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Churchill

2021-11-29T01:08:54Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F512:85F7:3087:32E:

The Churchill Tank (not to be confused with the Leader of Britain) was one of the heaviest tanks fielded by the British Army during World War II. It is notorious for having an incredibly flawed development cycle and for it's distinctive design.

==In Real Life==
The Churchill Tank's name is debated. Some say it was named in honor of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but others argue they are referring to his relative, who was in the House of Lords in the late 1800s. The Churchill was first ordered under the premise that World War II would be the same as World War I: static battlefields with lots of difficult terrain and anti-tank guns. Thusly, the tank had to be able to resist fire from German AT guns and provide support for Infantry. This resulted in it being a complete fatass compared to most other allied tanks, though the Churchill was still water weight compared to the Tiger.

After the fall of France, the design was revised to better support Infantry Formations, as British doctrine of the time dictated that fat heavy tanks. Most of the early Versions (MKI-VI) were shit, and the tank was close to being removed from service. However, some Madlads in North Africa got the idea to strap a 75mm AT gun into the turret to replace the 57mm cannon found on the more common Mark III. After the War office saw how effective these [[Orks|jerry rigged Churchills]] were, they were immediately designated the Mark VII and had 1600 of the things produced.

The Churchill saw reliable service across the world, though primarily in Europe in gained a reputation for being tough as nails and able to be specialized for just about anything, from Engineer support vehicles to tow tanks to bridge layers to minesweepers, there was a variant of the Churchill for just about everything. Interestingly, the Churchill was also judged to be a superior Jungle Fighting vehicle, most likely because the Japanese had nothing that could really scratch it. In Soviet service, they were replaced by the T-10 and IS-2, but were utilized enough to have been present at the Battle of Kursk.

Interestingly enough, the German analysis of the tank after the Dieppe landings indicated that the armor was at least equal to the armor of the Tiger, but as the armor was largely square shaped it had inferior protective qualities compared to the Tiger.
{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

Churchill

2021-11-29T01:08:40Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F512:85F7:3087:32E: Undo revision 798685 by 70.113.114.183 (talk)

The Churchill Tank (not to be confused with the Leader of Britain) was one of the heaviest tanks fielded by the Royal Army during World War II. It is notorious for having an incredibly flawed development cycle and for it's distinctive design.

==In Real Life==
The Churchill Tank's name is debated. Some say it was named in honor of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, but others argue they are referring to his relative, who was in the House of Lords in the late 1800s. The Churchill was first ordered under the premise that World War II would be the same as World War I: static battlefields with lots of difficult terrain and anti-tank guns. Thusly, the tank had to be able to resist fire from German AT guns and provide support for Infantry. This resulted in it being a complete fatass compared to most other allied tanks, though the Churchill was still water weight compared to the Tiger.

After the fall of France, the design was revised to better support Infantry Formations, as British doctrine of the time dictated that fat heavy tanks. Most of the early Versions (MKI-VI) were shit, and the tank was close to being removed from service. However, some Madlads in North Africa got the idea to strap a 75mm AT gun into the turret to replace the 57mm cannon found on the more common Mark III. After the War office saw how effective these [[Orks|jerry rigged Churchills]] were, they were immediately designated the Mark VII and had 1600 of the things produced.

The Churchill saw reliable service across the world, though primarily in Europe in gained a reputation for being tough as nails and able to be specialized for just about anything, from Engineer support vehicles to tow tanks to bridge layers to minesweepers, there was a variant of the Churchill for just about everything. Interestingly, the Churchill was also judged to be a superior Jungle Fighting vehicle, most likely because the Japanese had nothing that could really scratch it. In Soviet service, they were replaced by the T-10 and IS-2, but were utilized enough to have been present at the Battle of Kursk.

Interestingly enough, the German analysis of the tank after the Dieppe landings indicated that the armor was at least equal to the armor of the Tiger, but as the armor was largely square shaped it had inferior protective qualities compared to the Tiger.
{{British Forces in Flames of War}}

Genestealer

2021-11-28T03:04:33Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F512:85F7:3087:32E: Undo revision 798579 by Cavgunner (talk) He...did?

