+ inload: Tau on the workbench +

+ Back from the brink +

+ Open fire! All weapons! +

+ Some armies – like an old Tau force that I was never pleased with – get sold on; though I often keep hold of a few favourites. After having fun putting some paint on Shas'la Cano'Be [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] the other day, I dug around and pulled out the remnants of a previous sale and have given them a rebasing job to freshen 'em up. +

+ Stealth suits seem to fit 32mm bases much more comfortably than the 40mm ones these were supplied with. It's entirely possible that the current box comes supplied with this size, of course! +

+ The white goo on the bases is acrylic texture paste. It'll give some light grittiness, and match the basing of my Death Guard [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], who regular readers will remember are set in the same campaign.  +

+ Something old, something new +

+ The old guard are joined by some of the lovely new Pathfinders. I've always liked the Tau infantry more than the suits, and the character and posing of the new/updated kits meant I couldn't resist. I'm very tempted to pick up a Breacher team, as the curved/angular details would echo the Crisis commander pictured below. + 

+ Pictured here pre-priming, this Forgeworld suit (a mem-bank cascadefail means I can't remember the XV coding, I'm afraid) looks considerably more comfortable on a new oval base than the giant round one he was supplied with. +

+ Something borrowed? Something blue? +

+ The question now, of course, is how to paint them? I'd painted up a couple of test schemes over a decade ago – one is pictured below – but I'm still a bit hesitant about rolling it out. I'd very much appreciate any thoughts you have on the matter. +

+ Is there an unusual scheme you're dying to see on some Tau? +

+ inload: Xenos Agitprop of Antona Australis +

+ Now is the time for all Shas'la to come to the aid of the Greater Good +

In ideological battles, technological competition and in vistas of space, let us be invincible in every fight!

- Brightsword High Command Agritpop extract; from a view-pamphlet extensively distributed to worlds in the Tzi'Na M41.

+++

+ Creating a sense of scale in your campaign +

+ Campaigns like the Tzi'Na Crisis [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] are a great excuse to build and paint something outside your gaming army. For our Scallops Stars campaign, I built and painted some one-off Imperial Guardsmen, such as the Metis Light Foot [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. These act as a bit of colour for the campaign, reminding players that their force is just one amongst many in these wars that rage across whole sub-sectors. +

+ This helps to add a sense of scale to the conflict, which has two effects: Firstly, it prevents the same few characters being pivotal across time and space (this is one of the things I like least about Games Workshop's latest direction). Secondly, and more positively, it makes your games more personal. Your own army and characters can have their own plots and important stories within the broader war, allowing for more personal creativity and development. +

+++

+ Why make models for this? +

+ Of course, stories and colour text can do this too – there's no need to make models. However, this is a physical hobby, and it's nice to illustrate things with a picture or two. For me, it also serves to explore those ideas for colour schemes or modelling without committing to a whole army. +

+ In addition to letting you explore these ideas, creating a model will also likely inspire ideas, and help prompt some questions about the nature of the broader army, war or planet he or she represents. +

+++

+ Dao'Doean Sept +

+ Even before the forces of the Curdling Armada began their invasion of the Tzi'Na Enclave worlds, the Tau Military Command (TMC) was moving in response. Strongheel, Commander of the TMC, foresaw a long campaign, and ordered additional new Cadres to be raised in defence of the worlds of the Enclave. Estimating the Septworld of Dao'Doean to be in imminent danger of attack, the TMC instituted a massive enrollment campaign, pulling Fire Caste trainees, cadets and – it is rumoured – those still in academy into active training barracks. +

Translating as 'the happy steppe'; or 'Yes, plainsland', Dao'Doean is a typical frontier world of the Tau Empire. Settled in living memory by pioneers from deeper within the Brightsword Protectorate, the Tau here are now in their third generation. 

The broad, sun-kissed plains of the world are covered with fields of mod-wheat imported from the Earth Caste scientists of Chac'Tun; while huge improver-harvesters travel between the principal settlements.

Tau of this world have a reputation for resilience and innovation, only slightly marred by whispers of indolence. The planet has a standing garrison of five thousand Fire Warriors, but has little history or experience of warfare. 

