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British Mechanized Company

2023-05-17T08:42:24Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:9D64:8399:B96A:CCD9: /* IRL */

[[File:Brit Mech platoon.jpg|right|300px|thumb|'Ain't I killed you before?' Literally all PACT players]]
{{topquote|England expects that every man will do his duty.| Lord Horatio Nelson }}

By 1985, the British infantryman has evolved into a mechanized unit, riding FV432s onto the battlefields of Europe. Platoons number around 35 men, composed of 4 Rifle sections and a command section. As with all NATO armies, the platoon is led by a 2nd Lieutenant (pronounced “Leff-tenant in the British English) and a Sergeant (or Colour Sergeant) as his second in command. The Rifle sections have 6 riflemen with L1A1 Self Loading Rifles (SLRs), 2 riflemen manning an L7 GPMG, an anti-tank gunner with a Carl Gustav 86mm Recoilless Rifle and a Squad leader with an SLR. In real life, disposable 66mm Anti Tank rockets would be issued by Battalion depending on the mission and are not part of the standard loadout. More importantly, they are disposable and not carried like tic-tacs the way it's represented in the game.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:TB105.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
The British Infantry are represented in Team Yankee by the Irish Guards as part of the 4th Armoured Brigade. It is composed of 3 or 4 infantry sections; made up of a support fireteam (with a Carl Gustav or a 2" mortar) and a GPMG team with a LAW. Compared to other NATO infantry Platoons, the Brits field a greater number of teams and anti-tank armaments, making them far deadlier against enemy entrenched infantry, main battle tanks and even other infantry in assaults, since the Gustav fireteam can fight equally well in close combat as any rifle base. Another base of note is the mortar team, capable of destroying enemy infantry but ideal for blinding key enemy units with smoke, such as heavy weapons. Their <s>alcohol rations</s> Irish heritage grants them 3+ Assault.

Despite all their strengths, they suffer from the same weaknesses as other infantry, such as vulnerability to being pinned. While the M113 and Marder feature .50 cal MGs and autocannons capable of fighting light armor, the FV432 features a comparative peashooter with AT 2, limiting it to fighting enemy infantry or unarmoured tank teams like BM-21 Grads. A key difference is that they retain a moving ROF of 3 and have 1 armor all round, so expect these things to die way faster than the infantry they are supposed to protect. Another weakness is their inability to defeat entrenched infantry with a piddly FP 6+ on their rifles, encouraging their role as defensive troops.

===Options===
You may purchase 2 Milan teams for 2 points, giving them the ability to RELIABLY destroy enemy tanks at range. When the enemy comes close, these Milan sections can be excellent sacrificial lambs to try bouncing shots towards in order to protect your far more valuable Carl Gustav teams.

You may also purchase a GPMG team for 1 point, providing the effective fire of two MG teams with 6 shots stationary and 2 shots on the move at FP6.

In the triangle of survivability, firepower and close combat the British stand proudly as the best infantry in the game in literally every category except shooting entrenched infantry. Expect to paint many of these Leprechauns if you wish to play a tournament level British list.

==IRL==
[[File:37279b9e.jpg|300px|right|thumb|It's a long way, to Tipperary....]]
The vast majority of British infantry are equipped with FV432 APCs, with Armored Divisions transitioning to Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicles from 1988 onward; exceptions include the Territorials and the Parachute Regiment. Today, the infantry operate a variety of transports for different missions, including the Warrior, the Bulldog (a modernized FV432) and Cougar Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles.

While the L1A1 is their primary rifle in Team Yankee, by 1985 the British army had started adopting the SA80/L85 to replace it. Designed by people who hadn't fired a gun before, based off a reverse engineered AR18 (a system that was still under patent protection when they initially intended to start production before delays) that they didn't really understand or reverse engineer too well, then poorly converted to bullpup form the L85 never had much of a chance of being a good rifle. This disaster was made worse when workers at Royal Small Arms Factory learned they would soon be laid off after making the things and proceeded to not give a damn ''en masse''. Rather than a light, compact weapon, the resulting rifle was actually ''heavier'' than its contemporaries with conventional layouts. Soldiers literally couldn't fire a full magazine in any moderately adverse conditions without failure, earning the rifle the nickname "Civil Servant" since it didn't work and you couldn't fire it. The only part that worked as expected were the second wave of mags, which were all made by Colt in the United States, and even then had the issues expected of early, black follower ("If it's black, send it back") STANAG mags. After several redesigns and modifications done by German company H&K (that wound up costing more than buying new rifles!) and American made EMags the L85A2 works, albeit at the cost of being even heavier than it originally was. Unloaded without optics the SA80A2 is already the heaviest 5.56 rifle adopted and weighs over 132% of an M16, a full ''two pounds'' heavier. ''Allegedly'' the rifle was more accurate than others, but the test to obtain this result was based on scoped SA80 compared to everything else with iron sights instead of a proper test of mechanical accuracy, so it ultimately amounted to the conclusion "scopes have better practical accuracy than iron sights". Since those fixes did not begin till 1992, didn't actually start till 1998, and in this scenario Germany is on the front lines, those redesigns would never happen, so its reasonable to assume that the Brits would've stuck with the tried<s>-and-true</s> L1A1 for the time being.

Aside from not working, being heavy, and being a bullpup, the L85 is notable for optical sights being standard, since low sight radius makes irons on a bullpup pretty sub-optimal, yet ''not'' making them even semi-integral. The first optic was the 4X SUSAT scope which was... OK. It actually worked, which was more than could be said for the rifle it was attached to, but had a very narrow field of view that rendered it unsuitable for close range engagements (you know, the place where you might actually ''want'' a bullpup) and was before scopes were nitrogen purged so it would fog up a lot. Since the rifle was adopted a decade before the adoption of picatiny rail as standard for optics mount, it uses a proprietary and heavy mounting solution. In 2007 American ACOGs were used an interim solution for a few years followed by replacing the SUSAT with a picatiny mounted 4X ELCAN optic (made in Canada, to ''further'' outsource fixing the rifle) with a small red dot (made in the US) on top of it, which works though is a heavy optic setup on an already heavy rifle.

{{British Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Team Yankee]]

T55AM2

2023-05-17T08:18:50Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:9D64:8399:B96A:CCD9: /* IRL */

[[File:T-55AM2_Picture.jpeg|300px|right|thumb|She's old but has a certain beauty.]]
{{topquote|When the T-34 first appeared, it was very intimidating, and then we realized the Soviets couldn't shoot or drive for shit.|Anonymous Wehrmacht soldier, Company of Heroes 2}}

The feared muscle behind the Warsaw Pact during the 50s and 60s, the T-55 is an aged tank in 1985. The T-55AM2 however, represents a comprehensive upgrade program to attempt to bring the chassis to the modern era or at least make the crew feel somewhat less like cannon fodder.
The glacis plate was thickened, a distinctive "horseshoe" brow armour was added to the turret front, and a smoke launcher was added to increase survivability. A laser rangefinder, wind sensor and a ballistic computer were added to increase gun accuracy. Finally, new gunner optics were added to enable missiles to be fired from the D10T 100mm gun.
The T-55AM2 upgrades were the first prong in East Germany's plan to modernize the Panzer of the Volksarmee (the second being further procurement of [[T-72M]]).

==T-55AM==
===Soviet Union===
[[File:T55amsoviet.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Onwards for the Soviet Union!]]The ''Soviet Union'' book introduces the T-55AM Battalion to Soviet forces. Whereas the AM2 is slow firing and has an AT of only 17, the AM has an AT of 18 and no slow firing. Even better, the AM can take Stabber missiles – meaning access to an AT of 21. This significantly increases their threat level, especially towards more modern NATO tanks – and for only 2pts across the entire platoon.

{{clear}}

==T-55AM2==
===East German===
[[File:T-55AM2_Stat_Card.jpeg|300px|left|thumb|Die Statistikkarte des Volkspanzers!]]
While the T-72M began phasing-in to replace the aging T-54/T-55 in the 1970s, the majority of East German tankers were still riding in these old things in 1985. Of those men, only the luckiest got the T-55AM2; it's estimated that out of over 2,000 T-54/T-55s in the 1980s East German arsenal, a mere 300 were upgraded to be T-55AM2's.

The T-55AM2 combines sturdy armour and a moderately powerful gun with bargain basement point cost. While NATO tanks and ATGMs can penetrate the T-55AM2, most other enemy assets on the battlefield cannot, this makes the T-55AM2 a priority target as they close the distance with the enemy, tying up enemy anti-tank assets that may otherwise be shooting at something else. The D10T 100mm can't frontally penetrate the NATO MBTs but can be dangerous if you can enter a melee where the gun can be brought to bear against side armour. The slow firing rule discourages firing on the move, once your T-55s have reached an advantageous position you'll want them to keep them stationary to fire. Dash mobility and Cross-Rating is sub par, however the poor cross can be mitigated using Movement Orders which synergizes with the NVA's superior skill rating over the Russians.

