So, if you aren't IG, how do you get some of your cool gear? I have always wished that a group of IG came with some variety of carapace armor and jump packs, and can imagine a squad of elite Elysian jump troops, but the common answer is "the IG doesn't care, and don't devote such resources on individuals." or some such thing. So, where does, say, the Adeptus Sororitas get their stuff, that no one in the Dept. Mun. complains? In some lights, they shouldn't even exist, with the Ecclesiarchy being forbade soldiers, but it said "men at arms", and Battle Sisters aren't men (which is technically correct; the best kind of correct), with their glorious...Faith, yeah Pure Faith. They get Power Armor, Jet Packs, and all kinds of cool things, but how? Why can't the IG operate several small, super-specialized units, like Jump Infantry? Packs are made at Human scale (Seraphim wear them), but I otherwise don't know why they exist, if next to no one uses them. Fuel could be an issue, but they'd still do more for the Drop Trooper than break one fall, which is what I imagine the grav-chute did. (Now I have an image of IG with the Transformers 3 wing suits.)

I really wish that my 103rd Elysians could be Jump Pack-toting Infantry, rather than just falling out of Valkyries; it would make for a cooler story, if it wouldn't get laughed at incessantly.

The Solution is to make your own regiment. Drop troops or Grenadiers and equip them with actual jump packs. Come up with a story about where they are from and why they are so equipped. Maybe the regiment is from a world or area of said world with near unnavicable mountains (Similar to Tibet). Since armored warfare is essentially impossible this regiment created a sort of "refined" jump Infantry. (Perhaps called Mobile infantry if you want to Plagiarize Heinlein.) These troops could then have Stormtrooper armor and Jumpacks added to their standard "Kit". Finally you could assign a Valkyrie as a dedcated "One per squad" transport!The biggest problem would be explaining how your Troops are actually better Kitted out than Stormtroopers!

The tactical rationale would be that given the terrain that they normally fight in these troops are often in areas where just "dropping" them would provide no benefit since they would have an extremely difficult time just moving in the Mountains! You might have to use some of the disadvantages from HoE to get there but it is possible!

the reason human dont use jump packs is weight, sororitas have power armour to assist but the weight of (especially carapace) and a jet pack would be extremly limiting and therefor not useful

and the Sororitas are technically not part of the Ecclisiarchy but the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus (Inquisition) so they dont break the rule (which is broken often nonetheless), there gear is issued to them and requisitioned from the forgeworld/manufactorums and are no buisiness of the Departmento Munitorum

anyways its not the IGs job to be that special, thats what Space Marines are for

Stormtroopers can do the covert/sabotage part well enough

anyways its not the IGs job to be that special, thats what Space Marines are for

Stormtroopers can do the covert/sabotage part well enough

Yeah, that one line is my least favorite argument against Guard, and partly why I haven't bought them.

Sadly, I can't argue it, because they re often built from the perspective of "we can't make the Space Marines EVEN MORE ridiculous, o the handful of people who play anything else will feel left out, so let's diminish some others, cap their greatness, and then the necessary gulf will remain. The Emperor Protects!...His Space Marines...

Eldar and Tau just get better, more specialized, while Orks and Nids get bigger, to absorb more better, and the Guard stay as is, just so the Space Marines can stay AWESOME makes me sad. Never completely got the selling point for IG. Everyone's expendable, no real Heroes to speak of, and you win by outlasting, and melting the foe with Ordnance. Where was there ever a "love your army, relate to your army, enjoy building your army" feeling supposed to be? "Buy more meat to guard your tanks" is more like. Sorry for the rant, it happens, sometimes. Here's hoping that the new Codex will persuade me to feel better, though with so many odd rumors, and other people saying "mostly, just leave it as is", I'm not sure.

