Enforcers are equipped with the best technology the Corporation or anyone else has to offer, bar the very top grade of Forgefather weaponry. Their armour is proof against most small arms fire and power-assisted, granting Enforcers enhanced strength and speed. The ubiquitous helmet is designed to inspire fear in the enemy, and a stylised graphic of it is used as a warning icon in government facilities galaxy-wide.
Proof against most hostile environments, including hard vacuum, Enforcer armour allows its wearers to fight in virtually all situations, and so must incorporate extensive recycling, rebreathing and medical technology, a marvel when one considers the armour’s low bulk. This factor of low mass also makes the protection given by Enforcer armour astounding, being surpassed only by that of the armour worn by the Forgefathers themselves.
Indeed, the armour bears all the hallmarks of Forgefather construction, and it is widely assumed that this element of Enforcer wargear is sourced from this most skilled of species. The contracts or threats Corporation Central offered to secure this equipment must have been highly enticing and/or dire, as Enforcer armour is far superior to technology the Forgefathers are willing to market to other powers.
As all advanced Forgefather technology tends to have, Enforcer armour possesses a self-destruction device, intended to keep their secrets from falling into non-Forgefather hands. In the case of the Enforcers it is even more effective than the norm. Not only are all the sensitive components of Enforcer armour destroyed when examination is attempted, but should an Enforcer
fall in battle (or an attempt be made to forcibly remove his armour) his body will be turned to fine ash. A rigidly locked battlesuit of metal plates is all a foe will recover, ensuring the secrets of both the Forgefather’s technology and the man wearing it remain safe.
Unparalleled mobility is a further characteristic of the Enforcers. Lightweight jump packs are mounted upon their armour, enabling them to fly over obstacles, perform hot insertion into a theatre of war directly from aircraft, and redeploy from one area of a battlefield to another once there.
The primary weapon of the Enforcers is a heavy laser assault rifle, a modified Genling 45, one of the most powerful personal armaments produced in corporation space. These guns are capable of projecting a hail of fire, avoiding the problems of overheating and focus-fracture that so dog other marks of laser weaponry.
It is rare indeed to see Genling 45s deployed with any other force, and private ownership is strictly forbidden.
Genling’s manufacture of this weapon is thus almost solely undertaken for the Enforcers, and the precise specifications of these modified 45s are kept strictly confidential, ensured by terrifying non-disclosure agreements and the threat of corporate dissolution for Genling should the design of the Enforcer model become public. Genling also provide pistols and heavy weapons for the Enforcers, derived from the same base technology.
For close quarter fighting, Enforcer officers and members of Enforcer Assault Teams are equipped with wrist blades. Vibrational, nonomolecular edged weapons that extend from a housing on the Enforcer’s right forearm, wristblades are closer in aspect to a sword than a knife, and sharp enough to penetrate anything from carbon lattice to the thick hides of silicon-based lifeforms. How the blades maintain their atom-thick cutting edge without blunting under the rigours of combat, and whence they come, is a mystery.
(It has been suggested, notably by Colonel Gore (ret.), that wristblades are purchased from the same unknown species which provide the Marauders with their Rippers – the similarities are self-evident.)
The Corporation is not well liked.
Within its borders the Corporation projects its image as one of benign overlord, raising backward cultures into the fold of a vast family of equals. Whatever their origins, everyone has a chance to win big if only they work hard and follow the immutable rules of commerce.
Those that live on the fringes of Corporation space have seen a darker side to all this. Massive exploitation of natural resources and uncaring heavy-handedness that brushes aside any that bar the way of profit are more common traits of the Corporation when it comes to those that have no influence in the halls of power.
Here, far away from the civilised hub, the Corporation rules with an iron fist and a cynical sneer. At least, that is the view of the many who oppose them and who band together in the loose confederation known simply as Rebs.
The Rebs are made up of many races, creeds ad cultures, allied only in their hatred of the Corporation.
