ClocktowerEchos

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Sigma Thanks I'm glad people are enjoying them

Old Glory - A House Divided (Knightly American houses, long after the end)

@Ordsmed Looks good so far, you can keep the Iron Widow if you want or can replace her and I'll change Ironwit's stuff. Also we have a new player in the discord whose looking to be a vassal house in the Norther. They should be making themselves known shortly.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Tortoise Think that as GM, you ought to get one now

Codex - Earth Cultural Union

Lights! Camera! Action! New Hollywood demands a show and the ECU's army will give a performance worthy of Old Earth. Through the power of showbiz and literal movie magic, the ECU military will dazzle, woo and wow both the viewers at home and the divergent, degenerate abhumans before them. The ECU alone are the true heirs of Mother Terra and the paragons of humanity. With the lessons of the Savants to guide them, victory is all but assured!

Special Rules

• Hardlight Hologram - Units with this rule are unbreakable and have a 4+ Ward save against all attacks. EMP attacks however automatically wound if hit.
• Purity of Form - Units with this rule gain Hatred against any non-baseline human unit, allowing them to reroll attacks and wounds. This rule does not apply to alien or non-human units.
• Student of the Savants - Units with this rule may take a Savant's Lessons upgrade.
• Star of the Show - At the start of the game, designate one character as the "Protagonist". Reroll a failed saves on this character and any unit within 12" can use the character's leadership instead of their own. However, killing the Protagonist nets the opponent double the amount of points normally they'd normally gain.

Play Style

PURGE THE UNCLEAN The ECU is an army with mediocre units boosted by some excellent rules and synergies. Which is good since unlike most other factions, you're stuck with unaugment humans. You don't even have near-unbreakable troops like Augustilia. But unlike Augustila, the ECU excels at weakening the enemy to the point they can fight them, especially with their Purity of Form special rule.

Before we get into units, we need to talk about the cornerstone of the ECU: the Lessons of the Savants. There's both selfish, self buffing ones and AOE aura buffs. These can dramatically change how a unit behaves from giving new abilities to simple stat improvements. However, only Oligarchs can take them (you can take them on Oligarch Heirguards and Enforcer Captains but Heirguards prefer self-buffing ones and Captains require you to also buy a Script of Wisdom for them). Thus keeping your Oligarchs protected and safe is very important to get the most out of your boring, unaltered troops. Also always refuse Challenges, you can take the Leadership hit and discretion is the better part of valor; its not cowardice, its survival. Good luck getting an Oligarch to 1v1 a Vampire or Enhanced Hierarch.

Holograms make for incredible tarpit units, on par with the Midnight Technocracy; they won't kill a lot but they can hold for an insane amount of time given that they're unbreakable and have a 50/50 chance of straight up saying "no u" and not taking a wound. Lessons of Savant Gabor makes them even more sticky by increasing their ward save to a 3+ and letting you resummon 1 hologram per turn on a 5+. Not exactly the vampire's undying horde but Holograms are arguable stronger than them anyways. Once your enemy is bashing their head against a hardlight wall, feel free to either flank around and destroy them or go grab objectives. EMPs though are your enemy and you have no easy way of stopping it.

ALT: Instead of just using them as tarpits, Holograms can be used in a supporting role as well. Holographic Horrors already give an 9" AOE fear to everything around it and the Rod of Romero gives any unit Fear for a turn. A blob of 30 Holograms suddenly turning into a blob of shimmering monsters can fear a lot of units if they're in base contact. Throw a Holo-Controller into your list to give your Holograms some more toys to play with. "Spectral Dazzle" forces enemies to reroll 6's to hit which gimps a lot of powerful exploding 6's abilities and "Iron Curtain" projects a wall that either gives a -1 to hit from range or force enemies to reroll charges and take the lowest. "Illusionary Support" isn't as good as it used to be as its not capped at 10 temporary holograms who can't even cap points. For even more troll-tastic fuckery, give your non-Hologram units Spotlights and/or Firework Cannons to blind and slow enemies even more.

The biggest downside to Holograms is that they don't have Purity of Form but that is where you Protectors and Enforcers come in. Free Hatred on most of your army is good, but Lessons of Savant Byrne makes it even better. Having an Oligarch list of Byrne's ramblings give you exploding 6's to hit, giving you a free attack for every 6 to hit. The ECU also has access to one of the strongest single items in the game: Relic of Old Earth. Usable once per game, it basically gives any unit Killing Blow, letting them completely ignore any armor, ward or invul save. An Oligarch with a Lessons of Savant Byrne and Relic of Old Earth can make a fully kitted out Augustilian Duke or Vampire sweat nervously hilariously enough. Even a unit of Stagehands with the same buffs can grind through Chosen Enhance Hierarch Guard or Augustilian Grenadiers with good rolls.