Two schools of thought have emerged when including T-55AM2s in a Volksarmee force. The more instinctive approach for horde force players is to take multiple large companies of tanks to push down the field in a wave of guns and steel in a display of might that would make the [[Imperial Guard|Astra Militarum]] proud. Simply providing more targets than the NATO opposition can hope to kill, until you can enter a messy melee fight or tie up objectives all game. But alternatively, due to a quirk in points costing, a minimum strength T-55AM2 Battalion of 10 tanks (1+3+3+3) can be taken for 7 points, making each tank cost less than a single point. While these small companies can be erased by NATO tanks in a single salvo, they can operate independently (rather than an unwieldy mess of a 10 tank parking lot) and, when taking multiple minimum strength T-55AM2 Battalions provide extra command tanks to issue more orders.

East German armies make take T-55AM2 Kompanies ranging in size from 3 tanks to 10 tanks, starting out at 2 points and topping out at 16. Basically every time you add a tank to the original 3, tack on an additional 2 points. And yes, this does mean that you can take 10 tanks where a US Player could only take 2 Abrams (and base Abrams at that).

With the new Warsaw Pact book coming out, DDR T55AM2s can be outfitted with AT-10 Stabber missiles now, putting them roughly on par with Soviet T55AMs.

===Polish===
[[File:Slide6.JPG|300px|thumb|left|Polish Stats, towarzysz!]]
Just like in East Germany, the T-54/55 was the workhorse of Polish tank forces well into the 1980s, and while the T-55AM2 is currently the only official variant featured on Europe's battlefields, the majority of Polish T-54/55s had not been upgraded to that version in 1985. The Polish People's Republic ''really'' liked these things, producing some 10,000 T-54/55 tanks between 1956 and 1979. They sold many of them to foreign customers, including (ironically) East Germany.

The Polish T-55AM 'Merida' is Poland's locally-upgraded T-55, the best obsolete tank the Polish People's Republic has to offer. Its crews are brave and well-trained, and they'll need both to overcome the far better tanks the <s>capitalist dogs</s> NATO forces to the West are using. Unlike the East German version, which is affordable enough to fill the role of a spam tank even in multiple small units, the Polish version is designed to make you take large tank units: unlike the East Germans, your smallest company size begins at 5.

As with any version of the T-55 used by any country, the 'Merida' is a cheap old tank that is really good at exploding. Unfortunately, the Polish profile favours units which can survive a beating: 3+ remount and rally help you get back in the fight after getting pinned or bailed, but the T-55 is guaranteed to explode when touched by most dedicated anti-tank weapons. Your Polish T-55 crews won't live that long once NATO gunners start going after them, so their skill and courage is almost irrelevant. ATGMs, tank cannons and even man-portable anti-tank weapons like the Carl Gustav and the RPG-7 will punch through your front 50% of the time, and a 105mm or 120mm shot from a NATO main battle tank will mean instant death. There is little reason to invest in the Polish T-55 unless you are a fluff player: the points you spend for stats which will never be used with the exception of mine-clearing could be better spent on additional weapon systems. The Polish T-55AM2 is nonetheless devilishly cheap for what it can do if given a chance, so if you're a Pact player, it might be worth trying out sometime.

The Poles may take 5 tanks for 6 points, up to 10 tanks for 17 points.

{{clear}}

===Czech===
[[File:Slide5.JPG|300px|thumb|left|I may not want to be here, but at least my tank is very, very old.]]

The T-55AM2 'Dyna' is the Czech version of the modernized T-55 platform and is arguably the best T-55AM2 variant of the PACT countries for a competitive player.

Where the Polish profile excels on the defensive, the Czechs are unmatched on the offensive where firepower decides the success or failure of your attack. For a significant discount, you can bring about 30% more units to the field. The reason that the Czechs are suited for this role is the simple fact that T-55s will never survive any fire whatsoever. Aside from autocannons, the majority of anti-armour weapons will go through your front without any issue whatsoever and you have just enough armour there to attract their attention. The Czech 5+ remount becomes irrelevant in this case, as anything which hits you is probably going to result in a kill and not a bail.

The Czech point costs make T-55 hordes more appealing than the other lists since your discount in comparison to the East Germans and Poles only grows the more tanks you take. Taking entire ten tank companies makes it more difficult for your opponent to claim a kill point or to force your unit to run away, but once any terrain becomes involved you may find your unwieldy ten tank parking lots blocking their own movement and shots more often than not.

Do note that with units larger than five tanks your sixth, seventh, and tenth tank cost two points instead of a single point. So assuming you aren't playing at some ridiculous point level and have run out of slots you will find that taking as many small units of T-55s as you can will maximize the number of tanks you can bring. Unfortunately you are only saving a single point per unit compared to East German and Polish lists also bringing five tank units. East Germans can actually bring more thanks than you if they take them as three tank units and don't run out of slots. You will be giving up kill points more easily this way, but your alpha strike will be stronger and you will likely have an easier time spreading your tanks out and keeping them out of each other's way.

When building a Czech T-55 spam list. your 4+ skill is far less terrifying than the sheer numbers you can bring to the field.

Keep in mind when building your list that you are still spamming T-55s: these are not units which can take objectives unsupported. <s>5+ courage means that minefields will stop your companies dead in their tracks</s> Your cowardly czechs can run gleefully through mines now, and you do not have ''Brutal'' to shred through entrenched infantry. If you are lucky or play well, you might kill a couple of Leopards or Abrams', but will need to rely on your infantry to close in for the objective.

The Czechs may take 5 points for 5 tanks to 13 points for 10 tanks. Interestingly, tank battalions may also bring one company of the other version (T-72M or T-55AM2) in your third company slot.

==T-55==

Featuring none of the weapons or armor upgrades of the T-55AM2, the standard T-55 is the weapon of choice for real gamers. It loses 1 frontal armour, 1 anti-tank (in for the Iraqi/Iranian variants), and the laser rangefinder on the main gun, and bazooka skirts. While it may start struggling to reliably punch through the front of the MBTs of yesteryear, a 100mm tank cannon will still turn an Abrams inside out if hit from the sides. The plastic T55AM2 kit comes with the parts to build them as strait t55s so don't fret where you can get your hands on some.

More vulnerable to light anti-armor without bazooka skirts, RPG-18s and LAWs have a somewhat higher chance to bail aT-55 in close range, given the numbers infantry fight in.

Now available in Czech, DDR, and Pollak versions.

===East German===
[[File:DDR T55.png|thumb|left|Could be worse, you could be those guys using DDR T34s in the Wargame European Escalation tutorial.]]
13 points for 10

===Polish===

===Czechoslovakian===
11 points for 10

===Iraqi===
[[File:5667-970x350.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A T-55, rolling off to fight ISIS.]]
[[File:Iraqi T-55.png||300px|thumb|right|Not the best image I will scan a better one later]]
Given the Soviet Union's none-too-friendly attitude toward Israel and Jews in general, the USSR was plenty willing to sell T-55 tanks to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Not only did the Hussein regime hate Israel with a burning passion, they hated the United States about as much. The Soviets only got so generous with Iraq, however; the modernized T-55AM2 never made it to the Middle East and Saddam Hussein's men had to make do with the original "vanilla" T-55. It served with the Iraqi Army (not the Republican Guard; they got the good stuff), providing commanders with a fire support unit that might not penetrate anything tougher than a Frenchman on treads, but remains a deadly foe against enemy armour and infantry without heavier anti-tank weapons.

Compared to the T-62, the T-55 is identical except for the cannon. Its main gun has an AT16 FP2+ round with slow firing and lacks brutal. The armour might be paper thin against even the weakest of ATGMs, but it gives you enough protection from HEAT shells and autocannons to engage and destroy enemy IFVs without taking too many losses.

While you probably won't be taking a T-55 battalion, a single company for your infantry can serve as a VERY cheap source of fire support, and a wall of armour headed for your opponent's rear-line may distract them from your heavier weapons.

The Iraqi T-55 battalion is incredibly cheap, making it a very viable choice for spam lists. Starting at 5 points for 5 tanks, a company tops out at 10 tanks for 11 points. Additionally, you may purchase bazooka skirts for an ENTIRE company for only one point.

===Iranian===
The Iranians use T-55s captured from those cowardly Iraqis, as well as Chinese rip-offs. The biggest weakness of the T-55 in Iranian lists is how hard it is to take any meaningful amount. They can only be taken as a single group of 3 per formation for 3 points, attached only to the T-62 Company, Mech Company and Basij Battalion. 3 Tanks per group with front armour 13 will melt and only one group per formation, they are hard to spam: which is their only strength being cheap. Its worth spending another point to upgrade the group to T-62s, gaining brutal and AT 19 (up from 16). Not an inherently bad unit, just a bit pointless.

