"For feth's sake YES," grumbled the Psyker. "Careful now, Petrusch's getting pissed and now he's waving his gun at you..."
The jangle of bells altered Petrusch to what was going on, and breaking the Psyker's grip on his mind, he quickly redirected his hotshot away from Yana.
"Yana. Levi. Petrusch. Focus! Find out what the Eldar were doing and let's feth-off. Okay?" Tylo, like his Team, was feeling the pressure of staging a clandestine investigation with zero planning and no back-up. "Fan out people. And Birdman: you goee goee Northee Northee. Understand?"
The Team dispersed, stealthily approaching their assigned objectives: a collection of large planetary transport containers.
"Yana here Sir. I'm in, but there's nothing to see."
"Petrusch here. Nothing."
"Problem comes. Two Problems. Three Problems..." crackled Kekar through the vox.
"I don't need problems, I need a lead - Kroot: do that thing you do. Make the 'Problems' go away," retorted Tylo as he broke for the water tower.
The night's silence was suddenly broken with the sharp fizzing crack of Kekar's pulse rifle.
"By the Throne of Terra, if we didn't have problems before, we've got them now in spades," thought Tylo.
"Look lively people. Multiple contacts inbound. Nobody is leaving till this area's been searched, so hop to it!"
----
A little while ago I put some work into completing an Inquisitor and his team using a mixture of Bones and Games Workshop miniatures. Some of my mates helped out with donations and before I knew it, the newly minted Tylo Haariginer and retinue were ready to rid the Libuschan system of Xeno influence in the name of the holy Terran Empire.
The following describes each character's R40K profile and some of the thinking behind my design decisions. Firstly, the Team's 'basic' Credit Point target was ~250 Credits. Rogue Planet has a variety of game 'types' that employ slightly different rules and I've found games between 200-300 Credits tend to hit my sweet spot. If I want to play a 200 Credit game, I could drop Levi and if I was playing a 300 Credit game (e.g., Strike 4) I could include a second Kroot Mercenary.
You may find the team a little underpowered relative to a Space Marine, but remember Inquisitors, especially junior Inquisitors, aren't front-line troops. If it concerns you, you could always ramp them up some e.g., provide Tylo with a defence field (Power Armour?), make his Krooty friends Agile etc.
Inquisitor Tylo Haariginer of Ordo Xenos (2 Energy @ 81 Credits)
Tylo's indenture to the Inquisition was the result of a somewhat unusual practice within the sector: hereditary appointments to the Inquisition. Tylo's father's title was passed down upon his passing - many would suggest a little too soon, as Tylo Jnr has a lot of growth potential... some might argue a bit too much potential for the moment.
CQ 4(5) RAT 4 DEF 5 ARM Light SIZE Small
Bolt Pistol (FX Ranged + Armour Piercing Rounds) and Power Fist
If not brilliant, Tylo's a competent warrior, on par with a Space Marine (RAT 4 and CQ 4). His Bolt Pistol (FX Ranged + Armour Piercing Rounds) means he can pose a serious threat to more heavily armoured targets but his Powered Fist makes him a real danger - not only does it buff his CQ, it is armour piercing and allows him to perform Throw Actions. Finally, his DEF of 5 provides a good solid buff against all but elite opponents despite his Light Armour.
Yana Yaya, Pilot and Mechanic (1 Energy @ 43 Credits)
Yana started out in the Imperial Guard but Guard life wasn't for her - after picking up some useful skills she shipped out and found herself in the sack with Tylo. Being an Inquisitor's girlfriend has its advantages, or so he says...
CQ 3 RAT 3 DEF 4 ARM Light SIZE Small
Boltgun (Carbine + Armour Piercing Rounds) and Evasion
Yana's RAT and CQ are Imperial Guard norms @ 3 each and her nimbleness is reflected in her above normal DEF of 4 - not bad for someone who gets about in a crop-top and overalls - and her Evasion skill/trait that gives her a buff when attempting to break-off melee. Armed with a Boltgun (Carbine + Armour Piercing Rounds) she's capable of taking out a Space Marine with a single shot.
Petrusch Garssener, ex-Sion (2 Energy @ 59 Credits)
Petrusch Garssener was born into the Guard and has never really left. A by-the-numbers man through-and-through, Petrusch has appointed himself as Tylo's bodyguard. Sporting some serious plate armour (rated Medium, not Light) and a Hotshot Laser (Carbine + Hollow Point Rounds), the former Sion is a valued, dependable member of Tylo's retinue.
CQ 3 RAT 4 DEF 3 ARM Medium SIZE Small
Hotshot Laser (Carbine + Hollow Point Rounds)
Levi "Bells" Jingst (1 Energy @ 27 Credits)
Levi is a psyker nicknamed Bells on account of the two huge bells that he habitually wears. Whilst focusing on dampening the ringing of the bells, he can keep his powers in check. When the bells chime, well that's when Levi's worth - and all too frequent pettiness - becomes clear.
CQ 3 RAT 2 DEF 3 ARM Light SIZE Small
Axe and 1 Cast
While surprisingly capable in close quarters with his Axe (CQ 3) he cannot and will not shoot to save his life (RAT 2) and defensively is nothing special (DEF 3). Where he comes into his own is his access to the warp, providing him with the means to boost his own and team's effectiveness and counter enemy psyker's attempts to do the same.
