Here is a map showing the major star systems of the Juventius Sub-Sector, home of the Juventius Free Regiment (John’s renegade [?] Imperial Guard faction in our Caluphel Awakenings campaign). Look for future game reports and mini-campaigns set in the sprawling worlds of the Juventius Sub-Sector!
Here’s one last faction writeup for our Caluphel Awakenings campaign! This one comes from Alex and focuses on his Salamanders Space Marine warband.
Long before the 41st millenium, during the Horus Heresy, the Primarch Vulkan had Forge Father T’kell hide nine of the powerful artifacts he had created in a hidden vault upon an unnamed world. He did this to ensure the artifacts would never fall into the hands of the traitor forces encroaching upon the loyal Imperium.
The artifacts were lost to history and hunted by loyalists, traitors, and xenos alike. The Salamanders did not recover any of the artifacts until the early 41st millenium, when Forge Father Vulkan Dir’san found the forge-ship Chalice of Fire along with the artifact known as the Eye of Vulkan drifting in space. This discovery kickstarted a new search for the rest of the artifacts. The Salamanders now have five of the nine and are still in their perpetual quest to obtain the final four.
Near the end of the 41st millenium, Techmarine Argos, the Salamanders’ Master of the Forge, discovered a clue as to the whereabouts of the vault that was meant to hide the artifacts upon the Chalice of Fire. The ship was designed to transport the artifacts to the massive vault that would hide them.
This spurred the full mobilization of a battle group meant to finally find the ancient vault once and for all and — hopefully — uncover more clues as to the whereabouts of the last four artifacts. The forces composing the battle group where the entire first company, elements of the second, third, and the seventh companies, and including large elements of the Salamanders armory and a sizable chunk of their fleet power.
The battle group was led by the Captain of the second company, Al’kehere, and Forge Father Vulkan He’stan. Now known as the Crusade of Fire, the battle group departed just as the Thirteenth Black Crusade got underway. As they were in transit, Cadia fell and the Cicatrix Maledictum formed and broke apart the fleet. Three quarters of the Crusader of Fire materialized from the warp southeast of Macragge. The rest of the fleet was lost to the warp, including the majority of the first company, the Forge Father, and almost the entirety of the Salamanders armor.
However, a beacon of light gave hope to the broken Crusade. The Salamanders’ ships picked up the astropathic calls of friendly Imperial forces in a nearby sector, above the world of Caluphel. Not knowing what had transpired or how long they had been lost in the warp, the Salamanders resolved to meet their Imperial allies — who, beyond the Crusade’s knowledge, were being reinforced by a new ally to the Imperium.
Captain Al’kehere was chosen to lead the Crusade of Fire for his knowledge of the area and its native xenos, experience he gained from prior engagements in the sector.
The captain was born near the middle of the 41st millenium to one of the few remaining nomadic tribes of Nocturne. He was discovered by the captain of the seventh company on a training mission as young Al’kehere was attempting to save his father from a firedrake with only his hammer.
It was a losing battle to be sure. The seventh company captain saved him and his father and rewarded him with a choice for his valor and courage. He would either escort them home, or Al’kehere could have the option to join the next batch of aspirants to join the seventh company.
Realizing it was an amazing honor to join the Salamanders’ ranks, he was encouraged by his father to accept the Captain’s offer. He managed to survive the grueling tests of the Salamanders and made it through his time as an aspirant to become a battle brother in the devastator core of the second company.
He rose quickly through the ranks of the second for the same courage that won him a place in the chapter’s ranks. By the end of the 41st millennium, he had achieved the rank of Captain and Master of the Watch for almost 400 years of exemplary service. During those four centuries, he perpetually fought for the Emperor and Vulkan, making him an ideal leader for the Crusade of Fire.
Here’s a peek at John’s faction in our Caluphel Awakenings campaign: the Juventius Free Regiment.
Rather than go with a “typical” 40k army, John has sketched out a fighting force firmly ensconced in the moral gray area of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. And we all know there’s plenty of that! After all, you can’t have grimdark without some grimgray lurking on the periphery.
When the Great Rift opened and the Emperer’s grace fled sub-sector Juventius, Imperial Command ordered a mass exodus toward Holy Terra. The faithful obeyed, taking to their ships and entering the warp on an ill-fated retreat. No one has seen or heard from them since.
