2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Radium Weaponry

2019-01-10T09:55:34Z

2601:147:4300:1949:B10B:CF0:1332:A412:

Radium Weapons sometimes called '''Rad Weapons''' are deadly and highly dangerous weapons that are used exclusively by the forces of the [[Skitarii]] Legions of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. [[Awesome|Think of them as nuclear rifles.]] [[Grimdark|Radium Weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders.]] Although quite frankly, having a gun that just ends up killing you seems to venture more into [[Derp|Grimderp territory more then anything else.]] Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function; not only to strike, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon's bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a volley can cause a localized rad-storm. Those inside such a storm soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away.

Despite Rad weapons seemingly being [[Derp|Grimdark for the sake of being Grimdark]]. There is a precedence for these weapons actualizing existing. Energy weapons of all types would throw out huge amounts of Bremsstrahlung radiation each time they are fired. Which is German for "to brake". This mean that even [[Lasgun|las weaponary]], [[Plasma|Plasma guns]], [[Melta]], [[Volkite]]s and just every type of energy weapons would be spewing between trace to large amounts. Even high velocity weapons such as [[Gauss]] [[Railgun]]s and certain [[Autogun]]s would do this for each bullet,sabot,etc, when fired. As modern firearms have housing to prevent them from overheating. Most weapons by the [[Great Crusade]] would have systems in place so they don't cause damage to the user or their armor. Having to clean up even small amounts of radiation would require extensive cleaning both their gear and the weapon itself.
Though the Admech being made up of cyborgs don't care. They can just get themselves a fancy new limb, organ or two. If they survive the battle of course.

On tabletop, generally speaking, Rad Weapons have a low strength of 3 and no AP, but a to-wound of 6 causes two damage. In 30k 6s to wound do two auto-wounds saved separately. A ten man squad without special weapons requires about thirty dice rolls. Normally Ork troops would have that much. While having shootouts with the Tau and can even win. But that's how the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] rolls.
==Imperial Variants==
There are three types of Rad Weapons in the Imperium.

===Radium Pistol===
[[File:RadiumPistol.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Pistol]]
A small pistol that uses scaled down radium technology, usually used by Skitarii Vanguard and Ranger Alphas. These nuclear armed hand cannons are unfortunately not as rad (Hah! See what I did there?) as one might think. You're better off ponying up the points for the Phosphor Blast Pistol instead, unless you *have* to have radium. But really you're better off just not taking a pistol on your Alpha.

<gallery>
image:RadiumPistolBit.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:RadiumPistol1.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Carbine===
[[File:RadiumCarbine.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Carbine]]

A rapid firing weapon capable of a punishing rate of fire, it is the main armament of Skitarii Vanguard. If you want to roleplay as [[Fallout]] in WH40K, this is the gun for you. Speaking of Fallout, this gun closely resembles the Fallout 4's similarly named Radium Rifle in both design and function. On the table, at 18" range and Assault 3, the Radium Carbine usually means lots of hits at short-mid range.

The basic weapon of the Skitarii Vanguard.

<gallery>
image:SkitariiRadiumCarbine.png|<center>Side View</center>
RadiuMCarbineAim.jpg|<center>Bottom View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Jezzail===
[[File:RadiumJezzail.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Jezzail]]

[[Awesome|A motherfucking nuclear sniper rifle.]] The Radium Jezzail is a long sniper-like weapon that is sometimes used by [[Sydonian Dragoon|Sydonian Dragoons]] instead of a Taser Lance. On the table, it's a two shot sniper version as a weapon choice for the Dragoon, in place of its Taser Lance, for free. To Wound of 6's cause an extra mortal.

Basically, if you're going to be taking these on Dragoons you will have to commit to it; as in they're all gonna be sniping.

<gallery>
RadiumJezzailSide.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:SydonianRadiumJezzail.png|<center>Top View</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Irradiation Projector===
[[File:Irrad.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Irradiation Projector]]
An Irradiation Projector, also known as a Rad-Cleanser or Irad-Cleanser, are specialized Adeptus Mechanicus weapons. A potent anti-infantry relic of the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon itself is a dish-like projector connected to a bulky generator which unleashes a powerful blast of cross-spectrum radiation.

