, to root out cowardice, treachery, and heresy root and stem and to purify whichever regiment he had been assigned to under a watchful eye of a full commissar. No better fate, no better life could be asked for.

Even now, he thought to himself, that this is a fitting trial, one in which he will shape these pathetic wretches, whom not even dare consider giving their lives for the Emperor, but instead tremble in fear before a heretical enemy that dared to slip out of the Imperium. They shall be reminded of their sacred duty soon enough. Battle shall forge them into perfect tools, like he himself had been tempered.

As they prepare their fortifications, he screams out orders and commands, setting heavy stubbers hidden in rubble piles, instructing those with grenade launchers to ready themselves to fire their frag grenades even in the midsts of their comrades, if the traitor proves more courageous than he expects.

They will come, oh yes, they shall, their landers are too tempting of a target, when they learn that their bold and courageous general is here, they will come. And they will find the first here. Steady as iron, unbreakable as the Emperor’s will.

The whistle draws Sevian’s attention. The first of the foe has arrived. And they shall be met in glorious battle !

>1d100 DC 60 for 1st to hold the line.
-10 Enemy number superiority.
-20 Lack of training
-10 Low morale

+10 Heavy weapons
+10 Abundance of Commissars
+10 On the defensive.
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
>>6467548
oof, thankfully not. I'll let someone else roll for the other since doing all the rolls yourself is bad mojo
>>
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>>6467546

I forgor the images.
>>
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>>6467549

and here
>>
Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>6467547
>>
>>6467554
Okay, now somebody else roll for the last
>>
Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>6467549
>>
>>6467565
Hell yeah, total success
>>
>>6467548
>>6467554
>>6467565
Krakkin' excellent.
>>
How hard do you think it'd be to make a bootcamp for the 1st once we take the city? Not in terms of making it so much as of being able to sit around and not do anything with them.
>>
>>6467605
Assuming we take the city, we are going to have well over a billion civilians to manage from which we can expect recruits. The 1st at that point will be veterans, even if not the best ones around and our concern will be more with raising new units and getting equipment than retraining current ones.
>>
>>6467612
I really wouldn't recommend recruiting from a population of a traitor planet we just recruited.
>>
>>6467616
We just reoccupied*
>>
>>6467616
Easy, we just recruit local criminals with the promise of a pardon. With billions of humans, there will be millions we could make a regiment from.
>>
>>6467629
I still think it's a real easy way to get spies, but regardless, before we even thought about any of that I'd rather beat the 1st into shape. Veterans or not they need training.
>>
>>6467605
Depends on the rebellion itself. We can train the 1st and put them through at least a month of boot camp... if the rebellion will not kill us in our sleep after the battle ends here. Or doesn't immediately counterattack us. We really don't know what we are facing, though. I am expecting to fight inside Amelia again, even after the first battle to take it. Probably against strugglers and civilians joining them, but we might be against more.

The best-case scenario: the rebel army retreats north, and we have to deal with some rebel strugglers left in the city. We clean that up, and we have time to actually do things. Like the bootcamp for the 1st and understanding this rebellion.

If you mean Sector Command: we take Amelia, the city is ours, and we can decide how the campaign on the planet goes from there. They are not micromanaging us or our progress here. They will just want to know our progress from time to time, if they even want to bother looking at a commoner general. Regardless, taking a city of Herod's End would be good progress for them.


>>6467612
It's unclear whether we can expect recruits. We know 0 about the situation here. There could be loyalists. There could be no loyalists. All of them could attack us at night, for what we know.

The 1st will not be veterans, because they are not even soldiers to begin with. They are civilians recruited very recently and thrown into the meat grinder of the battle with autoguns in their hands. At best, they will be civilian that somehow survived a battle and now have some experience in combat. Doesn't cancel the fact that they need training when this battle ends because the training they have right now is shit, lacking, and incomplete.

>>6467629
We should understand what we are facing when the battle ends. At the moment, we are in the middle of a big, vague fog. Let interrogators and our soldiers understand what this rebellion is about once the city is taken.
>>
>>6467633
Penal battalions are a thing, and so is press ganging. Obviously they'll only be useful in frontline, high-casualty assaults, but what better way to redeem one's soul in service of the God-Emperor?

And for general strategy I say we secure the city, then move on the rail line to the space elevator, and prep to siege the Northern City.
>>
>>6467640
Penal battalions are made from criminals of the Imperium, those are also trained to a bare minimum and come from prisons, not a random reconquered planet that doesn't have explosive collars sitting around. Press-ganging is done, but again on Imperial citizens. There is neither here. We need to know what we have here, beside a bunch of rebels, clearly, that want to fight us. Because we know nothing at the moment. For all we know, our soldiers turn a corner. And there are effigies of chaos everywhere. We learn what we have in front of us before using the locals. Then we can do whatever we feel like. Conscripts. Press-Ganging. Penals. But at least we know what we are dealing with.


That assumes this campaign will just be quick. We should secure Amelia, reorganize, and then we move to secure the food for our armies and for this city. And there are two macro regions for food. The port towns and the farms near the jungles. We need those food sources secured, because we cannot trust the Administratum to deliver food in good time to a commoner general. The space elevator will be something the rebels will reinforce from Herod, so if we can be more ready than we are now, the better.

More importantly, we cannot besiege Herod with what we have at the moment. The navy will not risk it either; the Rear Admiral already told us this navy support is a one-time-only thing.
>>
I think we're forgetting that unless they have hive city level construction, Amalia is gonna be like...the size of thirty tokyos.
>>
>>6467649
Neither Herod nor Amelia are built like a hive city.
>>
>>6467650
That's my point, anon, they have billions of people without upwards construction. Even assuming everyone lives like sardines in a can, that's gonna be a biiiiiiiig urban sprawl.

If this place hasn't fallen to chaos yet, this is the part where they'd be most likely to. It's when your enemy's desperate that they are truly likely to go that far
>>
>>6467654
We will see what Newb made up ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There are a lot of rebellions, riots, and secessions that do not have anything of chaos in them. And the Imperium has finished many of them that didn't go anywhere else, weren't influenced or at risk of being influenced. Its usually when things have been going on for quite a while that shit starts to happen with chaos. Desperation does help chaos, of course.
>>
In regards to the whole raising local regiments thing, we can speculate as much as we want I think it's worth a shot and once we get some breathing room we should gather the commissariat representatives to discuss it.

I think Newb mentioned we don't have a dedicated ministorum delegation but we might have some regimental level chaplains, if we do we should involve them in the conversation as well.

Best case scenario this world is ruled by "unwilling" rebels people forced to rebellion by some crap out of their control and we can probably press those guys into service with little concern and even trust them with guns. Worst case scenario these are full chaos or xenos cultists and we just have to purge the lot of them.

Most likely scenario is they fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes and at the very least we will be able to form labor regiments out of them to perform non combat tasks
>>
>>6467664
Genuinely? If they aren't chaos tainted, criminals are a genuine better choice than normal civilians.

Criminals won't have any loyalty, but that also means no loyalty to the enemy. I'd much rather have a penal batallion willing to raze a city of their countrymen because we let them steal shit from the corpses than a volunteer batallion that'll chicken out and mutiny at the first massacre we will inevitably commit
>>
>>6467667
Whatever we decide to go with we still need to talk to the commissars and priests about it. Also most penal battalions in the imperium rely on either bomb collars, drugs, or a massive commissariat detachment to keep them in line. I frankly doubt we have any of these on hand, I personally hope that once we complete our securement of this city we will be able to call for reinforcements from off world and not worry about raising locals.
>>
Let us assume that we successfully take the city. The starting population is 1.8 billion. Let us further assume that much of them die in the fighting for the sake of rounding it down to 1 billion.
Let us now assume that most of the population is against us because they are rebels and we killed almost half of them. At this stage, it would be possible to assume that 90% of them would be against us, with the number getting better in the future as things settle down.
Let us now assume that of this 10% remaining, maybe a quarter is suitable for taking into the army. That would give us 2.5% of one billion which translates into a local recruitment pool of 25 million dudes. We started with ~300k at most, but probably more like 200k.
Not only will we have more men than we know what to do with if we take the city, but it is possible that we will have to induct recruits while we are fighting for said city, from the parts of it that we conquer as we go along.
If the population so against us that the number of supporters after is a purge is below 10%, we are not talking about just a tax rebellion, we are talking about corruption and at that point we are phoning the inquisition and hoping we don't get set on fire along with everyone else.
>>
>>6467654
By 40K standards it’s not too bad, if it’s all just one urban area we’re probably talking somewhere 1/3-1/2 the size of IRL India. A horrid prospect for our current troop counts, but nowhere near as bad as it could be.

We should keep in mind that this society has developed over the last thirty years, enough time for factions and classes to develop. We’d do well in learning about where the social tensions of the city are so we can divide and conquer - maybe even recruit some troops form them.
>>
>>6467839
>We should keep in mind that this society has developed over the last thirty years, enough time for factions and classes to develop.
The jungle and desert savages, I imagine, might not like the city folk that much. Depending on how things go we could perhaps convince them to believe an Imperial Takeover would be for the best for them.
>>
Why are the people rebelling again?
>>
>>6467862
We haven't had the chance to ask.
>>
>>6467862
No one’s bothered to ask. We just landed and started shooting everyone in a uniform.
>>
>>6467549
Do we roll for discipline now or later? And is it the 1st Ramanus and the Lucian 9th who need to roll?
>>
>>6467940
We've already rolled for everyone, didn't we? It was all successes.
>>
>>6467862
Sector Command forgot about this place, then checked in that they weren't paying taxes, and they didn't hear a thing from them for quite a long while. They didn't bother spying or learning any info.
>>
>>6468129
But we don’t know why they stopped paying taxes. Maybe they got paranoid about the encroaching hostiles and spent on their own defense, maybe the sector tithes were delusionally high, or maybe the nobles wanted to replace their golden toilets.

Or maybe they’re all genestealers or chaos cultists. The Inquisition probably has a dossier that they will never consider sharing with us.
>>
>>6468129
>>6468176
Listen, for all we know, they did send the taxes and they just got lost somewhere because of some Administratum fuck up. It doesn't matter. We're part of the Guard, and that means we shoot whatever they tell us to shoot.
>>
>>6468176
We don't, yeah. Could be anything. Inquisition might not even be involved in this; imagine that.

>>6468177
That anon asked an open question for everyone. In regard to taxes, the start of the quest is clear.

>>6464043
>As happens so often in the Imperium, for no conceivable or justifiable reason at all, a world has turned from the Emperor, earning the ire of His Imperium. The planet ? Insignificant. The population? Negligible. The industry? Sort of there. These sorts of thoughts ran through the head of a Departamento Munitorum senior officer. For the last three centuries, the world’s defection had gone unnoticed, until the Imperium had gained enough strength to launch a minor crusade within the surrounding sectors, the planet was to become one of the logistics hubs for such an operation, so it had come as quite the shock, when the records were checked, and it had become apparent that no tithes had been received for a truly long time.
>With the swiftness of the brightest of the Administratum, due to the new-found strategic importance of the world, a small invasion force had been rapidly assembled in a mere thirty years !

330 years. A lot of taxes getting lost. Either way, Herod's End isn't making a warm welcome party.

>It doesn't matter.
Nah, it probably matters. It's interesting to want to know the why and what and who. This is a quest; we are playing as a human, not a block of granite. And it's also fun to speculate.
>We're part of the Guard, and that means we shoot whatever they tell us to shoot.
So? We are a veteran, experienced commoner from a reconnaissance regiment that was made general recently. And now we have been thrown here with no one to back us politically besides our regiment, and given little info on this campaign. We are not a gunservitor told to shoot. Do you expect us not to want to know what the deal is with these rebels to ensure we fight them better? What information do they have in their minds? A commoner needs to learn on the fly and have guts to survive. Max boy did that to get in this position.

We are gonna make sure that any rebel we capture talks if we win here. Same for the local civilians. No one else is helping us win here but us, Alain, and our regiment.
>>
Hey, quick update. Job's been kicking my ass. I will post an update on Friday, and there will be multiple updates on the weekend like last time.
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>>6468227
Such is life in the wage cage
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>>6468227
No worries, looking forward to it Newb.
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>>6468227
Np
>>
Cresting over the still super-heated breach in the wall, the guardsman of the 9th lazily surveys the battlefield, his helmet feed automatically picking out the confused and shattered defenders, whom had been thrown into a complete panic. The thick layers of smoke and dust brought forth by plasma and melta weaponry had done their job in knocking down walls, wrecking the hastily gathering vehicles, leaving nothing behind. A few stray shots from primitive ballistic firearms ring out and simply bounce off the guardsman’s carapace, leaving a few scratches and dents when it comes to higher calibre weaponry. All inaccurate, all unleashed in a panic rather than disciplined firing lines.

Raising his rifle, the hellgun roars as it cuts through the smoke, once more alighting the surroundings and clearing a path through the smoke, impacting the chest of one of the defenders, blowing out his internal organs in a singular explosion. A panicked scream is unleashed by the comrade of the now rather charred corpse, throwing down his weapon and babbling something incomprehensible in a local low-gothic variation.

The rifle simply rises again, and another beam of concentrated sunfire is unleashed. There will be no mercy for these tech-heretics. The Omnissiah wills it.

All the while, in the far distance a multitude of kilometres further deeper into the urban sprawl of the city, a member of the 133rd had just finished coughing his lungs out, swearing, spitting, and then pulling out a lho stick. When the transport crashed, he had been strapped in, which luckily saved him from a nasty fall that had broken the necks on more than one of his comrades, but that is hardly new or surprising for his regiment.

Instead of falling into panic or despair, he had found one of the back up exits and simply undone the hatch and gotten outside. Where he swiftly noticed a scared shitless grouping of local PDF that had been hunkering down behind what appeared to be a rather large cargo hauling vehicle. Having mutter his prayer to the God-Emperor, and taken a calm drag of his lho, he rather casually undone a frag grenade on his bandolier, and tossed it with slight disregard after a moment of getting his distance right.

Afterwards, he simply stepped out into the street, kicked the corpse of what appeared to be an officer, found a replacement frag, and moved on, completely disregarding the dumbfounded foes whom had just noticed him, and right on cue, the frag he had thrown previously had gone off, solving the issue of awkward small-talk. He was never good at it.
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>>6468726


Having taken a look around the area, he swiftly identified marksman position, and sure as day, those were already taken by his regiment. Regretting the fact that he smokes so much, the man had come to a horrible realization. This is going to be a cardio mission, and his lungs will hate him. Still, seeing as how disorganized the enemy is, and the fact that not a single corpse of his regiment is noticeable outside of the cargo-freighter some charitably referred to as a troop transport, he had a feeling that these fellows would not be much of an issue to deal with.

While the two experienced regiments stood tall and proud against these most filthy and treacherous of monsters that dared to betray the Imperium, the 1st Ramanus was struggling, fumbling and trying to reload as fast as was possible, while flinching with every bark from their officers and commissars.

Only fifteen years old, Marcus had always been a large boy, which was why he was assigned to carry his platoon’s heavy stubber. When the enemy came, he closed his eyes and began firing, screaming not out of rage, but more out of fear. By the moment he had opened his eyes, corpses had laid before him, overwhelmingly of the enemy, but a few people, he’d go out to call his friends had too perished, unlucky shots, thrown out frags.

What gave him greatest pause was his weapon’s mate. A young man that had taken him under his wing, a lazy bastard that used his as an errand boy, but seeing his lifeless eyes and a trickle of crimson flowing from a hole in his forehead was a sight Marcus would never forget in his life, he was sure of it. The sight was not the worst he had seen, oh no, Orks were far crueller, but the confusion, the confusion upon the face and the eyes, that’s what got him.

The sound of a whistle going off shocked him back into reality, what limited training he got informed him that the enemy was coming, and true enough, here had come another wave, faces full of anger, confusion, fear. Probably the exact same faces that he had made throughout all of this.

He pulled the trigger, screaming once more.
.
.
.
The first had performed well. Or maybe the enemy had performed poorly. You had not made up your mind on it yet, but for a first showing, it was not bad. A few more fights like these, and you could probably split the regiment into a multitude of smaller and more effective ones. All the while the first held your HQ and landing zone, you had received reports from the 9th that they had no issues taking the muster point, having butchered the defenders within, and with some good news being that they caught a forming armoured fist column before it had time to assemble and properly organize. That too, had been wiped out. Tech-heresy or some other nonsense. You do not really understand it, which machine spirits are heretical and which are not, but apparently, those were.
>>
>>6468727


Regardless of everything going, you had established contact with the Rear-Admiral, whom had already pulled her ships back, but from the observation reports she was able to give, it appears that the 133rd is doing what they are doing best, and raising hell where they had crashed, it seems that had done nothing in affecting them at all. On the upside, you no longer have to be worried. On the downside, you are quite certain that a lot of the local infrastructure will probably be blown up. But that is a headache for when you are not being actively shot at.

