Haywire grenade traps, it's never failed me before.

fight fire with fire is my tactic, try running a rouge space marine kill team against them, throw in a seargent with a powerfist, maybe a dev with a big fancy gun of your choice (no melta gun thought thats cheating) then add a sniper and maybe a tactical brother to round out the party, devote the whole bunch to one chaos god and give them according upgrades (blight gernades for nurgle ect.) that should be a difficult encounter espicially if you give those space marines a horde of ex guard to help act as a meat shield, trust me that will work (it should at least cause lacerations). As long as that sergant gets close to one of the players there should be a little red mist left of them, for added fun make it a lightning claw......maybe 2...

Weapons with the "Warp Weapon" trait- they ignore armour. I don't recall seeing stats for Hrud fusils in DW, but they appear in both DH (Radical's Handbook) and RT (I'm not sure if it's the core Rulebook or Into The Storm). 2d10 damage Warp Weapons. Imagine what their equivelant of "heavy" weapons would do! I haven't used Hrud in DW yet, but I plan to at some point in the future: weak, squishy (but uber-stealthy) mercenary aliens, wielding absolutely terrifying weapons should make for an interesting change of pace...

Your players are lucky to have a GM like yerself...sneaky 'n treacherous....nice!  (ANd don't forget that the hrud seem to have an eery effect on local time and space, breaking such things down, accelerating decrepitude, all that niceness...your poor players!)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but as a new GM, I'm hoping to clarify something I read here. As below...

Polaria said:

Those Lordsholm genestealers have listed damage of 2d10 + 12. But they also have a STR bonus of 12... so wouldn't it be 2d10 + 12 + 12 ? Do only Marines get their STR bonus added to melee attacks? Or does the listed damage for the 'stealers already account for the STR bonus?

I apologize for the noob question.

Personally, I take the the "With this system it's my job to try and kill you." approach.  I'm very up front about it with my players and they understand that I'm not going to be really pulling any punches.  That being said, every now and then an encounter will get away from me and be particularly brutal.  Normally I'll try to roleplay the NPC combatants in my head and have an unofficial aggro system in my head to help spread out damage.  (Because apparently all Necron technology is made to kill marines...)

Really, it can become quite easy to kill a marine.  I've had snipers turn heads into mist because accurate is the best thing to use against armor or hordes slowly win the war of attrition in close combat.  I believe I've had four marines die and two seriously maimed, although a couple have been from "I'm gonna be the hero...and shoot into close combat..." But the rest comes from just actually using strategy.  Obviously, if it's a mob of drug-crazed cultists then this doesn't really apply, but you better believe Traitor Marines or Eldar are going to be using terrain and movements to their advantage.  I tend to find that this cuts down on the stupid/heroic moments and makes the clever/heroic moments that much more satisfying.

Grimrace said:

All NPC damage values include Strength Bonus (where relevant) and the effects of talents like Crushing Blow or Mighty Shot where applicable.

- N0-1_H3r3,

Thank you, sir, very very much.

Grimrace:  don't worry about any 'noob' questions - we've all had them, cause the rule books successfully hide a lot of rules within their labyrinthine passages...so ask away!  (and No-1 is a writer for the company; he is quite handy around here, as you have seen...)

Zappiel said:

Thank you, sir. I'm on Day 4 of reading threads on these forums, trying to fill in some holes and my own misunderstandings. I'm learning much.

Until next, for the Emperor.

oh, in that case, keep an eye on AK-73 too:  he seems quite knowledgeable about the system and its foibles, and is generally quite helpful.  For a german.(ouch!  snap!  where'd that come from?)

Charmander said:

This!

 If you are running Final Sanction that is to assume that your space marines are just starting out?  If that is the case then maybe killing them off isn't exactly the right answer.

Rippers (Mark of the Xenos, pg. 48), Horde Mag 30-40. PCs unknowingly walk into the midst of a Ripper Burrow, their weight breaks through the surface layers (falling 2m at most, taking d10+2 Damage [minimal inconvenience] ) and then they are swarmed (possibly surprised) by ravenous Rippers. 

A sprawling Hive is situated along the ridge of a mountainous peak, its outer levels spilling down the mountain slopes. A large, natural basin is filled with waters pumped (by wondrous constructions of the Machine Cult) from an immense underground lake. The water is heated by geothermal springs, and is home to sulfurous microbes that are inimical to Tyranid bio-forms. A few  Ripper carcasses have washed up along the canals of the Hive, and the Kill-Team is sent into the depths to ascertain the extent of the Tyranid infestation.

Trekking along the shores of the underground lake, the Kill-Team notices the ground is brittle, its surface giving way underneath their weighty steps (giving them a +10 to their [upcoming] Awareness Tests). Several of the Kill-Team suddenly fall through into a warren of Ripper burrows (taking d10+2 Damage, ignoring armour), and the Team rolls for Surprise. They are suddenly and savagely set upon by a swarm (Horde Mag 40) of Rippers. They must then make a Cohesion Test against Fear (1). The Rippers get 4 attacks on each nearby Marine, but Rampage means they could hit each Marine up to 3 more times. Being Relentless, the Rippers will shrug off most Damage, weapons with the Flame Quality being better suited to eliminate the threat. Being Overwhelming, the Ripper Horde does an extra d10 Damage while at Mag 20 or higher. Being a Horde, Ripper attacks become Tearing.

4-7 attacks, doing up to 38 points Damage (not including Pen 3) /attack. They're Fearless, so they won't break as their Mag diminishes. You can reduce the Mag by 5, and also have a dozen individual Rippers that are trying to Grapple one or two Marines (this is what I did), effectively eliminating their reprisals for a Round or three.

When the Kill-Team is well and truly surrounded by gnashing, thrashing ankle biters, the remainder of the burrows collapse (more Falling Damage) and deposit them within a maze of twisting tunnels populated by more Rippers (Mag 30-40), 3-4 Raveners, and a Trygon Prime. 

Hudson (from 'Alien'): "Get some! Yeah! Oh, you want some, too?"

Grimrace said:

No need to appologize for 'threadomancy' here- on the WH40KRP Forums, we pride ourselves on dredging up old topics whenever possible!