+ Antona Australis Inquisitorial abstract of the world +

+++

+ Dao'Doean military forces +

+ The Tau's defeats in the nearby Cha'anxi system during the early stages of the Tzi'Na Crisis forced the Tau Military Command to graduate these Shas'la earlier than normal. The result was an impressively large number of new Cadres and reinforcements for existing forces pushed through training in a short amount of time. +

+ Shas'la Cano'Be (above) is a typical example of the newly-inducted Shas'la. Upright, proud and disciplined, the speed at which she has been trained – and the strain this placed on materiel supply – is nonetheless apparent. Most strikingly, she lacks the large shoulder shield and shin plates of a typical Strike Team member, likely due to lack of materials or delayed shipments to this frontier world. +

+ The variation on the aerial also marks the helm as an older pattern. Still functional, the helm would be regarded as virtually obsolete by the veterans of Cadres such as Hunter Cadre Shas'Ka Nan, currently operating nearby. +

+ Despite the compromises forced on the Sept, Cano'Be still benefits from arms and armour equal or superior to that enjoyed by Imperial Guardsmen of the sector. While the TMC have little illusion that the newly-raised Cadres would be able to defeat the Astartes elites of the Curdling Armada, the Fire Caste on Dao'Doean are highly motivated, and more than capable of engaging invading traitor guardsmen on an equal footing. +

+ The purple and green scheme provides little camouflage against the swaying golden-yellow fields in which the Fire Warriors operate; but is rather a combination of the original settler's Sept colours; intended to honour the Sept's founders. +

+ inload: Tau in Tzi'Na +

+ The Tzi'Na Crisis – Tau forces of M41 +

The Tzi'Na Crisis is a campaign between the Tau forces of the Brightsword Protectorate and the invading Curdling Armada, an immense fleet of unsavoury and predatory Chaos raiders.

This article is here to help PCRC Tau players to tell stories within the new region during the campaign. (A similar one is on the way for the Chaos players.) More importantly, perhaps, it's here to make the setting a little clearer! Antona Australis is more than six years old, and has got quite complicated.

The Brightsword Protectorate and surrounding space, M41.

+++

+ What is the Tzi'Na Enclave? +

The Brightsword Protectorate is a tau-led coalition of worlds, armed forces and space fleets. Under the command of The High Council and its figurehead Aun'El Si'Ot Lon, the Protectorate represents the power and influence of T'au in the Antona Australis sector; intended as a bold and gleaming statement of the young species' intent of galactic dominance. 

In broader terms, the Brightsword Protectorate is the Tau's area of influence in Antona Australis; roughly equivalent in size to an Imperial Subsector. A general space for the PCRC to play with, it is made up of a large circular region and a number of smaller Enclaves. A short bit of 'history' explains this here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] in more detail, but the broad points are summarised below.

In-universe: The Tau were so successful that the Protectorate eventually got too big to govern centrally, owing to the Tau's lack of faster-than-light travel and communication. The High Council (see above) therefore set up subsidiary regions called Enclaves. These remain part of the Brightsword Protectorate, but are semi-autonomous. They are responsible for their own protection, taxation etc., but send representatives to The High Council, and can expect support from the broader Protectorate (and in turn from the Tau Empire as a whole).

• Tau Empire > Brightsword Protectorate > Enclave > Individual starsystems > Septs (planets)

Out-of-universe: The Enclaves are a bit of a fudge that allow different PCRC members to create their own personal space for their Tau, and help account for the different stories you guys have written – while still keeping the Tau in the region vaguely united. Stuntwedge created his Starblade Enclave when the region was first set up back in 2013, so I took the name from there. The Tzi'Na Enclave was created to physically connect the main Brightsword Protectorate region to Warmtamale's Deep Reef setting on the sector map.

+++

+ Okay, I want to join the Tau + 

Cool. You don't need to do anything beyond playing games with your Tau against people's Chaos armies.

+ Join the Tau Empire! Super-dynamic opportunities for advancement! +

+ Aw, but I want to add to the story +

Sweet – now we're talking! As always, the first rule is 'do whatever you like, I'm not your boss'. 

