Hello everybody!

So, last summer i post a nice topic about possible new supplements book for the Only War franchise. Back then, they were just mere speculations, nothing more than "pub-chat".

As the months go on, we did not have any information about new books, and it seems that ONLY WAR is, how could I said it... suspended?

For this reason, I decided to take a more active part. As a big fan of the entire franchise, I would really like to give my personal contribute to this wonderful RPG, with the only hope that someone up in FFG may noticed it.

So here we go with this first supplement of mine, codename: Steel Tracks .

Steel Tracks shall offers to Only War player new ways to wage war against the enemy of humanity, unleashing the most iconic equipments in service to the Imperium: its mighty tanks.

Features:

1) New Regiments : almost all major regiments of the original GW franchise were already introduced in the first Only War books: still, here we go with some new regiment direclty from the WH40KRPG set:

- Gunmetallican Regiment (mentioned in the Deathwatch Core Rulebook): this can be a tank specialised regiment, focused on city-fights.

- Opus Macharius Tank corps (personal idea): a Heavy tank regiment with close ties to the Lathe, fielding a high numbers of heavy tanks, first of all Macharius variants.

- Alactran Mechanised Infantry (personal idea): an armoured infantry regiment focused on hunter-killer mission using highly mobile vehicles.

2) New Classes : here I admit I don't have lots of idea... I'm wondering about a non-AdMech grease monkey, but apart for that nothing more. Other suggestions are welcomed.

3) New rules for tank-only battles and events : here again, I'm not sure how to expand this idea. Some suggestions by my game group focus on a Formation-like rules for big engagement, but I was also wondering about some sort of "tank comrades". Still, not very sure about it.

4) New Vehicles : oh boy, here I have PLENTY of ideas. First of all, I would like to fill the last gap on the Imperial Guard (pardon, Astra Militarum) armoury: so far, Only War 28 official GW based vehicles, but nothing compared to the almost 80 official vehicles variants. For this reason. I want to be clear, my idea is to introduce only official vehicles, with some emphasis on FW vehicles. You can found a list of this vehicles here .

5) Variant Pattern Vehicles : in a way similar to the Variant Equipment Pattern, it could be a nice idea to give more tool to customize your own vehicles. Each Variant could afflict several parts of the vehicles itself, both positevely or negatively, using similar tables results found in Hammer of The Emperor (pg. 129 and so on).

6) Expanded Armoury : a list which comprehend: new weapons (both vehicle and not), traits, vehicle upgrades, tools etc.

... So, this is my preliminary idea. Who wants to contribute?

Sounds legit.

I have thought about the idea of running a tank squad, but still I:m not sure how to give them enough crunchy bits for upgrading their tank or some good adventures.

So if there is a Tank Suplemental it needs some kind of intro Adventure. The one in the Core Book even have Infos on how many ork Vehicles would arrive when the Players have a Vehicle Squadron.

As for further classes: More Advanced Specialisations for the Operator, like one that focuses more on fixing the vehicle, not just the Tank Ace, maybe?

Or Advanced Specialisations for the other classes, which would allow them to better fulfill their roles in a tank squad. So something that focuses on anti-personnel combat for the Weapon Specialist, something that maximizes anti-tank capabilities for the Heavy, something that allows the Sergeant to improve combat in tanks etc.? All of these would give basic Operate ability, too, of course.

I'm happy enough to get stuck in with the generation of homebrew stuff though I'm not sure a tank-centric supplement is a good idea.

Everyone talks about tank based campaigns. How many tank based campaigns ever actually happen compared to infantry ones?

Maybe it would be sensible to let the community weigh in on what they actually need.

There've been threads about that before, and iirc, the consensus was that Help and information for running tank-based campaigns would be needed. We have the vehicle stats, but what do we do with the comrades, how many people fit in a tank, how do we write campaigns that aren't always the same, that sort of thing is what is lacking.

Just more vehicles isn't going to be useful.

There've been threads about that before, and iirc, the consensus was that Help and information for running tank-based campaigns would be needed. We have the vehicle stats, but what do we do with the comrades, how many people fit in a tank, how do we write campaigns that aren't always the same, that sort of thing is what is lacking.

Just more vehicles isn't going to be useful.

Absolutely right.

I have at the moment three Adventures in my mind:

1st: Drive there, Kill that.

2nd: While driving the Tank breaks and they have to run around and use their personal Weapons for the first Time. Actually it is the Company of Heros Story where you drive a Tiger Tank around. Or just completely copy the Company of Heros Tiger game.

