"What Imperial Assets are in the area Brother-Captain? By that I mean will we have any Astartes or Imperial Guard assets to call upon? Have the Tau been contacted to know that we are operating against this splinter group or are we staying quite? Finally what visual aid will we have to determine if the Tau we are indeed engaging are from this splinter group? I don't want the Lord Commanders Peace Treaty to get shot to pieces."

OOC- I will take a clip of Kraken Rounds as my Free mag and another with Requisition. Also taking a Stummer, a Camoline Cloak, and a Red-Dot Sight. (50/50).

Edit: OOC-Who is Squad Leader this time around?

IC- "Has this group attempted to gain a foothold within the civilian population? How have the local authirities responded to this threat?"

OOC - I'll requisition the following:

Deadlock - 10

Restraints - 10

Pict recorder - 5

Data slate - 5

Locus seeker - 30

Magnoculars - 3

Vox caster - 10

Diagnostor helm - 15 (Edit: after looking through the armory again, I realized this wasn't standard issue)

Total 78/50 which leaves 12 of Pluvius' surplus requisition.

I could be leader since I'm the one with experience in dealing with Tau.

Who will be deciding what Cletian does with his requisition points?

OOC- I should note that we are playing full errata. Kraken rounds = 15 req.

I will handle Cletians req. Shoukd be done tonight.

OOC- I factored the 15 points for the one magazine I have to buy. The second is free because I am a Tactical Marine. And finally because of the Tyrannic War Veteran advanced specialty I also gain a free magazine of Hell Fire rounds as standard issue. Also i am currently uploading all of the player books that I have on digits to a google drive and will share with you guys

Edit: Here is the link

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0By-DMtJnP8VLMGpZSFhBYllRY1E&usp=sharing

Cletian will requisition 1 clip of Kraken rounds, 1 clip of Metal Storm rounds, and Auspex, and a Cartograph. Total Req spent = 47

Any further comments on the Briefing?

Missed a few answers to earlier questions-

"There are currently no Imperial assets in the deployment area, only the listening post. The Lord Commanders peace treaty is of little concern. Any Tau in the Andronicus system, if sanctioned by their government, is a violation of the treaty. And there have not yet been ambassadors attached to the Spear yet. They seem to focus much more on bold lightning strikes and less on peaceful subversion."

OOC - Thanks Davin, all I had to work with was the core rule book. The extra squad mode abilities from Rites of Battle and Honor the chapter will be nice to have available.

IC - "What has the Spear targeted thus far with their attacks? Are there any predicted locations where they might strike next?"

"Attacks thus far have been military targetd - patrols in large majority. They have alao attacked a supply convoy, as well as a lightning strike against a lightly defended military outpost. There has not yet been a discernable pattern, but Emperor willing the listening post sheds some light on the issue."

OOC - I think we have all the info we need. Are the rest of you ready to move on?

OOC- Lets go kill some short grey things.

Ok. Squad leader, make your oath.

OOC - so am I going to be squad leader? If so I'll pick Oath of Knowledge with +10 WS/BS against Tau. Also, how do you traditionally handle leader selection/oath taking from a role playing standpoint? My previous group just kind of declared them and got straight to the mission.

OOC- pick a leader, and at the very least tell me the oath. If you want to roleplay making the oath?

, mores the better.

As a note- until combat I will not be very proactive with Cletian. If you want him to do something (use a skill or power, for example) you need to ask him to.

OOC- I will assume that your above declaration of Oath of Knowledge suffices you, Shadow.

==MISSION 01==

The Hunter's Vigil swung close to Andronicus 3, just outside the orbit of its moon. From there, the strike cruiser launched a thunderhawk gunship bearing the newly made Kill Team. It was intended to be their transport to the planet and back off the surface.

The gunship travelled at a high rate of speed, blazing into the upper atmosphere like some kind of mythological firebird as the heat of entry made the ship's ceramite plates glow brilliantly. Everything was going absolutely perfectly, until the pilot called out an alert.

"Brothers! I have a contact on a collision course! Brace!" The Thunderhawk pilot called, warning his passengers of upcoming evasive maneuvers. In moments the pilot delivered another report. "Contact confirmed as a Tau Manta-class dropship. They are closing into weapons range. Missiles armed!"

The thunderhawk rocked violently as the pilot struggled to bring it into an advantageous combat heading. Blue light streaked past as the Manta discharged the first of its heavy rail shots.

Continuation-

"Brace!" The pilot yelled. It seemed that was the extent of his vocabulary for the past few minutes as he tried valiantly to keep the thunderhawk clear of the mantas firing lines. He was clearly a talented pilot.

Missiles fired, payloads riding on streams of smoke and exhaust as the gunner discharged another set of missiles at the manta. In response another double lance of blue light leapt toward the thunderhawk.

"Crash positions!" The pilot yelled as the rail shot tore through the thinderhawks wing. "I will try to put it down as close to your objective as possible. Emergency beacon activated!"

The ground rushed closer. The manta stayed above, observing the crash.

With a bone jarring smash, the thunderhawk hit the jungle canopy and shattered its way through...

OOC- you made it to the planet. Time to climb from the weeckage.

Pluvius releases the hatches and steps outside, moving in such a way as to assume he will be shot at. He begins scanning the surrounding landscape for any possible insurgents or angry wildlife and generally pointing his heavy bolter at everything. He especially scans whatever visible sky there is in an attempt to locate the Manta.

If all appears safe Pluvius will tap his glove on the wall of the Thunderhawk, signaling an all clear.

Pluvius looks up; the manta is skimming about 500m up. It isnt training weapons on the wreckage, but he sees 8 shapes - battlesuits - deploy and head for the surface. You have a few minutes until they land.

Cornelius checks over his team and the crew, making sure everyone crashed safely.

(Assuming Pluvius passes on the information about the battle suits)

"Everyone into the forest. I want to be long gone by the time those battle suits touch down. We march single file. Guardsmen, salvage what you can in the next few seconds, then follow us and try to cover our trail. Pluvius, once we're a safe distance away, put a bolt in the fuel tank."

OOC- assume the crew of the thunderhawk are all dead- only the Kill Team survives the crash.

IC- Cletian nods. "Well spoken, Brother." He exits the thunderhawk and pulls out his cartograph.

Claudius claims out of the wreckage and falls in at the rear of the formation. His Camo-cloak pulled around him and his bolter at the ready.

"Brother-sergeant, " Cletian says, studying his cartograph, "we are appriximately 2 kilometers from the listening post, that direction."

Anyone may make a Forbidden Lore: Xenos test to try and guess the Tau strategy.

I rolled a 30 on the lore check.

OOC - Do the Tau have detection equipment capable of seeing us coming with enough time to mobilize a manta with battle suits or do they have spies? If they have spies, who would have had access to information on our travel arrangements? Do I need to roll again to have any of these questions answered? If so - 28

The most likely strategy is that they will attempt to drive you into an ambush, either by splitting forces or by dropping more troops elsewhere.

They do have detection equipment, but a spy is unlikely. The manta attack could have been an attack of opportunity, as they could have been moving the troops or preparing an attack somewhere else.

As per orders, Pluvius trashes the Thunderhawk when the team begins to move out. Keeping his eye open for signs of infrastructure, "how lucky would it be if we impacted right on an encampment"

Cornelius leads the way through the jungle in the direction indicated by Cletian, regularly checking the alternate sensory settings on his diagnostor helm (counts as preysenses) for any signs of danger. He tries to keep the team on a course through foliage thin enough that they can move at a reasonable pace, but thick enough to hide them from aerial surveillance and hinder any battle suits that may attempt to follow or intercept the team.