Have had time to look at the thingy, and here are my comments:

--------------

Xenonian83rd

any SP sidearm up to Common availability

The Stub Revolver is the only weapon that actually qualifies for this.

Instead, maybe change "Lasgun OR Combat Shotgun" to 'Combat Shotgun or (laspistol and sword)' or 'Combat Shotgun or (auto pistol and truncheon)'?

1 Tauros AV per player character, [...]

Special: two player characters may exchange their individual vehicles for a single Tauros Advector (including an NPC driver)

Is the 'Tauros AV' supposed to be a Xenonian Combat Bike instead? and two characters can switch to a Tauros Advector instead? Or is the 'Tauros AV' some other vehicle?

And why wouldn't two people want to pool up into something with much more resilience and a free pintle mount weapon?

----------------

Xenonian 88th

any SP sidearm up to Common availability

Same deal.

Would assume it takes one hand to use the bike, so maybe replace sidearm with spear, so you can be motorcycle cavalry? Would assume there are rules for spear/lance charges in the cavalry section.

Is each comrade supposed to get their own bike as well? If so, may be worth a clarifying sentence.

------------------

Xenonian Combat Bike

The Sentinel and Hellhound both have +10 manoeuvrability. Is your intention to make a bike with a side car less manoeuvrable than them?

Maybe give bikes +15 and have sidecar reduce by 5? So a bike is more manoeuvrable, and bike with sidecar is as manoeuvrable.

---------------------

Xenonian Primer

Where does the fuel come from?

Is the world supposed to be rich in Promethium, so you can just pump it our of the ground and run your bikes?

Do the vehicles mostly run on alcohol, and there is some common sugar heavy plant that people distil fuel from?

Are the vehicles mostly electrically driven, so you can run them on lasgun powercells, which you can recharge easily with whatever (wind, water, people) powered thing you can scrape together?

Or something even more esoteric:

Example: there is a webway portal on the world that the dark eldar use. Most of the bike engines literally run on pain and suffering. And the shadowy dark eldar mostly view the world as a very large reality TV show, where they make sure no side gets a lasting advantage over the others so that the screams can just keep going forever, or, at least, until the get bored. This gets you the bonus of raiders bleeding captives out into the fuel tanks of their bikes...

Have had time to look at the thingy, and here are my comments: [...]

Thanks for the feedback! This is valuable input, I'm sure we can clarify a few things.

#1 The idea was to offer the lasgun as *the* Imperial Guard weapon that just about any regiment receives as standard, but also have an alternative in the form of combat shotguns for close quarters action in urban ruins. The ballistic sidearm is supposed to be a token from their homeworld.

But the stub revolver being the only weapon that qualifies is something we'll have to look into. Stub automatic and Autopistol were meant to be viable options, too. Sorry for the oversight!

See, this is what I get for pillaging from other lines' books. Ironic, considering how often I caution against it.

#5 I was thinking standard gasoline derived from natural oil sources, as is common in postapocalyptic settings, with the tribes either trading for or stealing it. This isn't explicitly pointed out in the document as we figured some details should be left open for the creativity of players, so the description focuses mostly on locales and potential plot hooks. If you read the description of the mutant city, however, you'll notice a refinery.

The power cell idea has a certain appeal in novelty, though. Let me see what Ramellan thinks.

I am creating a new regiment for my group and we fancied playing some very propoganda believing new guys. Do you guys prefer the idea of a fortress world arrayed against an area filled with Orks, that rely on sheer numbers of poorly equipped troops mixed with a few elites, or an Agri World of some (as yet undecided) nature?

Ouphh. I'd say you can make both great - it really comes down to the specifics.

Like, judging solely by your post now, the Fortress World might make for a very interesting, extra-grimdark setting (although it does sound a bit Krieg'ish to me, so you're not really treading any new ground so far) - but if you can come up for a good idea concerning that Agri-World, you could easily make that a strong contender as well.

The decisive factors are "look & feel" of the region (climate, flora & fauna, construction style), the culture of the human population (from tech-level to crazy traditions), and the plot hooks as represented by local enemies and implied secrets. Whether the planet is classified as a Fortress- or Agri-World should really just be a result of the former rather than its primary trait, as those terms are ultimately nothing but extremely general summaries that tell us little about what is truly unique about that place.

There's a lot of stuff you can do, even with an Agri-World!

