NerdHammer - Age of Darkness

[Grumble]

A lizard crawls across a recently disturbed mound of dirt. Suddenly, it stops and raises its head, as if in alarm. Without warning the dirt suddenly surges upward, flinging the lizard and piles of detritus out of the way as a massive figure in blue armor crawls from it's makeshift grave. Long hair pleated close to the scalp with bits of bone in it and a snarl framed by a grizzled blond beard were the first to appear.

 

Space Wolf Chapter Master Virik Redmoon stood up, shaking off the rest of the dirt, and looked around. Before him was a vast wasteland, windswept and torn by storm and battle. To his left and right extended a great forest, burned in a fire in some places, but still green in others. As he surveyed his surroundings, he heard movement behind him. Turning, he saw more dirt being sloughed off as his fellow Wolves clambered to their feet. Redmoon grinned, fangs glinting in the stormlight. They were going to get a fight after all.

 

The Great Wolf glared at the portal behind them as his High Rune Priest Graj Thundercall strode up to him. "Can you feel it?" he asked, his voice surprisingly sonorous for a space wolf.

Virik grunted in acknowledgement. While he did not have control of the spirits of their homeworld like the Priest did, he still was in touch with them, and could feel the Chaos swirling around in this ravaged planet.

 

"Can we get back through the gateway?" Virik asked gruffly. His High Priest knew better than to assume this would be in hopes of retreat.

Graj began to chant, some of the totems on his armor glowing. He eventually stopped and glanced at his leader. "We cannot, but I can touch the minds of the priests on the other side to bring more forces through.

 

Virik grinned again. He looked out at the stormscape before him, reveling in the challenge Drunh invoked, letting it echo in his thoughts. They most definitely were going to get a fight. 

[cn3wton]

Druhn smiles as he feels the presence of the space marines enter his world. He looks at his palm, watching as the dark power danced across his hand.

 

"It seems at last, we have some real contendors..."

 

Its so great to see everybody getting into this! Everyone seems to be trucking along pretty well. It seems Grumble has gotten an early lead! Will the space wolves conquer the planet? Or will another force rise?

 

we will see!

 

 

[Asa Pond]

Gwaine steps out of the black Kingsman cab and straightens her cuff links. Skipping up the steps to the tailor shop she grins to herself. Alistair will be pleased - she only managed to get hit with one bullet this time. He won't even have to replace her blazer. 

 

The bells on the door ring softly as she calls out to the elderly knight. "Arthur in the dining room? I want to get this mission report done."

 

"Aye. He's upstairs with Lancelot, Galahad, and Merlin. Need anything before you head up?"

 

"Nah. I'm good. Ta, mate." 

 

"Good. Can you send Galahad down when you get a chance. The lad refuses to choose a new pattern for his next suit."

 

"Go with the hunter green Hounds-tooth. He'll hate it and never skip a fitting again." She winks at him over her shoulder and he sends a smirk her way as he reaches for the pattern. 

 

 "Devious as always, Gwaine. Lancelot picked her candidate well."

 

Gwaine entered the Kingsman dining room and breathed a sigh of relief now that she was officially at headquarters. The ends of missions were always the most difficult - adrenaline was still running through her veins but there was no where for it to go. Merlin glanced up at her and finished whatever report he was giving Arthur at the end of the long table. Lancelot and Galahad were playing some kind of card game and Gal gave a casual wave over his shoulder when he heard the door open. 

 

"Congrats on a successful mission, Ace." Lance said stretching her hands over her head. "I knew you'd be the perfect fit for the Gwaine position."

 

"Aye, you're certainly cheeky enough to step into his shoes." Merlin's Scottish brogue booms out.

 

"I aim to please, sir. With that being said - Eggsy... erm Galahad - you might want to head downstairs for a fitting soon, or Alistair's putting you in hounds-tooth. I told him how much you thought the pattern brought out your eyes."

 

"Oh for Fu...." But as Galahad jumped up and spun around to head down to the tailor shop the world seemed to tilt and went dark. Black clouds began gathering in the ceiling of the stately dining room and seemed to form a portal to another dimension. A loud voice rang out from everywhere but came from no where all at the same time. It spoke of battles and worlds ending and fierce warriors. The knights in the room all immediately had weapons in their hands waiting for the enemy to show itself. 

 

"Well boys - ready to save the world.... again?" Leave it to Galahad to bring up V-day yet again in the face of what was, apparently, a real life video game. 

 

"Don't forget the ladies, Eggsy." Lancelot raised an elegant eyebrow at him and grinned at Gwaine. 

 

"Sorry Arthur - guess that mission report's going to be late." The last thought she had as she stepped through the portal was that Alistair was not going to be happy about the state of her suit after this.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

The Autobots gathered around Grillguard. 

