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Caluphel Factions: The L’Ranna Company

Posted by Comrade on April 5, 2017
Posted in: Posts. Tagged: 40k, caluphel, campaign, project, sci-fi. Leave a comment

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As part of our Caluphel Prime 40k campaign setting, we’re sketching out backstories and motivators for some of the main factions who are converging on the newly rediscovered deathworld. Here is Paul’s contribution — a writeup of his Tau army, The L’Ranna Company.

L’Ranna Company
Updated: 525.997.M41
Founding and Recent History

The L’Ranna Company is relatively new compared to some of the storied units of the Tau Empire.

Following the Emperor’s abortive Damocles Crusade (742.M41), Shas’o Shovah Commander Farsight set up his Farsight Enclaves on the far side of the Damocles Gulf. The Ethereal Leadership found it appropriate to guard against the rebel Commander and thus set up a defensive presence on the nearest Septs, particularly Viorla and Sa’cea, on the western rim of the Tau Empire. The Company was originally founded as part of the Fire Contingent garrisoning Sa’cea against a possible rebel incursion.

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In 889 – 903.M41 the hive Fleet Gorgon invaded Tau space.

Gorgon was exceptional for its ability to quickly adapt on a biological level to new circumstances of battle, such as evolving immunities to Tau weaponry.

The initial push by Gorgon was so devastating that the garrison forces on Viorla and Sa’cea were pulled off and sent into combat. It was on the manufacturing world of Davos, Bork’an Sept, that the Company was birthed in its crucible of fire.

The larger regiment was ordered to defend a munitions manufacturing city while the fleet redeployed. Just after the fleet moved off, a rift opened in the Warp and Tyrant Hive Mother Gorgon with her full brood manifested and began their assault on the city.

Most of the regiment were lost within the first few hours of the Tyranid assault. Night fell when the last distress transmission from the regiment made it off-world.

The fleet returned at daybreak the next day and landed reinforcements expecting to find Tyranids in control. The city was deserted and adrift with smoke. All was silence on the battlefield when landing party found, still at their posts, the victorious Company, exhausted but alive. The rescuers set up a clamor, banging their guns against their shields crying aloud “L’Ranna! L’Ranna! L’Ranna!”

L’Ranna is a Tau word that describes the stillness of a battlefield when all that is left is smoke and the last quiet whimpers of the dying enemy.

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Shas’o Shaserra, Commander Shadowsun herself anointed the Company L’Ranna and promoted their remaining lieutenant Nyessa to Shas’el Captain Nightsbane. The Gorgon offensive was eventually destroyed in 903.M41 due to the combined efforts of the Tau and the Imperial Guard 903rd Tank Regiment. Shaserra took Nyessa on as pupil and began to train her in the sacred Code of Fire and the all-important law of the Tau’va.

Over the next 90 years the L’Ranna Company saw repeated action against the enemies of the Tau, capturing banners of the Space Wolves, Necrons, Space Marines and multiple Ork Waaghs! during the Great War of Confederation (975.M41) just prior to the Third Expansion (current year 975.M41).

975 was a year that changed the destiny for the Company. Under the orders of Shadowsun herself, Shas’el Nyessa led the Company on the assault of the tundra mining world of Aggoroleth. Unbeknownst to the Company, the world contained a lost artifact stargate that triggered upon their approach. Its energy bubble engulfed the Company and instantaneously transported them 250 lightyears toward the galactic core, and directly into a massive battle between Farsight forces and a tendril of Hive Fleet Kraken. The Company helped Commander Farsight drive off the Tyranid forces — and then found themselves prisoners of the rebel Tau leader.

Transition
Colonel Nyessa’s first reaction to her capture was to attempt assassination of Farsight, obeying her training under Shadowsun and according to her loyalty to the Tau Empire. However Farsight easily disarmed the Nyessa and bound her fast.

He treated the company well, and over the coming weeks made known to them the evidence of the betrayals by the Ethereals that had first triggered his departure. Once he had presented his evidence, he offered the members of the Company a choice: join the Farsight Enclaves in honor or be given transport back to Tau space. He could not guarantee their survival across the Damocles Gulf, but he did not wish to deprive the Tau Septs any defense, despite their current differences.

Several Fire Cadres planned their trip for home, but the bulk of the Company looked to Nyessa for guidance.

She was honestly torn, having grown into leadership under the guidance of Farsight’s rival Shadowsun. But she found the evidence against the Ethereals compelling and understood that Shovah could also be pursuing the Greater Good, albeit on a different path. Seeing the beauty of the Farsight Septs and finding many lost Sa’cea relatives among their worlds finalized her decision, and she swore loyalty to Farsight and the Enclaves. The bulk of the Company did the same.