However, if you'd like to build on the basic blocks already laid down, then read on:

+ Tzi'Na Enclave history and notes: +

• The Enclave covers a region that was largely wilderness space. There are lots of minor xenos and abhuman populations, as well as lots of worlds populated only by Tau settlers. Your systems can be ex-Imperial if you like, but most regions are 'fresh'. 
• The Enclave was created following the High Council's Second Sphere Expansion. A fleet was created to liberate the region and establish the Tzi'Na Enclave. 
• The Enclave is relatively new (one or two generations of Tau settlers). Some planets remain independent, but most of the planets have – willingly or unwillingly – submitted to Tau rule. 
• The region as a whole can be treated as an occupied territory. The Tau decided to grant religious freedom, so lots of Chaos Cults sprang up on the ex-Imperial worlds.
• The increased presence of cults drew the interest of Kainan; who became the figurehead for a Black Crusade. He heads the Curdling Armada, which has invaded to conquer the region in the name of the Dark Gods of Chaos.

+ Shas'O Po'Psox +

+ Who's in charge? +

• The High Council is at the top. 
• Below The High Council, and directly responsible for the Enclave's military is the Tau Military Command (TMC).
• Commander Strongheel – also known as Shas'O Po'Psox – is the TMC's representative in the region; and in overall command of all Tau forces. He led the Second Sphere expansion for the Tzi'Na Enclave.
• The TMC is a council of equals; so while Strongheel is the current President, he has no direct authority over your characters, merely political weight. In short, he can't order your guys; though for the sake of fitting in with the broader Tau background, I'd suggest we avoid everyone being a rebel!

+++

+ How does my existing army fit in? +

All the above has been written in order to make sure that you get to tell your stories. I've been careful not to contradict anything recorded on the PCRC site, so there's no need to change your army's background. However, if you want to update, advance or adapt your army's story, now's as good a time as any. Here are a couple of starting points.

• The PCRC's military commanders – that is, your characters, like Starblade, H'unk, Suna Sene etc. – represent senior officers within the TMC. You decide what relationship they have. Your commander might be a maverick, treating the TMC's orders as advice; or they may be a staunch believer in the Greater Good, and closely influence the TMC's plans.
• The PCRC's Ethereals (Lord T'o'T'o, Aun’El K’myar’sa etc.) are Ethereals, so they can pretty much do what they want. However, unless there's a very good reason, I'd suggest they will all recognise Aun'El Si'Ot Lon (The High Council's figurehead) as their boss.
• You should choose whether your forces are:
• Veterans of the Second Sphere Expansion wars – i.e. the Tau warriors who conquered the region, and who remain as a garrison.
• Newly-raised within the Enclave.
• Reinforcements from the broader Protectorate brought in to fight the invading Curdling Armada.

+ New worlds, new opportunities +

Needless to say, the Tzi'Na Enclave (and the Second Sphere Expansion in general) offers a great opportunity to create a new army, or develop second-line characters a bit further. 

+Stuntwedge's Kais-Eoro oversaw the victory in Heyn'Am. What will he do next? +

+++

+ To create a star system for your Tau +

Use this link [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. Stuntwedge's template makes everything nice and clear, so just fill in the boxes.

• If you want to be a good, loyal Tau citizen, and part of the main Protectorate, then your system should sit near the following co-ordinates: X:85 Y:35 (you fill these in near the bottom of the form, under 'Star Map Settings'). That site is the centre of the Protectorate region – keep the values within five or so to make sure you're within it (or test and adjust with the edit function).
• If you want to be a dynamic frontier colonist, and part of the Tzi'Na Enclave, your system should sit near the following co-ordinates: X:75 Y:38. Again, that marks the centre. Keep the values with three or so to stay within the Enclave.

This system is for you and you alone. It can be your army's homeworld, or – if you don't want your troops permanently settled in Antona Australis for whatever reason (e.g. an existing story you've written) – it can simply be a place they use as a staging post. If anyone wants to invade or do something to this region, they ought to check with you first. 

As an Imperial example, Lambda is the system where my Lamb's World guard come from. If someone wants to invade it/blow it up/have their character declare Exterminatus on it, it would be nice to be consulted beforehand. In contrast, Cha'Anxi is another system I've made – and its entire raison d'etre is to provide a setting for us to have battles, write stories etc. Feel free to do whatever there – and events in-games should definitely have an effect.

