it's all life and we are expanding to the fishing and ranching regions. Plants are just the most available biomass to work with and also don't have the abomination against nature thing to hold them back in the PR department
As a reminder, the Earth Domain would be a huge boost for our plant-biotech among other things. From what I understand, it is what unlocks actions for plant-megastructures, plant-spaceships, etc. I would go so far as to say that it would be the optimal, almost necessary Domain to take in our next level up. Otherwise, we cannot start using the full potential of our by then hopefully conquered/converted planet.
It should also probably synergize quite well with Endurance in enhancing the durability of our biotech-constructs, and of course make the soil more nutrient-rich, and so on. It will probably so useful in fact, that I have commited to voting for it even over Sorcery or any new shiny. If it is not available in the next time we level up, then immediately when/if it does so again.
I'm telling you guys Pikmin... heck a 40k version of a purple would hilarius if scaled up given it would basically be a grot sized lil thing able to lift Space Marine Dreadnaughts.
[X] Plan A Shield For Our Faithful
-[X] Spread the Word (Variable DC)
--[X] Heroic Unit: Dana (1 Uses Left)
--[X] Graycliff (DC 40)
--[X] Heroic Unit: Dana (0 Uses Left)
--[X] Surf (DC 55)
-[X] Eyes on the Auxilla (DC 50)
--[X] Manpower Token (1 Use Left)
--[X] Domains: Connection (3 Uses Left)
-[X] Training the Troops: Ranger Doctrine (Requires 1 Manpower + Horatio Mills) (DC 60)
--[X] Heroic Unit: Horatio (0 Uses Left)
--[X] Manpower Token (0 Uses Left)
--[X] Domains: Connection, Weaving, Endurance (0 Uses Left)
Everything was coming up all fine and dandy! Dana and her advisors decided that the best move to make under the circumstances was to take advantage of the newfound goodwill you had in Goldsheaf to expand the reach of the Cult into the other provinces. While getting a foothold into Lambent itself was a sketchy prospect, what with the regiment of elites ready to move out at the slightest sign of the Cult's presence, you still had the two other 'Frontier' provinces to roll with.
New converts continued to pour in day by day, farmsteads swearing to your cause and volunteers entering the service of the Cult that had given them so much. While you were still a minority on the grand scale of things--you were growing fast--enough so that you'd actually start popping up on statistics at least! It was a great and heady time to be a god!
[Cult Recruitment Dice: 3d12: 27: Currently 33/100 to Cult 2]
Dana's world tour took her first to the province of Graycliff. One of the first settled regions on the world and the home of the original residents of the world--the Graycliff Clans who were stranded here when their vessel was marooned, and made a rearing cattle and goats on the highlands of the settled region's western border. They were reclusive and argumentative folks--accepting the presence of the new colony so long as their ways were respected--and often the source of a friction even in the best of times.
These were not the best of times.
[Spreading The World: Graycliff: 61 + 10 (Dana): 71]
The Publicani's recent trip devastated the clans. A 70% tax was harsh for farmers, but if you had a way of tightening your belt, you could probably recover in a few years. Replacing the best and brightest of their herds? That was the work of a generation through which they would be living hand to mouth, unable to afford much of anything. That it wasn't intentionally aimed as such didn't make it any less of a genocide. The Clans resisted more harshly than any other province, and were punished then the Publicani deployed his kill-servitors from orbit in response. Many were killed, many more taken in chains for the expense and carried off with the taxman, and everyone was out for revenge.
But Dana makes an excellent impression, and admittedly, the very fact that the Governor who oversaw this attempt spoke against her made her a very popular figure among the clans. Many have promised to come to your aid when things came to blows--and they were certain that it would, given how blood had already been shed.
It was a good start you think, having more friends was always better!
Afterwards, Dana followed the rivers from the highlands down to the sea, the northeastern frontier of the settled regions. A beautiful place, maybe a little chilly sometimes, but with striking nature only slightly impaired by the occasional trawler on the hoizon, probing the deeps for prometheum or gathering up a wealth of fish to take to the markets. Surf had been largely insulated from the worst of the recent troubles--with much of their proceeds already going to Lambent first, as the only ones who really need that much meat and oil to get through the day to day business. They were successful, reasonably wealthy, and fine seafarers for all that their tradition was relatively young. You couldn't expect wild support from them, but just getting your feet on the ground would…
What you weren't expecting was Dana to be shuffled into a warehouse shortly after arriving, where the headmen and successful captains immediately pop off party favors and cheer the arrival of their savior.
