As my group did not learn of the blind tesseract during damned cities but did lose their psyker to a daemon host event, I am going to run another scenario prior to dead stars. After being left in limbo for at least a year due to their failures (mirror daemon escaped and the creation of a daemon host) they will be sent to a world where another team were investigating the possible location of the daemon host which is now suspected to be in partial rebellion. The team will travel on a troopship which is part of an expeditionary fleet. On arrival they will discover a planet in the middle of full scale war. The basis of the adventure will be to locate the heart of the enemy where they will locate their erstwhile companion. At this point the team will find the answer to their fear that now they need to overcome a daemon host when a grey knight team teleports in, using the team as the target point.

I am going to run this fairly loose depending on how the team plan on reaching the heart of the enemy. What I could do with is a list of encounters to drop in as appropriate, the more cliched the better. Any suggestions?

In case of rebels and the like, have a look at the second part of "The Arastus Affair" over their at http://www.darkreign40k.com/ [well, that site is no longer] . Take a look at the DW freebee "Final Sanction", too. It could proof useful as well. Especially the "first battle" in there show some options that could be used.

I advice to choose a fight in an urban environment for three reason:

1) The present cover makes it believable that a small group could sneak in behind enemy lines
2) The blocked lines of sight and general environment means it will be easier for you to get away with "stumbling from scene to scene", like in the old dungeon days
3) I need some of such encounters myself BY FRIDAY, so we could pool resources here

What I have come up with so far....

[Chimera Wreck]
The pc come across the wreck of a chimera. One of the tracks is blasted (RPG-Krak or Mine, whatever your rebels have) and the rear suffered some hit from an explosion as well, it was bend out of shape. All the other hatches are closed, the main turret is destroyed.

In fact, the rebels managed to cripple the Chimera but were then unable to enter it. They threw in a frag grenade and left the thing where it is now. PC who like to investigate could either try to force the rear hatch open with a Strenght(-40) test and a very solid lever (they may find one in the ruins with a Search test) or one of them could try to wriggle in (Contortionist). If successful, they are welcomed by the mess a dozen guardsmen have been turned into by the frag grenade that exploded inside the chimera (Fear test). If they search the interior successfully, the might find a Blackhammer shotgun and ammo in a box at the ground (under lots of gore) (see IH for the BlackHammer).

****! I have to go to work! More of it later.

[Patrol]
Ask for a hearing-based Awareness test at the beginning of this encounter. (Perhaps +10; harder if heavy fighting is going on in nearby areas, artillery is in use or a thunderstorm is raging above). The PC hear the noise of moving rubble and perhaps some mechanical sounds as something is heading into their direction. They need to quickly decide what to do.

An enemy patrol is coming their way that consists of a number of armed rebels accompanied by a Sentinel with the sight-hatches opened-up wide. The patrol was dispatched onto a Search&Destroy mission, looking for Recon-Teams of the enemy while doing some recon themselves. Tests for Concealment are in order to hide. If the PC succeeded on their Awareness test, they will get a substantial bonus since they had enough time to look for good hideouts. If the characters think they can deal with (number of PC+2) rebels and a sentinel, they can go ahead. A sniper attack on the Sentinel pilot might succeed, but the Pilot should get an Awareness test himself in order to push the button to have the hatches slam shut.

[Round up!]
While the pc sneak past a small market place, they become witness to how citizens are rounded up by the rebels. While they avoid the open space of the market place they may see a trail of citizens and/or captured fighters being pushed along by the rebels at gunpoint. Will the characters risk the whole mission (or their own safety on the return) by an attempt to rescue the captured people (which could justify a Fate Point) or will they accept that sacrifices need to be made? In the latter case, the GM should describe a short but audible gun salvo from multiple automatic weapons as the PC leave the area.

[The fires of war]
The path the PC intended to take leads through a region that was set aflame (by design or as "collateral damage"). The fires are already passe their zenith but it the area is still incredibly hot, filled with smoke there are still nests of fires.

Will the characters cross the area or will they try to go around it (with the possibility of stumlbing into an active combat zone or a profound delay to their mission). If the PC try to push through (I guess it will be about an hour) ask for separate checks for the effects of the smoke and for the heat; both resulting in a level of fatigue if failed (and another one for every one (smoke) or two (heat) levels of failure). This is based on the assumption that the PC will need about an hour to pass the area. The area was likely set aflamed by the equivalent of a Hellhound Tank, firebombs from above or something daemonic. Or a lot of Promethium tanks went BOOM...

