How Rogue Planet Works

Last week I ran an introductory game of Rogue Planet (link) for half a dozen guys at our local game club - I should say brand new local games club because we've relocated to a new venue with easily twice the floorspace and cheaper beers! Win Win!!

We all had a lot of fun (none the least that it has been our first time to game for almost a year!) and I think everyone enjoyed the novelty that is Rogue Planet. Yes, even some die-hard W40Ker's thought it had its merits. I was feeling quite inspired afterwards and thought I could pull together some illustrative diagrams, describing how the game works. Here's my first attempt:

Why a Tactical Marine versus Howling Banshees? I've had it in my head for a long time that I'd like to create a game/scenario that captures a scene from Void Stalker novel (link), where Eldar and Chaos Space Marines battle with the Eldar gaining the upper hand, or do they?

Presently I've two stat lines for Howling Banshees, either as Light (armoured) or a Group (of four Units in a Squad). I find myself warming to them being designated as a Group, which means they'd have slightly more resilience than a Light Unit and importantly, can perform some neat movement tricks by wrapping around the terrain as they move about. The additional cost isn't enormous at +18 points. Here's the Group details:

Some comments on the above stat line:

• Nil Energy sucks however being a Group of four individuals, they can offset damage by removing Units e.g., 2 points of damage would eliminate 2 Banshee from the Group of four.
• Their Melee (CQ) is exceptional, a point better than a Space Marine. Coupled with their Blade, it would increase the differential by a further point except that the Blade designation only provides a +1 buff vs Light (not Space Marine Medium) armour.
• Speaking of their swords, I could have designated it a Power weapon, which would make it quite dangerous. Instead I've opted to provide Banshee with the Long-Strike ability, meaning they can make melee attacks without being base-to-base with their targets and therefore avoiding being 'locked-in' to lengthy combats - kind of fits with how I see them fighting.  
• They are glass cannons however: a Defence (DEF) 2 means a Space Marine could (69% likely) wipe out the Squad with two Shoot Actions, but the inclusion of the (holo?) Shield reduces the likelihood somewhat (52%). I could have upped their DEF to 3 but I wanted to keep to the meta and have the likes of Striking Scorpions and Fire Dragons slightly more durable at DEF 3 and Shields.

What about a Space Marine then? You'll notice at 85 Points, they're a fair bit more expensive than the Banshee Group above. But what do you get? Resilience.

Some comments on the Space Marine's stats:

• 3 Energy is on account of the Medium Armour designation (2 Energy Points) and Power Armour (1 Armour Point). That alone means a single Marine could take three Partially Successful strikes before being dispatched, and that's discounting the Power Armour's Rogue Die effect.
• The Carbine provides a +1 buff versus Lightly armoured targets (the same as a Lasgun) but in the hands of a Space Marine, they're more dangerous (Ranged skill of 4 vs a Guardman's 2 i.e. a +2 differential). 
• Armour piecing rounds means that they can downgrade the target's armour by one level e.g., Medium becomes Light. That doesn't mean much which you're fighting Eldar, but against the likes of Ork Nobs and Chaos Space Marines, it provides the opportunities for one-shot kills.