Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey guys,

I'm sorry I haven't updated my previous fiction thread of my story, but complications arising from my schedule being lal over the place since November, trying to account for suggestions made by my friend who reviewed my previous work, and going through a process of changing and re-writing means that progress is slow and, in some senses, gone a bit backwards. At any rate, I've gone back and tried to make the first chapter longer, better and more detailed, with my attempt at that bellow in the spoiler. With my schedule likely to keep changing in the coming months, I can't promise and regular updates to this, but I put this up in the hopes that, at the very least, people maybe get some enjoyment from reading this. With all this being said, here goes:

Premise

A Colonel-Commissar Belakev has taken command of of the Incarious 45th Infantry Regiment in a war to challenge the forces of Chaos in this region of space. (Pretty clear where I got the inspiration for this, I know haha, but it can't be that much of a stretch to think that Gaunt's rank and primary enemy is not a unique combination, thought admittedly 'Colonel-Commissar' is a rare rank indeed). The regiment is a recent addition to the crusade's forces, hailing from a mining world where they saw no real combat.


Direction of the Story

This first part of the first chapter details their first real taste of conflict against an enemy which is fighting not only for maintaining their control of the region of space but also a dark secret. I'm obviously not going to reveal the secret here, but as I write more of this story, I hope to narrow it down from the 3 or 4 ideas I have of what it could be. The end game plan is to have a conflict of epic proportions which determines the consequences of the discovery of that secret.


Note:

This has been moved. For further, more up to date reading, see my blog at: https://illumininientertainment.wordpress.com/

The story is under the Novels and Novellas menu using the same title.


A bit of a long read, I know, but I tried to give it some detail to immerse the reader (You ). As of the last revision, it is about 21,100 words. I hope you enjoy it!

-- IllumiNini

Nice to see you back my friend. Do you intend to bring back the regiments some of us submitted in the original thread? Also, really well done on the first chapter.

Thanks brother; and most definitely! I'm planning on bringing them back foe sure!

That is some fine writing, well done

Looking forward to the next part then!

Nicely done! A very fine read indeed

Thankyou all for the comments of praise! They are very much appreciated.

Good News! The second part of Chapter 1 has been added to the original post. Hope you enjoy it as much as the first part, and please note that I may be revising the second part in the next few days.

Also, Game Plan:

-- Write and Post Chapter 2 which will hopefully involve a few new elements such as new characters and some new regiments as provided by War Kitten, RighteousRob and a few others who posted in my other thread. I may not be able to directly involve all of them, but I hope to include them in some way or another (at least introduce them).

-- Write Chapter 3 and (perhaps concurrently) write a prelude of sorts relating to how the aforementioned regiments provided came to be part of the crusade in the story. I'm not sure what format it will take, but I thought it might be interesting.

-- Beyond those three things, I'm not sure. I'll have to wait and see how they go first.

Anyways: Happy Reading!

Looking forward to Chapter two (and seeing my guys in action!) Do you need any more Regiment ideas? I forget if Rob and the others posted any more ideas in the original thread.

 War Kitten wrote:
Looking forward to Chapter two (and seeing my guys in action!) Do you need any more Regiment ideas? I forget if Rob and the others posted any more ideas in the original thread.

I plan to switch it up a little bit from what I wrote before, so definitely hoping to see your ideas more heavily in Chapter 2. As far as regiment ideas go, I'm not lacking at the moment. I got permission from Rob to expand on what he gave me and then there's the two regiments you gave me, plus all the other ideas I've received so there's definitely plenty there

Alright then. Looking forward to the next chapter then!

The first part of Chapter 2 is up. Like Chapter 1 Part 2, it is subject to some revisions in the coming days.