Special mention to Savant James Herald. This silver fox stands alone among all named characters and he's the only motherfucker who lives up to the title of "Savant". He can take up to three (yes, THREE!) Lessons on himself for an easy deathstar build. While his combat stats are just barely better than a normal Oligarch, his Neo-Matrix Training ability and Bullet Timer Watch item makes him insanely hard to kill or snipe out without the need for Star of the Show. Note: Herald must be the general of any army he is a part of but SotS doesn't have to be. You can make a pretty cheap meatsheild Oligarch with SotS, Lessons of Savant Irons and Hardlight Defense Field to "dramatically and heroically sacrifice themselves" by tying down the enemy and taking challenges for Herald.

Old Glory - A House Divided (Knightly American houses, long after the end)

@Ordsmed Nah its okay, you can change the Sovereign of Maine to whatever, I used it just as an example

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@MetalWeight@Tortoise Thanks, I'm glad people enjoy these shitposts from me

Bretonnia also definitely had an influence on my writing. "Blessing of Colonia" is basically "Blessing of the Lady" which gave a ward save against ranged attacks instead of all attacks. The King's "Beloved Son of Augustilia" is literally just Louen's "Beloved Son of Bretonnia". The massed "send in the next wave" thing came from a 40k 7e character ability from the Tempestus Scions of all places and the thought was that on like whenever a unit was killed, on a 6+ they'd come back as a "new unit" the following turn and Red Army improved it to a 5+ while allowing them to run further. Honestly, Augustilla would be perfect for square bases because of their Formation Fighting rule. I considered giving them something like the Estalian "Tactical Supremacy" and "Tercio Formation" from Warhammer Armies Project, but I figured that "tactical" and "Augustilian leadership" probably didn't mix.

The quote about bravery is taken from Italians of WW2. I remember a quote saying that "they lacked everything except for bravery". And given the shitty equipment they were sent to fight with against much more well armed foes (F to the guy who had to use a tankette in 1944 with only two crappy bredda machine guns), I'd say it fits.

EDIT: I just realized I confused the ECU with Augustilia and "Oligarch" with "Noble/Duke". Fuck.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@MetalWeight I've decided to do Augustillia next because I have some ideas and because I saw you looking at the page and I have terrible time management. I made this having stayed up all night without sleep so sorry if this comes off weird or offensive or whatever x-x

Codex: Armies of Augustilla

Raise the banners! Sound the drums! Rally the men! Gathers the arms! And sound the alarms! Augustillia marches to war and when they do, they do so in style and the trappings of Old Earth. They march to war in perfect formation of rifles and artillery with noble cavalry at on their flanks. Everything as it should be! Resplendent and chivalrous, nothing shakes the unwavering courage of the Augustillian solder for will conquers all! Only cowards run and there are no cowards who wear the color in the Armies of Augustillia!

Special Rules

• Formation Fighting - Units with this rule gain +1 Ballistic Skill and Melee Skill if all the models are in base contact with each other in addition to rerolling all morale tests.
• Blessing of Colonia - Characters with this rule have a 6+ Ward/Invul save against all ranged attacks and a 5+ Ward/Invul save when fighting in melee. Should the unit ever flee or deny a challenge, they loose the Blessing.
• Rules of Engagement - Units with this rule fire their weapons at half range but gain Immunity to Psychology. The player can opt to have their units fire at full range but the unit will immediately loose their Immunity
• Perfect Logistics - Once per turn and by spending a Command Point, one unit maybe change their main weapons to something else at the cost of being unable to move.
• Historic Inspiration - Before each game, choose a faction from the Historic Inspiration list and apply its bonuses to the whole army.

Play Style

Augustillia... is just plain weird. They're an anachronistic stew of soldiers who purposely gimp themselves whose commanders think they're playing an RTS game or acting in a movie. Its probably good for you the player to get in a similar mindset as while they're one of the more meme factions on the tabletop, they can still pull out surprising wins against arguably more well rounded foes.

