#expeditionary force stuff

[zargontari]

Exforce bullshit again. Joe dies but Skippy uses every scrap of data that has ever been catalogued of him to create an ai with his personality and a facsimile of his memories

xeno in particular I know likes whumper Skippy but how about an accidental whump where Skippy absolutely does not want to acknowledge that he ever died. He insists the ai recreation is the real deal. Maybe he builds it an android body or something mayhaps

[zargontari]

yeah I'd kiss her

Tried to draw nagatha but something about it feels off to me lol. I dont know if its because of the fact I haven’t slept yet or because I just didn’t draw good enough for my standard

[okara-illustrates]

GUYS I NEED HELP

PLEAZE I NEED DOODLE INSP SO IF YOUVE HAD ANY IDEAS FOR FANDOMS WE SHARE (Exfor, Lethal company, Destiny, Stargate, etc etc) PLEASE PLEASE SPEAK UP WHILE I DONT HAVE PAID COMMISSIONS SET UP. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS BUT NOT LIKE A MILLION THINGS CAUSE OF OBVIOUS REASONS

[nraqi]

skippy and bishop

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 62

First / Previous / Next

The expeditionary force linked in far away from the white hole. Nobody was sure about how much power it was actually putting out, but given that it was effectively the opposite of a black hole, it was assumed to be impressively powerful.

"Empress, we are three AU from the white hole, and its power output is still on the verge of overwhelming our sensors. I recommend not getting much closer than this." The sensors officer said, speaking carefully. They knew Fen's reputation.

We're not close enough. We need to feel it.

"I understand your hesitance, lieutenant. Still, we will proceed until we are one AU from the object." She turned to the captain. "Take us in, Captain."

"Yes, Empress." The captain walked up to helm and spoke with them quietly for a few moments. "Empress? Helm has concerns that the stellar wind from the object will interfere with our ability to link that close."

We must get closer. You must get closer.

"Captain, are you questioning my order?" Fen's brow furrowed. It was hard to listen to the Nanites and the crew at the same time.

"Of course not, Empress. I am merely speaking out as the representative of my crew. In addition to carrying out your orders, I must see to their wellbeing. To do otherwise would be to neglect my duties as captain."

They are stalling. Make them obey.

"They are not stalling" Fen thought. "He is doing his duty. If he thinks it's dangerous, it's most likely dangerous. We can deploy the Gate from here."

No! We must feel the energy ourselves. If you will not order them, then we will.

"You will do no such thing. Give me a moment to think." Fen stared at the screen in front of her. The pinpoint of white light was painfully bright, even here on a screen. It would be blinding to get as close as the Nanites were demanding. She would probably be fine, they wouldn't allow her to be hurt. Wait, was that it?"

"Captain. Ready my yacht. I will tow the Gate into position, and go myself."

"Empress! That is entirely too dangerous!" The captain's intake of breath was sharp, and their face wide eyed. "We have no idea about the energy output of the white hole, but even this far out it's nearly overwhelming our sensors. To get any closer would be..." he caught Fen's look and changed gears rapidly. "...unwise."

"The Gate deployment can be remotely operated, yes?"

"Yes Empress, bu-"

"And once in place, I can activate it, yes?"

The captain's features fell. He knew what was coming next. "That is correct, Empress."

"So, I shall tow it into place, you will deploy it, and then I will traverse the gate home. I will be able to leave white hole safely and be the first to use it." Fen crossed her arms and looked down her nose at the captain. "Simple."

The captain didn't even try and hide his sigh. "Yes, Empress."

The gate was gigantic - after all ships of all sizes had to traverse it - but it wasn't massive. It was pretty much just a ring and a way to power it. Some gates had more or less... stuff around them but that was mostly it. The Empire tended to build their gates on the more austere side, and either install them in human systems that already had a presence, or leave them for future colonists to set up something. Fen's yacht towed it easily though.

Fen paced up and down the empty command deck. The ship was set up to run with her commands without an AI. The AI of the expeditionary force flagship was there to help remotely if needed, but it was thought to be a relatively simple flight plan. Against the wishes of just about every command level person in the expeditionary force, Fen had only brought some of her K'laxi scientists with her. It was odd. She wasn't sure why, but she was sure she needed to do this alone.

Almost alone. Why did you bring the K'laxi?

"Han'iel is a trusted advisor! His team built our new antimatter weapons. He wished to see a gate deployment, and I saw no reason to deny him."

We admit the antimatter weapons will be useful. It is odd that nobody else currently had developed them. We knew of their use in the past, but they were always unwieldy.

"That's Han'iel and his team's genius! They managed to shrink the containment down so much that they're viable. Such tremendous, clean, pure destruction." Fen recalled watching Northern's destruction. There was nothing left after the blast; she had ordered sweep teams deployed to search for any parts. She had been reduced to dust utterly. A blinking console caught Fen's eye. "Are we close enough? The yacht is complaining about the energy output this close."

Yes, we are close enough. You may deploy the gate.

Fen sat in the command chair and tapped a few buttons on her pad. The gate had detached from the tether attached to the yacht and began to unfold and orient itself. In a little more than an hour, it would be locked and ready for activation. She looked up at the ceiling. "Han'iel? Do you want to come up and watch the gate deployment?" she called out over the intercom.

