Hi all,

(Possible Spoilers)

I am preparing to run The Apostasy Gambit for my group and of course we are all into 40k itself. Looking at the events of Part III, I thought it would make it even more fun to actually 40k some of the battles and forces it notes. I am just looking for suggestions for forces and battlefields and scenarios that can be used to make this work.

From what I have read there are a myriad of Astra Militarum and Militarum Tempestus on both sides. The Sisters of Battle are present in the Order of the Ebon Chalice for the "Loyalists" as well as the Astartes in the Iron Hands, as wells as the Storm Wardens, being based in Calixis. I can see Imperial Knights siding with both sides, and perhaps some Mechanicus as well for both sides. Clearly with the backgrounds, Chaos Warbands could appear among the "Traitor" forces.

As for battlefields, Fenksworld (Hive Tertiam) is named as is Grangold.

Any/all suggestions welcome. Thanks!

~ alemander

Hmmm interesting. On the Loyalist side, you could really have any of the Armies of the Imperium (Astra Militarum, Sisters of Battle, Space Marines, AdMech, etc.). If these are really large battles, you could even have Knights and Titans in there. Be sure to come up with 40k stats for your PCs so that they can partake in the battle, and maybe come up with the stats for some cool unique ally units as well, like a unit of Adeptus Arbites or a squad of Penal Legionnaires. Lastly, forces of the Inquisition and the Officio Assassinorum could make an appearance.

As for the non-Loyalist side, you could have Chaos Daemons (Tzeentch especially) and Chaos Renegades (renegade Imperial Guard). Be sure to throw in some Rogue Psykers in there, and maybe some Alpha Legion CSMs to stir things up a bit. Is you have a big Tzeentch daemon, you could use that for the Dei-Phage.

I've thought about this possibility. Who would control the actual armies? If it's the players of the PCs, then there would have to be some reason that the PCs are also on the battlefield.

My thought was that the GM and one of his friends from outside the campaign would play the armies, except for the table top incarnations of the PCs, which would of course be controlled by the Players.

Or maybe the PCs can control units in the loyalist army that they are near (or possibly only ones they have joined), and anyone outside their influence reverts to the GM's control.

On that note, the PCs should be Independent Characters, I would think. They need to be able to hide behind squads of guardsmen!

Question: will the PC's be vulnerable? You may want to make stats and rules for them. Also the Apostasy Gambit, if I recall correctly, had a "set in stone" outcome of the final fight. Will you be changing that?

Anyway - very cool idea and it reminds me a lot of WFRP 1/2, where you could've add narrative battle reports to your RPG games. Great stuff!

I did this very thing in my Dark Heresy Campaign, using the Siege of Vraks books from Forge World. As Scarus Sector (where Vraks is located) is adjacent to Calixis Sector, it was easy enough to get the PCs involved in Vraks. One of the Acolytes found himself in a Penal Legion (long story) and was shipped to Vraks to fight and die on the front lines. The rest of the Acolytes went to get him back - but Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex said that he would not allow it until the war on Vraks was won. So the PCs spent several game sessions and 40k battles fighting through the hellish warzone of Vraks until final victory was achieved.

I made up 40k stats for each PC and major NPC, and I played the Vraksian Renegades while the players played their own PCs as well as the Imperial Guard and Space Marine forces involved. Each PC had special abilities based upon their DH characters, two wounds, Independent Character, etc., which made them formidable in the games but not over the top. My group has a large array of scenery, trenches, bunkers, F.A.T. Mats, etc., so we really immersed ourselves in the Siege of Vraks. We recreated several of the final battles in the Vraks book and interspersed it with Dark Heresy sessions where the PCs were infiltrating Laser Defense Silos, clearing the defiled corridors beneath the Priory of the Argent Shroud in the Citadel of Vraks, etc. It was good fun.

The main question for the OP, Alemander (who is a total fool in real life, btw), is "Who will play the 'bad guys' in the 40k battles?" I know personally that Alemander (the GM) has Black Templars and Feanaro (me, a player in the campaign) has hordes of Chaos Renegades, but I'm a PC. Will we swap armies? Will I just be the bad guys in the 40k portions? So many questions!

Yeah, other than the mechanics of the PCs and who is who, it is determining how each victory or loss affects the final outcome. Like Xathrodox 86 said, the final outcome is set in stone IIRC. But I was thinking of adding further difficulties or ease based on the PCs losing battles or winning them respectively, such as the initial start of Chaos Commandment could be extremely more difficult if the PCs lost some of the battles that are played in the "interim" between AG Book 2 and Book 3.

Of course, it might all be moot since my group barely survived the Dei-Phage and they might not make it through Church of the Damned.

~ alemander

Your group sucks!

Except for The Advocate. That dude is awesome.

It's possible to give PC's a few bonuses to their characters/rolls, depending on how well they've managed to fought during those battles. Besides, even if they'd won the battle, the narrative could state that: "altough you've wont the initial engagement, the Archenemy rallied its forces and...". That way A) the players will be rewarded for their effort witht the battle and B) the storyline won't get derailed. Unless you want it to.