Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas,
Speaker 1: and monsters in time. Last week on the Monster Fact,
Speaker 1: I discussed the tyrannits of the fictional war Hammer forty
Speaker 1: K universe, an extra galactic invasion fleet of biological horror
Speaker 1: and hunger that seems posed to consume all the biomass
Speaker 1: in the Milky Way galaxy. Indeed, this might well be
Speaker 1: the ultimate doom awaiting the various civilizations in forty K.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean they're going to go down without
Speaker 1: a fight. Heck, as Games Workshop is quick to remind us, quote,
Speaker 1: in the grim darkness of the far future, there is
Speaker 1: only war. The imperium of man especially well suited for
Speaker 1: such a conflict. This interstellar human empire covers a great
Speaker 1: deal of territory in the Milky Way and commands vast
Speaker 1: legions of military might, the Imperial Guard, a powerful imperial
Speaker 1: navy of starships, the Almighty Space Marines, and various other
Speaker 1: militant orders and planetary defense forces. By the time of
Speaker 1: the forty K game setting, the Imperium has fended off
Speaker 1: two separate high fleet incursions and are struggling with a third.
Speaker 1: The Imperium's tactics are worth discussing here, especially as they
Speaker 1: reference real world military tactics and scenarios. Both examples I'm
Speaker 1: going to discuss here involve according to the forty K
Speaker 1: lore in Games Workshops ninth Editions here in its codex
Speaker 1: The Machinations of Imperial Inquisitor Fightus Kryptmann during the Third
Speaker 1: Tyrannic War against high Fleet Leviathan. The authors of the
Speaker 1: codex tell us that Kryptmann, understanding the knee needs and
Speaker 1: aims of the Tyrannids, devised a horrific means of slowing
Speaker 1: them down and weakening their invasion fleet. Since the Tyrannids
Speaker 1: required living worlds to harvest in their path of conquest,
Speaker 1: Kryptmann ordered the eradication of life on multiple occupied planets
Speaker 1: in the enemy fleet's path. If the Imperium was able
Speaker 1: to keep these planets devoid of biomass, Kryptomann realized the
Speaker 1: enemy would have nothing to grow on and no fresh
Speaker 1: biomass out of which to rebuild its forces. But of
Speaker 1: course this strategy doomed trillions of innocent people on those
Speaker 1: unlucky worlds. It was apparently even too harsh for the Imperium,
Speaker 1: resulting in Kryptmann's excommunication. The Tyrannids, again, are entirely organic,
Speaker 1: and while they seem to boast amazing hibernation abilities, their
Speaker 1: voyages across the intergalactic void must leave them in a
Speaker 1: hungry state upon arrival in the Milky Way. Even if,
Speaker 1: according to the lore, they benefit from some manner of
Speaker 1: space folding travel during intergalactic travel, they're still traveling at
Speaker 1: the very least tens of thousands of light years to
Speaker 1: get here, and then tens of thousands more within the
Speaker 1: galaxy proper without the aid of space folding or faster
Speaker 1: than light travel. One is reminded of real world accounts
Speaker 1: of invading Western ships during the Age of Sales. Upon
Speaker 1: arrival in new Lands and the New World, nourishment might
Speaker 1: not be forthcoming, and even if it could be stolen, scavenged,
Speaker 1: or bartered, for it was likely somewhat different from what
Speaker 1: they were accustomed to. While the concept of eradicating worlds
Speaker 1: ahead of the tyran At advance is a whole new
Speaker 1: sort of horror. The basic scorched earth strategy here has
Speaker 1: been used throughout the history of war. In general, it
Speaker 1: is the punitive destruction of enemy resources, and in particular
Speaker 1: it generally entails something like the wholesale destruction of agriculture,
Speaker 1: the destruction of homes, and the poisoning of wells. Anything
Speaker 1: to prevent an advancing army from successfully foraging for resources,
Speaker 1: even if it means decimating your own territory in the process.
Speaker 1: The Gauls used this tactic against the Romans during the
Speaker 1: Great Gallic War, and the Romans used this tactic against
Speaker 1: the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War. As ancient warfare
Speaker 1: expert Dr Brett Devereaux discusses on his excellent A Collection
Speaker 1: of Unmitigated Pedantry blog the availability of food and water
Speaker 1: greatly influenced where pre industrial armies could go and how
Speaker 1: long they could carry in a given region. He also
Speaker 1: points out that while an army famously marches on its stomach,
Speaker 1: other resources were sought after as well, including fodder for
Speaker 1: animals and firewood. Timber might also be desired in general
Speaker 1: in order to construct siege machinery. Upon reaching a fortified destination,
Speaker 1: deny the advancing army this timber, and you might deny
Speaker 1: them their more ferocious siege engines. For the Tyrannids, biomass
Speaker 1: provid sides everything their sustenance, as well as the material
Speaker 1: out of which their living war engines are born. Within
Speaker 1: the narrative of warhammer Ford k. Krippman's choice was horrifying,
Speaker 1: but perhaps strategically sound. Prevent an army, even a weird
Speaker 1: extra galactic one, from feeding and fueling itself, and you
Speaker 1: limit where and if it can go. Still. While the
Speaker 1: Tyrant high Fleet slowed, we are told it kept coming.
Speaker 1: Kripman's excommunication didn't stop him from fighting the war. According
Speaker 1: to the Codex, his next act was to intentionally seed
Speaker 1: a Tyrannid presence in Orc occupied space, drawing the Tyrannids
Speaker 1: into what would be known as the Octarous War. This
Speaker 1: was also a decision that at best only bought the
Speaker 1: Imperium time and at worst made both enemies, the Orcs
Speaker 1: and the Tyrannis, stronger due to quirks of their individual biologies. Now,
Speaker 1: since the Imperium did not actually aid the Orcs in
Speaker 1: their war with the Tyrannids, I don't think this would
Speaker 1: constitute a true proxy war, but there do seem to
Speaker 1: be examples from Warhammer fiction in which orcs and say
Speaker 1: the Imperial Guard find themselves in a shaky alliance against
Speaker 1: the Tyrannids. So perhaps either way, the octarious war eventually
Speaker 1: overflows and drags in armies of the Imperium and other
Speaker 1: enemy factions. It is, after all, a dark millennium. In closing,
Speaker 1: I think the Third Tyrannic War is a very smartly
Speaker 1: constructed sci fi military scenario. I do appreciate it when
Speaker 1: an author takes a fantastic warfare scenario seriously, and as
Speaker 1: long as they involve monsters, I would be happy to
Speaker 1: discuss them on future episodes of The Monster Fact. We
Speaker 1: have one more episode next week dealing with the Tyrannids
Speaker 1: on the Monster Facts, so tune in for that. Also,
Speaker 1: if you want to hear Brett Devereaux weigh in on
Speaker 1: the imperium of Man itself, he was a guest on
Speaker 1: the February episode of Chapter Tactics number one, how the
Speaker 1: Imperium of Man compares to other empires in history. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is a fun podcast. It's quite a good listen
Speaker 1: if you are into either ancient warfare or Warhammer forty.
Speaker 1: As always, feel free to reach out. I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from You'd love to hear thoughts on this topic.
Speaker 1: You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is
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