Tactica Imperialis

My dear reader, thank you for finding time to look at result of my work. This document is test of concept for Warhammer 40000 universe. Its main idea, is to give every major faction ability to use Orders, similar to Imperial Guard (Astra Militarium if prefer a new name). Though during development of this concept I was considering development of skirmish game with same name and order based mechanics for various reasons this idea have been left out. Tactica Imperialis was play tested using early 6^th edition of W40K, and achieved its goal, its showed that concept is successful, but was not developed any further. For me, as game designer it was an important stepping stone to understand how game systems work, and how they could be created. On other pages you will find tables describing particular orders and ways of commanding specific to most races of W40k. Hope it will provide an interesting read and games. As always this document does not seek to challenge any copyrights or trade marks and made for non-profit purposes.

Yours,

Mark-Paul Severn

mp7vrn.blogspot.co.uk

Download: Tactica Imperialis 

Talons of the Emperor: Elysian Drop Troops codex

Here it is, the book what was a pleasure to write and research for almost a year. Feel free to download Elysian Drop Troop codex from the link below. Any feedback would most welcome.  

Download: Talons of the Emperor: Elysian Drop Troops Codex

thank you

Elysian Drop troops codex

Current Imperial Guard codex by Robin Cruddace is an example of really good work in my opinion. It allows player to customize layout of his forces and with certain success imitates the chaos of battle, and dependance of individual soldier on successful organization and command structure. The last one is both strong and weak point of Imperial Guard.  If opponent wipes out Company and Platoon commanders then remaining troops seriously lose their efficiency in firefight. Guardsmen are useful as close combat force only in large numbers with surplus of Commissars and Priests. 

However overall idea, fluff, structure of codex and feel of the army leaves a feel of errr... huge mamoth wasting human lives and resources for a minimal gains with no real understanding of enemy, but huge guns. Which is very true not only for Imperial Guard of Warhammer 40000 but for most armies of humanity.
 

     
But if i want to have something more heroic, more personal and effective without going vanilla smurf Space Marines? To be more specific, what if I want 82nd Airborne Division landing somewhere behind Orks lines and creating havoc amongst them?

The current legal way is simple: Veterans mounted on Valkyries and disembarking under enemy fire. Apocalypse formation: Storm Trooper Strike Force even allows you to have Special rules like Storm the Objective, Strike Force and Strategic Assets. See here for yourself.
The other way is maxing out Storm Troopers squad at the expense of other branches and pray to Emperor that they will not get chopped to pieces too quickly.

If that is not enough, Forge World has an outstanding (but expensive as always) line of Elysian Drop Troops, something which really stands out in sea of marines. What more they even get their own share in Imperial Armor books. However so far in every book Elysian's are being wasted by either incompetent command (Project Aphelion), or by combination of poor planning and enemy superiority (Operation Comet). Not a great advert for an elite force.        

However there is enough information about real life paratroopers and their successes and mishaps which may indicate couple of simple things: 
1. Airborne troops have a different, more aggressive and independent tactics and approach towards combat.
2. Due to the lack of heavy equipment airborne troops must rely on either captured equipment or lighter equivalents of army weapons. 
3. Airborne units have a higher morale and image of elite shock troops.
4. Training and structure of different airborne units may vary from task to task, and available equipment.

But real life is boring, we all know that. In addition, GW is not going to release a separate codex for IG branch which potentially may compete with their bread and butter - space marines. Freelancers and fans did not undertook any projects which involved rethinking of how this particular Imperial Guard branch would play different. (correct me if am wrong, please). So, after careful consideration and after finishing my first great project Iron Hearts Space Marine codex I've decided to try and write a codex or fandex if you like for purely drop troop regiments. It took me approximately 6 months or pure working time from idea to complete book, i started in March- April 2012 and finished in the end of September 2012. The result will be posted a bit later on my blog.