TW: Condottieri II (IC)

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 1

The year is 1827 and the Europe has entered it’s third year of peace after the twenty year war melee that saw Spain, France, and Britain attack each other in turn. The conflict did not so much end in peace, but a long ceasefire as the respective empires paused to regain their strength.

Still many of the less fortunate had hoped that this time the peace might actually last given the sheer lack of progress that any nation made in the last round of conflict. Unfortunately such hopes are not to be. Even as their patrons fought diligent alchemists have been working to advance their art. And they have revealed a new technology that is sure to rock the foundations of Europe.

Drawing on the alchemical wards of the Peter’s Wall intricate purge devices have been built, which if the alchemists are to be believed, can cleanse a section of land from Estrada’s Curse. Of course such claims have been made before, but early tests look fruitful, and the possibility of not only freely accessing the metallic riches of Europe, but even expanding the fertile zones has captured the attention of the Great Powers.

All across Europe the nobles are calling upon their soldiers. And the condottieri are no less useful for all their supposed independence. Indeed many nobles find the deniability of a regiment or mercenary soldiers to be even more endearing than their household guard.

Each nation has distributed contracts to their favored mercenaries. And although the languages might be different the details are more or less the same.

Scout Mission
Employer: Any Nation in Europe
Combat Rating: 10
Payout: 5 Cash

In addition the alchemists are offering rewards for venturing into the wastes and collecting samples. The more dangerous the area the better.

[GameOfChampions]

The Forgotten Legion

Jean passes around the training ground where his veterans were giving the less experienced recruits a good working over. They seemed adequate enough in basic combat and should handle simple missions well enough, though he wouldn't be sending them out without any of his veterans. He looks around the small military encampment they had set up here, he had been here for almost two months now training his men and whipping them into shape. Now though he was climbing the walls waiting for work.

It had been a month and a half since their last mission and he was ready to get back out there, his men were ready and frankly he hadn't spent this much time 'relaxing' in years. He makes one more circuit around the training yard before making a snap decision. The lanky colonel calls over one of his lieutenants "Henri keep working the men, everything seems to be going smoothly so I'm going to be taking a trip up to the palace. I'll be back in several hours."

The trip takes an hour or two, he grabbed one of the attack bikes to speed up there as fast as possible. He hated bringing a guard with him and his lieutenants had finally given up trying to force one on him so he wasn't forced to slow down for anyone on his way. He couldn't drive the bike right into the palace grounds or anything so he left it with the first squad of guards he saw and waited to be received. Ten minutes later he was ushered into General Pascal's office. He straightens his uniform and salutes the man with enthusiasm, he had worked under him in a few military actions back when he was with the musketeer regiment and had always been impressed by his skills. The man hadn't known him of course, Jean had been a young lieutenant at the time.

The General waves him down and raises an eyebrow at him, Jean clears his throat and stands at attention "Sir I've just come by to inquire anything my regiment would be able to help with? We've done one mission for the country already but we're eager to prove ourselves further."



Turn 1

Diplomacy (2):
2 is used to increase standing with House Bourbon of France.

Intelligence (2):
2 used to gather Intel about the scouting mission for France.

Logistics (3):
3 Logistics to buy discount on 5 pieces of equipment.

- 5 Second Hand Armor @0 each (Logistics 3 discount applied)
- 2 Fast Attack Bikes @3.5 each (7)
- 2 Veteran Soldiers @2 each (4)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
Frederik was sitting in his study, planning which contracts to pick and what equipment to buy. As a loyal patriot, he decided to establish contact to the Swedish representative about possible missions. He also decided to send a letter to the mercenary regiment, Winterborn, who also were recently established. Last, but not least he began to look through possible areas to get samples wanted by alchemists and the prices they would be willing to pay.

To the Swedish representative (whoever he is)
“Greetings, I, Colonel Frederik Gyldenstierne, wish to discuss two things. The first one is that the Brotherhood of Kalmar is willing to do a scout mission for Sweden, perhaps even two. The second subject I wish to discuss is the possibility of gaining access to more restricted weapons and armor from Sweden, if possible.”

To Colonel Gustav Stålhandske of the Winterborn
“Greetings, I, Colonel Frederik Gyldenstierne, hopes that we will establish a productive relationship that will work for the benefit of both regiments, the Swedish nation and the whole of Scandinavia. I want to inform you, that if your regiment ever needs aid in pursuing the interest of Sweden or simply your regiment, that you may call about the Brotherhood of Kalmar, and we will more than willing to discuss reasonable terms."
To GM
Frederik will try to look for areas with a combat rating of 12-8, where one can collect samples wanted by alchemists and the prices they would be willing to pay.

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

Lieutenant Colonel Sigurd Vladsson tilts his wine glass and gives it a bit of a swirl. The legs of the wine bleed down the insides of the glass, briefly distorting the rays of sunset refracting through the crystal stemware. Vladsson is trimmed in his finest dress uniform; a navy blue doublet with white enamel buttons (the top one roguishly undone), with white epaulettes dusting his shoulders, and small ceremonial axe hanging from his belt, which is supple and black and fastened with an enormous bronze buckle featuring the likeness of Sultan Murad IV. On his feet are a pair of high black boots, backed by silvered spurs. He's a handsome man, tall and broad, with blue eyes and hair the color of straw. Vladsson's beard is well-oiled and demure, while his mustache is aggressively waxed to a curl, as if it were flexing its biceps.

The leader of the Varangians turns back to his guest, an attaché of the Khayriyya Company. "Come now my friend, let us speak of business. You know as well as I do that alchemists are not men of fortune and vigor. This breakthrough regarding Estrada's Curse is momentous, but it is not theirs to keep. True, the scions of the burner and kettle are studied and disciplined." Vladsson takes a sip of wine and crosses to the balcony to watch the sun set. "But alas, the world does not fit in a bottle, and so the alchemist cannot understand it. Soon enough, this alchemical secret will leak to one of the Great Powers." He turns to face his guest. "Only then will it take on its true potential, as a chit to be traded or as a bludgeon with which to threaten." His tone affects a deep concern. "I shudder to think of what might happen if we were to be late in learning this secret."

***

Two floors above Vladsson and the Khayriyya visitor, Captain Aethelwulf sits in an overstuffed chair before a bank of whirring machinerie. Aethelwulf, called Silver-ear, is an older man with hairy forearms and a blob of gut spilling over his belt. His head is bald on top and on the cheeks, but around his mouth, he sports a dense beard that looks like he was hit in the face by a horseshoe covered in glue and dog hair. Nevertheless, this is not his most distinctive feature. An alchemical accident has left the right half of his head silvered on the outside, and his ear is hard and metallic.

Aethelwulf clears his throat gutterally and carefully unclamps a pair of alligator clips before him and reclips them to another metal node on his apparatus. The other end of the short copper wire is affixed to his silvered ear by another pair of clips. The Varangian spymaster leans over his controls, spinning a dial first quickly and then slowly, bringing a frequency into focus. A voice crackles in his ear. It's Colonel Frederik Gyldenstierne. With his other hand, Aethelwulf unscrews the cap to his ink and dips a quill, ready to write.



Turn 1

Diplomacy: 3/4 spent on trying to get a more interesting contract from Khayriyya Company (Ottomans), hopefully related to the new alchemical breakthrough. 1/4 reserved.

Intelligence: 1/4 spent on listening in on the unencrypted communications between Kalmar and Winterborn. 3/4 reserved. Apparently you can listen to unencrypted comms for free...

Logistics: 3/3 spent on discount of 2 on 5 items.

Purchases: (15) Cash spent

4 Fast Attack Bikes @1.5 each (3 Logistics discount applied) (6)
1 Secondhand Armor @0 each (3 Logistics discount applied) (0)
3 Secondhand Armor @1 each (3)
2 Units of Trained Grunts @1 each (2)
Upgrading 4 Units of Grunts from Trained to Veteran @1 each (4)

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle

A dangerous and imposing man sits behind a desk in a secure military bunker somewhere in Prussian territory looking over the latest reports. Even now in this relatively safe place he is clad in body armor and prepared for anything.

Setting the papers down he runs a hand through his short, black hair and gives a small exhale. "They fund my regiment but offer little in the way of supplies or work. Typical."

He calls out to the officer in the next room, a harsh and unforgiving tone in his voice. "Ready the men, lets get this job done quick and show them we mean business! And while you're at it, get a message to Fränze Marcell. Tell him that if we are to accomplish anything, we will need better equipment then this junk."




Diplomacy:
1/1 spent in an attempt to make progress with Marcell Trading.

Intelligence:
2/5 Spent on gathering information about the offered Scout mission to better predict possible outcomes.

3/5 Spent on encrypting a message to Marcell Trading.

Logistics:
5/5 Spent on $3 discount for 5 items.

Purchases: (10.1 spent)

-Converted Mining Rig x1. (2.1 cash after discount.)
-Secondhand Armor x4. (0 cash after discount?)
-Secondhand Armor x2. (4 cash)
-Transport x1. (2 cash)
-Company Toughs x2. (2 cash)

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim & House Włodzimierz

Similar messages are sent to both, accepting two scout missions from Joakim and one from Włodzimierz.

to Colonel Frederik Gyldenstierne of the Brotherhood of Kalmar

"Indeed, and likewise from our part, if there is anything you need you can come to us for support. There are not many out there who would stand by a mercenary regiment, so we must take care of our own."

[ArcaneStomper]

The General regards Jean intently and then passes over a sheaf of papers. "The nobles have taken a keen interest is the Labourd region. Once a very fertile area it lies strategically close to Spain. And they would reward anyone who returned to them with more information on its current situation. A mission well in your area of expertise I think."

The legion's initial scouts have found that it retains a larger than normal population of bandits through jurry rigged fishing fleets and scavenged farms.

We wish to begin expanding beyond our side of the baltic. Our first target is Sjælland. Bring us more information on the area and we could see about answering your second request.

If you want that sort of information you need to spend intelligence.

Abdul Khayriyya, a lesser scion of the esteemed company examines his own drink intently. "Of course you do. Everybody does. But such things all have their price my friend. A price that needs to be paid in blood and steel."

Fortunately for you I have a way for you to meet that price. "We know of an isolated island off Greece known as Corfu. There is a factory there, which produces alchemical parts in great secrecy. Raid it and bring us it's supply and we will talk further."

In the old days the county of Rostock was home to a mildly prosperous port. The port still exists, but now it is made out of granite with veins of copper. It would be profitable to control, but the curse runs strong there.

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

Vladsson nods and a smile forms beneath his mustache. "We'll get to the bottom of it, sure enough."

***

Later, Vladsson barges through the door of his spymaster's towertop workshop. "Tune your scanners for Corfu and send word to the informants. I want every information broker between here and the ruins of Paris to sing sweetly for us--sweet enough to transmute that silver ear of yours to gold, I daresay." The Aethelwulf nods, twirling some dials. The Lieutenant Colonel steps out of the room and makes his way to his study.

The room bears the trappings of refinement and culture, covered in rich Turkish rugs and deeply stained redwood furniture. Vladsson's senior officers are waiting on the couch, talking amongst themselves. Without speaking a word, Vladsson downs the remainder of his wine, steps up to the hearth, and hurls the glass down to shatter on the stone. The officers erupt into cheers. For all the polish and sophistry, a viking is still a viking and there are traditions to uphold. Major Thornsson produces a bottle of whisky from a cabinet, and the officers drink to the new contract.


Turn 1 (continued...)

Intelligence: 3/4 spent on determining the power and nature of opposing forces on Corfu, which power backs the Corfu alchemists, and anything else in a similar vein. 1/4 reserved.

[Hamste]

The Horde
Colonel Tso stood before his men getting ready to speak. They stood in a perfect formation with each one at attention with the officers walking among them checking their equipment to make sure they were properly up-keeping it. Tso wore his body armor with ease and showed off well kept weapons. He looked over his soldiers giving a small frown. He had wanted better equipment for his soldiers but for now he had to make do with what he had. Clearing his voice, he waited for his officers to get into position before starting his short speech.

"Soon, we will have our missions, soldiers. I must warn you, most of you will be working with foreigners scouting but do not get discouraged. Remember, our nation needs us. We may do work for other nations but all we do is for the betterment of our nation. Now every one go to your officers to get ready for your assignments." Tso said in Mandarin. He had sent out the letters for the jobs already to accept the jobs for the Polish, French and Prussians as well as volunteering for a simple job for the Qing.


Looking to potentially sign up to scout for Poland, France and Prussia (sending 3 troops to each).

I'm also spending 1 diplomacy to try to get a volunteer job for the Qing (sending 3 troops to this unless they demand more).


Logistics used on:
2xa bit of haggling
1xa lot of haggling

7 sets of second hand armor (bought using a bit of haggling, 7 money)
5 sets second hand of armor (bought using a lot of haggling, 0 money)
3 transports (using a bit of haggling, 3 money)
1 transport (2 money)
Hiring 8 company toughs (8 money)
20 money spent
0 money left

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle

Colonel Lothar receives a coded transmission from a member of his senior staff. As his eyes glance across the page he can't help but project a small smile. "Deals in the dark often bring the best to light..." He utters softly to himself. Things were working out in his favor, he was sure of it.




-Forces deployed to Rostock on scout mission.
Primary goal to find a suitable port for Marcell Trading.

-Deployment roster:

4/4 Trained Grunts

Secondhand armor x4
Converted Mining Rig x1
Transport x1

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Joakim
“Then it is what I am going to do.”
To GM
Good to know. Perhaps I will do that later.
I have question for you, is House Bernadotte and Agda Imports also offering scout missions?

[GameOfChampions]

The Forgotten Legion

Jean salutes enthusiastically "Thank you sir! We'll be deploying by the morning at the latest."

He heads out of the office and rushes back to his bike and speeds back to the encampment. Once there he quickly unleashes a barrage of orders, preparing several squads for the mission and starting the logistics of moving them out. Hearing of the more then normal amount of bandits he authorizes the use of their attack bikes to make sure there aren't to many surprises.


Turn 1

Scouting Mission Deployment
Grunts:
- 3 Trained Grunts
- 2 Veteran Grunts

Equipment:
- x5 Secondhand Gear
- x2 Fast Attack Bikes

[ArcaneStomper]

Varangian Neu-Guard
The island of Corfu has a reputation among the surrounding lands of being a dread place. Haunted by ghosts and supposedly dead knights in skeletal armor. More reliably reports leave out the ghosts, but there are rumors that the British Empire maintains a garrison of some of their more elite and secretive knightly orders there.

Raid
Employer: Khayriyya Company
Target: British Empire
Combat Rating: 15

To the Horde (GM)
The other nations all accept your contract bids since really these are all open ended.

What do you mean by a volunteer job though?

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar (GM)
Yes, they are.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Bernadotte and Agda Imports
The Brotherhood of Kalmar will accept one scout mission from each.
To GM
I will use one intelligence on the scout mission for House Bernadotte and the other intelligence for the scout mission for House Joakim.

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

The shipping container shudders and flexes as it descends through the night. Vladsson and two dozen Varangians are strapped in tight, harnessed to the side of the repurposed shipping container dangling with several others from the bottom of a blimp. In the center of the container, each man's attack bike is fastened tight to the deck with buckles and chains. The bikes are muscular things, fitted with an extra motor, some armor, and carbines soldered coaxially to the handlebars. On top of that, they're each painted uniquely, with dragons or lightning or longboats of old. Every third or fourth bike sports a sidecar with a heavier weapon--mortars, belt-fed machine guns, rocket launchers, and the like.

The Varangians themselves are decked out in full leather, stained dark red and set with some plates of steel armor round the chest, back, and shoulders. Each man and woman carries at least one sidearm on their hip and a rifle on their back. Some carry the ancestral weapons: axes, swords, and shields. Their helmets, clasped in their laps, are unique and painted to match the motifs of their bikes. Here, a death's face, laughing. There, a grinning jack-o'-lantern. Yonder, a knight's helm.

A buzzer sounds and the overhead light fizzles from blue to red. The container drops into a freefall. Teeth gritted, the Varangians feel their stomachs drop off, ears popping. Then comes a wrenching jerk as the parachute deploys, gravity pulling each soldier down hard momentarily. When the descent steadies, Vladsson shouts to his men. "Take your posts boys! Let's give them something to remember." There's a scramble of bolts releasing, as the men loose their straps and mount their bikes. Vladsson vaults astride his own, fearsomely painted black with a burning fireball on the front chassis, and snaps his helmet on--a demon's face sprayed onto the tinted faceplate, wreathed in flame, with real ram's horns curling from the sides.

Now speaking through the snarl of the helmet's mega-phone (a line of segmented steel connects the helmet to loudspeakers on his shoulder), Vladsson leaves them with the Varangian war-cry: "Show them fury, men! *crackle* Constantinople!" The container slams into the ground and the men unsnap the final carabiners, their engines roaring to life. Lief the Half-Chance reaches over and slams a lever on the wall. The front of the container drops open, hydraulic arms forcing it down to the ground. The roar of the engines reaches a crescendo as the Varangians ride clear of the makeshift landing craft and fan out, meeting up with the riders from the other containers.

End of Turn 1

Sending everyone and everything into this mission:

4 Veteran Grunts with Second Hand Armor and Attack Bikes, supported by 2 Leadership worth of officers.

Final 1 Intelligence is spent on gathering any additional tactical intel (perhaps something picked up while approaching or seen from the sky).

[ArcaneStomper]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
Agda Imports wants to set up in the Bornholm area. Brotherhood scouts report that it's a wasteland important only for it's strategic location in the Baltic. Fortunately that also means there are few bandits to contend with there.

On the other hand House Joakim wants to establish a presence in Fyn, which is much more heavily populated with raiders and pirates who prey on the shipping that moves through the area.

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 2

City of Corfu
Duke Christabelle scowled as he regarded the report before him. The factory was up in flames and the labs were ruined. An entire season’s worth of steel phlogiston gone like smoke while the survivors talked of dark raiders on fast moving attack bikes. As if the old days of cavalry charges were here again.

He knew it was the Ottomans. Their ships had been spotted in the area, and the Italians would never dare such a raid. No doubt the sultans were reclining in their palaces laughing at his misfortune. And the damnable thing was that there was nothing he could do about it. If he had the personal forces to exact a retributive strike Corfus wouldn’t have been as lightly defended as it was. And the crown would never authorize a military endeavor with such a paucity of proof.

The Duke pondered these matters of military import he crossed the polished wooden floor to regard courtyard garden. An oasis of life in the factory mills that studded the island’s barren rock. Turning he called for a messenger. It was time for some of the empire’s less official assets to prove their worth.

Tre Kronor Castle, Stockholm
Karita strode purposefully across the inlaid stone floor of the palace. An audience with the king was always something to be taken seriously. Though she had a good idea what this one was about. House Joakim had been doing good work in the wastelands recently.

Approaching the throne she bowed and waited as the heralds concluded the long list of titles and accomplishments while King Gustav IV considered her. Finally he said, “Duchess Joakim, your work in the European wastes has not gone unnoticed,” of course it hadn’t the crown was one of her major supporters, but such things had to be formalized. “Your dedication both the principles of Quarantine while simultaneously expanding the reach of Sweden is an example to us, and a testament to you skill. Now we call upon you to do more.”

An attendant presents a velvet pillow on which rested an elaborate scroll. “With this Charter I grant you governorship of the Jutland Territory. I charge you with taming the wilderness and making it a productive state of Sweden.”

Bowing Karita accepted the scroll, “Thank you your majesty. On my honor I will fulfill this charge.” Bowing again she turned and formally strode away. She was glad that was over. The formalities and strictures were necessary to maintain the purity of the homeland, but she’d be glad when she’d be able to return and have an informal dinner with her uncle Gustav, instead of a formal reception with the King of Sweden.

Colonel Washington,

The recent events on the island of Corfu have left the forces of the Empire in disarray, but the Ottomans cannot be allowed to believe they have gotten away with their villainous attacks. As such your regiment is being offered two contracts.

The first is to safeguard Corfu against any aggressors thinking to take advantage of the current state of affairs. The second is to strike back at the Ottomans in their alchemical strongholds and show them the British Empire is not to be trifled with.

Guard Contract
Employer: House Christabelle
Territory: Corfu
Combat Rating: 18
Mission Pay: 16.2

Raid Contract
Employer: House Christabelle
Territory: Ottoman
Combat Rating: 20
Mission Pay: 18

The general calls once more on Colonel Tureene. “Good work on last month’s reconnaissance. The nobles are happy and that means you did it right. Now we need to take advantage of the spring you found. It's not often we find water that isn't under a bandit fortress or spitting out mutant elementals. There’s a convoy forming up to establish an outpost, and we want your regiment to guard it on its journey.”

Escort Contract
Employer: House Germaine
Territory: Labourd
Combat Rating: 16
Mission Pay: 14.4

Colonel Tso,

We appreciate the losses your men took on our behalf last month. We’ve been examining the maps you sent and believe we have located a suitable region for a new azote refinery. We would like to hire your regiment to escort our machinery to the site.

Lord Édith

Escort Contract
Employer: House Édith
Territory: Gascogne
Combat Rating: 20
Mission Pay: 18

Colonel Tso,

Your surveyors reported a large deposit of cinnabar in the Warmia region, which we desire to exploit. We are issuing a contract to escort our crawlers to the area and offering you the right of first refusal on the bid.

Guildmaster Martina

Escort Contract
Employer: Martina Mining
Territory: Warmia
Combat Rating: 8
Mission Pay: 7.2

"Excellent work in Rostock Colonel Wolfin. Now we need to capitalize on your findings. We’ve got a load of purifiers and construction equipment that needs to be brought to the bay in order to establish the harbor, and we’d like your regiment to escort them there."

Escort Contract
Employer: Marcell Trading
Territory: Rostock
Combat Rating: 8
Mission Pay: 7.2

Colonel Gyldenstieme,

Your men will be honored for their losses in scouting the Sjælland, but while we acknowledge the loss there is still more work to be done. Any convoy sent to pacify Sjælland will need heavy escort, but we are also planning expeditions to Fun and Bornholm. Your regiment would be of great assistance to any of them.

Duchess Joakim

Escort Contract
Employer: House Bernadotte
Territory: Sjælland
Combat Rating: 24
Mission Pay: 21.6

Escort Contract
Employer: House Joakim
Territory: Fyn
Combat Rating: 16
Mission Pay: 14.4

Escort Contract
Employer: Agda Imports
Territory: Bornholm
Combat Rating: 4
Mission Pay: 3.6

Colonel Stålhandske ,

Good work scouting the territories. Now we need to secure the Baltic Sea region ahead of any of the continental powers. We’ve prepared two convoys, one for Lolland and one for Gotland. Both need protection from local pirates and other unsavory sorts. So we are offering the contract for either or both protection details to your regiment.

Duchess Joakim

Escort Contract
Employer: House Joakim
Territory: Lolland
Combat Rating: 4
Mission Pay: 3.6

Escort Contract
Employer: House Joakim
Territory: Gotland
Combat Rating: 8
Mission Pay: 7.2

Colonel Stålhandske,

Your regiment has our thanks for its work in the recent months. Expansion into the Volhynia region will provide a large boost to Polish prospects, especially the lake of fulminating silver. To further exploit the region we have a convoy of prospectors to send. However they require a mercenary guard. Your regiment would be of much use in this endeavor if you are interested in more work.

Lady Włodzimierz

Escort Contract
Employer: House Włodzimierz
Territory: Volhynia
Combat Rating: 8
Mission Pay: 7.2

Honorable Tso,

Your men are much talked about in the Imperial court these days with your exploits in the barbarous west. It has been decided to dispatch an Imperial Magistrate to set up a more formal presence and enlighten these hinterlands.

We of the Wen family and our honorable peers of the Guiying will be sending forth delegations to prepare the way for him and establish a suitable residence on the isle of Sardinia. The help of your men would be most appreciated in this matter.

Magistrate Wen,

Escort Contract
Employer: House Wen
Territory: Sassari
Combat Rating: 8
Mission Pay: 7.2

Escort Contract
Employer: House Guiying
Territory: Corsica
Combat Rating: 8
Mission Pay: 7.2

"Excellent work Colonel Vladsson. Our alchemists are going over the captured equipment even now. The British might not be our alchemical equals, but they have a few useful insights of their own. We expect that the British won’t take this calmly however. Would your regiment be up for some guard duty?"

Guard Contract
Employer: Khayriyya Company
Territory:
Combat Rating: 15
Mission Pay: 13.5

(OOC: Woops I forgot to take your deployment method into account when writing the response for your EoT. You should have gotten a small bonus for the novel tactics, but you were successful in any case. Still if I miss something like that again let me know.)

