Evolution of a Commander - Part II

Posted by gbprime on 14. May 2009 16:52

Fast forward to sometime in 995.M02, or 1995 if you prefer.  The Black Codex years of 2nd Ed are behind us, and while armor penetration rolls have gotten easier, everyone is still photocopying blast templates so they'll have enough blind grenade markers for a typical game.  Meanwhile, Armorcast is making fantastic vehicles that we never thought would see the light of day in our favorite 28mm wargame.  As a result, the battles are getting larger.  We're still gaming every week, but now massed battles of 10000 points or more are happening regularly.

My own Space Marine chapter, the Distant Sons, are better defined now, and I've narrowed them down to a single paint scheme.  The Distant Sons are unusual for a marine chapter at this time, since they're fielding marines in old-fashioned squads of 10.  Better yet, I've got banners now, and they're starting to look like a proper force.

It's in the larger battles that Commander Qalsone (call-SOWN) loses his invincible aura once and for all.  There's just too much armor-defeating nastiness roaming around now, and my typical opponant is now an Imperial Guard player, so I'm learning to despise battlecannons.  It's because of all these imperial versus imperial fights and high body counts that we start to develop a storyline.

At first, Ranillon and I are just engaging in "war games".  Qalsone and his marines attack an imperial guard garrison with "low power" weapons and they see how long it takes them to repel us.  But the larger games played at the shop aren't buying that idea, so pretty soon we have our own Age of Apostacy going on, with marine fighting marine alongside IG players, and nobody is sure who is the traitor and who is the loyalist!

In the end, Ranillon's IG and my Distant Sons marines are on the winning side of the 60,000 point world-ending battle.  [The game store closed down soon after.]  Under Qalsone's leadership, the Distant Sons claimed the lives of a great multitude of loyal followers of the Emperor who had been led astray by their greedy commanders.  A price was to be paid for this "victory", and our imperial forces were exiled and sent on an indefinate crusade.  [Ranillon and I changed jobs and moved to Ohio.]

In 999.M02, Qalsone was given the opportunity to redeem his chapter's honor and return the Distant Sons to the Emperor's grace.  Preparations were made to take part in a Great Crusade [the 1999 Chicago Grand Tournament], and new marines were drafted and prepared.  Qalsone was promoted to Captain of the 3rd Company, becoming a Space Marine Captain at last.  He was given one of the chapter's relics to aid him in combat, a weapon claimed from a fallen Inquisitor.

Onward...