Black Book - The Eastern Expansion Campaigns

[bluntblade]

Culminating in a big battle.

[simison]

It's only been two weeks since my last update, but I have another piece of good news: The Shepherds of Eden have been submitted! That is now 2 out of 7 factions completed, and 2 out of 3 factions of Book 2A. 

 

Briefly, the progress since then has been a completed Exemplary Battle for the Void Eagles. They are well on track to being the third faction done. The Steel Legion has taken another step forward. And Squig is tweaking the Dune Serpents. 

 

The biggest questions right now are we adding the Predators to this trilogy? And what should be the name of the first mini-book? As I mentioned in the Book Outline thread, I think we should just name each mini-book after their core battle/campaign.

 

For mini-book 2A, I suggest we have a Battle of Badab where a force of Harbingers and Morning Stars fight against a force of Void Eagles and Shepherds. So, potential names would be "The Battle for Badab" or "The Maelstrom Conquest" or something else.

 

 

Progress Update. It's been over a month since the last one, but the Void Eagles have been submitted! That makes 3 out of 7 factions for Escalation Trilogy past Alpha Phase, and all factions submitted for The Maelstrom Conquest.

 

Snapshot

• Void Eagles: Minor note, I aimed to finish them in less than two months in the Aug. 31st post, and I made it. Woo!
• Dune Serpents: Squig has almost completed the General History section. Hopefully with his next post, they'll clear that hurdle. 
• Steel Legion: Progress is on-going as they near the end of their General History section as well.
• Predators: With a title page completed, Kel is taking the first steps into creating his General History. 
• [Traitor Dune Serpents]: Sadly, this is the one faction that has not advanced at all in the last month. May that change soon.

 

Overall, we have now completed the fluff chapters for 7 Legions out of 18, only 2 short of that halfway point!

 

With the Void Eagles done, I'm taking a brief tour through the Dune Serpents (which I just finished) and the Predators. After some help, I'll be permanently shifting to the Steel Legion, taking over Sig's effort there.

[Kelborn]

Small addition to the Preds:

 

- most of their units and special characters got rules and fluff; unit fluff was written by Blunt and is fixed; rules may need to be revised; same goes for special characters, as I want to exchange some in favor of new ones

- overall fluff, etc. is WIP, slowly but constantly progressing ^^

[bluntblade]

Do we have fluff-mentioned battles around the time of Book 2?

[simison]

Do we have fluff-mentioned battles around the time of Book 2?

 

How do you mean? Battles that aren't the featured campaigns?

[bluntblade]

Yes. We should sprinkle some in the build-up to whatever the big battle is.

[Sigismund229]

I'll need to look back at the plans I made for 2A but yes, I believe we do

[bluntblade]

Neat. Also, working on fluff and wargear for Empyon, will welcome advice on rules

[simison]

[The first Traitor Serpent Insurgo will be called the Venom Lords.] 

 

The Venom Lords

 

While the Shepherds of Eden were the first Insurgos to ever exist, though the name Insurgo would come much later, the Venom Lords wore the dubious distinction of being the first Insurgo created by the Insurrection. Upon the Day of Revelation, few Legions were spared the division inflicted upon the Imperium. The Dune Serpents, of all of the Loyalist Legions, suffered the most from this schism. Well over half of the Legion would pledge themselves to the nascent Stormlord, leaving a shadowed remnant to maintain their fealty to Azus. 

 

Even at the height of their power, the Dune Serpents had always been a fractious Legion, held together by thin strands of common origin, practicality, and loyalty. The Insurrection would aggravate these thin bonds. While the Loyalist Serpents were able to maintain a semblance of unity, many Traitor Serpents split into smaller warbands, who's reliability to the Traitor's cause could be questionable at times. However, true distintegration didn't appear to be the inevitable future of the Traitor Serpents. 

 

Mahrid Ganzur 

 

Command Hierarchy

 

[Text]

 

Material Strength

 

[text]

Edited November 4, 2017 by simison

[bluntblade]

Any ideas for the Harbingers' big battle in this book? A few quick thoughts:

- To a point, we've seen their naval prowess in Book 1, so that's perhaps better used in brief mentions of preceding battles

- Unlike the SoH we haven't given them a big showing in the first book

- Likewise we haven't had Icarion in battle so far

[Kelborn]

A duel about divination / a first clash between him and Alex, testing their strengths? Spread across a sector in order to show their abilities as leaders?

 

Jurst blurbing ideas. Don't know if they feasible.

[bluntblade]

Alex will be bogged down with Mars/the broader war, I'm afraid.

[MikhalLeNoir]

- How about a lost cause amd then the harbingers attack driving the loyalist forces off a planet

- Icarion shown as great strategist outmaneuvering the loyalists.

- As fighter he could be the first who appears on battle cutting through the enemy lines

Edited November 13, 2017 by MikhalLeNoir

[bluntblade]

But saving a lost cause really undercuts the vibe of the Insurrectionists going on the offensive.

[simison]

Any ideas for the Harbingers' big battle in this book? A few quick thoughts:

- To a point, we've seen their naval prowess in Book 1, so that's perhaps better used in brief mentions of preceding battles

- Unlike the SoH we haven't given them a big showing in the first book

- Likewise we haven't had Icarion in battle so far

 

What's wrong with the Badab Prime battle?

