New warband idea

[Darksinger]

I hate to admit it, but the penal legion is getting a bit boring. i came up with the ideas for these guys whilst i was bored in art, and i want to know what you guys think. I have drawings for each one as well, so i will scan those A.S.A.P

The Sand Bandits-

-----------------
Background
-----------------
The Sand-bandits are inacurately named- they are actually a group of mercenarys, although they once did steal for a living. Each Sand bandit has a very short tale to tell, all accumilating into a arge group story. A group of deserters, the majority being ex-imperial gaurd from the Tallarn Desert Raiders, were caught in a freak accident- they were all caught in a radiation wave from a unstable energy disposal procedure, organised originally as a threat to tallarn by a group of Dark Eldar. The soldiers skin colour was changed from causican to a sand-like colour, their eyes were rounded and had no pupils or retina, instead glowing a bright white. The soldiers names were also forgotten in the incident, each one choosing a new name, or alias, to go by. The first, an old sargent from a sniper squadron, decided to go by the name Ausoon. Ausoon deserted the guard after becoming tired of the strict rules and dogma, beliving that he can find his own path without the army. Gorehan was the next, who had little combat experience but many years training. After him came Nelaz, his polar oposite, having little training but years of combat experience, as he was assigned to a conscript squad and later as a bodyguard to a Senior officer. Then Katrina chose her name, the only non imperial guard soldier here. Katrina was put into the Officio assassins, although she ran away after her first mission, unable to stand her superiors neglect for his subordinates. After Katrina came Aaith and Lenca, a brother and sister who were assigned to a mortar team together whilst in the service of the imperium. Unable to stand that they were placed so far away from the fighting when their records state they were most dangerous in close combat, the siblings abandoned the mortar, and ran away. Nix was the most senior of the deserters, and a psyker to boot. He had been a santicioned psyker, the sole survivor of a daemonic attack on his brothers. Nix went mad and ran for his life, spending months in the desert insane before becoming bored of insanity, and his abilitys began to reform. Nix brought the group together the day before the accident, and is the self proclaimed leader, firmly beliving that 'I led the others into the mess we find ourselves in, so i will lead them as far out as possible.' Nix also named Rin, the last of the sand bandits. Rin is cold and uncaring, but firmly devoted to Nix, who he secretly admires. Rin is dyslexic, and yet ambidextrous at the same time. He is puzzled by this, and like he does in many other cases, belives Nix can show him the answers.

The group eventually converte an old warehouse in the desert into a small fortress, which they camofauged effectively by putting sand all over it and converting a wrecked chimera into the entrance. The group aquired their weapons by chance, when a lost black market trader stumbled upon their home. He was about half a mile away in a leman russ he had converted into a travelling market, when he encountered Katrina and Aaith, who seduced him into following them with promises of shelter an good company. Whilst they lured him back to the warehouse, which Nix dubbed ' haven', Ausoon, Rin and Lenca robbed his transport blind. Upon their return, the three shared out the weaponry they had looted, then disposed of the traders body. Ausoon took himself a sniper rifle and different ammunition types for it, deciding he wold stick to what he knew.  Gorehan took a shot pistol and a Powerfist laking a power source.  Nelaz took a bolter and a combat knife, later discovering the bolter to be jam-prone. Katrina took a pair of lengthy knives coated in a halugenogenic venom. Aaith took an enlegthened lasgun and another combat knife, and Lenca took himself a falchion. Lenca's short form hid much strength, although the accident had left him utterly dependant on his sister o reasure him. Nix took a scythe and an old fashioned crossbow wih explosive arrows, which he modifed to come apart in order to carry it. Rin, who was the last to gget weapons, actually commented on how the leftovers were exactly what he wanted- two heavy duty combat knives and a double barreled shotgun. For 3 years the sand bandits raided passing supply trains, gaing a hoard of ammunition and spare weaponry. They then decided to adorn themselves in a uniform and sell their services to the people of Tallarn. Their first emloyer was a man they had once robbed blind before they had taken on their uniforms, and were charged with guarding him from the 'hideous desert robbers.' Nix noted that he was a very stupid man, as he was not able to notice the fact that his most trusted employeees had the same body builds and the same glowing eyes that the 'hideous desert robbers' had. Their employers death came when he and the sand-bandits tried to escape his building- the man got in the way of Katrina as she battled off an assailant, and holding his arm where katrina had scratched it, he jumped from the roftop screaming 'I can Fly!' The sand bandits, once again unemployed, began to advertise. They cam to the attention of an inquisitor, who sent them to a distant planet to locate a cult of daemon worshippers. The sand-bandits are still searching for the cult, who are proving extreemly evasive.


