Servants of Mars

It's been a long time since I've been able to turn my attention to Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV. I'm RT mode right now, so I'm going to run with it as long as I have the urge. Part of the defenders in the scenario come from the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus...

The servitor looks positively demented. I have another servitor stewing in a stripper tub (man, that sounds like more fun than it actually is) and a squad of five Confrontation Tech Gangers that will serve as Skitarii. As the Tech Priest appear to be unarmed, I'm going to equip his staff with a shield generator of some sort to lend protection to all models within 6".

Adeptus Arbites Suppression Team

More models for Last Stand at Brandons Star IV!

My initial intention was to use Citadel's old Judge Dredd line for my Adeptus Arbites. However, when I dug them out of the cave they have languished in for decades, I discovered they were waaaay to small to go with the rest of the models. They are nearer true 25mm and while I'm not completely hung up on small differences in scale, these models were a head shorter than most of the others - not something to inspire fear among the citizenry!

Undeterred, I dug through my collection and found these Citadel Paranoia Security Guards and decided they would do nicely. I wish they made more of these. I may get a second set and try a little more drastic conversion work to build them from a 'team' to a 'squad'. I might also look at Warlord's Judge Dredd line - the sculpting seems to have a certain Rogue Trader charm, but again I'd have to see about how they fit in scalewise (anyone have some of these?). I managed a few quick weapon swaps with Bolt Pistols and a Plasma Gun to seat them more firmly in the Rogue Trader universe.

I chose to paint them in a scheme inspired by Judge Dredd rather than the more modern black and white. To tone down the garish combination a bit, I chose a green that had more of a blue tone and substituted a more earthy terracotta for the red. I am well pleased with the results and they should look great on the table! Their armour should give them a little more staying power than the average rebel model...

The Imperial force is taking shape. The models I've collected so far...

1 Astropath

1 Adeptus Arbites Suppression Team (3 models)

1 Adeptus Mechanicus
1 Tech Priest
2 Servitors
1 Skitarri Security Squad (5 models)
1 Robot

The Imperials will also have several scribes and administrators that will probably be of little use in combat, but may serve as shields for the Astropath! I intend to work out a rough point total and then work out the rebels. They outnumber the Imperials three to one, but are mostly standard humans. If I need to add models to the Imperials, I can always pull Marko Steelknife and his crew out for reinforcements!

Astropath Malconius Bell

I finally got around to painting a few models for my next Rogue Trader Scenario, Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV.

First up is the Astropath around whom the game centers, Malconius Bell...

I think I spent all of an hour painting this guy, I used Wargames Foundry Boneyard for his skin with a wash of GW Carroburg Crimson under the eyes to give him an unhealthy pallor. Originally I painted the eyes as normal, but he looked much more haunted and haunting with black pools of the warp staring out from his face so I went back and painted out the whites. The sculpted eye sockets are so deep it was hard to get them to look right anyway so I think was better.

I chose to make him a minor hero so he wasn't too much of a badass. I mainly need him sending the alarm through the warp, but his psychic abilities may be necessary for defense as well.

More Imperials soon!

Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV

Judge Grimm cursed fluently as another of his squad fell to las rounds. The rebel scum were going to overrun their position. If that psyker didn't soon succeed in contacting Earth, none of them were going to make it off Brandon's Star alive.

Oh, this is going to be good! As promised, my Random Rogue Trader scenario for 2016...

Player Motives (64)
Raid and Kill an Important Person

Raid and Kill (81)
A small group of loyal troops are holding out against a rebel army - it is only a matter of time before the rebels destroy them. The Imperial troops are composed of the planet's force of Adeptus Terra, which includes an Astropath. The rebels must kill the Astropath before he is able to broadcast details of the rebellion to Earth (total time required could be 2 or more broadcasts). 

Sub-Plot (06) 
A military unit is unhappy with it's leader, who is brutal, incompetent, stupid, dishonest, or otherwise subject to some defect which makes him extremely unpopular. If asked to draw a line if fire that passes within 2" of their leader there is a 50% of a firer targeting him 'accidentally'. The player remains unaware of the situation and rolls to hit his intended target - the GM makes a secret 50% roll and if the the player's die roll is enough to hit the officer the attack is re-targeted. Unless the shot hits the leader, the attack will go unnoticed and the shot will be discounted as an ordinary miss. The player controlling the troops will be unaware of any problem or redirected shots until the officer is hit.

So according to the hallowed Rogue Trader tome, Adeptus Terra is composed of several different divisions...

The Adeptus Custodes - The Emperor's bare-chested guard in pointy hats who rarely leave the palace so we will skip them...

The Adeptus Mechanicus - Awesome! While I have been tempted to invest in some of the new plastics from GW, I don't want to go that modern for this project. I have a classic Adeptus Mechanicus model (the one with the melty face), a tech priest, and a pair of servitors. I also have a Confrontation Tech Gang that would make dandy Skitarri for this game. I've been wanting to paint them anyway...

