History TabletopGame / OnlyWar

* AscendedMeme: The meme of "[[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Commissar_Dan Commissar Dan]]"[[note]](A commissar who uses a Basilisk artillery platform as a frontline tank to charge the enemy)[[/note]] is given a nod in the ''Enemies of the Imperium'' supplement with a quote by one "Commissar Daniel Sterne" ordering a Basilisk artillery platform to ram the enemy.[[note]](The enemy was inside the Earthshaker cannon's firing arc and [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming seemed like the best option]] at that point.)[[/note]]

* GiantAdultsTinyBabies: The Drakons of Cuyavale can reach or exceed 250-metre wingspans as adults. When newly-hatched, they're only about a metre long.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: [[spoiler:''Hammer of the Emperor'' declares the Eldar ending in ''[[VideoGame/DawnOfWar Dawn of War: Winter Assault]]'' as the canon one. General Sturnn and his 412nd Cadians were betrayed and slain by the perfidious aliens and the survivors had to flee, leaving the Titan to be destroyed.]]

* EasyLogistics: Thoroughly {{averted|Trope}}. The Logistics system is used to determine how easy it is for TheSquad to access equipment. Depending on circumstances, they might find things that they were depending on having not arriving on time, or even getting equipment orders mixed up. This is {{justified|Trope}} for a few reasons, including the standard vagaries of war (supply convoys being raided, resources required for higher priorities elsewhere, the unpredictability of warp travel, etc) but additionally things like Severan Dominate {{Agent Provocateur}}s posing as warehouse workers behind Imperial lines and doing things as simple as swapping shipping labels on containers.

* KillItWithFire: Flamers of any kind are commonly available, though some regiments favor them more than others.

* ModernMajorGeneral: Possible for a Sanguine or Supine regimental commander.

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: Much emphasis is placed on the pomp and the glory of a Regimental Founding, as colourfully illustrated by a series of IC diary entries in the opening chapter of the rulebook. It is a great honour for any Imperial citizen to be called to serve in the Guard. However, the reality of service is a lot... more miserable than most of the poor bastards expect. Regiments raised from agri-worlds are even more vulnerable to this than normal, as they tend to be [[NaiveNewcomer hopelessly naive]] [[FarmBoy hayseeds]] and thus more prone to succumbing to deception and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the horrific realities of the galaxy]].

* ActionDuo: The new Comrade system where characters of most specialisations have a NPC soldier tagging along. Players can give orders to their Comrades to add benefits for that turn, such as telling them to fire with the player at a target, increasing the chance for the player to hit said target. Players can even buy specialisation-unique orders for XP.

* AmmunitionBackpack: A common attachment to many military grade weapons. Given that the characters are ''in'' the military, this is much more frequently available in ''Only War'' compared to most of the other ''Warhammer 40,000'' role playing games.
** The obvious exception is the Devastator of the Deathwatch, since their heavy bolters chew up ammo of such individual cartridge size that they more or less ''require'' an ammunition backpack.

-->''That's right, I'm the best shot in the platoon. I could shoot the pipe from an officers mouth at 300 meters. Don't believe me?''

** Heavy Stubbers. Though they don't have the sheer power of Autocannons or Heavy Bolters, they can still threaten infantry and light vehicles, laying down a withering hail of high-calibre shots while being relatively light and easy to maintain. They can be mounted atop the pintle-mounts of tanks or carried by foot troops (even survive being handled by Ogyrns), and produced by planets with only very limited production infrastructure and technical expertise. And best of all, it is functionally no different from contemporary heavy machine guns of our time - in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, [[MemeticBadass John Browning's genius only aged like fine wine]].