Speaking of being shot at. You had found a bit odd. Enemy aircraft are above you, and you hardly have much to offer in terms of AA, but they had not bothered to conduct air strikes, by the Throne, they hadn’t even tried to launch a single artillery shell ! It had gotten to the point where you think these people might be playing at war, rather than properly waging it ! Whatever the case may be, you must truly be blessed by the Emperor to be in such a situation, all considering.

Still, while the enemy had been shocked by your landing, as can be seen how they are simply throwing disorganized units at your position, you have no idea how long that will last, so you will need to move fast.

>Your regiment is somewhere out there, causing trouble as they see fit. It might prove too much without your guiding hand. Better go look for it.

>There’s a series of factorums near you, if nothing else, they should make for a good foothold.

>You need to secure the local hab-block, it houses the local traitors and they may decide twice about anything extreme if you are able to secure it.

>The mustering ground had been taken, but it needs to be secured if supplies and intelligence is to be retrieved.

>According to the plans, an area close to here is a small noble estate owning the surroundings, you doubt it moved, and capturing some minor functionaries might yield some good information and maybe force the locals to accept your conquest as a given fact.

>Further on from the mustering ground, there is a large river cutting through the city. If you can secure the bridges across it, you can funnel enemy reinforcements that will be arriving from further within.

>The 9th had discovered some sort of a monument near the mustering grounds that seems to be a gathering place for local civilian population. It seems that unarmed traitors are being gathered there in order for them to be removed from combat. Undoubtedly so that they could be armed in due time.

>Things seem to be going well, but who knows how long your fortune will hold, better pull out. (Ends Turn 0)

>(Write in)
>>
Oh, and one more thing of import. Twitter decided that I am not human, and I have to download their shit app where they will steal all my data in order to confirm, that in fact, I am human. I am not doing that, so that account is as good as dead. I will try to keep updates of import on the board.
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>>6468729
What do you mean by funnel enemy reinforcemenets arriving further from within? You mean like funnel them in a single place somewhere else? Shoot at them while they pass?
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>>6468736

Sorry if that wasn't clear. I meant take and hold the bridges, forcing the enemy to fight over them where their numbers advantage would be limited.
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>>6468742
So, I assume that means on the half of the city where we are there are no coherent units, right? Also, have we finally got the vox frequency of the 133rd?
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>>6468729
>Further on from the mustering ground, there is a large river cutting through the city. If you can secure the bridges across it, you can funnel enemy reinforcements that will be arriving from further within.
As much as I want to capture those manufactorums or entrench ourselves. Capturing the bridges while the enemy is still disorganized is far more important.
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>>6468743

>So, I assume that means on the half of the city where we are there are no coherent units, right?

You know far too little about the city's layout, but it seems to be a rather big river cutting through the entirety of your western flank. If the local defenders can organize, how many there, will there be a reinforcements push from the east, you do not know.

>, have we finally got the vox frequency of the 133rd?

Not yet, but presuming from what your attached tech-priest is saying, a wide range signal for battlefield usage shall be discovered soon.
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>>6468750
Alrighty, then.

>>6468729
HEADQUARTERS + 1ST RAMANUS
>The mustering ground had been taken, but it needs to be secured if supplies and intelligence is to be retrieved.
I believe it was said that the headquarter can be moved - if that is the case, then moving it to a defensible location while also allowing us to secure the supplies and intelligence seems like it would be a generally wise opinion. I'm guessing the landers are gone now, since the navy fucked off, so we wouldn't have their support either.

9TH FUSILIERS
>Further on from the mustering ground, there is a large river cutting through the city. If you can secure the bridges across it, you can funnel enemy reinforcements that will be arriving from further within.
This is what they do best, of course.
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>>6468752
This seems good. Keep mobile and keep hitting them.

+1
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>>6468729
>You need to secure the local hab-block, it houses the local traitors and they may decide twice about anything extreme if you are able to secure it. [9th]
>The mustering ground had been taken, but it needs to be secured if supplies and intelligence is to be retrieved. [1st and HQ]

I trust the 133rd to hold their own and bug out when appropriate. The HQ should move to where the intelligence is, so as to process it as fast as possible. The 1st can continue to be our defensive element, while the 9th can secure the local environs for good before we think about pushing further beyond.
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>>6468752
Supporting this
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>>6468729
>Further on from the mustering ground, there is a large river cutting through the city. If you can secure the bridges across it, you can funnel enemy reinforcements that will be arriving from further within.
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>>6468940
>Further on from the mustering ground, there is a large river cutting through the city. If you can secure the bridges across it, you can funnel enemy reinforcements that will be arriving from further within.
9th, they’ll be able to handle it

>Your regiment is somewhere out there, causing trouble as they see fit. It might prove too much without your guiding hand. Better go look for it.
1st and HQ, we need our boys in the fold

Re-voting because I am retarded
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>>6468942
Anon, I don't think you can just send the HQ out like a unit. You can move it, but it has to plop down somewhere
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>>6468729
>You need to secure the local hab-block, it houses the local traitors and they may decide twice about anything extreme if you are able to secure it. [9th]
>The mustering ground had been taken, but it needs to be secured if supplies and intelligence is to be retrieved. [1st and HQ]

Their air assets aren't attacking us. Despite having uncontested air. Weird. They could genuinely attack us without facing any losses from air. I guess their artillery has yet to be ready for combat as well. Anyway we lost the navy bonuses. Their air and arty will probably start to attack us soon enough, i imagine they havent yet because they are moving at least a part of their population from here.
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>>6468957
You have a point about the hab block,but I don't know if it's a good idea to let their army cross the river either.
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>>6468752
Supporting, this is the obvious thing to do.
The 1st being a giant unwieldly blow is really messing with us here.
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You had come to an executive decision. Giving out a series of quick orders, especially to your vox crew, whom seem very excited about having to dismantle the equipment they just set up, but you have no doubt their grumblings will cease when the risks of being wiped out by a single lucky artillery shell rapidly decrease.

With shouts of orders rising in the air, the blowing of whistles, and the scrambling of fighting men, you use the opportunity that had presented itself with the enemy being repulsed to begin a periodical withdrawal from this position towards the now cleared mustering ground. A wide-open area with reinforced buildings and walls capable of taking fire. If you are lucky, the overzealous worshippers of the Cult of Mars will have deemed a few AA guns not to be tech-heresy. There’s still confusion in the command tent over the fact how unwilling the enemy is to leverage their air support to simply ensure that you meet with the God-Emperor long before you desire for it youself.

Finally, the roar of engines indicates that the landers that had brought you down here begin to move away from their stationary positions, they will keep low to the ground, hopefully not being notice by enemy aircraft, then break through the atmosphere and find themselves once more within the safety the depths of their voidship holds.

All the while, you send a group of runners back to the 9th to inform them of their brand-new orders. To keep pushing forwards in order to secure one of you flanks. Undoubtedly there will be resistance still behind your line, but the 133rd should have an easy time in taking care of that particular issue. One thing that does give you pause is that you will need to put the 1st to hold against whatever might be coming from the East. You do not rate their chances against veteran armoured fist formations well, if something like that were to actually be in the enemy ranks.

For now however, you need to concentrate on far more pressing and immediate issues, such as ensuring that the 1st stays coherent and does not break off into their own individual little gangs on the way to the mustering grounds, unlike the 9th, these poor bastards will have to go by foot rather than within the questionable safety and comfort, but guaranteed speed of Chimera transports.
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>>6469025

The messengers sent to the HQ had returned with unsurprising orders. A command to move out and vacate the currently secured location and to instead capture the bridges further west. A most logical conclusion. A quick prayer to the Omnissiah is in order for the General, whilst being a layman, is capable of limited logical thought. Humming to himself in binaric, the tech-priest examines the holy cogitators within the remnants of the command building. His glowing artificial green eyes look over the crude, disrespectful nature by which the machines had been assembled, the people here had not only turned against the Omnissiah, they had commited tech-heresy of the highest degree, they dared to innovate and not just simply iterate. Even then, what they innovated is far cruder and more primitive than one could have thought was possible.

Repulsive. The world, the populace, ought to be cleansed of their sins. Those responsible for such heresy need to be found, and they need to be punished. For now, the tech-priest turns to regard the utter lack of servitors anywhere, yet another sight of further technological regression. With an annoyed sigh, he turns to depart, leaving messages for his peers to further investigate the extent of the tech-heresy commited here, if the sacred code had been altered in some way shape or form.

Having stepped out of the building, the priest performs a series of battle-rites upon the Lucan-pattern Chimeras. But a quick prayer hoping to please the protective machine-spirits and to calm them after the damage they had suffered escorting them here. Greater rites will need to be undertaken once the combat is over. Recording every dent and new location of damage, the tech-priest makes sures to memorise everything, so as to provide proper prayers and rituals, to honour the machines’ sacrifices.

Having finished the holy ritual, the priest simply marches into one of the Chimeras, whom proceeds to roll out at a rapid pace. There is still a war to be waged after all. He turns to regard his combat servitors. The one blessed with the usage of plasma arms had received minor combat damage, but due to the nature and danger of plasma weaponry, extra maintenance rituals will have to be undertaken later on as well.

>1d100 DC 85 for 9th's assault upon the bridges.
-20 Unknown terrain
-20 Enemy number superiority
-10 Lacking leadership
-5 Enemy starting to organize

+10 Combat veterans
+30 Overwhelming technical superiority
+10 Used to assaulting fortified locations
+20 Heavy weapon support
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
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>>6469026

You only truly realize how bad sewers smell when you get in them. You think being around ratlings and a bunch of men whom only wash, if you are lucky, once a week, but closer to once a month, would build up a certain sort of immunity to the awful smell currently tearing through your nostrils, but it did not prepare you for this, the smell of waste of a billion people. Emperor be merciful.

“I swear, if I am going through tigh-high shit for no discernable reason, I am drowning you in this, ratling.” You say with spite in your voice, much to the agreement of your comrades.

“Aye, aye, no need to get all huffy.” The ratling responds, and yet again, you are damn glad that the wastewater at least does not reach your chest, that, and the fact that you are wearing shoes, though the inherent risk of something going wrong and them getting filled is causing you no end of paranoia.

“Right, should be around here.” The ratling mutters to himself, before pulling out a det pack and firmly attaching it to a side wall, you swiftly do the same to the ceiling, while everyone else does the same.

“How did you even find out more enemies will be coming through here ?” You finally ask the ratling, the fact that you went along due to just his word, would probably see you admonished by a priest, but despite being abhuman, you found ratlings to be alright, especially because they can secure pretty much anything you need, though they could shut up once in a while.

“Well, I and some of me mates found some drawings on officer looking folks, writing’s ‘bout same as we use, so’s we figured they’d be comin’ this a way. Probably one of their own HQs is around too, we find where, and we blow ‘em to orbit.”

“I can agree to that, or anything else really, as long as we get out of here.”

>1d100 DC 80 for 133rd to carry out their ambush.
-20 Unknown terrain.
-20 Enemy number superiority.
-10 Relatively organized resistance.

+20 Combat elites
+10 Technical superiority
+30 Business as usual
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
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>>6469027

Argenta was a mother to three. Then the aliens came. Her husband and eldest died fighting for their home. They had to flee, jammed together in large voidships, they were even more filled with people than the lower hive she grew up in. There was barely any food and water, and what was there was so scarce, that her youngest daughter, already frail, had simply grown weaker and weaker. They did not even give her a chance to mourn her death, she was simply ejected into the void alongside other dead, or at least that was what they told her. Her second son was all she had left when they arrived at the distribution point, where other lost souls like her were gathered from other worlds that burned due to traitor and alien alike. She lost her last son there, in the mass of people squeezing and pushing against each other, now Argenta does not even know where he is, if he still lives, all she can do is hope. Her parents named get after the saintess, hoping that her life would be blessed, yet she had barely seen anything worth calling such.

When she arrived at her destination, it had come as a surprise when she learnt that in fact, she was not part of the Imperial Guard, just like that, a part of the 1st Ramanus volunteers, like she ever was given a choice.

Now, as she marches over burnt out, exploded corpses, she can only stare at them in shock, she can only stare at the homes all around her, and the smell of fresh air, the warmth of sunlight. So much derstruction, yet now, she was the one enacting it. Will there be a mother, who will weep for her son ? A son that she, holding her autogun with akwards hands, had killed ? Would she even remember him ? Would she notice him ? Probably not, everything right now is a blur. All she knows, is that if she does not follow orders, she shall die. Besides, these people are all traitors.

Or at least that was what they told her.

>1d100 DC 55 for 1st to secure the mustering ground and hold against the enemy.
-10 Enemy number superiority.
-20 Lack of training
-10 Low morale
-10 Destroyed fortifications

+10 Heavy weapons
+10 Abundance of Commissars
+10 On the defensive
+5 Disorganized enemy
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>6469026
Machine God bless this dice roll.
>>
Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>6469035
Just fucking barely...

>>6469027
>>
Rolled 45 (1d100)

>>6469027
>>
>>6469035
>>6469036
>>6469037
Oof, all cutting it close. Still, a win is a win.
>>
1 degree of success
0 degrees of success
1 degree of success

Cutting it real close anons, probably not the best results you'd want to see, but a success is a success.
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Hailing from a minor house of Ulirex, Mattheius could be considered a rather close-kin to commoners, which had annoyed him to no end. His family ran only half-a-dozen mining complexes and he had to share measly three manors with his family, rather than having one for himself. With a few well-placed gifts of appreciation, his father had secured him a minor posting in the glorious Fusiliers. Therein, he had great dreams and ambitions to make acquittances with the high-ranking nobility which would serve well his house in achieving greatness that they deserve, that he deserves.

It is with great frustration, that he watches one of the four Chimeras, and assorted serfs, drown within the powerful rapids of the long, wide river, flowing from the depths of the southern pole. To have suffered such devastating losses against mere peasants, traitorous peasants at that, he would not hear the end of it. Sure, he had ordered the charge across the small bridge, but how was he supposed to know that the enemy was in fact not running for their lives, but they had planted charges onto the bridge and they were withdrawing ? Of course, it just so happened to be his luck that he was assigned to such a minor objective that the foe was willing to deny it rather than holding it with their pathetic lives.

Thoughts in his mind were already brewing on how he will be able to shirk the blame for this one, after all, other bridges were secured with minor casualties as well, quite a few heavy weapons were set up and entrenched at both ends of the bridges granted, only a few servitors and serfs were lost throughout the entire operation, but perhaps, Mattheius consoled himself, that others perhaps exaggerated their own reports as well. At the end of the day, the objective is secured, and perhaps that upjumped peasant general will deem his regiment’s performance medal worthy. That should earn him a bit of prestige back home.

With those thoughts, Mattheius regarded his own drowned men with apathetic disregard, and simply turned to one of his men, carrying a proper vox transmitter, he had a report to make.
.
Mudbred is a…well, you get it by now. Today, as it turns out, was not his day. He had to trudge through refuse that made even him gag, and he knew for a fact, that a bath was truly, truly far away, especially now, as he is applying a rough bandage over his own head, to stop the bleeding simply pouring out from a cut in his head. Such a blow would have killed a human, but not a halfling, for they were built to be tough, no matter what humans would proclaim.
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>>6469331

The situation he had found himself within was truly a damned unfortunate one. They planted the bombs, when the ground shook and the air was filled with exhaust smoke of vehicles, they used them. What a eutiful sight it was, a true work of art, seeing an armoured column swallowed whole into the street they had just moved through with such gusto and pride. That’s how they usually operated; tank commanders were often high on the feeling of superiority. It was a good laugh, until it stopped being so.

Who could have known, that a world like this still could make Sentinels, granted, they were nothing special, but they still had come as a nasty surprise. A trio of the bastards jumped out of the smoke, one with an autocannon, two with heavy stubbers. They managed to catch Mudbred and others of the 133rd out of position, turning the hunters into the hunted. Maybe it was arrogance on their part, the first showing of the enemy had been quite the sad sight, though now that Mudbred though about it, they had been shot down here in the first place to begin with, which meant that at least a part of the enemy had to be competent enough to put up a fight.

From there, the situation of fast-moving sentinels hitting them back hard had gone from bad to worse, as a few tanks, due to sheer luck or foresight had not moved down the main headway, but instead used sideroads, though only their lighter designs could do it, they still proved to be a massive pain until a few well-placed krak grenades took care of that, and the Sentinels frakked off somewhere else or got put into the ground by a few well-placed sniper shots and explosives. All in all, the enemy relief column had been broken, but they took a small toll from the 133rd for the effort.

Taking the moment of rest and recuperation, Mudbred dragged a small plate of armour from the Sentinel he had disable and had thrown into onto the open fire. He had some preserved raw grox, that needed a proper roasting to truly get the flavour out, and the bent shape of the armoured allowed all of the fat to just flow together real nice. Apparently, they got back in contact with HQ, so undoubtedly, he will be run ragged pretty soon.
.
The 9th deserve to be cursed to all hell. By the Throne, could they have not held back even a little bit ? When it comes to the walls surrounding the mustering ground, those had been blown back and forth with so many holes, that it could hardly be called a wall anymore. The reinforced structures had been devasted via plasma and melta fire, not to mention the insides are missing so many separations, that you have to wonder if the whole building won’t just collapse on top of you.
>>
>>6469332

The only upswing would be the underground storages, that due to the sheer speed that their general decided to employ, had been untouched by the enemy. There was nothing special about everything inside, more autoguns, either of similar or worse make, the same could be said for the armour, though there are a few suits of flak armour that could prove useful, but nowhere near enough to equip a whole regiment, especially such an inflated one as the 1st.