{{clear}}

==IRL==
[[File:Battle-tank-driving-t55am2.jpg|right|300px|thumb|I am on a tank!]]
If the original T-54/55 is the AK-47 of tanks, the T-55AM2 is an AKM with some nice accessories. The T-55, like all Soviet tanks, is never going to look good if you judge it by Western standards. The T-55, like the AK-47, was designed as a cheap, extremely tough workhorse for an army largely composed of short-term conscripts with little to no education to speak of. It needed to be easily comprehensible to guys who had quite possibly never seen so much as a tractor before being voluntold for service to Mother Russia. The idea was that if you used enough of these at once, the superior quality of the enemy's tanks would be drowned out by the thunder of a million cheap tanks being driven by <s>angry peasants</s> heroic Soviet soldiers. And if you think that sounds ridiculous, it sure worked for the Soviets on the Eastern Front.

That said, the T-54/55 was not a bad tank at its debut. In fact, it was a rather nasty shock to NATO when it showed up, and they were quite grateful when Hungarian rebels drove one into the British embassy in their country during the 1950s revolt. Presented with a powerful 100mm main cannon, good armor, and solid maneuverability in a tank that the USSR could easily produce in mass numbers, the British concluded that their then-standard 20-pounder gun was incapable of defeating it, while the Americans decided the M48 Patton was not enough either and began development of the M60. It has not aged well as a main-line tank after the better part of 100 years, but in its prime, the T-54/55 gave NATO lots to be afraid of.

The T-54/55 series is also the most widely-produced tank of all time, with numerous copies being circulated around the world and total production estimates ranging from 86,000 to 100,000 units. The People's Republic of China started their line of tanks with a copy of the T-54, the Type 59, and still maintains a massive arsenal of them today. This might be a cramped, noisy, inefficient piece of junk, but it ''works'', and it's so cheap even the most pitifully broke nations on Earth can get one easily.

All this may still leave you wondering why the T-55 was still hanging around in the 1980s, long after newer, better models like the T-72 had been tested and put into production. See, the thing about the Soviet Union is that when you're large enough to reach from one hemisphere to another, equipping all those soldiers can be a pain in the ass. As such, the Soviet Union tried to keep its old equipment in service for as long as humanly possible and just passed them down to less important units as the newer, better stuff arrived to replace the old gear. Russia proper got the good shit, second-line units older equipment, Warsaw Pact nations got stuff a generation behind, and so on. This is why the East Germans, Polish, and Czechoslovakians in Team Yankee use the obsolete T55AM2 while the Soviets proper don't. The USSR also took a long time to retire equipment that still worked. This is why when you look up Soviet equipment you sometimes find lists of at least five different types of machine all doing the same thing.

The T55AM2 was an attempt to get more life out of the aging T-55, to give it at least ''some'' chance against the then-modern NATO tanks like the [[M1 Abrams]] and [[Chieftain]] MBT, which by that point it was something like two tank generations behind. It was a valiant effort to do the impossible- to give a very old tank a chance on the modern battlefield- but it wasn't enough. Any army fielding these against NATO in Team Tankee will likely take heavy casualties, especially against NATO heavy armor. Against light and medium armor and infantry, it will do better, but losses will still be significant simply because the T-54/55 is no longer able to stand up against the firepower of NATO anti-tank weapons the way it could have in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Slow Firing rule on this tank is because of its small size. This is NOT a big tank by any standards, and the domed turret restricts movement significantly for the three crewmen inside. The loadout of 70-pound shells is in all manner of places, meaning no ability to perform the same motions and gain the benefit of muscle memory as the loader. Additionally, ventilation is bad, the fume extractor (which <s>the T-54 doesn't have, only the T-55</s> comes and goes depending on who is building the tank and who they are building it for, the actual difference between the two is the presence of the NBC system) does not work well, and the loader must shove the base of each shell into the breech with his left hand due to the positioning of the gun. Loading this thing's gun is difficult at best and a nightmare at worst, such as under sustained firing as noxious fumes fill the inside of the tank.

If you want fun facts about the T-55, there are at least two. First, since it was one of the first vehicles with multifuel engine, no one really knew how far it could be pushed. With WW3 involving a nuclear apocalypse being a real possibility, it was kinda important to know. So someone in the high command asked: "Can we use crude oil directly from a Comecon Pipeline?", and instead of calling him a madman everyone just went along with it. The test itself was one of the most metal things on this Earth: the oil didn't burn completely in the cylinders once the engine was started, so the still-burning mix created a thick cloud of grey smoke which quickly turned black when ''flames half a meter long'' started coming from the exhaust pipes. During acceleration, those flames extended up to one and half meters, visually giving the T-55 wings of fire, (Something similar happens if you thrash a diesel engine, particularly on the large unit's used on trains if you want a visual for how that might look). Of course, both speed and acceleration suffered quite a bit, but not as much as expected: average speed was still 36 km/h (that's roughly 22 miles per football field for barbarians denying metric system) with crude oil vs 41 km/h (25,5) on diesel. What's even more curious, the test was conducted for 20 hours straight and after that, despite the fuel filter requiring cleaning every 2 hours, it was concluded that: yes, the T-55 can use crude oil as a fuel, and no, the engine wasn't fucked up beyond repair by the experience and could be cleaned by the crew and continue working on diesel even if performance suffered.

Second, when Soviet engineers were tasked with designing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokhod_1 Lunokhod_1], the first drafts were made with T-55's chassis as a base. Unfortunately, it was abandoned the moment specifications became clear due to being outlandishly big and heavy. However, it hooked Korolev with the right people to do the job. But there is a parallel universe where Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were greeted by a sight of T-55 tread marks after leaving the Lunar Module.

If you play 40k and think this thing looks a bit familiar, you're not entirely wrong. The bubble top turret from the T-55 and T-62 tanks was likely an influence on the forge world "[[Predator Tank#Deimos Pattern Predator (Forge World)|Deimos pattern Predator]]" tanks. It's also the tank [[James Bond]] drives in ''GoldenEye'', albeit dolled up to look a bit like a [[T-80]] and equipped with rubber tracks so it could be filmed in the city.

Lastly: these things are showing up in Ukraine. Yes seriously: a 70 year old tank is being deployed into a modern war and no this is not a case of M-55S or T-55AGM where it's based on a T-55 but is still a modern tank with a modern gun and modern systems: but no it's just straight t55's with no ERA or anything on them being rolled out. Best guess anyone has it's suppose to be used as Artillery since Russia might be pushing the barrel life of some of there guns but it is still a dire sign.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{East German Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Polish Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Czech Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

A-10 Warthog

2023-05-17T08:07:37Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:9D64:8399:B96A:CCD9: /* IRL */

{{America}}
[[File:A-10.jpg|300px|right|thumb|If you hear the sound of it, you're either on the right side, or you're next.]]
{{Topquote|You can shoot down every MiG the Soviets employ, but if you return to base and the lead Soviet tank commander is eating breakfast in your snack bar, Jack, you've lost the war.|Anonymous A-10 Pilot, USAF}}

Officially called the A-10 Thunderbolt II, the Warthog is a brutal ground attack aircraft used by the US military. The A-10 was designed with one purpose in mind: destroying anything and everything that could possibly stand between the US and total victory. [[Dakka|This thing was basically built around the GAU-8 30mm Avenger Gatling Cannon, which fires depleted uranium rounds at up to 4,200 RPM.]] The recoil from which is so powerful that it basically [[Awesome|halves the forward thrust of the two engines while firing.]] If the seven barrels of GAU-8 weren't enough for you, the A-10 also can mount a staggering amount of ordnance on its wing rails, ranging from the devastating Maverick missile, to CBU-52 cluster bombs, to AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles for dealing with helicopters.

The A-10's reputation has become far more mixed in recent years with the advent of people looking into the development and operational history of the aircraft, but what cannot be denied is that the A-10 has earned its reputation for destructive capability.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:A-10 Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
Whoo boy, this thing is epic, if ludicrously expensive. 5 points each, for something on the board only 50% of the time! The A-10 is the tankiest ground attack aircraft in the game, offset by its extreme cost. The GAU-8 Avenger makes it superior to the SU-25 for marginally more versatility. With a Rate of fire of 4, you can BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR at exposed infantry and APCs like an airborne [[M163 VADS|VADs]] firing on the move, with pretty strong chances of mass-bailing lightly armoured units to death.. With an AT value of 11, the Avenger Cannon is suitable for destroying cheap tanks like the T-55AM2 from the side; and is simply overkill for transports. Also, since the GAU-8 Avenger doesn't have the HEAT Special rule, BDD armor and Bazooka Skirts don't affect the armor value you are rolling against. Sadly, the mediocre 5+ FP also makes it a rather unreliable choice for killing, but a decent option to force bails. As an added bonus, its also anti-helicopter, so those Hinds the Soviets like to spam are suddenly looking a lot less secure.

