Planet 28 Death in the Throne Room Campaign Thoughts part 1

 Hi!

I am busily painting my way through some military types for my Planet 28 warbands and following a chat I had here recently about solo gaming, I thought I'd spend a bit of time looking at the campaign itself and my thoughts on how I play each faction.

The premise of the campaign is that the Emperor is on his deathbed and various factions are vying to seize the throne in the rather dystopian hiveworld of Neo-Trantor. Considered the Emperors personal residence, the planet is a jumble of pleasure gardens, palaces, underground warrens and populated by 12 billion souls.

There are five factions vying for supremacy in the book and are as follows:

Dramatis Personae

Princess Josephine-Bois-Lewitt, eldest child of the Emperor, Heir apparent, Mistress of the Imperial Household and Overlord of Ceremonies

In a rational universe Princess Josephine would have been declared ruler of the galaxy the moment her father was declared "dead". Luckily for the princess this is not a rational universe, as a rational universe would also not have let her ancestors establish such a silly thing as a galactic empire. 

Despite this, Princess Josephine has the most backing and the only real claim to the throne, and so commands not only a host of courtiers and assassins, but also the loyalty of the imperial household and its many guards, soldiers and other associated killing machines. Ruthless and efficient, The princess is a proven political master - in her time she hasnegotiated the surrender, punishment, and vaporisation of at least three armed uprisings and was personally responsible for no less than 13 of the attempts on her fathers life.

The princess has waited decades for her shot at power and is not about to let herself be outmanoeuvred by any pretender.

Princess Josephine Loyalists

The Princess' forces will be focussed on holding the Throne Room itself as well as trying a mixture of straight forward strong arm tactics as well as the odd assassination towards rivals. She also has access to power armour straight off the bat so will be in a good position early on to take the fight to her enemies but will need to secure the factories on planet so that opposition forces don't get easy access to heavy firepower.

The central location of the Throne Room in the campaign will also allow her to quickly take territories in the surrounding areas but she'll be facing multiple opponents too.

General Supreme Neville Shunt

A man of simple conviction, General Shunt has suffered greatly under the rule of his most peaceful majesty emperor Callpoc. As high commander of the imperial fleet and armies, Shunt feels that every day without a new declaration of war is a personal insult.

Fearing that the next ruler of the galaxy may seek to follow in the late emperors footsteps and that the empire might lose its way, General supreme Shunt has decided that a good traditional military junta should get things back on track. Shunt has his supporters in court - ex military types and doughy fantasists alike have pledged to back him should he bring his forces to bear and seize the imperial throne by force.

For now however Shunt will follow the official and accepted methods of espionage, assassination and gang violence. If these polite methods fail he will either fall in line or, should the new ruler not be to his liking, unleash a firestorm of atomic destruction - Whatever takes his fancy really.

Shunt's Troopers

The General's forces are going to be armed to the teeth and concentrating purely on might making right so will be trying to smash all opposition without much care for collateral damage which will not endear it to the populace and his nuclear option (literally a nuclear bombardment!), he's got a powerful ace in his hand. Saying that half of his troops are classed as Toy Soldiers who may not be the most steady and could run for it when things get hairy.

Baron Thaddeus Charalchracht Gregarious Caesar XVIII AKA "The Hero of the People" 

AKA The Loon

Baron Thaddeus is, for want of a better word, stark raving mad. Some say he was kicked in the head by a grav-horse, others say he lost his mind after gazing into the void at the edge of space whilst coming down from a particularly nasty hangover.

Whatever the reason, the baron is utterly deranged.This may present an obstacle to some men: it can after all be rather hard to find support for ones attempts to overthrow the crown when one is just as likely to lose interest and declare war on the concept of brunch as they are to stick to their plans.

The baron however has something many aspiring tyrants do not - A fortune beyond counting. The baron is, through inheritance and a financial canny that defies his eccentricities, one of the wealthiest people in the universe. As such he has the support of a great number of politicians, generals, minor royals and, thanks to his generous habit of hurling cash into the streets, vast swathes of the general populace, Who have come to think of him as a hero/ cash machine, depending on how cynical they are.

That many of his more senior supporters see him as a tool by which to attain power for themselves has either not crossed his mind or is simply of no concern to the baron. For the time being he wants to be emperor and so he'll keep spending until he gets crowned, bored, or dies. whichever comes first.

