Well what do the rest of you have in store for the Ork-held worlds called collectively "'undred 'undred Teef"?

The first thoughts that comes to mind for me would be a truly epic campaign, when the Orks have reached their "critical mass" and an appropriate spacehulk materialize near those systems for the mekboyz to pull in and use to launch a full scale "waaagh!" against he nearby Calixis Sector.

The natural response from Battlefleet Calixis would be to seek complete subjugation of the Koronus Expanse and establish the necessary beach heads for the fleet to operate at maximum efficiency. This would of course mean that the prospering business to be found in the expanse which many Rogue Traders enjoy would be threatend due to the impending war and the inevitable expansion of Imperial control.

But! Perhaps the intrepid explorers of the expanse could manage to unite a sufficient force of independent Rogue Traders and notorious void pirates into a fleet capable of exterminating the greenskin threat and keeping the Koronus Expanse free for yet another couple of centuries? Will the Rogue Traders and Pirates be able to cooperate against a common enemy or will the alliance fall apart due to internal backstabbings? Just how far will the traders and pirates of the expanse go to keep battlefleet Calixis from pushing into the expanse and subjugating it under the iron shod heel of the Imperium, effectively putting a dead end to free trade in the expanse? Will the impending waaagh! originating from 'undred 'undred Teef simply wash over and destroy everything in it's path or can the greenskins actually be stopped dead in their tracks?

Only time will tell.

But tell me, does it sound epic enough so far?

Also, what sort of diabolical and epic plans are you cooking up that includes the Orks for your Rogue Trader campaign?

Varnias Tybalt said:

From what I can tell, the Koronus Passage (aka, The Maw) seems to be a fairly good natural bottleneck (the only local stable path through a vast collection of Warp Storms that leads to the Calixis Sector), and it has Port Wander (likely earmarked to be reclaimed by Battlefleet Calixis in just such an emergency) at the Calixis end. I can imagine that the bulk of the struggle would be battles along the Koronus Passage and around Port Wander as Imperial forces work to hold back the Ork fleets.

There's too much going on and too much uncertain about the Koronus Expanse to reasonably assume that the Navy could subjugate it in any reasonable space of time. Much of it remains unreliably charted at best and unknown at worst. Pacifying the region is the work of centuries, best case scenario. Worst case scenario, you'll lose squadron after squadron of ships in the attempt without achieving anything.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

First of all, the Angevin Crusade didn't have any problem with waging war across a couple of worlds even in the Koronus Expanse.

Second, Crusades happen all the time and are brought about for a varied number of reasons (the threat of a full scale Ork Waaagh! in an area that is the neighbour of an entire sector would certainly warrant for a crusade to be put together in the eyes of the Imperial armed forces)

And third (and most importantly), IT MAKES FOR A COOLER STORY!

I mean, just having an overhanging Ork threat is not gonna make Rogue traders and pirates to try and band together and make a last stand, they'll just avoid the Orks and continue doing business as usual. BUT! If the threat of Imperial authority asserting itself in the expanse, then suddenly a lot of people's business interests would be threatened. A Rogue Trader's warrant of trade is pretty useless within Imperial borders, and all Rogue Traders knows there are riches to be claimed in the expanse, so naturally they'd want the Koronus Expanse to stay free of Imperial authority rather than having to seek out a new place in the galaxy to try finding profit in.

The situation just has that perfect Rogue Trader feel to it, where none of them would really want to take on the Orks for altruistic reasons alone, but because of their own sense of greed and freedom. If we take the Battlefleet Calixis and the Imperium out of that equation just because you say that they would rather defend from a bottleneck than trying to wipe out the Orks completely, then all of that Rogue Trader feel would be lost.

So, Rule of Cool and the potential of an epic story should take precedence over battlefleet tactics and theory, don't you agree?

Besides, an impending Ork Waaagh! do affect the warp in interesting ways. Who knows? Perhaps the Orks might be able to gather so much momentum so they are actually able to smash through the Koronus Passage with little regard of the surrounding warp storms? I mean we're talking about a race who actually consider it to be "fun" when their warp capable vessels get invaded by the denizens of the warp, and who relish the opportinity of beating up warp creatures manifesting inside their ships and who have actually been able to succeed in doing just that from time to time, even during the most horrific geller field meltdowns (or whatever type of forcefields the Orks use to protect themselves against the naked warp). Also, if they reach sufficient numbers their collective will to make war will manifest in the warp as well, and might act as a mighty hammer of green willpower, smashing through the warp storms of the bottleneck with little effort.

