Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress – Traitor Command
Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress – Traitor Command Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Flooding the Blackstone Fortress in increasing numbers, the heretics of the Grendish 82nd pose a grave threat to not just Precipice, but the entire galaxy. Directed by their fell commanders, the 82nd have been gathering relics within the fortress to enact their profane rites. Although Precipice's denizens can only guess as to the exact purpose of this unholy ritual, they know it must be stopped at all costs.
Traitor Command is an expansion for Warhammer Quest Blackstone Fortress that adds a new quest to be undertaken by groups of explorers. Convinced by the Drukhari pirate Veth Rayden to prevent the dangerous fanatics of the Grendish 82nd from completing a dread ritual within the fortress, the explorers will find themselves brought into brutal conflict with the followers of the Chaos Gods.
To complete their quest, the explorers must locate the chamber in which the unholy rites will take place and put a stop to the heretics' insidious plans. To do so they must capture dataslates held by the regiment's commanders, each of which contains crucial communications and plans that will lead the explorers to their destination.
The Traitor Command expansion includes a new exploration deck, bespoke discovery cards, deadly new hostiles, and – once your explorers have collected enough information – an expedition into the Heart of Corruption, offering exclusive rewards to those that conquer it. You will also find complete rules for using the contents of this expansion in your other games of Blackstone Fortress in the future.
The quest for the ritual chamber is a new quest that you can choose to play instead of starting a different quest. We recommend completing the quest for the hidden vault before starting the quest for the ritual chamber – doing so will ensure you have a good understanding of how the base game works, and the core narrative behind it.
Components
Blackstone Fortress: Traitor Command includes the following components:
Hostile Citadel Miniatures
- Traitor Commissar
- Chaos Ogryn
Booklets
- 16-page Traitor Command booklet
- Heart of Corruption sheet
- Assembly guide
Boards and Tiles
- 1 double-sided Eye of Vect spacecraft
- 1 double-sided location tile
Counters and Markers
- 4 double-sided blackstone resonator markers
- 4 debt counters
- 6 dataslate counters
- 1 motivation marker
Cards
- 18 discovery cards
- 12 exploration cards
- 2 encounter cards
- 2 hostile reference cards
- 5 soul price cards
Other Components
- 1 Heart of Corruption envelope
The component illustrations show the Heart of Corruption sheet, the blackstone resonator markers (amplify side and nullify side), the debt counters (0 to 3), the dataslate counter, the motivation marker, and the warp portal/relic crates location tile.
Component Samples
From left to right: discovery card, exploration card, encounter card, hostile reference card, soul price card.
Eye of Vect (support side)
Sculptor of Destinies: When an explorer is activated, they can choose to use the Sculptor of Destinies. If they do, place a debt counter in one of the spaces opposite. That explorer can then change one of their activation dice or an unused destiny dice to a 6 result. Once all four spaces have a debt counter, the support ability of this ship can no longer be used.
Eye of Vect (facilities side)
Pay Your Debts: During the trading step, any explorer can visit this spacecraft to clear the debt. To do so, they must convert archeotech cards to trading points as described in the rules for the trading step. Each debt counter shows how many trading points must be spent to remove it. At the end of the trading step, remove any remaining counters from this spacecraft; for each counter removed in this way, choose one of the explorers to take a soul price card. An explorer with any soul price cards will begin their next expedition with a number of grievous wounds equal to the number of soul price cards they have. That explorer's soul price cards are then discarded.
Traitor Commissar (hostile reference card)
"The eyes of the gods are upon you! Do not disappoint them... or me..."
Move: 2 | Wounds: 2 | Size: Large
Weapons
| Weapon | Range 1 | Range 2-3 | Range 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt Pistol and Power Fist¹ | two pentagon icons | triangle icon | square icon |
…ing Blow: No defence roll can be made against a wound or grievous wound inflicted [hidden in scan] Bolt Pistol and Power Fist attack at range 1.
Special Rules
[hidden in scan] for the Dark Gods!: Re-roll reinforcement rolls for Traitor Guardsmen hostile [hidden in scan] if reinforcements fail to arrive while the Traitor Commissar is on the battlefield.