General Missions

Scout Mission
Employer: Any Nation in Europe
Combat Rating: Variable
Payout: 10 Cash

Alchemical Expedition
Employer: The Alchemists
Combat Rating: Variable
Payout: Variable Secrets

Infantry Gear (Attack, Defense, Environmental Rating): Cost
Basic Uniforms (0, 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 0.7
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 2.8
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 3.6

Vehicles (Attack, Defense, Environmental Rating, Transport, Speed): Cost
Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.7
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 0, Speed 10) Cost: 4.6
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 0, Speed 4) Cost: 6.4

[Hamste]

Colonol Tso beamed as he looked over his soldiers. There were losses but the new troops covered up the missing soldiers and the rest performed amiably in their jobs. His officers finished inspection and returned back to positions. Several large tarped things rise up behind him.
We did well during our last missions. We sadly lost a squad during one of our missions. Services will be held Thursday. Their loss was not in vain, however; for some of you brave soldiers hunted down the killers and avenged out fallen. This is the type of behavior we wish to commend in this company, as such we are announcing a new program to reward those that go above and beyond in the line of duty. Any squad or squads who perform above and beyond what is expected of them can expect a bonus in their paycheck as well as being given a choice of which mission they are assigned. There will also be periodic votes for best leader and most diligent soldier with minor cash bonuses.

That isn't my only announcement, I also want to show off our newest equipment. Tso said standing as he reach back. With a strong tug the tarp moves back revealing a land walker covered in armor with several large guns added to them. A couple of the newer grunts moved a target out for the mining rig to destroy. While the soldiers ogled the gear and celebrated their victory he started sending out the confirmation letters.

Lord Edith
We will gladly accept your job. Our current plan for deployment involves the use three combat rigs along with three squads of grunts. If you deem the force too small please contact us and we will see about a possible solution.

Colonel Tso


Guildmaster Martina
We accept your offer, three squads will be sent shortly.

Colonel Tso



Honorable Magistrate Wen
We are more than happy to help House Wen and House Guiying in establishing residences. As always, our companies primary concern is the betterment of the Qing Empire. As such,we insist on giving you and House Guiying a 50% discount. After all, it is our duty to assist each other to better the Empire as whole.

Colonel Tso




Spending 5 logistics on master haggler
buying 5 mining rigs using a master haggler (3.4 each for 17 money)
buying mining rig using (6.4)
buying second hand equipment (3.6)
1 money given to family of deceased
1 money given as cash incentives to squads and best soldier.
29 spent
1 money left
0/5 logistics left


1 diplomacy to try to build Qing connections and open up some more equipment
0/1 diplomacy left

Immediately accepting the Qing missions (at half pay) sending 1 mining rig, 1 transport and 3 grunts to each (The veteran chooses to go to the House Wen mission) spending 1 leadership on each to lead

Spending 1 intelligence to get strategic information about route to the new Azote location so the troops are better prepared.

0/1 intelligence left


Currently planning to send 3 grunts and 3 mining rig spending 1 leadership to lead the troops to House Edith mission

Sending 3 grunts, 1 transport and 1 mining rig to Martina Mining mission spending 1 leadership to lead

3 grunts left in reserve just training unsupervised I guess.

0/4 leadership left

[SchwhatNow]

A small squad of well equipped soldiers rolls back to headquarters from a job well done. Colonel Wölffin stands at waiting as one black metal transport and one heavily armored tank rolls to a stop. As the troops disembark, they quickly form ranks and stand at attention without a moments hesitation. Their discipline is absolute.

Colonel Wölffin smiles and addresses them"Congratulations on a successful job. But success only brings more work, and more money for us." He pauses as he looks over his troops, noting the determination and hunger they have to fight. He knows he has chosen his men well. "Get some rest and some hot food, you'll be heading out within the next few days. Dismissed!"

The troops give a hearty shout of approval "Wer sind wir Bruder Wolf?" One shouts. The rest reply with "Allein? Wir sind nichts. Zusammen? Wir sind Tod!" As they march off to the barracks.

As the Colonel walks off a lone figure slips from the shadows and matches his stride. "What news do you have for me?" Colonel Wölffin says to the cloaked figure.
"The Neu-Guard have launched a daring raid against the British. Caused a good bit of damage. We will need to keep watch on them should they seek to threaten our lands in the future. Their tactics are...unorthodox but effective. I shall monitor the situation and update as more unfolds." With that, the cloaked figure breaks stride and once again slips into the darkness.




"Of course. We will have our men ready as soon as possible."


Recruitment: Gained 2 Green Trained Grunts.

Intelligence: Spending 4/5 to decrypt message from House Christabelle to the Iron Eagles.

Logistics: Spending 2/5 for "Under the Table Deals". (Will need to know what options I have before I can name what I will be purchasing for the turn though.)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

Colonel Frederik Gyldenstierne had gathered his officers in the situation room, which was dominated by a big oak table. The table was filled with maps, most of them showing the territory of what was once the kingdom of Denmark. Frederik started to address his officers: “I wish to congratulate you all for leading our men to success, even when it gets hard. The loss of our men in Sjælland was not due to any failure on your parts, but simply on the lack of intelligence, which we sometime will not have enough of. I look forward to working with you to bring the brotherhood even more success. “. After his speech, Frederik went back to his sturdy and started preparing a reply to House Joakim.

To House Joakim
“Thanks for your mention about those men I lost in Sjælland, but you are right, there is lot to be done still and in my line of work, losses are to be expected. I believe it to be possible for my regiment to take on all three of the escort missions. I would like to bring up, what was discussed about the last time we spoke, namely the possibility of gaining access to more restricted weapons and armor from Sweden.”

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

Duchess Joakim,

We will of course accept both contracts, for the sake of the nation and for the prosperity of us both.

Colonel Stålhandske

Winterborn to House Włodzimierz

My Lady,

The regiment stands ready to assist you in your efforts. Yours are a proud people with long history, and your fortitude in remaining resolute in the face of the Curse and other misfortune is inspiring. With hard work and some luck, we may yet reverse those fortunes.

Colonel Stålhandske

Winterborn to Brotherhood of Kalmar

Hello friend, I am saddened to hear that your contracts had a cost in blood, but glad that you appear to have succeeded nevertheless.

I hope you will forgive our prying, but you know how it works in the Condottieri - knowing is always better than not knowing. So, I heard from a mutual acquaintance in House Joakim that you've been offered some relatively difficult missions to clear out the scum in the Danish isles. Personally, I've got a number of what appears to be rather simple escort missions on my plate, and so I find myself with more men and equipment than leaders for them. If you've taken losses, you might not be in that same state, so I thought to ask whether you would be willing to share one of your tasks with my Regiment, proceeds split evenly? I can bring in my own Grunts, equipment and transport, but only one Leadership at most.

[GameOfChampions]

Forgotten Legion

Jean pours a finger of whisky in two glasses and passes one to his second in command Henri then leans back in the one luxury he has in his rather spartan office, his large cushioned chair, and sips his whisky. "Ahhh that's good. Well our new recruits seem to have kept it together though that may change when they actually have to fight and not just look tough to scare off some bandits."

The two old war buddies spent the night sipping on good whisky, swapping old war stories, and talking about the future. Eventually Jean woke up to the trumpets at dawn, having spent the night in his comfy chair which was this comfy for that exact reason. It was time to get moving and after a quick wash and change of shirt he was out among his men, they had several new squads joining them today and he needed to start whipping them into shape. He also had to purchase new equipment because as it was they only had enough to outfit half of the men in his regiment... it was going to be a long few weeks since on top of all this spending and new men they needed more jobs to finance the whole thing.

Jean nods and permits himself a small smile as he stands in front of the general. "Thank you sir, I'm glad that the nobles are pleased and I hope I can achieve that with my next mission as well. My men and I would be happy to help the convoy. I would also just like to say that the Forgotten Legion are always at your service, we will prioritize France over all others at all times."

He was already making plans in his head for the logistics needed for this mission and the one thing was clear was that he did not need to send all of his men on this mission so he needed to find another. A thought pops into his head, he had heard whispers of the alchemists looking for men, and he looks up to the general "Sir if I may impose would it be possible for you to put me in contact with the Alchemists?"



Diplomacy (2):
2 is used to increase standing with House Germaine of France.

Intelligence (2):
2 is used to learn more about the Alchemical Expedition.

Logistics (4):
A lot of Haggling: A discount of 2 cash on 5 pieces of equipment
- 2 Fast Attack Bikes (5.2)
- 3 Secondhand Gear (4.8)
A Bit of Haggling: A discount of 1 cash on 5 pieces of equipment
- 2 Secondhand Gear (5.2)

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

"Colonel, we're picking up an encrypted transmission between the Christabelles and the Iron Eagles!" Vladsson spins on his heel, striding back on the deck of the blimp-cruiser. "Can we break it?" The young intelligence officer snaps to attention. "Sir, it's a 48-bit block cipher! We can break it, but it will take all the power we have!" Vladsson closes a gloved fist around an iron pipe and pulls it to his mouth. His command echoes down through the pipe to the engine room. "Fire up the decryption engines, boys."

Down below, they start shoveling coal. Somewhere in the intel deck, the Aethelwulf is flipping switches and ratcheting back steel arms on the bank of monstrous machines before him. His attendants, still dressed in their combat red-and-blacks, deftly feed the transmission output papers into the decryption engine. Once everything is in place, the Aethelwulf yanks a cord, pulling forth a mighty, crackling groan. He pulls again and this time the groan turns to a yowl. Before that crackling has subsided, he pulls again and the decryption engine putters to life like a giant lawnmower. Slowly at first, and then more quickly, hundreds of small type-writer arms begin clacking and hammering as the transmission paper wends its way through the unholy beast of a decryptor. The Aethelwulf opens the flue, and black smoke billows out behind the ship as it floats through the night sky back to Ottoman territory.

Later, back at the Varangian hideout, Vladsson places a call to the Ottomans and relays the intercepted message.


Intelligence: 4/4 spent to decrypt the conversation between the Christabelles and the Iron Eagles.

Recruitment: 2 new trained grunts added.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Édith to the Horde
We judge that force to be suitable, though we normally leave such matters to your own judgement.

Martina Mining to the Horde
We will alert our convoy officers.

House Wen to the Horde
A wise policy and one that will see you go far colonel.

To the Horde (GM)
Gascogne is province filled with marauders and deadly shifting terrain. The French evaluation is correct as far it goes, but any forces sent should be equipped with significant environmental protection as well as armor.

Marcell Trading
Excellent we will forward the coordinates for the rendezvous point.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Your troops have certainly earned access to our armories colonel. What manner of equipment are you looking for?

House Joakim to the Winterborn
We will let our captains know to expect your men then.

House Włodzimierz to the Winterborn
Thank you colonel. With some luck this will be the start of a turn around for the Polish people. And we will not forget your contributions to that end.

The General to the Forgotten Legion
The general considers and looks through his reports. "Hmm, yes I suppose I can put you in touch with a few of the more reputable french guilds. They're an eccentric lot though. They may make our current weapons possible, but they can have strange notions about the world and how to approach it. Namely they always approach it, no matter the obvious danger."

To the Forgotten Legion (GM)
The Alchemical Expedition is not one specific mission, but a variety of them involving your troops escorting alchemists into various European provinces in order to collect data and samples. In general the deeper you go into Europe the more dangerous it will be, but also the more Secrets that the alchemists will produce.

Khayriyya Company to the Varangian Neu-Guard
"Yes, this message is what we expected from them. It is too bad they did not name a location of attack however. How many locations do you think your regiment can guard successful?"

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To Colonel Gustav Stålhandske of the Winterborn
“The scouting mission on Sjælland was pretty though. I lost two thirds of the men, I had sent on the mission, but the earnings that we have made is more than enough to make up for the losses, so your assistance is not needed. I appreciate the offer and I want to reassure your, that if I ever need help, then I will turn to the Winterborn.“

To House Joakim
“I would like to equipped my men with both better weapons and better armor, but the armor takes priority, since that is what is going to keep them alive.”

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

I'd like to use 2 more of my Diplomacy and the influence I've gained so far to try and see if they can't direct me to somewhere I could buy/acquire some Leadership from.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
In that case we can provide you access to the armor our household troops use when handling contaminated areas. It may prove useful in Sjælland.

Swedish Quarantine Suit (A 3, D 3, ER 1.4) Cost: 4.9

(OOC: Unless you want to burn your influence you still have to pay cash for it.)

House Joakim to the Winterborn
House Joakim itself can provide you with leadership. You have two choices. You can spend the influence you already have with them. Or you can do a fairly difficult mission.

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

Vladsson shakes his head at the transmission. "Probably just one location. We don't like losing and spreading out thinly is one way to guarantee that outcome."


Logistics: 3/3 spent on discounting 5 items by 2

8.4 cash spent on buying attack bikes and secondhand armor for the 2 new Grunts (after discount).

Diplomacy: 4/4 spent on improving relations with Khayriyya.

[Murska]

Winterborn - House Joakim

I'd rather take the mission, but only if I get the Leadership available for the mission because otherwise I literally don't have enough leaders to send troops to do the mission.

[SchwhatNow]

"Considering the importance of this new port being opened successfully, we ask if you may allow us the purchase of some higher quality equipment for our troops to help ensure everything goes well. Both weapons and armor would be appreciated, but armor would be of the priority."

-The Long Night


Diplomacy: 1/1 spent with Marcell Trading.

Logistics: 2/5 "Under the Table Deals" with Marcell Trading for armor/weapons.

[GameOfChampions]

The Forgotten Legion

Jean nods to the general and gives a pleasant smile "Thank you General. I will also make sure to keep you informed of anything useful that my regiment discovers on these missions."

Jean looks at the dispatch he had just written out, thanks to the general he now knew where the Alchemists were and was going to send them a message letting them know that the regiment was willing to escort a couple alchemists locally.

Alchemists Guild

I have heard that you are always looking for escorts for expeditions into the Wastelands. I would like to offer my services and the services of my regiment to escort your Alchemists in the local areas between the provinces. After this test run we would be willing to travel deeper into the Wastes escorting your people. Let us know when and where you would like my men to meet you if you are amenable to this.

Colonel Jean Tureene



Diplomacy (2):
2 is used to increase standing with House Germaine of France.

Intelligence (2):
2 is used to learn more about the Escort mission for France.

Logistics (4):
A lot of Haggling: A discount of 2 cash on 5 pieces of equipment
- 2 Fast Attack Bikes (5.2)
- 3 Secondhand Gear (4.8)
A Bit of Haggling: A discount of 1 cash on 5 pieces of equipment
- 2 Secondhand Gear (5.2)

[ArcaneStomper]

Khayriyya Company to the Varangian Neu-Guard
"Unfortunate. The attackers will always have the advantage in being able to choose their targets. But I suppose not splitting your forces is wise. At the very least we can guard are more important territories."

House Joakim to the Winterborn
They're willing to loan you one leadership for a mission. The mission would have a combat rating of about 30.

Marcell Trading to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
We would be willing to rent you some gear for the mission, but we still do not entirely trust you with full access to our armory.

Alchemists Guild to the Forgotten Legion
"It isn't many who wish to travel into those regions since the Upheaval. So we welcome your escort."

The Legion's scouts investigate and find that the Orleanais was lost to France when Spain deployed and experimental weapon during the war of 1636. It broke the region and brought the fire of the earth's core to the surface in catastrophic upwellings. The region remains turbulent to this day full of furious natural forces and twisted remnants of the French and Spanish armies caught in the blast radius. Kept alive for centuries by horrible alchemical forces.

Alchemical Expedition
Employer: The Alchemists
Territory: Orleanais
Combat Rating: 14
Environmental Hazard: 1.6
Payout: Variable Secrets

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle



"We understand and we will accept your offer. I apologize for the repeated requests, but Colonel Wölffin understands the importance that capable equipment holds in conflicts. Please just name your price. We only wish to ensure everything goes smoothly."

-The Long Night

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I thank you for offering this, I will definitely buy some. I also wanted to talk with you about the possibility of that House Bernadotte, instead of paying us for the escort mission, helped me recruit some more officers for the regiment.” (Meaning that they paid us with a stat point of leadership)

[Murska]

Winterborn - House Joakim

30, huh.

We can do that, assuming the reward is proportionate. What's the task?

Internal [GM]

How much cash would it cost to get a temporary 1 Leadership for the turn from, say, Mercenary Guild or Poland or such?

[ArcaneStomper]

Marcell Trading to Die Wolfe
(OOC: Actually I was mistaken about your influence. They are willing to sell you these after all.)

"Such concerns are understandable. We can provide you with the armor we equip our own guards with."

Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2) Cost: 4.1

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
"Such things could be arranged. Especially for a mission as dangerous as clearing Sjælland."

House Joakim to the Winterborn
"Our records indicate that Fife was center of alchemy and industry in britain for decades after most of Europe has already fallen. It too was finally overtaken, but there remains much useful infrastructure there."

"Since the British Empire can no longer control that province we will take it off their hands."

To the Winerborn (GM)
5 cash per point.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle

Logistics: 3/3 Spent for A Lot of Haggling. (2 discount on 5 items.)

Purchases: 14.6/19.9 cash spent. 5.3 remaining.

5x Prussian Excursion Suit @ 2.1

1x Prussian Excursion Suit @ 4.1

Intelligence: 1/1 remaining spent on advance scouts to help prevent any surprises during the mission.




Forces deployed.

Objective: Escort equipment to new harbor location for Marcell Trading.

6x Trained Grunts
1x Converted Mining Rig
1x Transport
6x Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“Then we got a deal.”
To GM
I will use 1 intelligence on the escort mission for House Bernadotte and 1 for the escort mission for House Joakim.

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar (GM)
Sjaelland is of course a morass of deadly terrain and hardened marauders. Any troops going there will need excellent protective gear and good equipment if they want to survive. Fyn is less harsh. The bandits there are noticeably less hardened, and while the ground is not calm as such it is not the hellish pit that Sjaelland is.

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 3

Conflict Looms
Tensions rise as unknown assailants raid Ottoman ports across the Turkish coast. Although not identified they are believed to have been mercenaries in the employ of the British government in response to last season’s raid on Corfu.

Parties on both sides are now calling for military action, and while so far no war has been declared several mercenary contracts have been posted by unknown parties for raids on both Ottoman and British interests. It seems that a war between the two powers may well be inevitable.

Reclaiming the Wastes
Several of the remaining great powers have announced the establishment of new outposts in the European wastelands. Using the latest in alchemical innovations previously useless territory has been transformed in productive industrial areas.

And none have benefited more so than the Kingdom of Sweden. Long thought to be industrially poor the isolated nation has moved to claim large regions in the baltic and across the Danish Isles. The rest of the Jutland peninsula is sure to follow, and such is the aggressiveness of the Swedish expansion that they have even established an outpost on part of the British Isles.

Cleaning out the Wastes
Of course not everything is ideal for the Great Powers’ outposts. Many of the resident bandits and marauders either dislike the idea of their territory being invaded or view them as a ready sources of new supplies to steal. Either way attacks are frequent, and a steady stream of reinforcements required to hold the areas.

The Great Powers of course will not stand this situation for long. They have issued contracts for mercenaries to clear out the local bands of raiders and ensure the long term security of the new settlements.

Employer: Owner of Territory
Territory: Any of the newly claimed areas
Combat Rating: Variable
Pay: 10
Special: These contracts can be approached with three levels of thoroughness. A simple Patrol requires only a few random patrols through the area. It is light duty, but will ensure that the locals are too busy fighting or running to raid the outposts. Such simple harassment will have no long term effect on the province’s stability however. A Sweep sends platoons of grunts out in a methodical manner to find and destroy bandit hideouts. It will encounter more of them and as such harsher resistance, but will ultimately result in the province becoming mildly safer. A Purge sends grunts to find every last nest and hideout in the region. It is time consuming and difficult as the bandits will fight to the last to keep from being eradicated, but it will significantly improve long term stability.

Great Powers expect any mercenary engaging in a suppression mission to at least sweep the area, as otherwise they are just going to have to pay for it again next season. They will still pay for a patrol, but they regard such lackadaisical regiments coolly. On the other hand a regiment that conducts a full purge will receive much higher praise.


To the Horde
Both houses are pleased with the colonel's efforts. They each offer a new line of armor for his men.

Guiying Militia Armor (A 3, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 3.2
Wen Retainer Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1) Cost: 4.1


Raid Contract
Employer: Anonymous
Territory: Any British Province
Combat Rating: 20
Mission Pay: 18

Raid Contract
Employer: Anonymous
Territory: Any Ottoman Province
Combat Rating: 20
Mission Pay: 18

Scout Mission
Employer: Any Nation in Europe
Combat Rating: Variable
Payout: 10 Cash
Note: Any nation except Sweden. It has currently withdrawn it's standing offer.

Alchemical Expedition
Employer: The Alchemists
Combat Rating: Variable
Payout: Variable Secrets



Infantry
Basic Uniforms (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 0.7
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 2.8
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 3.6

Vehicles
Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.7
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 1, Speed 9) Cost: 4.7
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 3) Cost: 6.5

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 3

Colonel Wölffin stands with his arms behind his back as he stares out the office window and into the night. "Things are going well so far, but we need to make even more progress. Our men are well trained and decently equipped, but our technology still lacks."

Another man draped in a black cloak sits quietly in a finely made leather chair, his hood casting his face in complete shadow as he begins to speak "We have done good work for Mr. Marcell. Given some time, the word will spread to the other influential members of the country and we may be receiving more offers of work. But we must be careful not to push too hard. We already risked upsetting him with the repeated equipment requests."

Colonel Wölffin still looks out the window while considering his options. He could contact other notable members of Prussia looking for work, but he wanted quicker results. And that meant he needed to force more dangerous work. "We contact the Alchemists. We throw as much as we can their way and see what goodies they come up with. Some losses will be inevitable but this coming war between Britain and the Ottomans could easily spread further. I want us capable of going toe to toe with the other Mercenary groups if it comes to that. I want us to be a force to be reckoned with, to be whispered about in the night with fear and dread in their voices. Make it so."

The cloaked man says nothing. He simply stands and bows slightly to the Colonel as he makes his leave. He had work to do, exciting and dangerous work. His favorite.


Recruitment: 2 Trained Grunts gained for start of turn.

Intelligence: 1/5 on scouting for a suitable location for an Alchemist Expedition with the following assumed force.

5x Trained Grunts
1x Veteran Grunt "This would be using the Mining Rig if that makes any difference"
6x Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
1x Transport
1x Converted Mining Rig

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

Glory to Swedish arms.

With some losses sustained in the previous operations, we'd be willing to take on two Suppression missions in the recently annexed territories while consolidating.
I hope you will inform us which locations you consider as the most important.

((Use 2 Diplomacy to attempt to negotiate a higher payout for the missions, based on our past reliability and the fact that we have already performed multiple missions in the area and so have familiarity with it. Use 1 Intelligence and said past familiarity with the region to try and get a feel for how difficult the missions offered will be.))

[Hamste]

Colonel Tso couldn't be happier with the results. Not only was every mission a success but there wasn't a single loss in any of them. Even better, Tso had the choice of two different sets of gear, though House Wen's gear was obviously better even though it was more expensive. Most like House Wen was focusing their design on the making better armor if they cooked up something so good. Maybe Guiying was focusing on vehicles, might want to look into it.

We have found ourselves with excess weaponry and armor after a recent upgrade. As such we are offering to sell enough equipment to arm 6 squads to the first person who bids a reasonable amount.


We regret to inform you we went with the Wen's offer for our equipment needs. We are, however; sending troops to insure the island of Corsica is completely scoured of all remaining bandits. We hope once all the bandits are eradicated, it will be near impossible for them to get on the islands again. As always, we most likely will accept a lower price for the job but we want to see how much resistance there is before deciding how much of a discount to give. What is more, we have found ourselves with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to how many soldiers we have and a surprising number of extra weapons even after selling a few off. If you have the spare leadership power would you like some volunteers to help patrol your lands? It would be free of charge though you would need your own officers to watch over them and they may need to be called back in the unlikely event disaster happens.

I'm also curious what you think about the looming war between the Ottomans and British. Raid contracts were put out against each other and I'm sure the Ottoman's mercenary group will take the offer to raid the British.



We gratefully accept your offer of equipment and the money for 12 sets of it will be sent soon. We are also sending troops to insure the Sassari is completely scoured of all remaining bandits. We hope once all the bandits are eradicated, it will be near impossible for them to get on the islands again. As always, we most likely will accept a lower price for the job but we want to see how much resistance there is before deciding how much of a discount to give. What is more, we have found ourselves with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to how many soldiers we have and a surprising number of extra weapons even after selling a few off. If you have the spare leadership power would you like some volunteers to help patrol your lands? It would be free of charge though you would need your own officers to watch over them and they may need to be called back in the unlikely event disaster happens.


I'm also curious what you think about the looming war between the Ottomans and British. Raid contracts were put out against each other and I'm sure the Ottoman's mercenary group will take the offer to raid the British.