The Adeptus Arbites - Awesome again! I have a squad of mid-90's Adeptus Arbites, but I think I want to paint something new as that is part of the reason for rolling random scenarios. The original concept for the Judges was along the lines of Judge Dredd, and I happen to have a handful of those classic Citadel models. I might even incorporate a couple of bikes if I can find them (not sure where the Dredd stuff is, but I know it's here somewhere).

The Adeptus Astronomica - They maintain the Astronomican and rarely leave Earth. Boring.

The Adeptus Astra Telepathica - The Astropath who is the target of this game. I have a few models I might use, but I may see if I can round up THE Astropath from eBay. They can be pricy, but I don't think I have much to buy so far.

The Administratum -  The legions of scribes, clerks, and bureaucrats that make the Empire run. This gives me license to include all sorts of strange models and I'll have a look through to see what I might include. It is mentioned that even the lowest ranks of the order may carry weaponry if they are away from Earth. I may resort to some newer models here as I have a couple of scribes from the Inquisition range that would work great. Though they are probably poor soldiers, they may be entertaining!

The Assassins - These deadly servants fall under the cloak of the Adeptus Terra as well, though I don't think I'll use one in this scenario.

So for the rebels I have my Imperial Army, Pirates, and Mercenaries to from the core of the force, but I will likely need to paint a few more depending on how many Imperials I end up with. I'm figuring 15-20 Imperials including a couple of heroes (the Adeptus Mechanicus and Judge Grimm) dug into a covered position so I probably need 30 or 40 rebels to make it seem precarious. I also need to decide on the reason for the rebellion. Are they tired of paying taxes? Under the control of a warp entity (I could use one of the scary Judges as a possessed)? Upset about the cancellation of Imperial Idol? Stay tuned...

For terrain I will likely use my ruined Cityfight boards. Maybe I'll build something new for the scenario like an Administratum Temple ruin. I also need to figure out how many successful transmissions it will take for the Astropath to alert Earth. Each use of the Astrotelepathy power only has a 50% chance of success, but I will probably reduce that (vagaries of the warp) to prevent the game ending on turn three! The sub-plot I generated is classic and I will simply roll to select a random character to which it applies at the start of the game.

It may be a bit before I can start on this, but I wanted to get the wheels turning... mission accomplished!

Reading Rogue Trader, Part Eleven

The Battle at the Farm is among the most famous scenarios in Warhammer 40k lore. A quick Google Search will reveal numerous online battle reports. The game is set on Rynns World and finds the remnants of a small Crimson Fist detachment hunkered down in a burned out farm as a force of Orks makes it's way through the valley, apparently searching for something.

By all accounts (somehow I have never gotten around to running this scenario despite having modern versions of both Crimson Fists and Orks in my collection), the game is heavily weighted on the side of the Space Marines (in the neighborhood of 440 points to 210!). It should be noted that the Orks are trying to recover a hidden treasure in the farm house and it is not necessary for them to kill all of the Marines to win. The Marines may also be placed under some pressure not to sit around in the farm once the shooting starts (see below).

Putting that aside, this chapter again serves to highlight a HUGE difference between Rogue Trader and the modern game of Warhammer 40k. It is assumed that the scenario is central to the experience, not something simply tacked on to set the stage for two 'bring and bash' forces.

Player Briefs
Before every game the gamemaster should prepare a written brief for each player and one for himself too. Each player's brief contains all the information the player would know if he were the commander on the spot - so all the GM needs to do is present the players with their own brief and allow the to read it. A brief contains a description of the background to the scenario, a run down of the situation represented by the battle,profiles for the player's own troops, details of weapons, equipment, and objectives for the game. Having a written brief allows the player to keep and accurate check of his forces, and makes it unnecessary for the GM to keep explaining important details. The brief also makes it easy for each player to keep his own details and objectives confidential, for this reason it is important that players see only their own brief.

There is no reason why a player's brief can't contain deliberately misleading or wrong information!

Relationships between humanity and Orks
have always been somewhat strained (actual caption from the book)

Forces and Disposition
The Space Marines are led by Commander Pedro Cantor. He has fifteen Space Marine Brothers under his command, one of whom is armed with a Missile Launcher. They begin the game hidden in the farm, with no models on the table - their positions are marked on the map and are revealed when they move or fire.

The Orks are led by Thrugg Bullneck. He has twenty Orks, including a champion squad leader called Hrug. They enter the board from anywhere on the eastern edge.

Victory Conditions
The Space Marines must slay all of their opponents to prevent them from informing other Orks to their presence. Thrugg and Hruk are only interested in their treasure (hidden among the ruins during a previous patrol). To recover this they must spend 1 entire game turn alone in the main building - stuffing the jewels into their pockets and packs. Alternately, one of them can recover the loot in 2 turns. To win the game the Ork player must recover the jewels and either Hruk or Thrugg must survive. If the Ork player elects to communicate the Marines' whereabouts and succeeds (Thrugg has a communicator and must roll 6+ to contact his Boss) he will be ordered to stand back and await reinforcements. Once he has done this, the Marines have 4+D6 turns (presumably they intercept the transmission) in which to leave the table by the eastern edge. Any troops failing to do this are caught by an overwhelmingly superior force of Orks and slain automatically. Once the time limit is up Thrugg has blown his chance of recovering the jewels - the Ork in charge of the relief force decides to build a parking lot on the site!

