Hiatus?

Since I'm the only one who has posted of late, and since even I'm getting distracted by other things, I'm guessing we're already into the first hiatus for this project.

Will we come back to it? Will it remain here unfinished until Blogspot takes it down? Who knows!

Actually, it would probably help if we had a concrete goal to work towards. Possibly a game day in a year or so.

Eldar...?

My secondary interest for this campaign is leaning towards the Eldar. I've looked at the locations of the various Craftworlds, and the only major one that's in the right segmentum is Saim-Hann. And that suits me fine, 'cause they're all about jet bikes and Vypers, and that gets me excited. Not much needs to be done to them story-wise - if I ever get to them, all I need to do is buy and paint them. In a few years. ;)

Sandino's Snake: Armourer's Notes 4

If you haven't read Sandino's Snakes: Interlude - The Artefacts, scroll down to read that first...

The Men of Iron, constructs built by ancient men, were found in a buried outpost deep in the Perdian Expanse. Isolated and sealed in stasis crates since the end of the Age of Technology, they were completely untouched by the ravages of time. Made of an unknown, ultradense, and virtually indestructible metal, each one has a somewhat incongruous titanium box affixed to the back of its skull. When activated from a Control Box, the machines can be commanded in groups of up to 20, moving as smoothly and fluidly as men, but with twice the power and strength. Each is armed with a heavy, two-handed weapon that glows with a green light when switched on, and spits out bolts of incandescent energy that can melt a man in an instant.

There are, however, several oddities, beyond the oddity of their very existence. The control boxes on their heads seem to be afterthoughts, attached after the Men of Iron were made. Learned Cardenal surmised that the Men of Iron could once think for themselves, but were subsequently refitted for more direct control by their masters. In addition, though their optical apertures are clearly working and allowing them to see, they do not light up as they are clearly designed to do. Learned Cardenal has yet to determine why this is.

Sandino’s Snakes: Army Outline

If you haven't read Sandino's Snakes: Interlude - The Artefacts, scroll down to read that first...

HQ

As per normal Imperial Guard, but the basic Guardsmen are replaced by Storm Troopers. Minimum choice of Senior or Heroic Senior Officer with Carapace Armour. A Master Vox-Operator can be further upgraded to a Master Controller, who provides the same effect as a Resurrection Orb from Codex: Necrons. Add-ons include 0-4 total choices from the following list (all troopers begin as Storm Troopers):

• 0-2 Special Weapons Squads with access to Storm Bolters, Sniper Rifles, and Demo Charges
  
• 0-2 Anti-tank Squads with Missile Launchers and Lascannons
  
• 0-2 Fire Support Squads with Multilasers

Elites

0-3 Storm Troopers as per normal, but with Storm Bolters available as special weapon upgrades

Troops

1-3 Grenadiers as per normal, but with Storm Bolters available as special weapon upgrades

1-3 Men of Iron squads – use the Necron Warriors entry from Codex: Necrons.

Under Control: Each squad of Men of Iron must have 1 Controller for every 10 Men of Iron or part thereof. If the Controller is killed, the Men of Iron squad is removed from play immediately. Only the Controller may take Leadership tests for a Men of Iron squad.

Gone Dormant: Any time a Controller fails a Leadership test, the Men of Iron squad go dormant until the end of their next turn. The Controller of a dormant squad counts as Gone To Ground while the Men of Iron themselves simply stand where they were and may take no actions even when affected by enemy actions. The Controller may still make Morale tests as required.

Out of Control: Any time a Controller fails a Leadership test with double ones, the Men of Iron squad goes Out of Control and becomes a separate army (along with any other Out of Control Men of Iron squads) until the end of their next turn. They will actively fight against any other forces on the table, including their Controller. (Other Out of Control Men of Iron squads count as part of their army and are not subject to attack.) The squad will not move, but will shoot at the nearest eligible target unit and must assault any eligible target during their assault phase (but keep in mind that their weapons are Rapid Fire).