Because Surf Fucking hated the capital.
"Oh sure!" One of them would say when Dana asked the obvious question. "We're all out and about pulling from the depths and getting everything we pull out eaten by our neighbours--after all don't we all get a whole fifty percent of what's left unused back in ration packs?" He laughs. "Sure, our boats ain't gonna be appealin' to the tax fella up in the sky, but it's not like anything belonged to us in the first plact! All 'leases' and 'rentals' and all that shady business."
He snapped his fingers. "Didn't used to be that way, your grandpa was good to us, ever since he passed on your own papa's been pushing us to the brink. If you're here doin' some of that there 'fomenting rebellion' business, you can count Surf in!"
Well.
That was far easier than expected.
You zip past the subsequent heroine's march as the people of Surf make it damned clear that the Cult of Verdance is more than welcome, hop in a bit here and there to establish that 'Yes, actually, we're not just a cult for farmers, we can help fishers and prospectors out too', and you've got a real wealth of potential converts ready and willing to listen!
That the return voyage by riverboat to Goldsheaf happened to also have several mortars welded to the hull and hidden under tarps also established that these folk have teeth of their own under all the polite talk and friendly hospitality! (Apparently to hunt sea monsters of all things, something you didn't know!)
Of course, you're not expecting the return home to be spoiled by the sight of the great yacht currently docked…. On the town center in front of your church.
"Avast ye landlubbers!" A shrill voice rings out as you all look up and up and up, gazing upon the diminuitive figure at the prow of the beached vessel. "Word has it that you and yours are looking for more help!"
She's so tiny you want to keep her!
Dana just stares blankly at the comedy hour her life has become. "I… Wouldn't refuse it?" She manages to get out as the figure preens, her coat puffing in the wind. "Good! I'm Layla Current!" She hops down--and you can see through Dana that she's strapped to a tiny piece of wire that slowly spools out to break her fall to make it look like a superhuman leap down. She does a fine three point landing on the boxes piled up in front, and raises her head with a grin. "Captain of the Featherlight and queen of the seas of Equinox! If you're going up against that right bastard in the capital, you can count on my ship to have your back!"
"But it's stuck here, isn't it?" You ask, splicing her into your perceptions as well--the girl does a double take at your sudden appearance. "Hwah! Ghost!" She squeaks, hiding behind the boxes.
"... Please don't tell me she's one of those 'Special' people too?" Dana asks, and you merely hold one hand to your cheek and smile knowingly.
It was so good to have help!
[Success on both actions! You have a promise of aid and support from representatives of Graycliff and Surf alike! New actions opened up in both provinces. A final result of 100 on the Surf Entry has also gained you a new Heroic Cultist!]
Heroic Mortal Recruited!
Layla Current
Daughter of Captain Percival Current, slayer of the Seahorror and captain of the Featherlight, a highly sophisticated yacht that started as some rich guy's pleasure cruiser 'Liberated' from their control through various shady means and subsequently customized through all manner of subsequent additions until it's a borderline warship... That has integrated grav plates and jet turbines so it can move onto land at need or jump onto another river system. It may or may not have been responsible for several high profile disappearing bits of shipping. Following the family tradition, Layla stole the Featherlight when she heard about these awesome guys who were (Apparently) going to put the Governor in his place and brought it over to you. She laughed, Dana cried, everyone had a good time.
Special Effect: Prudence (A combination of unsanctioned technical skills and sheer bravado have led this dimunitive captain a master of sailing craft when 'Sailing' can be defined in a distressing number of ways. Provides a bonus to Charity and Kinetic actions, cannot take Infiltration or Preaching actions.)
While Dana was doing her world tour, your newest… Subordinate? Prelate? You need to figure out formal names for this kind of thing--was busy doing the other part of the work that needed to be done.
Namely, figuring out the precise degree of which you are all in danger.
"Planetary Auxilla are no joke" Horatio observed in the 'War Room' of your church, a subterranian chamber that held a map of the settled regions and, pins stuck in with various important points (Like the captured flayer vessel, training sites for the Knights, and associated villages and settlements.) "Not Stormtrooper good or I'd be calling this a forlorn hope to begin with--but they're trained well and equipped to better standards than a world can produce natively as a matter of course. For a backwater like this? Powered Carapace with integrated NBC prrotection and integrated jump pack, primary armament a plasma pulse rifle capable of putting out one shot per second on full automatic with enough force to reliably burn through flakweave and threaten opposing Carapace. Against farmers in leather and scrap plate with hunting rifles, they're damn near invincible."