4 logistics was spent on off the back of the truck.
1 logistics for a little haggling

1 spent on cash incentives.
5 sets of Wen Retainer Gear using a little haggling (15.5)
4 sets of Wen Retainer Gear (16.4)
1.1 money left
Sold 6 sets of second hand armor for 12 to the Winterborn
buy 3 sets of Wen Retainer Gear (12.3)
.8 money left

Sending a veteran, 2 grunts and a mining rig to purge Corsica of any bandits. Sending the same amount of forces to Purge Sassari as well. More mission later pending how the two houses respond.

[Murska]

Winterborn to the Horde

We'll take you up on the armour sale. 12 Cash for the lot.

[Hamste]

Accepted, equipment will be sent to your desired location post haste. Thank you for your patronage.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

All the officers of the Brotherhood of Kalmar were gathered in the officers’ lounge to a feast, arranged to celebrate the arrival of the new officers from House Bernadotte. There was prepared a lavished dinner, which the waiters already had served. The officers were sipping their wine and small talking with each other, when Frederik stood up from his chair and gathered the attention of the officers, before starting his speech: “I hope that you have been enjoying the meal so far. You have all earned it, with your good work in both Sjælland, Fyn and Bornholm. As you all likely have noticed, our brotherhood has grown larger. I wish all the new officers welcome to the Brotherhood. I look forward to seeing your work. That is all I wish to say. May you enjoy the rest of the feast.”. The colonel sat down again and started enjoying the wine.

To House Joakim
“The Brotherhood of Kalmar is planning on accepting suppression missions in both Sjælland, Fyn and Bornholm and I was hoping that you might be able to provide a estimated combat rating for both sweeping and purging those three territories.”

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Włodzimierz

My men are itching to get back at the bandits in Volhynia. Just give the mission parameters, and we will be there.

[ArcaneStomper]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle (GM)
Research of various maps and reports indicate the best location to conduct an exploration for the alchemists would be Nemours in what used to be France. It has a high concentration of bandits and alchemic activity, but not so high as to be a major threat for the forces available. And the extra activity would offer plenty of opportunities for data collection.

House Joakim to the Winterborn
Fife of course would be our priority. We need to secure it before the British can react. Either of the island bases could use expansion as well.

Based on previous Winterborn experience the Fife mission would be quite difficult. Bandits remain prevalent in the region. On the other hand Gotland could be easily cleared by a small well equipped force, and Lolland probably wouldn't even need more than one squad of grunts to root out the last remnants of pirate activity.

Fife: 14 (Sweep), 28 (Purge)
Lolland: 2 (Sweep)
Gotland: 4 (Sweep), 8 (Purge)

House Guiying from the Horde
Unfortunately the majority of our nobles officers remain in the home provinces and as such we cannot take you up on your generous offer.

House Wen from the Horde
Such an offer seems most beneficial for us. How many men could you provide. We would prefer to both guard our current residences and quickly eliminate the remaining bandits on the island.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Our latest reports from the workers and guards in our outposts indicate that Sjælland is still the harshest of the three provinces, but your efforts have at least started to bear fruit there.

Sjælland: 10 (Sweep), 20(Purge)
Fyn: 8 (Sweep), 16(Purge)
Bornholm: 2 (Sweep), 4(Purge)

House Włodzimierz to the Winterborn
Of course. We can understand a desire for revenge. According to our reports there aren’t many bandits left after your operations. A purge might even get all of them. For which we would be grateful.

Warmia: 4 (Sweep), 8 (Purge)

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle -Turn 3

Diplomacy: 1/1 establish contact with the Alchemists Guild



"Greetings,

I represent the mercenary group Die Wölfe der Abfälle based in Prussia, however you will know me as The Long Night. I am contacting you to relay that Colonel Wölffin has expressed interest in conducting an exploration into Nemours on behalf of your guild should you find that agreeable. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship."

-The Long Night

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

Ah, if Lolland is truly almost cleared by now, we will simply deal with all the territories at once, then. We can definitely spare a squad or two, after all.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“The Brotherhood will accept all three suppression missions, but I would like to discuss the possibility of an extra payment for the brotherhood purging Sjælland, since it would be especially dangerous. I would also like to ask if you knew any alchemist in need of mercenary work.”

[ArcaneStomper]

Alchemist's Guild to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Good finally some mercenaries willing to brave the wastes for a greater purpose. We only hope that you will have more success than the last band who offered to accompany us.

-Alchemist Heidbrech

House Joakim to the Winterborn
Excellent, if all goes well it will go along well towards securing the Baltic for Sweden.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We could see to paying you in cash if that is what you prefer. Though our stewards never like being separated from extra coin.

As for alchemists of course there are always many who wish to explore the wastes and need a mercenary escort. And of course many more who decide they don't require an escort. Most of those aren't seen again.

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

Vladsson dials furiously on a rotary, holding the earpiece up to his ear. When his contact comes on, Vladsson is short and sweet, getting right to the point. "Yes, I need officers. Promote whoever is ready!"


4 Diplomacy spent in increasing influence with Khariyya, then spend as much influence as necessary to increase Leadership from 2 to 3.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 3

-Forces deployed to Nemours on behalf of the Alchemists


5x Trained Grunts
1x Veteran Grunt
6x Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
1x Transport
1x Converted Mining Rig

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“Well, we could be paid in something else than coin, for example, in access to part of your intelligence network or at least their reports.”
(In gameplay terms, I am asking to be paid with a stat point of intelligence, the Brotherhood will use 1 stat of diplomacy to help convince them of the terms.)

To GM
The Brotherhood will use 1 stat point of intelligence to try to find alchemists looking for mercenary aid.

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Varangian Neu-Guard
It takes burning a few favors, but the guard soon has a handful of new officers fresh from the Constantinople Academy.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar.
We believe that would be acceptable. We will arrange matters so that are kept informed of the affairs of Europe.

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar
There are plenty of alchemists looking for escorts into the wastes. Most of them would be fine with simply starting in one of the coastal provinces and seeing what they can find. It all depends on what the brotherhood is prepared to send as protection.

(What are you planning to send on the mission?)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To GM
I was thinking about sending 1 leadership with 1 elite grunt and 2 veteran grunts equipped with 3 Swedish Quarantine Suits in 1 transport and 1 converted mining rig.

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Asking around the alchemist guild reveals that the best fit for the Brotherhood's proposed mission plan is a small expedition headed up by an alchemist who wishes to explore the ruins of Moravia. There are a fair number of mutant creatures still living there which would pose a threat to any expedition, but nothing the brotherhood can't handle.

Alchemist Expedition
Employer: Alchemists
Territory: Moravia
Combat Rating: 20

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To the alchemist in change of the expedition to Moravia
“Greetings, the Brotherhood of Kalmar have heard, that you need some mercenary aid for the expedition you are planning. We would be willing to aid, but first I would like to hear about how you could pay for our services.”

[ArcaneStomper]

Alchemist's Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We can pay our own way, but not the rates of a full regiment. Instead we offer you copies of our research data to use as you will. (They'll pay in Secrets)

[GameOfChampions]

Turn 3 - Forgotten Legion

Jean tosses his muddy armor across the room, his valet would clean it later and he wasn't in the mood to hang it properly at the moment. He had lost an entire veteran squad to the wastes on the alchemists mission. He needed some better gear for his men if he wanted to make sure something like that didn't happen any more.

The colonel grabs a sheet of paper and writes a quick message to the general. He puts it in a large envelope along with the mission reports from the mission, hopefully the general would be able to help out with some of the problems they were having right now.

All that was left before he could sleep was looking over reports from some squads of veterans he was looking to recruit and pick two.



Logistics (4): Logistics 4 haggling bonus. Equipment choices will be determined after deal is concluded.

2 Veterens: 4 coin.

Intelligence (2): Spend 2 Intelligence to learn about Purge mission option for France.

Diplomacy (2): Spend 2 Diplomacy to try and improve House Germaines interest in the deal

Jean is sending all 6 Secrets to the general to try and do two things. One is to try and get seasoned officers for the Regiment, get more leadership. Two is to try and get a more defensive version of armor available with higher defense and EP but similar attack to secondhand armor. If that's not enough for both he will prioritize the armor.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To the Alchemist’s Guild
“I find the form of payment acceptable. We will take care of the security on the expedition.”

[ArcaneStomper]

The Forgotten Legion
Legion scouts in Labourd report that given the remaining bandits and ruffians in the area it would require a force with a combat capability of roughly four squads of grunts. (Combat Rating 16)

The General gets back to Colonel Tureene with a choice. The general knows of several promising young officers who would do well in a mercenary regiment (1 regiment), or he could see to it that the Legion gets the first shipment of armor designed from the results of the new data.

3 free units of French Heavy Plate (A 2, D 4, ER 1.4) Cost: 4.9

The Alchemist's Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Excellent we hope that with your help this expedition will be a successful one.

[Hamste]

Of course, we figured it was worth offering. If you ever feel you need it,
just contact us and we will gladly oblige.

We have up to 6 units equipped with our old gear available to act as guards as needed.

We are looking for an extremely difficult mission to train our troops.
We will be sending a good number of heavily armed troops along with several mining rigs. If there was a time you wanted to get information from a location with many bandits now would be a good time. Our only request is that you avoid choosing an area near the Ottomans or British islands due to the increased raids around there.


That moment when you realize you never replied but had what you had written autosaved.

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 4

War in the East
More raids have occurred on British territories in the last season and the royal crown has been rowsed to action angered english nobles. They have called upon the Ottoman Empire to cease these deplorable actions. The Sultanate of course has denied all involvement and as such refuses to do anything about the matter.

As such England has declared war in the reserved fashion in which it is famous. Per the Treaty of Madrid such things cannot be fought in valuable clean territory due to the risk of unleashing yet more alchemical horrors on the world. As such a battlefield has been chosen in the Swiss Alps on which to decide the honor of nations.

Both the British and Ottomans have sent their airship fleets to contest the mountainous land and are hiring mercenaries to bulk up their forces.

House Joakim to the Winterborn
Our alchemy meisters have developed a set of ingenious methods with which to purify tainted ground of Estrada's curse. We wish to deploy them on Gotland for both testing and to expand our territory. Is your regiment available to safeguard them.

House Włodzimierz to the Winterborn
We have acquired a set of purification devices at great cost. Now that Volhynia has been made safe we are willing to use them to finish securing the area for our civilian populations. We would like to hire your regiment to safeguard the devices from all who might wish to steal them.


Suppression Mission
Employer: Owner of Territory
Territory: Any of the newly claimed areas
Combat Rating: Variable
Pay: 10
Special: These contracts can be approached with three levels of thoroughness. A simple Patrol requires only a few random patrols through the area. It is light duty, but will ensure that the locals are too busy fighting or running to raid the outposts. Such simple harassment will have no long term effect on the province’s stability however. A Sweep sends platoons of grunts out in a methodical manner to find and destroy bandit hideouts. It will encounter more of them and as such harsher resistance, but will ultimately result in the province becoming mildly safer. A Purge sends grunts to find every last nest and hideout in the region. It is time consuming and difficult as the bandits will fight to the last to keep from being eradicated, but it will significantly improve long term stability.

Assault Contract
Employer: British Empire
Territory: Graubünden
Combat Rating: 40
Mission Pay: 50

Assault Contract
Employer: Ottoman Empire
Territory: Graubünden
Combat Rating: 40
Mission Pay: 50

Scout Mission
Employer: Any Nation in Europe
Combat Rating: Variable
Payout: 10 Cash
Note: Any nation except Sweden. It has currently withdrawn it's standing offer.

Alchemical Expedition
Employer: The Alchemists
Combat Rating: Variable
Payout: Variable Secrets



Infantry
Basic Uniforms (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 0.7
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 2.8
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 3.6

Vehicles
Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.7
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 1, Speed 9) Cost: 4.7
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 3) Cost: 6.5

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

We're available. What sort of opposition can we expect?

Also, do you have access to better, more shielded transports, potentially water- or airborne, that we could use? The regiment is growing rather large as of late. We could also use upgraded personal equipment for our veterans.

(Are there still suppression contracts available for Fife for instance?)

Winterborn to House Włodzimierz

The regiment is ready, able and willing to support the recovery of the Polish state. Do you have any intel on the probable level of hostilities?

Also, we'd like to inquire for if you have any rugged terrain vehicles that we could use to supplement our own mobility? We could also use upgraded personal equipment for the more veteran units in the company.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 4

Recruitment: 2 Trained Grunts gained.

Intelligence: 4/5 spent on an encrypted message to Marcell Trading.

Secrets: 5 spent.



Are suppression missions available around Rostock where the new port was founded?

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“Greetings, I wish to discuss the fact, that the Brotherhood have gained access to some alchemy findings, who have not been shared to anyone. I belief that the proper thing to do with this information, is to hand it over to you, so you could perhaps improve your infantry equipment to even higher standards in both offensive and defensive capabilities, while also protecting one from the possibly dangerous environment, and hopefully without increasing to cost of production too much. I would like to mention, that I would love to get my hands on some of the prototypes, you are likely to produce.

I also wanted to discuss if you had any work for us at this time, or some employers you would like to recommend?”

[GameOfChampions]

Forgotten Legion Turn 4

Jean grimaces slightly as he reads the reports, his regiment was going well. They had made some good money lately and the men he had gotten from the General had been very effective squad leaders. He was sure they were instrumental to the success they had purging the new french province of undesirables. However the world at large was not exactly working out at the moment. He needed to figure out what exact position France was maintaining in the ongoing British-Ottoman conflict. Sighing he once again started penning out some drafts to the palace.



Diplomacy 2: Spending 2 to find out what Frances opinion on the conflict is and who they would prefer to come out on top or who they would like weakened.

Intelligence 2: Spending 2 to find out the particulars of the Assault Contract that France wants undertaken more. if they have no preference scratch this.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Winterborn
We expect fairly heavy opposition now, but the real worry will be once word spreads about our operations there. Once that leaks it will attract every bandit, pirate, and rogue squadron of soldiers in the area. Selling this equipment would enable them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately we do not currently have any better transports. We have devoted all our resources to producing equipment aimed at improving the survival of our infantry in these hostile territories. We do not see the need for improved transports at this junction. Perhaps when we expand further into the interior where the curse is more virulent. Although if you were to provide our state alchemists with more materials to continue their work we could divert some that would otherwise be occupied to designing vehicles to meet your needs.

There is still work to be done clearing Fife if you have the men to spare for it.

Employer: House Joakim
Province: Gotland
Combat Rating: 40
Mission Payout: 36
Duration: 2
(The contract will pay out each turn as if it was a normal contract, but you must commit to staying the whole duration. Quitting early will have severe influence penalties.)

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
The people of Volhynia are not doubt struggling as hard as any in Europe. And the same can be said for all the neigbhoring provinces. Once news of our operatiosn reaches their ears we expect them to swarm our base camps in an effort to steal the equipment for their own use. What we plan to use to expand our areas of settlement could just as easily be used to expand those used by anyone else. And there will be a great deal of marauders who have the weapons and motivation to make a serious bid for what they cannot build themselves.

Unfortunately we have had to sacrifice much to survive. Including our production facilities. We could make the vehicles you suggets, but it would be costly.

Employer: House Wlodzimierz
Province: Volhynia
Combat Rating: 40
Mission Payout: 36
Duration: 3

Die Wölfe der Abfälle (GM)
Yes, there are.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar.
Sjælland and Fyn still need to be cleared if you have the troops for it. As for infantry gear we can have our alchemists look at your findings.

(Are you giving them all your secrets?)

To the Forgotten Legion (GM)
France favors the British Empire in this conflict as the eventual winner. However they would also not mind if it dragged on for a bit and weakened both parties.

The assault contract is simply going to be a slugfest. Both parties will assemble all their forces and all the mercenaries they can and fight over Graubünden. It's expected to be a meat grinder, and the winner will mostly be determined by whoever has the most men left at the end.

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

Well, we're taking the contract for Gotland. We should be able to spare the men for Fife as well.

Could we possibly purchase some of that survival equipment, however?

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

We'll take the contract. As for the vehicles, if it would strain you unduly we can live with converted mining rigs for the time being.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 4


Intelligence: 1/1 Spent on scouting Rostock to determine expected combat ratings for both Sweep and Purge Supression missions in the area.

[Hamste]

We hope the data we acquired was helpful to you. We will be inactive for the next month due a large mission that is coming up. We do, however; have some more additional troops you can use to help to guard or scout any location you want at no cost. Even if you can't afford the leadership to guide them, I'm sure the men could do guard duty with out a hitch easily enough.



Spending 1 point of intelligence to figure out which side the Qing would want me to fight on.

Also spending 2 logistics to access the Wen retainer gear again, is it the same price as before?

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“We gladly purge Fyn and Sjælland for you again, if you could give us the expected combat ratings. I will also have someone send over the alchemy findings. On a secondary note, is there any allie of Sweden that could use the assistance of the Brotherhood of Kalmar?”
(Yes, I am giving them all of my secrets)

[ArcaneStomper]

The Cost of War
With the recent mobilization of the two empires the mercenary world had also rallied. Every downtrodden factory worker and young farmer with delusions of competency has been enlisting with one or another regiment as said regiments scramble to field as large a force as possible to benefit from the enticing rewards offered by the great powers.

The upshot of this is a much greater demand for both new recruits and the war material with which to arm them. Stocks that salvagers have acquired from the battlefields of decades ago are rapidly being drained. And those national supplies willing to arm their contacts for the right price are spending more time ensuring that their own forces are prepared for any possible combat.

Mercenary Guild Catalog
All costs for new recruits have increased by one cash each. Gear costs have increased as follows.

Basic Uniforms (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 1.2
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 4.6
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 6.2


Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.6
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 1, Speed 10) Cost: 7.5
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4) Cost: 14.1

National equipment has seen a corresponding price increase as well.

The Practice of War
Colonel Luca Giovanni has released a new book titled the Art and Practice of Warfare on a Modern Battlefield: Volume V. Colonel Giovanni is now retired, but in his heyday commanded a leading regiment known as the Grey Falcons across the battlefields fighting for all nations and racking up a very respectable list of winning engagements. As such his books are widely regarded as definitive texts on mercenary best practices.

In his new book the colonel points to the rise of alchemical driven machines that while once rare and slow are becoming ever faster and more common. He posits a return to the old ages of combat where cavalry played a decisive role with their mobility and armor that infantry could not match. One that has been somewhat lost with the near extinction of European horses.

In this new modern age mobility on both the tactical and strategic level will be key as armies rapidly maneuver and counter maneuver in an effort to gain a terrain advantage in areas where the terrain is actively working against them. The recent upsurge of hard hitting raiders that attacked, looted, and retreated before the local guard forces could react have only reinforced the colonel's words.

OOC
In game mechanics you will no longer be required to have transports for all your infantry. However the speed of a unit will have an impact on their effectiveness in combat. A negative one if it is less than the mission speed. And a positive one if it is greater. A default grunt has a speed of one when not in a vehicle. But use their vehicle's speed if they have transport available.

The default mission speed of a contract is five (5) unless stated otherwise.


House Joakim to the Winterborn
Certainly.

Swedish Quarantine Suit (A 3, D 3, ER 1.4) Cost: 8.7

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
Excellent, with you protection we are sure our operations will go smoothly.

To Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Rostock is expect to be a fairly easy mission. There aren't many bandits and rogues left. In fact even a simple sweep would be enough to fully clear the entire area.

Combating Rating: 2

House Wen and House Guiyang to the Horde
We will certainly not turn down any additional troops you can provide.

The Qing have no real preference about which European power to back. The only major factor is that the Ottoman Empire is closer so some of the mandarins in Corsica believe it might be advantageous to weaken them. But another group of mandarins argue that it would be of more benefit to ally with them instead. So it is really up to Colonel Tso.

Wen Retainer Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1) Cost: 7.7

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
After reviewing your findings we have determined that the advancement of our current suits would be marginal. We would prefer to continue working on a markedly improved version rather than produce a piecemeal upgrade. We do however thank you for your constitution.

As for the current war between the British and the Ottomans we have no preference. As long as it does not spill over into violence against our territories we have no alliance or enmity with either power.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 4


Four platoons of black armored soldiers rush to board a single transport, their faces obscured by intimidating environmental masks. On each side of the transport two armored vehicles rumble to life, their heavy engines sputtering exhaust in the form of black smoke. These vehicles put the impressive mining rigs to shame.

Built solely for war, these monsters sport thick armored treads allowing them to cross nearly any terrain effectively as well as angled hulls of thick metal which is also painted solid black with one yellow stripe length-wise on each side. Their improved engines can out pace all but the typical fast attack vehicles and there is no doubt that the machine guns housed in the sponsons on each side can shred any infantry unlucky enough to be in their path while a single rotating turret located on the center of the tank allows for its large cannon to be brought to bear on any target regardless of the vehicles facing.

Colonel Wölffin stands triumphantly as he watches the forces finish loading into the transport and rumble off towards their respective missions. One battle group would be enough to wipe out the bandits in Rostock, the rest of the forces would be sent on a simple scout mission. He didn't want to push the new vehicles too hard before understanding their limits. The large war in progress didn't much have any interest to him at the moment. He was content to just build up his forces for now.

He mused to himself that such impressive machines would need an official designation, but he wasn't big on fancy names. He decided he would call them Panzers, literally the word for "armour".





We plan to send some of our forces to assist in clearing bandits from the Rostock area. However our intelligence is stretched thin. We ask if you could provide a force estimate of the bandits in the area so we may allocate the troops necessary to deal with them.

-The Long Night
(Figured I'd roleplay this bit out anyways.)



-Deploying forces to Sweep Rostock.


x1 Trained Grunts
x1 Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
x1 Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I will try to see, if I can get my hands on some more alchemy findings to ensure that Sweden’s armory is stocked with some of the best weaponry in Europa. I would like to ask again for the expected combat ratings for purging Fyn and Sjælland."

To the Alchemy Guild
“I would like to inquire about if there are any expeditions in need of security? I would hope to offer our services to an expedition on the same combat rating as the last contract, we took."

To the British assault contract issuer
“I wish to offer the Brotherhood of Kalmar’s services to aid in your war against the Ottomans. I would also like ask about the possibility that the Brotherhood also could be paid with certain discounts, when we wish to buy more gear.”
(In gameplay terms, I am asking if we could be paid in part with Logistic stat points)

[ArcaneStomper]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle (GM)
Just for the record that it is an immense amount of overkill. I realize that you are roleplaying a point, but you could easily afford to split off some of your troops to take another contract and still have plenty of overkill in Rostock.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
The bandits in those regions have been much reduced. We expect your forces will have few problems with them.

Sjælland: 6 (Sweep), 12(Purge)
Fyn: 4 (Sweep), 8(Purge)

The Alchemist Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We do not believe we have completely plumbed the depths of Moravia's wonders. We would very much like to go back there. Though we admit it would not be quite as fruitful as last time as we have already discovered the most obvious and useful anomalies and alchemical components.

The British Empire to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Such things could be arranged, but we would not want to divert any substantial amounts of war material away from the war effort until the Ottoman Empire have been taught a sharp lesson.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Joakim
“Indeed, the bandits that left will not be able to resist us for long.”
To the Alchemy Guild
“Very well, the Brotherhood will provide the security to a new expedition to Moravia.”
To the British assault contract issuer
“That is understandable, so the Brotherhood will aid you in putting the Ottomans back in their place.”
(Is this classified as a small war as described in the wiki, which would mean the war could take up to 3 turns?)
To GM
The Brotherhood of Kalmar will spend 1 intelligence to scout out the Ottomans positions before the battle.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 4

Intelligence: 1/1 spent on identifying a suitable location to scout with the following forces.


x5 Trained Grunts
x5 Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
x1 Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)
x1 Transport (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)

[ArcaneStomper]

Marcell Trading to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Our scouts estimate that the bandits numbers have been considerably thinned since we first established our presence in this area. We expect no more than (Combat Rating 2) to be present in the area.

Die Wölfe der Abfälle (GM)
From Rostock the neighboring province of Lübeck seems to be a good place to scout according to what intelligence the scouts have been able to glean. They expect a bandit presence of between (5-7). Which is easily doable for the regiment. In fact with the forces available the wolves could likely asses any coastal province in Europe, or even ones a bit further inland.

Of course it would be a different matter in the far interior, but such places hold little interest to most. As they are too far from established territories to exploit.

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar (GM)
The war will most likely be over in one or two turns unless something escalates it.

The Brotherhood scouts are unable to get an accurate count of the Ottoman forces. This is an undisciplined mob of thugs and ruffians, but the army of a great power. They have skirmishes of their own on their flanks preventing anything but the most adapt or determined patrols from getting close to their main troops columns.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To GM
I would like to know if the mercenary regiments fighting for the British and the Ottomans is going to fight against each other in the assault contract or if each company is going to fight separate battles.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 4


Secondary troops routed to Scout Lübeck.


