2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Sons of Malice

2016-03-01T04:36:33Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B:

[[File:SOM_T2007_lord.jpg|350px|thumb|left|Hmmm, you look really delicious...GET OVER HERE!!!]]
The Sons of Malice are a [[Renegade Chapter]] of [[Chaos Space Marines]] who are particularly unnerving individuals which have grown infamous amoungst the worshippers of [[Chaos]]. Fighting in complete silence, they drag captives off after raids and proceed to eat them, preferably while the captive is alive and fully aware of what is going on. Not for any trivial reason are they looked at as a chapter of Hannibal Lecters in space.

==Origins==
The founding of the Sons of Malice is unknown although they are suspected to be one of the [[Astartes Praeses]], the twenty chapters tasked with guarding the regions around the [[Eye of Terror]] and preventing chaos incursions into [[Imperial]] Space.

The Sons of Malice fell when, after a victorious campaign, they engaged in a series of victory celebrations that bordered on cannibalism. While some Space Marine chapters do have their own set of more grotesque rituals (the [[Blood Angels]], for example, partake in literal consumption of blood as a scout's initiation), they're not considered heretical as such rituals are usually part of Astartes tradition. However Inquisitor Pietas, the one who observed their victory rites, was unacquainted with such customs, and was horrified by it.

Thinking them corrupted by chaotic taint (and for some reason, never asking other inquisitors or even other Space Marines to confirm it), the Inquisitor along with a strike force of [[Sisters of Battle]] [[Celestians]] assaulted the Sons of Malice chapter [[homeworld]] of [[Scelus]]. The Sons fell on their attackers with savage anger at the interference to their chapter rites and defeated the Celestians, the captain of the first company dragging the Inquisitor to the chapter's altar and ritually sacrificing her before devouring her.

How lovely.

Needless to say the Imperium was a bit miffed at this and declared the Sons renegades. In return the Sons engaged in a hate-fueled war with the Imperium. Needing a powerful patron, the sons found this in [[Malal]], the Chaos God of Terror and Anarchy. As Malal is directly opposed to the other chaos powers, the Sons battle the other worshipers of Chaos with as much hate as they do the servants of the Imperium. Considering this, it is surprising that the Sons have not been wiped out by either the other force of Chaos or the Imperium, unless they are receiving support from somewhere, but to be fair, Malal supposedly buffs his followers to almost Primarch levels, so at least there's a slight reason they aren't all dead yet.

==13th Black Crusade==

During the 13th Black Crusade the Sons fought to reclaim their chapter homeworld Scelus but were unsuccessful. They did manage to bloody both chaotic and Imperial forces however. On hearing this it is reported [[Abaddon]] did rage greatly but he was unable to do anything without arms and the rage of the arch champion of chaos did please Malal greatly.

==Dark Times ahead...==

Once every century, the Sons of Malice gather on the space hulk the Labyrinth, the closest thing the renegades now have to a homeworld. This holds paramount importance to them and no matter their commitments they return there at the appointment times. They bring slaves of all races to be ritually sacrificed (read: eaten) to Malal. Retreating to their cells with their captives, the Sons practice the lessons of Saint Hannibal and the halls echo with the screams for mercy.

Another ritual carried out is the Challenge of the Labyrinth, which a few volunteer to do every century. None are seen again but those that pass the tests are said to become the Doomed Ones, the mighty champions of Malal, enemies to Chaos and Order alike. The Doomed Ones have a special purpose; once there is 11 of their number, they will be ritually sacrificed to Malal and this will allow him to manifest in real space and lead his chosen warriors in person. With their God at their side they will unleash a crusade of hate to claim revenge on all that stand in their way. Recently the 11th warrior was chosen and the time of the coming of the Hierarch of Terror is at hand....

{{Template:Chaos-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Space Marines]]

Aurora Chapter

2016-02-04T16:43:45Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Aurora Chapter
|Heraldry =
|Battle Cry =
|Number =
|Founding = [[Second Founding]]
|Successors of = [[Ultramarines]]
|Successor Chapters = Unknown
|Chapter Master = Unknown
|Primarch = [[Roboute Guilliman]]
|Homeworld = Firestorm
|Specialty = Fuck Hueg Armored Assaults, Having more tanks than you
|Strength = Unknown, Assumed full strength
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Green
}}

The Aurora Chapter is one of the many successor chapters of the [[Ultramarines]] produced during the second founding, they specialize in massed armored assaults and are reputed to have more Land Raiders and Predators than any other chapter in the Imperium. They have been involved in a number of campaigns, in recent note the '''Zeist Campaign''' against the Tau. Having more tanks than God requires having a sufficient source of parts and ammunition, and so the Aurora Chapter has their home world of Firestorm which is a forgeworld so capable it can rival the output of several high profile Mechanicus worlds combined. In effect the planet can be considered the Chapter's forge, with a large percentage of it's output diverted to supplying the Chapter.

According to Forge World's [[Horus Heresy]] books, they are likely to be descended from the Ultramarines' 4th Chapter, the "Aurorans". It's noted that even during the Great Crusade, they had five times as many armored vehicles than any other Chapter in the Legiones Astartes (and keep in mind that this was when the Iron Hands were still at full strength).

They are mentioned as having a feud with the [[Knights of the Raven]] chapter, after having taken unacceptable losses while fighting alongside them, this was further exacerbated when the Aurora Chapter accused the Knights of the Raven of cultivating superstitious heresy on their own homeworld of Corulax ''(though this seems absurd since there are so many [[Mortifactors|chapters]] [[White Scars|with]] [[Storm Wardens|feudal]]/[[Space Wolves|feral]] backgrounds, so it seems a bit petty that any other chapter would care)'', when the Knights took insult at the obviously inflammatory remark the two chapters came to blows with each other. The issue was only resolved when [[Marneus Calgar]] stepped in and [[What|quietly mentioned]] that the Knights of the Raven should go on a penitent crusade, [[Butthurt|which they did]], [[Derp|despite not having actually starting the argument in the first place.]]

== Cool Shit ==

Once upon a time, the tread heads lost a beloved Land Raider in the xenos/heretic infested [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Jericho Reach]]. The [[Deathwatch]] recovered the tank but found it to be beyond repair, however knowing the Aurora Chapter had a massive, power armor piercing, hard on for their tanks decided to do their battle brothers a solid by taking its main axel and reforging it into a thunder hammer by the name of '''Remembrance'''. It was thought that doing this would allow the destroyed machine to avenge its destruction, and every marine that has wielded the weapon in battle swears it strikes with the force of a tank, which is [[Awesome]].

{{Template:Marines-Official}}

Missile Launcher

2016-01-24T23:18:14Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B: /* Cluster Rocket Pod */ unless you're shooting legislation at them...

The '''Missile Launcher''' is a very simple weapon, being little more than a tube capable of firing different kinds of explosive payload, similar to the [[Mortar]]. The Missile launcher is capable of firing a variety of payloads, chief amongst which are the anti-personnel Fragmentation ("Frag") missiles, and anti-vehicle Krak missiles, though anti-air "Flakk" missiles are also on the way with the advent of flyers in [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition]]. The main advantages of the Missile launcher are that it is cheap to manufacture, able to take several kinds of munitions, and portable.

==Imperium==
The Missile Launcher is one of the most common explosive weapons fielded by the [[Imperium of Man]], employed very commonly by [[Imperial Guard]] Heavy weapons teams, and extensively used amongst [[Space Marine]] squads of all kinds. It also sees use among the ranks of the [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Its incredible versatility in payload allows it to be a potent anti-infantry and anti-vehicle weapon when the situation calls for it. Its anti-vehicle capabilities are only outstripped by the [[Lascannon]] and [[Imperial Ordnance|vehicle-mounted weapons]], and it is easy to learn and easy to use.

Back in the days of the [[Great Crusade]], these things were the goofiest looking weapons ever, with banana-shaped top-fitted magazines (as seen in some recent [[Forge World]] weapons packs). [[Dark Eldar]] laughed at how oddly shaped and impractical they were. Seriously.

They stopped laughing after said missiles evaporated them.

Aside from the two standard Missile Launchers, the Astartes short launcher and the longer Imperial Guard version that shoots long, almost torpedo-like missiles, the Imperium also employs several other large missile weapons.

===Hunter-Killer Missile ===

A single-use fire-and-forget krak missile packaged in a launch tube that is easily mounted to any vehicle. In-game, they are a cheap upgrade for most Imperial vehicles and walkers, as a quick way to add a bit of anti-armor punch to an armored personnel carrier or other light armor. However, being one shot only you'll never actually hit anything with it as it has the incredible ability to miss everything every time it is fired.

===Manticore Missile===
The primary weapon of the [[Manticore Rocket Launcher|Manticore]], the individual missiles of a Manticore can evaporate anything that is not dressed in Power Armor.

===Deathstrike Missile===
An explosive set to [[Angry Marines|Maximum Fuck]] and strapped to a [[Deathstrike Missile Launcher]], an impact of this weapon will fucking END anything hit by it. A single ICBM made of [[Rage|FUCK YOU]] out for your blood would make anyone think twice. An even deadlier variations exists as the [[Warp Weapons|Vortex Missile]].

===Apocalypse Missile Launcher===
Strapped to the back of a [[Reaver Battle Titan]], the Apocalypse Missile Launcher does just that: spraying an area in explodey goodness capable of devouring waves of infantry and tanks alike.

===Doomstrike Missile Launcher===
So huge it can only be used by the [[Imperator Battle Titan]], this is a highly accurate missile launcher with a high rate of fire. It gains its accuracy by way of leveling the entire half of the continent that the enemy is on so that his destruction is assured.

== Chaos ==
The [[Chaos Space Marines]] [[Havoc]]s use a man-portable missile launcher just like the Imperial model (presumably left over from their loyalist days). Their Titans also have the same missile launchers available, although the Cyclone, Hunter-Killer, and Manticore missiles weren't developed until after the [[Horus Heresy]], so they aren't available to the Chaos Space Marines. Apparently they couldn't steal some after they were invented, [[Derp|and none of the Chapters who turned traitor later brought any with them.]]

===Havoc Launcher===
The Havoc Launcher is a small multiple missile pod that hooks onto Chaos vehicles (it was used on all Imperial vehicles during the [[Great Crusade]] and both sides of the [[Horus Heresy]], though it's [[Chaos]]-only now) and can fire off a cluster of long-ranged explosive shells, perfect for dispatching clusters of small enemies - it's particularly effective against [[Ork]]s, [[Dark Eldar]], the [[Tyranids]], [[Kroot]], and the [[Imperial Guard]]. The weapon has the following profile:

Range: 48" | Strength: 5 | AP: 5 | Heavy 1, Blast, Twin-Linked

It can be thought of as a rough equivalent to the Imperial Hunter-Killer or Cyclone missile launchers, as it is an upgrade easily applied to any vehicle for some extra firepower, but where the Hunter-Killer missile is meant to damage or kill a single strong unit (with only one shot, mind), the Havoc Launcher is meant to handle mass infantry and attack weaker units - and unlike the Hunter-Killer missile, can be fired all damned game long. Be warned, though; [[Tau]], 'Ard boyz, [[Necron]]s, Storm Troopers, and [[Space Marines]] can generally weather its offensive - though the Havoc Launcher will reliably cause wounding hits, its poor AP value means most forces still get their saves. It's still a decent deterrent to infantry-heavy armies (Tyrablobs, Guard blobs, and Orks), though, and not a bad investment for the points. Also, once your Rhino has disgorged its angry Berserkers and been immobilised, your opponent tends to forget that it's a threat. [[Awesome | This can result in the paralysed transport causing the final wound to a special snowflake Space Marine character when both armies in a 800pt annihilation game are otherwise exhausted, tabling the opponent.]]

==Eldar==
Unlike the ones used by the [[Imperium]], Eldar missile launchers consist of several pods of small missiles, using a cluster of small projectiles instead of a single large one to deal damage. Of note is that the number of openings on the launcher does not reflect the number of missiles that it is capable of holding: each firing tube is connected to several smaller chambers, in which the missiles are held and fired from.

===Dark Reapers===
The Dark Reapers aspect warriors use a variation on the Eldar Missile Launcher: the Reaper Launcher. Firing a hail of small missiles over a very large distance, they can do considerable damage to Space Marines and all but the largest of [[Tyranid]] organisms. Exarchs of the Dark Reapers can use either a regular Eldar missile launcher or the Tempest Launcher: a modified Reaper Launcher that shoots its projectiles in an arc, bombarding a large area with lethal projectiles.

==Tau==
The [[Tau]] also use missile launchers, albeit only on their battlesuits and vehicles -- Fire Warrior squads are instead given markerlights and are expected to designate targets for the vehicles to shoot at, rather than carry missiles themselves. This is because the hunter cadre is far more integrated, the vehicles and infantry work as one. They are generally not as powerful as their Imperial equivalents, but they can be more accurate if their targets are illuminated by markerlights.

=== Missile Pod ===

A missile pod is a small rack of miniature missiles mounted on the arm or shoulder of a Battlesuit. It isn't quite as strong or armor-piercing or long-ranged as an Imperial missile launcher, but it is an assault weapon, rather than a heavy weapon.

=== High Yield Missile Pod ===

The High-Yield Missile Pod is large rack of High Explosive Missiles mounted on the hands of XX88 Broadside Battlesuit in place of the normal Twin-Linked Heavy Rail Rifle, designed as a Light Vehicle killer this thing fires double the normal amount of missiles compared to its lighter cousin and spells the end of any light vehicle caught in its range.

=== Smart Missile System ===

A smart missile system's munitions have even less strength, range, and armor-piercing ability than those of a missile pod, but they include advanced built-in target tracking and guidance systems. The operator must remain steady to designate a target, but can then unleash four missiles that will Robotech around obstacles on the way to their target allowing for multiple simultaneous and devastating offensive missile strikes.

=== Cluster Rocket Pod ===

One of the two primary weapons of the XV12-8 Stormsurge Suit, these over grown missile pods replace the Suits arms and can vomit forth enough ordnance to threaten anything with T:7 or lower, or an AV of 11, with the ability to fire up to 4d6 attacks, or 8d6 if it stabilises at a range of 48", so long as Lady Luck, and Admiral Awesome smile on you, this thing will earn back its points, and then some solely with amount of infantry it can annihilate

=== Seeker Missile ===
The seeker missile is the Tau Empire's primary indirect fire support weapon, equivalent to the Imperial hunter-killer missile. Prior to 6th edition, they could only be activated remotely by a markerlight, which they made up for by being BS5. The 6th edition Tau Empire codex made them able to be fired like normal weapons as well - without anyone else to give them markerlight rules, they are ''identical'' to hunter-killer missiles. ''With'' markerlights it is a slightly different story. They can be remotely fired even if the vehicle carrying them would be unable to use them (because it has moved, or does not have line-of-sight to a target, for example). The Tau Empire realized that having a vehicle carry missiles but be unable to fire them itself would be silly, and so most vehicles dedicated to carrying seeker missiles, like the [[Skyray Missile Gunship]], mount networked markerlights that allow them to designate targets themselves. Other largish Tau vehicles can mount a smaller number of seeker missiles purely for infantry anti-armor support.

=== Destroyer Missile ===

Take a seeker missile, feed it steroids made of hate, and then give it something to destroy, there you've got a Destroyer Missile. Mounted on the XV12-8 Stormsurge suit in sets of 4 these missiles normally act at S:8, AP1, but can be fired at S:D by spending a Markerlight Token

==Orks==
Those of us boyz who wanna crack open da humie [[Rhino|metal boxes]] get da Rokkit Launcha an' da Tankhammer. Da Launcha got'z a button dat shoots rokkits at da tank. Even snots know dat. Tankbustas who like krumpin in melee can use da Tankhammer, its just a buncha 'splosives on a stikk. Hit da humie wagon an' it goes bang. Dem [[Mekboy]]z dat muck about wit bigga n' blastier rokkits put [[grot]]z in 'em. Humies call 'em "smart bomms". Any propa git knows deyze called Grot Bomms.

{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}
{{Template:40k-DEldar-Weapons}}
{{Template:40k-Eldar-Weapons}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Eldar]][[Category:Dark Eldar]]

Leman Russ Battle Tank

2016-01-24T19:40:35Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B: /* {{anchor|Executioner}}Leman Russ Executioner */

''Were you looking for [[Leman Russ]], the wolf of the wolfity wolves?''

The '''Leman Russ Battle Tank''' is the most common tank in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe and the product of a drunken three-way between an old [[Wikipedia:Mark V tank|British Mark-V]], a [[Wikipedia:M3 Lee|M3 Lee]], and a [[Wikipedia:T-34|T-34]].

The biggest pain in the ass, for points, a player will encounter when fighting the [[Imperial Guard]], the Leman Russ Battle Tank is so reliable and hard-hitting that it is named for the rapetastic Space Wolf Primarch, [[Leman Russ]]. The Leman Russ is widely considered one of the most religiously useful vehicles the Imperial Guard have on the tabletop, boasting both heavy firepower and good utility; it is easily one of the best tanks for cost in Warhammer 40K tabletop, and its ability to [[rape]] [[Necron]] and [[Space Marine|SPESS MEHREEN]] players through judicious use of ordnance and weapons fire make this thing a complete pain in the ass to deal with. Heavy-as-hell front armor (superior to all Space Marine tanks barring the Land Raider) and reasonable side armor make these a tough nut to crack (unless someone gets behind them- their rear armor appears to be made of chewing gum and wet paper, allowing rear attacks to destroy them with ease), and the ability to fire their main gun (even if that main gun is an ordnance weapon) if they move slowly makes them capable of delivering serious punishment - and that's before their ability to pack on Heavy [[Bolter]]s, Plasma Cannons, and Multi-Meltas is factored in.
It looks older than the Emperor's toilet-dreadnought.

==At 500 Points==
A lot of players used to field nothing but low-level infantry squads and a Leman Russ, due to its low points cost, in 500-point games. This practice continues today (though it's more commonly seen with the Imperial Guard [[Manticore Rocket Launcher]] nowadays), and has been known to induce [[Butthurt|ragequits]]. Shit got worse, boys. If the Imperial Guard was not balls-to-the-wall enough now, Leman Russes can be SQUADRONED in threes. Three Leman Russes per Heavy Support slot. NINE TOTAL. And the Tank Commander allows you to take a squadron of Russes as a HQ slot with him. And you can take two Tank Commanders. 15 RUSSES. OUCH

<strike> I love the smell of cheese in the morning.</strike> (In 6th Edition they have to maintain unit cohesion and ALL fire ALL of their weapons at the same target, meaning a Squadron can only take out about a third of what it should do). Mind you, that means that Demolishers are indeed the best monotype Squadron, since you are likely to hit both the target and anything surrounding it. Otherwise, most of the other Leman Russ configuration work best in making the day a whole lot worse for a single squad, vehicle, or Monstrous Creature.

Add in with the new codex that all but the Battle Tank and Demolisher variants had point reductions, allowing to buy upgrades for units with some of the cheaper variants. You can easily bring two Executioners with the list below with the same points left.

Replace the CCS with a Tank Commander and watch the fun as your tanks can get orders which make them even better. Run for the hills, heretics. No wait, the tanks ARE the hills. Run away from the hills. If you see the hills, run the other way. Just, get away from the tanks.

With the rules found in the 'Imperial Armour: Imperial Guard' book, you can field Leman Russ' as troops choices in a mechanised army, meaning you can field an insane 6 HQ tanks, 18 'Troops' tanks, and 9 'Heavy Support' Tanks

Example:

'''HQ'''
Tank Commander, Pask
Leman Russ Punisher (Pask's tank, obviously)
Leman Russ Battle Tank

'''TROOPS'''
2x Veteran Squad

==Flavor of the Week==
There are a dizzying number of Leman Russes with tons of different payloads. The variations seen in the tabletop game are as follows:

===Leman Russ Battle Tank===

There is an old saying that "if it isn't broken, don't fix it," and this is especially true given how much the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] has forgotten by the 41st millennium. The basic Leman Russ Battle Tank is therefore a simple, brutal machine; it can be built out of almost any metal and its engine can run on almost any fuel, and it has no complicated auto-targeting or driving systems -- every gun is operated by a physical person inside the tank, and the controls are simple enough that a crew only needs minimal training before going into battle (which the [[Departmento Munitorum]] really likes, though commanders on the ground tend to prefer more seasoned crews). Though it gets loud and hot inside, and it is not a fast machine, it is tough as nails. From the front and sides, anyway- the back is much less heavily armored, to save weight and help the engine. Even so, it's been getting the job done just fine since the Great Crusade.

The original boasts a hull-mounted Heavy Bolter and a Battle Cannon in its turret, the latter of which is widely regarded for its ability to fuck up squads of Space Marines and Necrons. It can swap the Heavy Bolter for a Lascannon and add a Pair of Heavy Bolters, Plasma Cannons, or Heavy Flamers for sponsons, unfortunately as an ordnance weapon everything else fires at snap shots if you shoot the main cannon, making it good for blasting the fuck out of just about anything that pisses it off -- it's hard to go wrong with the vanilla Russ.

==={{anchor|Vanquisher}}Leman Russ Vanquisher===

The Leman Russ Vanquisher has a variant of the Battle Cannon that will usually let it one-shot enemy vehicles at long range. If a lascannon or Battle Cannon just isn't doing it for your tankhunting purposes, and you don't really feel like grabbing a Melta, this weapon will more than adequately fill the need (because it pierces armor like a melta -- S8 + '''2'''d6). Unfortunately, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] only made the Vanquisher Battle Cannon on one [[Forge World]], which got taken over by [[Ork]]s, so the only way to make new Vanquishers nowadays is to take the guns off of ruined Vanquishers and fit them on new Leman Russ chassis -- which happens a lot, because enemies who make use of tanks have learned to make Vanquishers a priority target. Because this is so difficult to do, especially for long campaigns, only the very best tank crews get to use Vanquishers, and even then, they only get to deploy to zones where there are lots of tanks to be killed. The Mechanicus is trying to alleviate the Vanquisher shortage by commissioning other Forge Worlds to reproduce the old cannons (see [[#Forge World Patterns|Forge World Patterns]] below), but progress is very slow.

The Vanquisher is so specialized as an anti tank weapon that it can be argued that it's not a tank anymore, but a Tank Destroyer. A tank is a multi-purpose weapon, and, sponsons aside, the Leman Russ is a general purpose tank, equally adept at blowing tanks or infantry apart. The Vanquisher, though, can only really tear apart tanks, and it is very, very good in that regard. Normal Leman Russes are like Shermans, this is a <s>Wolverine or Jackson</s> Firefly.

The downside of this tank, from a tabletop perspective, is that it doesn't have any blast effects from its main gun, so consider the Plasma Cannon options for this thing. While getting all lascannons for its sponson and hull guns may seem like it would make for a great tank killer, there are very few times you will encounter enough tough monstrous creatures or heavy vehicles for this to be really efficient; because each weapon must fire at the same target, and you only need (potentially) one penetrating hit to kill a vehicle, most of your shots will be wasted, though in [[Apocalypse]] games, where monstrous creatures and super-heavy vehicles have large numbers of wounds or structure points to soak hits, such a tank can be useful. However, when adding Pask, this tank has been known to cause rage with its stupid BS 4, + 1 armor pen etc. The [[Tau]] can say all they want with their [[railgun]] heresy, but this is the best tank hunter in the game and with plasma sponsons, it's a beast at killing Space Marines.

