I have a Lvl 1 Party that is made out of an Ork freebooter, rouge trade, explorator, and a telekenetic psyker. I had them do a minor drug run and a combat session with some small time crimelords, mostly petty stuff to get them used to the enviorment of the world as they are new to 40k. I want them to truly feel the horror out there, so i went ahead and made them fight some rak'gol they found on a drfiting space hulk. They started getting mauled, but in the end they pulled it through. Im just worried tat i won't be able to make an epic fight with any xenos yet untill they hit level 2, any suggestions? Right now im looking into the kronos bestiary, but i have yet to see anything that they can find to fight that will fell like a challenge without TPKing them. ANy suggestions for some xenos scum they can fight? I would be really appreiciative for some feedback.

What do you mean by a challenge? Just big blobs of hitpoints that they have to wear down? Something that they have to defeat by trickery and guile? I've always maintained that any encounter can be challenging, so long as you use the appropriate tactics. Take Tucker's Kobolds as an example: http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/tuckers-kobolds. They're just kobolds, but they're used in the way utilises their own strengths as a force multiplier.

I used Rak'gol as a level one encounter as well to start the campaign off with a bang but the rak'gol are very tough opponents and honestly a little to strong for level 1 players unless you only pit one against 3 of the PC's. Definately don't use the render or the abomination.

I had a game where the players' ship got attacked by Rak'Gol while they were planet side. Returning to the ship (under fire) they were followed into the hanger by by a boarding vessel full of Rak'gol. To tone down the combat, but keep it epic feeling, I had the Rak'gol start attacking the entire bay, with a swarm of crew and armsmen fighting to control them (well, and running). A single Rak'Gol charged the players so it was 3 vs. 1. The fight went great and the combat still felt "right" even with them ganging up on a single opponent.

So, you could do something similar where the players are part of a larger battle, which you handle abstract. Keep the actual dice-rolling down to the players, and use narrative to describe what is going on around them. Tailor the battle to how the players are doing so it keeps the flow.

Thanks for the feedback! I read tucker's kobolds article and it really made me rethink what i was about to put them through. I had them get put into a deal which would've gotten them huge profit factor, they had to go get some xenos tech off of an abbandond space station. When they got to the core and found the tech, they were ambushed by a rival rouge trader and the spacestation was put into lockdown. The Explorator had to override the lockdown command by communicating with the machine spirit while the other players had to hold of footsoldiers and a few kroot mercs. The PC's rouge trader dueled with the rival rouge trader (chainswords) that got my rouge trader's PC extremely happy and excited for more game sessions. I had them end the session with them jumping away with the xenos tech, a fake deal, and an unknown location. They found it challeging and fun. Thanks again for the feedback!