Victims caught in the blast suffer horrendous deaths as they are boiled alive from within and blasted apart on a cellular level. Though less effective against vehicles or targets with heavy armor, the target will likely die later from radioactive contamination.

The biggest users are [[Thallax|Thallaxes]] whose enclosed cybernetic harness means that they are less susceptible to radiation poisoning.

<gallery>
MagosRadCleanser.jpg|<center>Magos Dominus</center>
image:MechanicumRadiumEngine.png|<center>Myrmidon Destructor</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Rad Missile Launcher===
[[File:Rad_Missile_Launcher.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Missile Launcher]]

The big cheese of the Imperium's Rad Weapons.

Rad Missile Launchers were a type of Rad Weapon deployed during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]. These Terran-derived missiles are a horror of the genetic wars waged during the Age of Strife, using custom loaded-warheads which combine high explosive fragmentation charges lined with radioactive isotopes. So basically they are dirty bombs.

The effect is to create an intensely toxic radiation weapon that inflicts a hideous death on its victim no matter their resilience. Because of its contaminating and hideous nature, it was deployed sparingly, most commonly by Destroyer Space Marines.

[[Tl;dr]], it's a missile launching dirty bomb.

<gallery>
image:RadMissileFront.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
image:RadMissileBack.jpg|<center>Back View</center>
</gallery>

{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

==Tau Variants==
The [[Tau Empire]] only utilize one type of rad weapon in which only the Vespids are known to use.

===Neutron Blaster===
[[File:NeutronBlaster.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neutron Blaster]]
The primary weapon of the [[Vespid|giant cockroaches]]. Neutron Blasters are some type of rad weapon that fires irradiated neutrons. The Neutron Blaster is one of the most bizarre and impractical weapons ever conceived by Games Workshop. [[What|This is due to the fact that in order to fire it, you need a constant, ultrasonic tone emitted only by the vibrations of the Vespid wing casings which perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals.]] Whilst some may claim that this allows ''only'' the Vespids to utilize these weapons which is a great enemy denial tool. It also presents the problems of the usefulness of this weapon in closed, cramp spaces which may render the weapon quite useless....whoops....

The Neutron Blaster in a sense, is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology, the bulk of a Neutron Blaster is of Tau manufacture as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves. Mounted at the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas. At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.

Neutron Blasters are capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armor to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.

For ''some'' reason, the Neutron it fires is a [[Derp|sickly green]] despite the fact that neutrons aren't known to come in green.

<gallery>
image:NeutronBlasterSmall.jpg|<center>Standard Variant</center>
image:VespidNeutron.png|<center>Sergeant Variant</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

{{Template:40k-Tau-Weapons}}

Radium Weaponry

2019-01-10T07:46:08Z

2601:147:4300:1949:B10B:CF0:1332:A412:

Radium Weapons sometimes called '''Rad Weapons''' are deadly and highly dangerous weapons that are used exclusively by the forces of the [[Skitarii]] Legions of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. [[Awesome|Think of them as nuclear rifles.]] [[Grimdark|Radium Weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders.]] Although quite frankly, having a gun that just ends up killing you seems to venture more into [[Derp|Grimderp territory more then anything else.]] Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function; not only to strike, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon's bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a volley can cause a localized rad-storm. Those inside such a storm soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away.

Despite this seemingly being [[Derp|Grimdark for the sake of being Grimdark]]. There is a precedence for these weapons actualizing existing. Energy weapons of all types would throw out huge amounts of Bremsstrahlung radiation each time they are fired. Which is German for "to brake". This mean that even [[Lasgun|las weaponary]], [[Plasma|Plasma guns]], [[Melta]], [[Volkite]]s and just every type of energy weapons would be spewing between trace to large amounts. Even high velocity weapons such as [[Gauss]] [[Railgun]]s and certain [[Autogun]]s would do this each time they are fired. As modern firearms have housing to prevent them from overheating. Most weapons by the [[Great Crusade]] would have systems in place so they don't cause damage to the user or their armor. Having to clean up the smallest amount of radiation would require extensive cleaning both their gear and the weapon itself.
Though the Admech being made up cyborgs don't care. They can just get themselves a fancy new limb, organ or two. If they survive the battle of course.

