Company of Martyrs (Warhammer 40K Wargame Quest)

While the common soldiery held court and made merry, the officers of the 99th Scintillia were holding their own gathering as well. It did still featured fine attire with plenty of pomp, but the topic matter was of far greater levity. They were even permitted to take off their hats with curled wigs, expressions unusually severe as their leader detailed the upcoming campaign.

"Otra Prime is a planet of relatively low importance to the Imperium, a penal colony for minor offenses that could be pardoned with hard labor in their mines. The ores themselves aren't even a significant figure in the area, though no manufactorum would turn them away." Lieutenant General Meryln paused and surveyed their gathered officers. "So reports of a discontent uprising brewing among some of the laborers were backshelved by the Adminisatrum. Perhaps a Guard unit or two would have been sent to clean it up and be done with, but likely only if there happened to be a convenient one nearby to cycle away from the frontlines.

"Then when Cadia fell and the Warp decided to started throwing things about, it all came to a boil." The holopict shown by a hovering servo-skull changed a rough map of the planet's major population centers. Of note was the many red dots surging away from these settlements and grouping up in the mountainous regions. "An uprising among many of the mutant populations occurred, and they started gathering in the mountains to form an insurgency. It's not the nice one where they work with the locals too."

With a flicker, the holopict demonstrated some rather gruesome sights of smoking homes and towns, images only received hours ago from PDF commanders sending them to the incoming Astra Militarum. "They've got the hard attitude that you're either with them, or you're a snitch to the Arbites that put them." The commander of the Scintillians let that sink in before placing a gloved hand on the table. "Now, I know we all have certain feelings about this. About why we're going to find and crush this mutant rebellion that should be the clean-up of the Administarum. About why we're risking our precious blood for these lowborns. So I'll tell you why I agreed with the Lord-General to take this assignment.

"Because no matter what their sin, the people of Otra Prime are still citizens of the Throne. Good, hard working people, laboring and living to address whatever crime they have committed and earn redemption in the God-Emperor's eyes. They are what we, those born into luxury, are charged to protect," Meryln looked at each and every one of the commanding officers in the unit. "So this is not just a chance for our unit to finally catch a breather from constant conflict- it is a chance for us to remember our house oaths. Of why we are the chosen."

A silence followed that was eventually broken by one of those newest to this gathering. "I think, Lieutenant General," you began, "we know that quite well. If we didn't, we'd be Fusiliers."

There was a round of suppressed snickers from the others and even Meryln seemed to hold back a chuckle. "You make a good point, Major Starcrest. But we're not those pampered Fusiliers who stand back and complain at range about their nails- we're the Grenadiers who get in, and get killing." They rapped their fist against the table. "Chosen and Blooded!"

"Chosen and Blooded!" The other officers echoed, the regiment's war cry easily coming to their lips. The Lieutenant General seemed pleased by the approval of this anti-dissident effort and continued on, with the servo-skull changing to show tactical information.

"From what we can gather, the rebels so far are still minor in force compared to the PDF, but their gathering point is only a vague estimate right now. Intelligence is working hard in trying to pinpoint their exact base of operations, but it takes time. Time in which they're launching raids to acquire equipment and supplies from outlying communities, fading away before air power is mustered up against them. They're wily mutants, that's for sure."

"A question, Lieutenant General." A First Sergeant chimed. "On their mutation-"

"It isn't Genestealers. The local doctors checked, twice. Then a Biologos checked. Thrice. Just regular deviance, and minor ones at that."

The man nodded curtly. "No further questions."

"That does bring me to my next point however- there does not exist a correlation between the mutants and rebels. I repeat, there does not exist one. A thorough investigation by Arbites shows that both regular and mutant laborers are being targeted equally by these rebels. It seems that they do not even believe their rhetoric of being pro-mutant, namely just using it as a convenient excuse to label others immediately as their enemy." A round of dismissive snorts came from the assembled officers. "Yes, I know. But make sure you pass to all your commands to watch their fire. Do not assume until fired upon if there are civilians about."

"We can handle whatever they throw at us," Another encouraged before letting out a hasty cough. "Assuming that they don't break out plasma." A chorus of sarcastic assents followed, with Meryln shaking their head.

"Very funny. Autoguns likely, and likely commandeered vehicles." That did create a buzz that was swiftly forestalled. "The 407th Steel Legion assure me that those will be their priority, and the 59th Moebian have reportedly begun...sourcing explosives elsewhere."

The tone in their voice left no imagination on the ridiculous ways that the Penitents have been able scrounge equipment from nonexistent reserves. "As shameful as it might be, we will need to depend on them for now. Our stocks are tragically lacking after that engagement with the Waagh. Quartermaster?"

"Most of it is still being repaired," the supply officer sullenly repeated. "Lasguns are all I can offer right now, with maybe a bayonet if you're that needy. But you better damn believe those are the best lasguns maintained by the servants."

"They do their part out of battle, so that we can do ours." That earned thumps of assent from the gathering. You reflected, while toying with a blonde curl of your hat wig, that this did feel quite a bit like court back home in some ways. Just with a driven and purposeful edge to it.

One that was now focused on you. "Major Starcrest, you are our newest senior regimental officer. Have you taken inventory and roster for Fifth Battalion?"

You straightened up in your seat. "Yes, Lieutenant General. If I might present?" You handed over the dataslate containing your most recent count of the troops under your command.