If you are having problems with those pesky tyranid MCs, consider going for the double cheese and cheddar routine on vanquishers since Forge World now allows single vanquishers to take beast hunter shells that have instant death special rule. Booo, you wanted even more leman russes? Take the said vanquisher as HQ tank in allied armoured battlegroup. With squadron of Leman Russes as allied troop detachment
Yes, you read that right. 13 leman russes in one battle.

==={{anchor|Exterminator}}Leman Russ Exterminator===

This tank is so awesome that it was first introduced as part of the third edition Space Wolves army list (the Imperial Guard only had the regular Russ and the Demolisher at the time), as the Wolves wanted to have a few tanks named after their [[Primarch]].

Though the [[Hydra Flak Tank]] is better suited toward Flyers and Skimmers now, infantry and light vehicle rape is still applicable with the Exterminator, which uses a twin-linked [[Autogun|Autocannon]] with a doubled fire rate as its main gun. One of several vehicles capable of driving [[Ork]] or [[Tyranid]] players into a frothing, white-hot [[RAGE]] when used with Heavy Bolter Sponsons, the Exterminator's main drawback is that it relies on its sponson/hull weapons to deal with enemy heavy armor (unless you're using Pask, in which case the Autocannons will often suffice). Because its main gun is not a massive artillery-sized cannon, it is a little faster (in story only -- although, because the autocannons are Heavy and not Ordnance, it can fire all of its weapons at full ballistic skill on the move, which the vanilla Russ cannot) than the original Russ, which makes it of mild utility to reconnaissance units, and although it does not have the advanced anti-air targeting mechanisms that the Hydra Flak Tank does, its high rate of fire makes it mildly useful as a stop-gap air defense (Heavy 4 twin-linked is sure to get at least one shot on target -- 1.222 hits on average, in fact -- and S7 is fairly threatening to most flyers).

==={{anchor|Eradicator}}Leman Russ Eradicator===

Once upon a time, some Forge World in the Imperium decided that they had too many nuclear weapons on their hands, and that they needed to do something with them. After some wacky hijinks and hilarious mishaps, the result was the Leman Russ Eradicator, a tank with a short range cannon that lobs "sub-atomic" charges at enemies in cover. So, basically, fuck your cover saves. The percussive shock (and probably the radiation, too) neutralizes cover saves, and though it's a little weaker than the Battle Cannon in every way (lower strength, shorter range, worse AP), it is still a respectable tank, especially against Eldar or any unit that is trying to take advantage of the Small Targets or Stealth rule. It's otherwise basically the same as the regular version, range and power aside. Unfortunately, this means it also has the laughable rear armor -- seriously, [[Scout]]s with shotguns could kill this tank if they got behind it -- and because its range is so short, it needs to be up close and personal. Paper-thin rear armor + urban combat = dead tank.

The Eradicator has the distinction of being the cheapest tank in the arsenal, and are often used as the ablative shield of Pask or a regular tank commander. While their main gun is useful, taking them with plasma sponsons is the best reason to field them, especially if you can score preferred enemy through a warlord trait, wargear, or a formation bonus.

==={{anchor|Demolisher}}Leman Russ Demolisher===
The first of the "Reinforced" or "Siege" Leman Russ models (they have additional rear armor), the Leman Russ Demolisher packs a short range gun that is much stronger than the normal battle cannon and virtually guaranteed to threaten entire formations with Instant Death should it shoot. It's meant to be a hybrid of the firepower of artillery with the speed and combat resilience of a tank, for those situations when the Guard can't wait for a proper artillery barrage but still need to overtake a heavily guarded or fortified position, and it excels in such an environment - in fact, it is a better line-breaker than the [[Space Marines]]' [[Vindicator]] tank (which is silly, because Space Marines are all about cracking defenses with overwhelming firepower...). On the other hand, the Demolisher Cannon's short range means that it'll be unable to do much else and will likely draw massive amounts of firepower in its direction, which translates into a risk that the Demolisher will be wrecked before it can even fire a single shot. Keep long-range support nearby it to ensure it remains in one piece.

==={{anchor|Punisher}}Leman Russ Punisher===

The '''Leman Russ Punisher''' is about as close to "enuff [[Dakka]]" as the [[Imperial Guard]] can get without bringing in [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan]]s or [[Baneblade]]s. Like the Demolisher, it has the increased rear armor of a Siege Tank, though its main gun, the S5 AP- Heavy '''20''' Punisher Gatling Cannon, is meant for attacking infantry and light vehicles. The range is poor for a vehicle weapon, but the fact that one of these things can crank out more firepower than an entire squad of guardsmen under a Rank Fire order is absolutely hilarious; normally only Orks with Shootas get to roll this many dice. When backed up with other weapons, the Punisher can basically destroy huge numbers of troops at once, though it is hampered by its operators' low ballistic skill and its inability to penetrate any armor.

A Warhammer 40,000 game represents only a few minutes of a larger war; though ammunition issues are usually abstracted away from the tabletop save for things like Combi-weapons or other similar one-shot weapons, a Punisher operating for long periods of time without resupply can easily find itself running low on bullets, so crews will remove any equipment they deem non-essential from the tank to get more room for ammunition belts. This often backfires, either because they end up encountering enemy armour or wind up wrecking their transmission; on such occasions, a multi-melta or spare engine parts would have been very helpful...

As of the new Codex, Knight Commander Pask turns it from a fun toy to an absolute wrecking ball. Between his BS4 and a Warlord Trait that gives Preferred Enemy, he's likely to get nearly all hits. He also gives the Punisher rending, and can reroll armor penetration with the main gun. Light tanks get torn to shreds in one burst, Medium tanks take a beating, and even Land Raiders or other Leman Russes can get glanced to death due to all the rerolls.

Mont'ka goes one step further by allowing Pask or a generic brand alternative used in the Emperor's Fist formation to grant every leman russ variant in 6 inches BS 4. 7 bs 4 punishers with Pask giving the finger in the middle will turn anything short of an army of Ghost Keels into so much pancake batter, and rocks in only just over 1k points.

==={{anchor|Executioner}}Leman Russ Executioner===

The '''Leman Russ Executioner''' was developed during the [[Dark Age of Technology]], and during the [[Great Crusade]], the [[Imperium]] used to be able to field them by the regiment; unfortunately, they lost much of their manufacturing capacity for complex plasma mechanisms during the [[Horus Heresy]],

Jokingly called the "Leman Russ Trollface" or "Leman Russ Blast Template Dropper" by some players, the Executioner is the bane of [[Space Marines]] everywhere, for it packs a Plasma Cannon that fires in 3-round bursts. For maximum hilarity, pair with Plasma Cannon sponsons (ergo allowing 5 Plasma Cannon shots a turn from one vehicle) and try not to laugh when killing about double the tank's point cost in heavy infantry every turn. This used to be the bane of Terminator-heavy armies that had gotten used to being nearly invulnerable to non-anti-tank weaponry, but then the [[Grey Knights]] got their [[Plasma Syphon]] to remove that weakness...though since Plasma Cannons are Blast weapons, firing at BS1 only makes them scatter harder but still lets them fire, and it only matters if the tank is within 12" of the syphon-bearing model anyway, it doesn't help any if they roll direct hits with blast templates, ''and'' it doesn't make the Executioner any less effective against other armies with high armor saves and toughness values, like [[Space Marine]]s, [[Necron]]s, Nidzilla armies, and [[Chaos Daemons]]. So, even Grey Knights' plasma syphons aren't that good. It used to be that models not under the center hole of a blast took hits at half-strength, but 5th Edition changed that, which made the Executioner much more effective against lighter (AV10/11) armored vehicles.

**Alternative take: Use Executioner as Tank Commander's co-tank. If you take Pask as the main tank, you get to reroll "Gets Hot" results due to having preferred enemy (so reroll 1's for to hit and to wound rolls). Also due to S7 you wound basically everything with 2+, making it rerollable if you fail any wound rolls.
**Alternative 2: add Trojan with Techpriest to the mix, giving everyone within 12" bubble Preferred enemy. See above, exept for your whole heavy ordnance. Ouchy.

==And Commanders Too==
Tank Commanders may now be taken as an HQ choice. They can only have the first three Warlord Traits out of the <strike>Imperial Guard</strike> Astra Militarum codex, but increase their tank's BS to 4. They also require at least one buddy tank to ride along with them. They can issue three special orders to their squadron (at effectively LD9), which includes allowing the Commander to fire at a different target, making the squadron pop smoke after they shoot, and letting the squadron move flat out at D6+6", even though they're heavy.

'''Knight Commander Pask'''
Not really a Leman Russ but an upgrade for one, [[Knight Commander Pask]] raises the BS of any Russ he's placed in to 4 and improves their AP, ergo making the tank more accurate and more punchy. Widely considered conditionally broken against some factions when paired with a Punisher, Executioner, or Exterminator. Pask is known for killing Titans with a Leman Russ and refusing to drive a [[Baneblade]] in favor of one. His balls of steel rating is thusly considered somewhere between [[Vance Motherfucking Stubbs]] and [[Colonel "Iron Hand" Straken|Colonel "I tore a Landshark's throat out with my teeth" Straken]].

He now gives buffs to the main turret depending on what variant he rides in. All variants can reroll to pen rolls. MBT, Vanquisher, Eradicators, and Demolishers can reroll to hit, Punishers and Exterminators gain Rending, and Executioners can trade in their Heavy 3 for a Heavy 1 Large Blast with Blinding. His Warlord trait grants his unit Preferred Enemy, making Executioner squadmates a much safer option.

==FORGE WORLD LOVE==
GW's specialist subsidiary Forge World made a couple of their own Leman Russes. They also pimped out the appearances of several types.

----

==={{anchor|Conqueror}}Leman Russ Conqueror===
The '''Leman Russ Conqueror''' was built to be a faster Leman Russ tank -- its cannon fires smaller shells with less recoil, which allows the tank to be more mobile. This had the positive side-effects of allowing the Conqueror to store more ammunition and sustain a higher rate of fire. The smaller cannon also allows the installation of a co-axial weapon, which helps the gunner keep the main cannon on target.

[[Forge World]] created the Conqueror back in Third Edition, when a Leman Russ had to stay still to fire its battle cannon. The main point for a Conqueror is that its cannon is not Ordnance; it fires a battle cannon pieplate (shrunk to 3" from 5", per [[Imperial Armour Volume One Second Edition|IA Vol. One Second Ed.]]) to a shortened range of 48 inches, with the profile of Heavy 1. In standard games on a 4x6 foot table, the shorter range doesn't matter. Losing Ordnance means your shots are worse at penetrating armor, but also means that you can fire your other weaponry at the same time. Or at least, if you're stationary- due to outdated rules, the Conqueror is the only Russ that lacks the Lumbering Behemoth rule.

In other words, it was intended to be what in World War Two would be called a cavalry tank: a faster, more lightly armed vehicle designed to exploit breakthroughs that the slower, more heavily armed tanks could create but not themselves use. Once it had broken though, it would then overrun the enemy's rear areas, causing trouble behind enemy lines while the infantry tanks and regular infantry keep pressing the advance and securing ground behind it. Now, it's ironically in the same position that the vanilla Leman Russ was when it was first introduced, only without the armor-piercing abilities of the regular Russes. As a result, it's not very useful in general anymore unless it gets an update to bring it in line with the other variants. (the Leman Russ Conqueror has been updated to be a fast vehicle mean that it can fire two of it's weapons normally and snap shoot the rest if moving up to 12")

==={{anchor|Annihilator}}Leman Russ Annihilator===

As the supply of [[#Vanquisher|Leman Russ Vanquisher]]s is ever-dwindling after the loss of Tigrus, while the [[Imperial Guard]]'s demand for anti-armor tanks is ever-growing, so some Forge Worlds have started to try and meet demand by taking the twin-linked lascannons off the [[Predator Annihilator]] and putting them in the Leman Russ's turret. Because the lascannon is easier to make, maintain, and use, the Annihilator is the preferred armour-hunting tank of armoured regiments that expect to sustain lots of damaged and lost tanks (like the [[Death Korps of Krieg]]).

Forge World rolled this tank with the Death Korps of Krieg army, and was very popular before 5th edition changed the way a Leman Russ works. Since moving and shooting Ordnance weapons was no longer a problem, the Annihilator lost much of its appeal, but after sixth edition changed which weapons can be fired when a vehicle moves, its utility has risen some: because its cannon is not an ordnance weapon, and the Annihilator is a heavy vehicle (unlike the Conqueror), it can fire all of its weapons at full ballistic skill on the move.

==={{anchor|Incinerator}}Leman Russ Incinerator===
[[File:LemanRussIncinerator.jpg|thumb|right|Incinerator.]]

A Pre-Heresy Russ variant armed with a massive [[Volkite_Weaponry|Volkite]] cannon in the turret. Currently only available to Solar Auxilia, it is twin-linked, and has an additional point of strength and shot than its smaller regular culverin. Can potentially cause a lot of damage at great range to infantry, but you'll most likely find that the more vanilla variants can do the same job much more efficiently. The fact that it has no way of taking sponson weapons doesn't help in that respect.

Because of the downsides of the Incinerator, it's pretty much a take only if you're a huge fan of Volkites. Even then, it's limited to causing a maximum of only 10 wounds per round(If your opponent fails its first 5 armor saves, and Deflagrate succeeds in wounding 5 more times). [[Lolwut|It also shares its strength and AP with every single Volkite weapon smaller than it on the table, including the fucking pistol]]. So if you really need to bring Volkite weaponry to vaporize tyranids or other blobs, you're MUCH better off putting some Veletaris in an Arvus or a Dracosan. They can cause up to 40 wounds through Deflagrate, compared to the Incinerator which can only cause up to 10.

=== {{anchor|Destroyer}} Destroyer Tank Hunter ===

The '''Destroyer Tank Hunter''' is basically the tank equivalent of a sniper. It loses the turret and swaps out the hull-mounted heavy bolter for a massive laser destroyer -- basically, a twin-linked Ordnance lascannon, all the better to penetrate armor with. Like a sniper, its job is to hide in a defensive position, kill a high-valued enemy, and move on -- it has the same armor as a Russ, but its only secondary weapon is a pintle-mounted [[heavy stubber]] or [[storm bolter]], making it all but defenseless against enemy anti-armor. Fortunately, as it lacks the increased mass and stabilization requirements of the turret, it can be substantially faster than the Leman Russ Battle Tank, which helps it evade pursuit.

=== {{anchor|Thunderer}} Thunderer Siege Tank ===

The Laser Destroyer is a rare weapon, so units with Destroyers whose main cannon is destroyed will seldom be given a replacement. The hulls were re-purposed by installing a [[Demolisher cannon]] in the laser destroyer's mount, resulting in the '''Thunderer Siege Tank'''. It is essentially a discounted [[#Demolisher|Demolisher]], except its turret its fixed forward (though if your Demolisher is in a position where it has to shoot something behind it, you are in a ''bad place'') and it cannot take any secondary weapons besides a pintle-mounted heavy stubber or storm bolter (not that it needs any more firepower than S10 AP2 5" Blast). The reduced versatility means that most commanders would rather use a proper Demolisher, but as vehicle reserves run low, any Demolisher cannon is a welcome addition to the line of battle.

Don't mention the Thunderer around [[Space Marines]] -- they're still bothered that the Imperial Guard have (what amounts to) a [[Vindicator]] with AV14 in the front, which in turn inspired them to make the [[Land Raider Ares]]. But that comes with the price tag of a Land Raider, so...

=== Alternate Patterns ===

[[Forge World]] has also released variant turrets and hulls for Leman Russ models.

; Mars Alpha Pattern Hull : The [[Mars]] Alpha hull has more internal space and a larger engine, resulting in a slightly bulkier hull overall (especially noticeable with the engine sticking further out the back of the tank). The hull-weapon's mount is slightly different, with a more streamlined joint than the boxy sponson-like mount of the standard pattern. The increased internal space is used for ammunition storage on battle-line tanks, or for extra communication equipment on command tanks.
; Ryza Pattern Turret : Ryza is most known for their work on plasma weapons, but then the tech-priests realized that their [[#Executioner|Executioner]] turret looked really cool, so they made turrets for the regular Battle Tank, Annihilator, Demolisher, Exterminator, and Vanquisher (with co-axial [[autocannon]]) turret variants. It is a sleeker turret than the original, with straight sides angled forward and a searchlight or scanner on the left side, while the weapon is contained in a slightly more sensible-looking elevation joint. Ryza turrets are often mounted on Mars Alpha hulls.
; Gryphonne IV Pattern Turret : Before it got overrun by the [[Tyranids]] of [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]], Gryphonne IV made turrets for the Conqueror, Exterminator, and Vanquisher (with co-axial [[storm bolter]]) tanks. Gryphonne IV turrets are much more "[[wikipedia:greeble|greeble]]d" than the standard turrets, and are distinguished by the flared-out sides and the searchlight mounted to the right of the commander's hatch.
; Stygies VIII Pattern Turret : Stygies VIII also produces a Vanquisher turret with a co-axial storm bolter, and is also a rather greebly turret (though its searchlight is mounted on the left side, like the Ryza turret), but their variant of the Vanquisher cannon is shorter than the Gryphonne IV's (which is ridiculously long, to be honest), and it is unrifled, to bring the muzzle velocity back up to that of the Gryphonne IV cannon.

==Wargear/Configuration Breakdown==

In the newest codex, Multi-melta sponsons share the same cost as Heavy Bolters, so seriously consider taking them if you want to gear up for mercilessly slaughtering tanks.

The Hull Heavy Flamer and sponson Heavy Flamer should be avoided. There are dozens of better ways to get cover hate on the battlefield ([[Chimera]]s and [[Hellhound]]s coming readily to mind), and it removes your Heavy Bolter, so don't go with it. The Hull Heavy Bolter is always a good thing as it is free and a lifeline to your main weapon; if you suffer a weapon destroyed. The hull Lascannon is a good addition to a Vanquisher, for extra punch, as they are both used for the same battlefield role, both long ranged and high strength/low AP. Again, if you really hate cover, you have the Leman Russ Eradicator; I mean, it's why the thing exists.

Sponson Bolters are generally a "take 'em or not" option, because it's only 20 points for the pair, and the worst case scenario is that they add to the hull Heavy Bolter in slinging shots downrange anyway, which can help a lot against [[Tyranids]] and other blob armies and is especially nice to have with Pask in play. It's as much as 6 extra shots, so it's not bad. They're less useful on the Punisher (which is already spraying out 23 shots by default) and Demolisher (which really doesn't need much to help the Demolisher Cannon), and many players scream with [[Rage|irritation]] if they're used on them, but they remain effective and they're not a huge investment, so use them if you feel like it. It's not like the Dozer Blade is a better of those points. Bear in mind that, due to the changes to the Leman Russ's "Lumbering Behemoth" rule, a Russ can only fire its sponson weapons as snap shots if it fires an Ordnance weapon ([[Battle Cannon]] and [[Demolisher Cannon]]), so your vanilla Russes and Demolishers should have heavy bolters (plasma cannons and heavy flamers cannot be fired as snap shots, and you get more chances to hit with heavy bolters than with lascannons) if they are given any sponson weapons at all.

The Plasma Cannon Sponsons, however, are a different story. These need to be on the right tank or they're a waste of points. They generally do better on the likes of the Exterminator and Vanquisher, giving blast effects to tanks that otherwise wouldn't have it. It's especially good on the Executioner, however, adding 2 more Plasma Cannons to the existing 3-round burst of the main gun and adding yet more raep to the firestorm. There is possibly no tank better at blasting Tyranids and Necrons than this configuration - and god help anything in its way if it has Pask as well. In other words, whatever you put them on, make them count. They aren't very good on the standard Leman Russ (because its S8 AP3 basically eclipses anything a Plasma Cannon can do). The Eradicator can make ''some'' decent use of it, mostly because its Nova Cannon doesn't pack the AP of the Battle Cannon and ergo makes a nice support weapon for dropping into a crowd that would otherwise be able to deal with the Nova Cannon. [[Games Workshop]] has a notoriously raging hard-on for equipping them on Demolishers and Punishers, but this is actually a fairly bad idea; these two tanks are almost invariably better off charging headlong into the enemy's face, where they won't be firing the Plasma Cannons anyway (at least the Heavy Bolter sponsons can work with the hull Heavy Bolter and pick off stragglers after the initial insert-gun-into-face manoeuvre). So put these on Executioners, Exterminators, and Vanquishers only for best results - these tanks are the ones that make the best use of them. In sixth edition, plasma cannons can now 'get hot' on vehicles so they are less useful.

For wargear, it's generally a good idea to avoid the pintle mounts. They simply aren't of use on a vehicle that is bristling with weapons in the first place, and it's extremely hard to envision an environment wherein a player screams ''"Man, a Storm Bolter on my Leman Russ would have been the absolute BOMB right now!"'' The [[Stubber]] can be somewhat useful if only due to its range, but generally isn't simply because - again - every reason you'd use one is already covered by its baseline weaponry. If you're looking hard to find a spot to drop a few points (why are you doing this), I guess you could put one on a bullet-spewing tank and add a few more shots, but again, probably more efficient ways to spend those points.

Firebarrels is a new wargear option added in the 6th edition <strike>(looks around to make sure I do not get BLAMMED by Commissar)</strike>{{BLAM}}{{BLAM|Cowardice! You will say this with pride!}} Codex Astra Militarum. In layman terms it is a one time use wall of death that deals D6 amount of damage. More or a scare tactic then anything, it does allow the Russ to protect itself in close combat. For ten points, it is cost effective. Though not a auto include, it should not be overlooked. Especially when you take a squadron of three and give each tank these barrels. That's going to hurt

Recovery gear is probably a autoinclude in any build for the Leman Russ. Why? For 5 points you can roll to remove a immobilized result. Think about that for a moment. For 5 points, you don't have to worry (as much) that your tanks will be stopped due to a lucky roll or failed dangerouse terrain test. Now granted, you will not always use this gear, or even do well to de immobilized the tank. Just that when compared to dozer blades, you can obviously see a winner.

Relic plating is.....controversial. Its the cheapest wargear the Russ can take. And it does give Adamantium Will to this giant machine of death. The problem comes with formations. Depending on how one sees the rules, this upgrade either A. gives the entire squadron Adamantium Will when just applied to one tank. Or B. Only applies to the tank that takes the wargear. Either way, best to give all tanks in the squadron this upgrade. (Lets face it, the second the opponent hears one of the tanks has Adamantium will, that tank is a target. Might as well give all tanks this upgrade just to be safe).

The [[Hunter-Killer Missile]] is... questionable. Its unlimited range can be a good surprise against players not expecting it, which, when combined with its good strength, makes it a good option for destroying artillery (this is actually a halfway decent choice with Pask by the way), but Chimeras and Sentinels are widely (and rightly) considered the best platform for this secondary weapon, whereas the Leman Russ is often rightly considered a somewhat wasteful (if potentially useful) platform for the weapon. Pask abuse aside, the Hunter-Killer missile generally isn't useful for Leman Russes simply because you don't need a Krak missile when any of these tanks can pack anti-vehicle punch in the form of its turret weapon or Lascannon (the latter of which any Russ can get).