On tabletop, generally speaking, Rad Weapons have a low strength of 3 and no AP, but a to-wound of 6 causes two damage. In 30k 6s to wound do two auto-wounds saved separately. A ten man squad without special weapons requires about thirty dice rolls. Normally Ork troops would have that much. While having shootouts with the Tau and can even win. But that's how the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] rolls.
==Imperial Variants==
There are three types of Rad Weapons in the Imperium.

===Radium Pistol===
[[File:RadiumPistol.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Pistol]]
A small pistol that uses scaled down radium technology, usually used by Skitarii Vanguard and Ranger Alphas. These nuclear armed hand cannons are unfortunately not as rad (Hah! See what I did there?) as one might think. You're better off ponying up the points for the Phosphor Blast Pistol instead, unless you *have* to have radium. But really you're better off just not taking a pistol on your Alpha.

<gallery>
image:RadiumPistolBit.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:RadiumPistol1.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Carbine===
[[File:RadiumCarbine.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Carbine]]

A rapid firing weapon capable of a punishing rate of fire, it is the main armament of Skitarii Vanguard. If you want to roleplay as [[Fallout]] in WH40K, this is the gun for you. Speaking of Fallout, this gun closely resembles the Fallout 4's similarly named Radium Rifle in both design and function. On the table, at 18" range and Assault 3, the Radium Carbine usually means lots of hits at short-mid range.

The basic weapon of the Skitarii Vanguard.

<gallery>
image:SkitariiRadiumCarbine.png|<center>Side View</center>
RadiuMCarbineAim.jpg|<center>Bottom View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Jezzail===
[[File:RadiumJezzail.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Jezzail]]

[[Awesome|A motherfucking nuclear sniper rifle.]] The Radium Jezzail is a long sniper-like weapon that is sometimes used by [[Sydonian Dragoon|Sydonian Dragoons]] instead of a Taser Lance. On the table, it's a two shot sniper version as a weapon choice for the Dragoon, in place of its Taser Lance, for free. To Wound of 6's cause an extra mortal.

Basically, if you're going to be taking these on Dragoons you will have to commit to it; as in they're all gonna be sniping.

<gallery>
RadiumJezzailSide.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:SydonianRadiumJezzail.png|<center>Top View</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Irradiation Projector===
[[File:Irrad.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Irradiation Projector]]
An Irradiation Projector, also known as a Rad-Cleanser or Irad-Cleanser, are specialized Adeptus Mechanicus weapons. A potent anti-infantry relic of the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon itself is a dish-like projector connected to a bulky generator which unleashes a powerful blast of cross-spectrum radiation.

Victims caught in the blast suffer horrendous deaths as they are boiled alive from within and blasted apart on a cellular level. Though less effective against vehicles or targets with heavy armor, the target will likely die later from radioactive contamination.

The biggest users are [[Thallax|Thallaxes]] whose enclosed cybernetic harness means that they are less susceptible to radiation poisoning.

<gallery>
MagosRadCleanser.jpg|<center>Magos Dominus</center>
image:MechanicumRadiumEngine.png|<center>Myrmidon Destructor</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Rad Missile Launcher===
[[File:Rad_Missile_Launcher.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Missile Launcher]]

The big cheese of the Imperium's Rad Weapons.

Rad Missile Launchers were a type of Rad Weapon deployed during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]. These Terran-derived missiles are a horror of the genetic wars waged during the Age of Strife, using custom loaded-warheads which combine high explosive fragmentation charges lined with radioactive isotopes.

The effect is to create an intensely toxic radiation weapon that inflicts a hideous death on its victim no matter their resilience. Because of its contaminating and hideous nature, it was deployed sparingly, most commonly by Destroyer Space Marines.

[[Tl;dr]], it's a missile launching dirty bomb.

<gallery>
image:RadMissileFront.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
image:RadMissileBack.jpg|<center>Back View</center>
</gallery>

{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

==Tau Variants==
The [[Tau Empire]] only utilize one type of rad weapon in which only the Vespids are known to use.