"What are we gonna do about this boss?"

"We'll make as many friends as we can then make a stand. If we can we'll get to the guy who brought us here and make him regret his decision to do so. For now," he says, as he faces the battlefield and turns back into a truck, "ROLL OUT!"

[tourennatrix]

Nanaa Mihgo shook her head. "Not another portal opening up in our prrrescious Vana'diel!"

 

Naja gave Nanaa a hearty thump on the back. "Oh come now. Try to look on the bright side of things." Her grin seemed to unnerve the gathering troops, their eyes darting between her face and her Morgenstern.

 

The cat burglar took a pensive moment then bared a few teeth as well. "I see... This chaos could be good for business..."

 

"That's the spirit! Now you hold down the fort in Windurst. I expect you'll have a small fortune by the time I and my sentinels return."

 

I have entered the roster. I have no idea what I am doing. Yay!

 

[tourennatrix]

I will add that I am sad that my yoga is already maxxed out for the week though  Less than an hour of yoga for the whole week? Sadface!

[cn3wton]

35 minutes ago, tourennatrix said:

I will add that I am sad that my yoga is already maxxed out for the week though  Less than an hour of yoga for the whole week? Sadface!

You can consider an extended yoga session a workout if you want. 

 

Welcome aboard!

[Asa Pond]

 Question about cardio: I cycled 7644.05 meters today. This doesn't take as much effort as running the same amount obviously - should I cut it in half? a quarter? use the full amount anyway? (I realize we cap out at 5000 so it might not be an issue long term but it will be good to know for the future!) 

 

Thanks!

[cn3wton]

23 minutes ago, Asa Pond said:

 Question about cardio: I cycled 7644.05 meters today. This doesn't take as much effort as running the same amount obviously - should I cut it in half? a quarter? use the full amount anyway? (I realize we cap out at 5000 so it might not be an issue long term but it will be good to know for the future!) 

 

Thanks!

 

Give yourself the credit for 5000 at the cap! I will reavulate things like that at the end of the challenge.

[tourennatrix]

1 hour ago, cn3wton said:

You can consider an extended yoga session a workout if you want. 

 

Welcome aboard!

This makes more sense, I think. Most yoga sessions last about as long as workouts (20-60 minutes) so counting yoga as a full unit rather than an accumulation of minutes seems to match more (at least, to me it does  )

 

Thanks!

[cn3wton]

8 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

This makes more sense, I think. Most yoga sessions last about as long as workouts (20-60 minutes) so counting yoga as a full unit rather than an accumulation of minutes seems to match more (at least, to me it does  )

 

Thanks!

 

Both options will be available for now. You max out at 5 workouts (regardless of what they are, crossfit, yoga, etc). So make the judgement call of what you want to count it as for now and I will re-evaluate as we go!

 

Things have been going great on here so far! Got a good group of people and I can't wait to see what happens!

[DarK_RaideR]

Just added yesterday's workout, I'm well over 500 points from that alone. Will try to come up with some RP, as well as the troops of the week.

[cn3wton]

Ive noticed many people are getting close to needing more rows in their spreadsheets which is awesome!

 

Please let me know if you need any help with them!

 

I'm so inspired, might write up another quick RP thing on lunch today.

[cn3wton]

Magnus moved through the subterranean halls of his masters fortress. Flanked by two of his newest creations. He had called forth female demons from the chaos. Meshing their flesh with augments the increase their strength and giving them the ability to fly, while retaining their inhuman beauty.

 

Magnus smirked, his newfound army had wondered about the valkyries. He had been quick to create them, furthering their delusion that this was their afterlife. They had set up great halls for drinking and festivities. But on top of this, had fallen into the habit of infighting. This did not bother Magnus however, for the fallen where pulled from the battlefield by his new creations, and here, beneath the magnificent fortress, they where reborn. 

 

These changes where praised as "gifts from the gods".

 

Magnus had summoned more of his order to attend to this task. They did not dissappoint. Indeed these battles proved to strengthen the warriors skills and effectiveness. Slowly losing themselves to the warp.

 

He looked up to his newest creations with joy. They had encountered small groups of resistance already, and his twisted valkyries had descended on them with fury. Leaving little behind. 

 

He would prove victorious in his masters game.

[Myrik]

Myrik straps himself into the pilot's seat of the Wasp.  "Time to scout out this place. The low layer of clouds should offer go cover for scouting purposes " He thinks to himself.   The Wasp takes off and is quickly hidden by the low clouds the blout out the sun.  The First camp he comes upon is a small group of men and women in very nice looking suits.  "They look like the fabled Kingsmen from the early 21st century.  Might have to venture in sometime and meet with their leader,"  Myrik says into his voice reorder.  The next camp is full of heavily armored soldiers some atop Dire Wolves and all armed with swords and firearms.  "they look to be a dangerous foe best to keep our distance for now." 