Transcription note: on the scan, an overlapping Combat card and Soul Price card hide the first letters of "Inspiring Blow", part of the attack-rule sentence, and the start of the "Oh for the Dark Gods!" rule. The visible words are transcribed exactly as printed; the bracketed spans are the hidden words and are not reconstructed. The footnote marked ¹ is not visible in the scan.
Soul Price (soul price card)
When an explorer with this card is chosen for an expedition, that explorer must start that expedition with a grievous wound. Once that expedition has begun, place this card back in the soul price deck.
Traitor Command (encounter card)
The printed encounter card lists four results:
- 1 Traitor Commissar & 1 Chaos Ogryn
- 5 Traitor Guardsmen
- 5 Traitor Guardsmen
- 4 Traitor Guardsmen
Traitor Command Expansion Icons
The scan shows two expansion icons: a black starburst, and a purple starburst with a triangle. The rules below refer to them as "the black starburst symbol" (exploration cards for this expansion) and "the purple symbol" (discovery cards and the Battlefield challenge card; see the rules under "After the Quest").
The Grendish 82nd Regiment
"Our enemies come from every quarter – from the slums, from the spires, and from out of the fires of war. It is militant heretics who are hardest to scour, and it is for them that my fury burns brightest."
– Taddeus the Purifier
Illustration captions: Chaos Ogryn; Traitor Commissar.
Traitor Command
Even the most steel-willed servants of the Imperium are not immune to the taint of Chaos. Over time, the whispers of the Dark Gods can warp the minds of soldiers and officers alike, excising the dogmatic tenets of the Imperial Creed and replacing them with a desire to see the galaxy burn. Where one soldier may spread their corruption to a whole squad, a single officer can bend an entire army to serve the Ruinous Powers.
Traitor Commissars
Commissars are instantly recognisable throughout the Imperium. They are an unmistakable symbol of Imperial authority, the pinnacle of human discipline and the dispensers of the Emperor's justice. In battle, a Commissar drives the teeming infantry of the Astra Militarum unflinchingly towards the foe, their words and deeds inspiring those around them to new heights of bravery. Should the courage of those they command begin to falter, it is the Commissar who administers summary execution to any who retreat, ensuring that the first soldier to flee is the last.
There are few in the Imperium more incorruptible than Commissars – but even they are not immune to the insidious influence of Chaos. Long campaigns across warp-soaked worlds or years battling beneath the sickly glare of the Great Rift can corrode a Commissar's soul – and where a single Commissar gives themself over to the Ruinous Powers, whole platoons of the Astra Militarum soon follow. The Commissar's bellowing voice continues to inspire those around them, but where once they spoke only of Imperial glory, they now spit sadistic commands to slaughter and incinerate the defenders of Humanity.
Chaos Ogryns
Ogryns are a breed of abhumans found on high-gravity worlds within the Imperium. Famously dim-witted, they tower over other soldiers, and their monstrous strength and ability to absorb punishment make them highly sought after by the Astra Militarum. Serving in the Militarum Auxilla, Ogryns are equipped with simple-to-use weapons before being herded towards the enemy, their survival instinct and bellicose nature taking over as soon as the first shots are fired in their direction. They charge towards their foes, brutalising all those before them and leaving little but mangled corpses in their wake.
Despite their effectiveness in battle, Ogryns are outcasts in Imperial society, and are constantly reminded of their genetic deviation by superior officers and their fellow soldiers. It is therefore little wonder that some fall victim to the lures of Chaos. Those Ogryns touched by corruption find their muscles bulging even further and their limbs mutating into biological weapons, allowing them to savagely butcher their cruel Imperial masters before pledging themselves entirely to the Dark Gods.
The Quest
In Traitor Command, the explorers must stop a ritual to open a warp rift aboard the Blackstone Fortress. If they are unsuccessful, the traitor forces will be able to flood its corridors with reinforcements from the Eye of Terror.
The quest for the ritual chamber is a new quest that can be attempted if the explorers are not on another quest, such as the quest for the hidden vault. Before starting an expedition, the explorers can choose to undertake the quest for the ritual chamber. If they do so, follow the rules presented here to set up an expedition for this quest. Once the explorers have started this quest, they may not start another until it has been completed. The quest for the ritual chamber uses some new rules and some existing rules from the quest for the hidden vault on pages 12-13 of the Blackstone Fortress: Rules booklet. Use the existing rules for Discovery Markers and New Expeditions, along with the following new rules.
