Here are some things I thought off for Vostroyans check it out.

Vostroyan Firstborn Platoons

Selecting this Regional Platoon
During the initial creation of this Imperial Guard Squad, players may select the Vostroyan Firstborn as their regional platoon at a cost of 100 credits.

Maximum Squad Size for this Regional Platoon
The Vostroyan Firstborn squad has a maximum size of 17 individuals.

Regional Advantages of this Regional Platoon
The Vostroyan Firstborn has the following Regional Advantages.

Iron Discipline: The Vostroyan soldiers are trained from birth to repay their debt to the Emperor, rallying their men with but a glare. The Squad Leader may take a Leadership Test. If the test is failed the Officer nothing happens, if the test is passed center the Large Blast Template over his model. All Vostroyans under or touched by the template may re-roll failed to-hits in the shooting phase or the Close Combat Phase. The Leader may not be in combat and make this Check.

Ancestral Weapons: Many Vostroyans carry weapons handed down from generation to generation, many of the weapons are more valuable than the Guardsmen that carry them. All Lasguns carried by Vostroyan Officers are Reliable. Lasguns carried by recruits may be upgraded to Ancestral at the cost of 5 Credits.

Brother’s Bond: Vostroyan Firstborn are like brothers, most raised in the same squad for as long as they can remember. When a Vostroyan is Taken OOA all other Vostroyan Firstborn Hate all members of the Squad that Took that member OOA.

Some nice Ideas - be interesting to see how this turns out - but as Mordheimer (quite rightly) told me - start with the fluff - tell me all about the vostroyan background. If you check out the design philosophy in welcome mat (I think) you can see where these guys are coming from in terms of 'ninja design' - it keeps us all honest in our approach (I agree with them that going back to principles is the best way to go - wish GW would try the same thing now and again!).

Vostroyans are probably my favourite guard type so good luck with your ideas (though Death Korps give them a good run).

Cheers Laney

Yes, I hate it. LOL.

The biggest challenge for all designers whether it be Da Orks back in the day, the Kroot and Chaos Cultist is the designers start them off but get feedback from others.

It is a tough road as you see things change but with that We have made a few things better. Mordheimer and I chatted about the IG Variants (Mordians and etc) and there are always to make them better but it would make them always unfinished.

Sometimes the final copy is not what you intended but it may make overall sense or after playtesting we see "oops" not quite right and they will get touched up.

I must say that is exactly what sets us apart from any other attempt in the universe to make a True 40K Skirmish game. It has been attempted many many times but the other groups never had as many OCD people as us. LOL. Overall, is a good thing.

From a designer you need to take a step back and allow all the info and data to come in and redo it or explain more why "x" should or should not happen.

I think the First Borns are a great idea also as many people are turning to them of late as a "different' IG Army.

As noted about by 02Laney...start with "Why" this squad is in the area or something interesting about them. It can be start to start but it helps others see what you are trying to do. Trust me. it is thing to start with and then from there you can build around it and critique.

Get some more games in and see the mechanics and let's see what can happen with the First Born.

The cool thing with Mordians is you can use regular IG , if needed, and paint them up with blue uniforms. As Mordheimer noted, we talked about doing a Praetorian squad but in honesty, they were really the same as Mordians (very regimented fighters) and with them models no longer being produced once can easily call them Praetorians also.

Yeah it's just an Idea that needs some practice and some play testing. I made a mistake and thought the Mordian was large blast template but soon I'll have about a page of fluff released and then let some of you guys give some suggestions. Thanks for the Input.

Here is something from Lexicam. I will also be posting some of the fluff from the Medusa V Campaign.

Vostroya is a world in the Halo Zone beyond the Eye of Terror, famous for its Vostroyan Firstborn regiments. Vostroya swore allegiance to Mars during the Age of Strife. It is ruled by the Techtriarchy, a council of Adeptus Mechanicus members and more traditional planetary government personnel/representatives.

Since the Great Crusade, Vostroya has acted as an industrial world, supplying arms and ammunition to the armies of the Imperium. In the ten thousand years after the crusade, the Vostroyans have continued the same task, living and dying on the production lines and complying with the endless schedule of manufacturing and assembly.

During the Horus Heresy, Vostroya refused to provide regiments to the Emperor, preferring instead to reserve the population in the manufactoria blanketing the world. After the Heresy came to an end the Vostroyans agreed to supply every first born son to serve in the Imperial Guard regiments.