(This is a good choice because it could establish a path to Hamburg. I'll have to look into that soon. It is still overkill though with these forces lol.)

x5 Trained Grunts
x5 Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
x1 Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)
x1 Transport (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar
The total amount of forces on each side will be summed. Then the mercenary regiments will face a portion of the enemy forces roughly proportional to their contribution to their side.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To the Alchemy Guild
“I saddens me to say, but I will have to cancel our security contract, since it turns out that we will not have the troops to spare.”

[ArcaneStomper]

The Alchemy Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
That is unfortunate. We hope that you will be able to spare the troops in due time.

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 5

A Short Victorious War
The assembly of officers in their colorful regimental uniforms provides and ironically bright background for the ceremony of surrender in Graubünden. The British have proved the rightness of their cause and triumphed over the Ottoman forces.

This is something of a surprise to the nations of the world as Britain seemed to be on the back foot when countering the various Ottoman raids. At the very least their forces were evenly matched enough that the war was expected to take longer.

But the British used the gold from the far flung trade empire to great effect hiring far more mercenaries than the insular Ottomans. Terribly outnumbered the Ottoman's own allies quickly crumbled leaving their main army exposed and outmatched.

They have been forced to pay reparations for the war, but the money does not compare to the blow to their pride and prestige from having lost a war they themselves provoked.

The British Empire: +1 Prestige
The Ottoman Empire: -1 Prestige

A Dark Cloud on the Horizon
Alchemists across Europe are checking their furnaces, testing the weather, and muttering dark omens as they busily toil in their labs. No one is quite sure what the matter is, but the alchemists point to a rising number of mutated monsters and alchemical chimeras being sighted in the wastes.

The Curse also seems to be more active recently as mining fields that were previously stable have begun to shift and transmute into new forms. Of course while this offers dangers it also offers new sources of wealth and many a prospector have set out to discover new motherlodes and deposits of rare and valuable alloys.

[Murska]

House Joakim

With the continuing expansion of the regiment, we once again find ourselves in need of a larger officer corps to be able to effectively command enough men to both defend Gotland and patrol in Fife or whatever other, smaller missions we might be entering into. Perhaps something could be arranged to remedy this issue?

House Wlodzimierz

The battle continues. With recruitment picking up and a number of successful missions for the regiment, we are reaching some bottlenecks in our ability to effectively direct more men for the tasks given - we need both an influx of new officers and even more urgently access to intelligence analysts to provide more accurate reconnaissance overviews. Could we hope for assistance in this matter?

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“The Brotherhood of Kalmar will purge the rest of the bandits on Sjælland, but I would like to ask if you had more work available?”
To the British Empire
“I wished to discuss the possible of discounts, that we talked about last time. We have certainly taught the Ottomans a sharp lesson.”

[heretic]

Lt. Col. Vladsson hops down to the dock from his yacht. "So what did I miss?"

[ArcaneStomper]

Secret Bounty
The recent war has inspired all the great powers to review their equipment and push forward new designs so that in the event of another conflict their soldiers will maintain a decisive edge over their foes.

Many an alchemist has been drafted into the national guilds and directed towards designing ever bigger and better weapons. But to create new alchemical works requires resources and exotic components only found in the wastes. Thus the great powers have let it be known that they will be well for such things.

Secret Payout ratio
1 Secrete: 2 Influence or 8 Cash

The Khayriyya company to the Varangian Neu-Guard
Abdul Khayriyya regards colonel Vladsson morosely. "You missed a war my friend. One which we unfortunately lost." He turns to regard the water, "Though I suppose even with your help it would have gone the same way. The British dogs were surprisingly profligate with their coin."

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
"The island of Bornholm is surprisingly free of taint. We believe it could be easily purified. However while the endaevour would be a short one the risk still exists that ruffians would attempt to steal our purification refineries while they are vulnerable. Thus we require your assistance."

Mission: Purification
Territory: Bornholm
Combat Rating: 10
Duration: 1
Pay: 9

House Wlodzimierz to Winterborn
Our own efforts must take priority, but you have been a valuable ally. As such we could see to providing you with [1 Leadership] and [1 Intelligence]

Mission: Purification
Territory: Volhynia
Combat Rating: 60
Duration: 2
Pay: 54

House Joakim to Winterborn
In light of your past service I believe we could spare [4 Leadership] of our officers to aid your regiment. Though it would strain our academy to do so.

Mission: Purification
Territory: Gotland
Combat Rating: 60
Duration: 1
Pay: 54

Marcell Mining to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
We have managed to acquire a purification engine for use in clearing the plague from tainted lands. We would like to deploy it in Rostock, but we expect that there will be many nefarious parties interested in capturing it for themselves. Would your regiment be available for defense.

Mission: Purification
Territory: Rostock
Combat Rating: 40
Duration: 2
Pay: 36

House Guiying to the Horde
House Wen has demonstrated the folly of expanding too quickly and over extending your forces. We only regret that it was your men who had to pay the price of their arrogance. We however have not been idle. We have recieved two items from our imperial alchemists that might be of interest to you.

The first is a heavenly pearl with which we can cleanse this island of its taint. We expect that the local barbarians will attempt to steal it for themselves so your assistance will be required. The second is a set of heavy armor our philosophers have developed to shield your men from the cursed lands and give them strength beyond any mortal.

Mission: Purification
Territory: Corsica
Combat Rating: 30
Duration: 2
Pay: 27

Terracotta Armor (A 6, D 2, ER 1, T 1, Speed 5) Cost: 8.6

House Germaine to the Forgotten Legion
The Labourd region yet remains plagued with marauders who are raiding the French mines and outposts. The General requests that the Legion take care of the matter.

Mission: Purge
Territory: Labourd
Combat Rating: 4
Pay: 10

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 5

Recruitment: 2 Trained grunts gained.

Logistics: 2/5 Spent for "Under the Table Deals"


Certainly. Our scouting in Lübeck hit a bit of a snag, so we will be glad to assist you. We will devote our full attention to your protection.

However, if you have any additional Armored Rigs available we would be extremely interested in buying another one or two.

-The Long Night

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“I would like to inquire about if you could help increase my corps of officers, to help maximize the services the Brotherhood can provide.”
To the British Empire
“I wished to discuss the possible of discounts, that we talked about last time. We have certainly taught the Ottomans a sharp lesson.”
(I just reposted it, you seemed to have overlooked it last time.)

To Agda Imports
“Of course, the Brotherhood of Kalmar will accept this mission.”

[Hamste]

I must admit, I'm not entirely sure on how well the terracotta armor will match up against the much faster attack bikes though the superior environmental resistance is definitely a benefit over them. We are quite interested and will be buying some to finish outfitting all our regiments with heavy equipment. It should also go with out saying, we will gladly our troops to help purify the land.



Surprisingly, even after the losses that came from taking the iron mines we still have excess volunteers that can be used. Up to 6 units are available. Though, we are also interested in hiring some more officers so that we may better serve the nation. If you have any soldiers ready to become officers that you wish to send over for us to hire we would be quite obliged.



We would like two missions to test our troops. The groups won't be as large as the last time but we have more vehicles this time. Is there any missions available?




5 terracotta armor with a lot of haggling (33 money)
1 terracotta armor (8.6)
41.6 spent

Trying to buy leadership or in the very least see how much is offered at what price if I can't afford it.

[ArcaneStomper]

Marcell Trading to Die Wolfe
Certainly we can make some available to you. We have in fact made some slight improvements, and we hope you will relay to us your findings of how they perform on the battlefield.

Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7) Cost: 14.8

House Guiying to the Horde
Our learned elders suggest that given equivalent circumstances and not factoring in the harshness of these wastes the barbarian attack bikes are in fact slightly superior.

However when the wastes are a fact terracotta armored soldiers are far more likely to actually survive completely a mission. Whereas an attack bike is likely to get swallowed in some mire it can't escape.

Unfortunately we have little experience with this European alchemy and cannot yet design an armor that covers both eventualities. But if you find this unacceptable we can remove the additional purification wards and lighten the terracotta armor to function at the same speeds as the bikes.

House Wen to the Horde
Some of our younger sons could use some tempering as the recent events have shown. We would be happy to send them to your care for some hands on experience. (3 Leadership)

The Alchemists to the Horde
There are always missions available. What will you be sending for protection?

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 5

Purchases: Panzer x2 (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7) @ 14.8. Total of 29.6 spent.


Certainly, attached are our findings from the prototypes we received. The Colonel was extremely pleased by their performance. I'm sure he will be excited to see the improved models.

-The Long Night



Intelligence: 5/5 Spent on active scouting for mission to Rostock.

Deploying Forces to Rostock for defense contract.

-Trained Grunts x4
-Veteran Grunts x2

-Secondhand Armor x1
-Prussian Excursion Suit x5 (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)

-Panzer x2 (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
-Prussian Armored Rig x2 (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)
-Transport x1 (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We can recommend to you the services of a number of fine young officers. In light of your past achievements we know both they and you will go far in serving the interests of Sweden. (3 Leadership)

The British Empire to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Certainly we can make available to you some of the channels we use to perform our own trade deals. (1 Logistics)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“That is very true. Sweden is very close to my heart, in fact I am planning to finally purge the last bandits on Sjælland very soon. After my calculation, they only have forces worth of a combat rating 4 left.”

To the British Empire
“That sounds good. We will start using them very soon.”
To GM
The Brotherhood will spend 1 intelligence on finding an alchemy mission or several, with a combined combat rating of 100. The Brotherhood will prioritize finding the missions, which promise the largest amount of secrets.

[GameOfChampions]

The Forgotten Legion - Turn 5

Col. Jean walks among his troops celebrating the successful war, it had been a massive undertaking but they had pulled through it with few men lost and the troops were in the mood for celebration. They had some time before any new missions were to be taken on so Jean let regulation slide for his men and let them enjoy themselves, they'd need it. He had had his eye on some of the more dangerous alchemy missions, the countries were gearing up and he would be sure that his had the best info available to them.



Diplomacy (2): Using the 2 diplomacy and the influence that the Legion has with France to ask for any new armor designs for the troops focused on defense and environmental survival.

Intelligence (2): Scout out a high risk alchemist mission for the legion to do and the info regarding it.

[Hamste]

No need to do any alterations for now. People are getting more competitive with their alchemy so we will be doing several missions where the extra resistance will be useful. We should be sending more alchemical secrets later this month.



We would like to take on some of them. We won't be able to supply volunteer troops this month as our extra weaponry will be used to supply the troops for the new leadership.



We would also like two more missions. The first two will be for 3 groups of troops equipped with a new set of extremely heavy armor with purification wards along with retainer grade arms and equipment designed to allow them to survive on the ground for a prolonged amount of time. The equipment is very assault oriented though they can with stand a few hits with their equipment.

The two new missions are also for 3 groups of troops that aren't nearly as well equipped instead having just armor based off old mining gear with each group having two regular transports. They shouldn't be sent anywhere too deadly due to their weak equipment.




Would like to get 2 leadership.

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

We would not wish to slow you at such a critical juncture. We'll make good use of the [1 Intelligence], but we can find Leadership elsewhere.

Winterborn to House Joakim

You will likely need the output of your academies and more once the expansion efforts begin to bear fruit. We will make do with [2 Leadership].

[ArcaneStomper]

The Alchemist Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
The brotherhood finds that the most concentrated cluster of escort missions they can find is a group of alchemists who wish to explore the Loire region. It promises to be both arduous and suitably rewarding.

Anjou - 28
Berry - 20
Orleanais - 28

House Germaine to the Forgotten Legion
In light of your service we offer you access to the armor our own knights wear into battle. We hope it will serve you well in your efforts to bring glory to France.

French Knight Plate (A 2, D 4, ER 1.5) Cost: 8.3

The Alchemist Guild to the Forgotten Legion
The most suitable mission seems to be exploring the hidden reaches of Lyonnais and bringing back the exotic creatures and rare alloys that can be found there.

Lyonnais - 28

The Alchemist Guild to the Horde
The Alchemist Guild suggests sending the heavily armored expedition to explore the underbelly of Milan. Centuries of alchemical experimentation have made it a toxic hell waste, but the mixture of runoff from various experiments and industrial process could have its own uses.

The also suggest exploring Genoa, which has a similar buildup of detritus, but to a far lesser extent.

Finally they suggest picking over Graubünden. On its own it isn't home to anything particularly exotic, but there might be abandoned weapons and supplies there that the Great Powers would not ordinarily let out of their sight.

Milan - 32
Genoa - 20
Graubünden - 4

The Khayriyya company to the Varangian Neu-Guard
If you are free this season we do need to build our forces back up. To that end we would be willing to pay double the going rate for new maps of viable regions to mine. Or even triple if you are willing to safeguard and expedition to immediately exploit anything you might find.


House Joakim to the Winterborn
If anything we will need supply quartermasters more. If we are to continue paying for your services. But we will see that the new officers reach you swiftly.

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
Then we will send you a portion of our reports on the various goings on in Europe. Hopefully they will be of use to you.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To the Alchemist Guild
“ The brotherhood of Kalmar will accept security for all three mission.”


To GM
The Brotherhood will use 1 intelligence to find out the combat rating for a scouting mission in Jutland and in Schleswig-Holstein.

[heretic]

Varangian Neu-Guard

Vladsson drains his glass. "We accept."

The varangians begin to mount up, in preparation to assist the Khayriyya.

Recruitment:2

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Jutland is large area, but the brotherhood can start with Nordjylland, which is estimated to have a rating of [4]. Meanwhile Slesvig and Holstein are [6] and [10] respectively.

However the junior officers remind colonel Gyldenstieme, that House Joakim is no longer issuing payments for new maps while they consolidate what they have already colonized.

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 6

A Secluded Hill
The mining rig sat on the hill like a beetle in the sun. Cranes and rigging that normally swarmed with activity was now silent. For there was nothing to mine here, but quartz and the crew was occupied by other matters.

A fact easily discerned by the fact that one of the great tracks that supported the vessel currently lay spread out over the ground as crewmen busily worked to replace several damaged slats.

The rig's foreman sat on the bridge overseeing the progress and worrying about repairs. This desolate hillside of crystalline quartz was no real place to conduct repairs. Normally it took an entire yard or at least an outpost with spare parts. But not only was the rig one the tramps that called no nation home, but they had been caught far out in the wastes by an unexpected alchemical storm.

This was the best location he had been able to find, with clear weather and long sight lines to watch for bandits eager to raid his vessel.

After almost two days of strenuous repair enough of the track had been repaired to make progress, and the foreman decided to get moving rather than complete repairs. Sitting in the isolated spot was making him far too nervous.

With a lurch the boilers fired and great clouds of smoke rose as the massive gears thunked into place. The mining vessel slowly crept forward. However just as the foreman was beginning to relax the rig slammed to a halt again as it impacted on something. Before the foreman even had time to frown the solidified air in front of them slid forward covering the mining rig.

As the wave of alchemical disruption passed onward it left behind a mining rig trapped in a sea of frozen air. Apparently unharmed but doomed to never move again.

Alchemical Fury
Reports are coming in from all over Europe of missing mining rigs and outposts being lost to unprecedented alchemical phenomena. Places where everything falls into the sky or the ground to liquid salt.

The alchemical wards across all the great cities hum and spark as they repel curse after curse. More than few mercenary regiments have simply vanished. Their airships lost in transit as unexpectedly fierce storms wipe them out of the sky.

Even the pirates and raiders are effected as their jury rigged wards are torn apart and their fortresses crumble under alchemical onslaughts. But this is a small mercy. Fighting human foes was at least a straightforward task of arms and armor. Fighting the unnatural fury of alchemy is far harder.

[Hamste]

It seems you were quite right with the alchemical shields. Seems they will be even more important in the future with recent reports. You and House Wen should be receiving the information we have gathered shortly. As usual most of it will be free, though some of the secrets will have to be sold to afford to acquire more equipment for our soldiers.



We were quite happy with the officers you sent. They performed quite well, with no losses. We will be sending the information we have gathered shortly. As usual most of it will be free, though some of the secrets will have to be sold to afford to acquire more equipment for our soldiers.



Recently we have been receiving reports that the curse is growing stronger and I worry it may damage the walls. As such, we are wondering if there is any jobs you have that could help with preemptively defending the wall.


10 secrets given to the Qing for favor

8 secrets sold to Qing for 64 money

Spending 4 for off the back of the truck deals for arms and armor from the Qing after giving them all these secret. I would like good EP equipment

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 6


Colonel Wölffin smiles as he looks through the combat reports. "The men have outdone themselves this time. And these updated Panzers are exactly what we needed. Make sure to pass the reports along to Marcell so he can see the fruits of his labor." He takes a puff of his cigar, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke into the air before continuing. "But these reports of the storms picking up are troubling. I still want Lübeck scouted, but not at the cost of my men. Send scouts to estimate the danger before I decide. Hmph, might need to do more work for the Alchemists to boost our environment protection if this keeps up."

"Do you have a goal in mind with this scouting? Or are you just bored?" The hooded man replies with a hint of sarcasm. "I think you should consider reaching out to at least one of the other mercenary guilds. If we continue to stand alone..."

Cutting him off mid-sentence the Colonel steps in "I know damn well where you stand on "foreign relations". Perhaps the day will come when I decide that a temporary alliance is necessary, but I've relied on myself my whole life and while you are a great help to me even you are replaceable. Don't push me."

The hooded man shrugs, looking completely untroubled."It's only my job to advise you. Even if you don't like all my suggestions. The final say is, of course, always yours Colonel." With that he heads off to his work.




Here are the combat reports of the updated Panzers you wanted. They performed well. Hopefully this information can be of use to you.

-The Long Night



Recruitment: 2 trained grunts gained.

Intelligence: 1/5 Spent to scout Lübeck. Hopefully to determine both enemy force numbers and the likelihood of Alchemical storms in the area.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I succeed in gaining a greater amount of alchemy knowledge. I am prepared to hand them all over for the prize of 80 cash. I am looking forward to seeing, what you will make with the knowledge.
I also wish to ask if you had any work need doing?”
(I am selling 10 secrets for 80 cash, then I am giving them the last 7 secrets for 14 Influence points.)

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Unfortunately our reserves have been greatly strained by our recent expansion. We cannot afford to pay you for your alchemical secrets at this time. At least not in coin.

Marcell Trading to Die Wolfe Der Abfalle
Excellent, we will put these combat reports to good use improving our next models.

To Die Wolfe der Abfalle (GM)
Scouts reports indicate that there is most likely [8 Combat Power] in Lübeck. Unfortunately they lack the detail to forecast how likely an alchemical eruption would be.

House Wen to the Horde
Certainly we appreciate hearing that they have done well. We refined the armor that we presented last time into a new more pleasing form. We think you will appreciate the increased effectiveness and lower cost.

Wen Retainer MKII (A 3, D 4, ER 1.5) Cost: 7.4

The Tsardom of Russia to the Horde
We have nothing truly pressing at the moment, but we would be willing to pay for more information of the conditions alongside the wall.

The Ottoman Empire to the Horde
The Ottoman Empire pointedly does not respond.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 6

Deploying Forces to scout Lubeck.


-3x Trained Grunts
-3x Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)

-1x Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)
-1x Transport (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)



Intelligence: 1/4 Spent to identify any nearby area of interest to the Prussian crown that my remaining forces could scout.


-3x Trained Grunts
-2x Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
-1x Secondhand Armor

-2x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
-1x Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)

[GameOfChampions]

The Forgotten Legion - Turn 6

The Forgotten Legion forces are even larger now and the men Col. Jean trusts to lead his forces are strained even more now then they ever have been. His squad leaders and lieutenants all join him for the, now regular, post-mission celebratory drinks where they discuss the particulars of the missions beyond the numbers in the reports they had submitted. One of the main topics is the desire to have more of the men available for missions.

"Well maybe France will be able to help us gentlemen. I'll go meet with the men at the palace tomorrow to see if they have some experienced officers available and hopefully a more stable job for some of the less trained men to get some experience at."



Diplomacy (2): Col. Jean reaches out to the French leaders looking for some more leadership, his legion had started growing to large for him to utilize all of their resources. Then he was also looking for a permanent job for some troops to provide a consistent source of income and stability for their forces.

Using 2 diplomacy and 4 secrets to try and gain more leadership for the legion. Then spending 3 secrets to try and secure a consistent mission for the legion to do.

Intelligence (2): Scouting out areas and the alchemists guild for appropriate missions that are high risk but not at risk of the massive storms.

Spending 2 Intelligence trying to figure out a high risk alchemy escort mission that doesn't suffer from the increased storms.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“Very well, I do not know how long time it would take to use the knowledge to develop new equipment, but you could repay us by giving us the same worth of coin in new equipment, since that is what the coin would have been used on anyway.”

[ArcaneStomper]

A Search for Answers
The Alchemists guild is concerned with the new storms ravaging the European wastelands. They are offering a great reward for any help in uncovering the cause.

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
Excellent work colonel. Our alchemists estimate that one more season should allow our devices to finish purifying the area and even protect it from the new wave of storms. However we expect this season to be even more grueling than the last. Once we are done there won't be any need to keep the alchemical equipment exposed, and we expect that the pirates assaulting you will discover this and become even more desperate.

Mission Type: Purify
Territory: Volhynia
Combat Rating: 80
Mission Pay: 72

The Khayriyya company to the Varangian Neu-Guard
We are impressed as always by your efficiency and quick work in carrying out our contracts. Now we ask that you continue to clear the province of any further brigands. We have some sensitive equipment to deploy that we can't risk in an unsecured location.

Mission Type: Patrol
Combat Rating: Unknown
Mission Pay: 10

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Since you have been of such help in gaining this bounty of knowledge we think it only fair to ask what you think would be of most benefit to research.

We have also gotten the use of a set of special alchemical shields with which we can purify of Sjælland of its corruption. We would be quite glad if you agreed to protect it, but it would require a longer commitment on your part than our normal missions.

Mission Type: Purify
Territory: Sjælland
Combat Rating: 70
Mission Pay: 63
Duration: 4


House Marcell to Die Wolfe
Your men have done good work in Rostock. But it is not yet completely purged of alchemical elements. We would like to get this done before an alchemical storms resets all our hard work. So are your men up for another job.

Mission Type: Purify
Territory: Rostock
Combat Rating: 60
Mission Pay: 54

House Guiying to the Horde
We are grateful for your previous work and the bounty of new knowledge you have provided for our sages. However we note that the Pearl did not completely cleanse Corsica in the last season. We ask for your aid again in completing the task. House Wen will likely the ask the same for Sassari once we are done in Corsica.

Mission Type: Purify
Territory: Corsica
Combat Rating: 50
Mission Pay: 45

House Germaine to the Forgotten Legion
We do not typically have many permanent contracts with mercenaries. By definition any long term guard duty would be better suited for our own forces. However we might be able to work something out if you clear Labourd of its rogues and criminal bands. We can also offer some officers to aid your regiments leadership problems. [2 leadership]

Mission Type: Patrol
Territory: Labourd
Combat Rating: Unknown
Mission Pay: 10

To the Forgotten Legion
The scouts fail to find any region not suffering from the storms. It seems all of Europe is awash with dangerous alchemical anomolies.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“The Brotherhood will accept the contract. I think that you ought to improve your infantry equipment. The increase in offensive and defensive capabilities should have an equal increase. The environmental protection should also have an increase, though smaller, and you also should attempt to keep the cost of production down.”
(In numbers I think they should use about 6 secrets on Attack, 6 on Defense, 4 on EP rating and 5 on keeping the cost down. That should run up in 21 secrets, the total amount of secrets I have given them.)
To the Alchemist Guild
“I hear, that you seeking help to uncovering the cause for the new storms in the European wastelands. I want to inquire about how the Brotherhood of Kalmar could be of aid?”

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 6



Certainly. With the storms picking up we would hate to see such progress ruined.

-The Long Night




-Contact is established with the forces intended for Lubeck, luckily they had only just left. Unfortunately the scouts efforts are already spent, but that's a small sacrifice.
New orders are given. "Abandon the scouting mission and return. You will be traveling to Rostock again, our work is not done apparently."


-2x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
-2x Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)
-1x Transport (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)

-4x Trained Grunts
-2x Veteran Grunts
-5x Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
-1x Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1)

[Hamste]

We don't need payment for scouting. We just want to make sure the wall is secure so we will do the scouting for free.


Of course we will assist. I'm mildly surprised that the difficulty estimates went up but I guess with the storms they must the bandits must be ramping up their assaults.



With the new upgrade of equipment we have an excess of gear and men again. We have 7 extra squads of grunts, four of which with House Wen retainer gear and the rest with the old second hand gear. If you have any use for them, let us know and we can send.


