Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>4337876
>Lord Sieghard
> The Novo Solo Sector, Mid M42, Imperium Nilhus: Leadership of a crusade is supposed to be an honour, yet this feels like a punishment. Unreliable supply/communication lines, limited support from the greater Imperium, possible enemies include: renegades, chaos, orks, aeldari with a slight chance of necrons or tyranids.

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Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>4337876
>Lady Solar Irene Celestorus
>The Sodalis Sector, M41, Segmentum Ultima: The Wild West-er-East of the Imperium. It’s a big place with lots of semi-isolated colonies and alien ruins. Possible enemies include: High chance of necrons, orks, tyranids, and renegades with a bit of Aeldari and Tau on the side.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>4337876
>Lord Solar Sigmund
The Novo Solo Sector, Mid M42, Imperium Nilhus: Leadership of a crusade is supposed to be an honour, yet this feels like a punishment. Unreliable supply/communication lines, limited support from the greater Imperium, possible enemies include: renegades, chaos, orks, aeldari with a slight chance of necrons or tyranids.

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Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>4337876
>Lord Solar Sieghard Sigmund
>The Novo Solo Sector, Mid M42, Imperium Nilhus: Leadership of a crusade is supposed to be an honour, yet this feels like a punishment. Unreliable supply/communication lines, limited support from the greater Imperium, possible enemies include: renegades, chaos, orks, aeldari with a slight chance of necrons or tyranids.
First and last name

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>4337876
>Lady Solar Irene Celestorus
>The Byzantium Sector, M41, Segmentum Obscurus: The Gothic Sector’s less famous cousin. Proximity to the Eye of Terror means higher chance of warp shenanigans. Many Imperial sub-factions operating within the vicinity of the Eye so politicking may yield additional support. Possible enemies include: Very high chance of fighting chaos forces and/or daemons with a smattering of necrons, aeldari and orks.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>4337892
>>4337895
>>4337897
>>4337902
>>4337905

Okay I think that's enough votes to get things gstarted. Even though it got the lowest roll I'm going to exercise QM fiat and do a roll off between Lady Solar Irene and Lord Sieghard Sigmund since both posters put a bit more effort into it.

1: Irene
2: SIeghard

As for votes:

Novo Solo, Imperium Nilhus: 3
Sodalis, Segmentum Ultima: 1
Byzantium, Segmentum Obscurus: 1

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>>4337931
++Mandate Accepted, Welcome Lady Solar.++

You are Lady Solar Irene Celestorus, previously Lady General Irene Celestorus. Normally command of a crusade is a prestigious position that many of your peers would kill for, but this ‘honour’ was thrust upon you, and not by the High Lords of Terra, but by Lord Dante; the Regent of the Imperium Nilhus.

Just over 200 years ago the destruction of Cadia and its warp nullifying pylons caused the Eye of Terror to spill out across the galaxy, cutting the Imperium of Man in two. The section of the Imperium on the other side of the great rift was christened the Imperium Nilhus; the Dark Imperium. Cut off from the guiding light of the Astronomicon on Terra and accessible only by a handful of barely stable warp conduits across the rift, the Imperius Nilhus teeters on the brink of dissolution. A century earlier the Indomitus Crusade, lead by the revived Primarch: Roboute Gulliman brought much needed relief to the region, but Indomitus had only ‘stabilized’ the situation; the Dark Imperium was far from secure.

Now Lord Dante has charged you with securing the worlds of the Novo Solo sector. Initially settled by a colonization fleet blown off course by warp storms, the survivors somehow managed to build several viable colonies with a significant industrial base. Contact with Novo Solo had been lost soon after the formation of the great rift and for a time the sector was forgotten. Eventually the gears of the Imperium turned and it was recognised that regaining control of the Novo Solo sector would do much to ease reliance on reinforcements coming in through the rift. And so a ‘crusade’ was organised…

>cont...

>>4337931
That's gay, go with the male
OP faggot

>>4337959
++Crusade Generation++
Due to the scale of the crusade there’s a lot of abstraction involved in unit designations. For example a Mordian infantry regiment may have a different composition to a Cadian regiment but they will both be classified as line regiments. Same with Navy assets, there are many different types of Imperial cruiser but with a few exceptions they will have the same mechanical function.

Basic Guard Regiment Types:

Line Regiment: The closest thing to a “standard” guard regiment, mostly composed of infantry with accompanying heavy weapon support, may have some motorised support vehicles that moves things between battlefield but the army largely fights on foot. A baseline regiment with no advantages or disadvantages.

Light Infantry Regiment: A pure infantry regiment with emphasis on reducing the amount of heavy equipment required. As such they have generally have less raw firepower than a line company however their supply needs are smaller than average and they can function better on planets with dense terrain.

Conscript Regiment: A regiment made up of poorly trained conscripts. Like a line regiment but worse in every way. The only benefit is that they are a lot easier to raise. Conscript regiments that survive long enough to gain enough experience might yet be able to be upgraded into a regular line regiment.

Choose core crusade force:
>Quantity is Quality: 10 Conscript Regiments, 5 Line Regiments.

>The Standard Pattern: 10 Line Regiments.

>Travel Light: 6 Light Infantry Regiments, 5 Line Regiments.

>>4337969
>Quantity is Quality: 10 Conscript Regiments, 5 Line Regiments.
Classic human wave attacks. Never fails

>>4337969
>>The Standard Pattern: 10 Line Regiments.
boring but effective

>>4337969
>The Standard Pattern: 10 Line Regiments.

I don't mind playing as a Female MC, but saying highest rolls determine MC then rolling for, even when more votes were for the other character is kinda a bad way to start things, and a bad omen.

>>4337969
>The Standard Pattern: 10 Line Regiments.

>>4337987
I didn't think it would be such a big deal since I felt the choice was not as important to the actual quest as choosing the region of the quest, but in hindsight I can see how it sets a bad precident, esspecially since FeMCs can be a big turn off on this board. From now on I will endeavour to QM with more integrity

>>4337975
>>4337979
>>4337987
>>4337993

Standard: 3
Quantity: 1

Alright we're going standard.

>>4337997
It's no big deal desu. I couldn't care less. This is a crusade quest. What we are matters little compared to what we must do.

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((Whoops, forgot a piece of fluff from the last post.))
While a crusade involves many arms of the Imperial Military at it’s core are the regiments of the Imperial Guard and at the core of the Guard is the guardsman; infantry regiments are a commander’s bread and butter, without which all the gains made by the astartes, titans and tanks could not be consolidated.

>Standard Pattern Chosen

In addition to the infantry the Guard need the support of more specialised regiments to respond to specific situations. These regiments are often more costly to raise but can be very effective when used correctly.

Mechanised Regiment: A regiment where most of the troops fight from chimeras, may include support companies including tank support, or recon groups featuring sentinel walkers. Generally more hard hitting than a line regiment but requires additional supplies to fight at peak capacity.

Armoured Regiment: A regiment composed mostly of Leman Russ tanks, has more raw fire power than even a mechanised company however they consume vast quantities of supplies and become almost useless without them. Their effectiveness is somewhat diminished on worlds with dense terrain (e.g. jungles or cities) and without infantry support they are not as effective at holding objectives.

Siege Regiment: A regiment specialised in attacking and defending heavily fortified positions. The bulk of the regiment is made up of infantry but it has a very large percentage of sappers and artillery batteries. Not particularly powerful when deployed but as long as it is kept supplied a siege regiment becomes increasingly powerful overtime as it “digs in”.

Drop Regiment: A regiment made up of airborne infantry and some light air droppable vehicles such as drop sentinels. Hits hard by dropping infantry behind the lines and performing close air support, however they do not do well in protracted conflict once their initial momentum is spent. Air support also requires a good supply line for proper functioning.


Choose specialist guard regiments:

>The Armoured Fist: 5 Mechanised Regiments, 3 Armoured Regiments

>Strike First, Strike Hard: 4 Mechanised Regiments, 4 Drop Regiments, 1 Armoured Regiment

>Hammer and Anvil: 2 Mechanised Regiments, 2 Drop Regiments, 1 Armoured Regiment, 4 Siege Regiments.

>Tactical Flexibility: 3 Mechanised Regiments, 3 Drop Regiments, 3 Siege Regiments, 1 Light Infantry Regiments.

>>4338001
>The Armoured Fist: 5 Mechanised Regiments, 3 Armoured Regiments

>>4338001
>Hammer and Anvil: 2 Mechanised Regiments, 2 Drop Regiments, 1 Armoured Regiment, 4 Siege Regiments.

>>4338001
>>Strike First, Strike Hard: 4 Mechanised Regiments, 4 Drop Regiments, 1 Armoured Regiment

>>4338001
>Tactical Flexibility: 3 Mechanised Regiments, 3 Drop Regiments, 3 Siege Regiments, 1 Light Infantry Regiments.

>>4338001

>Tactical Flexibility: 3 Mechanised Regiments, 3 Drop Regiments, 3 Siege Regiments, 1 Light Infantry Regiments.

>>4338005
>>4338007
>>4338012
>>4338022
>>4338066

A much needed tie breaker just as I finished preparing the next post.

Armoured Fist: 1
Hammer and Anvil: 1
Strike First: 1
Tactical Flexibility: 2

As annoying as it is I do like it when votes are evenly distributed like this, I think it means I've done a good job at making the choices seem equally valid.

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((Ugh, I’m starting to see why ‘char gen’ can be a bad thing in quests. I should have just tied the entire crusade force to the choice of crusade location. Anyhow, last ‘gen choices’ before we can finally get into it.))

While there was some choice in the guard regiments available, the other imperial institutions this side of the rift only had so much to spare. The Navy simply could not a spare battleship no matter how many favours you called in or how many arms you twisted. In the end the best you could manage was a hefty trade off:

>Take the Exorcist Grand Cruiser: Legion of Light as your flagship. With four launch bays, and just as many macro batteries it’s a formidable ship, but not quite the Emperor class battleship you would have liked.

>Take the Mars Class Battle Cruiser: Red Nova as your flagship. Lance turrets and a nova cannon give this ship more long range fire power but it’s broadside batteries and fighter/bomber compliment is lacking compared to the Grand Cruiser.

Flagship aside the Navy apologetically submits the following roster for the crusade:
-5 Cruisers
-6 Light Cruisers
-10 Escort Squadrons

Having sanctioned the crusade himself Lord Dante commits 2 whole companies of his Blood Angels to the crusade, 2 more companies from the Blood Angels second founding chapter: The Flesh Tearers also join the crusade. Finally a fifth company from the unrelated Blood Ravens Chapter also pledges itself to the crusade.

The Adeptus Mechanicus, interested in the possibility of archaeotech caches within Novo Solo commit a small exploratory group consisting of a cohort of skitarri, 1 Ad Mech cruiser and 1 Escort Squadrons. When enquiring after the possibility of Titan Support the mechanicus representative makes an ugly buzzing sound that you swear is the techna lingua version of laughing.
“Apologies Lord Solar, all available Titan Legios are currently committed to other conflict zones.”

While your assembled forces are nothing to sneeze at, as far as crusades go it is a little on the small side. Surely there are some other quarters from which you could gather aid?

>Press the Ad Mech for support again, really play up the possibility of them getting their hands on archaeo/xeno tech.

>Talk to Inquisition, generally they don’t mobilize unless there’s a specific situation that warrants their attention but who knows they might send something your way.

