Loyalists' Strategium

[Sigismund229]

Idea for conscription to fuel the Imperial war machine once the Insurrection gets started: every 2nd and subsequent child of every noble family(family with an income over a certain amount) in the Imperium must serve in the IA(cos they're hardly doing anything useful otherwise are they?). If the nobility provide a lot of manpower for the IA then that frees up the working class to produce gear.

 

And if the Imperial faith is a thing then Alex could use it to collect more bodies, "pilgrim" regiments or something like that cos they're better motivated than conscripts.

 

Apologies for randomly throwing these ideas out there but atm my brain is trying to figure out the most cost effective and least damaging demigraphicly ways the Imperium can supply the IA with the manpower it needs.

[Slips]

You consign a World to be an Imperial Army Recruiting World.

 

Like Catachan, Cadia, Vostroya, Kreig, etc.

[Demus Ragnok]

You consign a World to be an Imperial Army Recruiting World.

Like Catachan, Cadia, Vostroya, Kreig, etc.

And increase the tithe level.

[simison]

 

 

So the loyalists aren't going to be back to full strength until after the Insurrection(assuming combat losses and only a small % of the population being recruitable) if they ever do get back to full strength

 

This is especially true. Even with the more sporadic timeline of major battles of the Insurrection, no Loyalist Legion ever reaches Great Crusade numbers. They obviously drop on the Day of Revelation and steadily inch back upwards. Between 054.M31 (Year 10) & 059.M31 (Year 15), the glacial increase jumps as attrition is reduced as Alex's various strategies of xeno mercs & a better-equipped Imperial Army start paying dividends.

 

059.M31 is when the Loyalists have reached about 4/5ths of their Great Crusade sizes. It's at this moment that the Imperium has actually stopped Icarion's advance outright and created a stalemate.

 

Which leads to daemonic beings and powers galore as Alexos is able to use the stalemate as leverage to push Icarion and the Traitors down the Chaos path. This is when the Blood Crusade happens as Raktra/Alexos tear through the Imperium defences to raze the Crimson Lions and the Dominion. Icarion is able to advance, and the Loyalist numbers are again sent crashing back down under the renewed assaults. 

 

The creation of the Suzerainty and the Jackel defection along with the 5-month absence of the Godslayers, in 064.M31 (Y.20) grants the Imperium a 2-year reprieve. During these first two years, Icarion at first tries to reclaim his lost territory from the Suzerainty and the Jackels in a blitzkrieg before he loses momentum, but they are able to hold him off, albeit with ferocious casualties on both sides. It's at this point that the math turns against Icarion, even as the Godslayers return as the zombie legion.

 

On 066.M31 (Year 22), Icarion outright abandons the war against the Jackels and starts playing defense against the Suzerainty. He then gathers the bulk of his remaining forces and launches it right at Terra. This is when the Insurrection becomes its most brutal as it's almost continuous, high-intensity warfare between all sides, minus the Jackels. At this point, Alexandros switches from organizing everything from Terra to being a frontline commander, facing off directly against the Traitors, including some Primarchs & Daemon Primarchs. 

 

Even then, for three years, it's looking pretty hopeless as the Traitor's simply overwhelm Loyalist defenses, again, at painful costs as the Traitors make it halfway between the edge of Segmentum Solar and Terra. Then, in 068.M31 (Year 24), Icarion's forces are blindsided by Gwalchavad and the Wardens of Light returning to the war. It's this massive flanking assault that allows the Suzerainty (allied with the Imperium) to punch through Icarion's defenses and begin making their way to Madrigal. 

 

There is no retreat, of course. Icarion has already started his last gambit and has to see it through. The Traitors continue to push on to Terra even as the Suzerainty gets closer and closer to Madrigal. In parallel moves, at the start of 070.M31 (Year 26), Terra comes directly under siege by the Traitors even as Madrigal comes under siege by the Suzerainty with all Primarchs now engaged in battle...except for Jackel. 

 

Both sieges last a year. In the first month of 071.M31 (Y.27), both palaces are breached. Icarion and Alexandros die, and the Insurrection enters its final months as the Traitors, bereft of several of the Primarchs (through death or banishment) are sent fleeing into the Eye of Terror and the Maelstrom. Terra is saved, while Madrigal is promptly eaten by the Maelstrom. 

 

That's my revised, still kinda rough, draft of the Insurrection timeline.

[bluntblade]

One extra wrinkle to add- Sigi had the idea that (after getting mixed up with the Rangers) Turrus gets involved in the attack on Madrigal in a final bid for redemption. Perhaps he knows a way past most of the defences. Hidden Warp route, what have you.