3rd: Drive away out of the bombardment Zone. Is actually 11 hour meets the Gun Heads Short story which was a Black Library short story in their exterminatus book.

Start with a standard Leman Russ. After Break Down of Tank switch to a better one. Vanquisher or Plasma Destroyer.

Leman Russ Crew is:

1. Driver/Mechanic PC - Operator

2. Loader PC, Hull Lascannon: - Operator or Heavy

3. Main Cannon PC - Heavy or Special Weapons

4. Tank Commander/Pintle mounted Stubber PC: - Seargent or Operator

5. Two Gunners for the Sponsors are also a PC plus 1 Comrade or 2 Comrades in total: Heavy or Special or put a medic in.

All Classes should have their Heavy Weapon training on Top.

Stay Clear of Situations in which only one of the Players has something to do.

@Cabsian Master:

Could you please put your file on a dropbox host place or somewhere else which doesn't look like internet criminals?

Tank campaign might need...

-Anti-tank mines and IEDs.

-More vehicle upgrades.

-More variants of tank and artillery munitions.

-Rebalanced weapons (current tank guns and krak missiles are crappy, while lascannons and autocannons are OP)

-Rebalanced mechanics (who can realistically use awareness to detect enemies inside a tank? what are his penalties or bonuses? Battlecanon "reload" and "clip"? Reload action for loader? Fuel - how much a vehicle carries, consumption rate, availability?)

-Coherent artillery rules - counterbattery fire, artillery surveillance, shoot-and-scoot, guided artillery strikes, working with artillery spotter, artillery reload vehicles. Make artillery interesting to play!

-Coherent AA rules - vox horizons, ECM, MANPADs, manticore SAM operation, effects of weather on air war.

-A bit of info for those who don't have an idea how armored warfare actually looks like, what's the tank unit's order of battle and structure, how does it interact with other units on a battlefield.

Ok gentlemen here I am again.

About Download site, you were right @Glorian Hunderhill. I swapped now for a Dropbox link HERE . [i hope it will work]

Second, about this idea I want to be very clear from the beginning @SgtLazarus

But for now, I want to focus here

• "Machine Spirit Controlled" remote Turret, HITROLE style (Googled it if you don't know what is it)
• Advanced target matrix, a cogitator used by advanced Artillery system. My homebrew PRAETOR has this system here .
• Floating device, to give all vehicles the Amphibious traits... Now I had this image of a water riding Baneblade in my mind, and it sounds pretty awesome.

I also thinks that we need some new vehicle traits, like a Heavy Vehicle one (should work like the Super-Heavy, but in a lesser scale) and Inadequate system, to stress how some vehicles just don't work right (Like Malcador Engine's Problem).

- Well... Still working on that. And about those vehicles, I was wondering about some specific Calixis Pattern vehicles, for example:

• Macharius Rex: Opus Macharius variant who mounted a fearsome Twin-Linked Baneblade cannon. Near Unique tank, and borderline Tech-heresy (Still, I'm open for other weapon: I know the fluff about Baneblade cannons considered sacred).
• Alactra Pattern Chimera: A standard APC with a built in MIU Weapon interface, who let the driver or the Gunner to remote control the turret. (Basically, the Hitrole-turret I described before.

- Yes, vehicles weapons need some revision, especially Battlecannons. We will worki on that too.

- This is a big question, but I can tell you How I work with my players:

• Awareness test works like usual, but Hearing has a -5 penalty (Engine noise), while Sighting has -10 (Hyposcope are not the best) and can be performed only if the vehicle has one gun pointing in that direction (so basically rear it's a big Blind spot). A Guardsman on the turret can use hyposcope to have LoS on the rear or can open the turret to have a better view, and with a free action can tell the Driver or the gunner where to point.
• Reload and Clip: After each shot, you need to load another shell, and the Reload value explain how much time you need to do that action. You can use Rapid Reload to decrease the time, but unlike portable weapon, you just need 1 action less (so if you need 4Full action and you have Rapid Reload you can load in 3Full action). You can also get help from another crew member, who leave his station to help and substract another action from the total: still, you cannot reload the weapon in less than 1 action, EVER. In second Instance, I think Clip value on the tanks is really, REALLY low: Leman Russ in fluff shall bring at least 40 rounds, not 12. Finally, availability is another issue, and must be worked out for each vehicle. A Baneblade can be Unique or Near Unique, a standard Leman Russ Rare and so on. Still you need to consider each one of them, paying attention on size, weapon, armour and "level of technology".

