Codex: Kae'Moda Republic

[Oberst Viktor Morte]

Well, for no small amount of time I've been working on a custom codex for Warhammer 40,000, and while I've had a thread on Warseer for a while, I decided to go ahead and make one here. Initially starting out as the SAD 22nd Regiment, I wanted to make a high-tech Guard army, based on a combination of the British SAS and Heinlein's suits of powered armour. I added some more units, and soon decided to completely revamp the background, making them instead a completely new race.

Leaving on a colony ship during the Dark Age of Technology, they founded Kae'Moda before the Emperor began the Great Crusade, and have managed to survive untill current times, through thick and thin. The specifics of the army are constantly changing, but the general concept has remained the same for quite some time, and will remain as such. They are a group of humans not part of the Imperium who embrace technology, rather than shun it.

They have lots of elite infantry, many advanced AI controled units, and still one of my favourites, the giant suits of powered armour. Now, due to reasons beyond my control, I've had to start over on the codex entirely multiple times, and right now I'm working on the fourth version of the .pdf. This is the newest version of the codex with the most up to date rules and fluff, from Scribd:

[url]http://www.scribd.com/doc/57720237[/url]

As a fair bit of warning, the codex is now up to 63 pages and almost 24mb, so it's starting to get a bit large. Furthermore, it is still a work in progress, so some of the pages are either incomplete or even mostly empty.

I am completely open to any and all ideas, suggetions, comments, or criticisms that you may have. The codex is constantly under editting (when I get around to it), and so your ideas can very easily make it into the book. Thank you in advance for all of your help, or very simply for just reading it. Most of all, I hope that you simply enjoy the work that I have put into it.

Also, check out the main hosting location here:
[url]http://pagexcellence.forums-free.com/codex-kaemoda-republic-t62.html[/url]

[Oberst Viktor Morte]

And while I'm at it, I've been working on remaking the history but have not yet typed it up in full in the .pdf. Let me know what you think of the rough outline of the new version of the history:

~M23 Group of colony ships set out to the Alba Cluster. These are corporate owned, and sent off with the intent of founding a new empire.

~M26 Ships settle across the Alba Cluster, Kae'Moda founded. Nearby colony of Etrui rapidly expands and spreads a sphere of influence over other colonies, including the Kae'Moda. It is in this time frame that psykers and Warp anomalies begin to appear, albeit only in minor instances.

~M27-30 The Etrui begin wars against Chaos, and during this the Kae'Moda seize territory and their independence from the Etrui. The Kae'Moda then proceed to fight a number of wars, winning and losing, against the Etrui, Chaos, and the other corporate colonies. This results in the Kae'Moda establishing their own sphere of influence and forming themselves into a Republic.

~M30 The Great Crusade comes to the Alba Cluster with a small contingent of Word Bearers and the Imperial Army. They start to fight against Chaos and the colonies but are ultimately defeated. The Horus Heresy prevents a larger fleet from returning the destroy the already devastated Republic.

~M31 Chaos Warband seizes opportunity and invades Kae'Moda space. With little left to defend with, many systems are lost and even Kae'Moda Prime is sacked. It takes over a thousand years to eliminate the warband, reclaim and rebuild to how things were before the Great Crusade.

~M33-35 The first of the Xeno-Wars begin as Kae'Moda consolidates colonies under their rule officially and begin to expand into nearby space. In this time three successive wars are fought against an alien empire known as the Hadast, resulting in Xenocide. This is also the first recorded encounters with the Eldar and Orks.

~M35 Upstart politician Theodore Sempronius takes land, power from Corporations and gave it to the common man. Previously, corporations effectively ran governments and armies, leaving the people in squalor. He was later assassinated, as well as his brother who a few years later continued this platform.

~M35 Politician and Marshal Frederick Marcus reforms and standardizes military, and then defeats a looming Chaos warband. Despite his great achievements, his patron is arrested and Marcus is forced into exile.