@War Kitten: I hope you enjoy the cheeky confrontation I put in haha

I just had a thought:

I plan to take this story in a direction where as Commander Belakev and his regiment get closer to (and eventually discover) the secret the Forces of Chaos are trying to defend, the fighting getting more intense with some huge conflicts bringing about the end of the novel and thus setting up for the next book (way down the road). I also plan to employ not only the bloody combat we know and love that involves lasrifles, boltguns and all the other usual suspects, but also at least some battles that involve psychic powers, demonic possession and more fun stuff like that.

My Question Is:

As much as we all love the brutal nature of the 40K universe, is a whole novel of bloody battles what people want to read? Would people like to see me write more violent battles or more non-combat scenarios? Or would people rather a roughly even mixture of both?

IllumiNini wrote:The first part of Chapter 2 is up. Like Chapter 1 Part 2, it is subject to some revisions in the coming days.

@War Kitten: I hope you enjoy the cheeky confrontation I put in haha

I never knew that Taylor could be so combative. Nicely done. Now I have to go plot how to bring in the Baneblade

IllumiNini wrote:I just had a thought:

I plan to take this story in a direction where as Commander Belakev and his regiment get closer to (and eventually discover) the secret the Forces of Chaos are trying to defend, the fighting getting more intense with some huge conflicts bringing about the end of the novel and thus setting up for the next book (way down the road). I also plan to employ not only the bloody combat we know and love that involves lasrifles, boltguns and all the other usual suspects, but also at least some battles that involve psychic powers, demonic possession and more fun stuff like that.

My Question Is:

As much as we all love the brutal nature of the 40K universe, is a whole novel of bloody battles what people want to read? Would people like to see me write more violent battles or more non-combat scenarios? Or would people rather a roughly even mixture of both?

I would prefer a mixture of both. Combat is great and all (and a foundation of 40k), but I feel there's not enough discussion about the non-combat stuff. There was some Eldar omnibus I read that had plenty of talk about life on the Craftworlds outside of war, and I like having that stuff sprinkled around with the combat stuff.

 War Kitten wrote:
I never knew that Taylor could be so combative. Nicely done. Now I have to go plot how to bring in the Baneblade

Thanks. I figured it'd be a nice way to introduce another level of conflict beyond the bloodshed as well as introduce a level of stigma surrounding the inexperience of Belakev's regiment.

As for the Banebalde, that probably won't happen until towards the end of the novel, but if you got any ideas, I'd be happy to try and incorporate them.

 War Kitten wrote:
I would prefer a mixture of both. Combat is great and all (and a foundation of 40k), but I feel there's not enough discussion about the non-combat stuff. There was some Eldar omnibus I read that had plenty of talk about life on the Craftworlds outside of war, and I like having that stuff sprinkled around with the combat stuff.

Good good, because I'm not sure I could write a whole novel of nothing but conflict. I reckon I'd run out of creative ways to say "The captain decapitated his enemy" haha.

 IllumiNini wrote:

 War Kitten wrote:
I never knew that Taylor could be so combative. Nicely done. Now I have to go plot how to bring in the Baneblade

Thanks. I figured it'd be a nice way to introduce another level of conflict beyond the bloodshed as well as introduce a level of stigma surrounding the inexperience of Belakev's regiment.

As for the Banebalde, that probably won't happen until towards the end of the novel, but if you got any ideas, I'd be happy to try and incorporate them.

 War Kitten wrote:
I would prefer a mixture of both. Combat is great and all (and a foundation of 40k), but I feel there's not enough discussion about the non-combat stuff. There was some Eldar omnibus I read that had plenty of talk about life on the Craftworlds outside of war, and I like having that stuff sprinkled around with the combat stuff.

Good good, because I'm not sure I could write a whole novel of nothing but conflict. I reckon I'd run out of creative ways to say "The captain decapitated his enemy" haha.

You could maybe just have the Baneblade's Commander act as a Platoon Commander for the Regiment? Say that the Baneblade is undergoing serious repair work, and so she volunteered to fight in the meantime?

