Hordes

Most of the enemies of Mankind are powerless to face the might of a Battle-ready member of the Adeptus Astartes, their only chance is to hope to overcome them with sheer numbers, become Hordes. Every Space Marine have had extensive training in facing those hordes of soldiers and monster, that is especially true of the Deathwatch's member. Because the Deathwatch does not use the traditional structure of the Codex Chapters and relies on small elite team operating outside of other military support, every members have been indoctrinated with the perfect firing pacing and targeting of their explosive bolts and flame weapons, to maximise the effectiveness against the numerous enemies they will encounter.

As such, numerous foes are not fought individually but according to Hordes rules.

A Horde should be treated as a single vast
creature. The Horde has the same profile as the base creature which
makes up its numbers. A Chaos Heretic Horde, for example, has
the same profile as an individual Chaos Heretic on page 364,
for example. The only exception to this is that a Horde replaces
the individual creature’s Wounds value with its Magnitude and
location based armour with a single armour value.

Horde Traits
A creature entry may have a Trait listed that has (Horde)
written next to it. These Traits represent the way particular
creatures fight in large numbers, and only apply when that
creature is used as the basis of a Horde

Magnitude
A Horde is a vast number of one type of enemy or creature
attacking in large numbers. The abstract number of enemies
making up such a Horde are reflected in the Horde’s
Magnitude. This represents the Horde’s determination and
numbers as an abstract value: one point of Magnitude does
not equal one individual enemy or creature.

Magnitude examples

Attacking A Horde (page 359)
A character can damage a Horde by shooting it with ranged
weapons or attacking it in melee. These attacks are treated
as if they are against a single creature even though they may
represent mowing down ranks of enemies or scything through
many foes.
Characters must still roll to hit a Horde, but the appropriate
size bonus should apply to these tests based on the Horde’s
Magnitude.
Weapons that can fire on full, or semi-auto will cause additional
hits. These hits must be allocated against the Horde and not any
individual Lieutenants or Masters that may also be present.

Hordes do not normally Dodge or Parry
Attacks. At the GM’s discretion, a Horde can Dodge or Parry attacks just
as a single creature does, representing the attacker still killing or wounding
individual members of the Horde but not enough to affect overall
Magnitude. A Horde’s melee weapons are immune to being shattered by a
weapon with Power Field quality (see page 143) when Parried (this is an
abstraction—in fact, the Horde’s weapons are being destroyed, but there
are plenty more where those came from). Multiple enemies attacking the
same Horde do not gain the benefits of Ganging Up (see page 248)."

damaging a Horde
• Each hit that causes any amount of damage reduces a
Horde’s Magnitude by one. Therefore, an attack that,
after accounting for armour and Toughness Bonus, causes
15 points of damage reduces the Horde’s Magnitude by
1. The deliberate consequence of this is that sustained
fire and blast weapons are much more effective against
Hordes than weapons which fire only one shot; a
lascannon is a weapon for destroying tanks not mowing
down large numbers of infantry.
• Weapons that inflict Explosive Damage (X) gain a bonus against
Hordes, and count as having inflicted one additional Hit per Attack
after all other Hits have been applied
• Locations are not used when fighting a Horde.
• A Horde has a single armour value at is applied to all
damage rather than different armour values for different
locations.
• Hordes may be Pinned as normal (with the entire Horde
making a single Willpower Test). However, Hordes gain
a bonus to their Willpower Tests to resist pinning equal
to its Magnitude.

melee
When fighting against a Horde in Melee, a Space Marine
inflicts one hit for every two Degrees of Success on his
Weapon Skill Test. Melee weapons with the Power Field
Quality inflict one additional hit.
Blast Weapons
A Blast weapon that hits a Horde hits a number of times equal
to its Blast value. So a grenade with Blast (4) will automatically
hit four times if successfully lobbed into the Horde.