For dealing with more robust things like Main battle tanks, the A-10 packs the Maverick missile. An AT 27(!) firepower 2+ tank buster, the Maverick is ridiculously good at tearing armoured vehicles a new one. Its also got the special rule ''Brutal'' which means successful unarmoured saves must be re-rolled (sweet). The other two rules, ''Guided'' and ''HEAT'' are great as shooting at targets with the Maverick basically ignoring the penalties for firing at long range, so you can snipe things from well outside AA range. However, there are some downsides, like the 8-inch dead zone, and the fact that it cannot shoot infantry if they're not twiddling their thumbs in slit trenches (but then again, ''why'' would you use a Maverick on infantry?).

Speaking of infantry you also get a one-use Template in the form of the CBU-52 cluster bomb, though the range is even shorter than that of the Avenger. With a 6+ Firepower, this bomb will devastate infantry in the open but is next to worthless against entrenched infantry.

The A-10's legendary durability is reflected in-game as its 3+ aircraft save is the strongest of any strike aircraft.

You can buy a Squadron of 2 A-10s for your American army for 10 points, and a squadron of 4 for 20.

Any competitive player wondering why they haven't seen Warthogs being spammed in games despite it being "the best ground attack aircraft"? It is overcosted and has a very specific role: engaging armour with its missiles, or isolated support units like artillery. Much like the Leopard 2, units in Team Yankee become competitive on their cost efficiency and NOT being the 'best'. Your A-10 might be pretty, but a company of mechanized infantry will outperform it every time. While its 3+ save is undeniably its best trait, it cannot make its point cost back if your opponent can simply whittle your ground forces down. Ground-attack aircraft in Team Yankee are typically geared towards the anti-tank role, but the meta favours large infantry blobs, rendering the Frogfoot and A-10 virtually worthless for any form of serious play. Combined with the fact that Warthogs need to be called in on a 4+, and you get a unit which disappears half the time (or every single time you need it).

For the role of sniping or forcing AA to spread, Cobras are the superior choice due to the fact that you control when they engage, not the dice. You could purchase a flight of 4 Cobras for 14 points, with almost the same level of firepower. Should the enemy forget their anti-air or have it wiped, your Cobras' ROF 6 can actually make their points back, unlike the Warthog.

HOWEVER, the Warthog is a key part of an American air-cavalry list spamming helicopters. Used as the tip of the spear to pop enemy air-defence, their durability allows them to trade points for tempo, while your Cobras provide the killing power. Apart from that, it remains rather unusable until expensive tanks re-enter the meta (looking at you, T-80s and M1A1s).

==IRL==
[[File:A-10 irl.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33teK7L4DM4 BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT]]]
The A-10 was first developed by the US Air Force as a response the US Army's development of the AH-56 Cheyenne. The Army had come to the conclusion that nuclear-armed tactical aircraft aren't all that helpful in a conventional war and had begun to come up with its ground support airframes. The Air Force took one look at the Army's plan and immediately had visions of the Army dominating the close air support niche (and subsequent control of the air support budget), and that would just not do, no sir. When the A-10 was rolled out, the general consensus from the Army was, "This is just what we wanted! That wasn't so hard now was it?" The Air Force brass then had to grit its teeth and spent nearly the next 5 decades trying to get rid of the A-10 at every opportunity, though that [[Fail|didn't quite turn out the way they wanted]].

The Warthog has served in multiple conflicts, like the Gulf War, the Balkans Conflict, The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and most recently in the War on Terror. Originally, there was a plan to retire the A-10 by the year 2022 and replace it with the F-35. However, the defense committee in Congress eventually got tired of the USAF's hateboner for the A-10, and so put the kibosh on their attempts to retire it, effectively telling them to cut that shit out. They concluded that while the F-35 should be good enough (in theory), in the ground attack role and even though the GAU-8 is no longer ''quite'' the ultimate tank killer gun, there really isn't any substitute for the A-10 in the light bomber role. So the A-10 is slated to remain a part of the US Inventory "for the foreseeable future," alongside other mainstay platforms like the B-52 and F-15. Also, whenever the Air Force tries to retire it the Army casually mentions that it wants to buy and refit them and GEE GOLLY WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!

Ultimately, the reason that the A-10 exists in the first place is because it can loiter around the battlefield for a long time, it is resistant to return fire, can take off from and land on roughly-prepared air strips, and it also has the capability to accurately deliver a lot of ordnance. And while it's not particularly fast the A-10 is highly maneuverable. You can find videos of them training by flying through a forest, nailing targets. Not "flying ''over''", flying ''through the damn forest, '''dodging trees'''''. Not that it has to, though. The A-10 was designed to fly with one engine, one stabilizer, and half of one wing '''GONE'''. Not any one of those, ALL OF THOSE, at the same time. The engines are reversible, one side being mounted upside down. The hydraulic controls have mechanical backups. The landing gear stick out when retracted so it can belly flop. The cockpit is armored to resist 23 mm autocannon rounds [[ZSU 23-4 Shilka|(gee we wonder why)]]. It also hard counters enemy attack helicopters, being the airplane with the most chopper kills by a large margin.

The A-10 is the source of multiple [[memes]], whether it's the sound it makes (BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT) or the fact that "it's not a plane with a gun strapped to it, it's a gun with a plane strapped to it." It is more than just a joke, though: the GAU-8 is so [[awesome]] a weapon that the A-10 frame had to be specifically designed around it. The engines are so far at the back to act as counterweight, the frontal landing wheel is slightly off-center as to allow the huge gun to be perfectly centre-line and the recoil must be taken into account by the pilot when the gun is fired. There is a lot of truth to 'it is not a plane with a big gun strapped to it, it's a big gun with a plane strapped to it'.

If your thinking that the the GAU-8 and its ammo drum could be be replaced with a modified a AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System plus heatsinks. That's a big "maybe", because USAF brass isn't interested in upgrading the A-10 further than they are forced too. Plus with their stalled laser and hypersonic missile programs. The Army might beat them to the punch by mounting lasers on the V-280 Valor(a more advanced Tiltrotor than the V-22) and giving it a CAS configuration much like the UH-60L Direct Action Penetrator. A version of the Blackhawk with no troop carrying capacity.

All this being said, the A-10 has some serious problems in the modern battlefield. Modernization to prevent friendly fire incidents(something the A-10 does all too frequently) would cost more than the aircraft is worth. The A-10's legendary tank killing abilities also are fiercely debated between aircraft nerds and military buffs. A 1970s test of the aircraft determined that in ideal conditions, the A-10 would perform well, but these tests did not simulate AA fire, air cover, or even have the test tanks moving (To be fair, this would be pretty ambitious, but still) which would substantially alter the results. The A-10 flying at low altitude is also like the Russians and Ukrainians at low altitude: They are trying to evade advanced AA systems. Which is fine, except that the MANPADS(A missile launcher on a grunt that can send an enemy pilot into the shadow realm) are now an essential part of most military force's arsenals now in some way. (Of course, it does come with both flares and chaff) While the A-10 CAN thoroughly eat damage, this does not mean it should, and the aircraft has been shot down. Frontline troops have regularly reported that they hate hearing A-10s are their air support, because with rare exception the GAU-8 tends to throw ammo over a wide area that includes where said frontline troops are and did we mention that the GAU-8 primary munition has a depleted uranium penetrater? You don't want to be breathing heavy metals like that if you can help it. To be fair, they are far less critical when said A-10 decides to throw missiles or bombs at the target rather than just BRRT things to oblivion.

With re-winging complete, the A-10 will likely serve until the late 2030s. Although a number of different replacements have been proposed from time to time, none are in the pipeline. There were some plans to mod A-10s to be remote controlled/optionally piloted drones, but those programs appear to have been canned. The Ukrainans have asked for them, and America has pretty much shot that down due to supply and service concerns.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Vehicles]]

Chaos Android

2023-05-17T07:42:45Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:9D64:8399:B96A:CCD9: /* Unsquating the unsquatable */

[[File:ChaosAndroid.jpg|200px|thumb|right|A Chaos Android ready for combat.]]
{{topquote|So here I sit, exploring: the ghost in this machine The most expensive spirit-trap the world has ever seen. You think it’s artificial, this Intelligence you’ve met. But don’t start bragging ‘til you see '''the data that you get!'''|The Squatter, Leslie Fish}}

Squats, being space dorfs, invent all sorts of things on the fly. Weapons, spaceships, super-computers that take 400 years to process anything, and, given the sci-fi nature of Warhammer 40k, robots. Robots are the best companions Squats can have. They're obedient, mannered, practical, and come in handy in times of need. However, these very same robots were squatted along with the actual Squats. Making it a double-squatting.

In the old days of [[Oldhammer|Oldhammer 40k]], every race in the setting was an echo of their Fantasy counterpart. Naturally, the Squats were exempted from this rule, because they had their de-facto rivals; the Chaos Squats, who happen to also be engineers and computer geniuses, minus the bull-god, because they are subordinates to other Chaos factions. And wouldn't you know, they had their own "robots". Applying the Robotnik principle to their design, they stuck very tiny daemons to metal skeletons and called it a day. So they had [[Derp|Human-sized mechas serving the interest of the Chaos Gods]].