>Ask the Ecclesiarchy for help. The Imperial Cult is a mixed bag, while they can be helpful in bolstering morale and countering moral threats their fanaticism can create internal friction. If you come across a lost cardinal world or if they get wind of a holy relic they will all but demand you make every effort to recover it.

>Hire some Alien Mercenaries. Doing this would be very dubious and could well bring you censure from other Imperial factions down the line, the upside is you can quickly add another 4 regiments worth to your ground force and space fleet.

While you guys think about how you want to round out the crusade forces I'm going to get started on creating the sector map, this might take me a while.

Also some clarifications:
A space marine company usually comes with it's own strike cruiser so right now you have:
5 Space Marine companies and 5 Strike Cruisers in your crusade.

In regard to hiring the Aliens, the 4 extra fleet assets would be cruiser sized vessels.

>>4338083
>Take the Exorcist Grand Cruiser:
>Press the Ad Mech for support again, really play up the possibility of them getting their hands on archaeo/xeno tech.

>>4338083
>Take the Exorcist Grand Cruiser: Legion of Light
>Press the Ad Mech for support again, really play up the possibility of them getting their hands on archaeo/xeno tech.

>>4338083
>Take the Exorcist Grand Cruiser
>Press the Ad Mech for support again, really play up the possibility of them getting their hands on archaeo/xeno tech.

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Rolled 8 (1d10)

>>4338098
>>4338107
>>4338115

Looks like we're all in agreement. Rolling a d10 to see what we get.

Adeptus Mechanicus Forces Functionally many Ad mech units are slightly better versions of other Imperial Units. Their cybernetic enhancements and cogitator assisted equipment often mean that have better long-range firepower and added resistance to adverse environmental conditions. Super Heavy Units such as Titans and Ordinatus are in a class of their own.

1-4: A Second Explorator Team is sent (+1 Ad Mech Cruiser, +1 Skitarii Cohort)
5-8: A mechanicum fleet scout group will join the crusade (+4 Ad Mech Light Cruisers).
9-10: A well equipped expeditionary force is sent. (+1 Ad Mech Cruiser, +2 Ad Mech Light Cruisers, +1 Legio Cybernetica Cohort, +1 Skitarii Cohort)

>>4337892
>>4337897
You absolute mad lads. We're in forca crazy ride now.

>>4337960
I honestly wanted male too, but I guess I'm a little late.

>>4338146
I mean to be fair, where we're going we're to expect a whole lot of xenos. If theres any bio magos among them, I recall there possibly being tyranids, and I think researching them is relatively valuable.
So still a hard no for a titan? Not even a knight?

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In your decades of service you had learned how to speak the Mechanicus’s language… figuratively speaking. The followers of the Omnissiah were all about technology; acquiring it, preserving it, recovering it… stealing it. It would seem your crusade simply wasn’t a priority for the Ad mech but after digging up some old records that indicate an increased possibility of recovering archaeo-tech one of the forge worlds decided it was worth attaching an additional 4 light cruisers to the crusade.

----------

After the last transfer had been verified you looked over your final order of battle. There it was, your crusade. Even though you didn’t ask for this you can’t help but feel a sense of pride swell within you. Lord Dante had seen fit to grant you this honour, you would not let him and by extension the Emperor find you wanting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhqWHIq-aZw

The Novo Solo Crusade:

Ground Assets:
10 Line Regiments
3 Mechanised Regiments
3 Drop Regiments
3 Siege Regiments
1 Light Infantry Regiment
1x Skitarii Cohort
5x Space Marine Companies

Naval Assets:

Flagship: Exorcist Grand Cruiser Legion of Light

5x Cruisers
1x Ad Mech Cruiser
5x Space Marine Strike Cruisers
6x Light Cruisers
4x Ad Mech Light Cruisers
11x Escort Squadrons

Special Forces Assets:
1x Tempestus Scion Company

Okay guys we finally got through "character creation". It's getting late in my locale so I'm calling it a night. I'll also need a bit of time to actually put together a sector map. Expect it to be put up sometime tomorrow. If I get the next post ready quickly enough maybe we can make a few decisions over the course of the session before segueing into daily updates during the week.

>>4338194
>So still a hard no for a titan? Not even a knight?

Actually Knights are definitely a possibility, I'll definitely include a chance of getting those should the Ad Mech reinforce you in the future. No Titans for now.

I realise both OCC and IC that the current order of battle is a bit piddly for a crusade, but some of the crusades on Lexicanum just have rediculously huge lists of stuff and I'm still feeling my way on how a few things will work. I want this quest to have some structure but at the same time I'm running a quest, not writing a full on hardcore strategy wargame.

In some ways part of me is glad the anons chose Novo Solo since that scenario justifies having less stuff at the outset.

>>4338229
Grim dark is grim dark. If this is considered a pitifully sized fleet, then we're doing something right.

>>4338146
Ah so close to a full set. Eagerly waiting for the actual crusade tomorrow qm.

>>4338229
There are also Imperial Knight houses so we also could go bug those instead of Mechanicus Knights.
Terryn, Griffith, Hawkshroud, Mortan, Cadmus are all sworn directly to the imperium not the mechanicum and generally go where they want, but we would have to manage and get some kind of connection with them, or able to promise them new knigth worlds in the sector or something like that and for that we would need to do some politics and diplomacy, or more than likely relieve them in the case imperium nihilo, as they would be protecting their assets there.

>>4337931
>>4337959
Wait how did the chick win when there were 3 votes of male vs 2 female?

>>4339180
I um...
Exercised my QM fiat. When I saw that the two later posters had submitted characters with a full name and picture I decided to roll off between Sieghard Sigmund and Irene Celestorus. In hindsight I should have just picked Sieghard since both the dice and the votes were on their side.

>>4339443
Sigmund confirmed had a sex change
Canon saved

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((Okay, it's finally done, let's do this.))

++Crusade Directives++
Bring the Novo Solo sector back into the fold of the Imperium.
Primary targets include the key systems of Paulo, Janeiro, Horizonte and the sector capital of Solo Nobre.
++++
All Commanders of the Novo Solo Crusade
++++
Commence Operations
++++
The Emperor Protects
++++

And with that the signal the crusade began. One by one the ships of your assembled fleet made the transition to warp, their destination: the fortress world of Picromia; gate way between the Novo Solo sector and the greater Imperium.

After arriving at the jump point your fleet begins moving in system. Scans indicate multiple orbital defence platforms surrounding the planet as well as a large starfort. As the fleet approaches you receive a transmission:

“Attention unknown ships, this is Colonel Roman of the New People’s Army. You are trespassing on the sovereign territory of Great Leader. Turn your ships around and leave or you will be fired upon.”

You respond back:

“This is Lady Solar Celestorus of the Imperium. This world and all others in the sector belong to the God Emperor of Mankind. Stand down all your forces or face His wrath.”

The Colonel’s gaze hardened although he became noticeably uncomfortable after an aide whispered in his ear, no doubt informing him of the full extent of the crusade fleet.

“I was taught about your Imperium. When the great rift tore across the sky your Emperor abandoned the sector. In the end it was Great Leader who united us and pushed back the outer dark. Now you think to lay claim to all that we’ve built, after we struggled and bled while you did nothing to aid us!? Go home Lady Celestorus, you may take this fortress but beyond it lies the full might of the New People’s Army and a war you will not win.”

The transmission ended. You knew it was unlikely you could just roll back into the sector, but that’s why you brought the crusade fleet. Fleet auspex was already picking up 2 cruiser class vessels taking up position around the star fort with a third emerging from drydock. It looked like they were waiting for you to come to them.

How to proceed:

>Have your cruisers engage their ships and defence platforms while the space marines launch a boarding operation against the star fort.
>Methodically wear them down from long range. This is the least risky option but it will take the most time.
>Just overwhelm them with the full might of the crusade fleet. Starfort, or no they are vastly outnumbered.
>Write-in.

>>4339781
>Have your cruisers engage their ships and defence platforms while the space marines launch a boarding operation against the star fort.

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>>4339781
An addendum on the sector map: The information on the map is far from 100% accurate, Imperial records are out of date and some information was outright lost. You’ll notice that not all systems are shown to be connected by a warp route and that’s because the map shows known warp routes and even that information may be out of date. The Diabolis warp storm is a fairly recent phenomenon and was not there when the sector was originally settled.

Named planets will usually have some sort of settlement on them. Planets with a number code beginning with NS have been surveyed but no settlement was established (at the time). Planets with a code beginning with UE are known but not yet fully surveyed.

>>4339781
>>Have your cruisers engage their ships and defence platforms while the space marines launch a boarding operation against the star fort.

>>4339781
>Have your cruisers engage their ships and defence platforms while the space marines launch a boarding operation against the star fort

>>4339781
>Have your cruisers engage their ships and defence platforms while the space marines launch a boarding operation against the star fort.

Rolled 18 + 60 (1d100 + 60)

>>4339794
>>4339808
>>4339817
>>4339830

Sounds like a consensus. Let's see how this turns out. Okay in regards to dice I had a more boardgame-style combat resolution system for the wider battles across the sector and a simpler resolution system for narrative events. Since you have a stupid amount of forces arrayed against the current adversary I'll use the simpler narrative system.

Difficulty Thershold: 80
Starfort: 40
Orbital Defence Platforms: 10
Planetary Defence Guns: 20
Enemy Cruisers: 30
Defence structures badly maintained: -20

Bonuses:
Full Might of the Crusade Fleet: +40
Space Marine Boarding Parties: +20

>>4339846
I do have a suggestion, we the players should get to roll for ourselves.

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Your direct your fleet to begin the assault on the starfort. A large formation of your own cruiser class vessels with the Legion of Light at the centre begin advancing upon the enemy. Aided by attack craft launched from the Legion your ships contemptuously swat aside the defence platforms.

As the enemy cruisers begin exchanging fire with your own cruiser line the space marines move in for the kill. Each space marine strike cruiser softens up the starfort with a barrage from its bombardment cannons before launching a wave of thunder hawks and boarding torpedoes at the enemy structure.

Unfortunately there was one thing you had forgotten to take into account: this was a fortress world. In addition to the orbital defences there were several surface-to-orbit batteries on the planet itself. As one of the strike cruisers moved in a lucky shot disabled its engines. Sensing blood the gunnery crews on the starfort directed their remaining macro batteries against the stricken vessel, damaging it further, finally a follow up volley from the ground batteries sent the hulk tumbling into the planet’s atmosphere.

Once the marines entered the station in force it was all over, the defenders were competent, but merely being competent is nowhere near enough to repel several companies of astartes. As your own ships blasted apart the enemy cruisers the fort’s guns went silent one by one. Despite having ‘won’ the battle you receive a last sneering transmission from Colonel Roman.

“Ahahaha! See how we make you bleed Lady Solar, this is what awaits you and your army. Can you afford to-”

His gloating is cut short as a squad of astartes burst into the command centre and ruthlessly gun down all present. The last thing you hear before the feed cuts off is the voice of a marine.

“This is Sergeant Diomedes, command citadel secured.”

A few minutes later your naval commander: Lord Admiral Arcturus reports having achieved naval superiority and that the fleet is currently pulling back to avoid further attacks from the planetary defence guns.

>cont

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>>4339887
The battle in orbit is won but just as you’re about to order your forces to regroup you receive an emergency transmission from the planet below. The downed strike cruiser had managed to disgorge the majority of its space marine company as it fell through the atmosphere and the survivors of said company were now scattered across one of Picromia’s continents and trying to establish contact with the fleet.

