So I've picked up the beta pdf (finally!) in the last couple of days, and thought I'd run some 'from the ground up' combats and post them here for review - both to check if I've read the rules correctly, and so those of you who haven't had a chance to run anything can see how it plays out.

I pretty much used rules exactly as written for these combats, though there have been some awesome suggestions on these forums that I fully intend to do similar test combats with at some future date. I rolled up characters for these combats following the rules as exactly as I could, and set up the first combat below.

Have fun!

What I’m Testing For

Getting a feel for the combat

How long it takes to look stuff up and flick back and forth

Full Auto vs. Single Shot: Is there an imbalance at low ranks?

Does the Threat Level system work?

Surprise; what impact does it have in this system?

Pushing Psychic Powers; have they nerfed it too much?

The Situation

Our brave Acolytes, Alta Yasta (Forge World/Imperial Guard/Warrior), Kulem Galliach (Hive World/Outcast/Desperado), and Fausta Thesse (Shrine World/Adeptus Astra Telepathica/Mystic) have been investigating rumours of an insidious cult on an otherwise pleasant world. After 2 sessions (and 500xp, putting their total at an even 1000xp) these three have been set upon by three figures, 2 human, 1 noticeably not (2 Strain Initiates and a Necrophage). None of them were Surprised, and in fact this is a carefully set up ambush by the Acolytes to observe their foe’s capabilities.

Alta is on the balcony with her Long Las in cover (Body, both Legs), Kulem has his Auto-Pistols drawn down below, and Fausta has her Laspistol readied. All enemies have their appropriate weapons drawn.

The Combat

The Necrophage has Fear (Cowering), so the first item on the agenda is Fear tests. Alta rolls a 69 (target of 35) and spends a Fate Point to reroll, getting a far more respectable 18. Kulem rolls a 29, target 33, and also succeeds. Fausta has a target of 58 due to Resistance (Fear), which with a 21 she easily passes. Though alarmed by the shambling rotting monstrosity, no-one is cowering. The cultist forces are Surprised, and do not gain the 2AP for reactions the party does.

Initiative is now rolled. Fausta goes first, followed by Kulem, followed by the Necrophage, followed by Alta, with the two Strain Initiates bringing up the rear.

Round 1

Fausta takes a look at the Necrophage and decides it’s clearly the major threat. She decides to risk pushing Smite up by a level to Psy Rating 2, now testing under 38. She also decides to spend a Fate Point to get a +20 bonus on the test, making the target 58. She rolls a 27, thus hitting with both attacks. The Necrophage has received no AP yet and thus cannot Evade. Rolling Psychic Phenomena, she rolls a 6+2 = 8, for Trail of Blight. As there aren’t any plants in the area, she makes her +0 WP Test and doesn’t gain Corruption. Two bolts of bio-electricity arc from her palm towards the shambling figure, striking it in the Right Arm and the Body for 1d10+2E Pen 1 damage each. Fausta rolls 10 damage in total on both, for wound effect 5 on both of them. This gives little to no effect, but does give the Necrophage 2 Wounds. Fausta now has 1AP left, and ends her Turn.

Kulem decides that the Necrophage is under control and instead decides to focus on the punks with the stub pistols. With 1AP of movement he dives behind a crate to take cover behind it (Body, both Legs), and with 2 more AP opens up with one of his Auto-Pistols on the first Strain Initiate. He spends a Fate point to improve his target to 59. He rolls a 34 for 3 hits out of 4, and as the Strain Initiate cannot Evade as he doesn’t have AP yet, it’s straight on to rolling that 1d10I Pen 0 damage. Kulem rolls 6, 7, 5, but as the Strain Initiate’s total Defence Value is 6 he only inflicts 1 Wound. With 1AP remaining, he ends his turn.

It is now the Necrophage. It has Regeneration 1, so it tests Toughness (target 39) and rolls 40, just failing to heal itself. It is within Charge range for Fausta, so it charges the pesky psyker that hurt it, twirling its cleaver for a Melee Attack with 1AP (leaving it with 2AP). The attack automatically has RoA 1, and the Necrophage rolls a 26 for 5 DoS! The Cleaver plunges down with devastating force. Fausta tries to use her remaining AP to Evade – but with only Rank 1, and thus an Agility target of 20, she fails, rolling a 37. The Cleaver plunges into her Right Arm with a meaty thwock, rolling 1d10+4+4R Pen 0 damage. The Necrophage rolls a 7 for a total of 15 damage on the blow. Fausta’s defence value is 6 so she takes a wound and a 9 Rending Limb effect; the strike smashes into the joint, causing a gash and twisting it out of position – the arm is Crippled for 1 Round. Moreover, the Necrophage’s special ability allows it to remove one non-critical wound with a successful melee attack. It now only has 1 wound. With 2AP remaining, it ends its Turn.

Alta can just about see the Necrophage and decides to spend all her AP on Aim/Called Shot/Attack on the Necrophage’s Head. She is now rolling under 55, and decides since the Necrophage is such a pain and she really wants to get rid of it she is also going to Overcharge and spend a Fate Point. She rolls a 28 for a whopping 6DoS. The Necrophage, obviously, tries to Evade, rolling under 40 (due to Alta’s Targeter), but rolling an 81 it fails to shamble aside in time. The Las shot cleanly strikes it in the face. Alta rolls 1d10+10E Pen 0 damage, rolling a Righteous Fury that instantly dispatches the Necrophage (as it is an Elite and a Critical hit automatically kills it). The Necrophage screeches in horrific agony as its head is burnt from its shoulders. It is dead. With this complete, Alta ends her Turn.