"I see. So not enough yet to form a full battalion detachment," they noted and you gave an apologetic bob of the head. "Nevertheless, this is still an impressive showing given the haste it was put together. I will have you act instead as a vanguard detachment instead for now."

"We might not have the numbers, but you'll see that we'll fight hard however hard you need," you promised. This was met by measured acceptance and the topic moved to the others. You paid only half-attention to it, instead drumming your fingers in thought. The big thing currently was that while you did have a solid control over the hardened veteran core that did make up the majority of your command, leading the less experienced infantry was not something you could also pay attention to at the same time.

You were fairly sure you needed a trustworthy second in command for that, but those were precious scarce now in the 99th Scintillia. You'd have to keep an eye out for talented individuals among the ranks and promote them so. Or, more likely, you'd have to just accept the shattered remains of another battalion to integrated within your own.

There was also the question of equipment. As the Quartermaster had stated, the regiment was going to have to be quite miserly with their stocks of precious heirloom weapons. To make them available, you'd have to prove yourself worthy of surviving for it along with having proven yourself on the battlefield for it. Of course, that did result in the rather odd situation where you were being denied weapons to gain glory for said weapons, but that was simply just how things went in the Guard. And it wasn't like the trusty lasgun wasn't an awful weapon either.

Last but not least was also improving your command. While you had been trained and tutored for the role, reality was far difference than practice. Not to mention that these were hardly the most auspicious or plush conditions to be suddenly elevated to a leadership role. It would come with time and devotion, lessons earned on the battlefield and paid for with blood. You could only hope it wasn't too much of the later.

After all, the lives of your command- including your own- were the Emperor's currency. It had to be spent wisely.


The arrival of the Imperial Guard did not go unnoticed. Word spread swiftly among the PDF of Otra Prime, and was passed on to hopeful laborers who were actually looking forward to their coming. The sooner the Astra Militarum could deal with the mutant extremists, the sooner they could get back to their lives- back to their way of earning redemption for the God-Emperor.

Word trickled to the rebels eventually, who surely must have realized that the hammer of Imperial justice was upon them. Perhaps it took them by surprise, who had heard that normally such efforts would be far-delayed to years in the future. Or maybe they were always prepared for it coming at any moment. It didn't matter either way- their time was running out.

So they struck.

Intense vox traffic filled the comm networks when Back by Forty entered orbit around the planet. It sounded like the rebels had realized that this was their last chance to accomplish anything before the Imperial Guard made planetfall, and launched a coordinated assault against several targets of opportunity. The PDF was overwhelmed and panicking, their green command structure severely disrupted by the simultaneous attacks, not knowing what to prioritize.

But to the weary eyes of experienced campaigners, it was clear that many were just fake decoys. The rebels could only sustain a few points of dedicated attack, and the decoys were slowly funneling into them as reinforcements. It meant that all they had to do was defeat these main offenses, then the rebels should crumble and retreat, having failed their goals. If the PDF wasn't capable of organizing this, then there was nothing to it- the Imperial Guard would do it in their place.

The 407th Steel Legion volunteered to handle what seemed to be a vehicle assault on the primary airbase below, to try and free up the PDF's aircraft to exert their aerial dominance. Meanwhile, the 59th Moebians would send their teams to push back an attack on power generators, likely an attempt by the rebels to try and cut out all Imperial communications.

That left the 99th Scintillia to handle an attempted rebel capture of a city.

The large population centers below on Otra Prime were condensed around the few water sources found in oases scattered around, though nowhere near the degree as those found on Hive worlds. It was more like an amalgamation of basic facilities needed by the penal laborers for work and downtime, with little else such as tourism. The highest any of them got were a few stories tall, making these cities spread out a bit more on ground level.

It was nice to live in, but it also meant that when a breach in its outer walls occurred, local defense was sluggish and had so much room to cover. By then the attackers were already spilling in and splitting up, likely trying to achieve as much as they can before fleeing. It meant then that the Scintillia Grenadiers had their work cut out for them with a variety of options.

Fifth Battalion was selected to accompany the others down on Valkyries and get boots on the ground. Lieutenant General Meryln designed two primary objectives for the selected detachments to focus upon when they arrived. The first was to deploy within the city and start trying to flush out the attackers, engaging in urban combat in the penal colony to try and secure the city. The other was to launch a daring raid at the backs of the invading forces, trying to break them from behind and force a rout.

She left it up to each senior officer on what to pursue, only that both should be attempted.

Which assignment does Fifth Battalion undertake?

[ ] [Objective] Secure the City. Fifth Battalion is an experienced infantry core. Get them sweeping the buildings, rescuing civilians, and eliminating invaders.

[ ] [Objective] Flank the invasion. Fifth Battalion can get stuck straight into the heart of the battlefield where they thrive. Get ready for a hot drop, and start showing why the Guard is the Hammer.

- Your unit starts off very basic, but very skilled. Remember that you yourself are also incredibly talented (I should fill out the actual battalion informational sometime soon).
- Equipment is pretty much vanilla starting out. Lasguns, laspistols, and chainswords. Then again, you've got Lasguns with 30" range....
- You'll get a more detailed briefing/battlefield preview after choosing your assignment. It'll also be when you choose which Strategems you'll make ready then.
- You will not be bringing all your units into battle all the time, some will just be reserves who really just are sitting it out for rest and recovery. Different from the reserves that can come in as reinforcements.