Setting Up an Expedition for the Quest for the Ritual Chamber
Set up the expedition as described in the Blackstone Fortress: Rules booklet, but with the following changes:
- During step 3, instead of creating the discovery deck as normal, take the Traitor Command discovery deck from this expansion, shuffle it and place it face down on the Precipice board. If you run out of cards in this deck during an expedition, you may not draw any more cards from this deck during this expedition.
- Do not use the exploration cards from Blackstone Fortress. Instead, take the exploration deck from this expansion, shuffle it and place it face down on the Precipice board.
- During step 4, take the encounter cards from Blackstone Fortress and find the cards for the Traitor Guardsmen, Negavolt Cultists, Ur-Ghuls, Spindle Drones, Chaos Beastmen and Rogue Psykers. You can then add any eligible encounter cards from other expansions you own, as described in that expansion. Shuffle these cards to make a new encounter deck, and then place the deck to the left of the combat track. Finally, place the Traitor Command encounter cards from this expansion next to that encounter deck.
- During step 4, in addition to the hostile reference cards listed, also place the Chaos Beastmen, Rogue Psykers, Chaos Ogryn and Traitor Commissar, along with any hostile reference cards required for encounter cards taken from other expansions.
- During step 5, after placing the spacecraft that are bases for your chosen explorers, if fewer than four spacecraft have been placed, one of the extra spacecraft chosen by the leader must be the Eye of Vect. If four spacecraft have been placed, the leader must pick one to remove and replace with the Eye of Vect.
TRANSCRIPTION GAP – PRINTED PAGES 8 AND 9 ARE MISSING FROM THE SOURCE.
The source scan of this booklet runs from printed page 7 straight to printed page 10. The expedition setup steps 6 to 11 and the rest of printed pages 8 and 9 are not in the source file and are not transcribed here. Nothing has been reconstructed from other sources. Printed page 7 resumes with step 12. Players needing setup steps 6 to 11, or any rules on printed pages 8 and 9, should consult a complete copy of the printed Traitor Command booklet.
The Quest (continued)
Setting Up an Expedition (continued)
- During step 12, the leader reads aloud the following text instead: 'The maglev transport chamber lurches into motion, taking the explorers to a traitor-held location deep inside the fortress. Their objective is to capture the dataslates carried by the commanders of the Chaos forces and then return safely to Precipice...'
Discovery Cards
This expansion uses a new discovery deck for expeditions as part of the quest for the ritual chamber. The archeotech cards that make up the deck can be traded at Precipice as normal; however, some of the archeotech cards in the deck award more trading points when traded on a specific spacecraft. Such cards will specify which spacecraft the explorer will have to visit to be awarded a higher trading point value.
The Ritual Chamber
During the quest for the ritual chamber, explorers will capture dataslates that will be placed in the databank at the end of each expedition. After picking explorers at the start of an expedition, if the databank contains 5 or more Dataslate counters, the explorers can discard all of these counters and choose to attack the Heart of Corruption. Follow the instructions on the Heart of Corruption sheet to attack this location.
Failure
The quest for the ritual chamber ends in failure if fewer than four explorers are available at the start of an expedition, or the explorers are unable to conquer the Heart of Corruption. If either of these things happen, the players have failed this quest. The explorers will have to restart this quest, or choose another quest.
One-off Expeditions
If you wish to play a one-off expedition using the contents of this expansion, add the encounter cards for the Traitor Commissar and Chaos Ogryn to the Blackstone Fortress encounter card deck used for one-off games. You can also add the exploration cards from this expansion, but do not use any which are marked with the purple symbol. You can find more instructions for how to use the cards from this expansion in future games on page 11.
Precipice
During the course of an expedition made as part of the quest for the ritual chamber, explorers may have used the Eye of Vect's support ability, and accrued a debt that must be paid off. When the explorers return to Precipice during the quest for the ritual chamber, the following additional rules apply:
- Do not carry out the legacy step. In the quest for the ritual chamber, explorers are not held to the same time constraints as during the quest for the hidden vault. Instead, explorers place any order dataslate counters they are carrying in the databank.