===Neutron Blaster===
[[File:NeutronBlaster.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neutron Blaster]]
The primary weapon of the [[Vespid|giant cockroaches]]. Neutron Blasters are some type of rad weapon that fires irradiated neutrons. The Neutron Blaster is one of the most bizarre and impractical weapons ever conceived by Games Workshop. [[What|This is due to the fact that in order to fire it, you need a constant, ultrasonic tone emitted only by the vibrations of the Vespid wing casings which perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals.]] Whilst some may claim that this allows ''only'' the Vespids to utilize these weapons which is a great enemy denial tool. It also presents the problems of the usefulness of this weapon in closed, cramp spaces which may render the weapon quite useless....whoops....

The Neutron Blaster in a sense, is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology, the bulk of a Neutron Blaster is of Tau manufacture as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves. Mounted at the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas. At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.

Neutron Blasters are capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armor to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.

For ''some'' reason, the Neutron it fires is a [[Derp|sickly green]] despite the fact that neutrons aren't known to come in green.

<gallery>
image:NeutronBlasterSmall.jpg|<center>Standard Variant</center>
image:VespidNeutron.png|<center>Sergeant Variant</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

{{Template:40k-Tau-Weapons}}

Radium Weaponry

2019-01-10T07:44:03Z

2601:147:4300:1949:B10B:CF0:1332:A412: extra science crap

Radium Weapons sometimes called '''Rad Weapons''' are deadly and highly dangerous weapons that are used exclusively by the forces of the [[Skitarii]] Legions of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. [[Awesome|Think of them as nuclear rifles.]] [[Grimdark|Radium Weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders.]] Although quite frankly, having a gun that just ends up killing you seems to venture more into [[Derp|Grimderp territory more then anything else.]] Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function; not only to strike, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon's bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a volley can cause a localized rad-storm. Those inside such a storm soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away.

Despite this seemingly being [[Derp|Grimdark for the sake of being Grimdark]]. There is a precedence for these weapons actualizing existing. Energy weapons of all types would throw out huge amounts of Bremsstrahlung radiation each time they are fired. Which is German for "to brake". This mean that even [[Lasgun|las weaponary]], [[Plasma|Plasma guns]], [[Melta]], [[Volkite]]s and just every type of energy weapons would be spewing between trace to large amounts. Even high velocity weapons such as [[Gauss]] [[Railgun]]s and certain [[Autogun]]s would do this each time they are fired. As modern firearms have housing to prevent them from overheating. Most weapons by the [[Great Crusade]] would have systems in place so they don't cause damage to the user or their armor. Having to clean up the smallest amount of radiation would require extensive cleaning both their gear and the weapon itself.
Though the Admech being made up cyborgs don't care. They can just get themselves a fancy new limb, organ or two. If they survive the battle of course.

On tabletop, generally speaking, Rad Weapons have a low strength of 3 and no AP, but a to-wound of 6 causes two damage. In 30k 6s to wound do two auto-wounds saved separately. A ten man squad without special weapons requires about thirty dice rolls. Usually only Ork troops would have that much.
==Imperial Variants==
There are three types of Rad Weapons in the Imperium.

===Radium Pistol===
[[File:RadiumPistol.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Pistol]]
A small pistol that uses scaled down radium technology, usually used by Skitarii Vanguard and Ranger Alphas. These nuclear armed hand cannons are unfortunately not as rad (Hah! See what I did there?) as one might think. You're better off ponying up the points for the Phosphor Blast Pistol instead, unless you *have* to have radium. But really you're better off just not taking a pistol on your Alpha.

<gallery>
image:RadiumPistolBit.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:RadiumPistol1.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Carbine===
[[File:RadiumCarbine.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Carbine]]

A rapid firing weapon capable of a punishing rate of fire, it is the main armament of Skitarii Vanguard. If you want to roleplay as [[Fallout]] in WH40K, this is the gun for you. Speaking of Fallout, this gun closely resembles the Fallout 4's similarly named Radium Rifle in both design and function. On the table, at 18" range and Assault 3, the Radium Carbine usually means lots of hits at short-mid range.

The basic weapon of the Skitarii Vanguard.