Their weapons suffer from a very fluffy but aggravating crunch-wise rule of only being able to fire at half their range (which also means say good by to using any rapid fire weapon beyond bayonetting distance). Thankfully though, Augustillians are stupidly resistant to Morale shocks that would normally cripple any other attempting something like this. When removing models, make sure to start removing models from the ends of the line to keep the bonuses from Formation Fighting active. Perfect Logistics has the power of completely ruining a push when the enemy finds that what they thought was a line of riflemen actually turns into a line of anti-tank gunners with RPGs (although given the average Augustillian Ballistic Skill, good luck on trying to hit anything with them). If you want to circumvent Rules of Engagement, take Barrent the Black as his special ability is that he lets any unit he's a part of make a full ranges attack without loosing Immunity to Psychology.

Another thing that Augustillia has going for it is its characters and commanders who are some of the strongest per point cost on the tabletop and have a lot of fun Noble Regalia they can take as war gear to kit them out. Taking the King of Augustillia provides some incredible buffs (Beloved Son of Augustillia is insanely powerful) and his "Divine Judgement" ability basically calls down an orbital laser on some poor sap. Blessings of Colonia however, while a nice buff, means that you have to be really sure your guy can kill their target in a fight or at least survive it. The alterative thinking is that you just play cowardly and make sure your characters don't get into challenges or fights at all.

Historic Inspiration is another great way to buff up otherwise mediocre troops. Legions of Rome and Colonial Conquest inspirations make Formation Fighting even stronger than it already is. Glory of Empire with its reroll to hit is a life saver given how low your BS can be. If you're playing character heavy, Wild West turns your characters and commanders into duelists (yes, the rule of rerolling wounds applies in melee, not just at ranged). Bushido is great for memes, giving bonuses to charge distances and dealing additional damage in the first round of combat (brutal with your cavalry). Grand Crusade can give all your units, not just characters, Blessings of Colonia but you should only take it if you want really tanky frontlines as you can't mix and match different inspirations unless you have Lord-Director Merlon as your general. Red Army combined with an Oligarch's "Levy Soldiers" ability can create a cheese-tastic endless wave of respawning unints. The only one you don't want to take is Trenchers because it forces you to take a turn of doing absolutely nothing to get some honestly meager defensive bonuses.

Armies of Augustillia is a faction full of memes and a ton of model customizability due to Historic Inspiration and their fluff. But they have just enough memes to have a viable game plan despite appearing to have soldiers who lack in just about everything besides bravery led by Broadway actors.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Timemaster Honestly you really don't have a lot of info or lore to work with and really make something but I'll do my best.

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Codex: Chosen of the Creator

Few are more blessed than the children of the Creator for unlike many gods, she walks with her mortal followers. Her gifts of knowledge and gene editing has given rise to a devoted crusading host of unparalleled faith and strength. Her followers are vast and her gifts are generous. Burn away the darkness of unbelief and set alight the torch of the Creator. Ashevelen be praised!

Special Rules

• Favored of the Goddess - Units with the Enhanced rule treat units with the Rejected rule as expendable and do not suffer morale penalties when they flee or are wiped out. All units also get to take mutations from the Creator's Gifts table; Enhanced can take 1 while Rejected can take 2.
• Enhanced - Models with this rule get a 6+ Regeneration roll, restoring 1 wound after damage calculation.
• Rejected - Models wit this rule gain Frenzy and can reroll charge and run rolls.
• Preacher of the Faith - Units within 9" of a model with this rule can use the model's leadership stat for morale instead of their own.

Play Style

At a first glance, the Chosen look underwhelming and nearly everything is overpriced; judging by base stats alone you are paying more for less (Enhanced Purifiers cost nearly twice as much as anything in their weight class and Rejected Spawn has a chaff-tier stat line for a battleline infantry cost). However, the Chosen are terrific buff magnets due to a great selection of battle prayers from their War Clerics (who also help stabilize the Reject's otherwise terrible leadership thanks to the Preacher of the Faith special rule), and are a highly customizable army. Rejected in particular partially make up for their terrible stats with their ability to take two gifts instead of one.

Rejected Fanatics with Extra Limbs and Bladed Talons are potent melee blenders while Rejected Spawn with Beastly Bodies and Feral Rage are as fast as cavalry and some vehicles when wounded (don't let the fact that Rejected Penitents and Enhanced Inquisitors can force wounds on other units instead of themselves run by you). Enhanced Church Wardens with Horizon Vision incredible snipers and even light anti-vehicle threats when paired with the Pillar of Light battle prayer, giving them AP to their shots. Enhanced Hierarch Guard with Blessed Flesh are practically an auto-include as their bodyguard aura is invaluable to the Chosen and regeneration from Blessed Flesh means that they can stay alive longer on a 5+, improving to a 4+ with the "Chalice of Purity" item.

