Alpharius wrote:H.B.M.C. - high ranking Ordo Xenos Inquisitor?

Or foul, lie-spewing Xenos sympathizer?

Greetings, Deathwatch Fans!

This week I’d like to take a short break from talking about Space Marine Chapters and instead talk about the Jericho Reach, a war-torn region of space that is the setting for Deathwatch. During the development of “Project Iceberg” (the codename for Deathwatch), one thing I was very interested in was providing an opportunity for Space Marines of the Deathwatch to face some truly iconic and classic foes. This meant we could set Deathwatch in a completely different region of space than the Calixis Sector or the Koronus Expanse.

Welcome to the Eastern Fringe

The Jericho Reach lies far on the Eastern Fringe of the Imperium, a place that has been all but forgotten but now lies at the center of an Imperial Crusade to reconquer its territory...for within the Jericho Reach lies a singular prize; an ancient and mysterious warp gate that links it to the other side of the galaxy.



Author John French explains some of the themes and ideas behind the Jericho Reach:

Against a bloody background

One of the first things that was decided about the Jericho Reach (named by a certain Mr. Andy Hoare) was that it was going to be dominated by war and conflict. Deathwatch is, after all, a game about the Adeptus Astartes, the Emperor’s finest warriors and so we needed a war; a big one. We envisaged a portion of space swarming with the enemies of mankind, where forces clashed in every environment and circumstance imaginable.

How we would make the Jericho Reach a suitably war torn crucible of nightmares was answered by the first piece of development direction we were given: we would plough a Imperial Crusade into it. With this key point settled it followed that we would view the ‘Reach’ from the point of view of the Imperial Crusade forces: its topography would be made up of salients and war zones, its notable figures would be war leaders and heroes, and where the forces of the Crusade have yet to extend are its places of mystery and possibility.

This Imperial campaign became known as the Achillus Crusade. Once named, the Achillus Crusade quickly began to gather ideas and possibilities to it. Many of these early ideas fought their way to the front and became part of the Jericho Reach as it is revealed in Deathwatch, some perished in fire, and still others buried themselves in shadows and waited for a future time to be revealed. Here are some that made it:

A War of Reconquest

It was decided early on that the Jericho Reach had once been part of the Imperium; the Jericho Sector in fact. It was long ago abandoned to darkness, and the enemies of mankind took it for their own. We wanted to create a deliberate sense that the Imperium was returning to an area it had once known, but that had changed greatly over the intervening years and made less than it once was. One of the ways we engendered this feeling was to create worlds still inhabited by human populations that had successfully survived the isolation from the Imperium. Some remained loyal, but others had long ago been corrupted and now were entirely resistant to this Imperial reconquest.

The Three Salients

Rather than dividing up the Jericho Reach into sub-sectors, or similar regions, it is divided between the Crusade's main staging zone (known as the Iron Collar) and the three primary salients of advance through the Reach.

We wanted each salient to have a character of its own, with each facing a different dominant foe and set of circumstances. Each part of the Crusade has different character and plot threads woven into its background, making them more like sub-settings in their own right. The Canis Salient is the oldest and largest group of warzones and has clashed head on with the forces of Tau Expansion in a battle between two forces of conquest competing for resources and territory. The Acheros salient is characterised by a bloody war of attrition against the forces of Chaos which have encysted in the central worlds of the Jericho Reach. The Orpheus salient has become fragmented, its lines of communication and support overextended; all of which have made matters infinitely worse when a Tyranid hive fleet hit it in the flank.

Ancient Duties and Divided Agendas

The Deathwatch have their own agendas and keep their own council. The Achillus Crusade may be the cause for war on a massive scale, but it is not the reason that the Deathwatch are in the Jericho Reach. Nor do the Deathwatch answer to the command of the Crusade; they may aide the Crusade forces when the agendas of both coincide, but do not function as not part of the Crusade war machine. Most of the Imperial units outside of the senior Crusade commanders do not even know what the Deathwatch are, let alone that they have any presence in the Jericho Reach.