<gallery>
image:SkitariiRadiumCarbine.png|<center>Side View</center>
RadiuMCarbineAim.jpg|<center>Bottom View</center>
</gallery>

===Radium Jezzail===
[[File:RadiumJezzail.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Radium Jezzail]]

[[Awesome|A motherfucking nuclear sniper rifle.]] The Radium Jezzail is a long sniper-like weapon that is sometimes used by [[Sydonian Dragoon|Sydonian Dragoons]] instead of a Taser Lance. On the table, it's a two shot sniper version as a weapon choice for the Dragoon, in place of its Taser Lance, for free. To Wound of 6's cause an extra mortal.

Basically, if you're going to be taking these on Dragoons you will have to commit to it; as in they're all gonna be sniping.

<gallery>
RadiumJezzailSide.jpg|<center>Side View</center>
image:SydonianRadiumJezzail.png|<center>Top View</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Irradiation Projector===
[[File:Irrad.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Irradiation Projector]]
An Irradiation Projector, also known as a Rad-Cleanser or Irad-Cleanser, are specialized Adeptus Mechanicus weapons. A potent anti-infantry relic of the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon itself is a dish-like projector connected to a bulky generator which unleashes a powerful blast of cross-spectrum radiation.

Victims caught in the blast suffer horrendous deaths as they are boiled alive from within and blasted apart on a cellular level. Though less effective against vehicles or targets with heavy armor, the target will likely die later from radioactive contamination.

The biggest users are [[Thallax|Thallaxes]] whose enclosed cybernetic harness means that they are less susceptible to radiation poisoning.

<gallery>
MagosRadCleanser.jpg|<center>Magos Dominus</center>
image:MechanicumRadiumEngine.png|<center>Myrmidon Destructor</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

===Rad Missile Launcher===
[[File:Rad_Missile_Launcher.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Rad Missile Launcher]]

The big cheese of the Imperium's Rad Weapons.

Rad Missile Launchers were a type of Rad Weapon deployed during the [[Great Crusade]] and [[Horus Heresy]]. These Terran-derived missiles are a horror of the genetic wars waged during the Age of Strife, using custom loaded-warheads which combine high explosive fragmentation charges lined with radioactive isotopes.

The effect is to create an intensely toxic radiation weapon that inflicts a hideous death on its victim no matter their resilience. Because of its contaminating and hideous nature, it was deployed sparingly, most commonly by Destroyer Space Marines.

[[Tl;dr]], it's a missile launching dirty bomb.

<gallery>
image:RadMissileFront.jpg|<center>Front View</center>
image:RadMissileBack.jpg|<center>Back View</center>
</gallery>

{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

==Tau Variants==
The [[Tau Empire]] only utilize one type of rad weapon in which only the Vespids are known to use.

===Neutron Blaster===
[[File:NeutronBlaster.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neutron Blaster]]
The primary weapon of the [[Vespid|giant cockroaches]]. Neutron Blasters are some type of rad weapon that fires irradiated neutrons. The Neutron Blaster is one of the most bizarre and impractical weapons ever conceived by Games Workshop. [[What|This is due to the fact that in order to fire it, you need a constant, ultrasonic tone emitted only by the vibrations of the Vespid wing casings which perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals.]] Whilst some may claim that this allows ''only'' the Vespids to utilize these weapons which is a great enemy denial tool. It also presents the problems of the usefulness of this weapon in closed, cramp spaces which may render the weapon quite useless....whoops....

The Neutron Blaster in a sense, is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology, the bulk of a Neutron Blaster is of Tau manufacture as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves. Mounted at the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas. At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.

Neutron Blasters are capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armor to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.

For ''some'' reason, the Neutron it fires is a [[Derp|sickly green]] despite the fact that neutrons aren't known to come in green.

<gallery>
image:NeutronBlasterSmall.jpg|<center>Standard Variant</center>
image:VespidNeutron.png|<center>Sergeant Variant</center>
</gallery>

{{clear}}

{{Template:40k-Tau-Weapons}}

Destroyer Squad

2019-01-10T03:31:35Z

2601:147:4300:1949:B10B:CF0:1332:A412: some grammar fixes and other stuff

An elite formation of the [[Space Marine]] [[Legiones Astartes|Legions]] of old, Destroyer Squads are the guys tasked with doing the dirtiest work other Space Marines would shun. They were formed to fight in a very destructive way, so what was the problem? They did so by using forbidden and proscribed technologies, including horrendously radioactive and toxic weaponry originating from Terra's accursed Old Night epoch, along with such nasty gear like the now-lost Phosphex weapons (bombs in this case). This horrific stuff was as devastatingly effective as it used to be in Terra's dark past, but was so morally questionable and considered dishonorable in general from the P.O.V. of even the most pragmatic Legions (and that's a lot), that they fell into general disuse--after all, what's the point in using weapons like these to reduce enemies to radioactive and/or toxic ash when the ground you gain becomes so inimical to human life as to be useless to you or most anyone else for centuries or even millenia, as had been the case during Terra's Old Night?