We are looking for three more alchemical missions. We can send 2 groups of three equipped with terracotta armor and specialized retainer grade gear with extra protections against the curse along with an additional group of three equipped with just the specialized retainer gear.



buying 10 Wen Retainer MK 2 with a little haggling for a total of 69

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Unfortunately there is only so much we can do to keep material expenses low when so many improvements are being made. However we have been able to finish the following design with your contributions.

Swedish Heavy Armor (A 4, D 5, ER 1.7) Cost: 9.9

The Alchemist Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
You can help simply by providing your aid in escorting our expeditions into the depths of the continent. Unfortunately there is little information on what lies so far inside the wastes, so we hope to gain as many escorts as possible.

Marcell Trading to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Excellent, once Rostock is cleared it will provide more living room for our people to expand into, as well as the obvious port facilities. Prussia will finally be able to begin growing again after our many generations of bare survival.

The Tsardom of Russia to the Horde
That is most agreeable then. We look forward to hearing your reports.

House Guiying to the Horde
Our agents report that it is more likely because word of the Pearl's existence has spread farther and drawn in more and more of those seeking to steal it for their own purposes. Such an artifact always draws in the greedy and desperate.

House Wen to the Horde
We could use those men to clear out the province we scouted previously and establish a foothold on the continent. Though we concerned that we might be overextending your troops.

The Alchemist Guild to the Horde
Currently all our resources are focused on determining the cause of the storms. We need to send expeditions into the deepest parts of the continent. Unfortunately those areas are extremely dangerous and we have little information on what we can find there, but we will gladly share our discoveries there with anyone who accompanies us.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
"The armor good indeed, you could repay the Brotherhood with 8 sets of Swedish Heavy armor and perhaps simply pay us the last 0,8 cash. If you have some fresh cadets, that would like some real-life combat experience, then I would like some to lead the men, who is going to use the new armor.”
(I would like 2 leadership from them, if possible.)
To the Alchemist Guild
“The Brotherhood of Kalmar is definitely willing to help solving out the mystery of the new storm, and will send a rather large escort.”

[GameOfChampions]

The Forgotten Legion


Do you have need of any escorts for missions? We would be willing to provide the man power for a dangerous mission.


Thank you for the men and we will see that mission through with the same sense of care we give to all of our missions for France.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We can ship you the new sets of armor, but for now we would prefer to keep our officer cadets closer to home. We need to prepare our own forces for further expansion after all.

The Alchemist Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Excellent, we will be glad to see your forces. We cannot give you any sort of precise overview of the dangers, but we do expect the environment to be quite hostile equip your men with that in mind.

The Alchemist Guild to the Forgotten Legion
Currently we are in need of escorts to accompany a mission to find the source of the storms. We have a large expedition in mind so anything you can send would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately our target is the interior of the continent, and that is uncharted territory. Thus we cannot tell you what to expect that it will surely be involve very hostile terrain.

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Joakim

Well, that was quite something. It has been a while since Sweden has liberated more territory from the ravages of the plague, and it brings me hope to see such a thing.

I assume you are mostly focusing on consolidation at the moment? If you do not have anything that'd require our assistance, we will probably seek employment with the Alchemist's Guild to help them understand the origin of the storms.

To such an end, what kind of equipment do you have, preferrably something that'd be protective against the environment?

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

The battle continues, but we do not bend. We're intending to assist the Alchemists in understanding the recent changes to the environment, so we'd like to ask if you have any sort of equipment that would be of assistance in that purpose, specifically vehicles. Battling the Ravage is common cause to us all.

Winterborn to Alchemist's Guild

We have a significant force freed up from the purification of Gotland to assist in any expedition to understand the recent troubles with the environment.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Winterborn
We do plan on taking stock of our current progress, but we hope to begin cleansing Lolland next season so please be prepared for that.

As it happens we have just finished work on a new line of heavy armor that should suit your needs well.

Swedish Heavy Armor (A 4, D 5, ER 1.7) Cost: 9.9

House Wlodzimierz
We have managed to develop a transport for braving harsher environments. Although we lack the alchemists to make major advancements.

Sealed Crawler (A 0, D 0, ER 1.2, T 5, Speed 6) Cost: 5.1


The Alchemist Guild to the Winterborn
And we would welcome your assistance. We are currently in need of escorts to accompany a mission to find the source of the storms. Unfortunately our target is the interior of the continent, and that is uncharted territory. Thus we cannot tell you what to expect other than that it will surely be involve very hostile terrain.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I will look forward to receiving the armor sets. I wonder if instead of officers, you perhaps could help with the prices on some more equipment?”
(I am asking if they could help with 1 stat of logistics)
To the Alchemist Guild
“Very well, I will keep that in mind.”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We could see our way to providing you a discount on the new equipment yes, but our trade routes and factories are currently all spoken for in our current plans.

(They can give you a discount for this turn, but not a stat point.)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I will accept the discount.”
(I am unsure what this discount is precisely, but I am going with that is a temporary logistic point as in 1 turn, until you say otherwise.)

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 7

The Storm's Fury
Last season's storms proved to be but a prelude to the onslaught that was unleashed on the continent. Eerie green clouds batter the cities held back by crackling barriers. Many an outposts are engulfed entirely by malevolent earth and furious air. Their inhabitants huddled inside fortified bunkers hoping and praying that the philosopher cores hold out.

For the wealthy and prosperous this is survivable. Indeed it promises to rejuvenate old mined out fields with fresh alchemical riches once the storms pass. But for the poor and desperate the storms batter through old and broken equipment reaping a terrible toll in lives, and tainting the dregs of crop land that keep many a tiny village going.

The worst of it is in Italy where even the nobles do not have the wealth to weather such storms. Refugees flee the peninsula en masse. Something which has direct consequences of the mercenary regiments as the entire mercenary guild has to relocate out of its decades long mooring.

More ominous still is that no word has been had from Austria for some weeks now. Scouts sent there either do not return or report having to turn back far short of the Austrian cities. Even a massive expedition of alchemists and mercenaries was not sufficient and had to turn back upon being beset with a monstrous horde of mutated animals and feral men.

The alchemists guild is reportedly preparing to try again, and the great nation's muster their forces to continue through the storms, which as yet show no sign of abating.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I was a part of an expedition trying to find out the cause of the new storms and I was granted a large amount of alchemy knowledge as a reward. I realize that you still in all likelihood don’t have coin to spare, but I would be willing to again being granted new equipment.”

[ArcaneStomper]

The Kingdom of Poland
Of all the nations Poland is most concerned with the recent storms and the news, or lack thereof, from Austria. With the Alps being relatively close, and having no coast of the nobles and people of Poland worry that whatever happened to Austria will happen to them. After all Austria may not have been the richest or most powerful nation, but neither is Poland.

The Kingdom of Sweden
With a full water barrier between their main holdings and the storm Sweden has little to fear from the resurgent curse ravaging Europe. Instead they have redoubled their efforts to claim the Jutland peninsula.

The Duchy of Prussia
The people of Prussia are less concerned with the latest natural disasters than they are the advance of Sweden. With the Swedish moving across the Baltic the Prussians feel pressured and have called on the Swedish to halt their advance until proper diplomatic methods can be used to redraw the borders of Europe.

Kingdom of France
The nobles of France are more concerned with their courtly intrigue than any European troubles. They view the storms as just another in the series that have always plagued Europe, and in time they will pass leaving behidn rich new fields to fill French coffers.

Qing Empire
The two mandarin houses that represent the resplendent Qing Empire to the Europeans have graciously allowed the Italian refugees access to their territories on the island of Corsica. The house of Wen is disdainful of the barbarians, but the house of Guiyang has decided to see if they can be civilized and made into proper imperial subjects.

We need to know what is happening in Austria, and we will pay handsomely if you can provide this information.

Yes, certainly we can produce more designs and prototypes based on your newfound knowledge. In addition we wish for you to continue to guard our works in Sjaelland as your men put up an excellent defense last season, however also want to secure our claims on the rest of Jutland. Do you have enough troops to do both?

It appears that our new port is already being threatend. The Swedish incursion into Jutland has long term implications about the flow of trade into the Baltic. We do not wish to be cut off. So we offer a bounty on new provinces to the west where we can establish unthreatened ports. We suggest you start in Bremen and see if that is suitable for reclamation.


Now that Labourd is clear of internal menaces I believe it is time to deploy our new equipment there. Our alchemists have deviced a means to purify cursed lands. They assure me it will work, but that it will take time and be blatantly obvious to any observers.

So I require your services and your legion to secure the area against all who would attempt to disrupt the process for as long as necessary for the alchemists to do their work.

Esteemed colonel we have been watching your efforts with House Guiyang in restoring their portion of the island. Now we would offer you the same task in protecting our sages as they cleanse our areas.

[Hamste]

Of course, we are quite honored to send our soldiers. Expect the information we gained from the expedition will be sent shortly. We hope the barbarians are not causing any trouble. If you need any soldiers to help keep the peace or help with their movement don't hesitate to ask.

We also want to congratulate you on new design for the retainer gear. With that and the Terracotta armor we were able to get through the fight with no losses beyond a destroyed set of armor. Extremely good considering the large losses the soldiers are reporting the French mercenaries apparently suffered.

We are interested in getting some more vehicles to fully replace the old mining rigs we still use. If you have any designs, feel free to send them.

I particularly want to to note the information on the bone creatures. They were able to take out bikes on foot with no ranged weaponry. I'm sure there is something to learn from that, either for technology or for planning how to fight them.




How is the settlement of the refugees going? I hear you are hoping to make them proper citizens yet. If you need soldiers to help keep the peace, just ask. As always we have a lot of free troops.

After some in the field experience, we have to say again you were correct with the environmental protection wards. We lost one in the Terracotta armor to the bone creatures but with your armor and the Wen retainer gear we were able to survive with no losses. Extremely good considering the large losses the soldiers report the French mercenaries suffered.

We are interested in getting some more vehicles to fully replace our old mining rigs. If you have any more designs or are willing to sell some more of the armor we are interested.

I particularly want to to note the information on the bone creatures. They were able to take out bikes on foot with no ranged weaponry. I'm sure there is something to learn from that, either for technology or for planning how to fight them.



As we have mentioned before, we did not need to be paid for this and are returning the money you gave us. The zone seems secure though the area near the walls is pretty dangerous. See the attached reports for full details. We are open to any more work that you may have. If not, just make sure you are ready for a bandit or bone creature attack. With the storms they are getting desperate and those near the wall who can't jump it may attempt to break through the wall to get into the safe land in large numbers.

The bone creatures are less of a worry as I believe they were only spotted in the massive storms. Without the storms around them to keep them hidden and with the wall they shouldn't pose much less of a threat but just because they don't use weapons or armor. A surprising amount of other mercenary groups vehicles were destroyed particularly the bikes. They were said to move through the ground and the fact that they could even catch the bikes on foot is a testament to their speed and ambush ability. We currently hope that their swift movement is due to being in tune with the curse. The hope is they can dig through ground affected by the curse only but it is worth being weary of them.

I suggest giving the warning to the Ottomans as well. We would send it ourselves but they are unlikely to listen considering our hand in the British-Ottoman engagement.



not accepting the 10 money from Russia.
Giving 50 secrets to the Qing for 100 influence if event is still happening
Sell 25 secrets to the Qing for 200 money if event is still happening.

If we can still spend logistics to get better gear spending 4 logistics for off the truck deals.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I will transfer the alchemy knowledge immediately. The Brotherhood most likely have engoufe troops to do both, though when you ask us to secure your claims to rest of Jutland, what do you precisely want? The Brotherhood have already scouted and mapped Nordjutland, if it can be of any help.”
(I transfer all 75 secrets to Sweden)

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

All right. We're curious too, and it might be critically important. But it's in the middle of the storm. If we give you [25 secrets] garnered from the Alchemists' expedition as well as the combat data on the Sealed Crawler, can you provide us with a new version of the transport as highly resistant to environmental effects as possible? If you can make it better in other ways, that'd also be useful, but we don't want to face the storms unprepared. In addition, we'd like to know if you'd be willing to assist the Winterborn in securing some contacts in the increasingly tense political situation in Europe.

((25 secrets for influence, I'd like to get Intelligence and/or Diplomacy.))

Winterborn to House Joakim

We expect Swedish alchemists to receive a nice boost of artifacts and data from the Alchemical expedition, and are willing to add to the bounty by selling [15 secrets] of our own share cheaply. We'd like access to purchase whatever equipment you produce of them, however. In addition, we'd like to know if you've yet again got officers available for duty in the Winterborn.

((15 secrets for 120 Cash, access to Swedish equipment, asking for Leadership (/Officers, I guess?).))

Winterborn to House Hapsburg [Spanish]

We would like to sell you 35 Secrets gathered from the alchemical expedition deep into the Italian Alps at a generous price. We saw the high-quality equipment of the French mercenaries in that same expedition. It would be a terrible thing indeed to fall behind. In addition, we're intent on sending a new expedition to find out what has happened to your family's Austrian branch. Anything you might have in your stores that could increase the chances of success here would be appreciated.

((35 secrets for 10 influence and 240 Cash, I'd like to have some contact with the Spanish to be offered missions if they have need for it and have no-one else to call on, plus maybe a look at their equipment lists for purchase.))

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 7

Recruitment: 2 Trained grunts gained

Intelligence: 1/5 scouting Bremen for viability as a port for Prussia.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wen to the Horde
We have examined these so called rigs and worked to bring them up to Imperial standards of armor. In light of your reports we have also incorporated our most advanced purification systems to date. We believe the results should be quite satisfactory, although somewhat slow.

If you can capture some of the bone beasts, then we will look into creating countermeasures.

House Wen Turtle (A 10, D 7, ER 1.5, T 1, Speed 4) Cost: 15.2

House Guiyang to the Horde
The settlement proceeds slowly. There are quite a few refugees and they are of course completely unacquainted with proper language and culture. We would welcome some soldiers to help with keeping order. Though we would need disciplined soldiers. We don't want any massacres that might arouse the locals against us.

The Tsardom of Russia to the Horde
Thank you for the warning. Our own alchemists report that the wall's galvanic fields are being put under a much greater strain than anticipated. We doubt even the creatures you report could make it through the distorted region between the edge of the field and the storms alive, but their ability to tunnel is a concern. We have not had a test of the wall's foundations in some time.

We would welcome any more information you could provide on these creatures and their spread.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Your scouting of Nordjylland is appreciated as it has given as the information we needed to proceed. We have been analyzing our maps of Jutland and we have identified three likely targets, Nordjylland, Slesvig, and Midtjylland. Now we require escorts for convoys to set up outposts in the three provinces. We are not in a hurry so take as many or as few missions as you think your regiment can handle.

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
Our alchemists have produced an upgraded transport based on the hazards you reported encountering. It should be able to penetrate further into the storms. We also made refined it's mechanisms to be slightly more efficient and more lightweight so it can cover ground faster.

With Volhynia as our new bastion we are in a much better position. We can provide [2 diplomacy and 2 intelligence] to help you solidify your own position in Europe.

Sealed Crawler II (A 0, D 0, ER 2.1, T 5, Speed 8) Cost: 6.2

House Joakim to the Winterborn
We have developed a more refined version of our armor that might be of interest to you.

Swedish Heavy Armor II (A 4, D 5, ER 1.9) Cost: 10

We believe there are three options. We can put you in touch with our recruitment officers and streamline your hiring of new soldiers. Or we can offer one of two officers who for reasons we won't go into are looking for less restrictive occupations. One is a an inexperienced, but brilliant lieutenant. The other is a steady, but by the book captain.

House Hapsburg to the Winterborn
The emperor is of course gravely concerned over what has happened to his cousins. If you find and rescue them from any danger they are in you would be well rewarded. In fact the Invencible is being readied to sortie into the storms on just such a machine. A contingent from your regiment could be loaded to assist.

Until you gain more of our trust we are unwilling to open our armories fully you, but as a token of our appreciation we are willing to make one of our lesser models available.

Spanish Dragoon Bike (A 6, D 3, ER 1.5, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 7.2

To Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Scouts report Bremen is home to substantial numbers of rogues, and they have become even more dangerous of late as the less experienced members died to the storms. Still a scouting mission is fairly straightforward and shouldn't expose the grunts to too much danger.

Bremen
Combat Power: 12

[Hamste]

We are quite impressed with the specifications you have put forth for the House Wen Turtle. A good armor upgrade with extra protection and so we will be sending the money for 18 House Wen Turtles. We will also look into capturing a creature or two alive. Do the alchemists have any knowledge of a weapon that could disable an armored opponent? We could try some leghold traps to capture them but any more effective means would be much appreciated.



We will send two groups of veterans with strict orders that they are to act as intimidation and follow your captain of the guards' orders. The actual leadership of the veterans are up to you but they should have some experience working with your captains at least.

On a different note, we will be attempting capture one of the bone creatures for research. If your alchemist have any suggestions on how to capture them alive, we would appreciate it. If you want one of the creatures we can try to catch more though if there is only one is caught House Wen has asked for it first.



We have told you all we know unfortunately. Though, we are looking to capture one alive if it works we will get you much more information.


We are interested in joining the expedition and have gotten even heavier environmental protections to help stave off the storm.We have a request though. Some of the people that our company has been working with want some living specimens of the bone creatures for research purposes. Would it be alright if we sent some hunters along with the expedition to catch them either with some form of non-lethal weaponry or with traps? Of course we would send our regular troops as well to aid with the expedition along with the hunters.



Using logistics to lower cost by 5 and buying 18 Wen House Turtles for 268.6 money

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 7


We would be interested in purchasing more Panzers and a few more sets of Excursion armor if you have any available. The trip to Bremen is not one we would like to take unprepared. We are also considering aiding the Alchemists. Their information proved to be most fruitful last time and, should things take a turn for the worse with Sweden, enhanced technology can only help our cause.

-The Long Night




We heard you might be organizing another attempt into the wastes. We have other obligations, but may be able to spare 3 companies of grunts and some Panzers for your expedition. We understand any expedition is dangerous, but will our lessened numbers be able to assist you? Or will they be too few in number to have any chance of survival? We do not wish to throw their lives away if it is the latter.

-The Long Night

[Murska]

House Wlodzimierz

Perfect. Thank you for your aid.

Where are you aiming to expand next? We could scout your preferred region with our less experienced troops.

House Joakim

I'd like to be put in touch with the Lieutenant. Our profession is one where inexperience is quickly rectified,
but innate talent may bring one far.

House Hapsburg

Depending on the specifics of your expedition, we're interested in joining.

GM

Can I have some combat power estimates for these missions? And are the Alchemists organizing another expedition already?

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“If you have an estimated combat rating for the three territories and for protecting your works in Sjaelland, then I will see, how much the Brotherhood can take one. I would also love to see any new equipment that you make.”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wen to the Horde
Normally we would suggest some traps to catch the beasts, but if it can tunnel through the ground you will likely need something special to hold them.

House Guiyang to the Horde
We think you will more likely need the expertise of a hunter than an alchemist. They may have special endowments, but they are still animals in the end.

The Alchemist Guild to the Horde
You are welcome to try for a live capture. In truth we would like some live specimens as well, but our alchemists are still working on appropriate mechanisms.

Prussia to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
A good suggestion. We ask that in addition to the creatures and scourges you face that you also pay attention to the other regiments involved. Information on what they are gaining from their own noble contacts would be a useful indicator of what those nobles are planning.

The Alchemist Guild to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
We expect other regiments to join us once more. In fact we won't depart if they don't. But even your force will be useful as every additional soldier helps in facing the hordes we saw last season.

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
We were thinking of exploring Zhytomyr.

House Joakim to the Winterborn
Certainly, we will send young Anders to you. He will certainly find the mercenary life an exciting opportunity.

House Hapsburg to the Winterborn
We will be loading a regiment of Imperial dragoons into the Invencible as well as outfitting it with the latest alchemical shields. Your contribution would be additional manpower to deal with any complications that might arise, and to help scout the Austrian cities.

To the Winterborn
Scout missions don't get combat estimates. That's kind of the point. You don't know what is in there.

And yes the alchemists are planning to go again if they get enough escorts.

House Joakim
We expect Sjaelland to be assaulted by approximately [90 Combat Power]. Both Midtjylland and Slesvig have approximately equal levels of danger with [38 Combat Power]. And Nordjylland would be the easiest with [30 Combat Power].

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 7

Purchases:

x5 Prussian Excursion suit @ 7.4 each

x4 Panzer @ 14.8 each

Total: 96.2 spent.


For my Colonel, I will be assigning the three starting points into his Tactics. Making his stats 4 Tactics, 1 Charisma.



Experience: Spending 20xp to upgrade both officers (10xp to each). Bringing their Tactics up by 1 point.

Assigning 1 Lieutenant (2T,1C) to scout Bremen. Employing "Defensive Positions" Tactic.

-3x Trained Grunts
-1x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
-1x Transport (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)
-3x Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)



Assigning 1 Lieutenant (2T,1C) to assist the Alchemist expedition. Employing "Button Up!" tactic.

-3x Trained Grunts
-3x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
-3x Prussian Excursion Suits (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I believe that the Brotherhood of Kalmar will be capable of taking on all four missions at the same time.
I am also looking forward to seeing, what you can do with the alchemy knowledge, we are providing.”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
In light of your continued excursions into hostile and cursed territory we have been working on a two part set of equipment for your equipment. The first part is a very heavy set of armor and weapons, which we have gone to some lengths to refine the production of. The second is a sort of personal rig, which can be worn over a soldier's regular uniform and provide them with greatly enhanced mobility and protection from alchemical weapons.

Swedish Under Armor (A 6, D 7, ER 1) Cost: 7.2
Swedish Over Armor (A 1, D 3, ER 2, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 6

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 8

The Storms
To the dismay of those optimists who hoped they would simply go away the alchemical storms have continued to worsen. Almost all expeditions to the interior have stopped as the great powers focus their resources on stabilizing the coastal territories, but even these suffer more and more effects of the storms. This has had a deleterious effect on the scavengers and miners who make their living in the wasteland, and there has been a migration towards the remaining cities and hoped for safety.

This has led to a drop in the supply of raw materials as when miners don't mine nothing gets produced. In turn this has drawn a more adventurous sort out into the wastes hoping to strike it rich with makeshift equipment and little experience. Unsurprisingly many of them do not return, but there always more hoping to escape the poverty of the colonies.

Jutland
While the alchemical situation is worrying of more frequent discussion in political circles is the developing situation in Jutland. Sweden has announced its claim on the entire Peninsula. Meanwhile the duchy of Prussia has also been claiming territory in the area. This herals a possible future confrontation between the two powers. And possibly another war.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle -Turn 8

"Damn this weather. Our missions succeeded but we lost good men and equipment out there. Let us hope the knowledge we gained will help to prevent this from happening again." - Colonel Lothar Wölffin

Recruitment: 10 Green Grunts gained.

Training: 4 experience gained.

Intelligence: 5 rumors gained.

Logistics: 25 cash gained.

Diplomacy: 1 favor gained.



Our missions went as expected. We are sending you our scout reports of Bremen along with what our men were able to gather from working with the other regiments in the alchemist expedition. It is important to note that The Horde seems to have captured a few specimens of burrowing bone creatures for study.

Unfortunately, the expedition was still forced to turn back but we gained much information still. Even our scouting party to Bremen lost some men to the storms.
The Colonel thinks it would be prudent to reinforce our soldiers against the environment and will be sending you some of the information the alchemists shared with us in the hopes it will allow you to do so.

-The Long Night



Secrets: 25 sent

[Murska]

GM:

2 Rumours to Sweden for a good mission.
2 Rumours to Poland for a good mission.
2 Rumours to Spain for a very good mission.

I want things suitable for my units. (We can handle ourselves in very adverse environmental conditions, but we'd like tasks that take a lot of troops and pay a lot.)

Hopefully my work impressed the Spanish suitably that they'll be willing to give me more access. I'll give them some 20 Secrets for 40 Influence, at least, and I'd like access to their best Dragoon stuff and if they can mod it to be more environmentally protective the better. I'd also like to see their version of heavy vehicles.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I wish to reaffirm the Brotherhoods commitment to defend the purification project on Sjaelland, but I would also like to hear if there is anything we can do, to help you with Prussia?"

[ArcaneStomper]

Marcell Trading to Die Wolfe der Abfalle
We can add more filters to the armor we developed previously. It should be substantially superior to anything else we build. At least when it comes to protecting against the curse.

Prussian Excursion Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1.7) Cost: 8

To the Winterborn
Sweden is willing to pay for a mission to clean out Jutland as much as possible. [20 CR, 18 Cash]

House Wlodzimierz wants an outpost established in Zhytomyr and also have cleared of bandits. [60 CR, 54 Cash]

Spain wants Messina scouted for potential colonization and expansion. [28 CR, 27 Cash]

You don't have the rep with Spain to make equipment requests at will. You'll have to spend favors with them to get access.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
For now we believe the best way to deal with Prussia is to establish ourselves beyond question in Jutland. We need the area secured and fortified. If your regiment can handle security then it will go a long way towards establishing our presence there.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 8

Rumors: 2 spent with Prussia for a mission.