As for the Inquisition getting the packs for their Ladies in Wading Through Heathens, I can see that; it's a perk of tking marching orders from the big =][=, but I still fall back on "why do these packs exist?" Not a lot of point in making them without a BIG military need, Space Marines use different ones, and IG don't use them. There aren't that many SoB's, even fewer Seraphim, so why did the Forge World make these military-grade packs in the first place, that the Inquisition then said "yes...excellent", and grab them up? Also sad that if an AS group could justify a use, then the massive IG couldn't. But I'm good now, I think. Gonna go snag lunch

i think the human-sized jump packs are more a religious demand, Sororitas are trying to become angels/martyrs/saints so flying around is more of a faith thing

i hear you about the IG in TT
but honstely i dont mind that much, i like that they are numberless/faceless since i play Deathkorps of Krieg anyways but you have something almost noone else does, awesome tanks (maybe not rules wise but style wise) and with the release of Escalation we get to field them in all there glory, variety and deadlyness (S10 AP1 10" Blast Ignore Cover FTW )

and the Sororitas are technically not part of the Ecclisiarchy but the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus (Inquisition) so they dont break the rule (which is broken often nonetheless), there gear is issued to them and requisitioned from the forgeworld/manufactorums and are no buisiness of the Departmento Munitorum

The Sisters have always been a part of the Ecclesiarchy - there was just a long period in GW's fluff (3rd to 5th edition) where they were also the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus. Even during that time, however, they always belonged to the Church first and foremost. A lot of people seem to have misinterpreted this just because the 3E Codex which established the inquisitorial connection was so heavily focused on the OH.

They first received their advanced wargear during Vandire's rule, when the High Lord was able to practically demand anything he wanted without anyone so much as daring to question him. The relevant treaties between the Ecclesiarchy and the Adeptus Mechanicus were simply kept intact even after the Age of Apostasy, thanks in large part to Sebastian Thor's skill in negotiations and the role he played in ending Vandire's reign.

/nerd

thanks for clearing that up, i still had the =I= in mind

anyways, IG wins wars, everyone else just steals the glory

anyways, IG wins wars, everyone else just steals the glory

This I can subscribe to as well. Really, if you look past the romanticised myth and glorified legends, even Codex fluff says the Marines have to go get the Guard if things get tough.

Marines and Sisters (and Storm Troopers) are "force multipliers" - small specialist contingents capable of tipping the balance, or holding a critical position for some time, or punching a hole into the enemy defense ... it is up to the brave (and expendable) masses of the Guard to make use of it, and ultimately to win the battle. Astartes and Sororitas are merely assistance - albeit a highly valuable one (and not just because of their combat efficiency, but also in terms of morale).

Yeah, I can see all this. For the RP, I think my biggest whine stems from, as a PC, whether relevant or not, I dream of being the coolest of people (or climbing to that point), the one who gets the really cool stuff; the world is coming down, and YOU are the people they call on to save it. When I play D&D, I play wizards, who will someday shake the world with their power, while if I decide to spice things up, and play melee, I long for the best armor (survivability) and mightiest relic weapons, that I may wade into the throng, and exterminate my enemies. (It's humorous that current D&D game I'm a buff-speak disguised noble, but it works, too, and Silver has gotten some cool stuff.) In DW, I'm a Space Marine, and someday, I might get to wear Terminator armor, or carry a force weapon into battle, and kill some great monster in one blow. RT doesn't have gear I can't get, and worlds fall to my words, or macrocannons, if I choose to speak with those. Even DH, eventually I might get to become an Inquisitor, garbed in some of the greatest gear ever made, and stride around, barking orders that must be obeyed, while burning worlds down with artifacts we don't even understand. You're not important, but just one of a million, and so easily replaced as to not even be worth commenting. You don't feel like the Heroes the world needs, the ones who'll save the day; you're MMORPG toons; the army of tools who distracted Arthus, so that Tyrion could actually defeat him, and then you weren't even there when they talk, except as you are watching the cut scene.

Then I get to Only War, and have trouble getting into the mood. You're a person, easily killable, and expectedly going to die. Your motivation is "if you don't, he'll shoot you." and no one really cares what you did. In some levels, especially with how it is currently built, you'll never aspire to greatness (never bigger than you in a single squad), and all of the greatest gear in the galaxy is reserved for the greater warriors, whether they are the Space Marines, the Adepta Sororitas, the personal retinue of Lord Captain Blank, or Inquisitor Lord Blank (even Creed and Straken have "regular" gear). There's a lot of fighting, and that's nice, but there's no end to it; the Imperium won't ever win this war (which might as much be just a cover for the Jericho War, which they also aren't winning), and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of future greatness for your characters. They'll always just be faceless souls in flak/carapace, carrying flashlights, against nightmares made manifest beyond count. It's like playing Survivor Mode, just for points.