~M35 Cornelius Felix goes off to campaign against biomechanical Xenos, known as the Kushiel, augmented by the development of reliable faster than light travel. While Felix is away, Marcus returns from exile with a small army and sieges the capitol, gaining rule of the Republic, but dies shortly thereafter. After victory against buy not conquering Xenos, Felix returns and takes power for himself, then assassinating political opponents openly.

~M36 In the wake of political instability for some time, three politicians form a Triumvirate to ensure peace. Gnaeus builds a large fleet and eliminates a recent plague of piracy. Tiberius campaigns against Chaos, removing them as a significant threat in the future. Tiberius returns with his army and demands governmental reform, civil war breaks out. Gnaeus is ultimately defeated, fleeing to allied Xenos (Axg'typ) who betray him. Tiberius annexes Xenos, proclaims himself Dictator until reforms have been made. Assassinated by Senate, who fear losing their power.

~M36 A second Triumvirate is formed, including Tiberius's heir Lucius and his Lieutenant Anthony. At first they work together, avenging Tiberius and killing his assassins/conspirators. Both feel the right to rule and a second civil war breaks out, ending in a great naval battle. Lucius the Vindicator carries out progressive reforms started by Tiberius, and even reforms the Republic into an Empire, ruled by succession of chosen heirs appointed by previous ruler.

~M37-41 Second Xeno-Wars begin after further reformation of army with improved technology and tactics. First major wars with Orks begin, some Orks allowed to settle in Kae'Moda sphere of influence. First incidence of Tyrands reported. Era marked by slow, deliberate expansion.

~M38 Civil Strife and stagnation lead to another Civil War, with the royal guard deposing of the depraved Emperor. Government reformed with Legislative body representing districts based on population and GPD. Dictator may still be appointed by Senate in times of need.

~M39 Contact regained with Imperium of Man, relations mixed as both wish to absorb population of other.

~M40 Tyrands start to appear in greater number, still limited to mostly fleet engagements.

~M40-41 Waaagh Alboyz makes number of successive raids, pressured from enemy on other side of their territory. Allegedly want Kae'Moda protection and citizenship, but this translates into invading, which is seen as a hostility.

~M40 Kae'Moda reaches its Westernmost expansion to a Region known as the Mare Magnus, or the Null Zone.

~M41 Eldar Warships emerge at same time as Necrons in Hopper system. After initial conflict, Eldar and Kae'Moda forces begin to work together to combat Necrons threat.

~M41 Tyranid bioships start entering Kae'Moda territory en masse. A number of fleets and star systems have already been destroyed. Succession of counter-attacks made, but direct assaults against main fleets thus far unsuccessful. Fauve system holding off Tyranids whilst systems around them have been destroyed.

~M41 Imperium launches small Crusade to protect nearby Imperial habitations against Tyranids. Begin fighting with and against Kae'Moda. Inquisitorial authorities notified of non-Imperial humans on Eastern Fringe with sizable empire.

[sirrouga]

Amazing work there. The concepts are really well done, granted a lot is taken from multiple sourced (Codex:Combine anyone?). Very unique and has a design with a mix of Imperial Guard and Tau Empire. However it is a bit difficult to see which way you take that, some things seems very Tau empire while others are more based on IG standards.

First off, summary pages are practically required. With all the weapons, special equipment, and special rules available it makes trying to figure everything out that much harder. There is so many special equipment options it gets bogged down really quickly.

Plus many lines of descriptions can be removed and just replaced with special rules or point to the main rule book. For example, Defensive Grenades don't really need an entire paragraph. "The counts as having defensive grenades." is all you really need. The GEP SSW can drop the two lines detailing pinning tests, and just add Pinning to the weapon type. Marauder Suits move like Jump Infantry is an other one for example too. There are a few more but I'll leave it at that.