The uninjured Strain Initiate decides to take cover behind another crate (Body, Right Leg, Right Arm), giving him a flanking position on Kulem. With his remaining 2AP he fires his Stub Revolver. He has RoA one and rolls a 28 for 3DoS. Kulem attempts an Evade (A) Test with a target of 54 – he rolls 47 for 3DoS with Evasive, enough to just shimmy out of the way of the bullet.

The injured Strain Initiate also gets into cover (Body, Left Leg, Left Arm), but decides to shoot at the injured Fausta instead. He hits with 2Dos with a roll of 34 to her Left Arm and rolls 9+2I Pen 0 damage. This causes a wound an 5+5 = 10 Impact Limb Effect. The bullet slams into her hand at an oblique angle, delivering a stinging blow and causing no other effect. With this, he ends his Turn, and the Round.

Round 2

Fausta is fairly seriously hurt. With 1AP of movement she races behind another crate (Body, Legs) and saves the remaining 3AP for getting out of people’s way. She ends her Turn, and her Right Arm is no longer Crippled.

Kulem is unamused by the attempt to kill him and opens up with a 2AP salvo from his other Auto-Pistol. Again, he spends a Fate Point to gain a +20 bonus to the test. He rolls a 40 for 2DoS, and 2 hits. He rolls two 2s for damage, the bullets failing to impact on the Initiate due to his armour. With one more AP he opens up with the first Auto-Pistol again, using the Desperado bonus and an impressive roll of 4 to gain a whopping 6DoS for both shots. He rolls a 7 and a 10 for damage, instantly dispatching the Cultist thug with a swift headshot. He ends his Turn.

Alta again uses all 4AP for Aim/Called Shot/Attack with the Long Las to the remaining combatant’s head. She hits, and rolls 17 for damage – enough to inflict a 2 ^nd wound on the cultist and kill them.

What this combat showed me:

The Threat Rating system may be underpowered (More Testing Required)

Elites can go from serious threat to dying very quickly due to Sudden Demise

Pushing Psychic Powers is potentially risky (Just like it should be! Finally!)

Spending Fate is very crucial at lower Ranks (Just like it should be!)

No clear imbalance between Full-Auto and Single Shot yet visible

While flicking between tables didn’t become a chore this time, a more visible page reference in the contents might make it faster in the long run

You did a spectacular job writing this up! The only issue I can see (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that those multiple hits from the auto pistol should probably be hitting multiple locations on the the target. Fortunately, they've made the rules on that a lot easier; you just add 2 to the hit location for each subsequent hit). You may have already been doing this and not mentioning it, but I don't think it's possible to get two hits on the same arm without getting 6+ hits total.

My thoughts: this was a pretty good simulation of actual combat, utilizing cover and the various actions. The auto pistol performed pretty on target for its actual probability of damage. It didnt get a Righteous Fury, though, which is the major unbalancing factor for high RoF weapons. The PCs also got fairly lucky on their rolls and initiative, which explains some of how they did so well. It was nice to see that the high damage weapon was able to pretty quickly put a hurting on the psyker. I also like how quickly a righteous fury can knock out even a mid level "boss" type character. Even without the righteous fury rule, that necrophage (already sporting 2 wounds) would have had half of its face melted off and set on fire, so it was already basically done for.

Again, though, great job on this writeup! It's good to see these play examples as a way of having all the moving parts going at once.

You did a spectacular job writing this up! The only issue I can see (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that those multiple hits from the auto pistol should probably be hitting multiple locations on the the target. Fortunately, they've made the rules on that a lot easier; you just add 2 to the hit location for each subsequent hit). You may have already been doing this and not mentioning it, but I don't think it's possible to get two hits on the same arm without getting 6+ hits total.

My thoughts: this was a pretty good simulation of actual combat, utilizing cover and the various actions. The auto pistol performed pretty on target for its actual probability of damage. It didnt get a Righteous Fury, though, which is the major unbalancing factor for high RoF weapons. The PCs also got fairly lucky on their rolls and initiative, which explains some of how they did so well. It was nice to see that the high damage weapon was able to pretty quickly put a hurting on the psyker. I also like how quickly a righteous fury can knock out even a mid level "boss" type character. Even without the righteous fury rule, that necrophage (already sporting 2 wounds) would have had half of its face melted off and set on fire, so it was already basically done for.

Again, though, great job on this writeup! It's good to see these play examples as a way of having all the moving parts going at once.

Thank you! I tried to set it up like a combat I would for my group. Yes, the players did get lucky - I'm running a Rank 4/5ish combat for them now and they're getting their asses kicked! Expect to see it soon.

About the Auto-pistol - I'm not sure what you're referring to? I'm possibly being thick.

There's been a lot of debate on how overpowered the higher RoF weapons are, but at least in the case of the autogun and autopistol, that RoF is balanced by damage that will penetrate an armored target less than half the time, meaning that most of those extra hits wont cause a wound. Overcharged lasguns/pistols are another matter, though...

I think whether you use an overcharged laspistol or an autopistol with dumdum bullets doesn't really make a difference. In fact, the autopistol is probably better by a wide margin, due to its higher RoA and tearing, producing a lot more righteous fury results.

In regards to the OP: Thanks for taking the time and writing this down! I certainly hope you do more of these, they should be very helpful for getting a feeling for balance.