Main Menu

News:

If you are having problems registering, please e-mail theconclaveforum at gmail.com

Starting an Explorator Warband, requesting input

Started by Corvidian, January 04, 2020, 04:19:26 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Corvidian

Hello everyone! I aim to GM a campaign of Inquisitor using the 28mm range, and so far terrain's not an issue. However, I want to build an Explorator warband, and as such, I've picked out the models I want to use. However, since all of them will have a bunch of cybernetics, I know they'll be very strong, and as such I don't plan on having many of them on the battlefield at once. So I'll get to the case and list the models, with related questions regarding them.



Tech-Priest Dominar. The leader of the warband. Most of the parts on the model are pretty obvious on their rules and functions, such as the power axe, extra arms etc, but the gun in the picture is a problem since there are no rules for it yet. I'm considering simply using it as a plasma cannon. Also a master crafted stub gun, mechadentrites, and a servo-skull with some sort of scanner.
Query: Would he be too powerful, considering his cybernetics and weaponry, or should I just go for it?



Tech-Priest Enginseer. Pretty "barebones" as far as models go. Mine lost his servo-skull, so it wouldn't be included in-game. One of the more important models, considering I already have it. Armed with a servo-arm, and a las-pistol.



Tech-Priest Daedalosus, armed with plasma pistol, a smaller servo-arm, and a scanner of sorts. Significantly less cybernetics than most other Explorators.



Cybernetica Datasmith, yet another plasma pistol, servo arm, a powerfist, and an entire cybernetic head.



Gun Servitor, armed with a powerfist or integrated servo-arm on his left arm (depending on which rules fit more), and a shoulder mounted graviton cannon.



Skitarius Ranger, equipped with a shock stave/maul, and some sort of fancy pistol, will perhaps use the plasma pistol in the kit rather than the one showed in the picture.



Skitarius Ranger. Pretty straightforwards.
Query: What kind of rifle would you give him? I'm considering Kroot rifle (without melee attachment), or a hunting rifle.



Corpuscarius Electro-Priest. This one's pretty interesting to me, since I'd have to tweak some rules up for him. I'm thinking of using the rules for Psychic Powers, except make them not actual psychic powers, and the Storm of Lightning power. One of the lesser armoured in the warband.



Fulgurite Electro-Priest. Very much the same as the Corpuscarius Electro-Priest, except without the fancy bolts of lightning. Clearly melee-oriented, because every warband should have a combat dedicated member, even the Mechanius. No ranged weapons, just a halberd, probably with Electoos which makes it a shock weapon.



I almost completely forgot the Tech-Priest squat! As far as equipment goes, he'll obviously have a power axe as befits his station. I'm going to mount him on a separate 32mm base or 25mm base, depending on how large his footprint is. The grot servitor will of course not be used, though he'll get a base of his own.

So those are the models I want to use in the warband, and as such, the following questions arise:
Do you think it's too powerful?
Which models would/wouldn't you keep?

Disclaimer: I of course don't plan on using many of the models in a single scenario. I know Inquisitor isn't made to be balanced, but I don't want my players to feel like they're trounced, and that they have fun playing through the campaign.

I'll list what each model would be equipped with and which abilities they'll have in separate posts.

FierceDefence

#1
Hey,

I'm by no means an expert on balancing things out, but generally speaking less is more in my opinion, but then again WYSIWYG.

While 54mm models are all geared for a confrontation, my impression of them is that they are equiped for lower intensity conflicts that can potentially or is expected to occur in the course of their various undertakings. This is my subjective impression, but it contrasts with 28mm range of models who are overwhelmingly geared for a scale of game that puts them exclusively in the context of litetal warzones where the main or only objective is to take out enemy forces in military confrontations that can oppose camps the size of entire armies.

Unsurprisingly, they are therefore not simply equipped to deal with their own personal protection due to the inherent dangers of their occupations, but to meet certain danger and comprehensively greater threats. So, yeah. If practically every model is equipped with power weapons and plasma weaponry, notwithstanding the cybernics and all the other bells and whistles, your warband would make very short work of most opposition, because they are equipped to take on the galaxy. Perhaps subtract some members with lower level characters, such as servitors and such.

If you use the psychic powers as proxy mechanic for your electro-priest's power, that would mean it could be psychically nullified. I'm not sure this would make sense with regards to the scientific principle of his power. Perhaps treat it as a weapon that requires some kind of test to be past.

Corvidian

Yeah, it's a big difference between the 28mm and 54mm ranges, but I have no inclination on starting to collect the 54mm models, due to scarcity, prices, and difference in scale. I have plenty 28mm scale terrain, and this would severely clash with the 54mm range, so that's a no-go for me or my friends; I wouldn't expect my players to collect those models in any way, shape, or form.