We divided the power and agendas in this way so that the Deathwatch player characters could potentially go anywhere in the Jericho Reach, fight as part of any conflict, and still follow their own narrative rather than that of the Crusade. The roleplay possibilities of conflicts between the Crusade command and the Deathwatch were also too good of an opportunity to pass up.

This divide between the Achillus Crusade and the Deathwatch also helped us emphasise the nature of the Deathwatch in this setting: they serve a higher purpose as watchmen who guard against enemies and possibilities even greater than those the Crusade must face. There is something alien and strange about the Jericho Reach; something dark, foul and perhaps even sinister. After all, the Deathwatch are here—and there must be a good reason for that.

I could tell you more, sharing what I know of the Omega Vault and the unfolding pattern that leads into a darker future. I would, but at my back I sense the Master of the Vigil drawing near, and the cold gaze of the secret keepers and so I must say nothing more.

Forward, Battle-Brothers!

Stay tuned for more revelations and more about the Space Marine Chapters in my next Deathwatch Designer diary!

We wanted each salient to have a character of its own, with each facing a different dominant foe and set of circumstances. Each part of the Crusade has different character and plot threads woven into its background, making them more like sub-settings in their own right. The Canis Salient is the oldest and largest group of warzones and has clashed head on with the forces of Tau Expansion in a battle between two forces of conquest competing for resources and territory. The Acheros salient is characterised by a bloody war of attrition against the forces of Chaos which have encysted in the central worlds of the Jericho Reach. The Orpheus salient has become fragmented, its lines of communication and support overextended; all of which have made matters infinitely worse when a Tyranid hive fleet hit it in the flank.

H.B.M.C. wrote:I can picture our first encounter already:


Part One - Slaughterhouse

As the players enter this section, read or paraphrase the following text:

As your squad pushes past the large metallic door you find yourselves confronted by an appalling sight - dozens of foul blue-skinned Xenos sit before you, their pathetic frail forms a blemish upon His Galaxy. You ascertain quite quickly that it is a Tau nursery, filled with infant Tau children.

You ready your Bolters, and begin the purge...

BrookM wrote:Time to start working on good derogatory slang for the Tau then.

BrookM wrote:You got a sick sense of humour, H'.

Greetings, Dark Heresy fans!

One thing that I really enjoy about my position at Fantasy Flight Games is how everything comes together to create a great product like Ascension. I would particularly like to single out the Editors, Playtesters, and Proofreaders that make our books (and especially Ascension) so great. It’s thanks to them that we’ve had some great successes.

On Ascension, I would like to take this opportunity to give a “shout-out” to Leigh Anne Gross, our trusty editor; Jay Little, Thaadd Powell, James Savage and Paul Tucker, mighty proofreaders all; and the host of playtesting groups (six in total) who all contributed to Ascension’s triumph. Thanks to all of you!



Ascension Character Sheet

Even with all the help I mentioned above, no great undertaking ever turns out exactly perfect. In this case, one of the goofs that crept into the book involves the character sheet at the back. Please enjoy the fully corrected Ascension character sheet now available for download on our Dark Heresy support page.

Ascension Character Sheet (PDF, 577 KB)

The Next Step

Next week, I have a special fan-made player handout for the Ascension adventure “The Red Wake.” Until then, may the light of the Golden Throne guide your path!

The Koronus Expanse is a perilous place for all those who dare to venture. However, today the journey becomes a little less dangerous! The Errata for Rogue Trader (pdf, 1.4 MB) is now available on our support page. This is a living document, and will be updated periodically; it currently contains updates for the Core Rulebook, and will eventually include updates and corrections for future Rogue Trader products as needed.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Alpharius wrote:H.B.M.C. - high ranking Ordo Xenos Inquisitor?

Or foul, lie-spewing Xenos sympathizer?

Neither.

I'm a Commissar. Everyone knows that.

Greetings, Deathwatch fans!

Working on Deathwatch was not only a dream come true for a 40K fan like myself, it was also a great opportunity to dig deep into the rich background of the grim darkness of the far future and get well-acquainted with the particular beliefs and traditions of the various Chapters that are involved with the Deathwatch.

