[DW] Blackthorn and Swordhand: OOC Thread

[Mazer Rackham]

Very nice AT.

 

I like the little touches there - handing Solastion his own helmet.

 

Much cool.

 

MR.

[A.T.]

I like the little touches there - handing Solastion his own helmet.

His or thorvalds - at your preference for your reply.

[Slips]

 

I like the little touches there - handing Solastion his own helmet.

His or thorvalds - at your preference for your reply.

 

I read it as being Thorvalds lol

[Mazer Rackham]

 

I like the little touches there - handing Solastion his own helmet.

His or thorvalds - at your preference for your reply.

 

 

Ah yes - my mistake!  Much apologising, I did think it was Thorvald's helmet - as in that's all you found, but had a brain fart between reading and posting. 

 

MR.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Mazer Rackham

[Steel Company]

We all skip over things from time to time MR, I'm looking forward to Akkad's turn, should give me some entertainment while I do my best impression of a sandbag.... just don't try and use me as ablative armour.

[Mazer Rackham]

Akkad makes a half move and drops down behind Sandbag McBulletsoak (Tyber) and burns everything in front of him.

 

Oh, Sorry.  Said it out loud.  

 

We all skip over things from time to time MR, I'm looking forward to Akkad's turn, should give me some entertainment while I do my best impression of a sandbag.... just don't try and use me as ablative armour.

 

Of course not brother!  Chuh!  What do you take me for...?

 

 

MR.

[Steel Company]

No, never thought that Akkad would, maybe a potential Black Crusade Forsaken might though.

[Xin Ceithan]

Since my wife is home over the weekend (yay!)

My screen and writing time is somewhat limited.

 

But I am cooking up the barrier and thought I 'd share a couple of ideas already.

 

Since a full screen is surely not possible and they Tyranids are probably going in waves anyway, I am currently thinking it should a involve both a multi layer approach and three major shield areas.

 

The areas protected by the highest shield intensity being the Mettallican (because the main reactor is there and the Mechanicus are selfish bastards), the PDF / Watch HQ and they Spaceport. At least the generatorum probably has some minor form of void. Shielding.

Not sure about the palace or the Spaceport....

 

Since it is an agri world, Syndalla probably has a wealth of data regarding weather patterns, wind, athmospheric conditions and the like. They are probably messing with the weather for as long as it functions as a breadbasket to keep the output up. Which helps developing the accumulation and distribution pattern of what's used in creating the thermic shielding.

 

There is also a lot of chemicals around, including pesticides, nitrates and other things not very nice to biological life ... and often flammable.

 

Keep that in mind when we are fighting them on the ground also. Sabaan will have at least suggested using some larger storages and mobile structures of the stuff as mines or barriers.

 

As for the shielding itself :

 

The uppermost layer would be almost suborbital and COLD : A layer of frozen crystallized shards of some Pestizide or acid. Hitting a sheet of icy needles as you drop from orbit is not fun in itself. Using re entry heat is going to add some instant explosive force. The idea is to already damage pods / bioforms on decent. If it coats them in iced acid / pesticides or shrapnel all the better.

 

 

This will ad to the damage once they hit the (first)later of ignited aerosol shielding as well as. Ringing something flammable and oxygen rich to the mix. The Tyranids are now cowered in burning pesticides and have to pass through as many layers of burning hell as we have been able to throw up ( Three? )

 

I am also thinking that the arrangement of the three main shield areas, coupled with knowledge of the local athmospheric conditions and timed ignition patterns if the barriers. (Which we are spreading over several AA and low orbit platforms) create three flaming storm patterns, which can use the momentum of each other to keep up and increase the intensity of wind and fire on the shields by funneling oxygen and fuel into the shield. The shearing wind should also break up enemy formation, force mid air collusion and smash the Tyranids to the ground as divided and unfocused as possible to delay a unified ground assault for as long as possible.

 

Calculated Tyranid crash sites should be mined and surrender by PDF.

 

Coordinating the aerosol dispersal, athmospheric conditions as well as taking into account the disruption of theses factors by the effects of Tyranids dropping from orbit is major science...

 

I am toying with some Tech priest ideas / NPcs

 

Since we need a way to distribute a lot of chemicals

And aerosols a d Syndalla being a world that would have need of crop dusting and irrigation on a massive scale, I was thinking that Syndalla might have "Cloud Clans" of nomadic crop duster / pesticide spraying cartels, that are based on dirigible floats, like small villages that drift over the world as they disperse the stuff. Think of it like oil rigs tied to Ballons and diribles, full of people exposed to horrible chemicals over generations. Cloud born, if you will.

Those dusting rigs would be used to deploy the aerosol layers we need in the shielding and then be kept on station around it to provide it with fuel for some time.

 

Sabaan will probably hav broken a few noses to get them in line.

 

And figured out a way to have their burning rigs drop on the heads of the xenos and deny them some ground once the Tyranids inevitably down the rigs...

 

I'll probably spread that over three parts...culminating in the Tyranids hitting the shield once the invasion starts.

 

 

Thoughts?

[Mazer Rackham]

I want my own dirigible!  Sounds Awesome Xin.  Are you certain neither you nor Nine are trainee Evil Geniuses..?

 

"The ability of your players to come up with solutions borders on the Magical."  - Guy Sclanders (I believe).

 

MR.

