EVENT - The Battle of the Forge

[Doctor Perils]

I would definitely be ok including the Godslayers in the mix - I imagine Koschei wouldn't be there?

 

When you suggest a background in the Xenocides or the Qarith Crusade, do you mean including references to Iyacrax in the description of those campaigns, meaning that the Forge World takes on a larger significance in the readers' eyes? I'd definitely be up for that. Could it simply be the resupply point for the Four Horsemen in Rad/Chem weapons, hence the later utter destruction of the Forge World as control of the weapons eventually escapes all parties?

[bluntblade]

Rather that when Iyacrax is introduced and its significance explained, those conflicts are flagged up.

 

Aye - instead we put another character with rules in charge.

[bluntblade]

Additing Locrian taghmata and the Legio Mercurion to the Insurrectionist force.

 

On the Loyalist side, might it work to have a far-flung force of Crimson Lions fighting here rather than Halcyon Wardens?

[bluntblade]

How does this look?

 

The Forges of Iyacrax

Iyacrax was already a prosperous Forge World when it was first located by the a far-ranging fleet of the Lightning Bearers. Fealty was pledged to Mars easily enough, though the ruling Sheviel sect were noted to respect the office of Fabricator-General rather more than the individual who wore the mantle - and sincerely hailed the Master of Mankind as the Omnissiah. Such things did not unnoticed by Kelbor Hal, but there was no opportunity to cow the Sheviel as he had Phaeton, and their allegiance to the Cult was authentic enough to stay his hand.

 

With its place in the Imperium assured, Iyacrax's industry was soon flowing to the Imperial war machine, arming millions of soldiers and raising the keels of ships to carry whole battlegroups. The Emperor’s wars in the north and east of the Galaxy had begun to make greater demands on the surrounding regions, and the Horritan Gunner-Corps, Grundun Rifles and Volpine Guards were among the newly-formed Regiments whom the Forge World supplied. Its prolific output ensured that the Warbringers and Predators took large numbers of vessels from the world’s shipwrights, and no small amount of arms and armour flowed to them and other Legions.

 

As well as the fruits of its industry, Iyacrax gave great hosts to the Imperial banner. These fought in some of the Great Crusade’s bloodiest conflicts, surviving the Ragdan Xenocides while other Forge Worlds were undone. While they were brutally depleted in the fighting, the loss of worlds such as Vamast indirectly benefited Iyacrax. Resources once meant for lost worlds were funnelled into it to feed the war effort, and Mechanicum cults left abruptly homeless were absorbed.

 

The Aloite sect’s reverence for the Emperor seems only to have increased with victory in the Xenocides, and their concurrent growth in power. That process slowed after the end of the Xenocides, but Iyacrax’s growth continued nonetheless. Its armies continued to stride the Galaxy, earning great honour as part of Andezo Sambedi’s relief force in the Qarith War and leading a critical attack against the Besla System. Iyacran banners flew in the fighting and Triumph alike on Qarith Prime, serving notice that the world stood among the first rank of the Mechanicum.

 

By the time the Emperor withdrew from the Crusade, Iyacrax had become one of the mightiest Forge Worlds in the northern Imperium, with 17 billion souls toiling for the Omnissiah’s glory. Along with Hephaesta, it was a potential counterweight to Mars’ influence within the Mechanicum, and its continuing growth made it a potential threat to the designs of both Kelbor Hal and Icarion. It was identified almost immediately as a high-priority objective, and Kozja Darzales proposed to take it personally for the Stormlord.

[simison]

One, Aloite sounds an awful alot alike Alaitoc, the Craftworld. Two, given Kozja's entanglements in the East, is it wise for him to make this proposal?

[bluntblade]

Iyacrax is northeast, so I think it works.

 

Actually, I can't remember if Kozja or Perkenas is leading here.

 

Amended Aloite to Sheviel, after a place that's up north and associated with steel.

[Doctor Perils]

There's an Aloite left, as well as a Ragdan

 

I like it, it feels like an important Forge World, that's growing but has not yet reached the significance of some of the major canon FWs

[bluntblade]

I'm really embracing the notion of our entire Imperium as one that grows from forks in the road that led to the canon version.

[bluntblade]

Did we get a full roll call of Insurrectionist and Loyalist forces for this campaign? I'm keen to involve Scanad and the Legio Excoriator here.

 

Also Iyacrax sits closeish to Mardum, so I'm wondering about involving the Predators in place of the Halcyon Wardens there, particularly as the Wardens will have had Mars at this point.

[bluntblade]

  By ___ M31, a shadow empire had carved away from the Imperium, seeking to subsume and supplant its parent, and the same thing was happening within the Mechanicum. Icarion's power was waxing, but he would face a gruelling advance to the gates of his father’s palace. Armies large enough to subjugate whole sectors would be consumed by Terra. Before that, thousands of ships would have to be spent breaking through the Sol System’s defences. Beyond lay the gateway system of Beta Garmon, and a hundred worlds beyond that, fortified and garrisoned by billions of troops who would resist to their last breath.