flame Weapons
A flame weapon used on a Horde will hit it a number of times
equal to one quarter of the weapon’s range (rounding up),
plus 1d5. So a flame weapon with a range of 10 will hit a
Horde 1d5+3 times.
Psychic Powers
Psychic Powers used against a Horde will hit it a number of
times equal to the Psy Rating used in the power, no matter
what the power may be. If the psychic power affects an area,
it adds an additional 1d10 hits. At the GM’s discretion, if
a particular psychic power does not inflict damage (such
as Compel), it still inflicts "hits," meaning that portions of
the Horde have been convinced not to attack, and so forth.
Furthermore, the GM should take care to adjudicate the
effects of certain psychic powers (such as Vortex of Doom)
in specific situations against Hordes (such as a Horde tightly
packed into a small space).

Fear
Hordes do not suffer from fear in the same way a single person would. Instead a Horde gains a
bonus to its Willpower Tests to resist effects of Fear equal to its current
Magnitude, and suffers appropriate penalties listed in Table 9-6: Fear
Test Difficulties (see page 277). If the Horde fails its Willpower Test
to resist effects of Fear it breaks and flees at its highest move value.
Hordes composed of enemies with the Fearless Talent, Blood Soaked
Tide Trait, Fear Trait, or Tyranid Trait are immune to Fear.

Breaking a Horde
• When a Horde’s Magnitude is reduced by 25% in a turn,
it must make a Willpower Test when it is its turn to act
again. If it passes, it may continue to act. If it fails, it
breaks and flees at its highest move value.
• If the Horde’s Magnitude is less than 50% of its starting
value, it suffers a –10 to the Willpower Test. If the
Horde’s Magnitude is less than 25% of its starting value,
it will automatically break.
• Hordes composed of enemies with the Fearless talent do
not have to test to see if they break as their Magnitude is
eroded: they have to be wiped out to the last.

Hordes attacking
A Horde can make both melee attacks against enemies in close
proximity and ranged attacks at enemies that are at a distance
in a single turn as an attack action.

Melee: A Horde will attack all adjacent enemies, or
enemies that are in close proximity (the GM is the final arbiter
of whether a target is in close proximity or not) if not using
a map; if there are five Battle-Brothers in close proximity of a
Horde all will be attacked. A Horde that has multiple attacks
from being armed with two weapons or the Swift Attack or
Lightning Attack Talents may use its full number of attacks
against every eligible target. Although a Horde represents a
large number of attackers, a Horde does not gain the benefits
of Ganging Up (see page 248). Instead, the Horde’s sheer
weight of numbers is represented by the fact that its target
may not Dodge or Parry. Melee Attacks made by Hordes
cannot be Parried or Dodged unless otherwise noted.

Ranged: A Horde may make ranged attacks equal to the
first digit of its Magnitude. Thus, a Magnitude 25 Horde can
make two ranged attacks. Any additional hits from sustained
fire can be applied to any eligible target. Therefore, if the
heretics hit Brother Silas well enough that they cause an extra
hit with their stub autos, the additional hit will be applied to
Brother Silas.
Modifiers or range and sustained fire apply as normal, but
a Horde can never aim.
Ammo expenditure and Jamming are never applied to
Hordes—they always have enough bullets to keep firing.

Damage caused By Hordes
Any attack from a Horde that hits has the damage it causes
increased by a number of d10s equal to the Horde’s Magnitude
divided by ten, with a maximum bonus of +2d10. This is
in addition to the normal damage dealt by the weapon that
the Horde is armed with. It will also include the Strength
Bonus added to damage caused by melee weapons. The
damage is reduced by the target’s Toughness bonus and
armour as normal. Thus, a Magnitude 25 Horde of heretics
armed with axes will add 2d10 to the normal damage that a
heretic would do with its axe (1d10+5), and therefore causes
3d10+5 damage if they hit in combat. Likewise, the same
mob armed with autopistols will cause 3d10+2 damage with
its ranged attacks. This represents an enemy being mobbed
with enemies that strike it countless times or bullets striking
like rain on a single target.