Fluff Masters Clan

[Xerxes]

The quiz is flawed... it allows multiple tries on a very limited range of questions, and so can be completed through mindless repetition (which I must admit I did shamelessly in order to get to the bottom of the quiz, and was stunned at how seemingly important knowing the weights and measures of Imperial tanks are to being a fluffmaster.

Also, there are some ridiculous ones where spelling could land you with a wrong answer. Someone who's dyslexic and yet knows a lot of fluff would have a lot of trouble typing out "Asdrubael Vect", and I've still not worked out whether it's "Stalker" "Stalker round" or "Stalker silenced shell" or some variation on that will work on the bolter shell variant question.

If you do however want a test, PM me and I'll do you one next week, as well as one which I've already had a PM for. I've got a spate of funerals and job interviews hitting home at the moment, so I'm rather busy.

[Da Mighty Camel]

Yes, Xerxes is our resident Testmaster. He'll hook ya up.

Originally Posted by Xerxes

If you do however want a test, PM me and I'll do you one next week, as well as one which I've already had a PM for. I've got a spate of funerals and job interviews hitting home at the moment, so I'm rather busy.

Cool to hear about the interviews (good luck! ), sad to hear about the funerals ().

I have been reading 'Straith Silver' (for the third or fourth time I think...) by Abnett for the past few weeks, and one thing that has been nagging at me is the Ghost's confusing platoon structure.

The Ghost's are mentioned to being organised into several platoons and each platoon is said to be led by a sergeant. In most modern militaries (which the Guard command structure is based on), a Sergeant either acts as a squad leader or as a platoon sergeant, who advises the platoon commander, usually a lietenuant (spelling?). Platoons consist of 30-50 men. This is where it gets confusing, since Abnett both refers to the platoons as, well, platoons or "Criid's/Raglon's/random guard sergeant's squad".

During one part of the book when action commence, one platoon is said to have dropped to about 40% of its fighting capability, with 6 dead and 7 wounded or something like that, while during another fight a platoon is said to have been "all but annaihlated" by shellfire, with about >10 dead and a few survivors.
During the last part of the book the Ghost's infiltrate the Shadik lines with 4 platoons (IIRC). During this they meet a company of Shadik troopers (300-1000 men, but I reckon Abnett thought of the lower numbers) that they manage to defeat through superior firepower and training, even though the Shadik had numbers. If Abnett thinks that platoon = squad (the confusing part) then that means that about 40 Ghost's defeated them with just a few (like, 4 men) casulties, which seems a bit unlikely, which makes you believe that they are indeed organised into platoons of 50-ish men. But even after this he refers to the platoons as "squads" from time to time.

Do you understand my confusion, or am I just rambling?

Is it as I suspect, that Abnett have it hard with his military jargoon from time to time, or do the Ghost's have some wierd regimental structure unlike any other in the Guard? Or have I missed something?

[darkreever]

I haven't read some of the older ghost novels in a long time, but I can say that the ghosts organisation evens out in the later books when they are merged with the Belladon regiment.

Its possible that Abnett made no mistake with the ghost organization in the early novels, rather he altered the structure to fit with the ghosts numbers. (Though its also possible Abnett made continuity errors with this organization throughout the books. Regiment structure isn't as high a priority as overall story after all.)

[Da Mighty Camel]

Straight Silver ain't that old (2003. Well, everything's relative of course), though. It have been some time since I read 'His Last Command' so it is very possible that it is like you say.

Oh well, just one of those little things that gets to me when I re-read the GG books. Thanks!

[darkreever]

Originally Posted by Da Mighty Camel

Straight Silver ain't that old

Well yes, five years isn't to long, but keep in mind straight silver was the fifth of eleven; six books from where we currently are in the series, and five years of other novels coming out can become a long time...

[Inquisitor_Naravus]

Just took and passed the little quiz and it does indeed seem to be flawed... All questions should be changed to multiple choice as I have no idea how many times I misspelled a forge world name..

-Naravus

[ColGravis]

The test, there are some really good questions in there, but many of them are rather difficult to answer on account of having to enter *exactly* what is required, good examples include the Bolt Gun shell variants and several character names (perhaps this later one could be fixed by simply including what is required i.e. first name, last name or rank, first name, last name etc), while spelling is'nt too much of a problem IMHO not quite knowing how complete an answer the question wants is VERY fustrating and would put many people off after only a couple of tries.

That said, simply making them multiple choice would probably not be a great choice either, some of them would become all too obvious then. Also as pointed out already multiple choice makes it all too easy to just go through the possibles until you get it right.

More specific questions and more of em perhaps?

Oh and I'm still uterly stumped by the one about aces :-s

[Xerxes]

Sorry guys, we didn't administer or authorise the test. It was something that Blackhat and the mods cooked up without our involvement. We know there are problems with the test (along with a possible inaccuracy in one of the questions), and have notified the mods.

We have our own test for membership, in essay format, which I run for those wishing to join the clan.

[Doomanddarkness]

What are the weekdays and months of the 41st Millenium called? Is it all measured on Terran standard or locally?

Thanks!

[Xerxes]

I don't think that it's ever made clear what they call the days of the week, although as there's a "year fraction" component to the Imperial date, I'm not really sure that it's necessary to have weeks at all, just a notification of a particular year fraction. These fractions are measured as though from Terra, although the accuracy of that date (measured by the year's check number) may vary depending on the exact location and reliability of the planet and event concerned.