[BC] The Blackest Heart (OOC)

[Lysimachus]

1 hour ago, A.T. said:

 

I was hoping to poke one of the marine players forward

 

Hagga is happy to step up... but the password he attempts will be something along the lines of:

 

Quickdraw Claymore

Charge Clademaster (edit: possibly with Called Strike at Head, depending if it counts as Surprised or not)

 

Just to check, it is described as a small team of servitors - how many is that specifically?

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:44 PM by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

45 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

...f it counts as Surprised or not)

 

The servitors have a satisfactory level of preparedness, and are aware of you, so no Surprise Round. Which works both ways! Handy, no? 

 

45 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

Just to check, it is described as a small team of servitors - how many is that specifically?

 

There's a team of five, wih the Clademaster being six (Hexidecimal, see?) total.

[Necronaut]

@Lysimachus either Hagga does that or Ukalegon will apply the rite of meltagun.

[Mazer Rackham]

If you want to attack the servitors, no worries - albeit I will allow this encounter to be a narrative one as opposed to calling for Initiaitive, since these are engineering models and not 'combat' models per se.

 

I will still require rolls to to inform your narrative, however, as once the assault starts, any survivors will retalitate, and I need to know who hits what etc.

 

Alles gut?

 

Edited Friday at 02:12 PM by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

45 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

 

The servitors have a satisfactory level of preparedness, and are aware of you, so no Surprise Round.

 

No worries, I was just thinking qbout the relative reaction speeds of Astartes vs your average Servitor.

 

Of course, if they are really guard/combat servitors, then their level of awareness would make sense being higher...? 

 

 

@Necronaut I am sure either way Hagga would appreciate someone watching his back from the rest of them?

 

@A.T. If you want to try the Logic stuff first, feel free. If not, then we'll just start krumping stuff?

 

 

Edit: sorry, ninja'd!

 

 

Edited Friday at 02:17 PM by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

6 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

 

No worries, I was just thinking qbout the relative reaction speeds of Astartes vs your average Servitor.

 

Of course - hence the narrative option for combat, which I usually term Structured Time (Light), which is on a You-go-I-go basis because of the disparity. 

 

6 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

Of course, if they are really guard/combat servitors, then their level of awareness would make sense being higher...? 

 

Indeed so!

Edited Friday at 02:23 PM by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

Sorry @Machine God is your post an actual attempt to provide the password, or is it a distraction to give us all an opening to start hitting stuff?

 

I kind of feel with the theatrics it's the latter, but I don't want to post something if you've got something else specific in mind...?

 

Never mind, MG's edit clarified his intent...

 

 

Edited Friday at 03:31 PM by Lysimachus

[Machine God]

1 hour ago, Lysimachus said:

Sorry @Machine God is your post an actual attempt to provide the password, or is it a distraction to give us all an opening to start hitting stuff?

 

I kind of feel with the theatrics it's the latter, but I don't want to post something if you've got something else specific in mind...?

 

Never mind, MG's edit clarified his intent...

 

 

@Lysimachus - Sorry for the delay.

 

I got delayed.

 

Post edited:

 

https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/383296-bc-the-blackest-heart-ic/page/15/#findComment-6088138

 

 

 

 

[Necronaut]

Placeholder filled 

[Necronaut]

@Lysimachus oh heck I completely forgot Hagga was wearing a partial suit of Mk VI armour with the beakie helm! Let me know if I should change that -- I got to looking at the Blood Angel assault marine funko pop on my desk and didn't even think twice about it.

[Lysimachus]

Weeeelll, y'know, by the 41st Millenium it is known that there is only one MkVI helm left anywhere in the Imperium, and Hagga has already got it, so you're kinda going against the fluff...?

 

 

Not bothered at all, mate! MkVI is one of the coolest (Beakie RT nostalgia, right?) so I can't argue at all if that's the one you want to go with! 

 

 

 

[Lysimachus]

Am I right in remembering that the primary target for our group was to find and hit the Landing Bay? That seems to cover both of the last two Objectives listed in the Compact post, and is an Objective that is listed for all of the team?

 

Should we just stick in one group? Less encounter rolls, and we should (I assume?) be able to have a couple of PCs provide Assists to the Navigate: Surface Tests (again, I assume although we are technically under the surface, that is the appropriate Skill?)

 

Highest Int with the Navigate: Surface Skill is (I think?) Cyrandras or Tarh at Int 45.

 

Then we get +10 for the Map, and I'd hope +20 for 2 Assists?

 

I'd suggest Tarh might be good for the primary scouting role as he also has Stealth?

 

 

 

[Necronaut]

I might suggest Xerxes for being our naviguesser owing to his high int and (what looks like) best craftsmanship cerebral implants which give bonus DoS (unnatural intelligence +2).

