The Coven of the Angelic Touch is not concerned with killing the enemy, but keeping the Astartes of the host alive. They primarily conduct battlefield removal of gene-seed (if necessary) and field medic duties. Some are trained chirurgeons as well. Secondary tasks involve torturing enemy prisoners. Some of them are quite adept.

Members: Approximately 150.

Assignments: Each line company has 5 Angelic medics assigned according to their OOB, but the actual number is usually 2-4. The Assault company also has medics, but these tend to get killed rather quickly, so it's not an ideal solution. The Anointed  make do without (there are no Daughters capable of accompanying them). The rest of the Angelic medics are stationed on various ships of the fleet, the Consovor secret base, deployed with infiltrator groups (quite popular), or are part of the apothecarion under Doctore.

Chaplain of the 2nd Comapny. Convert from some nameless Chapter serving the False Emperor. Has served aboard the Broken Angel, tending to its many abandoned shrines, for as a long as anyone can remember. Was persuade to join the ranks of the fighting marines by Captain Sakar-baal, who pointed out that this would be a great way to spread the names of forgotten gods - and bring worshippers to sleeping shrines.

Chaplain of the 17th Company. Eutychos is one of the new breed of Chaplains, created by Castor to flesh out the ranks of the 10th's Templum.

Eutychos  is a Guardian of the Word. Before his enlightenment he was just another tactical marine. In the Word he found his true calling. He was one of the leaders of the rebellion that put the Verbum in the hands of the faithful.

Decimus is a relatively recent addition to the ranks of the 10th, having arrived aboard the Final Word.

He is unique in that he is the sole surviving officer of the Guardians of the Word, the original chapter assigned to the Verbum. He alone of the officers had seen the Light, and was thus spared the purges. Indeed, there are some that say he knew what was happening all along, but did not intervene.

His story goes back further, however, for as an officer he was drafted from another Astartes Chapter - the Raptors - where he served, apparently loyally, as a Chaplin for many years.

What prompted his shift in allegiance to Chaos is not know. Some of his fellow Chaplains question his purity and loyalty, but since the Apostle has seen fit to elevate him to Chaplain they wisely keep their peace. It also helps that he's been warmly welcomed by his company, the 18th, and its captain, Guerto "Iconclast" Bahaus.

The Dutiful Daughter is a Despoiler-class battleship, a gift for Kimery, to be a flagship for 'her' Daughters of the Word. It is to be a beacon for all Covens of Daughters now that Lorgar has 'approved' their existence in the Hosts by mention them in the Word and by writing the foreword and a whole chapter in their prayerbook "Piety and Devotion" (the rest is written by Castor and Kimery; they are very pleased that Lorgar himself has written in the book, thus marking it as part of the ever living Word).

But the Dutiful Daughter is not a gift from Lorgar or Castor, it is a gift from a different patron, namely Fulgrim, prince of Slaanesh, and Primogenitor of the Emperor's Children. According to rumour he sent Lucius and a full chapter to 'negotiate' with a forge world in the Eye of Horus for the right to have the newly forged battleship. The Dark Prince has seen the Daughters and blessed them. Blessed them by sending his own handmaidens to possess the worthy fallen. The Prince approves of the way they corrupt and mistreat the hated Sisters of Battle, and how they turn the concept against the hated Imperium of Man. Fulgrim took this opportunity to support his brother Lorgar by offering this princely gift to Kimery. But most importantly he gifts the daughters with a new, lovely home. Unlike the WB's dark and gothic halls, filled with heavy incense and deep rumbling Astartes chantings, blood, and messy sacrifices. The Daughters get a home that's new and clean and pleasing to the eye (and the ears). Natural he demands no payment or price for the gift...only that Kimery and her daughters think well of him. In no way does he want to shoulder his way into Lorgar's operations, nor does he wish to curry favour with Castor for his own, inscrutable reasons.

To keep with the feminine aspect of the daughters, Fulgrim had what male crew remained castrated. Later male crew (and warriors) have carried on the tradition and ritually self-mutilated themeselves. They may have had some help from the Deacons of Faith, whom starangley found that they, as Very Holy Men of the Word, did not need to be castrated. To this day all males (except Deacons) who serve on the Daughter are castrated.