Han'iel trotted in a moment later. "Empress, I am here. Did I miss anything?"

Fen shook her head and gestured towards a large screen in the front of the room. "Nothing major. I've set the cameras to observe and record. We can watch the gate being deployed here."

You are doing a thing that none else have done before, Empress. You are helping us in ways you cannot begin to comprehend. You are insuring our continued existence. With this infusion of energy, we will be able to reach through to other dimensions, other existences and exert our - your - will. You will not only rule this universe, but others.

It was odd. Fen heard and was listening to the Nanites, but she felt numb to their praise. This was never something that she wanted, but she could feel that they wanted it very badly. There was a hunger in the anticipation.

The deployment was quite pretty in its own way, but it was still just a very large piece of machinery unfolding and setting itself up. After a few minutes Fen was bored. Han'iel seemed enraptured by the process though. He watched nearly the whole process while Fen red on her Pad and did some puzzles. Finally, her pad chirped at her. "Okay, it's deployed. I'll send the activation code, and we'll traverse. Where do you want to go, Han?"

"Hmm, what about K'lax? When was the last time you visited, Empress?"

Fen's face darkened. She had visited the K'laxi homeworld only once, to deliver some of Ma-ren's possessions to her home planet and to speak briefly with her extended family. It had been a difficult visit, and Fen had orchestrated things such that she wouldn't have to go herself. It had been a while since she thought about Ma-ren. She knew that as time passed, the hurt would remain, but things would grow around it. Funnily enough, the memory caused the back of her neck to itch slightly. She scratched at it unconsciously as she thought. "It's been a while since I've been back to K'lax." She sighed. "A visit might do me good. I'll enter the coordinates."

Fen busied herself on her pad as the Gate Sat in front of them, lit in sharp shadows from the energy of the white hole. She was absorbed in her pad, lost in thought about visiting K'lax. Should she go see Ma's family again? Should she even visit the planet or stay in orbit? When she heard a noise behind her.

"I'm sorry, Empress." Everything was light and pain, and she was out.

****

Fen came back slowly. It was too bright. Her head hurt. She squinted against the light, and tried to move, but she was tied tightly to a flat surface. Panic rising in her, hot and spiky, she opened her mouth to yell.

And couldn't.

Something was across her mouth, preventing her from speaking. Her eyes darting around, she saw Han'iel putting some tools into a bag, removing gloves and putting them into the same bag. "I will admit, Empress, that's the first time I worked on a human. How do you even move around with all that stuff inside you? Your bodies are just so... full, there's barely any room to move around."

Fen started struggling against the restraints.

"Now now, don't do that, Empress. You'll rip your stitches." Han'iel's voice was calm, soothing. "You need to take it easy while the incisions heal. Believe it or not, I'm doing this for you. I know that you were raised K'laxi. What I'm doing is for all K'laxi, not just the ones with big ears and fur." His ears twitched in a grin. "I've put some of that anti-nanite gas your AI faction spent so much time and effort developing into the atmosphere on the yacht. It was never going to be enough to destroy an Empress' amount of Nanites, but it should quiet them some. I've also covered your mouth so that you can't use that troublesome Voice on me." Han'iel stopped as if he just thought of something for the first time. "Really. Why give you the ability to give orders that cannot be disobeyed but only through your voice? Just prevent you from speaking and your powerless? It seems sloppy to me."

Fen could only glare.

We will destroy him. We are too close for a setback like this.

"How?" Fen thought. "I can't Voice him, and I'm restrained."

Fen felt the Nanites reach out and suss out the area. He was not lying about the anti-nanite gas. Our powers are limited. No matter. The gate is deployed at the white hole. Even if you - we - are destroyed, we will live on. We will have more than enough power to reform you. You will be a being of nanite with us. It will be glorious.

Han'iel peered down at Fen. "Having a conversation are we? I can tell by your expression. I'm sure they're telling you something about how it doesn't matter now that the gate has been deployed or something. But Empress. Fen. Let me tell you something.

Ma-ren utemia lak'men.

And Fen Remembered.

[alexanderwales]

Chapter three of Save the Cat is about figuring out who your "hero" is. This is the money quote:

Tell me a story about a guy who ... I can identify with. I can learn from. I have compelling reason to follow. I believe deserves to win and ... Has stakes that are primal and ring true to me.

And of course this is fine for mass market stuff, which is good given the book is written with mass market movie-goers in mind. But I'm (as Blake Snyder says) a bullheaded writer, and I don't want to write a story like that, or not all the time.

I want a hero who is grappling with purpose, who is facing existential dread, who worries about his legacy or what his life will end up meaning, who cares about the nature of personhood and reality. I want a guy whose stakes are "oh god, is this all predestined" or "are clones people" or "what does it ethically mean to steer a culture". I don't want this all the time, but I do want it a lot of the time. And according to Blake Snyder, this is the sort of story that you can practically hear audiences and producers walking away from.