Ouphh. I'd say you can make both great - it really comes down to the specifics.

Like, judging solely by your post now, the Fortress World might make for a very interesting, extra-grimdark setting (although it does sound a bit Krieg'ish to me, so you're not really treading any new ground so far) - but if you can come up for a good idea concerning that Agri-World, you could easily make that a strong contender as well.

The decisive factors are "look & feel" of the region (climate, flora & fauna, construction style), the culture of the human population (from tech-level to crazy traditions), and the plot hooks as represented by local enemies and implied secrets. Whether the planet is classified as a Fortress- or Agri-World should really just be a result of the former rather than its primary trait, as those terms are ultimately nothing but extremely general summaries that tell us little about what is truly unique about that place.

There's a lot of stuff you can do, even with an Agri-World!

I'll give you a more in depth reply when I know more about both (might even make both), but the fortress world is kinda Krieg ish. Hmm. I banked on alot less morbidity though. When you're fighting Orks, why worry? You're taught from birth you're probably going to die. So live it up! But don't be breaking those regs trooper... Only issue with both is... I write ALOT. I'm already having to pick which sections of the write up I'd post, to prevent swamping the topic.

Pernese 8th Heavy Infantry:

General question: Would people appreciate a slightly more detailed background (see the fuel example)? Technically, everyone would still be free to make whatever changes they want, anyways. Also, we are interested what you think about the Piecemeal Armour perk - does it fit, is it balanced?

More details are always great imo. I find the info pertaining to a regiment in combination with the mechanics is alot more enjoyable readable than a list of traits. =D

I've just uploaded a slightly amended version that corrects the SP sidearm availability and Bike manoeuvrability, and adds a small picture that hopefully helps with the "who sits where" question in regards to vehicle options. Thanks again for the input.

In terms of additional background, there certainly is some more stuff we could add. For example, we've already got a description for Frogmen enemies (still needs stats tho), although it would start to be more about Xenan VII as a setting rather than the Free Companies as a regiment.

Then again, we did advertise the ability to have games of Dark Heresy etc on this world.

Here you go:

"Agri-world"? check

Hatred of orks? check

Lux Gnomon 3rd "The Harvesters"

The Lux Gnomon is not a world at all; it is a massive orbital installation whose exact origins are lost to myth and legend. Its towering spires are not used to house troops or manufacture weapons, as is the case with so many other Imperial orbital facilities; instead, they are used for technical agriculture on a vast scale.

Despite being much smaller, the Lux Gnomon can match or exceed the food exports of an agri-world. At any given time there will be several docked ships taking on provisions, either for export to nearby hive worlds, or to simply replentish their own stores.

At some time in the past, the grow towers of the Lux Gnomon became infected with ork spores. While full grown orks are a rarity, harvesters must be constantly alert for squigs and gretchen. Any full grown ork infestation must be quickly squashed, as the normal method of fighting orks, using flamers, would inflict too much damage on the structure of the grow towers. So harvesters occasionally find themselves pressed into desperate close combats with small ork bands.

Inhabitants of the Lux Gnomon are more likely to join the Navy, but very rarely, there is enough excess population for the orbital to supply a whole regiment to the Guard instead.

Technical notes:

Vertical Farming

Where does to water and CO2 for the plants come from?

They scoop off CO2 from one gas giant and H2 from another. They then burn the H2 with the O2 produced by the plants to make water. Other trace elements are obtained from crushed comets and other space debris.

-----------------

Interactions with other regiments:

The relatively cosmopolitan inhabitants of the Lux Gnomon usually get along well with everyone, though high-born may see them as 'jumped up commoners putting on airs'. The advantage of being from the place where the recaf is grown (and having the contacts in the Navy to ensure a constant supply) tend to make a harvester encampment a hotbed of schmoozing, trading, and gear swapping.

In combat:

The harvesters are usually used to attack, clear, and secure space based targets, but their experience fighting orks may place them on the ground, fighting greenskins.