- In the trading step, explorers can convert archeotech cards into trading points as described on page 5 of the Precipice booklet. Some archeotech cards can be converted into 1 trading point, or 2 trading points if they explorer visits the spacecraft specified on that archeotech card.
- In the trading step, do not place any resource cards next to the Eye of Vect. When the Eye of Vect is turned to its facilities side, place any debt counters accrued during the expedition on that side. How to pay off this debt, and the repercussions of unpaid debt, are described on the Eye of Vect itself.
Example caption: In the example above, the explorers have finished an expedition with 3 debt counters on the support side of the Eye of Vect. In the trading step, the Eye of Vect is turned over to its facilities side, and the three debt counters are placed on it. The facilities side of the card then tells the players how to pay off this debt.
After the Quest
The Grendish 82nd traitor regiment are spread throughout the Blackstone Fortress, and although the disruption of their dread ritual represents a significant setback for the followers of Chaos, those dedicated to the Ruinous Powers do not give up easily...
The Miniatures and Encounter Cards
All of the cards from the Traitor Command expansion are marked with a symbol allowing them to be added to and removed from your existing Blackstone Fortress card decks with ease, allowing full customisation of your Blackstone Fortress adventures.
You can add the miniatures from this expansion to the Blackstone Fortress game for other quests you may embark upon in the future. To do so, when setting up an expedition for that quest, or during one-off games, simply add the Traitor Command encounter cards to your encounter deck. This means that there is a chance that the Traitor Commissar or Chaos Ogryn will appear while playing through other quests – this allows you to play new quests, or replay quests you have already completed, with a new element, and also ensures a fresh challenge for one-off expeditions.
The Discovery Deck
The discovery card deck used in the quest for the ritual chamber should not be mixed in with the discovery cards used in the quest for the hidden vault for one-off expeditions, or for future quests. These cards are marked with a purple symbol so that they can be identified easily and separated from any other discovery cards should they become mixed together.
The Exploration Cards
The exploration cards for this expansion are marked with a black starburst symbol and can be added to your existing exploration deck for one-off games or other quests (such as the quest for the hidden vault). One of the challenge cards, Battlefield, is marked with a purple symbol and should not be included if you wish to mix the decks together in this way.
If you draw a combat card from this expansion in a one-off expedition or future quest, follow the rules on page 8 with the following amendment: in the first step, instead of placing a Traitor Command encounter card, draw a card from the encounter deck as normal.
Dangers Unknown
Compared to Precipice, the Blackstone Fortress is truly vast, like a mountain towering over a single pebble. Only a minute fraction of its inner chambers have ever been explored, and many of those intrepid enough to venture within its walls never return to tell of what they have seen. On occasion, however, one of these pioneers will return to Precipice with word of new horrors they have discovered...
The reasons for seeking out the Blackstone Fortress are as varied as the explorers who undertake the perilous journey. Some come to locate powerful technologies that might ensure their race's survival, or to amass personal fortunes through shrewd dealings and underhanded trade. Others end up in the fortress' shadow because there is nowhere else in the galaxy left for them to run to.
For the Drukhari pirate Veth Rayden, the Blackstone Fortress was the only place in the galaxy in which she might find the tools needed to escape a fate worse than death. After stealing a vessel belonging to the Supreme Overlord of Commorragh, Veth had been forced to flee the webway, travelling as far from charted Drukhari space as possible in order to avoid horrific retribution. Eventually her flight led her to Precipice, where she quickly became an explorer of no small reputation. Her expeditions into the Blackstone Fortress yielded vast quantities of archeotech, which she used to improve the already formidable capabilities of her stolen vessel. The casualty rates amongst those who chose to venture with her, however, were staggeringly high. Many never made it out alive, and those who did often bore horrendous wounds, seemingly inflicted by Rayden herself. Not one of the survivors ever dared say what had transpired inside the fortress, but their missing limbs and trembling faces spoke volumes. Before long, none aboard Precipice would deal with the Drukhari, so with a final wry smile she set off to uncover new parts of the fortress on her own. For years after, the denizens of Precipice neither saw nor heard from her, with most assuming she had either died in some unspeakable manner within the fortress or had been caught by her Commorrite pursuers. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she returned bearing a dire revelation.