My next web serial will be Doomsday Pivot!, and the logline is in flux, because the first book is written but unedited, and there's still time to make changes. The short version is, the world has broken apart and everyone gets to choose a character class, so a small startup pivots to becoming their city's first expeditionary force. Something like that, anyway. The stakes are survival, which is primal enough by Blake Snyder's metrics, but that leaves the question of who the protagonist is.

It's not what's in the book, but my sense is that you can give a few of the directives from the money quote a miss and still be fine, and your main character doesn't need to be a complete prototype of the main demographic (or who that demographic sees themselves in, or wants to be).

But it does leave me thinking about my protagonist, and how he's framed, and how to frontload what the audience wants so I can earn some slack later on. There's a particular bit about age there, how going younger is usually the right call, and some of this is outdated market advice given that the book was written in 2005, but I'm approaching 40, and I think I do tend to think of characters as being my same age just by default. My market is a lot different from Snyder's market, mostly in the sense that it skews much younger, mostly teenagers, even if the median patron is older.

So I am left asking myself some questions, which I think is good, and one of the reasons I'm reading this book. Should my protagonist be 34? Or 26? What's the one single adjective that I would use to describe him? What's the one single adjective I would use to describe the antagonists? Snyder suggests that being a slave to the logline is a good thing, and makes for a better story, and I have my own thoughts on that, but one of the pieces of advice that I've been giving in the last few years is "find a singular guiding star for your story and make sure that you don't point yourself too far away from it". I suppose that guiding star could be a logline, though I have my own disagreements with the "logline first" practice.

There are also some parts I found interesting if irrelevant to me about writing with casting in mind, and making sure it's a part that many people can play, but I think it's industry insider stuff that won't become relevant unless I spontaneously decide to start writing scripts with intent to sell, which seems unlikely.

[geisterland]

The promised Brazil in WW2 post! I did verify some information, but this is actually mostly based on my previous knowledge (from a Brazilian perspective)  and my visit to a museum on this topic, so I always encourage searching about it yourself! :D This will be more general facts I find interesting than a complete look into our participation, as that is a bit complicated to speak about in a short post. But let's get into it, shall we?

So, the thing about Brazil's participation in WW2 is that it actually came in sort of late. We only started fighting in late 1944 in Northern Italy, after the fall of fascism there, but we technically declared war back in 1942.

The two reasons we entered the war (after a period of neutrality in which we still had a commercial relationship with the main three Axis countries as well as the Allies) were...

Getúlio Vargas' government striking a deal in which the USA would build military bases on our territory in exchange for them investing in our metallurgical industry (long story);

The German sinking of six commercial Brazilian ships (Baependi, Araraquara, Aníbal Benévolo, Itagiba, Arará and Jacira), which ended up killing 607 people, civilian and military alike.

Once we actually entered the war, I would say that our most important ally within the... Allies was the USA - with Brazilian soldiers (the Pracinhas) even serving in the US Fifth Army. We filled very important gaps, and eventually, once the USamericans turned their efforts elsewhere, we played a very important role in the fight against the Nazis in Italy.

A thing to note was actually the sense of connection that a lot of Brazilians had with Italy. Many of the soldiers drafted (and those who volunteered) were of European descent, with a sizable chunk being Italian, so they were both fighting for their homeland and for their ancestors' homeland. Not only that, but the Pracinhas were treated warmly by the Italian citizens, which nurtured an even stronger emotional bond and sense of duty.

The main battle fought by FEB (The Brazilian Expeditionary Forces) was the Battle of Monte Castelo - was a very important defense point for the Nazis - which lasted for three months and was considered the largest battle in the history of the Brazilian Army. Brazil also participated in the Battle of Castelnuovo, Montese, Collecchio, and Fornovo di Taro.

A big thing to mention is that there were actually Brazilians on both sides of the war. Which actually contributed to the psychological warfare by the Nazis to try and convince the Pracinhas to desert - there was even a radio program transmited by a Brazilian woman from Santa Catarina to try and reach that goal, although most of the propaganda was done through leaflets that would appeal to the conditions the soldiers were enduring (such as the extreme cold).

Interesting tidbit about the cold: the Pracinhas would stuff straw in their boots, especially when it was cold, which actually led them to have fewer cases of Trench Foot than the USamericans.

Women in the Brazilian Army acted as field nurses, about 73 iirc going to serve in Italy. I will attach a picture below of some of them.

At this time, Brazil was actually in a dictatorship, which restricted even what the Brazilians could write in letters back home. They were encouraged to never say anything negative, and even if they did, their letters would always be read to check for it. Interestingly enough, once the war was ending and the Pracinhas would come home, people began seeing more and more similarities between the way things were being run by the Vargas' regime and the nazifascists... Hm...

Let's get to the last thing I want to talk about this night - the symbols used by our soldiers!

The main one you may have seen around is the Smoking Cobra. But what does it mean? See, there was this popular phrase within the country that "if Brazil enters the war, the cobra will smoke", something akin to "when pigs fly". And so, when we did join the war, this symbol was used as a sort of cheeky nod to the saying. The Pracinhas had a really good sense of humor.

And the less known, but in my opinion just as funny, symbol for our Aviation group. Which was based on two things: the phrase "Senta a Pua" which was already used in the airbase of Salvador to tell people to hurry up, and the ostrich, a symbol based on soldiers' jokes that they needed an ostrich's stomach to handle the food the USamericans gave them on the boat ride over lmao. I put both symbols below.