Seriously, if I serve up this explanation to pretty much any group of players, I doubt any of them will start arguing with me about the supposed "can" and "can'ts" regarding Orks or warpstorms or what the Imperial battlefleets would do. And if any of them would, then I'd have to write them of as boring buzzkillers, and they'll only shoot themselves in the foot for trying to kill the potential of a good and epic story. Wouldn't you agree?

Personally as a RT I'd see the Imperial Navy setting up shop as a real opportunity. Like any crusade they are going to need the services of Rogue Traders who are experinced with the region. They are going to need supplies, outposts, and intelligence. There are thrones to be made, deed to be granted, loot to be gained, and contracts to be signed. Worlds that you couldn't muster the force to conqueror are now one navy battle group away from falling to you. Remember here is nothing that says that a RT loses everything when the Imperium setups up shop. In fact you are in place to setup on the ground floor. Nothing prevents an RT from having holdings in Imperial space. (Sure you aren't the voice of the Emperor, but you are still a power.)

Besides once Koronus is conquerored then there is what ever borders on Koronu.

I personally love the idea.

If i were you though, i would read up on the Third War of Armagheddon, in particular the space war between elements of several marine fleets (led by the Black Templars) and the Imperial navy (under admiral Parol) and the foul Ork. As well as being an rather awesome and epic read, its got some great ideas for imperium vs ork space combat.

Basic gist, orks simply have too great numbers to be directly fought. Any such battle would result in defeat. Parol and Helbrecht run a hit and run war, gradually picking off enough orks to start going after larger segments. The Orks, muppets that they are just plough towards Armagheddon full tilt and their lack of initiative basically loses them the war.

Translated into rogue trader i can missions to destroy ork supply vessels, blockade running, fleet actions, boarding actions to kill significant warbosses or mekboys, diplomacy missions to convince the eldar (or another more obscure race) to get onboard. Maybe assassinating a rogue trader standing in the way of forming a rogue trader alliance. A desperate mission to recover a long lost Battleship to lead the rogue trader fleet. Venture into the dark beyond the stars to find the Thulians and bring them back to fight for the Omnissiah (with all the truly sick tech they've undoubtably recovered of course). Stand offs with the Imperial Navy on the boarders of Imperial space, frantic negotiations to get them to pull the rod out their a**e and join forces.

**** that could be a fun chronicle. The trick would be to keep it mixed up enough that the PCs didn't just feel they were roleplaying a wargame.

Let us know if you run this, sounds really fun.

Dalnor Surloc said:

Yeah, there is that. But Rogue Traders do seek out the uncharted terretories of the galaxy for a reason you know. Once the entire sector of any piece of galaxy starts to get settled and "civilized", the market prices for goods change drastically (usually not for the better, since the Rogue Traders will suddenly have to compete with numerous chartist captains when it comes to regular trade). When the worlds are still just frontier, the Rogue Traders can pretty much set any price they want for their goods and services.

Apart from that, there's the =][= to consider. At such an uncharted and unsettled place like the Koronus Expanse, Inquisitorial prescence would usually be thankfully minimal. But if a ginormous battlefleet from "the civilization" comes along and intend to bring the entire area to heel, there will be loads of Inquisitors tagging along and do what they do best. Apart from the few radical Inquisitors, most of them will have alien temples destroyed and will crack down on the trade with xenos artifacts (something that many Rogue Traders enjoy collecting and selling unhindered because they do it outside of Imperial Space and have the wares funneld to civilization through black markets like the cold trade).

Also, Rogue Traders of a more piratical bend (and the full blown pirates of course) will not want to have the Expanse filled with Imperial Navy patrols. Life is hard for active pirates within civilized sectors, but border areas like the expanse offer plenty of viable targets in a place where most of the targets can't expect naval assistance in case they do get attacked by raiding pirates.

Still, im not dismissing your idea, im just extrapolating upon reasons why most Rogue Traders would want to keep the expanse free of Imperial authority. But a campaign like this should include the possibility of working for "the government" too and perhaps end up on top at the end if they're successful. But that would entail that the GM will have the player characters interact with a sadistic Navy Admiral who doesn't particularly like Rogue Traders at all, making them jump through hoops for him (like sabotaging for the other Rogue Traders trying to put down the ork threat themselves, or getting press ganged into an Imperial fleet that intends to meet the Ork fleets head on and other dangerous situations).