[[Image:GenestealerBroodlord.jpg|thumb|right|They're not just called Genestealers for nothing!]]
{{Topquote|Iä! Iä! Tyrannicus fhtagn!|One of many unholy Genestealer Cult prayers}}

{{Topquote|Praise be! The star children deliver us!|White Dwarf October 2016}}

{{Topquote|Mankind has always looked to the stars for salvation...and finally, THE STARS HAVE ANSWERED!|Unnamed Magus}}

'''Genestealers''' (''Corporaptor hominis'') are [[xenos|alien]] creatures in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe. They have undergone many [[fluff]] revisions since their inception, but they have always been lethal in melee (so deadly that [[Space Marine]] [[power armor]] is like tissue paper to them, no exaggeration), preternaturally fast, pseudo-insectoid in form, protected by a thick shell of [[Carapace]] and reliant on other species for reproduction.

Basically what would happen if the Xenomorphs decided to run a Lovecraftian doomsday cult... IN SPAAAAACE!

== Rogue Trader ==
[[Image:Oldschool genestealers.png|thumb|right|The 2nd edition pic that has defined the identity of Genestealer Cults for decades.]]
In [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader]] (the first edition of Warhammer 40,000), Genestealers were simply one of many creatures encountered in space, spreading from the moon of Ymgarl. They could be extremely dangerous in close quarters, as each of their six strong limbs ended in [[Tyranid_Bio-Weapons#Rending Claws|sharp claws]], and they had a gruesome lifecycle reminiscent of the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise, but otherwise had little to distinguish themselves. Most notably, they were not connected with the [[Tyranids]] at all. Indeed, the core rulebook noted that Genestealers with [[human]] ancestry could be intelligent, and even friendly! Their natural form had an almost leech-like head, and they were specifically described as "vampirish." They also ignored armour saves until 4th ed. That was annoying.

== Space Hulk ==
When the [[Space Hulk]] board game was released a few years after 40k: Rogue Trader, Genestealers received a significant bump in their threat level. The game made it clear that the Genestealers were a much more virulent and widespread menace than their initial description, and their head was changed to have a much toothier mouth. In keeping with GW's ripping off the Xenomorphs, Genestealers would use stealth to approach the Marine player's [[Terminators]] as "blips" of some unknown number of Genestealers, and then come out of hiding once they had a good ambush prepared. They achieved a super-human level of coordination via a [[Hive Mind|hive mind]], represented by the Genestealer player having unlimited time to move his pieces.

== Later Editions ==
In later editions of [[Warhammer 40,000]], the Genestealers were revealed to be (or [[retcon]]ned into, depending on your point of view) vanguard organisms for the [[Tyranid]] Hive Fleets. They are capable of thinking for themselves and operating without the Hive Mind's leadership, a rare trait among Tyranids, although they are not synapse creatures. [[Space Hulk]]-era Genestealers were re-designated "Purestrain Genestealers," created by the Hive Fleets themselves.

Genestealers are sent to infest Space Hulks and spread among the stars. Their long tongues contain a barbed ovipositor; when they encounter sentient anthropoid, they [[Rape|use this ovipositor to inject a "seed" into the host's body]], combining the host species' genome with the greater Tyranid genome (hence the name Gene-stealer.) This is a method called the "Genestealer's Kiss," which is either a face-biting parody of a kiss or an injection under the ribcage. Fun fact, this biological process exists in real life under the name of "horizontal gene transfer", and is mostly used by bacteria to help other bacteria develop resistances to antibiotics, and more importantly is the main process involved in genetic engineering! More recently, the Genestealer Cult of the Twisted Helix has discovered how to extract this "seed" for use in contaminating food and medicine, allowing the Genestealer curse to spread to locations far removed from any actual Genestealer.

Regardless of the vector, the seed greatly alters the host's body on both physical and psychological levels over the course of a few hours, causing them to forget all about the infection and become subservient to the Purestrain's brood. The host is also driven to have children, even if they didn't want any before becoming infected; their partner does not have to be likewise infected, but it doesn't hurt. After a pregnant host (or whoever they impregnated) gives birth, their viciously malformed offspring creates a hive mind connection between itself, its parents, and the Genestealers (though this raises the question of how anyone else in the room during the birth, such as midwives, would react.) This connection and the mutations brought on by the Genestealer's seed proceed to subliminally twist the minds of both parents so that they unconditionally love their child and revere the Genestealers either as gods or as creatures sent by gods (the exact interpretation varies, you understand), usually fleeing into darkened tunnels, catacombs or sewers to avoid discovery. It is not even uncommon for Genestealer Cults to present, at least outwardly, as Emperor-worshipers, although inevitably they have some funky iconography like the whole four arms thing. Some of them, at least the rank and file, may even ''believe'' they're worshiping the Emperor instead of spacebugs. And, when not doing dastardly Genestealer things, they may really be about the overall work of the Imperium on a day-to-day basis, which is of course part and parcel with their infiltrationist aspects.