--------------------------
Character profiles
--------------------------

Ausoon
right handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
23   67   41   37   28   41   48   51   44   

Special Abilities
• Rock steady aim

Equipment:
• Sniper Rifle (light) with rangefinder
•5 match bullets
•10 armour peircing rounds
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on  head and arms (two points of armour)
• Flak armour on torso, legs, abdomen and groin (3 points of armour)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gorehan
left handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
34   45   43   41   38   48   53   42   54   

Special Abilities
• Quickload

Equipment:
• Shot pistol
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on  head (two points of armour)
• Flak armour on torso, legs, abdomen, arms and groin (3 points of armour)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Nelaz
left handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
23   67   41   37   28   41   48   51   44   

Special Abilities
• Hipshooting

Equipment:
• Bolter
•Combat knife
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on  head (two points of armour)
• Flak armour on torso, legs, abdomen, arms and groin (3 points of armour)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Katrina
left handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
76   45   52   48   76   53   58   54   67   

Special Abilities
• Blademaster

Equipment:
• Combat Knife with Hallugnogenic toxins
•Combat Knife with Hallucenogenic toxins
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on all areas exept torso (two points of armour)
•Flak armour on torso (3 points of armour)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Aaith
right handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
51   49   42   45   43   53   46   47   52   

Special Abilities
• Hipshoting

Equipment:
• Combat Knife
•Lasgun (Mars long rifle)
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on all areas exept torso (two points of armour)
•Flak armour on torso (3 points of armour)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lenca
left handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
43   37   86   27   38   45   33   53   44   

Special Abilities
• Deflect Shot
• dependancy (Aaith)
Dependancy- if the character with dependancy (the dependant) moves outwith 6'' of the character he/she is dependant on (the dependee), the dependant will be unable to move. He/she may fight in close combat, but other than that they may not make any other actions, including recovery actions ect. If the dependee moves back within 6'', they will begin to act normally on their next turn. If the dependee is slain, the dependant will move to the dependees body (lay the dependees model down untill the dependant gets there) and stay there for the remainder of the game, although the dependant may act normally other than that.

Equipment:
•Falchion
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on head, arms and legs (two points of armour)
• Flak armour on torso, abdomen, and groin (3 points of armour)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Nix
right handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
55   49   58   45   33   73   46   47   72   

Special Abilities
• Leader
• Dissasembled crossbow (Nix must spend 2 actions to build and load his crossbow before he can fire it.

Equipment:
• Scythe (halberd)
•Crossbow (light) Bolts have explosive tips (3d6 damage)
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on all areas exept torso (two points of armour)
•Flak armour on torso (3 points of armour)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rin
right handed.


WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld     
58   34   47   53   37   49   56   37   46   

Special Abilities
• Blademaster
Equipment:
• 2 long-bladed combat knifes (+2 damage in addition to the normal combat knife
• Shotgun (double barreled pump action)
•Cloth-and-leather arnour on all areas exept torso and left arm (two points of armour)
•Flak armour on torso and left arm (3 points of armour)

[Kaled]

So far you've created three warbands, but with no sign of them being turned into models I'm unsure as to whether you're just creating characters for fun or whether you plan to actually use them in a game?  If the former, then I'm not sure there's much point in spending time commenting on them - however, one thing I will note is that you're ended up with another very uniform group.  Why not combine one of these guys, one of the penal troopers, the Inquisitor and another, very different, character to make a more varied warband that you're less likely to get bored of so quickly?