If that were ever to fall then they would surely fall on each other, but luckily for the coherence of the movement the Corporation will not be toppled easily if at all. Still, that doesn’t mean they won’t try.
Some join the Rebs as individuals or small groups, seeking recompense for the harsh way they have been dealt with. The Corporation interests scour planets of resources with scant regard for the lives or cultures that inhabited them before the survey teams arrived.
Sacred lands and future livelihoods matter not at all when the verdant topsoil hides mineral resources below.
The primitive Kraaw, daubed in their warpaint, fell foul of the Corporation miners. With their sacred lakes despoiled or drained they fell on the Human interlopers only to be driven off with massed gunfire. They learned quickly, and when the Rebs heard of their resistance they quickly moved to harness their fighting spirit and unique physical abilities to their cause.
Teratons have suffered too, as have Yndij, Chulep, Sorak, Rin nomads and countless Humans from all manner of cultures. All band together to fight a common foe, bringing whatever they can to the uneven fight, knowing that they stand little chance of a final victory but doing simply what they know is right.
Another hi-ex round impacted against the habtainer wall, but somehow it held. Fillon prayed that it would stay standing. They were surrounded on three sides, and it wouldn’t be long until they were entirely encircled. Of the Rebs under her command, only four were still capable of anything like a fighting retreat, and Joruk’s Onslaught Cannon had to run dry sooner or later.
Belwin darted around the refrigeration unit he was using for cover and let loose a burst from his rifle. His only reward was the bark of return fire from the enemy position, shots chewing more fist-sized holes through the wall. Fillon barked at him to stop wasting ammo, but she didn’t blame him. If they didn’t do something soon, none of it would matter anyway.
She tried to work out how OTR-9 had been backed into the wreckage of a diner unit. It had been a routine sweep-and-keep, picking the area clean for the good of the cause. Drone visuals had shown no enemy forces, so they hadn’t suspected a thing until the Marauders had opened fire. Turns out the visuals had been wrong.
The east wall exploded inwards, and three Commandos were already charging through the breach by the time she was raising her rifle. Radna looked up from treating Nolan’s ragged chest wound a moment too late; the lead Orx was on him, a heavy dagger plunging through the Judwan’s neck and dropping him instantly. Fillon aligned her sights on the brute’s centre mass but her gun beeped empty as she pulled the trigger. Swearing, she rolled back into cover and yelled an order to Joruk. The Grogan swung around, his cannon’s barrel still spinning, and played a line of bullets across the interior of the habtainer. All three of the attackers were taken down; two threw themselves behind a jumble of wreckage, while the third was almost torn in half by the hail of fire.
“Belwin!”
The trooper pulled a frag, thumbed the primer switch and rolled it underarm. The grenade detonated just as one of the Marauders lunged to kick it aside. Fillon saw her chance, and didn’t hesitate.
“Move it! Regroup at the water tower! Go!”
Not stopping to see the effects of Belwin’s frag, she followed her own advice. They couldn’t afford to be this sloppy again. Next time, she promised herself, things would be different.
Originally, the Orx were one of the many races inducted into the Corporation military and they fought well for their human masters. Over centuries they became increasingly militarised and eventually began to question why they were carving out empires for the humans when they could keep them for themselves.
More than a few wars started that way.
These days, the Marauders are famed mercenaries and are some of the most professional soldiers known to the Corporation. They are regularly hired both by and against Human forces and take a great deal of professional pride in being apolitical. Most Marauder units will be uniformed and uniformly equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and support equipment. They are drilled in modern tactical doctrine and can be relied upon to undertake any mission with practised skill.
Of course, when they aren’t working for someone else’s money they work for themselves. Having been made privy to the secrets of the Containment Protocol many years ago when the Corporation was learning to deal with such problems, the modern Marauders know that there are rich pickings to be had within them. Few would think twice at the idea of stocking up on new technology and supplies when all that protects the bulk of them is a few poorly trained militia.