The enemy still had control of the planet, there would be no doubt that they would pick up on the transmissions and move to attack the space marines. If the fortress world’s garrison was even half of what it could be then the scattered marines would eventually be wiped out. Your first instinct is to sent in the rest of your marine companies to reinforce their brethren, but they had already been committed to the starfort and would take sometime to redeploy. The planetary defence guns also still posed a risk to your fleet.

What is your next move?

>Tell the marines planetside that reinforcements will be sometime coming and that they should go to ground. In the meantime, pull back your fleet and prepare your siege regiments for deployment.
>Have your fleet commence bombardment of enemy ground installations while deploying your drop regiments to reinforce the stranded marines.
>Write In

>>4339849
Well I'm ripping this system off from Planetary Govenor quest. That QM rolls their own dice. Usually if I'm only waiting on one roll I'd rather just look at what it was so I can begin writing the next post immediately.

If you guys really want to roll your own dice though I'll see what I can do.

>>4339930
>Have your fleet commence bombardment of enemy ground installations while deploying your drop regiments to reinforce the stranded marines.
It’s not a crusade unless it’s bloody

>>4339930
>Have your fleet commence bombardment of enemy ground installations while deploying your drop regiments to reinforce the stranded marines.

>>4339975
>>4340018

Moving on with just the two votes. You anons don't seem to be interested in going slow and steady anyway.

Difficulty Thershold: 50
Planetary Defence Guns: 40
Hardened Installations: 20
Fortress Understaffed: -10

Bonuses:
Orbital Superiority: +10
Strike Cruiser Bombardment Cannons: +10

Okay because annon asked. And so there can be no doubt over who's fault it is if this goes badly. Somebody roll me a d100.

Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>4340042

>>4340071
Heh, good one.

Writing...

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You order Arcturus to get the fleet in position for orbital bombardment, while bringing up the transports carrying your three drop regiments.

The defensive installations of Picromia are hardened against orbital strikes so the initial bombardment doesn’t do much lasting damage. What it does do is force any defending ground forces to hunker down, buying valuable time for the drop regiments to make planetfall and rendezvous with the marines. It also helps that a significant portion of the planetary gun batteries appear inactive. Arcturus reports only minor damage to the fleet thus far, but prolonging the bombardment increases the risk of another lucky hit.
Meanwhile the survivors of the marine company successfully regroup and form up with the drop troops. You now have a cohesive fighting force deployed on the surface Picromia. By now the fleets augurs have identified the most important military targets.

Time to claim the first world of the crusade.
>Bomb all active enemy installations into rubble then have the combined marine/drop trooper force secure the ruins.
>Perform a lighter suppressive bombardment, while landing siege regiments. This will take longer and be a greater risk to the fleet but will result in more of the fortress installations being captured intact.
>Send in the Marines!... again: Have the strike cruisers move into low orbit to perform precision bombardment in order to breach the enemy fortresses, then assault the breach with the combined force of the marine companies and drop regiments. This is the most bloody option, but it will see the planet captured quickly and with most of it’s infrastructure intact.
>Write In

>>4340097
>Write In
Is there a starport that the marines and drop troops can take so we can start quickly offloading troops

>>4340142
There are one or two locations that could serve as a starport and they are all heavily fortified so taking them with your current ground forces (which are lightly equipped) would be very costly...

If the fortress complexes of Picromia were fully manned that is. It would seem that this New People's Army didn't quite have enough people to staff the place. Your intelligence officers identify a starport they say has 70% chance of not being garrisoned. Following on they proceed to identify other installations that may also be undefended.

With this revalation do you want to formulate an alternative battle plan?

>>4340159
I vote we take that risk then. See if we can seize the (hopefully) unoccupied starport and start moving troops down.

>>4340169
Looks like it's a slow night. Alright, roll me a d100 my dude.

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>4340180
Probably because the Burgers are asleep

>>4340183
Well soon it'll be time for me to sleep and I was hoping to get the conquest of Picromia finished before then, but oh well...

Writing...

Your forces planet side are directed to secure what appears to be an abandoned fortified starport. When they arrive they find the gates unguarded but not unbarred. Fortunately without any defenders present it is a simple matter for your forces to breach the gates. The starport is found to have been stripped of all supplies and machinery, there is barely anything of use left. No matter it is the structure itself that you need the most. After breaching the command centre the techmarines attached to the Fleshtearer company manage to re-activate the spaceport’s landing beacon.

Back in orbit Admiral Arcturus reports that the ongoing artillery duel between the fleet and the defence batteries is taking its toll. One of the cruisers took a big hit and had to break orbit.
You now have a relatively secure position from which to land troops.

What next?
>We’ll just secure the abandoned installations, bombard the enemy held ones into rubble.
>Conserve fleet strength, have the fleet move out of range of the defence guns and begin deploying more ground troops. (Write in whatever combination of ground assets you like.)
>Write In

>>4340202
>Conserve fleet strength, have the fleet move out of range of the defence guns and begin deploying more ground troops. (Write in whatever combination of ground assets you like.)

The siege regiments
A mechanised regiment
3 infantry regiments
The light regiments

>>4340202

>Conserve fleet strength, have the fleet move out of range of the defence guns and begin deploying more ground troops. (Write in whatever combination of ground assets you like.)

Whatever is fast and light to reconaissance, spread, overwhelm and take important nodes planetside. Heavy points of resistance can be dealt with later by slower, more destructive siege forces.

>>4340202
>Conserve fleet strength, have the fleet move out of range of the defence guns and begin deploying more ground troops. (Write in whatever combination of ground assets you like.)
Send down 1 mechanised regiment, one siege regiment, and 1 line infantry regiment

>>4340215
>>4340212
In line with this vote, I'll swap out the line infantry with a light infantry regiment

>>4340205
+1

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>4340205
>>4340217
Big Drop

>>4340212
>>4340215
Slightly smaller drop

I don't have all night so I'm gonna roll off between these two.

1: Big Drop
2: Smaller Drop

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With the spaceport secure you begin landing a large force of imperial guard. The assembled forces of eleven entire guard regiments is too much for the spaceport, large as it is. Some regiments are forced to erect a temporary camp outside the walls which on a volcanic world, is not the best thing to do. The need for more space prompts further exploration into the spaceport’s adjoining fortress structure. Like the spaceport it has been stripped of all supplies and equipment, leaving the facilities bare.

As of now a siege regiment, light infantry regiment and line regiment have made planetfall. Your command staff inform you that there simply is not enough space around the LZ that isn’t lava for the remaining regiments to set up camp. They also suggest that maybe the currently deployed forces will be sufficient to take the planet. While the defenders are pinned inside their fortresses it would not do to take too long to secure Picromia. There is a chance that the enemy sent out a distress signal and reinforcements are on the way.

Your current planet side assets are as follows:
1 under strength space marine company.
3 Drop Regiments
1 Siege Regiment
1 Line Regiment
1 Light Infantry Regiment

No “doom stack” for you it seems, what now?

>Have the remaining forces find a suitable field to land on, you are not beginning the campaign without overwhelming force!
>The assembled forces are enough for the task at hand, begin laying siege to the nearest enemy held fortress.
>Send the Drop Regiments to secure more empty installations, then move out landed regiments accordingly so that we can make room at the space port.

>>4340238
Oh and
>Write In

is also and option.

>>4340238
>Send the Drop Regiments to secure more empty installations, then move out landed regiments accordingly so that we can make room at the space port.

>>4340238
>Send the Drop Regiments to secure more empty installations, then move out landed regiments accordingly so that we can make room at the space port.

>>4340238
>The assembled forces are enough for the task at hand, begin laying siege to the nearest enemy held fortress.

Alright guys. I gotta sleep, feel free to continue voting on and discussing the current action. See you in around 10 hours.

>>4340238
>Send the Drop Regiments to secure more empty installations, then move out landed regiments accordingly so that we can make room at the space port.
>Write In
Can we pick up any chatter on their rebel's side? Anyway we can send down another a planet wide vox signal demanding their compliance? The less lives we have to kill is just that many more we can commit to the crusade.

>>4340304
Being a naughty boy and phone posting from bed.

Intercepted comm chatter is largely calls for status reports. Likely to determine which units are active following the bombardment. They are vaguely aware your forces have made planet fall, and some installations have received orders to perform recon.

Demanding their surrender is still an option. Colonel Roman seemed fanatically loyal to Great Leader but that may not be indicative of all personnel serving in the New People's Army. It certainly helps that you have a massive advantage over the defenders right now and they know it.

>>4340238
>Send the Drop Regiments to secure more empty installations, then move out landed regiments accordingly so that we can make room at the space port.

>>4340238
>The assembled forces are enough for the task at hand, begin laying siege to the nearest enemy held fortress.

>>4340238
>>Send the Drop Regiments to secure more empty installations, then move out landed regiments accordingly so that we can make room at the space port.

((Alright I'm awake, let's see resolve the next action.))
>>4340241
>>4340245
>>4340304
>>4340390
>>4341194
Capture more stuff

>>4340252
>>4340412
Attack now

Guess we're capping more points. Somebody give me a roll.

Difficulty: 50
Cunning Enemy Plan: 40
Imperial Initiative Lost: 10
Patchy Intel: 10
Slightly tenderised enemy: -10

Bonuses:
Drop Regiments: +10

Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>4341537

>>4341542
69 might be our lucky number. heh

>>4341542
The dice gawds have a sense of humour.
Gonna fix myself some lunch then write out the next post.

File: Hydra_Fire.png (1.47 MB, 846x724)

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Your drop regiments disperse, each heading off to another fortress installation suspected of being unmanned. As they begin moving enemy reconnaissance flyers are sighted on the horizon, the enemy is up to something.

It occurs to you that your forces are in a uniquely vulnerable position right now. Ponderous troop transports are making their way through the atmosphere to disgorge scores of guardsmen onto large flat open surfaces, perfect targets for… oh.

You immediately scramble the Legion’s fighter compliment to perform combat air patrols around the captured starport. Sure enough they eventually detect and intercept an incoming flight of enemy bombers. The enemy air forces were significant and managed to shoot down several of your craft, fortunately you inflicted some casualties of your own and forced the survivors to break off their attack.

>cont

>>4341661
The drop regiments report that they have secured three more empty fortresses, like the starport they have been stripped of most of their equipment. This means that their air defence grid is non-existent. It’s become clear to you now that your forces are currently very vulnerable to enemy air raids. The drop regiments have some anti-air capability in the form of their gunships and the siege regiments can set up static air defences at their current location. Your own air forces include the Legion of Light’s squadrons and the small compliment of aero-space craft carried by the marine strike cruisers.

You wouldn’t say your airforce is underpowered compared to the enemy’s but running sorties to and from orbit drastically increases your response time. Moving aircraft planetside is currently not an option as limited space is still an issue at the starport and the lack of supplies at the newly captured bases means that they cannot be used to refuel and reload aircraft.

As of now 3 more regiments have made planetfall, the mechanised regiment, another siege regiment and another line regiment.

Planetside Assets now include:
1 under strength space marine company.
3 Drop Regiments
2 Siege Regiment
2 Line Regiment
1 Mechanised Regiment
1 Light Infantry Regiment

Forces Awaiting Deployment:
1 Line Regiment
1 Siege Regiment

Your advisers remind you that the planet’s volcanic environment will exacerbate the risks of waging war. The line regiments and light infantry regiments will suffer the most, while the other regiments are either mounted in vehicles or have additional protective gear.