[Sigismund229]

And fully intends to emerge victorious or not at all so for him retreat isn't an option. Add to that his knowledge of the Maelstrom zone and he and his warband are a good spearhead for the Rebel assault on Madrigal

[bluntblade]

Both sieges lasting a year seems a bit too symmetrical for me. That's my only real criticism.

[MikhalLeNoir]

The siege on terra could last a year and when the the traitors slowly get the upper hand, the madrigal purge happens from nowhere and hits icarion on a blind spot.maybe?

[Kelborn]

But I don't think that Icarion could be distracted by a possible invasion of Madrigal, when he is about to win the entire war.

 

Icarion can be on his way to Terra while Madrigal is attacked proactive to land a major blow on the traitors morality or they thoght that Icarions fleet was above Madrigal and acted on the behalf of "attack is still the best defense".

[Sigismund229]

How about Icarion sends a couple of his legions to Terra before the rebels lay siege to Madrigal. Then,when they do, Icarion declares that he'll defeat the traitors first then take on his father and in the mean time, his brothers im orbit over Terra are to start reducing the defences of Terra. However, as the weeks grind by, Madrigal's defences begin to fail and the attack on Terra starts to stall. Realisimg that the war has turned against him, Icarion still has one last card left to play. Leaving the majority of the Harbingers on Madrigal to hold the rebels, he gathers together his best warriors and launches an assault on Terra through the webway in a last desperate bid to turn the battle(s) in his favour. Reinvigorated by the presence of their leader, the traitors outside launch another assault which breaks loyalist lines all around as loyalists are siphone off to stall the force attacking them through the webway, forcing them to fall back to Eternity Gate. It's here that they decide they can retreat no further and so Hec and Gwal lead the defence as Alex and the Emperor seek out Icarion. The rest is history.

 

And also, the idea of the Siege lasting a year doesn't sit well with me. I get it's supposed to be epic but making it last a year seems somewhat ridiculous. A couple of months at most.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Didn't the Canon Siege last 55 days? Or is my mind making stuff up again? 

[simison]

At FLGS, (BA time!), so two quick points.

 

One, shorter siege time, good to go.

 

Two, Jade and the Warriors of Peace can ambush Icarion as Pariahs.

[MikhalLeNoir]

At FLGS, (BA time!), so two quick points.

One, shorter siege time, good to go.

Two, Jade and the Warriors of Peace can ambush Icarion as Pariahs.

The siege on terra could last a year and when the the traitors slowly get the upper hand, the madrigal purge happens from nowhere and hits icarion on a blind spot.maybe?

 

That was what I meant with the blind spot^^

[bluntblade]

I like Sim's Webway idea too much to let that go, personally. I suggest that Icarion has sent the bulk of his forces to Terra, intending to follow once he's assembled a force to blockade the Secessionists. However, with Turrus and perhaps a few of the Rangers and/or Nightguard the Secessionists launch a desperate attack, catching Madrigal unawares and laying siege to Icarion's stronghold. Realising his forces on Terra won't finish the job quickly enough, he calls upon the Dark Gods to force open the Webway passage and takes the fight directly to the Throneroom.

 

The Harbingers should probably be divided for the siege- main question is, where does Raiden go? I'd plump for him leading the force on Terra.

[simison]

Space Marines know no fear. Yet, Pyrrhicles wasn't a true member of the Legiones Astartes. No, he was a counterfeit that did all he could to match them through his more mundane augmentations. 

 

And he knew fear.

 

It was a secret he told no one. He hated void combat. Just the knowledge that one lucky shot was all it took to send him flying out of a hole in the ship was enough to get his heart racing. It was an illogical fear. He did not fear the invisible sniper's round. The artillery shell from afar. Nor the witch's unseen spell. There are a thousand ways a warrior could die without knowing who or what slayed him. None of that mattered when Pyrrhicles stood on a ship's deck. He imagined it was perhaps the image of dying in the void, slowly suffocating, unable to do nothing but flounder in space. Something about the unimaginable size of the heavens swallowing his corpse in an ignoble death stabbed his heart with dread. The knowledge that his body may never be recovered and given a proper burial. 

 

There was only being he suspected knew the truth and that was Alexandros. Ever since he joined the Halcyon Wardens on Terra, those centuries ago, Pyrrhicles had noted the number of void engagements he had been assigned were less than the average a typical Warden could expect to serve on. High enough to ensure that his prowess remained as equal to his brothers, but few enough that Pyrrhicles enjoyed long gaps of relief from this terrible form of war. 

 

No relief coursed through him today as his eyes glued onto the digital displays. They showed him perhaps the most ridiculous void engagement in the history of the Imperium.