 

Continuing his scouting trip Myrik notices a large tower on the horizon.  As he approaches the tower he is hit with nausea caused by the concentrated Malice emanating from the tower.  He immediately turns back to scout another area. "Whatever is in that tower is strong best to stay clear of it for now.  What the hell was that!  Looks to be a winged creature twisted with hate and Malice but also beautiful in its own right.  Luck is with me though for it did not spot me."   The Third camp visited appears to be just a bunch of vehicles until the Large black truck calls out "AUTOBOTS transform!" In unison the all transform into humanoid robots.  "Wow that is some advanced tech right there, Dores set a reminder to recover some pieces from the battlefield for analysis"  The fourth camp is full of men and women wearing hood cloaks and wielding, bows and swords.  "This group looks like its from the dark ages, better not underestimate them.  The Salish-Shidhe Council looked primitive when they took down the Ares Super Freighter back in 2067"  

 

The console starts to beep a warning of low fuel.  "Time to head back, I'll attempt another recon sweep of the area tomorrow."  Myrik returns to his band's camp.  "looks like they have been busy."  The camp now had the basics, several flood light set up around the parameter with Sentry Turrets set up every 500 feet.  A small hanger had been fashioned from steel and sheet metal they group had thought to bring with them from the other side.  

 

"At least we are protected time to setup a lookout schedule."

[cn3wton]

The wolrd map is up! I have decided that it's first come first serve for the first round. These are the steps you need to do! Since google docs has been working so well I have decided to make the map right in the document!

 

Go to the roster tab on the spreadsheet and choose a color from the drop down. Please make sure you write down the name of the color so its easy for me to update the board.

 

Once you have your color picked go to the world map tab and pick your starting location by changing that cell to your color and enter your username! The only rule is that you must have 1 complete space between you and another player. Diagonally and horizontally.

 

You can also add a title to this as it will serve as your base for the remainder of the challenge. (Where units will spawn, losing condition, etc)

 

Choose wisely!

[cn3wton]

Rules of Battle are in the spreadsheet!

 

As you all have probably seen I have changed the name of the overall map to world map, and added a new tab called battle map. This will hold all the info for you guys to use for coming up with strategies for your armies, and see the rules I am applying to them. This is done by clicking the boxes on the corresponding tabs!

 

Hopefully I will have an example battle for you tonight. So I can test out the rules.

 

[cn3wton]

So I will try to run a few mock battles tommorow. To everyone who hasn't placed themselves on the world map yet please do so by tomorrow night.

 

We will be finalizing recruiting and sending movements saturday.

 

I'm getting excited I hope you all feel the same!

[cn3wton]

An example battle has been added to the spreadsheet. I forgot to update the map between rounds 3 and 4. But I am fairly happy with the results.

 

Despite the randomness of the dice the battle remained, for the most part, even. There wasn't a landslide victory on one side, though I feel that the positioning of troops and their targets gave the attackers an early lead.

 

As it stands I now know I need a turn order. As it stands its flying, cavalry, veterans, infantry, ranged, siege. It seems to work fairly well. 

 

All in all it was fairly sucessful, with the infantry being surprisingly resilient. 

 

Further testing is required for everything of course. I have already seen some things here and there that will need tweaking. Please let me know your thoughts and suggestions as well! Lets work together to make this the best game it can be!

[Grumble]

11 hours ago, cn3wton said:

So I will try to run a few mock battles tommorow. To everyone who hasn't placed themselves on the world map yet please do so by tomorrow night.

 

We will be finalizing recruiting and sending movements saturday.

 

I'm getting excited I hope you all feel the same!

 

18 minutes ago, cn3wton said:

An example battle has been added to the spreadsheet. I forgot to update the map between rounds 3 and 4. But I am fairly happy with the results.

 

Despite the randomness of the dice the battle remained, for the most part, even. There wasn't a landslide victory on one side, though I feel that the positioning of troops and their targets gave the attackers an early lead.

 

As it stands I now know I need a turn order. As it stands its flying, cavalry, veterans, infantry, ranged, siege. It seems to work fairly well. 

 

All in all it was fairly sucessful, with the infantry being surprisingly resilient. 

 

Further testing is required for everything of course. I have already seen some things here and there that will need tweaking. Please let me know your thoughts and suggestions as well! Lets work together to make this the best game it can be!

 

So what happens if we're unavailable Saturday?

[Rhovaniel]

11 hours ago, cn3wton said:

I'm getting excited I hope you all feel the same!

Excited, yes, but I'm gonna be totally honest and say the battle map looks a little confusing to me. I think I understand the world map: we message you to say where we want to move at the end of the week during the movement phase, and have to move at least one unit, or troop, into that square to occupy it. The battle, however, I'm not sure I get as such. More the strategy than how it works (the forces trying to move into a square fight until one doesn't have any left, winner gets the square, based on rolls of a die?) I may have to leave that in AI mode until I get the hang of it all, if that's ok?