Eventually these infected individuals and their growing brood of offspring will come together with kindred spirits (that is, other Genestealer hybrids and their infected parents) to form a community/family dedicated to the Genestealers in both body and soul. As the family grows, they will continue to isolate themselves, eventually forming a Genestealer Cult. What follows is an ongoing process of hybrids breeding with captured and infected humans, with their human parents kept around both as breeding stock and for nursing and child-rearing. The second generation hybrids aren't as ugly as their parents, appearing more "normal"-looking but still obviously alien. However, that becomes a moot point once the third and fourth generation roll around, the fourth actually being virtually indistinguishable from actual full-members of their parent species. The uglier members and Purestrain Genestealers typically lurk in the shadows far away from civilisation, while the intelligent and "human" members infiltrate and spy in almost every sector of society. Their psychic network lets them communicate with one another, even though some of the less-human hybrids (and the Purestrains) are incapable of speech, and when the brood mind becomes powerful enough, it will act as a beacon to [[Tyranid]] Hive Fleets. These fleets travel at various different speeds according to various different authors although generally always slower than Imperial warp drives, which means it is impractical for them to travel blindly, so they home in on the signal created by a large Genestealer Cult. When their arrival is imminent, they will directly contact the Cult, which will then engage in a full rebellion, sabotaging their planet's defenses in preparation for the fleet. This scenario is usually a win-win for the Tyranids, as even if the insurrection is crushed, they still probably went down swinging and cost the defenders valuable manpower and resources they needed to fight what's coming.

The exact manner in which a Cult reacts to the arrival of the Tyranids varies. According to the backstory for [[Hive Fleet Kraken]], a planet called Larnarno was infiltrated by a Cult calling themselves the Celebrants of Nihilism. When the Tyranids showed up to consume the planet, 75% of the population ''calmly marched towards and aboard the bio-ships where they gladly accepted being brought to the digestion pits''. However, a Cult generally has no idea what is about to happen to them, fully believing that the Tyranids are wonderful, enlightened beings and when they show up they'll all become one big happy space family. And for a bit, [[troll|the Hive Mind actually leads them on and doesn't target the cult]]. For a brief moment the cultists get to live their dream of fighting alongside their beloved star gods, but as soon as the planet's defenses are basically done for, they are on the menu just like everybody else. Even worse, the Hive Mind overrides the independence of the Patriarch and Purestrains, at which point the glamour surrounding the Tyranid horrors fades, the cultists get a good look at what their angels ''really'' look like and they have just enough time to [[Call of Cthulhu|fail their SAN checks and scream]]. Any cultists that try to flee are [[grimdark|consumed by the very father they worshiped and the very children they raised]].

Some may ask, why would GW do this? Does GW ''hate'' the idea that anyone who is not of an Imperial faction might be allowed to have a happy ending? If you have to ask these questions, you probably don't understand the situation. The Genestealer Cults are literally nothing more than convenient tools that the Tyranids use to prepare worlds for consumption. The very genetic fabric of each Cult member, right down to the most lowly cultist, has been hijacked to achieve this end. If they fail, they will be destroyed by the civilizations they are attempting to infiltrate. If they succeed, they will be assimilated by the Hive Mind. Therefore for the Genestealer Cults, one way or the other, there can be no happy ending.

Way back in the days of Rogue Trader, Genestealer Cults also used to be able to be devoted to Chaos. That disappeared from the tabletop along with the old incarnation of the army, but in the fluff, this can apparently still happen, in certain very rare circumstances. One account describes a truly hilarious case of turnabout when a Cult's ship is sucked into a Warp storm and dumped on the edges of Nurgle's Garden, where the Genestealers and their minions get taught a thing or two about ''real'' corruption and parasitism by the Chaos God who wrote the book on it. Nurgle does eventually let the Cult go, because he's a nice guy, ''after'' he's thoroughly had his way with them of course, and they come back into realspace as basically a Plaguestealer Cult. What might've happened if the Cult had fallen into Slaanesh's domain, officially, we'll never know, because family-friendly GW doesn't have the balls to go there. Unofficially, [[Hivestrain Azure|we can make a pretty good guess]]. As a contrariwise example, there's a genestealer cult in a Inquisitor Czevak story who, marooned on a daemon world in the [[Eye of Terror|Eye]] after their [[space hulk]] was unfortunate enough to crash there, nonetheless hate and resist chaos and maintain a lot of Imperial iconography and so on (although they ''do'' consort with xenos and mutants, which, while heretical, is probably still well above par for the course given their living situation).