 

  Icarion had a great advantage in Space Marines, counted many of the most militant sects of the Mechanicum among his allies, and his mortal armies were rapidly growing too. But he also needed as many weapons and war machines as he could acquire, from bolt pistols to battleships. The Mechanicum held the keys to the vast majority of these, and where they did not follow Kelbor Hal into rebellion, they posed a threat to the Stormlord's power. 

 

  There were many Forge Worlds, great and small, which held true to their Omnissiah and scorned their pontiff. Had Mars remained under the heel of Kelbor Hal, perhaps things would have gone differently, but the Red World had been wrested from him, the Machine God’s high priest driven out of his temple to seek refuge with Icarion. Kelbor Hal’s brutal conquest of Hatross and the brooding cathedral he now ruled from could not hide his diminished authority.

 

  So while the emissaries of Akira, Lasaris, Scanad and hundreds of others knelt before the Fabricator-General and reaffirmed their fealty, and others burst into civil war in imitation of Mars, there were multitudes who proclaimed their loyalty to the Emperor. They denounced their old master as a heretek, and took up arms against the Insurrectionists as well as supplying Loyalist forces. Among the mightiest of these, and perhaps the most threatening to Icarion, was Iyacrax.

 

The Furnace of the Northeast

  Founded by Explorators from Lucius, Iyacrax was a prosperous Forge World when it was first located by the a far-ranging fleet of the Lightning Bearers. Fealty was pledged to Mars easily enough, though the ruling Sheviel sect were noted to respect the office of Fabricator-General rather more than the individual who wore the mantle - and they sincerely hailed the Emperor as the Omnissiah. Such things did not unnoticed by Kelbor Hal, but there was no opportunity to cow the Sheviel as he had Phaeton, and their allegiance to the Cult was authentic enough to stay his hand.

 

  With its place in the Imperium assured, Iyacrax's industry was soon flowing to the Imperial war machine, arming millions of soldiers and raising the keels of ships to carry whole battlegroups. The Emperor’s wars in the north and east of the Galaxy had begun to make greater demands on the surrounding regions, and the Horritan Gunner-Corps, Grundun Rifles and Volpine Guards were among the newly-formed Regiments whom the Forge World supplied. Its prolific output ensured that the Warbringers and Predators took large numbers of vessels from the world’s shipwrights, and no small amount of arms and armour flowed to them and other Legions.

 

  The priests of Iyacrax proved that they were not only prolific, but inventive and diligent in adding to the Imperium’s arsenal. The fruits of their labours and the STCs they retrieved became easily recognisable in the Imperium’s ranks. These included the Sphinx anti-air tank and Stymphala gunship, both of which were widely used by the Solar Auxilia by the last fifty years of the Crusade. 

 

  As well as the fruits of its industry, Iyacrax contributed great hosts to the Imperial banner as its Legio Pugilis and other forces waxed in strength. These fought in some of the Great Crusade’s bloodiest conflicts, surviving the Rangdan Xenocides while other Forge Worlds were undone. While they were brutally depleted in the fighting, the loss of worlds such as Vamast indirectly benefited Iyacrax. Resources once meant for lost worlds were funnelled into it to feed the war effort, and Mechanicum cults left abruptly homeless by enemy action were absorbed into the Sheviel.

 

  The ruling sect’s reverence for the Emperor seems only to have increased with victory in the Xenocides, and their concurrent growth in power. The pace slackened after the final defeat of the Rangdan, but Iyacrax’s growth continued nonetheless. Its armies still strode the Galaxy, establishing their own domains and retrieving STCs in the Quest for Knowledge. At the turn of the millenium, the forces of Iyacrax earned great honour as part of Andezo Sambedi’s relief force in the Qarith War and led a critical attack against the Besla System. Iyacran banners flew in the Reckoning and Triumph alike on Qarith Prime, serving notice that the Forge World now stood among the first rank of the Mechanicum. 

 

  By the time the Emperor withdrew from the Crusade, Iyacrax had become one of the leading Forge Worlds in the northern Imperium, with 17 billion souls toiling for the Omnissiah’s glory. Along with Hephaesta, it was a potential counterweight to Mars’ influence within the Mechanicum cults of the East, and its continuing growth made it a threat to the designs of both Kelbor Hal and Icarion.

 

  Attempts were made to seed discord within the cults, but the Sheviel dogma proved highly resistant to subversion. The Insurrectionists were swiftly exposed once the fighting broke out, and their erstwhile master made a bloody example of them. Iyacrax was identified immediately thereafter as a high-priority objective for Icarion's armies, and Kozja Darzalas proposed to take it personally for the Stormlord. 