You mull this assessment over. "So you're saying that there's no one trick that'd make them all stop being a problem." Your image bites her lower lip absently, proverbially chewing the data over. "No magical fairy dust or potion that'd put them to sleep without a fight, huh?"
"Not unless you've been holding out on us" He shrugs, and reaches for his cane, standing up. "We're not entirely without options, I've asked some of my old contacts who've signed on to look in on the Auxilla when they get a chance.
"And how'd that go?"
[Eyes on the Auxilla: 30 + 10 (Domain) + 5 (Omake): 45]
"Could be better, could be worse." He raises his cane and taps on the model of the capital city in the center of the map. "For all that they're trained to a high standard, most of the rank and file in the Auxilla are still people who live here on the planet and interact with the people who live here. It's pretty obvious that things are boiling over--and pretty much the only argument that claims the Governor didn't bring this on himself is the one that thinks that the Maiden caused all of these troubles in the first place. Morale is shot and while they're technically skilled, if it comes down to doing their jobs and fucking off with their family, they'll do the latter."
He scowls. "The problem is, for all that he's a short-sighted prick with his head too far up the ass of the propganda to use his brain, he's not stupid when he does. The NCOs and Officers are all universally promoted with loyalty in mind, and all of them mostly live in the upper city near the Spire, the people of the planet aren't real to this sort--and that means they're perfectly willing to punish dissent with summary execution--and ultimately, none of these kids actually wants to die."
"What a travesty" You shake your image's head and close its eyes as you mull this information over. "So it will be a fight in the end."
"Can't be avoided" Horatio agrees. "He's centralized too much power and he's too committed to his course to change it without a solid shock--and the only way that's going to happen is by taking away his toys. I've got a few ideas on how we can make that happen without racking the butcher's bill up too far though…"
[Partial Success: Revealed that Planetary Auxilla overall morale is reduced for all their superior training and equipment. Loyalty is maintained through handpicked officers who are settled in the Spire and isolated so as to limit empathy with their charges, and summary execution is used on signs of dissent. Unfortunately, attempts to insert informants into their ranks have failed due to this mechanism--though you have avoided being detected at least.]
It's an intriguing idea, one that brings you no small amount of glee to plan. Your role is mostly just introducing the things that he'd normally need to get through requisition. Suitable equipment for battle, a training facility designed to his specifications--the usual stuff.
You decide to base the battledress of your cult's forces off of the base set by the Flower Knights, a symbiote that bonds to the wearer, provides protection from small arms and blades along with some slightly accelerated recovery and injection of suitable drugs to stabilize serious injuries. A little bit of strength enhancement on top of that and you've got the baseline--though you add a bit more armor plating compared to the Knights, and a rather dashing coat on top to give a suitably heroic air to your volunteers.
The weapon is a little bit harder. Horatio made it clear that the standard arm of your infantry needs to be something that can be produced on a wide scale, based on materials you have access to--that can be produced on a pretty wide scale. That pretty much rules out trying to figure out how to copy those shooters everyone's running around with using your own power.
But you get a bright idea--shortbows! Make them from a specially tailored variety of tree, have them bond to the wearer through the medium of their symbiote, and make them capable of generating their bolts from storing up bioelectrcity over a slow period of time! Just aim, pull back on the string, and fwoosh! Zappy time that should be capable of penetrating!
While you were running some generations in one of your garden trying to get a design that fits your desires, Horatio puts his recruits through hell. Conditioning, fieldcraft, marksmanship--he does it all. Teaching them the rudiments of irregular warfare while you prepare the tools he needs for his final exam.
The day eventually comes where he stands before his aspiring class, cane in one hand and the other resting in one of his pockets. He looks upon the baby-faced recruits, now clad in their completed battledress, their bows slung to their sides, and he nods.
"Each of you has endured my training so far" He begins. "Each of you has proven yourselves to have the potential to serve the Maiden in protection of our people."
He withdraws his hand from his pocket, a flag held within it. It catches the breeze.
"Your final exam is capture the flag, you may use any method you can think of to acquire it." He lets go in tune with a sharp gust of wind, and it sails into the woods behind him and into your domain.