Your Orders?
>Begin attacking the closest enemy fortress, concentrating our air assets on giving cover to the attacking forces.
>Begin the attack, keeping our air force in reserve in case the enemy tries to bomb something undefended.
>Begin the attack and have the remaining space marine companies perform a drop pod assault on the targeted fortresses. This plan has a higher chance of success but with higher marine casualties.
>Have the siege companies tenderize the targets before launching an assault. This plan will likely have the fewest casualties but will take the longest and cause more damage to the planet’s infrastructure.

>>4341665
Forgot the:
>Write-In

>>4341665
>Begin the attack, keeping our air force in reserve in case the enemy tries to bomb something undefended.

>>4341665
>Begin the attack, keeping our air force in reserve in case the enemy tries to bomb something undefended.

Not sure why we’re trying to preserve so much infrastructure - but I do agree that a crusade which gets bogged down early will not progress far

>>4341665
>>Begin the attack, keeping our air force in reserve in case the enemy tries to bomb something undefended.

>>4341682
every reinforcement and resupply we get we'll pass through this planet so it is in our interest to preserve as much as possible.

>>4341682
As far as I can tell, players want to capture all the things. Looking at Planetary Govenor Quest it's always: capture this, don't destroy that (so we can sell it). Etc...

>>4341665
>Have the siege companies tenderize the targets before launching an assault. This plan will likely have the fewest casualties but will take the longest and cause more damage to the planet’s infrastructure.

>>4341676
>>4341682
>>4341690
Air Force in Reserve

>>4341709
Tenderize

Roll me a d100

Difficulty: 90
Fortified Enemy Positions: 60
Long Imperial Response Time: 20
Volcanic Environment: 10

Bonuses:
Overwhelming Numbers: +10
Space Marines: +10
Siege Regiments: +10
Mechanised Regiment: +5

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>4341715
Oof

>>4341718
Writing...

>>4341718
Close enough. Should keep the casualties low.

>>4341721
I think that makes it. It's DC 90, but we have +35 in bonuses, so it's more like a DC 55

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Despite leaving your main attack force vulnerable, your decision to hold your air force back in reserve is vindicated, when the enemy tries to launch air raids against your newly captured installations. Your own fighter craft manage to meet them in time to prevent the drop regiments from getting carpet bombed.

Over the course of the next few weeks your forces begin the long and bloody process of cracking open each fortress one by one. The siege regiments are help in creating breaches that allow for the astartes and mechanised regiments to penetrate the defences before being followed up by line infantry. Sieges are always bloody work though and casualties are heavy among the spearhead units.

Your more methodical approach seems to have paid off, controlling more of the empty installations has denied the enemy possible lines of retreat. Enemy troops fleeing fallen fortresses are often wiped out by air strikes or raids from your drop regiments. This prevents a larger force from rallying at the planet’s “capital” and primary fortress.

Meanwhile Admiral Arcturus reports that several enemy escort ships were found returning to Picromia, likely from patrols in the outer system. Your fleet has done their best to hunt them down but at least one managed to make the transition to warp. If they didn’t get a message out before, the New People’s Army Definitely knows you’re coming now.

Casualties from the Conquest of Picromia:
-Space Marine Company severely depleted.
-Mechanised Regiment reduced to quarter strength.
-All deployed regiments suffer minor casualties from prolonged combat in volcanic environment.

>cont

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>>4341749
((Forgot Fleet Losses))
Fleet Casualties:
- 1 Space Marine Strike Cruiser destroyed.
- 1 Cruiser Heavily Damaged
- 4 Cruisers sustained moderate damage during the space battle.

The fortress world of Picromia is now firmly under Imperial control. It will make an excellent staging point for further advances into the sector. Despite capturing the enemy installations mostly intact it will take a while to bring Picromia back to full operational capacity. It’s become obvious that the New People’s Army didn’t have the man power or resources to garrison and maintain all it’s positions. A fact that is very fortunate for you. Your analysts estimate that had Picromia been fully garrisoned there was a very real chance the crusade would have suffered terminal casualties.

As it stands your greatest loss appears to be the Fleshtearers 4th company. With it’s strike cruiser destroyed and heavy losses it can no longer be considered a functional company strength formation. Common sense dictates that the survivors return to the chapter fortress to be reinforced, but the Fleshtearers are known for being an… eager bunch and they are pledged to your service for the duration of the crusade.

What shall you do with them?
>Allow them to remain. (Gain +2 Space Marine Strike Teams as a special forces asset.)
>Bid them return to their chapter. (They might come back as a full strength company, but this will take a very, very long time. Earns you some respect with the Astartes Captains.)
>Write In

>>4341749
We're gonna need to think smart instead of the tried and true guardsmen route. We lack the man power of a true Crusade, so we might have to play a little dirty. How large is their capital hive, and can we fire marco-cannon rounds at it, or would the atmosphere and Hive Shields disintegrate the rounds?

>Write In
A little of choice A & B? There's a Star Fortress, or at least a space station orbiting the planet. This place has fortresses for days that can potentially be reinforced and is the starting point of this crusade. Would they consider recruiting from this world?
Does the Star Fort have a repair dock? Can out Mechanicus friends retrofit the fort for the purpose of repairing hulked ships, or would it be more efficient to have them moved back into Imperium space to be repaired?
Can we send out a few ships to refresh our numbers with more conscripts, equipment to refit the forts, and settlers for the planet's various hives?

What is this planet like? You mentioned it was a lava planet? That makes it a death world.

>>4341771
Allow the most eager and fanatical remain, probably one company's worth, to remain and let the rest return.

>>4341778
More like one squad. A company is what you started with, now you don't even have that.

>>4341774
More Intel on Picromia:
Picromia is a barren volcanic world, as dangerous as it is the only thing stopping it from being classified as a full on death world is that it appears to have no lifeforms that are actively trying to kill you. The world is sparsely populated, aside from the fortress installations set up in key strategic locations there appear to be no other settlements. While some of the hab complexes within the fortresses could be considered large towns in their own right there isn’t much of a civilian population on this planet. Most of the non-military personnel are the type of civilian “hangers on” you get following any regiment around; families and various service industry types catering to off duty soldiers. The so called native population was already very small since the world was under garrisoned. In short: Picromia is not the kind of world you can recruit people from.

It is however an excellent place to park military assets that need time to recover. Reinforcements can be shipped in from the wider Imperium, and the volcanic environment makes for a good training ground. Defences aside the planet was pretty much designed to be used as a hardened supply dump and minor fleet anchor. So yes the starfort certainly has repair facilities your ships can use. (Still needs to time to be fixed up to fully strength though).

>>4341774
Honestly, we didn't do too badly. This was a volcanic fortress world and thus an inevitable source of casualties, even if it was running with a partial garrison. There don't look to be too many worlds like this, and we can be sure that some of the planets will be fairly easy victories. The next two, Itambe and Santarem, are minor colonies we could probably blitz down with ease. The Janeiro system will be tougher, but it's a lucrative target with a hive world and forge world in the same system.

I'm thinking these guys will likely have their own version of the mechanicus, since those are the only guys capable of working a forge world. Perhaps our contingent of AdMech can help us work some dirty tricks on that forge world?

Interestingly, their capitol of Solo Nobre seems to be a death world/fortress world hybrid (with jungle terrain). If this volcanic world doesn't count as a death world but still deals significant passive casualties, I can only imagine the kind of "final boss" battle we'll encounter there. Trying to blitz it down seems like a fool's errand.

>>4341774
A note on Space Marines:

Space Marines are rare and precious, you cannot replace them in the same way you can replace guard regiments. Consider that it takes an entire year for a recruit to become a scout assuming they survive the training and implantation. Even if a chapter starts accepting recruits from worlds you conquer they still need to be sent back to the fortress monastery for initiation. Point is: you cannot locally source your space marines.
Getting more marines realistically means having existing companies be reinforced by the chapter’s reserve companies (for the more codex compliant), or simply getting more chapters to pledge more companies.

>>4341788
Then I vote to keep the marines until we get most of the instantiations fixed, then we can send them off. I don't think it's impossible to put a hive world on this place. I mean, it's only a bit of lava. That free thermal energy that can be put towards powering fortress shields and planetary defense laser systems. EZPZ just make a few hundred Hab blocks worth of green houses full of aeroponics facilities and nutrient sheets to grow a majority of the crops to mitigate to costs to feed millions of people in our crusading fleet. Not to feed everyone, but just to reduce the strain it would require to ship food from the greater imperium to us.

So yeah ship in green horns to train on the semi-death world, fix shit, try not to die. Uh. Salvage all of ours and the enemies damaged ships.

>>4341790
Tech priests being the diplomats? How rare, but appropriate.

Welp I need to take a moment to fill out a spread sheet. You guys have now completed the "prologue" of this quest and for the next bit I'm going to need to keep better track of all your individual assets, hence the spread sheet.

Feel free to continue discussing and suggest regiment/ship names.

Can I also get a few more votes on what to do with the marines plz?

>>4341808
Wait. Wait. Sorry, I only now realized how impossible it would be to create a Hive World, let alone one on a lava planet. A Hive would would be too much of a resource drain in addition to requiring centuries to construct.

>>4341799
Does the planet have any deposits of ore worth mining, or the only value this place has is that it's a fortress world? Sorry, I'm trying to think of creative ways to fully utilize this planet more that has already been suggested beyond as a staging point, training fresh conscripts shipped here (specializing in Siege Regiments), and utilizing all the thermal energies to power most of the machines here to save a few thrones. Shitty planet = troops get trained faster.

>>4341819
>Does the planet have any deposits of ore worth mining, or the only value this place has is that it's a fortress world?

A thorough geological survey was never truly attmepted because lava. It's something you can ask the Ad Mech to get around to.

What is obvious are numerous crystaline mineral formations that split the light into pretty colours, hence the planet's name. It is not known if said minerals have any use beyond looking nice.

>>4341771
I'd say we keep the Marines. This is what they're trained for.

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>>4341819
Yeah, I was going to say, putting a hive world on a bunch of volcanoes seems like a pretty horrible idea, even putting aside the ridiculous time horizon. I mean, there's always a chance some dingus in the Administratum will actually approve it (stupider things have been done), but it's not a good use of resources. I say we just fix up existing infrastructure and use it as a hardened location with which to store whatever stuff we'll need for the crusade. Even bringing in surveyors to see if there's anything worth mining seems like using resources (time especially) we don't have, at least right now.

I think we ought to focus on the other planets. Again, the Janeiro system looks really nice, and if we take the next couple of systems quickly, they won't have enough time to hunker down or call in sufficient reinforcements.

>>4341817
>Allow them to remain.
If these guys are really itching for a fight, we'll give it to them.

I guess I'll try to make a regiment. How about the Perthite Iron Legion? They hail from the forge world of Perth, which was consumed with internal conflict during the Noctis Aeterna. The forge world spent most of its resources of heavy weaponry and armor, leaving the loyalist infantry to make due with little. The result was the adoption of unorthodox, but effective equipment such as slabs of iron used in place of proper flack armor. After the loyalist victory at Perth, the battle hardened PDF would be retooled into a full scale Imperial Guard regiment, keeping the traditional armor and willingness to equip and fight creatively. They were sent off world soon after the conflict, so as to protect the wider Imperium. And also in no small part to appease the Mechanicus leadership on Perth, many of whom disapproved of the Iron Legion's methods and wanted them gone the second the fighting was over. Pic related.