Interestingly, it appears that the rare Genestealer Cults that fall to Chaos worship may become decidedly unappetizing to the Tyranids, to the point where a hive fleet will ''ignore'' the cult's call and merrily skip past them to go chow down on some forest-moon instead of the world the cult had been desperately calling them towards. This ends up pushing a cult even further into Chaos worship, unaware that they are not in fact following the Hivemind but instead possibly a demented purple whore or a bloated pus-covered maggot man.

=== Genestealer Variants ===
The first Genestealer to infect a host (or hosts) grows larger and more intelligent with each mind added to the cult/family/whatever, eventually far surpassing its kin in strength, size and cunning, even becoming a powerful psyker. This Genestealer is known as the [[Genestealer Patriarch|Patriarch]], and acts as both the cult's leader and the object of its devotion. The Patriarch's psychic connection to the Hive Mind allows it to maintain iron control over his brood as well as other lesser Tyranid organisms.

After the Purestrain infects a host, a Genestealer Cult will end up with members with various levels of Genestealer ancestry. In general, Genestealer Hybrids will breed with their non-Genestealer parent species, and their descendants will resemble that species, until the fourth hybrid generation, whose children will be Purestrain Genestealers capable of "founding" new Genestealer Cults.

The [[Rogue Trader]]-era Genestealers also get a special mention, in the form of "Ymgarl Genestealers," a strain that supposedly comes from a population of Genestealers that got isolated on the moons of Ymgarl. They have tentacled, lamprey-like mouths and the ability to partially transform themselves depending on the circumstances, at the cost of being genetically unstable and only being able to feed on blood. In fact, they're so unstable that the Hive Mind deliberately abandoned them for fear that they would contaminate the Tyranid gene pool. Because of this, they compulsively seek to reach planets that have recently been visited by the Tyranids in a futile attempt to be reabsorbed into the Hive Fleets. If they weren't horrible monstrosities, their predicament would almost be sad. However, at some point between 5th and 6th Edition, the Ymgarl Genestealers lucked out and got absorbed into a Hive Fleet by some very desperate/caring Norn Queen. The result of this is that 6E Tyranids now have a Bio-Artefact (If you feel unclean about the name, that's natural) called the ''Ymgarl Factor'' that gives any Tyranid unit the same unstable properties rule, but now lack the assaulting from Outflanking.

=== Non-human Hybrids ===

As a final note, [[Warhammer 40,000]] fiction is very [[human]]-centric, and so most Genestealer infestations depicted have occurred among human populations, but the [[Ciaphas Cain]] novels have suggested that [[Tau]] and [[Orks]] are also susceptible to Genestealer infection. The novel ''Death of Integrity'' also confirms that Genestealers will attack and assimilate other xenos, though this plot point lasts about one paragraph. <s>What, exactly, a Tau Genestealer Hybrid would look like is the subject of much speculation.</s> The short story ''The Greater Evil'' depicts one, and the answer is: Horrifying, and obviously blue. As shown in the later short story ''The Voice of Experience'', the Tau are also well-aware of Genestealers by this point and the threat they pose. There is old canon art of Ork Genestealer hybrids, but given the vast amount of retcons since then its canon status is questionable...