"The exam begins now. Don't disappoint me" He concludes, tapping his cane for emphasis as the forest behind him erupts in noise, drawing everyone's attention.
By the time they look back, he is already gone.
The tribulations of your first batch of Rangers are the stuff of legends--friendships are born, bonds are shattered, brotherhoods are forged. The trees sought to crush their bones, the ground could always be a well guarded trap hole. Chasms filled with water and mysterious beasts howling in the distance.
The Rangers didn't get this far to give up now though, clad in holy raiment, they surmounted each obstacle--bonding together as one as they advanced towards the heart of the crucible made for them.
There lingered a great beast--a honeybee expanded to hundreds of times their size. The flag hanging from one of the spines growing from its back. Sensing the intruder,s it gave a great buzz of hate, and rose on its dinky wings, erratic movements to confuse the eye while its wingbeats summon lesser spawn to give battle to the Rangers.
Traps were lain, and firepower rained down on the beast as the Rangers fought like a river of glory, giving ground where they must to avoid harm, always constantly sapping the beast's momentum and strength before it could emerge as a true danger.
A lucky shot after its wings had been gouged out plunged deep into its compound eye. It shuddered, and slumped to the ground, defeated. Victorious, the Rangers claimed the flag, and returned to the safety of the forest entrance.
There, Horatio stood waiting for them, his posture ever strong and bold. He nodded once as the flag was presented to him.
"You are now the First Goldsheaf Bumblebees" He pronounced, to the cheers of his students. "You will be called upon sooner rather than later, but you have the skills now to serve."
[A Miracle! The Maiden saw that they were well equipped for the task, and the Marshal saw that they learned--and they learned well indeed. The First Goldsheaf Bumblebees are an elite formation of irregular warriors, capable of matching some of the best that exist. Trained in the depths of the Crucible Wood, they must defeat a great beast and come back alive to be considered graduates.]
The Huntsmen of the Witch are fearsome foes--scorning the touch of light, they clad themselves in false flesh and don great cowls bearing the marks of primordial beasts to inspire fear in the hearts of good-minded men. While blessedly few in number, their ability to identify weak points in a battle line to strike with witchfire and trickery before fading into the darkness is fearsome--but they are vulnerable to being surrounded by willing volunteers to pin them in place until artillery fire can be called down upon them. As always, deployment of Astartes will sweep this problem away, but are best reserved for greater perils.
-Ordo Malleus Report
As you drift from thought and memory, briefly noting that which is of note to you, and fleeing from that which you either don't care about or find entirely too embarassing to focus on--you find your attention drawn to a particular pulse of intent later down the timeline.
Your Image pops into view, the three of your 'Council' turning to face you as you take a puff of your pipe. "You requested me?" you ask, though now that you're reviewing the area around you… Uh…
"The Third Company of the Planetary Auxilla just deployed" Horatio reads the intelligence report off. "We'd have almost missed if if we didn't still have agents in Lambent from previous attempts to get intel on them." He scoffs. "They're moving on Graycliff--smart move, it's where our presence is still getting established and they're still reeling from the recent purges. Coupled with how the terrain will be just short of inassilable once we get established, and how it cuts us off from the land route to Surf, it's a good move from a strategic point of view."
"Makes you wonder if he's actually listening to his staff or if the stopped clock's just pointing at the right direction for once, huh?" Layla still seemed uncomfortable at your tendency to just sort of pop in from time to time, but her skill as a sailor is no small thing, as are her ability to do business. Once she gets settled in, she'll be a great asset to the Cult!
"Regardless, we need to act" Dana changes the subject pretty smoothly. "Putting aside the tactical and strategic concerns, leaving our countrymen to be executed for simply hearing us out is unacceptable. What are our options?"
"First cadre of our Huntsmen are ready to go" Horatio reports. "Been having them cross training with the girls, we can have three or four ride on a given Belladonna while it goes on a marathon march. It's not comfortable and they're pretty vulnerable in transit, but we'd be able to put our full strength in Graycliff within the end of the week."
"But that gives the Auxilla a week to go through the people there." Dana bites her thumb.
"We could just ship some people over there first…" Layla supplies. "You know, just smuggle them in on my ship?"
"Oh right!" You clap your hands together remembering it. "Your ship can go over land, right?"