The same approach can be used to create a new system to fight over. As explained above, these are fair game for anyone to use. Here are the broad strokes of Tzi'Na to help guide you in creating systems and provide some inspiration for writing background that fits the existing background:

+ Warmtamale's Sune Sene has a whole history to write+

+ Naming +

• As per above, the PCRC first rule applies – 'do what you want'.
• I've been using slightly re-worded Chinese and Korean towns/regions as the basis for the systems' names, to give a semi-coherent feel to the region.
• Not all the systems you create need to be Tau septs, so feel free to bring in other influences. I would, however, suggest that most systems should have a Tau feel to them.
• The enclave's a pun on the New Wave band China Crisis, so feel free to add some classic dreadful 80s references.

+++

+ But I'm not in the PCRC +

While it's written for our gaming group, there's nothing to stop you using this inload to provide some guidelines or ideas for your own gaming. 

Antona Australis is our little corner of the 40k galaxy – but even so, it's a big place. Doubtless there are Tau forces we'll never identify fighting against some offshoot of the Curdling Armada – why not tell their story with your own games?

+ inload: Slow and purposeful: First Battle of Heyn'Am +

+ Following the events on the Tau septworld of Or'Na, in Cha'Anxi – a datablurt-summary of the battle can be found here: [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – the forces of the Curdling Armada are on driving forward on a number of fronts. +

+ As warfare on the Cha'Anxi front escalates, Kainan has dispatched a battlegroup to the Heyn'Am Rim. A motley collection of abhumans, traitor guardsmen and cultists, the force is accompanied by cell-warbands of Renegade Astartes, including the Mottled Halo, Bleak Vespers, Sons of Spectra and Scions of Magnus – a Thousand Sons warband commanded by the sorcerers Nikolai and Kamal. 

+ Tasked with disrupting critical food and supply lines from the bountiful world of Heyn'Am itself, the battlegroup made landfall only after a long and costly void battle. The sacrifices of the Air Caste gave the resourceful Commander Kais-Eoro – the ranking Tau officer in the system, and a trusted lieutenant of the sectorial commander, Strongheel – time to stiffen his hurriedly-prepared and inexperienced force of auxiliary defenders. +

+++

+ As the bulk of the two armies forces clashed across half a dozen strategic points, the elites met in the First Battle of Heyn'Am. An uneasy alliance of Death Guard and Thousand Sons met with Kais-Eoro's own battle-hardened corps of Fire Warriors – and some unexpected mercenaries: the Duke of Gork 'n Da Ten Faaazand. +

+ Lacking sufficient experienced Fire Caste warriors, and dubious of the indiginous levy's morale, Kais-Eoro made the fateful decision to employ a warband of greenskins to stymie the Chaos forces' advance. The aggressive greenskins executed a massive charge in the centre within moments of the battle's beginning. +

+ The fresh, verdant coastal landscape quickly became a quagmire as the brutal greenskins met the equally savage heretic Astartes. The heart of the battle was in a swirling ongoing melee in the centre, with more and more forces drawn into a meatgrinder. +

+ When the last orks fell in the centre, a mere handful of Plague Marines remained standing, swaying but defiant – but Kais-Eoro's own household was virtually untouched; and the remnants of the orks were sweeping up the embattled Thousand Sons on the shoreline. +

+ As light began to fall, the Tau-led coalition had the upper hand, but it had been a brutal and draining fight for both sides. + 

+ Result: a hard-fought victory for the Tau +

+++

+ Aftermath +

+ The mysterious tzeentchian warband claimed a personal victory, as they had rescued – or abducted – the hermit-magos Inshabel. This notorious heretek had haunted the worlds of the Heyn'Am Rim for some time, evading Imperial justice. His forbidden research into thanatology presumably promises Kamal and Nikolai some way of replenishing their ranks of Rubric marines. +

+ The Death Guard Sorcerer Czeslisc mournfully ordered the retreat before his forces were wiped out completely. His next act will be to report to his superiors; and perhaps return with reinforcements to subdue the tenacious world. +