==== Orks ====

It should be noted that Orks reproduce asexually by way of fungal spores they secrete both at a perpetual slow trickle from their skin while alive and ''en masse'' while a decaying corpse (and also that "Ork" is but one of many many different Orkoid phenotypes that a given spore might develop into depending on environmental conditions, so one has to wonder how the genestealer mutations might interact with a spore that grew into, say, a mushroom), so it's pretty hard to envision an Orkified Genestealer Cult actually working, or lasting beyond the first generation or two, since they have no ways of mixing genes to produce purestrains in time. Even if they could, the Orks have an inherent ability to determine if one of their own isn't proppa Orky and will inevitably krump the gits. Some old, old fluff portrayed Purestrain genestealers descended from Ork hybrids as having denser musculature (and most likely greater physical strength). In another of these dusty accounts, an incident on the fringe of the Octarius system had a massive, purple, six-limbed Gargant attacking a Guard regiment. When it was melta'd open, purestrain genestealers emerged to eat the Guardsmen. You are encouraged to take these older bits of fluff with a generous pinch of salt. In any event, ancient and likely non-canonical fluff aside, the unique quirks of Ork biology boil down to the fact any attempt to infest an Ork warband would almost certainly fail and not be worth the effort in the first place. Commissar Cain encountered a genestealer infested space hulk in which genestealers were using infested orks to guard their hibernation chambers.

As of 2021, [[GW|GeeDubs]] has recently reaffirmed their existence in a White Dwarf. According to the article, they generally show up in Ork [[Kommando]]s, as they tend to live away from the main force of Orks, making it easier to slip in. Also in the article, they showed you [[Awesome|how to make your own out of Acolyte Hybrids, Abberants, and the new Kommandos.]] That's right, [[Wat|GW is encouraging you to kitbash.]] Did we slip into an alternate dimension?

==== Tau ====

Tau, similarly, have certain complications which may prevent Genestealer infestation. Firstly, their Kroot allies can tell if a person is infected or not simply by tasting some of their blood, and secondly, Tau-tech is certainly advanced enough to scan for this threat once they know about it. Furthermore, Tau explicitly practice caste-restricted bureaucratically arranged breeding processes; Tau don't have kids until their higher ups decide they should, and they don't even get to pick their own partners. Two Tau get paired up by the decision of a committee, spend a couple of days off work having sex, then separate and go their separate ways. This means the genestealer taint is seriously difficult to spread amongst the race. The caste-based structure of Tau society also poses problems to any potential Tauified Genestealers, and that's without presuming the caste-system is now so inherent that different castes can't even physically breed with each other anymore. All that being said, according to the new Genestealer Cults Codex, not only can Tau-Genestealer hybrids happen, but one time they were ''deliberately'' created by a team of Earth Caste researchers who wanted to see what would happen. The infection got out of control and actually ended in violence. It's even implied that they may have produced a hybrid Ethereal, which would be a disaster for the Tau given how obedience to the Ethereal caste is basically hard coded into their DNA.

==== Eldar ====

While it is possible for Genestealers to infect the [[Eldar]], it's extremely hard for them to get anywhere with any of the four varieties due to their highly advanced medical technology (all four, yes even the Exodites), universal emphatic abilities, very regimented lifestyles (Craftworld), slow breeding rate and the fact that irregular psychic activity amongst them gets located and dealt with very quickly (all four, heck mind bulletry is pretty much the only thing the [[Dark Eldar]] ban). Even when they are infected, the taint spreads much more slowly due to the Eldar's prolonged gestation period, which makes infecting them more trouble than it is worth in most situations.

So far the only examples among Eldar are those who knowingly and openly embraced their pants-thieving overlords. In the novel "Ghost Warrior", we have Genestealer Eldar on a lost [[Craftworld]] named [[Yvraine#Craftworld_Zaisuthra|Zaisuthra]]. Needless to say, the other [[Ynnari]] who contacted them were ''pissed.'' This was done in their misguided attempt to avoid getting consumed by Slaanesh because this Craftworld had left before the Infinity Circuit was invented and thus didn't have one; their logic was that if they gave themselves over to the Broodmind, their souls would be assimilated before Slaanesh could consume them. There is also something of a Genestealer cult growing among the Dark Eldar in Commorragh. After a raid with lots of captives taken to Commorragh, the Haemonculi found out some of them were Genestealer cultists. The hybrids were singled out and experimented on so their mutations would emerge. When some bored Dark Eldar among the social elite found out about this, they paid the Haemonculi to graft these Genestealer body parts on them for kicks (given how Genestealer reproduction involve a genetic re-write of infected hosts using the Stealer's own DNA, you can see what a stupid idea this is). It looks like the Hive Mind might find a way into Commorragh given how these Dark Eldar, who collectively call themselves the Vorgani, started forming tight-knit groups and share a singular obsession over a Tyranid-infested planet trapped in the Webway.