-----------------

Starting Stats:

+5 Weapon skill, +5 Strength, +5 Toughness, and -3 Intelligence

Starting Skills:

Acrobatics

Athletics

Awareness

Common Lore (Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy)

Linguistics (Low Gothic)

Tech Use

Weapon Training (Low Tech)

Starting Talents:

Catfall, Double Team, Hatred (Orks)

Disadvantage:

Hivebound

Starting wounds: 11

Favored Equipment: Prey-sense Goggles, M34 Autocannon

Starting Gear:

Good quality Voidsuit with Guard flak armor overlay

Prey-sense goggles

microbead

grapnel and line

supply of recaf

(Other standard Kit)

------------------

Regimental Point Allocation:

12/12 Points Spent

-1 Hivebound

3 (+2 strength, WS, toughness)

1 awareness

1 acrobatics

1 tech use

1 catfall

1 double team

2 hatred(orks)

3 wounds (11)

------------------

Regimental Gear Allocation:

60/60 points spent

15 guard flak

15 good quality void suit

8 micro-bead

5 grapnel and line

15 prey-sense goggles [reduced to rare availability due to being favored gear]

2 recaf

------------------

Corporal Ashraf ibn Yasmin

Corporal Ashraf isn't exactly the best leadership material, but he does have a loud shouty voice and cuts a very impressive figure. He also possesses a certain low cunning that allows him to obtain equipment through questionable totally legitimate means. A munitorum clerk's cry of, "Yes Corporal, you are obviously an Ogyrn, so I will issue you a ripper gun. Please put me down and stop shouting now!" is still repeated around the regiment.

ws 30

bs 30

S 45

T 40

agl 30

int 32

per 30

wil 30

fel 30

Aptitudes:

fellowship, intelligence, strength, toughness

Finesse, Offence

Additional Skills:

command, commerce +10, intimidate, scrutiny

Additional Talents:

Bulging Biceps, Rank 0 (Corporal), Rapid Reload, Weapon training (Heavy, Solid Projectile)

Additional Gear:

Ripper gun, Smoke Grenades (2), Stun Grenades (2)

Wounds: 11

--------------------

@ Lynata/Ramellan What Segmentum is Xenan VII found in?

@ Crusher The Lux Gnomon sounds awesome! =D

Fal'shia Sept Airborne Hunter Cadre (13/26 Regiment Point Allotment)

Homeworld - Tau Science World / Earth World (Forgeworld) (3 Points) - +3 Intelligence, +3 Perception, Common Lore (Tech), Common Lore (Tau), Common Lore (Earth Caste), Linguistics (Tau), Linguistics (Techna Lingua), Logic, Technical Knock.

-1 Total Wounds.

Commanding Officer - Fixed (1 Point)

Drop Troops - (3 Points), Equipment swapped for Tau Pulse Carbine (with 4 Magazines), Tau Combat Armour, Two Tau Photon Grenades, Two Smoke Grenades, Grav-Chute, In-Helmet Respirator Unit

Sharpshooters Doctrine (4 Points)

Close Order Drill (2 Points) - Combat formation was selected.

Drawback - Cult of Chivalry (3 Points) (See Hammer of the Emperor)

Drawback - Honourbound (4 Points) (See Hammer of the Emperor)

Drawback - The Few (5 Points) (See Hammer of the Emperor)

Drawback - Gue'vesa (2 Points, see "The Greater Good" House Supplement.). Ecclesiarchy option selected.

Tau & Kroot characters for this regiment will use the rules presented in "The Greater Good" for character generation & play, including advancement. Gue'vesa characters in this regiment will either be members of the Nilfheim PDF (or other justifiable Imperial regiment), included as Mixed Regiment units, or use the normal character generation method for human characters with these regimental stats. Gue'vesa characters do not gain the Non-Imperial trait.

The intention of the unit is to deploy from the back of an NPC piloted Orca, similar to the standard deployment method of the Elysian 13th Helldivers. Please refer to the Deathwatch Errata stats for Tau Equipment where possible, or the Rogue Trader: Tau Character Guide where this is not possible.

Full Equipment List;

Universal Kit;

Bonding Knife (As Knife, may be upgraded with Mono at GM's discretion.)
Sling Bag
Basic Tools
Mess Kit
Thermally Insulated Flask
Blanket
Sleeping Bag
Directional Lamp (Such as a Torch/Flashlight)
Identification Tags
Tau Rations (2 weeks supply)
Field Manual (Allows the character to make Common Lore tests regarding the Imperium of Man, the Imperial Creed and similar topics untrained. However, the Untrained Skill Penalty of -20, and the Non-Imperial Trait (where applicable) still apply.)

