Knickers

OK.

We are told that grenadier units are split up amongst the more common-or-garden Iggies. But that they come from proper formed units etc.

So, I have a desire (and the figures) to field a grenadier platoon. Of Pl HQ and four squads.

So with an army list that already includes two common-or-garden platoons (of HQ and four squads), I could possibly fit in four Vet Squads to represent the four squads of the Grenadier Platoon (there is no codex entry for Grenadier Platoon HQs).

I want doctrines back.

114 Coy, 77 Sturm Bn, 28 Armd Regt DKK

I have bitten the bullt and outsourced the painting of my DKK. Like a government, me. But better able to manage a conspiracy.

The rhetoric of war

The following was broadcast from the Quinelle Palace in Xyphonica the morning after 17th Army Group successfully executed Operation Tranquility (seizing the Acer Starport) and before the 902nd Bde made planet fall.
“A dark fleet has settled into orbit around our world. We are under the black cloud of imminent war. Until this clear and present threat is removed, the sun will not shine on Devos IV. The Planetary Defense Force has been mobilized. The Frataris Millitia are to report for duty to their muster stations.
All citizens of Devos IV must clearly understand that whatever the issue may be, it could be resolved without off world interference. Your elected leaders exercised their legal prerogative and this has irked the uncaring imperium. The Imperium came to our rescue when were invaded by Waagh Burkatt centuries ago; A changed and uncaring Imperium now returns as invader and occupier in its own right.
Civil Defense measures will be taken, populations will be evacuated from potential target areas. No-one who does not want to will be made to fight – but all should realize that led by the Inquisition, the armies of the imperium are a merciless totalitarian killing machine with nothing in common with normal human beings. There is no guarantee of safety, no succor from their misplaced wrath.
We must defend Devos IV against invaders from outer space. Although our cities may be razed and our farms destroyed, in our hearts the people of Devos IV will always be free; We will face the coming conflict with clear consciences and resolute determination to keep what is ours free from interference of outsiders.”

The Dark Mechanicus of Devos IV

Over two thousand miles from Xyphonica, under the ruins of San Cantor there are ‘The Forges’. After the atomic purging of the San Cantor Hive over seven hundred years ago, this is where the Adeptus Mechanicus brethren came looking for salvage and secrets. Whatever they found kept them here, amongst the millions of tonnes of reclaimable scrap.
The years passed and those who remained, in order to continue their work, became more machine than man. Eventually machines were repairing and replacing machines. The Omnissiah would be pleased. Their contact with the outside world, when she was appointed, was a high ranking official from the planetary government. She stayed in ‘The Forges’ as well. Eventually the position became a hereditary position for the daughter of the previous incumbent. Contact with the local government was eventually lost, but ‘the speaker’ remained, and over the years, the holders of the title have developed psychic powers.
On the speakers authority, Skitarri took what they needed from passing trade caravans. Seven hundred years later, the inheritors of the Adeptus Mechanicus mission to Devos IV are almost a folk memory for most of the population. All of their leaders are long gone, preserved as data slugs, venerated by their successors, but never committed to a processor. Oh no. It would not do to awaken the old ones. The speakers have been telling them that for hundreds of years.
What remains today is a society of servitors, ruled by a mad woman, making things in the dark. On the edge of many things. On the edge of the ash wastes, the edge of the known world. On the edge of reality, the edge of the ‘other’ as the speaker calls it.
Under the ruins of the Hive it is hot and dark. There is constant noise and fume. Everywhere the walls drip with leachates from the ruins and condensation from the remaining population. Slaves are kept in chains. They keep some of the processes running. And provide valuable genetic material to keep the mission going. The darkness is lit by bright burning fires, the forges, ducts and channels of molten metal. The lords are the Sorcerer-Engineers, Arcanists, some possessed, some mad. Some feed off of the slaves. They used to be aided by minions, all identical, grown in vats in the image of one supreme soldier of millennia past. These minions are still the overseers of the processes, tormentors of the slaves. But the knowledge of their making and remaking is lost now. Many are lobotomised, slaved to a single task, identical to other servitors throughout the Imperium. But they are wearing out.
The Elder Speaker is a tall strong woman who's ferocity is only matched by her deep mystery. Through sadistic rituals and dangerous story telling traditions she and her acolytes balance the twisted nature of ‘the mission’ and can manipulate the "other" through somewhat unique quasi religious techniques.

