Hey all,

Ran my first mission as a GM ever, (Extraction from the Core book for sake of convenience) and the session went really well and we all enjoyed ourselves...

So there's that; however, I was a bit put off by a few instances where a character or two were firing against a Tyranid Horde (Massive, Short Range, Full Auto/Semi Burst, Tyrannic War Veteran Bonuses, Armor Bonuses, etc) and even with the maximum +60, they were checking their Ballistic skill against numbers like 90, 95, 100 and 110. Is this common?

In hindsight I could have increased the difficulty by having them fight in fog or smoke, or other factors. What tricks or changes should I make that you recommend so the players aren't falling asleep while their bolters are firing at full tilt?

Thanks!

In my experience thats pretty common, its to be expected, they are space marines firing at a high rate of fire into a large number of individuals at close range, so dont be afraid of lots of hits, each one only takes out 1 magnitude, at early ranks anyway. What I like to do is split hordes up into smaller ones,which makes them harder to hit and subjects the SMs to more hits. Also introducing terrain that heavy weapons teams can hide behind also dilutes SM attention. Leaders in the hordes might give bonuses, but definately make good targets, Some hordes might have some kind of way to hide or shield themselves from some direct fire. Finally, a favorite tactic of mine is to co ordinate ground and air hordes to let each other maximize their advantages, or use decoy hordes that give either specalty hordes or big nasties chances to maneuver beside or behind the SMs for an ugly surprise if they get too complacent on their guns. Good luck!

That sounds great. I just threw a ton of Hormagaunts and Warriors at the group at the end of Extraction, and since it was so late at night, everyone was starting to drag past 2 am, I threw difficulty to the wind and just let them mow down 200+ gaunts from a reinforced position with the help of the Guardsmen they saved earlier. Piece of cake for them. Had it been earlier in the evening I would have thrown some other nasties their way, but was trying to have an 'epic' last stand without dragging it out.

I realize that this isn't Dark Heresy where level 1 scrubs can't hit the broadside of a Warhound, but I was just surprised that the skill bonuses got so high after playing DH so long. 8)

I'll have better laid-out plans next time. *evil grin*