Division D-99 Task Force Balhrid

[Elva]

Hey all, long time no chat. After many months of effort, I think I might have gotten the ball rolling for an Inquisitor Campaign at my local GW. I was largely motivated by the concept for a Detachment D-99 warband based on the surviving Elysian 99th; who had a nasty tuff with Hive Fleet Leviathan. Long story short, the surviving members of the 99th are now known as Detachment D-99 and the Inquisition gets first dibs on these grizzled drop troops.

Before I get too into detail about the Warband, a quick summary of Elysian military doctrine I think would be helpful to anyone who is unfamiliar with it. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Elysian_Drop_Troops

For models I'm planning on using the Forgeworld ones, as my new guard army is going to be an Elysian Airbourne Division(I hope five Valkyries is worth the hefty price tag). Of the two non resin models I'm using, I'm going to get working next on Inquisitor Halrast and Sergeant Stryfe's conversion is finished and primed.

As of yet I have no defined background material written, however that will change as I start to flesh out the characters. For now I'll include any notes I have along with their profiles; which I will update as material becomes available.

So enough rambling, I'm sure you want to see what I've got if you've persevered this far.

Note: I did roll these profiles, however I tweeked a roll hear and there if it didn't fit or was preposterous. My Conclave Standard is a bit hazy so advice on the statlines would be more than welcome.

Inquisitor Elizabeth Halrast

Inquisitor Elizabeth is going to be very draconian with more medieval style Inquisiton themes. Her idea was inspired by the new Dawn of War Expansion IG leader as seen here

                                              WS BS  S  T    I    Wp Sg Nv  Ld
Inquisitor Elizabeth Halrast    78  66 61 64 69  80  78 77  73

Equipment: 2 Handflamers(1 reload), 2 gauntlets, a Power sword, a large leather coat (AV 2), flak armour on chest, arms, legs, abdomen and groin, and a badass hat(AV2).

Total amour values: Head: 2, Chest: 5, L/R arms: 4, Abdomen: 4, Groin: 3, R/L legs: 4.

Special Abilities: Leader, Nerves of Steel, Quick Load.

Sergeant Celia Stryfe

Stryfe is the Elysian sergeant assigned to Inquisitor Halrast's investigations. Personality wise, she's bitter about her regiment's current state and isn't too pleased about being taken off the front lines. However she does what she's trained to do and takes pride in her work despite her opinions on where she could be most useful. I'll post pictures of her model as soon as I can.

                                   WS BS S   T    I   Wp  Sg  Nv  Ld
Sergeant Celia Stryfe  68  76 61 64 61 60  79  74   66

Equipment: Kantrael Pattern Bullpup Las Rifle, las pistol, combat knife, 2 frag grenades, Type 5 Pressure Helmet(built in comm link, rebreather and Infrascope), Mk IV combat backpack, Mk XII flak battle suit (AV 4 everywhere except abdomen: AV -, and chest: AV 5).

Special Abilities: Rock Steady Aim, Hip Shooting.

                                                      Type    Range   Firing Mode       Accuracy  Damage  Shots   Reload  Weight
Kantrael Pattern Bullpup Las Rifle  Basic     C         Single/Semi 2/3     -             2d6         30         3            20


The other 3 members are on their way, all Elysians and all will be distinct specialists. I have no time for generic Red shirt Ensign Kennys in this retinue. My apologies for the bare-boned rough state I've posted my work in, but I would like to catch any errors early on and see if I'm heading in the right direction. Thank you in advance for your helpful advice.

[Kaled]

WS BS  S  T    I    Wp Sg Nv  Ld
Inquisitor Elizabeth Halrast    78  66 61 64 69  80  78 77  73

Her stats look reasonable.  I do wonder whether such high S & T values are appropriate - but I'll reserve judgement until I see the model.

Total amour values: Head: 2, Chest: 5, L/R arms: 4, Abdomen: 4, Groin: 3, R/L legs: 4.