- Artillery indeed need a revamp, but actually I don't know how it can be improved. I noted down the issue however.

- Same as before, but some "basic" rules are stated in Shield of Humanity.

- Again, important both Fluff and Crunch wise, can be worked out with a "Comrade-like" system for tanks only.

Ok, I think I wrote down anything I need to say... As always, help/critique is always welcomed.

Oh, and if you think I wrote in a bad english, you're right, It's not my first language and I admit I can commit mistakes.

Last weeks before Xmas are truly full of commitments. Anyway, I was capable to write down some new concept traits for vehicle. Here you have.

HEAVY

Filling the gap between standard vehicles like the Leman Russ and true behemoth like the Baneblade variants, heavy vehicle are quite common in the battlefield of 41 ^st millenium. They are a good compromise chooses for those commanders that can't afford the durability or firepower of Super-Heavy vehicles but still want to earn more than the standard tanks. A vehicle with the Heavy trait is able to ignore penalties for moving through difficult terrain, but obstacles such as rockslides, tank traps, fallen trees and building can still provide some trouble: as such, a Challenging (+0) Operate test is always required in this situation. If the test is failed, then the vehicles pass trough the obstacle, but on the next turn it cannot move more than half its Tactical speed. Further, if the test is failed by 4 or more degrees the vehicle suffer a single hit to the facing which strike the obstacle, dealing damage equal to the Armour Points provided by the obstacles (this damage are still reduced by armour), in addition to becoming stuck on the spot. Useless to say that in case of high walls, any unlucky guardsman riding outside the vehicle will be hurt.

INADEQUATE SYSTEM [X]

Wheter because of poor engineering chooses or manifactural problems, the vehicle is not as reliable as it should be on paper. Fortunately, these flaws cover only one part of the vehicle, so it's not a complete Death-trap for who operates it. A vehicle with this trait who suffers a critical damage on the hit location placed between brackets add 1d5 to the results (This do not applies with Critical damage dealt by Righteous Fury). Additionally, when this happens apply the following penalties.

• Motive Systems : the vehicle gain the Motive Systems Destroyed Damage Condition, as seen at pg. 282 Only War Core Rulebook.

• Hull : the vehicle hull was deformed by the attack: anyone inside the vehicle must pass a Hard (-20) Toughness test or suffers 1d10+5 I damage. There's also a chance that the vehicle hatches deformed as well. Roll a d10: 1-6 nothing happens, 7-8 the hatches are locked in their position, trapping the crew inside, 9-0 they spurt away, leaving an easy way to get out the vehicle and letting dangerous gas enter inside

• Weapon : The Weapon it's struck on its position: it can still be fired, but its fire cannot be aimed. The GM has final decision whether a vehicle weapon can be fired or not, and it can imposes an Operate Test with various degree of difficulties to see if the driver can align the weapon with its current target. Additionally, the weapon cont as jammed

• Turret: the vehicle gain the Turret Locked Damage Condition as seen at pg. 286 Only War Core Rulebook. Additionally, internal bolts and similar spurt off, dealing 1d10+1 I damages to everyone inside the turret.

ORKIFIED

Rising from the worst Techpriest's nightmare, Orkified vehicles were once proud machine of the Omnissiah, which after being incapacitated by the feral Xenos were then recovered, repaired and “re-arranged” for Ork use. Imperial Technology seems to be the most appreciated and valued by the Orkz, but stories of looted vehicles from other races are not unheard off. A vehicle with the Orkified Trait undergoes extremely changes: first of all, any Operate test made by non-ork character suffers a basic penalty of -30, due to the heavy changes made by the Xenos. The vehicles also loose the Rugged trait if it has before and gain the Ramshackle trait, but again due to the extreme change made by the orkz only Mekboyz gain the +20 Bonus to any Repair Test. Any weapon previously mounted automatically loose both Accurate and Reliable and they are replaced by the Inaccurate and Unreliable ones accordly. Finally, a GM can decides to add more specific “upgrades” to the vehicle. See Orkz Vehicle Upgrades for details.

OVERDRIVE

The vehicle posses an uncommon powerful engine, which makes it more fast than it should. When Performing a Floor it! action the driver moves the vehicles 7 more metres for every degree of success instead of 5 metres.

