IL VII - The Berserkers of Uran (thread 1)

[MikhalLeNoir]

Around his neck dangling down with lots of eyes attached to it

[Raktra]

I think the chains and ash have to stay when he ascends.

 

BTW Raktra, do you have any battle fluff featuring the 'serkers? I'm still struggling to mentally separate them from the War Hounds and World Eaters in terms of their style.

If the chains and ash get removed then so do the offending parties' shins.

 

I haven't written any battle fluff yet, but a rough idea would be to envision them as the Legion equivalent of Hive Fleet Behemoth - one huge, single target blow. They operate at full strength as often as possible, so they just flatten the opposition. The comparisons to the WE make sense, but in the detail of it it's not charging, frothing lunatics with no self control. They're more like a horde of surgical strikes, tying in with the whole "I am strong, you are weak" vibe by finding the strongest part of the enemy force, drawing it out and destroying it. Then the next, then the next, etc etc until there's only dazed stragglers left. THAT'S when they change to acting like lunatics.

 

I also have this delicious vision of a multi-chapter orbital drop where hundreds of pods are just fired at the enemy stronghold(s) and armour to burst through and demolish them, as an ode to Raktra's gestation pod wrecking the prison complex he landed in. Stehl Rehn for men.

 

EDIT: Obviously the pre-Raktra legionnaires just kind of get left to their own devices, because, well, :cuss those guys. Wimps.

[Skalpynock]

EDIT: Obviously the pre-Raktra legionnaires just kind of get left to their own devices, because, well, those guys. Wimps.

Good that you mention that, because I wanted to ask: what was the name of the VII^th, between the launch of the Crusade and the discovery of Uran?

 

[Raktra]

Eden's Shepherds.

[bluntblade]

So they're really closer to the Minatours than World Eaters, I guess.

 

Thinking about writing a Shepherd fighting with his Primarch for the first time. Perhaps a fine, upstanding Terran Captain... named Khârn? Sigismund's knights errant passage has marked him as a future loyalist 'serker.

 

Was there anything that marked the Shepherds out aside from their virtuous ways?

[Raktra]

I actually based their style off the Minotaurs, good spot.

 

Shepherds used their anatomical knowledge to boost their apothecarion and aid imperial armies/compliant worlds with their medical needs rather than as a weapon, and were more inclined to fight by setting up safe zones and fighting in a defensive manner. They also tried to keep collateral damage and civilian casualties to an absolute minimum, whereas the Berserkers just bulldozed.

 

EDIT: Here's the RoW the head of the exiled Shepherds has to represent their old methods, if it helps:
 

 

RoW - The Old Ways

Surgical Proficiency - Tactical Squads, Breachers, Veteran Tactical Squads and Tactical Support Squads may upgrade their sergeant to an Apothecary for +30pts, using the profile, wargear and rules presented in the Apothecarion unit entry. He may not choose further options.

 

Hold! - Scoring models gain counterattack and may re-roll any 6s for morale when on an objective

 

Secure The Prisoners - +1VP for each enemy unit caught by sweeping advance whilst in the Berserkers' deployment zone. Note that the enemy unit must be destroyed as a result of these actions

 

Veteran Tactical Squads may be taken as Troops choices. Any taken in this manner must choose the sniper special rule

 

Limits:
Must take a fortification slot with a minimum cost of 75pts

 

May not take more than one fast attack slot

 

A Few Good Men - a force containing Vyrn must have him as its Warlord. Under no circumstance may it contain Khel, Dorran, or the Primarch Raktra, or any Desolist Consuls. Chaplain Consuls are again permitted. The "Daemons, We Are" RoW may not be selected. Instead, his force must use the following:

[bluntblade]

"Bulle, with all this mess I can't see a damn thing, so tell me- where. Is. Our. Primarch?"

"He... Captain Khârn, he's in the city. With the rest of the Legion. They dropped right on top of it."

Khârn turned back to stare into the mass of smoke, as screams began to rise above the other sounds of battle.

[Skalpynock]

Honestly, I can see quite a few Terrans defecting to the Revolution.

[bluntblade]

Honestly, I can see quite a few Terrans defecting to the Revolution.

Frankly, I'm envisaging Khârn getting booted/quitting well before the Qarith Triumph and becoming a strange kind of auxiliary Force to some of the other Legions. I wrote a little blurb reversing Khârn earning Angron's respect, taking a beating and hobbling out on Raktra.

[Raktra]

I never did think Khârn would've chosen the eightfold path were it not for a couple of small things holding him to his Legion, so I do like where this is heading.

[bluntblade]

Well, I know what I'm doing with my lunch break. The Curious Career of Captain Khârn, coming right up.