I understand all this, and don't even just want to complain, or look that part. Mostly I'm now just trying to illustrate my malfunction. On some levels, I really like IG, but part of it might just be because so many of the TT gamers around me are so into Space Marines. I looked forward to Only War coming out, since the stuff would be a little more "believable" (hah), but it's either a tank you brought with you doing awesome, or you and some folks, shooting at swarms till you die, because there's always the next swarm (or the DE killed you by surprise, and you're still trying to figure out how you died.)

If I was going to get my friends to want to play this one, over the others, I'm not sure what the selling points would be, above "the mechanics are better." You're all the same regiment, so you'd better pick between Cadian, Catachan, and Elysian, and on, and on, and on; I'm sorry, I've actually run out of energy to keep complaining, expecially when I'm whining about something that is, for the most part, exactly how it is supposed to be.

Thank you everyone for listening to me vent. I think I can go back to more "intelligent" seeming posts now. Have a good one.

's alright, I think we understand. I always thought that the different themes are one of the greatest advantages of the different RPGs being split up into multiple books (all with slightly different mechanics, each geared to one specific type of atmosphere) - but then again, I did embrace the variety that comes with so many different types of characters.

I've got my Deathwatch Captain on one end of the scale, and I've got a Valhallan sniper girl on the other. They're both heroes in their own right, they just differ in what they can do and the impact they can have on the setting - that being said, I actually think the ordinary humans are the real heroes, because where the Marines and the Sisters and the Assassins and the Inquisitors get to field powered armour and plasma weapons and refractor fields, the puny Guardsman has to make do with the humble lasgun and sheer guts. Because the more fancy tools and enhancements and brainwashing you strip away from the protagonist, the more difficult it gets for them to stand their ground, and the more meaningful their sacrifices become on a personal level.

So what if the Marine just killed another 100 Genestealers? He does that sort of stuff every day. Yawn.

The Guardsman blowing up his first tank with a grenade, on the other hand? His or her squad will remember this day for years to come.

Maybe this is just me being bored of the overexaggerated heroics in various Hollywood movies and computer games and, yes, especially in certain Space Marine novels, because for me, things just stop being exciting once you get the feeling that the hero is invulnerable and can do anything.

The Guardsmen are also much easier to identify with - they've led normal lives, they have personalities untouched by the extensive indoctrination heaped upon Astartes or Sororitas, which means they have a lot more options for interacting with each other as well as how they react to any given situation. They are often unprepared for the sheer horror of war, and that's what makes their stories so much more ... human.

40k can be so much more than just shooting CSMs and Hive Tyrants in the face.

Containment Zone Baker

Ginevra didn't know what this small secondary arena was for, originally. Whatever it had been, the viewing stands were almost empty now, except for a few Sisters keeping watch, and the sand of the arena floor was blackened. Most of the other novices were tying their prisoners to a row of wooden stakes. Torres stood back watching, Luna with flamer ready at her side, while Portia was sticking another stake into the ground.

"We're -- ugh -- we're gonna run out of stakes before we run out of heretics," Portia said, trying to force hers in. It splintered. "Dammit! These things are such cheap gak!"

"My full name," came a whispered voice, "is Rafael Sibelius Eckhart. I was a musician."

"Shut up," Ginevra whispered back. She pushed him forward.

"I composed and taught girls like you piano," Eckhart said. "Remember me."

She shoved him up against a stake. "How..." She looked around. "How do we tie them up?"

"I like cats but I'm allergic, so I could never keep one in my apartment," Eckhart said. "Remember me."

"Shut up!" Ginevra snapped. "Where are, where are, y'know, the tying things?"

"Here," Susan said, handing her a short plastic cord. Then she went back to struggling with her own prisoner, a hooded woman who kept sliding down the stake and sobbing on the ground. "C'mon, get up," Susan said desperately. "C'mon...."

"Tell them your name!" Eckhart shouted. "Don't just cry, dammit! Tell them your name!"

Ginevra smacked his hooded face with her armored fist. That shut him up for a minute while she tied him tightly to the stake. Susan's prisoner just kept sobbing.

More blood soaked the bottom of Eckhart's hood. "Oh, well," he said thickly. "My hair was brown. My eyes were grey. Remember me."

"Shut! Up!" Ginevra spat out. She yanked the knots tighter and stepped back.