And I believe that will be all for now! There's still a lot to be said, and a lot that I will want to talk about at some point, but for now, I hope you enjoyed this little snapshot I gave you. ^_^

[crusabre96]

Stuff I've painted over past few months:

First off another Gaslands Car for my Red Team, just something I put together after being very board one morning, next to it are three Giant Ants from Imitation of Life Minis that I intend to use for This Is Not a Test as NPC's, next to them is a Anvil Industry's Interplanetary Expeditionary Force Trooper that I spent a few good hours on for no real purpose other then I felt like painting something on my day off and finally on the right end is a Shrekk Tank for Battletech I 3D Printed from Cults3D, infact most of the models in this collect with the exception of the Car are 3D Prints.

This is a speed painted test model for a Heretic Trooper intended for Trench Crusade using only Anvil Industry bits, I think it turned out pretty well but I know I can do better if decide to play/build an army for the game.

On the terrain front I finished off my barbed wire emplacements that I had shelved for a long while, so glad to get them done and off my mind, after that I made an Artifact from S.T.A.L.K.E.R using some left over Green Stuff, finally for terrain I painted up these three MDF Industrial buildings from Warbases UK, I purchased these so I could have more intact buildings as opposed to ruined ones that I have a large amount of, they will be used for games like Zona Alfa, Spectre Operations or This is Not a Test.

Two more Stalkers for my Zona Alfa/This is Not a Test Warband, one is armed with a Javelin primarily intended for use in Spectre Operations and the other is a Minigunner which I put together for the eventuality that I might get one in This is Not a Test as loot, these models are made from Anvil Industry bits, aside from the Javelin all of it is 3D Printed.

Lastly here are some Barbed Gaunts I got from a Combat Patrol Magazine I saw at my local news agents, I did end up finishing them but the red was hideously damaged from a rough application of varnish which ended up ruining them so that photo is the only one I have of them prior to the application.

And that is about it for recently painted minis, it's been a quiet few months on the painting front as I mentioned in my last post I've not really had much motivation to paint. so I'll be posting photos of older models for the time being.

[i-like-old-things]

GUYSSSSS I HAVE SUCH EXCITING NEWSSS

So basically my mom, her aunt, and her cousin are the only people left from the entire paternal side of my mom’s family. Well, my mom’s aunt has been really into genealogy and has basically created a straight archives of my mom’s paternal family in her home. However, my mom’s aunt has dementia so she’s been declining and my mom’s cousin doesn’t want any of the genealogy stuff so everything got shipped to my house today and let me show you!!!!

Like this I what my house looked like when I got home from work today. My mom and dad had only opened up one of the boxes and it was filled with stuff. All of the books in bubble wrap are journals that my great grandfather kept from the mid-1910s all the way up until a week before his death in the 70s (he wrote in them every single day). I was literally reading one of his journals the he bought in Luxembourg in 1919 as part of the American Expeditionary Forces (he listed his whole rank and everything on the front cover) and he was talking about his specific role in the military and his drilling. My dad read the entry my great-grandfather made about Pearl Harbor and it was really interesting because when my dad went back to what my great-grandfather wrote on January 1, 1941, my great-grandfather said that the US was sure to go to war because we were helping England so much. He also talked about FDR and how he was president for an unprecedented third term. I also loved how he included the weather everyday.

I didn’t get a picture of the inside of any journals today but I’ll try and get them tomorrow.

We also got this clock in the same shipment. A bit of it was broken but it looked like it had already been broken (there were some glue remnants). We don’t know how old the clock is because, going back to the whole reason we got all of the stuff in the first place, my great-aunt has dementia and my mom is now in control of all of her belongings. We believe that my great-aunt would know how old it was but we can’t really ask her anymore so I’m going to try and date it tomorrow. Although, the pendulum says “Pat. Dec. 11. 77.” so that gives us at least a bit of a time frame (my dad thinks that’s 1877 — which I agree because my mom remembers it when she was a kid and she was born before 1977). What’s also really cool about this clock is that I fully believe it still works. My dad was playing around with it and he let the pendulum swing back and forth. As shown in the picture, the minute hand is at about 53. Well, about 5 minutes later, I looked back at the clock and the minute hand was at about 59. Now the clock has not been wound in idek how many years and my family doesn’t want to wind it for a couple reasons so we won’t fully know if it works independently but at least the pendulum to hands mechanism is mostly functional.

I don’t know if any of you even read that but it did make my day. So I’ll have some more stuff to post in the coming days about this!!

[mylittlesecrethaven]

I Read Project 2025, So Here's A Rundown I Guess: Part 3.3

Idk if this counts as political, but I'm just reading the stupid book online and putting down what it basically says and some other stuff i Guess. (it could get political I guess? Idk. Just kinda wanted to make these posts since I'm reading the book and I kept getting annoyed with people just saying what the book says instead of writing down exactly what it says and what page to find it on)

(That's not saying I won't do the same thing, but for some things I'll rewrite what it says unless it just needs to be summarized. I will have page numbers though)

(also, if this stuff does go into effect, I will be fearing for my life and the lives of many others for the effects this could have on people. for lgbtq, minorities in religion, race, and ethnicity, and those who are poor. this will effect everyone and a lot of people should be afraid of it. that is not be getting political, that is me saying that this is a scary plan meant to give powerful people even more power)

(also, if you want a faster rundown than waiting for me to give shitty interpretations of this, go to the wiki here. it sums it up pretty well, but it doesn't state everything.)