[iNCOMING]
If the PC pass a Perception based Awareness test(+0; +10/20 if they are from the Guardsman Career!) they hear the whistle of incoming ordnance. Ask for a Dodge test so they can get some cover against the shrapnel. Then simply describe them what 30 seconds of grenades coming down from the sky actually means. They may be stunned (Toughness test?) or suffer nerve damage (Fear test).

And what is next? Will a group of soldiers charge them through the settling dust? Or will the bombardment will be repeated after a minute?

[into the line of fire]
From afar (at least 100m, perhaps over a rubble field) the PC get under fire from a machine gun emplacement. Ask for pinning tests. From the emplacement, a mortar opens up fire as well. Will the characters be able to get up and run for it before the mortar finally hits its mark? Even without the mortar, this could become a nice "fighting retreat" and a rush to leave the area before an enemy patrol shows up. The one thing that is important about the encounter is that the characters cannot storm the gun emplacement (it would be suicidal) and get into a situation where it is "retreat or die".

Thanks for some great ideas. I totally agree with a urban setting. I am starting to go down the line of a single sprawling hive in rebellion with the loyal army starting some 10 miles from hive edge. The acolytes will have to move in on foot, maybe because of a surprise air attack, maybe just strong air defence. I am thinking that maybe the encounters start mundane but begin to exhibit chaotic influence as they move further into the hive.

Tank formation

The group encounter a strong leman fuss formation which guard character realises is flanking the last loyalists the group encountered. Options range from trying to warn the loyalists to actively intervening

Sniper

Acolytes come across a squad being pinned down by a sniper. Maybe the old cliche that sniper is using a wounded soldier to suck in the rest of the squad.

cannibals

The group encounter a makeshift prison. The prisoners are being slaughtered to feed the rebel army. Do the players act?

Reinforcements

After being ambushed by lesser daemons the acolytes come across a small makeshift fortification. Cultists are holding open a permanent warp portal in order to bring in reinforcements.

A secret weapon

I would love to involve a Titan somehow. Perhaps their is a long forgotten relic of a old war buried in the heart of the hive that the rebels are restoring. Maybe the acolytes come across it partially uncovered.

If the main aim of the PCs is to find the rebel headquarters they could be needing to draw out enemy communications.

Maybe they need to attack at a number of different points in order to force frontline rebels to ask for assistance/orders. Once they've successfully caused 3 communications they can try to triangulate the signals (Tech use test, bonuses or negs depending on how successful their attacks were) to locate the HQ. If they fail they need another attack. But the more attacks the more guardsmen/civilians they are sacrificing. Maybe even say they don't need to go on the attacks themselves but if they don't more innocents die rather than the surgical strikes they are capable of.

I must say I like this idea and may well do it as a way they find out about the Mara in my campaign.

Speaking about cliched, how about chancing upon/discovering a rebel outpost? If it's an urban battleground it isn't that hard to do. Have the mooks chat to pass the time as the PCs come from a direction other than the one(s) the rebels are looking at, so they have a chance to dispatch them quickly or try to capture someone for interrogation. Bonus points if the rebels are making small talk mentioning sweethearts, small kids, looking forward to this all ending, etc. The players have to kill or find ways to interrogate them; so for once make catching the rebels the easy part. This way you can stress just what will happen later.

Chances are, your players are subconsciously thinking they are the good guys. But this is War - no, this is worse, this is Warhammer. The characters are with the freaking Inquisition - one of the darkest, most feared institutions in the Imperium, and they should be well aware that it's not all saving the world and kissing the girl. Power demands sacrifice - will your players sacrifice their innocence and righteousness for the greater good?

I decided to use a similar setup on Friday with my cell. Instead of giving the PCs the Sigilite's Word for the trip to Mara I sent them to a Hive that had just rebelled as suggested above. They have been told that the Imperial Guard have laid seige but are waiting for the go ahead from the Inquisition (the PCs) because the Inquisition want to investigate a possible link to Haarlock.

The Hive actually conceals Haarlock's ship the Spear of Destiny and the Spider Bride (who they killed during Tattered Fates) has been resurrected by her Halo device to take it to Mara for the return. They got up to some stuff on the journey so haven't actually started going in yet but thanks for all the ideas!