With the new codex, we get the ability to take tank commanders. They have to bring another tank in a squad, which you would do anyway, and gives the tank they are commanding BS4. They can be a warlord and only roll on the first three choices of the codex warlord table, and their unit is moved into the HQ force org slot. So you can take up to 12 Leman Russes in a battle forged army! They also have three orders they can give their unit. They can move flat out in a heavy tank for 6+D6 inches, a form of split fire for the commander to shoot at a different target from the others in his unit, and an order that its unit makes a shooting attack then uses smoke launchers if it has not already. The commander has to roll a 9 or less on 2d6 to get these off. Good for a mechanized army list specializing in tanks.

Whilst he's pricey, Pask himself deserves special note - he is a great upgrade to a command tank, since he makes a Russ BS4, gets to reroll to hit with most weapons, adds rending to punisher and exterminators, rerolls penetration against vehicles, and turns the executioner into a large single blast with blind. Naturally starts out with Old Grudges as his warlord trait giving him preferred enemy of your choice. He is an expensive upgrade for a tank commander, so again, make sure that whatever you put him in, it gets used.

==Tactics==
First and foremost, note the tank's armor ratings. It's dirt cheap, its BS is average, but its armor value on the front is 14 and its side armor is hefty at 13. Its rear armor, however, sucks and can be damaged by many regular infantry weapons. Keep them facing the enemy at all times and do your best to keep their backs covered - you can't afford to let some jump infantry [[Deep Strike]] behind one and play catch-the-fucking-meltabomb. Treat them well and they'll treat you well.

Second, three of the Leman Russes - the Demolisher, Punisher, and Executioner - have additional rear armor. This is not enough to make them invulnerable but what it does mean is that it's no longer threatened simply by being completely surrounded by regular infantry (Hormagaunts for example). This is important for the Punisher and Demolisher, which have to get close, but the Executioner is just more survivable since it generally shoots from afar. AV 11 still isn't very good, so bear in mind the first example on this list and ''keep the front facing the enemy''.

It is also important to remember that the Guard is like an army from World War II. Learn from their tactics and apply them wisely. All nations had some way to make sure infantry are mobile enough to keep up with tanks, so transports (obviously Chimeras) are necessary unless you are planning on defense, in which case they would employ dedicated tank destroyers (Vanquishers) to deal with enemy armor, freeing up tanks to other tasks. In fact, America put all their tank destroying duties to tank destroyers, leaving their tanks to exploiting breaches and throwing high explosive shells at fortifications; this is also the reason US tank destroyers have turrets (to hunt enemy tanks) as opposed to other nations' (Much lower silhouette for ambushing and/or much simpler, thicker front plating).

Now, each country had outstanding tank tactics - Germany for example would make good use of shock attacks, striking enemy fast and hard and forcing them to react to your moves, not the other way around. For said tactical style your will need Lemen Russ Conquerors for speed, or if you are willing to go slower, than normal ones will do. Germany also had a bit of a hard on for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_VIII_Maus super] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte heavy] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Ger%C3%A4t tanks],so feel free to liberally splash Baneblades into a German style army list.

British, Russian and French styles would have infantry supported by heavier, anti-fortification tanks (Eradicators and Demolishers) smashing enemy defenses first, then faster vehicles (Sentinels, Hell Hounds, and Chimeras with assault infantry) would flood through the gaps and rout the disorganized enemy.

American tactics would be using relatively few kinds of tanks (normal Russes), but would also field as many as possible so their infantry could take on the enemy while the tanks exploit breaches they create in enemy lines while dedicated tank destroyers (Vanquisher) wait in support to deal with enemy tanks. America also had a near infamous amount of air support (Valkyries and Marauders) to back them up if needed and the plan for World War II, even though it rarely played out as planned, was that the tank destroyers would be kept in the rear areas (reserve) then rushed forward when enemy tanks were encountered, hence why tank destroyers like the Hellcat were so fast (and to a lesser extent, why their armor was kind of secondary). Tangential learning: [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Awesome BAM!]

Regardless of the details, it's always a good idea to use infantry to kill things that can kill your tanks since lascannons don't really do a lot of damage to a squad while you have your tanks kill things that can kill your infantry, heavy bolters don't bother Russes. Counter enemy units with the unit they themselves can't counter. Maybe have a Chimera acting as an IFV to help protect the infantry, too, which takes a bit of a load off the Leman Russes so they can focus on killing bigger fish.

==Gallery==
<gallery>

Image:LRPun.jpg| Most guns go "DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA" for hours without going dry of ammo. The Leman Russ Punisher goes "BRRRRT" for half a minute.
Image:LRExec.jpg| The Leman Russ Executioner, known for making marines break out in hives.
Image:LRErad.JPG| FUCK YOUR COVER SAVES DAWG I HAS AN ERADICATOR
Image:LRbattletank.jpg| Even the basic Leman Russ is better than your army's tanks.
Image:LRDemo.gif| If the Leman Russ Demolisher hasn't absorbed at least 6 attempts to destroy it by turn 2, you're either doing it wrong or you also have a baneblade.
Image:LRVanq.jpg| When you need to fuck up a [[Land Raider]], accept no substitutes.
Image:LRExterm.jpg| The Exterminator likes to party. At 500 shots per minute.
Image:Pask.jpg| Knight Commander Pask is in dire need of some juvenat drugs. Jesus.Also Ed harris in 40k.
</gallery>

{{Template:40k-Imperial-Vehicles}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Vehicles]]

Story:The Shape Of The Nightmare To Come 50k section27

2016-01-23T20:00:00Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B: /* 1) Yarrick, Hero of Hades Hive, Butcher of Betek */ Breaking up a brick of text, fixing typos, eliminating a lot of unnecessary formatting.

[[Image:The_shape_of_the_nightmare_to_come_MYOC_BANNER.png|800px]]

=Section 27: (In)famous Persons of the Second Age of Strife=
While we talk of the grand dynasties, and marauding nations which ruled and suffered together during the period of anarchy and darkness, we must also remember that history is not just the deeds of the many we need concern ourselves in. Each individual experienced this grand horror in a different manner. Somefled to the the deepest reaches of their worlds. Some wallowed in villainy, using the unrelenting misery of the period to justify any horrendous actions employed by the callous, the cruel and the desperate. Some self-harmed, whipping themselves raw in mute horror.Some found solace in debauchery, some in heroic sacrifice. Some felt some kindling embers of hope, deep in their hardened hearts. For isn<nowiki>'</nowiki>t the darkness darkest before the dawn? This next section shall cover five such figures of importance, and chart their place within the bitter tapestry of this age of doom. 
===1) Yarrick, Hero of Hades Hive, Butcher of Betek===
Commissar Yarrick was once the hero of Armageddon. Beloved by his men, and almost feared by the orks he made his enemy. Yet, he chose to abandon the world, in favour of chasing the great war boss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka and his fleet, as it fled the Armaggedon system in the latter part of M41. He and a sizable force of Guardsmen, along with regiments of PDF Steel Legion, desperate to join their hero in battle once more, joined the large Black Templar fleet of Helbrecht, as he gave chase to the green fiend.

In the madness and confusion of the period of the New Devourer, worlds were vanquished of life, and chaos became norm. Lost amidst a storm of fleeing pilgrims, xenos and refugee fleets, as well as the stifling shadow in the warp, the fleet lost their quarry. What was worse, after decades of fruitless, violent searching, the warp grew restless as never before. The astronomicon was faltering, and bit by bit, piece by piece and ship by ship, their fleet was separated and lost, scattered across the entire Segmentum Solar and Ultima. Of the Templars, we have already discussed, yet Yarrick's fate was to shape him as a figure of fear and loathing, rather than adoration.

Tossed upon the torrents of madness for three years, eventually Yarrick and his small collection of vessels were vomited back into real space, into the Dalinus system. This happened to be the sub-sector capital of the Mobian sub-sector. The Mobian sub-sector, unlike other tracts of Imperial space cut off from the wider whole by treacherous warp currents, did not become a petty Imperium in its own right. The sub-Sector Governor, Pilitaes, did not declare himself overlord, or Imperator, or anything as pretentious and vain as the other Petty Emperors. He maintained the title Governor, and instead set up his own council, known as 'the Interrim body'. He and his government considered themselves part of THE Imperium, an indivisible structure. 

When Yarrick arrived, Pilitaes saw this as validation of his theory, that the Imperium had survived, and if he was patient, relief would come. However, the sight that greeted him was somewhat disappointing. Seven battered, battle-damaged troop ships, and an ancient Grand Cruiser, which listed to one side permanently, its flanks seemingly ravaged by years, nay centuries, of warfare. The naval staff were embittered and tired. Likewise, the Guardsmen who came with Yarrick were similarly weary.

Nevertheless, Pilitaes invited them to set up a sector base within his area of space. Yarrick readily accepted. His Guardsmen and fawning PDF followers set up a large base upon the Governor's capital world, known as Betek. Here, he was resupplied, and his troops drilled and trained, until they had regained some of their former elite lethality. Yet, all was not well upon Betek.

While Pilitaes and his interim body considered everything to be 'business as usual' in the Sector, his people did not. Rumours spread of the collapse of the Imperium, of how Betek had not received communication from the Adeptus Terra in countless centuries, and how supplies from neighbouring sub-sectors had not arrived in system in living memory. Food and patience became scarce. The deluded Governor continued to send his annual Tithes dutifully to Terra. When no word came back, the governor saw nothing wrong, and sent next year's Tithe out just the same, fearing possible retaliation should he not do so. This, combined with the lack of imports, began to take its toll upon the heavily populated worlds of the system. Most notably, Betek.

Upon the planet, mass movements and demonstrations began to spring up, across the entire world. Some were movements in favour of the planet being run by committees of civilians. Most simply demanded representation. In their eyes, the Imperium had fallen, and they had no obligation to a dead god. The Governor had failed them, and these degenerate 'equality' bands, began preaching of the prospect of representative governance of their planet, in the hope that such a government would redistribute resources, and relieve the growing economic misery Pilitaes was inadvertently inflicting upon his own people. These protests were suppressed violently by the mauls and tear gas of the grim-visaged Adeptus Arbites Precincts across the world cities of Betek. Yet, their actions merely fueled and fanned the outrage and disgust of the protesters.

Pilitaes requested Yarrick's aid in ending the riots and disruptions. He claimed the equality bands were undermining Imperial ideals. Something had to be done. Thus, Yarrick and his soldiers collaborated with the few Arbites forces upon the world, spreading the propaganda message of obedience and submission. Yarrick orated to the crowds. Was he not the hero of Hades Hive? Beloved by all?

However, he was not their hero. Why should they listen to this warmonger, they began to argue, and their protests became more blatant and defiant. Hidden amongst the population, a people's rebellion began to develop. If the Governor could not grant them liberty, then he was not their Governor, in their view.

On the fiftieth Candlemas of the 200s of M46, over seven million men, women and children, emerged onto the streets of the main city, within sight of the governor's palace. A more blatant provocation could not be made. As the colourful banners and chants filled the vast courtyards before the palace, a great rumble resounded, drowning out the defiant challenges of the populace. The titanic gates to the palace ground open painfully, and from this grim portal, rolled the monstrous form of the Fortress of Arrogance, flanked by two whole armoured companies. Yarrick, riding atop the tank like some heathen king of old, echoed the blaring roar of the Arbitrators across the city, howling through a loud hailer built into his Baneblade: "Disperse of be destroyed!"

Then something terrible happened. A single rioter, hidden amongst the bustling mobs of civilians, fired upon the force. It was an ineffectual shot, the single las bolt impacting harmlessly into the hull of a Leman Russ.

Yarrick, his patience and nerve stretched thin by multiple antagonistic riots, finally snapped. His tanks rumbled forth, pouring death into the packed together crowds. Screams and startled yells rose up from the aghast group, the chilling collective scream soon drowned out by the roar of auto cannon fire, and the hiss of las cannon and multi-lasers. The Capital city became filled with confused and terrified crowds of civilians, who fled through the streets, crushing many of themselves amidst the chaos. Thousands more were mown down by the violence volleys of the tanks and accompanying Armoured fist squadrons, who executed countless protesters with a callous efficiency. Just as the armed forces seemed to have relaxed, that was when the rebels chose to strike. Missile launchers and plasma projectors suddenly began to stream from houses, sewer entrances and various other buildings. Tanks were upturned and damaged, soldiers ambushed, even more civilians caught in the vile cross-fire which now developed.The Leman Russ squadrons patrolled the wider avenues, leveling any building which seemed to harbour fugitives. Hellhounds moved through the smaller streets, their flaming main armament spearing fire directly into enemy held buildings, roasting all those within with searing promethium. Windows burst with the over pressure, the anguished cries of those within signalling their demise.

Yarrick was at the forefront of this massacre. This was a war. He knew how to fight wars. As he howled Imperial rhetoric from his lecturn aboard the fortress of Arrogance, the titanic tank ground through the streets. Smaller buildings, and people too old or crippled to evade his vehicle's monstrous tracks, were driven over entirely by the bane blade. Its heavy bolters, las-cannons and demolisher cannon, pulverised anything within range. Men, women, insurgent rebels, buildings, children: all were treated with the same heartless distaste. It was claimed that Yarrick himself took his storm bolter to many of the fleeing 'combatants', screaming hateful litanies as they were burst asunder by his butcher's tool.

Within six hours, three million civilians and rebels, and six thousand soldiers, were dead, with over four million more unarmed citizens fleeing the city in disarray. Even as the men cheered their 'victory', Yarrick was perturbed. He kew that it was far from over.

Even as Yarrick and his fellow Commissars held mock trials for the captured rebels before executing them, word was spreading to every other city across the planet. Native media spread the word. Revolution. The Butcher of Betek must be punished.

Within scant months, every city across the world was revolting. Though there was no single leadership of the disparate and disorganised revolutionaries, they were united in one thing: utter contempt for the butcher Yarrick, and the Pilitaes, who they considered to be a puppet of Yarrick (even though this was not strictly true). Arbites precincts were besieged by millions upon millions of vengeful rioters, and the less numerous, but far more deadly, equality bands, who had developed into a semi-professional para-military force.

Yarrick's Guardsmen, and delusional former-Armaggedon PDF, moved from site to site, battling and destroying whichever foe rose up to engage them. While the Imperial forces were near-invincible in open battle with the rag-tag para-military armies, they could not handle the guerrilla campaign, which was underway across seven continents, and in conjunction with constant pitched battles and uprisings. Over that decade, Yarrick and his men fought near constantly. The rebels, armed with improvised explosives, captured armour and armaments, and fanatical devotion to their cause, took a heavy toll on their oppressors. In some cases, the Betekian PDF battalions found they could no longer murder their own people, and the record of desertion was unbelievably high.

Soon, the situation was untenable . Pilitaes and his 'Interim Body' decided to flee the capital world, and found their capital on another of the worlds within the Sub-Sector. Yarrick cursed them, decrying them as cowards and pacifists. Nevertheless, in 264.M46, the transport bearing the rulers of the Mobian sub sector, began to rise from the star port. Disgusted and betrayed, the ancient Commissar ordered his Fortress of Arrogance to fire upon the transport. Though the treacherous barrage severely damaged the transport, it managed to escape the world.

Yarrick, who was by now so very old, even his bionics weren't keeping him flushed with vigour, began to truly go insane. His forces destroyed the star port of Betek, in order to prevent any further 'cowardly retreat' as he said. 

265.M46. The capital was once more besieged by dissidents. However, this time they were well-trained, wella rmed, and hungry for vengeance. All but three of Yarrick's battalions were destroyed over that year. The Arbites were all dead or in hiding. Most of the native PDF were part of the massive revolt now. Only the palace, besieged on all sides, remained in Yarrick's hands.

Surrounded by foes, even his fellow allies began to realise Yarrick was a failure. Yarrick, never ne for despair, called for a final, glorious charge. Most of his men refused, but he still managed to persuade his bane blade crew to join him in this final act.

As dusk fell on Yarrick's final days, a great roar arose from behind the great gates of the palace. Out surged the Fortress of Arrogance. Its weapons were spent, its fuel low. Nevertheless, it charged, its loud hailers blaring the 'Emperor's Glory' a well-known Imperial battle-hymn of the 41st millennium. It ploughed through the masses of enemy soldiers, as an evil amount of ordnance and weapons fire impacted the dying leviathan. Engines ruptured, sponsors toppled off in flames, and the crew died, one by one. Yet still the vehicle ploughed forwards, scattering the enemy before it.

No one knows who killed Yarrick, such was the confusion. All the same, a single las bolt struck Yarrick in the throat, blasting his head from his shoulders, causing his stiff corpse to pitch itself from the chassis of his battle tank, to be torn apart by the baying hordes of enemies (so romantic revolutionary writers, writing about the glorious revolution after the event, claim the las bolt came from the same anonymous shooter in the summer of 250.M46, making up for missing the butcher originally. However, there is no evidence to support this).

Thus, in infamy and dishonour, Yarrick, hero of Armaggedon, and Butcher of Betek, met his end.

===2) Honorin Sung, Grand Master of the Order of the Tempestrian League===
The Segmentum Tempestus was divided into many different Theocracies between 209-999 of M49 and well into M50. The Ophelian Imperium continued to bitterly oppose the Tallarn Imperium, even after the destruction of Ophelia in M50. As well as this conflict, these two large Theocracies fought multiple individual wars with numerous other, far smaller Imperiums. Many were merely one of two seperatist planets banding together. Yet, several, such as the Balcull Imperium and the Matriarchy of Meledore, were powerful and influential petty Imperiums in their own right, and engaged in wars with each other, on and off, throughout the period. Yet, these Imperiums also had to face countless Heretical cult uprisings, piracy and repeated xenos surges at the same time. So concerned with theological and territorial dominance, these Imperiums often found themselves ill at ease to cope. Luckily for them, by chance, a new force was in the process of being created. Honorim Sung was a Cleric from Damasr, a world on the embattled border between Tallarn and Ophelian interests. His Monastic order, the Divine Sculptrists, were on generally good terms with the two Imperiums, and thus were largely left alone. Of course, the rest of the world was Tallarn dominated, with a large Ophelian population. War was commonplace on the world. While on a justice pilgrimage, It was said a man, armoured in perfect grey armour, studded with scripture, appeared before him, guiding him to a data-vault, deep within the eastern hemisphere of his world. There, he discovered a vault, filled with information and documentation, written in ancient, pre-second strife era Gothic. As a learned scholar, he soon translated all the documents, and deciphered the meanings of many of the artefacts. He learned of this ancient Order of Warriors. Soldiers of the faith and champions of the rule of the Eccliesiarch. They were known as the Frateris Templar. He returned to his order, and brought them into knowledge of his discovery. He formed a following. Sung<nowiki>'</nowiki>s new movement converted almost all his fellow clerics, and within the year, his beliefs became widespread and popular, across the entire world. Patronage by local power magnates and religious backing by both Ophelian and Tallarn canons (each eager to use the movement<nowiki>'</nowiki>s popularity to gain them oral high ground over their theological foes), allowed the order ot rapidly expand and develop. Honorin, though he himself was a skilled warrior and orator (due to his role of battle-missionary of his order), he knew most of his brothers and sisters of the faith weren't so skilled. Luckily, several prominent Sororitas patronised his order, and their battle orders soon began to aid in the training and recruitment of his developing force. He eventually allowed the various suits of Frateris Templar armour to be examined by serf-Tech Adepts and other mechanics of the Imperial cults of machine, allowing more suits to be built. It took many years, and much blood and money, but eventually, the <nowiki>'</nowiki>Reborn Fratrnity<nowiki>'</nowiki> was forged. Ships gifted or built for the Order, spread throughout the sub-sector, then sector, then segmentum. Using a revolutionary tactic of way station and <nowiki>'</nowiki>leap-frogging<nowiki>'</nowiki> warp transit (which this chronicler maintains was a tactic stolen from early Tau fleet tactics, despite the venomous retorts of the many major League Masters I have encountered), the order managed, over a decade, to establish order houses across the Segmentum, with Grand Master Honorin Sung lossely in charge of all of them, from his Monastery upon Damasr. His Order was tasked by him to defend any Emperor-worshipping faction<nowiki>'</nowiki>s vessels, as they travelled through the void, defending them from marauding xenos and any pirates that chose to attack. Similarly, Honorin, who often sallied forth from his keep upon Damasr, called for his brothers and sisters to: "Cast aside the chains of segregation and division. Division is weakness, a heresy the Imperator ascendant would never permit. We are children of the master of man one and all. Let our tremendous wrath and hatred turn upon those that truly deserve our murderous wrath. Let the ad humanist taint be expunged from our collective realms. Let the heretic and the unclean beast-man and children of mutant filth be our foes. Let the anti-human, the cursed xenos, be our foe. Let hate be directed outwards. Let the outer-dwellers fear us, the children of Imperator! Ave Imperator!" This <nowiki>'</nowiki>Tempestrian League<nowiki>'</nowiki> as it was now called, was readily joined by elder Battle Sisters and deranged zealots, who dimly recalled the ancient days, where the Sororitas performed similar roles. Not only this, former mercenaries and converted pirates, eagerly joined these various Orders of the league. They offered a path to salvation, and many of the superstitious and brutal men knew that this was the only way to both fulfill their violent urges and get into paradise. Many were said to have been merely warmongers and butchers, who merely wanted to kill under the guise of legitimacy, but nevertheless, the ranks of the faithful expanded rapidly.  Honorin<nowiki>'</nowiki>s order refused ot fight in inter-Imperial conflicts, and instead committed itself with butchering worlds of heretics and exterminating xenos infestations. The Velten beings, pale and frail witch-aliens living on the borders of the Segmentum, were utterly killed by the hate-filled League<nowiki>'</nowiki>s crusading elements, all in one week.  With every pasing year, and every victory, the Tempestrian League<nowiki>'</nowiki>s reputation between the warring theocratic Imperiums of Tempestus grew massively. While Inter-Imperial war could not be stopped, even by the league, the orders were essential. In fact, when Ophelia was utterly destroyed, and its Imperium looked as if it would be torn apart by war between the two rival Eccliesiarchs elected in the aftermath, and the expansionist Tallarns, it was the League (and the powerful oratory of the now-ancient Sung) who held together the broken realm, and served as neutral arbitrator in the many conclaves and councils that conveyed to decide upon the true ecclesiarch (which was eventually decided to be Eccliesiarch Gregorin III, of Teteheim, elected in 005.M50), and prevented the Tallarns from utterly shattering their ancient foe. Three days after this election, Honorin Sung himself died of an infected battle-wound. His place was taken by Grand Mistress Ducarf, who began al ong line of Grand Masters and Mistresses in the league. In the fiftieth millennium, the order was nearly destroyed, by a combination of greedy local petty Imperiums seizing their assets, and the growing menace of the Star Father<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Angylic hosts, who becalmed massive areas of the warp. Yet, amazingly, they survive until this day, though they are much weakened. Many heroic and influential Masters of the Order have existed since Honorin<nowiki>'</nowiki>s passing, many of whom deserve their own legends. However, none were as influential or as well loved as their founder, Honorin Sung the pious, the man who created the first of the Trans-post-Imperial organisations, Leagues not bound within the social and/or geographical framework of a single restrictive petty Imperium.  <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Opening Pict feed: Upper Hallway 35B<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Visual: Five heavily armed men (elements of Ober Vik<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Combat group). Running towards pict-imager. Weapons discharges into darkened far corridor. Blue flashes of luminescence return fire. Three fall, splattering bio matter across hall. Strobing autogun fire.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Audio: "Get the warp in-boys, lads! Gush <nowiki>'</nowiki>em! (heavy drone of heavy stubber discharge)" "Frag them! Frag them!" "Imperator, eva Tetrinas!" (rushing sound. Query: Flamer?) (Unidentified language. Non-human?)<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Visual: Flashing weapons fire. Lumen globes damaged. Switching to dark-sight…<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Visual: Humanoid figures. Engaging mercenaries. Single intruder cut down by autogun exchange. Remaining figures engage. Mercinaries extinguished.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Audio: (unidentifiable screams)<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Visual: Humanoids turn device towards pict feed. (Query: Weapon analo- <nowiki>[</nowiki>…………<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>………………….<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>echoing detonation. Muffled by roof''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> 