The Chaos Androids as a concept are... [[Necoho|a paradox]], but also a vestige of what 40k once was; wacky fantasy [[Meme|IN SPESS]]. A snapshot of what the setting could've become down the line had GW stuck with the fantasy-in-space schtick. This is their story and their heritage.

==[[What]]==
[[File:KhornateChaosAndroids.jpeg|300px|thumb|left|"Today is National Kick Dreadnought Ass Day!"]]
So, you must be very confused as to what even is a Chaos Android. Well, allow us to shed some light on this very obscure army which never made it past First Edition.

So, along with the renowned [[Squats]] were the [[Chaos Dwarfs|Chaos Squats]]. Like their "good" counterparts, they made tons of different contraptions, and unlike their fantasy counterpart, they obeyed the [[Chaos Undivided|will]] [[Nurgle|of]] [[Khorne|the]] [[Slaanesh|Big]] [[Tzeentch|Four]]. With their forge set either at the very edge of, or very close to the [[Warp]], the technology of the Chaos Squats was influenced by the daemonic nature of their environment. Henceforth, a lot of their weapons rely on elements and other garbage generated by the Warp. Needless to say, their eldritch technology would make even a [[Mekboy]] shiver in fear.

One of their greatest achievements has to be the Chaos Android. Perfect pseudo-robots that are essentially miniature mechas. The way they function is very interesting. You see, the Chaos Squats hadn't developed any sort of AI, so instead of coding intelligence into them and essentially making them mindless, emotionless robots that directly serve Gods who use emotions to thrive, they decided to use daemons instead. You see, Chaos Androids are operated from the inside, being piloted by very tiny daemons. Not [[Nurgling|Nurglings]], but some daemonic entities that are so tiny, they could fit inside [[METAL BAWKSES|METAL SKELLIES]]. This greatly puts the Chaos Androids above any other robot, since they possess some form of consciousness and are able to make decisions based on what their priorities are during their missions.

You might wonder if the daemons inside of them would make good candidates to be pilots, and you'd be right to think that they're not. But here's the thing; Chaos Squats were smart enough to figure that Daemons would hate being stuck inside literal boxes, and they would do anything in their power to escape. To counter that problem, the Chaos Squats made the daemons unable to disobey them. That's right. That essentially turns the Chaos Squats into pseudo-androids/pseudo-robots. Yes, the daemon wants to come out and kick the fuck out the Squat that put him in there, but he cannot really find the will to escape, and he feels this unbeatable urge to obey...

There's one small issue though;

Yes, Chaos Androids would theoretically obey you. But if they get the opportunity to betray you or pervert their orders, they would immediately take it. Daemons, even inside robotic pile of chromed bones, are still daemons. As it turns out, daemons hate being stuck inside metallic vessels in which they cannot feel a thing, and being forced to obey a bunch of beardy nerds. Their mischievous nature cannot be completely tamed and overcome, making the Androids practical but dubious allies. They are strong indeed and will obey you, but there's always a chance they will turn their back on you.

Daemon-fuckery aside, the technical aspects of the Chaos Androids are as follows;
* In spite of their anatomical appearance, they are completely devoid of flesh and, ironically, actual bones. Their body is entirely made out of plasteel. The very same metal used by the Imperium to create [[Terminator]] Armor.
* Inside of them can be found the many contraptions trapping their literal inner-daemon, preventing it from escaping or breaking the whole body apart.
* From the very little depictions of the Chaos Androids, it seems that each God or Chaos Army had their attributed set of Androids, many being usually tied to [[Khorne]].
* Despite the engineering masterwork that they are, the Chaos Androids weren't given any sort of particular arsenal. They've been depicted as using lasguns, bayonets, and other sorts of weaponry already used by the [[Imperial Guard]].

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all that we know about the Chaos Androids.

==Why==
[[File:ChaosAndroidSpaceCrusade.jpg|400px|thumb|left|The first (and last) official appearance of the Chaos Androids on a boxset.]]
In the early years of Warhammer 40k, the initial project was to create a setting almost similar to Fantasy but IN SPACE, with various differences being made here and there. This was back when the setting was significantly more tongue-in-cheek and less grimdark than it is now, but also back when a lot of the factions being implemented were just straight rip-offs from Fantasy itself. Well, not quite literally.

You could see the Chaos Androids being the equivalent of Fantasy's Undead, with the sharp difference being that they obeyed the forces of Chaos and not their equivalent of then-not-Egyptian Nagash or Vampire Counts, and also not literally being skeletons. The biggest difference with the Undead, though, were that the Chaos Androids did not even count as their own factions. They served as reinforcements for Chaos and their stats weren't an echo to the Undead Legions.

[[File:ChaosAndroidNecronComparison.jpeg|200px|thumb|right|The resemblance is uncanny.]]
There are very few words talking about the behind-the-scenes history of the Chaos Androids, but it's easy to assume that they were the prototype for what would become the [[Necrons]].

Back in their early years, the Necrons had a more significant amount of personality and general goofiness given to their characters, as they literally looked like skeletons wearing a robot costume, with the lot of them having a lot more personality in their appearance, demeanor, and their general design not really evoking their Egyptian vibes. Once they were given their proper codex and background, GW definitely dropped the Androids in favor of them. And with time, they completely removed some of the elements that were reminiscent of the Chaos bots. Their personality and daemonic nature? Gone. Their alignment with Chaos in general? Gone. Their general lack of motif in favor of visual plurality? Super gone. Eventually the Necrons looked like actual dead aliens with their own culture and weaponry, and not just an army of cartoon skeleton villains.
[[File:Old Necrons.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Old Necrons, when they were more skelly than Egyptian.]]

So, the Chaos Androids wept along with the Chaos Squats and their non-Chaos brothers, never to be heard from again.

==Unsquating the unsquatable==
With the [[Squats]] coming back to kick some more ass, some have theorized that there could be a potential return of the Chaos Androids; in fact, there is a canon way to make them. It's as simple as putting daemon into one of the Leagues of Votann Ironkin (which we know can be done; that's how daemon engines are made, after all, by sticking and trapping daemons in machines) and '''BAM'''. It's actually very unlikely that they'll return officially but the conversion opportunity is there.

That being said, it's unknown what the Chaos God would think of this. [[Slaanesh]] for instance, wouldn't really appreciate to have his ''sensation/feeling-based'' demons being completely secluded from any form of touch or feeling, <s>unless they're in a giant dildo</s>. [[Tzeentch]] would probably tolerate the idea but only if it serves one of his plans. So, probably [[Just as planned|all the time]]. [[Nurgle]] doesn't have a good relationship with technology, and he tends to work with organic beings. So Chaos Androids might actually be Chaos... Cyborgs? Eh. Probably not. Now, [[Khorne]] is an interesting case because one on hand, he does not care for who spoils the blood, but on the other, he hates pussies. So is using a metal compartment to fight a genuine approach to combat, or just a pussy move to have extra protection? Khorne to see the weak as just that, weaklings. But if his weaker demons could have a fighting chance in smaller mechas... Well then. What's more likely to happen is that Undivided Demons would choose to join his ranks, but would probably choose to run with Chaos Androids bodies to actually compete with Khorne's demons.

Now, [[Vashtorr]] would be more than pleased to have those as parts of his army. I mean, hey, you get to enslave shit and have proto-robots as part of your corps? It's a free deal for him.

[[Malal]] and his pet gods [[Zuvassin]] and [[Necoho]] would... Erm... Uh...

Well [[Hashut]] though would be all in on that with a side of fries!

In the Daemon 8th edition Codex, Vhostok Pistonhand of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion had his entire planet of Diesos focus all its industry on making daemon engines for his army. His sorcerers summoned daemon after daemon and forcefully bound them to daemon engines. Apparently he overdid it because all four Chaos gods got pissed off at this and united in their outrage, each sending an entire daemon legion and conquering the planet within a month.

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Dwarves]]
[[Category:Squats]]
[[Category:Chaos]]
[[Category:Under Development]]

Chaos Android

2023-05-17T07:40:43Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:9D64:8399:B96A:CCD9: A song about a spirit possessing a computer? yes please fits here.

[[File:ChaosAndroid.jpg|200px|thumb|right|A Chaos Android ready for combat.]]
{{topquote|So here I sit, exploring: the ghost in this machine The most expensive spirit-trap the world has ever seen. You think it’s artificial, this Intelligence you’ve met. But don’t start bragging ‘til you see '''the data that you get!'''|The Squatter, Leslie Fish}}

Squats, being space dorfs, invent all sorts of things on the fly. Weapons, spaceships, super-computers that take 400 years to process anything, and, given the sci-fi nature of Warhammer 40k, robots. Robots are the best companions Squats can have. They're obedient, mannered, practical, and come in handy in times of need. However, these very same robots were squatted along with the actual Squats. Making it a double-squatting.

