0 018 017 .M42 “The Access Codes” - Solo Play, Campaign Start
For this mission, Sigvir Red-Hand and Erogar, the Half-Saint led a small detachment of Vorn Halectra enforcers into a forgotten outpost on the edge of the Fraglan system.
Graff – the Rogue Trader’s long-suffering marksman and informal field leader – had tracked this site as one of several minor cells attributed to the Waning Choir. His intel indicated that the cult maintained a functioning Scrivener-Node somewhere within the settlement, and that the device held the last traceable log fragments from Chella Rean before her capture.
- Sigvir Red-Hand - Lone Wolf Astartes (Biomorph Captain)
- Ergil the Hermit - Wolf Scout (Commando Soldier Specialist)
- White Shadow - Fenrisian Wolf (Guard Dog Soldier)
- Erogar, the Half-Saint - Ministorum Priest (Mystic First Mate)
- Hunter Grekka - Witch-hunter Acolyte (Burner Soldier Specialist)
- Graff the Longshot - Charter Enforcer leader (Sniper Soldier)
- Runner - Cyber-Mastiff (Runner Soldier)
- Latch - Charter Enforcer (Trooper)
- Wick - Charter Enforcer (Chiseler)
- Vint - Charter Enforcer (Hacker)
The outpost was held by a swarm of Hive-scum cultists (Ruffians), backed by a small group of renegade Militarum (Pirate Troopers) serving as the Choir’s fire support. Individually weak, their real threat came from sheer numbers and overlapping fields of fire.
Mission Briefing
The objective was direct but far from easy: infiltrate the outpost, breach the shrine-complex, and access the Scrivener-Node before the cult could evacuate or destroy the data.
The outpost itself sat half-sunk into an eroded ridge, a cluster of sagging structures built from scavenged hab-panels, broken loader frames, and rusted plating. Candle-lit icons and wax-streak banners marked it unmistakably as Choir territory. A steady trickle of robed cultists moved between the huts, performing whatever ritual busywork sustained the enclave.
Graff’s assessment had been clear: approach quietly, stay low, and strike fast at the centre before reinforcements could materialize.
Sigvir’s interpretation was simpler:
“Get inside. Break whatever stands in the way.”
The crew split at the outset, with Sigvir Red-Hand and Erogar taking positions at opposite entrances to the shrine-complex.
Sigvir attempted a direct approach — a curt demand disguised as an official inspection — but the sentries were unmoved, forcing him to hold position.
Erogar, drawing on his Suggestion discipline, pressed forward instead. With the psychic push reinforcing his words, he slipped past the door guard without raising suspicion, and his acolyte followed close behind.
Inside the chamber, Erogar found himself in clear view of the Scrivener-Node, its hololith flickering above a rust-stained plinth. The renegade Militarum stationed inside shifted uneasily at his presence, but without a formal alarm, they hesitated. The priest and Grekka walked steadily into the room, acting as though they belonged there, buying precious seconds.
Outside, the rest of the crew repositioned into whatever cover the ramshackle structures offered. The cultists continued their unfocused patrols, unaware of the infiltration — at least until movement elsewhere in the compound finally triggered the alarm.
The quiet broke immediately.
A wave of cultists surged into the outer lanes as Sigvir forced his way through the alternate entrance, smashing the door aside and driving straight into a weapons-storage hut. He brought down the first cultist with his Powerfist, while White Shadow leapt in behind him to finish the job.
Hearing the crash, Hunter Grekka wheeled around inside the shrine chamber. She couldn’t risk firing her flamer toward the Scrivener-Node, but she saw two cultists swinging in from a rear passage and sent a burst of burning promethium across the doorway instead. Both were stunned and thrown back, while the nearby loot crate smoldered but held intact — for the moment.
At the perimeter, Graff and Latch covered the approach of Vint, the crew’s hacker. But as more cultists funneled through the alleys, a volley of autogun fire punched through their improvised firing line.
Vint went down hard, collapsing beside a stack of scrap-metal barriers before he could reach the central structure.
With Sigvir pushing into the weapons-storage hut, Ergil circled the structure and sent Runner, the cyber-mastiff, sprinting ahead to support the breach. He then lobbed a grenade into a knot of cultists moving toward Sigvir’s flank, but the throw scattered wide, detonating harmlessly against a wall.