I think a lot of the stat lines need to be adjusted a bit as well. Seems like practically everything is BS 4 or 5 with exception of the standard troops (and their sergeants are BS 4). Now you could say that their advanced technology improves their BS however even the Tau Empire is standard BS3 but have other means to improve that, which makes more sense to me. Even your Machine Guns are better than what IG and even Space Marines can put out. Take the Faust HMG for example, longer range and move shots than the Heavy Bolter but practically the same else wise. Or take the GEP SSW, while it doesn't have amazing strength or AP but this thing has a lot of shots, causes pinning, and can be fired on the move at still good range for an assault weapon.

Also, the vast majority of your vehicles have back armor 11. Even in their weakest point they are still immune to strength 4 attacks seems a bit much, especially since the only vehicle that has back armor better than 10 is the Land Raider. Especially since the majority of you vehicles are either fast skimmers or walkers which don't really need (or should really have in my opinion) improved back armor.

Alright to more specific stuff. Can't really get to everything right off the bat so I'll just go over a few things here and there.

Lets take your Troop choice first (ignoring the other Troops that become available through special characters). The Regulars seem to be worked off a smaller IG platoon but with better gear. First the rules for Platoon are quite vague, do they all start as one giant blob and then split up as the game goes? Does the Command Fire Team start in the giant unit as well? Do their veteran skills work on a Fire Team or everyone in the same giant unit? I would just do a copy and paste of the IG Platoon rules if that was what you were after. Plus when are the Veteran abilities applied? Is it just as things happen or at the start of the turn?

Lets go more in depth with just the standard Regulars Rifleman FireTeam. These are a smaller Infantry Squad with better wargear. Practically armed with Boltgun (with 1 worse AP value) and Carapace armor. 8 points per model seems alright considering they are IG Guard stat lines (I would keep the sergeant BS3 as well, just so you don't have to single him out when rolling every shooting phase). Your costs on grenades is a bit much, 3 points per model for offensive grenades is really high especially since these things are given out like candy now. Defensive Grenades are harder to judge prices on since they are a bit more rare.

I'll go more in depth with other stuff an other time. Need to take a break for a bit. :P

[Oberst Viktor Morte]

First off, thank you very much for your response and advice. I'd like to say also that I've been working on this for over two years, and have tried to make as much of it original content as possible. Even things like the Marauder suits which parallel the Tau Crisis suits were derived independently and just ended up similar. And now to address parts of your post in specific.

I, being the creator and knowing everything I've made, haven't really seen the need for a summary. However, upon your mentioning of it and my realization of the need, it'll be the first thing I work on when I get a chance. (I'm either at my parents home where I can work on the .pdf or my girlfriends apartment where I have the internet. Until this fall, that is.) Also, the need for simplification is not something I really realized, and will strive to work on that as well.

The relative strength of the stats is something that I've heard before, and I've made effort to reduce strength of models without taking away from the character of the unit. Oftentimes though people are unable to make real constructive advice on how to go about it. And this is precisely why I enjoy going out and having other people look at it, as that every people is able to give a new and different insight.

In regards to the Rear AV of vehicles, I think that's something easily done. However, of course some will stay heavily armoured. The Stalker which is an armoured buggy is currently 12-11-11, but I think that 11-10-10 would probably be more appropriate, with a price reduction.

The Regulars were an effort to create a more 'realistic' Troops choice, with smaller groups of men and more heavy and special weapons. However, there have been confusions on the rules for them before, and so I'm going to throw out a few ideas on how to improve upon them here:
- New rule states that all Fireteams must be within 6" of another Fireteam, and if further away must move back in coherency, just as normal squad 2" coherency. A Platoon consists of 1 Command and 2-6 Regular Fireteams.
- Veteran Skills are simply done away with as that they are too convoluted, especially with all the other special rules and units in the codex. These are just the basic Troops and this is unnecessary. Platoons may still take upgrades.
- All models are reduced to BS3 except for the Lieutenant who has BS4. Similarly, all models are reduced to WS3.
- Storm rifle changed to S4 AP-

Alternatively, I could scrap them entirely and replace them with two new Troops choice, one more akin to Grenadiers, and the other with a more 'Rangers' feel, with lighter armour and designed to be more mobile. I personally have never really liked the Regulars, and regarded them more as something that you have to take, rather than something you'd want to, so I personally have no problem with just up and replacing them.