>>4341854
Let's do that. The research requisition on the Crystal's and scanning the planet part. If we find anything valuable then we might get a frigate for our troubles.

>>4341771
>Allow them to remain. (Gain +2 Space Marine Strike Teams as a special forces asset.)

>>4341778
>>4341808
>>4341848
>>4341867
The general consensus seems to be keeping the marines. Calling it here because I need to finalize the crusade force spread sheet.

Also I just read on Lexicanum that the Flesh Tearers were a dying chapter only 400 strong with degrading gene seed. This was circa M41. By now the force attached to your crusade could well be all that's left of them ((Oops.))

>>4341871
Their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Are you going to make a big sheet with our character stats and details of each regiment and ship?

>>4341871
Well shit. We can't let them die out like this. We need spacecmarines, but they're the only ones available

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>>4341885
I should also mention that the Flesh Tearers are a Blood Angels successor chapter with an even higher risk of succumbing to the Red Thirst and Back Rage. So much so that they make other Imperial forces very uncomfortable.

>>4341883
>Are you going to make a big sheet with our character stats and details of each regiment and ship?

Sort of, you'll get to see for yourself in a moment.

With Picromia secure you begin planning your next move. Already your logistic corps had sent word back to wider Imperium for reinforcements. No new assets would be forth coming but you would at least get the required men and materials to bring your current forces back to full strength. Your cruisers had taken a beating and while they were still combat capable it might be wiser to keep them at anchor until they could get fully repaired, which could take a while. The captured starport had repair berths yes, but they were not running at full capacity, priority had been given to the most damaged cruiser.
The space marine vessels, downed strike cruiser notwithstanding, had come out the in better condition than all others that had participated in the battle, but they had still taken a bit of damage. Since the damage was light it could be fully repaired with needing a repair dock but it would still take time. This meant that the only large ships you had ready for combat were the Mechanicus cruiser and your flagship.

Interrogation of NPA prisoners and mining of captured databanks had revealed the following intelligence:

Much of the old imperial holdings in Novo Solo are under the rule Great Leader and the New People’s Army. For a renegade fiefdom it is well organised. Picromia’s garrison was likely a backwater assignment to a location that didn’t hold much strategic value in the eyes of NPA. Things haven’t been going that well for Great Leader though. The Diabolis warp storm has cut off the direct warp route between Horizonte and Solo Nobre. The warp routes leading directly from Janiero to Solo Nobre have also become unstable and hard to navigate.

Despite the warp storm disrupting the central warp routes, travel between Horizonte and Janiero remains remarkably stable. Just as well because the systems surrounding Horizonte undergo regular depredation from Ork warbands operating out of the galactic north west. Military reinforcement coming in from Paulo and Solo Nobre regularly passes through Janeiro on its way to Horizonte. This is bad news because it means that there is a very real chance that Janeiro can be heavily reinforced if you don’t move on it quickly. While it’s no fortress world the system defences are nothing to sneeze at and it will almost certainly have more warships and ground forces defending it.

>cont

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>>4341917
While your fleet undergoes repairs your command staff begin drawing up possible battle plans. With your cruisers out of action it would be unwise to attack Janeiro directly, then again, your flagship is an imposing presence and the marine strike cruisers are still good for the fight, the mechanicum cruiser also stands at the ready. Committing a major force to Janeiro now may seize you the initiative but it would leave Picromia under-defended; your people are still bringing the defences back to full capacity. However, waiting for more of your forces to become battle ready risks a larger enemy force reinforcing Janeiro.

After much discussion amongst the command staff two general plans start to take form:
>Take the Flagship, Ad Mech Cruiser and Space Marines straight to Janeiro along with 10 selected regiments and half the light cruisers/ escorts.
>Send out your escorts and light cruisers to scout Itambe, Santarem and NS-061, also deploy two tasks forces each consisting of 1 regiment and 2 light cruisers to take Itambe and Santarem.
>Write In

Note Leaving the Ad Mech Cruiser at anchor in Picromia will passively increase repair rates by 5%. Starport repair facilities will currently repair the 2 most damaged ships by 20%. All other damaged ships can self-repair for 10% provided they remain at anchor.

>>4341940
What about capturing the damaged and destroyed ships to repair or salvage for parts?

Okay Guys this is it, you've gotten out of character creation and the prologue chapter and into the Strategy Layer; the true Lady Solar experience.

While I've provided prompts to get the ball rolling, this part of the quest more than any others is where I encourage you to discuss and write in what kind of plans you want to execute.

Finishing off the conquest of Picromia and setting up the spread sheet took a lot out of me so there will be no further updates today, but I'll still be lurking so feel free to ask questions and give feedback.

The most tedious part of compiling the spreadsheet was actually naming everything, congrats to the anon who suggested the Perthite Iron Legion; the 69th Perthite Regiment will forever have a place of honour on the roll call.

>>4341941
The NPA cruisers defending Picroma fell to such large amounts of fire that there's barely anything left.

>>4341940
Regarding the fleets, we should take an aggressive assault. We'll leave behind the His Shield, His Sword, His Spear, Imperator Vult, and Terra's Bulwark will remain in addition to the Ad Mech Cruiser. The His Sword and His shield will be prioritized for the 20% bonus to repairs instead of the 10%. In 2 turns the His Sword will join the rest of the fleet. On turn three the His Sword and the Ad Mech Cruiser will join the rest of the crusade. On turn 4 the rest of the cruiser ships will join.the rest of the Ad Mech cruisers and escort squadrons will follow. Same goes for the marine cruisers. They're a bit damaged but still good for a brawl until we capture those two worlds.

Requarding infantry this is my idea.
If the 23rd Perthite Mech regiment still has a majority of their equipment, and mostly a loss of guardmen, then will draw some men from the Line regiments to bolster their numbers.

I trust each ship to house their own void regiments or anti boarding parties, but let's leave two regiments worth of troops to guard and train new troops. The rest we take.

We will split our fleet in two so we can blaze a path through Itambe and Santarem, ignoring NS-061 for now. When our fleets pass by their planets we'll send out a box message for their surrender and compliance. Should they space assets but comply, we'll leave them mostly alone but will send a regiment to take command of their vessels. If they dont comply then we blow them up. We'll go on our way and begin the siege. We're not going to commit forces in holding the planets.

>>4341944
What about the ones hunted down in space?

>>4341958
If they didn't escape, they got *BLAMMED*.

>>4341979
But the scrap and space materials.....

>>4341987
Crusade forces are trained to put down threats first, and knee cap targets for looting second.

Escort hulls are peanuts to the crusade fleet anyway. Did you look at the crusade forces sheet? We don't have escorts, we have escort squadrons, das right: we need 3 escorts together before we consider it a viable fleet element.

Lady Solar Celestorus ain't got time to haul shipwrecks to the chop shop like some broke-ass-hobo Rogue Trader. When she wants more ships, she says:

"Yo Imperial Navy! Gimme some of those phat BBs!"

Then the Navy says:

"I fecking told you we don't have any more, ya crazy bint!"

...but that's beside the point.

Jokes aside, salvage is going to be a lot harder to come by simply because unlike a certain other 40k quest it is not the primary method you acquire new ships. Letting you salvage everything that floats while having reinforcements coming in from the wider Imperium screws with my power curve.

Speaking of getting more stuff, somebody roll me a d10 for Picromia's geological survey.

1-3: Nothing but a bunch of useless rocks.
4-9: Significant mineral deposits.
10: Weapons Grade Crystals.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4341999

>>4342005
Nice.

>>4342005
Well shit, I know I said no more updates tonight but with a roll like that gotta give you guys one more choice before bed.

Writing...

>>4341940

For Crusade forces :
>Send escorts and light cruisers to scout Itambe and Santarem, then take Itambe and Santarem. Move swiftly, and give them only one option for surrender. If they don t, fire immediately. With the fleets taken or destroyed, proceed to ask the same to the two planets governments. If they don't surrender, bombard them and proceed to take the planet's key locations (if we decide to garrison them we can rule from them, if we decide to leave we can destroy them. example : a spaceport).
>If there is any trade ship to use here, or in Itambe and Santarem capture it. They could be used for infiltration on their worlds.
>Leave the 23rd Perhite on Picromia, and allow them to recruit for recovery losses.


For Picromia :
>Order the establishment of an infantry regiment of forced conscripts out of the remaining NPA troops and a part of the planet population (anyone left that will not be recruited by the 23rd Perthite regiment for restore their losses). They will use cheap equipment produce local : autoguns and iron armors similar to the 23rd Perthite.
>Immediate martial law on Picromia, destroy any symbol of the NPA left and do some purges before leaving to avoid the formation of a rebellion. Take all communications stations and radio, ad start imperial propaganda.
>Put a techpriests team for read about the planet story and formations. With the objective of finding anything unmarked by official NPA maps.


For Imperium astropath message :
>Send the current information we have on the NPA and on the sector
>Request missionaries for the conversion of the worlds taken by the crusade
>Request one assasinorum personnel for hunting down NPA high leadership. The importance of this Great Leader appears fundamental for the NPA population and military.

As your forces prepare for their next deployment your mechanicus contingent conducts a geological survey of Picroma. The results are incredible; in addition to significant mineral deposits, Picroma’s signature crystals are found to have excellent energy focusing properties, the kind required for high quality lance weapons, turbo lasers and various other advanced technologies.

A few days after the report crosses your desk you receive a message from the Adeptus Mechanicus.

++Priority Alpha++
Lady Solar Celestorus, we of the Mechanicum require you to cede control of Picromia to us that we may begin it’s conversion into a proto-forge world. Should you do so we would dispatch a defence force to secure our new investment, co-incidentally prosecution of the crusade in the Novo Solo sector would become of higher priority to us when lending support to the wider Imperium.
++++

Sounds like modest proposal:
>Give Picromia to the Adeptus Mechanicus. This means you no longer have direct control of the world. You can still use it as a resupply point and fleet anchor but you can no longer use it to bench inactive regiments or train new ones. Picromia will eventually become a combined fortress/industrial world and its ability to repair and re-arm you forces will be vastly expanded. Ad Mech forces will be sent to guard Picromia (they will not be under your command) and there will be a greater possibility of being sent more/better assets for the crusade by the Ad Mech.

>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops.

>>4342051
>Give Picromia to the Adeptus Mechanicus. This means you no longer have direct control of the world. You can still use it as a resupply point and fleet anchor but you can no longer use it to bench inactive regiments or train new ones. Picromia will eventually become a combined fortress/industrial world and its ability to repair and re-arm you forces will be vastly expanded. Ad Mech forces will be sent to guard Picromia (they will not be under your command) and there will be a greater possibility of being sent more/better assets for the crusade by the Ad Mech.