The Final Word is well named for its presence on the battlefield is in a way final - for its opponents. It is a void predator of old, from a time when all was larger and more grand, when the Gothic in a ship was new and filled with light and hope for Mankind and the Empire of Terra. It is an ancient ship, originally intended for the Word Bearers' 101st Chapter (never mustered). Construction began towards the end of the Horus Heresy, but due to the demands of the civil war and all that was lost as a result, the ship was never finished. Also given the ship's intended recipient there was some concern regarding corruption (the WB liaisons on board were all purged). No corruption was found, so instead of dismantling this tribute to the Machine God, it was put into mothball.

Near the end of the 41st Millennium the tech-priests of Mars believed they had uncovered the lore and gathered the materials to finish it. It was to be the home of a ship-based Astartes Chapter, the newly mustered Guardians of the Word. The chapter was planed to be space assault specialists. During final trials the ship was lost in the Warp and presumed destroyed. In reality heresy had taken root within the minds of the Guardians - and there had been an uprising. Corruption had taken root in the ship back in the day. It had lingered for all those long years, hiding, waiting. When crew came aboard once more it started to sow its seeds. The most delicate phase was that of subverting the Astartes. But it turned out well, for the newly made marines were weak and uncertain. Only a few recruits - and the officers, veterans of other chapters - had to be purged. The 888 marines (800 line troops and 88 assault marines) who came with the ship are all that's left after killing their officers (they where from other chapters) and the few scouts they had (had not been fully indoctrinated by the corrupt teaching machines aboard the Verbum Finalis). Leaderless they had planed as far as they could. Now they consulted the omens (the Warp) and concluded that all that remained for them was to run to the 10th host. Fortunately they had a number of loyal serfs - and four navigators willing to work for them - which enabled them to slowly make their way to the outer rim.

The Verbum is one of the few Terra-class superdreadnoughts left in the galaxy - few were built and even fever survive. It is three times the size of an ordinary battleship of the 2nd rate and much larger than even the 1st rate ships like the Emperor-class battle carriers of the Imperial Navy. In terms of fire-power it is truly unique: It holds 1.5 times the number of small craft of an Emperor-class BB. Its mighty broadsides and heavy lances make it like a fleet onto itself. The crowning glory is a super powerful nova cannon that runs the length of the ship's main hull (deep beneath the arboretum). To add insult to injury this fearsome weapon is ringed with torpedo launchers. These were added as an afterthought, late in the design process. Truth be told they fare poorly when the nova cannon is fired and must be rigorously re-aligned before they can launch ordnance.

In place of the main spinal access-way found in most Imperial warship the main spine of the "Verbum Finalis" has instead a 8k long arboretum chamber. Back in the day of the ship's youth atmosphere was made here, water purified, and many plants and other foodstuffs grown. Now after untold years in a Mechanicus mothball yard, the green house of old has become a large, warm, and moist mangrove jungle, misty and semi dark. In the middle of the jungle there is a dark pool of water that was once an amphitheatre where the officers of the ship could take time off for entertainment (the ship was built during the Great Crusade, a much more civilized time). Behind the pool there is a raised platform with a statue of playwright; but now the book of plays has changed into the book of Lorgar and the statue has lost all vines growing on it, and has become golden in colour. The True Word Lodge for the adepts, chaplains and the apostle will meet and have readings of the word and hear sermons on the new chapters of Lorgar's book at the feet of the statue at the dark pool.

The ship is also much more than the flagship. It is home. Home to the 10th and home to all that serve them. In one day in the bazzar you can see a Harpy (a Daughter of the Word fighter pilot), her sisters in the Cult of Samus (always next to you and yet so apart), you can see an Astartes master of the Word Bearers legion, a sorcerer of Tzeentch arguing with a Khornate chanmpion, daemon-possessed Daughters looking for suitable candidates, the dread Doctored doing the same, meet one of the few xenos that are allowed (and dare) make a living on the ship, and much, much more. All in a single day - and live to tell the tale.  It is a glorious, living place, a wonder among the stars.

Experimental prototype for a new (vile hertek) kind of power armour. Based upon templates created by reverse-engineering (viler heretek!) Castor's ancient artificer armour. It is part machine, part living entity - an unholy amalgamation of metal and flesh, powered by a bound warp entity (the research that enable the restoration of the Dusk Hag paved way for this creation). Mass production is a looong way off, but the first suit should be ready for testing in a while. If things work out the 10th Host could be greatly strengthened.

Creators: Doctore. Nissimon. Venera. (and indirectly, Karnak Zul)

The Librarium of the 10th Host is made up of FIVE distinct groups of Librarians and sorcerers.