Fast Attack

0-3 Iron Destroyers squads – use the Necron Destroyers entry from Codex: Necrons. The Under Control, Gone Dormant, and Out of Control rules apply equally to Iron Destroyers squads.

Heavy Support

None.

Doctrines

Sandino’s Snakes have the Drop Troops doctrine, which they would most often use to take a Valkyrie transport rather than to deploy by Deep Strike. Men of Iron and Iron Destroyer squads may not take this doctrine.

Litan Revealed

Well, I finally got off my butt and finished getting the arms and a touch of green stuff on my Litan model. It is basically a Necromunda Scavvy mini with a cadian las pistol arm and a WHFB zombie arm for 'The Hand'. I had planned on doing more to the hand with green stuff, but I don't think that is going to work. Since the hand kind of lacks the imposing look of a powerfist, I may change the rules for him a bit so that it only adds +2 to his strength in combat or something. Not really important at this point I guess.

Sandino's Snakes: Interlude - The Artefacts

Colonel Sandino gazed impassively at the rows and rows of blank, seamless 8’ long crates stacked in the destroyer’s hold. Taken from an ancient human science outpost deep inside the Perdian Expanse, the artefacts had lain here ever since, resisting all attempts to open them. As he watched a pair of servitors placed one of the crates flat on a large examining table and then a third servitor with a half dozen spidery manipulator arms stepped forward and began rapidly touching a series of nearly invisible indentations along one side.

As the servitor worked, its arms defining an elaborate and lengthy pattern, Learned Cardenal whispered to the Colonel, “The secret is the timing. We realized long since that the keys must be touched in a specific pattern, but they must also be touched with precise timing, as well. We opened the first one half an hour ago, and now you shall see what we found, Colonel.”

The servitor completed its work and stepped back. After a moment’s pause, there was a faint hiss, and then a seam appeared around the crate and a hidden lid lifted slowly up. A faint wisp of escape vapour wafted from inside. The edge of the crate was still too high to see inside, but at a gesture from Learned Cardenal, the examining table began to tilt upright.

Within the crate, a tall metallic figure lay dormant. It was too narrow to be armour, and there was no visible flesh, so it didn’t seem to be a servitor. Clearly lifeless, it still managed to radiate a sense of dread, perhaps because the almost skull-like face seemed to be leering at him.

The Colonel’s jaw dropped in amazement and he whispered, almost tentatively, “What… what is it?”

“I believe them to be artefacts of ancient humanity, Colonel. They called them, as I understand it… Men of Iron.”

Sandino's Snakes: Armourer's Notes 3

The Snakes are typically tasked with operations far from the logistical support of the Imperial Guard or even the Ordo Xenos. As such, they have simplified their weapon choices considerably. Compared to an Imperial Guard Grenadier Company (perhaps the best comparison available), the Snakes have a much more limited selection of special weapons.

A Snakes Squad may take up to two Storm Bolters as Special Weapons.

The limited heavy firepower available to the Snakes is concentrated in the regiment's Support Weapons Company. Squads are then attached to individual Command Squads as needed.

A Snakes HQ Command Squad may take up to three Support Weapon squads, including Special Weapon Squads (Storm Bolters, Snipers, Demolitions), Anti-tank Squads (Missile Launchers or Lascannons), and Fire Support Squads (Multilasers).

Sandino's Snakes: Armourer's Notes 2

Sandino's Snakes are a commando unit, intended for sudden, concentrated assaults on enemy targets. They are trained to the same standard as Storm Troopers, Grenadiers, or Cadian Kasrkin, and equipped similarly. Their carapace armour, however, is of a slightly different pattern than that of the better-known units. In addition, the plating on their legs has been replaced with lighter flak armour to improve mobility. The Snake philosophy is that the sacrifice of some armour protection is more than outweighed by the increased mobility. This lets the Snakes move faster and keep the enemy off balance. And that is the best armour of all.

Combined with their Faustus pattern battle rifles, their unique carapace armour gives the Snakes a distinctive look on the battlefield.