Those who declined such folly invited war from the Imperium’s zealots who remained in the Juventius sub-sector. The survivors thwarted an exterminatus attempt, and fended off rearguard attacks from the retreating faithful. Within weeks, they were alone in the sub-sector. The war galvanized those who survived into a well-organized provisional government backed by a capable fighting force of former Imperial Guardsmen. The Independent Systems of Juventius was born.
Knowing their tenuous position in the galaxy, Juventius Independent Command dispatched the Free Regiment to Caluphel sub-sector, with orders to contain and divert threats away from Juventius. Failing that, the regiment will provide early warning home, and fight delaying actions against potential invaders.
Free Regiment Command enjoys broad latitude in executing its mission, and will likely fight alongside anyone who prevents one single faction from consolidating power in the Caluphel system.
As if those problems weren’t enough, Juventius security forces must also contend with a rising counter-culture of pleasure cults that threatens to weaken the sub-sector against her enemies and further antagonize the dreaded Ordo Hereticus.
Free Regiment Leadership (from left): Admiral Naria Helles, Security Chief Narcus Grine, and Colonel Adric Boden
Admiral Helles commanded the battleship Indomitable, responsible for carrying out the exterminatus order when it came. Instead, she murdered the Lord Commissar aboard the Indomitable and ordered a full attack on faithful war vessels. Despite provoking a bloodbath, her decision forced the faithful to cut losses and flee the sub-sector. Helles is now an esteemed voice on the ruling council of Juventius, highly regarded with a spotless reputation. She thrives in chaos, and secretly supports the pleasure cults blossoming throughout the sub-sector. In a different universe, she would have been a dancer.
Chief Narcus Grine still considers himself faithful to the Emperor, believing that the panicked idiocy of his brethren who fled displayed the true lapse of faith. He fills his little free time with fervent study, secure in the knowledge that the path to happiness lies in the Emperor’s teachings. He suspects the influence of demons upon the wicked pleasure cults. As security chief, with access to once forbidden tracts on demonology, he has begun to learn and understand the true nature of humanity’s greatest foes. Grines will tend to take personal command of security teams dispatched to respond to any violent consequences of pleasure cultists’ debauchery.
To Colonel Adric Boden, knowledge is power. Before the faithful fled, the Emperor was the surest route to both, despite His servants’ sanctimonious hoarding of access. When the Emperor’s light darkened, Boden chose his new surest route to knowledge and power, the independent Juventius. So far, he is pleased with his decision. He commands the best fighting force available to the sub-sector, and the fate all Juventius depends on his success. Most of all, he knows that Caluphel is rife with secrets, and aches for the chance uncover and control them.
We’re back with another faction writeup for our Caluphel Awakenings campaign. This time we turn the reins over to Paul for a glimpse at the backstory and motivations of the L’Ranna Regiment, his long-running Tau army.
The L’Ranna Regiment 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.
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 Medusa 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 Tyrant’s 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. From that day forward, company colors would be that of blood and smoke – red and gray.
Shas’o Shaserra, Commander Shadowsun herself anointed the Company L’Ranna and promoted their remaining lieutenant Nyessa to Shas’el Captain Goldmoon. The Gorgon offensive was eventually destroyed in 903.M41 due to the combined efforts of the Tau and the Imperial Guard 903. 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 Company saw repeated action against the enemies of the Tau, capturing banners of the White Scars Necrons 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 Goldmoon led the Company on the assault of the tundra mining world of Aggoroleth. There, the Company battled the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus for the resources of the planet and its rich promethium reserves.
During one particular explosive assault by Legio Valorian Titans, the Company found themselves pinned and suffering mortal losses. It was at this point that the sky filled with the descent flares of an entire contingent of Crimson Crisis Suits. Shas’O Farsight had arrived. Under the withering fire of ten thousand fusion blades, the Legio was turned back and then (over the next month) expelled from Aggoroleth entirely.
Goldmoon was somewhat at a loss for how to respond to the new affairs. On the one hand, she was presented with the great traitor to the empire — Farsight himself. Honor and the Greater Good itself would call for her to immediately assassinate the commander. However, she owed her life and perhaps the lives of the Tau within the entire Sept to him. What did the Greater Good demand of her? Before departing the world, the two of them walked long hours together talking, and when they departed, they made the bow of respect to each other.
As the Company returned to Tau Sept itself for orders, dark times engulfed the Empire. Utilizing archeotech and eldritch science, the Tech Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus had their revenge for the loss of Aggoroleth. An eruption of power engulfed the vast swathe of the Damocles Gulf space in flames, cutting off the Tau from their destined coreward path.
