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).