Standard Regimental Kit.

Pulse Carbine (with 4 magazines)
Tau Combat Armour
Two Tau Photon Grenades
Two Smoke Grenades
Grav-Chute
Blacksun Filter (Pre-fitted into helmet)
Respirator (Pre-fitted into helmet)
Pulse Pistol Sidearm (with 2 magazines)
Chrono
Microbead
One Markerlight for Squad
PDA-type Dataslate for Squad
Tau Vox Caster*

Favoured Basic Weapon: Ion Rifle
Favoured Heavy Weapon: Heavy Rail Rifle

Equipment points cost calculated as two steps less rare than listed in Rogue Trader: Tau Character Guide, as per "The Greater Good" House Supplement. Due to diminished ammunition capacity of Pulse Pistol compared to adding it normally, points cost has been decreased from 10 to 8 for this item. The points cost for the dataslate and chrono have been waived due to circumstances relevant to the campaign that this regiment is intended for use in. The cost of the Markerlight has been reduced from 15 to 5 due to being shared among the Squad. The cost of the Vox Caster has been reduced from 10 to 2 due to being shared among the Squad.

The regiment has 13 equipment points spare.

Should the squad begin play with a Positional Relay (see Shas'ui Specialism.), then the Vox Caster is made redundant. In this instance, the squad may choose to trade in their Vox Caster for the Target Lock upgrade (15 points) for their Combat Armour helmets.

Kroot characters may trade their Combat Armour for Recon Armour at character creation.

@ Lynata/Ramellan What Segmentum is Xenan VII found in?

Official material has never provided any pointers in regards to that. However, most regiments participating in the Third War of Armageddon were from Segmentum Solar, so that'd be my first guess. Conveniently, this would give the Free Companies an equal chance of showing up in any of the other segmentae, compared to situating their homeworld in the outer rim and then expecting them to traverse the entire Imperium to show up in the opposite segmentum.

Here's a sample Dark Eldar Regiment for you guys.

Trueborn Raiders

Origin - Highborn (Modified, 2 Points) - Remove Common Lore (Administratum), Remove Linguistics (High Gothic), For Duty & Honour gives +10 to dealing with other Trueborn, but -10 to dealing with everyone else. The Finest Tutors, select Air of Authority or Peer (Trueborn).

Commanding Officer - Bilious Or Sanguine (2 Points)

Mechanised Infantry (3 Points) - Swap Lasgun for Splinter Rifle, Imperial Guard Flak Armour for Kabalite Armour, Swap all grenades for 2 Eldar Plasma Grenades, Swap Chimera for Raider Platform.

Trueborn Custom Doctrine (3 Points) - Gain Social Aptitude.

Survivalists (Webway) - 4 Points. Commoragh counts as Webway for the purposes of this doctrine.

Drawback - Mistrusted (3 points) (See Hammer of the Emperor). Change influences to be appropriate as per Dark Eldar society.

Favoured Basic Weapon - Shardcarbine
Favoured Heavy Weapon - Dark Lance

Universal Kit

Knife
Sling Bag
Basic Tools
Mess Kit
Canteen
Blanket
Sleeping Bag

Added Equipment;

Splinter Pistol (2 Magazines)
Chrono
Scanner (Auspex)
Grapnel
Pict/Vid Recorder

Sample Space Marine regiment, as per "Sons of the Emperor"

Salamanders Purgation Company

Origin - Salamanders (3 Points) - +5 Toughness, +5 Intelligence, Resistance (Heat)

Commanding Officer - Fixed (1 Point)

Line Infantry (2 Points) - Swap Lasgun for Boltgun, Swap Flak Armour for Astartes Power Armour. 2 Firebombs, 2 Krak Grenades.

Favoured Foe (Orks or Tyranids) (3 Points)

Iron Discipline (3 Points)

Universal Kit

Astartes Combat Knife
Sling Bag
Basic Tools
Mess Kit
Canteen
Directional Lamp (Torch/Flashlight)
Codex Astartes Handbook
Two weeks rations

Favoured Basic Weapon - Storm Bolter
Favoured Heavy Weapon - Heavy Flamer

Added Equipment

Bolt Pistol with two magazines
Hades Assault Flamer
Chrono

Here you go:

"Agri-world"? check

Hatred of orks? check

Lux Gnomon 3rd "The Harvesters"

The Lux Gnomon is not a world at all; it is a massive orbital installation whose exact origins are lost to myth and legend. Its towering spires are not used to house troops or manufacture weapons, as is the case with so many other Imperial orbital facilities; instead, they are used for technical agriculture on a vast scale.