Old guard:

These three are survivors from the old days, each an Astartes sorcerer of some potency. They are not, however, much use as librarians. Their talents run towards battle and general chaos-making. Consequently their usual role is to support companies going into battle, especially if enemy psykers are present.

Huacas - Veteran of the long war, his sorcerous potential was unlocked very early. Not an Astartes of many talents, but he has a knack for summoning unholy fire, a lot of fire. A highly skilled combat sorcerer, protects his brothers from fire/metals and summons burning metal and or warp fire.

Mannan - Sees strands of men`s faith/ can also predict out comes of battles with some success. Popular with the captains of the host as a soothsayer, can help change outcome of battles by predicting enemy's movements/actions.

Thanatos - One of the most experienced sorcerer in the 10th. Not as old as Huacas but far more diverse in his skills. Excels at counter magic, He more than any protect the warriors in the host from hostile psykers/sorcerers. Limited offensive capabilities.

New breed:

From the same gene-batch four psykers have risen and re-opened the Librarium of the 10th Host. The power of the gene-seed that Castor made his first Astartes with, manifests again.

Fierelus - Learns from the other psykers in the host, be they Astartes, sorcerer or rogue psyker. Fierelus believes that the path to power takes many forms.

Hanno - Has opened the old codixes of the host to learn the secrets of long dead masters, believing that the path to true power lies in the hallowed past.

Baalhaan - Sits in council with the whispers from the warp, believing that his rise lies with the gods' good graces.

Malchus - The most powerful of them all, combines the ideas of the others. Of them all he shows the most promise.

Lumin's get:

Lumin's people include whatever astropaths you've corrupted, plus those psykers and sorcerers that focus on fortune-telling and communication. Their job isn't very flashy or heroic, but it is important for the Host.

Lumin - Your Astropath-sorcerer.

Emona - His female feral-world apprentice (the one with the cybernetic eyes and facial scarring)

Witches and warlocks -

Nissimon's coven:

Nissimon - Master Chaos sorcerer.

Apprentice sorcerers - Nissimon has taken only a couple of apprentices. They do his errands and asssit him during rituals, but are rarely allowed to do anything on their own.

Nouri's cabal:

Norui - Sorcerer of Tzeentch.

Thrall-Wizards of the Cabal - His twenty or so slaves, each a psyker/sorcerer.

This rogue psyker/sorcerer was the sole survivor from the priority holds of the Inquisition vessel you found adrift in the void. He's slowly been rising in rank thanks to his considerable powers and many scholarly lores. He looks every bit the Chaos warlock - clad in crimson robes, tall and gaunt, shaven head complete with cranial implants. If Castor isn't much mistanken he's the most powerful sorcerer in your epmploy - in terms of combat capability at least.

Thrice-bound daemonhost. Summoned and enslaved by Inquisitor Renthor. Engineered the near destruction of the Chains of Judgment, but was unable to free himself. Freed by Castor. Zul declined Castor's offer of expediting him back to the Warp. Centuries of being bound in human form had made him strangely attached to the material world - and his current host body.

Holds many of the late Inquisitor's secrets, including the location of Consovor and the head of the Dusk Hag. Doesn't really serve Castor; he more like tags along for the ride. Thus far he's been more than helpful. His closest associate would be the Thousand Sons marine Xerxzes - who's helping him experience the wonders of the galaxy. He's also involved in some form of techno-sorcerous experiment with Nissimon and Venera - something to do with the head of the Dusk Hag.

Illusion of normalcy: Appears as a normal human. Darkly handsome, but fairly nondescript. He prefers clothes and accessories that do not betray his status or nature. As a thrice-bound daemonhost his powers her severely curtailed - he certainly more lethal than a normal human, but he doesn't have any of the more exotic powers some daemons possess (pun intended).

Tech-prietess in charge of restoring Castor's artificer armour to full working order. In the short amount of time she's spent working on it she's done more good than all your other machine disciples. A relatively recent addition to your fleet, sponsored by Nissimon.

Warmaster Horus was the greatest man that ever lived. One of the Primarch sons of the Emperor he was always first among equals. He was the first to see through the lies his father had woven and the first to rise up against the injustice about to be visited upon all of mankind. Horus led the legions of freedom against Terra and gave his life to slay the Great Enslaver.

