Hi everyone, fairly new member/gm here, so before I encounter any problems I'm going to try and be preemptive and ask few questions.

The big one is special rules for boarding. The Arch-Militant got a suit of heavy power armor (rolled a 2 on the aquisition test in the first major port they landed in), and he also got his hands on a mining shuttle and is planning on using one of the smaller man-portable minning drills to breach bulkheads. Also, flamer.

Anyway, I was wondering what, if any, bonuses I should give to him while performing hit and run attacks.

Second boarding question is about the main rival Trader I've put together for them. For one reason or another, I really want him to heavily utilize Ogryns, especially in, you guessed it, boarding actions.

So, this question is about any special rules regarding different kinds of strike teams. Murder-Servitors are obviously very effective, but I'd have to imagine that a bunch of carapace clad Ogryns wielding heavy stubbers, shotcannons, and refurbished ripper guns would also be dangerous, although obviously you would not be able to pick which critical hit you get like you can with the servitors.

So, in short, I'm just looking for help with expanded ship-to-ship hit and run rules. Of course, these could easily already exist, but oh well.

The big one is special rules for boarding. The Arch-Militant got a suit of heavy power armor (rolled a 2 on the aquisition test in the first major port they landed in), and he also got his hands on a mining shuttle and is planning on using one of the smaller man-portable minning drills to breach bulkheads. Also, flamer.

Anyway, I was wondering what, if any, bonuses I should give to him while performing hit and run attacks.

That and 30 armed guys and I'd allow him to actually make hit-and-run actions

Second boarding question is about the main rival Trader I've put together for them. For one reason or another, I really want him to heavily utilize Ogryns, especially in, you guessed it, boarding actions.

So, this question is about any special rules regarding different kinds of strike teams. Murder-Servitors are obviously very effective, but I'd have to imagine that a bunch of carapace clad Ogryns wielding heavy stubbers, shotcannons, and refurbished ripper guns would also be dangerous, although obviously you would not be able to pick which critical hit you get like you can with the servitors.

The system isn't really that fine grained, but as a GM you could simply decide to arbitrarily give him eg. a +10 to boarding actions when using the Ogryns. As I recall that's about the same bonus as orks get for being orks, and plentiful.

Hit-and-runs are weird, and as written they are conducted by small groups of about 30 people boarding a vessel at a key intersection, blowing up the first thing they can find and running for it. Even over a period of about half an hour, that's still an incredibly short amount of time to fight your way past the crew that find you, plant charges and leave.

What I've done is turn it into a quick session with the Explorator in charge of the section he's fighting, or a particularly tough security guard or some mini-boss to throw at your arch-militant while the other boarders keep people off his back. If he manages to kill the mini-boss fast enough, or in a suitably impressive way (or both) then inflict extra morale damage to the enemy vessel as word spreads of the demon that boarded their ship to strike them down with their terrible vengeance.

That and 30 armed guys and I'd allow him to actually make hit-and-run actions

The system isn't really that fine grained, but as a GM you could simply decide to arbitrarily give him eg. a +10 to boarding actions when using the Ogryns. As I recall that's about the same bonus as orks get for being orks, and plentiful.

I think this guy's got it. A boarding action isn't really something you can do by yourself - personally, I've always imagined it as everyone and the shuttle they came in providing covering fire while I bunch of especially suicidal armsmen scream "banzai" at the top of their lungs and bum-rush the closest expensive-looking piece of equipment with home-made explosives. That aside, I don't think a mining vehicle is anything like a quadruple-melta-breacher'd, admamantium-plated actual boarding vehicle (that might actually give you a bonus - though I still wouldn't give one), anyway.

As for the ogryns, if they were sufficiently numerous, well equipped and hard-bought, I think I would let them count as a Storm Trooper Detachment (of whatever quality you think they deserve). I really prefer to allow counts-as uses of new and exotic things in general - it prevents excessive stacking and requires a lot less homebrewing and on-the-spot decision making. Also, storm troopers are silly and Rogue Traders should be able to use something cooler without losing the opportunity for that delicious bonus.

I agree with Tenebrae and Magellan. A Hit and Run is a quick strike by a small team to set off a bunch of melta charges (or some other destructive device) and get out before the ship's defenders overwhelm them. Your PC having power armor protects him, but doesn't really effect the rest of the boarding team. Melta-cutters and Meltaguns are pretty standard boarding equipment as well. Mining shuttles or Guncutters are pretty much the standard shuttles for boarding actions too. So far, it simply sounds like a normal boarding party. If you want the standard for a boarding party that actually gives a bonus, look up Storm Trooper Detatchment. That is 30 or so experienced troops in carapace armor with hellguns and meltaguns and lots of training. Anything less, and there shouldn't be a bonus.