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Current Year
As their first assignment, Farsight has sent Nightsbane and Company L’Ranna to investigate the newly rediscovered deathworld Caluphel, recently reemerged from the Warp. He has no additional forces to pull from his defense of the Enclaves from Hive Fleet Kraken, and so this is a perfect proving operation for his new Company. So soon has this operation arisen that many of the Company have not yet had time to change their Sa’cea markings from the orange of their Sept over to Farsight red.

Warzone Resurrection Leviathan Tank

Posted by Comrade on March 31, 2017
Posted in: Posts. Tagged: 40k, miniatures, painting, sci-fi. Leave a comment

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Last year I stumbled across a company running a 50% discount on their Warzone Resurrection models, including some of the big ol’ resin vehicle kits. I initially planned to pick up the Grizzly but decided at the last minute to grab a Leviathan. Both vehicles have that chunky, faux-WWI aesthetic that you also see in Warhammer 40k, but the Grizzly is probably a bit more common so I went with the road less traveled: the Leviathan.

Ordinarily this is the sort of purchase that would languish in my workshop for months or even years before getting sold off to fund some other project. But once we started sketching out the bare bones of Caluphel Prime, our homebrew 40k campaign planet, I knew I wanted to carve out a spot in the narrative for an Imperial Guard detachment. That would mean tanks and vehicles … lots of them!

So I cracked open the kit and spent some time assembling my Leviathan. This was a resin model with more than a few pesky mold lines, but thankfully no bubbles to fill. And the entire kit was like 6 total pieces, so assembly was a breeze (and a far cry from the multi-part vehicle kits that you see in 40k!).

This vehicle featured prominently in last week’s game of Grimdark Future (in fact, it was the lone survivor!).

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I knew before I started painting it that I wanted to try for a drab gray-and-ochre color scheme to match my Pig Iron System Scavengers. I’d never tried large camo patterns before, so I figured this would be an OK time to give it a shot. What’s the worst that could happen?

Here’s the result. It’s no pro paint job, but it’s definitely serviceable.

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I’m afraid I screwed up the final layer of spray varnish, though. It dried in a slightly pebbly texture, not super noticeable, but also not what I intended. You can’t really see it in these pictures but it’s there. Oh well, gotta roll with the punches.

I’m already moving on to the next project, which will either be A) finishing off 3 Frostgrave guys who have sat on my workbench since last summer or B) knocking out 2 quick shantytown terrain pieces for my sci-fi/post-apoc table. Which one should I do first?

Grimdark Future: Breakout at LZ Infernus

Posted by Comrade on March 28, 2017
Posted in: Posts. Tagged: 1p40k, 40k, game night, grimdark, sci-fi. 1 Comment

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Last weekend Paul and I got together to try out Grimdark Future, the latest iteration in the “One Page Rules” series.

Grimdark Future is the successor to One Page 40k, which we’ve been playing quite often here at Comrade’s Wargames. The publishers wisely decided to strip out all of the copyrighted material and rerelease One Page 40k as Grimdark Future a month or two back, with all of the proprietary terminology like “Khorne Berzerker” and “Leman Russ” replaced with slightly more generic terms. This was our first opportunity to give the new game a thorough run-through.

We decided to set up a breakout scenario featuring my Imperial Guard army (the Iron Shields of Magnadim) versus Paul’s Tau (the L’Ranna Company). In Grimdark Future, my Guard were called “Human Defense Forces” and Paul’s Tau were called “TAO.” Clever way to skirt the copyrighted material!

The game was set in Saint Scythia Starport outside Jericho Station on the planet Caluphel. Here’s the blurb I put together to describe our scenario:

Troop transports bearing advance elements of the Imperial Guard’s Magnadim 216th shock regiment (the Iron Shields of Magnadim) conducted a hasty landing under fire on the outskirts of Saint Scythia Starport. Even as the landers dusted off and powered their way back to orbit, the troops on the ground faced the grim prospect of breaking out of their small firebase and linking up with the rest of the Imperial forces on Caluphel. In the silent ruins of the once-majestic starport, their enemy waited…

From a narrative standpoint, this game represents the landing of the Magnadim 216th. Paul’s L’Ranna Company was already planetside and, conveniently, in a position to thwart the Iron Shields’ landing. Let’s see how it played out…

Our game began, actually, with a false start. Paul showed up at my place and pulled out his 750 point Grimdark Future list, as did I. We both remarked about how 750 didn’t buy you nearly as many figures compared to 1P40K. Paul’s “army” numbered fewer than 20 figures, as I recall!

So we made an executive decision: Paul hopped in his car and went home to grab the rest of his Tau figures and I added a commensurate number of units to my Imperial Guard army. I think our armies totaled 1200-ish points each once everything was said and done. Luckily Paul lives 10 minutes away so this didn’t take much time away from our game night.

