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ThePov
08-04-2009, 08:40 PM
Okay, so first off, I guess this is the best place to put this, but if one of the Fly Lords wants to move it to the BFG forum, it's fine by me.

Second off, it was suggested in the Badab thoughts thread that perhaps, with over half of the Badab War taking place in space, during the Shipping Wars, there should have been some BFG scenarios in the book. It was further suggested that perhaps we, the BFG playing BoLS readers, should come up with these scenarios for presentation to the Fly Lords, and so here I am, attempting to orchestrate this project.

So, looking at the map in the (very well done) Badab war book, and taking into acount blockades mentioned in the (excellent) History of the Badab War section, I count the following major naval engagements, in rough chronological order:

1. Destruction of Inquisitor Stauff's Investigative Fleet
2. The First Punitive Expidition
3. The Second Punitive Expidition
4. The Opening Raids
4a. Unnamed Fleet Action Near Verakruz
4b. Unnamed Fleet Action Near Morgan's Reach
4c. Unnamed Fleet Action Near Zathatetus Grand
4d. The Raid on Tarturga IV (IN Cruiser squadron gets blasted 5 light years from dock, worth it's own scenario)
5. Heydon's Gambit
6. Von Strieb's Backhand
7. The Phantom Blockade
8. The Blockade of Tranquility
9. Battle of Null Point
10. The Siege of The Badab System (This may also become multiple scenarios)
11. The Battle of Butcher's Alley

I'd like to make sure that every scenario we come up with would be playtested by people other than their creators, just for fairness reasons.

Also, someone would need to arrange the above Scenarios into a Tree-based campaign, to keep with the system in the actual Badab Book. I would like to pass this responisibility off to someone else, as my expertice lies with more open ended map-based campaigns, not the more linear tree campaigns.

It would also be cool to come up with a few specialized ships for the book, using some of the ship creation and pricing algorithms floating around them (if no-one else has them, I can track them down.) Once those are in, I will arrange them and the standard Imperial ships into a custom Battlefleet Maelstrom fleet list, based most likely off of the Battlefleet Armeggeddon list, but with some subtle difference. I have a good bit of experience in this regard, having previously come up with a Horus Heresy based fleet list.

So, thats all I can think up at the moment. If anyone can see anything I've missed, feel free to let me know.

Anyone interested in taking on one of the above roles, please post below with which you would like to do.

Bigred
08-04-2009, 10:02 PM
You GO ThePov!

I wholeheartedly endore this venture. The reason I touched on BFG so lightly is I don't feel competent to design missions for it. My advice is to keep the main thread here, but cross post and announcment with a link here in the BFG subforum. I bet the folks over there would love to jump onboard and help.

ThePov
08-05-2009, 11:42 AM
Okay guys, any one interested in helping, please post below with what you can do.

ThePov
08-06-2009, 10:22 AM
Nobody? C'mon people, I can't do this by myeslf! Just post here if you're interested at all, you don't have be actively writing scenarios, we're going to need a lot of play testers as well, so please, just hop on board!

Inquisitor Hate Machine
08-06-2009, 01:50 PM
Since it was my idea and I was the first person to complain, I guess you can count me in ;)

Sorry, Ive been really busy with getting ready for BoLS-Con. I volunteered to run some Aeronautica Imperialis demos / games and be the host for the Open Gaming section. So you all get to come and yell at that Jerk on BoLS :)

foureyedtroll
08-06-2009, 02:52 PM
Ok...

Firstly, I have limited pre-knowledge about the Badab War. While I don't need the basics going over in intricate detail, just explain key points briefly.

Second, I need to know what you guys want to achieve from the campaign. Is this going to be competitive play, a narrative, or open-ended?


With that in mind, as an experienced BFG player I am more than happy to help you guys assemble an enjoyable, and worthwhile campaign for your project. I have the facility to get the games play tested by my local strategy club colleagues (We have a good following down at our local club, in part thanks to yours truly telling fellow club members to get a fleet every 5 mins), though while I shall be merely observing the game, I'll put together the feedback for you guys, and let you know what the players thought.