EDIT: "Heavy" trait was supposed to cover tanks between medium (Leman Russ) and SuperHeavy (Baneblade). Basically, applied to Macharius and Malcador variants

In terms of regiments, there's the Pardus 8th Armoured from the Gaunt's Ghosts novels.

Artillery, that shouldn't have been an option IMO. Artillery spend their days several km behind the front, carrying out fire missions, then resting and preping for the next fire mission. Maybe they move somewhere else, and do it all again. A campaign of that over and over would be amazingly boring. It should be an option for someone with a vox to call in a fire mission, have rules for scatter, and even fire adjustments over turns. But playing as the crew of a self propelled gun would be deathly boring.

Had my guys set up to play a Severan Artillery regiment that they were psyched for. Someone else is currently GMing for our group though and I have other things in mind to run, like a Penal Ship survival game as the Adeptus Arbites / Aligned convicts. Just requires unorthadox thinking.

I am imparting my personal experience onto my post there, being in Infantry compared to some mates of mine in Artillery. I don't doubt their usefulness, just the "entertainment value" of their job. Someone yells instructions at them, they yell confirmations back then pull a string and the gun goes off and they wait for the rounds to land (can take up to 30s) then wait for a correction from the observer, then rinse and repeat. The concept of the almost immediate artillery support (off the cuff, if it's pre-planned it's pretty quick, just tell them which pre-determined spot to fire on and within a min you'll have rounds coming in) is from Hollywood. It takes a good 10mins to get Artillery on target for a snap fire mission (that's 100 turns in OW).

I know it's not real, and its 38000 years in the future, but suspension of disbelief helps create a universe for the players. I like 40k because it's kind of believable. I guess I should just blame the ADF for ruining almost 100% of war themed media for me.

BTW, SgtLazarus, would your, Tempestor Character's name be in anyway inspired by the IG characters in WH40k: Space Marine, there's a Corporal Antioch and a Jonah who show up at different times in the story. If so, that's cool, I'm currently regigging Against the Savages to be set on Graia, before the Orks wiped most of the guard out, then continue the campaign to follow the story line of Space Marine.

Yeah. Totally constructed from Space Marine given he was my first 40K RPG character.

He since refuses to die inspite of the lunacy he keeps getting thrown into.

I hope that project will work. I was hoping to GM a tank based campaing but honestly while the idea core rulebook presents is great, the execution is rather poor. We don't have lots of rules that i think are mandatory and fluff about tank campaing in 41st milenium is... almost nonexistent. Maybe you can also add some plot hooks since most people like me wonder what kind of adventures and missions can tank regiment do. Of course we have cliche of lone tank behind enemy lines or grimdark frontline fighting but i think that players will get bored fast.At least my players which are used to long campaings (half year, every week playing) would get bored by half year fighting on front or behind the lines. Btw dropbox link don't work.

...Btw dropbox link don't work.

Actually the Link is no more active since I start to work on the Imperial Navy Supplement, but Fear not, because as soon as I finish the Aircraft stats I will return on steel Tracks. Anyway, here you can find a preview about the last types of Leman Russ Tanks.

Great Stuff so far!

Before you complete the Leman Russ Variants you might want to beef up the enemies of the imperium.

Some Heretic Tanks. The Gaunt Ghosts books where full of them. "Honour Guard" was also with the best 40k Tank Battles I have read. Vanquishers, Laser Destroyers, Leman Russ and a lot of heretic build other tanks.

The other three Big are of course:

Eldar : Fast Antigrav Tanks with more holofield and technoheresy stuff than real armour

Tau: Fast Antigrav Tanks with horrifieing Armour Penetration. Imperial Battle Tanks vs Battle Suits.

Orks: Ramshakled Buggies like there are, but also Battle Fortresses as Boss enemies.

Does anyone have his WIP file, I don't trust the site he has it on.

I have. I can send it to you by email or share on google drive.

I have. I can send it to you by email or share on google drive.

Thanks a lot, man, send me a link to your g-drive when you get a chance. Also, any idea where SgtLazarus and CabsianMaster went, they seem to have vanished.

Ok, here is the link.

Ok, here is the link.

Thanks man, I hope this get's finished someday.

I wrote fairly extensively on the subject of tank warfare awhile back. If someone wants find the link feel free! I can't seem to find it at the moment.

Some of the old threads:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/106349-actual-tank-based-campaigns/

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/106709-vehicles-and-comrades/

Thank you Jargal! I was at work at the time and didn't have much time to search!