Once that was all sorted, we got down to the game. I deployed my Iron Shields in a small firebase along one long table edge. We designated three ruined buildings in the center of the table as objectives. The goal of my Iron Shields was to advance through the ruined city, seize the objective buildings, and if possible exit off Paul’s table edge. The Tau goals were to contest the objectives in the center of the table and, if possible, occupy the firebase.

The game started with BANG as a lucky shot from Paul’s Broadside popped my APC, spilling the occupants onto the pavement.

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This encounter introduced us to the first major change we noticed in Grimdark Future: the absence of the Extra Armor upgrade for vehicles. This rule was very popular among our play group in 1P40K, as it really helped improve the survivability of light armored vehicles. I really missed its absence in Grimdark Future!

So, it looked we’d be walking out of the firebase. OK, that’s life. My guys grabbed their gear and started filtering out into the ruins, hoping to evade the guns of the Tau defenders.

That proved to be a tall order, as Paul had occupied some tactical positions on the battlefield. I was forced to advance through withering fire into the comparative cover of the urban cityscape.

 

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In true Imperial Guard fashion, my battle tank (a newly painted Leviathan resin model from Warzone Resurrection; blog post forthcoming!) proved to be the most potent piece in my army. Its linked autocannons raked the Tau lines, causing grievous casualties — but not *that* grievous, thanks to some lucky rolls from Paul’s shield drones.

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As in our previous games, Paul’s scout spotters used their marker lights to devastating effect. Here they are lurking in a ruined building with their flashlights of doom.

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By this point I had moved a couple of squads up near the objective buildings. But Paul’s crisis battlesuits were executing an effective pincer formation, trapping me in the center of the table under increasingly potent firepower.

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In the final turns, Paul’s second squad of crisis suits arrived via ambush (you know it better as Deep Strike) and sealed my doom. My battle tank was still motoring along, slaughtering Tau, but it became clear that I wasn’t going to have any infantry left to hold the buildings by the end of the game.

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Here’s my tank, barely touched but unable to win the game, along with my final surviving squad of infantry in the ruins of the main objective building.

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After the game we discussed our thoughts on Grimdark Future versus 1P40k.

Grimdark Future did away with the “saving throw” by the defender to block wounds and replaced it with a modifier to the attacker’s roll to wound. I think I understand why they did this, but to me it eliminates a powerful psychological element of the game — the idea of a last-gasp saving throw to avoid destruction. It also, conveniently, gave the defender something to do in the game. Now in Grimdark Future, the defender just watches as the attacker rolls buckets of dice and tells him how many of his dudes have died.

We’re going to stick with Grimdark Future, though, and will probably investigate some house rules to increase interaction and bring back some of the mechanics we liked from 1P40k (such as the Extra Armor upgrade, for instance).

We’re also going to continue the narrative that was started with this game. Will the Tau be safe now that they’ve neutralized this vanguard of the 216th Magnadim shock regiment? And how soon until everyone realizes just why this ancient colony failed in the first place…?

Caluphel: Checking in Dirtside

Posted by Comrade on March 24, 2017
Posted in: Posts. Tagged: 40k, caluphel, campaign, project, sci-fi. Leave a comment

scficity_final2

Memorex
To:
Prelate Chrydriik Guillurus, Macrotechnia Technographica Determinus

From: SubCadre Commander Uriel Vare
Re:  Caluphel Reemergence Hyper Strategy, Research Directory
Date:  2  160  941.M41

Sir.

Please find attached a newly recovered document from the original Caluphel landing.   This is a transcript of a vidlog from a member of the security attachment assigned to the colonists.

I hesitate to remind you, as you assuredly know, soldiers from this era were drawn from the ancient Imperial Army, precursor to the Foundational Legions and the blessed Improvement Cycles for His Sons that would enable the success of the Unification Wars. However, this vidlog is important as it describes the first elements that would categorize Caluphel as a death world.  There are hints as to the coming catastrophe as well.

Additional background material is again on W.rMTD.x12v465 in your personal terminal node.

In the Emperor’s name.

Vare

Personal Log, 0.1.21, 2735 estimated.