+ Kais-Eoro's hunter cadre returned home virtually intact – a vital advantage for the ongoing war. Now Brightsword Command is aware that the Curdling Armada can strike deep into the Enclaves, perhaps Kais-Eoro's status will be increased. +

+ As for the Duke of Gork 'n da Ten Faaasand... The Duke himself crawled from the wreckage of his favourite buggy, who can say how he will react? Recriminations against the Tau, or pursuit of a valued new enemy? +

+++

+ inload: Bleak Vespers painting progress +

+ Bleak Vespers: painting progress +

+ Buoyed by time to paint, I've cracked on with the Death Guard. Above you can see the Blightbringer. Not finished yet, but coming along. I pontificated wrote about that in an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], where I described the plan to mute the plasma pistol; build up the bell in his hand as asecondary focal point, and draw the eye to the main tocsin. +

+ This is coming along, but you'll spot that the main bell is still too close in tone to its surroundings – I'll have to work something out to catch the eye – and the plasma pistol is still a bit too striking. With that said, I quite like it as it stands, so the challenge may be to simply make the tocsin stand out more. +

+ With regards to the handbell, that's looking much warmer. A bit more highlighting and that's going to be done, I think. It's not as striking as I'd aimed, but I like the beaten bronze feel. In addition, I'd not taken this cheery little nurgling into account. Now I've got him painted up – isn't the little blighter a cutie? – he adds a lot of visual weight to this side, helping to balance the piece. +

+ What's my point? Simply that while planning is good, it's also okay to adapt on the fly to take into account things not working, or happy accidents. +

+++

+ Concentrating on the Blightbringer left little time for anything else, but I did touch in the eyes on the batch, along with rebasing details – cables, weapon handles, basically anything that isn't white or green – on the three below in brown-black. This stages tidies and redefines areas that need attention, and helps clarify what's what. +

+ Basing is on my mind. The test model was on urban grey, but I'm having second thoughts on that. The scheme is already drab, and I wonder if a warm earthy colour could work. +

+ It's satisfying to see things progress day by day; even if just by a little. +

+ When painting something, I often look up photographs for source material. Somehow, I don't fancy doing it for infected/necrotic flesh... +

+ inload: Bleak Vespers +

+ inload: The Bleak Vespers +

+ It seems ages since I got a chance to sit down and paint, so it was nice to pick up a brush and continue working on the Death Guard. The batch I started back at the beginning of the month [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] are coming along nicely; and are nearly at the fun stage of picking out details. +

A couple of boltgun-wielding Plague Marines and the characters.

+ The models are great fun to paint, and very relaxing. Lots of quick work offset by slower, more considered washes and glazes. They look pleasingly messy at the moment, and I want to ensure that I keep some of that painterly feel when I start to tighten them up. It's nice to try out different approaches on different forces. +

+ More Plague Marines, including an icon bearer. These are at a slightly earlier stage: the characters at the top have had an additional layer of highlighting, which pushes the contrast further. It's probably a good illustration of what I mean by pleasingly messy – the additional highlights on the upper image are fairly subtle but do a surprising amount to define the edges of the armour plates etc. It only takes a small amount of effort to create impact and move a model from unsatisfying to work you're happy with.  +

+++

+ Death Guard organisation + 

+ As usual, while painting, my mind wanders and I started thinking about the storyline behind the characters. Doing this is not only fun (who doesn't like making up a good story?), but it also serves the very practical purpose of helping you make decisions on colours, and helping to define what things are. An area on a plastic model might contrast better in metallics, for example, but if it's meant to be a flask or a holster, you might choose something more fitting to the material. It's easy to apply dirt and mud to the lowest parts of the figure, but if the model has a dynamic pose, you have to make sure that the upraised leg (or whatever) has the same effect applied. +

+ I know it sounds rather obvious, but spending time thinking about the practicalities of the model as a living being, rather than an lump of metal or plastic, will guide you better than sticking rigidly to an abstract your plan. +