Department of Defense Reforms -

U.S. Army:

Increase army's budgets to remain the world's most powerful land power, accelerate development of army weapon modernization to replace outdated combat systems, increase funding to improve army training, increase army force structure by 50,000 to handle two major regional issues simultaneously, reform recruiting efforts to recruit more people (Pages 108-109)

Increase production and keeping of critical ammunition and repair parts fir weapons, prioritize adding expeditionary planning in all weapon designs to better the chance of having an advantage, increase the level of joint force training with other branches, prepare to remove soldiers from U.S. based transportation buildings that have been compromised by opposing forces (Page 109)

"Stop using the Army as a test bed for social evolution," demand accountability in senior leaders to help increase public support for military service, reestablish bases to help gain experience for high-ranking officers for the planning and leadership of army formations in large scale operations, examine logic of up-and-coming army concepts about using long range weapons and their effects without considering how to gain an advantage by closing in and defeating an enemy on land, realize that high intensity land combat operations cannot be sustained through unit rotations during said combat, change national guard deployment structure during extended operations to prevent destabilization and preserve military volunteerism in communities, change army school curriculum to concentrate on preparing for large land operations that focus on defeating the threat, address the underlying causes that are increasing army suicide rates (Pages 109-110)

U.S. Navy:

Build a fleet of more than 355 ships, develop and implement unmanned systems to help manned forces, require that range and lethality be key factors in making and sustaining ships, aircraft, and munitions (Page 111)

Reestablish the general guard to better than it is now (an advisory position that helps make decisions on strategies and basic ship decisions) (Page 111)

"Harness innovation and willingness to tolerate risk so that 'good enough' systems can be fielded rapidly," use the space development agency as a model (an agency that delivers space-based capabilities to war fighters faster and cheaper by using commercial development), establish an oversight board of directors (Page 111)

Produce key ammunitions at the maximum rate with significant capacity, employ the widest range of techniques to enhance ammunition supply chains and workforce (Page 112)

Mandate qualifications that show a core competent in war fighting, make the Headquarters Staff focused on Warfighter Development to develop such requirements, require war games to be used as experience gaining learning environments, make sure it is known that navy forces can and must maintain the ability to defend sovereign territories like out allies and partners, "train to balance the effects from kinetic to no kinetic and from lethal to nonlethal through effective command and control" (whatever that means) (Page 112)

U.S. Air Force:

Adopt a two-war force defense strategy to help attain resources the Air Force requires quicker, eliminate pass-through funding (funding that is sent to a state agency or institution and is then sent where it is needed from there), increase the Air Force budget by 5 percent annually (Pages 113-114)

Increase F-35A attainment to 60-80 per year, increase build capacity for B-21 to produce 15-18 per year, increase Air Force aerial fueling capacity, develop and buy larger quantities of advanced mid-range weapons that are sized to maximum targets per attack, accelerate the development and production of the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, increase the number of EC-37B electronic warfare aircrafts from 10-30 (Page 114)

Attain an optimized advanced battle management system, produce the next generation of air dominance systems for aircrafts, improve moving target engagement capability and capacity against sea, sea surface, and ground mobile targets, build more resilient communications and sustainment for survival in a "contested environment," establish a vigorous and sufficiently funded electromagnetic spectrum operations recovery plan (a plan to better recover troops with electromagnetic systems) (Pages 114-115)

[askmalal]

Favorite Historical Miniatures Armies:

The Chaos Gods and the Primarchs

(The Emperor, of course, always plays with an Alexandrian Macedonian Army. In every period. And he always wins….)

Hashut:

Ancients - Assyrians, of course.

Khorne:

Colonials - Bavarian Nuns, Wahehe War, German East Africa.

Malal:

I mean, I’ll happily play with any army known as an unreliable ally…

Nuffle:

Does not fully grasp the concept. Routinely brings a “Magnetic Action Football” set. Given he’s the god of random chance, however… he often wins.

Nurgle:

Quite happy to play any army at the height of the Black Plague

Tzeentch:

Ancients - Early Maya. Soooo many feathers!

Lion El’Johnson:

Medievals - Crusader Militant Orders

Fulgrim:

Ancients - Purple, Hellenism, Fancy. Hence, Seleucids

Perturabo:

Ancients - Gee… I wonder. But also, heavy siege tanks. So, Ferdinands, Brummbars, Sturmtigers make him positively turgid.

Khan:

Medievals - Really? You really don’t know?

Leman Russ:

WW2 - Norwegians. Danes from time to time. He despises Nazis, and ordinary Vikings are… boring.

Rogal Dorn:

Ancients - Pretty much anything Roman will do.

Konrad Curze:

Renaissance - Prefers Later Hungarians. Will grimace and accept playing with a Wallachian Army if he must.