In general armour values don't stack, just count the highest AV on a location.  One exception is bionics which grant +1 armour - so flak armour over a bionic leg is AV4.

Special Abilities: Leader, Nerves of Steel, Quick Load.

As I'm sure you've heard people say before - Nerves of Steel is best reserved for characters who are incapable of feeling fear.  As she already has a high Nv she's only likely to be forced to dive for cover if she gets hit anyway.  In my cynical moments I often wonder why it is that characters who carry weapons that take quite a lot of actions to reload almost always have Quickload.  You could argue she's practised reloading those hand flamers so much that she is that quick - but given that it crops up far more regularly on characters whose gun takes some time to reload than it does on characters whose gun can be reloaded quickly anyway, then I can't help but think it's often used as a way to get around the rules rather than being given to characters who have really practiced their reloading drills.

Equipment: Kantrael Pattern Bullpup Las Rifle

If you're talking about the lasgun that comes with the Forge World models, then it's an Accatran pattern mark IV lasgun which has a single shot setting to conserve ammo and a power pack that's good for 50 shots.

Type 5 Pressure Helmet(built in comm link, rebreather and Infrascope), Mk IV combat backpack, Mk XII flak battle suit (AV 4 everywhere except abdomen: AV -, and chest: AV 5).

Those AV values look a little high to me.  Drops troopers usually wear a jumpsuit which has quilted pads on the upper arms and legs - the jumpsuit isn't armour so shouldn't provide more than AV1 or 2, maybe AV2 or 3 for the padded areas.  The chest/back plate is light armour so I'd have gone with AV 4 or 5.  Again, obviously if your character isn't wearing the standard Elysian kit then disregard what I've just said.

Special Abilities: Rock Steady Aim, Hip Shooting.

I tend to suggest taking or or the other of these skills.  If he's the type to stalk his target then give him Rock Steady Aim.  If she's the type who keeps moving, snapping off shots as he does then give her Hipshooting.  I think it's better to use skills sparingly to represent a characters area of speciality rather than to over use then which dilutes their effectivity in defining the character.

The other 3 members are on their way, all Elysians and all will be distinct specialists. I have no time for generic Red shirt Ensign Kennys in this retinue.

I realise you're planning for them all to be different, but these single archetype (in this case, the guardsman archetype) warbands are really not something I'm keen on.  You'll open up far more options for gameplay by including characters with very different backgrounds and abilities.  I do like the Detachment D-99 idea, and think it's a great one for a character, but I'd rather see more variety in the rest of the warband.  An Inquisitor leading troops tends to be pretty dull (and that's speaking from experience of Kaled's first warband which were all soldiers and which now get used as NPCs) as they're geared almost entirely to killing the other warband(s).  Plus, if you're going to be introducing new people to the game I'd say it's doubly important to set an example and use as wide a variety of character archetypes as possible to start them thinking outside the box when it comes to choosing their own characters.

Hope that helps,
Dave

[RobSkib]

This is where canon and player-made fluff start to collide quite horribly. I had pretty much the same idea as you a while back when the Anphelion Project was first published. 3 lone surviving members of a genetically-enhanced Drop Troop army? Sounds like awesome Inquisitor material! In the canon, one of those was Sergeant Stone, who exists in the Inquisitor rulebook anyway, so that rules one of them out.

I thought I'd make one of those two un-named survivors part of my warband, waaaaay back when. I have plans to re-do him, but I encountered the same problem you probably will - what happens when someone else uses that nice canonical tidbit to make a similar character? I've since retconned this character, using a backstory a little more home-spun, maybe my Inquisitor saw the potential of the D-99 and wanted to try something similar, but without the pitfalls. I also want an excuse to re-sculpt the model, as it's nowhere near as dynamic as it should be.