Despite being much smaller, the Lux Gnomon can match or exceed the food exports of an agri-world. At any given time there will be several docked ships taking on provisions, either for export to nearby hive worlds, or to simply replentish their own stores.

At some time in the past, the grow towers of the Lux Gnomon became infected with ork spores. While full grown orks are a rarity, harvesters must be constantly alert for squigs and gretchen. Any full grown ork infestation must be quickly squashed, as the normal method of fighting orks, using flamers, would inflict too much damage on the structure of the grow towers. So harvesters occasionally find themselves pressed into desperate close combats with small ork bands.

Inhabitants of the Lux Gnomon are more likely to join the Navy, but very rarely, there is enough excess population for the orbital to supply a whole regiment to the Guard instead.

Technical notes:

Vertical Farming

Where does to water and CO2 for the plants come from?

They scoop off CO2 from one gas giant and H2 from another. They then burn the H2 with the O2 produced by the plants to make water. Other trace elements are obtained from crushed comets and other space debris.

-----------------

Interactions with other regiments:

The relatively cosmopolitan inhabitants of the Lux Gnomon usually get along well with everyone, though high-born may see them as 'jumped up commoners putting on airs'. The advantage of being from the place where the recaf is grown (and having the contacts in the Navy to ensure a constant supply) tend to make a harvester encampment a hotbed of schmoozing, trading, and gear swapping.

In combat:

The harvesters are usually used to attack, clear, and secure space based targets, but their experience fighting orks may place them on the ground, fighting greenskins.

-----------------

Starting Stats:

+5 Weapon skill, +5 Strength, +5 Toughness, and -3 Intelligence

Starting Skills:

Acrobatics

Athletics

Awareness

Common Lore (Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy)

Linguistics (Low Gothic)

Tech Use

Weapon Training (Low Tech)

Starting Talents:

Catfall, Double Team, Hatred (Orks)

Disadvantage:

Hivebound

Starting wounds: 11

Favored Equipment: Prey-sense Goggles, M34 Autocannon

Starting Gear:

Good quality Voidsuit with Guard flak armor overlay

Prey-sense goggles

microbead

grapnel and line

supply of recaf

(Other standard Kit)

------------------

Regimental Point Allocation:

12/12 Points Spent

-1 Hivebound

3 (+2 strength, WS, toughness)

1 awareness

1 acrobatics

1 tech use

1 catfall

1 double team

2 hatred(orks)

3 wounds (11)

------------------

Regimental Gear Allocation:

60/60 points spent

15 guard flak

15 good quality void suit

8 micro-bead

5 grapnel and line

15 prey-sense goggles [reduced to rare availability due to being favored gear]

2 recaf

------------------

[sample characters to follow later]

I am leaning towards the fortress world then (**** you, but also at the same time, very good job indeed. But the quality of the work changes nothing!)

Sample Chaos Marine Warband

Sons of Iron

Origin - Iron Warriors (3 points) - +5 Toughness, +5 Willpower, Jaded

Commanding Officer - Bilious (2 Points)

Siege Infantry (2 Points) - Swap Lasgun for Boltgun, Swap Flak Armour for Astartes Power Armour, Swap Respirator for two lengths Accordion Wire.

Diehards Doctrine (3 points)

Iron Discipline Doctrine (3 Points)

Drawback - Regimental Rivalry (2 Points). Other Chaos Warband as rivals. (See Hammer of the Emperor)

Universal Kit;

Astartes Combat Knife
Sling Bag
Basic Tools
Mess Kit
Canteen
Directional Lamp (Torch/Flashlight)
Two weeks supply of rations.

Favoured Basic Weapon - Assault Flamer
Favoured Heavy Weapon - Heavy Bolter

Added Equipment;

Bolt Pistol with two magazines.
Auspex
Combi-tool

Hi!

Does anyone happen to have the Xenonian Free Companies PDF? Dark Reign is long gone and I had no luck with the webarchive to retrieve it, so if You could share I'd be much obliged.
I cannot contact Lynata directly, tried that a minute ago 😕