Gregor Eisenhorn vs. Darth Vader

[Boeing 757]

It seems as if this hasn't been done yet, but here goes! The fight takes place in the Colosseum during the height of the Roman Empire. Gregor Eisenhorn retains all his standard armament and fullest psychic power. Darth Vader is also at the height of his power right before the Battle of Endor. The winner is he who decimates his opponent!

[Elheru Aran]

A reasonable contest, but Vader seems to have better strength with the Force than Eisenhorn has psyker ability. Eisenhorn's abilities are safely low-end and mostly focused on telepathy, while Vader has a distinct edge in combat telekinesis.

[Balrog]

I don't think Eisenhorn has displayed the type of telekinetic strength which Vader has, both in the old EU and in the new canon. That gives him a big advantage in this fight.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Making it straight-up gladiatorial combat gives the win to Vader. Even assuming lightsaber/power sword parity and psychic/Force parity, I can't see Eisenhorn successfully fending off Lord Vader in pitched, single combat.

Eisenhorn's odds go up a lot more if he's allowed his actual strengths: his support staff and his role as a strategic player (as opposed to being more of a personal warrior, as Vader is). Eisenhorn keeps personal warriors in his employ for this sort of thing - he's the boss, the caller-of-shots, and chief investigator, whose skills lie more in the logistical and strategic execution of a manhunt to ultimately bring Vader to justice.

If, say, the scenario were posed as Vader and Eisenhorn both being dumped randomly in a neutral setting (let's say Star Trek), and Vader is given the mission of hunting down and killing the last Jedi Knight, Eisenhorn, and Eisenhorn is given the mission of hunting down and killing the rogue and heretical psyker Darth Vader, I'd be more inclined to give Eisenhorn the winning odds.

[Darmalus]

That would be a closer fight, though Eisenhorn's ability to recruit new personal warriors who can face Vader with any effectiveness depends heavily on what world/universe becomes their arena, though I have no doubt Eisenhorn would have the better skill in laying traps/choosing battlefields to maximize the effectiveness of any canon fodder he can assemble.

[Elheru Aran]

Eisenhorn does certainly have a fair array of dirty tricks at hand. Hell, that's pretty much expected of your bog-standard Inquisitor. It's worth noting that he did effectively defeat a Chaos Marine in single combat... albeit by getting lucky. His breed of psychic weaponry would definitely be something different for Vader to deal with, especially if you give him the rune-staff.

[Boeing 757]

Thanks for the input! All right, so Eisenhorn could stand a fair chance of tackling Lord Vader if he had some time to strategize and to ready his retinue, but if it came down to a personal confrontation, Vader will come out on top in all likelihood because of his massive advantage in regard to telekinetic strength...given that the guy could muster the might to raise an AT-ST off himself, and I can't recall Eisenhorn ever pulling such a stunt off.

How about Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor then? I haven't read the Ravenor series, but in the Eisenhorn trilogy he is made out to possess more capable telekinetic abilities.

BTW, where would Vader rank in regards to the standard psyker taxonomy of WH40k? Eisenhorn is a delta-class for example's sake.... Perhaps a high-end delta or a low-end gamma?

[Elheru Aran]

Vader is definitely a mid to high gamma, I think, given that Space Marine Librarians, IIRC, rank around Gamma to Alpha (depends on if they're named characters) and Vader would be a good match against a low-to-mid level Librarian. Ravenor's telepathic and telekinetic abilities are much stronger than Eisenhorn's, so in a straight battle between the two, he might have the edge.

[Sgt_Artyom]

Ravenor being stuck in a floating box might not give him the best of advantages. Sure, it boosts his already prodigious phsyker abilities but aside from that, there's not really anything he can do.

[Elheru Aran]

...that's kind of the point of Ravenor's character; he's a 40K version of Stephen Hawking, just less fancy astrophysics, little more daemonology and Chaos fighting. IIRC the chair has a built-in pistol (can't remember if it's a bolter, psycannon or plasma pistol though). If Vader can bull through Ravenor's telekinesis, he can still take pot-shots with that.

[Sgt_Artyom]

Standing behind him would be an effective strategy, would it not? I can almost imagine it as being like some school yard bullying.

[NecronLord]

Ravenor being stuck in a floating box might not give him the best of advantages. Sure, it boosts his already prodigious phsyker abilities but aside from that, there's not really anything he can do.

He also has twin-linked psycannons in the thing in later books.