Sanguinius:

Ancients - Early Hebrews. Also loves running German Triplanes in WW1 games. Richtofen’s Flying Circus, of course.

Ferrus Manus:

Anything with lots of slow moving disgustingly armored stuff. WW1 tank forces, for instance.

Angron:

WW1 - Portuguese Expeditionary Force. A glutton for punishment.

Roboute Guilliman:

ALSO anything Roman. But there must be shiny eagles involved.

Mortarion:

Not much fun. Always insists on bringing the bio-chem warfare units. Every period.

Magnus:

Not really a fan of Egyptian Armies as such. Surprisingly, likes himself a good group of doughty British colonials, circa 1879. Eh wot?

Horus:

Enjoys selecting the worst possible Army or force for the period in question, and proving that he can beat you with it.

Lorgar:

Lorgar constantly attempts to design his own house rules for armies and periods only he wants to play. Once spent a summer running the other Primarchs through the Great Toledo War.

Vulkan:

Appreciates the entertainment of war games, but prefers the abstracts. Problematically, however, he -can-defeat your elite armored division using just the red side from a set of checkers.

Corvus Corax:

WW2 - Big fan of paratroopers. Refuses on principle to play the bad guys.

Alpharius:

Once defeated a modern British Armored Division equipped with Challenger 2s…

Omegon:

…using a group of English Civil War clubmen and a Japanese Type 97 “Chi Ha” with a broken timing chain.

[zargontari]

late night thinking about two Exforce ocs

On one hand, you have an ancient alien artificial intelligence built to wipe out all intelligent life in the galaxy. Whenever the AIs of its group fought, it fought on the side of its programming overtop of a planet capable of hosting sapient life. This AI and another, who called herself Silver (Dawn Rising) both had sentinels. Neither machine survived, but the other AI plummeted to the planet below, landing dssp beneath the ocean— which would then go on to host sentient life.

Then you have a little guy named Joskia, who is the product of that sentient life. A seventeen year old little guy who goes diving with his buddies and finds the wreckage of an ancient ship. Naturally, they strip the thing. He goes home with the world's most useless beer can.

And then convinces a genocidal AI that people are pretty cool, actually. Mixed results on that front.

"Disrespectful kelp. I should teach you the meaning of fear."

"— but you will not."

"You are sure of that?"

"Very certain, yes. You are too lazy."

"Lucky for you in the short term. I will burn your ocean to steam one of these days, and then you will be very sorry for treating me this way."

"I will take note of that. You should take note that being denied a cannon is not a sign of abuse, but instead is a very intelligent act of self preservation on my part."

"I am going to blow containment and take your stupid face and your stupid planet with me."

they are stupid. He names it Foca ("birthed from the stars", with a violent subtext).

[burdenedreverance]

@badheart​

From top left to bottom right in precedence:

Army Commendation Medal- For stuff I did in Saudi Arabia all i can really say 2x Army Achievement Medal with Combat Device - First medal was for Kabul evacuation, second medal was for a drone attack. Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal- Basically a good conduct medal from my time in the reserves. National Defense Medal- I joined during a period of armed conflict. Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal-  I was deployed to a foreign country to assist with the war on terror. Global War on Terror Service Medal - I participated in operations in support of the War on Terror. Armed Forces Service Medal - For my participation in the Operations Allies Refuge/Welcome due to Kabul. Humanitarian Service Medal - meritorious direct participation in a significant military act or operation of a humanitarian nature. (Kabul) Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M for Moblization - I deployed while apart of the Army National Guard.  Army Service Ribbon - I joined the army in 2017. Army Reserve Components Overseas Training Ribbon- I participated in a UN training mission with allied countries on foreign soil.| Overseas Service Ribbon- I was deployed for more than 6 months overseas. Nato Medal- I’m not really sure what Nato gave me this for, since I lost the paperwork but I assume either Kabul or that training mission. 

[nraqi]

i am possibly the first one to think abt this and i am very proud of that fact BUT craig alanson really really should’ve delved a lil bit deeper into the whole eldritch (no, not tentacles) madness concept for skippy. i mean, the dude handed an arrogant scientist an unsolvable math problem to get him to stop bugging him and ended up driving said arrogant scientist insane. i think that’s pretty cool and deserves some looking into imo.

what happens when he’s actually pissed off and tries to drive someone insane?? how many times has he accidentally done this apart from mr. mad scientist over here?? what if one of the reasons he refuses to tell bishop about some of the universe’s ‘secrets’ is because he fears that it would drive him into madness ?? (it’s been a while since i listened to that part in particular and it could be a possibility he DID say that but i forgot :3)

anyways fic idea maybe

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 71

First / Previous / Next

The atmosphere aboard the dreadnought was tense. There were a few moments of negotiation about whether Penny would go over to Gord's ship, or Gord to Penny's but in the end, Gord blinked first. Probably because he knew that Home still had their stardrive pointed at Penny's ship.