At any rate, you post has given me a great deal of food for thought (more than I was expecting, honestly). I'm looking forward to hearing what else you have to say. Thanks once again for commenting.

[Nabterayl]

I'll try to get to units in more detail as well, but in the meantime, let me second Sirrouga's point about Ballistic Skill. Fire caste training practically ignores not only close combat but even CQB, and it takes a fire warrior a minimum of 12 years of service as a full-time professional soldier to achieve BS4. Imperial Guardsmen can apparently serve for their entire lives and never achieve BS5. Space marines too can be veterans of over a hundred drops without achieving BS5.

EDIT: The point of watching how high you let the skill stats get isn't really so much about units being "overpowered" so much as maintaining a congruent feel with the rest of the game. If I were designing 40K from scratch, ballistic skills would take advantage of the ability to go up to 10, because that feels more right to me on the tabletop. But since that isn't how other codices were written, I find it useful to look at BS and WS from a comparative fluff standpoint, and from a comparative fluff standpoint, very impressive levels of lethality are properly represented by BS/WS3.

[Oberst Viktor Morte]

I see your point. However, I'd like to maintain that most of the army should be BS4 due to advanced targetting systems and that they are either special forces-esque troops or an AI construct. On the note of BS5 or higher, the only models to have that are special characters, veteran officers of the entire army (is not a Chapter Master BS5?), or the Marauder Lieutenants, which are veteran officers. And that was done rather than to give them an extra attack, giving them a more unique feel not seen anywhere else, since the Kae'Moda abandon close combat. Should these models (special characters aside) be reduced down to BS4 as well?

[Madness]

Oberst, would you mind placing the pdfs on scribd too?

[Nabterayl]

With regard to the Regulars ...

I like what you're going for - infantry that actually fight like infantry ought to fight on a battlefield populated with automatic weapons - and I think some of the confusion may actually be pretty easy to clear up.

For instance, when you say "deployed as one unit," what does that actually mean? This isn't 4th edition, where we alternate deploying units. It sounds like you mean:

1. Platoons are rolled for collectively when rolling for Reserves,
2. Each platoon is a single Force Organization Chart choice, and
3. Each fireteam is an individual unit.

If I got that right, you could just say that, and I think it would be a lot clearer.

Questions:
EDIT: Ah, I see how Veteran Skills works now. Models with the "Veteran Skills" rule may purchase a specialist upgrade, and apply that bonus either to their own unit or a unit within 6". Gotcha.

Who precisely are these guys, sociologically? Your fluff makes it sound like they're full-time professional soldiers but don't necessarily see a lot of action. This makes me question two things:

1. How does one get assigned to a platoon command fireteam? From the sound of things, getting assigned to a regulars platoon from one of the other specialties would actually be a demotion, so where are these guys getting their veteran skills and statlines from?
2. Where do regulars draw their officers and NCOs from? Again, it sounds like they tend to come from the ranks of the regulars themselves - and if the regulars are really only called up for the largest operations, where are sergeants and lieutenants getting their veteran skills and statlines from?

Why do veteran regulars get better gear, and access to more options, than regular regulars? The standard 40K hodgepodge of gear doesn't really sound like the way you think of the Republic's forces operating. All of the gear you describe in your armoury sounds like production model stuff, so does it really fit the aesthetic of the Republic's armed forces to, say, issue one man a flechette rifle? The squad support weapons I can see, but flechettes? And what exactly is about a command fireteam's battlefield role that makes it okay for them to have Avenger rifles, but not okay for their platoon to have Avengers? I mean, doctrinally, who's supposed to do the heavy lifting here? Isn't it the regular fireteams?