Platoon Sergeant Tamlynne Jen

  • So the colonist says to me, “Impressive ain’t it? And I don’t say anything, cause after a dozen of these landings all of this is old news. But I know what he’s saying, right?”
  • 21 days after landing and Saint Scythia is already moved from DropZ to Forward Airbase to Fortified and now approaching Terminal size. They land massive dropships of various configurations. Some deconstruct with modules forming building complexes, others drop nanofactories for power generation or growing the crete runways and roads. Other ships simply land in position, dig their base and are used as functional spaces and towers as-is.  21 days and a rocky shelf along the horizon line of the habitable zone is now a metal and concrete fortress.
  • CO is pissed as usual.
  • “This is where they drop? Right here?” I don’t say nothing ’cause I know a roll when I hear one. He points to the west, sunward. “Nothing but desert, hardpack and then volcanic flows that way. This here may be rock…” (he kicks at the tarmac like it didn’t just grow there four days ago) “…but you got a river splitting north and south of us and then swamp to the east.” He spits. “Rutting swamp is where they drop us.”
  • But I understand why we based here, and Cop gets it as well. Nothing going to come at us from sunside, and the river dries out as it flows from the east and splits around the base. Great natural defenses to start. Great place right here. But the swamp is going to be an issue. First off, who knows what sort of disease are breeding in there? Second, we’re going to spend the next two months shuttling colonists over the damn thing so they can start breaking ground on the fertile plains beyond. Right on we’re moving our civvies away from safety and we’ve only been on planet for three weeks.
  • Cop finishes swearing and thinks a moment.
  • “Jen, I’m pulling your squad out of babysitting this coming rotation. I need you on roadbuilding.”
  • “Fuck that, Cop,” I say. “That’s the shit detail. Put Beta on it.”
  • “Cut it out Jen,” he says. “Top priority now is those engineers building the road linking us to the settlements. I want it built, secured and the vegetation beat back 10 meters on each side as a barrier.” He held up a hand. “Priority number one, and I’m putting my best on it.”
  • I give him hell about what we’ve been through together. “You’re putting your number two on watching a bunch of grounders build a road? Piss on that.”
  • “Stand down Sergeant. You heard about the fire at the Transformer 14 last night?”
  • “Yeah, I heard about it. One of the standalone fission generators set on the western limits caught fire. Some sort of damage from landing.”
  • He says, “That’s the press. The fire. Real story is that we recorded discrete magnetic fields right before and after. They came from and headed back to that rutting swamp before and after the explosion.”
  • So it’s people, I say. Colonists sabotaging their own, I say.
  • “No, Jen. These sigs are off the charts. No way that was human. Energy signatures are like nothing we’ve seen.”
  • Dammit Copper, Dammit…
  • “Jen,” he says, losing his temper. “Will you pull your head out of your ass for a minute? You hearing me? What do you think is going on here?! Think for a minute!”
  • I do. This landing is like all the ones before. So we’ve got hostiles. That happens. And then I look around Scythia. The dropships, the fortifications, the gun emplacements. The Company. No, no, strike that. There’s more than our company here. I’m looking at hundreds of soldiers. Definitely a Battalion, but maybe even the full Regiment.   Well over 2,000 soldiers.
  • “How many colonists did we land, Jen?”
  • “Last I heard, it was 500 families, plus specialists and infrastructure. Maybe 2,000 civies total.” I shook my head. “One to one ratio? Why they send all this firepower, Captain? What aren’t they telling us?”
  • He turned and stood by me looking west…at the swamp, the grassland and in the distance the ice-capped mountains.
  • “I don’t know Sergeant,” he said quietly. “But I don’t like it.”

Read more about Caluphel…

Fully Painted: Pig Iron System Scavengers

Posted by Comrade on March 20, 2017
Posted in: Posts. Tagged: 28mm, painting, sci-fi, warbands. 5 Comments

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If you know me, then you know that I’m a sucker for the fantastic 28mm sci-fi figures from Pig Iron Productions. Over the years I’ve collected skirmish squads and warbands from most of their figure lines, including the gritty, weaponed-up Heavy Infantry, to the bizarre, rag-wrapped Kolony Ferals, to the greatcoat-and-gasmask troopers from the Kolony Militia series. I am, in short, a Pig Iron aficionado.

Earlier this month I finally got around to completing my newest acquisitions: the System Scavengers. They’re sort of a mix of near-future commandos and sci-fi shock troops, with ramshackle armor, enclosed helmets and lots of packs and pouches. I snatched up a 10-man squad of these guys back shortly after the Brexit announcement, when the British pound was weak against the dollar. Then they sat (as new acquisitions often do) in my project box while I focused on other stuff (namely, building my nascent Night Lords 40k army).

Now that my 40k setting is humming along, I wanted an excuse to paint up these System Scavengers. So they’ll be introduced as part of an Imperial Guard detachment that is taking part in the exploration of Caluphel Prime (the main planet in my homebrew 40k setting).

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In addition to simply loving these figures, I was also enamored by the yellow and gray paint job in the official Pig Iron studio photos. So (in a rare moment of artistic license) I decided to try to emulate it.

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In retrospect I think my yellow was a bit more ochre than the Pig Iron studio photos, but I’m still happy with the result. It’s a bolder paint scheme than I probably would have attempted without some inspiration.

The four-legged mobile support weapon is a repurposed Mechwarrior model. I gave him a new head to bring the figure more in line with his 28mm buddies on the battlefield.

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These guys will hit the table soon in a game of Grimdark Future (the next iteration of One Page 40k). Stay tuned!

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