Victory points are presented as an optional rule, though the text mentions 'They make no difference to the game'. They are offered as a way to determine victory if the game can only run for a set length of time and players are unable to finish.

Marine: Each surviving Marine trooper 1, Commander Cantor survives 5, All Orks slain 5, All Orks either slain or routed 3
Orks: Each surviving Ork trooper 1/2, Hruk Survives 2, Thrugg Survives 3, Treasure recovered 5, Marines all slain or routed 3, Situation communicated to base 2

I'm going to have to put this on my list. I'll probably use Ultramarines since I already have ten of them painted and I have plenty of unpainted Rogue Trader era Orks. I have a couple of friends I'm pretty sure are unfamiliar with the details of this scenario now and that is really the best way to run this game. The Orks might have a chance with the fog of war, even at a 2:1 point disadvantage.

Where'd All These Monkeys Come From?

Right, so I don't have enough going on with Chaos and Undead Warhammer Fantasy models scattered all over my desk... I thought I'd add some more Rogue Trader models to my collection of painted minis. But where to start? I have piles of unpainted Space Marines, Adventurers, Pirates, Orks, Chaos, and Genestealers from the good 'ole days. Somehow just sitting down and building some army lists seemed like the wrong way to go about it though.

I decided to break out the Rogue Trader rule book and roll on the scenario chart, making a solemn pledge to adapt, collect, and paint models and terrain for whatever the results were. Might as well roll on the subplot table as well while I'm at it...

(85) Capture and hold an installation or site

(52) Traveling the galaxy in search of salvage isn't the easiest way to make a living, so when the opportunity came to obtain the wrecked alien space ship came along you were there like a shot! The planet is a Death World, but the ship must be worth a fortune - so you quickly landed nearby and set up a dismantling yard. The robots were busy hacking the ship to pieces and crating it when you were attacked by a bunch of Jokaero. What are they after? One things for sure they are not getting your scrap, and you hastily prepare defenses. Can you and your robots defend the scrap, dismantle the ship, load it aboard your freighter and take off before the Jokaero over-run your camp?

Subplot

(60) Whilst the players battle it out a further alien force lands and enters the fray - perhaps hoping to take advantage of the disorder to fulfill some mission of their own.

Jokaero? Really? I have the core for almost everything else that I could have rolled... I nearly rolled again, but decided the whole point of the exercise was to follow the dice or I may just as well picked the Battle at the Farm. Building a ship crew really appealed to me and will make a great core for future games. I also did roll a generic alien subplot which will let me paint some Orks or Genestealers - I'll decide after I've worked out the plot a bit more!

I set out in search of Jokaero, knowing GW has only ever produced two models. I'm not going to list everything I found during the search, but instead show you where I landed...

Though these don't strictly fit the Rogue Trader definition of Jokaero, these Eureka models (photo above is from Eureka's site) are wonderfully full of character. I will paint them in Jokaero Orange and swap a few weapons to mix in some obvious 40k guns. I'm going to build some kind of heavy weapons gun platform Walker to back them up and may add a few human mercenaries depending on the size of my final game.

For the salvage team, I'm going to make them a Rogue Trader and his crew - the big man himself, a pilot, a navigator, a tech (for the robots), and as many security and minor crew as needed to balance the game. I discarded the idea of using Citadel robots after a quick tour through ebay (too pricy since I want about four). I don't need combat droids anyway and decided to use some old Grenadier Gamma World models from my bits box of days gone by minis...

I think these will be perfect for light duty robots. I may mix in some sort of lifter or utility vehicles as well.

For terrain, I already have suitable desert terrain boards and a ruined space ship...

The later is a stock image, but mine is painted and ready to go on the table (somehow I've never managed to take any photos with the wreckage)! It's not an alien ship, but salvage from an Imperial transport may just as mysterious and valuable (hmm.. maybe my 'alien' subplot should be Imperial agents? Not sure yet).

I still need a ship for the Rogue Trader. I could assume it's parked just off table, but where's the fun in that? Again an internet search turned up all kinds of options, but in the end I really liked this...

 The actual model is 1:72 scale, but the kit is over 12" long when assembled and there are few details that will look wrong for 28mm models. I have lots of extra tank bits and hatches I can use to give the illusion of fitting with other 40k kits. Obviously this will be more of a lander than space ship, but it will create a good footprint for a 4x6' table and serve as the centerpiece for the Rogue Trader camp which will have assorted crates and maybe a prefab hut or two. The Rogue Trader's star ship will be in orbit around the planet.

Finally the alien subplot... Orks seeking to make the best of the opportunity to gather loot and make mayhem? Agents of a Genestealer coven attempting to retrieve something from the wreckage... maybe elements in their employ were seeking to smuggle something off the planet... like a Purestrain Genestealer (did it survive the crash)? Or my aliens could simply be Imperials since my alien craft is an Imperial Aquila... after all this is a Death World and all of these parties are probably aliens in the end! 

This is exciting - I love doing this kind of stuff probably more than playing the games!