[Kelborn]

So there was the question if I can provide a tribe for the battle of the forge.

When and where does that occur again?

[bluntblade]

035-6, according to my timeline

[Doctor Perils]

And it's sort of 3/4 galaxy radius north of galactic center, perhaps a bit over to obscurus.

 

Would the "Furnace War" act as a good moniker? Tbh, I find it a bit boring if all our battles are named after the planet on which they take place, and Iyacrax feels like a suitable candidate for a different style name.

 

Are the Predators one of the legions most in need of portrayal in the black books ?

[bluntblade]

I'd say so; they're fairly spread out and otherwise don't come into our books until Retaliation.

 

I'd still keep their contribution to one or two Tribes, though.

[Kelborn]

Welp, really need to get familiar with the timeline -.-

Ehm...generally speaking, sure, Preds can contribute with 1-2 tribes

Just to check the timeline (or rather what they were about during that time) and who could be available

[bluntblade]

I'm wondering how to divide Iyacrax. I reckon the Warbringers begin with a brilliant void engagement which sees the moons and near space overrun, and then push the native defenders to the brink. Disaster is only averted when the Loyalist reinforcements turn up and turn their advance to a crawl.

 

Eventually I'd like one cataclysmic battle where the Bears hold off an otherwise crushing offensive by Kozja for a time, and sabotage and general fighting guts the last forge-fanes and complexes.

[simison]

I thought we were avoiding Kozja being involved since he'd be defeated by just marines?

[bluntblade]

I thought we were avoiding Kozja being involved since he'd be defeated by just marines?

Stalemated, not defeated, and Iyacrax is removed as a threat.

[Doctor Perils]

A primarch defeated by a mortal doesn't bother me as long as its treated well (ie, not like Phall)

 

I'd steer clear of too widespread sabotage/booby traps, as Nox will have a good deal of that already.

 

Are we certain of the Wb&Gs vs IB&Pt? In this scenario, will we give different thematic objectives for the Warbringers and Godslayers?

[bluntblade]

We also had Harbingers in there originally, so there's scope to add another Insurrectionist force. Im open to suggestions.

 

I'd go with the some objections for this, as it's simply important to Icarion and Kozja's strategy.

[Doctor Perils]

Wrt the objectives, I meant specific different objectives within Iyacrax. As Godslayers are one of the insurrectionists siege masters, perhaps they're set on taking particularly important forgefanes and fortified manufactoria, while the Warbringers (with larger manpower ressources) are more of a blanket presence, holding the front...

 

Or the Godslayers are doing the brunt of the frontline fighting, while the Warbringers hold their rear against the guerilla fighters of the Predators and the Mechanicum pockets left behind in the chaos?

[bluntblade]

Structure of the campaign in my head:

 

1. Void engagement and capture of Iyacrax's moons

2. Planetfall and initial advances by Warbringers and Godslayers

3. Further conquests, stymied by the Iron Bears and Predators' arrival with auxiliary troops

4. A string of battles which result in retreat or hard-won victories for the Insurrectionists

5. Kozja springs a gambit which nearly sees the primary forge city taken, but Damon Redd holds off the vanguard

6. Loyalist efforts shift to evacuation as the fighting renders Iyacrax worthless to either side

 

It occurs to me that we need to add planetary profiles for quite a lot of our campaigns, and Iyacrax is certainly one of them.

 

To be honest, I think we're looking more at something like Stalingrad or Verdun here, on a bigger level. The Predators would be fighting on the frontlines mainly to hold the complexes alongside the Bears, and the Warbringers and Godslayers doing the same.

[Doctor Perils]

If the Iron Bears and Predators are stymying (sp?) Kozja’s plans in different parts of the world, I think it might be more interesting if it's actually the Mechanicum Iyacrax that stops Kozja’s conquest of their capital - it would be nice to see admech defeating a primarch once in a while, not always other Primarchs and astartes.

 

I'd also like to see one or two major forge-cities fall to the Insurrectionist forces, with a no-man's land forming between them (where Warbringers would get to shine as opposed to the Godslayers doing a lot of work in the orbital battles and city fighting). In this zone we'd also be able to see some amount of tank battles (the Kursk between the Verdun and Stalingrad battles).

How about Kozja’s plan to take the capital being tunnel warfare, where we can insert some Passchendaele style horror?

 

 

By planetary profiles, do you mean actual maps (like in many BL publications or the FW books), or an overview like the ones we often see in the rulebooks?

[bluntblade]

I figure they'd be in the same city by the end, as the Warbringers push them back.

[Doctor Perils]

(Sorry, edited my previous post before seeing your reply)

I was thinking it would be possible that the Iron Bears and Predators have managed to infiltrate themselves behind the insurrectionist lines, or subsisted in pockets of resistance, which would allow them to continue the destruction of insurrectionist held positions (hence why the whole planet is abandoned in the end, not just the primary bastions-forges)