+ Anyway, this musing led to thoughts about the warband as a whole. I hadn't really thought much about it beforehand, which is quite unusual for me. I'd just got stuck in. Fortunately, the new Death Guard Codex has fleshed out the background of the Traitor Legion quite extensively. It's nicely done, providing some canonical structure while remaining very flexible, so no-one's background should feel invalidated. A quick summary:

'The Death Guard consists of seven Plague Companies, each made up of thousands of warriors with their attendant fleets, aircraft, tanks, daemonic cohorts, and super-heavy vehicles, dwarfing modern Space Marine Chapters. Each Plague Company consists of a number of Sepsis Cohorts each made up of roughly seven hundred Plague Marines. Each Sepsis Cohort is divided into two Maladictums, each with seven Colonies which in turn are broken up into seven squads'

- Codex: Death Guard 

+ The names are predictably baroque (one might argue kitsch...) but it gives a certain structure. A typical tabletop army for 40k is going to represent a Colony-sized force. I'd already decided that my army was going to be from the 6th Company, as this Company garrisons the fleet. That gives it the best excuse (in my eyes, at least) for it to be present in Antona Australis. +

+ My Warband will thus represent the Bleak Vespers Colony of the First Maladictum of the Eighth Cohort of the Sixth Company of the Death Guard. The name has a vaguely religious feel, which fits the 'Angels of Death' idea. Vespers is an evening service, which ties in with the Legion's origins as the Dusk Raiders – just a little nod. They'll be a fairly middle of the road group, with no particular specialism beyond an affinity for using bells – both as weapons and in their symbology – owing to their commander, Simargi of Moroz-Morok [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ That decision gives me a good simple shape for a logo that I can use across the army, and helps suggest weapon swaps and part choices for the future. I'm sure there are some cool Nurgle daemon models, for example, that use bells – and if there aren't, I can convert them! +

+++

+ A few individual shots +

+ Tallyman +

+ Plague Surgeon +

 + Plague Marine with boltgun and plague knife +

 + Plague Marine with boltgun and blight grenade +

 + Plague Marine with boltgun and painted visor. +

+++

+ inload: Building Mortarion +

+ Something stirs in the warp... +

+ Lucky me received reinforcements – to the tune of one Daemon Primarch, no less. As befits a prince of Chaos, he jumped right up the queue and demanded to be built. +

+ Largely stock – it's a wonderful base model – I couldn't resist tweaking a few bits and bobs. For the most part, my changes were simply stripping things back to the base silhouette, by removing extraneous sculpted detail. I've left off or trimmed down the majority of the hanging chains. +

+ To make sense of how the fabric hangs, I needed to add something with a little weight, so I replaced the giant chains and censers with rather more subtle Nurgle/Death Guard icons and bells (in keeping with the theme of the rest of the force). +

+ I also rotated Silence, Mortarion's scythe, about halfway along. The shape seemed very odd, beforehand, and while I'm no expert in scythes, the shape and way it was held felt slightly off. Realism isn't at the heart of a GIANT FLOATING ROT DAEMON, but verisimilitude – making it look like it could work – is important. Regardless, I think the rotation helps gives a sense of motion to the figure, and Silence now leads the eye in towards the body, rather than drawing all the attention to itself. +

+ I left the icon off his right shoulder pad [left of pict-capture above], leading me some space for freehand; and I replaced the honking great horns on the other with some fly-ridden smoke/incense. +

+ They're minor alterations, but give a little distinction to personalise the model for me. I've used sand texture paste medium for the base, to help integrate the rocks. +

+ Even taking my tweaks into account, the model went together well, and builds into a really imposing and impressive centrepiece. I'm usually not one for big models or heroes, but Primarchs seem to be an exception! +

+ How – and whether – he'll end up seeing much time on the table, I don't know; but I'm looking forward to painting him up. +

+ inload: Lamb's World +

+ Poor bloody infantry +

+ Human lives and human tears; the stuff of which Imperium is made. +

+ As with all of the wars during the dark days of Nova Terra Interregnum, it was the ordinary men and women of the Imperial Guard – both Old Imperial and Nova Terran – who made up the bulk of the combatants. +

+ Illustrated below are a selection of warriors from a single unremarkable planet – Lamb's World – as a representative sample of the fates of the majority of the Imperium's sons and daughters who found themselves in the Imperial Guard during this turbulent period. +