Number of hull hits is somewhat different from vanilla BFG. In BFG escorts, no matter what type, can take only 1 hit. That's lame. Escorts hulls are still divided into destroyers and frigates, but frigates are now bigger and tougher. There is also a sub-desctroyer category (unrated ships). And BCs have more hits than CAs (which is how it should be). Plus we have stuff like DNs (essentially the bigger BBs form BFG) and SDs (Verbum and Abaddons ship). Even bigger spacecraft exists, but any ever turn up it'll be handled on a case-by case basis.

There are more damage categories as well. BFG only has Crippled/Out of action. We now have Damaged as well, which is about halfway to Crippled. Overall ships require more hits to take out (the CL is the only ship that doesn't benefit much), but they start to get penalties a bit earlier. Crippled is really the max number of hits a ship can take and still continue to fight.

Needless to say point values are also affected! FFs are more costly than before. CLs slightly cheaper. CAs not affected. Larger ships are somewhat pricier, especially the larger BBs (since they are DNs). SDs are probably around 800 points, give or take.

Damaged: Damage equal to or greater than this number means you've taken some serious damage. Your ship is still operational, but will be moderately penalized (-5 speed, 1/2 combat values). Repairing post-battle damage is time-consuming and requires orbital docking facilities, tech-priests, and spare parts.

Note: Damage less than this threshold is still damage, but it's assumed it can be fixed relatively quickly after battle, without the need for extensive docking facilities. During battle you can try to effect emergency repairs.

Crippled: Once you've taken this much damage your ship is severely weakened and in danger of being destroyed. You can still operate, but with severe penalties (-10 speed, 1/4 combat values). You should get the fuck out of combat if at all possible!

Out of action: Once you've taken this much damage your ship is a complete wreck. All that remains is to determine whether it just breaks apart or blows up.

Criticals: Any hit can cause a critical, but the more damaged your ship is, the greater the chance. Escorts, Cruisers, and Battleships have separate crit tables, with larger ships suffering less than smaller ones per crit, just because they've more stuff the destroy on board.

Unrated ships: Are crippled by one hit and destroyed by 2. If the first hit is a crit, they are destroyed instead (i.e. they don't have a crit table). Smaller unrated vessels (i.e. brigs and equivalent) are destroyed by any damaging hit (so no need to check for crits).

Boarding an enemy spacecraft with the intent of capturing it is extremely difficult, especially if the vessels are still in fighting condition. Raids (ie. smaller attacks meant to damage - or possibly destroy - an enemy starship) are somewhat easier to accomplish, but unless your troops has a way to retreat it's a death sentence for all those involved (not necessarily an issue for certain factions).

There are several reasons why boarding is difficult. For one it is difficult to get boarders across to an enemy vessel still under power; the ship moves, it shoots back, it has void shields and thick armour, all of which complicates the matter. Provided you can get your men aboard it's a matter of size; starship as so vast. Even an escort-sized ship is several kilometres long and masses millions upon millions of tons, with endless warrens of corridors and tens of thousands of crew. And you can bet they know their ship better than you do. They'll block your advance with heavy doors, vent the atmosphere, turn of gravity - and all the while they will be coming at your from multiple directions and/or forcing you into murderous strong-points. And they won't be armed with clubs and shotguns either; when a ship is in danger of being take a prize the gloves come off and the armouries hand out the good stuff, collateral damage be damned. Even if you get hundreds - or even thousands - of warriors on board it might not be enough against a determined defender. Capital ships are even worse of course.

Only Space Marines using boarding torpedoes and/or Thunderhawk gunships have any real hope of capturing enemy combat vessels relatively intact or routinely carrying out hit-and-run raids. Only space marines have the specialized equipment, the level of training, and the special skills required. The thing with space marines is that they have the ability to get their warriors onto your ship. And they have the extreme firepower and mobility that allow them to keep advancing no matter what. Which is essential for any boarder - if you get bogged down you're going to die. The best Astartes assault troops are able to turn the ship against itself so to speak - they move so quickly and so violently that the defending crew cannot compensate quickly enough and become trapped and isolated, unable to mount a coordinated defence.

Other factions with a penchant for boarding actions include orks (they enjoy great numbers and generally doesn't mind severe casualties) and non-Astartes Chaos (much the same as the orks). Eldar reavers are also fond of raids, striking and then fading before the enemy can react, but generally avoid major boarding actions because of their limited numbers and light equipment.

Using Astartes an example: As a rule of thumb you need a full company of 100 to have any chance of seizing an enemy escort (half that to conduct a meaningful raid). Success is no guaranteed and there is a good chance your losses will be significant. To capture an enemy cruiser you must either have an overwhelming number of Astartes (at the very least three companies, preferably more) or deploy a company of Terminators.