Veils worn by the devotees represent a past shrouded in guilt and secrets. The White Speaker cult is forbidding, rituals of blood and delirious narration keep most of Sorcerer Engineers clear. The number of White Speakers remains constant, as one dies another is initiated; too few and they would disappear and too many might create a blood frenzy that the Elder Speaker fears she could not control.

White speakers power is rooted in the names and tales of things. The Elder Speaker shares stories with young listeners bound in chains. The secrets and lore she chants drive them into violent twisted seizures as they try to absorb the words of power. Speakers learn in layers and riddles to protect their mind from dismantling under the weight of what they know.
And all of this happens in secret.

The head of the PLA's political branch

Baroness Apocrypha Quintelle, leader of the Coven of Thecula V, threw her home world into chaos (almost literally), rebelling against the Imperium. Her insurrection was put down by Inquisitor Vincorum of the Ordo Hereticus. She was freed by her confederates and nearly succeeded in slaying him during the escape. He chased her from system to system, eventually catching her in the city of Xyphonica, spiritual centre of life on Benq and possibly the whole of Devos IV. She was incarcerated, pending being shipped to the shrine world of Salem Proctor for trial.
Unluckily for Inquisitor Vincorum, this was as Chaux Na Mrr’see’s coup was unfolding. Baroness Quintelle’s crime was to have been born psychic and remained undetected until she began to suffer from an unfortunate case of episodic possession. On Devos IV, under sceptical, dismissive and hostile media focus, the Ordo Hereticus was put on trial, in the person of Inquisitor Vincorum. The charge was failing to protect the vulnerable Apocryhpa. Leading to an unfortunate chain of events and the unnecessary deaths of many innocent Imperial citizens on Thecula V and other places.
The Inquisition was found to be guilty and Inquisitor Vincorum was ceremoniously incarcerated in his own Incarcerator. Baroness Quintelle herself was allowed to flick the switch to begin the rite of purgation. On the continent of Benq, making the sign of the Aqilla in public is swiftly moving from a quaint idiosyncrasy, through public derision to cause for arrest.
Baroness Apocrypha Quintelle is now the Chief Political Officer for the Peoples Libertine Army. She sent Inquisitor Vincorum’s ashes to the Hospitallers convent. It was this threat that provoked the Mother Superior to call for aid.
As far as the New Republic are concerned, the cause of the arrival of the Cadian 144th LRRR can be directly traced to the Ordo Hereticus’ failure to guard Baroness Quintelle against deamonic possession. The PLA is only defending Devos IV against the warmongering Sisterhood and their lickspittle lackies from Cadia.

