Inquisitor Athena: Mission 1

[Legiocustodes]

So I finally decided to start my Inquisition campaign off this week and my opponent for this venture will be my highly dedicated girlfriend who will be taking command of the Inquisitorial forces in the sector whilst I will be fielding....everyone else!

We will be using a variety of rule sets from a number of epochs throughout the campaign depending on each scenario's size and objectives but for our inaugural skirmish I returned to my roots and used pure Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader rules (c. 1987) as these are great for skirmishes... and I love them.

To make the game more narrative driven (like the good old RPGs RT was based on) I spent time and effort preparing a detailed handout/mission brief for my partner that explained the situation, her forces and her mission in detail, it is quite a long document which can be read in full here: http://classicastartes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/rogue-trader-inquisitor-athena-rides.html however the gist of it is that Inquisitor Athena (our main protagonist) has been called to the world of Logan's Bluff to investigate the rise of powerful cult which recently seems to arming its brethren. At her command is a small force of Storm Troopers and her own innate abilities, additionally on the planet there is an Inquisitorial Agent that requires rescuing.

The full battle report can be read here: http://classicastartes.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/rogue-trader-inquisitor-athena-rides_14.html but the following is a quick precis.

Initially the Inquisitor doesn't know the nature of her opposition, however on deployment it becomes clear that her adversary is none other than a Genestealer cult, commanded by a Magus and a number of later generation hybrids.



The bulk of the enemy force is made up of lightly armed and poorly trained brood-brothers who have holed themselves up in the ruins of an old monastery.



The Inquisitor and her retinue make planet fall and immediately move on the enemy site, the Inquisitor uses her prodigious psychic powers to cast a forcefield (represented by the brush-bristle protector on her base). This is the first time I have really used RT psychic rules and I have to say they are really good, the psi-points system is very intuitive and easy to manage, far superior to the systems found in newer versions of the rules, additionally while these powers can give you the edge they are never too potent!



With no armour the brood brothers start to take casualties across the length and breadth of the battlefield as highly focused bursts of Imperial las-fire slaughter them.



With the genestealer brood suppressed the Inquisitor wastes no time in advancing across the table towards her foe where she can bring her powerful close combat skills to bear against them.

Throughout the engagement there are a lot of tense moments that change the tides of victory, these range from a lucky burst of autogun fire slaughtering an entire squad of Storm Troopers, or my personal favourite... the Inquisitor successfully casting the 'Change Allegiance' psychic power which caused my heavy stubber gunner to change sides midway through the battle. However he was swiftly butchered by his former comrades in a horrific display of fratricide.



The good news is that the Inquisitor was able to save her operative fairly early on (shown above in the ornate armour with boltguns) and he was able to augment her forces with his impressive abilities.



Additionally the battlefield was littered with supply drops which the Inquisitor could access if her troops got close enough, usually these contained weapons upgrades for her squad (i.e. a flamer), though on occasion other more useful items could be uncovered...such as this combat robot that joined her force!



In the end the Inquisitor was able to defeat her foes in a final show-down in their base, though the Magus escaped off the table and her agent was severely wounded. Despite this she was able to access the enemy computer held at the base and after a successful Intelligence Test acquire enough information to allow her mission to continue......

[Amonglions]

Great post, thanks for putting this up.

I'm a huge fan of the old Rogue Trader rules. A few years back I started using Rogue Trader again for a few encounters and just loved it. I think though, you need to really have the right mindset or it just doesn't work. It's proven hard to find a group in Ontario, who like the system as much as the guys I was gaming with in Vancouver, but I digress.

Really liked the extra pictures on your blog, I'm a huge fan of the Gothic Style terrain too. Cracking blog by the way. Also, love those Genestealer Hybrids, I have never been able to track down those metal hybrids, I only have a few of the plastic ones.

Cheers!

[Legiocustodes]

Cheers for the kind words mate! I completely agree, I have really fallen in love with Rogue Trader again after a hiatus focused mainly on WH40k second edition games. You're spot on, you have to be playing with people who get the story-driven, narrative drive behind the game...If you try and play it with a competitive or tournament mindset then things can go wrong very quickly as it is quite unbalanced. Luckily I love the RPG style and so does my gaming group so we get on okay with it. If you're ever in the UK I'll give you a game!

Yeah, those metal hybrids were a b*tch to track down and in the end I paid over the odds for them...but heh, it was a treat to myself. They do creep up on ebay every so often but they can be expensive. I'm glad you liked the terrain.

And thanks reference the blog, I'm pleased you enjoyed it.