No, out of everything here, what made the day of this junior officer of the 1st Ramanus would be the cast collection of micro voxbeads. Every soldier could be equipped with one and given clear orders on the battlefield, with such an unwieldy regiment such as theirs, making sure it only has one way communication would be the ideal solution.

As right now, combined with the new unfamiliar terrain, the utterly devastated fortifications, a combination of an organized fighting withdrawal all the while trying to entrench in a new position, you regiment got hit, hard. A trickle of random enemy formations had come and gone after you, a proper regiment would have been able to beat them back easily, but your’s is not a proper regiment, by the same metric, they can absorb far more losses than any other regiment, so it should be completely fine, as long as discipline holds.

Worst of all was the moment when the enemy started firing off mortars in your direction. The few scattered shots devasted the guardsmen placed closest to the southern wall, as what they thought would be proper cover turned out to be a killbox for them. You had to personally go out there, dodging bullets, to get your own mortar crew into shape, for those panicking cowards couldn’t even calculate from where the enemy was firing, so you had to do it yourself.

You need more time, simple as that, to get the regiment into proper order. By some God-Emperor blessed miracle, you had not run into concentrated and great enemy resistance, so for now, you can take your time securing this rather vast area you now hold.
.
.
.
Finally, your long-range vox network has been established and the 133rd made contact with you, and you are damned proud of them, for those brave warriors of the Imperium had single-handedly taken down an enemy armoured column. Though sadly, they were unable to locate the enemy HQ and take care of the issue, but it is only really a matter of time.

Though personally, something far greater had caught your attention.
>>
>>6469333


You set up in what you presumed to be the local base commander’s room, the finely decorated room, porcelain vases, portraits of some person or another, probably traitors, you will order them burnt later. And a large painting of a burning city in the background, a large grouping of people dressed in civilian clothing, what you assume to be arbites and soldiers amongst them, fighting against colourfully dressed guardsmen in a myriad of different uniforms holding against the vast horde, but being overrun all the same. Probably a historical event of Herod’s End.

The leather furniture, made from some lizard or another and the bright milky tone table made from local wood alongside what appears to be a nice box of lhosticks and amasec. A perfectly fine room, were it not for the fact that the reinforced window has been blown out, and is now hastily being covered with sheets of metal by your bodyguards, and the fact that the couch in the room, alongside a fourth of it had been hit with a meltagun, leaving behind a scorch mark where the aforemention commander once was. The ninth does seem to regard all people here as nothing but traitors, deserving no mercy.

Which is why it had come as an oddity when the tech-priest, a brief conversation with his tech-adept later, had turned to you and informed you that the enemy is broadcasting in open channels wishing to converse with you. Originally, you had thought it was a means of tracing your exact location, but the tech-priest assured you that the enemy lacks the proper knowledge or blessings from the machine spirits to master such a complicated art.

“They appear to be conversing in high gothic.” Emotionlessly, the priest states.

“Unsurprising.” You respond with a nod, taking a whiff of the lho, trying to determine their quality. All officers are thought the language, even on a traitor world like this, it makes sense that the language would survive in one shape or form. “Put it through.” You say a moment of thought later. Everyone here is loyal to you and cleared to hear such things.

“To the invader. You had come to our lands. You had attacked out city, slaugh…” You completely zone out, and instead start to smoke the lho, while taking a look at the amasec bottle, the writing on which is totally incomprehensible to you.

“…despite this. We, unlike the Imperium, have our honour…” You pour out the amasec into a few glasses, and have your assistants taste it with you. It’s not bad. You might order some more be brought to you.

“Finally. I wish to make a deal. Guarantee the safety of the civilian populace, as they withdraw from the contested area, and we shall not attack, we expect you to keep your word and do the same.”
>>
>>6469334

Oh ? Now that did catch your attention. Undoubtedly the enemy would use their time to organize themselves, but by the same metric, so could you. Though with how important they consider their civilians, maybe that is the reason why they had not been shelling you into the dirt. Regardless, you need to respond, after all, your own men are hearing the broadcast as well. No matter which choice you make, undoubtedly it will have consequences, both immediate and long-term.

>Tell him to frak off with his terms. You do not negotiate with traitors.

>Fine. You are sure not everyone here deserves to die, plus, the evacuation would take long enough for you to reorganize after that rough landing. (Ends turn 0)

If you decide not to agree to the terms, you could still push your men a little bit further. Especially with the 133rd once more under your control and able to obey orders.

>The 133rd think they located a local HQ. Undoubtedly the enemy there is prepared and organized. It will be painful, even for you, but if you take the enemy commander’s head, this section of the city is as good as yours.

>There’s a series of factorums near you, maybe that is where the enemy made those Sentinels at ? In either case, you could use them for yourself.

>You need to secure the local hab-block. Even with an evacuation going on, there are undoubtedly numerous traitors still within.

>The mustering ground needs to be held.

>According to the plans, an area close to here is a small noble estate owning the surroundings, you doubt it moved, and capturing some minor functionaries might yield some good information and maybe force the locals to accept your conquest as a given fact.

>The bridges are secured, and the west lays open to your further assault, move deeper into the city.

>The 9th had discovered some sort of a monument near the mustering grounds that seems to be a gathering place for local civilian population. It seems that unarmed traitors are being gathered there in order for them to be removed from combat. Undoubtedly so that they could be armed in due time.

>(Write in)
>>
Hmmmm, it's not like I don't wanna ensure the safety of the civilian populace but I feel like this kinds confirms that they're the reason they didn't use their planes and artillery
>>
>>6469338
Yeah. Them safeguarding the civilians is interesting, it either means they care about them, or they're on edge and using artillery and air support will swing them against them.
>>
broadcast: pretend you can't hear them until your attack on the enemy HQ is resolved, then figure out negotiations.
9th and 133rd: go after the enemy HQ. The 9th is the big, loud distraction, the 133rd is the actual attack.
1st and HQ: hold the mustering grounds. Holding the bridges as well would be great if they can defend 2 things at the same time.
>>
>>6469348
Well the question is moreso whether it's worth it
>>
>>6469335
>Fine. You are sure not everyone here deserves to die, plus, the evacuation would take long enough for you to reorganize after that rough landing. (Ends turn 0)

I'm fine with fighting civilized. Kinda wanted to conscript those civies, but that can be done after victory in the city has been solidified. This is a long term decision, whether we can be on speaking terms with the enemy for the entire campaign, so I think leaving the door open for negotiation is more interesting.
>>
>>6469335
>Fine. You are sure not everyone here deserves to die, plus, the evacuation would take long enough for you to reorganize after that rough landing. (Ends turn 0)

We are fucked up. Our forces are scattered all over the place and just took losses. OPTEMPO is nice and all but we have too few people to extend like this.
>>
I still think we're going to get fucked by artillery and planes if we let them evacuate all the civilians
>>
>>6469426
As a corollary:
>put out a broadcast signal promising amnesty for defecting troops.
>>
>>6469429
Would this even be allowed? I'm pretty sure the Imperium takes a dim view on traitors, even non-chaos ones.
>>
>>6469431
The numbers do not work out for us taking the entire planet with the troops we have. At some point we will need to reinforce ourselves with the people we find around here.
Also civilians are generally treated as cattle, it's technically not their fault if their owners (the planetary governor and his nobles) do something dumb.
Unless they are actually corrupted in which case burning them is just a matter of practicality.
>>
>>6469466
We ought to take some time to get the lay of the land. Take prisoners, interview locals, send infiltrators, etc. We have no idea what we’re walking into right now.
>>
>>6469517
We are facing the fundamental question of how much to prioritize exploiting the fact that the enemy is panicking while we're running mostly correctly against the need to stop and reorient because our largest unit needs a break.
The decision to organize the civilian evacuation also has an element of it. If we call a truce to get them out of there, we get some time to rest and reorganize, but we lose the shock value. There are more long term consequences in that we get a reputation out of it.
Because we decided to go straight for the city and our scouts/saboteurs ended up inside the city, we've been going all gas and no breaks, which is tactocally the correct thing to do because we could potentially be outnumbered and outgunned once the enemy brings their air force and heavy machinery to bear.
I'm in favour of saying yeah, we'll figure out what the fuck is going on later, right now grab whatever physical advantage we can and then we can leverage that once the talking starts.
And of course, we're also facing the problem of having no potential resupply until we do something about the local surface to orbit battery which means we might be on a timer if we can't loot enough stuff fast enough.
If we had went for a more measured approach from the outset such as taking the coastal town or space elevator, we would be in the exact opposite situation in which we would want to spread out feelers, gather information and seek allies before committing to a plan of action and we will inevitably end up in that kind of situation if we succeed in taking this city, but right now I'm personally in favour of rushing at least a bit further.
>>
>>6469528
Yeah, I'm currently leaning towards refusing, doing an amnesty will help long-term with civilian compliance but with our primary goal being to take the city, I think we keep pushing until we can't, I'm too worried about that artillery and air support. The fact that they're even asking for one demonstrates that they're suffering a lot.
>>
>>6469545
If there was an option to target like, an artillery position or air field, I'd pick it, certainly.
>>
>>6469546
Yeah, question then becomes where we'd go. Need to keep the 1st on guard duty. Pushing across the bridges I think would be a mistake, we'd risk overextending.

>>6469335
>Tell him to frak off with his terms. You do not negotiate with traitors.
>The 133rd think they located a local HQ.
The 9th Lucian
>There’s a series of factorums near you,
The 133rd
Scout the factorums and take out their HQ, avoids civilian casualties while still hitting the enemy hard.
>>
>>6469570
>Yeah, question then becomes where we'd go.
Listen, the fact is, if we don't have a way to stop artillery and air support, the literal only thing we have stopping them from turning us into a smear on the ground is the civilians
>>
>>6469352

Regiments cannot be split.

2 for negotiations
1 for no deal

I will give it one more day, but by the time I get off work tomorrow, if nothing has change, we will see the conclusion of turn 0.
>>
>>6469726
>Regiments cannot be split.
What do you mean by this? We've been assigning regiments to different tasks this whole battle.
>>
>>6469730

One regiment carrying out multiple tasks. In this case, splitting the 1st to hold two separate objectives.
>>
>>6469732
Very weeell.

Anyway, I'd vote, but like I said, until someone knows whether attacking would allow us to silence their artillery/planes, I can't really back it
>>
>>6469726
Fuck it. QM, the two following posts were me. I’m a dirty phone poster so my IP changes.

>>6469426
>>6469429
Switch my vote to pressing the attack. At least until we take out that sentinel factory and the HQ.
>>
Okay werll if "attack" is gonna win, I'm gonna have to reccomend >>6469352's plan of having the 9th create an distraction for the 133rd, because trying to take both the factorum and the headquarters is gonna end horribly
>>
I'm >>6469364 not sure if my ID changed.

Keeping my vote to negotiate the same, but IF we do attack, then my vote is for the the 9th to attack the local HQ, the 133rd to attack the factorums, and the 1st to hold the mustering ground.
>>
>>6469774
It specifically says "It will be painful even for you" and you still want to send a single unit?
>>
>>6469775
Yes, I trust the bonuses of the 9th to carry the day. I also think sentinels would be good for our recon unit, and I want to get as much done as possible, since this seems like the last turn before we culminate. After that, I have no doubt we'll be forced to take an operational pause. Reorganizing with new vehicles is best done during such a pause, rather than in the heat of our next push.

Even if I agreed to mass two units against the HQ, I would reverse >>6469352's plan. I don't think the 9th is the best for subtlety, nor is the 133rd best for a heavy assault. You might say that the 9th is loud and proud and thus good for distraction, while the 133rd can infiltrate because they are recon troops, I disagree. Remember the 133rd have light armour and the objective is heavily defended in urban terrain, constricting the avenues of approach. Even sewer entry isn't some silver bullet, it is mentioned in every modern IRL urban warfare handbook after all. The 133rd have explosives and snipers with which to make an adequate distraction, assaulting should be left to the actual assault formation.
>>
>>6469786
I was thinking more in the sense that the 9th would be doing a frontal attack while the 133rd went in the back and blew up shit since apparently that's something they do really good

But I still feel like sending the 9th to go take out the HQ alone is gonna end up badly
>>
>>6469787
You could be right, two regiments is better than one. Successive attacks to draw the enemy out of position and then exploit the gap is a classic for a reason. Still, I'd like to keep our recon guys to light(er) assaults when we have to force them out of their comfort zone. Preferably in their scout, skirmish, sabotage wheelhouse, if at all possible. It is all down to the rolls in the end, we'll just have to see.
>>
>>6469795
+1
>>
Okay, I have returned.

It seems that the consensus is for the 9th to attack alongside the 133rd in order to take out the local HQ, while the 1st keeps the holding action going.

If no one else chimes up, I will go with this version and start writing in an hour.
>>
>>6471541
By my count the votes for the 9th to take the HQ and the 133rd to take the sentinel factory with the 1st defending the HQ have the lead. >>6469570 >>6469770 >>6469774 and maybe >>6471288 though that could just be someone agreeing with my opinion that the 133rd shouldn't be used for heavy assaults on hardened targets.

Against the plan you have counted as having the consensus >>6469352
>>6469771
>>
>>6471542

I will admit, it is a bit confusing, as people changed their votes, and there are some unclear votes as well. I hadn't had the ability to update for a while now, so I just wanted to get to it, but I suppose I could run a clearer vote again, to fully figure out what you anons want.

Looking at it again however, you do seem to be correct on that one anon. I guess I will give it, yet one more hour before you send the 9th for the HQ, 133rd factorums, and 1st to hold its ground.
>>
I will once again say I don't like the plan of having only one regiment attack the HQ but I suppose it's too late for people to change their minds
>>
Standing up, you take hold of the vox-castor, give a nod to the tech-priest whom rapidly connects you to the enemy general, without an ounce of hesitation, you cut him off mid another speech.

“This is General Maximian Lex of the God-Emperor’s Imperium. We had come here to subdue traitors that had betrayed us, whom had turned against the whole of mankind for their own petty reasons and ambitions. As far as I am concerned, and as far as my orders and superiors are concerned, you are nothing but thrice damned heretics.

It is my sacred duty, honour, and glory, to be blessed by He-who-sits-upon-Terra’s representatives to carry out this campaign. I suggest you lay down your arms and face the Emperor’s judgment. I offer this both to you and your people, and to any man and woman still loyal to the Imperium. The pure shall find vindication in their determination, the tainted will find a chance at redemption, and the traitor whall face only judgement.

The Imperium’s choice has been made, Now it is time for you to make yours.”

With another signal, your transmission is cut. Without any hesitation, you turn towards your officers. You already have a plan in mind, you have to keep the momentum going, and the enemy commander making all these fanciful speeches is undoubtedly foolish enough to expose himself. Undoubtedly, the bastard will fling everything in the local area against you, so everything besides his HQ should cause some pause. Target the factorums, brave the storm that will come here, and take his head. Three simple steps that will guarantee your bridgehead here.

Now, the hardest part is actually taking those three steps.
>>
>>6471653

The Chimera shakes as you go over a rather large bump in the ground, your own harness stops you from flying out of your seat, but sadly, you had not been blessed by the Omnissiah when it comes to the least defended parts of your body, and carapace is not all that great when it comes to absorbing impacts. In short, your rear hurts, and judging from the grunts of your brothers-in-arms, they too felt impact.

“Damned traitors, can’t even maintain proper roads.” Someone remarks, and it takes a moment for you to look them up in your helmet feed, luckily, they had the wisdom to use the squad vox, so no officer heard them.

“It was we whom destroyed them.” A raspy voice comes back from the sergeant, as he, unlike the remainder of the squad, is sat perfectly still, his head lowered, either trying to catch some shut-eye, or deeply in prayer.

There is a good reason to pray, you wonder, as you will be assaulting the enemy HQ, granted, probably not the planetary one, but one filled to the brim with heavy weapon emplacements, the most organized and elite of enemy forces, whatever heavy armour they have at hand, all the while going through terrain wholly unfamiliar to you.

Should you succeed – glory and honour.

Should you fail – damnation.

Though these matters are not for you to consider, but rather for your lords, you honour shall be in your service, whatever end it will lead you to.

Suddenly, the sergeant jerks up, even though you cannot see it, you feel him tense up, naturally, the entire compartment goes silent, joking, swearing, everything ends.

“Orders from command. We’re the forward element, dismount and spread out. Omnissiah’s wroth !”

“Omnissiah’s Wroth !” The compartment responds as one, as the Chimera comes to a halt.