[Sigismund229]

My fellow loyalists and servants of the Emperor, I have an announcement to make! While it's taken me months(literally) I have finally got my ass into gear and started sketching Irvin Ruel in a form that I'm vaguely happy with(although the arms will be a bugger to do). While I must now sleep you shall have pictures tmrw(if I'm not too pre occupied packing).

 

Just thought y'all might want to know

[simison]

"If Raktra is there," Hectarion began, his eyes hungry. "I demand that I be there. His head is mine."

 

Alex grimaced. "I'd rather have you begin cleansing Segmentum Pacificus and taking back your domain. But, if Raktra is there, you are one of the few I can trust to defeat him. I'm deploying to the same sector, but a different system. Be prepared to redeploy at a moment's notice."

 

"It will be done, Warmaster," Hectarion answered with relish.

 

Niklaas spoke next. "So, Raktra is to be declared beyond hope? What of the others?"

 

"Only one other," Alex said. "Travier."

 

"Travier?" Yucahu repeated. "What of Icarion? K'awil?" He paused. "Even Koschei?"

 

There was no hesitation on the Warmaster's part. "Even Koschei. If you engage anyone besides Raktra and Travier, you are to offer them a chance to rejoin the Imperium with a full pardon."

 

Yucahu was not the only one to balk at those words, but Niklaas pressed on. "Raktra, I understand, but what has Travier done to be free of your vaunted compassion?"

 

With a sigh, Alex answered. "Brothers, there is another purpose to this gathering. Father has taught me much about the true nature of our enemy. It is through Travier they struck at us. He is the reason Father is besieged beneath the palace."

 

"True nature?"

[Demus Ragnok]

That is exactly the kind of thing Niklaas would say.

 

Bravo sir.

 

Bravo.

[Nomus Sardauk]

I get the distinct feeling Niklaas is about to get to indulge in handing out a whole lot of "I told you so's". :p

[Sigismund229]

Before Alex could speak in reply to Niklaas, Hectarion cut across him. "Koschei! K'awil! You want us to show them MERCY?" he asked, sounding like the names of his brothers and the woed mercy were getting in his throat as he said them. "They killed Daer'dd! Or had you forgotten that Alex?" Hectarion snarled. Alex shook his head sadly and said "I had not forgotten but they are our brothers and they des-" "They deserve NOTHING" growled Hectarion "and they are not my brothers. They killed my brother as they did yours Alex. I won't give them any more than they deserve, I'll give them the mercy of my axe. They killed my brother, death is the only thing they deserve and even that's too good for them!" he continued, spitting on the floor at the end.

 

"Hectarion, we all grieve Daer'dd's death and it pains us all" Alex began but once again Hectarion cut him off saying "Then we must hunt down K'awil and Koschei, kill the bastards and stick their heads on pikes. It's the least they deserve for killing our brother. Or do we really mean so little to you Alex?" he said with one last snarl before turning to leave. However, before he could, Yucahu interposed himself between Hectarion and the door.

 

"Discipline yourself Hectarion" he said. A feral snarl spread across Hectarion's features and he said "Move Yucahu. I don't want to hurt you". brother said Alex in Hectarion's mind I too grieve for Daer'dd but please recognise that there are strategic concerns for which we must compromise and lock away our feelings. While Alex made a point of trying to avoid speaking into Hectarion's mind as it pained both him and Hectarion as well as exposing him to the Bloodthirster's touch, this time he felt he had to and it caused Hectarion to wince visibly.

 

Hectarion replied You know nothing of locking away your feelings before beginning to try and shove his way past the smaller Yucahu. Let him be Yucahu Alex said and Yucahu promptly withdrew, letting Hectarion leave without needing to punch Yucahu. Looking at Hectarion, Alex saw blazing pillar of hot, red anger. Who knew how far he might have gone once he started pummeling Yucahu.

[MikhalLeNoir]

I thought hec had a sword

[Sigismund229]

Nope, Hec uses a primarch sized chain axe called Godstooth that was forged by Daer'dd

[Skalpynock]

I believe only pre-Warmaster Alexandros, Raktra (?) and Azus use swords here. Spear-based weapons (Icarion, Yucahu, Alex, Travier, Pionus) and axes (Hectarion, Daer'dd, Jackel, Coch'ise) seem the most prevalent among BotL primarchs.

[Grifftofer]

K'awil's blades are mostly sword-like, though I'd liken them more to short swords than to the more usual longsword that you see in 30/40K.

[bluntblade]

Do Koschei or Kozja use swords? Obviously Niklaas has a big old hammer.

 

Err, at what point is this conversation taking place Sim?