Purchases:

-2x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7) Cost: 14.8

-3x Prussian Excursion Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1.7) Cost: 8

Total: 53.6

Experience: Spending 11xp to promote 11 Green Grunts to Trained status. (I think that is the right amount)

[Murska]

Winterborn to Die Wölfe der Abfälle

Greetings. We'd like to inquire as to whether you'd be willing to trade some examples of those Panzers of yours that we saw on the expeditions for some of our more high-end vehicles like:

- Sealed Crawler II (A 0, D 0, ER 2.1, T 5, Speed 8) Cost: 6.2
- Spanish Dragoon Bikes (A 6, D 3, ER 1.5, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 7.2

The costs of the individual pieces of equipment are, of course, different, so we could pay the difference in Cash.

Winterborn to Spanish Habsburgs

We'll take the mission in Messina.

In addition, perhaps we can negotiate some kind of agreement for access to the specific armoury items mentioned. (Spending the favours for access.)

[SchwhatNow]

Colonel Wölffin has chosen to decline your request. With our nations at growing tensions over the territory in Jutland he is not willing to trade technology with someone whom we may come to face on the battlefield soon. His interests will always place Prussia first.

With that said if an agreement is achieved between Sweden and Prussia and things settle down, I feel the Colonel would likely reconsider your offer should you bring it up to us again.

-The Long Night

[ArcaneStomper]

Spain to the Winterborn
In light of your previous services we can see our way to offering you some of ourheavier vehicles. The Caballo is a armored walker we use for hostile terrain work such as you might find in Austria.

Spanish Medium Caballo (A 8, D 6, ER 1.8, T 1, Speed 6) Cost: 10

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“We are more than capable of handling security, so just send us the mission information on the missions you want us to handle.”

[ArcaneStomper]

Martina Mining to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
We have need of escorts for a shipment of refined phlogiston being sent to France. We have heard your men do good work, and would like to hire your regiment. [20 CR].

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Our latest scout reports indicate the presence of bandits in the following concentrations. Though whether you conduct normal patrols or intensive sweeps is up to you.

Slesvig [20]
Nordjylland [16]
Midtjylland [20]

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“We are planning to sweep the area for bandits, also do you still need our aid with Sjaelland, because then I would also like to see if there is a change in the expected combat rating.”
(What is the combat rating for when I sweep instead of normal patrol?)

[SchwhatNow]

Certainly we can escort your shipment. We will dispatch troops immediately.

-The Long Night



Forces Deployed:

Leader: Lieutenant (2T, 1C)

Tactic: "Button Up" +0.1 Environmental Protection

-3x Trained Grunts
-3x Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1)
-2x Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)
-1x Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4)

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We expect that the forces assaulting Sjaelland will be larger than ever. Likely they are other regiments hired by our enemies. [110 CR]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar (GM)
The numbers quoted were for a sweep.

Martina Mining to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
This should be a routine mission so don't disappoint us.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“The Brotherhood of Kalmar will stop all attempts of interference.”
(When you write regiments do you mean other players, or is it just a point about them being professionals?)
To GM
I would like to spend 4 rumors on getting a mission from either someone from Sweden or the Alchemist Guild or perhaps some miners looking to striking it rich.
By the way, I would like the combat rating for if I decided to purge the three areas.

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Slesvig [40]
Nordjylland [32]
Midtjylland [40]

A group of rough and ready miners get in touch with the brotherhood looking for some protection. They're after a motherload of plumbago. Unfortunately they found it before the storms, and when they went back to check on it they found it had become a breeding ground for a swarm of corrupted beasts. Usually even a mining rig would be able to handle some mutated animals, but these are reported to be the size of small houses and in alarming numbers. [100 CR, 120 Cash]

[Hamste]

The bone creatures are on their way. I can't stress enough, with so little knowledge of them it is important to treat them like a contamination risk. As such we should avoid bringing it to the homeland and it should be observed. I'm excited to see what new advancements these may bring or in the very least an explanation of what they are.

Also which do you feel is more important? The brewing Swedish versus Prussia war?

If we were able to get examples of other nations' tech would you be able to study it to improve our own technology?

Finally, how are the refugees? House Guiyang was attacked by pirates posing as refugees so it is best if you keep a close eye on those coming in.


It seems like we were quite fortunate that we sent the suits with the guards and that we were there to begin with. Does the land needs some more purging or do you think this was a one off attack? Were the real refugees ok?

Also how do you feel about the brewing Swedish versus Prussia war?

If we were able to get examples of other nation's tech would you be able to study it to improve our own technology?


We have acquired some specimens and House Wen should be analyzing them shortly. How are the walls holding up? Are the storms causing problems with the wall?



Are you doing another run into the storm? I'm also curious if the Alchemy guild ever sells gear or purification pearls?



Spending 1 rumor to get a job with Russia
Spending 1 rumor to get a job with the Qing
Asking for jobs from the Qing.

Spending 100 favors to get 20 influence with the Qing (is there a maximum amount of influence I can have?)

Spending 60 favours to get 12 influence with the Tsardom of Russia

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I wish to ask if you could provide us with some pairs of Swedish Under and Over Armors and with some help with training my men. Also, if you had any experienced officers that would want to try the mercenary life, then I would love to hear it.”
(What I am asking for is, if I could use favors to buy Swedish Under and Over Armors, experience or a stat point of Training and if they have any better than normal officers that I could recruit)
To Agda Import
“I would like to ask if you could help the Brotherhood of Kalmar improve our logistics infrastructure and if you have any skilled negotiators you could spare?”
(I would like to know if I could buy stat points of Logistics and Diplomacy, and what the favor price would be.)
To Miners
“We accepted the contract.”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wen to the Horde
The conflicts of these barbarian powers do not concern us. We are more concerned with continuing to cleanse Sassari and expand our territory in the Provence.

We could examine the barbarian equipment for possible uses, but we doubt it is in any way better than Imperial equipment.

As for refugees we are turning them away. We trust colonists from home far more than these barbarians.

House Guiyang to the Horde
We don't think the attackers were able to gain a foothold. We've locked down the refugee camps for now while we sort through their loyalties. We would like to hire you for additional guard duty just in case. [36 CR, 28 Cash]

The conflict between the northern barbarians don't concern us, but their equipment might hold some useful secrets.

The Tsardom of Russia to the Horde
If they were we wouldn't tell a foreign mercenary company. We do however want to hire your regiment to deal with a nest of pirates in the baltic who are bypassing our checkpoints. The wall will do no good if some smuggler spreads the curse around it.[28 CR, 22 Cash]

The Alchemists to the Horde
Of course we continue to strive to make a successful run. Unfortunately all of the designs we produce are spoken for by our patrons. We can only provide a portion of the raw reagents.

The Horde
There is not a limit to influence however you can not directly purchase it. Influence is a measure of how much you have helped a faction, and as such can only be earned.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We could provide you with some additional armor in light of your service. How many men did you wish to equip. We could also provide some drill instructors to assist you in sharpening your men's skills.

As for officers at the moment we know of a seasoned if somewhat dull captain who needs an extended leave from the homeland.

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We could provide you with one or the other, however not both unless you would be willing to help us expand our own shipping routes.

(5 favors to a stat point.)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“The Brotherhood of Kalmar would like to get 21 pairs of the under and over armor, but we would be able to pay for some of them if necessary. We would also like to get our hands on the captain you were talking about, and would like to make use of those drill instructors for you.”
(Could you give med the favor price for what I am asking for?)
To Agda Import
“Well, then I would like you help with getting some skilled negotiators. The Brotherhood of Kalmar might be able to help you expand your shipping routes, but I do not believe we are able to spare the men right now.”
(I am willing to pay 5 favors for a stat of diplomacy.)

[ArcaneStomper]

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
55 favors for the armor. 6 favors for the captain, and 5 favors for the point of training.

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Very well, then we will make arrangements to send you a few of our better negotiators.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
(I accepted giving out the favors for all three things. What are the stats for the captain?)

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Captain (1 T, 1 C)

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 9

Austria Found
The storms the plagued the land have receded, although the Curse itself is still unusually active. This allowed the alchemical expedition to finally succeed in reaching Austria, which proved to have weathered the calamity with surprisingly little damage.

The Austrian King Francis celebrated this renewal of contact with the rest of Europe with a week long festival across the nation. Followed by a declaration of war on Italy. Reports that an armada of airships is already en route to the fractured peninsula.

Pirate Fears
Reports are circulating of a new and extremely dangerous pirate group operating in the area of the English Channel. Rumor has it that they have destroyed convoys covered by even the heaviest escorts and have amassed a great hoard of treasure in their secret island stronghold.

Mercenary Lords
The nations of the world seeing a need to expand their influence have reached out to their most favored mercenary regiments. They offer a deal. Accept a royal charter and be granted nobility, influence, and assistance in setting up a new fiefdom. In exchange they must pledge fealty to their respective crowns and work to expand the reach of their new sovereigns.

Pick a nation that likes you. They will give you enough starting assistance to claim a province for yourself though you will still have to clear it with your own troops. You can only pick one nation so choose wisely.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 7

Recruitment: 10 Green grunts gained

Training: 4xp gained

Intelligence: 5 rumors gained

Logistics: 25 cash gained

Diplomacy: 1 favor gained



Die Wölfe der Abfälle pledges itself to Prussia, in order to claim a province in their name.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“I wish to declare the Brotherhood of Kalmar’s loyalty to the Swedish Crown and my fealty.”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Hohenzollern to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Welcome to the halls of nobility colonel. Such as it is. We don't stand much on formality here so I'll get straight to the point. You're people would do the most good setting up along the western coast. We need good solid ports if we want to survive Sweden's encroachments. And we need them soon.

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Your pledge is received and welcome. You have done much good for the Swedish people, and with more resources you can do much more yet. Do you have a suitable territory in mind for your new capitol.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“Well, I thought I might place my capital near where the old city of Riga used to be and attempted to gain control of the Baltic area, however if you have a better idea, please do tell me.”

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle -turn 9


"That would seem a most agreeable suggestion. Both Lübeck and Hamburg would be capable ports depending on which side of Denmark would be most beneficial for the trade routes. Please let us know which would help Prussia the most, or if you had another location in mind."

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Somewhat far from any help, but not a bad location. We will forward the information we have.

Riga: Assets 5, Hostility 5, Bandits 1

House Hohenzollern to Die Wolfe der Abfalle
We would recommend Lubeck. It's within range of our own territories, and according to our information has a slightly smaller population of bandits.

Lubeck: Assets 7, Hostility 7, Bandits 3

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“I was of the belief that with access to the Baltic Sea, it would not be too hard to maintain a connection with the Sweden, Stockholm is not long from Riga. I was also planning to start scouting the area around Riga, to find the next place to expand to.”

[Murska]

Winterborn to Kingdom of Poland

We would be proud to take up the banner of the Kingdom and work to build a stronghold from which the continental holdings shall eventually be reclaimed. Where would you suggest we set up our holdings?

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
A sound plan. And expansion along the coast would certainly help. The more ports we have the more rapidly we can colonize the continent.

House Poniatowski to the Winterborn
We would suggest the province of Podolia. It is close to our own territories and relatively safe given the wastes of Europe.

Podolia: Assets 3, Hostility 3, Bandits 3

[Hamste]

We would very much like to pledge ourselves to the Dynasty. The original plan was to have a disassociated entity to represent the Dynasty's wishes with plausible deniability but at this point, we believe it is best if we worked directly with the Empire to take more assets and research for our country.

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Poniatowski

All right. We will start from there and expand once the base is secure.

[ArcaneStomper]

Qing to the Horde
You have done much to aid the empire. So we gladly accept your request. Where did you plan to set your capitol. We suggest somewhere on the Italian coast. House Wen has already begun to expand in that area.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle -turn 9

Province: Sending outpost convoy to Lubeck.


2x Lieutenant (2T, 1C) Tactic: Defensive Positions. +1 Defense

6x Trained Grunts
6x Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)
4x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
2x Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6)

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Bernadotte
“Do you have suggestions on what the first areas I should look to expand to?”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We suggest securing as much of the surrounding coastline as possible.

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Poniatowski

How much would it cost for a purification device in Podolia, as soon as we've cleared it?


Winterborn to House Bernadotte

We captured some aged but still usable Prussian equipment recently along with some captives. Would you be interested in taking custody of them?

[ArcaneStomper]

House Poniatowski to the Winterborn
We are not willing to sell you our device, but we could rent it to you at the cost of [60 cash] for one season.

House Bernadotte to the Winterborn
We would be willing to do so. What exchange do you have in mind?

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Bernadotte

Just keep us in mind if and when the conflict over Denmark gets more heated, and tell us if you learn anything interesting from the vehicles.

As an aside, with recruitment picking up and very light casualties, we were wondering if you would be able to supply us 10 suits of Swedish Heavy Armour II. Our cashflow is held up in investments, but we'll be certain to put them to good use fighting for the interests of our motherland in the future.

Would you happen to have any pressing small-scale missions for scouting or bandit control available?

Winterborn to Alchemists

With the grand expedition to Austria successful, we've got a fair number of experienced soldiers and strongly environmentally protected gear willing to assist in any smaller endeavours you might have planned.

Winterborn to House Hapsburg (Spanish)

Messina has been scouted. Would you have any other similar tasks available for us?

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Winterborn
We can certainly supply you with armor, but we have no further missions for you at this time.

The Alchemist Guild to the Winterborn
We are planning an expedition to Genoa that could use an escort.

Mission: Alchemy
Territory: Genoa
Employer: Alchemist Guild
Rating: 60
Reward: 77 Secrets

House Hapsburg to the Winterborn
Of course now we wish to set up an outpost in Messina. We would be willing to pay quite well if you escort our initial convoy of supplies and colonists into the area.

Mission: Escort
Territory: Messina
Employer: House of Hapsburg
Rating: 60
Reward: 48 Cash

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 10

Homesteading
The great powers have sparked a wave of colonization across Europe. Encouraging lesser nobility and their most trusted agents to claim land for themselves. Already dozens of settlements have sprung up as a testament of the human will to overcome the elements, or at least human greed.

Most are unlikely to survive, but a few seem to have established themselves as lesser houses. Willing and able to conquer the wastelands of Europe for their own riches and glory.

Austrian-Italian War
The first stages of the war are in full swing as waves of Austrian airships approach the peninsula and begin disgorging troops. Unlike the earlier British-Ottoman war this is no mere duel of powers, but a full blown invasion. And one the Austrian seem poised to win, as the Italians stand disunited and vulnerable.

The endless waves of Austrian might are halted on an unexpected obstacle however as the foreign Horde under the enigmatic General Tso appear out of nowhere in Umbria and bring an entire fleet of airships crashing down.

The Austrian advance has halted as their generals consider how to respond to this surprising defense giving the local Italians a chance to regroup and prepare for a renewed siege.

[Murska]

Winterborn to New Condottieri Companies

We at Winterborn have some old equipment we would be willing to sell at low prices to newcomers in the field. The prices given in the list below are the starting points, we will of course sell to the highest bidder.

16 Secondhand Armour (A2, D2, ER1) Cost: 3
7 Swedish Quarantine Suits (A 3, D 3, ER 1.4) Cost: 6
6 Transports (A0, D0, ER0.5, T5, S5) Cost: 2
3 Fast Attack Bikes (A5, D2, ER0.5, T1, S10) Cost: 3
6 Converted Mining Rig (A10, D5, ER1, T1, S4) Cost: 5


Winterborn to the Horde

We heard you've developed a new powerful heavy vehicle capable of surviving in the worst storms. We've had some problems of our own in Genoa, and would like to purchase a few of them in order to reach the depths of the Cursed Lands.

Winterborn to House Hapsburg (Spain)

We're able and willing to take more missions. Are you intending to purify Messina soon?

Also, would you be willing to work together to take the best version of your Dragoon Bikes and develop them further into something that could truly change European battlefields?
((OOC: Willing to offer them all 127 of my secrets and pay favours to get them to give me their best bikes and to jointly develop an even better version.))

Winterborn to House Bernadotte

If you have any tasks for us this year, we've got plenty of troops free. Have the tensions with Prussia been lowered?

In addition, we would like to ask whether you've got any newer models of the infantry armour available. The harsh storms we're facing are beginning to overcome their ability to keep the men protected.

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

We would like to offer our services for any new missions you might have for us. In addition, we'd like to talk about loaning a device for the purification of Podolia.

We're also interested in any new development you've done on equipment. We're starting to get an income from our new lands, and intend to spread the strength of Poland further at earliest opportunity.

[purepolarpanzer]

A stern wind blows through the desert, carrying the sound of a sergeant calling out orders far into the wastes. Men jumped in the air, fell to their haunches, flat to the ground, and then did a push up before repeating the process, all in full gear with the sun blazing down on them. The training was downright hellish in these conditions, but no one could complain that Colonel Ibrahim De Los Moros was heartless. An adjutant approached the unit commander just as he sprung up from his push up, sweat pouring down his face.

"Colonel? There are communiques waiting for you in your tent. It is the hour that you have set aside for drumming up work for the unit, and another company of mercenarios has posted some items for sale. Considering our logistical situation, I thought you may want to address that immediately." The adjutant handed the unit commander a towel, a clip board, and a canteen, but the clip board was pushed away in favor of the other two. "Is it sad, my friend, that I would rather continue calisthenics than do the work of a commander?" Ibrahim gave a rare laugh as he took a long swig from the canteen, pouring the remainder over his head, then toweling off. "Come. We'll make sense of this business of war if it kills us, yeah?" The black skinned commander passed by his assembled Spanish troops, many of whom shared his complexion. Still, training like this kept his own kinsmen away, and the reputation of Casa De Lost Moros turned many local Spaniards on their heels before they even entered the remote camp in the middle of the Tabernas Desert. Ibrahim ponders this as he heads for his tent, barely more luxurious than the ones inhabited by his troops. "We will get by. We must." He murmured as he sat behind his clap board desk and began to get to work. "We must."

I am Ibrahim De Los Moros, leader of my company. I am more than interested in the equipment you are selling. My men are fortified and spirited as any in the world, but our equipment stores are quite low. I would like to purchase half of the offered mining rigs, all of the bikes you have for sale,
three of the quarantine suits, and ten sets of your soon to be third-hand armor. I am willing to pay the price you have listed for all this equipment, and will continue negotiations if you receive a better offer. Please keep me informed.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
Colonel Frederik Gyldenstierne, the new lord of Riga, was walking around and inspecting the defenses of the headquarter of the Brotherhood of Kalmar and his new home. After Frederik had returned from his mission in Jutland, he had spent all his time at supervising the rebuilding of Riga, of course it was a long way from being as big as the old city, but it was on its way to regaining its old glory. Frederik had great plans for restoring the house of Gyldenstierne to its former glory, and in fact reach even greater heights.

He soon reached the new parade square, where over 1000 new recruits were waiting for him. Colonel Frederik saluted major Johan Rosenlund, who had been organizing the parade.

“Are they ready to join the fight?”, Frederik asks.

“They have been prepared, and if they are not ready, then they will become ready on the field of battle.” Johan responded. They both walked to the podium, that was placed in front of the recruits, and Frederik stepped up and started his speech.

“Men, you have decided to join the Brotherhood of Kalmar, a brotherhood founded on the unity of all of the Scandinavian people, a brotherhood that will never falter in loyalty to each other and to the people we represent. We will save Europa from the curse, who have taken hold, for far too long a time, and reclaim the land for the Brotherhood, for Sweden, for Scandinavia!”

To House Joakim
“We have successfully purified Sjælland and are ready to help Sweden with its next goal. I also wished to discuss the possibility of gaining my own purification device to purify Riga, after I have removed the few bandits left in the area.”

[robnar]

House du Ouveture
"Sangre, Sucre, Salines"


When his ship landed in the port of Nantes, Jacques felt like a conquistador setting foot on the Americas for the first time. Except this was backwards. He had an old map and cases of legal documents regarding his family's possessions in the province, but all was new.

Nantes was a wasteland, long since destroyed by the curse. The wretches who squatted in the large buildings, among calcified tapestries and crystalline trees, were simple peasants trying to eke by. They had no appetite to challenge his landing; he had no desire to challenge their life. It was a short walk to his ancestral home, which his forces and people occupied. Then began the work of rebuilding.

Jacques had dreams, of a wealthy province with a strong force of loyal cultivator-soldiers to defend it. He had his most veteran overseers and his strongest workers with him, and their families. He had his household servants and his plantation staff here. He could build, and prosper.

His guidance to his overseers was simple - "Ensure the cultivators take precautions to be safe. I will not have my workforce dying off in daily toil; ours is to die or prosper in glory." While his forces went to renovating the manor and rebuilding the town, he went to work in the office, composing messages to the various powers that be.

My lord, we of house Ouveture have returned to our home provinces to bring more land under the glory of France and to serve you as vassal. Please let us know how we can turn our swords or our plowshares to your benefit, and if there are any tasks we can do for your Majesty.

If it pleases your Majesty, we would also like to request a lease on a purification device to start bringing Nantes into control, and contact with your quartermaster to purchase equipment from you. We find the climate in Nantes far more hostile than San Domingue.


Your Majesties, we of house Ouveture have occupied Nantes. Because ours is a port city, and recognizing your problem with channel pirates, we wish to make contact with you to avoid hostilities between our ships and yours and to see if we can find common cause against these enemies of humanity.

Your Majesties, we of house Ouveture have occupied Nantes. Because ours is a port city, we wish to make contact with you to avoid hostilities between our ships and yours and to see if we have grounds for productive cooperation.

ENCRYPTED. 1 intelligence (is this how this works?). Message sent PM.

[Hamste]

The Horde

General Tso frowns at his reports. The most hostile territory turned out particularly hostile...who would have guessed? The equipment they had been sent with was definitely not up to standard for such an area. Future expeditions would need better equipment if they are going to take out the bandits. It raised some questions of what the bandits out there had to survive. The loss of life would be a heavy reminder not to under estimate the forces of nature. At least one squad had managed to evacuate their terracotta armor before the curse had destroyed it.

The next report was a lot more optimistic. The researchers were done and the designs for the mobile fortress were done. Tests reported that it was even capable of surviving direct shots from a Wen Turtle with out damage. With soldiers supporting it they should be able to repel even the heaviest of gun fire and dish out much more than it took. The alchemical shields were also top of the line and it seemed doubtful even the worst storm could damage them. All together a rousing success. Now just to figure out how to get the funds to arm all the soldiers with it. Maybe diversify the army a bit. All the terracotta armor had been destroyed except for a lone piece which meant they were dangerously low on mobile equipment for actually taking territory. Something to deal with.

The last report he himself had filled out and he just smiled as he put it into the proper filing cabinet. The Austrians may want land but having weak powers sitting around were quite useful and the Italians would surely support him after he surprised them. Now to continue making sure they were worth anything.



They are amazing pieces of machinery. Absolutely bleeding edge in terms of environmental protection and it would be difficult to find a machine more capable of defending territory or invading heavily cursed areas than the Horde Mobile Fortress. We are willing to sell some but there is two important things to know. They are expensive due to the alchemical shields and engine and we have a condition that they may not be used for research purposes due to the technology being proprietary.




We had a great success on the heavy armor designs. I hope it serves the Dynasty for a good long time. That alchemical armor could be revolutionary.

We were wondering if you had any jobs you needed doing? As usual, we will greatly reduce our rate for them.



Glad we arrived in time for that province at least. Sorry, about not giving any warning but we aren't exactly amazing at being subtle and it was for the best if they didn't know where we were.

If you have any plans for where you want us for defense, feel free to send them via encrypted message. Keep in mind we can't respond with any sort of secrecy so if you need a response putting a code word in your message that you would want us to respond with is suggested.

[purepolarpanzer]

ENCRYPTED. 1 intelligence (is this how this works?). Message sent PM.
I'll pay one intelligence to intercept that message.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle

Colonel Lothar Wölffin sits alone in his office pouring over the reports of his company's recent occupation of Lubeck. A lit cigar sits idly between his lips, the embers flaring slightly with his breath. Technologically his company jumped ahead early but has begun to fall behind. He meant to fix that, but a string of events had taken his attention away from the arms race and now with the grab for provinces he knew that he couldn't afford to wait on clearing the territory.

Interestingly enough, a few new mercenary groups seemed to be springing up and attempting their hand at playing war. That meant even more time spent keeping a watchful eye, something he couldn't afford to do with the tensions between Sweden and Prussia at the moment. He was feeling the stress of his situation but it wasn't enough to stop him, he knew that the only thing to do was to continue forward.