Hakisyke & Danny Bloodcoat

Post landing the 73rd Army Group needed a Headquarters Location. Margrav Hakisyke, a leading light of the Loyalists in Acer, offered up his ancestral home to General Zhukov. The Margrav’s son was duly commissioned into the PDF in short order, despite being untrained and (just) under aged.
The 17th Battle Group HQ are lodged a few kilometres away at the market town of Peltor. 902 Inf Bde (currently the only one they have) is encamped around the commercial city of Sandvik, some 48km to the East. Unlike the stately but remote Hakisyke, or the prosperous but provincial Peltor, Sandvik has good communication links and plenty of hardstanding and warehousing. Any protests from local business regarding the sequestering of their assets are being channelled through the local government (to Margrav Hakisyke’s town office).
Daniel Horpan
Daniel Horpan joined the Devos IV PDF as an officer cadet seventeen years ago. He spent eight years within the 99th (“the Bloodcoats”) Regiment before becoming company commander. From there he moved to Maj Gen Firth’s staff as a planning officer. Firth, recognising his talent, despatched him to Agripinna to serve in the Imperial Guard for a few years. Six years later Colonel Horpan returned to command the 99th.
In the last three years, Horpan has been courted personally by Chaux Na Mrr’see herself. She obviously thought that she might need an able military commander on her side. Horpan is staunchly loyal to his birthworld. Colonel-Commandant Welbhann, the commander of the 902 Inf Bde knew Horpan on Agripinna. Despite being from quite different backgrounds (Welbhann is from Armageddon), Welbhann believes that Horpan has somehow deluded himself that his following the creed of Chaux Na Mrr’see is in line with his loyalties as former officer of the IG and senior figure in the Devos IV PDF.
The 99th Regt were delighted to find themselves commanded by Horpan. “Danny Bloodcoat” he is known as. They are encouraged by his elevation to (as they see it) strategic commander of the PDF. The creed of Chaux Na Mrr’see has become all the more popular thereby. Such is his reputation that the 13th Mech and other formations within the PDF, as well as the militia, have ‘bought in’ to his campaign. Having held posts in Agripinna for so long, he knows what is coming. Col Cmdt Welbhann knows that 902 Bde is not enough to take the planet. He knows from Gen Tolstoy that Gen Zhukov’s plan is to get 902 Bde so badly mauled that Driftward Command either flesh out the rest of 17 BG or (better yet) send a proper sized army to Devos IV.

The cabal of the Broken Tea Spoon

I'm quite excited about the new DE figures. I havn't been able to get shredders, so GW actually making them again will be nice. Hopefully I'll pursuade someone to get me some for Christmas or something.



Cyrxian Harrower Helljack Thingamyjig o' Doom.

My DE army is bascially an apoc splinter riad force with a few other bits and peices. It is fast, but the new figures will look better than the existing. Plastic warp beasts will be good, but not as good as a plastic Talos. (the Privateer Press Harrower makes a really good Talos - If PP do this in plastic then any new GW Talos will have to be beat it)

This DE army has now gone to Kent, to terrorise the wabbit, probably.

Theory Question (breaking 40K)

OK. I've said on here before that one of the strengths of fortykay is that you can play kill team and apoc with the same little men and the same rules set (tweaked, but I hope you see what I mean). Another strength is that you can take your legal army to another part of the world and language not withstanding, play a game (it might be a struggle, but you could do it).



So what follows is an abstract argeument; I'm not suggesting for one moment that I would ever advocate this with anyone other than someone who I played with on a regular basis and it was just to see what happened etc:

This is a list from another games system (GZG, I think) it is itself extrapolated from an existing military formation from sometime in the last twenty years. I have 40kificated it a bit, just to bring it into context.

It does not follow FOC (duh !) rules and is certainly not optimised or even vaguely likely to last long on a 5th Ed battlefield (without some AFV back up). In the game system it is from, these guys are mounted in (GMC 4x6) soft top trucks.

Motorised Infantry Company:

Total Strength: 6 Officers, 117 Other Ranks (123 total troops).
Company Headquarters (2 Officers, 1 Other Rank)
The company headquarters comprises 3 personnel - the Company Commander, the Executive Officer (carrying the vox caster), and the Company Sergeant (carrying the company standard).
Mortar Platoon (1 Officer, 11 Other Ranks)
HQ Squad (1 Officer, 1 OR)
The HQ of the Support Platoon consists of just two men - the Platoon Commander and Platoon Sergeant (carrying a vox caster).
3 x Mortar Squad (3 ORs each)
Three three man mortar teams operating mortars. Each team has a gunner, loader, and ammo carrier equipped with a standard Las gun in addition to their mortar.
Forward Observer (1 OR)
Independent figure armed with standard Las gun, carrying an auspex and vox caster.
3 x Rifle Platoons (1 Officer, 35 Other Ranks each)
HQ Squad (1 Officer, 1 OR)
A two-man team, including the Platoon Commander and Platoon Sergeant. The Sergeant is armed with a bolter.
Rifle Squad (9 ORs)
Squad Leader, 2 x Hvy Stubber (Gunner + Loader), and three riflemen and one marksman with a sniper rifle. The squad members, except for the marksman, will have standard las guns.
Rifle Squad (9 ORs)
Squad Leader, 2 x Hvy Stubber (Gunner + Loader), and four riflemen. The squad members will have standard las guns.
Rifle Squad (9 ORs)
Squad Leader, 2 x Hvy Stubber (Gunner + Loader), and three riflemen and one flamer operator with a flamer. The squad members, except for the flamer operator, will have standard las guns.
Weapons Squad (7 ORs)
Squad Leader and two 3-man Hvy Bolter teams. Squad members are armed with the standard las gun and each team has a tripod-mounted Hvy Bolter.

