Only War
"...in the grim, dark future there is." -Yoda
The latest entry in Fantasy Flight Games's Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay product line, in which players take the role of Imperial Guardsmen. The first edition of the core rulebook and the GM's screen has been released, with an upcoming Rites Of Battle-style splatbook that promises more regiment creation options.
Players roll up Guardsmen from different disciplines within the Guard - heavy weapons specialists, pilots/drivers, techpriests, Commissars, and so on. Each player also gets one or more background NPC helpers, referred to as Comrades. These Comrades serve as extra hands, ablative wounds or even something for the Commissar to BLAM. Don't get too attached to your Comrades. They. Will. Die.
The vehicle rules look promising, and seem more streamlined than Rogue Trader's.
That aside, beside the trolls who like to post about how the mehrines are unappreciated, /tg/ has always been in love the idea of an anonymous everyman fighting in the 41st millennium. You know, the one who signed up to go fight in a big galaxy, where one needs to be pretty ballsy just to step off his homeplanet and into a festering, flaming hell where one will likely get swatted into a paste by an indifferent carnifex, axed in the spine by a guffawing ork, or have your legs liquefied into drugs that a Slaaneshi cultist will hope to snort off of some daemonette's ass while you watch. The one armed only with his flashlight and his faith in the Emperor to fend off the grim darkness of the galaxy. Some fa/tg/uys are probably all over this one already.
/tg/ has since created a fan regiment called the 1st Membranes using the regiment creation rules. They are made primarily from Psyker stock, and as a result are a regiment of gibbering, schizophrenic and/or awesome troopers who, when confronted with Orks, will either scream at the things coming out of the walls or mow down hordes of greenskins with mind bullets.
Classes
Guardsmen
Guardsmen are normal soldiers and have access to comrades. They start off with double the starting XP of Specialists.
- Heavy Gunner - Big, strong, and tough, these Guardsmen wield any heavy weapons that are given to the Squad.
- Medic - Dodging deadly weapons-fire and explosions, these Guardsmen risk everything to keep their squad-mates alive.
- Operator - A bit less leery of the strange technology that the Imperial Guard often employs than their compatriots, these Guardsmen are often entrusted with piloting the Squad’s transport or other vehicles.
- Sergeant - Every Squad needs a strong commander to lead the charge into combat. The Sergeant keeps his men motivated and coordinated through the toughest battles.
- Weapon Specialist - The “average” Guardsman, these men and women perfect the use of the lasgun or other weapons, bringing death to the enemies of the Imperium.
Specialists
Most specialists are tied to specific roles. Some do not have access to comrades.
- Commissar - These men and women enforce morale over the rank-and-file troops with an iron fist and the occasional summary execution. Not as badass as you'd think.
- Ministorum Priest - Bringing the light of the God-Emperor to the battlefield, Ministorum Priests inspire the troops around them, not just with their preaching, but by fighting their foes with their massive Evicerator chainswords.
- Ogryn - These immense Abhumans tend to be a bit[understatement] dimwitted, but act as some of the Imperial Guard’s most effective shock troops and will obey their superiors with doglike devotion. Just don't expect them to get into a Chimera- they get claustrophobic.
- Ratling - Short and rotund, these small abhumans are used as infiltrators and snipers.
- Sanctioned Psyker - Feared by their enemies and allies alike, the Psykers of the Imperium are capable of bending the roiling power of the Warp to their will - until that power breaks them.
- Storm Trooper - The best part about being an OPERATOR isn't operating operationally. It's showing all those pesky grunts you did, and how bad they're at it in comparison.
- Tech-priest Engineseer - Engineseers wade into battle clad in thick armour, tending to the machine spirits of the Imperial Guard’s many war machines.
Advanced Specialties
Added with the Hammer of the Emperor splatbook, advanced specialties allow Guardsmen to expand their abilities, or simply add more dakka. The book suggests changing specialty for every 2,500 xp earned. Alternately, a guardsmen can stick to his specialty, and gain a bonus to a related characteristic.
- Brawler - A melee fighter, for players who are sick of being told Guardsmen can only beat Fire Warriors in close combat.
- Breacher - An explosives specialist, the recommended class for black Scottish cyclopeses. Seriously, they even paraphrased the demoman right under the word "Breacher" on the class page. Great for blowing up any-and-everything.
- Commander - A Sergeant on steroids, Commanders are leaders forged in combat. They can take up to four additional comrades and use them (and the rest of the squad's comrades) to maximum effect.
- Field Chirugeon - When keeping your squadmates "alive" simply won't cut it, Field Chirugeons are soldiers who are meant to keep men fighting. Not quite as medically skillful as a true medic, but better then trying to tape your own arm back on.
- Master of Ordnance - This class gives your comrade a mortar and gives you the responsibility of calling targets. Also allows for artillery strikes from orbital ships or basilisks once per encounter. Very useful if you're not in a building or voidship.
- Scout - Guardsmen who navigate dangerous terrain and operate where they can't be seen. Scouts also make for silent knife kills of sentries.
- Sentry - When not being stabbed by scouts, sentries are masters of defence. Effectively a one man heavy weapon squad, sentries dig in and can hold against hoards of enemies that would wipe out a less entrenched position.
- Sharpshooter - Snipers without being Ratlings. Sharpshooters are masters of fighting at extreme ranges.
- Tank Ace - Effectively a Sergeant for tank crews, Tank Aces can turn a Leman Russ into even more of a killing machine.
Regiment Creation
You have 12 points, spend wisely.
Who you are
First you choose a Homeworld and a Commander. The worlds are Imperial(1), Penal Colony(2), Agri, Death, Feudal, Fortress, Highborn (Nobles), Hive, Mining Colony or trained in the Schola Progenium (3), Feral, Forge or Frontier (4). The commanders can be Fixed ("Just keep going!"), Phlegmatic ("Tell alpha they should face NW and expect overwhelming fire."), Supine ("These are our orders, have faith!")(1), Bilious ("You would have been dead if I had been an enemy. Commissar, execute this stuttering fool!"), Circumspect ("There, see how they wait to advance!"), Sanguine ("It's up to us, men!"), Maverick ("I can't very well tell you to do something I wouldn't do myself."), Melancholic ("Oh, um, well..."), or Choleric ("Drive me closer, for the EMPRAH!")(2)
What you do
Next you get to choose your Regiment Type and Doctrines. The Regiment Types are Armored, Artillery, Guerrilla or Grenadiers (4), Recon, Drop, Mechanized, Hunter Killer (3), Light, Line, Siege (2), Rough Riders (5), or "Everybody gets a Sentinel" Heavy Reconnaissance (8). Thank you, Forge World, for almost making all of these possible (still waiting for my constant cover save Light Infantry with the Flat Out rule).
Universal Standard Kit
Everybody knows that every guardsman gets the same regulation toiletries, utensils, and blankets; however, each regiment has thirty points worth of extra items, from a piping hot cup of Recaf to a Refractor Field, to give to each of their guardsman as a part of their Universal Standard Kit. I'm sorry, did I just hear you say I can give a Refractor Field to EVERY guardsman in my regiment? Because that seems a little bananas. That's right kiddies, at the GM's discretion you can almost make your IG regiment almost noblebright by equipping every guardsman in that regiment with three Poor Craftsmanship Disposable Krak Missile Launchers a salvo of which will fuck the day of just about anything. Of course, getting the GM to actually agree to it is another story.
| Warhammer 40,000 Role-playing games made by Fantasy Flight Games |
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| Dark Heresy - Rogue Trader - Deathwatch - Black Crusade - Only War - Dark Heresy Second Edition |