"It's a hovercraft, yes" Layla puffs herself up. "The best hovercraft! I could drop some people over there by nightfall if I really crank it up--but I'd have to take the engine apart afterwards and check all the grav-plates and make sure none of them cracked. I'd only be able to make the one trip."
"And they'd be isolated and outnumbered" Horatio points out. "Even with what we know about the Auxilla's vulnerability to attacks on the officers, how many would we be able to ship?"
Layla screws up her face in thought. "Let's see… A Belladonna's about five tons… yadda yadda…. She counts on her fingers and frowns.
"Six, I could bring six Belladonnas with about forty Huntsmen, fifty if they're willing to get real close. After that we're running into hard weight limits."
"Let's call it fifty six against two hundred" Horatio estimates. "Even with our advantages, that's a tall order."
"Less tall if I'm free with my influence." You chime in. "If I focus my attention on this event, I should be able to distribute my blessings aggressively on our force… Only that it'll come at a cost of me not being able to do much in the coming days until time stops being all scrunched up on me." You wince at that. "If it was the me from before the Crater battle, I'd say not a chance… The me now--yeah, it's just hard not impossible."
Dana mulls it over.
"Okay… Here's how we're going to do this…"
Battle Turn Preparations
As with most actions, you do not get direct control over battles. You determine the assets you are bringing to battle and provide suitable blessings, then the battle is resolved based on the performance of the players involved and their abilities in a narrative fashion. As the story evolves and you gain additional tools, your options in preparations will increase--but for now, you only have a few places you can decide on. Keep your eyes open for new opportunities!
Approach:
[ ] Fast Reaction: You'll be outnumbered and fighting capable soldiers with armor that can resist your weapons and weapons that can hurt even your heaviest forces. More importantly, they have Chimeras, which add a nasty wrinkle in the matter. Your forces will however have time to set up and make suitable preparations for battle, which might limit the pain.
[ ] Juggernaut: We fight as one, keep everyone together and march to Graycliff conventionally. You'll have force parity with the Third Company but they'll have several days of which to do whatever it is they're here to do before you can stand against them.
Blessings You have Four Favor, any unused in this phase are your budget for Turn Eight. Each option costs 1 Favor, you may take as many as you like
[ ] Communal Heart-Link (+1 Reliability) Reliability is your force's overall capacity to make effective use of their tools while denying the enemy the same. It also determines resistance to dirty tricks and effectiveness of your own.
[ ] Undying Heart Stance (+1 Toughness) Toughness is a unit's capacity to withstand injury. Their 'Hit Points' if you will. This is not the same as Armor which is a unit's ability to reduce incoming damage.
[ ] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane) Lifebane is a special rule unique to the Cult of Verdance. It sharply reduces the effective Toughness of a target and nullifies the Regeneration and Reanimation rules, so long as they lack the Machine or Daemon rule
[ ] Reaper's Harvest (+ Life Drain) Life Drain causes successful attacks to heal the attacker, effectively granting Regeneration as long as they remain in combat with units holding the Organic rule.
Two Hour Moratorium this time, we'll be trying to implement this going forward
Well it is time to face off against th slaves of the Golden Tyrant I guess
[] Fast Reaction: You'll be outnumbered and fighting capable soldiers with armor that can resist your weapons and weapons that can hurt even your heaviest forces. More importantly, they have Chimeras, which add a nasty wrinkle in the matter. Your forces will however have time to set up and make suitable preparations for battle, which might limit the pain.
This risks our troops but not our people and the people are the most important, being seen as willing to take more military damage in protection of our civilians, the opposite of the Imperium will win us hearts and minds aplenty
[] Blessing Plan Shock and Awe
-[] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane)
-[] Reaper's Harvest (+ Life Drain)
[] Blessing Plan Decapitating Strike
-[] Communal Heart-Link (+1 Reliability)
-[] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane)
Reliability helps with resistance to dirty tricks and effectiveness of our own. Hence, Communal Heart-Link. If we are aiming to kill the leaders and stop this senseless slaughter, it will help a lot.
Scythe, I presume, will be a good way to bypass enemy defenses and actually kill the Officers very quickly.
More to the point, since we are picking Fast Response, we will need to kill the enemy really fast, otherwise we will be ground down.
As for our response to this threat, I say we move fast and drop either most or all of our favour into this. This is the first battle of the campaign, and how it goes and how we respond to it will have a big impact on how we're seen. A rapid reaction will send a much more powerful message than a slow one, and with reduced forces we're likely to need as many bonuses as we can stack onto this.