The origins of this unit came during the Unification Wars of all things, as they were inspired by the various enemies The Emperor faced when he was conquering Terra in preparation for the Great Crusade. Despite the destructive potential, the Legiones Astartes shunned them, seeing in the Marines that were part of Destroyer Squads as the equivalents to [[That Guy]] (as in the marines themselves were morally dubious for even willingly joining those formations). Nevertheless, Destroyers were seen as a necessary evil by Imperial Commanders for being so damn efficient against Xenos (who had no chance of joining the Imperium at large) or dug-in humans who would not submit and held nothing of strategic value but still needed to be made an example of, though most of the Legions either shunned them, as mentioned previously, or simply didn't have them at all. Fittingly, the only real command personnel who would regularly deploy alongside units of generic Destroyers would be [[Moritat|Moritats]].

Due to the loadout that would make [[Nurgle|Papa Nurgle]] happy, the Legionnaires who were part of the Destroyer corps were heavily affected by their own weapons. Marines would have as [[Grimdark|side-effects abnormally pale skin, said skin rotting away due to cellular degeneration, tainted veins and blood bruises on the flesh, yellow eyes, and finally various aggressive forms of cancer that were so bad they required cybernetic replacements]]. The fact that being assigned to a Legion's Destroyer Corps virtually guaranteed a particularly nasty and slow death, even without any efforts on the part of the Imperium's enemies, meant that such an assignment was a ''de facto'' death sentence for many legionnaires who either stepped out of line or got on the wrong side of their Primarch (though very few tougher-than-nails bastards, such as [[Traitor Legion Loyalists|Crysos Morturg]], would survive for a long time and even thrive in such a lethal occupation).

Needless to say, the one Legion that would be associated the most with these guys would be the Death Guard. Having their superhuman resistances further boosted with capabilities of Mortarion's geneseed, the Death Guard would become the experts on biological warfare and sent to places that would prove fatal for normal Space Marines. And because of their love for this type of warfare, the already dubious Legion would be seen with even greater suspicion by the rest of the Legio Astartes for even emitting an aura of taint and horror. A prelude to what the Legion would turn into in the future.

A brief list of Legiones Astartes that had special formations or specialized variants of destroyers in their forces follows below.

===Dreadwing===
{{Topquote|We are here! We are death!|The battle cry of the Dreadwing}}
The [[Dark Angels]] had their own formation built around Destroyers called the Dreadwing, which is not surprising since the Emperor had the First Legion originally outfitted with stores from Old Terra, including the formerly-forbidden ones, in his crusade to first take back the Sol System and then conquer the Milky Way Galaxy at large. Due to Destroyers being part of their "standard operating procedure" right from the beginning (since so many of Sol's planets were already naturally lifeless to begin with, ergo having no natural biospheres to taint with the use of Destroyer weaponry aside from Terra's), the Dark Angels were no slouches in deploying Destroyers when the situation called for it, and even armed them with some of the most devastating vehicles and ammunition the proscribed vaults of Old Terra had to offer, such as Phosphex and Vortex weapons. This extended even to heavily armoured vehicles, such as Fellglaives equipped with Warp Cannons, Vindicators firing Vortex Shells, Whirlwind tanks firing radiation missiles and at least one vessel with an Annihilator Cannon. As such, the Dreadwing got the call whenever the Legion needed some really nasty shit to get rid of a target immediately and collateral damage was not an issue. However, a contentious deployment of this formation got the Primarch [[Lion El'Jonson]] and his Legion kicked out of [[Imperium Secundus]]. After the Horus Heresy, it is believed that the Dreadwing were formed into the [[Star Phantoms]] Chapter.

