At the risk of contradicting you, Commerce is Intelligence based in Only War, not Fellowship based like it was in Rogue Trader, because it's about manipulating Munitorum paperwork, meaning Medics can buff intelligence and commerce fairly easily and cheap without a significant detriment to their medical skills.

Which is why I suggested, given it's an opposed test, an intelligent, commerce trained quartermaster NPC. Considering his job, it makes a lot of sense.

Otherwise, everything you said is perfectly apt.

At the risk of contradicting you, Commerce is Intelligence based in Only War, not Fellowship based like it was in Rogue Trader, because it's about manipulating Munitorum paperwork, meaning Medics can buff intelligence and commerce fairly easily and cheap without a significant detriment to their medical skills.

Which is why I suggested, given it's an opposed test, an intelligent, commerce trained quartermaster NPC. Considering his job, it makes a lot of sense.

Otherwise, everything you said is perfectly apt.

Indeed you are right. I had just read over the "Working the System" box on page 162 where it says Fellowship and Commerce, and didn't bother to double check. I suppose that's what happens when you just switched from RT back to OW!

Since it is an opposed test, the chance of getting insane effective Logistics Ratings is much lower. So the issue of grunts wielding power swords is even less of an issue, unless you are doing something wrong.

In the sororitas campaign I'm running atm, I'm elegantly avoiding the issue of requisitions entirely. My group gets a list of what they are allowed to check out of the armoury, everything else needs to be purchased with throne gelt or traded for. Requisitioned gear is basically an alteration to their standard load-out, for which they need to turn in their weapon. As they rise through the ranks or gain seniority in their organisation, they gain access to additional gear. If they want something "special", it means dealing with the local engineseers anyway, who are either expensive or require some hefty favours that may well put the group's lives at risk.

Keeps it simple for me and immersive for my players and lets me directly tie in equipment gain with their progress and fame among their peers as a unit.
I do not really see the random roll as something sensible, especially in an ecclessiarchal campaign of an organisation that is notoriously well-supplied.

As far as line regiments go, honestly, I handle it much like Moep. I do not believe a diceroll accurately represents a military logistics chain, and my players do not think a quartermaster insisting unwashed uniforms are their lasguns is funny, nor does the man's superior officer, who is likely to have him shot for a stunt like that. in 40k, the technology to defend the imperium is often seen as holy and I would go so far as to compare the quartermaster who is unable to supply mission critical equipment as similar in status to a marine who managed to lose a chapter relic, only much, much more expendable.

Access to better equipment beyond what the regiment normally has is therefore something I prefer to handle on a regimental, centurio or squad basis. It is accurate for TT that veterans get better gear, correct, however, this is a uniform application. A requisitions system which allows singular check-outs seems utterly counter-intuitive to a military setting. If specialists always have their gear (as they should!), I do have to ask what the point of the requisitions system is. It seems superfluous when you could instead slot down a hard list of what fame or rank is required to use a specific rarity of equipment. It also seems more prudent to add things like plasma drill to an entire unit which recieves their weapons' training at once than to a single trooper. The guard is military mass production, after all. Wether this is a cross-regimental training group or solely for the PCs' own regiment is another matter entirely, but once a regiment has attained the know-how and -trust- to use a specific piece of equipment, the munitorum usually supplies a specific amount. There, and only there, I could see a roll for rarer equipment types, because in some cases, there simply may not be enough to go around. But something like a long las? The moment you have a designated and registered sharp shooter per squad, it should be trivial.

Could you please explain how you personaly handle the requisition system in your games?

It's been some months since our last game, but we did something like the following:

1) In every mission you are assigned a list of gear. You use logistics as in the corebook to see if you get all those items, some of them or entirely different stuff.

This may not be 100% realistic at some point (if you play as veterans or as karsking or stormtroopers or wathever), but in our games is fun.

2) Before every mission, you get the opportunity to ask for ONE extra item that must be returned afterwards (if not spent). This item can be ammunition, grenades or other non-weapon/non-armour equipment. We have to handwave how much of that item you get (for example, for frag missiles we say you get 1D6, for krak missiles you get 1D3, and so on).

At higher experience levels, players may be able to ask for two, three or more extra items per mission.

3) We stablish a number of "levels" that your squad may reach, depending on it's logistics (without taking into account bonuses from talents and special circumstances. The levels are more or less as follows:

- logistics 0-9: grunts . At least you are considered a trained soldier! The leader of the squad is a Sargeant.

- logistics 10-19: grunts with talent. Each of the players can keep 1 requested item through the requisition system.

- logistics 20-29: specialists . The squad is considered to be "quite good" at something (blowing up buildings, hunting tanks, flanking the enemy, and so on). Each of the players can keep 2 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 30-39: Each of the players can keep 3 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 40-49: Veterans . You are probably the best squad of your entire company. Each of the players can keep 4 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 50-59: Each of the players can keep 5 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 60-69: Platoon leaders . The leader of the squad is a Litenant. Each of the players can keep 6 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 70-79: Each of the players can keep 7 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 80-89: Company leaders . The leader of the squad is a Captain. There may still be a Coronel in charge. Each of the players can keep 8 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 90-99: Each of the players can keep 9 requested items through the requisition system.

- logistics 100: The leader of the squad is the Coronel himself. Each of the players can keep 10 requested items through the requisition system.

As you can see, for every 10 points in logistics, every player may keep a new item forever: an item that, if it was lost, would be replaced by the munitorum.