Key to your play however (and the main target of the Hierarch Guard's bodyguard ability) are the War Clerics and RADX Relics. War Clerics are already pretty tanky at range but its still wise to keep them protection. One unlucky shot and suddenly your entire frontline of Rejects are having a crisis of faith and running away. RADX Relics however need the protection as while they're carried by Rejected, they can't take and Gifts but are still valuable due to their reroll morale test aura. If you are feeling brave, give them the Leeching Lodestone upgrade and charge them into melee to force mortal wounds on wounds rolls of 6+ (its really fucking funny watching Rejected Spawn suddenly be able to take down a vampire Umbraghiest because of this thing) or for even more memes, take the Radiant Lantern and turn the relic into a really shitty blessed turret that causes anything it hit to have a -1 to hit until the next turn.

Tl;dr - The Chosen are a widely customizable army due to the Creator's Gifts and have a selection of strong supporting units that are sorely needed for their overpriced buff sponges. Pray to the Creator and smite your foes with your mastery of the human body, the God Emperor Queen Protects!

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Now is when I wished I could write up more stuff for these lol. Other ideas that aren't written include items that add to the Enhanced Regeneration roll and a Rejected war priest-lite called a Rejected Faithful who'd only know one ability that the War Clerics know.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

@Irredeemable Well it was just mostly a personal thought bunny that ran amuck

One idea I had is that you'd probably have at least some specialized units for scouting/sniping/assault/etc. One of your faction gimmicks is that you don't have a "commander" and instead just designate a unit that is basically an overseer for the army as a whole that maybe acts a local nexus. Thing is that if you spend a CP you can "swap" one role for any other role. So like your commander could suddenly switch places with your scouting unit. Or your anti tank unit can switch out for assault rifles, that type of thing.

If someone wants me to try and make something similarly warhammer-y for their faction just lemme know ;D

Old Glory (GoT-styled RP in a post apoc medieval USA)

@Ordsmed Yee, also this is just the interest check, not the actual RP thread. Scroll up a bit and hit the link to the OOC.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Speaking of Warhammer, something I personally enjoy doing for NRPs is coming up with Codex/Army Book-esque rules for my faction and its always fun to share. I know most of us don't have an army but still, this is personally fun for me and I might as well post here to bump up the thread's post numbers

Sort of based on 40k 9e, WFB 8e, AoS and sort of written as a 1d4chan tactics page.

My Hider

Codex: Midnight Technocracy

A legion beyond counting of the living dead, corpses brought back by dark science and twisted technology. They strike fear into the hearts of their foes in definance of the natural cycles of life and death. Techno-zombies rush their enemies, drowning them in a storm of bullet and a tide of bodies in a relentless, unstoppable march as genetically engineered monsters, stalwart living troops and enhanced superhumans slay all who stand before them. Those who fall to the grasp of the undead will soon find themselves marching with them as an empty, shambling puppet of their former selves.

Special Rules

• Reanimation Network - Units with this rule gain a 6+ ward save and comeback after combat on a 4+ however they cannot run or charge unless within 12" of a character or commander. Friendly units can also fire into them when they are in melee but any 1's to hit will cause damage to them instead.
• "A Fine Addition" - Enemy units killed in close combat by friendly units with this rule comeback as basic Reanimated on a 4+
• The Void Blood - Characters and commanders with this rule gain Fear and Immunity to Psychology. Every time they kill an enemy unit in close combat, they regain 1 wound on a 5+
• Unnatural Vigor - Units with this rule ignore dangerous and hazardous terrain tests.

Play Style

The Midnight Technocracy is based around tarpitting the enemy with loads of short ranged, inaccurate but massed chaff units that get into melee to tie down their enemies while living units, monsters and their heroes do the real killing. Most of their army is immune to fear (due to being undead) while being able to inflict morale penalties on their enemies. Unlike most armies on the tabletop, they can fire into melee as long as the unit fighting in melee is a zombie.

Their greatest weakness however are hordebreakers and assassins. While they can recover and regenerate lost models through their speical rules, character abilities and items, loosing too many models at once means they don't have enough turns to recover them, significantly weakening them by destroying their anvils. Character killers who can single out their characters and commanders will also cripple them as they are heavily reliant on them for both Reanimation Network and their own combat ability. Its a good idea to be more "selfish" with your items and buffs, focusing them on the singular units that can do the most damage or hold your army together.

Spam zombies. Summon units all over the place. Fill the board with your chaff and laugh as your enemy struggles to get through an ever larger tarpit until you come in and smash them with monsters, ranged and your eldritch vampires.