[Hesh Kadesh]

Edens Shepherds is an awesome name.

[bluntblade]

For many Astartes, the reunion with their Primarch was a strange event, however joyous. Differences of culture, ideology and tactics almost always asserted themselves. However, one tale stands out as perhaps the strangest; the experience of the VII Legion's Dusk Blade Chapter.

 

Even during Unification the Chapter distinguished itself among the nascent Shepherds of Eden, fighting alongside the Lightning Bearers in the Tempest Galleries and winning splendid victories against the Panpacific Empire's Aoteran strongholds. However, it was halfway through the Crusade that a number of remarkable officers rose to command the Dawn Blades, foremost among them a Cthonian- Hastur Sejanus. Under him served two Terrans named Khârn and Andus Hakar, along with two other Cthonians; Vilkas Aximand and Nero Vipus. While their personalities varied, they all displayed a talent for bullish, close-combat tactics, and thus earned the nickname of “The Shepherd and Hounds”.

 

For all that their reputation as fierce warriors was justified, Sejanus and his captains strove to exemplify the Shepherds’ exceptional regard for human life. Any battles they fought against human civilisations were carefully planned to ensure minimal loss of life. They especially favoured drawing the enemy out from their fortresses, sparing population centres from attack.

 

The Shepherds exasperated some Legions, but won respect from others as well as many Imperial Army divisions. With their exemplary combat record, the Dusk Blade were among the most highly acclaimed. They served with distinction under Alexandros and Daer'dd in numerous theatres, but their finest hour came with the Auretian Compliance.

 

When the VII came upon the Technocracy that ruled the Auretian Sector, they found it under attack by a massive Ork armada. Despite having only his chapter and Army brigades, Sejanus did not hesitate in committing to an attack on the greenskin invaders. Captains Khârn and Aximamd met with the Fabricator Consul to formally offer the Imperium's aid, before fighting through three days of brutal combat on the walls of the Iron Citadel, while the rest of the Chapter battled the greenskin fleet above the planet. By the time the nearest Expedition Fleet arrived, the Ork advance was in disarray and the Technocracy more than willing to join the Imperium.

 

The Shepherds had never risen higher, and when the news came that their Primarch had at last been found, many were rapturous at the prospect of the glories that surely lay ahead. What happened next can only be thought of as proof of just how few certainties the Galaxy holds.

 

Quintillian Macro, The Orphaned Astartes

 

-----

 

I'm thinking Raktra will have the exiles offed at the start of the Insurrection, they already being in a much reduced state. Reckon they'd be left to hang after the reunion, being whittled down through attrition while all new recruits go to Raktra's favoured units. After their departure it'd be years before, through Alexandros, they secured any recruitment rights. By the time of the Insurrection, Khârn and Sejanus would be the only surviving leaders, and Sejanus would die in the ambush.

[bluntblade]

I've had some thoughts:

-A Nux-based Berserker who is disgraced and "adopted" by Khârn, who may or may not end up as a Knight Errant. Question is, what would entail disgrace for a Berserker? Thinking something like he fails to kill a child (cue trauma flashbacks from Iran) and then his squad gets obliterated.

-A potential catalyst for that (or maybe save it for later)- if a Berserker fails, Raktra doesn't stick them in a regiment of shame a la Ferrus. Instead he treats them as debtors who can't pay, and "takes what he's owed". I.E. offs them and takes back the geneseed. Too grimdark? Certainly not injo the Legion would share with their contemporaries.

 

Also, some fluff for your perusal:

Raktra's brothers often invested much time and effort in keeping the Berserkers away from human civilisations as time and again, societies had to be dragged kicking and screaming into Compliance, repelled by the blunt demands of the VII Legion. Indeed, rumours tell that when Hectarion was asked about his most profound regret, he only hesitated slightly before replying “letting Raktra beat me to the Inwit Domain.” - Luwin Fleor, Fraternis Fracturo

 

(That hesitation might not have signified what the remembrancer thought it did)

[MikhalLeNoir]

Lol, I find it very great, thst the shepherds resemble the wardens of light after the reunion and the berserkers.of uran kinda the apostles of war before the reunion.

 

;)

[Raktra]

The Architects - 250pts

WS:5    BS:3     S:5      T:5     W:3     I:5      A:4     LD:10     Sv:3+

Unit Composition

3 Architects

​Unit Type
Infantry (Characters)

 

Wargear
Power armour

​Special Rules
LA: BoU
Daemons
Inhuman Might
An Affront to God

Very Bulky

Options:
May add up to four additional Architects - 70pts per model

 

Special Rules:
Inhuman Might - Models with this special rule gain Smash. In addition, models with this special rule ignore the initiative penalty for charging through terrain.