What I'll need from you guys is a basic run down of the battles, participants and key moments from each battle, once you've got a structure designed. For instance...


Battle of Pensus Prime


Battle Brief:
Renegade Fleet approaches Pensus shipyards to destroy Imperial repair facility.
The Facility orbits a desert world with 1 moon, sat near a dense asteroid field.

Participants:
Loyalists: Pensus Defence Fleet
Renegades: Red Corsair Fleet

Notable Characters:
Huron Blackheart, aboard the renegade Strike Cruiser 'Dissent'

Key Moments:
Blackheart destroys the Pensus orbital shipyard with a full frontal volley from the S/C.

Outcomes:
Loyalists Win: Goes on to Battle 2a
Renegades Win : Goes on to Battle 2b


That's a rough idea of what I need to know, key ships, named vessels and characters and key moments will determine fleet compositions and objectives, as well as starting positions and board layout.

The first thing you might want to do is assemble the campaign structure. If some battles seem a bit unimportant to include them in the proper tree, make them an optional scenario.. e.g.

The above example scenario was a minor skirmish, and not required as part of the campaign flow, however if the players opt to play it out, the winner will gain an advantage going forward into the next full campaign scenario i.e. Loyalists gain 1 free capital ship for the next mission, Renegades can pick one opposing capital ship to begin next mission as a crippled vessel.

Have a brainstorm and discussion about how you want to proceed, then come back to me with how you want the campaign to play out (yes/no chart, fixed flow of scenarios, free-flow scenario) with a diagram if possible, and then we can begin work on mapping out the scenarios.


Feel free to email me at [email protected] with any ideas, I've subscribed to this thread also.


The Troll
a.k.a Vice-Admiral Zippy of the Gothic Sector

ThePov
08-06-2009, 05:24 PM
Well, all the story is in the mini-dex in depth, so you couldn't go wrong reading the History section and some of the little blurbs scattered throughout.

As for campaign structure, I was thinking an extended tree campaign, to match with the 40K campaign already in the mini-dex.

foureyedtroll
08-07-2009, 11:15 AM
Unfortunately simply telling me it's in the mini-dex doesn't help, as...

A) I've never heard the phrase mini-dex before you used it on the Port Maw website,
B) I've no idea where to find it,
C) I have about a million other things to occupy my free time than read hours of background fiction to find snippets of information.

I'm quite happy to put together the working scenarios as part of a campaign structure, but I'd rather not have to write the campaign as well. I have very little interest in the 21st founding aside from a little bit of Astartes trivia, so it would work much better if you guys summarise the bits you want into something I can read in a couple of minutes so that I can begin devising scenarios from it.


The best place to start would be to isolate all the space battles you want in a campaign (once you've decided exactly what you want to achieve in your campaign) and begin producing fact-files about the battle as explained above in the Pensus example.

When I say what you want to achieve, I mean why are you creating a campaign? Are you allowing the players to follow history, is this a chance to re-write history, or it this just a fun story arch from which you want to devise a game? Is the Loyalist player going to win? The Renegade? Is it down to the game results? Is it down to the story-line? Is it a flexible sequence of events, or is it rigid? Do you want it to tie in to 40k games, or will it stand alone?

You guys need to know what you want before you can tell me what you want...

ThePov
08-07-2009, 11:21 AM
Well, we know what we want, you see... we want to follow the mini-dex's campaign structure, just with BFg battles. Honestly, it would be a heck of a lot easier if you just took a look at the Badab War PDF here, at this link, (http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2009/08/play-aid-badab-war.html) and read through the History of The Badab War section. It's all very much gathered there. Like I said, the campaign is already written, it's just written solely for 40K and we simply want to add a BFG element.

foureyedtroll
08-07-2009, 12:40 PM
I downloaded the PDF...