Snake Storm Trooper
WS: 3 BS: 4 S: 3 T: 3 W: 1 I: 3 A: 1 Save: 4+
Equipment: Faustus Rifle, M.40 Targeter, Carapace Armour, Frags, Kraks

Sandino's Snakes: Armourer's Notes 1

Unlike most Storm Trooper or Grenadier-equipped units, the Snakes have discarded their bulky hellguns and backpacks in favour of the lightweight Faustus pattern lasgun.

The Faustus combines two barrels, one atop the other. The uppermost barrel is a standard lasgun, providing sustained, direct, reliable firepower. The lowermost barrel is essentially a very compact 20mm, semi-automatic cannon.

When the Snakes take a target under fire, they intersperse their las blasts with occasional shells from the cannon. Firing either high-explosive or armour-piercing projectiles, the cannon is integrated with the M.40 targeter system to allow on-the-fly fusing of the explosive charges; by precisely timing the shell detonations, the Snakes can shoot their targets in the back even when facing their front!

Faustus rifle

Range: 24" S: 3 AP: 5+

Notes: Rapid Fire, M.40 allows measure before declaring target

A Brief History of the Helstrom Protectorate

The Helstrom Protectorate is a small planet on the western fringe of the Perdian Expanse in Segmentum Pacificus. Its original name long forgotten, the Protectorate has been cut off from the Imperium for countless generations.

The von Helstrom family had ruled for as long as anyone could remember. Legend says the planet was originally goverened by local chieftains united under a elected king. As the story goes, the planet was at one point suffering from terrible famine and the people were starving. The situation was extremely dire until one of the chieftains - Ludwig von Helstrom - was elected to leadership and ushered in a series of agricultural reforms that eventually solved the food crisis and restored order among the people. When Ludwig died many years later, his brother was elected to lead. His brother ruled for a long period of time and eventually his son was again elected as king, and so on and so forth until the people just expected the von Helstroms would continue to rule as they always have. Eventually the elections were forgotten and the von Helstrom family inherited a prospering Kingdom.

The day the Imperium came, everything changed.

The Helstrom Protectorate as the planet was now called was ushered into the new Imperium with much celebration. To the von Helstroms, it was a relief. Things had not been going well lately and many people were getting restless. Food stocks were low and resources becoming scarce. Belonging to the new Empire was going to solve a lot of problems.

The Protectorate did its Imperial duty - it contributed a meager tithe, engaged in minor trade with other local planets, and maintained a small regiment of the Imperial Guard ready to be called upon to fight for the Imperium. The King, Maximillian von Helstrom III, was happy to receive Imperial equipment and materiel and took great interest in his new army. Fancying himself as somewhat of a great general despite the fact his military experience was relegated to history books about ancient wars, the King took command and busied himself with its organization. Dubbed the 1st Royal Expeditionary Legion, the army practiced and drilled constantly in anticipation of being called to the Emperor's service.

Kings came and went and the Protectorate prospered but the army had still not been called to duty. Generations went by, and unbeknownst to the Protectorate, the Imperium had entered into the Age of Apostasy. The von Helstroms became very worried and increasingly paranoid as Imperial contact dwindled to nothing. Soon domestic problems arose once more and the populace was once again restless. But this time things were much worse - riots were spreading through some of the larger towns and people were raiding warehouses and stealing from local merchants.

Unfortunately, the current King Gunther von Helstrom IV was not as understanding as his predecessors. Fearing the collapse of his Kingdom and the repercussions of not fulfilling his duty to the Empire, the King gathered bands of thugs under local community leaders to keep the peace. Using fear as his weapon, the populace was beaten into submission and his kingdom narrowly escaped collapse. Problems persisted and food was scarce, and eventually the various bands of thugs were formalized into a state police force that exists to this day.

The current ruler of the Protectorate is King Maximillian von Helstrom IV. He has been on the throne for the last 30 years and rules with an iron fist. His distrust of his own subjects and fear of a mass uprising has forced him to reform the 1st Royal Expeditionary Legion as the Helstrom Royal Guard. The King only knows of the Imperium from history, and blames them for his kingdom's troubles. He and his army are prepared for their eventual return, although this time he intends to send them back from wherever they came.