The moment the ramp slams into the rockcrete sidewalk, you instantly move out, leveling your rifle, only to be momentarily blinded as las fire bursts out from one of the nearby buildings.

>1d100 DC 50 for 9th's assault upon the enemy HQ.
-20 Unknown terrain
-20 Enemy number superiority
-10 Lacking leadership
-20 Prepared enemy
-20 Ambush !

+10 Combat veterans
+30 Overwhelming technical superiority
+10 Used to assaulting fortified locations
+20 Heavy weapon support
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
>>6471655

Being an officer in the 133rd is one Throne-damned job. From too rambunctious abhumans, to guardsmen so accustom to surviving in the wild and behind enemy lines, that they take their steal everything mentality to the extreme, even when at rest. The guardsmen blend in with the civilian populace, and quite honestly cause more issues than even the abhumans, of well, the frequency of issues is greater with them at least.

Worst of all, you rose through the ranks, so you know how easy it is to bribe a guardsman with better meal or more ammunitions and explosives. You had also always wondered why the officers were so damned angry all the time, until you became one. Now, you are glad you got back to war, at least here, no one’s going to complain as long as you are fighting.

Looking through your magnoculars, you look at the series of massive overwhelming manufactorums as they loom in the distance. Luckily for you, the locals had good sense to keep the area around the manufactorums clear, while this will make your approach hazardous, it will also allow your marksmen to do good work.

There does seem to be a large number of civilians all around it, which makes sense, you kind of dropped out of the sky and smashed right into the city, the factorums are probably employing a good chunk of the city’s population, there’s no way they would be able to evacuate everyone.

Putting the magnoculars away, you turn to one of your men, whom is currently propping his longlas on a dining table, making sure not to expose his barrel to overly observant enemies.

“How’s the sight ?” You ask, moving away from the window before rising to your full height.

“Good enough, sir. I see the main loading and unloading area from here, if they roll out any armour or just vehicles in general, ol’ Puncher and me will make short work of anything short of a Leman Russ.” The man responds with confidence, you yourself never liked overcharged longlasses, as you’d rather it not explode in your face, but this is the third Puncher, and the man still lives.

“Hold fire until I give the go, even if we’re heavily suppressed, we want them outside before we start dropping them. Best contain the fighting outside of the ‘torums.” You reply to him, stepping over a corpse of the husband that had lived in the apartment.

The marksman simply grunts in acknowledgement, and you rap on the door leading to the bathroom, signaling your men that dragged away the wife there that they have a job to do and fun time’s over. Personally, you find it rather distasteful, but then again, you kill for a living, some would find that distasteful as well, especially those blind to the dangers of the galaxy, like these damned traitors.
>>
>>6471656


You hear the tell-tale sound of breaking bones, and in scant few moments, your men gather in the corridor and outside of the various apartments they had occupied. Coordinating via vox, the Colonel gives the go ahead. With the sewer system separate from the factorums, and undoubtedly manned after your last trick, charging over no-man’s land is what is going to get you inside.

“Alright, men. Time to earn our pay. Remember, limited damage, and ensure that equipment disappearances within are kept to an appropriate minimum.” You hear a few pained groans of disappointment, whom are silence once you give the few vocal ones a good glare. No one wants to be leading the front-line charge and meet the Emperor before their appointed time.

>1d100 DC 140 for the 133rd to take the local factorums.
Impossible to fail unless you get a nat 100. Degrees of success determine how intact you take the factorums.
-20 Unknown terrain.
-20 Heavily fortified position.

+20 Combat elites
+10 Technical superiority
+30 Business as usual
+20 Large number of civilians
+20 Disorganized enemy
+10 Private security, not the army
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
>>6471657

Garon was tired, being fifty-five was already an achievement, working in the mines had ruined his lungs and now it has been hours, maybe days ? It was hard to tell, the sun had never seemed to move above them, it was always btight, with occasional shadows falling, but darkness never coming.

He was used to sweat, he was used to the uniform not fitting as well as it should, the long hours of exertion. Even death, was not too uncommon. But the killing, so much blood and carnage, every time he pulled a trigger, there was a chance someone would fall. Garon had cursed himself not that he killed someone, but that he failed to do so, not because he wanted to kill, or lusted for blood, no, one dead traitor meant that his chances at survival would increase.

Once again, he lugged a crate of munitions for a heavy stubber they had set up in the remnants of a blown down wall, what he saw gave him pause, as he collapsed behind said wall, with bullets whizzing over him. He grabbed the lifeless corpse of the lad whom had been manning it, no older that his own grandchildren he was, though by the Throne, was he pretty large, which made removing him from the position all the harder.

Kicking the corpse away, after a pointless effort of trying to drag it, Garon finally got the area clear enough to set up again, with shaking and exhausted hands, he took the ammo, then he…frak ! He had forgotten what’s next, he was barely trained to use the damned autogun he was always lugging around, doubly so for a stubber ! Frak ! He did not want to be executed for cowardice, those damned commissars were eyeing everyone around them like the furnons, those damnable blood suckers. Just take your eyes off, show a bit of complacency, and you are dead.

Right, he has to take off the top of the stubber…

How the frak is he supposed to take off the top of the stubber ?!

>1d100 DC 40 for the 1st to hold the line against an ever increasingly desperate enemy offensive.
-15 Enemy number superiority.
-20 Lack of training
-10 Low morale
-10 Destroyed fortifications
-5 Not used to prolonged fighting

+10 Heavy weapons
+10 Abundance of Commissars
+10 On the defensive
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
>>
Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>6471655
>>
Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>6471686
Wow, you actually did it. Congrats.

>>6471657
I'll roll for this, since it's DC 140, though with my luck it'll be a 100
>>
Need one more roll for the hardest DC
>>
Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>6471658
>>
>>6471746
Well, that's a failure.
>>
The 1st will probably rout in mass. Not surprising.
>>
>>6471751
I am surprised I even got near enough to 40. But this was bound to happen; the 1st Ramalus are all untrained civilians kidnapped or forced into service. Negatives for them would pile up anyway as the battle for Amelia progresses.

Not really afraid for Max even if the Ramalus cracks, since he is a former 133rd.
>>
Should the destroyed fortifications really provide a malus instead of just removing a positive? Like, would we really be better off making our defensive positions in an empty field? Deliberate rubbling is a thing on the defense in urban terrain after all.

>>6471746
A shame, now do we manage to retreat in good order, get captured, or have to rely on our bodyguards to fight off those who defeat the 1st?
>>
>>6471815
The 1st Ramanus likely would suffer if it's an empty field or destroyed fortifications. The vast majority of them can't fight, and their training was very bad.

The Ramanus will crack. Their morale is already low, and they didn't want to be here. By the rules post on the retry, this regiment is pure ass and would not be able to stand in a real battle like this one (the signs they are suffering from this battle are already here). Which is clear since they are civilians kidnapped and forced at best weeks ago, if not days or hours. The commissars, after a while of killing them, will force them back. Or die by them.

We can manage with our HQ, but we will probably need to retreat. For the number difference the rebels' secessionists present.
>>
>>6471752
I doubt one failure is going to utterly destroy a unit. It'll suffer casualties, but I expect we won't be outright routed unless we fail other rolls.
>>
>>6464045
>>6471826
It's a miracle they are holding it together so far. A regiment cracking doesn't mean it's destroyed. A route is not an instant wipe either most of the time. The regiment will retreat in a disorganized manner, losing men and ground, until it reforms. Routes and mutiny are entirely possible. Especially for the 1st Ramanus, since they are not soldiers and their morale is already at Low.

If we look at renty, this is what is said about low-morale regiments.

"At Low morale, a regiment might mutiny. A mutinying regiment might injure or even kill their CO, they might also disobey orders. Each turn, or for each command, a roll is made to determine if discipline holds. At Shattered. the regiment is completely disorganized and will not follow orders, have a very high chance for their command staff to accidentally fall onto a buch of bayonets, they will also retreat to the safest place possible, or worst of all, they might turn traitor and attack their fellow regiments !"

We can assume the regiment didn't instantly run away at the start of the battle because Max is deployed here on the ground (providing a direct bonus to morale and allowing better tactics/direction of orders), and even if this is a nightmare for them, the other regiments are doing the real work. But what happens when they lose a fight? Even with Max providing those two bonuses. I suspect even with Maximilian mitigation, he can't do the impossible with such a shitty regiment.
>>
Actually, given the degree of failure, they might just take some damage, which they should be able to absorb fine because of their trait. With some recovery time they should be fighting fit soon enough. Maybe they'll flee a bit, but I'm not sure a single degree of failure is enough to make them shatter.
>>
Being an NCO in the 9th Fusiliers is a tricky thing, you must obey the orders of your betters all the while bringing up the issues and concerns of the rank-and-file in such a way that would ensure both ends see reason. While the lord rules, the serf toils. A relationship based on honour and duty on both ends. Though personally, you prefer it over being shot.

Or having to drag a wounded soldier in full carapace. Being an NCO had resulted in you being given a few bionics, which are making the job somewhat easier, but dodging bullets does complicate matters.

Having dragged the man behind a destroyed Chimera. Taking a moment to lean against it, you also take the moment to stem your own wounds and injuries, a las shot had managed to get pretty bad, were it not the carapace, it would have torn off your arm, but it doesn’t change the fact just how badly it hurts.

Unsurprisingly, you ran into the enemy elite, the chosen few equipped with flak and las weaponry. Funny that they consider such base equipment elite, but nonetheless, it did work. Backed up by a large contingent of the yellow-clad local PDF in their backwards gear and autoguns, the few flaks and uniforms of pure white stood out rather well. Made it easier to target them too, as you note a half-charred corpse stained black and red, with only remnants of half-melted flak still painted white, as the remainder of the uniform still smoulders, burns and darkens further.

Taking a moment, you check to see if the man you dragged into cover still breathes. He does. That’s good, though missing his lower legs means that he will either be replaced, if deemed worthy, he will be augmented. For now, he lives, that is all that matters. You take off the pict-recorder attached to your helmet, a nifty trick you learnt a few years back, and just put it down around the corner of the Chimera, moving it slowly and carefully, you use the recorder to take a safe look at the presumed enemy headquarters.

You spot the autocannon turrets that knocked out the Chimera to begin with. Most of them are a smouldering wreck, though that one alongside the main road still stands as it scans the road up and down. With a quick look, you had noticed that the turret is manned, though the layers of steel make it difficult to dig through and into them from the distance. A good krak grenade or a melta charge would take care of it easily, even a concentrated barrage of your hellgun would deal with the problem, some plasma…

The though swirling through your mind are cut short when you look up and find your captain, clad in resplendent, battle-untouched power armour. Half painted red with white trim as a symbol of cooperation with the priesthood of Mars, and gold with red trim on his right symbolizing the great houses of Lucian, with a large coat of arms, showcasing a blade of red with cogs of white around it, the personal sigil of his house.

“Serf. Report.” The distorted voice comes from the person within.
>>
>>6471965


“My lord.” You state, trying to rise up, so you could kneel properly. “The last remaining autocannon turret is blocking further approach. We are engaged on all fronts and are lacking reinforcements. We are currently completely pinned down.”

“You will start firing onto the turret when I give the order.” Brooking no argument, the captain orders, taking a bolt pistol into their hands. “Now !”

Moving out of cover, you level the hellgun, and then, taken by surprise, you watch as the man moves with breath-taking speed, relying on the artificial muscles to accelerate at a greater speed than the Chimera ever could over such rough terrain. Your own fire rapidly draws the attention of the turret and you have to take cover as shells impact with enough force to slightly move the Chimera, which forces you to swear to high heavens and drag the unconscious man back a bit so he wouldn’t be caught within.

Emerging back from cover, you keep up the barrage best as you can, just as the captain closes the distance, aims up the bolt pistol and fires, good chunk of the bolt rounds go wide, but it seems that the captain had a good idea, or just good luck, as one bolt impacts the lower end of the turret, breaking its horizontal axis. With good thought in his actions, the power armoured man jumps to the side as the autocannons drop down, but prove unable to track him, which is all your captain needs to throw up a melta charge.

With a thundering explosion, the turret shatters in thousands of parts, a few unluckily crewmen, who had the good instinct to leave the moment the turret was disabled are caught in the explosion and are flung off the fortifications.

“Fourth company !” You hear his voice over the vox. “Advance ! Spare no traitor !”
.
.
.
Well, this was rather awkward. So much planning, preparation, willingness to take casualties and fight to the death with traitors whom would be willing to perish in order to deny assets, mayhaps a few suicidal charges or the like.

Literally the moment you charged, you had not noticed any fire coming your way, your screams of encouragement, both for yourself and your brothers, had died in your throats the moment men in black civilian uniforms dropped their autoguns and stub pistols and raised their hands into the air.

Not only that they surrendered the second they thought there was going to be a fight, you also ended up being showed around the factorum by its manager, whom spoke fluent high-gothic. It felt more like a well-meaning inspection and tour rather than a hostile takeover. You did learn that this particular section was unguarded because they primarily made civilian electronics and products. While the factorums could be turned to war use and purposes without much issue, it would take time.
>>
>>6471966

Problem you currently have is that the local soldiers here are civilians or ex-soldiers. They were paid to keep the place safe from thieves or other ne’er-do-wells, not to fight back an invasion. Alongside them, there’s a literal swarm of civilians, most of whom are fighting age men who had worked at the factory, and when the attack started, were ordered to stay here.

All in all, you have a whole lot of prisoners to look after, water, and feed. Whom view you as nothing but a whole bunch of barbarians that kicked in their door and started shooting their loved ones and destroying their things. Worst of all, other than the factorum manager, a suave middle-aged man in fanciful looking black and blue attire, no one here speaks even a lick of high-gothic, and whatever form of low-gothic they are using is so different that other than the occasional shared word or two, no one can make heads or tails about what they are saying. And well, the manager certainly looks like someone whom would sell you their own mother for a throne, so you are quite uncertain about how well you can trust his words.

Still, this is no longer your problem, you’re just a line officer, undoubtedly you will kick this up to the colonel and the colonel will kick this up to the general, you just have to follow orders.
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The old man’s dead, that widow’s dead named A something, that kid with a stubber’s dead. Soon bloody well, he’ll be dead, just like that trigger-happy commissar. Wet behind the ears piece of groxshit, thought he could order him around, was shouting atop of his lungs about sacrifice or something, then his brain got splattered. Oh, what a sight that was, if only he could have done it. He was a king once ! Well, of the street, but a king nonetheless, everyone cowered before him, paid their fees and he had his own lads to command, then some blue-blooded noble got the arbites to roll down and killed his guys. Would have gotten him as well if it weren’t for those damned aliens slamming into the world. Oh, then the arbites were busy. He got his vengeance back on some of the frakers that turned on him then.

And wouldn’t you know it, he got shipped of world, he got picked out because he could fight, and then next thing next, here he is, in the oh so glorious imperial guard, having to listen to morons ordering him to his death.

Sitting in a newly made crater, the former ganger kept his head down, watching with some disbelief as the cravens all around him ran, some even going so far as dropping their weapons in order to run faster, all that got for them was a quicker bullet, the few lucky ones, whom got hit in their flak armour, saw the bullets embed themselves there or bounce off, though undoubtedly, they would leave a mark here and there. The few who got via autocannons, well, they simply went poof. Limbs here, limbs there. Even back-alley scraps weren’t this pathetic.
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>>6471967


Well, a new mob’s going to be thrown here, led by a lieutenant or some such, and then another commissar, or well, junior commissar, you think that’s what they order you to call them, would show up. Bellowing from the backlines, they’d shot anyone trying to run or not shooting hard enough at the enemy. You wouldn’t mind it, if you were not the one being threatened.

Now, laying down as you, you watch the eastern wall, and well. You have no idea what the hell that thing is, but its on two legs and…are those rockets ?!

The two-legged thing hops over the rubble and over the fleeing guardsmen, knocking one of them down, undoubtedly crushing bones as blood just spurts out in waves out of him, before coming to a screeching halt, looking at the main building, and then rocking back as over a dozen rockets are unleashed at once, with its payload empty, the thing starts to run off, whomever is driving it probably laughing like a maniac.

“Soldier ! Do you want to be executed for cowardice ?! On your feet and fight !” It takes a moment for you to realize that some officer had popped out of the smoke and dust and is now screaming at you, his face growing increasingly red as you keep laying there.

“Sure.” You slightly incline your rifle and blow his fraking head off. You’ve seen a good number run already as is, you think you will take your chances in the streets. Maybe start up another gang ?
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Kick back over the table you originally flipped over in order to take that damned missile barrage. Some Throne damned Sentinel pilot tried to take you out. Well, you and your command crew is as tough as they come, plus, you saw this coming.

“Alright, whose not dead, sound off.” You say in a gruff voice, ignoring the dust flooding your lungs.

Pained groans escape from your aides, the tech-priests and adepts seem perfectly fine, your own bodyguards are taking position around the door and the hole in the wall they had spent a good few hours reinforcing beforehand.