Well it is time to face off against th slaves of the Golden Tyrant I guess
[X] Fast Reaction: You'll be outnumbered and fighting capable soldiers with armor that can resist your weapons and weapons that can hurt even your heaviest forces. More importantly, they have Chimeras, which add a nasty wrinkle in the matter. Your forces will however have time to set up and make suitable preparations for battle, which might limit the pain.
This risks our troops but not our people and the people are the most important, being seen as willing to take more military damage in protection of our civilians, the opposite of the Imperium will win us hearts and minds aplenty
[X] Blessing Plan Shock and Awe
-[X] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane)
-[X] Reaper's Harvest (+ Life Drain)
[X] Blessing Plan Decapitating Strike
-[X] Communal Heart-Link (+1 Reliability)
-[X] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane)
Reliability helps with resistance to dirty tricks and effectiveness of our own. Hence, Communal Heart-Link. If we are aiming to kill the leaders and stop this senseless slaughter, it will help a lot.
Scythe, I presume, will be a good way to bypass enemy defenses and actually kill the Officers very quickly.
More to the point, since we are picking Fast Response, we will need to kill the enemy really fast, otherwise we will be ground down.
If we go all in on Favor now, we won't be able to spend Favor on infiltration of Lambent, and we have Communication at minimum to help there. No more than 3 Blessings spent in this war turn please.
Reliability and Toughness as stats, and Fleshbane, Organic, and more as special rules? I'm getting flashbacks, Alectai...
I'd say Fast Response and the Reliability/Lifebane plan seems good. It doesn't under-invest, which is important, and relies on sniping the enemy quickly to get through. That said if we're going Fast Response we may have to get the Belladonnas involved, and in that case Toughness could be useful. Especially because if this is anything like the system it's inspired by +1 Toughness is actually a pretty big deal.
And yeah actually I'm leaning towards that now. 3 Blessings because we're taking the riskier move sends sensible to me.
... We just reintroduced archery into the 52nd millennium. We are just wood elves in space aren't we? Hell give us another dozen turns and we may actually get some space elves to join us.
QM's Note: This is not meant to be a crunchy, detailed mechanics comparison despite the nature of the quest I lifted the format and general look from, so much as a ballpark that you can look at to figure out how your units will compete against other known units in a white room environment. This does not take into account Blessings, heroes, or other little things that can change things up.
As a general rule of thumb however, you can consider each full number to be roughly twice as effective as the one before it. A + represents a value that doesn't quite make that threshold but is well over the halfway point to it. The base scale is an unarmed human qualifying as the zero point.
Note that Blessings provided by yourself will only apply to 'Cult of Verdance' units on the battlefield. Allied units will not get them.
Reliability Scale is Terrible--Very Poor--Poor--Fair--Good--Very Good--Excellent
The Cult of Verdance
Verdant Army
Stats: 5+ Melee, 7 Ranged, 7+ Toughness, Good Reliability
Armor: Light - Heavy
Effectiveness: Infantry, Light, Infrastructure
Terrain: Normal, Rough, Urban
Special Rules: Fast Attack, Infiltrate, Organic, Psyker, Regeneration, Sniper, Suppressive
Composition: Druids, Guardians, Huntsmen, Sentinels
1. That's awesome and a bust, but overall we mostly succeded in our goals.
2. PIRATE! Not Sparrow, so that's a mixed blessing (con: no insane plans based on luck ; pros: plans can succeed without luck)
3. aaand we pushed too much. Though that was inevitable. Hopefully, we won't lose too many people.
[ ] Communal Heart-Link (+1 Reliability) Reliability is your force's overall capacity to make effective use of their tools while denying the enemy the same. It also determines resistance to dirty tricks and effectiveness of your own.
This is a must. Increase our efficiency, make sure our forces work together. Might also help to set our traps and counterattacks so that the enemy "bleeds out". Don't want to kill innocents (soldiers that could change side and join us), but this is a war against an egocentric maniac. Let's do this.
Toughness is a unit's capacity to withstand injury. Their 'Hit Points' if you will. This is not the same as Armor which is a unit's ability to reduce incoming damage.
Lifebane is a special rule unique to the Cult of Verdance. It sharply reduces the effective Toughness of a target and nullifies the Regeneration and Reanimation rules, so long as they lack the Machine or Daemon rule, with a few exceptions.
