Questions on Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader etc

[Analytica]

I used to collect and paint WH40K miniatures back in my teenage days, and remember fondly the style of the old Rogue Trader edition rulebook. Now, there seems to be all kinds of WH40K games out, and I have some questions on them.

1. How many are there? Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader I have heard about. Someone mentioned Ascension and Deathwatch. Are there more?

2. From what I glanced, Dark Heresy is niched, so that you explicitly are supposed to play a group of minions for an Inquisitor. Is this the case? If so, what are the niches for the other games?

3. Do all the games use compatible rules?

4. Is there any game which supports playing (with a little tweaking and homebrewing if necessary) arbitrary 40K creatures, including the various enemies of the Imperium?

5. Are there stats for iconic troop types such as Space Marines? If so, are their power levels similar to how they are in the strategy game, how they are described in fluff, or somewhere in between? How does a Space Marine compare to a Dark Heresy PC?

6. Are the games self-contained fluff-wise, or do I have to crunch through series of novels, consecutive strategy game editions and backlogs of White Dwarf to get all the details of the game setting?

Thank you for your time.

[FelixG]

I used to collect and paint WH40K miniatures back in my teenage days, and remember fondly the style of the old Rogue Trader edition rulebook. Now, there seems to be all kinds of WH40K games out, and I have some questions on them.

1. How many are there? Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader I have heard about. Someone mentioned Ascension and Deathwatch. Are there more?

2. From what I glanced, Dark Heresy is niched, so that you explicitly are supposed to play a group of minions for an Inquisitor. Is this the case? If so, what are the niches for the other games?

3. Do all the games use compatible rules?

4. Is there any game which supports playing (with a little tweaking and homebrewing if necessary) arbitrary 40K creatures, including the various enemies of the Imperium?

5. Are there stats for iconic troop types such as Space Marines? If so, are their power levels similar to how they are in the strategy game, how they are described in fluff, or somewhere in between? How does a Space Marine compare to a Dark Heresy PC?

6. Are the games self-contained fluff-wise, or do I have to crunch through series of novels, consecutive strategy game editions and backlogs of White Dwarf to get all the details of the game setting?

Thank you for your time.

1) http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_colecciones.asp?eidc=2 the website i link here is the company that publishes the series of games you are inquiring about.

2) the default setting is you are a bunch of adepts working for an Inquisitor though with splat books you can go beyond that, Ascension takes you above the ranks where you can become a Magos or an inquisitor yourself and have little minions running around

3) more or less yes. They are all built on the same rule set so they are more or less compatable.

4) both DH and RT give a section for creating different types of monsters though there is a book http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=DH06
with more than a few dastardly xenos to pick from

5) Deathwatch (also in link one) will be covering Space Marine kill teams, it has yet to be released though they have a few primers you can take a look at, but it is compatable with DH and RT as well.

6) The books are fairly self contained, if not i would recommend this little gem here for any Fluff you might need http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page i use it often for building character (particular of the Adeptus Mechanicus nature.)