The Marauder forces themselves are a mixture of different, but related races. These range from the smaller Goblins to the enormous Hulks, with the Orx forming a standard near-Human scale that allows them to use most captured equipment with ease.
As they are professional mercenaries, you can find Marauders in almost every combat zone across the Corporation and far beyond. They are unable to discuss the strange sights they have seen outside the Sphere for reasons of professional discretion, but few doubt that they have come into contact with stranger aliens than are currently defined by the Corporation’s public data banks.
Within the confines of the Deadzone the Marauders have yet one more ace up their sleeves – they are naturally immune to the Plague.
The elite warriors and fearsome monsters that make up the various factions all have an above average ability to fight and survive. These common traits are included as stats. However, some have even more specialised and unusual skills, and whether they are innate or learned they are listed as separate abilities. Each model’s Stat Card lists the abilities that apply to it.
Some abilities belong to the model and others to the weapons that they carry. Weapon abilities are listed as part of the weapon’s line on the card. Model’s abilities have their own section.
Where an ability conflicts with a core rule, the ability takes precedence.
AGILE
Each Turn, the model may count one Climb or one Sprint action as a short action instead of a long action. The model may take a Move action as normal.
AP(X)
AP is short for Armour Piercing and denotes a type of weapon that is particularly good at defeating armour.
AP will always be listed with a number after it in place of the (x), eg AP1, AP2, etc.
Attacks by a model or weapon with this ability ignore a number of points of armour equal to the number after the AP. So, if an AP1 attack hits a model with Armour 2 then the damage is resolved as if the target had Armour 2-1 = 1.
AP is cumulative. If a result or card says that the damage should be resolved at an AP value then add this to the weapon’s native value.
BEAST
The model cannot pick up, carry or use items. All of its weapons and equipment are either natural or have been grafted on permanently by skilled bio-technicians.
This ability can also apply to models that are simply so burdened already by their normal combat load that they have no room to carry more.
BLAST
Blast weapons create a massive overpressure shock wave when they explode, fire gravitic pulses that throw targets about, or use other alien technologies that produce similar effects. However, they do not contain shrapnel and so are primarily for moving targets, not killing them. They are, in effect, Frag weapons without the damage.
A weapon with this ability ignores the normal result details of a Shoot or Blaze Away action. All that matters for Blast weapons is whether the result was a hit or a miss. In either case, roll a new test to resolve the attack.
Work out where the weapon strikes/lands and centre the effects on that cube. Every adjacent cube on the same or higher level is affected by the Blast as long as there is a clear route to it. A “clear route” exists to a cube if a size 1 model with a jump pack could move there from the starting cube.”
Roll one test for the success of the Blast regardless of how many potential target models are in the area.
Roll a separate test for each potential target model and compare this to the Blast total.
Blast effect is a 3 dice 4+ test (X).
• +1 if the attack was a Hit.
• +2 if the weapon is a Shockwave.
Models caught in the explosion roll a 3 dice Survival test (X).
• +1 if the model is in a cover cube.
• +2 if the Blast was centred in an adjacent cube.
Draw or Blast wins: target is Pinned*. If the model is in the same cube as the Blast then they are thrown one cube in a random direction.
This may result in further damage from being smashed into a wall or blown off a roof (see below).
Blast doubles: target is Pinned*. If the model is in the same cube as the Blast then they are thrown one cube in a random direction. If the model is in an adjacent cube then they are thrown one cube directly away from the centre of the effect. To work out where “directly away” is, draw a straight line from the centre of the effect to the target and beyond. The first new cube the line enters is the one the model is thrown into. This may result in further damage from being smashed into a wall or blown off a roof (see below).
Survival wins: target is Pinned*.
Survival doubles: no effect.
*Pinned pins the target unless it is already Suppressed in which case it stays Suppressed.