Life Drain causes successful attacks to heal the attacker, effectively granting Regeneration as long as they remain in combat with units holding the Organic rule.
[] Blessing Plan Decapitating Strike
-[] Communal Heart-Link (+1 Reliability)
-[] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane)
Life drain could be very useful however I don't think we'll need more the. The two above and having two blessings next turn would be very important since that would be where we do retaliation if I'm understanding correctly. So I would rather not put everything in defending and not have anything next turn to hit back blessing wise.
I'm liking the general idea of going in fast and trying to decapitate the officers. The Heart-Link and Scythe are good picks, but if we want to take a third pick then I suspect +Toughness is better than +Lifelink in this case. After all, we don't actually want to get into a dragged out fight and kill all the soldiers, and that's the situation that Lifelink is most potent in.
Reliability and Toughness as stats, and Fleshbane, Organic, and more as special rules? I'm getting flashbacks, Alectai...
I'd say Fast Response and the Reliability/Lifebane plan seems good. It doesn't under-invest, which is important, and relies on sniping the enemy quickly to get through. That said if we're going Fast Response we may have to get the Belladonnas involved, and in that case Toughness could be useful. Especially because if this is anything like the system it's inspired by +1 Toughness is actually a pretty big deal.
And yeah actually I'm leaning towards that now. 3 Blessings because we're taking the riskier move sends sensible to me.
Agreed completely on how we should approach this. Fucking up here would be devastating for us, but in turn if we manage to devastate the auxillia here instead...
So yes, by choosing to boost Thoughness by +1, we will get Thoughness 10 Belladonnas, and also Thougness 6 Rangers. That 10 is pretty useful, especially against Chimeras and otherwise drawing fire in from our opponents, that they might be otherwise be throwing at our relatively more fragile infantry. And with hit-and-run tactics, that will make us a headache that will be extremely hard to put down, while at the same time being very, very difficult to pin down with nasty tactics to throw at the enemy, and our troops will also hit quite hard against anything organic.
So basically, lets turn this battle into a mountain Vietnam for our opponents. With the low morale of the auxillia, and the discipline enforced solely from the threats made by the officers, this combination should have good chances of breaking them.
[] Plan Welcome To The Mountains -[] Fast Reaction: You'll be outnumbered and fighting capable soldiers with armor that can resist your weapons and weapons that can hurt even your heaviest forces. More importantly, they have Chimeras, which add a nasty wrinkle in the matter. Your forces will however have time to set up and make suitable preparations for battle, which might limit the pain. -[] Communal Heart-Link (+1 Reliability)
-[] Undying Heart Stance (+1 Toughness)
-[] Scythe of the Maiden (+ Lifebane)
I like Plan Strike them Down since personally I think lifebane isn't that useful in this fight unless we want our Rangers to creep up on the Auxillaries and cut them to death. Since all our attack stats besides Ranger melee is higher than their toughness so if we really want to take advantage of our Deadly Touch we'll want our rangers abusing their Fast Attack to get up in the enemies face to wreck them with DEATH.
To support this I would like either of the tougness or life drain blessings to help our rangers not die since while the guard has only 2+ melee they can still probably get a few shots off.
The Huntsmen of the Witch are fearsome foes--scorning the touch of light, they clad themselves in false flesh and don great cowls bearing the marks of primordial beasts to inspire fear in the hearts of good-minded men.
No, they're basically guyvers with fancy greatcoats and hoods that they sometimes draw up with some totem animal if they're feeling frisky instead of the helmet piece.
Honestly what we pick should reflect how we're going to be fighting rather than just piling blessings on.
With fast response i'd almost go so far to say that Harvest and Undying Heart are 100% must haves because we'd be relying on hit and run, ambushes and general guerilla fighting to make the most out of our troops rather than a straight up brawl and the toughness + regen means that we'd take far less attrition.
No, they're basically guyvers with fancy greatcoats and hoods that they sometimes draw up with some totem animal if they're feeling frisky instead of the helmet piece.
I like Plan Strike them Down since personally I think lifebane isn't that useful in this fight unless we want our Rangers to creep up on the Auxillaries and cut them to death. Since all our attack stats besides Ranger melee is higher than their toughness so if we really want to take advantage of our Deadly Touch we'll want our rangers abusing their Fast Attack to get up in the enemies face to wreck them with DEATH.
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