We have the outpost established and aim to begin clearing the territory of bandits.

In the meantime we are feeling the pressure of our recent losses and feel unequipped to properly train up our new recruits as well as we would like. We would like to inquire if you have any skilled instructors that we could hire.

-The Long Night




Message sent via PM. 5 Intelligence used to encrypt.



Training:
-Spending 6 xp to promote 2 Trained grunts to Veteran status
-Spending 5 xp to promote 5 Green grunts to Trained status

Deploying Forces to Sweep Lubeck: 2x Lieutenant (2T, 1C)
Tactic: Flank (+1 Attack)


4x Veteran Grunt
2x Trained Grunt

6x Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2)

6x Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)

[ArcaneStomper]

House Hapsburg to the Winterborn
We are first planning to clear out the bandit problem. Though we are willing to offer that task to you as well.

Mission: Sweep
Territory: Messina
Employer:
Rating: 30.4
Reward: 10 Cash, 1 Favor

We would be willing to assist you in pursuing an upgraded line of dragoons, but we will keep our most advanced weapons for those who owe their loyalty only to us. (They'll develop one based on 50 secrets.)

House Bernadotte to the Winterborn
At the moment we require someone to scout Ostjylland and Kolding. We also have a line of heavy armor available designed to work with a special alchemical oversuit.

Swedish Under Armor (A 6, D 7, ER 1) Cost: 7.2
Swedish Over Armor (A 1, D 3, ER 2, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 6

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
Our next goal is to connect our current safe holds. To that end we ask that you scout the provinces of Werszawa, Lublin, and Brest. As before we would be willing to loan you our purification device for [50 cash] for a single turn as long as you take utmost care with it.

We are currently working on an upgraded version of the crawlers should you be interested.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Now we need to cleanse the rest of the Jutland peninsula. We plan to start with Slesvig. Acquiring your own purification device will be quite an endeavor however. Ours was the work of years and countless alchemists. You will need many reagents and alchemists of your own to operate it.

House Bourbon to the House D'Oveture
Count Ouveture,

Your request is an uneasy one. Our purification engine is one of France's most treasured artifacts and you have no proven record of commanding forces in the wastes. However your desire to bring glory to France will offer you ample opportunity to prove your mettle. The province of Orleanais has long been an obstacle in our expansion being as it is overgrown with mutants and cursed elementals. If you can clear it, then we will be willing to lend you the engine. But be warned that Orleanais is extremely dangerous. You may wish forge your household guard in another province before testing yourself against it.

Duke Germaine

House Windsor to House D'Ouveture
Count Ouveture,

The channel pirates are a serious menace, but clearing them will require destroying their hidden ports. Are you willing to undertake such a campaign.

House Habsburg to House D'Ouveture
We have no cause for conflict. We will order our warships to give your vessels safe passage.

To House D'Ouveture (GM)
Yes, you spend a point of intelligence to encrypt a message. Generally you should include me in your PMs as well as any recipients so that if someone else decrypts your message I can give it to them.

House Guiyang to the Horde
We wish to expand our efforts to match that of House Wen. We believe the province of Languedoc would be suitable.

House Wen to the Horde
Provence is still infested with bandits. We require their removal before we can begin settling peasants in earnest.

House Rosella to the Horde
Your assistance was most praiseworthy. Fortunately secrecy is not something we require. Arezzo is still under siege by Austrian forces and needs urgent relief.

To House Moros (GM)
You actually need two points. One more than they encrypted it with.

House Hohenzollern to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Certainly we can spare some instructors. How many do your foresee needing?

[Murska]

Winterborn

to House Moros

We're glad of your interest and will inform you soon on the status of your bid. We're currently in negotiations with some other companies on some of the equipment.

We're sure your regiment will bring glory to Spain as our own has in the past.

to House d'Ouveture

Your offer is received and acknowledged. If possible, we would like you to inform us whether you'd be willing to accept less than the full share, as we do have other offers as well and, as you know, connections and friends in other regiments are at least as valuable as hard cash.

to the Horde

We accept your stipulations. Three of them for 60 Cash?

to House Hapsburg (Spain)

We will take the mission and hope you will continue relying on our regiment in the future.

As for the development programme, we'll be glad of your assistance. It is unfortunate but understandable that you'll keep your best cards hidden - we continue to hope to one day prove worthy of your trust regardless.

to House Bernadotte

We will be able to scout Ostjylland now, but lack the officers to head to Kolding at the same time. Perhaps you might have some suitable candidates, or intelligence to provide scouting estimates? That would be of great use for our operations.

((Would like to buy good officers and/or Intelligence, preferrably with favours))

EDIT: The armour you have seems to have high potential, but after our recent incursions into areas of heavy environmental hazards we're somewhat worried about the environmental rating. We're intending to call in some favours with the Spanish and use our practical experience to develop a new fast assault vehicle. We'd be interested in working with your alchemists and engineers to customize the armour further and integrate some of our knowledge and experience of alchemical shielding into the undersuits, modifying them to work better with vehicles that have higher firepower. Would you be interested in such a project?

to House Wlodzimierz

We will take it upon ourselves to immediately scout Werszawa and Lublin. Our officer corps is spread thin with the protection of the purification device to consider as well, so we cannot move into Brest at the same time.

We are definitely interested in the new Crawlers, and can contribute a significant number of Secrets for its development.

We're also looking for new sources of recruits to protect our new-found territory, scouts to chart them and officers to lead the operations. Perhaps you could help?

((Would like good officers, Intelligence and/or Recruitment, preferrably for favours.))

to Alchemist's Guild

The Winterborn would like to employ Alchemists for the purpose of developing better equipment for the regiment. If there is any interest in such an assignment, please contact us.

[purepolarpanzer]

The candles that light Ibrahim's tent grow shorter and shorter as the night grows solidly dark, and still he sits behind his desk, checking through intelligence reports and missives from foreign powers. His eyes dart over all new incoming information as he tries to sum it up into something he can use. Finally, he smiles to himself and puts pen to paper to begin his first campaign of letters and communiques for the betterment of the unit. God help him, he would do his best by his former companion and set this company on the right path, though it may lead to the very fires of war.

Thank you for being open with myself and my men about this economic haggling. We certainly hope to find an agreement not just amenable to our own unit, but for the betterment of armed forces of multiple nations. If the portion that we have requested is too selfish, let us know. We are a unit used to dealing with less in the face of stern odds. Still, this being our first purchase of gear under the name Los Moros, we would prefer establishing contacts that could reap even more profit later than simply buying our gear at market. We only hope that we can use this equipment for the betterment of Spain, as you have.

I am Ibrahim De Los Moros, leader of a new company of mercenaries seeking to add to the glory of Spain. With the recent conflict between Italy and the Austrian Empire, it came to my mind that you may have interests on the Italian peninsula that would best be brought home, so as to save them from the ravages of war. In the interest of keeping any of the harshness of this conflict from taking anything at all away from our glorious home country, my unit would be interested in any and all work you would have removing said interests, whether they be goods, personnel, or anything else of value, from the war ridden country before the tides of conflict wash them away like driftwood in a storm. If this or any other mission would suit my soldiers, I would be proud to undertake it with my men. Eternally yours, Ibrahim De Los Moros

I am Ibrahim De Los Moros, leader of a new company of mercenarios in my home country of Spain. I am writing to you in hopes of securing safe passage for myself and my men in possible upcoming missions to the Italian peninsula meant to secure and return Spanish interests in the area to our home country. This being a time of war, I understand the difficulty and chaos that can ensue, and simply wish to make sure that it does not negatively affect my homeland. I hope to avoid any misunderstandings or tragedies that could ensue from a quest such as this in the interests of international diplomacy and honorable behavior.
Eternally yours, Ibrahim De Los Moros.

I will file that information away for later, but I'll save my intelligence for this round to better prepare my men for missions.

[robnar]

Winterborn

to House d'Ouveture

Your offer is received and acknowledged. If possible, we would like you to inform us whether you'd be willing to accept less than the full share, as we do have other offers as well and, as you know, connections and friends in other regiments are at least as valuable as hard cash.


We still request the full load, and are willing to up our offer by 10 in exchange for an exclusive contract. This is your original asking price.

If you wish to conduct a deal with a third party for portions of the set, we are still interested in the leftover equipment but won't be able to offer such generous terms. We have a force to equip, and will have to source that equipment from other vendors.




House Bourbon to the House D'Oveture
Count Ouveture,

Your request is an uneasy one. Our purification engine is one of France's most treasured artifacts and you have no proven record of commanding forces in the wastes. However your desire to bring glory to France will offer you ample opportunity to prove your mettle. The province of Orleanais has long been an obstacle in our expansion being as it is overgrown with mutants and cursed elementals. If you can clear it, then we will be willing to lend you the engine. But be warned that Orleanais is extremely dangerous. You may wish forge your household guard in another province before testing yourself against it.

Duke Germaine

House Windsor to House D'Ouveture
Count Ouveture,

The channel pirates are a serious menace, but clearing them will require destroying their hidden ports. Are you willing to undertake such a campaign.


To House D'Ouveture (GM)
Yes, you spend a point of intelligence to encrypt a message. Generally you should include me in your PMs as well as any recipients so that if someone else decrypts your message I can give it to them.



House d'Ouveture to House Bourbon
We understand, and seek to prove our worth. Do you have any other contracts, aside from the capture of Orleanais, that we can do? And do you have any equipment to sell us?

House D'Ouveture to House Windsor
Yes, we are willing to take on the channel pirates. We may need some time to scout their defenses and test them in combat before we commit to a decisive campaign.


To GM
Roger. Will cc you on PMs next time. Have a few questions on the OOC thread.

BTW, the discord link you sent is broken. I have a bunch of questions, but think they'll be easier to discuss than for me to try and list.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle


We are currently hoping for 3 new instructors if you can spare them. (+3 training)

Additionally we would like to purchase 6 of the new Panzer A's.

-The Long Night



Purchases: 73.2

-6x Panzer A (A 11, D 6, ER 1.2, T 1, Speed 7) Cost: 12.2

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Joakim
“We can definingly help cleanse Slesvig, just send us the mission details. From whom would you suggest that we hire alchemists from?”
To Agda Import
“I would like to inquire if there was anything the Brotherhood of Kalmar could aid you with?”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Habsburg to the Winterborn
That is very unlikely while you yet profess loyalty to another monarch. Allies yes, but there is a difference between ally and boon companion. We have instructed our alchemists to work with you however and they put forward a proposal for the following modification.

Design: Winterborn Dragoon Bike (A 7, D 5, ER 1.6, T 1, Speed 16) Cost: 4.4

House Bernadotte to the Winterborn
Our newest cadet class has a recent graduated and we have a few lieutenants to aid in your endeavors. And yes we would be quite interested in creating a more rugged type of armor. We find our troops often need to go into heavily cursed lands.

House Wlodzimierz
We can spare recruits more easily than anything else. We could offer up to [3 Recruitment] to aid in your expansion.

The Alchemist Guild to the Winterborn
There are always alchemists looking for patrons. But they will need reagents and equipment to start working for you. The most suitable way to proceed would be for you to escort an expedition into the wastes to gather supplies and then head back to your new capital.

The Benita Guild to House Moros
Greetings Lord Moros,

As it happens we do have some interests that could use evacuation. There is a warehouse in Umbria that we own. If you return the goods located there to us safely we would pay you well.

Mission: Escort
Territory: Umbria
Employer: Benita Guild
Rating: 28.8 CR
Reward: 23.04 Cash

To House Moros
Missives return from both sides of the conflict warning House Moros to stay away. Neither side would turn down an ally, but an unaligned third party would just make things more complicated. At the very least they make no promises of safety for foreign troops entering the conflict zone.

House Bourbon to House d'Ouveture
We recommend starting in Armagnac. It is dangerous enough to blood your men, but not so much as to devastate them. We can offer you some armor more fitting for a French noble such as yourself.

French Knight Plate (A 2, D 4, ER 1.5) Cost: 8.3

We also have a stock of general purpose equipment. Though we caution you that these were developed in less hostile times and will likely not prove adequate for extended use.

Basic Uniforms (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 1.2
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 4.6
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 6.2

Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.6
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 1, Speed 10) Cost: 7.5
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4) Cost: 14.1

House Windsor to House D'Ouveture
We believe one of the main pirate strongholds is in Cornwall. You should start there.

House D'Ouveture (GM)
I've put a new discord link in the OOC thread.

House Hohenzollern to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Excellent we will send the instructors with your new panzers. Hopefully both will serve you well.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Your only real option is the Alchemist Guild. They keep a tight reign on who their journeyman hire out to.

Mission: Cleanse
Territory: Slesvig
Employer: House Joakim
Rating: 40 CR
Reward: 32 Cash

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We believe it is time we expanded. We have already chosen a likely spot. Please scout Aberdeenshire and ensure it is a viable location for our new mines.

[Murska]

Winterborn

to House d'Ouveture
We're able to sell you

6 Secondhand Armour (A2, D2, ER1)
4 Swedish Quarantine Suits (A 3, D 3, ER 1.4)
6 Transports (A0, D0, ER0.5, T5, S5)
3 Converted Mining Rig (A10, D5, ER1, T1, S4)

for 65 Cash (4 less than list price). You'll not find anyone selling these for cheaper, we're already significantly under production cost. Unfortunately we've got another offer that arrived before yours, and we cannot in good faith refuse them in the favour of your offer unless the price offered is actually higher.

to House Moros

Your offer is accepted.

to House Hapsburg

It sounds like a great starting point for the project. I will of course hope that with time and effort we can push the envelope even further.

And, as always, the vagaries of politics and national interest occasionally get in the way. But we hope to at the very least provide a strong, dependable long-term ally for you in the east. There is more to this world than realpolitik, after all, and old bonds should not lightly be torn down.

to House Bernadotte

All right. We'll arrange a project for the armour.

Can you tell us some details about the prospective Lieutenants? Anders has, I feel, flourished in our regiment and we would be happy to accept people of his caliber.
((OOC: 1/1 lieutenants are pretty crappy and take tons of XP to level into something worthwhile. Would it be possible to get someone more valuable for more favours and/or cash?))

to House Wlodzimierz

All right, we can handle training those recruits into proper Polish soldiers.

to Alchemist's Guild

All right. We'll finish purifying our new capital and then finance such an expedition next season so as to begin work then.

[robnar]

Winterborn

to House d'Ouveture
We're able to sell you

6 Secondhand Armour (A2, D2, ER1)
4 Swedish Quarantine Suits (A 3, D 3, ER 1.4)
6 Transports (A0, D0, ER0.5, T5, S5)
3 Converted Mining Rig (A10, D5, ER1, T1, S4)

for 65 Cash (4 less than list price). You'll not find anyone selling these for cheaper, we're already significantly under production cost. Unfortunately we've got another offer that arrived before yours, and we cannot in good faith refuse them in the favour of your offer unless the price offered is actually higher.


To Winterborn
I appreciate your way of doing business and your integrity in your offer. We can offer you 63.3 for the whole set. We need to make a substantial order to other vendors to meet our requirements, and that's all we have. While I recognize this is less than the already excellent offer you've provided, you are unlikely to find other credible buyers for such basic equipment.



House Bourbon to House d'Ouveture
We recommend starting in Armagnac. It is dangerous enough to blood your men, but not so much as to devastate them. We can offer you some armor more fitting for a French noble such as yourself.

French Knight Plate (A 2, D 4, ER 1.5) Cost: 8.3

We also have a stock of general purpose equipment. Though we caution you that these were developed in less hostile times and will likely not prove adequate for extended use.

Basic Uniforms (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 1.2
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 4.6
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 6.2

Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.6
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 1, Speed 10) Cost: 7.5
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4) Cost: 14.1

House Windsor to House D'Ouveture
We believe one of the main pirate strongholds is in Cornwall. You should start there.


To House Bourbon
We'd like to purchase the following from you:
10 Secondhand Armor (62 cost)
2 Converted Mining Rigs (28.2 cost)
5 French Knight Plate (41.5 cost)
for a total of 141.7

Do you also have any officers seeking employment?

Willing to spend 2 favors to gain influence/contracts with House Bourbon

To House Windsor
Are you willing to contract for services against the pirates? Also, do you have any experienced channel navigators seeking employment?

Willing to spend 1 favor to gain influence/contracts with House Windsor

To House Habsburg in Spain
Do you have any interest in operations against pirates on the English channel? Additionally, do you have any experienced naval officers seeking employment?

Willing to spend 1 favor to gain influence/contracts with the Spanish branch of House Habsburg

To other organizations (Martina Mining, Alchemist's Guild, Benita Guild, Aghda Export, etc.)
Greetings, we of House d'Ouveture are recently arrived from the Caribbean and granted title and sovereignty over Nantes, in France. We seek productive contract and employment to our mutual benefit. Do you have any ventures for an aspiring new House?

[Murska]

Winterborn to House d'Ouveture

All right. We'll accept your deal - hopefully we can do business together later. We have access to high-level vehicles from various major European powers,
so if you want to supplement your forces with superior armour or vehicles once you've gotten established and began bringing in money, keep in touch.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Joakim
“Thanks for the advice. Do you have an idea of how much it would take to create a purification device or to borrow yours?”
(OOC: How many alchemists and secrets would it take to make a purification device?)
To Agda Import
“We can definingly scout Aberdeenshire for you, just send us the mission details.”
To the Alchemist Guild
“The Brotherhood of Kalmar would like to hire alchemists to aid us in maintaining and improving our equipment, and heard that you would be the right people to talk to. We also wanted to hear if there was anything you would need our aid for?”
(OOC: What can I use alchemists for? How would development function?)
To House Bernadotte
“I wished to inquire if the house of Bernadotte had need of the services of the Brotherhood of Kalmar?”

[robnar]

House D'Ouveture to House Savoy
Greetings to your Majesties. We of the d'Ouveture have recently returned to Europe from the Carribean and occupied the province of Nantes. As we establish ourselves, we can lend our arms to any business of mutual profit. Do you have any work for us?

House D'Ouveture to House Hohenzollern
Greetings to your Majesties. We of the d'Ouveture have recently returned to Europe from the Carribean and occupied the province of Nantes. As we establish ourselves, we can lend our arms to any business of mutual profit. Do you have any work for us?

House D'Ouveture to House Habsburg (Austrian Branch)
Greetings to your Majesties. We of the d'Ouveture have recently returned to Europe from the Carribean and occupied the province of Nantes. As we establish ourselves, we can lend our arms to any business of mutual profit. Do you have any work for us?

[ArcaneStomper]

House Bernadotte to the Winterborn
If you want someone a bit more outstanding than our normal class of cadets there are two you might be interested in. One has a record of academic excellence in both theoretical knowledge and tactical exercises. He could however stand to get out into the real world a bit more. The other is the opposite his mouth has a way of getting him into spots of trouble that he lacks the practical skills to get out of. We believe both might do well in your house guard.

(Lt (2,1) and Lt (1,2). It is possible to get better than that, but the Bernadottes would like to keep their truly excellent candidates for themselves.)

-----

House Bourbon to House d'Ouveture
We have some cadets that could be of service to you. (5 favors for 1 Lt.) We could also use your assistance in establishing an outpost in Nemours.

Mission: Escort
Territory: Nemours
Employer: House Bourbon
Rating: 60.8 CR
Reward: 48.64 Cash

House Windsor to House d'Ouveture
We would be willing to pay your for information on the channel pirates yes.

Mission: Scout
Territory: Cornwall
Employer: House Windsor
Rating: Unknown
Reward: 10 Cash

(What do you want navigators for?)

House Habsburg to House d'Ouveture
The channel pirates do not particularly trouble us. We are more concerned with our Mediterranean trade routes. There is a particular convoy we need to get through the Aegean you could aid us with.

Mission: Escort
Territory: Aegean Sea
Employer: House Habsburg
Rating: 30
Reward: 27 Cash

House d'Ouveture (GM)
Generally the only mission that the NPCs are willing to give out to just anyone are scouting missions to provinces they haven't explored yet. You can just pick a province and the reward is a standard 10 cash if you succeed.

House Savoy to House d'Ouveture
The Austrians our menacing our province of Umbria. If you are willing to defend it would pay well.

Mission: Guard
Territory: Umbria
Employer: House Savoy
Rating: 130 CR
Reward: 104 Cash

House Hohenzollern to House d'Ouveture
We require a map of the Dithmarscen region.

Mission: Scout
Territory: Dithmarschen
Employer: House Hohenzollern
Rating: Unknown
Reward: 10 Cash

House Hapsburg to House d'Ouveture
Our armies could do with a mercenary vanguard. We would be willing to pay handsomely for support in our assault on

Mission: Raid
Territory: Umbria
Employer: House Hapsburg
Rating: 173 CR
Reward: 139 Cash

-----

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Our device took several years to build, but we are willing to provide enough advice to help you streamline the process. Even so you will need several ateliers working for a year or more to do so. (100 secrets applied by the equivalent of 10 Alchemists. So 1 for 10 turns, 2 for 5 turns, etc.)

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Mission: Scout
Territory: Aberdeenshire
Employer: Agda Imports
Rating: Unknown
Reward: 10 Cash

The Alchemist Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
To allow you to hire our journeymen we require that you fund an expedition to one of the deep parts of the Europe. That will both prove your dedication, and provide enough supplies to set up a workshop.

(Alchemists let you apply secrets to your own designs. They can also reverse engineer other equipment to generate secrets. The more alchemists your have the more secrets you can use at once.)

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We would be willing to pay for information on another good settlement site along the baltic coast.

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Bernadotte

While we have first-hand knowledge of the excellence of your cadets and officer corps as a whole, with our new expanding responsibilities we would prefer an officer with a bit more experience under their belt. He would also be able to serve as a liaison to keep strong our contacts to Sweden, our homeland.
We do not intend to forget our roots and debts, after all.

((OOC: Would like to spend extra favours for a leader with 3-4 unspecified upgrades that don't come from the spent XP pool.))

[robnar]

House du Ouveture End of Turn
"Sangre, Sucre, Salines"


The first weeks were a whirlwind - they cleared a large manor house for the lord, built a new compound for the forces, and started to plant some subsistence crops. A ship arrived from San Domingue with more cultivators and some green soldiers; another ship arrived from Sweden with new equipment. But the best news was when a caravan arrived from Paris with glistening new armor and weapons, and a young lieutenant named Jean d'Croix-Nuit. Jean graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and was a scion of a minor courtier at Versailles - a valuable connection to the court.

Jacques days were grueling - overseeing preparations in the morning, surveying the province in the afternoon, and hours of correspondence in the evenings. After the caravan from Paris arrived, and they got introduced, Jacques developed his plan with Jean. "Take three chevaliers and clear the bandits from our province. Proceed methodically and systematically - purge them all. I will take the infantry and assist the crown's adventure in Nemours; the more to build our influence and our treasure."

Later that afternoon, he had a separate briefing for the chevaliers. This was a test of his new lieutenant, after all.

------------------------------------
Resources

- Raise Jacques's tactics to 3.
- Spending:
--- 2 Favors and $15 to House Bourbon for lieutenant.
--- $131.7 to House Bourbon for equipment.
--- $63.3 to Winterborn for equipment.
--- Total $210 spent
--- 1 Rumor to encrypt commo to Winterborn.
--- 1 Favor each to Spanish Habsburgs & Windsor for influence.

The Wiki mentions spending logistics for discounts. Is that a thing, and can I use it for the purchases from the Bourbons or Winterborn?

------------------------------------
Actions

Nemours Mission
Jacques (3/1) takes the infantry and two chevaliers to aid in establishing an outpost.

Forces: Jacques' battlewagon with a green driver, and his wingman with a trained driver. 4 Transports with green drivers, transporting trained infantry. Scores modified by tactics in parentheses following.
Tactic: Ambush (+2 Attack, +1 Defense)
- 1x mining rig with trained driver in knight plate: 14 (16) Attack, 9 (10) Defense, 2.5 ER
- 1x mining rig with green driver in knight plate: 13 (15) Attack, 9 (10) Defense, 2.5 ER
- 4x Transports with green drivers in quarantine suits: 4 (6) Attack, 3 (4) Defense, 1.9 ER
- 16x Fusiliers - trained grunts in secondhand armor: 4 (6) Attack, 2 (3) Defense, 1.5 ER

Total is 107 (151) Attack.

Clearing Nantes
Jean (1/1) takes 3 chevaliers to clear bandits.

Forces: A platoon of mining rigs.
Tactic: Standby (no modifiers)
- 3x mining rig with trained drivers in knight plate: 14 Attack, 9 Defense, 2.5 ER

Total is 42 Attack.

------------------------------------
Correspondence

House d'Ouveture to House Bourbon
We have some cadets that could be of service to you. (5 favors for 1 Lt.) We could also use your assistance in establishing an outpost in Nemours.