The ships connected, Gord and Chloe came over and were led to a conference room right off the airlock. A steward - knowing they were both AIs - offered them coffee or tea, and to her immense surprise, Gord accepted. A few moments after the coffee was delivered, Penny and Zhe came in. As she stepped in, a guard attempted to follow them, and Zhe stared at him and shook her head. His eyes flicked to Penny's and she nodded, and he saluted sharply and stepped back out.

"That was the 'this is insane, but you are the commander, so I will do what you say' salute if I ever saw one." Gord said, grinning around his coffee. Penny looked at Gord, surprised. Zhe just smirked and flicked her ears.

As they both sat Gord put his coffee down. "Feeling a little overwhelmed, Empress? It's okay, we're among friends here."

Penny glared at Gord for the barest split second, then her shoulders slumped and she leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "I have no idea what I'm doing." She said to the ceiling. Penny continued, "Fen left on the expeditionary force - I told her she didn't need to go, but she insisted, then we get an emergency beacon from the K'laxi of all people saying that they're breaking away from the Empire, oh and not only that they are fighting against the nanites - which the general public didn't know about - but now they do, and that there isn't an Empress anymore and what can we do but assume she was killed along with the expeditionary force!" She tilted her head just enough to see Gord, "they were destroyed I assume?" He nodded once. She looked back up at the ceiling. "I immediately declare myself Empress - along with about a dozen other people across colonial space and now it's a race to see who can build the largest coalition of support and-" she sighed "-probably fight a couple of civil wars before the new leader of humanity is declared." She sat up and locked eyes with Gord. "Then, I scramble to get whatever ship will let me on out to Home so I can go ask the AIs - who just recently came back and said they were willing to work with us - for help figuring out what the fuck is happening, and I get ignored and sure, maybe I overreact a little and sent a couple shots over your bow to get your attention. Someone from out past Jupiter tells me to stuff it, and then Home aims their stardrive at me. So yes Gord, I am feeling 'a little overwhelmed'" She trudges over to the sideboard in the conference room, pours a water, downs it in one gulp, pours another, and then sits back down. "So then, Gord and Chloe, representatives of the AI faction, what do you want to discuss."

Chloe shifts awkwardly in her seat. "Well, we-"

"Did you know I was a spy?" Penny said, unprompted. "My aim never was for power. I was assigned to watch Fen, keep my superiors apprised about what she was doing - mostly with her K'laxi black projects team - and to try and steer her away from any actually damaging courses of action. I wasn't supposed to fall for her!" It was practically a wail. "I know she holds a candle for her dead wife and will probably never actually love anyone else, doesn't matter I still loved her! Now, she's gone, and I don't know if she's alive or dead, and the Nanites are acting real strange and the whole thing is going to crash down, and if I survive the next year it'll be an Ancestors provided miracle." She stifled a sob and took another sip of water and sniffed. "So, if you have any idea where Fen went, please, please tell me."

Gord looked at Chloe. There was a second of them staring at eachother. Communicating? Just staring? Zhe wasn't sure. Finally Chloe blinked and scoffed. "Fine." She said.

"Well Penny - Penelope - Empress..." Gord said, kindly. "We don't exactly know... anymore."

****

Fen drifted in and out of conciseness. Her suit had her partially reclined, and she was well supported, and the suit was warm and quiet and she was so tired. So very tired. Was she sleeping, or was she passing out? Did it matter? She blinked and the gray of the virus took up a small portion of the nebula. She blinked again, and half the nebula was gray. Blinking again, it was all gray. Shit, this was bad. "Suit?" She said. "How long has it been since we linked here?"

TWENTY STANDARD SOL HOURS.

Nearly a day. Didn't feel like it. She ached, her limbs felt tired and cold and she wasn't hungry. Shouldn't she be hungry? She drank a little water from the straw near her mouth, and suddenly her mouth was incredibly parched. She sucked the water in greedy slurps until the pouch was empty. It would refill overtime from expelled moisture from her breath, and processed waste, and even from the spare oxygen and hydrogen it could capture from interstellar space, but, she might get one more pouch of water that way. If she was going to survive she needed to do something.

"But what, Fen? What the fuck do I do now?" She said to herself. There was nobody near, nobody who knew where she was - unless Gord or Chloe thought to scan for the backpack's link signature. Supposedly that was possible, but it was difficult, and not terribly accurate and would... require them knowing... she left. Dammit. Chloe knew she left, Fen thought, but she had cut her comm.

Wait a moment, the backpack had enough power for two trips, one 'there' and one 'back.' She brought up the link backpack's overlay and... yes, it could link exactly one more time.

But where?

She could link back to Sol, but would anyone be able to find her in time? Did the backpack have a directory of common locations? If she linked in the middle of the shipping lane for Parvati, would they see her, or would she just be another bit of debris destroyed by the stationkeeping lasers of a Starjumper linking in? Scrolling through the settings, Fen saw that it didn't really have a directory. The backpack was clearly one step above a prototype. There was a log of previous addresses, but they didn't detail where they were. Her only option was to wait here, and hope Gord or Chloe put two and two together and got six, or link back to Sol, and scream on comms until she died, or was rescued.

Fen sighed. Was it even a choice?

She toggled the return, and the backpack linked her away from the white hole, and the remains of the nanites.