Sandino's Snakes: Interlude - Interview with the King

Colonel Sandino seethed with anger. He and his men had just returned from a years-long voyage for the Inquisition, faced perils and horrors both from xenos and warp-spawn, and had only managed the final few light-years to a civilized planet due to the assistance of an off-course transport barge.

Only to be told at the last by this pompous, petty excuse for a local monarch that his men would have to wait in orbit for another month!

The monarch’s advisor spoke for the King: “I’m sure you understand the need for this, Colonel – some of your crew had contact with the transport barge before the outbreak of the plague that debilitates them so grievously. To allow any chance of contagion on the planet is simply unthinkable.”

Colonel Sandino clamped down on his anger. It wasn't contagion this pathetic little monarch feared, but the presence of the Colonel's elite commandos on a planet he ruled only because he controlled the only armed force. He tried again, looking the King directly in the eye where he sat in his ornate throne behind his advisors.

“There has been no sign of contagion aboard my ship, your Majesty, as the Sister Hospitaller confirmed before my officers and I were allowed down…”

“I’m sorry, Colonel,” the advisor interrupted smoothly, “but it simply cannot…”

“I’m speaking to the King, you fool!” Sandino snapped, as his iron control broke. Rage carving a snarl across his face, he surged up from his knees, backhanding the advisor and mounting the steps to the throne.

“Listen, you royal son of a-“

The Colonel’s tirade cut off short as a pair of Royal Guardsmen leveled their stun pikes and triggered jolts of energy into his chest. The world went gray. Distantly, he heard shouts, several thumps, and then more stun pikes as his unarmed officers leaped up from their knees, only to be shocked back down by the Royal Guardsmen behind them.

Just before he blacked out entirely, the Colonel heard a high-pitched voice, close at hand – the King finally speaking for himself.

“Get them out of here! All of them! Take them back to their ship and let them rot there! They will never set foot on my world again, do you hear me! Never!”

Sandino's Snakes: Part Two

The Snakes, a thousand Navy crewmembers, and the half-dozen remaining members of Inquisitor Zomosa's retinue languished in orbit. As the highest-ranking officer remaining, Colonel Sandino was in nominal command, and at first, he took measures to maintain the military discipline and disposition of the group. But as the months passed, the enforced isolation and exile began to fray the edges of his authority.

In order to maintain control, his disciplinary measures became more and more harsh. Corporal punishment became commonplace, and on several occasions executions were deemed necessary and carried out. And yet anger and resentment continued to brew and seethe within his command. Sandino himself was not immune, and became more and more embittered as time passed.

Some of the Navy crew wanted to try their luck at navigating the crippled destroyer back towards the Imperium, a voyage that would surely take years and with small chance of ever arriving intact. Some of the Snakes wanted to force their way off the ship (which most had now taken to calling The Tomb) and down to the planet.

Indeed, Sandino had considered several such ideas, including staging a coup d'etat against the monarchy, or perhaps carving out a kingdom for themselves somewhere else on the planet. But the simple fact was that with barely a thousand Snakes, and another thousand ill-trained Navy crew, they simply did not have the manpower to take on the entire Monarchy Defense Force and the Royal Guard. Instead, he came up with an alternative plan.

Accepting that they had little choice but to remain trapped aboard The Tomb in orbit for what could be years, or decades, Colonel Sandino decided he needed two things: an influx of new people, especially women, and a means of bleeding off the pressure that enforced confinement was building amongst his men. And he hit upon the perfect plan to accomplish both goals. Moral scruples delayed this plan for a full three years after the ship arrived in the system, but finally, very carefully and covertly, and with the utmost care to misdirect the blame... the Snakes began to raid the planet.