This sort of materiel doctrine makes sense for most other races in the universe. The Imperium is intentionally written as riddled with backwards policies, orks explicitly "issue" war materiel according to capitalist principles, eldar and the fire caste both have a movie samurai's obsession with the honor represented by a weapon, etc. But if the point of the Republic is to present a more rational approach to warfighting, the division of weaponry between the command fireteam and the regulars makes no sense to me, unless I seriously mistake the doctrines of the Republic's armed forces.

Rather than the standard "command units get more gear because they're VIPs" approach, can I suggest letting any fireteam replace its storm rifles for other combat rifles (the Avenger, the flechette rifle), and make the various squad support weapons (flamethrower, optic rifle, micro-ripper, Gep, missile launcher, Faust, Pilum) a 1-per-team option? Let the regular fireteams have access to the heavier firepower, while the command fireteam is distinguished by its access to specialists, the laser designator, and its "veteran skills," which sound like your version of orders.

Response:

I see your point. However, I'd like to maintain that most of the army should be BS4 due to advanced targetting systems and that they are either special forces-esque troops or an AI construct. On the note of BS5 or higher, the only models to have that are special characters, veteran officers of the entire army (is not a Chapter Master BS5?), or the Marauder Lieutenants, which are veteran officers. And that was done rather than to give them an extra attack, giving them a more unique feel not seen anywhere else, since the Kae'Moda abandon close combat. Should these models (special characters aside) be reduced down to BS4 as well?

Advanced targeting systems are all well and good, but that wasn't really made clear to me. If you're married to that idea, I'd suggest that you bring it out a bit more in the fluff. Perhaps even go so far as to make it a free piece of wargear, so some models get BS3(4) for free? That would make it really clear what you're talking about.

Also, this goes back to my earlier point about sociology, but what is your actual justification for giving your officers very high Ballistic Skills? Space marine captains lead and command from the front lines, and there's only one career path in a space marine chapter, which means that all captains have (i) personally participated in a lot of actual infantry combat and (ii) put in a really over-the-top amount of training. Similarly, Tau commanders fight on the line, and career advancement is explicitly predicated on demonstrated personally lethality.

So if I can pose a question to you: how is the Republic's military structured? It sounds like very few officers work their way up from private (as is the case with both space marines and tau)? Is every major or colonel expected to fight on the front line? For that matter, are company commanders expected to be at the forefront of every attack, literally using their personal weapon? Is advancement to the rank of major or colonel (or indeed, even captain) explicitly predicated, even in part, on an officer's ability to personally kill things?

My suspicion, based on the overall feel you seem to be going for here, is that the answer to these questions (except possibly the first) is no. If so, I think it's worth recognizing that that is very different from every other army in the game (except for the Imperial Guard, whose codex does not present us with major or colonel equivalents). In most militaries today, being able to shoot exceptionally well counts for very little when it comes to officer promotion. Some services won't promote you (or even keep you) if you don't have a minimum level of personal combat proficiency, and platoon and company commanders are not likely to be respected if they never or rarely lead from the front. However, being rated an expert marksman is not likely to increase your chances of promotion much, and if a lieutenant routinely leads his platoon into battle I don't think anybody is likely to care very much if he doesn't always lead the kill tally.

By contrast, if a tau is not a personal badass in his battlesuit, he doesn't get to achieve command, even if he is a brilliant commander, because he won't pass his third Trial by Fire. If a space marine is not a personal badass in combat, he won't get appointed to command positions by his superiors. Does the Republic's military really work the same way?

[sirrouga]

Keep in mind these are just my opinions so if you feel like you really like the way they came out they by all means go with it.

- New rule states that all Fireteams must be within 6" of another Fireteam, and if further away must move back in coherency, just as normal squad 2" coherency. A Platoon consists of 1 Command and 2-6 Regular Fireteams.