Mission: Escort
Territory: Nemours
Employer: House Bourbon
Rating: 60.8 CR
Reward: 48.64 Cash
We met, and are impressed with the potential in the young officer you sent us. Thank you for this wonderful addition to our house. I am personally commanding the forces out to Nemours to aid in your operations there.

House d'Ouveture to House Windsor
We would be willing to pay your for information on the channel pirates yes.

Mission: Scout
Territory: Cornwall
Employer: House Windsor
Rating: Unknown
Reward: 10 Cash

(What do you want navigators for?)
We could use young officers familiar with the English channel to command our operations against the pirates. We expect to begin the reconnaissance of the channel next season, with operations to follow.

Send nice notes to each of the following saying sorry, but our forces cannot reach those locations to assist in a timely manner.


House Habsburg to House d'Ouveture
The channel pirates do not particularly trouble us. We are more concerned with our Mediterranean trade routes. There is a particular convoy we need to get through the Aegean you could aid us with.

Mission: Escort
Territory: Aegean Sea
Employer: House Habsburg
Rating: 30
Reward: 27 Cash

House Savoy to House d'Ouveture
The Austrians our menacing our province of Umbria. If you are willing to defend it would pay well.

Mission: Guard
Territory: Umbria
Employer: House Savoy
Rating: 130 CR
Reward: 104 Cash


House Hohenzollern to House d'Ouveture
We require a map of the Dithmarscen region.

Mission: Scout
Territory: Dithmarschen
Employer: House Hohenzollern
Rating: Unknown
Reward: 10 Cash

House Hapsburg to House d'Ouveture
Our armies could do with a mercenary vanguard. We would be willing to pay handsomely for support in our assault on

Mission: Raid
Territory: Umbria
Employer: House Hapsburg
Rating: 173 CR
Reward: 139 Cash

[ArcaneStomper]

Turn 11

Austrian-Italian War Continues
Once again the skies over Italy are filled with fire and metal as the Austrian invasion resumes at an even more furious tempo. They are repelled by the enigmatic Horde and stalwart Brotherhood of Kalmar whose forces repel the Austrians.

The Horde under the stoic General Tso deploy massive battle platforms to Arrezo to serve as mobile fortresses and stop the Austrian armada in its tracks. The brotherhood under colonel Gyldenstierne fight a more mobile battle in the hills of Umbria swiftly moving from conflict to conflict and ensuring that the Austrians are unable to gain a foothold.

However while this was ongoing the Austrians deployed a third force to secure the province of Urgell and are building up forces for further deployment.

Revived Storms over Europe
Scores of miners and prospecting expeditions have been lost as the alchemical storms reform over Europe. Less violent than previously, but even more implacably they have turned the outskirts of Europe into twisting nightmares where the land and the sky are constantly intertwining in an ever changing maelstrom of metal and stone.

Even the alchemists are hesitant to venture into these new zones and the state of the interior is no doubt even worse. Though such conditions defy the imagination. Notably this has also cut off Austria again, though their forces in Italy are still formidable. Poland on the other hand has managed to maintain a tenuous contact with the rest of civilization.

Orpiment Reserves Vanish
Unfortunately the loss of those miners and prospectors is more than a mere humanitarian concern. The great powers reserves of Orpiment have grown critically low as they increased their war preparations. And all known remaining sources were in the interior and now cut off.

Orpiment is used by alchemists in the creation of numerous lightweight alloys. Especially in the higher class of infantry gear where armor a man could actually move in was worth the greater expense. Military designers are currently reconsidering their future plans, and the price of Orpiment has reached immense heights.


(Note: The great powers are unlikely to sell their national equipment to you without prior history or some incentive.)

Basic Uniforms (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5) Cost: 1.2
Militia Gear (A 1, D 1, ER 1) Cost: 4.6
Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 6.2
Basic Elite Gear (A 3, D 3, ER 1) Cost: 7.7
Basic Royal Gear (A 4, D 4, ER 1) Cost: 9.3
Basic Imperial Gear (A 5, D 4, ER 1) Cost: 10

Swedish Quarantine Suit (A 3, D 3, ER 1.4) Cost: 8.7
Swedish Quarantine Suit MKII (A 3, D 3, ER 1.5) Cost: 8.8
Swedish Heavy Armor Mod A (A 3, D 4, ER 1.6) Cost: 8.3
Swedish Heavy Armor Mod B (A 3, D 4, ER 1.6) Cost: 7.2
Swedish Under Armor Mod A (A 1, D 4, ER 2.2) Cost: 5.4


Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2) Cost: 7.4
Prussian Excursion Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1.6) Cost: 7.6

Guiying Militia Armor (A 3, D 2, ER 1) Cost: 6
Wen Retainer Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1) Cost: 7.7
Wen Retainer MKII (A 3, D 4, ER 1.5) Cost: 7.4

French Knight Plate (A 2, D 4, ER 1.5) Cost: 8.2
Transports (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5) Cost: 3.6
Fast Attack Bikes (A 5, D 2, ER 0.5, T 1, Speed 10) Cost: 7.5
Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4) Cost: 14.1

Sealed Crawler (A 0, D 0, ER 1.2, T 5, Speed 6) Cost: 5.1
Sealed Crawler II (A 0, D 0, ER 2.1, T 5, Speed 8) Cost: 6.2

Terracotta Armor (A 6, D 2, ER 1, T 1, Speed 5) Cost: 8.6
House Wen Turtle (A 10, D 7, ER 1.5, T 1, Speed 4) Cost: 15.2
Horde Mobile Fortress (A 15, D 10, ER 5, T 1, Speed 3) Cost: 17.6


Spanish Dragoon Bike (A 6, D 3, ER 1.5, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 7.2
Spanish Medium Caballo (A 8, D 6, ER 1.8, T 1, Speed 6) Cost: 10

Prussian Armored Rig (A 11, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 6) Cost: 14.9
Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7) Cost: 14.8
Panzer A (A 11, D 6, ER 1.2, T 1, Speed 7) Cost: 12.2

Swedish Over Armor (A 1, D 3, ER 2, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 6
Swedish Over Armor Mod A (A 6, D 6, ER 1, T 1, Speed 15) Cost: 8.6

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

The recent problems with the environment may hide an opportunity to bring the nation back to the status it deserves. Namely, everyone requires Orpiment, and we're located inland, potentially able o find and develop reserves of it. We're prepared to go look.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle - Turn 11


Our Panzers have been performing remarkably well in our efforts to clear out Lubeck. However they lack environmental protection which caused the loss of two Panzers during our sweep.

We are aware that the Panzer A's are slightly better in this regard but the Colonel would like to remedy this problem regardless and has enclosed secrets from the alchemists which should help in the protection of newer models. We have also discovered a few weak points in the armor that we hope can be addressed if possible.

On another note the Colonel feels a need for a enhanced troop carrier. He plans on expanding his active force soon and wants to be able to deploy it when necessary. Environmental protection and troop capacity are the primary concerns though speed, armor, and firepower, are always welcome benefits. Additional secrets are enclosed to help with this research.

As always, please do not hesitate if there is anything we may do for the crown.

-The Long Night

25 secrets sent to enhance Panzers

25 secrets sent to enhance Transport



Training: 66 xp spent to promote 22 Trained grunts to Veteran status

Purchases: 152 cash total

20x Prussian Excursion Armor (A 3, D 4, ER 1.6) Cost: 7.6

[robnar]

House du Ouveture
"Sangre, Sucre, Salines"



------------- To Great Powers -------------------------------
House d'Ouveture to the Alchemists Guild
Dear Alchemists - what areas in France are productive to mount alchemical expeditions? We seek your guidance and cooperation for tasks to aid in the development of your craft.

House d'Ouveture to House Bourbon
Thank you for the opportunity to protect your convoys to Nemours, and I hope for the continued prosperity of your outpost there. It was a learning experience for me. I would like to undertake additional missions for you as well.

As you are aware, my forces took significant losses to the curse on this expedition; I hope your forces were able to avoid the same. I am devoting significant effort to learning how to develop better transports and systems.

In this effort, I would also like to hire three new officers to help manage ongoing operations. (9 favors & $30)

House d'Ouveture to the Spanish House Habsburg
Greetings, your majesties. We are interested in negotiating for the purchase of some of your dragoon bikes in order to outfit scouting expeditions. Please let us know if any are available.

In addition, do you have any tasks or missions we may complete for you?

House d'Ouveture to the House Wlodzimierz
We of the D'Ouveture are a new house in Europe, returned from the Carribean. We have suffered greatly at the hands of the avenging climate here, and have heard of the capability and speed of your crawler systems. What could we do to procure access to purchase these systems from you?

----------------------- To other Players ---------------------------------
House d'Ouveture to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
Do you have any surplus equipment you are willing to sell?

House d'Ouveture to Winterborn
Thank you for the equipment you provided last turn. It performed admirably, though the transports had several issues in the harsh terrain of France. Do you have more surplus to sell?

House d'Ouveture to The Brotherhood of Kalmar
Do you have any surplus equipment you are willing to sell?

House d'Ouveture to The Horde
Do you have any surplus equipment you are willing to sell?

------------------------------------
Intelligence: Spend 1 rumor for information about conditions in Armagnac province (the Bourbons mentioned this as a province that would prove my capability for operations on Orelanais).

GM: Which provinces would I need to capture either the duchy of the Vendee or Normandy?

[Murska]

Winterborn to House du Ouveture

Unfortunately with some losses in transportation ourselves and a much increased recruitment in the new Polish territories we're stretched providing for our own men at the moment. Still, it is good to hear that our old equipment was of some use.

[SchwhatNow]

Die Wölfe der Abfälle


The Colonel has agreed to your proposal.

We currently have 6 3 suits of Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) and 1 Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4) that are going unused by our forces. We could offer you the armor for 2 cash each , and the mining rig for 6 cash. Let us know if that interests you.

-The Long Night

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“Do you still need the Brotherhood of Kalmar’s aid in cleansing Jutland, and do you any thing else you what us to do?

By the way, what did you end up doing with the alchemy knowledge we sold to Sweden, recently?”
To House Bernadotte
“Do the house of Bernadotte has need of the services of the brotherhood of Kalmar.”
To Agda Import
“Do you have any work for us, so we can continue our profitable relationship?”
To the Alchemist Guild
“I would like to help the Alchemist Guild in uncovering new things in the wilds, so do you any places you need our escort to?”
To Italy
“I believe, that you still need the aid of the Brotherhood of Kalmar, so I would like to hear where I am needed.

Also, do Italy have any special, when it comes to weaponry?”
To House du Ouveture
“Well, the Brotherhood of Kalmar is always growing our ranks, so there is not much left out of use, though if you are really desperate, we got some basic uniforms, that we do not have much use for.”

[robnar]

To Die Wölfe der Abfälle

The Colonel has agreed to your proposal.

We currently have 6 suits of Secondhand Armor (A 2, D 2, ER 1) and 1 Converted Mining Rig (A 10, D 5, ER 1, T 1, Speed 4) that are going unused by our forces. We could offer you the armor for 2 cash each, and the mining rig for 6 cash. Let us know if that interests you.

-The Long Night


It does interest us! 18 cash to be transferred immediately. Thank you for your assistance.
To The Brotherhood of Kalmar
“Well, the Brotherhood of Kalmar is always growing our ranks, so there is not much left out of use, though if you are really desperate, we got some basic uniforms, that we do not have much use for.”

We would gladly buy all you have at 0.2 cash per unit

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
That would certainly be of great benefit if you discovered a load of the substance. However we must point out the dangers. The current storms devastating the interior are greater than anything in recent history. Indeed they nearly approach those of the Cataclysm. Most of our current efforts are devoted to shoring up the wards around our settlements. Would your men be able to withstand the dangers of venturing into the storms?

House Hohenzollern to Die Wolfe der Abfalle
We will assign some alchemists to the task, though we have doubts about our ability to improve the Panzers much further. We feel it will take a major breakthrough to truly elevate the design, though incremental progress can be made.

As for helping the crown the best thing you can do is to further expand our investment in your own forces. With the current situation with the alchemical storms the available land that can be claimed without undue cost is slight, and we fear that Sweden will gain too much of an advantage if we are not bold in our efforts.

The Alchemist's Guild to House d'Ouveture
Lyonnais is the most useful region to harvest in France. It has quite a bounty of reagents and specimens so we are always willing to fund an expedition there, but it is also quite dangerous.

House Bourbon to House d'Ouveture
We are certainly pleased with your swift reports. We hope that the officer cadre we send will help you repeat your successes in the future.

House Habsburg to House d'Ouveture
We are not in the habit of selling our technology to outsiders, but we will consider it if you scout the province of Almeria. We have recently lost contact with our forces there.

House Wlodzimierz to the House d'Ouveture
We do not see any harm in allowing you to purchase our crawlers at this time. Though we expect that you will take this into account when submitting bids in the future.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Yes, Slesvig is not yet purified. We expect considerable forces to assault it should we continue our operations. So we will have need of your men.

House Bernadotte to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We have nothing pressing at this time, but we are willing to pay for information on the storms.

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Aberdeens still had a bandit problem. We would be willing to offer you the contract for clearing them out.

The Alchemist's Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We considering launching another expedition into the storms if we can gain enough escorts.

Italy to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We do require your forces again to hold off the Austrians. They seem to have an extremely high number of reserves. Unfortunately however we do not have any excess equipment to sell. All of our production must go to arming our own forces.

[SchwhatNow]

Yes the Colonel has similar worries about the Swedish. Right now Die Wölfe has troops and income, but is lacking equipment and commanders. Equipment can be bought, so that is of low priority at the moment, but officers are a more pressing concern. We have already asked for much, but are there any available that would have interest in our operations?

Once we can mobilize more troops we can attempt to expand further along the coast and block the Swedish expansion.

-The Long Night

[robnar]

House du Ouveture
"Sangre, Sucre, Salines"


To The Brotherhood of Kalmar
“Well, the Brotherhood of Kalmar is always growing our ranks, so there is not much left out of use, though if you are really desperate, we got some basic uniforms, that we do not have much use for.”

We would gladly buy all you have at 0.2 cash per unit.

Are you willing to consider our offer of 0.2 per uniform?

To The Alchemist's Guild
Lyonnais is the most useful region to harvest in France. It has quite a bounty of reagents and specimens so we are always willing to fund an expedition there, but it is also quite dangerous.

We are interested. Please send us whatever details you have.

To the Spanish House Habsburg
We are not in the habit of selling our technology to outsiders, but we will consider it if you scout the province of Almeria. We have recently lost contact with our forces there.

We can respond. Please send us any details.
To House Wlodzimierz
We do not see any harm in allowing you to purchase our crawlers at this time. Though we expect that you will take this into account when submitting bids in the future.

We are interested in purchasing seven of your Sealed Crawler II vehicles. 43.4 cash is made available from our accounts to your bank.

We are honored by your willingness to trade and look forward to rewarding trade and development with you in the future.


GM: Which provinces would I need to capture to secure a duchy?

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Joakim
“We will be there, just sent us the mission details.

By the way, what did you end up doing with the alchemy knowledge we sold to Sweden, recently?”
To House Bernadotte
“That could perhaps be possible, it seems that the alchemist guild also wishes to check it out.”
To Agda Import
“We can definitely help clear out some bandits. I would like the mission details, so I can better plan for the mission.”
To the Alchemist Guild
“It sounds like a worthy endeavor, you can count the Brotherhood of Kalmar in. Do you have any idea of the danger we would face?"
To Italy
“That is understandable. We will help defend Italian soil against the Austrians. Give me a location and mission details and I will send the necessary support.”
To House du Ouveture
“Very well, I am willing to sell you 30 basic uniforms for that price for a total of 6 cash.”

[robnar]

To The Brotherhood of Kalmar
“Very well, I am willing to sell you 30 basic uniforms for that price for a total of 6 cash.”
"Deal. Funds have been transferred."


To House Windsor
"Are you still interested in the results of a scouting mission to Cornwall? Can you guarantee our transports safe passage to there?"

[ArcaneStomper]

House Hohenzollern to Die Wölfe der Abfälle
In fact we have several officers who might be of use to you. The most senior is a captain with an adventurous streak that is keen to deal with the troubles of new lands. The rest are recently graduated cadets who are admitedly inexperienced, but still competent in command of seasoned troops.

The Alchemist Guild to House du Ouveture
Mission: Alchemy
Territory: Lyonnais
Employer: Alchemist Guild
Rating: 78.4 CR

Spanish Habsbug to House du Ouveture
Mission: Scout
Territory: Almería
Employer: House Habsburg
Rating: 22 CR
Reward: 10 Cash

House Windsor to du Ouveture
We can certainly have a freighter deliver your transports to the area. It's getting any further inland which is the challenge.

To House du Ouveture (GM)
You would need to colonize Armor, Finistere, and Morbhihan.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We are attempting to improve our infantry armor, but our alchemists inform us that no breakthroughs have been made.

Mission: Cleanse
Territory: Slesvig
Employer: House Joakim
Rating: 60 CR
Reward: 48 Cash

Agda Imports to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Mission: Purge
Territory: Aberdeenshire
Employer: Agda Imports
Rating: 39 CR
Reward: 10 Cash, 2 Favor

The Alchemist Guild to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Certainly we will face extreme curse conditions. And anything that manages to survive in there will be correspondingly dangerous. Although of course we do not know specifics or we wouldn't need to launch an expedition.

Italy to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Mission: Guard
Territory: Umbria
Employer:
Rating: 210 CR
Reward: 165 Cash

[SchwhatNow]

Well that captain will need motivation to make it in the wastes. As long as they can temper that with discipline we would welcome them.

The cadets are not likely ready for such dangers, though we appreciate the offer.

-The Long Night






2x Lieutenants (2T, 1C) Tactic: "Button Up" +0.1 Environmental Protection

4x Veteran Grunts equipped with Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2) and driving Panzer (A 11, D 6, ER 1.1, T 1, Speed 7)
2x Veteran Grunts equipped with Prussian Excursion Suit (A 2, D 3, ER 1.2) and traveling in Transport (A 0, D 0, ER 0.5, T 5, Speed 5)

[Murska]

Winterborn to Spanish Hapsburgs, Wlodzimierz, Bernadotte

Basically asking for if they've got missions available for me again, and still looking for any Intelligence they might be able to spare. Also intending to buy a bunch of gear.

Swedish Heavy Armor Mod B (A 3, D 4, ER 1.6) Cost: 7.2
Swedish Under Armor Mod A (A 1, D 4, ER 2.2) Cost: 5.4

Sealed Crawler II (A 0, D 0, ER 2.1, T 5, Speed 8) Cost: 6.2

20 Under Armors, 60 Heavy Armor Mod Bs is 540 cash. 20 Sealed Crawler IIs for 124. 22 Winterborn Dragoon Bikes for 105.6 cash. Total 769.6 cash.
Leaves 513 to be paid with favours, means 129 Favours leaving 3 cash over. Should allow me to equip all my forces this turn, if barely. Tell me if I am able to do such mass favours to gear/cash conversion - I will of course spread the burden around to all nations insofar as possible with my relations to them so as to not collapse anyone's economy. Tell them I'm planning on creating a task force to look for Orpiment next month. (or however long turns take)

How feasible is a research project with 67 Secrets to upgrade Sealed Crawlers with a mod that drops their speed but gives them some measure of defense so they don't just drop like flies in combat (which I think is going to be very annoying in the future now that they're part of the calculations) and have tons more ER? Horde Fortress shows it's possible to cram way more stuff into vehicles than we are currently doing.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar

To House Joakim
“I was wondering if the Brotherhood of Kalmar could recruit some fine new officers from you.”

[ArcaneStomper]

House Hohenzollern to Die Wolfe der Abfalle
Very well if you think it too dangerous we will only send the captain to join your endeavors.

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
We are planning to cleanse Zhytomyr of its alchemical corruption. We do not anticipate many raids, but still would prefer to hire additional guards to safeguard our purification operations.

Mission: Cleanse
Territory: Zhytomyr
Employer: House Wlodzimierz
Rating: 20 CR
Reward: 16 Cash

To the Winterborn (General)
Neither House Habsburg nor House Bernadotte have any specific missions they require carried out, but both would be willing to pay for maps of unknown areas and resource deposits.

To the Winterborn (GM)
Bear in mind that the Winterborn Dragoon Bikes are your design. Which means they can only built in your factories, which takes away from the actual cash you get. This is generally cheaper, but you only have so many factories. Though you would be able to make this order.

You can purchase them from other nations, but you would have to give them your designs to do so. At which point they would be free to build them for their own use or sale.

As for your favors for cash purchase you can do that as long as you spread it around.

That should be feasible. Though you'll need to find someone to carry it out as you don't have any alchemists of your own.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
Certainly we have a number of lieutenants eager to join your illustrious brotherhood. As well as a few captains who feel constrained by the quarantine measures necessary for operations in our kingdom proper.

[Murska]

To House Wlodzimierz

We will take your mission. As an aside, we've got a new design for a powerful light vehicle, worked on by ourselves and Spanish alchemists. Perhaps you'd like to purchase it?
(Offering to sell Winterborn Dragoon Bike design to Poland)

Also, would you be willing to work with us on a project to upgrade the Sealed Crawlers in order to be able to function within the worsened storms? We'll need such shielding to search for Orpiment.
(Proposing the project I mentioned.)


ArcaneStomper

Ah, I thought the Spanish had the design too. Building them with my cash income is cheaper I suppose, so that's fine.

Can I just assume to have made the arrangements for the purchase or do I need to send messages about it to every nation? It seems like a hassle.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
How well protected is this vehicle. We require significantly resistant vehicles to operate in the surrounding provinces.

We can certainly work on improving the crawlers. We had already considered upgrading them. What aspect do you believe needs the most improvement?

To the Winterborn (GM)
You paid them enough that they were willing to give you exclusive rights.

And since we talked about it you don't need to approach them each individually. I'm fine with large trades happening. But sometimes they aren't possible, and I can't let people know if their trade is viable if the first I know about it is the EoT.

[Murska]

Winterborn - House Wlodzimierz

It's got rather standard protection from the environment, 1.6 ER. Not great in the current climate, but assuming you outfit your soldiers with armour that has a high degree of protection, it can work out. Adding heavier shielding takes away from the speed of the vehicle.

As for the Crawlers, I would suggest focusing heavily on the ER aside from adding some slight measure of armour against conventional dangers. We know from experience the storms contain mutants and worse, so shielding entirely on its own won't be sufficient. However, the troops are there to protect them in combat, and the transports are meant to get the troops through the storms alive which is their main task.

[Murska]

Winterborn to Alchemist's Guild

We would like to offer our protection for a mission to study the newly enlargened stormfronts near Poland, combined with an offer of future employment to Alchemists willing to participate in the venture. Our forces are experienced and capable of working our way through major environmental hazards as showcased in our expeditions over the Alps, and we're already working on better equipment to shield us from the more dangerous forms of the Curse.

[Mortenkam]

The Brotherhood of Kalmar
To House Joakim
“That sounds good, I wish to recruit one or more of the most promising and experienced officers, do tell me more about them.”
(I would like to recruit the officers that comes with the most upgrades and to know what the cost would be.)

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
That does not fit into our current doctrine. We currently favor slower, heavier vehicles. So we must regretfully decline at this time.

As for the crawlers our alchemists have put forward the following prototype.
Sealed Crawler III (A 1, D 3, ER 4, T 5, Speed 8) Cost: 10

Alchemist's Guild to the Winterborn
Excellent we were already considering a large expedition into the storms. With your forces we can solidify our plans.

House Joakim to the Brotherhood of Kalmar
We have a lieutenant who is fine officer who can rally even the most stubborn soldier and is brave enough to charge an alchemical stormfront on foot. But unfortunately is also willing to charge an alchemical stormfront on foot. We would be willing to second him to your forces.

[For 6 favors.]

[Murska]

Winterborn to House Wlodzimierz

We understand.

As for the Crawler, the prototype does look like a significant upgrade. However, we're wondering if it wouldn't be possible to upgrade the environmental shielding still further at the cost of the weapons and some of the speed - the men inside the transports are meant to do the fighting, after all, and while mobility is greatly valuable, gaining access through the worst storms would be even more so.

[robnar]

House D'Ouveture to House Wlodzimierz
Would you be willing to sell us some of your newest crawler prototypes? We would be willing to invest heavily​ in this line.

[ArcaneStomper]

House Wlodzimierz to the Winterborn
We can make a few small changes to the design, but our alchemists cannot make any major revisions without time to test their current theories.

Sealed Crawler III (A 0, D 3, ER 4.5, T 5, Speed 3) Cost: 10.5

House Wlodzimierz to House D'Ouveture
We are leery of selling our prototypes to an untested and unaffiliated house. We would only be willing to do so if you were in turn willing to use them to advance certain of our causes. Though we would be willing to sell some of our older designs without such caveats.