Vostroya technically is neither a hiveworld nor a forgeworld. Instead, it falls somewhere in between (labelled an Industrial World). It has a population of about 9.3 billion. The birth and death rates are very high, keeping the population figures fairly stable (taking into account that first-born sons are extremely numerous, providing a massive amount of soldiers for the founding and reinforcement of Imperial Guard regiments.)

The landscape is extremely bleak - highly polluted. Life outside 'managed' zones is almost impossible. Animal and plant life is almost non-existent. Most food is imported.

There are seven large and distinct administrative zones/regions stretching around the planet's more temperate equatorial belt (e.g. The Magdan, Sohlsvodd, Muskha, etc). The far colder north and south are uninhabitable.

Generally Vostroyan males sport a mustache (mustaches are viewed as a sign of adulthood and masculine virility in Vostroyan society). The importance of a mustache for Vostroyan men varies depending on the region they come from. The people of Muskha, for example, place extreme levels of importance on having a mustache. A man without one is considered to be openly rejecting his manhood.
Vostroyan society is deeply divided between the high-born (the higher class) and the low-born. The low-born must slave away on the manufacturing lines. Most Firstborn consequently are glad to be drafted into the Imperial Guard. Vostroyan officers come from the high-born, while the common soldiers are low-born. Only rarely does a low-born Vostroyan become an officer, an example of this is Captain Sebastev, whose officers are killed, and ends up with him leading first a company, and later an entire regiment consisting of approximately 23 men

Same sources I had...

Based on this source, we would have to make even harder for a Recruit to become an Officer. Way to go! It is ironic that the Relic Weapon information is not there... Can we get a sourced reference where it can be located.... and by source I mean on a GW book or product, not a fan made or maintained website. We must capture the real essence of the Vostroyans.


Also... remember not to double-post. Just edit you last post and add the new information.

I believe there is an example of a lower level promotion in a 40k Novel.

I will see if I can remember it. Long story short. 1st Born versus Orks in Frozen planet. The new captain of an area on the front lines was promoted due to being in good with the Colonel or something like that, 'Oh piss boy!"

The other 1st Born Leaders did not like this as it didn't follow protocol, so everyday he had to prove himself more and more to show his peers and high command that he could do it.

I believe this is it. Rebel Winter. I have not read in almost 2 years.

Yes... but is supposed to be an notable exception, rather than the norm a la Starship Troopers; their only requirement was a weak pulse.

Lieutenant Jean Rasczak wrote:

I need a corporal. You're it, until you're dead or I find someone better.

What we want is the 'regular' fluff, so players can make their own stories; be 1st born doing 1st born stuff, or low-born breaking protocol. The 'base' rules for them will be extremely limiting (as far as I know... I have not read that book) for game mechanics. Based on some unofficial sources, they do maintain their quote to the IG with 1st borns... but logic indicates that those quotas are nothing big. I mean, Cadians are EVERYWHERE, and the Vostroyans are pretty much on Vostroya! If being an Officer is so 'impossible' only 1st borns can become Officers, the problem would be to replace dead Officers. On the novel (abstract) all the Officers are dead and the piss-boy takes charge... if there would be ONE Officer left, he would not allow it. For us, it means that there could be a slight possibility of TLGT, but getting 'replacement' Officers should be more expensive... which hurts the player, and adds nothing to the mix. There is NOTHING different between a 1st born and a 2nd born... except the order of their birth. They could both be as viable (HAHAHAH!) as any other guardsmen.

I have been thinking over this and it all seems plausible.

These guys are all first borns. They are first borns from private to Colonial. That all remains the same. How they became officers is never really spelled out. I am sure they have heirachy like any others but once in battle that goes away somewhat quickly as Death is right around the corner and the way I roll that happens all too quickly.

A LGT is exactly like a "Battle Field Promotion" and this would happen in 40K and our in real life and as noted above "Your the next best thing so you will do."

Don't forget when you and I started this a majority of the ideas and concept was coming from the 40K novels or at least all my input for over a year+ comes from 40k novels. 40K novels is what inspired me to do something different they said "Go North young man...go North". After we played our version of Space Hulk it took off and way North we have gone. Most of all the 40K novels gives one that in depth detail to the 41st Millienium that a codex could never do. It allows you to see how the training and life of a space marine to an imperial guard has to go through. It is some great stuff.

With that still, we are not ready to start them yet. There are still many squads that need fine tuned and a few more key ones ready to ramp up.

Play some games with the other IG Squads we have, call them Vostroyans and see if something can be done. If that, we do have quite a few IG units as it is. and need some more Xeno types.