“Sir, enemy Sentinel still in sight !” One of your bodyguards says, levelling a missile launcher.

You do not even need to give an order as the missile is fired off, the machine spirit guiding it seeking its target with true bloodlust, before impacting its right backside, throwing the Sentinel off as it slams into the ground and slides a dozen metres on the ground.

Pulling out your laspistol, you step towards the gaping hole, simply aim and pull the trigger over half-a-dozen times, killing just as many men. You take a moment to look around and explore your surroundings. You watch as the first is breaking, having lost all cohesion. Individual units made up of sterner stuff or iron-willed command are still fighting, others are in the process of both organized retreat or simply an outright rout. Their regimental commander is probably somewhere in that mess. The situation is looking rather precarious, but far from an outright disaster.
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>>6471968

Can choose more than one option, the more options chosen, the lower the DC. Half plus one are needed for options to win, based on the biggest vote.

>You will personally lead the defence, even if it puts you at risk. (Separate roll to see if you are injured or killed in combat.)

>A good speech should help, right ? (Write-in speech, gain degrees of success or failure based on how good or bad the speech is.)

>Where are the damned commissars ? Give them free-reign to keep everyone in line, no matter the cost ! Will hurt morale.

>Clearly, the officers should use the fist rather than the glove, order all deserters killed and the regiment decimated, make an example the 1st won’t soon forget ! Will hurt the regiment’s strength.

>Despite what the priets proclaim. Purity of gelt and its glimmer, or at the least the promise of it, will make fight harder. A few sackings here and there will do wonders for morale and fighting spirit. It will devastate the surroundings and anger the locals.

>(Write in)
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>>6471969
>You will personally lead the defence, even if it puts you at risk. (Separate roll to see if you are injured or killed in combat.)
>Clearly, the officers should use the fist rather than the glove, order all deserters killed and the regiment decimated, make an example the 1st won’t soon forget ! Will hurt the regiment’s strength.

Giving a speech amidst the panicking mob is likely have us ending up like that commissar that got his head blown off. There's plenty of the 1st, decimating them won't be that bad. Best part is that they are easily replenished. The armaments to improve them lie within the grounds we occupy, and the cannon fodder to add to their ranks are all around us. We just need a while to reorganize and integrate these elements and the 1st will be better than before. So it is worth it to restore discipline.

Personally leading the defence is risky, but our bodyguards are elite and might be what is needed to stiffen this regiment up. If we succeed, it certainly might improve the regimental commander's opinion of us.
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>>6471978
We can choose more than one option, if we're going to lead personally we might as well give a speech.

If nobody writes something then I'll probably do so.
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>>6471980
Sure, go ahead. But I don't want to lower their morale even more, or piss off the locals more than we have to. We just need to stop the rout.
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>>6471969
>>You will personally lead the defence, even if it puts you at risk. (Separate roll to see if you are injured or killed in combat.)
Go and fight.
We need to put our hands on the battle. The 1st cannot be trusted to win this defense on their own. Enemy vehicles are already scaring them. And whoever this Colonel Elianus is, he is not ready to lead the mess that is the 1st. He needs our help desperately. I don't have high hopes of him or the officers and NCOs present here.

>>6471978
>We just need a while to reorganize and integrate these elements, and the 1st will be better than before.
It's not enough. After all these turn fights are done and the battle for Amelia ends, the 1st Ramanus needs to be cut up into different regiments. And they need to be retrained, or more correctly, trained. Their previous training was bad and short. Most of them barely know how to use the weapons they have. We correct that and get multiple usable regiments. We have no reason to keep using the ball and chain Sector Command gifted us.

Maximilian himself comments on this
>>6468727
>>
Between Elianus and Vorian we have been dealt a bad hand when it comes to the ones below us. We can already expect some of Vorian traits to be: one definitely absent and two: nobility.

Elianus, instead, might be incompetent or a political pariah. If not both. He is definitely a noble for entering a prestigious local military academy. Though he might be a small noble.
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>>6471978
+1
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>>6471969
>You will personally lead the defence, even if it puts you at risk.
>A good speech should help, right ?

"1st Remanus! Are you to be found wanting in the God-Emperor's sight? Would you rather keep the company of heretics, traitors, and cowards? Will you abandon your duty, your fellow soldiers, your friends?

I will not!

I do not intend to die on this world, and I will not allow you to die on it either! You are poorest, most inexperienced regiment I have ever lead, but you are mine, and I will sooner walk into the Eye of Terror than let you meet your end on this world, this damnable world that has fled from His light.

So rally to me, my soldiers, to me, and throw these traitors back! They have turned from His light, turned from the Throne! For no matter how poor or scared you may be, no matter the terror that be in your heart, you have that which they do not! You have me and the God-Emperor, and the Emperor protects! I am His wrath! You are His vengeance! And against those no force in the galaxy has prevailed for ten thousand years! It will not prevail now!

So to me, soldiers of the First, to me! Rally to me and HOLD THE LINE!"
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>>6472015
urhjenrdmfdfmd fuck it i can't be bothered to make a speech myself +1
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Personal 4
Decimation 2
Speech 2

Unless something changes in an hour, personally leading the defence is the only winning choice.
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>>6472364
Okay well that's a bit of a bad count isn't it? Both of the speech votes also vote to be there as part of it.
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>>6472015
+1
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>>6472367

Yes, but they do not make up the majority. It is tricky with multi choice to actually represent what anons want, this is the best system I had used so far, though I am open to suggestions.

Personal 5
Decimation 2
Speech 3

Okay, giving the speech wins alongside leading the defence.

As for the speech, given the circumstances of the regiment, I am willing to give 1 degree of success. If you anons have a good argument for a bigger bonus, I am willing to listen to it.

In the mean time, you are risking your neck in this engagement, please give me a 1d100
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Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>6472373
>>
Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>6472373
Well, if we die quest is over so oh well
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>>6472374
A better roll than mine, thankfully
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“Guard, with me !” You proclaim, unsheathing the blade at your side, and turning into a light job, it would have been a full sprint were it not for your leg, and you make your way down to the ground floor, kicking out the front door, you once more fire off your laspistol, your bodyguards rushing in front of you to shield you from incoming fire.

"1st Ramanus!” You bellow using your decades of experience, your powerful voice echoes across the battlefield, cutting through even gunfire and minor explosions.

“Are you to be found wanting in the God-Emperor's sight?” You walk through the middle of the field, head held high, back straight, your general’s uniform showcasing signs of battle damage, but still pristine enough to be easily distinguishable.

“Would you rather keep the company of heretics, traitors, and cowards? Will you abandon your duty, your fellow soldiers, your friends?” You punctuate every word with another las shot, drawing the attention of everyone on the battlefield, being the only force possessing las weaponry.

“I will not!” You stand over an injured guardsman of the first, shielding the bleeding man, and gesturing for your personal medicae to tend to the man.

“I do not intend to die on this world, and I will not allow you to die on it either !” Your bodyguards duck under incoming fire, swiftly knocking down an enemy with grenade launcher before he can fire.

You run across a shattered squad, simply sitting in the middle of a pile of rubble, whom seem to have lost all fighting spirit. “You are poorest, most inexperienced regiment I have ever led.” You spit out vitriol, staring straight into the eyes of the guardsmen, whom at the very least, finally feel some shame.

“But you are mine, and I will sooner walk into the Eye of Terror than let you meet your end on this world, this damnable world that has fled from His light.” You grab one of the men, raise up on his feet, and simply keep moving forward towards the heaviest of the fighting.

“So rally to me, my soldiers, to me, and throw these traitors back !” One of the traitors manages to slip past your guards, and granted you had never been trained in proper sparring, but putting your back into the blow, you strike the poor bastard down with your ceremonial blade, causing the foe to fall to the floor and scream out from the lashing blow to his thigh. You put him out of his misery with a las shot to his chest.
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>>6472384

“They have turned from His light, turned from the Throne! For no matter how poor or scared you may be, no matter the terror that be in your heart, you have that which they do not!” With a bit of flair and drama in your step, you come across the regimental banner. A rapidly thrown together symbol of stars, no doubt marking the most important worlds of the Ramanus sector, underneath a blue-golden one symbol, with a black background, the edges of the standard are embroided with golden thread, giving heft and weight to the banner.

“You have me and the God-Emperor, and the Emperor protects !” You heft the banner, having sheeted your saber, making yourself larger as you stand upon a pile of rubble, still all the while firing your las pistol.

“I am His wrath! You are His vengeance! And against those no force in the galaxy has prevailed for ten thousand years! It will not prevail now!” You throw out spit, your throat sore, your lungs begging for breath, but you keep shooting, pulling the trigger and gunning down more and more ever flowing heretics as finally their own heavier armour starts to roll in.

“So to me, soldiers of the First, to me! Rally to me !” You shout out, as another missile with its vengeful machine spirits finds purchase in the lightly armoured vehicle, puncturing a hole and exploding from inside, throwing the turreted autocannon into the air and taking out those nearest to it.

“HOLD THE LINE !” You mount your most powerful battlecry yet, as it cuts through the entirety of the battlefield.

That is when you feel it, a fragmentation grenade having exploded near to you had found its mark. Your own armour is scarred and filled with bullet holes from all of the attention you had drawn, a few of your bodyguards lay dead near you. You ignore the injury, using the banner to prop yourself up and to put on the brave front, you keep ignoring your injury. You will probably be unable to do much after this showing is over, but it is at most a light injury.

>1d100 DC 65 to rally the 1st.
-10 Conscripts that do not want to be here
-10 Low morale
-5 Not used to prolonged fighting

+20 General at the lead
+10 Abundance of Commissars
+10 Frontline Deployment
+10 Old Bold Soldier
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>>6472385
According to your math it should be 75 btw

DC 50 + 20 + 10 + 10 + 10 -10 -10 -5 = 75
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>>6472388

Whoops, you are correct. Oh well, I suppose it will make it a little easier on you anons.
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>>6472390
Well, I'm not rolling. I rolled today and it was bad. Someone else has to roll.
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Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>6472385
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>>6472425
RIP Max
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>>6472425
>>6472426
dawg how did you fuck that up

we had a 75

you fucked up a 75
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>>6472427
I didn't pray to the Emprah before rolling. That's how.

tbf, it was still a 25% chance of failure, that's like 50% in X-COM terms.
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>>6472428
No, you disagreed with the plan. Why would you roll for a plan you disagreed with? That's why I only rolled for the roll that was an auto-win when I disagreed with the double attack. If you disagree with a plan you don't roll for it. It's your fault we lost.
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>>6472435
Dunno if you're meming or not, but if you mean the plan for the 9th and 133rd to attack separate targets, that is the plan I voted for and won. And their part in the attack went fine, it was the 1st that failed, which had nothing to do with whether the other two regiments attacked the same target or not. If you mean how to deal with the 1st routing, I was fine with everything that people actually voted for, so I don't know what you mean.

Maybe I'm too out of it and need a /s like a child, but I really can't tell.
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>>6472439
You disagreed with the vote of having a speech. You didn't vote for it, but you rolled. You displeased the dice spirits. Your failure was a punishment.
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>>6472425
lol gonna be a short quest I guess
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>>6472466
This roll wasn't for an injury, it was to rally the 1st. This just means that the 1st is broken and routed completely. We're already injured regardless.
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>>6472466
eh we will see.
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Well then. With the bonus 1 degree of success from the speech, I do believe this makes for 0 degrees of failure. Due to the low morale of the first, I would like you anons to make me 2 rolls of 1d100.
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Rolled 45 (1d100)

>>6472594
>>
Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>6472594
Time to die!
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You put on the brave front, ignoring the rising pain at your side, were you twenty, no, ten years younger, such an injury could have been shrugged off easily by you. Now, you can feel the shrapnel pushing in deeper, cutting into your gut, the sweet iron taste of your own blood also begins to well up in your mouth as you keep firing.

Turn your head to your sides, struggling to maintain your posture, you see a few individual squads of the first rally to your position, either out of bravery or desperation, you are unsure which, but they do rally.

But they are scant few.

A few scattered formations are nothing against a wall of enemies whom form a disciplined firing line and unleashing a storm of bullets. Your own bodyguards begin to grab you, with strength failing you, the banner you had held aloft for so long finally tumbles down to the floor, covered in dirt, soot, blood, and oils.

That is when the first mortar shell explodes around you, perhaps you had stayed in one place too long, as the second mortar impacts, then the third.

One of your guards drags you down and shields you from the incoming fire, as the shock rocks you back and forth, you start to feel the years of service upon you, the injuries, the age, the stress and pressure.

Those are your last thoughts before everything goes dark.
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You blink awake, your eyes stabbed at by glowing bright white lumens above you. Your body aches and hurts, most importantly of all, it itches like hell.

When you try to move, you feel an incredibly painful stab to your side.

“Frak !”

“Feeling the age, old man ?” You hear the familiar voice of Alian.

You lay back down. “You’re barely younger than me, just you wait.”

“Don’t plan on it.”

“How long was I out ?”

“About a couple of weeks, Terran standard. Sun never really seems to set on this Throne damned planet, probably because we are so close to the pole.”

“Weeks ?!” You wince in pain again, and lay down once more.

“Yeah. Your injuries got infected, by the time we got you to a sterile environment for the medicae to do their work. You ran such a fever we thought you might soon end up by the Emperor’s side.”

“I’d be embarrassed to end up there in such a situation. I’ve yet to reconquer this world.” You take a moment to draw deep breath, only now realizing just how thirsty you are. Noticing that, Alian, whom looks tired, but not too worse for wear, gives you a glass of water, from which you drink greedily.

“Well, you will be happy to know that the line holds. Sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of ?”
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>>6472697

“Well, the enemy retook the mustering ground, right around the time we took their HQ, which where we are right now. We did not manage to put down the druul that is the enemy commander, they managed to get away before the 9th bludgeoned its way inside. So both sides ended up in confusion. 9th refused to move without their Colonel’s direct orders with you out of the picture. The first, somehow got rebuilt by its officers, their morale is still low and rather terrible, but discipline holds and they hadn’t been shattered by some miracle of the Emperor. We set out to do some scouting and skirmishing around the surrounding areas, but the enemy had begun to dig in and prepare for us. They hadn’t bombed us back to the dark age of technology, but their damned Sentinels have been bolder and bolder by the hour. Who knows when they will attack.”

“I will need a detailed report in an hour.” You state flatly, knowing full well that while you are still a bit unwell, you can easily command your men once more.

END OF TURN 0

Having risen from the bed, you look over a series of maps in the former enemy HQ’s command room, therein is an outline of various plans and maps that you take a look at while your command crew works all around you, though sadly thinned after your last engagement.

Taking a look at your dataslate, you read everything in it:

+++CURRENT WAR FRONTS+++

++The southern pole. The city of Amelia. Subdivided. Current regiment disposition.++

+Southern Amelia. Status: Constested+
+1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment+
+Lucian 9th Fusiliers Regiment+
+133rd Kasyx Regiment+

+Western Amelia. Status: Under Traitor Control+

+Eastern Amelia. Status: Under Traitor Control+

+Outskirts of Amelia. Status: Under Traitor Control+


Well then. How will you deal with this now ?

Rules and actions you can take:
>https://rentry.co/b7mig5go

Regiments:
>https://rentry.co/obsyb962
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>>6472698
I really don't like the fact that despite succeeding basically the entire battle, and especially succeeding on the roll that specificaly said it would basically give us the city's sector, we basically ended up getting absolutely fucking nothing and ending up in a stalemate because a shitty unit failed a roll after the 10th time in a roll you repeated it

With this and the landing has become clear to me that this is a quest where a single failure will mean more than a dozen victories
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>>6472698
That's pretty bad. If weeks have passed.... That's a good chunk of possible Amelian citizens, actual motivated volunteers at that, unlike the 1st Ramanus, armed and prepped for war. And perhaps some early reinforcements from the north might arrive. Meanwhile, we are cut off from the navy and with only a standard amount of supplies, likely. And the more time passes, the more Herodians can prep more units. Shit, they must have evacuated most civilians from our conquered city section. Could start precise air raids and artillery strikes on us. And they could also encircle us easily. Behind us, we have only a city wall breach. Their land vehicle can go there going out from another side of the city.


I was already thinking of this before, since we only had 3 regiments, but Sector Command clearly wants us to fail, or more correctly, outright die entirely. Amelia cannot be taken easily by us. This world cannot be taken by 3 regiments. Maybe Sector Command's relation being "neutral" is only an appearance.

It will be very difficult to fight after weeks of prep by the Herodians secessionists. Weeks make it outright unfeasible if there are 0 locals pro-Imperium.


Anyway. I don't see a type of action for interrogate/question captured Herodians secessionists. Or the manufactorum civilians. So I will try working with the actions you provide.
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>>6472698
Plan 1

Military
>REST
1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment
I would say they need to be retrained, but they can do this instead. In their current condition, they are useless. They are useless in general because they aren't soldiers, to be fair. Not their fault.