** GlorySeeker: The Sanguine commander type is looking to push their regiment to heroism, giving optimistic {{Rousing Speech}}es. However, their willingness to put their troops InHarmsWay may be to their detriment, and they need to struggle hard to survive what they are thrown into.
** MilitaryMaverick: A possible commander type, who often rubs their peers and commanding officers the wrong way, but earns the respect and loyalty of their own subordinates who will follow them even into the most horrific conditions without fear.
** ModernMajorGeneral: Possible for a Sanguine or Supine regimental commander.
** ProperlyParanoid: The Bilious commander type, who is ill-tempered and expects betrayal and treachery from everyone. Soldiers under their command will have to be especially vigilant and watchful.
** TheReliableOne: The Phlegmatic commander type, who speaks little, only gives a few carefully considered orders, and is not given to vainglory, paranoia, or excessive heroic gestures. They may be seem unremarkable, but their proven success record demonstrates solid competence.
* BulletProofVest: The Imperial flak armour shines through again, especially when a war-themed RPG being more likely to put you in harms way. Also very easy to start with if the group creates/choose the right regiment.
** It's even more awesome this time around as it's very inexpensive to upgrade your regiment's armor to Good Craftsmanship (and Best Craftsmanship is even somewhat reasonable).

* ChurchMilitant: The Ministorum Priest.
** ''Only War'' also expands on some ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'' fluff material by introducing the Maccabian Janissaries, an Imperial Guard regiment raised from the Shrine World of Maccabeus Quintus, obsessed with the worship of Saint Drusus, the hero of the Angevin Crusades that founded the Calixis Sector. They are explicitly described as primarily consisting of pilgrims who came to Maccabeus out of religious fervour, couldn't afford the transit fees home, and chose to band together as a formal Guard regiment and take holy Drusus's fight to the stars. Although they use the same ranks and terminology as the rest of the Guard, they stand out even amongst the Imperium as being particularly keen on the whole holy war thing.
* CloseRangeCombatant: The Brawler specialization in ''Hammer of the Emperor'' is for characters who want to focus on this.

* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Storm Troopers. Although it's an odd PC squad that contains more than one of these, given that they are, like all others, simply a Specialty (class) that a character can choose.
** And now that ''Hammer'' is out, Cadia's famed Kasrkin regiments are playable in full rather than being an optional refluff for Storm Troopers attached to other Cadian regiments.

* ForeignQueasine: The Attilan Rough Riders have a unique trait that allows them to increase their survival time absent proper ration resupply so long as they have access to their mounts. The fluff for this is that they are able to make a kind of cooked slurry porridge. The ingredients are various kinds of gathered herbs and grains...''and small amounts of blood siphoned carefully from their horses''.
* FootnoteFever: One Sergeant Natalia Talwar got her hands on the copy of ''The Infantryman's Guide to The Spinward Front'' in Enemies of the Imperium, and wrote a few corrections ([[DeadpanSnarker and sarcasm]]) for whoever inherited it from her.

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: Much emphasis is placed on the pomp and the glory of a Regimental Founding, as colourfully illustrated by a series of IC diary entries in the opening chapter of the rulebook. It is a great honour for any Imperial citizen to be called to serve in the Guard. However, the reality of service is a lot ...more miserable than most of the poor bastards expect.
** Regiments raised from agri-worlds are even more vulnerable to this than normal, as they tend to be [[NaiveNewcomer hopelessly naive]] [[FarmBoy hayseeds]] and thus more prone to succumbing to deception and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation the horrific realities of the galaxy]].

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Debatable, as everyone starts with a laser weapon. As with ''TabletopGame/BlackCrusade'', this trope is somewhat less prominent in this game due to inclusion of variable power settings on most basic las weaponry and changes to the rules for burst and automatic fire.
** Outright averted in long campaigns with a bad supply chain: Lasguns are more robust than today's AK-47. Their battery packs hold a lot more charges than slugthrower magazines and can be recharged at any suitable electrical outlet - or failing that, can derive charges from sunlight and heat. For a quick recharge in bad situations, they can even be placed in a campfire, though this technique (informally called "Catachan Reloading") [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique isn't exactly]] [[StuffBlowingUp safe.]]