The 40k campaign doesn't exactly translate well, mainly due to the fact that it's an entirely different game system from BGFG. Some missions are space-borne boarding actions, and assault raids of orbital stations, and for those I suspect it could quite easily be altered into a BFG scenario by taking the number of points and playing a BFG game of that size, with an equivalent objective for each fleet.

If that's what you were aiming for then sure, give me ten minutes and I can take the list and where it says 1500pts 'Planet Strike' game and replace it with 1500pts BFG 'Planetary Assault' game and just modify a few bits and pieces to make it translate to a BFG player.

If not, it's going to require someone to make some executive decisions about the game. After all this is a Bell of Lost Souls project, not mine. It's not my place to replace what's in your codex with a new campaign written by me, because it's not my work to 'fix'. If what you want is a new storyline BFG campaign written by me, it won't be about the Badab Wars, it'll be something closer to the Black Crusades, as that's my area of interest.

ThePov
08-08-2009, 09:04 AM
Well, I had kind of imagined a parrallel BFG campaign that mirrored but didn't actually interfere with the the 40K one, but now that I think about it, since the BoLS campaign is multi-tree, we may just want to create one tree to optionally replace the Shipping raids one... but let's cross that bridge when we come to it. First, I think, we should simply get at least a few good scenarios written and in the process of playtesting before we get too in depth about how we arrange them.

To get the ball rolling, I'm going to start off by trying my hand at writing a Raid on Tarturga IV scenario (see original post) over the next few days, and if anyone else wants to pick a scenario and start working, be my guest.

ThePov
08-08-2009, 11:35 AM
Well, I knuckled down, and with a few hours work, I managed to pump out a rough draft of the Raid on Tarturga IV scenario, based fairly heavily on the standard "The Raiders" scenarios. This may end up being an easier project than I thought, as there is a stock BFG scenario for most of the situations described in the Mini-dex, so all it will take to create scenarios is a little bit of flavorful tailoring. So, without further ado, here it is. Comments, critiques, and opinions are welcome, especially from anyone who is willing to (and hopefully has) playtest it.

__________________________________________________ ________

The Raid on Tarturga IV

Towards the End of the Shipping Raids, the Lamenters were running amok in Rear-Admiral Heydon’s Tarturga IV patrol sector. In their most daring raid, the Lamenters destroyed a large Battlefleet Maelstrom cruiser squadron less than 5 lightyears from dock at the patrol sector base of Tarturga IV. The success of this crippling raid drove Battlefleet Maelstrom to seek the Mechanicum’s aid, provided in the form of the Null beacons which laid bare the fleet patterns of the Executioners and set the stage for Heydon’s Gambit.

Forces:
The Battlefleet Maelstrom player may take up to 4 Imperial Navy Cruisers (no escorts or Battleships allowed), with a max point limit of 1000 points. The Lamenters player may choose up to 750 points worth of Space Marine vessels.

Battle Zone:
Due to the Tarturga IV patrol sector’s proximity to the Maelstrom, the space in this area was notoriously unstable. Before the battle, randomly place D3-1 Warp rifts on the battlefield. Additionally, due to the Lamenter’s skill in navigating the Maelstrom, they automatically pass the leadership test to enter one of these Warp Rifts, and may elect to disengage rather than re-enter the battlefield once they do so.

Set-Up:
Follow the standard set-up rules for the “Raiders” scenario, found on page 71 of the Battlefleet Gothic rulebook.

First Turn:
The Lamenters player gets first turn, and moves his fleet in from one table edge.

Special Rules:
During their first two turns, the Battlefleet Maelstrom ships suffer -1 leadership to represent their reduced state of alert.

Game Length:
The Game lasts for eight turns, or until one fleet disengages or is destroyed.

Victory Conditions:
Use the standard Battlefleet Gothic Victory conditions to determine the winner.