The hooded woman was still sobbing in a lump on the charred ground. Susan squatted next to her, face in her hands.

"Okay, Susan," Ginevra said, a little shakily, "let me help you with...."

"No," Susan said.

"What?"

"No," Susan repeated. "I'm done."

"Okay." Ginevra shook herself, squared her shoulders, and walked over to the weeping woman. "I'll do it."

"I'm done," Susan repeated, standing up, and she began to walk away.

"Susan?" Ginevra said. "Susan, what..."

"I'm done." She kept walking.

The other novices were all looking at Susan at this point, even sleepy-eyed Luna with the flamer. Sister Torres looked at Ginevra instead and raised one eyebrow.

Ginevra took a deep breath. "Novice...", she croaked. She swallowed. "Novice Susan! Get back here, now!"

"No," Susan said, not turning. "Done."

"Susan!" Ginevra shouted.

"My n-n-n-name is Minnie Cartwright," whispered the woman on the ground behind her, choking back tears. "My name was Minnie Davis Cartwright and I had four grandchildren. Remember me."

Susan was still walking away, right towards Torres and Luna with the flamer. "Dammit," Ginevra muttered and started running after her. "Novice! Susan! Stop!"

"My favorite colors were blue and red," Eckhart called after her. "I took painting classes but I sucked at it but I kept taking them anyway because it was relaxing. Remember me!"

"Portia, shut him up!" Ginevra yelled. She caught up to Susan, grabbed her by the shoulder, spun her round. "Novice! Where are you going?"

"I don't know." Susan pulled free and started off again, only to run up against a glaring Sister Torres.

"You've disobeyed a direct order from your Provisional Squad Leader," Torres said softly.

"I can't do this."

"We all have to do this, Novice Susan."

"I can't! We're -- I'm training to be a Sister of Battle," Susan said, starting to cry. "This -- this isn't battle."

"We are Sisters of whatever the Emperor needs us to be, Novice Susan."

"I can't."

"This is an in or out moment, Novice Susan."

There was a long silence, broken only by Eckhart's groans and Portia's grunts as she beat him.

Susan unsealed her helmet, took it off, and handed it to Sister Torres. "Out," she said.

"Out, then," Torres said in a voice as quiet as it was terrible.

Susan popped her back-and-breastplate, pulled off her pelvic protection, undid her greaves and vambraces, and set all the carapace tidily in a pile. Then, clad only in her padded bodysuit and boots, she walked past Torres towards the arena gate.

"Susan!" Torres called after her.

Susan stopped but she didn't look back. "Yes, ma'am?"

"The boots too, Susan."

Susan took off the boots and walked away, barefoot, over the blackened ground. The Sister at the gate opened it for her without a word. Susan started through, then stopped.

"My name is Susan," she said. "I was a Novice of the Adepta Sororitas. Remember me."

Then she left.

"Huh," Sister Torres said. "Okay, are they all staked up?"

"Sister Torres, ma'am?" asked Portia. "Shouldn't we, ah, go after her?" She waggled her bolter suggestively.

"Go after whom, Novice?"

Portia blinked. "Uh, Susan?"

"Never heard of her," Torres said. "Are all the prisoners staked up?"

A pause.

"Provisional Squad Leader Ginevra," Torres said, speaking very slowly, "are all the heretics secured for purification?"

"Ah..." Ginevra looked around. There were ten hooded figures in a row, tied to ten stakes, one for each person in the squad if you counted Sister Torres. "Yes, ma'am."

"I never married her," Eckhart said through a spasm of violent coughing. "That was my mistake," he gasped. "Remember me."

"Your mistake," Torres said in that same quietly terrible voice, "was to participate in an insurrection against the God-Emperor and His servants that cost so many of them their lives."

Michael, Ginevra thought, remembering the young soldier she'd never even gotten to speak to.

"My name's Serena Davis!" shouted another of the bound and hooded prisoners. "I shot an Arbites detective in the face and I'm not sorry! Remember me!"

"My name is Joe Early," the prisoner next to her said, almost inaudibly. "I fix -- I fixed groundcars. I, y'know, liked dogs. Remember..."

"Girls, step clear, please," Torres said sharply. "Flamer specialist?"

Luna stepped forward, her eyes focused on nothing in particular, the pilot light of her flamer flickering prettily in the wind.