* MilitaryScienceFiction: [[SerialEscalation Topping even]] ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}'', the previous best example of this from the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' [=RPGs=]. While ''Deathwatch'' may operate at a higher power level than ''Only War'', the astartes of the Deathwatch are much more ritualistic and independent than the Guard, existing as a separate order of warriors apart from the normal military. In contrast, players in ''Only War'' are part of the Imperium's primary military command structure and engage in more conventional and normal military operations on continual basis.

* NoRangeLikePointBlankRange: Shotguns are most effective at short range, Ogryns love this with their Ripper Gun, a full auto combat shotgun on steroids.
** Furthermore all ranged attacks get a +30% to hit at point blank range.
* [[OurOgresAreHungrier Our Ogryns Are Hungrier]]: And playable.

* ThePoliticalOfficer: Commissar is a character option, with all the YouHaveFailedMe morale-boosting you'd expect.
** EvilCounterpart: Ducal Legates, the political officers enforcing the ideals of the Severan Dominate.

* ProperlyParanoid: As in ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', Paranoia is a purchasable talent that grants bonuses on awareness rolls and the chance to spot threats that you normally wouldn't notice.
* [[PsychoForHire Psychos For Hire]]: Severus made his power play for an independent fiefdom by making deals with Dark Eldar. He let them raid some unimportant outlying colonies for pain-slaves while under-equipping their defenders and delaying relief forces, and in turn they provided him discrete assassins and saboteurs to quietly dispose of his political enemies. The Ork invasion of the region forced him to move his plans forward ahead of schedule and declare open rebellion. Now the Dark Eldar escalate to hitting Imperial military targets to give Severus's forces a battlefield advantage, but in turn they no longer limit themselves to raiding just the Dominate's fringes as they follow their own inscrutable motives.
* RadioSilence: An easy way for a [=GM=] to keep TheSquad isolated from backup when on a detached mission is to place them under standing orders to minimize vox transmission. Recon missions or missions behind enemy lines are especially fitting for this kind of condition since keeping the enemy from discovering their position is already a priority. The introductory mission included with the [=GM's=] screen uses it in this way.

** The Breacher advanced specialisation in ''Hammer of the Emperor'' has, as a flavour quote, a paraphrase of [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 the Demoman]].
*** It's a bit of a stretch, but does [[http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130209035711/warhammer40k/images/9/9d/Vostroyan_Firstborn_Hvy_Spt.jpg this Vostroyan]] remind anyone else of the [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Pyro]]?
** [[Literature/CiaphasCain Colonel Regina Kasteen of the Valhallan 597th]] provides the flavour quote for Valhallan regiments.
*** ''Enemies of the Imperium'' uses the cover of ''Death or Glory'' for the opening of its fourth chapter.

* TheSquad: Enforced with the specialities you can choose for your guardsmen.

** GentlemanSnarker: On the other hand, Highborn may also gain a bonus to Intelligence, Lore, and Tactics, leading to this. Lampshaded in the overview, which explicitly spells out that many Highborn regiments are training grounds for the Guard's [[OfficerAndAGentleman future officer staff.]]

* WarIsHell: Natch, although not that it bothers many of the people participating in it.

* [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Your Rebels Are Our Freedom Fighters]]: The forces of the Severan Dominate are nominally still faithful to the Emperor, some even fanatically so. However, they have been lead to believe (via Severus's PropagandaMachine and CultOfPersonality) that Severus is rightfully entitled to the fiefdom of those worlds they claim, and the Administratum claims dominance of them illegitimately. Of course to the High Lords of Terra, rebellion against the Administratum is rebellion against the Emperor, something to which the Dominate forces violently disagree.

** The Incinerant Priest specialization from ''Shield of Humanity'' takes this UpToEleven and mixes it with generous helpings of ChurchMilitant.