Varnias Tybalt said:

And third (and most importantly), IT MAKES FOR A COOLER STORY!

A different story, perhaps... but the notion of "there's an Ork invasion coming; let's hurl our fleet directly into the region where they're gathering, attempting to fortify a region of space which is not only full of things that want to kill and eat us, but is haunted by the ghosts of dead civilisations and seething with the taint of the Immaterium" still clashes with my ability to become enthused by it. Like many of the deadliest death worlds, it resists civilisation, and for me, that unsettling inability to be tamed is part of what makes the Expanse so interesting.

That's part of the reason, anyway. The other part being that I actually like the idea of an Ork Waaagh hurling itself at the Koronus Passage and bludgeoning its way through blockade after blockade until it reaches the Calixis Sector. Mainly because I feel that Calixis is a far more appropriate and interesting place for an interstellar war, with world after world of civilisation and diverse nature to be the backfor all kinds of war stories.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Aww, but come on. Arrogance, hubris, martial zeal and an extreme willingness to be favored are staple virtues among the ruling elite of the Imperium. That includes naval commanders and Imperial Guard generals. If finally given a reason, many of them would love the idea of being the ranking Imperial commander that brings the Koronus Expanse to heel. Doing things like that are the stuff of legends after all and might even get them canonized like Saint Drusus.

It doesn't have to make much sense, since religion is an ingrained part of the Imperial military, and there's nothing new or unorthodox about Imperial commanders stageing a "holy war of conquest".

N0-1_H3r3 said:

That's exactly why the Rogue Traders would want to band together and fight for the Expanse in the first place. They want to keep that area of space untamed and exploitable.

The main point of the campaign is to keep the Imperium out, not theorizing for it's reasons to want to get in. So the basic idea serves your interests.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Hehehe, that might just be in the sequel.

Varnias Tybalt said:

That's the thing, though; I don't think the Expanse needs help, and I don't imagine that anyone who has spent any significant length of time there would dispute the bizarre hostility of the Koronus Expanse. It'll swallow the foolish and the greedy alike all by itself.

It's less a matter of wanting to keep the region untamed and exploitable, and more to do with the fact that it's one of those places in the galaxy where the superstitions about it are not only true, but far worse than the direst imaginings of those who think they know it...

You know what I think would kick off a Waaagh! nicely? A Weirdboy or Big Mek finding a Halo artefact. This givers the players a race against time to find out as much about the artefact and it's abilities before the orks do.

Also remember that these orks are unusually high in Flash Gitz. These are orks who like Gunz over Choppaz, and are just cunnin' enuff to pick their targets. Ghazgull Mag Uruk Thraka is a powerful warrior, a prophet of Gork and Mork and even an amateur poet (Though he wrote the poem on the leg of a Titan he helped kill). He's only a reasonable leader. Some of the un-orky orks like Stormboyz, Kommadoz or Flash Gitz who like (semi) disciplined units of orks are a whole new kettle of squigs. These are orks willing to try extortion, outflanking, even (gasp) stealth! They're also a lot more open to being bargained with. An ork freebooter or mercenary can be a powerful ally, as long as he thinks the boss can beat him in a fight. Imagine if a rival Rogue Trader were trying to steer a Waaagh! at his enemies...

Finally, I love the idea of Green energy punching through the warp-storms, but why would they go that way? Imagine an Ork weirdboy having a dream of the Rift. There's the biggest big 'fing of all in there, and it's challenging all the orks to a fight. That Waaagh! punches a hole in the rift and opens up a whole new set of worlds for any explorer willing to dodge the orks and whatever they've declared war on.

St. Jimmy said:

Shades of Azhag the Slaughterer and his Crown of Sorcery, eh?

I love the ider of RT haveing to stop or tying fight to a waaaght and full intend to nick it.

Varnias Tybalt said:

Last week an Inqution sponser tured up and demaned that the crew took an Ork wiredboy he had capured to porrt wanter (to be shiped on).

a few days in the ork got inside the macine spirt and turned off the gravity then floted out of it cage kiled the drunk IG conscriped on guard and seled it self in the room, evey time the PC took a seritor up cut thought the door it died, so they have to come up with a way to subdue the ork that the othere side of a lock door. they did it in the end, but they dont know that when the ork was in there it relsed spores, so gues what growing the the pips