This would be a good idea but Kill Points would be a huge issue since each troop choice is given 3 - 7 Kill Points and each Kill Point is just 5 models with a 4+ armor save. Not sure of a really balanced way to do this yet, need more time to really think on that one. I may even say to just drop the Command Team from this choice and just have additional choices for Fire Teams possible.

- Veteran Skills are simply done away with as that they are too convoluted, especially with all the other special rules and units in the codex. These are just the basic Troops and this is unnecessary. Platoons may still take upgrades.

Some of the veteran skills are fine, just the ones that affect other teams bought some confusion. Could simply just make them only work with the Command Team.

Alternatively, I could scrap them entirely and replace them with two new Troops choice, one more akin to Grenadiers, and the other with a more 'Rangers' feel, with lighter armour and designed to be more mobile. I personally have never really liked the Regulars, and regarded them more as something that you have to take, rather than something you'd want to, so I personally have no problem with just up and replacing them.

The Regular FireTeam has a good place in the army in my opinion, just need a little work yet. However I did notice that several of the Special Characters allow certain Elites to be taken as Troop Choices. Perhaps of having this as special character only rules, instead have an overall special rule that allows you to pick Black Berets, Special Intelligence, OR Force Reconnaissance units as Troop choices. This gives other options for Troop choices are still allows the same options that the special characters would be given you in the first place. Maybe even have this as an upgrade the Command Squad if points are worth considering. An other idea would be for every Rifleman Fire Team you take, you can take a Black Berets or Force Reconnaissance unit as a troop choice.

As for the whole BS thing, Imperial Guard do have access to Veterans with BS4 so it wouldn't too far off to say the same for your own army. BS 3(4) would make more sense in terms of wargear providing the bonus but I don't really think that matters in the end. BS 5 should be rare and only available to their top of the top ranks. So keep your new soldiers at BS3, Veterans at BS4, and the best of the best at BS5. Keep in mind, the Imperial Guard only has like 4 or 5 models with BS5 and all but one are special characters. Could always include war gear that allows you to reroll any "1's" in the the shooting phase if you want to tip up their BS without going to the next level.


However onto some other things I noticed while reading the codex...

- Black Berets Shaped Charges: I think it would be easier to just have these work as standard melta bombs instead of the manual charge. I also think their Covert Op rule might be an issue especially if area terrain isn't available. I think Infiltrate and/or Deep Striking would be better suited here (especially if they can be taken as troops).

- Tyranid Hunters: Personally I think units designed to only counter one specific race are a bad idea. Just make their Conflagance Missile accessible for most units. Outside of Tyranids, they are a costly unit with counter attack and WS4 which doesn't really fit the rest of the army too well.

- Revenants and Intrepid Battle Walker are listed as Walkers but have no WS, S, I, or A listed in their stats.

- Zero Troopers can be reworded from "For every 2 models, you may take 1 special weapon" to "Up to 4 models may take special weapons", since squad size can not be changed in this unit. Also these guys are listed to have Power Armor, they should be listed with their Zero Gravity Suit. Speaking of which, a slow and purposeful unit armed with multiple heavy weapons and can move like jump infantry once per game is a really sick deal.

- Marauder Suits: Keep Strength 3 base and have their close combat weapon use the rules for Power fists. Easier to explain and keeps the same set of stats. Also, these guys are BEASTS for costing the same a standard Terminator. Relentless jump infantry with S6 weapons, toughness 5, 2 wounds and 2+ armor and that can fire all weapons on the move. Plus they can really spread out with 4" coherency so blast templates aren't effective either. And that is without any additional upgrades which could give Feel No Pain, 4+ invun save, split firing, etc . These guys need a point increase plus some toning down with some rules.

More random opinions to come later on.

[Atrotos]

The quality of the codex is quite good. It was fun to read through and see how many images I recognized from other sci-fi stuff - much of it works well in 40k and I commend you your excellent imagination. Still there are many typos and greater care is needed when writing rules as many are currently a little convoluted (Zero Troopers have a 5+ save but their armor gives them a 3+?).


What models have you been using to represent these units?