As for balancing issues, in the "campaign" I played in, the GM simply told us how many models we were allowed to use, and how many models our models would count as. My ogryn would count as two for example, and three when I had him upgraded to a Bullgryn (from sparse flak armour and ripper gun, to carapace armour, slab shield, shock maul, and gas mask). Thus, I'd do the same, and try to decide just how many models a model would count as. The Tech-Priest Dominus would be three, servitor one, Daedalosus one, Enginseer two, etc, in an attempt to balance the game sessions at least a little bit.

I wouldn't count it as a psychic power so that it could be countered by psykers, just that it has to be rolled for as normal, and obviously a Risky Action. As far as I can tell, you have to roll to be able to manifest psychic powers, and the same would be a requisite for the Storm of Lightning ability. In the Explorator Warbands PDF it says nothing about them being psykers, and as such I'd not want Storm of Lightning to be counted as a psychic power.

FierceDefence

#3
Well sure, 54mm scale is a commitment in many ways. But my point with them was rather that they are somewhat more appropriately toned down equipment wise in comparison to the majority of what you'd find in 28mm in line with the context of their activities. If I was sourcing my models from 28mm scale I could just as easily have terminator armour and all sorts of models equipped exclusively for the most insane level of destruction that the 40K universe has to offer.

But yeah, I see that according to the guideline that you were given, you have a way to sort of balance it, and in fact, your other partners are following the same thing. So, I suspect the power level between your different bands might be more or less on par with each other, even if the overall power level of them are probably much higher than regular inquisitor bands conducting investigations that may confront each other along the way or face small hive gangs of desperados or groups of mutants equipped with improvised weapons and nail guns.

Corvidian

Yeah exactly, which is why a GM is so important in regards to telling players what they're allowed to use or not. This'll probably be an NPC warband if needed, and the Dominus could be a late campaign boss, for example.

Exactly! I wouldn't throw the entire Explorator warband here against a single player at all, that would be outrageous and not fun for anyone, not even me.

FierceDefence

#5
Your discussion about an explorator warband is interesting to me, because I'm also trying to develop one tech-priest character in 54mm. Or rather, a Heretek! I ordered many parts for it and have quite a few from 40K I already had. I'm still waiting for most of what I ordered. You might have seen something mentioned in the modelling section at the end of my Slaanesh Cult thread. I'm not sure anymore if I will align him with Slaanesh or just regular undivided Dark Mechanicum. But for sure he will be geared more towards bio manipulation and development of toxins and drugs. Perhaps the Doombull and Krieger Thrax models I've acquired that are still in the mail will accompany him. Could serve as an ally or rival of my Slaaneshi warband, and certainly enemy of my inquisitorial ones.

Corvidian

#6
Tech-Priest Dominus
Model count: 4



Equipment:
Plasma Blaster
Power Halberd
Master Crafted Stub Gun
Servo-Skull, Hunter-skull subtype, Bio-scanner

Armour and force fields:
Flak-gown on all locations (armour value 2)
Carapace Armour on Chest, Abdomen, upper right and upper left arm
Refractor Force Field

Bionics and Implants:
Advanced Craniacal Circuitry (He's Machine Now More Than Man)
Advanced Legs
Average bionic arm (left)
Advanced Bionic Head
Advanced Brain
Advanced Lungs
Advanced Heart
Advanced Eyes
MIU, connected to Plasma Blaster, counts as shoulder mounted, can be targeted as per the multiple limbs rules
MIU, connected to Utility Mechadendrites
Servo-harness (Explorator Warbands)
Autosanguination (Explorator Warbands)
Rite of Pure Thought (Explorator Warbands)
Comm-Link (He's Machine Now More Than Man)
Enhanced Neural Link Interface (He's Machine Now More Than Man)
Tethered Hunter-Skull, fitted with Bio-Scanner

Special abilities:
Ambidextrous [Enhanced Neural Interface)
Force of Will (Rite of Pure Thought)
Leader
Multiple Limbs (four arms) (Alien Generator)
Multi-legged (Alien Generator)
Nerves of Steel (Rite of Pure Thought)
True Grit

As is quite obvious, this model is rather powerful, and would only be encountered in VERY special circumstances, and usually sends lower ranked emissaries to do his bidding. I'm not sure how to employ master crafted weaponry, so input would be nice on the stub gun.

Corvidian

#7

I haven't seen that, but I'll definitely give it a look. Hereteks are always interesting, especially when they dedicate themselves to a single Chaos god; most, if not all, I've seen are just Chaos-aligned.