That misfire forced Sigvir to withdraw back into the alley before the cultists could mass enough bodies to block the route entirely.
Inside the shrine chamber, Erogar invoked Dark Energy – a crackling burst of psychic force that slammed one of the renegade Militarum against the plinth and left him reeling. Using the momentary reprieve, the priest ducked behind a storage compartment, waiting for someone with the appropriate tools to reach the terminal.
Nearby, Grekka capitalized on her earlier stun burst, dousing the two staggered cultists in a curtain of flame. Both fell, but a new cluster rushed the doorway she and Erogar had entered through moments earlier. The return fire was immediate and overwhelming; Grekka went down in the threshold, blocking what had once been their cleanest exit path.
Erogar was now alone in the shrine with the Scrivener-Node.
Outside, Sigvir’s brief clearing of the lanes allowed Wick the Chiseler to reach a nearby loot crate and force it open, but this window didn’t last.
The cultists pressed from every direction, and the renegade troopers tightened their overwatch. Sigvir, still dragged down by weight of numbers, was finally overwhelmed. Ergil fell shortly after, caught in the crossfire trying to stabilize Runner’s position.
With the outer defense collapsing in multiple directions, Graff — still positioned atop a rusted watchtower — laid down what covering fire he could while assessing the situation. In the alleys below, Sigvir had become locked in close combat with a pair of determined cultists. Neither blow nor blade truly threatened him, but their persistence and the growing crowd behind them made the reality clear: the lane was about to choke with bodies.
Rather than waste time or blood, Sigvir signalled Ergil for a coordinated withdrawal, pulling back from the alley before the cultists could fully encircle them. The retreat was disciplined, not desperate — a tactical concession to avoid being pinned while Erogar worked alone inside the shrine.
Through the smoke and rising muzzle flashes, Graff saw the shrine chamber flare once more with warp-light and then fall abruptly silent. Recognizing that the priest was cut off and the approach lanes were now fully overrun, Graff disengaged from his perch and withdrew as the last mobile operative, intent on regrouping the team for a recovery attempt.
The Aftermath
Under the cover of nightfall, and accompanied by reluctant local Arbites, Sigvir, Ergil, and Graff returned to the outpost to retrieve Erogar. They found the Half-Saint unconscious but alive amid the overturned icons and scorched flooring of the shrine-complex.
The Scrivener-Node, however, had been deliberately destroyed – its rotary cores shattered and its data-lattice burned out by cult saboteurs. The Choir had purged the intel before retreating into the deeper warrens.
The trail to Chella Rean had not gone cold entirely, though. The hurried purge suggested that the Choir acted in panic, guarding something still active, still important. There had to be another location, a deeper enclave where the true records were kept.
The crew would have to move quickly and strike again – before the cult understood just how close they had come.
Conclusions and Post-Game Notes
All crew members made full recoveries after the engagement. Despite multiple Out-of-Action results during the mission, no lasting injuries or deaths were rolled. That was pretty lucky and made the loss more bearable.
The little experience gains were allocated to Sigvir Red-Hand, reducing the activation number of his Adrenal Surge ability. This is more of a stylistic choice to make him feel more of an Astartes, but it's a burden I'm choosing to bear.
The match also highlighted several tactical considerations. The most significant was table size. I played the mission on a Battle Systems mat smaller than the recommended 2.5' x 2.5' area. The reduced space clearly accelerated how quickly the enemy reinforcements closed in, contributing to the crew being overwhelmed. Using a full-sized board should mitigate this pressure.
A few additional points gathered from post-game discussion on Reddit will all play a part in my upcoming second attempt. Fortunately, the campaign’s “What If You Fail?” guidelines explicitly support retrying the mission, so the next run will incorporate these adjustments with the goal of securing the Scrivener-Node data before the cult relocates it again.
+ 0 018 017 .M42 +
++ Hope Eternal – Mission 1: Scrivener-Node Breach ++
+++ Failure — Scrivener-Node destroyed by cultists. +++
++++ Prepare for second breach attempt at a new cult enclave before the intel trail goes cold. ++++
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