The first raids were on the most remote areas of the world. Outlying ranches and farms. A small mining operation in a distant mountain range. A tiny convent that had chosen a secluded location to cut themselves off from the world. Those who resisted the Snakes were killed. The rest, mostly women and children, were taken back up to The Tomb. And so expert were the Snakes at this sort of raiding and misdirection that the planetary investigators never once suspected the truth. Shuttle drops were carefully timed to avoid detection by the planet's primitive air traffic control systems. All evidence was cleaned up that could point to the Snakes was cleaned before they left. And occasionally, misleading clues would be planted to suggest that the attacks were the work of gangs of bandits hiding out in those same remote areas.

This continued for years. The raids began to grow bolder and more frequent, although they were still only in outlying areas all over the planet. As the authorities failed to stop, or even determine the source of the depredations, rumours began to grow amongst the population that this was the work of some horrible cult who stole victims for gruesome sacrifices. (And in fact, after the first few years, the Snakes, monitoring planetary newscasts, realized that there were more raids occurring than they were carrying out - others, perhaps, were taking advantage of the situation the Snakes were creating!)

Soon, Sandino faced a new problem. His men (and he now counted most of the Navy crew as Snakes, too) hadn't faced significant resistance in several years and had become convinced that they were the single most powerful armed group in the system. A growing faction revived the idea of taking over the planet, or at least carving out an empire of their own on the surface. Tensions mounted, and Sandino could feel his hold over the crew beginning to slip once more, but he knew that even now, if the MDF and Royal Guard managed to find a clear target for their wrath and frustration, even the Snakes wouldn't be able to withstand their numbers.

Sandino grew more and more desperate for a solution. And then, nearly 10 years after the Snakes arrival in-system, a Sage - one of the three remaining members of Inquisitor Zomosa's retinue - came to him with news. For 10 years, the Sage, Learned Cardenal, had been studying the artifacts recovered by the Inquisitor. Stored in the hold of The Tomb, they had been all but forgotten by the Snakes. These artifacts consisted of hundreds of featureless boxes that had proven impervious to Cardenal's efforts to examine them. Until now. That very day, Learned Cardenal took Sandino down to the hold, showed him the contents of one of the boxes, and explained what he had learned.

Sandino immediately called together his senior officers (collectively known amongst the Snakes as The Junta) and held a day-long conference. Rumours circulated through the Snakes, but nobody knew what Cardenal had found in the boxes, nor what The Junta was planning. And then Sandino delivered the following message over the ship's vox-hailers...

"Snakes... the time has come. For 10 years, we've been exiled, isolated, reviled by the regime that controls the planet below us. We've hit back at our oppressors, at the monarchy that keeps us penned up here like cattle, pin-pricks that have stung him... but now... now is the time when we take what should be ours. What is RIGHTFULLY ours! Now is the time when we STRIKE! Snakes... NOW IS THE TIME FOR WAR!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I'll finish Part Three... later.

Litan's Retinue: Des Trodyard

Des Trodyard

Des is Litan's personal chauffeur. When fuel can be found, he drives Litan around to rally the troops in an armoured truck stolen from the local defense force. It has been modified by Des himself and mounts a heavy stubber along with 6 hull mounted lasguns pillaged from a wrecked chimera.

He is currently untouched by the diseases that infest most of the other members of the Brotherhood. This leads to him being viewed with suspicion by the other members, but Litan's faith in him remains unwavering. How Des became part of the cult is unknown.

Des is a former military mechanic from the barge that brought Litan to the planet. He is not only a gifted mechanic, but can also design and build vehicles from scratch. In fact, his military nickname was 'Mekboy', an Ork reference. Des has standard human stats, but is the only Cult member who sports a meltagun, his signature weapon.

Sandino's Snakes: Part One.

The Belter Amalgamate didn't fly. So I'm trying again. I warn you, though, it's still not conventional.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colonel Ersteno Sandino spent much of his military career in "special operations". As a sub-altern, he led a platoon in more than a dozen commando raids and surgical strikes with the 81st regiment of the Harakoni Warhawks. As a captain, he was in command of the Imperial Guard strikeforce that Inquisitor Stasio Zomosa inducted to cut the head off the Alfanian Insurrection on Bistula VI. And as a Colonel, still seconded to the Ordo Xenos, he formed and trained a regiment-sized unit of the Imperial Guard (called Sandino's Snakes) that accompanied Inquisitor Zomosa on her final expedition.