[cn3wton]

9 minutes ago, Grumble said:

So what happens if we're unavailable Saturday?

 

If you unavailable saturday you can send me your movement and battle stuff early (like today). I will be doing all of the battle and stuff behind the screen, then posting the results of all the battles. Or you can tell me what your trying to achieve this turn and I can do my best to accommodate it and make decisions for you towards that goal. Does that make sense?

 

6 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

Excited, yes, but I'm gonna be totally honest and say the battle map looks a little confusing to me. I think I understand the world map: we message you to say where we want to move at the end of the week during the movement phase, and have to move at least one unit, or troop, into that square to occupy it. The battle, however, I'm not sure I get as such. More the strategy than how it works (the forces trying to move into a square fight until one doesn't have any left, winner gets the square, based on rolls of a die?) I may have to leave that in AI mode until I get the hang of it all, if that's ok?

 

I understand your confusion! Even though this is super simplified compared to actually warhammer games like this have a tendency to have a harsh learning curve. 

 

You are correct about the world map.

 

As for the battle I will be releasing battle notes with the actual battles so you can see what happens. But that is generally the premise. You are fighting to destroy as much of the oppossing army as you can. Whoever has the most troops remaining after 5 rounds is the victor. I have limited it to rounds so people aren't losing all of their troops in every battle (hopefully).

 

I can work with you on the strategy. And I will be releasing notes and thoughts from the battle so everyone can see how it works. Basically guides to help new players get ideas of what has worked and hasnt worked. For instance in this battle I had cavalry charge right down the middle, but the opponent had flyers that moved ahead, so they ended up getting free hits on the cavalry. Which was nice, but then those flyers got hurt pretty bad by the archers.

 

Things like this will take time. Think of it like chess. Anyone can learn the rules, but the strategies take time. I am glad you have asked these questions, I want to ensure that everyone feels like they can participate. And this last test made me happy. While the strategy did offer a small advantage, it had very minor effects on the outcome of the battle. Which is what I want. The people working hard building up their armies will have the advantage over people who don't and just try to game the system.

[Myrik]

When do we need the information to you Saturday??  I work until 530Pm Central Time wont be home till after 6 and able to log in until 645 ish.

[cn3wton]

1 hour ago, Myrik said:

When do we need the information to you Saturday??  I work until 530Pm Central Time wont be home till after 6 and able to log in until 645 ish.

Saturday night is fine as I will run the games sunday. Worst case i can release the results monday.

[Grumble]

Virik paced the staging ground as another handful of Space Wolves came through the gate. He wanted more, but the High Priest was having problems getting his message through the swirling chaos the gate created, so he had to work with what he had. Fortunately, he was able to get ahold of several of his Wolf Guard. They had come through shortly after the link had been estalished.

Soon a Wolf Scout appeared. He was slight for a Space Marine, but still massive by human standards. "Great Wolf", he growled, an odd, almost inhuman gait to his words. "Reporting as ordered. There are several other factions here. Although none appear familiar to me."

Virik looked bemused. "Speak plainly. There have to be forces of Chaos here. Our own High Priest sensed it."

The Scout shook his head, much like a wolf shaking off a biting insect. "I do speak plain. There are giant sentient robots, several of whom appear to have weapons as advanced as our own several different species of humans, a bi..." he cut off as Virik raised his hand.

"Different species of humans? By the Ancestors, they are all one species."

The Scout growled again. "I tell you, they are different! Only one appear to be warriors. They are armed with primitive weapons, but power emanates from them and they should not be underestimated. One seems to be some perverse twisting of our Iron priests and Orks with bits of technology attached to their bodies while other appear to be fully human or hybrid of human and Ork."

Virik growled deep in his throat. Orks. Nasty creatures. Only fit for destruction. 

"And the other?" He asked. The Scout had backed up a step or two, even he was not willing to risk the Great Wolf's wrath. "Normal non-warlike humans. Dressed in strange tight fitting clothes. They do not appear threatening."

"What else?"

"Human animal hybrids my Lord. Bipedal catlike things.  I was working to find more factions when I came across the tower and came straight back. It was surrounded by a malevolent force as bad as any Daemon Prince stronghold."

Virik nodded. That was what both he and his Priest had sensed when they first awoke. He dismissed his Scout, who melted back into the force behind him before moving back off for further reconnaissance.

Suddenly, Virik Redmoon howled, soon matched the entirety of the force behind him. Without a word they followed their leader, who decided he wanted to meet these other forces for himself before striking at the tower. Best not to leave a potential enemy at your flank, after all.