Regardless, I'm going to share some rules I use for my own drop trooper. He had Glands with detox, slaught and spur, to represent the extensive bio-enhancement each guardsman was given, and is packing plenty of non-standard equipment that a veteran of countless wars is likely to pick up along the way. Sawn-off shotguns, side-arms, throwing knives and a blade made from a hormagaunt's talon are all standard fare.

I also gave him True Grit, Catfall (he's a drop trooper!) and the ability to re-roll missed attacks in close combat against Tyranid foes.

The Accatran pattern lasgun is also designed to be a lot lighter than regular lasguns, to reduce bulk in transports, and ease of use after touchdown, so I've assigned it weight 20.

He proved his mettle on several occaisions, but I'm not happy with him. He's just a drugged-up guardsman, which no longer appeals to me from a gaming sense, so I'm going to have to redesign him somehow. I like interesting hooks in my characters, and this guy doesn't tick any boxes for me, so feel free to use any ideas you like.

[MarcoSkoll]

In general, I agree with Kaled. I'd be more inclined to call Elizabeth's stats on the marginally high side perhaps, as none of them dip into the 50s, yet there are a number of high 70s.

I'd probably put a hit of about 5 or so points on both her S & T - after all, that picture does show quite a svelte woman, not a bulky guardsman. (From memory, I've only got two female characters with S&T values both 60+, one is a bulky guardsman, the other is a mutant.)

Nerves of Steel. As said, should be used for a character with no sense of self-preservation. Bravery should be represented on the Nv stat.

Quickload. She has two handflamers. That's four shots each, eight total. If you've used that many flame shots in the whole game, and bear in mind the nastiness of flamers in Inquisitor, I don't think being quickly reload them and bring even more conflagration to the table will earn you many friends.