And of course, the haemonculi know this and think this is just a jolly and amusing thing because of course the sickest fucks in all the galaxy would look at this and think, "what an interesting turn of events!".

==== Others ====

If a Genestealer Cult somehow got somewhere near a [[Stryxis]] convoy and for some reason decided they wanted to interbreed with them they would quickly run into two main problems; the first being that Stryxis are extremely untrustworthy little shits so they don't exactly operate in large enough groups to be really worth the effort, the second problem also being that the Stryxis are untrustworthy little shits and would probably scam the Genestealer cult of all its possessions before enslaving the bastards (assuming they don't "trade" a few hundred bullets in exchange for the Tyranids [[Teef| teeth]] to sell to some orks or somthing)

As for the [[Necrons]], they're goddamn undead robots. If you even consider this possibility you're the biggest idiot since [[Magnus the Red]].

Finally, and perhaps most troubling, is the mention that Tyranids have been targeting [[Hrud]] warrens. Hrud lack the defenses of the above races and are naturally predisposed towards infesting a planet and migrating en mass to a new one. The Genestealer hybrids, likewise, gain enhanced stealth and reaction speed (such as those 5++ saves the 'stealers now enjoy.)

== Dawn of War 2 ==
[[Image:Jeanstealers.jpg|250px|thumb|right|An Assault Terminator trying to protect his power pants from Jeanstealers]]
Genestealers are pretty lore accurate in Dawn of War 2. They eat whatever they face. They act as the ultimate melee troops for Tyranids '''in tier 2.''' Let's run some numbers: A regular Tactical Marine starts with 60 melee skill, a standard melee squad starts with 70. These motherfuckers are starting with 80 by default! And this even gets worse if they have any synapse support. If they are under Improved Synapse of the Hive Tyrant, their health increases by 25%. If they ever get into the melee synapse of Warrior Brood, their health increases by '''75%''', and melee skill by 10, and you can combine these 2 synapses together! Yeah, they can basically murderfuck anything in melee combat. And this gets even worse if they use their Adrenal Rush ability. Gains increased speed and damage, gains small amount of health in each hit they make, and decreases incoming ranged damage.

Everything aside, the most simple solution to deal with them is to get a walker out. Genestealers can't purchase their anti vehicle klaws until tier 3. That makes them balanced right? I hope so. But when they get them, they can solo a Dreadnought! Thankfully, they have light infantry armour, which means that they can be killed easily with most ranged weaponry and struggle against melee fighters that are able to survive long enough to get a few hits in themselves. AoE melee attacks are your friend against them.

== On the Tabletop ==
[[Image:Genestealers-in-the-grass.jpg|250px|thumb|right|[[Fist of the North Star|You're already dead]].]]Both Ymgarl and Purestrain Genestealers are ridiculously deadly in melee, both in fluff and crunch. On the tabletop, when a brood of Genestealers charges something, it's very unlikely to survive to the next turn unless it's a [[Land Raider]] due to their massive number of good strength attacks, rending, and high weapon skill that means they hit most things on 3s (seriously, these guys have higher weapons skill than a lot things made out to be close-combat experts), not to mention that they are fast little fuckers. A Zerg rush has ''nothing'' on these guys. In the fluff, their [[Tyranid_Bio-Weapons#Rending Claws|claws]] are so damned sharp that they might as well be power weapons (back in 2nd Edition and pre-codex 3rd Edition they WERE power weapons), slicing through armor and walls like a chainsaw going through rice paper. Their hypnotic eye powers show up irregularly in the fluff, showing up in the Dark Disciples Novel but not Ciaphas Cain; Hero of the Imperium for example. The fact they are '''[[derp|faster than Eldar]]''' lets them laugh at any unit they charge/charging them, and they are usually deployed a-la Kroot Carnivores (parking them behind a windowless wall 12-18" from the enemy). Unlike Kroots though, they are not there to slow the enemy, they provide a hazardous area for the first turns and then, when the main force has reached their position, they jump out to help OMNOMMing.

In some editions Genestealer broods could upgrade one of the members to a [[Broodlord]], which formerly had a major role due to the biomorphs it could use and psyker powers, but being reduced to a sergeant basically made it just add an extra punch, though it still had a better statline than any non Special-Character Space Marine HQs (except the CSM's daemon prince). Sixth Edition turned Broodlords into rape machines in challenges, as they are able to bring down almost any independent character in the game without eternal warrior, while costing much, MUCH less.