===3) Belius, the Barter King===
Belius, colloquially known as <nowiki>'</nowiki>the Barter King<nowiki>'</nowiki>, is an enigmatic figure, famous across much of the Ultima Segmentum, throughout the centuries of the forty ninth millennium. His world is located on the border between not only the twin juggernauts of the Thexian Trade Empire and the Tau Empire, but also five overlapping Petty Imperial borders, not to mention the World-Weave of the Reek. Yet, rather than a subjugated realm, his world (known as <nowiki>'</nowiki>free geld<nowiki>'</nowiki> by most scholars of the age) was a haven of trade and enterprise, a sort of <nowiki>'</nowiki>neitral ground<nowiki>'</nowiki> where Empires of differing xenos, and innumerable free, independent traders, could trade technologies, secrets, knowledge and produce, such as the vibrant slave trade functioning throughout the Age of Strife, or the corrosive trade in the Narcotic <nowiki>'</nowiki>Psyconot<nowiki>'</nowiki>, which was gradually, somehow migrating from the Savlar realms, many lightyears from free geld. How he survived (and indeed, thrived) in such a time of misery and monstrosity, is testament to his ruthless intelligence and shrewd cunning. No one knows the origins of Belius. The vast being<nowiki>'</nowiki>s visage is hidden behind many veils, and only his closest guardians have seen his true appearance. Some claim he is a rogue Thexian, or possible an outcast and decadent Eldar (a mythic race by this point). Others claim darker origins. Records from M42 suggest there was a gene stealer infestation upon the world, due for purging. Since records beyond M42 for the Imperium are simply non-existant, we cannot be sure the infestation was destroyed. It is possible that the departing of the Tyranid hordes soon after this point could have killed off the infestation, we cannot know. Whatever it was, Belius built up an effective system of catering for the struggling Traders and merchants, which plied their trade across Governor(?) Belius<nowiki>'</nowiki> world. Warp travel could only be undertaken via multiple short warp jumps, which made journeys across even sector-sized areas decades-long affairs. Belius provided rest, refuge and re-fuelling for these weary travellers, in exchange for minimal fees, and the chance to cut into these various trades. Uniquely, Belius allowed not only humans of various political affiliations acess to his world, but also all many of xenos and bizarre creatures, defying exact decriptions. All paid the fees, all shared in the trades. Eventually, Belius<nowiki>'</nowiki> world began to be well known as a trading post, and merchants flocked to the world, rather than using it as a stopping off point. Traders, couriers, envoys, usurers and ambassadors began to fill the system near-constantly, and Belius became very, very wealthly. Numerous banks and semi-corrupt casinos (many of whom were secretly owned by Belius and his ruling family, who gained even more profit) sprang up to deal with monetry and physical capital. Inevitably, across the crowded and bustling cities across free geld, criminals and brigands were drawn to these rich targets, like lice to a canine. Fences, pick pockets, theives, con-men, nuttilian soul-snatchers and bounty hunters of various genders, creeds and races, flocked to the world to take advantage. Pirates and crime syndicates sought shelter from authorities in the free-trading mire of free geld, seeking to avoid prosecution or execution, or simply coming to the world to purchase weaponry and supplies, in order to continue their destructive and despicable actions. Prostitutes, actors walked in the darkest alleys, actors and their play companies performed in the streets, or in dedicated playing houses. Assassins left discreet advertisements in ale-dens and public conveniences, their adverts making only one stipulation: <nowiki>'</nowiki>no hits upon the Barter King<nowiki>'</nowiki>. Gladiatorial pits sprang up, sating the hateful bloodlust which all the cowering masses of the galaxy felt during the Age of pitiless misery. The bloody combat of these chrono-constructs gave release to the futile, pent up rage of the masses, who bayed constantly for blood. Though numerous private paramilitary, security groups and bodyguards flogged their services to clients wishing to avoid being disembowled by vagabonds across the world, Belius had two main groups of <nowiki>'</nowiki>state<nowiki>'</nowiki> owned forces under his direct control. The first were the Suftem, a group of warrior abhumans, who had a strange desire to perfect their martial abilities using cybernetics and mechanical engineering upon their bodies. Their goat-like physical bodies were enhanced with claws, built in weapons and digital lasers, and their flesh interwoven with various metal plates, tri-weave flak fibres, and minute force fields. These beast-men had been shunned by most societies, due to their violence and their strong lusts (for both violence, and intercourse, incidentally…). On free geld, they found plenty of both. They guarded the main holdings of the barter King, who paid them in slaves and ale, all of which were very abundant in the cities. The other security force was far more secretive. The hooded brotherhood of Han, were speculated to be made from the deformed relatives of Belius, who formed a secret police force. They would discreetly remove any troublesome guests, without incriminating Belius in the slightest. free geld was barbaric, murderous and chaotic in the extreme. Yet, somehow, it worked.  Of course, as the many, many divergent empires of the galaxy expanded their ragged borders, there wasb ound to be trouble. One would have expected the brutish empires to tear free geld to pieces, each side fighting over who owned the planet, or destroying any resistance on thep lanet. However, the Barter King avoided this, in a very simple manner. He joined them all. The Tau entered his system, and demanded he join them. He joined them.The Thexians sent emissaries to his realm, suggesting an alliance. He accepted (and thus removed the need for the Thexians to impose their own ruler upon the system) and joined the trade Empire. The Pan-Haritic Imperium entered the system, their dread vessels swarming with stolen Necron arc-weaponry. They threatened invasion. Belius sent envoys, saying the King surrendered. The Imperium accepted, and didn<nowiki>'</nowiki>t interfere with the world (as it provided a lot of income revenue to them). Each time a force came, he became a subject to this force. Handily, while it made him technically subordinate to these empires, it also meant that many of these empires granted him treaties, <nowiki>'</nowiki>research<nowiki>'</nowiki> grants, and various other funding. He then used these grants and loans, to pay his tithes to his other Imperial overlords. He played each realm off one another, without them ever realising. Though it seemed like free geld was invincible, it was evidently not the system which held it together, but the influence of the Barter King himself. When he died in his sleep, in 800.M49, his realm collapsed within seven decades. His tithes became delayed and mismanaged, by blundering underlings, and this angered the empires that ruled the realm. Civil wars between rival successors to the throne of <nowiki>'</nowiki>Barter King<nowiki>'</nowiki> led to his private forces becoming rather more violent and public. In one incident, a merchant was killed in the crossfire, and his White Scars hired goons turned their gleaming bolters and scimitars upon the native forces, causing anarchy and confusion, as thousands of different mercenary groups, bodyguard units, and criminal gangs, turned their guns upon their rivals and their apparent foes, each believing their clients and brethren were under threat from a hostile force. <nowiki>'</nowiki>The War with no enemies<nowiki>'</nowiki> was a baffling and senseless engagement, which cost over seven million lives in the two years it lasted. Afterwards, merchants came less and less frequently to the world. Profits dropped, and tithes weren ot paid.  The seventeen empires which apparently ruled the system, came to collect. free geld was destroyed over a period of two centuries, as fleet after fleet of militaries came, bombarded, and looted the decaying world. Eventually, with no ruling government, and no laws in particular, the now increasely barren and sickly world was abandoned by its ruling empires, and it fell into disarray. By M50, it was still a realm of meetings and trading. However, it is almost exclusively criminal in nature, with grimy thugs and robbers roaming the streets murdering and stealing, while large bands of pirates and reavers met to trade stolen goods, and plan further atrocities in other sectors, or simply to get drunk and violent. In 103.M50, by Ethereal degree, the 400th phase Expansion fleet of Commander Blueheart, cracked the planet by directing seven hundred asteroids into the planet, until it broke up, killing any rogues and crooks stupid enough to still be on the planet when they did so. This was to <nowiki>'</nowiki>deter<nowiki>'</nowiki> piratical assemblies, and hence keep Tau shipping safe from reavers. So endeth the realm of the Barter King. Yet, while he lived, it was possibly the closest to a functioning society capable during such a turbulent period of genocide, extortion and the death of a God. 
===4) Festiellle, the Broken===
After so much devastation and death across so many millennia, our universe is a realm made hollow and heartless by necessity and misery. Great tracks of space, thousands of lightyears across, lay barren and destroyed. Wilderness space makes up the vast majority of the realms of the galaxy, the few areas of lucrative or habitable territory fought over, like scraps of fresh meat clinging to the bones of a corpse, being pecked at by ravenous vultures. Petty Imperiums, alien empires and monolithic societies of abominations, all cluster around these decadent and murderous tracks of ironically named <nowiki>'</nowiki>paradise space<nowiki>'</nowiki>. For there is nothing but wilderness beyond it and between it. Yet, even the wilderness space is inhabited, by countless pirates, mercenaries and obscene monsters. The same cannot be said of ghost space. In some place, where the warp was weak, and the death toll from invasions, the new devourer and the death of stars was 100%, the destroyed and murdered souls are said to cling to existence. Such a being is Festielle. Knowledge of the Festielle, the broken one, is scant at best. Some call him legend, others myth. Yet, the stories are too many and too similar to discount entirely. On an orphan world, drifting in the deep dark, where no light falls, resides the Festielle. Amidst a world of corpses, where the entire world was dead and rotten to ash, the Festielle roams. Some say he is a corrupted Night Lord, driven into insanity and bitterness by despairing lunacy. Others claim the fiend is a fury, tossed from the realm of the warp during the conflagration with the Star Father, to be trapped within the material realm, taking the body of a fallen man, filling him with bitterness and rendering the man incorporeal. The stories are countless, and futile. He simply is. It is said the realm is utterly silent. Unnaturally so, as if the planet is cursed with silence. Creeping things, with their orifices sewn shut, and their flesh wasted and thinned until their dry bones can be seen, crawl and scrape silently. Furies flutter from crumbling towers, snarling soundlessly in futile dislocation. The rogue planet appears in the void, when vessels are forced to drop out of the warp, short of their destinations. As they ready themselves for another jump, the dark planetoid appears, a black shape against a black void. The vessels inexplicably break down, their engines bafflingly non-functional, despite the best efforts of captured tech priests or serf-Demiurg engineers aboard. They simply stop. Then the silence comes. The whole vessel becomes silent. Panic ensues, as men desperately scream to be heard, clawing at their heads and ears furiously. Before long, the beleagured crews either enter the orbit of the void world, or are ensnared (the accounts differ). Desperate for a solution, they send shuttles to the surface. No one returns. Soon, the vessels begin to orbit closer and closer. In most accounts, the planet crashes, yet somehow they survive. They are dragged before the silent one. His mouth like a rotting cavern, Festielle screams in their faces, no noise erupting from his lips. He rips apart most of the men with his claws, in frustration. The survivors (those to relate the tales) claim they were spared for a purpose. Festielle wants to be heard, wants to be known. Though undoubtedly horrific to hear, these stories are nothing compared to simple existence in this accursed universe, and so- … No- <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>author tears auto-quill link from forehead. Begins scribbling across data-slate, for direct log interface. Interfacing…''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> As I write this, I am disgusted. I cannot be dispassionate any longer! I sit in the darkness of these Vaults, cowering from the Reavers above, who even now slaughter our defenders to a man above us, and I talk about legends and ghost stories, as if they matter! I contemplated destroying this log, just to stop them from corrupting it or defiling it. Then I realised. This log is more important than this whole facility. This log is evidence. It is proof. Thoughout the millennia of my existence, not once have I found another history of this Age. Nothing so complete. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Pict display shakes, as detonations from above become audible above a rumble. Voices beyond room begin to scream. Gunfire beyond chamber door.''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> I would not be so arrogant as to say this history is anywhere near a complete log of this period of abomination. I cannot depict everything, for I am only human… <nowiki>[</nowiki>bitter laugh<nowiki>]</nowiki> But I am the only one left. The only one who has a … continuity of vision. I was there before, during and after. The human race needs to know what it once was… and what it can be again. This Order, the Order of the Recollectors, brought me here to collate a summary of the universe from the billions of source-materiel they have hoarded in these vaults over the millennia of degeneration, to store here as a permanent record of all the gods to see. I have done as you asked, but I must break our contract. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Metallic bangs begin to resound behind the author. Massive battering ram/humanoid foes attempting to breach the vaults? Author ignores.''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> I built a device. This world was naturally linked to the web. Perhaps this is how the Recollectors first got here? It doesn<nowiki>'</nowiki>t matter. There was a Gate. I studied it. I took it apart, and rebuilt it. It took me centuries, but I did it. Originally, I tailored the Gate as a getaway system for myself, but I know now that it is this log, this record, which needs to survive this. I can<nowiki>'</nowiki>t let my legacy be destroyed. I have already lived too long. Done too much evil. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>sounds of gunfire''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> I suppose then this should be my last declaration… First, to organise. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>User #17382: Request= File data summary.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Process?''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> Yes. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Files located: 1003 Sections. Begin packaging sequence?''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> No. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Please state desired functions.''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> Use the initial twenty-seven as the hash index for the package salt. Use the rest for interspersed obfuscation code using quantum-algorithim delta5. Collate, then package. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Collation complete. Awaiting instruction beta/six.''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> I am an evil man. Perhaps never intended. No, never intended. This changes nothing though. My actions may very well have doomed us all. I tried to stop them. I tried with all my cunning, my might and my intellect. There was nothing I could do. Everything I did just made things worse. Hopefully, this log can be of some use to those that go on after I am dead (and I will die, there<nowiki>'</nowiki>s no doubt about this now). Alongside this log, I have attached all the weapon, vessel, and technological blueprints I could lay my hands upon from the recollections<nowiki>'</nowiki> librariums. I hope they are of some use to those I am sending this too. 

'''/Encrypted section/''' <blockquote>{{Quote|''I send this to Armageddon, the planet of battles. I know what happened there, and I know who leads the Imperium growing there. If you are indeed reading this <nowiki>'</nowiki>hermit<nowiki>'</nowiki>, I know your name, and I have one thing to say to you:  Save us. Please save us Primarch. Save us Vulkan.''}}</blockquote> '''/Encrypted Section/''' So, I commend my soul to… <nowiki>(</nowiki>laughs softly<nowiki>)</nowiki> I almost said God-Emperor then! He<nowiki>'</nowiki>s not worship of that title. Not now. I commend my soul to the Imperium. May it rise again. Forgive me.  Regards, 
:'''---Lord Inquisitor Kryptmann''' <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Author concludes log.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Log locked and secured. Stasis field engaging in 10 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>10 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Humanoid figure bursts into room. Author turns to them, obscures image of figure<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>9 sec''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> ''Author:'' Too late. Your realm will fall! <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>8 sec''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> ''Humanoid:'' The Templates. Where are they? <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>7 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>6 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Author spits at silhouetted figure. Gunshots. Viscera obscures pict lens<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>5 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>4 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Figure advances. Author falls. Figure strikes dataslates from desk. Spectromatching initated via proximity trigger.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>3 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>2 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Figure focuses upon log device, lunges for log device. Spectromatch found. Figure=Subject #2352. Codename designation: '''Bile'''.] <nowiki>[</nowiki>1 sec<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Stasis engaged.<nowiki>]</nowiki> 
 [[Image:Warhammer_40k_army_of_titan_by_majesticchicken-d41o5cc.jpg|1100px]] ### ''Colours, swirling and blistering and monstrous. The cogitator brain cannot identify the realm it slides, like a bullet through the concept of envy. Oily shapes, milky white eyes in the side of twisting, snarling figures. Vague structure, shifting along smooth walls. More colours splash into view. Waves at a beach. Cross-referencing fails, as the images before the cogitator unit shift constantly. The temperature fluctuated and flexed, forming ribbons around the capsule, as it flew through the frictionless realm. Hot, cold, hot, all formed spider-like structures on its flank, before they dissolved in logic. Eventually, perhaps before it set off, the capsule finally stopped, with a hiss and a gargle. </center><center>''###''</center> <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Opening pict feed<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Two figures, located in room. Room analogus to bunker system.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Figure 1 taps controls at side of log device. Figure 2 remains motionless, transfixed by device. Spectromatching indicates: humans.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>Human 1 continues adjustments.''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> ''Human 2:'' Are you supposed to do that? It's techno-magic. We should burn it. ''Human 1:'' No! He said we weren't to burn techno-horrors anymore. We bring it to him when we find them. He'll know what to do. <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Further adjustments. Stasis field deactivated. Human 2 recoils from deactivation sequence.''<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> ''Human 2:'' Devil! ''Human 1:'' Nah, nothing heathen <nowiki>'</nowiki>bout it. Go! Go get the Hermit! Go, go tell him, or one of the Angel-fire warriors. Go! <center>''<nowiki>[</nowiki>Human 2 departs. Human 1 smiles at device.<nowiki>]</nowiki> <nowiki>[</nowiki>log Ends<nowiki>]</nowiki></center> 
{{Template:TheShapeOfTheNightmareToCome}}

Advancing the Storyline

2016-01-23T18:54:12Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B: /* Fundamental Misunderstandings */

'''Advancing the Storyline''' is what a great number of [[neckbeards]] believe that [[Games Workshop]] needs to do with [[Warhammer 40,000]]. On [[/tg/]], [[Warseer]], [[Bolter and Chainsword]], and [[Dakka Dakka]], people complain and grumble about how the storyline never moves beyond the year 999.M41, with [[Abaddon the Despoiler]]'s 13th [[Black Crusade]] on the very brink of taking [[Cadia]], ''for real this time'', the [[Tyranid]] [[Hive Fleet]]s closing in on [[Terra]], the [[Astronomican]] flickering and fading, and the [[Golden Throne]] one [[Adeptus Custodes]]' sneeze away from shutting down permanently.

==Why they're wrong==

Some people—[[Aaron Dembski-Bowden|Daddy Issues Dembski]] being one of its most frequent proponents—hold the view that this attitude is a load of shit, and that it completely misunderstands the nature of the 40k setting.

This is because 40k isn't a story, and in fact, doesn't have a "storyline"; while events from it, such as the [[Black Crusade]]s and the [[Badab War]], have had their stories told, there's no single, overarching story that the setting exists to tell (unlike universes such as those of [[Star Wars]] or [[Doctor Who]]; even though other stories exist in those settings, they're anchored in a central, unifying one). 40k is simply a setting in which stories take place, and has ten thousand years and a whole galaxy in which to set them, so expecting the timeline to "advance" to "continue" or "finish" the "story" is a stupid idea.

The other, more practical issue with advancing the storyline is that a major change to it is likely to have severe reprecussions on one or more of the different factions, which may not always be welcome changes. To use the most obvious example, consider what effect story progression would have on the Imperium of Man. The majority of 40k players favor one of the many Imperium-aligned factions. Assuming that the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|God-Emperor]] doesn't get resurrected and the Golden Throne isn't fixed before it fails (which itself is rather unlikely and has a good chance of causing problems of its own), the sheer number of threats that the [[Imperium]] faces on a constant basis will tear it apart as soon as the Emperor snuffs it, leading to the enslavement and/or destruction of humanity. And no Imperium means that about half of the armies currently in the game will no longer exist, leaving numerous [[fa/tg/uys]] stuck with unusable armies and a serious grudge over being given the [[Squat]] treatment. Needless to say, Games Workshop's profits would be hit incredibly hard by the departure of so many paying customers, so they have no choice but to keep the Imperium afloat. Although this has the infuriating side effect of causing the setting to grow stagnant and unchanging (much like the Imperium itself), GW can't afford to appease one group of complaining neckbeards over another which would complain even more loudly if their armies were suddenly made unusable.

At the same time, it would be equally risky for GW to risk upsetting the status quo for any other race. For example, if the [[Tyranids]] started arriving in full force, the [[Tau]] would cease to exist as well because they'd be the first to get nommed; naturally, this would infuriate Tau players. The [[Eldar]] dying out completely and forming [[Ynnead]] would meet with an equally chilly reception from both Eldar and [[Slaanesh]] players. Similarly, reunited [[Necrons]] would be such a juggernaut that they'd be able to wipe out all other factions effortlessly, which is also something GW wants to avoid. If the removal of the Squats (which were always a rather small army with only a handful of players) was enough to produce a major outcry, then the [[rage]] produced by the removal of a major faction will be truly unimaginable.

Basically, in order to keep everyone happy, any advancement of the status quo in 40k would have to result in all the factions still being more or less equally matched. That is, the same essential status quo would have to be maintained, making the plot advancement meaningless. Meaningfully advancing the story would logically spell death for a playable faction, and GeeDubs has no financial incentive to kill off a playable faction. Would you want to play a faction that gets canonically boned no matter how well you play? No, no you would not, <s>and GeeDubs won't ever do that to you.</s> WRONG, see the End Times below.

==Why they're right==

On the other hand, [[Privateer Press]] has managed to pull off a metaplot in a wargame just fine with [[WARMACHINE]] and [[Hordes]], and there's no reason that it should be any different for 40k. Besides, given the fact that GW is already expanding the scope of the game to include the previously untouchable events of the [[Horus Heresy]], it's perfectly possible for them (and probably quite profitable since it would give them an excuse to make a new line of minis) to start encompassing events further into the future as well as into the past of the setting. (Some can say that they're already doing so now with the increased emphasis on the "[[Time of Ending]]" in the current codices.)

On top of that, it can be argued that the central story of 40k is the story of the Imperium's fall from glory and slow decline, which must by definition end with either the Emperor getting revived or the destruction of the Imperium of Man, and failing to resolve this central storyline is slowly causing the whole story to stagnate as it runs out of events and gaps to fill in. Even the evolving stories that [[your dudes]] were once capable of creating can no longer exist because there is simply nothing left to evolve. Remember how the [[Eye of Terror]] Campaign ended in a victory for Chaos? Instead of allowing its results to change the background (via [[Abbadon]] taking [[Cadia]]), GW instead decided to backpedal in a way that ultimately made the events of the campaign utterly meaningless. How can you have an emergent narrative take place when any sign that it might upset the way things are now results in it being retconned or otherwise made insignificant?