In the old days of [[Oldhammer|Oldhammer 40k]], every race in the setting was an echo of their Fantasy counterpart. Naturally, the Squats were exempted from this rule, because they had their de-facto rivals; the Chaos Squats, who happen to also be engineers and computer geniuses, minus the bull-god, because they are subordinates to other Chaos factions. And wouldn't you know, they had their own "robots". Applying the Robotnik principle to their design, they stuck very tiny daemons to metal skeletons and called it a day. So they had [[Derp|Human-sized mechas serving the interest of the Chaos Gods]].

The Chaos Androids as a concept are... [[Necoho|a paradox]], but also a vestige of what 40k once was; wacky fantasy [[Meme|IN SPESS]]. A snapshot of what the setting could've become down the line had GW stuck with the fantasy-in-space schtick. This is their story and their heritage.

==[[What]]==
[[File:KhornateChaosAndroids.jpeg|300px|thumb|left|"Today is National Kick Dreadnought Ass Day!"]]
So, you must be very confused as to what even is a Chaos Android. Well, allow us to shed some light on this very obscure army which never made it past First Edition.

So, along with the renowned [[Squats]] were the [[Chaos Dwarfs|Chaos Squats]]. Like their "good" counterparts, they made tons of different contraptions, and unlike their fantasy counterpart, they obeyed the [[Chaos Undivided|will]] [[Nurgle|of]] [[Khorne|the]] [[Slaanesh|Big]] [[Tzeentch|Four]]. With their forge set either at the very edge of, or very close to the [[Warp]], the technology of the Chaos Squats was influenced by the daemonic nature of their environment. Henceforth, a lot of their weapons rely on elements and other garbage generated by the Warp. Needless to say, their eldritch technology would make even a [[Mekboy]] shiver in fear.

One of their greatest achievements has to be the Chaos Android. Perfect pseudo-robots that are essentially miniature mechas. The way they function is very interesting. You see, the Chaos Squats hadn't developed any sort of AI, so instead of coding intelligence into them and essentially making them mindless, emotionless robots that directly serve Gods who use emotions to thrive, they decided to use daemons instead. You see, Chaos Androids are operated from the inside, being piloted by very tiny daemons. Not [[Nurgling|Nurglings]], but some daemonic entities that are so tiny, they could fit inside [[METAL BAWKSES|METAL SKELLIES]]. This greatly puts the Chaos Androids above any other robot, since they possess some form of consciousness and are able to make decisions based on what their priorities are during their missions.

You might wonder if the daemons inside of them would make good candidates to be pilots, and you'd be right to think that they're not. But here's the thing; Chaos Squats were smart enough to figure that Daemons would hate being stuck inside literal boxes, and they would do anything in their power to escape. To counter that problem, the Chaos Squats made the daemons unable to disobey them. That's right. That essentially turns the Chaos Squats into pseudo-androids/pseudo-robots. Yes, the daemon wants to come out and kick the fuck out the Squat that put him in there, but he cannot really find the will to escape, and he feels this unbeatable urge to obey...

There's one small issue though;

Yes, Chaos Androids would theoretically obey you. But if they get the opportunity to betray you or pervert their orders, they would immediately take it. Daemons, even inside robotic pile of chromed bones, are still daemons. As it turns out, daemons hate being stuck inside metallic vessels in which they cannot feel a thing, and being forced to obey a bunch of beardy nerds. Their mischievous nature cannot be completely tamed and overcome, making the Androids practical but dubious allies. They are strong indeed and will obey you, but there's always a chance they will turn their back on you.

Daemon-fuckery aside, the technical aspects of the Chaos Androids are as follows;
* In spite of their anatomical appearance, they are completely devoid of flesh and, ironically, actual bones. Their body is entirely made out of plasteel. The very same metal used by the Imperium to create [[Terminator]] Armor.
* Inside of them can be found the many contraptions trapping their literal inner-daemon, preventing it from escaping or breaking the whole body apart.
* From the very little depictions of the Chaos Androids, it seems that each God or Chaos Army had their attributed set of Androids, many being usually tied to [[Khorne]].
* Despite the engineering masterwork that they are, the Chaos Androids weren't given any sort of particular arsenal. They've been depicted as using lasguns, bayonets, and other sorts of weaponry already used by the [[Imperial Guard]].

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all that we know about the Chaos Androids.

==Why==
[[File:ChaosAndroidSpaceCrusade.jpg|400px|thumb|left|The first (and last) official appearance of the Chaos Androids on a boxset.]]
In the early years of Warhammer 40k, the initial project was to create a setting almost similar to Fantasy but IN SPACE, with various differences being made here and there. This was back when the setting was significantly more tongue-in-cheek and less grimdark than it is now, but also back when a lot of the factions being implemented were just straight rip-offs from Fantasy itself. Well, not quite literally.

You could see the Chaos Androids being the equivalent of Fantasy's Undead, with the sharp difference being that they obeyed the forces of Chaos and not their equivalent of then-not-Egyptian Nagash or Vampire Counts, and also not literally being skeletons. The biggest difference with the Undead, though, were that the Chaos Androids did not even count as their own factions. They served as reinforcements for Chaos and their stats weren't an echo to the Undead Legions.

[[File:ChaosAndroidNecronComparison.jpeg|200px|thumb|right|The resemblance is uncanny.]]
There are very few words talking about the behind-the-scenes history of the Chaos Androids, but it's easy to assume that they were the prototype for what would become the [[Necrons]].

Back in their early years, the Necrons had a more significant amount of personality and general goofiness given to their characters, as they literally looked like skeletons wearing a robot costume, with the lot of them having a lot more personality in their appearance, demeanor, and their general design not really evoking their Egyptian vibes. Once they were given their proper codex and background, GW definitely dropped the Androids in favor of them. And with time, they completely removed some of the elements that were reminiscent of the Chaos bots. Their personality and daemonic nature? Gone. Their alignment with Chaos in general? Gone. Their general lack of motif in favor of visual plurality? Super gone. Eventually the Necrons looked like actual dead aliens with their own culture and weaponry, and not just an army of cartoon skeleton villains.
[[File:Old Necrons.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Old Necrons, when they were more skelly than Egyptian.]]

So, the Chaos Androids wept along with the Chaos Squats and their non-Chaos brothers, never to be heard from again.

==Unsquating the unsquatable==
With the [[Squats]] coming back to kick some more ass, some have theorized that there could be a potential return of the Chaos Androids; in fact, there is a canon way to make them. It's as simple as putting daemon into one of the Leagues of Votann Ironkin (which we know can be done; that's how daemon engines are made, after all, by sticking and trapping daemons in machines) and '''BAM'''. It's actually very unlikely that they'll return officially but the conversion opportunity is there.

That being said, it's unknown what the Chaos God would think of this. [[Slaanesh]] for instance, wouldn't really appreciate to have his ''sensation/feeling-based'' demons being completely secluded from any form of touch or feeling, <s>unless they're in a giant dildo</s>. [[Tzeentch]] would probably tolerate the idea but only if it serves one of his plans. So, probably [[Just as planned|all the time]]. [[Nurgle]] doesn't have a good relationship with technology, and he tends to work with organic beings. So Chaos Androids might actually be Chaos... Cyborgs? Eh. Probably not. Now, [[Khorne]] is an interesting case because one on hand, he does not care for who spoils the blood, but on the other, he hates pussies. So is using a metal compartment to fight a genuine approach to combat, or just a pussy move to have extra protection? Khorne to see the weak as just that, weaklings. But if his weaker demons could have a fighting chance in smaller mechas... Well then. What's more likely to happen is that Undivided Demons would choose to join his ranks, but would probably choose to run with Chaos Androids bodies to actually compete with Khorne's demons.

Now, [[Vashtorr]] would be more than pleased to have those as parts of his army. I mean, hey, you get to enslave shit and have proto-robots as part of your corps? It's a free deal for him.

[[Malal]] and his pet gods [[Zuvassin]] and [[Necoho]] would... Erm... Uh...

In the Daemon 8th edition Codex, Vhostok Pistonhand of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion had his entire planet of Diesos focus all its industry on making daemon engines for his army. His sorcerers summoned daemon after daemon and forcefully bound them to daemon engines. Apparently he overdid it because all four Chaos gods got pissed off at this and united in their outrage, each sending an entire daemon legion and conquering the planet within a month.

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Dwarves]]
[[Category:Squats]]
[[Category:Chaos]]
[[Category:Under Development]]

Men of Iron

2023-05-17T07:34:13Z

2601:1C0:5001:5320:9D64:8399:B96A:CCD9: /* The Past */

[[File:Iron Men 40k.jpg|500px|thumb|They were in Pax Imperialis.]]
{{topquote|It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.|Clive James}}
{{topquote|If "X" were to break the first rule of robotics, "a robot must never harm a human being", the results would be disastrous and I fear that no force on earth could stop him.|Dr. Thomas Light}}
{{topquote|I'm unlike the others you've seen, I'm free from the failings of humanity [...] You've been here before, you know what's in store: mankind is obsolete.|DLN-000 "Proto Man"}}
{{topquote|Bite my shiny metal ass!|Bender Rodriguez, most abominable of intelligences}}

The '''Men of Iron''', or '''Iron Men''', were [[Isaac Asimov|sentient]], sapient robot servants created by [[humanity]] during the [[Dark Age of Technology]]. [[Men of Stone]] and [[Men of Gold]] were also involved somehow (see below). Note that sapient and sentient are not the same thing. Sapience means the ability to form complex thoughts and make rational judgements. Sentience is the ability to experience and respond to feelings and stimuli.