ThePov
08-08-2009, 04:35 PM
In a fit of inspiration, I've come up with another scenario, based on the Battle of Butcher's Alley (I admit, I am cherry picking the best ones. So sue me. No-one else volunteered.). It's a combination of several stock BFG scenarios, with a few personal additions, so it will likely need a lot of playtesting and adjustment. As above comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and reports of how playtest went would earn you eternal gratitude (unfortunately, I have no steady game group to playtest these myself with).

__________________________________________________ ____________

Battle of Butcher's Alley

After the Astral Claw’s final withdrawal from the Palace of Thorns, they attempted to retreat back from the Badab System into the Grand Abyss of the Maelstrom. Admiral Orman of Battlefleet Maelstrom anticipated this move, and arrayed his ships in newly discovered warp conduits along the Astral Claw’s line of retreat. As the Astral Claws raced towards the safety of the Maelstrom, Battlefleet Maelstrom pounced, erupting upon the retreating vessels with guns blazing. When the battle was over, only 200 Astral Claws survived the battle of Butcher’s Alley and went on to form the Red Corsairs, who still terrorize the Maelstrom to this day.

Forces:
The Battlefleet Maelstrom player may select a force of up to 2500 points from the Battlefleet Armageddon fleet list found in the Armada Supplement. He must then divide this force into six separate detachments. These detachments need not be of equal strength, but each must contain at least one capitol ship or escort squadron. The Astral Claws player may select a force of up to 2000 points from the Adeptus Astartes Fleet list found in the Armada Supplement.

Battlezone:
The Battle of Butcher’s Alley occurred in the outer reaches of the Badab System. Thus, randomly generate and place D6 celestial phenomena from the Deep Space table.

Set-Up:
The Battlefleet Maelstrom player sets up first. Instead of deploying his ships outright, he places six numbered tokens, which represent his six detachments, anywhere up to 45cm from either long table edge, being careful to remember which token represents which detachment (note that the Astral Claws player should NOT know which token represents what, only the Battlefleet Maelstrom player). Each turn, starting in the first turn, the Battlefleet Maelstrom may activate D3 of these tokens at the beginning of his movement phase, placing each ship within 10cm the token (note that squadrons need only have one member within 10cm of the token). The Astral Claws player then flips a coin to determine which short table edge he will move in from. The Astral Claws player may move as many ships as he wants in from this table edge on his first turn, but must move at least one ship in first turn. Any ships that do not move in on the first turn MUST move in on the second turn.

First Turn:
The Astral Claws player get the first turn.

Special Rules:
The Astral Claws player may only disengage ships by moving them off the opposite table side from the one they move in on from.

Victory Conditions:
Use the standard Victory conditions to determine the winner of the battle. In addition, each non-crippled ship the Astral Claws player disengages as per above scores victory points equal to its points value. Each crippled ship disengaged in this manner scores victory points equal to one half of its points value.

ThePov
08-11-2009, 05:21 PM
Okay, I know this is just a bout my 5th post in a row here, but whatever, I seem to be the only one actively involved in creating stuff here, so I'll have my fun, thank you very much. :p Anyway, here's a quick little BFG themed blurb of an article I whipped up to go with the scenarios, make them a bit more "fluffy." Tell me what you guys think.

__________________________________________________ __

Planetary Defenses of the Later Badab War


If the Badab war taught the Admirals of the Imperial Navy anything, it was that even the most elaborate planetary and inter-planetary defense lines can be broken with the right strategy. After all, the Rebel chapters had a full four years to fortify their various home worlds (or, in the case of the Lamenters, main anchorage), time which they did not waste. Why, then, were Imperial forces not smashed the moment they entered orbit? Why did the Space Marines succeed where two previous Imperial Navy expeditions failed so miserably? Why did three of the four rebel strongholds fail to keep the Imperial forces from the rebels harboring within? The answer is that each of the failed defenses lacked one of the basic requirements to stave off a major naval assault: a strong fleet, a well-planned defensive line, and a smart strategy for utilizing them.