Sometimes the Motorized Rifle Company will also have an attached reconnaissance platoon, or other Battalion level assets. Possibilities are not limited to the following examples but they are fairly representative.

Reconnaissance Platoon (1 Officer, 25 Other Ranks)
HQ Squad (1 Officer, 1 OR)
A two-member team, including the Platoon Commander and Platoon Sergeant. Both will be armed with las pistol and CCW.
3 x Recce Squads (8 ORs each)
Assault Squads include a Squad Leader, Hvy Stubber (Gunner + Loader), RPG [counts as ML] (Gunner + Loader), and three riflemen armed with standard las guns.
Other Attachments
Anti-Air Team (3 OR)
A three-member team, armed with a shoulder launched anti-air missile launcher (counts as a ML on an AA mount). They may have standard las guns or auto guns.
Anti-Armour Team (2 OR)
A two-member team, armed with an ATGW (counts as Hunter Killer Missile). They also have standard las guns.
Grenadier Team (7 OR)
Squad Leader, 4 riflemen, 2 grenadiers. They have standard las guns and the two grenadiers have GLs.
Casualty Aid Team (3 OR)
A two-member team, medic and assistant medic. They may have las pistols or be unarmed.

How do think this would play ? I was thinking that it would make for an interesting Opposing Force for an IG army. It would give the OpFor a distinct flavour, making them an interesting opponent (in terms of doctine/tactics as well as appearance), rather than just IG with the aqilla filed off.

I'd like to hear the nays as well as the ayes, if you have the time.

Bloggin'

It's a tool for communication, isn't it ? You could restrict the audience to a few individuals who you wanted to share some ideas/data with. Certainly this was my first intention - my audience were the original four apoc generals. No idea if they're still interested or not.



I see some other peoples FTW blogs and they seem to be so much more focused than my dribble. I waffle. I'm sure that I come across as a whinging, ineffectual person in my writing. There's relatively little "progress" these days. Oh well.

So on to communicating: My appologies to Courtney at the Cadian 127th for waffling about my Valkyre on his blog.

And for JL; The three I read were Hans Von Luck, Erhard Raus and Hienz Guderain. All good stuff. The Osprey book about the WWII Soviet Rifleman is also worth a look - quite IG flavoured, as it happens.

Not 40K

I spent in week in June with Mrs Zzzzzz and our friends Steve and Kath. Steve and I have climbed together in the Alps and New Zealand. The ladies let us out to play, so we went up and had a nosey around the Hellbrunner and a closer look at the Dent De Giant.

The scenery is all quite impressive. If was at all dilignet, knowing where these pictures were taken from, I could look at a map and work out which mountains these are. Basically, if you're climbing in this part of the world, keeping an eye on the weather to the south, you can see the weather building from the south, so occasionally there is a mad race to get back to the safety of the valley before the thunder storm reaches where you are.

This is me on the way back. My nose looks white because my face is plastered in sunblock. Still slightly sunny here.


It is quite a wonderful thing for me, being in the mountains. It's one of those things that can be retrospectively pleasurable - ie at the time it can be bloody knackering. This is less than ten minutes later, further down the same arrete; see the weather change.

This last picture is from the cable car that runs between Italy and France. If ever you are in Courmayour or Chamonix with a day to spare and the sky is clear; popping across to the other place on the telepherique is a nice way to spend the day; The views are magnificent and an' all that. And sunny again, you'll note.