+ It is perhaps notable that a single planet had birthed warriors that fought on opposing sides. Such is the tragedy of civil war. +

+++

+ Shale Campaign +

+ Shale is a small desert world in the Bothusion system of Antona Australis. It is covered in uneven dusty terrain and vast seas of finely ground rock. Small scale mining colonies, designed to harvest the modest mineral resources, are dotted across the solid areas of Shale's surface. +

+ Its residents broadly remained loyal to the Old Imperium during the Nova Terra Interregnum. It was attacked on three occasions by Eldar of the Ythranmir Craftworld, the xenos advance gradually being brought to a bloody stalemate on the Northern Plains by the Planetary Defence Force. A detachment of Lamb's World soldiers were diverted to support. As rear-line support, they suffered light losses during the war, and the survivors remained for long years afterwards to stabilise the lawless region. +

+ Io Merioneth. Shale Northern Theatre. KIA - confirmed: blood loss. +

+ Cole Apseth. Shale Northern Theatre. KIA - confirmed: Partial disintegration. +

+ Enzo Acton. Shale Northern Theatre. KIA - unconfirmed (body unrecoverable) +

+++

+ Karminos Void Clearances +

+ The Karminos Void clearances were an onerous but necessary duty to ensure the passage of evacuees from the world of Saltkind – a lone bastion of Nova Terran sympathisers – to safer regions closer to the Segmentum Pacificus. +

+ The clearances took the form of a series of running engagements between greenskin pirates of the Moonbreakers and the Imperial Navy, with Imperial soldiery deployed to clear and secure the numerous dwarf planets of the region. Lamb's World troopers adapting to the microgravity difficult, and suffered catastrophic losses. +

+ Prentice Iones. Karminos Void. Executed for cowardice. Justification: obeying the orders of an officer found wanting. +

+++

+ Orar's Star +

+ The prosperous and heavily-polluted worlds orbitting Orar's Star descended into a microcosm of the civil war raging across the Imperium; and Lamb's World auxiliaries found themselves fighting on both sides of the war. Beginning the war under the command of the infamous Marshal Fenkmann, his defection saw the Eighteenth Lamb's World Rifles ('Dricc's Dusties') overrun by the Fourth Lamb's World Armoured. The defeated soldiers were drafted back into Old Terran lines for the Siege of Bree, serving as a penal battalion. +

+ Japeth Ffiniog. Orar's Star Campaign. KIA - confirmed: blood loss and exposure +

+ Ascer Caper. Orar's Star Campaign. KIA - confirmed: disarticulation +

+++

+ Trimunda +

+ The Queen of O was the human face of an insidious xeno threat that emerged on Trimunda Secundus, and led much of its population in a counter-uprising against the Nova Terran occupiers. Its forces were initially supported by the Old Imperium, though the findings of Inquisitrix Barbari Kills led to the Old Imperium instead enacting saturation bombing on their former allies' fastnesses, at the hands of the Sons of Spectra. +

+ The Lamb's World II were deployed in the aftermath, spending two decades picking through the sodden ruins to end the worm-ridden threat of the Queen once and for all. +

+ Rhuddion Caul. Trimunda Plains. KIA – confirmed: drowning.  +

+ Ogof Moel. Trimunda Plans. KIA - confirmed: gunshot. +

+++

+ Intercession of Vega Rim +

+ During the early years of the Nova Terra Interregnum, the soldiers of 'Riker's Bloody One Hundredth' (confusingly, officially the 46th Lamb's World Cavalry Regiment, under Caef-Maior Vedder) were diverted to the distant Vega Rim to stymie an advancing K'nib assault on the worlds of the Rim. +

+ The bulk of the fighting occurred over the critical salt flats of Varrasland, with an ever-shifting front and sporadic vicious battles. During the later years of the war, many of the worlds declared independence from the Imperium, and the Bloody One Hundredth – still in garrison – were wiped out by punitive strikes enacted by the vengeful Gatebreakers Chapter Astartes. +

+ Mordecai Frin and Otio Cymer. Intercession on Vega Rim. KIA – confirmed: bombardment strike. +

+++