Another major problem caused by the setting's stagnation is the presence of numerous plotholes which form as a byproduct of GW's insistence in squeezing the shit out of 999.M41. A good example of this is the [[Knights of Blood]] defending [[Baal]] AND attacking the [[Farsight]] Enclaves in the same year despite the fact that they are on opposite sides of the galaxy. The only way to fix that would be to retcon the date, which would create problems of its own depending on where they inserted the new date, or to use warp fuckery since warp travel occasionally has you appear at your destination some time before you left, and because there's always a helpful retcon lying around.

The biggest problem is that Games Workshop loves their status quo. They'll advance the story in bits and pieces but never anything that changes the status quo. In 40K, in Games Workshop's vision:

* The [[Imperium]] will always be stagnant and rotting, but they'll never be destroyed or fractured (helps that they're a Creator's Pet and, due to all the updates and attention from GW, the bestselling faction).
* The [[Eldar]] will always be full of arrogant people, dying and trying to rebuild their empire, but never progress, succeed or go extinct.
* The [[Tau]] will always be a new, expanding empire with hints of [[grimdark]] beneath their benevolent façade, but never get too grimdark or expand to the point where they threaten the Imperium.
* The [[Chaos Space Marines]] will always be trying to overthrow the Imperium, have a grudge against it and be under Abbadon's leadership, but never succeed in a way that puts the Imperium in jeopardy or puts someone besides Abbadon in charge.
* The [[Chaos Daemons]] will always be corrupting things and fighting, but never win a lasting victory or suffer a permanent setback.
* The [[Necrons]] will always be an ancient empire slowly reawakening with each faction following the dictates of their Overlord, with the C'tan either enslaved or in hiding and planning to restore themselves to their former might; but never fully awaken, fully be destroyed, or fully unite, and the C'tan will never be completely enslaved to the Necrons or completely free.
* The [[Tyranids]] will always be a major galactic threat answerable only to the [[Hive Mind]] and will never ally with non-Tyranids, but will never win, be wiped out or wipe out or weaken a playable faction.
* The non-playable factions will always get a token mention, but never get time in the limelight or become powerful enough to challenge a major faction.

It was thought the [[Orks]] would always just wage wars for fun, but never unite to pose a threat to the galaxy, and given Ork nature, this actually makes sense. However, the [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Orks(7E)|7th Edition]] Ork Codex advances [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]]'s storyline, describing how he broke off from his wars with [[Helbrecht]] and [[Yarrick]] to bring all other Orks together in one, galaxy-spanning [[WAAAGH]]. So canonically, the Orks are actually getting their shit together, though this hypothetical WAAAGH of Thraka's will likely be stuck forever in the process of being formed.

===Other points===
There is also the matter that some of the [[Ciaphas Cain]] books take place in the early years of M42 (though his adventures are not exactly Imperium-shaking events). If those can be considered part of the fluff now, what's to stop it from going further than that?

It also bears mentioning that changes can be made to the storyline without altering the tabletop. [[Warhammer Fantasy]] kills off major characters (for example all the named characters currently available to the [[Vampire Counts]] army, and half of the Orcs and Goblins characters) and they are still fieldable in the game. The plot of the setting progresses beyond that point and introduces new characters, encouraging players to not simply play "in the present" but instead just pick someplace in the timeline for their battle. Sure you run into inconsistencies when someone long dead is fighting the army of someone not even born when they were alive. But hey! Necromancy, gods intervening, and Chaos fuckery make a good explanation, as does the age-old rationalization of "shut up and just play the game". If one were to take that approach to 40k via advanced technology of some kind, Warp-related time distortions, or the aforementioned Chaos fuckery, then anyone can appear at any time if the players wish it despite them being killed off in canon. Plot can progress, everyone gets to keep their favorite canon from the past, everyone wins. In fact, this has already happened in canon- Captain Tycho has been dead since the Third War for Armageddon, as is Lord Solar Macharius, but that doesn't stop either of them from being playable. Hell, even [[Eldrad]] was dead for a while before the retcon hit.

TL;DR- While shaking up the setting some might leave some people rather grumpy, making significant changes has just as good of a chance of making things better instead of worse for the players, and if handled well those chances go up. Unfortunately, GW is really, really bad at it.

== Beyond the 41st Millennium ==

Of course, while Games Workshop may never enter the 42nd Millennium, that doesn't stop us from writing up fanfics that do so (or from bickering over which possible portrayal is more likely to actually occur).

* [[The ship moves]], a setting where, in the grim darkness of the 51st Millennium, the God-Emperor of Mankind orders the construction of a giant ark to leave the failing [[Imperium]] behind.
* [[Story:The Shape Of The Nightmare To Come 50k]], a plot that manages to become even ''MORE'' grimdark than it already was, with the Emprah croaking, the Imperium splintered into [[Khaine]]-knows-how-many pieces, and several other incredibly crappy things changing the universe even further.
* [[Return of the Primarchs]], where the fall of Cadia coincides with the fleets of the fallen/dead Primarchs from before the HH, the Lost Primarchs get found and they all band together to help the living ones get up and bring the Imperium to a more presentable state.

==Fundamental Misunderstandings==

The problem in 40k is basically the date. That's it. The fluff writers can really can just play grab ass going back and forth over and over for another ten thousand years with no real setting defining changes easily enough. After all they've already done that once - The whole timeline from the heresy to today has resulted in basically no major changes but has still felt interesting. The status quo doesn't need to change, but there really does need to be some space for new fluff going forward so it's not just being stuffed in around existing events. We already have canon conflicts, and it'll only get worse to the point where everyone in the fluff is established as being at one specific place in 999.M41 and that's it. No more new fluff. You can leave out the major events, just takes us some number of years forward so things are actually interesting again. Or, hell, go BACK. There's absolutely nothing wrong with filling in TEN THOUSAND YEARS of time over a galaxy of space to make an interesting story!

==Warhammer Fantasy==

Unlike Warhammer 40k, the plotline of [[Warhammer Fantasy]] does advance, but in small increments (which adds up to something big). Each edition and army book usually adds a little more fluff to the past (and maybe a retcon or two), rarely an update to the big prophesied battle between good and evil that decides the settings future, and a plot hook in the present.
For example, the 8th edition [[Vampire Counts]] and [[High Elves]] army books ([[Codex]] for 40k players) added a new story to the end of the army timelines that mentions how [[Mannfred von Carstein]] kidnapped the [[Everqueen]]'s daughter Aliathra, and is going to sacrifice her like a Frazetta painting to bring back the settings big BIG bad [[Nagash]] and that the greatest hero of the High Elves, Tyrion, has saved her and is riding at the head of a large High Elf army about to clash with a large Undead army.

Smaller updates (mainly gimmicks to sell a book and some models) like [[Storm of Magic]] will add a whole new event that extends the "present day" by a few months to a year. The infamous [[Warhammer Online]] was entirely non-canon which may have been what doomed it from the start. Regardless, Fantasy isn't THAT adventurous about advancing its plotline, but advancing it ''some'' hasn't sunk the ship.

===[[The End Times]] and [[Age of Sigmar]]: The Ultimate Arguments against Advancing the Storyline===
In late 2014, GW finally decided to advance the storyline just as the players wished. The general consensus of this was that it was pretty cool. The fools...

The Nagash book introduced these major changes by bringing back [[Nagash]] as a superpower in his own right. Heroes were killed and Chaos was for once not the big title threat, except to the Empire, since Nagash was getting ready to kick them out and take the world for himself. Many non-playable human nations were decimated and Nagash led all the Vampire Counts to Nehekhara. After a series of lengthy battles he overthrew Settra, forced most of the Tomb Kings to serve him and effectively destroyed Nehekhara's cities so it ceased to exist as a nation.

The Glottkin book saw the Empire become levelled between the titular triplets, Festus, and the others, and little else happened except an undead cameo with Vlad laying the groundwork to become Vampire Emperor. It...didn't work though he made progress.

The Khaine book was the book where the outlook of the End Times started whipping around. All of a sudden, Teclis became a master manipulator bar none, [[Malekith]] was revealed to be the true king all along and everyone was just a usurper. Tyron became an utter asshole and turned into Khaine incarnate, only to die like a bitch to Malekith and Alith Anar. The end result meant that all the elves got slapped into a single army, which caused frustration among the separate bases.

Thanquol just made things even worse, as the rest of the Empire finally collapsed with [[Valten]]'s death, Lustria gets blasted by meteors, the surviving Lizardmen go "Thanks for all the fish" and fly off into space, the Skaven destroy everyone who isn't the Empire or Bretonnia offscreen (and Bretonnia is also destroyed offscreen as well), and more Dwarfs get chopped. Also Gobbla got eaten, cue Goblin tears. We close with Skaven allying with the forces of Chaos.

Now Archaon was where shit broke. To make a long story short, Chaos wins and everyone dies, and there wasn't a damned thing anyone could do to stop it. And that they had been doing this to every universe that had preceded the then-current one, so they would just keep winning over and over again no matter what anyone did about it. By the end of the book, the entire Warhammer World had ceased to exist and every army and named character was killed off if they weren't already dead. In short, it was what GW wanted Storm of Chaos to be, but without that irritating "player interaction" messing up the plot they had planned out.

In a sense, one could see this as a monkey's paw wish; the fanbase finally got the Fantasy setting to advance, but it led to said setting being destroyed and replaced by a completely different setting. One could fearfully wonder now just what would happen if the End Times treatment happened to 40K, and the general consensus is "even the complete stagnation we have now is better than their insane ideas of progression. But if Games Workshop does the same to 40k, it likely means they're going out of business, because that setting has, among other things, their [[Space Marines|creator's pets]].

Age of Sigmar added another monkey wrench into the works; while the plot is nominally progressing with the promise of further developments in the future, it's not necessarily going to be a good thing given GW's track record thus far, and beyond a few shared characters who lack most of their original defining characteristics, most of the "new" Warhammer setting is barely recognizable as being connected to the old one at all. And that's not even taking into account how they somehow managed to add Space Marines to what's supposed to be a fantasy setting and effectively removed Slaanesh '''in a fucking SIDEBAR'''. In short, advancing the storyline only works when the people writing it aren't absolutely clueless on how to do so, and GW isn't nearly that competent. Better to have a stagnant setting that actually works than changes that ultimately do more harm than good.

It's possible GW knows all of the above and deliberately made the End Times the heavy-handed destruction of the old setting to stop people from asking them to advance the storyline. If true, while the Warhammer Fantasy fans who don't like Age of Sigmar mourn over the pieces of their setting while the 40k players stop asking for story progression, GW will pull up a chair, whip out a martini and chuckle "[[Just As Planned]]".

==See Also==
*[[Your dudes]]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]]

Celestial Lions

2016-01-23T18:21:27Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B:

{{Stub}}

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Celestial Lions
|Heraldry = [[File:Celestial_Lions_Livery.png]]
|Battle Cry = "We are the Emperor's pride. Hear us roar!"
|Number =
|Founding = Sometime in the 38th Millennium
|Successors of = [[Imperial Fists]]
|Successor Chapters =
|Chapter Master = Ekene Dubaku
|Primarch = Rogal Dorn
|Homeworld = Elysium IX
|Specialty = Messing with the [[Inquisition]], flanking tactics
|Strength = Less than 95, rebuilding
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Gold, with blue helmet and pauldrons
}}

The '''Celestial Lions''' (calling them "Celestial ''Loins''" would be a joke in poor taste, given their tremendous losses of late) are a chapter of [[Space Marines]] in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe. They are an object lesson of what happens to people who try and mess with the [[Inquisition]] without serious backup (like being a [[First Founding]] chapter). It is unknown if the Inquisition is going to survive the return object lesson of what happens to those who fuck with the Space Marines. Especially Space Marines who are now best-buds with the Black Templars.

The Celestial Lions came into conflict with the Inquisition over a planet they were pacifying. After the Lions took out the corrupt leadership and were preparing to head home, the Inquisitor in charge of the mission decided that, if the leadership had been corrupt, the entire planet was probably in league with [[Chaos]], and that [[Exterminatus]] was the only option. The Celestial Lions were horrified, and when they could not stop the bombing, they decided to file a complaint with the [[High Lords of Terra]]. The ship bearing the delegation "mysteriously" got lost and found itself in [[Ork]]-controlled space; only the wreckage was recovered later. The Lions still didn't get the hint that they should stay quiet, and the Inquisition decided to silence their complaints for good.

Fast-forward to the Third War for [[Armageddon]]. The entire chapter was deployed to a single hive, and thanks to spectacularly bad intelligence they ended up outnumbered, unsupported, and taking heavy losses at every battle. Matters came to a head when "[[Ork]] [[What|snipers]]" managed to take out most of the survivors (especially the Apothecaries), and their last [[Apothecary]] was found dead next to his [[Rhino]] (having been shot through the head with a [[lasgun]]), leaving them without any means to recover the [[gene-seed]] from their fallen. The remaining 95 Lions realized that they had been marked for death and decided that they would fight off all the Orks on Armageddon or die trying, and contacted [[Chaplain]] [[Grimaldus]] of the [[Black Templars]] to administer the last rites for them, but he insisted that the remainder of the Chapter could still restore its honor (and thus be allowed to leave) by slaying the warlord leading the Ork forces in the area. While much of the remaining forces of the Celestial Lions were wiped out in the attack, they were successful in redeeming themselves in the eyes of the Emperor. Their only surviving Pride Leader (i.e. Squad Sergeant) was then named the new Chapter Master and given a couple of parting gifts by High Marshal Helbrecht himself: a suit of relic Imperial Fists power armor dating back to the [[Great Crusade]] and the Strike Cruiser ''Blade of the Seventh Son''.

Now they're trying to rebuild with the help of a temporary detachment of Black Templars (probably including some apothecaries), although it'll be hard considering there's less than ninety-five of them left. Then again, the Invaders, another Imperial Fists Successor Chapter, recovered from losses in less than a century after being reduced to 12 Marines in total. Plus, while the Inquisition may get away with bullying later-founded chapters, it would be tantamount to suicide for anyone to mess with a second founding chapter (The largest one, in fact), since these chapters directly descended from the original Astartes legions and is commonly close to their parent chapter (Who are pretty much one of the few organizations in the Imperium who can openly flip the bird on the Inquisition without severe reprisal.).

"[[Ork Snipers]]" has since become slang for [[Vindicare]] assassins, or more generally for any implausible cover story for an [[Inquisition]] action.

Also of note, they have what is probably the most difficult paint scheme of any chapter. Period. Their regular marines are easy enough to paint, with a simple blue and gold color scheme, but veteran sergeants and up paint intricate star charts on their armor. This looks mind-blowingly awesome, but is almost impossible to paint.
==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:Black Library Armageddon by ukitakumuki.jpg|Black Templars [[Grimaldus]] and Pride Leader Ekene Dubaku kickin' Ork assess
File:Black Library Blood and Fire by ukitakumuki.jpg|Check out Ekene Dubaku's bolter... Totally awesome.
File:Celestial Lions Astartes.png|Artworks for these guys are about as few as what's left of them.
File:Ork Snipers.jpg|So True.
File:Celestial Lions.jpeg|We present to you, the celestial lions!
</Gallery>
{{Marines-Official}}

Warhammer 40,000 7th edition

2016-01-23T18:00:43Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B: /* Dark Angels */

[[File:Ebook-40k-cover.jpg|thumb|right|The fact that it's the [[Dark Angels]] in the cover again is just [[awesome]].]][[File:The Awesomeness of 40K.png|thumb|left|[[Awesome|That's what Warhammer 40K's all about...]]]]'''[[Warhammer 40,000]] 7th Edition''' is the newest edition of [[skub|everybody's favorite wargame]]. It's basically an extension of the 3rd edition ruleset, as with every edition of the game since 3rd, and, more specifically, it's an extension of the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|6th edition]] ruleset (which it replaced after only two years). Some rumors have suggested that [[/tg/|the community]] should consider it "6th Revised" or "6.5," but [[Games Workshop]] stopped using edition numbers with 6th, so we'll probably never know (the errata and FAQ docs specifically refer to the new version as 7th edition). It definitely has big game changers and multiple smaller changes that warrant calling it a new edition. Its fluff also apparently mentions squats as an existing race of abhumans. [[Wat]].

It launched May 24th, 2014.

Pics for proof: [http://i.imgur.com/mRU59uo.jpg here] and [http://i.imgur.com/9IakTiS.jpg here] and some more [https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/t31.0-8/p843x403/10333547_10152489684194954_3873038486156362195_o.jpg here]. A gallery of the Psychic Powers available are [http://imgur.com/a/8ddUf here.]

It's ''very'' [[Warhammer Fantasy]], just like Warhammer 40,000 used to be. It's also absolutely busted wide open (just like Warhammer 40,000 used to be); Daemons rule the new Psychic phase, and with the invention of Conjuration it's clear GeeDubs just wants you to buy more daemons.

[[File:7thAllies.jpg|thumb|right|New Allies Chart, no division within the Imperium any more (except [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Imperial_Guard/Death_Korps_of_Krieg_Assault_Brigade(7E)|Krieg]])]]
==Major Updates==
*'''Limited Edition Specials''' - the release of 7th edition began with 2000 copies of a limited edition box set. The release for Orks had similar limited edition box complete with a Codex Supplement, Objective Markers, and Art Prints. It might be safe to say this is a new standard as opposed to the limited edition cover they were selling for 6th edition codex.
*'''Psychic Power Overhaul''' - Instead of using Psychic powers in the movement and shooting phases they are now called upon during the new Psychic phase. Psychic powers are now rolled using a dice pool instead of just a successful leadership test. There are new psychic power schools. Also new perils of the warp table. Not as good as last edition where you just had to roll under a leadership of 10(mostly), though comparing each army to each other an army with 30 warp charges versus one psyker is better at denying, but even then it doesn't guarantee anything. It also has the misfortune of adding another 90 minutes to what GW insists on thinking is a casual game.
*'''Super Heavies''' - Not new to 40k per se, but this is the first time that Super Heavies are included in the main rules instead of being relegated to the Apocalypse and Escalation supplements.
*'''Formations''' - like Super Heavies formations where part of the game before, but generally stayed in data slate/supplement territory. Now 7th edition codex include Formations.
*'''New Force Orgs''' - including the standard Combined arms detachments the new codices will contain new FOC charts to allow for different rules and army types, each of which is (supposedly) geared to best emphasize that army's strengths.
*'''Battle-forged and Unbound armies''' - Replacing double force org from 6th edition, now players can bring armies that do not follow the restrictions set by the force org now known as Unbound. In keeping to the force org your army is known as Battleforged. The classic force org chart we all know and love is called "combined arms detachment" and gives the bonuses of being able to reroll warlord traits, and troops being "super-scoring" (Objective Secured) units- that is, they can't be denied from scoring unless it's by another unit with the same rule.
*'''Tactical Objectives''' - A deck of 36 cards that act as secondary objectives. Used with the Maelstrom missions. Each full codex also gives new Tactical Objectives to give an army some unique ways to score.
*'''Errata''' - GW has already released Errata and FAQ's for every Codex [http://www.blacklibrary.com/faqs-and-errata.html here]. These include re-classifying units from old codices, telling which army psykers can roll Daemonology and some rules clarifications.
**'''Larger Bases''' With Blood Angels the normal bases are now larger, probably will be the norm for space marines when they get updated. It would seem anything with MEQ gets the new base.