===Pyroclasts===
A specialist unit based on the Destroyers and unique to the [[Salamanders]] Legion, Pyroclasts are pyromaniacs even by the Salamander's fire fetish standards. [[Vulkan]] saw little place in his Legion for Destroyers (due to their status as That Guy), so he reduced their number to a required minimum he used for xeno-purging, whereas the now naked majority of them he armed with Pyroclast Flaming Projectors, weapons they were named after and which Vulkan himself designed.

The weapons of these warriors were essentially equivalents to Fusion Projectors or [[Ork]] Burnas, they could burn large swatches of enemies or focus their streams in order to cut through armor. Apart of this fancy weapon, every Pyroclast wore a suit of armor called a Mantle of Ash. Power Armour that was even more heat proof and boosted further the Salamander's heat resistant capabilities.

===Ashen Circle===
A specialist division that stood alongside the [[Word Bearers]] Destroyer units. Rather than being tasked with the absolute destruction of the enemy, their duty was to obliterate their enemy's culture, knowledge, and faith; everything which would give the foe the heart to continue fighting. Interestingly, this formation predated [[Lorgar]]'s induction to the Legion, echoing from a time when the Word Bearers were originally the '''Imperial Heralds''', who would bring the truth of the Great Crusade to newly encountered human civilizations.

This meant that they would specifically seek out and burn libraries, schools, churches, and government buildings as well as targeting enemy priests, officials and standard bearers so that it would be easier to replace them with the Imperial Creed when the time came for compliance. To this end they were armed with Hand Flamers and specialist Axe-Rakes, which were designed for tearing down icons and symbols, but were also good for dragging down fleeing targets. They were also uniformly equipped with Jump Packs and combined their drop assaults and charges with bursts of flame.

In ''Lorgar: Bearer of the Word'', it's revealed that the Ashen Circle were all hardcore Imperial loyalists who, for obvious reasons given the whole faith-obliterating thing, were extremely unhappy with the religious nature of the Word Bearers. When the smackdown came at Monarchia, they were pretty pleased that the Word Bearers were going to get back on the track of obliterating faith as opposed to engaging in it, but their excitement at the turn around didn't last long. Kor Phaeron and Erebus promised them the chance to burn a bunch of Lorgar's religious works, which caused much rejoicing among the Ashen Circle. However, joy soon turned to ashes (see what we did there?) in their mouths when the obliteration opportunity turned out to be a giant trap and they were slain to a man before they even really realized what was happening. Then Kor Phaeron and Erebus had their remains torched to hide the evidence, which is a classic bit of hamfisted irony from Black Library.

===Nemesis Chapter===
The 22nd Chapter of the Ultramarines Legion, known as the Nemesis Chapter, was a conglomerate chapter consisting of a number of specialized units, most famously two whole companies of Destroyers. Guilliman didn't care for them very much, given their specialization in completely wiping out anything that ever lived on a planet went against his general desire to colonize and civilize worlds as opposed to just nuking them back to the Stone Age. In order to try to get them back into the fold, Guilliman appointed a new, young hotshot Captain named Eleon Iasus to try and get them moving towards the Ultramarines ethos. It sort of worked, despite the fact that some of the captains in the 22nd went so far as to outright disobey Iasus during the Battle of Thoas (resulting in a geological catastrophe that killed the disobedient officers, whoopsy daisy) and Guilliman reluctantly began to incorporate them a little bit more into the battle lines of the Ultramarines as the Heresy got worse and worse.

Some elements were present at Calth, were they mustered in the highlands far away from civilian population centers. At Pyrrhan, the 22nd led the way laying waste to unending ranks of daemons with their devastating weaponry, because sometimes the best way to deal with Chaos is just to coat it in Phosphex and radiation until it stops moving. They also participated in boarding actions against the Word Bearers at the Battle of Anuari. After the splitting of the Legions, the 22nd may have gone on to form the Nemesis Chapter, a Second-Founding Ultramarines successor chapter. Maybe they kept their love of horrifically devastating weaponry, but we don't know. Their last recorded action was when they committed their entire chapter to fight the Necrons in the Orphean War because sometimes the best way to deal with Necrons is just to coat them in Phosphex and radiation until they stop moving (or phase out or pray to Ra or whatever they do these days).

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]