>>4341940
>>Take the Flagship, Ad Mech Cruiser and Space Marines straight to Janeiro along with 10 selected regiments and half the light cruisers/ escorts.

nobody has voted here yet and I am confused

>>4342017
>Send escorts and light cruisers to scout Itambe and Santarem, then take Itambe and Santarem. Move swiftly, and give them only one option for surrender. If they don t, fire immediately. With the fleets taken or destroyed, proceed to ask the same to the two planets governments. If they don't surrender, bombard them and proceed to take the planet's key locations (if we decide to garrison them we can rule from them, if we decide to leave we can destroy them. example : a spaceport).
>Immediate martial law on Picromia, destroy any symbol of the NPA left and do some purges before leaving to avoid the formation of a rebellion. Take all communications stations and radio, ad start imperial propaganda.
>Request missionaries for the conversion of the worlds taken by the crusade

are these options even needed due to the fact that we are gonna give the planet to the ad mech

>Give Picromia to the Adeptus Mechanicus. This means you no longer have direct control of the world. You can still use it as a resupply point and fleet anchor but you can no longer use it to bench inactive regiments or train new ones. Picromia will eventually become a combined fortress/industrial world and its ability to repair and re-arm you forces will be vastly expanded. Ad Mech forces will be sent to guard Picromia (they will not be under your command) and there will be a greater possibility of being sent more/better assets for the crusade by the Ad Mech.

>>4342103
>We are gonna give the planet to the ad mech

Are you really? I'm going to bed soon, who knows how many anons will trickle in over night, and how they will vote.

A word of advice about the Ad Mech: As friends they come with great benefits, but they have certain priorities and should your priorities ever diverge from theirs it could cause friction down the line.

The Imperial Navy will more reliably follow your lead.

>>4342017
>Order the establishment of an infantry regiment of forced conscripts out of the remaining NPA troops and a part of the planet population

Not possible, there aren't enough surviving NPA personnel or civilians to create a regiment strength formation.

Also: captured enemy soldiers aren't going to turn around and fight for their conquerors on a dime, neither will civilians immediately embrace their new overlords. Put guns in their hands and they'll likely just turn them on you or themselves. It will take some time and indoctrination before you can raise regiments from the worlds you conquor.

In the short term reinforcements will have to be brought in from the wider Imperium. One thing I forgot to mention is that regiments will also slowly regain their strength (10%) if they remain garrisoned in a secure non-contested system with a secure warp route back to the Imperium.
(5% recovery for minor colonies.)

Of course simply combining damaged regiments is an option but depending on the combo you might not get the more powerful type back. Right now you can disband your mauled mechanised regiment to top off your line regiments, but not the other way round as bringing back a mechanised regiment to full strength requires new vehicles to be shipped in.

>>4341940
>>Take the Flagship, Ad Mech Cruiser and Space Marines straight to Janeiro along with 10 selected regiments and half the light cruisers/ escorts.
Take the Armageddon, Mordians, the 3 siege regiments, the drop regiments, and 2 undamaged line regiments for the assault.

Leave the most damaged cruisers and regiments to recover and recuperate.

>>4342051
>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops.

>>4342327
>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops.
They should've given us the titans we asked for.

>>4342081
Swapping to
>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops.

>>4342051

>Take the Flagship, Ad Mech Cruiser and Space Marines straight to Janeiro along with 10 selected regiments and half the light cruisers/ escorts.

>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops

>>4342423
By my count, that's 9 regiments, so let's make that 3 undamaged line regiments. Otherwise supporting this post. I'd give the planet to the Ad Mech, but we won't necessarily get anything from them.

>>4342608
We only have a limited number of mechanized units and I'd rather we not the number of those we already have. I vote for putting them in reserves to regain their strength.

>>4342618
I miscounted the number of regiments and thought it totaled to 9, but it was 10. My bad, ignore the comment on bringing another line regiment.

>>4342423
+1

>>4342051

>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops.

I think we should skip Santrem and blitz through Itambe to secure Janeiro before it can be heavily reinforced and fortified.
By taking Santrem we needlessly attrit our forces in a possible ground battle and in garrison before assaulting a target of more strategic importance, geographically and militarily, to both us and our enemy. It also either slows down our assault of Janeiro by making us have to mass our forces in one system or risk our fleet arriving piecemeal into the enemy by having to rely on warp travel to not fuck our timing.
Taking Janeiro is far more important and doing so quickly only to our benefit. Elements of the New People’s Army, even if only locally, no doubt know about us and it is likely they will begin to fortify Janeiro and massing forces there either to confront us backed up by their system defences or to launch a counter attack upon Picromia and then bottleneck us out of the region. If they have already responded by sending out their own fleet it has to transit through either Santrem or Itambe to reach Picromia. By skipping Santrem we do not split our fleet mitigating the possibility of either force meeting an enemy fleet it can not deal with and possibly being destroyed or taking unnecessary damage.
Only after we have taken Janeiro should we consider taking Santrem. Santrem itself isn’t even that important and could be skipped entirely if wanted(though not my recommendation).


>>4342051
>>Maintain Imperial control over Picromia. It will be slowly converted into a combined fortress/industrial world greatly increasing its ability to repair and re-arm your forces (just not as much as it would under direct mechanicus supervision). The weapons grade crystals are also considered a strategic resource which will give you more pull with the Imperial Navy. You also get to continue using the planets to train and garrison troops.

>>4343002
Only after posting have I noticed it is called Santarem and not Santrem.

>Give Picromia to the Adeptus Mechanicus. This means you no longer have direct control of the world. You can still use it as a resupply point and fleet anchor but you can no longer use it to bench inactive regiments or train new ones. Picromia will eventually become a combined fortress/industrial world and its ability to repair and re-arm you forces will be vastly expanded. Ad Mech forces will be sent to guard Picromia (they will not be under your command) and there will be a greater possibility of being sent more/better assets for the crusade by the Ad Mech.

Alright I'm awake, time to see how people voted over night.

>>4342103
>>4342423
>>4342586
>>4342727
Direct Assault on Janeiro

>>4342017
Grab Itambe and Santarem

Okay I'm going to resolve this action using the plan laid out by >>4342423

Who gets Picromia

>>4342103
>>4343067
Give it to the Ad Mech

>>4342423
>>4342436
>>4342465
>>4342586
>>4342869
>>4343002
Imperial Control

Okay Writing...

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You politely inform the Adeptus Mechanicus that Picromia will remain an Imperial World, but assure them that its industrial capabilities will be expanded to exploit the newly discovered resources and that they will be free to purchase said resources at market rates. The Mechanicus are less than thrilled by this announcement.

++++
Sub-optimal outcome. Direct Mechanicus governance will ensure more efficient resource extraction. Conversion of Picromia into a forge world will yield greater benefit to the wider Imperium than current development plan.
++++

You get the feeling that you will butt heads with the Mechanicus more often. From the outset they have been fair weather friends, lending support only when they stood to gain something. In your opinion they displayed a disturbing lack of duty to the Emperor. More heartening was the news from Imperial Command: more manpower and materials were being shipped in to develop Picromia, not just to restore to, but to expand it. Colonists were being shipped in as well as a contingent of missionaries from the Ecclesiarchy.

The Imperial Navy is taking a special interest, saying Picromia would make a good candidate for a future fleet base. There’s talk of sending in additional forces to bolster the crusade, and the next wave is being mustered. You’re confident that the Navy will dig a little deeper this time, maybe you’ll even get that battleship.

>cont

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>>4343564
The Invasion Fleet is assembled and begins the push to Janeiro via Santarem. No meaningful resistance is encountered on in Santarem, just a few NPA escorts which give you a wide berth before quickly warping out of the system. If the planet had any significant military on it, you do not know, you had bigger fish to fry.

Your fleet makes the translation to real space in the Janeiro system. As expected there is a significant NPA defence fleet waiting for you. Auspex reads multiple cruiser class ships manoeuvring to intercept you. Your strategium begins tallying the opposition.

Enemy Naval Assets in System:
3 Cruisers
6 Light Cruisers
8 Escort Squadrons
10 Defence Platforms (5 around each planet)

Lord Admiral Arcturus informs you the fleet is ready for combat.

>Standby…

File: Battle_Sheet_Janeiro1.jpg (206 KB, 1213x436)

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>>4343605
((Sorry that took a while “loading” the battle scene took longer than I thought))
Okay anons, for this battle I’m gonna test the “board game style” resolution system I had planned. It’s based of off the Twilight Imperium combat system if you’re interested. The way it works is that every unit participating in a battle rolls a d10 and each d10 rolling over a certain threshold inflicts a “hit” on an enemy unit dealing damage. Each “turn” of combat consists of three rounds of roll offs before we go back to the strategy layer. I’m deliberately trying not to make the system too lethal so don’t worry if you’re taking forever to kill something. Most enemies will retreat before they die (and so should you) so you shouldn’t need to wipe out the enemy force before taking the system.

See pic related for battle details.

Okay anons, roll me some d10s. Long range attacks are resolved first then rolls are assigned to the relevant ships going down the list of force. For this round I need 25 d10s. (Bear in mind 25 dice is the maximum 4chan will let you roll at a time so just nice.) Roll as many or as little as you want, just remember: the more you roll, the more people will blame you if you screw up.

Rolled 7, 6, 5, 3, 4 = 25 (5d10)

>>4343669
Let's start with 5 then

Rolled 6, 6, 7, 6, 8 = 33 (5d10)

>>4343669

Rolled 4, 8, 4, 3, 10 = 29 (5d10)

>>4343669

Rolled 7, 4, 7, 1, 10 = 29 (5d10)

>>4343669

Breaking for lunch, plz keep rollin-rollin-rollin-rollin!

we need someone to top it all off and roll 5d10

Rolled 6, 2, 7, 2 = 17 (4d10)

>>4343669
FOR THE EMPEROR!!!!

>>4343688
Missing one more roll, but so far very good.

Rolled 5, 8, 5, 3, 7 = 28 (5d10)

>>4343669
High is good right?

I honestly have no clue if any of these are good

Rolled 2, 3, 2, 6, 10, 7, 1, 1, 8, 4, 6, 3, 6, 10, 3, 2, 8, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1, 7, 7, 2 = 129 (25d10)

>>4343674
>>4343677
>>4343679
>>4343683
>>4343688
>>4343690

Yes High is good.

Rolling for the defenders with this post.

Rolled 10, 8 = 18 (2d10)

>>4343742
Need just 2 more...

Rolled 5, 7 = 12 (2d10)

>>4343744

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1st Round of Space Combat Results:

Crusade Fleet: 10 hits
NPA Fleet: 9 hits.
(All NPA defence platforms destroyed)

The battle commences with the faster ships of each side engaging in skirmishes. The NPA ships cluster around the defence platforms hoping to use them as an anchor for their defence. In response your own ships focus fire, blasting apart the platforms while taking some minor hits themselves. The enemy seem unwilling to commit their cruisers which snipe at you ineffectively at long range.

>Special Abilities Activate!

Legion of Light: Attack Craft Squadrons: launch 2 attacks with an 8+ chance to hit at targets of your choosing.

Admiral Arcturus informs you that the fleet has secured a landing corridor and the regiments are standing by to begin a ground invasion.

Ground Forces:
2 Line Regiments
3 Drop Regiments
2 Mechanized Regiments
3 Siege Regiments
4 Space Marine Companies

Choose, and roll 2d10 + specify space target.
>We are go for invasion! Distribute your ground assets between Janeiro Primaris (The Temperate Hive World), and Janeiro Seccundus(The Arid Industrial World).
>Deploy the Guard, but keep our Marines in orbit. (As above but holding back the space marine companies lets the strike cruisers keep their extra attacks.)
>Hold off for now. (Delaying the ground invasion means you might not get a full three rounds of fighting in, which may delay the capture of the system to till the next campaign turn.)
>Write-In

Rolled 18, 14 + 8 = 40 (2d20 + 8)

>>4343779
>Deploy the Guard, but keep our Marines in orbit. (As above but holding back the space marine companies lets the strike cruisers keep their extra attacks.)
We will deploy the marines once we've demolished their naval assets.