==Armies of the Dark Millenium==
===New Codices and Codex Supplements===
*'''[[Orks]]''' - And about damn time too. They got two new walkers (the Gorkanaut and Morkanaut), new big guns (renamed Mek guns), new Flash Git models, and new models for Big Mek and Painboy; however revisions to Mob Rule have made them far more vulnerable to morale than before (ie. going from some of the best LD in the game to some of the worst). They got almost no buffs and a half dozen other nerfs, which just made this codex suck a thousand pairs of balls. The limited edition of the Codex comes with a supplement for Waaagh! Ghazghkull.
**'''Waaagh! [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]]''' - Released with the Warboss limited edition. A new supplement based upon the forces of [[Yarrick]]'s archenemy and the Beast of Armageddon. Contains a new Detachment type, 7 new formations, warlord traits, and Orkimedes themed artifacts.
*'''[[Space Wolves]]'''- Released a new named Venerable Dreadnought called '''MURDERFANG''' is part of the new Codex, a new little sleigh for [[Logan Grimnar]], as well as a pair of new flyers called the Stormfang and the Stormwolf, both of which have access to the new Helfrost weapons (unsaved wounds force a Strength test per wound- failing a test removes the targeted model from play). The new Tempestas discipline also gives back some of the old tools they Rune Priests used to have. Probably one of the better codices this edition with some generous price cuts and a shield for Dreadnoughts, as well as the aforementioned Helfrost (which dreads can get).
**'''Champions of Fenris''' - Focusing on Logan Grimnar's Great Company, will be part of the Wolf Guard limited release of the Space Wolves codex. It adds some new relics, formations, another Warlord trait table, some special rules, and an alternate FOC.
*'''[[Grey Knights]]'''- They haven't gotten any new units, but some of their existing toys have been tweaked to make them more effective against Daemons (for example, all their Force weapons now gain re-rolls to wound or pen against Daemons if the Force power was activated, Incinerators get Soulblaze, Psilencers are now Force weapons, etc.) but overall massively scales back the army's potency from 5th/6th edition. They lost a ton of gear from their Wardex (including rad/psychotroke grenades, psybolt/psyflame ammo), the Psychic Phase did a number on their ability to spit out mindbullets, and the fact that the majority of their units are limited to only a few powers doesn't help. And that's not taking into account that Force weapon activation can be denied now, which could theoretically cripple them in assault if the opponent gets lucky. Finally, most of their anti-vehicle units were shuffled into the Inquisition codex, making them even more vulnerable to tank and flyer-heavy armies than ever. In short, a book that takes away more things than it gives - the only thing saving it from Tyranid level nerfing is the fact that they're Imperial, and thus have all the special tools and allies available to the poster-boy force known as the [[Imperium of Man]] - case in point, almost everything they lost was already preserved in Codex: Inquisition.
*'''[[Dark Eldar]]''': The next army to be slated with a release, White Dwarf has shown a new Haemonculus model as well as a new kit for the Wracks that included a new gun called the Ossefactor. Unfortunately, the Dark Eldar lost most of their special characters, including their big boss Asdrubael Vect, [[ChapterHouse Studios|since only three of them have models]]. Power from Pain became something that activates each turn, meaning you don't have to kill a lot to get it, but survive, which can be difficult for this glass cannon. On the whole, the basic playstyle of Raider spam and Blasterborn are still playable, while Grotesques and Mandrakes finally become usable while Wyches suddenly lose the ability to take all haywire grenades and Incubi take a massive nerf by losing Klaivex powers and grenades.
**'''Haemonculus Covens''': Released with the Archon limited release. Since they lack a Lord of War to make a plot with, they chose the one playstyle that made most people's days: Haemonculi. This locks you to only Coven units (Haems/Urien, Wracks/Grots, Pain Engines), but gives them an all-new Power from Pain table that better synergizes with their powers and the same stuff as the other supplements.
*'''[[Blood Angels]]''': To partner with the surprise of new Tyranid models came the Shield of Baal campaign, and with the Shield of Baal Campaign came an inevitable Blood Angels Codex. Alongside the codex are new sprues for the Sanguinary Priest and a special Tac Squad sprue that gives the sarge the venerated Nipple Armor. One new character (the Captain of the Blood Angels' 1st Company) was introduced in a boxed set, as well as the exclusive Sanguinary psychic discipline. Overall though, this edition's codex is fairly broken: on top of a huge dialing back of their former power, nearly all the units from the 5th ed book got shuffled into a now ''very'' crowded elites section.
*'''[[Necrons]]''': The other army that got new stuff from the Shield of Baal campaign, now we can say without fear that every codex is pretty much up to date; not ''good'', but at least there's no embarrassing oversights like how the old 'dexes had. All the characters are still alive, MSS are shit now, C'Tan and Crypteks got all their creativity gutted from them, and Resurrection Protocols got a makeover. On the plus side, Wraiths and Destroyers got some nice reclassifications, the Triarch Praetorians and Lychguard got cheaper, and you now have an FOC made of Formations.
*'''[[Harlequins]]''': Like the Inquisition and Militarum Tempestus, the Harlequins are now getting a Codex and breaking off from the other Elf codices. New models are coming for everyone, Solitaires are becoming Elites, new wargear, and at least one new vehicle (the Skyweaver) for their exclusive use. It's... a bit fucky. Their standard force org chart requires you to take pretty much every model so you're more or less restricted to using formations if you want a decent allied detachment.
*'''[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Khorne Daemonkin(7E)|Khorne Daemonkin]]:''' Allows you to take Khornate Daemons and Khorne-themed Chaos Space Marines in the same army without having to include the allies taxes on each army. Now they're 1/4 of the way to going back in time to pre-5th Edition when Chaos Daemons and Chaos Space Marines were in the same codex. Has a new Blood For the Blood God mechanic which stores Blood Tokens when any unit, enemy or friendly, is completely wiped or when anyone dies in a challenge which can grant you stuff from FNP to replacing a character with a Bloodthirster. Sadly, no Kharn - nor does it fix any of the massive problems with Chaos Space Marines and their units.
*'''[[Adeptus Mechanicus]]: Skitarii:''' Finally grants the AdMech a proper 40K army after years of either secondment units or the HH Ruleset, you now have an ally-tier codex full of new models. Currently known are two variants of an open-topped chicken walker and what looks like an Imperial [[Defiler]] alongside plenty of Skitarii. Plenty of new weapons are in store, including Plasma Fusils, special guns that let them overwatch at BS2, and many special varieties of stat-fuckery. As a gutted, stand-alone release otherwise intended for allied detachments, this one's actually really good. Same goes for its counterpart below.
*'''[[Eldar|Eldar: Craftworlds]]'''- New plastic models for Jetbikes (including Warlock Jetbikes) and Autarchs. Additionally, GW in its infinite wisdom has decided the already OP Wraithknights needed a bigger buff- so now they're Jump Gargantuan Creatures armed with Strength D weapons (thus being able to out-Nidzilla the Tyranids thanks to their new mega-Formation a la the Necron Decurion). All other Distort weapons are Strength D as well- which means that the space elves now have a shitload of anti-everything weapons available at less than one-tenth the price they would be at in any other Codex. This news has been taken as proof that everyone involved in game balance at GW should be fired at once. It also says a lot that Matt Ward's infamous Daemons of Chaos army book is now viewed as being reasonable and balanced by comparison to this codex, not to mention this book was made in his absence!
*'''Imperial Knights:''' Knights got a nice addition of carapace weapons for all Knight variants, as well as the addition of the Knight Crusader, the Knight Gallant, and the Knight Warden. Also got some nifty rules, wargear for character knights, etc. All-in-all, a formidable ally-tier codex for the Imperium.
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus: Cult Mechanicus:''' In retrospect, the Skitarii release should have been a clue that this one was coming. Models include the Electro-Priests, a servitor that's part-tank, Castellans from the RT era, and a new Techpriest. And the tanks count as troops. Like its forbear, the crunch is mechanically strong and the fluff is pretty neat.
*'''Adeptus Astartes: Space Marines:''' It wouldn't be a new edition without the Spehss Marines getting yet another codex now, would it? The main perks of this codex are the extension of Combat Doctrines (the old Ultramarines Chapter Tactics) to all Chapters, and the ability to take any non-LR vehicle in squadrons of 3 for extra bonuses (for example, 3 Vindicators can pass up their individual pieplates for a single Apocalyptic Blast with Ignores Cover). They've also gotten a Decurion-style FOC made of Formations, which seems to be the trend for all post-Necron 7E codices.
*'''Adeptus Astartes: Dark Angels:''' Obvious attempt that GW is actually trying to update as many armies as it can in one edition; like the 6e codex before it, progress has been made to make them stand out from vanilla codex marines, rather than just being "stubborn marines with good bikes and terminators". The robed paranoid Marines now have improved overwatch, a new psychic discipline called Interromancy based on telepathy but more about mind fucking, improved aircraft, a Decurion-equivalent named the Lion's Blade Strike Force as well as new FOCs for the Deathwing and Ravenwing, widespread access to grav-guns as well as an overall points balancing in line with Codex Marines.
*'''[[Tau]]:''' New models for Fire Warriors and Crisis Battlesuits are confirmed, and they're getting at least two new units- a Riptide-sized stealth suit called the XV-95 Ghostkeel and a massive Battlesuit with a giant railgun and a fuckton of missiles called the XV-128 Stormsurge. But battlesuits aren't the only thing that got an update: there's also a new Fire Warrior sprue that can be configured into a new Breacher Squad, which gets shorter guns, but an additional drone and a Field Amplifyer Relay. It turns out the "new" codex is actually just literally the old Codex with the cover revamped and the new models for existing units thrown in. The actual formations and detachments are present in the Warzone Damocles: Kauyon Supplement.

===New Dataslates===
*'''Strike Force Ultra''' - Of course, the first Dataslate to be released for 7E is a Spehss Mehren one. All it does is give two different options to deliver Terminators to the field. It was more of a sales item though, as the limited set was the only place where you could get a new Terminator Captain model.
*'''Officio Assassinorum''' - Announced alongside the Grey Knights codex. Essentially allows any Imperial Force to field Assassins now that the Grey Knights are finally excising the Inquisition from their codex and having an explicitly Grey Knights Codex instead of Matt Ward's "let's throw everything into one book and crank that shit up to eleven!"
*'''[[Maleceptor]]/[[Toxicrene]]''': A new multi-unit kit for the [[Tyranids]], this gives rules for a massive waste of psychic powers/a modest monster Venomthrope-wannabe. The former is overcosted for what it's meant for, the other's probably best for stalling big knights.
*'''[[Mycetic Spore|Tyrannocyte]]/[[Sporocyst]]/[[Mucolid Spore]]''': Suddenly a cry of joy from Tyranid players across the globe, the Tyranids' drop pod is back, and better than ever before. For 75 points it can hold 20 models or 1 monstrous creature, therefore making many Tyranid units very usable e.g. Haurspex, Toxicrene, Zoanthropes or even make pyrovore semi-useful- and on top of that, it can move and comes with FIVE Deathspitters (that can be swapped with Barbed Stranglers or Venom Cannons). Its alternate models are no less useful- the Mucolid Spore is a Spore Mine with Shrouded, doubled strength, and AP3 (as well as the ability to assault Flyers), and the Sporocyst is essentially a living fortification that infiltrates and can boost synapse range, while producing Spore Mines and Mucolid Spores as it shoots shit with the same five gun options the Tyrannocyte has (and with SIX wounds, it's going to be a very useful meatshield). All in all, a much-needed boost for the Tyranids.
*'''[[Neurothrope]]''': Week 3 of Tyranid saga brings back another classic (and new Zoanthrope/Venomthrope sprues): The Doom of Malan'tai (Now known as the [[Neurothrope]]). It's not quite as awesome as it once was, but it's not quite as cheese either.
**These three Nid releases are compiled into ''Shield of Baal: Leviathan'', but are also available for free in BL's webpage. Wow, that's actually nice.
*'''The Unrelenting Hunt''': A Dark Angels formation, intended for use with the announced Dark Angels expansion to the Dark Vengeance starter set.
*'''Kranon's Helguard''': As above, but geared towards the Crimson Slaughter instead.
*'''Kharn's Butcherhorde''': As part of the 2014 Advent calendar, CSM got a whole formation for [[Kharn|a fun guy]] and his posse. Khorne's still not useful.

===New Campaign Supplements===
*'''Sanctus Reach''' - Follows Orks attacking Imperium sector, mostly fluff and a bit thin on rules, but contains Ork/Imperial Knight/Astra Militarum formations. Also re-introduced '''Planetstrike''' missions (in case people assumed this vanished) as well as generic campaign missions.
**'''The Red Waaagh''' - Waaagh! Grukk attacks a Knight World
***'''Evil Sun Rising''' - Ork novella following Waaagh! Grukk. One of the only stories written in an Ork Perspective.
**'''Stormclaw''' - Waaagh! Grukk vs Space Wolves, is actually a prequel/side-episode to The Red Waaagh, surrounding Krom Dragongaze's crashed Thunderhawk and what he does after his arrival on planet.
**'''Hour of the Wolf''' - the Space Wolves join the war in full and daemons show up because a Vortex Missile misfires and opens the warp, the Wolves win and stand ready to defend the planet against the Inquisition. Ork/Wolf formations,, as well as more Planetstrike missions
***'''Hour of the Wolf: Blood on Sacred Mountain''' - Space Wolf novella
***'''Maledictus''' - A Grey Knights Novella about Orks accidentally opening a Warp Rift.

*'''Shield of Baal''' - Tyranid attack on the Cryptus System near, you guessed it, Baal.
**'''Leviathan''' - The Tyranids make their first steps into the Cryptus System, and are being blocked by the Sisters of Battle, Guard, and Tempestus forces. Re-introduces Cities of Death (which is now reduced to more Tactical Objectives for Maelstrom) and Death from the Skies (which allow you to buy a new rule for your fliers). Also packages in all the new Nids (and the redone Zoanthropes) as well as bring in some new formations, a FOC and Warlord traits for the gribblies.
***'''Tempestus''' - Novella regarding an Inquisitor grabbing some Storm Troop-er, Tempestus Scions and making them steal some nids for research.
***'''Dread Night''' - Short Story about [[Dreadknight|DREADKNIGHT OUTTA FUCKIN' NOWHERE!]].
***'''Shadow of the Leviathan''' - Short story about how [[Varro Tigurius]] tries to reach the Hive Mind again. Involves [[Maleceptor]]s jobbing.
**'''Deathstorm''' - Captain Karlaen is sent to Asphodex to rescue the planetary governor before he gets eaten.
***'''Wraithflight''' - Short Story about Craftworld Iyanden fighting a hive splinter before it again goes after them. Ties in with the Warzone Valedor novel.
***'''A Son's Burden''' - Short Story about [[Gabriel Seth]] heeding [[Dante]]'s call for aid in the Cryptus System and finishing off some cult before going off to an even deadlier war.
**'''Exterminatus''' - The next step of the War for Cryptus, as the Blood Angels arrive in full force. Some unexpected allies (read: Necrons [[Matt Ward|again]]) arrive to aid them. New FOCs, Formations, Relics and Warlord Traits are being made for the Blood Angels, Flesh Tearers and Necrons. Nothing for Sisters of Battle or the Astra Militarum at all, despite them featuring prominently in the early campaign.
***'''Devourer''' - Short story recounting Anrakyr the Traveller's arrival in the Cryptus systems.
***'''The Word of the Silent King'''- Short story about the infamous alliance between the Silent King and Dante and how it came to be. As it turns out, the Necrons were just using the Blood Angels as meatshields and only revealed it to the Blood Angels after the fact. Dante ordered the incident covered up and later swore to kill the Silent King.
*'''Operation Shadowtalon''' - A new supplement for the Damocles Crusade, involving the [[Raven Guard]]'s operations against the Tau and their alarmingly-upgraded tools.
*'''Warzone Damocles: Kauyon:''' The big damn supplement featuring all the rules for the new Tau releases since GW are cheap Indians with their releases. There's also a rules for slightly-different Decurions of the Raven Guard and [[White Scars]] varieties.
*'''Warzone Damocles: Mont'ka:''' Features new detachments, Tactical Objectives, and formations for the Farsight Enclaves and Cadians (Essentially the Imperial Guard, but hwatever).

==Features==
=== General stuff ===
*The rulebook is being written by [[Jervis Johnson]] , [[Robin Cruddace]] , and Simon Grant.
*The Core Rulebook's gonna be split into three parts: One for the collectible (modeling and painting) part of the hobby, one for the fluff, and one that's just the rules. All together, they cost $85. ($140 in Australia)
**Some time after 7E and [[The End Times]] went into full swing, GW snapped back into ''their'' logic and re-released the rulebook as a hardcover for double the price of one of those three books.
*Rules from Escalation and Stronghold Assault are included in the new rulebook. Obviously they've left out the data sheets so that you still kinda sorta need to buy those books if you wanna use their content properly.
*Introduction of [[Tzeentch|Maelstrom of War]], an alternative to the standard set of Eternal War missions. A set of missions (6, to be specific) which revolve around special "Tactical Objectives". Those objectives are drawn from one of 36 cards and award Victory Points for completing them. Example Tactical Objectives that have been mentioned include "manifest a psychic power", "destroy a flyer", and "kill a Character". Tactical Objectives can be exchanged for another one in the deck at will, and if one is completed it will be replaced with a new one. The new 7th edition codices all seem to be adding additional Tactical Objectives which can only be used by that codex's faction.
*Considering that the Tau, Space Marines, and Eldar have gotten rewrites, it's likely that GW is planning to update every faction to work within 7E paramaters, a ballsy choice considering they also annihilated Fantasy and forcibly launched Age of Sigmar.
*You can ignore the Force Org chart if you wish, resulting in an "Unbound" army list. However, using the FOC to make a "Battle-Forged" army list which grant you a variety of benefits. The traditional FOC is now referred to as a "Combined Arms Detachment" which allows you to reroll Warlord Traits and lets your Troops control objectives even if an enemy scoring unit is within range of them (unless they also happen to have Objective Secured). Other FOCs are starting to come as new codices are released.
**The potential for abuse with Unbound lists is obvious- as long as the units themselves are legal, the allies chart is followed, and the point limit is adhered to, literally anything goes. Like an army made up of nothing but HUNDREDS of cheap troops models (like Grots/Cultists etc) for the [[tarpit]] to end all tarpits, or an army consisting entirely of superheavy vehicles. But on the bright side, it also allows you to field fluffy armies legally (e.g. the First Company of a Space Marine Chapter, the [[Phoenix Lord]]s, or a regiment of the Death Korps of Krieg).
**Even worse is a trend that began with the Necron Codex: Decurions, or Detachments made entirely of formations, some with absurdly unbalancing rules. Considering that they're not going to be updating any of the forces before into getting some, this leads some armies (Blood Angels and Orks in particular) with a very big shafting.
*Kill-Team remains out of the book, though the rules Games Workshop has are still valid.
*They're redoing the Allies matrix. See pic related. And now you can have Grey Knights ally with Daemons, allied with Tyranids, allied with Tau. Granted, this army's going to be pretty much a bunch of paperweights most of the time with Come The Apocalypse rules.
** Battle Brothers: Benefit from warlord traits and reserve rolls, ICs can join friendly units, can repair each other's vehicles, and can embark on each other's transports. Allied troops with a battleforged list get objective secured as well.
**Allies of Convenience: Act as enemy units that can't be charged, shot, attacked or targeted, can't move within 1" of each other, and are impacted by stuff that affects enemy models.
**Desperate Allies: As AoC, but with One Eye Open.
**Come the Apocalypse: Ally like Desperate Allies, but must deploy at least 12" apart.

=== Psychic Phase ===
It's pretty much the Magic Phase from Fantasy, back to use after 2E. First you add up all the Mastery Levels of all your psykers, then add d6 to that; the total is how many Warp Charge dice you get this turn. When you want to manifest a power you roll any number Warp Charge dice, and for each 4+ you get one point. If you have enough points equal to or greater than the warp charge cost next to the psychic power's name, you manifest it. You may be freely decide how many Warp Charge dice you want to roll, but rolling more dice runs a higher risk of Perils of the Warp. Speaking of, Perils occurs if you roll multiple sixes. Deny The Witch now takes place here and requires Warp Charges to work, so having at least one psyker in your army seems like it'll be necessary. (It can now also be used to nullify enemy blessings as well as offensive powers.) Expect Tau, Dark Eldar and Necrons getting a rule either in errata or core rules to deny.
*Force Weapon activation now counts as a psychic power, and is now activated in the psychic phase. This does not count against your free Primaris.
*Your opponent gets d6 warp charge dice during ''your'' psychic phase as well for their deny the witch rolls(roll once for the both of you).
*Witchfire/psychic shooting attacks are done in the psychic phase too, and no longer make the psyker count as having fired a weapon.
*If a psyker generates all his powers from the same discipline, he also gets the primaris power for free in addition to any other powers known ''(such as '''Force''' or unique powers)'', this is called '''Psychic Focus'''. This has the deliberate side effect of making sure all psykers ''(except those that have entirely fixed power sets - such as Broodlords)'' can use at least two powers.
**Heralds, Daemon Princes and Marked Sorcerers all get their respective Deity's Primaris power for free after generating all of their other powers just for being aligned, since many of them could not be able to benefit from Psychic Focus due to the way they have to distribute their selection of powers.

====New psychic discipline: Daemonology ====
It is split into Sanctic and Malefic.

Sanctic powers are usable by Grey Knights like normal (but barred from Malefic). Likewise, Daemons (and Sorcerers with the Daemon USR) can use Malefic powers like any other, but can never take Sanctic powers. All other psykers (except for Eldar, which can only use Sanctic, and Tyranids, who get neither cause FUCK YOU GW.) can use both Daemonology sets, but they get perils when they roll ''any'' doubles, not just double sixes. This means that you can have <s>both Radical Inquisitors who summon Daemons</s> (Inquisition Codex units with Psychic upgrades can only take Sanctic but they still peril on any doubles because they don't have the Purity of Heart rule Grey Knights have) and Chaos Space Marines [[Malal|who hunt down and kill them]].

*The Sanctic powers are as follows:
**'''Primaris: Banishment''' Warp Charge 1. A Malediction with a 24" range that can only be used on units with the Daemon USR. Will reduce the Daemon's Invul save by 1 (So the basic 5+ Daemon Invul becomes a 6+)
**'''1: Gate of Infinity''' Warp Charge 1. A benediction that allows a single unit that isn't swooping or zooming to Deep Strike anywhere.
**'''2: Hammerhand''' Warp Charge 1. A blessing that grants the caster and unit +2S.
**'''3: Sanctuary''' Warp Charge 1. Caster and his unit gain +1 to their Invul save. Additionally, all Daemons (allies and ememies) within 12" of the caster treat all terrain as Dangerous Terrain.
**'''4: Purge Soul''' Warp Charge 1. Focused Witchfire power with a range of 24". Both you and your enemy must now roll d6 and add Ld to the roll. If the enemy loses, he must take an unsavable wound.
**'''5: Cleansing Flame''' Warp Charge 2. Range 9" S5 AP4 Assault 2d6 Nova power with Soulblaze and Ignores Cover.
**'''6: Vortex of Doom''' Warp Charge 3. Range 12" Strength D AP1 Assault 1 Blast Vortex power. Failing the test to manifest this power automatically causes perils.

*The Malefic powers are as follows:
**'''Primaris: Summoning''' Warp Charge 3. A conjuration that summons one of the following within 12 inches of the user: 10 Bloodletters, 10 Pink Horrors, 10 Plaguebearers, 10 Daemonettes, 5 Flesh Hounds, 3 Flamers, 3 Nurgling Swarms, 5 Seekers.
**'''1: Cursed Earth''' Warp Charge 1. All models with the Daemon USR (allied and enemy) within 12 inches of the user gain +1 to their invulnerable save and do not scatter when Deep Striking within range of the user.
**'''2: Dark Flame''' Warp Charge 1. A Witchfire template power with S4 AP5, Assault 1, and the Soul Blaze and Torrent rules.
**'''3: Infernal Gaze''' Warp Charge 1. A 18 inch range Beam power with S3 AP 4, Assault 1, and the Armourbane and Fleshbane rules.
**'''4: Sacrifice''' Warp Charge 1. A conjuration that summons a Herald of your choice (with up to 30 points' worth of wargear options) within 6 inches of the user. However, the user or another friendly unit in range suffers a single wound with no saves allowed.
**'''5: Incursion''' Warp Charge 3. A conjuration that summons one of the following within 12 inches of the user: 3 Bloodcrushers, 3 Screamers, 3 Plague Drones, 3 Fiends.
**'''6: Possession''' Warp Charge 3. Summons a Greater Daemon of your choice within 6 inches, and removes the user as a casualty, just like in Dawn of War. (If the user was part of a unit with Brotherhood of Psykers/Sorcerers, the whole unit is removed.) If the Psychic test to manifest this power fails, the user automatically suffers Perils of the Warp. (Just imagine the look on your opponent's face when your otherwise useless Wyrdvane Psykers explode into a Bloodthirster. Or your Lord of Change, on his last wound, [[Oinkbane|explodes into a new and fully healed Lord of Change]].)

====Perils of the Warp====
Perils of the Warp is now a table to be rolled on to determine what hijinks ensue.
*'''1: Dragged into the Warp''' Psyker takes a leadership test. If passed, he suffers 1 wound or glancing hit with no saves allowed. If failed, he is removed as a casualty and his unit takes D6 S6 AP1 hits, starting from where he was removed.
*'''2: Mental Purge''' Psyker suffers 1 wound/glancing hit with no saves allowed. Randomly select one power from the psyker. It is lost for the rest of the game.
*'''3: Power Drain''' Psyker suffers 1 wound/glancing hit with no saves allowed. If it's the psychic phase, both players lose D3 Warp Charge points. Cronz don't give a shit about this.
*'''4: Psychic Backlash''' Psyker suffers 1 wound/glancing hit with no saves allowed
*'''5: Empyric Feedback''' Psyker takes a leadership test. If failed Psyker suffers 1 wound/glancing hit with no saves allowed. If passed no effect.'''
*'''6: Warp Surge''' Psyker takes a leadership test. If failed Psyker suffers 1 wound/glancing hit with no saves allowed. If passed psyker gains 3++, Fleshbane, Armourbane, and Smash until the next friendly psychic phase. ''Double with Warpflame for extra lulz.''