In 8th Edition, Genestealers are still great, but other armies have some melee options that are pretty on-par with them. A horde of Ork Boyz, for example, can pump out 30 more melee attacks in a turn, and cost 110 points less. Granted, they don't have the 5++ invuln, but they still will wreck a horde of Genestealers' shit if they get the first attack. On the other hand, the Genestealers are also very speedy and can rocket to the other side of the board with the right Stratagems. They can also charge after advancing (or lose that ability in exchange for a better armor save that can go up to MEQ-tier if in cover or under the benefits of Jormungandr's Hive Fleet Attribute) and can take [[Tyranid_Bio-Weapons#Acid Maw|Acid Maws]] for a few extra MEQ-killing attacks. Oh, and they also get a Deep Strike similar to a Terminator's teleport homers. They're especially potent with Hive Fleet Kraken since they'll have better advances as well as the ability to charge after falling back, which not only saves them from running the risk of being trapped in melee with something too tough for them to deal with but also improves their already impressive maneuverability and ensures that they'll always get the first swing in.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Genestealer_orks.jpg| ORKY NIDS!!!!!!!!!!!
File:Warhammer 40k the tyranid outcast by randize-d4jl7lq.jpg|
</gallery>

== See Also ==

*[[Genestealer Cult]]
*[[Jeanstealer]] - One of /tg/'s creations. A rather confused Tyranid genestealer that is only driven to steal denim trousers.
*[[Hivestrain Azure]]- A fapfic about a particularly unusual strain of genestealer, likely part of a cult tainted by [[Slaanesh]].
*[[Zoats]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Dawn of War]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tyranid]]

[[Category: Genestealer Cults]]

{{Template:Tyranids-Creatures}}

{{Template:Genestealer-Cult}}

{{WH40k-Factions}}

Krieg

2021-11-27T13:28:05Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F512:85F7:3087:32E: Undo revision 798517 by LordHighAdmiralSpire (talk) The point is a number of the portrayals do stray toward that. Lurk more on /tg/ if you haven't noticed it.

[[File:Krieg (planet).jpg|thumb|300px|A name as subtle as [[Ferrus Manus|Iron Hand]].]]
'''Krieg''' (quite literally German for "war") was once a relatively nice [[Hive World]], a thriving hub of commerce and manufacturing that was home to billions, but that all changed in 433.M40 when the High Autocrat [[Heresy | declared their independence]] from the [[Imperium of Man]]. A global civil war broke out and the heretical separatists swiftly exerted dominance over much of the world and its planetary defense network. Normally independence is suicide at best, but Krieg had such good defenses even a Sector Fleet would fail, which meant Krieg had a real chance of surviving on its own (until someone uses a stealth ship to exterminatus like a kill ship does). The loyalist [[Imperial Guard]] 83rd regiment under the command of Colonel Jurten staged a coup, taking control of Hive Ferrograd, however they were under siege and no outside aid was coming to help them retake the world. Alone and with orders to retaliate and reclaim the world at all costs, the loyalists [[Exterminatus | fired their atomic rockets into the heretic hives]], annihilating them, preventing Krieg from falling to [[Chaos]]. This Purging resulted in the surface of Krieg becoming a [[Grimdark | blasted, uninhabitable]] [[Death World]], trapped in an [[Fallout|eternal nuclear winter]]; only the underground bunkers and deepest depths of its former hive cities were capable of supporting any kind of life.

The Purge wrought two changes in the psyche of the Kriegers: first, they had a debt to discharge, in order to make up for their Autocrat's heresy, and second, they got very used to digging underground and building bunkers and forts. Thus, the [[Death Korps of Krieg]] were born, an army of fatalistic siege-warrior clones. Visually, they are styled after WWI soldiers, with a propensity for trench-digging and hazmat gear. Fierce and callous, the Kriegers vowed to retake their world even if Imperial [[Administratum|pencil pushers]] had already written it off as a loss. The Purge had merely evened the odds. The civil war raged on generation after generation as the loyalist's descendants purged the heretics trench to trench and tunnel by tunnel and after 500 years of warfare Krieg was finally retaken for the Imperium and for [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Big E]].