Dare I suggest she probably doesn't even need flamer reloads at all?

~~~~~

Aside from RobSkib's concern about clashes of characters (although a certain amount of that can be covered by "Everything you have been told is a lie" or the "Kaede Mack effect"), I have to back Kaled up on the single archetype thing too.

Lots of different specialist soldiers is the material for something more like Rainbow Six or the Conflict series. You should be thinking more like a Bioware RPG.

Look at Dark Heresy. In the original book alone, you've got Psykers, Arbitrators, Adepts, Tech-Priests, Assassins, Scum, Clerics and Guardsmen, at least two career paths for each, four different origins...
The sourcebooks, Rogue Trader (and its sourcebooks), etc. multiply that out in to an insane range of options.

A Scout, a Sniper, Heavy Weapons guy and Combat Engineer (or whatever range of ideas you have)... it's a load of soldiers, all probably about the same age, all been through the same battles and all from the same planet. That's rather dull in Inquisitor terms.

[Ynek]

I realise you're planning for them all to be different, but these single archetype (in this case, the guardsman archetype) warbands are really not something I'm keen on.  

Whilst I agree with Kaled in the idea that a single-archetype warband (all guardsmen) would be incredibly dull, and it's frankly been done to death.

However, that isn't to say that you couldn't have a warband which consists entirely of Elysian Imperial Guard - Just don't make them all front line soldiers.

The warband would probably need someone with technical expertise. Someone who can help with kit maintenence, making sure their armoured car keeps running smoothly, and also someone who can modify their excruciator. Generally, it's handy to have someone who is tech-savvy... So how about an Elysian tech-priest / Engiseer?

The warband would probably have a lot of red tape and official documents which would need tending to. I often think that such a thing would probably take up an unacceptable amount of the Inquisitor's time. If they had to sit and fill out a requisition form 2-B in triplicate every time that they wanted to get a new charge pack for their lasgun, they would probably never have time to fire it. So, how about an administrative / bureaucratic individual, such as a military administrator working for the departmento munitorum?

How about a military cook? The team has to eat, right? Perhaps, when the Inquisitor was recruiting Celia, she was extremely impressed by the cook's thrifty use of rations and available supplies to make a surprisingly delicious and appetising meal, and immediately requisitioned that the cook be assigned to her... (Of course, military cooks are still soldiers. In the modern day, they're trained to the same standards as everyone else, just they generally aren't put out on patrols etc. They can still shoot a running man at 20 yards, and gut you with their bayonet and cooking knives, though...)

Generally speaking, as Kaled suggests, a warband which consists solely of the inquisitor, followed around by soldiers, is not really a practical or interesting idea. ("Okay, we've got ourselves a grav-car. Who knows how to drive?" "Not us. We were all conscripted at the age of two, and never learned to drive." "Okay, who can cook dinner?" "Not us. We were all conscripted at the age of two, and only know how to warm up pre-cooked rations." "Who can fix my broken hand-flamer?" "Not us. We're not sanctioned to perform battlefield repairs. Besides, we'd probably only set fire to ourselves.")

Note: I did roll these profiles, however I tweeked a roll hear and there if it didn't fit or was preposterous.

As I'm sure you're aware, most people on the conclave far prefer to simply make up stats. Generally, you get something that fits the character better that way. The general attitude around here seems to be that rolling for stats (just like the ready reckoner) are outdated principles.


As a final note - You would probably need a fairly good reason for why the Inquisitor's entourage consists entirely of members of this Elysian regiment. Was she recently promoted, and needed to quickly attain a staff of reliable minions? (If she was a deductor, or other acolyte who worked closely with her master, she would probably have simply worked alongside her master as part of his or her retinue. However, upon attaining her own rosette, perhaps her master wasn't willing to hand over members of his or her own staff, resulting in the newly-promoted Inquisitor having to quickly gain a staff of her own...) Or was her entire warband wiped out in some Emperor-forsaken operation somewhere, leaving the Inquisitor as the sole survivor, and she needed swift replacements? (I like this idea, because it opens up the questions of how she got away - did she abandon her comrades and run like a coward? Or was she doing something naughty, like summoning a daemon, and had to kill all her comrades to keep them quiet, and then simply blamed the enemy for their deaths?....)

The reason I'm making these sorts of suggestions is that in the moment that the Inquisitor gets promoted to full inquisitorial status, they probably already have an entourage, from all sorts of different places that they've visited on the various assignments that their master gave them. Upon earning their rosette, they would thus have an entire retinue/warband to call upon. Retinues are normally recruited over a prolonged period of time, and since an Inquisitor is not likely to be in the same place every time they need a new tech-priest or smoking monkey, they will probably have warband members from all across the Imperium. You've expressed an interest in keeping them all from the same regiment, which is fine. Different is good. Just make sure that you've got a good justification/excuse to cover it, rather than just "she keeps coming back to this regiment every time she loses one of them."