"Luna, no!" Ginevra thought. Then she realized, as everyone turned to stare at her, that she had said it aloud.

"Provisional Squad Leader?" Torres said, grinding her jaw.

"Luna, give me the flamer," Ginevra said.

"Why?" Luna asked, smiling vaguely as she unclipped the fuel tank from her back armor.

"Yes," said Torres, "why?"

"I'm Provisional Squad Leader," Ginevra said quietly. "I should do it."

Torres nodded.

Ginevra took up the flamer.

"My name is Lawrence Darrell," said one of the hooded men, somehow managed to turn his face almost directly towards Ginevra. "I -- I grew prize tomatoes and had two sons. Remember me."

Ginevra tried to find the trigger but her hands were shaking too badly.

"You can do it, Ginny," Torres said softly in her ear. She gently laid a hand on Ginevra's arm to steady her, her other hand on her shoulder. "Just breathe. Breathe with me."

Ginevra heard Torres inhaling deeply, exhaling; she could feel Torres's strong hands on her. She forced herself to take a long, deep breath.

"My name was Rafael -- Sibelius -- Eckhart," came a hoarse rasp. "I loved...."

Ginevra pulled the trigger.

When the flames died down, Torres gave Ginevra a sudden hug, their armor clacking together, and kissed her on the top of her helmet. Then just as suddenly she let Ginevra go.

"Okay, girls," Torres said loudly, "let's get the next batch."

- excerpt from: Able, Baker

Weird, all the "normal" names. I haven't read enough 40K novels, so I sort of wondered what the regular people in such a different world used. It is kind of nice to see the human side of a Sororitas; thanks for digging it up.

Heh - there are some elements in the author's stories that I personally don't quite agree with and feel they may be "too contemporary" (see my comment in the linked thread above), but I really liked the plot and thought it'd be a nice example for the other face of war.

As far as names go, theoretically, they could be anything you can imagine, since every single world in 40k has its own culture, and thus could feature a different set of names, including ones familiar to our own nation.

But if you enjoyed that one, be sure to also read Ollanius Pius Requiem - this one features an encounter with the Guard.

So, if you aren't IG, how do you get some of your cool gear?

I love this question.

Then I get to Only War, and have trouble getting into the mood. You're a person, easily killable, and expectedly going to die. Your motivation is "if you don't, he'll shoot you." and no one really cares what you did. In some levels, especially with how it is currently built, you'll never aspire to greatness (never bigger than you in a single squad), and all of the greatest gear in the galaxy is reserved for the greater warriors, whether they are the Space Marines, the Adepta Sororitas, the personal retinue of Lord Captain Blank, or Inquisitor Lord Blank (even Creed and Straken have "regular" gear). There's a lot of fighting, and that's nice, but there's no end to it; the Imperium won't ever win this war (which might as much be just a cover for the Jericho War, which they also aren't winning), and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of future greatness for your characters. They'll always just be faceless souls in flak/carapace, carrying flashlights, against nightmares made manifest beyond count. It's like playing Survivor Mode, just for points

One potential way to offset this is to make use of the Inquisition. For the OW campaign I'm planing, the squad will be part of an invasion of a secessionist world. While the Guard is busy fighting the heretical secessionists, there is an inquisitor poking around, convinced there is a deeper heresy at work. The party's squad will eventually be tangled up in this investigation, and through the inquisitor will gain access to equipment that would not normally be available to puny IG troopers. It's not a great solution, but I think it will work to beef up the party as the campaign progresses.

I've had that thought. I very much like the stat block for Inquisitor Victoria Ardrich, from BC, and have thought of having her show in a game, if I were to run one, and "requisition" some Guardsmen from their Colonel, or whoever. Either she, or some very IL Helynna Valeria-like Inquisitor could be very much fun. Even have the stat block, and most of the weapons. Since most soldiers rarely see their true leaders, anyway, it would also be an unnecessary excuse to get them to see a real mover and shaker. Still, the only flaw there is me keeping the Inquisitor from Space Marining in front of the IG, but without never being there. Could lounge in the Chimera, much of the time, and show up for "crucial" interactions, while voxing much of it, sort of like the Inquisitor in the Space Marine game.