In 949.M40 Krieg finally rejoined the Imperium with little fanfare. The only ones who really took notice were the [[Departmento Munitorum]], who were annoyed that Krieg had skimped out on its tithe of recruits to the Imperial Guard for the 500 years they had been at war and demanded an entire regiment to make up for it. Krieg sent them twenty regiments, all already equipped and trained, and demanded they be sent to the most dangerous warzones, because war is how Krieg rolls. One can only imagine the sheer boner of the Munitorum Adepts who heard of this news.

Seriously though, just guess what will happen if you name a planet WAR.

==On [[/tg/]]==
For some reason, fa/tg/uys are enamored of the Death Korps of Krieg; there is a minor [[meme]] in which urgent shipments are found to have been replaced with Kriegers, who are ready to take orders and, absent any pressing duties, spend their spare time building earthwork fortifications (even in places where earth is nowhere to be found, like starships), based on an actual stereotype about Germans during their vacation in other countries ([http://i.imgur.com/ybsIci1.png no seriously]). It strays a bit towards nazi [[PROMOTIONS|wet dreams]] given the whole [[/pol/]] thing but you didn't read that here.

A similar take on the above is that Krieg is popular because it signifies the Imperium's ultimate, unflinching, hateful stubbornness in the face of rebellion. Imagine [[SJW|the populists, the weak, the effete, the degenerate]] wanting to be free of the Imperium, decrying its autocracy. And they are winning. You have hordes of short-sighted, dumb billions telling you that [[Nazi|you are an evil tyrant]] and have got to go (conveniently ignoring that Imperial members self-govern so much that even the Inquisitors who want to topple despots struggle to because planetary governments just have that much authority). The rebelling leaders smile, either too corrupt or too stupid to realize Chaos will make a buffet out of the planet or some [[Tau|blueberry communist asshat]] takes over.

What do you do? Do you give up to the hordes waiting outside that will likely imprison or execute you for "being an evil tyrant", who think they know better? Those so-called 99% think they are the righteous ones, foolishly believing rebelling will make the evil wars go away and everyone will live in a retarded Hippyland. Do you surrender like Germans after Hitler finally did to himself [[Blam|what he should have done years ago to both spare himself the pathetic misery after World War 1 and spare the world the atrocities him being decent at at giving speeches would cause]]?

No. You nuke the entire world just to deny rebellion its joy with hateful spite.

You reside in the final tiny hive city, and the [[Communism|so called 99%]] want your surrender. You KILL THE 99% so that you become the 100% instead. No compromise, no mercy, all spite. Even if it takes 500 years, you send every last rebel, those who think they are "the majority so they should be respected", screaming to the Warp, even their descendants and the descendants of the said descendants. For 5 centuries, the rebels will shiver and wait their inevitable slow extinction in radiated bunkers, a five centuries' time of slow, painful execution reminding them of what happens if people turn from the Emperor.

And that is how the Imperium is, or has to be. A sentient, rabid honey badger that totes a lascannon on a paw and having the other replaced with a cybernetic one, who will clasp his jaw around its hunter and even growl and spit in death, and probably [[Eversor Assassin|detonate when its heart stops.]]

This is why Krieg is [[Awesome]], an example of unflinching, uncompromising spite, a monument of the autocracy of the State, which was Warhammer 40000's schtick from the beginning.

This take however ignores the official canon which is also on this very same page that says it was the corrupt autocrats who took over Krieg and it was the populace that fought for the Imperium. Contrary to what the people who love Krieg for the above take believe, canon Krieg isn't an example of a dictatorial Imperium crushing the population at all. Instead it's an example of the Imperium coldly writing Krieg off as a lost cause but the loyalist population still fought against the corrupt anti-imperium rich assholes and somehow managed to win anyways, after which the Imperium noticed and said "Hey, we could really use these super loyal and tough guys!", to the point of bending the rules and allowing them the borderline sacrilege of cloning fully sentient humans (as opposed to custom engineering by AdMech of their children or Skitarii and no-memory Servitors).

Also it needs to be said that in current non-jokey 40k canon there is an in-universe romance novel about Kriegers titled "My Wish to Produce Children with you is Exceeded Only by my Love for Him."

==See Also==
[[Love and Krieg]]

{{40k-Planets}}

[[Category:Imperial]]

Krieg

2021-11-27T04:38:42Z

2001:8003:1D0D:301:F512:85F7:3087:32E: Both /pol/tards and tankies can kindly fuck off