 

PS. I am wounded, Steel, that you think I should do that to so dear a friend... ;)

[Steel Company]

PS. I am wounded, Steel, that you think I should do that to so dear a friend... ;)

Only because I've done that very thing to others before... ;)

[Xin Ceithan]

Sir, you offend me! I am absolutely sure of being anything but a TRAINEE evil genius ! ;)

[Reyner]

Sorry guys been really busy this week, I'll try get an update in today or tomorrow - in short Vorr is annoyed that the team ran into the Lictors perfect ambush and try to get them into the outpost, as Tarkus would say "the Devastator attacks from a position of strength". 

[Mazer Rackham]

Sir, you offend me! I am absolutely sure of being anything but a TRAINEE evil genius !

 

Ah yes but of course - this from a man who attacked a cloud of wasps that invaded his home with a chainsaw and along with a co-conpspirator, is seeking to engineer some kind of thermite-plasma tyranid birth control.  My apologies sir, I withdraw my comment.

 

 

Sorry guys been really busy this week, I'll try get an update in today or tomorrow - in short Vorr is annoyed that the team ran into the Lictors perfect ambush and try to get them into the outpost, as Tarkus would say "the Devastator attacks from a position of strength". 

 

I can hear Vorr growling that.  I have only posted dialogue to let Apologist have his turn at punching stuff.  I trust my post was alright?

 

MR.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Mazer Rackham

[apologist]

Coo, Yeng turns out to be a bit more ruthless than I'd imagined! Still, we've gulled the lictor out of hiding – let's put it down.

[Slips]

Reyner, do note that while perception is a stat, if you're looking for something you can use the Awareness Skill which is nice because it means you're hightened senses and suits auto-senses come into play granting you a total of +20 to that roll.

[Reyner]

Ah really? Nice I was wondering about that - might spot the beggar and we can lay into it  if that's the case I can edit the placeholder and start lobbing missiles about!

 

Could Vorr switch to his missile launcher and start firing in the same turn? Can't remember sorry :D if it can't be done time for some full auto shotgun.

Edited July 31, 2019 by Reyner

[Mazer Rackham]

Nice posts everyone! :)

 

@ Reyner, yes you can - Half an action to "Ready Heavy Weapon"  then your shot is a single action, Standard Attack.

 

I'm consulting the Core books for burning an area now.

 

MR.

[Commissar Molotov]

Hey all, thanks for your excellent posts!

[Mazer Rackham]

And yourself GM ;)

 

*tempted to use Reaction to Flame again*

 

MR.

[Steel Company]

I'm looking forward to seeing how this fight goes from Tyber's napping position. ;)

[Mazer Rackham]

If all else fails I'll pop feat of strength and use Tyber as a close combat weapon.

 

MR.

[Steel Company]

Or you know, you could just take up his oath blade.. ;)

[Commissar Molotov]

Hi all,

 

Only a few days left of posting time before we go off on the honeymoon, so I wanted to take some time to lay out plans for the game to try to empower players, let you understand where this is going, especially for players who might have a lot of time away from the game.

 

The ground war for Syndalla will begin soon, and it is going to be split in two - the actions of the members of the Deathwatch themselves, and the wider war waged by the defending armies of Syndalla.

 

In terms of the narrative of Syndalla's defense, the war is planned to last three weeks before the Deathwatch are able to strike at the Hive Ship at the heart of the fleet. The way I see it, each week will take about a month of game time, so we have something like:

 

August: Finish the Lictor assault, put the defense in place

September: Week 1 Defense (+Action)

October: Week 2 Defense (+Action)

November: Week 3 Defense (+Action)

December+: Hive Ship assault

 

The game will be twofold;

 

At the start of each Week of the defense, Slips will coordinate the defenders of Syndalla. Thanks to the city map created by Nineswords, there will be a list of defensible locations and different units to defend them. Depending which units are where, they will either hold against the Tyranid threat, or take casualties and fall back, potentially even leaving whole districts of the city vulnerable to the swarm. Any players who are interested in the strategic elements of the war will be able to help with this, discussing which units are best to hold which areas, merging damaged units together and the like.

 

The brethren of the Deathwatch may lend their aid to the defense in this abstract manner by rolling skill tests, like we did at the start of this mission. Once a Week, a player can use their own Skills to bolster a location. Perhaps a Charm, or Intimidate test may allow you to raise morale among troopers, perhaps a Tech-Use test allows you to repair damaged tanks, or to work with logistics to replace lost equipment. Perhaps a Forbidden Lore test allows you to anticipate the Tyranids' attacks, allowing you to give the soldiery some guidance. The intention behind this is that everyone can contribute, and those that like to write lengthy narrative (Nineswords or Mazer, for example) can do so in discussion with me.

 

Alongside this, each Week (real-time Month) of the campaign will have a scene or scenes that may include a battle, a diplomatic issue within the campaign, a rescue mission or the like. This will be played using the rules of Deathwatch, and may focus only on a few of the Marines, as having eleven in one combat can be difficult to run. This may shift or alter based on players' availability and who wants to play. Players who particularly enjoy the "crunch" such as Steel or A.T. may well prosper here, as well as those who want a hand in narratively shifting the course of the game. These are likely to be shorter scenes or vignettes to move things on and attempt to capture the scope of a planetary defense against an oncoming swarm.

 

After that, we can bring things together toward assaulting the Hive ship, which will be no-holds barred! I'm hopeful this will allow us to capture the diverse range of interests that have brought players together in this game, so that everyone is having a good time.

 

Hope you're all well,

 

Mol.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Commissar Molotov

[Steel Company]

All that sounds solid CM, just one tiny point... I'm more story over crunch, but I can handle crunch. :)

[Nineswords]

Sounds great Mol!