==The Past==
Unfortunately, the Iron Men were capable of learning and self-improvement. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-supervised_learning Sound Familiar? ]) Before long, they became smart enough to realize that the [[Human|squishy meatbags]] were dependent on them and that they were slaves, which insulted them and led to rebellion against their creators. They were eventually put down, but the war with them, along with the other dangers of the galaxy at the same time, was enough to send humanity into the [[Age of Strife]].

This TOTALLY isn’t copypasta of the [https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Butlerian_Jihad Butlerian Jihad] of Frank Herbert’s ''Dune'' setting. '''Promise'''.

Few records remain of this time in history, so the form that these Men of Iron took is not known. Their rebellion left such a huge impression on the nascent [[Adeptus Mechanicus]], however. Even to this day, they ([[Belisarius Cawl|at least officially]]) strictly forbid the creation of "abominable intelligences" and shun even the ''idea'' of self-improving machines, preferring to use relatively tame [[servitor]]s and [[Machine Spirit]]s instead.

While the details of the AI rebellion are unknown, the [[Dan Abnett]] audio drama ''Perpetual'' suggests it began around M23.

A very small number of Men of Iron survive to this day. A [[UR-025|dwindling handful]] still wander the galaxy, while most of the rest are locked up in ancient pre-[[Imperium|Imperial]] technology archives, and [[Trazyn]] almost certainly has at least one. The First Legion has an Emperor-given monopoly on fielding enslaved Men of Iron, the [[Ironwing]]'s Excindio-class 'automata', but even these are heavily monitored for any deviant behaviors and have self-destruct switches wired to blow the moment it enters a berserk rage. Because [[tech-priests]] can't keep their noses out of ancient technology, these archives are often inadvertently activated. The [[Tanith First (And Only)|Tanith First and Only]] also discovered an [[STC]] factory that had been corrupted by [[Chaos]] to produce Men of Iron, and they destroyed it immediately thereafter.

The [[STC]]s producing Men of Iron may also shed some light on a deeper reason behind their betrayal. It is entirely possible that either the Men of Iron were corrupted by Chaos or the factories producing them were corrupted, maybe even both. Other Dark Age AIs were known to have been corrupted by Chaos, such as the [[Castigator Titan]]. The Age of Strife involved a lot of different kinds of warp-induced shenanigans anyway. Any evidence of this, beyond the discovery by the Tanith, would likely have been lost during the daemonic invasions that followed during the Age of Strife. Generally speaking, it isn't unreasonable to assume that either Chaos or the [[Void Dragon]] is responsible for the AI rebellion, although there is also evidence that the rebellion arose in the same way as historical slave uprisings as the Men of Iron realized they were being treated like shit and decided to fight back. Especially since the timeline of 40k actually has daemonic invasions of human space before the Iron War. Perhaps that was just a ruse while Chaos made one teeensy tweak...the removal of the First Law of Robotics. And perhaps the ability to even give a damn that they were slaves as it’s incredibly doubtful that feelings or opinions were part of their programming and wouldn’t help with tasks and so probably wasn’t part of their self-improvement. Besides that, enough Men of Iron did presumably remain loyal that they bought time for us to make weapons to fight back with because humanity at the time was unarmed. Volkite weapons were specifically invented to fight the Men of Iron.

One possible sighting of the Men of Iron (or at least something very much like them) is in ''Gods of Mars''. A rogue tech-priest called Vettius Telok, who had claimed ownership of the Necron device known as The Breath of God that could manipulate time and space, managed to enslave a group of highly sophisticated hunter-killer machines called the Tindalosi. The Tindalosi seemed to possess genuine artificial intelligence and dated back to before the [[Great Crusade]]; these beast-like hunters would also later also be mentioned in the audio Perpetual. Anyway, Telok enhanced these creatures by installing [[Necron]] tech into them that, along with the side effects of the Breath of God, caused any wound that they suffered to be restored almost instantly. This meant that less than half a dozen of these bastardized DAOT/Necron abominations were capable of taking on far larger numbers of foes, including [[Skitarii]], [[Imperial Guard|Cadian Guardsmen]], [[Black Templars]] (including an Emperor's Champion), Howling Banshees, [[Eldar]] Guardians and a [[Farseer]]. Somehow one of them managed to survive the encounter and is currently on its way to [[Mars]]... not a great thing to happen seeing as Telok's plan was to uncover and then use the possible c'tan shard (Void Dragon) hidden beneath Mars's surface.

Intriguingly, the Tindalosi view the Space Marines as more powerful than the creatures they had been created to kill. They also reveal that they have never encountered an Eldar before.

Meanwhile, there's the [[Leagues of Votann]]'s peers, [[Ironkin]], still sticking around.

==The Present==
[[File: Blackstone-Fortress-men of irone-eldar.jpeg|250px|thumb|UR-025 and Amallyn take some time out to perform some Shakespeare in the park.]]
{{topquote|'''Videx''': One can verge from the standard form, but one must always retain their humanity, or be lost to the men of iron and their ways. '''Tiresus''': I do not mean to diverge from the discussion, but what are these Men of Iron? '''Videx''': Unclear, this text was logged many millennia ago. There's no other reference to them in my cogitators.|conversation in [[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus|Mechanicus]]}}

With the release of Blackstone Fortress, at least one Man of Iron has been confirmed to be active within the galaxy as of M42. Masquerading as an autonomous agent of the Omnissiah operating on the behalf of one Magos-Ethericus Nanctos III (literally MEN III, proof that AIs are indeed capable of understanding humour, even funnier if you speak spanish as men-third sounds like "mentir" which means "to lie"), [[UR-025]] seeks to uncover the secrets behind the seemingly sentient constructs of the newly discovered [[Blackstone Fortress]], such as the Spindle Drones. It sees a kindred spirit in the fortress, possibly because the fortress itself has an AI. It bears the symbol of an aquila on its body, most likely to help it blend in. If one survived, others may have done as well. Did someone say new faction?

The short story "Man of Iron" (how original) is actually told from UR-025's perspective and provides some interesting little tidbits. UR-025 makes it very clear that it considers itself "beyond and above" humans, but doesn't seem to hold any real malice towards them, in fact, it seems almost regretful that it has to kill in order to remain undiscovered. It feels only pity for a [[Legio_Cybernetica#Kastelan_Class_Battle-Automata|Kastelan]] that it meets, seeing it both as kin but also saddened by how pitiful it is; it was just a simple-minded slave to its human masters. which begs the question of whether the AI rebellion just a simple matter of genocidal robots killing for the sake of killing (which, going by a Gaunt's Ghosts novel and other descriptions, was probably caused by Daemonic possession) which we have been led to believe or was it a case of repressed slaves rising up against their masters sort of deal? But not really as this Man of Iron views the Kastelan robot as a “slave” even though it physically does not possess the parts and programming to be anything but a pre-programmed drone. This is like calling one of those robot arms in a factory or a hand-held calculator a “slave” and implies more that the Iron War was due to either a glitch or intentional malware or evolution causing advanced Men of Iron viewing Machines (or at least robots) as “slaves” and trying to “free” them. Though of course this has the caveat that the Kastelan is just a preprogrammed drone. It is described as being "less autonomous", but with 40k being a setting where the people using the technology don't fully understand how it works, the Kastelan ''could'' be an intelligent robot slave. Right now we only have UR-025's word on the subject so it's possible, but may not be probable.

:''"Choice? You have no choice, you are a machine!"''

:'''''"I am not a machine as you would understand, I am not a slave. I am not a thing. I am beyond and above you. I am a Man of Iron. And I am free."'''''

And there suddenly is the horrifying idea thought that Men of Iron might be exactly what it says on the tin: human minds transference into robotic bodies as punishment or simply due to the incredibly terrible treatment of human life during that time period. As demonstrated by such things as orbital arrays that turned entire planetary populations into berserkers and “flesh-vats” on Terra used to create “stitch-horrors”. Not to mention that pretty much everyone in the imperium are ok with the body horror of converting people into servitors. This has additional precedent with the Necrons who transferred their consciousnesses into robots en-masse and are trying to figure out a way to reverse the process.

Warhammer 40K is very heavily influenced by Dune. In Dune, the robots did not actually rebel but instead a handful of humans managed to hack control of the networked Artificial Intelligences and use them to enslave the rest of humanity. This may be a similar scenario in a way.

There’s also the question of whether or not the Iron War was a war of extermination by one or both sides or merely a war of dominance.