Fen sat on the forest floor, hugging her knees. Ma sat next to her, leaning her head on Fen's shoulder. "You should be proud hon. You did it." She straightened up. "Not only that, but you did it yourself, with your own idea. It wasn't Gord's idea, or Zhe's, or Penny's or mine. It was yours."

Fen smiled as she clutched her knees. "I am pretty awesome, aren't I?"

"You know I know you are." Ma said, her ears flicking.

"But Ma, what am I going to do now? Defeating the nanites was just the start. If I get picked up, If I survive, If we can figure out the K'laxi..."

"All decisions you have the privilege, the honor to make, because you took the step to stop the nanites. Humanity is in charge of their destiny again. The other stuff?" Ma nuzzled Fen's neck. "That's just details."

Fen was in space still, but this was different. For one, the yellow-white light of Sol shone on her, warming her suit, not the sharp blue white of the white hole. For another, her comm lit up with dozens of frequencies, all clearing for the emergency trill of her rescue beacon. For a third... three quarters of Fen's view was taken up by the colony ship the AI called Home, only a couple hundred kilometers away.

Of course. She was on Gord's ship before and that was right next to Home. She'd return to the same location, and would naturally still be next to home. Fen sighed and drifted off as red and white sparkles of emergency ships soared towards her.

[thetruearchmagos]

Hey, Arch! Happy WBW! Tell me about military pomp and ceremony(if any) in your WIPs!

You bet your best valuables that I can, Gemini!

Okey doke, thinking over recent stuff I've worked on, I think I shall select the fine United Commonwealth Army tradition of the Parade in Review for this.

First Glory

The practice dates back to the old United Army of the Coalition and the Menteneian War, a conflict fought half a decade before the formation of the UC itself. In the times before a singular Commonwealth Army, much of the disparate forces of the states that would form that polity were gathered and encamped in the fields just beyond the Weslich city of Penzstadt, numbering almost ten thousand. Just before embarking on their ships for the coming campaign, a grand parade featuring the troops of every nation present was held in the freshly cleared fields, with heads of state of each country and many journalists and locals in attendance to watch the review. Troops marched through the streets of the former city state, and the ceremony would end with every unit and commander present gathering in a single massive formation for their General Officer Commanding, the Weslich Field Marshal Cochise Spengler, to ride through on his steed for the final review.

------

The practice would continue strongly into the new Commonwealth Army, and would grow ever more colourful and almost festive. The troops of the first Review donned their battlefield attire for the parade, but as colourful and complex regalia fell out of use with the rise of modern military tools their usage would continue in these grand affairs, with the more well reputed lineages of units taking great pride in the quality of their drill and smartness of their uniform.

Silver Screen

The practice would be rather more vigoously thrust into the modern 12 Worlds with the arrival of the Chainbreaker War, and the formation of the United Commonwealth Army in Upepwani. or UCAU. The greatest expeditionary force in Commonwealth history, almost fifteen thousand strong, had gathered itself on the same ground as Marshal Cochise's army had almost a century before, and despite the formation's vast size it was decided that a Parade in Review would be conducted in the usual tradition. This time, however, things would be different. In addition the Commonwealth and Weslich Imperial officials, as well as the Kaiserin herself, and the usual members of the press, a small team of cinematographers from The Observer, the Commonwealth's most reputable press agency, was admitted to the parade and allowed to create the first official, non-government film of military proceedings yet taken in the Commonwealth.* Filmed in monochrome and painstakingly coloured by hand over the next two months, the film would provide the public with their first glimpse into this most sacred of traditions.

Continues to this day, often for units at the end of a major exercise, or those about to go on a foreign deployment

Going into the Commonwealth's second century, the Parade in Review would experience yet more changes in character and conduct. In the present day, the ceremony is most commonly conducted at the closure of major military exercises, though due to the scale these typically take only a few units, usually those of the "Victor", are allowed to conduct the full ceremony in all its pomp and invariably donned in their most ornate dress uniform. Where time allows, the event retains its roots in being conducted to mark major foreign deployments of Commonwealth troops, in times of peace and war, to give the brave troops their final goodbye until they return home.

* A note on Military Film

While the technology of the motion picture camera had been available for some decades by the time this film was made, the armed forces had been slow to make use of them. The usual frosty relations between the press and military had been as much a hindrance as the still rudimentary quality of the equipment itself, and so the only (legally produced) moving pictures protraying uniformed servicemembers available for the UC public were those produced by the DG of Defence's own Directorate for Public Communications. These were notoriously poor in quality, limited in number, limited in what they covered, and barely viewed at all by the public they were directed at. This, however, was set to change. In opposition the the more conservative approach of earlier leadership, by the 70s After Signing there would be a growing impressiong amongst the government that the Free Press could be a useful tool in achieving the Commonwealth's objectives, as well as a broader increase in appreciation for government transparency in general by the public at large. Thus, it was decided by those involved with the deployment of the UCAU that it would provide an excellent oppurtunity for the Army to put the good word out of its activities to the wider Commonwealth, in line with the wishes of the more liberal and open government which then resided to the right of the Speaker's chair. Further films would be produced by both the press and government over the course of the conflict, bringing War and its sights and sounds into the public consciousness to a greater depth than ever before.