[Darksinger]

well they are a fighting force- they are supossed to be rather uniform. However, i did leave myself some roo to manouver with this warband. I have assassins and soldiers and a psyker, and these guys are good. I do plan to model up Ths warband and the Rouge trader warband, bt not the penal legion. Also, I will actually consider fusing the two together- having the sand bandits as a sort of 'muscle for hire.'

How was the fluff (marco, if yur reading this, i'm talking to you too.)

[ismeno]

I'd say they are nice as villains or a GM controlled warband, but they sound rather dull for a players warband. Is this really a group that you could see yourself playing over years of campaigning? Good luck with the converting, I do hope you're considering 54mm!

[Darksinger]

28mm for now, im getting Restin amd Co. 54mm first. They aren't villains as such BTW, i'll be playing them as a rather immoral set of goodies.

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

The Penal Legion was very much "The Dirty Dozen" in space... you now seem to have gone a step further and gone for "Blake's 7" (aka The Dirty Dozen in space) in space...

If you can make the inter-character relationships work on the tabletop then more power to you... However I'm not really seeing much character beyond the "early Marvel" origins stories.

And I guess that's where your problem lies - the Penal Legion (and I probably should comment on them too, except that that would seem somewhat redundant with this thread in place) and this are both very uniform warbands/retinues. That in itself is not an issue (as you say, a group which share military experience are going to be quite uniform) but it becomes more important to differentiate between the characters by their character if you lack the more usual hooks. A uniform group can work brilliantly if you have a Kerr Avon verbally sniping at everything that's suggested, if you have a Gann and Villa who counterpoint loyalty and cowardice, if you have character in your characters.


You're playing Inq28...

I'm going to make a suggestion.

Ditch Inq28 and instead try to play your retinue using the Inquisitor rules as the basis instead for a pen and paper RPG.

What that should do is get your head away from what might look good on the tabletop and drive your thinking more towards how the characters would work without props.

I'd also suggest that you run the 20 questions for each character.

[ismeno]

As so many wise people has written before me; PLAY =I= WITH 54MM MINIS!!! You have cretaed a warband thinking in 28mm scale. They seem like a cool bunch and modelling will propbably be simple enough. However, as you start playing using the =I= rules, you'll find these guys to be, well; boring.

=I= is the battle for the Emperors soul. Where in this do these guys fit? They are a bunch of half-criminals, low-life, dregs. Any Inquisitor could have them sentenced to death just because he doesn't like the way they smell, and no one would argue.

Think not of =I= as down scaled 40K for it isn't that at all. I DO hope you'll get into this game for it really is one of the best miniature games ever produced, but do it the "right" way. If you have little or no experience with this game I strongly suggest ypu'll start out with 2-3 models a side, Inquisitors and their henchmen. It really is the way to go imo. (oh, and 54mm scale obviously!)

[GAZKUL]

As so many wise people has written before me; PLAY =I= WITH 54MM MINIS!!! You have cretaed a warband thinking in 28mm scale. They seem like a cool bunch and modelling will propbably be simple enough. However, as you start playing using the =I= rules, you'll find these guys to be, well; boring.

=I= is the battle for the Emperors soul. Where in this do these guys fit? They are a bunch of half-criminals, low-life, dregs. Any Inquisitor could have them sentenced to death just because he doesn't like the way they smell, and no one would argue.

Think not of =I= as down scaled 40K for it isn't that at all. I DO hope you'll get into this game for it really is one of the best miniature games ever produced, but do it the "right" way. If you have little or no experience with this game I strongly suggest ypu'll start out with 2-3 models a side, Inquisitors and their henchmen. It really is the way to go imo. (oh, and 54mm scale obviously!)

damn! i wish the Clave had a "like" button. what he said.

[Molotov]

As so many wise people has written before me; PLAY =I= WITH 54MM MINIS!!! [...] Think not of =I= as down scaled 40K for it isn't that at all.

Neither is INQ28. 

[Easy E]

INQ28 is perfectly do able. 

However, many people fall into the trap of trying to make it way to big because they have hundreds of models lying around and want to use them all.  This will not work (and is the same trap people fell into with Rogue Trader which leads us to where 40K is now, but that is a discussion for a different thread).