Stray thought, one of the Severan bases could, knowingly or not, house a vortex missile, and they have to keep it from getting moved off-planet, to be a usable threat against the Imperium; maybe even use it later, then, to hit Avitothol (wherever Git-Slaver's capital is.) Or any other thing worthy of pulling an Inquisitor there in person, rather than proxying through Acolytes.

i actually consider being normal humans something good, but than again i was never into hero-rpgs more stuff along the lines of chuthulu and vampire where death is almost certain and you are indeed squishy

marines and sororitas are cool but i always miss much rpg opportunity when playing DW, i know chapters are different but at the core marines are indoctrinated soldiers and therefore will act predictable and follow orders

Never liked Cthulhu as a game (beyond the really good material), but Vampire and other White Wolf games were much fun. Much of my initial role-playing was V:tM and Mage. Kind of miss those days.

It's not so much that I object to being a "normal" human, as much as I RP to be a hero, of sorts, and I personally find it hard to grasp that in OW, where there are thousands of other faceless souls, and they did almost as much. There's a lack, for me, of YOU were the important part, YOU were what saved the day. In OW, you seem to be as expendable as the trees you hide among, and if you die, the army behind/around you can still win the day, or not, and your new characters might just be the next batch of that force. Your own footprint might be small, and or anonymous. That'll be my real life, so in my RPGs, I like to be "important".

I find Space Marines can be boring as hell, so don't get me wrong. There isn't so much role-playing to be had IMO, and their fights are a bit ridiculous, but there are few enough of them that people know of them, as a group, at least, they aren't thrown at just anything, and THEY will remember your deeds; the Officers of your regiment don't even know your name, beyond you are a file with gear requisitioned to you.

Do also remember that the Imperium is essentially a Post-Apocalyptic society on a galactic scale. It isn't so much just that the Nobles Are Stingy (though I'm sure it does play a part), it's that what the IG gets is the only stuff that the Imperium as a whole can mass-produce, ship, and train on a large enough scale fast enough to make a strategic difference.

Space Marine gear? That stuff is millennia old, often cared for by the chapter, with many of the designs being lost to the ravages of time. And since Astartes are the Emperor's Pets... erm, sons, then they get dibs on anything else high end that might still be around.

Sisters of Battle? Loophole abuse to the highest degree. And, unfortunately, most of 'em were plugged up after the army was formed, so no one else is allowed to even think of using them.

And the Inquisition makes the rules, so they can break whatever taboos there are however they like. For themselves personally, at least.

Thematically, though, it's mostly just an excuse so you can have a [Colonial/WWI/WWII/ColdWar/Modern] [Russian/German/British/American] army fighting alongside Space [Viking-Werewolves/Vampires/Monks/Romans] and BATTLE NUNS.

The Astartes get the best gear because they are the best troops the Imperium has. They simply don't have enough resources to make bolters and power armour for everyone in the IG. Instead all the finest armour and weapons that are painstakingly crafted by the finest artificers the Tech priests have get sent to the Space marines who will make the best use of them.

The Sisters of battle are also quite few in numbers compared to the IG so the church can afford to equip them (also, they ARE elite troops which have been selected from Schola progenum, just like Arbites, Commissars and Storm troopers.)

On the other hand, the Imperial Guard is just so numerous that they simply don't have the resources or time to build all the finest gear and weapons for them.

The IG being equipped by such basic weapons can be justified by thematic as well as logical reasons based on the lore.

As for "guardsmen not being SPECIAL or HEROIC enough." Well, it just makes it a different type of roleplaying game. Just like some people like to roleplay Cthulhu where you are always the weakest most vulnerable creature trying to survive impossible odds, some people like to play the common soldiers who are in real mortal peril. Deathwatch on the other hand is the game where you can play as the heroic characters who can mow down whole armies of regular mooks. (Though even then the elite enemies and the BBEG can make a challenge.)

As for elite troops, heroics and getting the goods...i think the campaign i've been playing in is a good example of how it can be done.

For instance, the men and women of the IG last for about 1 or 2 seconds in the field or whatever. Player characters are, from the meta standpoint, a bit different (fate points for healing/cheating death or rerolling that thing you usually succeed at are all a good example of "heroics"). When you have the same 3-6 guys survive multiple war fronts in the same squad, their commanders are going to notice and they're going to start giving them perferred treatment.