An Affront to God - may never be scoring, regardless of circumstances. However, enemy units are unable to claim objectives within 3" of a model from this unit.



Veeeery rough draft of my Old Blood-empowered Berserker unit. They'll only be accessible if you take a Praetor/Dorran as your warlord, or are using Raktra. Kind of inspired by the Iron Circle in some rules ways, not sure what else to do with them though. 

[Grifftofer]

I don't have any specific ideas for you just at the moment. But I do have one suggestion: Make them unit type Infantry and give them the Chosen Warriors rule if you want them to be able to fight in challenges. I say that as units made entirely of characters are a massive pain in the backside to play due to all the potential look out sir rolls you can make pushing wounds onto models that haven't been hurt yet to stop models from dying. Not suggesting you would do such a thing, just pointing out the potential for abuse.

 

Edit: Something you could do is give them a lesser version of Eternal Warrior so they are particularly resilient and hard to take down. Something like they take 2 wounds from such a hit rather than just dying outright. Would make them quite scary to face off against as you'd need to pour massive amounts of fire into them to kill them, regardless of Strength/AP.

[Raktra]

Ah I forgot about the LoS! rolls. Good catch, that'll change.

I had considered some kind of EW type rule, was just worried I'd trip into OP territory then. Of course I'm not against shoving the point cost up.

[Grifftofer]

Honestly it probably won't come into play all that much due to them being T5. So an attack has to be S10 or Force/something similar in order for you to gain anything from it. Realistically you'll have more to worry about from mid strength weight of fire such as from Heavy Bolters, Volkites and Autocannons. Becasue you still only have a 3+ save so you aren't that tough.

 

I'd say as long as you don't give them a way to increase their attacks they'll be ok as is. I also have to say I'm not the biggest fan of the +3" of movement as I don't see extreme strength giving massive speed too. I would say that the difficult terrain penalty should be in the Inhuman Might rule though. And they could probably get Hammer of Wrath due to their size too. For the cover thing you could just give them Move through Cover as the just shove things out of the way.

 

Oh and add Bulky/Very Bulky to them. They probably deserve it.

[Hesh Kadesh]

I like these. Would these guys be the ones to get the option to exchange dedicated transport for Beast type?

[Raktra]

I like these. Would these guys be the ones to get the option to exchange dedicated transport for Beast type?

I'm not sure. I did consider it, given that they're supposed to go with Raktra, and he's got his thruster speed. Probably will be in the end!

 

@Griff - the Inhuman Might = speed thing, I was thinking of Hulk leaps. I see your point though, I'll add it into the thought pot.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Dunno how this might effect things balance-wise but I was thinking about the Architects (what's with that name BTW?) and how they're inspired by Bloodborne's beast plague victims, but what if you worked the whole "tainted blood" theme into the Architects?

Here's the kind of thing I'm talking about:

 

Special Rules:

 

Fear The Old Blood: When an Architect suffers a wound in close combat, roll a die for each enemy model within base contact of the wounded Architect, on a roll of 4+ the enemy model suffers -1 toughness (or strength? maybe both?) for the remainder of the game, this effect does not stack.

 

(Simpler, alternate version) Fear The Old Blood: Unsaved wounds caused by an Architect's close combat attacks inflict -1 toughness/strength/both(?) for the remainder of the game.

 

Honestly I just wanna work in more Bloodborne references as Special Rule names :D :

 

Made Strong By The Blood: At the end of your close combat phase, but before your foe's phase, roll a dice for each Architect that has slain an enemy model that turn, on a 6+ that model regenerates a wound (but may not exceed it's starting number of wounds).

 

I swear, Bloodborne has a unshakable hold on me, I don't actually play it because it's simply not my kind of game but the lore, oh Emperor the lore! I haven't been so thoroughly hooked by a grimdark setting since I first discovered Warhammer!

[Raktra]

Funnily enough, the second daemonic unit (who will more resemble the affected villagers) are gonna have a "die then you are sprayed with doomy blood" rule, and I'm just so happy to have someone else who's totally in love with it on here right now :D

Might rename Affront to God and Inhuman Might to go with those quotes.

[Slips]

Having their deaths and/or attacks cause Permanent Rad Grenades (or whatever) to specific models in a unit permanently is going to be a massive pain in the butt to properly track in game.

[Grifftofer]

So would tracking each model to see if it kills something. It might be possible to give them something after they destroy a unit in close combat though. Similar to the World Eaters rules. Maybe It Will Not Die after they destroy their first enemy unit in close combat?