I think the idea of thinking about each character as their own P&P RPG character is a great idea.  Generally, you are only making and controlling one character at a time.  Therefore, each one gets a lot more attention and thought.  Try to come up with only 1 interesting character and not a warband.   

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

I'd actually reccomend three characters as the starting point for the pen and paper...

Caveat: "Inquisitor Ecks says..." is banned - Differentiate between the characters by your acting, their "voice" the various things which make up the character and if the GM has to ask who said something then try harder.

[MarcoSkoll]

I would recommend taking a different approach to character creation. Most of the above are good suggestions, so I need not say much more on that.

But to critique the background you wrote:

They were all caught in a radiation wave from a unstable energy disposal procedure. The soldiers skin colour was changed from causican to a sand-like colour, their eyes were rounded and had no pupils or retina, instead glowing a bright white.

This reads like a Silver Age comic book. If you like the Silver Age, then fair enough, but personally I think it was tosh, with a load of clichéd lines, appalling pacing and constant asspulls.

Katrina was put into the Officio assassins, although she ran away after her first mission, unable to stand her superiors neglect for his subordinates.

Officio Assassins are subjected to all sorts of brainwashing, loyalty training and hypnotherapy. While Chaos might be a strong enough lure to tear one away, workplace relations are not.

Nix went mad and ran for his life, spending months in the desert insane before becoming bored of insanity, and his abilities began to reform.

One does not "become bored of insanity" - insanity cannot be self diagnosed (refer to Catch 22), and by definition, mental illnesses are not something you can just "pull yourself together" from.
Occasionally it crops up in fiction, but usually in either comedy or from a character who is in someway not human - it is not realistic in the slightest though.

Rin is dyslexic, and yet ambidextrous at the same time. He is puzzled by this

Why? Cases of crosslateralisation of brain areas, the cause of such conditions as autism and dyslexia, are quite often accompanied by abnormal preferential hand, eye or foot.

Most dyslexics are in fact either left handed or comfortably ambidextrous.

[Alta]

Ok, one thing needs to be cleared up before I say anything else.

He is playing Inq28 FOR NOW.
Our gaming group (Gazkul, Frostspear, Gogz, Darksinger and Alta) don't all have 54mm figures yet, so we are playing with 28mm figures until we all have 54mm figures.
Also Darksinger has not taken part in any of our scenarios so far.

---

Reading the background, I agree with Marco's points.
I think it strange that they forget their names and not their combat experience.
Also Leman Russes and Chimeras are not really things you can find just 'lying around', unless you are on a battlefield
Also did they mean to kill their employer or not?
One more thing. How powerful are those hallucinogenic drugs meant to be? I don't know much about hallucinogens, but common sense suggests to me that if someone is scratched by a knife coated with hallucinogens, it would take quite a while for it to take effect.

Try and get those pics uploaded.

[MarcoSkoll]

I think it strange that they forget their names and not their combat experience.

It's not all that odd. There are different forms of memory - motor memory is separate from most memory, so someone who has no recollection of their identity may however recall how to walk, use a rifle, do karate. However, that just relates to the motor skills, not the actual experience.

Still, I find the amnesia aspect to be similarly "Silver Age". Amnesia is easily (and frequently) abused for an excuse not to give a character a background.
In my opinion, even if the character doesn't know who they are/were, the player/writer should...

[Darksinger]

Alta, thanks for the suport. I had previously posted a reply covering that, but the computer i used deleted the post or something. I dont really know what hapened.

Background points- radiation exposure. Any other suggestions?
worplace relations- How abou she signed up, but escaped before the brainwashing procedures were completed, because she was afraid to loose her mind.
insanity- Ok, so he dosent become 'bored of insanity'. I cant exactly think of how to alter it though- Nix was suppossed to change dramaticly.
Rin- He is curious about himself. Rin is not the brightest spark, so dosent understand how he can be oth skilled with his hands and yet unable to write.
Alta- its out in the desert. a wrecked chimera isn't al that rare, there are plenty of raiders or anti-imperial factions hiding out there.
No, they didnt mean to kill their employer
They arent that stong- a scratch can still bleed. And im talking papercut type scratches here- they are quite deep sometimes. And in case it wasnt clear, he is wea minded.