03: Residential Territories
As a campaign which begins with the recruitment of Cultists, Residential Territories are the beating heart of the game. There are three types of Residential Territories: Thresher Houses, STC Habitation Blocks and Criminal Habitations. They all have features in common, but there are some key differences, so it's best to look at them individually before I post the Territory Cards.
All Residential Territories need to be populated. This can seem daunting, so you can just use Orison's Wake as is if you prefer; these rules are provided in case you want to create settlements of your own. This post will also explain how I placed the population into buildings, but that can be dependent upon available scenery, so you may have to adapt it to suit your terrain collection.
Thresher Houses: The Thresher Houses are the Elite Citizens of Orison's Wake, and they have tremendous family and personal resources. Entrance to their territories is by invitation only, though it is possible for small groups of cultists to Lurk undetected, waiting for an opportune moment to infect or corrupt a lone Thresher without attracting too much attention. Some Thresher Houses consist of a single extended family, while other are clans consisting of multiple families. Full details and background for each of the Thresher Houses will be added over time.
All Thresher Houses are managed by Elders. Over a lifetime augmented by rejuvenation technologies, these powerful strategists and leaders guide the growth of their assets through marriages, intrigues, espionage and alliances with shipping and merchant guilds and military factions. Next in the hierarchy are the Adults, who are the largest demographic, and the principle agents of the house, whether they are farmers, merchants, soldiers or scholars. The Youth are not as skilled as Adults, but they frequently participate in House business, including the territorial skirmishes which occur from time to time. Finally, Children represent the potential of each House, yet they themselves are too young to contribute to the well being of the House.
To populate a Thresher House roll for each age category as follows:
5d6 Children
10d6 Youth
20d6 Adults
3d6 Elders
That's a maximum of 228 citizens and a minimum of 38. I didn't design rules to track by gender- that's a level of minutiae too deep even for me. In addition to citizens, Thresher House have resources including weapons, vehicles and servitors. You can generate these as follows:
3d6 Autopistols 5d6 Autoguns
3d6 Laspistols 5d6 Lasguns
3d6 Stub Pistols 5d6 Shotguns
2d3 Chainswords 1d3 Power Swords
1d3 Vehicles 1d6 Servitors
1d3 Special Weapons [melta gun, plasma gun, flamer, grenade launcher, sniper rifle; pick whichever you have in your collection]
1d3 Heavy Weapons [heavy flamer, lascannon, autocannon, heavy stubber, plasma cannon, multimelta; pick whichever is in your collection]
For my vehicles, I'm using Goliaths/ Rockgrinders with the magnetized weapons removed.
Servitors can be any of the servitor models GW makes, but think farming. I may convert Kataphrons with Threshing Scythes, but I'm not sure. For now I'm using regular old servitors.
I use OOP metal Necromunda models for Threshers; as they get infected or corrupted, I will create "cult" versions by using the new plastics and return the metals back to the pool of models for Threshers, to be renamed and used again.
From here,you'll want to build as many Kill Teams as you can, because Threshers absolutely will defend themselves, and may even attack! There are Kill Team rules for Thresher Houses, but this post is about residential territories. I will be building a Faction: Thresher House thread to host them instead of posting them to this forum- that way you'll be able to see them before I build this thread up to the point where they would logically appear.
I've gone a step further, because I enjoy scratch building scenery, and I made a modular set of buildings specifically for this campaign. I create persistent table maps, so that subsequent battles fought at the same location are fought on the exact table. In the weeks and months to come, I will be building a Saint Katherine's Aegis Youtube channel which will feature the detailed interiors, and the ways in which the buildings can be modified to reflect control by various factions.
My idea was that the kill teams wouldn't necessarily organize across households, meaning that if you caught them by surprise, you could kill team members where they live.
Elders will only live in detached residences with selected members of the extended family, while all others live in buildings modified from STC Habitations. These buildings have four individual residences per level,and they are stackable, meaning that you can choose how many buildings you're going to use and how many levels per building.
What I did was assign 1-3 Elders to each stand alone house. Then I added 2-4 Adults, 1-3 Youth and 1-3 Children. I did not roll randomly; I chose based on availability of terrain and models. The remaining models must be placed into the residential units of an STC Habitation. I went with 2-4 Adults, 0-3 Youth and 0-3 Children. It's also a good idea to leave one residence free in each building. Random events happen between campaign turns, and the space might be needed to facilitate an event.
I'll be adding both spreadsheets and cards as downloads later on, but it might take me a while to get there. Tracking it sounds daunting, but with the right tools, it's easier than you might think. Still, most players probably don't have the scenery and don't desire this level of minutia. That's fine- the kill teams are the really important piece. If you're adventurous though,a bit of time spent at this stage can be very rewarding. I'm using this campaign to generate content, so stories are everything to me. The distribution can suggest familial relationships, and kill teams create a competing set of loyalties. Add to that the potential for infection or corruption, and you've got a real story generator on your hands.
Finally, it should be mentioned that while I've put a lot into the development of Thresher Houses, they are essentially an NPC faction, and many of them will ultimately end up becoming cultists. They aren't really meant to conquer or occupy territories other than their own Houses, and they weren't really designed to be super competitive; we want the cults to grow for the sake of the campaign. They are likely only to be used as Kill Team opponents to cults, likely played by he folks who will become the Imperial Faction players once the Cults get big enough to attract their notice.
STC Habitation Blocks: These territories contain the everyday Imperial citizens. There are no stand alone homes for these expendable servants of the Imperium, only STC Habitations. Furthermore, citizens possess no weapons, do not form kill teams and will merely attempt to flee to the nearest board edge. I didn't put anywhere near as much thought into the habitation blocks when I populated them. For recruitment purposes, it's a good idea to start in the Hab Blocks rather than tackle a Thresher House too soon.
To populate the territory, just roll citizens as you would for a Thresher House. Do not generate weapons or equipment.
When assigning these citizens to their individual residences, you should go for a slightly higher density- after all, these people are poor, and their quality of life is lower than that of a Thresher. It's also not as important to track it as it is for Threshers, though I did it anyway. As with Thresher Houses, leave one unit per building vacant for story events.
Criminal Habitations: These are identical to STC Habitations, except that distributed throughout the various residences are Criminal NPC's and their henchmen. There will be enough present in each territory to form a single Kill Team. These guys are tough, and they roam, and wreck everyone's day. Some sell rare weapons, some sell combat drugs, some will work for hire, they have may have allegiances...
Generate the citizens as you would for an STC Habitation Block, then pick an NPC Criminal and enough Henchmen for a Kill Team. If the territory is attacked, citizens flee, but Criminals use them as human shields and attack.
Edited by ThePenitentOne, 26 January 2020 - 10:08 PM.