>DEFEND
Lucian 9th Fusiliers Regiment
Put up a defense. Put up fortifications. Ensure our current HQ can stand in a battle for 1 minute. The tech-priests and servitors of the regiments, alongside the Chimeras should be able to help in this regard. It will not be excellent but serviceable. Some earthworks with converted rebel buildings reinforced by wrecks and walls made up of destroyed buildings

>ATTACK
133rd Kasyx Regiment
I trust Alain and our boys to do some work. Attack plan: keep it light and infiltrate. Understand more about the Herodian Secessionists, if there is anyone pro-imperial, and capture some officers. We need some intel by yesterday.

Command
>CONVERSE
Colonel Elianus Alrenan
I don't really trust him, and I doubt the 1st was "rebuilt" into anything decent. But might as well reveal at least one trait of this guy. As of now, we know nothing of either him or Vorian.

Political
>LOOK FOR CONNECTIONS
Not sure how we do either of the political actions. The Herodian secessionists would ensure a good constant jamming. They seem capable of ensuring we cannot talk with the navy above. Can we interrogate any captured Herodian secessionist instead?
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>>6472698
This is why I wanted to capture the space elevator and train tracks to divide the rebel forces. Now they can easily rally reinforcements and we have no easy means of resupply or reinforcements.

I think we have enough commissars within one regiment to forcefully replenish with penal troops but that requires finding salvageable people who aren't too corrupted as they are a cannon fodder regiment which always have the most commissars besides the penal regiments. The other two regiments don't really use commissars. One of them is closely aligned to the Admech so we MIGHT be able to pull some tech support from them if we can capture the right manufactorums and forcefully convert the populace into combat servitors leashed to their techpriests. Given their usage of heretek vehicles I have my doubts on being able to recover vehicle assets. Even better if the Admech we brought with can identify or communicate with any Admech loyalists who haven't become hereteks. Assuming they can find them which we'll need to ask them about as well as their means to forcefully convert population into combat servitors. The last regiment is an elite recon regiment that is the best at doing their own thing with minimal support and causing the enemy lots of problems. The best thing I can think they can do is venture into the badlands to reach out to the nomads who hopefully aren't traitors so we can recruit them and preferably sabotage the railway. If we can damage it badly enough, far enough away, the enemy won't be able to use their other city for support very easily. That would be the best-case scenario for us.

I also think we should make plans on the space elevator before they have the chance to fortify and entrench themselves around it too much. We arguably need it a LOT more they do and they know how important it is to us. Unfortunately we are grass roots commander so we cannot expect much support. Especially since we didn't have time to reach out to other grassroots to rally together support. We have to somehow survive long enough for them to find out about our situation and arrange support. Grassroots have to stick together after all and they are all notably lucky and very capable; otherwise, they never would have survived or been able to get promoted to begin with.

We should also send the tech priests on the manufacturums we captured. Honestly though I'm pretty sure the attached techpriests are already doing that, if only to root out tech heresy and see what they can repurpose for the war effort. At least we have quite a few tech priests besides the bare minimum thanks to the closely aligned regiment.
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>>6472698
>>6472760
Forgot actions...oops.

>REST
1st Ramanus Sector Volunteer Regiment
Let them recover and see if the Commissars can put together some penal troops or not.

>DEFEND
Lucian 9th Fusiliers Regiment
Set up defenses and let the techpriests go wild. Hopefully they can find something they can salvage or get us some war servitors.


>ATTACK
133rd Kasyx Regiment
Into the badlands hopefully they get lucky and make contact with the tribes. If not, sabotage the railway.


Command
>CONVERSE
Vorian Lucyx the Great Seventh Lord of the 9th
He should also know what the techpriests can handle.

Political
>LOOK FOR CONNECTIONS
Honestly we are kinda boned if we don't get reinforcements/resupply or find some loyalists to help us out. We don't even have enough resources to handle a single rebel city...
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>>6472698
Support >>6472710

>>6472762
Vorian isn't present here with his regiment, I think.
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>>6472762
Support. Not much we can do at the moment, not with what we have. I'd almost want to use the Kasyx to defend and send the Lucian out to attack again, keep the pressure on, but we really can't be taking risks right now.
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>>6472760
Rebel reinforcements aren't just gonna be from Herod the North Pole city; they can also make units here in Amelia, likely.

The commissars are already needed for the masses of the 1st Ramanus, though. The problem with the 1st Ramanus is that they are badly handled and have been poorly made from the start. The only thing decent they have is commissars, numbers, and PDF-grade equipment. This is a mass of imperial civilians given guns and badly trained. We cannot afford to take commissars off them, not with their recent defeat and then punishment. And commissars have already started to die during that first rout. If we start grabbing Amelian civilians around and force them (without explosive collars) to be penals and then put them in the 1st Ramanus... things might get explosive. Or they might find common ground. That's even worse.

Admech could use the manufactorums... but the Lucian-aligned tech priests are zealots. The Lucians as well. They don't accept any tech deviancy. And whatever the rebels are doing in terms of tech is likely just small tech advancements combined with existing imperial wargear and designs. And we have seen the Lucians' average reactions to that: kill everyone they can, or destroy tech heresy. If given something like a manufactorum, they are going to take their sweet ass time to "sanctify it" and then prepare it. Meanwhile, we need them for the Chimeras and fights ahead. In regard to AdMech loyalists, judging by the people we have found in the manufactorums, that painting we had seen in the local commander's place and that monument the 133rd had seen... good chance they might not exist upon Herod's End. Pro-Imperials might also be entirely dead, or maybe they exist in some capacity. But very low chance. A lot of time passed here without the Imperium. Herodians might actually innovate and use factories entirely on their own.

The railway could be a good objective to sabotage. But we could also need it to reach the space elevator. Still, we know 0 of what is happening here on Amelia, besides our immediate frontlines. Which is worrying. Because we only react to the enemy without intel or go on the attack without knowing much.

The space elevator, unfortunately, is a later problem. Right now, the best we could do is also try to sabotage even the north rail toward Herod. But that's a lot of travel for the 133rd. And we kinda need them here too. Herodian rebel units could also still exist in other regions of the world. So we might have fights to do even in these places.

I am not sure they are actually doing it. They seem to love waiting on orders. Though they might take the occasion, since no orders are being given, to take the initiative. Tech priests are not exactly imperial guard even in a regiment.
>>
>>6472699
You're conflating the 'attack the local enemy HQ' option mentioning that this section of the city we were fighting over was as good as done with the war front sectors in QM's post above. In reality, nothing was ever mentioned about us securing control over all of southern Amelia. Think of each area we have the option to defend or attack as sub-objectives we have to complete to fill out the whole southern Amelia pie, each area being one of those grey buildings on the map.

Also, mechanically we haven't really suffered at all. We lost the mustering ground, but our regiments are still at full strength. Sure, narratively plenty have died, but mechanically we're still fine. We haven't succeeded a dozen times and then had it all undone by one roll, we just lost one area and the momentum, that's all. The landing failure didn't lose us the entire 133rd regiment like was feared, we just lost the ability to control them directly for a little bit.
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>>6472817
>You're conflating the 'attack the local enemy HQ' option mentioning that this section of the city we were fighting over was as good as done with the war front sectors in QM's post above.
Section. That's what it says. I misremembered the word, but the meaning is the same? It says the section of the city would be as good as ours but we've essentially just gotten stuck into a stupid stalemate even though we won the HQ raid because after the umpteenth roll in a row for the 1st to hold they failed. If the combat is just going to consist of "keep rolling increasively harder checks until you lose", what's the point?

As for the landing, it's the same thing. Even if you say we "haven't mechanically suffered", it's the overall mechanics flow that's basically "succeed a roll, nothing special, lose a roll, everything goes to absolute fuckshit chaos"

Like, we rolled a 52 and that was enough to get us knocked out of action for a couple of weeks. Even if there isn't some sort of fucking wound tracker or whatever, it's still the sort of negative writing where the failures matter far more than the successes.
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>>6472818
increasingly*
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>>6472818
Maybe there's a reason most generals go into active combat. Really makes you think.
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>>6472830
>Maybe there's a reason most generals go into active combat.
This is 40k, anon, the OP image is from a story where a guardsman chief charges into combat with power claws, and he's barely less realistic than the shit the real niggas did.
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>>6472818
>Section.

Yeah? And? I never got the impression we were on the cusp of taking the entire south of the city on what amounts to our first day of fighting. Again, just the little sub-sections that each prompt consists of that make up the greater whole.

>Combat is just rolling until losing.
>Writing

The rolls only got harder because we were attacking a hardened target, the HQ, and the 1st got tired. You may as well be complaining that all quests/TTRPGs are just rolling dice. But that's not your issue, I think, rather the writing is causing your feelings. To me it's fine, war is grindy, attritional, and incremental. So everything is within my expectations. We took a factory and HQ and kept the patch of wherever it was the landers initially landed, to me that is progress. But you're right in that it is 'nothing special', though I didn't have that expectation to begin with. Whereas you seem to feel that we're a loser who is losing because of how it feels to have the 133rd's lander shot down, or the 1st rout and us get knocked unconscious.

Maybe QM should adjust his writing, since others might share your feelings. Maybe some interludes from the enemy's POV showing their own frustrations, or from the sector capital hearing about our successes and failures. Or this quest just might not be for you. I just don't agree with your characterization that "we basically ended up getting absolutely fucking nothing" or "a single failure will mean more than a dozen victories". We've taken a foothold and held most of it, we haven't suffered significant damage to our regiments, we're doing fine.
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>>6472836
>Yeah? And?
What do you think a section means?

>The rolls only got harder because we were attacking a hardened target, the HQ, and the 1st got tired.
Okay, let me put it in another way - in the beginning of the fight, the QM talked about how the HQ would be able to hold by themselves, but would probably break to a dedicated assault if they grew wise they were alone.

Now what does that imply? It implies that the assault is an possibility. There being a dedicated assault implies that there is something outside that. In reality, however, the entire battle was literally a nonstop zerg horde from an unending spew of concsripts throwing themselves into the 1st and the HQ.

So no matter how many times we beat back the enemy, they would literally always come back and continue their assault. And this might be "fine" in a strategy game but when you make everything run on flat rolls, it is literally inevitable that eventually it's going to badly. So instead of "dedicated assault" he probably should have told us "You will be assaulted endlessly from start to end through ever-harder rolls, please try not to roll bad ever"
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>>6472840
>What do you think a section means

You're missing my point, I'm not talking about whether section or sector mean the same thing. I mean I naturally never got the impression that we were fighting over the entire south of the city, instead of a few streets buildings, 40k mega streets and buildings sure, but nothing yet on the scale of what the QM post above implies. That's why I'm saying your conflating them, and getting mad because you made an assumption and it wasn't true.

>zerg rush

I actually agree with you here. I felt it was a little stupid how our HQ/1st got attacked every turn, no variance where we aren't attacked at all or anything, no impression the enemy was busy mustering their forces, or focusing them on defending where we were attacking to conserve the strength of units at full readiness, etc. We definitely couldn't have held the landing zone without the 1st defending, and we didn't even get a bonus for having the landers with us. Though it could just be a QM mistake, or the landers/HQ counting as a separate unit that only exists 'at regiment strength' when the HQ and landers are combined, with us using the 1st as an ablative shield to prevent them reaching us. Didn't feel like it though.

But aside from that, how it feels to you and such, we haven't really lost. Again, no damage, gained some new areas, etc.

Maybe part of the problem for you is the premise of the quest itself, or how it is executed. We're a general, one of the modern flavour, we manage campaigns, point and tell our regiments to 'go there', 'attack this', 'defend here', and they do all the detailed tactical shit, etc. At this level, we're above the level where we deal with what most people think of when they think of tactics, so we're not really doing anything clever that would change the rolls. Compare this to NewbQM's first Border Princes quest, or say...TimekillerQM's quests, the battles there feel more consequential, with discrete ends, and they feel more responsive to input because of the pre-modern context of their settings, or because we actually do tactics, even as a admiral, in Timekiller's Star Wars quest.
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>>6472850
>That's why I'm saying your conflating them, and getting mad because you made an assumption and it wasn't true.
The option said that this "section" of the city would be as good as ours if we got the man, so what exactly was section supposed to mean? It matters because we were supposed to have gotten something but in the end our victory, despite the DC, did absolute diddly

>But aside from that, how it feels to you and such, we haven't really lost. Again, no damage, gained some new areas, etc.
You don't seem to understand what I'm saying. The issue which has become apparent to me is that this is a quest where you will roll ten successes and one failure, and that one failure will outshine the ten successes. A single failure turns into a massive fuckfest to deal with. And that is extremely annoying to deal with in a roll heavy quest, because bad rolls are inevitable, so it just turns into a mess where you're always dealing with the consequences of bad rolls because one bad roll takes several successes to fix while the good rolls don't do shit but hold the stalemate and avoid creating a bigger mess
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>>6472855
>re:section

Just the local area, not the entire south of the city.

It didn't help that the 1st were busy panicking, and the 9th refused to do anything since we were unconscious. If we weren't, we probably would've seen a bigger exploitation of local resistance's collapse. This probably has more to do with a trait of the 9th/their commander than a problem with the quest.

>Understanding

I understand. We aren't actually any closer to losing, which is what I focused on, but I now know what you mean. Took a while to get to the heart of it, since we went from "we basically ended up getting absolutely fucking nothing" and "a single failure will mean more than a dozen victories" meant seemingly literally, to describing the frustration caused by issues of decreased action economy/needing more rolls to fix bad rolls.
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>>6472866
>Just the local area, not the entire south of the city
You're the one that started the whole south city thing, anon.

>This probably has more to do with a trait of the 9th/their commander than a problem with the quest.
The fact that we got knocked out like that on a...52, is what is the issue. This guy is a grizzled commander who survived the guard meatgrinded but he jobs to a little frontline command against some fucking PDF-level losers?

> to describing the frustration caused by issues of decreased action economy/needing more rolls to fix bad rolls
Translating, a single failure outshines several victories. You can succeed six times in a row but then job once and the battle becomes a stalemate on the verge of collapse.
>>
Let's give the QM a chance and see how it goes. This is the end of turn 0, it's expected that we wouldn't accomplish a whole lot. We don't exactly know what's going on planetside but information will come through now. With more information, we can act and maybe have more precise expectations accordingly.
>>
Right, this is a lot to come to during my lunch break, please excuse any spelling or grammar errors as I am phoneposting.

Everything here was done on a micro, rather than intended macro scale, since you decided to weaponize insanity, which to be fair is the MO of 40k. The injury you suffered is because you got above 50, if this was on a macro scale, due to Maximian being battle-hardened, the minor wound would have had no impact. You took the local HQ of the local resistance forces, which threw them into disarray, the enemy commander decided to retreat with his HQ which is why he was fine. You personally risked trying to get the 1st back into fighting shape, which was not even an option for the enemy. The display made rallying the 1st afterwards easier, hence they did not murder their officer corps, and their morale remained unchanged rather than just falling to shattered. You still hold the local HQ, the factorums you captured and the area in-between. There is still a large part of the local civilian populace that has not evacuated due to your troops guarding the "border". Every failure so far has hurt your regiments, yes, but you had hurt the enemy just as badly, and you anons choose the literally hardest location to try and take first, that being the industrial and martial heart of the planet, which is why there are so many enemies here to begin with. The zero rushes happened due to initiative being societally valued to the point where even lieutenants order their men to deal with, that will be elaborated upon later.

In regards to your plans about petals and stuff like that, due to a turn being a large, but unspecified amount of time, I treat your ideas as thoughts banging around Maximian's head, and I am keeping track of them and will present them as separate choices. You do have contact with the Rear-Admiral in orbit, and through her, the wider Imperium.

Segmentum command, or parts of it that sent you here, do not even know that a good part of intended regiments for the war got diverted elsewhere and you ended up with the 1st. They are neutral, welcome to Imperium's bureaucracy.

If you.anons want to, I can start making POV shifts to the enemy and their thoughts about your successes and failures.

If I missed anything, just ask me again, if I have a free moment at work, I will try to answer any questions or doubts, and I hope that you anons enjoy the quest. I will never homd back on rolls, be they immense failures or successes, I have a reputation for it that I wish to keep.
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>>6473006
That sounds pretty fair. We haven't been kicked out of the city, haven't suffered major casualties, and we effectively only lost the mustering ground. Though the battle lines remaining static for the past few weeks seems a little strange, unless they're about as weak as we are in manpower.

In regards to attacking/defending, does that cover regions or subregions like bridges or mustering grounds, i.e if we tell them to attack the badlands, is there an entire bunch of sub-regions we get to pick from for them to attack or do they attack the whole of the badlands.

If the former, I might switch my vote to get the 133rd attacking more of the city instead, we do need to push them out now we're back on our feet, and delaying reinforcements won't do much if we can't even take the city with what we already have. One question I do have is roughly how long a given turn can take, and how quickly a unit can be switched from one action to another, e.g from defence to attack.
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>>6473006
Let me try to put it in a better way what I'm trying to say...I'm not talking about whether we lost half our regiment or whatever. I'm talking about how the story has transpired, which is that failures mattered a whole lot more than any successes.