Since departing, Veth had spent her time seeking other stable apertures that would allow access into the Blackstone Fortress. She continued to harvest archeotech and make improvements to her vessel, and whilst doing so sated her eternal thirst for cruelty on whatever creatures she encountered inside the fortress' chambers. But she was not entirely alone. Veth encountered other vessels – not small and irregular handfuls like those gathered at Precipice, but a single and sizeable flotilla. From her days raiding human worlds she recognised these vessels as Imperial Navy transports, though in place of aquilas they bore the grim markings of Chaos. When the transports docked with the fortress they disgorged scores of soldiers, officers and abhuman fighters. How the members of this traitor regiment had found the fortress, and in such great numbers, she did not know, but in her soul she could feel the corrupting influence of the warp growing in their presence.
If she hoped to avoid capture by agents of Commorragh, Veth Rayden would need more technologies from the Blackstone Fortress. Should the forces of the Dark Gods take control of the fortress, however, such hope would be dashed. She could not defeat the traitor regiment on her own – but perhaps she could convince others to do it for her.
Dread Harbingers
The Grendish 82nd 'Dread Harbingers' infantry regiment had long fought against the armies of Chaos within the systems to the galactic west of the Cadian Gate. The regiment was renowned for its superlative discipline, and on many fronts had marched fearlessly into battle against overwhelming enemy forces. It often fell to the Dread Harbingers to lock down their foes on the battlefield, launching wave after wave of doomed infantry assaults to buy time for Imperial artillery and air support to be brought to bear. In most cases, the regiment suffered heavy casualties, but in true Grendish fashion the soldiers of the 82nd doggedly fought on, shouting praises to the Emperor between every shot fired and thanking their commanding officers for being given the privilege of defending Humanity. For added bulk and staying power on the front lines, numerous Ogryns of the Militarum Auxilla were deployed alongside the Dread Harbingers. Unusually high numbers of Commissars further ensured that the morale of these troops would never crack, even when facing down the heretical warriors who spewed forth from the warp.
– Rogue Trader Janus Draik Warrant of Trade R38-79N1 Datalog Entry: 11,729
<More Imperial traitors have been sighted within the fortress. It is not only Guardsmen who have given themselves over to the enemy, but gallant commanders of the Officio Prefectus. I have twice had the pleasure of dining with officers of their rank, and though their demeanor leaves little room for witticism, their loyalty to Humanity is beyond reproach. To think that they could be swayed to heresy is unconscionable – I have seen men and women executed for suggesting much less. Yet this is what we now face. It seems there are no bounds to the madness found here. My only hope is that sanity will prevail.
> A new breed of enemy has been encountered. Emperor willing, they shall soon be exterminated.
Aside from the soldiers of Cadia itself, the Grendish 82nd were considered among the most resolute and determined regiments in the sector – right up until they turned to Chaos. During the final days of Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade, the Dread Harbingers were deployed to the shrine world of Magna Theca in an attempt to pin down the Black Legion warband that had invaded the planet. Imperial tacticians feared the Heretic Astartes would abscond with the sacred volumes housed in Magna Theca's grand librarium, and so the 82nd were ordered to contain the enemy there until the ancient structure could be obliterated from orbit. The Dread Harbingers surged into the librarium, there to engage their foe in bitter close-quarters fighting, and after thirteen days and nights they emerged once more. This confounded the inbound Imperial Navy – the 82nd had not been ordered to withdraw, nor had they managed to eradicate the Black Legion presence. Planetside comm-reports conveyed that the regiment was close to full strength, and despite the harrowing task to which they had been set, they showed no signs of having broken and fled from the Black Legion.
The grim truth of the situation quickly became apparent – the Dread Harbingers had fallen to the corruptions of Chaos, and were now fighting alongside the heretics. Supported by their new allies, the traitor regiment fell upon Magna Theca's planetary defence forces, slaughtering the startled garrisons in a series of merciless offensives. In short order, the heretics took control of Magna Theca's macro-defence emplacements, which they turned upon the arriving Imperial Navy ships.