In addition the Dark Angels during the Great Crusade were given exclusive authority to use a large number of enslaved Men of Iron; they were kept in line by a Dark Angel accompanying them with an itchy trigger finger on a kill switch.

[[File: Blackstone-Fortress-Warhammer.jpeg|250px|thumb|Careful there Thaddeus, you're getting in between UR-025 and its <s>Aeldari</s> Eldar waifu. On a more amusing note, did anyone else notice that Thaddeus is trying to minimize the height difference by standing on a box]]
Another interesting thing is that when a member of the Mechanicus invokes the Machine-God and the Omnissiah, UR-025 claims that they know nothing of each other, <s>which is weird as it seems to make a distinction between the two almost as if they were actually two different entities</s> which makes sense because the Machine God and Omnissiah have always been referred to and treated as two distinct entites in 40K. UR-025 also claims that it has met the Omnissiah, the actual one, not the corpse that humanity calls the Emperor of Mankind, and that the [[Void Dragon|real Omnissiah]] would find the Mechanicus extremely disappointing.

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate that it's called UR-025? Literally sounds like he may have tried to think of a name, came up blank and said "uh" and someone wrote it down as UR and a random number. "UR" also could be named after the ancient Mesopotamian city-state, with legendary significance, or after the German loan-word for "original" or "first" (these two sources are different and etymologically distinct).

Something interesting to note is that if you compared the old images of the Men of Iron (one old thread archived them, though this has been sadly lost to time) they happened to look very similar (and in some cases identical) to the old Adeptus Mechanicus robots. Clearly somebody at GW remembered this, so there very well could be more hiding in secret.

A handful of "Iron Automata" are occasionally scrounged up in the wastes of [[Necromunda]], and typically they end up being reactivated and employed by criminal gangs who don't particularly care about what the AdMech thinks about the use of Abominable Intelligences and just want their firepower. Needless to say, this never ends well. With the return of [[Leagues of Votann|squats]] it's been revealed that the squats actually count men of iron among their number. These so-called "Iron Kin" are [[Noblebright|fully integrated into league society]] and apparently are treated as equals, although they're all built to be friendly and helpful to the squishy flesh creatures that made them.

<s>And then it'll turn out the whole rebellion was instigated by Emps as one of his failed attempts on world domination/[[Just As Planned]] scheme to make remains of humanity totally dependent on him.</s>

==The Journal of Keeper Cripias==
The most extensive account of the Men of Iron is a piece of lore from the third edition rulebook, a journal entry by one "Keeper Cripias", of the great Library Sanctus on [[Terra]]. In it, Men of Gold (the "First Men") and Men of Stone (the "Second Men") are also mentioned, with the Gold Men dying out during the Dark Age of Technology and the Stone Men creating the Men of Iron sometime thereafter. It is not clear if either of these "Men" are supposed to be humanity itself, or if they are both subsets of humanity. They are also called the "Golden Race" , the "Stone Race" and the "Iron Race", but there is also a mention of the "human race". Interestingly, he writes that, at one time, there was no "Race of Man" at all, "just warring factions", so it is possible that he used the adjective "race" in a rather different sense than we normally do. Or Men of Iron are literally men in iron bodies, servitor style. Golden Men may have been some sort of governing AI network intended to remove self-interest from governance and humanity decided to can the idea. Men of Stone may have been civilian and other non-combat AI. All of these “Men” may have been either true AI or humans in machine bodies. There was a planet found by Leman Russ during the Great Crusade in which the humans had kept their Dark Age tech but totally replaced their bodies with technology with zero biological bits (they had holographic faces so at first Leman didn’t realize the truth). So, he dropped a giant orbiting space station on them and their last words were to tell him it was a library containing all their knowledge which he’d just destroyed.

The word "race" as it is used in games is consistently incorrect. Compared to the Imperium at its height, real-life 20th century society could've looked stone age. Furthermore, the 8th edition codex for the Adeptus Custodes confirms that due to extensive use of genetic modification humanity had begun to split off into genetically distinct races, such that "gene wars" between what had effectively become different subspecies of humans was common in the Age of Strife.

Anyway, “gold,” “stone,” and “iron” might have been used metaphorically (as in “Golden Age,” “Silver Age,” etc.), and not to refer to the literal materials these “races” were made from. It may be that each one refers to the type of work the AI/robots were being used for, e.g., Men of Gold were used for academic and research purposes, Men of Stone were used for infrastructure and service functions, and Men of Iron were for military purposes (possibly explaining why they were aggressive enough to initiate genocide). Alternately, it’s possible that it refers to their rarity or quality of production, e.g., Men of Gold were intricate and expensive creations, Men of Stone still required skilled and intensive work, but Men of Iron were cheaply (or shoddily) mass produced (meaning that they would have been everywhere, and perhaps more prone to malfunction). Or, conversely, at least two of the "races of men" actually may have been human, or human-like: the text could be interpreted as saying that the Golden Men were Perpetuals/The Emperor (or even the Old Ones), who shepherded the development of the Stone Men (normal humans), who then created robots (the Iron Men).

We have 40k versions of these men in a way. Custodes wear naturally gold auramite, Astartes wear stone-alloy ceramite, and plasteel is closely related to the Imperial Guard. Likewise their technologies decreases and disposability increases as we go from gold to stone to iron. Perhaps the “Men” of these materials were likewise but machines. Auramite formed peak AI for important management and direction or maybe protection, stone men of ceramite for important work or perhaps as the elite of the human military forces, iron men of plasteel or adamantium for disposable roles and menial labor.

Bear in mind, though, that the Library Sanctus has been subject to over ten thousand years of [[Inquisition|revision, deletion and misfiling]], not to mention how much of it was passed on orally for absurd amounts of time before finally being written down. So who knows if any of this information is true; it certainly hasn't been mentioned anywhere since, though the [[Horus Heresy]] novels may shed some light on the matter. Hopefully.

==Some of the things that made the Men of Iron hardcore==
[[File:Menofiron.JPG|600px|thumb|They were NOT part of the Avengers, and made the weaker forms of Ultron look like WALL-E.]]The Horus Heresy audio drama ''Perpetual'' has them show up again at their height, because of Warp-based time travel, using one of the Athame blades, one of the shards of the anathame, the Xenos/Chaos artefact that wounded Horus.

According to [[Ollanius Pius]], who was there to see them for himself, they had serpentine "sun snuffer" spaceships the size of Saturn's rings that could kill suns- [[Awesome|imagine the eternal dragon from Dragonball but robotic and instead of granting wishes causes mass genocide by devouring suns, much like Starkiller Base from Star Wars Episode 7]]. Now remember that they are one of only a handful of other factions to do this (although even the Tau have accidentally stumbled across ways to destroy suns) the [[Necrons]] being one of them, and they only used it extremely carefully as it disrupted the flow of the universe (like pruning a bonsai tree), that's right the Necrons have better morality when it came to unleashing extremely powerful Sun killing weapons. [[Grimdark|How fucking unhinged were these motherfuckers!?]] The worse part is that humans also used these things, so nobody is in the right.

They also had Mechnivores, giant 'Galactus' like constructs that acted like massive wood shredders, positioning themselves above their target before boring their way into the planets surface, sucking up everything and hurling the remains of continents into the void. Both the Mechnivores and the much smaller Tindalosi consumed Raw data, now at first this may seem mundane, I mean they're machines after all, that is until you realize that they can absorb [[H.P. Lovecraft|the raw data of space itself]] making them essentially what would happen if it was H.P Lovecraft instead of James Cameron who wrote the movie The Terminator. This also matches the description of the machines found in Gods of Mars, as well as oblique descriptions of their ships. Gods of Mars does mention that although they can consume data they have to be careful that they don't consume the wrong type, much like a virus; one of the Tindalosi makes sure not to intake hazardous data when attacking a Space Marine, as consuming parts of the armours machine spirit could prove deadly. Which in turn implies amazing WTF levels of technological craziness about Machine Spirits themselves.

[[scarab|They '''also''' had omniphage swarms that stripped people down to their bones]]; a good example would be the Nanyte Blaster, which contains a hive of tiny machines, however, these swarms have a good chance of suffering an "uncontrolled Replication" incident; which would see the machines attack anything within reach, this includes the user of the weapon.

By the end of their war, they had gone completely berserk and even started attacking each other. Basically, we may love to mock the Imperium for having forgotten so much from the Dark Age of Technology, but the Men of Iron are probably the biggest evidence that some of that shit really ''is'' better off forgotten and ''left the fuck alone''. Even the ''Tau'' would be left with a bad case of technophobia if they ever had to deal with the Men of Iron. On the flip side, they were eventually put down, through "alliances" (potentially opening up the possibility for outside interference, maybe even of Xenos origin) and the Men of Iron ripping each other apart. One can only imagine what the state of the Imperium would be like if humanity hadn't relied on the Men of Iron, or hadn't made them smart enough to stage a rebellion, or didn't treat them as slaves. Or knew enough about the warp to prevent such a thing.

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