632.M41
Jarl
Manton Wolfen-Wolf strode onto the strategium deck of the Fjord
Fjairlane
as a lord enters his Court. Clad in simple brown fatigues, plain
pants tucked into black, fur-lined boots and a simple tunic. The
symbol of the Great Company, a skull transposed over a wolf's head
silhouette on a blood-red diamond, was the only mark of his command,
yet the presence of the Wolf Lord could not be ignored. Across his
shoulders was draped a red cloak, trimmed with the grey pelt of a
Fenrisian wolf, the alpha predators of the icy wastes of Asaheim.
As
the doors hissed shut behind him, all on deck stood and saluted their
lord with the sign of the Aquila over their chests, an ancient salute
from the times of the Horus Heresy. “At ease,” the words more of
a deep growl than a command. “Comms Master Egil, what have you got
for me?”
“Our
Astropaths have intercepted a transmission from the Brunswick sector,
Jarl. From the planet Victoria Primaris.”
“What
news?”
Rather
than answer his lord, the Comms Master stepped to the holographic
display in the centre of the strategium deck, quickly punching in the
code to relay the transmission. The display came to life with the
blue, static-hashed image of a PDF officer, his bare head bleeding
from a gash above his right eye. Weary, strained eyes spoke of
exhaustion and terror.
“We
have been overrun. They came from nowhere, we request aid, the planet
is falling.” The holograph flashed with a searing green light, all
but Manton covered their eyes, the Jarl's enhanced gene-physiology
allowing his eyes to compensate for the intensity of the flash. The
picture was replaced by static, but through the hiss the wet screams
of agonising death echoed through the battle barge's cavernous
command chamber. A death mask, with baleful green eyes resolved in
the green-blue static of the holograph. A mechanical, monotone voice
conveying millennia of hatred spoke: “All is dust. All is lost. We
are death.”
“That
is all we have, my Lord.” The Comms Master's wavered with barely
contained terror.
“What
is the date stamp of this transmission?” The rage beneath the
jarl's voice could not be missed.
“It
is stamped as being over a year old, Lord. The Brunswick system is
too far away, the navigators tell me it will take at least six more
Terran months to get there, and that's with a clean warp jump.”
Manton
turned his piercing gaze upon the Comms Master, immediately making
the man hide his guilt.
“The
Vlka Fenryka do not abandon the citizens of the Imperium, nor do we
suffer xenos aberrations to murder our fellow man and claim our
planets as their own. We, Humanity, are the masters of this galaxy
and it is to us to show this scum that we intend to hold our domain.”
The Jarl's face split into a grin, baring his extended canines.
“Besides, I haven't had a good fight in a long time.”
First, finished Thunderwolf Cavalry
In
my last post, I alluded to the upcoming narrative campaign I'll be
playing. As you can tell, it will be Space Wolves v Necrons. The
stage has been set for the titanic struggle between these nemeses.
Tales of heroism and glory will be forged in the crucible of battle.
The
campaign will be part narrative, part escalation. We'll have five
battles of increasing points value that will tell the tale of the
Space Wolves' desperate struggle to liberate an Imperial World from
the clutches of the Necrontyr. Or it will tell of how the Necrons,
awakening from their aeons-long slumber, rose up and reclaimed the
planet to serve as a starting point in their reconquest of the
galaxy.
We'll
be starting with a 200 point Kill-Team mission, where the attackers
will have to disable Victoria's Planetary Defence Laser Battery. Then
there'll be a 1,000 point Planetstrike battle, to secure the space
port near the main hive of Victoria, followed by a 1,500 or 1,850
point battle at the gates of the hive. The war will then spill into a
1,850 point City Fight and eventually a full-scale apocalypse battle
with all our shiny toys.
Another angle
As
this is a narrative campaign, I really want there to be an RPG
element to the battles. To achieve this I'm trying to incorporate
consequence and rewards. Units that survive the battles will gather
special veteran rules from a random-roll table and hopefully take on
distinct characters and battle-field roles. On top of this, I'm
toying with the idea that if a character is slain during a battle
there is a chance he won't be able to recover from his injuries. So
in light of that I think a D6 should decide the extent of the
injuries as follows:
Roll Result 1 Dead 2-4 Recovering – miss next battle 5-6 Fight on! - Free to fight next battle.
The
random nature of this table is a bit scary, but I think that really
represents quite well the risks of war. I also think it will add a
nice bit of resource management, forcing us to question whether we
really need our Big Bad Warlords in each particular battle or whether
it can be entrusted to our lieutenants.
Sorry
for the delay between posts. That's the introduction to the
epic
campaign for the liberation of
Victoria
Primaris.
Will
the Space Wolves make it to Victoria in time to save the
Planet
from annihilation?
Will
the Necron onslaught prove too much for the plucky defenders
to
hold out?
Find
out! Next time on That's How We Role!
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