New Service Record: Captain Nero

Well howdy there, and welcome again to the Palladian Guard blog!  My life seems to be one big painting session at the moment, but with my office converted into a painting desk at work I seem to be making headway.  Anyway, as a break from all my projects and photos, I'm doing an update to one of my posts from back in January, where I had a go at producing some 'in character fluff'.

I like doing this sort of thing because it's more effective at conveying fluff than lengthy, prose descriptions of fluff.  A simple in-character sheet of paper from a radio transmission, or a set of battle orders can subtly get across what your army is about.

For those who missed it last time, the service records of my officers serve two purposes:
  • To show their background and careers
  • As a proper record of their feats in battle.
Fellow blogger and all-round good egg Admiral Drax has a similar thing, look at the left hand bar towards the bottom, 'cool things my penal legionaries have done'.  In mine I do the same but write them up as citations for medals.

Anyway, I've updated his record based on a few of the battles we've had and retyped it.  I used a real typewriter for the last one, but it was impossible to edit it so I'm doing it on the computer until his report becomes finalised (i.e. he dies), when I can type up a proper hard copy.  I'd love to hear what you think.


(PS, if anyone fancies something similar doing, I'd be happy to rustle up one for your commanders to order, free of charge of course)



This gives me a nice tenuous link to a lovely clip from Dad's Army, where Sgt Wilson is getting his annual review from Capt Mainwaring...


Ha ha.  Anyway, enough of this, and goodbye to you all.  Expect pics of Chaos Renegades next time round!  All the best,

The Colonel

Comments

  1. I miss Dad's Army. Not get any of it over here in the States.

    Lovely piece of work sir - love how fond the soldier is of a good drink!

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    Replies
    1. Ah have I inadvertently triggered nostalgic rumblings? YouTube has some full episodes I think. I'll try and find a Private Cheeseman clip to make you feel at home...

      And thanks for the feedback; being a good drinker is the foundation of any good career in the Imperial Guard!

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  2. Very cool! I love this sort of thing, and you've really done a great job with it. I wasn't familiar with Dad's Army, I'm going to have to give it a go!

    Keep up the great work!

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  3. These are absolutely sublime! What a labour of love (again)!

    Oh, and Mordian - it's an absolute classic of the British comedy cannon, but it's so much a part of our cultural furniture I don't know what it would be like to the outsider. My wife - a Chicagoan - absolutley adores this genre of gentle British comedy, much as one might an elderly and endearingly dotty great aunt, but despairs of it utterly!

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  4. Excellent bit of work, really flesh out the byzantine nature of Imperial paperwork and military structure, and it makes your characters seem like real people. I do love the concept.

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  5. Thanks everyone!

    @Mordian: Echo what Drax has said, I can't imagine us without it! Glad you enjoyed it anyway, as the campaigns develop there will be one for every officer.

    @Drax: Cheers I do love rustling these up! Stand by for more.

    @Chris: Very kind of you sir. Byzantine is a perfect word, and the 'real people' is exactly what I wanted! Makes me genuinely hesitant to send a platoon into a suicidal withering hail of fire, to keep my blokes alive (not very "Imperial Guard", though!)

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  6. Superb stuff as ever, and a case of fluff driving gameplay in the case of being hesitant to enact futile assaults. I don't care if it doesn't fit in with GW's policy of every soldier is essentially cannon fodder, no matter how phenomenal they claim birth rates to be (impressive if there is "only war"), you can never utilise troops so mindlessly and function to the extent the Imperium does. Even if that level of functioning is "barely."

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    1. Does the Imperium function? Does it fill any of the criteria of an empire? No comms, no true loyalty, just a dying leader surrounded by a small cadre of personal troops, surrounded by enemies and traitors ...

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  7. I think there is true loyalty amongst many, though misplaced, and it's never been stated there's no comms, there are comms it's just rather slow, and there's more than a small cadre of personal troops - and what Empire hasn't been surrounded by enemies and traitors...?

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  8. Arguably the leader is already dead, he's not been a functioning leader for 10,000 years and they've not done any worse than Rome or Britain :P

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    Replies
    1. Comms are faster than in the Roman Empire... the definitive Empire, and the introduction of the telegraph made the administration of the British Empire more difficult... so I don't think there's any question of it fulfilling the criteria of an Empire.

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