This was the last Imperial record of the Dread Harbingers before Cadia fell to Abaddon the Despoiler. The empyric shock wave and yawning warp storms that followed sent the regions surrounding the Cadian Gate into a state of abject anarchy. Whole armies disappeared without trace, swallowed up by tears in reality or wiped out by marauding Chaos forces. Stars and their planets were enveloped by the birthing spasms of the Great Rift, and lines of astropathic communication were flooded with soul-rending psychic screams. Some assumed the Dread Harbingers had met the same end as so many of their allies, but no one could declare them annihilated with absolute certainty.
Sightings of the Dread Harbingers within the Blackstone Fortress confirm that the traitor regiment survived the anarchy of the Cadian Gate, and that they continue to serve the Dark Gods. Their presence in this isolated region of the galaxy is deeply troubling for all aboard Precipice, for it marks the first clear instance in which a large-scale fleet has located the Blackstone Fortress. The Grendish 82nd have vessels with which they have crossed the void of space, and amongst their number are numerous Traitor Commissars and Chaos Ogryns. This means that it is not only a whole regiment that has fallen to Chaos, but also a sizeable contingent of the Imperial Navy, and members of the Officio Prefectus and Militarum Auxilla. As yet, no data traders have been able to deduce how the traitor regiment were able to locate the fortress, but it is suspected that they are being guided by some powerful servant of Chaos – either outside or inside the fortress.
More disturbing still are the reported activities of the Dread Harbingers within the Blackstone Fortress. Exploring parties who have crossed paths with the 82nd say that the traitor regiment is spreading out and gathering artefacts from within the fortress' chambers. But instead of collecting powerful archeotech that can be turned into weapons, the officers are commanding their troops to find ancient relics heavy with psychic energy that can be used in the profane rituals they are conducting. The purpose of these rituals is thus far unknown to the denizens of Precipice. Some data traders speculate that the Dread Harbingers are trying to create a psychic beacon that will allow the Black Legion to navigate the uncharted tracts of space that lead to the Blackstone Fortress. Others have suggested the traitor regiment might be taking a more direct approach by trying to open a warp rift within the very halls of the fortress, thereby allowing Chaos forces to emerge directly inside the twisting labyrinth. In either case, the heretics have been seen using the substance of the fortress itself to amplify these rituals. By attuning nodes of blackstone to the resonance of the warp and corrupting the arcane technology of the fortress, they have managed to channel and focus the flows of Chaos within the tessellating chambers.
Whatever their motivations, the Dread Harbingers must be stopped. A single squad of their troops can tear through all but the hardiest of exploring parties, and these same soldiers are even more dangerous when whipped into a psychotic fervour by a Traitor Commissar, or accompanied to battle by a hulking Chaos Ogryn. They hurl themselves with reckless abandon at any explorers they encounter, slaughtering swiftly before gathering up relics that they can use in their profane rites. There is no telling what will happen if their rituals are completed, but no one on Precipice can risk letting them succeed.
Denizens of Precipice
Denizens of Precipice,
I hereby extend an invitation to each and every one of you: visit me aboard my vessel to learn how we may be of mutual use to one another. With great regret I must inform you that this will not be a purely social meeting. You are no doubt all aware of the common enemy with whom we are faced, and I am certain that you have come to the same conclusion as I – we must slaughter these Grendish wretches with utmost haste.
I hope to meet with each of you in turn, and will take any refusal to do so as a purposeful insult.
Do not make me come to you.
Veth Rayden
The Eye of Vect
Crafted by the most skilled artisans in Commorragh, the Eye of Vect was designed for conducting espionage and assassination missions. It was built with some of the finest quantum scanning and cloaking capabilities in the galaxy, and its current captain – Veth Rayden – has further modified it with archeotech taken from the Blackstone Fortress. The most impressive apparatus she has installed is known as the Sculptor of Destinies. With this device, Veth is able to not only glimpse the skeins of fate, but alter the path of causality to a minute degree. If she can find the right archeotech to boost the power of the Sculptor of Destinies, perhaps she will be able to avoid capture by the agents of Commorragh indefinitely – but for now she uses it to influence the fortunes of explorers within the Blackstone Fortress, provided they pay her price in archeotech or suffering.