Soon after the Inquisitorial expedition left, Goge Vandire's Reign of Blood subsumed the Imperium into the Age of Apostasy, and it wasn't until centuries later that anyone in the Ordo Xenos began to wonder what happened. The last recorded contact with the Inquisitor's expedition was shortly before they entered the Perdian Expanse of the Segmentum Pacificus, a vast, uncharted region of space where Navigators are blind and warp jumps must be calculated manually over distances of no more than 3 to 5 light years. The Inquisitor reported rumours of a major Xeno artifact site several hundred light years within the Expanse, informed the Ordo Xenos that he intended to investigate, and set off aboard a commandeered Imperial Navy destroyer.

In truth, Inquisitor Zomosa found what he was looking for. In truth, he collected the contents of the artifact site and brought them aboard the destroyer. In truth, as the expedition made it's way painstakingly back out of the Expanse, a warp storm and a micro-second's breach of the ship's void shields allowed an entity of Chaos to enter the ship. In the ensuing conflict, the Inquisitor, and every psychically active human aboard was killed quite horribly, along with many of the crew and many of Sandino's Snakes. In truth, the crippled ship made it out of the Expanse (thanks to the effects of the warp storm, more than a century had passed) and was found by a massive transport barge. The destroyer was taken under tow and, despite a horrible outbreak of plague aboard the barge, arrived only a month later in the isolated system of XXXXX. And there both crippled destroyer and plague-devastated barge remained, cut off from the Imperium and stranded on a world which, while far from being neo-barbaric, was depressingly parochial and backwards.

The idea of having to spend the rest of their lives there did not please the Snakes, and Sandino's anger and frustration led to a near-violent argument with the local monarch. As a result, the Snakes were not even allowed to disembark from their crippled ship in orbit. And there they were forced to remain - over a thousand angry commandos, cooped up aboard ship, and growing more and more restless with every passing day... week... month...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll leave this here for now, and pick it up again tomorrow.

Litan's Retinue: Teris Mesnon

Teris Mesnon

Teris viewed himself as Litan's lieutenant, although this was likely in his own mind. A fanatical follower, he was never completely trusted by Litan, who found his frenzied bloodlust in battle disconcerting.

Mesnons preferred weapon was a chainsword and pistol combination. (He will basically be like an IG preacher).

Teris was killed during the battle of Maener's Hole, reportedly shot in the back by friendly fire.

Litan's Retinue: Nor Hammerfist

Nor Hammerfist

Once a much sought after mercenary Ogryn, Nor now serves only one master. He is only just starting to show the effects of prolonged exposure to the loving decay of Father Nurge. He has standard Ogryn stats, but fights only with a massive iron rail pulled from the wreckage of an Imperial transport vehicle.

Litan's Retinue: Aineer and Ainion

I will now begin my posts describing Litan's retinue. Each post will describe a new member, with a little background on them.

Litan has at least one member of his retinue with him at all times. They are fiercely loyal to their leader and fanatical in his defence. The retinue counts as being fearless and will pass all motivation checks, including falling back, even when below half strength. Should Litan be killed, they will lose these benefits and take checks as normal.

Aineer and Ainion

Are twin brothers, now bloated and disfigured by Nurgle's rot. Although they no longer bear any resemblance to each other, they maintain their connection through their ceremonial dress. Former members of the Monarchy's Defence Force, they long ago fell under the sway of Litan's forceful prescence and fight only for him. They must be fielded as a pair. They have standard IG stats, except Toughness 4 and fight with flamers. Point cost: unknown.

The Belter Amalgamate

The [name] system was blessed with very extensive mineral deposits scattered throughout the myriad moons, asteroids, and other celestial bodies that orbit its sun. The exploitation of these resources was well underway by the time of the Day of Isolation. As the power of the Imperial Governor waned and was replaced and absorbed by the planetary monarchy, friction began to arise between the planetary establishment and the various Trading Houses and unions of miners who lived and worked amongst the moons and belts.