A whole battle spent with the enemy endlessly throwing itself on the HQ, and yet after all the successes one failure in the end made the lose all the progress they made. In comparison, our success to take out the enemy's fortified base just meant they fucked off to another location. Going to the frontline as the hardened soldier option, singular minor failure with a difference of 2 was enough to put us on death's door for weeks.

I don't care that we're "still mechanically a full regiment", the fact is that as a story, our successes are barely anything while our defeats always turn into massive fucking fuckfests.
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>>6473032

>Though the battle lines remaining static for the past few weeks seems a little strange, unless they're about as weak as we are in manpower.

You kind of dropped right on them anon, they need to reorganize and figure out what the hell they are actually facing too.

>In regards to attacking/defending

It is not on macroscale, bridges, temples, barracks, targets like that are for your regimental commanders to decide upon, not you, hence the current regions you can attack. The Badlands, being a massive area will be split based on terrain and geography, but it will be generalized.

>>6473047

I do apologize anon, but I really do not see it that way. The reason the enemy was able to throw themselves at you is because you anons decided to attack the area of the planet that is the most used to throwing out shitloads of men, that is why they could afford to keep assaulting you. Every area that you attacked, you were able to take via a single success, the same rule applied to your enemy, I was being nice, mainly due to the rule that regiments cannot be split, that whatever territory you had taken was not attacked, nor were your offensive regiments interrupted due to their nature of being sneaky or just fast enough to outrun the foe. You managed to cripple the enemy's armoured column that was made up of their best units that they had available at, I believe, 0 degrees of success, with only lighter elements surviving and causing some pain to the 133rd. You took the local HQ with 0 degrees of success, again, it was hard for the 9th, but they took it. At the start, when you had really good rolls, I thought I showcased just how easily you rolled the local defenders due to much higher degrees of success.

40k is deadly, I try to represent that, your injury put you down, yes, because that is how DCs work, I really have nothing more to add to that, sorry.

Rather than losing progress, you had manage to gain a foothold in what is essentially end-game territory right at the beginning, a bold gamble that if it succeeds will in time see the enemy run out of vehicles and supplies on the level that they used to have while Amelia was under their control.

Perhaps I really should give you a local's perspective, to showcase the sheer amount of frustration that they are experiencing fighting, what they assume to be three separate armies, one massive and equipped to their own standard if not better in some areas, another that keeps setting up boobytraps beneath their legs and snipers on the roofs and just up and disappearing when they feel like it, and finally an army using such weapons and equipment that it takes a fucking autocannon to put one of the bastards into the dirt without losing two dozen men to drag one crazy glowing green-eyes fucker down. Seriously, the 9th terrifies the local troops.
>>
Alright.

It seems that you anons will REST the 1st, order the 9th to DEFEND, and look for connections.

I need a decision for the 133rd, as it seems to be split between them going out of the city or staying within it.

There is also a split between trying to get to know your regimental officers of Vorian Lucyx and Elianus Alrenan.

In the meantime, looking for connections roll can be made right now, I would like a 1d100 please.
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>>6473058
Please don't make the quest easier based on one person's whining.
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>>6473068

Oh, do not worry. I do not increase or decrease difficulty at random. What is there is there, when appropriate I always try to make sure that there are hints or outright statements when something will be very hard, and I do always try to maintain fairness as best I am able to.

I am just trying to understand the anon's position, and as I said, I think the best way to solver this to satisfy everyone by giving you more things to read and giving myself an excuse for more different perspective to write about, is just giving some enemy POVs to represent the fact that well, to the people of this planet, YOU are the Grim-Darkness that has come to their homes.
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>>6473062
>>6472710
I remain with my vote here.

We have a dire need to know about the Herodian Secessionists. And to get intel. We are moving in the dark so far. While reinforcements from the north are a threat, that's a long walk for the 133rd. And we will not see them back for a while.

Elianus somehow got the 1st back together, which needs to be checked.
>>
Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>6473062
rolling
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>>6473058
>The reason the enemy was able to throw themselves at you is because you anons decided to attack the area of the planet that is the most used to throwing out shitloads of men, that is why they could afford to keep assaulting you.
Aside from the fact that this does go against what you talked about the HQ and a direct assault, the fact remains that the battle was essentially just endless checks for the first until we inevitably rolled like shit and they broke. There's no point to a battle if every time it's just gonna be "beat increasively harder DCs until you roll like shit and then you lose"

>40k is deadly, I try to represent that, your injury put you down, yes, because that is how DCs work
Well, probably should have said at the start that the frontline soldier survivor wasn't actually any good at surviving the frontline, then, if just staying in it is a coinflip to not get injured.

In the end, I feel like you don't seem to get what I'm trying to say about how the negative keeps outshining the positive, so whatever. If you want to run everything that way, then that's your prerogative.
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>>6473080

Alright, I tried to bash my head against the wall to think of a solution and try not to talk past each other.

I am currently thinking that, I should further narratively showcase your victories, I wanted to keep it brief, but with turns taking a long time, I could narrate your wins a lot more. When it comes to the rolls themselves, in the DC breakdown, rather than writing something like "Business like normal", I could further showcase what your victories achieve. For example, the 133rd crushing the armoured column is the reason why the 1st, only at the very tail-end of turn 0, got to fighting light recon vehicles, due to the fact that proper tanks were simply blown to hell or stuck in the sewer, I should have showcased that better. Taking the HQ, for the last micro turn would have given you anons a big advantage for enemy losing organization, but you were injured. There, I admit my fault, that I was lazy and did not outline the DCs, the reason you had DC 50 for simply not getting injured at all is due to the fact that Maximian is a grizzled veteran, at the end of the day, he is still just a man. Narratively, if you want to keep putting him at the front, I will include opportunities to strengthen the HQ and Maximian himself, if you anons want to pull a DoW.

>>6473032

>One question I do have is roughly how long a given turn can take, and how quickly a unit can be switched from one action to another, e.g from defence to attack.

Just realized I missed this question. A turn is an undisclosed, but long amount of time, so it is weeks to months for a general rule of thumb. At the end of the turn, a unit can be switched from defence to offence and vise versa.

Again, in general, feel free to ask questions or to raise criticisms, as I am always trying to improve my writing and making a quest people would find fair and interesting.
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>>6473070
I’ll level with that one anon in saying that single dice rolls are brutal, but I kinda like it.

We’re riding the lightning here for better or worse.
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>>6473095
Maybe if Max is knocked out we get a PoV from Alain? He seems to be a logical next step if Maximian gets his skull ventilated by mortar shrapnel.
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>>6473062
I'll formally switch my vote >>6472796 to putting the 133rd on attacking the city.

And on the subject of how the quest runs, I think it's fine that dice rolls are really impactful, I always like that about Newb quests (RIP those spec ops troops who tried to board the secret stealth ship) but I agree that while in-character we don't have any intel on whether what we're doing has any impact, it's not that satisfying to us the players because all we see is our own failures. If we got some intel updates from the fleet in high orbit I think that would be a good middleground without spoiling everything, or a location to kill the AA/airfield so we can get our own air support and air recon I think would help.
>>
Did I not respond to this? Huh. Anyway...

>>6473095
I appreciate you trying to make things better, If you say you'll showcase the stuff better then I have nothing more to complain about.
>>
You take a drag from the lho-stick you managed to save from the mustering grounds, while pouring over the local maps your men had managed to secure, most of it is hardly strategically important, as it took the 9th a while to beat down the door and get inside, but it is still far more intelligence in your hands than what you had before. Terrain, districts, their names, locations of mustering grounds and factorums, nothing about current enemy deployment, but there is something of limited import.

The enemy had not expected you. Well, not the way you arrived. Apparently, they months of void travel and the few skirmishes against what few void assets they had at their disposal had bought enough time for the traitors to prepare, they did so by reinforcing the base of the elevator with their most elite infantry regiments alongside a good amount of their regular troops, all the while their mechanized and armoured formations got themselves spread out throughout the farmlands around the outskirts of the jungle. Both deployments aimed at strangling you before you landed properly, so you just dropping on their heads was so unexpected, that their entire supply line and logistical plan was so utterly disturbed, that it is no wonder the front stayed quiet for so long. It also means that the overwhelming majority of foes you encountered were reservists, conscripts, and a few garrisoned units kept back just in case. All of these were to be dispatched to wherever you managed a breakthrough to slowly grind you down. It also explains why they fought so damned hard, you literally kicked in the roof of their homes, and they were damned determined to beat you back. Fools fail to realize that when it comes to determination, there’s no one better than the God-Emperor’s finest.

This means that for a while at least, most of the enemy’s heavy hitters are scattered and far away, but it is only a matter of time before they too are deployed to deal with you. There is a solution that had come to mind, which is to lean on the Rear-Admiral. If you can knock out some of the planetary guns, she could easily employ her lances to leave nothing but molten glass whenever the heretics try to move in numbers towards you, so they will either have to spread out, which will result in them taking longer to organize a proper resistance, or they will become one with the planet, like so many suicidal morons had done in the weeks past.

Taking another drag, you ignoring the stabbing pain at your side. A minor inconvenience, besides, you have appearances to keep. As far as anyone on this planet is concerned, you are the God-Emperor’s representative on this planet, mainly of His wrath, but His mercy too.

“Sir.” One of you guards salutes you. “Meeting is prepared. Secured room, no means of interference, six guards present, the target has been checked.”
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>>6474248


“Good.” You respond with a nod. Giving one of your aides a dataslate to organize the 9th into defensive positions, your west is pretty secure, all things considered, and due to your old regiment, the east had turned into a quagmire that no heavy armour can easily cross, which means that the ninth have all the time in the world to blow to whatever hell these particular heretics go to.

Taking a second to look over your own appearance, you walk down the hallway of the local HQ that is still bearing the signs of combat. The bodies have been cleared, but broken walls, scorch marks of lasguns, plasma, and worse, are all around you. Thankfully, the smell is gone as well, though the few spots of dried blood still end up seeing you having to clean the soles of your boots from time to time. Not like you can get some menials in here to clean them up, and its not like you can put your guardsmen to it, not even the 1st, when you could potentially be assaulted from all sides, you need everyone sharp and ready.

“This is it, sir.” Your bodyguard states, stopping before an unremarkable, reinforced door, two men of the 9th stand guard there, whoum make the symbol of the cog, you return one of the aquila, before you step inside.

Within the windowless room, almost everything had been removed and stripped bare, as per your instructions. Some call it paranoia; you call it seeing a high-ranking officer getting assassinated more than once. At each corner, stands a guard, and two others behind a comfortable plush chair arranged for you, before that, is the cheapest metal one you could find on short notice.

Despite the straining circumstances, sits a man with brilliantly coloured and adorned attire, with a suave smile that seems to never leave his lips. The local factorum owner the 133rd had encountered when they took it. An owner, not some noble, just…some guy. A bit sleazy at that to boot

“Ah, General.” He begins in flawless high-gothic. “It is truly a pleasure and high honour to be allowed within your presence.”

“Enough with the boot licking.” Your respond, taking your seat. “What’s your name ?”

“It is Kasus.”

“You will address me as my lord or General, am I clear ?”

“Perfectly, General.”

“Do you know why I had you brought here ?”

“I must admit, I do not know. Perhaps a ransom of sorts ?”

“What am I to you ? Some savage pirate ? No, the reason you are here, it because I need to learn more about this planet, and its people, and it just so happens, that the only person on this God-Emperor forsaken rock whom seems to speak high-gothic is you.” He seems to flinch at that, for a moment the built-up persona crumbles. Is it fear ? Or something more. “So you will answer any question I have. Should I learn that you lied to me, you will be interrogated until you reveal the truth, and then I will have you shot.”
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>>6474249

“Understood, General. What is it that you would like to know ?”

>What questions about the world and its people do you have for Kasus ?
Do note, that he is only a local of Amelia, and seemingly merely an industrialist, so his knowledge pool is limited.
.
.
.
A knock on the door, interrupts the remainder of the conversation, your bodyguard gives you a nod, confirming that the men outside had cleared whomever has arrived.

“Enter.” You say with a grunt.

“My lord.” One of you aide’s remarks having stepped inside. “There are matters of pressing import that cannot be delayed.”

“Looks like our conversation is over. Let him go.” You give out instructions before rising to your feet.

Having stepped outside, you grab the dataslate presented to you and pause mid-step.

“Frak.” You mutter under your breath looking at the report.

Disease. The bane of soldiers and civilians alike. The blown-out sewer, collapsed buildings, and just general destruction wrought by your men, plus that orbital lance strike combined seems to have pushed an already ailing system past its breaking point.

A few of the locals, and a couple of the 1st had gotten themselves ill, it is early stages yet, so the contagion had not spread too far, but it is only a matter of time. Increased amounts of sweat, vomiting whatever one consumes, exceptionally high-temperature that somehow feels incredibly cold, coughing, sneezing. All symptoms combined are not too deadly, as long as proper medicine is employed and the patient is looked after, but they are still debilitating.

You have enough medicine to look after your own, especially the 133rd’s habit of being prepared for everything and natural hardness makes them fine, the 9th, well, if their filters are nto enough, their augments should suffice, alongside their own expertise in treating diseases. The biggest problem would be the 1st, but they are equipped reasonably enough to limit the consequences.
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>>6474251


The overwhelming issue is going to strike at the populace technically under your stewardship. They have access to nothing but what they managed to acquire themselves, it will sweep through the local population rapidly, if the medicae reports are to be believed. Helping them would go a long way to prove that you are here as liberators, not conquerors, but at the same time, it could sap your strength, and your men are far more important than the locals. Then there’s the third option, one you had witnessed from time to time, weaponize the disease, let it spread and let go some infected people out of your control, the enemy seems to care about the populace a far damn more than you do, it could be a good way to sap them of their own resources.

>The civvies are on their own. If they didn’t want to get sick, they shouldn’t have turned from the God-Emperor.

>You’ve got to help these people, be it pragmatism, or actual empathy on your part, even if it risks your men.

>Expel the sick and let the disease spread. Your men will be fine. The foe’s ? Not so much.

With a few signatures, you make your decision. Odd that. Is this how those administratum drones feel ? Though feeling requires a certain degree of clarity of mind, which you doubt any of them possess.

Following your aide, you move to the HQ’s basement, where another thing that required your attention was revealed. Loads, upon loads of local currency had been stored up there. Thankfully, it seems they still maintained the local sector standard when it comes to it, so if nothing else, it is a hefty pay day, which was probably meant for all of those conscripts, but it is yours now.

You gain +1 Influence

Not much all things considered, but still something.

As you get your cardio in, you step into a conference room, and curse the locals for not even having the concept of an elevator, though you can appreciate the military thinking why you wouldn’t want one.

The screeching of a chair draws your attention, as the man before you rises and offers a crisp salute.

Elianus Alrenan, looking to be around in his mid to late thirties would probably look indistinguishable amongst a gaggle of captain, the problem’s that he’s now a Colonel of a damned oversized mob calling itself a regiment.

You half-heartedly return the salute. “At ease.” Taking your own seat, you produce another lhor. “Smoke ?”

“No, my lord.” He responds swiftly, taking his seat.

“I’ve got a few questions for you.”

“I will do my best to answer them to satisfaction, my lord.”

“Fist of all. Why are you here, son ?”

The man blinks, seemingly confused. “Sir ?”

“You’re a captain. I know it, your men know it, you know it. Why are you here ?”

Taking a moment, you can practically see him wracking his head for an appropriate answer. “It was a honourable assignment, for wh-“

“Aha, and the truth ?” You instantly cut him off.
>>
>>6474253

Stopped dead in his tracks, Elianus takes a deep breath. “I was given this assignment, my lord.”

“You did not protest ?”

“Not when a decision was made by my betters, my lord.”

“And you had no way of pushing off to someone else ? You seem competent enough, based on your records, to just coast through to some backwater post where you could be at peace at least. No glory, sure, but no fragging either.”

“Those around me wanted me gone, my lord.” He flatly states, signalling the end of the conversation. Seeing as how offended the man is, you have no doubt in your mind that he’s a political pariah. Who knows how that will bite you, or him, in the long run.

“I see.” You state with a nod, putting the remnants of the lho stick into the ashtray. “On to more pressing matters. I had a few ideas that involve your regiment, you know it better than I do, so I want your opition.

That seems to perk him up a bit. “What are your orders ?”

“Nothing so far. I want your opinion. If we were to raise the locals to fight for us, would you deem as acceptable, or even possible, to remove commissars attached to your regiment so they could maintain discipline ?”

“At it’s current state ?” He takes a second to ponder. “We have many more than a usual regiment would, but they are all needed. We could manage, but I doubt we would be as effective as before.”

“I see. Then, what about training the regiment ? It is so massive and unwieldy, that I am of half-opinion to split it up into smaller regiments as well.”

“That would be possible, if that is your will my lord. As for training, this period of grace you had offered us will be put to good use, I assure you my lord, at the very least, they will perform somewhat better than before.”