During the development of Deathwatch, I knew we would need to make each Chapter feel special and distinct. There are many mechanics built into the game that accomplish this goal, and among them was a decision to create Chapter-specific advance tables. I took a selection of advances and made them available to all Space Marines of that Chapter, regardless of any other factors, and in this way presented an opportunity for that Chapter to be more distinct and different from the others. For example, due to their nature, the Dark Angels have access to certain forbidden lore that most other Chapters do not! Furthermore, each Chapter has access to certain specific abilities—including (but not limited to) Talents—reserved for them alone.

One of the key elements of the Deathwatch RPG is the idea of these different chapters working together as a team to accomplish the most dangerous special missions against unspeakable threats.



Among the many Chapters of Space Marines, few are more iconic and famous than the Dark Angels. Plus, the opportunity to present the age-old rivalry between them and the Space Wolves is simply too awesome not to include! The redoubtable Andy Hoare provides us with a glimpse into this secretive Chapter, below:

The Dark Angels

“Repent, for tomorrow you die!”
–Battle cry of the Dark Angels Chapter

The origins of the Dark Angels Chapter are shrouded in mystery. No records of its beginnings exist, nor is there any mention of the part it played in the Emperor’s Great Crusade. Any reference in the histories of the Imperium to its deeds during the accursed times of the Horus Heresy has been expunged. But yet, a legend persists that at one point the Dark Angels teetered on the very brink of heresy and that an act of the most terrible betrayal discredited all of the Chapter’s feats of valour, leaving an enduring stain upon the Chapter’s honour. Such is their shame that from that time onwards, the Dark Angels have borne the mark of the Unforgiven and must strive for absolution from the sins of millennia past.

Their terrible secret is that during the Horus Heresy, some of their brethren were turned to the side of the traitorous Warmaster Horus. The renegades were defeated in a battle that destroyed the Dark Angels’ home world, Caliban, but many of the traitor Dark Angels survived to be cast through space and time by the intervention of the Chaos Gods. These survivors are known to those few Dark Angels granted knowledge of their existence as The Fallen. In the eyes of the Chapter’s leaders, there is only one way that the Chapter can ever atone for its shame, restoring its honour and trust in the eyes of the Emperor: that is, if all of the Fallen are found and either made to repent, or slain.

The Chapter has been shaped by its dark past and is secretive and monastic in nature, with much time given over to worship and prayer. There are many different levels within the Chapter which individuals may gradually rise through. On attaining each new level, they are granted a little more knowledge of the truth behind the Dark Angels’ origins, but only the highest-ranking members of the Chapter know the terrible, shameful secret of what occurred ten thousand years ago.

Although only the upper echelons of the Chapter are aware of the awful truth of the Dark Angels’ past, even those newly recruited are possessed of a secretive, even introverted nature. The idea that outsiders are not to be trusted is drilled into the recruits from an early stage, and they are tested continuously to ensure their compliance until it becomes second nature. After all, a brother who cannot be entirely trusted to keep the Chapter’s secrets is unlikely to advance through its ranks.



Although the Dark Angels have fought beside all of the branches of the Imperium’s vast military machine, they prefer to stand alone. Many, even brother Astartes, find the Dark Angels aloof and uncommunicative. The Dark Angels, for their part are impatient and unforgiving with strangers who pry into their affairs. In truth, those Dark Angels who are aware of the existence of the Fallen are ever watchful for any sign of their activity, and will abandon whatever mission they are about should they gain any clue that one is nearby. In theory, even a Dark Angel seconded to the Deathwatch could go “off mission” in this manner, although the annals of Watch Fortress Erioch do not relate any such incident taking place.

Despite their Chapter’s tendency towards seclusion, many Dark Angels have served with distinction and honour in the Deathwatch. Their taciturn nature and stubborn refusal to accept anything other than total victory over their foes has served the Deathwatch well, and several noted Watch Commanders are drawn from the Chapter. These keep in close contact with one another, coordinating the efforts of the Deathwatch across entire sectors the Imperium.

Forward, Battle-Brothers!

Join me next week as we reveal the fourth Chapter for the Deathwatch and discuss more about the mechanics of this action-packed roleplaying game!

Ozymandias wrote:Alright, Dark Angels!!

Would a Deathwatch marine wear robes??