I don't know the real medal system for the IG, but our squad was awarded the equivalent to the US military Silver Star (which is like...2 steps below the highest honor you can get) for being responsible for freeing a whole planet from the Ruinous Powers. We even got a casket-nod from a Black Templar Chaplain Dreadnought and rescued the favored pupil of the Adepta Sororitas Hospitaller prioress.

Given that, our requisition is up to a base of 33%. We've defeated one war-front, then saved our whole gator-freighter from a space hulk full of Orks and now we're about to land on Dusk to fight the Seney (spelling is likely off...) who've returned there after who knows how long. Also, since our group has lead the platoon, we've lost 4 men. Prior to that, we had a more "normal" attrition rate or losing just about half our men every battle.

The point is, it has been our accomplishments that made us an elite force, not necessarily our regiment type. We've "leveled up" from faceless mooks ready for the meat grinder, now we're given just enough rope to win or hang ourselves. I think this, so long as you have commanders who aren't complete jackasses, is how most games go. Succeed and succeed well, then you'll be considered elite and get that kind of treatment. Either that or start off as nobles or something.

Well said. Experience goes a long way, as it increases so many aspects of a regiment. Survivability of the troops, likelihood of being prioritised for supplies or considered "expendable", useful wargear and trophies captured during past battles ...

... and IG Veterans are an Elite choice in the tabletop, too.

Of course, all of this only means that the regiment is going to be sent to ever more horrible warzones on ever more dangerous missions. But compared to the very first battle, even that might qualify as child's play.

Sod all this "IG are too lame to RP" stuff.

My court martialled stormtrooper corporal Drost is awesome, if rather increasingly paranoid.

His friends:

the Frenzon-addict Ogryn cannibal Grox, killing and eating everything he can subdue with some help from his five foot long steel pipe and his ripper gun "Gibby."

Rosa the Commissar who was sent to our penal legion for shooting too many officers who suggested she lead the advance.

Jamie the pyromaniac weapons specialist who went AWOL to set fire to her former husband`s house.

Jaq the vivisectionist surgeon who amputated limbs for meat vendors.

We might not be conventional heroes but our adventures matter, without us our missions would fall on the rest of the convict scum of the Luggnum 14th and probaby fail because they won`t have bought an Ogryn.

Also if you read the highly entertaining (but admittedly somewhat suspect in validity) Gaunts ghost novels Grav chutes are quite capable of generating lift and thrust, freely mavuering in three dimensions.

They are however not suitable for use as jetpacks, they allow you to hover and float about weightlessly, not hurl yourself about at insane speed like a doll strapped to a rocket.

******-bag comment: I notice you are playing a Penal Legion. Basically, that's sort of an excuse to play silly because you're already sentenced to die. If they were "required" to serve and live under the rules of a more "traditional" regiment, I do not believe they would be so colorful, and some of them, their presence in said Penal Legion is likely directly related to the fact of said colorful nature.

I'm certainly not saying that your game sounds boring; I might question some of them surviving to the PL, rather than just getting shot, outright, but that does sound rather fun. It's simply a bit unorthodox. As for the meaning of missions, the missions are often important; the Imperium simply can't be asked to care about anyone involved in performing it.

Ahh but we aren`t sentanced to die, we`re a regiment recruited from a munitorum prison on the moon of the mining world Luggnum. Some of us even volunteered. The rules (both of our ex-gangster colonel and the munitorum) are quite strictly enforced.

Also, OW isn`t about the Imperium caring about you, having authority over the masses, being the best of the best, saving the world or even being able to become the next lord solar.

OW is about normal people thrust into incredibly crappy circumstances and having to work together to succeed and survive despite their orders, that generally range from "run suicidally towards that mortal peril, or we`ll shoot you" to "move cautiously toward that mortal peril, cowardice will be punished by death."

It`s more "band of brothers" less "the expendables" (which is quite ironic given the latter title.)

If you want to play Only War with a more "heroic" (which really means action-movie/novel) feel, it's easy enough. Just quadruple, or thereabouts, the number of Fate Points people get.

The number of Fate Points is the clearest indicator in WH40KRP games of hwo expendable the characters are supposed to be.

Alternatively, make a group of all Stormtroopers, although you'll miss out on the Comrade and Sergeant benefits.

For the heck of it, I tried using the regiment rules to design Sisters of Battle and it worked out surprisingly well (though I had to lift the Availability of Light Power Armour from Black Crusade). You can do it.