 War Kitten wrote:
You could maybe just have the Baneblade's Commander act as a Platoon Commander for the Regiment? Say that the Baneblade is undergoing serious repair work, and so she volunteered to fight in the meantime?

I could definitely see her volunteering to help out with artillery support or work closely with one of the armoured divisions. The repair excuse may not be necessarily, but I'll cross that hurdle when I get to it haha.


And now for another (minor) update and user contribution session. Attached to this post I have a first-pass image of what I want the battle area to look like. All the thin areas filled in with solid grey colouring are roads, most (if not all) have their lengths next to them. The little square areas with '1D', '2D' and '3D' are the deployment areas in the region. I'll leave you guys to figure out which deployment zones will house which regiments (Hint: it's already been posted as part of the fiction ). All the other areas are labelled. There as also 4 areas labelled 1 through 4 which have no really impact on the story, but what they are may add some points of interest or ways in which I can guide the regiments through this industrial metropolis, so I'm curious to know what people think I could put in those areas that may add to the narrative or add a unique set of circumstances for our heroes.

 War Kitten wrote:
You could maybe just have the Baneblade's Commander act as a Platoon Commander for the Regiment? Say that the Baneblade is undergoing serious repair work, and so she volunteered to fight in the meantime?

I could definitely see her volunteering to help out with artillery support or work closely with one of the armoured divisions. The repair excuse may not be necessarily, but I'll cross that hurdle when I get to it haha.


And now for another (minor) update and user contribution session. Attached to this post I have a first-pass image of what I want the battle area to look like. All the thin areas filled in with solid grey colouring are roads, most (if not all) have their lengths next to them. The little square areas with '1D', '2D' and '3D' are the deployment areas in the region. I'll leave you guys to figure out which deployment zones will house which regiments (Hint: it's already been posted as part of the fiction ). All the other areas are labelled. There as also 4 areas labelled 1 through 4 which have no really impact on the story, but what they are may add some points of interest or ways in which I can guide the regiments through this industrial metropolis, so I'm curious to know what people think I could put in those areas that may add to the narrative or add a unique set of circumstances for our heroes.

Maybe an archeotech stash? An important chapel/cathedral? Hidden chaos cult temple?

 War Kitten wrote:
Maybe an archeotech stash? An important chapel/cathedral? Hidden chaos cult temple?

I definitely like the idea of Chapels and Cathedrals, especially if they have been converted and the Imperial symbols have been desecrated. Cheers


Also, I've decided to move posting updates of this story to my blog, because I don't really want to be necro-ing this thread every time I make an update or add in another chapter (or part thereof). Fear not though, I will be attempting regular updates on my blog and you will still get to answer my petty 40K questions to make sure I get the fluff right!

Anyway, here's my blog link:

https://illumininientertainment.wordpress.com/

As you may have astutely noticed, it's also in my post signature. I will also be trying to add other creative works to the blog if you are interested.

To all those who have invested regiment ideas or other suggestions - with special mention to War Kitten and RighteousRob - thank you very much! They are much appreciated. And fear not: the project is not being abandoned, just moved.

Good. If you had abandoned it I might have needed to get my metal dreadnought in a sock out...

No need to go Full Metal Jacket up in here haha

And Chapter Two Part II is up on the blog, though not 100% complete. Needs more work. NEEDS MOAR DESCRIPTIVES! haha

Nicely done on Ch. 2 Part 2. I love it.

Cheers for the praise, my friend. It really does mean a lot that people like my work.

I will be adding more to Part II, though. I feel like the battle needs more content as well as descriptions (hopefully rich, but not unnecessarily rich) of their surroundings. Especially since it will be where they spend at least most of the rest of the story, I feel I need to do it justice by adding in some good descriptions of it.

Looking forward to it!

 War Kitten wrote:
Looking forward to it!

The revision is up (finally haha). I really hope you enjoy the changes and fixes I made. My next move is onto Chapter 3. More characters, more action, more awesome!