A viable boarding operation usually looks something like this:

Softening up the target - Unless you're feeling suicidal it's usually a good idea to soften up the target. Each hull hit will mean more ways into the enemy vessel, fewer defenders to fight, and generally more chaos and confusion (which is good for the boarders). Unfortunately more damage means the ship is worth less as a prize - capturing a floating hulk is pretty useless. So the trick is to find some sort of balance here.

Getting into range - To board using torpedoes or teleporters you have to get into short range. That means your ships have to run the gauntlet of fire first (which is why Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges are so good at it). Teleporters are by far the best means of boarding, but they are rare, have limited capacity, and require the target's void shields to be down. Torpedoes have no such limitation, but can be shot down by defensive turrets (albeit with great difficulty). Assault boats (including Thunderhawks) have longer ranges, but have the added complexity of needing to avoid getting shot down before they can board. Teleporters and assault boats are also great for getting raiders out again, boarding torpedoes much less so.

Establishing beachheads - The more men you have the more ways in you need; you don't want to create a bottleneck where your own numbers are your biggest obstacle. Boarding torpedoes can usually make their own ways in except in the face of very heavy armour plating (which is good since they aren't all that accurate). Assault boats are more complicated. If the targets has suffered significant hull damage there may be some routes in, but otherwise the men have to secure some docking points. Teleporters are great for establishing beachheads, but keep in mind they aren't all that accurate. Chances are there will be some scatter - you might aim for the bridge, but your Terminator squads could end up all over the ship's superstructure, greatly complicating matters.

Reaching objectives: To successfully capture an enemy vessel you have to take control over the command deck (aka. bridge) and the enginarium. That's the absolute minimum. From whatever beachheads you've established your boarders will work their way towards their objectives at best speed from multiple (one hopes) directions. It's all about speed and violence now. The layout of the ships greatly favour the defender, so you cannot lose the initiative. If you stop moving, you fail to reach your objectives - and then you die. A more thorough capture action involves securing main gun decks, launch decks, armouries, arterial access-ways, key utility facilities and subsystems, communications and navigation, secondary and auxiliary controls, and much more.

To sum it up. Astartes are the only faction to routinely rely on boarding as part of fleet operations, and even they must expect heavy casualties from time to time. Orks and Chaos board whenever they get the chance. In the case of the orks that's most versus severely damages ships or when they have the advantage of overwhelming numbers. Chaos fleets will use boarding as yet another weapon at their disposal, but not one they rely on to carry the day. Eldar reavers raid to cause damage. Other factions are largely content to avoid getting boarded.

Space Marine chapters (and many renegades) operate three main types of voidships.

Battle barges (BBA) - These are the Astartes equivalent of battleships. Battle barges are slow and ponderous, but their ability to withstand punishment is legendary. They form the stiff backbone around which the rest of the flexible Astartes fleet operates. The only Astartes warship to have sufficient fire-power to trade blows with Navy capital ships. Teleportariums are standard. Typical Astartes contingent is 2-300 marines, but they can easily accommodate a full chapter of 1000.

Strike cruisers (CLS) - These are compact and heavily armoured light cruisers. They have great speed and tremendous defensive capabilities for something their size. Their primary function is to deliver Space Marine strike forces to ground and space targets. To this effect they carry numerous Thunderhawk assault ships, boarding torpedoes, and drop pods. Some strike cruisers have teleportariums, but this is increasingly rare. Typical Astartes contingent is 100 marines, but they can easily accommodate a full cohort of 500.

Assault frigates (FFA) - These are fast and heavily armoured frigates. Their primary tasks are to act as independent long-range scouts and Astartes fleet screens. In a secondary capacity they can be used for minor landing operations and hit-and-run raids. Typical Astartes contingent (if any) is 50 marines, but they can hold a full company of 100 if need be.

Typical fleet tactics involve scouting actions using assault frigates. If possible they will capture or disable enemy screens with lighting raids. Meanwhile a steady advance of one or more battle barges will keep the attention of the enemy's capital ships, while strike cruiser dart in on the flanks to take out key enemy vessels. Once the battle barges are within boarding range they will unleash a torrent of boarders to cripple the enemy's flagship. The best tactic against marines is keeping the range open, provided you have ships with the range. If you're defending an objective, such as a planet, this can be difficult - Marines will quickly cripple orbital defences and launch orbital strikes if they come within range of the planet.