“Good. That will be all.”

“My lord.” He rises again and gives a quick salute before departing.

You reach for another lho, sitting alone in the conference room, only to grasp empty air, with a slight curse beneath your breath, you get up yourself, you still have a war to fight. Thought, you also know that you are not the only one fighting, fighting rather indirectly that is. Having picked out a few good reliable men, you left them back on Trenavorum, all of them are damned great spies and infiltrators, having sweet-talked their way into more than one highly secured place, you decided that they would make decent diplomats. Now, whether or diplomats are spies, or if some spies just happen to be diplomats, you had not made up your mind about it just yet.

All you know is that Rear-Admiral Renorer got your message, and no doubt ordered her freaks to send a message through the warp. You are still not wholly sure how it is supposed to work, nor frankly you want to know.
>>
I'll post the roll update tomorrow, as well as any of the questions you have for the locals and the political outcome.

Another question from me, would you anons like to rolls for random events in-between turns ? It is just a simple 1d4 to determine quantity and a 1d100 for each event to determine if it is good/bad.

Sorry for a lack of weekend updates, I was painting minis and playing, Battletech, and Menace
>>
>>6474251
Questions:
>What's the leadership of Amelia like, and why did they throw in their lot with Herod?
>What's with the tech-heresy we've been seeing in the local army? Is there more being spread among the population?
>What's the manufacturing capacity of his factorums? Would he be able to convert them to armour/weapons/etc. for our own use?
>What's the civilian attitude to the rebellion? Are they supportive, neutral, or quietly against it?
I'd like to get that last question answered before we make any decisions about fighting or using the disease.
>>
>>6474255
Yeah I don't mind rolling for random events.
>>
>>6474251
>What questions about the world and its people do you have for Kasus ?

>Who exactly are you, Mr.Kasus?
>How did you become the owner of a factorum? In the Imperium, they are either under the Adeptus Mechanicus, or their stewardship and leadership are very close by. I never heard of anyone fully owning one.
>What does this (painting found in that local commander's office) symbolize ? When was it made, and why?
>What can you tell me of the commander that sent me a message ?
>What kind of weapons and vehicles can the Herodian Rebellion produce?
>This monument (show pict) was found in a plaza of Amelia. What does this symbolize ? When was it made, and why?
>What's the reason for Herod's End for abandoning the Imperium ? When was it?
>Did the rebellion kill and execute all men and women who stood with the Imperium? What of the few Mechanicus techpriests present here ?
>What is the name of this rebellion? Who leads it ?
>Does the Herodian Rebellion have the full support of the population? Does it have allies across the stars ? Did it expand across the stars?
>>
>>6474254
Gotcha, a pariah, knew it. His description was suspicious enough.

His answers on everything else are as expected. The 1st Ramanus split and more training will be good, but they need at least a good month of training in them. At minimum, cut out all that bad training and lessons.
>>
>>6474251
>What are the stockpiles of weapons, vehicles, ammunition like for Amelia's local military formations? Numbers and quality? What about the rest of the planet, the more elite formations, etc?
>What regions of the planet are critical for the inputs needed to produce and sustain military equipment? What about capital goods? Medical goods? Fertilizer for agriculture, etc?
>Support >>6474309 and >>6474329 too

>>6474253
>Expel the sick and let the disease spread. Your men will be fine. The foe’s ? Not so much.

We are here as conquerors God Emprah damnit! The Emperor's mercy can be harsh, but bringing them into His light will save their souls, etc, etc. In truth, harshness here hardly changes our image. We've invaded, and in their eyes, those smashed sewers and the disease that has started up is all our fault anyway. So be cold. If they want help, they can get it by joining up to fight with us, offering info on the enemy, etc. Just giving them help for free lets them put aside their responsibility for rebelling in the first place, but if they get in bed with us and renounce their compatriots, such that they cannot go back, then they've made sufficient sacrifice to warrant our help, maybe.

>>6474255
I don't mind rolling for random events.
>>
>>6474255
Sure, I’m good for randoms.
SERVICE IS ALWAYS AN ACT OF VALOR!
>>
I feel like making disease spread on a world teetering on the edge is not the sort of thing we wanna do in this kind of universe

I mean, maybe if we could go
>hey, your people are sick and we don't got shit to help them, take them or don't
>>
>>6474251
>Ask him about the local culture and what ethnic / economic divisions exist.
We can use this to chip away at the OpFor’s base of power.
>Ask if there are any nobles who would consider breaking ranks
Same as above

>>6474253
>You’ve got to help these people, be it pragmatism, or actual empathy on your part, even if it risks your men.
We’re not fighting Nurgle demons here as well. It will also be great propaganda.
>>
>>6474253
>Expel the sick and let the disease spread. Your men will be fine. The foe’s ? Not so much.
We cannot afford to help them with the 1st Ramanus medical needs barely met. And we don't have the power to help them in a sustainable manner right now anyway; until Amelia is fully taken, we cannot get a proper supply line down. And we don't control anything else in this world, so no food, no minerals, and no other resources of any kind from the world. Giving a few medicines and medical help is a gesture too small to matter across all the destruction, death, and mistreatment being done.

I would write out the idea of recruiting locals for some time. It's not gonna work well. It's quite likely we will have to do pre-emptive purges and enforce martial law on the civilians of Amelia under us. Probably put them on hard labour workforces with crude metal chains.
>>
>>You’ve got to help these people, be it pragmatism, or actual empathy on your part, even if it risks your men.
I don't differentiate immensely between the 1st and the locals. The members of the 1st are just further along the military path so while they do get priority, there ought to be some effort given to clean up our image with the locals.
I would assume that we have our hands full dealing with the 1st and burdening our capacity further with recruitment is not wise.
Once we get them sorted out, we can absorb more men, but for now focus on getting them into proper order.
>>
>>6474544
There is a world of difference.
The Herodians have been remarked to be hard to understand except the ones that talk high gothic. Their Low Gothic has become another language. And they have abandoned the Imperium and live in a state formed by rebellion. They offer diplomacy. They don't strike on top of their own. They are not like the Imperium.

The 1st Ramanus are Imperial citizens. Forcibly taken or gang-pressed, but Imperials all the same. We can make them guardsmen proper through time. They can be put in line through executions, decimations, and purges. If there is a need for it. Ensuring the 1st Ramanus has medical supplies is also ideal. We don't know for how long we will fight here in Amelia, or how long in Herod's End.
>>
A couple of hours ago in the windowless interrogation room.

You sit across Kasus, and you narrow your eyes upon him, both your natural, and augmented one, the whirs from the artificial eye, you had found, seem to disturb most people, a neat little trick you learnt is to move it back and forth like you are analysing someone. Who said that the tech-priests never teach laymen ?

“Who exactly are you, Kasus ?” You start off with something easy.

“An entrepreneur !” He flashes a brilliant smile. Your continued silence and stone-cold face makes the smile contract somewhat, before the man begins to elaborate. “I am, what you may call, an industrialist, I played the stock market, invested smartly and before you know it, just as I got into my thirties, I am now one of the richest men in Amelia, a far cry from those truly wealthy, but my factorum makes the best automobiles on the whole planet, if I may say so myself.”

“That’s how you became the owner ?”

“Why, yes.” He seems genuinely confused by your question.

“In the Imperium, they are either under the Adeptus Mechanicus, or their stewardship and leadership are very close by. I never heard of anyone fully owning one.” You elaborate further.

“Well, I am not familiar with the Imperium, nor have I ever heard of this Adeptus Mechanicus, but right to private ownership is a right of every citizen under the guarantee of our freed constitution.”

“Freed constitution ?”

“Ah, yes, it had become a governing foundamental principle of our people’s state.”

“Is this...” You take out a dataslate, on which a couple of picts are captured. The painting you had found in the mustering ground, depicting a rather unfair conflict, and that of the statue your men had scouted out, made out of simple granite, it showcases a hurt young mother, cradling a malnourished child, being offered a hand up by a tired, crippled old man, hoisting them both up from a pile of rubble. “Related to the people’s state ?”

“Why yes, foundational. We learnt all about it in our schola.” He says with a nod. “Some odd three centuries ago, the men of Herod’s End were sent out to fight for mankind across the stars, the nearby worlds burnt and were ablaze, more and more men were called by the…” he hesitates for a moment. “…Imperium. The corrupt ruling caste, whom proclaimed themselves kings and nobles kept drawing more and more men, whom would never return, the lives and conditions of those on planet kept falling and falling, while they kept feasting. Eventually, the people were told that the war the men were drawn for was lost. The few returning veterans spoke of death, destruction, of the foul xeno, of the uncaring officer. All of this combined was too much, and the midnight revolution overthrew the corrupt nobility, killing them to the last.”

“And what, you lived in peace and happiness for all time ?”
>>
>>6474581


“Oh no. The savage tribes were always loyal, the red priests fled alongside the golden priests, though many of them were killed, chances are some nobles managed to get away as well. There was also a period of terror after the revolution, of dictatorship and persecution, division and battle. They were ours, however, our faults, our battles, and by the end of it all, the people’s state, and the sister cities of Herod and Amelia reign supreme. Rule of law is enforced, people’s rights are respected, we elect our leaders for limited terms of power. If I may be so bold, General, there is no greater insult one could level than to call someone a lord, or a noble.”

“That is bold. You do realize that your nobles rule by the decree of the God-Emperor.” You say with anger rising in your voice.

“May I be bold again ?”

It takes a moment for you to calm yourself, before you give him a nod.

“I have no knowledge of this God-Emperor, but I presume you are referring to the Arch-Tyrant, whom enslaved mankind to his worship and allowed lesser tyrants to reign free.”

You nearly pull out your pistol and kill the man on the spot, you can feel your own men burning with righteous fury, and you have to physically stop one of them from raising their lasgun.

“And the temples, the churches, the cathedrals ? Places of worship where the honoured dead are laid ?”

The man seemingly draws a blank. “If you men places of superstition, most were destroyed or converted to better purposes during the early days of the revolution.”

Were you not used to interrogation against heretics like this, you would have certainly already killed him, it takes a few minutes of strained silence for you to gather your thoughts again, while repeating mantras in your mind.

“Your leadership, how does it work ?”

“Well, we have the lawkeepers, they preside over cases and pass judgement based upon laws and solve conflicts small and large between people. Then there’s the people’s gathering, they create new laws, vote for them, they are appointed for ten years and may be elected only once in their lives, a total of six hundred of them reside here in Amelia, while we are led by the first citizen, chosen from the gathering, whom has overall command authority of the military and is the enforcer of laws of the gathering, it is he or she that sees the laws implemented to the best of their ability. Their position only lasts five years, and they may be re-elected once.”

“And Herod is the same ?”

“Well, more or less. They have no central authority, but rather function on an individual gathering made up of smaller sub-gatherings. I must say, those are rather chaotic, they hardly get anything done, though that is probably the point, the stain of nobility runs deep in their homes, and the fear they hold is far greater than one may imagine.”

“So, the people are in full support of this rebellion ?” You ask, a hint of danger in your tone.
>>
>>6474582


“I would assume so. We were all raised under stories of the Imperium coming back to put an end to our free state, and to once again enserf us.”

“Then why are you talking so comfortably here ?”

“Because I had never seen a noble, nor heard of one. All I know are laws that stifle my business, rich bastards buying politicians, though I did as well, you’d be surprised how cheap they are, and of course, the aforementioned politicians far to interested in their own bickering and wealth to truly solve many things. Still, I’d say most people would prefer this over what you bring. Politicans are not shooting us, and if they were to, well, no one wishing to maintain their power would cover for them, as was the norm with the lords.”

“And off world, you had voidships ?”

“I know very little. Maybe there is contact, maybe there isn’t. I am aware that a few mining ships got built from time to time to mine the system, but that is about it. Stars are damned distant things.”

“These sister cities, the savages, as you call them. What sort of differences are there between people of this planet ?”

“Well. You have the rich and the poor, in both cities. Frankly, I know little of the issues of the poor or the extravagance of the truly rich. I have a business to run. The rich keep their head down out of fear that they might lose it, and the poor strive for better because they know they might get it. It works, most of the time. The two cities are aligned have exchanged people, ideas, trade for so long, that many consider each other to be of the same blood, even if our governments clash from time to time.

Other than that, there are townships, isolated and hardened against the savages and wildlife, most are mining towns around the Badlands, odd folk that lot, had to deal with them from time to time, seemed rather insular, though they deal with other towns and the cities, obey collective laws as far as the lawkeepers can see, and most importantly for any government, they pay their taxes on time.

You have farming communities around the jungle. Lots of isolated households and hamlets, numerous pieces of land used for agriculture. From what I learnt, they were strong supporters of the lords, which is why during the early stages of the revolution…they were dealt with. Which caused a famine, until my ancestors figured out how to farm again.

Then you have ocean towns. Friendly enough and easy going, hardly seem to have noticed either the lords or the gatherings that followed after. Damned good at dodging taxes and fishing. Though due to their proximity to the jungle and dangerous ocean beasts, you’d be surprised how hardy and willing to fight they actually are.
>>
>>6474583

Finally, the savages…pretty much everywhere quite honestly. I know little of them, other than they are all religiously indoctrinated fanatics that take what they want. So many of them went to the stars and never returned, but rather than joining the revolution, they helped the nobles for the longest time.

That is about everything I know.”

“What regions of the planet are critical for the inputs needed to produce and sustain military equipment? What about capital goods? Medical goods? Fertilizer for agriculture, things like that ? You seem to know the people, so you must know the land as well.”

“I could hardly answer that, but I will try my best. Most manufacturing happens here in Amelia, be it civilian or military, I am aware of some pharmaceutical companies within Herod, most medicine is made there as far as I know, fertilizer is usually gathered around the ocean, exactly where, I do not know. Most mining comes from the aforementioned townships within the Badlands around Amelia, Herod’s general area has some as well, but nowhere near what we are capable of here.”

“What are the stockpiles of weapons, vehicles, ammunition like for Amelia's local military formations? What about the rest of the planet, the more elite formations, etc? What kind of weapons and vehicles can your military produce ?”

“Well, I am in the civilian sector, so I would know very little. All I do know, is that when I tried my hands at some military contracts, they were too small to justify the costs. It seems that most of the budget, for the longest time, went to the sky cavalry. They are used to patrol large distances and bomb the savages as needed, when needed. Frankly, you would know more than me on these matters.”

“What about your own manufactorum, could it be converted to produce armour, weapons, vehicles, as you mentioned.”

“Well, it’d be the easiest to convert to military vehicle production. We easily output hundreds of fine quality automobiles each month, and we could raise that if needed, though I do not guarantee the quality, and chances are, there is more difficulty involved in proper military vehicles, so I could not give you figures. As for conversion time, it would take a long time, and it would be costly.” Is…is he trying to set up a military contract with you ?

Ignoring the obvious reach for his own benefit, you sigh and ask another question. “What can you tell me of the commander that sent me a message ? The local defending general ? His public broadcast.”

Kasus just shrugs. “I am of no use on these matters, General.”
>>
>>6474584

“Fine. What's with the tech-heresy we've been seeing in the local army ? Is there more being spread among the population ?”

“I do apologise, General, but what exactly is tech-heresy ?”

That gives you pause for a moment. What is tech-heresy. Really ? You know what heresy is, and you usually solve it with a shot to the back of the head. Can you do that on a cogitator, a servitor ? Well, definitely a servitor, but…Emperor damn it, he’s looking at you.

“Tech-heresy is tech-heresy. Unsactioned innovation.” You think that was it. You nod with a knowing, sage look on your face.

“Innovation can be unsactioned ?” He looks even more incredulous.

Just as it starts to get awkward, you hear a knock on the door.
>>
Rest of the update tomorrow lol. Since you anons had so many questions. Hopefully the situation had become a bit more clear for Maximian and you.
>>
These ignoramuses obviously haven't been tended to by a black ship for decades and the planet is one mediocore psyker away from getting fucked by warp niggery.
>>
This rebellion state sounds like a cool foe. The kind of minor faction I would play in a quest. Rich in problems and solutions.

Anyway.
This is a good amount of info for Max to play with. At least it is, for a start. Let's not have Kasus be butchered by a techpriest or similar for now. I don't think he will love us or the Imperium (Herodians aren't Imperials at this point culturally), but he is a decent hostage and a prisoner to talk with if anyone thinks of new questions.
>>
>>6474585
Emperor damn they all. These are no mere genestealers or demon-worshippers. They are of a strain that hasn’t been seen since the Great Crusade.

Liberals.
>>
>>6474582
>The savage tribes were always loyal, the red priests fled alongside the golden priests, though many of them were killed, chances are some nobles managed to get away as well.
Holy shit this is some good intel. We potentially have friendly forces including tech-priests hiding out in the badlands or jungle.

>>6474253
>The civvies are on their own. If they didn’t want to get sick, they shouldn’t have turned from the God-Emperor.
The civilians here are a lost cause, but pissing them off even more will only make them more loyal to the foe. This whole planet needs the ecclesiarchy and it needs it badly.



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