Hephaes

While Hephaes is classified as a Dwarf Planet, it nevertheless sports nearly Terra-like gravity, thanks to its massive lead core. Why this barren world has an atmosphere nobody knows, and the initial Explorator fleet tasked with solving this mystery in M34 soon grew to a full-fledged Forge World, albeit a minor one under the direct control of Mars.

As long as the Adeptus Mechanicus has controlled Hephaes, the Orks of the sector have remained a constant nuisance. Recently the threat has grown more dire, and the various Chaos incursions in the sector also showed an interest in gaining Hephaes abundand metallic ressources and production facilities.

Hive Fleet Leviathan has ignored Hephaes thus far, as the Tyranids have attacked more plentiful bounty, because the planet lacks biomass. The local AdMech command is nevertheless preparing for an all-out Tyranid attack, because the Hive Mind won't ignore Hephaes strategic importance forever.

To combat the various threats, the Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus forces have been bolstered by Imperial Knights of House Taranis.

Forbidden Stars as a 40K Campaign System

You might be aware of Fantasy Flight Games' Forbidden Stars board game. Maybe you already own it (if you don't: you should, it's great!). If you're anything like me, you've already thought about using Forbidden Stars as the foundation for a 40K campaign.

So I started writing rules for that, or, more precisely, how to "translate" Forbidden Stars unit to 40K units and vice versa, while also taking routed units and upgrade cards into account.

Here's the link to the rules. Enjoy! And let me know what you think about it.

Chaplain Boguslaw Kazik

One of the main proponent of Lysander's rehabilitation after his return, Kazik, the 3rd Company's Chaplain, remained close to the 1st Company's Captain ever since. In the Audacia Sector Kazik usually goes to field in Tactical Dreadnought Armour, because he regularly joins Captain Lysander's squad of Assault Terminators, standing in for the Captain in his absence.

His main duty is judging the potential recruits on Minerva, and he found the imposing size of the Terminator Armour is beneficial for this task too, as this helps him sorting out those recruits that don't bring the necessary composure.

Audacia Sector: Thana

A small system with two planets, Thana is mostly known for the smaller of the two. While Thana Major is a gas giant with 15 moons, it's Thana Minor's former function as a Shrine World for the whole sector that made it a common destination for pilgrims. But as the 11^th Black Crusade swept thru the Audacia Sector and Thana Minor was caught in its path, the planet was considered condemned and ceased its function.

That doesn't mean that the Ecclesiarchy has given up on the world, however. While the planet has been deemed purged of all forces of Chaos in 347.M39, the taint of Chaos remained, but the Ecclesiarchy has worked tirelessly over the centuries to once again open the Shrine World to the public. As recently as 777.M41 there have been minor demonic incursions, but since then the planet has been deemed clean. Recently clues have been found that point towards the moons of Thana Major as a source for the demons.

The Order of the Pale Lady of the Adepta Sororitas has been stationed on Thana Minor even before the beginning of the cleansing, defending the planet even during the 11^th Black Crusade. This order is named for Saint Ashley, the primary saint for whom Thana Minor was made into a Shrine World, and a venerated saint in all the sector.

Updates: First Miniatures, faction descriptions, sector map

It's been a long time coming, but as you can see I've finally found the time to make some "proper" photos. The first few characters have been featured, with more coming soon.

At the same time, the Setting page (above) now features a map of the sector itself. Descriptions of more planets are in the works too.

As for factions, the following three are considerably advanced: Imperial Fists, Orks, and Tyranids. Necrons and Space Wolves should make their presence known sooner or later, and there's the possibility of one other faction joining the fray this year (AdMech or Chaos, or maybe both ...).

So yeah, it's coming.

Mega-Dread Duffkop

Mega-Dread Duffkop accompanied by some Kill Kans

Skumsnaga's warhorde sports a high amount of Kans and a few Dreads. The de facto leader of this ragtag team of walkers is Mega-Dread Duffkop. While size matters among the Orks, Duffkop is also far more kunning than most, and never showed any fear even when confronting multiple Kans or Dreads at the same time. It's without fail the other dread that backs down. Duffkop is faster than any other walker in the horde (a fact that is regarded highly amongst the Evil Sunz), while at the same time being arguably the toughest, in part thanks to his personal Grot Rigger Fitzig, who shows more mechanical aptitude than most other Gretchin. Duffkop's relation to Big Mek Magshak doesn't hurt either – it was Magshak, not the usual walker-mek Snotgog, who build Duffkop's iron hide. Magshak made sure that Duffkop can hold his own against the other walkers, and is always fixed to a fighting condition in a timely manner, just to spite Snotgog.

The various kans of the warband are in awe of Duffkop. Strangely enough, that doesn't seem to have the same inspiring effect as if they're close to a Deff Dread. If anything, Duffkop's presence seems to make them more prone to panic, as they seem intimidated by the gigantic Mega-Dread. Still, the kans of the Grin Scorcherz flock to Duffkop regardless, but always keep a respectful distance.

Librarian Iwan Czeslaw

Perhaps the oldest Imperial Fists serving today, Czeslaw is close to 700 years old. The experienced Librarian usually wears standard-issue Power Armour to battle, as the modest Czeslaw doesn't want to be treated any different from his more mundane Battle-Brothers.

Czeslaw hails from Minerva, and the Audacia Sector native still feels an especially strong kinship to his old home world. As the Chapters need to bolster the sector defense rises, Czeslaw is more than happy to obligue.  