[MikhalLeNoir]

But saving a lost cause really undercuts the vibe of the Insurrectionists going on the offensive.

They go on the offensive and still are pushed back until the harbingers arrive and vaporize the defenses.

[bluntblade]

Doesn't sound right. The Loyalists aren't even sure how much they've lost at this point.

 

We should have Icarion demolish an Army muster or something like that.

 

Sim, refresh my memory?

[bluntblade]

So, the Badab... Subjugation?

[simison]

I've been busy. Anyway, the idea was that the Shepherds of Eden are caught by the Traitor advance in the Badab system, assaulted by a combined force of Morning Stars and Harbingers. At the end, the Void Eagles are able to come in and evacuate the survivors, maybe Yucahu himself showing up.

[bluntblade]

I'd be inclined to use that as a preceding battle. Reckon the Harbingers should be depicted winning a crushing victory, on par with Horus in Conquest.

[simison]

What were you thinking?

[bluntblade]

An Army muster is held to try and head off Icarion's advance, with Titans and everything, only for Icarion to launch a preeptive strike that takes an entire region. Edited November 15, 2017 by bluntblade

[bluntblade]

My brother has rehearsed the mantra that his means are justified by the cause, I am sure. It is a lie. He has comitted himself to an unholy trifecta of familial sins; patricide, infanticide, fratricide. Two of those already stain his hands. There are many other crimes to his name, but those will blacken his soul most of all.

 

He might not perceive it yet. Perhaps the moral victory he thinks he fights for blinds him to the worlds starved and blasted into submission. But his cause is already tainted by his treachery; there are precious few lines left for him to cross.

 

Niklaas, Reflections

[bluntblade]

How many battles are we splitting the Commena Cluster into? I'm guessing two or three for the Cluster proper, along with what I'm dubbing the Battle of Ysta, where Susanoo Empyon destroys a would-be retribution muster.

 

Just as Horus used the Death Guard, Solar Auxilia (Cthonian headhunters in this instance) and Cycloranthe Mechanicum during the conquest of the Coronid Depths, it'd be reasonable for Icarion to use Legions and other forces loyal to him. Plus it'd help to sell the scale.

 

In that case, do we want to just use those introduced in Book 1? I have ideas for Grave Stalkers and Drowned involvement, but those roles could also be filled by traitor Dune Serpents and Berserkers, respectively.

Edited November 28, 2017 by bluntblade

[Sigismund229]

How many battles are we splitting the Commena Cluster into? I'm guessing two or three for the Cluster proper, along with what I'm dubbing the Battle of Ysta, where Susanoo Empyon destroys a would-be retribution muster.

 

Just as Horus used the Death Guard, Solar Auxilia (Cthonian headhunters in this instance) and Cycloranthe Mechanicum during the conquest of the Coronid Depths, it'd be reasonable for Icarion to use Legions and other forces loyal to him. Plus it'd help to sell the scale.

 

In that case, do we want to just use those introduced in Book 1? I have ideas for Grave Stalkers and Drowned involvement, but those roles could also be filled by traitor Dune Serpents and Berserkers, respectively.

Right, well original plan was for Icarion to hit Comnena with 30,000 Harbingers, with Comnena essentially paving the way for the Void Eagles vs Harbingers confrontation. 

 

Now first question is whether the Fire Keepers in Comnena actually know about the Insurrection. My inclination is to say that they are because if they're not then the resistance in Comnena would be short lived at best and essentially just Day of Revelation 2.0. Now, having said that, another reason why I'm in favour of them being aware of it is that we need a reason why the Comnena garrison is so large, after all 8,000 legionaries purely to moniter the pyskers in Comnena is overkill. So, my thinking is that there was an existing Fire Keeper garrison in Comnena that Niklaas expanded and reinforced following the DoR. The idea behind that would be that I imagine that, during the first year of the war, Alex is trying to contain Icarion while he's dealing with Mars and getting a handle on how extensive the DoR damage is. 

 

How many engagements should constitute the Comnena campaign? I'm inclined to say two sizeable engagements in the Cluster itself, one of which should be focused on how badly the SoS mess with the Harbingers foresight. Now this leads me to my next question: how do we want Comnena ending? A bloodied but unbowed Fire Keeper retreat? Or a heroic last stand against overwhelming odds? Personally I'd go for the latter, but Demus, this call is ultimately up to you. What would the Fire Keepers do in this situation?

 

Next, there's the idea you've raised, blunt, of having an engagement essentially to put Empyon in the spotlight. I agree in principal and I think we could tie it into the Imperium wanting to contain Icarion. So when it becomes apparent Icarion is going to break through Comnena, Alex sends more troops to reinforce the Fire Keepers, primarily Imperial Army, but they get ambushed by the Harbingers led by Empyon(perhaps Empyon's force has some pariah marines from one of those legions accompanying them to "cloak" their presence and ensure that Alex doesn't foresee their ambushing the relief force?). 

 

With regards to Comnena's location, I think it should be more emphasized that it's at the gates of the Maelstrom rather than close to Prospero. We have to remember that all memory of Prospero has been expunged, it's now a "Prospero? What's that?" *walks away whistling* situation. 

 

Finally, I'd like to apologize for how little I've been participating and how difficult I've been to get hold of for the past month or so. I blame living away from home for the first time and an uncooperative Latin and Greek teacher.