On the one side, the Belters (as the miners and mining Houses were known to the planetary population) wanted profits. On the other side, the Leadfoots (as the planetary populace were known in Belter slang) wanted lower mineral prices. Ultimately, the Leadfoots held the upper hand, as the Belters had a greater need for food than the Leadfoots did for minerals, and the Belters could not generally act as a united front.

All this changed when a prospector ship from Odaggins Minerals Trading House registered a very dense mineral source in an asteroid and, on investigating, found The Ship. Later surmised to be a vessel from as far back as the Age of Technology, The Ship provided little in the way of functional devices, but it did yield up a treasure trove in the form of several printed and near-perfectly preserved books on the topics of electronics and computer science.

Odaggins Minerals (led by their founder, Benadro Odaggins) hid the existence of The Ship at first. Using the knowledge they could glean from the books they'd found, they began to improve their electronics and computer capacities, which in turn improved their mining and manufacturing capabilities. Within only a few years, Odaggins Minerals became a major player amongst the Belter industries, and then Director Odaggins turned his thoughts toward his next step: the unification of the nearly half a billion Belters.

Over the course of several years, Odaggins began a campaign of politico-commercial campaign to bring the many Belter corporations and unions together. The major breakthrough came when he signed a deal to merge Odaggins Minerals with the Rodigez Mining House, forming them into The Belter Amalgamate - a single politico-commercial entity that represented more than half the Belter Houses and Unions with Benadro at its head as Supreme Director. Politically, the Belters now had the unity to act against the oppressive legislation of the Leadfoots, but remained hampered by their dependence upon the planetary supplies of food and water.

Meanwhile, the technological improvements engendered by the finding of The Ship were being spread secretly throughout the Belts. Navigation, communication, industry... all were being very quietly improved to levels far beyond the norm of Imperial technology. Most of the hardware in use remained the same, but the application and efficiency of that equipment was being multiplied by advanced automation and networking techniques.

Now two more major players entered the stage: General Mar Santin and Commodore Rane Coche of the Amalgamate Security Forces (ASF), pointed out that the Leadfoots had no idea of the technological advantages available to the Belter paramilitary forces, and, if those forces were sufficiently expanded, the threat of their use could ensure Belter independence from the planet's grip.

This plan galvanized the Amalgamate. A rapid expansion of their paramilitary forces began and a top secret training facility was established on and around one of the most outlying planets of the system. As the military trained, the General, the Commodore, and the Supreme Director planned their moves. The result, a little over a year later, was Project Granary.

Project Granary was a stunningly ambitious plan to capture more than a dozen massive agricultural stations orbiting the planet and its two moons. Posing as ore carriers, the destroyers and cruisers of the ASF approached these stations and simultaneously boarded and took control of them. Security forces aboard several stations resisted but were quickly suppressed by the ASF boarding parties. Nearby orbital defense stations, unprepared for the attack, could only watch as the guns of the ASF flotilla deterred them from taking any action.

A large fleet of Amalgamate ore barges grappled the 14 agri-stations and began to two them out of the planetary orbit, heading for the two main Belter facilities in the outer system. However as they withdrew, the Planetary Defense Force, despite the growing distractions of unexplained plague and rioting on the surface, were finally able to concentrate their ships and attempted to intervene. The PDF forces outnumbered the ASF ships significantly, but the technological disparity turned the running battle that developed into a bloody slugging match. Over the course of two weeks, PDF forces made repeated attacks upon the slow-moving ore barges, and despite losses of more than 3:1 from the ASF ships, no less than four agri-stations were destroyed or so badly damaged that they were cut adrift. But by then the PDF space forces had shot their bolt, and the remaining 8 agri-stations were soon producing at full capacity.

Three weeks after the beginning of Project Granary, the Belter Amalgamate declared its independence from the planetary government, fully expecting that the monarchy would recognize the fait accompli and both Belters and Leadfoots could begin building their economic ties as political equals.