The Farsight enclaves were marooned on the far side of the fiery Gulf. To the East lay an expanse of dead space, barren worlds left in the wake of Hive Fleet Gorgon’s ravenous invasion, and to the South lay the mighty Ultramar and the sons of Guilliman. The Tau found their space lanes cut off on all sides with no obvious route towards new conquests. Add to this the disastrous Tragedy at Numenar Point where the entire Fourth Expansion was lost and the galaxy itself was split asunder.
A Stain and a Light
Over the next few years a malaise set upon the empire. It was during this period of drift that Shas’O Nyessa Goldmoon was put on trial for treason, given her failure to kill Farsight when given the opportunity. The trial consumed the media channels of the empire for months. Witnesses from both sides spent days petitioning the Ethereal Council and throughout it Goldmoon made her defense. When the very colors of her Company were raised as proof of her false allegience, she uttered only one word: “Davos”.In the end, it was the testimony of Shadowsun who swayed the Council and Goldmoon was released back to service and the Company was expanded to a full Regiment. But the Council was not entirely certain, and when the L’Ranna Expeditionary Fleet set out once more, the Ethereal Aun Ja’xa accompanied them.
As the Regiment battled Ork Waaghs to the South, the Galaxy torn assunder by the Great Rift. But then a light in the darkness. A stable womhole in the Zone of Silence was discovered – the Nem’yar Atoll – leading a trio of lost Septs far far to the Galactic North of the Empire. Furthermore as the Empire fortified the space around the Atoll, the lost world of Caluphel was discovered at the far east of the Zone. The Empire decided that perhaps expansion to the East could be countenanced. Or at worst, her enemies would be denied that territory.
Caluphel Campaign
The Regiment battered by Warp Storms upon arriving in the Caluphel system and immediately found themselves without Beacon contact and besieged by competing factions for control of the Death World. However, the Regiment has won more than it has lost on Caluphel and has recently reestablished contact with the Empire. Goldmoon will need all her skill and ingenuity to fortify the Tau beachhead in the sector . . . and to survive.
L’Ranna Regiment
Updated: 525.997.M42
Organization
Named Characters
I know there are a ton of cool, new Death Guard models out there, but I’m still hopelessly in love with the old-school metal Plague Marines that I ogled as a kid, before I’d ever bought my first miniature.
I’ve been scooping up these guys on eBay and elsewhere over the last few years. I knocked out my first squad last year, and just this week I finished my second squad. For this group, I sourced some fun new resin accessory pieces from Spellcrow, a great little boutique model shop based out of Poland. I snagged a couple sets of their awesome Plague Legions backpacks and arms — just the thing to add some detail and interest to the already awesome Plague Marines.
I went with my typical fast-and-dirty paint job for the armor, but I slowed things down and took my time applying different color washes and shades — purple, sepia, brown and even blue — to the models to create interesting effects. This was my first time using shades in this manner, and I learned a lot.
The Spellcrow upgrades were replete with swollen growths, boils, maggots, slime and other fantastic details to paint. Even though they had a distinct style, the Spellcrow bits seem to mesh well with the other plastic pieces I used on these figures (particularly after they were painted). Sidenote: Spellcrow is well known for tossing in bags of freebies and samples with each order. On at least one of my orders, my freebie bag included almost as much stuff as I actually paid for through my order! If you want some of their stuff, it’s definitely worth it to order directly from their eBay store.
In this case I didn’t finish the models off with the magic dip, as I wanted to keep the colors bright.
Compared to the new Death Guard models that came out last year, these guys are tiny. But I love them and want to use them, so I found an excuse for the size differential in the Chaos Space Marine lore. As Paul pointed out during a recent discussion, time moves differently in the warp. Plague Marines that have spent centuries fighting the Long War are understandably bloated and swollen with power, their armor mutated and savage. Newly recruited renegades, like these guys, have a more reasonable stature compared to the hideous, hulking veterans in my army. So there you go! (Thanks, Paul, for the fluff-driven logic.)
I’ve also included a couple photos of the backpacks, as they were all really cool and unique, with lots of nifty details to paint. I could have spent twice as much time on the backpacks alone! But of course, my mantra is “more toys on the table,” so I stopped myself before I went too far down that rabbit hole.
I’ve got one last batch of these old-school metal Plague Marines sitting in a paint stripper bath, so I’ll probably have one more project like this ahead of me this year. Then I’ll move on to a few remaining Death Guard vehicles and characters, and after that my army will be done!
Comrade's Wargames 