>>4343779
>>Deploy the Guard, but keep our Marines in orbit. (As above but holding back the space marine companies lets the strike cruisers keep their extra attacks.)
Hive World : 1 line, 1 drop, 2 siege, 1 mech
Industrial World : 1 line, 2 drop. 1 siege, 1 mech

>>4343779
Oops

>>4343786
+1. I agree with leaving our marines in orbit for now. We should wait until the problem areas reveal themselves so we can send in the marines to take care of them.

>>4343785
>>4343786

Deploying the guard with plan submitted by >>4343786

>>4343785
2 d10s my dude against one of the NPA ships. In the interest of expediency I'm gonna dived those dice results by 2 then assign any hits to an NPA Cruiser.

>Standby for next round of combat.

Rolled 9, 6 = 15 (2d10)

>>4343794
What's the +8 for then?

>>4343800
+8 means roll 8 or higher on the d10 to score a hit. Sorry if that was unclear.

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Okay resolving round 1 of the ground combat.

Roll me 10 d10 please.

Rolled 10, 8, 8, 2, 6 = 34 (5d10)

>>4343812

Rolled 9, 6, 4, 4, 8 = 31 (5d10)

>>4343812

Rolled 8, 2, 2, 2, 5 = 19 (5d10)

>>4343812
>NPA Super Heavy
Ominous

>>4343813
>>4343814
Good.

Rolling for NPA...

>>4343812
It seems that you put the Vostroyans twice on the sheet.

Rolled 1, 10, 2, 10, 8, 3, 5, 10 = 49 (8d10)

>>4343817
Hmm must have mis typed the syntax.

>>4343820
Oops, looks like the munitorum made a typo in their records, fixing it now.

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1st Round of Ground Combat Results:
Janeiro Primus:
Crusade Forces: 4 hits.
NPA Forces: 2 hits.

Janeiro Secundus:
Crusade Forces: 4 hits
NPA Forces: 3 hits

Your forces begin deploying to the two planets of the Janeiro system with the drop regiments securing LZs and disrupting enemy responses. Janeiro Primus is found to have a significant number of PDF troops which are immediately put on the back foot.

Janeiro Secundus has fewer but better equipped forces defending it. A mechanised regiment quickly deploys to meet your invasion and as your regiments advance out of their landing zones they report encountering massive armoured vehicles defending key targets. The type is unknown but they are about as large as Imperial super heavies in some cases slightly bigger.

Your ground forces take a beating, but you manage to give as good as you get and your commanders remain confident you can take the system.

>standby for fleet round.

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Okay now we’re starting to get into the rhythm of things:
Round 2 Space Combat:
Roll me 24 d10

Rolled 7, 10, 5, 8 = 30 (4d10)

>>4343834
FOR THE EMPERORO!

Rolled 6, 7, 10, 10 = 33 (4d10)

>>4343834

Rolled 6, 10, 6, 2 = 24 (4d10)

>>4343834

Rolled 7, 2, 10, 2 = 21 (4d10)

>>4343834

Rolled 7, 2, 2, 6 = 17 (4d10)

>>4343834

Rolled 3, 4, 4, 9 = 20 (4d10)

>>4343834
The Emperor protects

>>4343834
After we capture these 4-5 worlds besides the first one, I really think we should send off the Flesh Tearer space marines to regrow their numbers. Dante is a cool blood angel bro, and I like how he gave us a few companies worth of marines to help, but unless he starts doing mass recruitments or give us some Blood Angel's or successors, the SM cruisers wont be as effective unless we have more Space Marines to man them.

Do we have a total of 27 attack die, cuz the grand cruiser and light ad mech cruisers get 3 attacks each, and the space marines get a total of 2 each if they have space marine companies?

I count 12-13 hits or so. Very good

File: Battle_Sheet_Janeiro2_G.jpg (197 KB, 1266x523)

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Rolled 8, 2, 7, 8, 10, 9, 2, 1, 5, 2, 9, 5, 7, 7, 1, 7, 9 = 99 (17d10)

>>4343836
>>4343841
>>4343842
>>4343846
>>4343848
>>4343851

Okay we got 24 rolls for the space battle now give me another 10 d10s for the ground battle.

I'm rolling 17 d10s for the NPA space forces.

Rolled 9, 3, 4, 9, 3 = 28 (5d10)

>>4343856
Not to metagame, but I think Super Heavy has 2 attacks since he rolled 8d10 before. That makes it comparable to a Spess Mehreen company

Rolled 8, 1, 5, 1, 10 = 25 (5d10)

>>4343856

Ignore >>4343861

>>4343861
Save some dice for the rest of us next time

>>4343861
Fuckin' hell those are some good rolls. I should have not even posted

Rolled 5, 10, 10, 8, 6, 8, 6, 9 = 62 (8d10)

>>4343860
>>4343861
Sorry guys, first rolled first served so I'll be taking the first 5 of the second poster.

Rolling for the NPA...

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>>4343864
At least we got the keep the good dice-

>>4343865
FUCK

>>4343861
Hey, no deleting rolls, that's tantamount to cheating! If we don't let the dice fall where they may then soon everyobdy will be "deleting their (bad) rolls so other people can roll too."

>>4343868
Who deleted their dice? This guy >>4343862

>>4343868
Hey something I want to bring up before I pass out. We have Blood Ravens, or better known as Mag Pies. When we gotta get some gifts from the enemies?

>>4343870
Hard to say at his point, perhaps they might end up taking something for safe keeping.

2nd Round Space Combat:

Crusade Fleet: 14 hits
NPA Fleet: 7 hits


2nd Round Ground Combat:

Janeiro Primus:
Crusade forces: 2 hits.
NPA Forces: 3 hits

Janeiro Secundus:
Crusade Forces: 5 hits
NPA Forces: 3 hits

Your fleet continues to pummel the NPA, your lighter ships are starting to take some serious damage but your capital ships are still going strong.

>Special Abilities Activating:
Legion of Light: Attack Squadrons: perform 2 attacks with +8 to hit on targets of your choice.

Lord Admiral Arcturus, Blood in the Water: Perform one attack with +8 to hit on a damaged enemy ship.

The ground advance is starting to stall. On Janeiro Primus your regiments are getting bogged down inside the hives. The enemy has used their superior knowledge of the hives to lure your troops into killzones. The commanders on the ground are no longer confident that they can secure victory in the immediate future and would really appreciate reinforcements.

Your forces on Janeiro Secundus deal a heavy blow, victory is in sight but the NPA super heavy units are taking a terrible toll.

Next round is the final round of this “turn”, is there anything you wish to change before it is resolved?
>Deploy Marines to a planet. (Specify how many and where)
>Pull back damaged forces. (Specify any regiments or ships you would like to retreat; they will not be damaged in the next round but they cannot contribute to the battle.)
>Keep attacking! Victory or Death!
>Write-In, the first two are not mutually exclusive.

((Don’t forget to roll your special fleet abilities.))

Rolled 1, 6 = 7 (2d10)

>>4343884
>>Deploy Marines to a planet. (Specify how many and where)
2 Marine companies to Primus and 2 to Secundus

>Pull back damaged forces. (Specify any regiments or ships you would like to retreat; they will not be damaged in the next round but they cannot contribute to the battle.)
Pull ships with less than 50% HP back

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>4343888
Supporting

>>4343888
>>4343893

I'd like to wrap this up quickly so I'll go with this. Unfortuantely your specials haven't done any damage.

Standby...

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Hokay, given that you've deployed your space marines planetside your strike cruisers no longer get their extra attack. Your order to retreat all ships with 50% and under damage also means that everything from the Ad MEch Light Cruiser Gearheart going downwards will not participate in this final round.

That leaves you with a grand total of...
12 d10s to roll.

Rolled 2, 6, 7, 3 = 18 (4d10)

>>4343901

>>4343868
(Sorry, Someone said I rolled too many die)

>>4343903
I care not where the rolls come from. DESU it's easier for me to have fewer players roll more dice or even to roll everything myself but for you guys rolling seems to be half the fun so I'm trying to accomodate that.

Rolled 3, 2, 1, 10 = 16 (4d10)

>>4343901

Rolled 3, 5, 3, 5 = 16 (4d10)

>>4343901

Fuck. What a crappy round.

>>4343905
MFW I just realised rolling everything myself with this resolution system basically eliminates player participation until the next tactical/strategic decision so... yeah I should let you guys roll

>>4343903
>>4343906
>>4343907
We got enough, moving on...

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Rolled 10, 10, 1, 7, 3, 2, 8, 8, 10, 5, 3, 9, 5, 4, 9, 7, 7 = 108 (17d10)

The bad news is you seemed to have shot yourself in the foot in orbit, the good news is now you've commited the sphess mehreens to the ground battles the Empra's Fureh shall fall like steel rehn upon your enemies!

Give me 18 d10s.

Also rolling for the NPA space forces.

Rolled 5, 3, 3, 1, 10, 1 = 23 (6d10)

>>4343912
Can we pull the Spess Muhreens back to orbit once ground combat is finished?

Rolled 10, 6, 6, 1, 9, 6 = 38 (6d10)

>>4343912

>>4343915
Under the current rules in my head, one deployed you can't pull ground forces back into orbit during the same turn, but since this is the final round of this turn you can pull the marines back for the next one.

Rolled 1, 10, 5, 5, 10, 9 = 40 (6d10)

>>4343912

Rolled 6, 5, 2, 2, 1, 4, 9 = 29 (7d10)

>>4343915
>>4343916
>>4343921

Okay let's resolve the final round. While we're at it somebody roll me another 3d10 for the Legion's Squadrons and Arcturus's special.

Remember you can pick specific targets for them, but Arcturus's ability only can target damaged units.

Also roling for the NPA ground defence.

Rolled 6, 9, 3 = 18 (3d10)

>>4343926
Just target the damaged cruiser

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>>4343930
One hit scored.

Posting the force records(pic related) for this battle so you guys can see how things turned out while I write the next story post.

>>4343934
Nice, we can pull out of Secundus and bring the SM back to orbit now.

File: Wary Guardsman.jpg (142 KB, 1920x1123)

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Seeing the ground forces needed support you order the strike cruisers to commence a drop pod assault. At the same time, you pull back your most damaged ships to protect them from outright destruction. Sensing weakness the NPA fleet takes the opportunity to launch a counter attack, it’s not ferocious enough to deter you but some of your capital ships take some hits before firing back. Unfortunately, the NPA’s thrust caught your fleet off guard and the return fire is un co-ordinated and lacklustre.

In the command pulpit beside you Lord Admiral Arcturus growls at the tactical hololith. The NPA still retains a fleet presence in system and despite their inferior firepower they’ve managed to deny you a decisive victory. In Arcturus’s mind the whole situation must be downright embarrassing.

News from the ground commanders is better. On Janeiro Primus the space marine drop pod assault broke the stale mate between the guard and the NPA. After taking massive casualties from the marines the shell shocked NPA forces simply surrendered.

On Janeiro Secundus your forces were already wearing down the enemy but the timely arrival of the space marines put the final nail in the enemy coffin. All enemy forces were wiped out to the last man. The NPA super heavies continued to pose a threat right up to the end; at least one squad of Blood Raven space marines were lost bringing one down.

Overall, you had taken the planets of Janeiro, but you could not say that the system belonged to the Imperium yet. The NPA contested space, your forces were bloodied and there was the threat of enemy reinforcements arriving at any moment. You prayed to the Emperor that the reinforcements you were promised reach Picromia soon.