The monarchy, however, did not give in.

Apalled by the increasingly violent rioting across the planet, the slow spread of a mysterious plague, and the bloody defeat of their space forces by the ASF, the planetary government declared the secession an illegal and immoral act, and vowed to bring the so-called Belter Amalgamate to heel...

Litan Molder

This is a first draft of background for my Cult of Nurgle leader. I expect it to change, but wanted to document my first crack at it. My 40K history is a bit weak, so there might be some changes that need to be made. I have kept the location generic, as we haven't figured that out yet.

Litan Molder

Arrived on planet as a child when the interplanetary barge he was on was forced to make an emergency stop, due to an outbreak of plague. Few were able to resist the disease, with a casualty rate of over 95%, including the entire ships crew. His parents, members of the maintenance staff, also perished before his eyes in a slow and torturous fashion. For Litan, the disease targeted only his left arm, turning it into a wizened fleshless claw. He refused to let the planetary medical staff to remove it after he left the quarantined area, telling them it was a reminder from the Emperor of his lack of belief. Little is known about his next few years.

Later he went on to form the Church of the Burning Flame, preaching the importance of purity of spirit, to fight the evils of spiritual decay. He used his arm as a testament to the dangers of impurity and the cost of straying from the path of righteousness.

Some accounts exists of him ordering members of his congregation to be burned alive, should they show any signs of disease (This was never proven). Better to perish in flames than spread their filth to those around them. Around this time, his power amongst the faithful had reached its pinnacle, with as many as 1000 people gathering each week to listen to his sermons. The local PDF began to take notice, and grew increasingly wary. He was declared a heretic, and was forced to go into hiding with only a handful of his followers.

Information about the next few years is scarce, but it appears that this time of extreme stress had him praying for the Emperor's help for days at a time without sleep. Thanks to some psychic talents that had lain dormant, he was able to connect with a God more powerful than he had thought possible. The Lord Nurgle answered his prayers. It was then that he learned that the plague that took his parents was not a punishment from god, but a gift. A gift that he might someday receive if he proved worthy. He was told to go spread the word of Nurgle with all his powers of persuasion. Using his newly tapped psychic abilities and a very unique gift from Nurgle, he began to spread the word. This was all the information that was gleaned from the lone person to survive his transformation of the old Church of the Burning Flame into its newer incarnation, The Brotherhood of Decay (I will think of something better). This lone survivor died shortly after interrogation by PDF forces from massive trauma to his chest and rapid internal decomposition.

Litan Molders’ formerly withered left arm has now been replaced with a mass of rotting flesh, bubbling with puss and possessed of daemonic strength. The arm counts as a powerfist, and anyone in base to base contact with the model must pass a morale test in order to attack. Models that ignore morale tests also ignore this test. His base strength will be a standard 3, so only a ST 6 powerfist, as per standard IG lists.

Litan is also a psyker. He has only one power, that of possession. Rules to be determined/changed down the road.

All Talk, No Action

So what is this all about?

In a nutshell, our gaming circle talks a lot about different ideas, armies, campaigns... blah blah blah. But how many ever see the light of day? Almost zero. Especially when it comes to Warhamer 40,000.

The other night we were talking how cool it would be to create some themed armies around an idea we can use for a small campaign later on. We talked about some of our favourite games of 40K adn came to the conclusion that it all comes down to one thing: storytelling. Our best scenarios have always had a storytelling element to them, and frankly they are probably some of the best gaming experiences I've had. We've also been inspired by the awesome blog Bell of Lost Souls. These guys just get it and in my opinion embody what 40K is all about. It's not about bitching about rules, GW, codex creep, etc. etc. etc. It's about making it fun. Rules are meant to be broken, and I intend to break almost all of them.

So - the idea. We are going to create some themed 40K armies that eventually will be a part of a small campaign setting we will create. There will be modelling, background ideas, rules ideas, and anything else we can think of. I expect there will be moments of inspriation, followed by moments of burn-out and self doubt. But dammit, we are going to do it no matter how long it takes.