The impression I would get is that the Inquisitor has only recently acquired this warband, since if it consists entirely of members of the Elysian Regiment, then she probably hasn't lost any of them yet. Inquisitors do not carry dead weight, so she is unlikely to have requisitioned two tech-priests (to use the same example) just on the off-chance that one of them catches a bullet with their face. (For various reasons. Since two is an even number, any arguments between them would be split right down the middle. When faced with a dilemma, they might disagree on the correct course of action, and the Inquisitor would be forever stepping in to knock their heads together and make them behave.)

So, since they are unlikely to carry 'spares', the odds are that if she lost someone, she would have a gaping hole in her warband. (No techpriest = no maintenence. No cook = no good food. No smoking monkey = nothing to giggle at.) Therefore, she would have to recruit someone else who happens to be in the viscinity.

On that basis, I reckon that if her warband is entirely D99s, then they are probably a recent acquisition for her. This could be interesting for the warband's flavour, as both the Inquisitor and the warband haven't quite gotten to know one-another yet, and the bonds of their mutual loyalty are still fresh and untested....

[Elva]

The Elysians were ordered mere hours ago and I got a chance to talk to our recently elected GM in person for the first time in a couple weeks. As it turns out, the campaign is going to be rather casual, meaning rolled profiles, ready reckoner, and not overly detailed transitions. Basically leaning towards a kick in the door the style if anyone is familiar with D&D terminology. I however, being strongly influenced by such devoted folks as yourselves, will go with the 'Clave standard and devote much effort into making the warband realistic and interesting within the 350 RR limit I've been given. I know this might not go over well with many Clavers here, with the Ready Reckoner, casual narrative and all, but I'll appreciate any help that goes towards making it as 'Clave worthy as possible.

I have made most of the changes on the hard copy character sheets, I just have to revise Lizzy's skills and tune down her toughness and strength. Otherwise I made all Kaled's suggested changes, which I think were consistently echoed. I'll add them here within the next day or so.

On the subject of the warband's theme; I'm still quite struck by the high Elysian/non Elysian ratio, however I might try and fit a in a sister of battle if the lack of variety turns out to be more of a thorn in my side than I thought.

I'd like to apologize for posting in such a half-assed manner, I had forgotten my group's 'gamer' mentality; for lack of a better term. So for now I'll be content to sit in the middle ground with a true-to-fluff retinue within the RR limits I've been given. Or at least as close to that goal as possible. The backstories should follow, but they'll be brief and to the point as its getting down to crunch time at school and I still owe Shannow some work I said I'd do awhile back.

BTW Rob, I really like that conversion. Its now my all time favorite 54mm model. However I think Sergeant Stone was from Lostok if I recall correctly. Though if you do make any progress on him I would more than pleased for updates on your progress.

Thanks for helpful advice as always,

MacK

[MarcoSkoll]

ready reckoner

Shoot him. Now. He is a heretic and a traitor.

I'm still quite struck by the high Elysian/non Elysian ratio, however I might try and fit a in a sister of battle if the lack of variety turns out to be more of a thorn in my side than I thought.

A Battle Sister is still a combat character, and a powerful one at that.

I know the rulebook doesn't address the idea of non-fighty members of an Inquisitor's entourage very well, but they are an important way of adding variety to a character collection.

If you think you can get by on the idea of Elysian soldiers, then feel free to try, but do think beyond just the combat personnel. Non combat personnel are fairly likely survivors of a regiment being massacred and including some would do a lot to break up "This is a man with a gun. This is a man with a gun with more dakka. This is a man with a longer range gun. This man has a smaller gun, but also knows how to set explosives. This is the cliché who doesn't have a gun and uses a knife instead."

[Elva]

ready reckoner

Shoot him. Now. He is a heretic and a traitor.

I will notify the GM of his execution order, as I 'aim' to please.

That horrid pun aside, a non combatant character might come in handy even amongst the hordes of acro-flagellants and techpreists that are popping up on the horizon of this sure to be bloodbath. Besides, I think a couple (likely two) Elysians should handle the combat role above and beyond the call of duty. One would expect as much of Space SAS.

Ahwell, I'm just glad its starting up again and I'll have some cool models for my warband. 4 years of Inquisitional withdrawal is not a walk in the park.

[Molotov]

This is where canon and player-made fluff start to collide quite horribly. I had pretty much the same idea as you a while back when the Anphelion Project was first published. 3 lone surviving members of a genetically-enhanced Drop Troop army? Sounds like awesome Inquisitor material! In the canon, one of those was Sergeant Stone, who exists in the Inquisitor rulebook anyway, so that rules one of them out.

Sorry to interject with something that doesn't have that much bearing on the thread, but Rob - seems you're getting confused between the Elysian 99th (from the Anphelion Project) and the Gland Warriors (like Stone) who were from the Lostok 23rd.

[RobSkib]

Sorry to interject with something that doesn't have that much bearing on the thread, but Rob - seems you're getting confused between the Elysian 99th (from the Anphelion Project) and the Gland Warriors (like Stone) who were from the Lostok 23rd.

Ah it's been a while since I read it. I stand corrected.