Perhaps the least effective naval defense put up by the Rebels was that of the Mantis Warriors. Though they had built up impressive fortifications around Tranquility, the vast majority of their fleet had been destroyed in Von Strieb’s Backhand. Thus, the relatively large Space Sharks fleet dispatched to bring the Mantis Warriors to their knees was able to enter the outer reaches of the system with very little resistance. From there, they showcased one of the many great talents of the Adeptus Astartes: clearing away orbital defenses. Without an adequate fleet to force their enemies into the teeth of their defenses, the Mantis Warriors could do little but watch as the Space Sharks isolated and destroyed sections of their defense line with a series of lightning raids. The orbital supremacy established in this phase of the siege proved to be one of the deciding factors in the capitulation of the Mantis Warriors.

The Executioners fared little better. Historically, the chapter was never known for their prowess in fleet actions, preferring instead to focus their martial energies on ground combat. Leading up to the Siege of Vigilance, The Executioners’ fleet had been stymied after Heydon’s Gambit, and was no longer able to conduct offensive raids, but they appeared to have adequate strength to keep an enemy fleet from landing troops on their home planet outright. Knowing this, the Imperial forces wisely decided contain the Executioners rather than confront them, and set up the “Phantom Blockade,” which succeeded in destroying the Rebels’ fleet as it was sent against the blockade piece-meal, instead of all at once in a single, powerful blow. This strategic blunder robbed the Executioners of their fleet assets, and with no support fleet, Vigilance’s orbital defenses fared little better than those of Tranquility, allowing the Sons of Medusa to land with little to no losses in transit.

Many passive observers have wondered why there were so few static defense encountered during the Battle of Null Point. After all, if the entirety of the Lamenters’ fleet was based in this one area, wouldn’t it make sense and be relatively easy to fortify it against attack? In fact, the very nature of the Maelstrom makes the opposite true. Firstly, the Lamenters simply did not have the resources to fortify such a vast area of space with no planetary focal point. It is tremendously difficult to find and enter the Null Bastion, which is notoriously remote, and thus it is tremendously difficult to supply it. What resources the Lamenters did get in were needed for more basics facilities, such as repair docks. Secondly, and more importantly, part of the reason the rebels chose the Null Bastion as a port was because it would not need to be heavily fortified. It was too well hidden. Only the Lamenter’s unparalleled knowledge of the Maelstrom allowed them to detect it in the first place, and only an unparalleled stroke of chance allowed Captain Minos of the Minotaurs to tail an unsuspecting Lamenters strike cruiser back to it. Once inside, the Minotaurs caught the Lamenters at anchor, and with few static defenses to slow them down, they ran amok.

The Astral Claws, who sparked the rebellion, were also the hardest of the Rebels to unseat. The Siege of the Badab System took four years, and for good reason. For the first and only time in the war, smart defensive strategy, strong defenses and a large fleet stood in the way of the bringing the Rebels to justice. The Astral Claws had been frugal with their naval assets during the early stages of the war, and Master Huron had turned the entire system into one massive fortress, upstaged only by such famously impregnable systems as Port Maw. Hidden space stations supporting numerous warships littered the system, and each of the six major planets, as well as several of the larger moons, had substantial defenses. An entire chapter of Space Marines and several regiments of the Badab PDF manned the various outposts, and insidious booby traps claimed both ships and ground troops. Faced with this seemingly air-tight defense, the Allied forces called upon their biggest advantages: numbers and brute strength. Instead of trying to bypass or neuter Huron’s defense network, as with the other Rebel chapters, the combined forces of thirteen Space Marine chapters and an Imperial Navy Battlefleet instead simply punched through them. Rarely in Imperial history has such a massive concentration of military might been brought to bear on a single system. The battle was unbelievably bloody, but planet by planet, fortress by fortress, trench by trench, the Astral Claws were forced from their defenses, until even the Palace of Thorns crumbled.

Bulwark
08-12-2009, 02:32 PM
nice work

Ivarr
10-28-2009, 10:32 PM
I love what you have done so far. Did you get much feedback on the scenarios written so far? Is this project still ongoing?