Warboss Skumsnaga Skarlug, the Bane of Lima, the Red Threat

Warboss Skumsnaga Skarlug and his Nob Mob

Skumsnaga worked his way up from being one of the Evil Sunz Boyz in a Trukk, to owning his own bike, to joining the Nobz in a Battlewagon, to finally dethroning the previous Warboss (by ripping his head off) and making the horde his own. The Nobz Mob he is joining for most of the fights, riding a Battlewagon and led by his trusted second in command Nob Wortkop, are (for the most part) the same Boyz made Nobz he knew since his days in the Trukk.

He has always been fascinated by Ork Teknology, be it Trukks, Bikes, Dreads oder Mek Kannons, but he has an utter disregard for the inner workings of said technology – all that matters to him is that it DOES work. His patience for Big Mek Magshak's explanations on how something is supposed to be used is slim. If some gadget doesn't do what the Warboss wants it to, he's certain that this can only be the fault of the Meks.

A rare close-up of the Warboss

For unknown reasons Skumsnaga seems to be especially picky about which Orks to include in his warband – most other warbosses only care about numbers, but Skumsnaga mostly cares about clan and vehicles. As long as you're an Evil Sunz Ork and either own your own mode of transportation (be it wheeled, tracked or on mechanical legs) or part of a mob in a trukk or battlewagon, you're free to join. As of late, Skumsnaga has allowed certain (motorized) mobs of other clans to tag along, and the Imperial observers monitoring the warband expect the Warboss to fully integrate Orks from other clans anytime soon.

Skumsnaga takes his trusted attack squig Bork with him wherever he goes, although he has a tendency to forget about Bork in the heat of combat and sometimes leaves the squig behind. Most of the time this is because Bork is not able to keep up with the Warboss, more often than not because it was killed. In fact, the gretchins tending for the Warboss keep replacing Bork with new squigs every time the old one died – they fear the day their boss finds out that his favorite creature in the whole universe isn't with him anymore …

Big Mek Snotgog Dakkabad

Big Mek Snotgog Dakkabad, accompanied by
a grot oiler and ammo runt, and flanked by his
trusted Mek Guns

Snotgog is more aggressive than most of Skumsnaga's Meks, who are usually more inclined to tinker with vehicles and weapons than bossing other Orks around. Not Snotgog, who's more interested in putting his various weapon designs to good use than to repair stuff on the field. His favorite weapon by far is the Shokk Attack Gun. Weapons that grow too large for him to carry go right into his sizable and growing Mek Gunz mob.

He's also responsible for many of the kans and dreads of the warband, because he ultimately plans to build a Dread for himself. Thus far, all walkers have either been experimental builds (most if not all the kans, who are much too small for an Ork of Snotgog's stature, belong to this category) or fallen short of his expectations, therefore they've been given to the Boyz or to one of the multitude of Gretchin eager to get their own vehicle.

The fact that the largest dredd of the warband was not built by Snotgog has made his relationship to Big Mek Magshak, the Mek who built said dredd, the Mega-Dread Duffkop, more than a heated rivalry.

Audacia Sector: Lima Prime and Secundus

Lima Prime

The most heavily populated planet in the sector, the Hive World of Lima Prime is also the sector capital. As far as Hive Worlds go, Lima Prime would make a good archetype: an overpopulated, heavily polluted planet featuring massive hive cities with vast stretches of wasteland between them. The only acceptable living conditions can be found in the upper echelons of the hives, where the planet's ruling class make their home.

Lima Prime is plagued by the usual troubles of Hive Worlds: the hives support large criminal networks, coupled with an abundance of cults of various sorts. The local Arbites have their hands full suppressing these cults, which thus far they don't sport much influence on the populace.

Lima Secundus

The second planet of the Lima system is a dead world with an atomsphere, a rather unusual combination. While life could exist on Lima Secundus, it simply doesn't, for unknown reasons. Most of the world is covered by sand, giant stretches of deserts only interrupted by mountains and rock formations.

Why the Orks came to Lima Secundus, nobody knows for certain. The most likely theory involves a crashed Space Hulk populated with greenskins, but thus far no crashsite was found (but keep in mind that all observations have to be done from a safe distance), nor was there any Imperial witness to said crash. As the dominant Ork clan on the planet is the Evil Sunz, it's speculated that the hulk was completely dismantled and transformed into vehicles of all sizes.

As far as the Imperial scholars know, the Orks fought a great many skirmishes and battles until the Evil Sunz warband named Grin Skorchers emerged victorious, beating all other clans and warbands to the brink of extinction.

In 988.M41 the Planetary Defense Force of Lima Prime launched an preemtive strike against the Orks of Lima Secundus, but this attack was a catastrophic failure, only rallying the Orks under the banner of the Grin Skorchers that much quicker and heavily depleting the PDF.

Audacia Sector: Minerva

Minerva, a small but dense planet, is classified as a Feudal World. The ruling class is well aware of the Imperium, but for the general population of 1.5 million humans everything beyond their own planet is just a myth.

Most of the population works in agriculture, but Minerva also sports large groups of knights. These knights are tasked with protection in general and keeping the large reptilian beasts and the Feral Ork population of the planet in check.

There are no oceans on Minevera, and preciously few lakes and rivers, as most of the planet's water is to be found underground, yet close enough to the surface that the planets dense forestation can be sustained.

Above all Minerva's main point of interest is the fact that it is one of the recruiting planets for the Imperial Fists Chapter of Space Marines. The lords of the knightly orders are rather proud of the fact that their best knights are taken into the ranks of this famous Chapter.

Recently, the Orks on Minerva have become even more of a threat than usual. Whether this is in any way connected to the forming Waaargh! in the Audacia Sector is pure speculation.