FierceDefence

#8
That's true about hereteks, but there are reasons for it in the lore. Besides, some hereteks are labelled such purely for disobedience and not actually for aligning with chaos. If I do keep him fairly undivided, I keep him flexible. I'm still on the fence about it. Will see about that when I receive the parts for the model. The Doombull could be an experiment to create chimeras and Krieger something more traditional. Perhaps a canvas to test his latest combat drugs, perhaps even derived from demonic ichor à la Fabius Bile, hence one avenue for a beneficial relationship with a Daemon worshipping cult.

But yeah, your Dominus is OOF. He could literally bring down buildings or end entire parties just with that plasma cannon. You would need a Kill-Team to get rid of him haha

Corvidian

Checked your post, seems very interesting, and I'll definitely keep an eye on the progress. And yeah, one of the reasons I like hereteks is just because of that; some are just not letting themselves be tied down by rules and regulations, which is an interesting concept to me.

Yeah I know, he's brutal as hell. That plasma cannon is definitely intimidating, and now I have to either make rules for it (since there aren't any rules for plasma cannons in the core books), or try to search up rules for them in their many articles. IMO, Dominii should be pretty powerful, since they're able to lead entire armies in 40k, and as such they're not to be taken lightly. Perhaps he'll be trying to turn on some ancient machine, or wake up Necrons or such, and the warbands have to take him down before he gets his goal.

Next up for rules and gear: Enginseer

FierceDefence

Thanks. Knowledge is a slippery slope in 40K. I'm not the most familiar with AdMechs, but how likely is it that such a venerable and powerful leader indeed able lead entire armies is to lead a small group of explorators? It's not just a question of power level, but of fluff. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in todays term, it seems to me equivalent to the pope or a cardinal leading a small group of missionaries to the darkest corners of Latin America in search for the few remaining pagans. I wouldn't mind the seeing the Swiss Guard blasting it's way across the jungle and slaying natural predators with their ceremonial Halberds. Very entertaining. Perhaps you should downgrade the cannon to a Plasma Blaster or gun. There are rules for that.

Corvidian

Yeah, ignorance is the first defense against heresy and chaos after all.

As for how a Tech-Priest Dominus to lead an Explorator warband could be a number of reasons. Perhaps he's actually a heretek, branching out with his loyal gaggle of followers. Could be he's sent by someone even higher up for a high-value but low-key mission, and can't rely on larger forces. I suppose I could downgrade it a bit, we'll see, but then he'd definitely be 4 models as opposed to 5, I'd say.

Corvidian

#12
Tech-Priest Enginseer
Model count: 1 or 2



Equipment:
Power Axe
Servo-Arm (He's Machine Now More Than Man)
Laspistol with reload
Re-breather
Combi-Tool (He's Machine Now More Than Man)

Armour and Force Fields:
Flak-gown on chest, head, and groin (armour value 2)
Carapace armour on all locations except head

Bionics and implants:
Standard Craniacal Circuitry (He's Machine Now More Than Man)
Average Bionic Arm (right)
Average bionic eye (left)
MIU, connected to Servo-Arm
Comm-Link (He's Machine Now More Than Man)

Special Abilities:
True Grit

FierceDefence

#13
Ignorance is bliss, but one failed solution. We saw what happened with the Imperial Truth.

I'm trying to put a tentative character sheet for my heretek.

But even then I think he's quite strong in some areas, but has definite weaknesses. Maybe try to work in such imbalances within your characters to make them more balanced overall. Example, good range, but not good CC. Or very aggressive with lethal weapon for CC and distance, but a glass cannon when it comes to defence. It also makes sense, you can't be good at everything and characters like anyone else have preferences and areas where they are better than others. If you know where I could find that, if it exists, I'd like to know if there are rules somewhere for additional gas, toxins and stimulants. Also, if there is such rules for Vox-Casters or Sonic weapons even.

Corvidian

I'm indeed trying to give all of them some sort of weakness, but it's not that easy when they're all augmented to a large degree. The Enginseer is going to be scary in melee, and tough, but his laspistol leaves much to be desired in a ranged battle. There's also no psychic presence in the warband, so they have no defence against it save for high willpower. Each member will also be specialized in their own field. The Daedalosus for example is more of a tracker with his auspex, while the Enginseer is melee oriented, and the servitor is a tanky but slow gunner.

As for additional gas, toxins and stimulants, I don't really know, perhaps in some xenos addendum? Same for sonic weapons, I've no clue, unfortunately. There are rules for Vox-Caster in He's Machine Now More Than Man, under Respirator Unit Upgrades.

"Vox-Caster – the Tech-Adept has fitted a highly amplified voxcaster to his face mask. The adept can project speech much louder than a normal human can shout; he can choose to make his shouting heard at up to 60 yards and understood at up to 40 yards."