[Lysimachus]

The Int is higher, but he doesn't have Navigate, so would be testing at half-stat, I think? (Edit: is that still right in BC? Edit edit: no, it isn't!  pg36 under Skill Tests says it's a -20, not halved. But still a hefty enough penalty that Tarh/Cyrandras might be a better pick)

 

The 3 Marines and Tarh are the ones who have that Skill.

Edited Friday at 10:24 PM by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

46 minutes ago, Lysimachus said:

Should we just stick in one group? Less encounter rolls...

 

Sticking as a group, you'll still need to go from Objective to Objective as you decide your objective before you move. Logically and mechanically it would be impossible to achieve all Objectives in one set of rolls. Doing a conga line is going to net you 6 tests per Objective, which is essentially the same as if you split up.

 

I won't stop you doing it, but it won't make any shortcuts.

 

Also you should consider other practicalities. Some of these tunnels are narrow. That means maybe two Astartes abreast or three Mortals able to engage in WS/BS combat Tests. If you want to stick together, I will need an Order of March, and only the people nominated as Pointman and Tail End Charlie can actually fight.

[Trokair]

Can we make a copy of the map to take with us?

 

Happy for Tarh to be the navigator/scout ahaed (or one of the navigators if we split into smaller groups).  

 

I am inclined to think that we should go as one group for the primary objective, and then perhaps split up for some of the secondary’s...

 

[Mazer Rackham]

2 minutes ago, Trokair said:

Can we make a copy of the map to take with us?

 

Certainly. It is unencrypted and may fit into any Datavault (Power Armour) or onto any Dataslate.

 

2 minutes ago, Trokair said:

I am inclined to think that we should go as one group for the primary objective, and then perhaps split up for some of the secondary’s...

 

Perfectly viable.

 

Edited Friday at 10:49 PM by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

11 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

 

Sticking as a group, you'll still need to go from Objective to Objective as you decide your objective before you move. Logically and mechanically it would be impossible to achieve all Objectives in one set of rolls. Doing a conga line is going to net you 6 tests per Objective, which is essentially the same as if you split up.

 

I won't stop you doing it, but it won't make any shortcuts.

 

Also you should consider other practicalities. Some of these tunnels are narrow. That means maybe two Astartes abreast or three Mortals able to engage in WS/BS combat Tests. If you want to stick together, I will need an Order of March, and only the people nominated as Pointman and Tail End Charlie can actually fight.

 

 

That's fair enough. Here's an alternative thought:

 

How about the Astartes, with Cyrandras as their Scout, go do some killing in the Landing Bay?

 

Then Tarh could scout for the mortals and lead them to either the cells or to handle the technical Objectives?

 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

However you want to split it is Player decision, no worries. 

 

One thing I will stipulate that your Characters would quickly understand from the datapackets, is that your microbeads will only penetrate so much of this rock, and @Xin Ceithan's Character would also have trouble with mind bullets.

 

Until you seize control of the communications array, you're short range. After that, the Rock is your boombox.

[Necronaut]

Splitting up, as odious as that may be to some, is likely our best bet to tackle everything, not to mention dividing our forces by humans and astartes arguably makes encounter planning and design easier for our GM. I'm going to vote we go for it.

[Trokair]

Looks like a plan is coming together. 

[Xin Ceithan]

12 hours ago, Lysimachus said:

 

 

That's fair enough. Here's an alternative thought:

 

How about the Astartes, with Cyrandras as their Scout, go do some killing in the Landing Bay?

 

Then Tarh could scout for the mortals and lead them to either the cells or to handle the technical Objectives?

 

 

 

 

Using the Astartes part of the group todo what Astartes do best seems  (and net one of the main objectives early )seems a firm tactical choice - the mortals should also have an easier time scouting / grappling other objectives moving in amidst the battle without something as obvious as a SpaceMarine among them.

 

As a question to the more rules-savvy players : Is there a game mechanical advantage  I‘m missing  here using Cyrandras as a scout other than the functions of the auto-senses?

[Lysimachus]

55 minutes ago, Xin Ceithan said:

As a question to the more rules-savvy players : Is there a game mechanical advantage  I‘m missing  here using Cyrandras as a scout other than the functions of the auto-senses?

 

All 3 Astartes have Navigate: Surface (Int) in their starting Skills, it is just that Cyrandras has about 10 points higher Int than Hagga or Ukalegon, so it makes sense for him to roll for that group?

 

I think you've got reasonable odds on it though... Int45 +10 (Map) +20 (Assists from the other 2) = 75. So hopefully we should get where we need to go without too many false turns...

 

 

[Machine God]

Is it just a case of pressing the green button marked Open on the control panel? 

[Mazer Rackham]

Pretty much.

 

However, if you do open the door, I ask you go no further, and await my reply before doing anything else.