As for ogryns, I suggest using the same idea. The ogryns you describe (led by someone compenant) would probably quality as equal to a Storm Trooper Detatchment. My Explorator is creating an elite Classari unit for the same purpose. They are veteran skitarii with Dragon Scale power armor, Plasma and Melta weapons, lots of enhancements, and a variety of special purpose weapons depending on the opponent and job. That is going to count as a Good Quality Storm Trooper Detatchment. A bunch of Freebooters with some real flash gear might count as one as well. I would allow the players to flesh out something cool, but the effect and cost would be the Storm Trooper Detatchment. It lets them get what they want, without making it a big headache for you.

Okay, thanks, that helps a lot. I like the idea of ogryns giving same bonus as storm troopers, so I'll just use that.

I see your point with the power armor, so I think I'll just make him slightly more survivable if he drastically fails a command or pilot test. I'll work in a few situations where he can cut through bulkheads and barricades dirtside or something, just so he can feel like it was worth the purchase.

Also, been giving it some thought, and would being outfitted as a mining facility (ITS) allow you to cause slight damage to enemy ships or cut apart wrecks? Obviously, even if they could, it wouldn't be as effective as actual attack squadrons or a specialized salvage ship.

Since we're talking about it, I've been working on actual stats for a mining shuttle, because my Militant is very slightly stupid, and might, at some point, use the mining shuttle to attack something.

type spacecraft

tactical speed 20m / 22AUs

cruising speed 1700 / 5VUs

manoeuvrability -25

structural integrity 45

armour front: 32, sides: 24, rear: 20

size massive

crew pilot, copilot, drill operator

carrying capacity 12 additional crew, 25 metric tonnes

the weapons would obviously be identical to the one on the Hephaestus crawler, although probably only 1 or 2 of each. Also, the ship would have 12 mining voidsuits armored against rock shrapnel with an integral MP mining drill (1d10+6, pen 5, tearing, unwieldy, -10 to hit targets < average)

The weapon is gonna be identical to the Hephaestus crawler's? Is this ship going to be as large as one of those - because in that case, I feel like you've lowballed the carrying capacity something fierce. The Hephaestus can carry 20 additional crew, 750 tonnes of processed ore, and one Massive vehicle or two Hulking vehicles. It's on a completely different scale to most vehicles, despite the fact that the size range stops at Massive in the Rogue Trader system.

The big one is special rules for boarding. The Arch-Militant got a suit of heavy power armor (rolled a 2 on the aquisition test in the first major port they landed in), and he also got his hands on a mining shuttle and is planning on using one of the smaller man-portable minning drills to breach bulkheads. Also, flamer.

Anyway, I was wondering what, if any, bonuses I should give to him while performing hit and run attacks.

Really, the trick is to understand (and wrap one's head around) that a mile-long battle cathedral, with crew numbering in the tens of thousands, armoured to ignore lascanons and armed with canons that can destroy anything in a 1 km radius circle around the impact is a small ship in this game. A frigate in this example.

One guy in power armour isn't going to matter that much.

Better character survivability is fine. Note that your shuttle still isn't as good as a single Shark Attack Craft at getting boarders on the enemy ship quickly. Hit and Run actions are very time sensitive. Even elite soldiers can't hope to survive if the defenders have time to swarm them.

The weapon is gonna be identical to the Hephaestus crawler's? Is this ship going to be as large as one of those - because in that case, I feel like you've lowballed the carrying capacity something fierce. The Hephaestus can carry 20 additional crew, 750 tonnes of processed ore, and one Massive vehicle or two Hulking vehicles. It's on a completely different scale to most vehicles, despite the fact that the size range stops at Massive in the Rogue Trader system.

That seems like an odd assumption to make. I am completely aware that the Hepheastus is ginormogantuan, hence the 25 tonne load limit. It just uses the same mining tools that it's big brother does.

I mean, it's not like the Hepheastus Crawler has massive weaponry. Let's actually take a look at it's mining instruments rather than focus on the size of the vehicle itself.

ft's got a mining laser that deals less damage than an MP lascannon and has 1/3 the range

It has digging arms that have two more pen than servo claws.

And it has a big ass drill that deals 1d10 damage and 3 penetration more than a siege augur, which are given to servitors, and occasionally grafted onto a Space Marine's arm.

All in all, these tools aren't really all that out of place on a dozen-man mining shuttle. The Hepheastus doesn't use weapons that scale to it's size. It just has enough smaller ones for 20 guys to use.

Oh no, that was just a question, pointing out the difference in scale just in case you had missed it. While I don't necessarily agree with your reasoning (and given that the Hephaestus lists *one* mining drill, I definitely don't agree with your assumptions), I'm not going to tell you what you can and cannot allow in your games.