I let players do a logistics test between missions (with some roleplaying) to see if they are able to get this item they want.

You can only ask for "basic quality" items with this system. A single upgrade in one piece of equipment quality is automatic, but counts as an item itself.

The limit to this system, though, is that you can only have a maximum of 2 close combat weapons (knifes don't count), 1 big close combat weapon, 2 pistols, 2 basic weapons and 1 heavy weapon and a 2 complete armour sets.

(a Heavy Weapons Specialist may have 2 Heavy weapons; a close combat brute may have 2 big close combat weapons... apply logic here ).

4) Other ways to get stuff are: finding it, stealing it, trading for it, getting an award and so on. This must be roleplayed and depending on the regiment policy it may be totally forbidden.

¿What do you think about this?

I have to say that I've never reached the 40-logistics level, so I can't promise this works or is even fun at all :-)

As far as taking trophies and such goes, I remember in the IG codices they'd often have a picture of a soldier, and note that they'd looted or taken as trophies non-standard equipment. So at least Kasrkin leaders might be ok with it, because that's the example that I remember, but some regiments (i.e. Savlar) work off of looting and scavenging explicitly, and you can be **** certain Catachans don't care if one of the sergeants loots a power sword off the enemy, as long as it's not infected with demon juju or something like that.

The Commissars might well complain, but there's plenty of regiments that take what the commissars say with a grain of salt. The main regiments that would look down upon it are the ones that are very, very straitlaced - but we have a mechanic for that in the Fortress World origin and similar.

One time I'd imagine when most gear would get returned/replaced would be when the regiment has some downtime and is demobilized between warzones or some such.

I believe the simplest way to handle it is reporting the trophies. The commissariat knows all too well that taking something away from a soldier who's earned it is horrendous for morale, so such should be the exception, rather than the norm (even Yarrick carries a looted xenos weapon, though it is very likely he had it checked over and properly "reconfigured" by a tech-priest; which, again, may well be a quest hook for the party), and reserved for things that are definitely heretical. A simple SoP would thus be to check in loot after a battle, have the clergy and engineseers inspect it, and if everything is in order and you have your receit, you get it back swiftly enough. This is also an easy way to weed out actual daemon weaponry, because those would be the ones soldiers don't hand in if they're under their thrall, and are thus at the very latest picked up during the next voidship transport or barracks control. Moreover, the soldier then did something wrong, because he didn't report it, and you can take it, and him, away without damaging morale for that reason alone.

I believe the simplest way to handle it is reporting the trophies. The commissariat knows all too well that taking something away from a soldier who's earned it is horrendous for morale, so such should be the exception, rather than the norm (even Yarrick carries a looted xenos weapon, though it is very likely he had it checked over and properly "reconfigured" by a tech-priest; which, again, may well be a quest hook for the party), and reserved for things that are definitely heretical. A simple SoP would thus be to check in loot after a battle, have the clergy and engineseers inspect it, and if everything is in order and you have your receit, you get it back swiftly enough. This is also an easy way to weed out actual daemon weaponry, because those would be the ones soldiers don't hand in if they're under their thrall, and are thus at the very latest picked up during the next voidship transport or barracks control. Moreover, the soldier then did something wrong, because he didn't report it, and you can take it, and him, away without damaging morale for that reason alone.

I definitely like this Idea. Reasonable Astra Militarum ftw :3

Right around now, I really do think I wish that OW had borrowed the Signature Wargear talent from DW; I don't imagine anyone telling Harker to return Payback, that's his gun. You might make an argument that he was a Heavy, and they get that as standard gear, and then he got into Sergeant, or Commander, but I think even then, he would have to lose the heavy bolter, as it isn't standard for bosses, like it is for heavies. If I was playing a psyker, and got a Force weapon, I think I might actually pay the XP to get to keep it, rather than have the GM arbitrarily call for it to get returned now, when the number of available psykers who might be using it is puny. Oh well.

I've got my Lascannon as a Signature Item with my GM's permission due to having used it to perform heroic deeds. Officially it belongs to the Navy, but nobody wants to take it off me - I'm too damned good with it.

As long as it makes sense for the character to have and they can give me a decent explanation as to why they should have something i let them roll for it. It has lead to interesting roll plays (the Commissar got an Inferno Pistol with a 5% chance, the local techpriest was not happy and it will come up next game) I am playing a bit with my PCs being above the standard grunt. But it is still nice to have them at the mercy of fate (or the bureaucracy as the case is) I like the logistics test as is and will change it whenever I feel the need to.

If you need an explanation as to how a guardsman received something outside his/her grade chalk it up to a mix up. Even a Commissar will let things slide some if a trooper is accidentally assigned a power weapon and then uses that weapon to save his squad from something, after all the Emperor will provide. The key here is that they "lose" something else (guy goes to pick up the squads Lho rations and gets a bolter instead, well it is too much work for the clerk to put back into the system too bad).

The system is very lose in terms of explanation for a reason. It covers all of the below:

-Official Requisitions from the Department Mintorium

-Trading (including papers) from other units

-Stealing

-Wining it in a bet

-Keeping it as loot

Different ways of acquiring the gear should have different related rolls

It does so by having it as a value of not only your rank but the respect of the Officers and other troopers (hence time your regiment has served in the zone matters). It may not make sence for a green recruit to have a power sword, but I would let it slide if the trooper in question could handle the weapon better than most officers and has already proven he is worthy of it.