>End of first campaign turn…

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Hokay, that’s all for today. I hope you all had fun because that took a lot out of me. As it stands this board gamey system I tried out for the Invasion of Janeiro just takes too long. I want this quest to be something I do daily posts for, maybe resolving a turn over 2 hours a night but this whole turn literally took me all day. I’m actually gonna have to take some time to recover from this so if I update at all it might only be a minor update or two between tonight and tomorrow, probably to consolidate info and maybe roll for your reinforcements. The next big strategic decision and campaign “turn” will not happen for at least another day.

One things for sure, if I keep the current system I’m going to nix the three round structure and find a way to compress the resolution into one set of rolls for each battle. Either that or abandon the system entirely and use the simpler d100 narrative rolls (like we used for conquering Picromia) where I just set thresholds and bonuses according to what feels right and dish out damage based on what I think is fair at the time. This would be a lot easier on me, but I dunno, I think it might diminish the strategic management layer of the quest. However, it would give the players more freedom for write-ins.

Feel free to let me know what you guys think, which system do you prefer? (I’m still gonna use the narrative system for any situation that doesn’t really fit the strategy layer.) While I did have an overall vision for the quest I’m still filling in the details as I go along so thanks for bearing with me thus far.

((Also posting the updated Crusade Force Sheet for you die-hard number crunchers.))

>>4343956
I'm fine with both systems really. I do think that using a complete three round system would be incredibly unwieldy for larger battles that we're going to have. So if you want to keep it than you would have to find a way to simplify it.

>>4339781
How did you draw your map?

>>4344157
I used a vector graphics program called Affinity Designer. That one costs money though. You could probably make a similar map using Inkscape which is free but a bit more clunky.

It's a matter of combining the right shapes and fills.

>>4344176
Thanks I’ll check those out. It would be nice to be able to visually show things on a sector map

>>4344226
No problem, it's an honour to be noticed by a fellow 40K management QM.

>>4344247
Did the Sword and Spear get the 20% repair bonuses while the other got 10%? Let's field the Sword and Shield cruisers, in addition to the Golden Hound, Stern Aegis, and Opus Magnus. If the Space Marine companies haven't been returned to their Strike Cruisers have them do so now. We need the additional firepower to turn this fight into out favor. While the marines are gone, our Siege regiments can dig themselves in incase there is an offensive.

Do the two planets in system have any orbital barrier strong enough to target any enemy vessels around them?

If Escort Squadron's 1st through 6th are strong enough to tank 1 more hit before needing to retire them, we'll let them stay, but if that's not the case them we're retiring 1-6 back to Picromia, while the 7th through 11th there will join us in Janeiro.

>>4343956
Missed the action but I think compressing the system for battles would be best. The longer the crusade goes the more simultenaous battles are happening and the quest could get bogged down if we are micromanaging them all. We are the lord commander who devises overall strategy and deals with logistics/politics/diplomacy, not tactical level decisions of which individual ship or regiment shoots at which, imo. Since you are not running super lethal battles, I think having whole fleet engagments or battles being decided in one turn of rolling would be enough while still letting people write-in for creative plans.

>>4343956
>The details are fun but combat would take far too long with this system yeah. I think as Lady Solar our focus should be the strategic, political and personal layer of things instead of the tactical. Leave combat to the admirals and generals.

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>>4344286
>Did the Sword and Spear get the 20% repair bonuses while the other got 10%?

Yes, a while back one of the anons asked to have repair priority transfered to two cruisers at 50% strength. This sort of makes sense since it means you'll have more ships battle ready sooner.

>Do the two planets in system have any orbital barrier strong enough to target any enemy vessels around them?

No, unlike Picromia the planets of Janeiro have no significant ground-to-space defence systems (the invasion would have been much harder if they did). The hives have some large scale void shields to make them harder to just bomb from orbit, like wise with key structures on the industrial worlds but they don't have anything that can shoot back.

>If Escort Squadron's 1st through 6th are strong enough to tank 1 more hit...

They're not. Escort squadrons are basically a team of three escort ships (like pic related). By itself an escort ship is pretty piddly and will die in one hit. (Hence escort squadrons taking damage in 33% increments.) If you like you can consolidate damaged escort squadrons into fewer full strength squadrons, or just send them back to Picromia and let them be reinforced overtime.

>>4344290
>>4345281
I'm definitely reworking the system so I can resolve a battle like the one we had previously in a single round. In the end I may only use it for battles that the MC is commanding personally, while using a simpler(but possibly more arbitrary) "auto-resolve" system for locations where she isn't present.

Just so you guys know; as of now Lady Solar Celestorus is physically on her flagship: Legion of Light. Should you see fit you can move her to a new flagship between turns or put her on an eligible planet which will become the Crusade HQ. (As of now Picromia is the only planet eligible for this purpose.)

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Posting the updated map and introducing some more strategy layer mechanics.

New Map Icons: Systems which have naval assets in them will have a little ship icon next to them and systems that have ground assets will have a little soldier icon. There’s only so much info I can cram onto the map layer so right now the icons denote simply that one or more assets are present, not how many or what type. Crusade forces use blue icons while the NPA use dark green. Further icons may be developed should you encounter other factions.

New Planetary Conquest Mechanics: Landing troops on a planet and defeating it’s defenders is only half the battle. For a planet to once again serve the Imperial cause it’s infrastructure must be rebuilt and it’s population indoctrinated to serve the Emperor. After a planet is captured it goes through the following states:

Pacified: The planet is no longer actively resisting the crusade, however it cannot be said to be fully under Imperial control and a constant military presence is required lest the population rebel. If a pacified planet does not have an Imperial ground asset on it at the start of a campaign turn it will revert to enemy control and may spawn minor enemy ground forces. Pacified planets have purple icons on the sector map.

Compliant: Compliant planets have undergone a period of rebuilding and indoctrination. Institutions of Imperial governance have been established and the population is slowly accepting Imperial rule as the status quo. Compliant planets no longer require a continued military presence to stop them rebelling and can now begin contributing to the crusade (raising regiments etc…) However, much of the population still remember their old masters and may harbour some sympathy towards them. If an enemy force captures a compliant world they will regain full control of it in the next turn. A pacified planet becomes compliant if at the beginning of the turn it has a secure warp route back to the greater Imperium and there is at least one ground asset on it. Compliant planets have light blue icons.

Loyal: A loyal world is fully devoted to the Imperium. Depending on the type of world it will passively generate its own PDF regiments. Should an enemy force capture the world they will have to go through the same process of pacification and compliance. As of now there is no way to convert compliant worlds into loyal ones passively. Special actions and events are required. (The QM is still working out what those are.)

QM’s Note: Picromia is marked as loyal because it barely had a civilian population to convert and you are currently shipping in large amounts of colonists and personnel from the wider Imperium.

The above rules only apply to former NPA worlds. Worlds controlled by Xenos or with non-human populations will use a different system.

>>4345412
Have you ever read Dark Empire Quest? It's a star wars quest but managing fleet assets and strategic planning is a big part of it.

>>4345461
What are the colors for Pacified, Loyal, Xeno controlled, Chaos controled, and rebel controlled worlds?

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>>4345482
I'm afraid not.

>>4345506

Pacified: Purple
Compliant: Light Blue
Loyal: Dark Blue

Everything Else: I'll choose a representation as it becomes necessary but for now, all you need to know is that if it's grey, it's not yours.

++++
And now we’re gonna have a little fun to tide you over until the next big campaign update.
++++
As the Crusade forces continued their battle in the Janeiro system, the wider Imperium was starting to take notice. Where previously the Novo Solo Crusade was just another warzone hungry for the ever limited resources of the Imperium the capture of Picromia and subsequent discovery of its mineral wealth bumped up the Crusade ever so slightly on the Departmento Munitorum’s priority list.

New Asset Types:

Reserve/Replacement(RR) Unit: A representation of a loose collection of men and equipment, often made up of fresh recruits from regimental home worlds or the remnants of under strength regiments. RR units can be expended to at the beginning of the campaign turn to restore a 50% of a regiment’s strength (more advanced units like mech, drop, siege etc… will not recover as much due to additional training and equipment requirements, subject to QM discretion), can only be applied to regiments in a non-contested system with a secure warp route back to the greater Imperium. Alternatively 2 can be used to create a new Line Regiment.

Tempestus Scion Regiment: Not to be confused with the Tempestus Scion Company which is a special forces asset. As a regiment sized formation they count as a full blown ground asset. Scion regiments are basically drop regiments but better. Being the elite storm troopers of the Astra Militarum they are not as easily reinforced as regular guard regiments, but still easier to find replacements for than Space Marine companies.

Super Heavy Regiments: Shadow Swords, Storms Hammers, BANEBLAAAADES! A regiment strength formation of the biggest guns the Guard can command. Basically an armoured regiment on steroids. Make sure they are kept properly supplied because they require a lot of fuel, ammo and maintenance to remain in proper fighting condition.

The Imperial Guard have decided reinforce the crusade with 4 Reserve Units along with…

>Roll a d10 for extra Imperial Guard Reinforcements:

1-2: 4 Reserve/Replacement Units, 4 Conscript Regiments.
3-5: 2 Line Regiments, 1 Mechanised and 1 Siege Regiment.
6-7: 1 Drop Regiment, 1 Mechanised Regiment, 1 Tempestus Scion Regiment.
8-9: 2 Armoured Regiments, 1 Mechanised Regiment.
10: 1 Tempestus Scion Regiment, 1 Super Heavy Regiment.

Gonna have a very late lunch, then we're gonna roll reinforcements from the other Imperial sub-factions.

Rolled 6 (1d10)

>>4345524
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

>>4345524
Forgot to ask, but did we manage to find any salvageable super heavy vehicles on that one planet, and the facility that created them?

>6
not bad

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>4345524

>>4342327
>Not possible, there aren't enough surviving NPA personnel or civilians to create a regiment strength formation.

Also: captured enemy soldiers aren't going to turn around and fight for their conquerors on a dime, neither will civilians immediately embrace their new overlords. Put guns in their hands and they'll likely just turn them on you or themselves. It will take some time and indoctrination before you can raise regiments from the worlds you conquor.

what about making them in penal legions then ? Or they are that devoted to their cause ?

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>>4345536
>...did we manage to find any salvageable super heavy vehicles on that one planet, and the facility that created them?

That will be resolved once you secure the Janeiro System.

>>4345566
>What about making them in penal legions then ? Or they are that devoted to their cause?

As I said it'll take some time and indoctrination and you currently do not have sufficient captured manpower to do this anyway.

++++

Grateful that they would not have to go through the Adeptus Mechanicus to access Picromia’s resources, the Imperial Navy does indeed dig a little deeper for its next contribution to the crusade. Unfortunately, the unreliable warp conditions of the Imperium Nilhus make it that much harder to move fleet assets across the Great Rift and get them where they need to go. In short you will still not be receiving that battleship.

However the Navy is promising you a battlecruiser and…

>Roll a d10 for extra Imperial Navy Reinforcements:

1: it’s attendant escorts! … (1 Escort Squadron)
2-5: 2 Light Cruisers, 1 Cruiser.
6-8: 3 Cruisers
9-10: 2 Cruisers, 1 Battlecruiser

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4345585

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>4345524
It's here if you have time to read. It's great fun.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Dark%Empire

>>4345585

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>4345585