The Loon's Hangers on

The mad Baron is an interesting faction to play as he's got tons of cash to spend on his goons but they're not what you can call loyal and I've decided that each game will have a random chart that will be the Barons orders for that skirmish which may result in some utterly random results. 

I also think that he's probably going to be trying to make some flashy moves to showcase how important he is so rather than concentrating on defeating any particular enemy, his troops will be fighting pretty much randomly according to his whims.

High Priest Boniem Razp'tin, Prophet of the Convergence

The church of the universal convergence is an odd faith. Adapted from a mixture of ancient alien Inscriptions, long lost old earth religions, and bureaucratic busy work from the depths of the imperial administrative system, it preaches that at short, irregular intervals, a saviour will arrive to lead the faithful to paradise. 

That these saviours almost always seem to be members of the royal household and almost always arrive whenever the previous saviour dies is merely a happy coincidence. Few in the clergy actually believe any of the faiths teachings, with the more "enthusiastic" members being kept safely away from holding any real power.

Unfortunately being the spiritual leader of an entire galactic empire does tend to go to even the most level of heads. And so it is that High priest Boniem Razp'tin has come believe that he is the ultimate and final prophet of the convergence. He now believes wholeheartedly that he alone is fit to rule the empire as both emperor and, weather permitting, god.

Razp' tin has gathered courtier punks to his cause, but has also been shipping in some of the more temperamental of the clergies younger members to "persuade" people of his divine message.

Cultists!

The church will be trying to take as many hab zones as possible in the campaign as they seek to "protect" their flock but will be making a mixture of frontal suicidal assaults as well as seeking holy relics in each game which will mean that while they're going to be trying to slay the unbelievers, they do need to be trying to grab some loot (something their opponents will no doubt decide would be better if they not have).  

The Trantorian People's Front

Outside of the rarefied atmosphere of imperial court life, Neo Trantor is a grim place - Billions toil

to provide the luxuries of the ruling classes. From the lowliest rat catcher to the filthiest sewage

reclamation officer, to the millions of bored and directionless administrative officials, the working

masses of the planet are constantly on the verge of going from merely annoyed to well and truly fed up.

From these innumerable ranks the Trantorian peoples front has arisen, a militant revolutionary

group committed to doing something about it all. What that something is no one, not even the front itself, is quite sure - But when they figure it out there’ll be trouble! At present the fronts goal is simple - Destroy the entire political infrastructure of the entire galactic empire and place one of its own representatives in command, then restructure the economic, political and social framework of the entirety of civilization. Easy stuff.

Or at least it would be, were it not for the splitters…

Trantorian Peoples Front

The rebellious Trantorian Peoples Front will be trying to take and hold the hab zones too but are also going to be trying to infiltrate other locations for sabotage and carrying out targeted assassinations so they can be expected to pop up pretty much anywhere.

There may end up being multiple groups of them all competing against each other!

Inquisitor Fisher

Inquisitor Fisher has arrived on Neo Trantor in search of a rogue Xenobiologist named Murdoch Foyle who recently escaped a maximum security prison. Fishers investigation has led her to the Imperial Throne world as the Inquisitors information network has spotted her quarry in the company of several of the main competitors in the succession crisis.

This worrying development has resulted in Fisher moving her investigation to focus on the crisis on Neo Trantor as Foyle had been searching for a mysterious piece of Archeotech known only as Hathor's Armour which legend claims will give it's wielder unlimited power. It appears that Foyle is searching for something on Neo Trantor and Fisher is determined to stop him, no matter the cost.

Fisher and co

The Inquisition are going to be a bit of a leveller in the campaign as they will be used to smack down any faction that starts getting a runaway lead as they're obviously in league with Murdoch Foyle. Fisher will also be trying to gather information to help track down her quarry and rooting out any other dangerous threats to Imperial rule so there's going to be lots of opportunities to weave an interesting narrative in the campaign.

I'd already played a few games in the campaign but have decided to reset it and start from scratch with some more detailed plans on setting up the narrative and keeping the games coming in and will be adding whatever other random elements I can think of, be it an outbreak of Poypp invaders in the sewers under the palace to mercenaries deciding so shoot up the place or the illusive Foyle's machinations but either which way, it should be fun!

I need to bulk up the warbands and keep building on the themes of each but its great to get some of the old figures out and into use.

I'll post again with more musings on how I'm actually going to get the narrative going and the breakdown of how I actually play solo in the next few days but until then, All the best!