===New rulebook warlord traits===
They're pretty sweet overall.
*'''Tactical'''
# '''[[Creed|TACTICAL GENIUS]]''' While Warlord is alive, can discard up to 2 active Tactical Objectives (TacO) at the turn's end instead of 1
# '''Master of Interference''' At the end of your turn, opponent must randomly selects a TacO and discards it (One use only)
# '''Well-Prepared''' Generate one additional TacO first turn
# '''Forward Planning''' You can redraw all TacO on first turn
# '''Master of Fate''' While Warlord is alive, re-roll VP awarded for TacO
# '''Lead By Example''' +1 VP for successful Objective Secured TacO by Warlord
*'''Command'''
# '''Inspiring Presence''' Friendly units within 12" of Warlord can use of his Ld
# '''Intimidating Presence''' Enemies within 12" of Warlord use the lowest Ld in the unit
# '''The Dust of a Thousand Worlds''' Friendly units within 12" of Warlord have Move Through Cover
# '''Master of the Vanguard''' Friendly Units get +1" for run and charge within 12"
# '''Target Priority''' Units within 12" bubble of Warlord re-roll 1s to hit during shooting <s>(suck it Tau - this is permanent)</s> (The Tau can also take this as well. so suck it everyone~)
# '''Coordinated Assault''' same as above but for assault
*'''Personal'''
# '''Master of Defence''' Warlord has Counter-Attack
# '''Master of Offence''' Warlord has Furious charge
# '''Master of Manoeuvre''' Warlord has Outflank
# '''Legendary Fighter''' 1VP for each character your Warlord slays in a challenge
# '''Tenacity''' Warlord has FNP
# '''Immovable Object''' Warlord has Fearless and IWND
*'''Strategic'''
# '''Conqueror of Cities''' Stealth in ruins + Move Through Cover (Ruins)
# '''Night Attacker''' Choose for night fighting and all models in your army have Night Vision (Night Fighting is piss weak in 7th though ["Damnit, that was one of our few advantages" - Every Dark Eldar player].)
# '''Master of Ambush''' Warlord + 3 units (non-vehicle) have Infiltrate
# '''Strategic Genius''' +1 to Seize and re-roll reserves while Warlord is alive
# '''Divide to Conquer''' -1 to opponent's reserves
# '''Princeps of Deceit''' During the first enemy turn, 3 enemy units take a pinning check (kind of poor)

===Other rule changes===
*Vector strikes are 1 hit, S user, Ap2; the enemy takes D3 if they are a zooming flyer or FMC in swoop mode.
*All units are scoring, except for Swooping FMCs, Zooming Flyers (and units embarked on them), units whose rules specifically state that they are not scoring, units that are falling back, and unclaimed buildings/fortifications.
*However units from Troops choices on armies that follow the Combined Arms FoC in Battle-Forged armies have additional scoring ability referred to as Objective Secured, meaning if they get on an objective, non-Troops units cannot Contest it from them, they can only be contested by other Objective Secured troops.
*Vehicles must declare Jink when they are targeted with shooting now (before To Hit rolls are made), gives a Cover save (4+ now), but forces the vehicle to make snap shots. Interestingly, a vehicle does not need to have moved in the previous movement phase to Jink (presumably to fairly allow the player who goes second to Jink in the first turn). <s>This is actually retarded bullshit because even if a vehicle is immobilized it can still jink when exploiting [[RAW]]</s> This has been fixed in the Rules Errata Warhammer 40k: the Rules" of "[http://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/Errata/Warhammer_40000/Warhammer_40000_Rules_EN.pdf January 2015].
*Flying Monstrous Creatures now only take one grounding check, at the end of the shooting phase, rather than one check per shooting attack. And only if they take an unsaved wound
*Flying Monstrous Creatures now must spend at least one turn gliding after using a swoop move before they can charge.
*Additional "overkill" wounds taken in challenges now spread to the squad after the challenging Character is dead. This means that you can't take a challenge just to soak up all the damage from the rest of your unit (poor ork nobz).
*Conversely, characters locked in a challenge can be hit by units outside of the challenge if they have nothing else to hit. This includes after the one side's non-character models wiping out all of the other side's non-character models. This means no more having 20 dudes tied up standing around doing nothing because the challenge isn't over.
*Shooting attacks from a squad are resolved one weapon type at a time. For example, in a squad of tactical marines you may choose to resolve the flamer first, then the bolters, then the sergeant's plasma pistol, then the missile launcher. Very useful if your opponent brought a fortification bullshit that a void shield generator is (chance to pop the shield with the squad's heavy anti-tank weapon before you pelt it with your other guns).
*Rending now officially no longer counts as ap2 against vehicles on its own (so basically things like daemonettes are a lot less threatening to vehicles).
*Vehicle damage chart is changing again; you need a roll of 7 to make tanks Explode. Thus they can only be insta-sploded if there is a +modifier applicable to the roll, either from AP2 (+1), AP1 (+2) or Open-Topped (+1). This makes them more resilient - not to the ridiculous level of 5E, but to the level they can actually compete with infantry and MC, finally bringing the balance between mech and bio.
*Flyers that suffer an immobilized result now have to take a test- 3+, the flyer counts as being crew stunned (one turn of locked velocity). However, on a 1 or 2, the flyer crashes and burns.
*Vehicle Explosions are now S4 all the time.
*Units in a vehicle that was destroyed cannot charge on the following turn unless the vehicle in question was an assault vehicle.
*The Split Fire rule no longer requires a leadership test.
*The Counter Attack rule no longer requires a Leadership test.(Go MoK cultists and Space Wolves!)
*Vehicles can now use Snap Shots with Ordnance weapons, as long as the weapon itself allows Snap Shots to be fired (still no Snap Shots from Blast weapons). Similarly, vehicles can now fire Ordnance weapons normally at Combat Speed, although all other weapons that turn will be fired as Snap Shots.
*Flamer templates now hit open-topped vehicle passengers D6 times. Bad news for DE and Orks.
*ICs can't join units with MCs, (bye, invisible Riptide).
*ICs can't join units that are infiltrating unless they also have infiltrate.
*Precision Shot is a USR, so IG needs 6s to do precision after the order granting it. Interestingly it does not say on the character page that they have this USR. The same goes with Precision Strike. They probably don't, seeing as the Astra Militarum codex (Being written with 7th in mind) has a wargear reserved for characters that gives the Precision Shot USR.
*Smash can now either confer all melee attacks outside of HoW AP2 or make one single attack at Sx2 with a re-rollable Pen roll. ("Fucking Bullshit!" -Every Tyranid player)
*Invulnerable and cover saves can now be taken against strength D weapons, unless the strength D weapon in question rolled a 6 to wound. Strength D weapons that did not roll a 6 are treated as having S10 and the weapon's AP, so T6+ units won't suffer Instant Death from them (on a Destroyer To Wound roll of 2-5 the victim loses D3 Wounds, good for the Tyranid MCs at least, though on a Destroyer To Wound roll of 6 it inflicts D6+6 wounds which would probably kill anything anyway). In addition, Strength D allocates wounds like barrage does.
*Barrage weapons must now direct fire in order to hit something in their minimum range, so no more hiding basilisks out of LOS, unless maybe on a huuuge table.
*Sniper weapons lost Pinning and Rending, but rolls of 6 against infantry still give AP2 hits. When they shoot at vehicles, they now have S4.
*Skyfire/Interceptor combo no longer allows to hit non Flyer/Skimmer/FMC targets at BS.
*You can't disembark from Chariots. Also, if a Necron Chariot rider passes his Ever-Living roll, [[Awesome|his whole damn chariot comes back]] (with one Hull Point).
*Chariots no longer give you Sv bonus. This only means that Necrons gotta spend few extra points.
*Walkers now have Hammer of Wrath.
*Grenades can only be used once per unit per phase while shooting. In assault, each model can use a grenade as a single attack.
*Units can now charge Walkers they can't hurt. For Tyranid players, this is invaluable indeed.
*They updated with FAQs that remove a lot of what was said in 6th. All psyker abilities that are not 6th Edition or higher are now removed. Example: Ork Weirdboys no longer have their random table and could only use Daemonology until they got their new Codex, where they got a whole new discipline.
*Chariots have the Relentless special rule. The Burning Chariot is now useful!
*Chariots in close combat always uses their front armour value.
*Any model with (Character) next to unit type can be the Warlord of your army. While this sounds really silly, this means characters like the Broodlord and [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior|that lone fire warrior who took on the Lord of Change alone]] can make fluffy list even more possible.
*Flying Monstrous Creatures can Jink ''while gliding!'' Not just swooping. [[Venomthrope|Find a way to]] [[Nurgle|give them Shrouded]] and you have 2+ cover save on your melee beast the turn he wants to assault.
*Dedicated Transports are now a special rule as opposed to a force org slot type, or "battlefield role" as they are called now. A transport starts with its own battlefield role (most of them are just Fast Attack, like Rhinos and Razorbacks are), but its role is overridden by whatever takes them as a Dedicated Transport -- i.e. a Rhino is Troops if holding a Tactical Squad, or Elites if holding Veterans.
*Rules concerning multiple levels no longer seem to exist. Splash damage and flamers now have unlimited vertical range and deal damage through floors (though only where ruins are concerned; fortifications work the same as before).

==Boxed Sets==
*'''Dark Vengeance''' is still the starter boxed set, it just got a facelift, a new mini-rulebook and the Chaos Aspiring Champion sprue that had been available on its own for ages has been added. It eventually got supplementary sets that added a few bonus models to one side. Not much to give you the full set, but it's a start.
*'''Stormclaw''', A new campaign box set featuring [[Space Wolves]] vs [[Orks]], came and went in July 2014, meaning that we might be expecting a new Wolfdex for August 2014 if the current pattern of WFB/40K releases is correct, and this kit not too soon after. They freakin' teased us with this one, adding the mini-rulebook inside it to make us think it was the starter set, only to re-release Dark Vengeance the week after.
** Grukk FaceRippa is the Warboss for the Ork set, equipped with a kombi-rokkit, a power klaw, and an attack squig. Guy's being cast as a kill-krazy Goff, also brimming with some new dakka and teef. His Waaagh is covered in the Red Waaagh supplement ''(spoiler: he dies early on in the fluff and his Waaagh continues without him) (spoiler: he got better though)'' they are not a secondary army themselves but his formation can be used on its own.
** Krom Dragongaze is the package's Wolf Lord, a character at least mentioned before, now brought to a model form. He's being cast as a very pissed-off yiff with a Frost Axe and a totem on him.
** Unlike previous boxed sets such as Assault on Black Reach and Dark Vengeance there are no limited edition sculpts aside from the Wolflord and the Warboss, every other model are the standard non-snap fit sprues. To rub further salt in the wound for Ork players, Grukk is a modified sculpt of the plastic warboss from AoBR. However, it's still more badass than the AoBR.
*'''[[Space Hulk]]''': And the fandom rejoiced for GW's act of kindness, even if it's just to keep a grubby hold on the copyrights to the name. It's essentially a re-release of 3rd Edition with limited availability and some new missions. There's also a novella out called ''Sin of Damnation'' that chronicles what goes down. Also available are a couple small supplement missions allowing you to play with your regular [[Deathwing]]/[[Space Wolves|Wolf Guard]]/[[Ultramarines|Smurf]] Terminators, granting some new weapons and Cyclone Missiles.
*'''Deathstorm''': There in indeed another limited-edition campaign set that reconfirms the [[Blood Angels]] starter rumors back from the release of 7E, and they're packed with the Nids as it's part of the ''Shield of Baal'' campaign. Like Stormclaw, the only real unique models here being the two heroes.
**Karlaen is obviously the captain of the First Company, what with his huge armor, Iron Halo, and Thunder Hammer he uses in place of a sword. Kinda disappointed he has to go save some hapless planetary governor rather than massacre the fuck out of the Nids, but considering how [[Ultramarines|the last guys who fought the Nids full-scale ended up]], it's maybe for the better.
**The Spawn of Cryptus is only a Broodlord with Stealth instead of a legit solo character. His upper claws have massive fucking talons, his headspike is huge, and even his tongue has a spike.
*'''[[Assassinorum Execution Force]]:''' A new Space Hulk-style Limited edition board game which is a chronicle of an Execution Force hunting down Chrimson Slaughter Sorcerer Drask. The 4 Assassins got bitchin' new models, comes with 15 Chaos Cultists, a Terminator Lord kit (to be built as a Terminator Sorcerer) and 3 snap-fit Chaos Space Marines. Also comes with the White Dwarf that holds all the Assassin's main game rules.

==Fluff Updates==
===Orks===
*After leaving Armageddon, Ghazghkull engaged in a space battle with Helbrecht and Yarrick and was saved by the direct intervention of Gork and Mork, who commanded him to make a Waaagh! so massive that they could lead the Orks personally. And then they threw him through the warp, 300 years into the past, from M41.990 to 694. He's currently on his way to Octarius to krump the Tyranids and show the Overfiend who's the real boss of the Orks. Since the first recorded mentions of Thraka are from about 7 years before the first Ork invasion of Armageddon, in M41.934, this means that he traveled into a past in which his giant WAAAGH and his huge reputation amassed from it didn't even exist yet. So he's literally building an army in the past, possibly to jump into the future with again and back up his M41.990-era horde once it's big enough. Emperor preserve you if Ghazghkull ever meets with himself due to time shenanigans. Source: [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Da_Great_Waaagh!]
* There is a huge emphasis on the End Times theme, with the Orks suddenly being seized with a religious fervor to gather for the Last WAAAAAAGH!!! - that often mentioned hypothetical galaxy-conquering unification of the Orks seems to be less and less hypothetical as time goes on, especially given Ghazghkull's new blessings from the Ork gods.
* The idea that Orks' psychic fields help their otherwise impossible technology work has been really downplayed, possibly removed. The Meks are really competent in this edition. The book Evil Sun Rising places a lot of emphasis on Meks going off of luck and inspiration with little memory about how they did it.
* More theories as to how the Orks reproduce are thrown around with the spores thing being offered as just one possibility and it is unconfirmed as to how they do it. This is dumbfounding, as even normal guardsmen in novels know how Orks reproduce.

===Space Wolves===
*A few retcons about Leman Russ- some time after he was adopted by wolves, a hunting party stumbled across his cave and killed his wolf-mother. After killing twelve men in an attempt to protect his "brothers", the hunters realized Russ was special and convinced him to go with them to King Thengir. When the Emperor revealed himself, Leman Russ challenged him to a duel on the spot (no mention of any eating or drinking contests), which lasted for hours before the Emperor finally knocked him out. Apparently Emps KOing Russ in one punch wasn't flattering enough to justify being included.

===Grey Knights===
*[[Vorth Mordrak]] has been mentioned to be Admiral of the Fleet. Any mention of the whole "Ghost Knights" deal is practically nonexistent, as is any mention of [[Anval Thawn]]. However, it's never explicitly said if these events are noncanon, and considering GW's stance at continuity, this likely will remain so.
*[[Khornate Knights|That one incident with those Sisters of Battle]] has now mostly been retconned to not involve the sacrifice. Sisters still jobbed in the 'dex, mind, but it was because Draigo wanted them to hold the line.

===Dark Eldar===
*Commorragh is not as secure as once thought - there is a sealed hole in the bottom (how can there be a 'bottom of Commorragh when it's made of numerous inter-dimensional realms where 'up' is a subjective concept?) of the Dark City called Khaine's Gate, and something is whispering through it out of the Warp, trying to get into Commorragh. Vect's putting up some failsafes in the vain hope of containing whatever is on the other side, but they aren't working. Rumors abound that he's making a sanctuary so if things turn to shit in Commorragh he can get away and start a new Dark Eldar empire somewhere else. Between [[Khaine|the name of the Gate]] and the Warp connection, this suspiciously has Eldar cheese Renaissance written all over it, which they've been [[Just As Planned|prophesying about since 1st Edition]]. Most hopeful news for the setting since [[Farsight]] rebelled against the [[Tau|fascist confucian weeaboo empire with a Pope]] and [[Alpha Legion|speculated operatives]] stopped the Horus Heresy from leading to [[The Cabal|prophecies of doom]] [[Alpharius|by possibly killing each other]].
*Vect and Lady Malys are at all-out war with one another, and each is convinced the other wants to flood Commorragh with daemons. Ironically, that's exactly the opposite of what either of them wants and their fighting is weakening the failsafes further.
*Having noticed unnerving parallels between the greatly increased raiding and the frenzy of depravity that occurred shortly before the Fall, Urien Rakarth and several of his fellow Haemonculi have taken to placing numerous slaves in stasis pods so they can continue feeding off their suffering even if the Dark City is wiped out.

===Blood Angels===
*There are some rumors that the only reason the Red Thirst exists is because of some genetic decay during the process in which the gene-seed is activated by injecting aspirants with Sanguinius' blood. Of course, this is assuming that this all wasn't [[Khorne]]'s fault in the first place.
*The Carmine Blades (Originally called the Swords of Hadroth) are a new chapter. Originally they were feral worlders who were listed as Ultrasmurf successors for some reason and considered the Red Thirst some sort of tribal curse. However, [[Astorath]] made one trip to their homeworld and explained who their true [[spiritual liege]] is (Hint: It's the one with wings). They're all well and cool with this revelation, though it is gonna take a deal of effort and time to curb their more crazy habits.
*The Blood Angels-Necron alliance wasn't nearly as friendly as it seemed- the Silent King was only using the Blood Angels as meat-shields to cover the Necrons' escape from the Tyranids of Cryptus and told the Blood Angels as much after the battle's end when they were too far away to be threatened by any sort of retaliation. Dante ordered the records falsified into the "noble alliance" story (as presented in the Wardex) to cover up how the Chapter was tricked and swore to kill the Silent King for his deception. To be fair, Dante was planning to kill the Silent King anyway when the war ended. (Incidentally, the Silent King claimed to know Sanguinius and have allied with him in the past, which is rather peculiar given that he wasn't even in the Milky Way at the time of the Great Crusade. [[Sanguinor|Unless...]])

===Necrons===
*One funny tale involves some [[Kroot]] eating Necrons. This ends up badly when nanoscarabs start flooding the place. Other tales involve Szeras kidnapping a [[Culexus]] to figure out the Pariah gene, Orikan locking a company of marines into a Time-Loop, and two empires hiring Deathmarks and ending up leaderless at the same time.
*C'Tan are now counted as lower than even the mindless warriors. Every Overlord from here to the Dyson Sphere gets their jollies off on this.
*Dynasties got fluffed out: Mephrit is like the Space Wolves in that they were the Silent King's executioners and they blew up stars, Nihilakh are greedy mofos with a head that could see the future. A few other have some stories, but less detail is on them. Also, no mention of the Maynarkh.
*Apparently Tomb Worlds can be corrupted by Chaos now as the Daemon Prince Shukketh Voidmaw infected a tomb world with taint of Chaos, but not the Necrons within. The invaders pulled the old chaos trick of "transform the landscape to my wishes" nonsense while they were still asleep and altered their crypts and landscape. When the Necrons awoke and saw what he was doing they engaged the daemon hordes to retake the planet. Necrons are immune to direct corruption as they have no souls to taint, but apparently a planet is fair game somehow.
*The Silent King has returned from his exile after encountering the Tyranids and is now desperately attempting to reunite the Necrons to fend off the Hive Fleets. So far, he hasn't been very successful.

===Harlequins===
*At the heart of the Black Library, there is a book penned by the Laughing God himself which tells of the ultimate jest: a way by which Slaanesh can be tricked into expending all of her/his/it's power to save the Eldar species instead of destroying them.
*Harlequin Masques are divided into three different Troupes: Light (Which represents day, swiftness, and heroic combat), Dark (Representing, darkness, villains, and violent endings), and Twilight (Which doesn't involve [[Twilight|sparkling faggots]] and instead represents change, like the webway, or a fateful journey). It's mainly to weave together their entertainment and their jobs as murderous space elf clown ninjas.
**Some of the Masques are fleshed out. The Midnight Sorrow are the local obsessed Chaos-killers. The Veiled Path is composed of trolls and tricksters so good at their job that even Eldar don't know whether or not to trust them (and they're also responsible for driving [[Lady Malys]] crazy and convincing [[Prince Yriel]] into taking the Spear of Twilight). The Frozen Stars is essentially the Harlequin equivalent of Biel-Tan and there are also smaller entries on other troupes, though only like a couple of these minor ones get color schemes.

===Khorne Daemonkin===
*The Khorne Daemonkin are a sect of Chaos Marines that are apparently subservient to the wishes of daemons as opposed to any mortal champions. In this respect, they're not exactly related to the [[World Eaters]] (thus giving a probably flimsy excuse as to why [[Kharn]] doesn't show up in the codex). However, they aren't exactly mutually exclusive either, as it's noted that several of them joined [[Angron]] in fucking up [[Armageddon]] the first time around.
**Due to their worship of the daemons of Khorne, they tend to form a hierarchy not unlike the one governing the daemonic hosts they serve. Each of these Daemonkin warbands is commanded by a [[Bloodthirster]] of Unfettered Fury (The bottom rung of Bloodthirsters, for the given term of bottom). The chain goes up by eights until you reach the top
**Since Khorne has a thing against psykers, these bands don't use them. Instead, whenever they decide to summon daemons, they use insane fanaticism and a metric fuckton of murder (Represented in crunch as the Blood Tithe). If they're lucky, they'll have a Bloodthirster possess someone and break out the old-fashioned way.

===Eldar Craftworlds===
*'''Fuegan's''' role at the Rhana Dandra is expanded upon, he is said to be forging a cosmic chain based upon every kill he's ever made across the galaxy, and that when the final battle comes to pass, this chain will be strong enough to ''"bind the Dragon to his will"'' and unleash it upon the [[Chaos Gods|Dark Gods]]. It is said that the soul of the Dragon lives in him though what this actually means can only be conjecture at this point, so it could be a portion of the C'Tan, some alpha-plus level psychic potential or merely a metaphor for something else. So he's like a badass Jacob Marley.
*'''Baharroth''' is prophesied to make some kind of significant final sacrifice at Rhana Dandra that will change the fate of the galaxy. ''(ie: more significant than merely dying just like the other Phoenix Lords)''
*"Lesser" craftworlds have had their fluff expanded, though not gaining any more screen time. '''Yme-Loc''' apparently has a doomsday device that is powered by the souls of the dead which can strip a continent of life in minutes, but they recently were raided by the Adeptus Mechanicus who left with plenty Eldar Technology to play with. While '''Lugganath''' are looking for a webway portal big enough to take their entire craftworld into the webway.

===Imperial Knights===
* The Damoclese Crusade was broken up majorly by the Freeblade known as the Obsidian Knight. He was tough enough to break Stormsurges and Riptides, but was (supposedly) laid low by some Hammerheads.

===Skitarii===
* Apparently the Mechanicus found some super device that supercharges psykers or something to that effect. Given that its STC is on a Daemon World, one can only assume it will backfire horribly should it somehow get recovered.

===Cult Mechanicus===
* Some Techpriests were desperate enough to fix the Golden Throne that they decided to hire some Dark Eldar for tech support.

===Space Marines===
* Raven Guard Chapter Master Corvin Severax got owned by Shadowsun. Now [[Kayvaan Shrike]] is the new Chapter Master.
* Similarly, [[Kor'Sarro Khan]] tried to kill Shadowsun, but just got a building on his legs for his troubles.

===Dark Angels===
*The Deathwing is said to consist of 20 regular squads and 3 Deathwing Knight squads as well as a command squad, clocking in at a bare minimum of 235 Marines; the actual number is a carefully kept secret of the Dark Angels and is likely to be much higher than that. Same goes for the Ravenwing. Furthermore; company veterans are also now formalised as an additional part of the 3rd-9th companies (rather than being #1 of the "regular" squads) meaning the companies are each about 10% bigger than Codex guidelines.
*There are even more "Circles" of secrets being revealed, all the way down through the companies, even at squad level. For example, the 3rd squad of the 5th company knows less than the 2nd squad, but both know less than any member of the 4th company who themselves know less than the 3rd. How this doesn't make the marines intensely suspicious of their chapter as a whole despite it becoming painfully obvious that every tiny promotion gives them more knowledge hinting at some terrible secret in the chapter's past is unknown.