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| No those aren't man-boobs, they're massive bells :-) |
Kekar Kanj, Kroot Mercenary (1 Energy @ 44 Credits)
The Kroot are a mercenary race typically associated with the Tau, but as everyone knows, mercenaries only care about one thing: Credits. Kekar is no different.
CQ 4 RAT 3 DEF 3 ARM Light SIZE Small
Pulse Rifle (Fantasy Ranged + High Impact Rounds)
Bayonet (Great + Blade)
Bayonet (Great + Blade)
Armed with the fearsome pulse rifle (Fantasy Ranged), Kenkar can special fire plasma rounds (High Impact Rounds) capable of staggering even heavily armoured targets. The end of the rifle also sports a cruel series of blades that he can wield (Great + Blade @ CQ 4) with great effect.
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| Presently I've got four game-ready Kroot, all thanks to my mate Brendan I merely (quickly) based them and finished off a few details. |
Recently I took Tylo and his dysfunctional family to Axes & Ales, a newly formed gaming club located just around the corner from my place and ran two games of R40k.
The first game was a straight-forward Patrol game, where I introduced the Rogue Planet rules to one of the players - it was his first Rogue Planet experience so we took about an hour playing through a Cultist vs Imperial Guard engagement. Each Turn I introduced new and additional mechanics so that by the end of the hour, the basics of the gameplay were understood by all and we could try something with a little depth.
There's a fan-created W40K derivative called 'In The Emperor's Name' (ITEN) which has lots of depth and many dedicated contributors. Amongst the many resources they've developed and published is Campaigns 2.0, which is absolutely marvellous. Published way back in 2011 its' two-dozen pages provide great details that can readily be adapted to run a series of Inquisitor-related skirmishes. Included in the pack are four discrete mission types (Investigation, Breakthrough, Defeat, and Endgame) of random scenarios comprising of maybe a dozen in total, along with adversary generators, victory points, reinforcements and reconnaissance. Highly recommended.
We played No Stone Unturned, an Investigation mission, requiring the team to search an area, looking for evidence in aid of their investigation. Each search holds the chance of delivering a vital clue (Objective Point) else coincides with the arrival of enemy forces. The Team needs to balance the pressure of completing their search with the threat of discovery all while ensuring they aren't torn to pieces and thereby unnecessarily jeopardise future missions.
I used shipping containers that were accessible from (mostly) one end. As they were searched (requiring the expenditure of an Action Point, but no skill check) I'd roll a d6 and on 1-4, place that many enemies just out of LOS, otherwise award an Objective - pretty easily done when you've got a Game Master on hand to regulate play. I pitted the Inquisitorial Team against a motley collection of Cultists, 'fallen' members of the PDF and even a Tactical Space Marine - yes, the Arch Enemy no less! I was intending to have the players use my Eldar, however, the Eldar loadouts are a little more specialised and therefore less forgiving for new Rogue Planet players, so it was Chaos instead.
So what were some of the highlights?
Tylo wasted no time and led the charge. His Power Fist proved well suited to the environment allowing him to pick-up and throw a Cultist into one of his allies, meaning that the Cultists Heavy Stubber was unable to target the Team. But being on point, even with a high defensive trait, meant he took the brunt of huge volumes of inaccurate autogun fire, costing him vital energy points and leaving the Team unnecessarily exposed. It's worth noting that being the Leader, he did benefit from the Resilience trait which limited the amount of damage he could be dealt in a single attack and (as we play it) protected him from Critical Hit 'instant kills' that are the bane of lightly armoured units.
Petrusch's efforts to scale the water tower in the middle of the area were for naught, he ended up failing his skill check and slipped and fell. Witnessing such slip-ups had a detrimental effect upon the Team's moral (reflected by a deduction of Energy Points from their Energy Pool) and wisely Tylo instructed Petrusch to stick to the ground and focus on providing covering fire whilst the Team searched the area.
Yana's and Petrusch were able to cut down the Chaos rabble in huge numbers, which allowed Tylo to beat a hasty retreat to a less exposed position and prepare the way for what was to prove to be a problematic withdrawal. Petrusch's Hotshot Laser proved particularly effective, giving him just the edge he required to send countless adversaries to an early, blistering grave.
Once the last of the containers were searched Tylo ordered a full retreat back to their extraction zone. Outnumbered 2-to-1, the Imperials were under constant fire and were forced to improvise. Levi "Bells" Jingst channelled the power of the warp and opened a gate allowing him to safely cross an otherwise exposed fire-lane - a very clever move that I didn't see coming and was the highlight of the game as far as I was concerned!
But alas, not everything went Tylo's way: Petrusch Garssener eventually succumbed to the barrage of fire and the Team didn't have the opportunity nor reserves to rescue him, and had to leave him in the clutches of the ruinous powers' mortal servants.
That game, which took about an hour, nicely left the gates open for another follow-up game in a week or two's time and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Maybe a prisoner exchange or straight-up rescue... I could even go further and have the Team track down an informant or guide to assist them in their quest... hmmm, ideas are brewing.
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