===Tau Empire===
* During the Damocles Crusade, an Execution Force was deployed against four major Tau leaders: Commander Darkstrider, Farsight, Shadowsun, and Aun'Va.
** Of the four Tau, only Aun'Va gets killed because he had the horrible luck of getting the [[Culexus]]. His death was painful. Desperate to keep morale, the Tau managed to put up holograms to give orders, making them think he was alive. This marks the first death of a major character with a model in 40k since 40k was a thing (well him and Erasmus Tycho).
**Commander Torchstar gets killed, and Commander Bravestorm sacrifices himself to save Farsight from an assassin now leaving a vacancy in Farsight's Eight. In addition to all this Ob'Lotai 9-0 is badly mauled trying to stop an Eversor that was cleaving its way through Farsights battlesuit teams to get to him. Until replacements can be found "The Eight" at the moment is merely a ceremonial name.
* Longstrike and Pask fought to see who was the better tank commander. Pask beat Longstrike badly in their first battle but Longstrike survived and later returned to destroy Pask's Lemun Russ without him even seeing. Pask's probably still alive, salty as all hell.
*The Tau expansion into the Damocles Sector is halted by the Imperium, and the AdMech have formed a blockade cutting their remaining colonies in the sector off from the Empire proper.
*The overall theme with the Tau currentlly is that after all their success the Tau have finally been handed their first real string of defeats after provoking a serious response from the Imperium. They are currently cut off from all their new colonies, which will likely be attacked soon and many of their leaders and commanders are dead or wounded leaving the Empires political future in question. The golden age of expansion the Tau had hoped for seems to be over and the Tau appear to be on the defensive for a change. On another note Shadowsun and Farsight seem to have barried the hatchet, though she is still under orders to arrest Farsight at the first opportunity.

==tl;dr==
New rules. Just not very many of them. Expect Unbound armies to be viewed the same way as Double Force Org last edition. Most of the book has remained the same with minor changes that range from good fixes to increased ambiguity to needless to wtf. Introduction of the new Psychic phase is causing the most rage as people learn how to use and abuse it. Here is a general breakdown of what is going down:
*[[Powergamer]]s are actively trying to break the system succeeding as always. In the next year who knows what new game breaking combos will be found.
*The Neckbeards are raging [[The Ultimate Chaos Daemons Cheese List|as per the boring usual]].
*The Tournament Players are trying to shoehorn their previous lists from last edition to the current.
*The Garagehammer guys are still in the garage doing their thing.
*The Narrative guys are making their own rules and "forging a narrative".
*The General Player base is stuck in the crossfire being flung from the ani of the Neckbeards and Tournament players.
*[[Games Workshop|G-Dubz]] are still trying to take your money.

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Warhammer Tactics]]

Power Armour

2016-01-23T17:41:50Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B: /* Chaos Power Armour */

'''Power Armour''' is a science fiction concept of armor which increases the strength, speed, and reflexes of those who wear it. It features heavily in science fiction/fantasy settings such as [[Warhammer 40,000]].

==Starship Troopers==

Like so many military science-fiction concepts, the modern idea of powered armor dates back to the Mobile Infantry of Heinlein's ''[[Starship Troopers]]''. The "Marauder" suit is bulky, with integrated thrusters and heavy weapons (including nuclear weapons and heavy explosives, carried as easily as a human soldier carries grenades). Their primary purpose is not to destroy indiscriminately (though they certainly can), but to "make war as personal as a punch on the nose" -- to [[Drop Pod|drop in]] and destroy with precision, in order to break the enemy in exactly the right way. In other words, it's much like Crisis [[Battlesuit|battlesuits]] with less [[Tau|weeaboo]] and more [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|humanity fuck yeah]] inside.

Heinlein never discusses [[pauldrons]], but the [[Space Marines]] certainly take after the Mobile Infantry's other aspects.

==Warhammer 40,000==
[[File:Power_Armor.PNG|thumb|right|400px|All eight marks of Space Marine Power Armour.]]
Because 40k has a huge hard on for Space Marines, and because no super soldier worth his genetic enhancements will go into battle without super armaments, 40k has developed nearly as large a hard on for power armor.

===Space Marine Power Armour===

The most iconic users of power armour in 40k are the [[Space Marines]] and the [[Chaos Space Marines]]. Made of ceramite layers upon plates of plasteel and adamantium/adamantine which will deflect all but the most powerful of weapons, Power Armour possess many life support systems designed to keep the Space Marine inside alive, even in the worst and most extreme of battlefield conditions.

The Black Carapace, one of the [[Gene-Seed]] organs, is specially designed to allow a space marine to interface his nervous system with his armor and is the last organ implanted in [[Codex Astartes|Codex]] Chapters. Amongst its features, power armour possess auto-senses to supplement the Marine's already considerable senses, auspex arrays to create minimaps and transmit data between squad members and commanders, painkiller delivery systems in the event of severe bodily damage, and waste recyclers to keep the Marine going for up to fifty days without fresh food or water. The power source is a backpack mounted generator which needs initializing, but after that can take solar energy to keep itself going.

There are eight types or '''Marks''' of Power Armour used by the Astartes. Regardless of their type, they all have massive [[Pauldrons]]. Pictures can be found in the gallery at the bottom of the page.

====Mark I: Thunder Armour====
The first type of Power Armour was designed for the [[Thunder Warriors]] and worn by many of the techno-barbarians of [[Earth|Terra]]. They provided basic protection against weapons and enhancements to upper-body strength, but that is all - the suit was incapable of supporting its own weight and did not provide any significant protection to the legs. Since they were only used on Terra, there was no need to protect them against the void. Though the lack of life support systems and much lesser degree of protection make them essentially useless in the 41st millennium, several Chapters retain sets of Thunder Armour for ceremonial purposes. If you were to field one now, it would probably count as carapace armor (4+ save) with a slight bonus to strength but a penalty to initiative.

In [[Deathwatch_(RPG)|Deathwatch]], you can actually get your hands on some. Be forewarned: it's noisy, doesn't offer as much protection, doesn't work with a Marine's Black Carapace, and actually might not be a whole suit of armor depending on its state of repair. Overall, it's kind of shitty, but it's a surviving artifact linked to the days of the living [[Emperor]] and early Imperium and that impresses other Marines and those Ecclesiarchy schlubs. Take it for formal occasions.

====Mark II: Crusade Armour====
Designed by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] with the [[Great Crusade]] in mind, the Mark II armour was fully enclosed and contained all the life support and auxiliary systems now common among Astartes power armor, like a waste recycling unit and automated medical equipment. Much of these newer additions were made possible by a more efficient cooling system, which allowed a considerable reduction in the size of the powerpack. The helmet also came with a bunch of enhanced sensory equipment. Overall protection and flexibility was much improved, especially since the legs were now enclosed in armoured hoops and came with their own servomotors. Unlike the Mark I suit, the design is still sufficiently sound to remain in active, albeit extremely limited, use well into the 41st millennium.

====Mark III: Iron Armour====
Mark III armour was first conceived for <s>the [[Squat]] campaigns</s> boarding actions of the Great Crusade. It was pretty much a modified Mark II designed to provide better frontal protection for close quarters combat, essentially fulfilling the same role that [[Terminator]] armour would later fulfill. By the time of the Horus Heresy, the Mark III was slowly being phased out and replaced by Terminator armour, but it's still fairly common among the Traitor Legions. In fact, several of the more traditional Legions were reluctant to phase out Mark III because it was the most brutally iconic mark of power armour in their day, so there was talk of keeping it for honour guards or spear tip operations. Even into M41, the helmet or faceplate is still popular.

====Mark IV: Imperial Maximus Suit====
Now having access to more [[Standard Template Construct]]s, the Mechanicum was able to further refine power armour internal systems. In addition to having more advanced visual sensors, the helmet was now capable of movement. The suit was also made a whole lot lighter than before while managing to further improve on the Mark II's protective capabilities. Although the chest power cables were once again relocated to the outside of the plating, they were given an armoured sheath to protect them from damage. [[Horus|Horus Lupercal]] manipulated the Mechanicum's supply lines to ensure that the Legions that were planning to side with him in the Heresy would be fully equipped with Maximus Armour in time for the Heresy; as a result Mark IV was usually reserved for Chapter Masters and senior Captains of the Loyalist Legions. As the Legions were either fully or partially re-equipped with these suits by the time the [[Horus Heresy]] began, Mark IV is one of the most prevalent types of armour among the Chaos Space Marines.

Some Chapters/Legions also made their own sub-patterns of Maximus power armor, such as the Ultramarines' Praetorian-pattern.

====Mark V: Heresy Armour====
In between production of the Mark IV and what would be the Mark VI, both Loyalist and Traitor Legions found that they were running out of replacement parts for damaged systems. This would result in several Legions taking parts from older Marks and inadvertently making a brand new Mark of Power Armour. Although appearances varied widely as a result of its ad hoc nature, some form of standardization was achieved. One of the most notable was the introduction of molecular bonding studs on the left pauldron and both greaves, which made them look totally Metal. Probably one of the most common suits of armour in service among the Traitor Legions, since this was what most of them were wearing when they retreated to the Eye of Terror.

====Mark VI: Corvus Armour====
The much beloved [[Beakie]] armour. Designed as a stopgap measure while newer equipment remained in development, it incorporates some of the newly developed Mark VII features into the battle-proven Mark IV design, producing a suit of armour that is in many ways equal to its descendants. Although it offered no additional protection, Mark VI armour was the first to feature a redundant power system and parts that are slightly interchangeable with those of other marks. Somehow, it also manages to be lighter and fit together more smoothly than the current Mark VII Aquila, allowing for quieter movement, while the helmet includes further improved sensor systems in its, um, "beak". It was named the "Corvus" pattern after [[Primarch]] [[Corvus Corax]] of the [[Raven Guard]], as the XIX Legion was the first to be selected for field testing the armour. Due to the design's inherent stealthiness and legacy, it still remains the preferred armour among the sons of Corax, who tend to be saddled with older equipment anyhow. For reasons nobody can seem to explain, it was also sporadically used by the [[Alpha Legion]] around the time of the Horus Heresy even though it was never actually issued to them.

====Mark VII: Aquila/Imperator Armour====
The most common Mark of Power Armour among loyalist Space Marines, Mark VII armor was still being designed when the Traitor Legions reached the Sol System and seized [[Mars]]. When this fact became all too foreseeable, [[Rogal Dorn]] ordered the design teams transferred to Terra to prevent the Traitors from seizing it. Mark VII featured completely covered chest and arm cabling, a distinct helmet that provided more protection, a high level of compatibility with previous Marks, and also bore the Imperial Aquila on the chest, which was first used there to provide quick identification of the Loyalist Marines during the chaos of the Siege of Terra.

====Mark VIII: Errant Armour====
[[Jes Goodwin]] [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:MkVIII_Errant.jpg originally] designed it with awesome [[Power Fist]]-style hands, a modified helmet, a streamlined power pack, and a more flexible leg-and-ankle joint. Games Workshop only bothered with using the altered breastplate, [[Derp|so the overall design looks like a regular Mark VII with a collar.]] Breaking the trend of reverse-compatibility between newer and older marks, this Mark can only accommodate the helmet designed for it, which kind of becomes a moot point when reserving it for officers, since everyone higher up than a battle brother will never wear his helmet. The specialist design, or the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]'s head-up-own-arse tendencies around distributing new technology, are thought to be the probable reasons why it has yet to be widely adopted among Space Marine chapters. Because of its rarity, the armour is generally restricted for use by senior officers only, and even then they'll usually only be able to wear the breastplate. The [[Minotaurs]] chapter appears to be the only exception here, as almost all of their battle brothers have access to full suits.

It should be noted that, while artificer armor, at least in the art, looks like a pimped out Mk.VIII, regular Mk.VIII [[Crunch|doesn't actually improve armor save]]. But Fantasy Flight [[Deathwatch_(RPG)|gave it some love]] with an extra armour point all around, and the ability to deflect some headshots to the chest, greatly improving its protection.

====Artificer Armour====
Pimped out and individualized versions of regular suits, often enough to be considered one-off derivations in their own right. Artificer armour can be formed from any older mark of Power Armour (perhaps barring Mk.I plate) by adding extra or upgraded protection. The upgraded and individualized suits mean that they require a lot of maintenance and needs techs to work around the clock to make sure they stay functional. Standard issue for [[Techmarines]] and optional for [[Brother-Captain|officers]], pairing artificer armour with an Iron Halo can offer better protection than Terminator armour with none of the drawbacks, yet with only some of the benefits.

====Chaos Power Armour====
While many Traitor Marines are equipped with Marks IV or later (if you go by the models, almost all of them seem to have Mark VII armour with Mark VI legs), Chaos power armor is often a mix-and-match setup. Because Chaos Marines often have to go long periods with no access to proper industrial facilities, proper maintenance and replacement parts became an issue. Because of that, many subsystems in each suit of armor doesn't work and replacement parts come in the form of whatever they can dig up from plunder and taken off of corpses after [[Orks|raiding and looting]]. Furthermore, Chaos Marines like to customize their armor with devotional iconography and personal trophies, making sure that virtually each suit of armor is personalized and none are exactly alike. Where things get even weirder is when the armor gets too steeped in Chaos and begins to twist, mutate, and turn partially organic, or had a daemon replace its machine spirit. It's quite likely that the parts of armor that don't work get replaced with warp magic, daemonic influence, or Dark Mechanicus tech-heresy. Recent editions and artwork show senior Chaos marines with a sinister and more organic-looking power armour, a look they pick up after a while either deliberately or due to the Warp's influence. In the Rogue Trader Era, Chaos Power armor ''was'' organic, so this is actually a pleasant return to the old days.

====Aegis Armour====
The Power Armour of the [[Grey Knights]], Aegis Armour is master-crafted on the forges of Titan and inscribed with prayers and [[Matt Ward|wards]] to prevent [[Daemon]]s from possessing it. Based on parts from Marks VI, VII, and VIII, within the breastplate of each set is a copy of the Liber Daemonica. It frequently bears a stormbolter on its left forearm, keeping both hands of the wearer free to use. There is an Aegis/Grey Knight version of Terminator and Dreadnought armours, too.

===Terminator Armour===
Set aside for space marines who are exemplars of toughness, martial ability, and wonky proportions, [[Terminator]] armor, or Tactical Dreadnought armor, provides the best personal protection available. Heavily layered with adamantium and indestructible [[pauldrons]], a suit of Terminator armor is meant to steamroll nearly everything, and gives a fighting chance against everything else, which is anything that gives anybody else a fighting chance against Terminators. Standard loadout for Terminators are [[Power Fist|power fists]] and [[Storm Bolter|storm bolters]] or [[Power weapon]]s and [[Twin-Linked|twin linked]] bolters for the Chaos variant, but they are able to fit a shoulder-mounted Cyclone missile rack, equip heavy weapons systems, and arm with other killtastic melee weapons. Since most suits are about at least as old as the chapter that owns them, and that the pauldron allegedly contains a tiny fragment of the Emperor's own power armor, these suits are holy relics as well as top-quality wargear.

Despite all the pain they lay down (and keep away), Terminator armor has a few serious drawbacks. First thing is that it is seriously hard to make. Seriously. Most chapters have a only handful that they can distribute amongst their veterans and officers, and any lost suits are damn near irreplaceable. Second thing is that they lack mobility. They counter this mostly since Terminator armor can teleport into the thick of it, and judicious use of teleport homers can put them right where you need them, and a [[Land Raider]] can carry small squads. Beyond that, Terminators are otherwise going to be footslogging since they're too fucking huge to hitch a ride on anything smaller than a house. Unless you're fighting a fast or a crafty opponent, you won't care anyways.

Terminator Armor had 3 major designs: the Cataphractii pattern, the Tartaros pattern, and the Indomitus pattern. The Cataphractii was the first run at Terminator armor, developed after the mkIII power armor and sharing many systems. Bearing much larger power field generators and thicker armor, it provided better protection than future variants, but was much more unwieldy and difficult to use. In game terms, you get a 4++ and S&P. The Tartaros pattern shared many of its systems with the Mark IV power armor and was much more maneuverable than its predecessor but gave up some of its protection to do so. The Indomitus pattern is the current pattern of terminator armor, sharing similarities with the Tartaros pattern in therms of functionality, but is based of a design being tested during the heresy by the Iron Hands legion. After the Horus Heresy, Cataphractii pattern had eventually fallen out of general use; this may have been because was the last of that armor was either lost [[Adeptus Mechanicus|and the pattern became another lost technology]] in the following years, or because production was ceased in favor of later patterns, and most suits were either cannabilized or became chapter relics that wouldn't see field use again. There are also human-sized suits of Terminator armor, but the tiny amount of them that still exist are used exclusively by the Inquisition.

===Centurion Armour===
Since somebody at GW forgot that the [[meme|Xzibit meme]] wasn't funny anymore, Space Marines now have Centurion armor that they equip like a miniature walker vehicle, more like a mini-mech, a cute little dreadnought preparing space marines for their life after living. Centurion armour is "worn" over regular power armor, giving better protection (like terminator armor without the invul save) and comes in two flavors: assault and devastator. Assault Centurions are heavy assault units equipped with drills and meltas or flamers, meant to get in close to enemy strongpoints and fortifications and wreck shit. Devastator units are a heavy fire support units with hurricane bolters and twin-linked heavy weapons, which, in practice, provide less fire power than regular [[Devastator Squad]]s, but higher resilience.

===Warhammer 40000: Space Marine ===
In [[Warhammer 40000: Space Marine]], the Marines are wearing what looks like regular Mark VII Aquila Armor. However, it appears to be far less bulky in comparison to similar armor portrayed in official artwork or [[Dawn of War]], suggesting it might be different. For one thing, it appears to be much more streamlined, with lower pauldrons that aren't quite as fucking enormous (although still unrealistically huge), and with more head room and mobility in the arm sections. This becomes very apparent when using ranged weapons, like the Bolter. This streamlining was likely done to avoid hilarious amounts of clipping. Judging by the fact that every other suit of Imperial power armour in the game - Chaos included - shares this appearance, it is probable that it is simply a reimagining, or a 'realistic version' of regular Space Marine armour. It's not like the Space Marine game is the first artwork to portray power armour with different proportions to other media.

===Human Power Armour===
Virtually identical to Space Marine power armor, these suits of armor are scaled down to fit regular humans (notice that this is the reverse of what it would have been 10,000 years ago). Human power armour is relatively quite rare, since it occurred to somebody that making good protection being an affordable and wide-spread asset would severely impinge on the current state of [[grimdark]], not to mention expensive.

Without the extra room and black carapace interface Marine armor provides, many suits of human power armor don't offer the same degree of protection, as much strength enhancement, or as many subsystems found in Marine armor. Still, the wearer will still be stronger, better protected, and better equipped than the [[Imperial Guard|guy in cardboard]].. There are a few variants, including a lighter suit and one for Chaos-fighting Inquisitors. Because these things are still super-rare, usually only [[Rogue Trader|people rolling in money]], [[Adeptus Mechanicus|tech fetishists]], and [[Inquisition|those able to declare not giving them power armor is]] [[heresy]], will have any.

====Sisters of Battle Armour====
Less bulky than the Space Marine armour, as they're designed for normal sized humans. Despite Astartes & Sororitas armour both giving 3+ saves on the tabletops, in actuality the power armour of the Orders Militant of the [[Adepta Sororitas]] provides less ballistic protection than Space Marine armour does. (The identical in-game protection is mostly because saves in 40k are decided on numbers between 2-6, so there aren't as many gradients in-between.)

This armour also does not provide the same level of strength enhancement, but it gives enough to carry [[Heavy_Bolter#Heavy_Bolter|heavy bolter]]s and ammunition into combat, and fire them without a sister shattering her arms. Sororitas armor has noticeably smaller [[pauldrons]]. The leading theory behind why they chose this design feature is that smaller pauldrons cut back the material cost it takes to create this variant, without having to sacrifice the pair of perky, globular breasts.

Helmets are ''not'' included as standard either, mostly because the majority of Sororitas models have distinctive haircuts. But also because (according to [[Dark Heresy]]), the Sisters of Battle do not receive their helms until about halfway through their careers. This makes them inverse of the tradition held by the Astartes, where higher ranking officers are more likely to ditch their helmets instead.
The advantage of Sororitas power armour, though, when compared to all other human-scales of power amour, is that it runs off of the same fusion reactor that Astartes armour does, and therefore can run indefinitely, rather than for a few hours at a time. Another advantage is that it is not as bulky so it does not turn the wearer into a big giant target either.

===Dragon Scale Armour===
Dragon scale armor is basically Mechanicum power armour, commonly used by militant Enginseers of Imperial Guard and Myrmidon [[Paladin|warrior priests]] of the Ordo Secutor. It does not have an external power source, as it derives power from Mechanicus implants (and therefore cannot be used by anyone outside the tech-priesthood or high-ranking [[Skitarii]]). Not as thick as Astartes power armour, it sports many more inbuilt devices and sensors and gets further pimped by the Techpriest wearing it as he progresses through the ranks of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to the point where it's hard to tell where the armour ends and its wearer begins. Some wonder if it is connected to the [[Void Dragon]].

==Fallout Power Armor==
Unlike Warhammer 40,000, [[Fallout]] powered armor is more "power" than "armor". It was originally made to allow troops to use heavy weapons on the move and with increased weight limit it was obvious to put some extra armor on the exo-suit. Even while it turns you into a nearly-indestructible walking tank, sneaking and camouflage are always considered better protection than armor in Fallout, so the main reason people use it is strength and radiation resistance bonuses. It is also possibly the most realistic armor here, strangely.

Power armor got a massive overhaul in ''Fallout 4'', turning them into basically an infantry fighting vehicle rather than just better armor. The crafting system extends to upgrades and new systems for the armor, including neat stuff like a stealth field and a jet pack.

===T-45 Powered Armor===
The first generation of power armor to go into the field, the T-45 series was rushed into service to hold back the invading Chinese from taking over Alaska. It worked and contained the invasion, but had a lot of problems. Later used on the homefront. The T-45d is most commonly seen in the Capital Wasteland.

After Bethesda got the rights to make ''Fallout 3'', they were like "Guys, guys, let's make a SHITTY POWER ARMOR!" and they went through with it. The result was <s>far from shitty</s> a [[skub|mixed bag]]. Sure, it has -2 AGL, less radiation resistance, and makes you move around like the [[/co/|Comic Book Guy]] from ''The Simpsons'', but it looks '''''BAD-ASS!!!'''''

====NCR Salvaged Powered Armour====
This is the 'zombie' version of the T-45d. After the Battle of HELIOS One, the NCR recovered many suits of T-45d from fallen Brotherhood Paladins. Before issuing them to heavy weapons troops, the NCR stripped out the "power" part of the armor instead of teaching them how to use it properly.

===T-51 Powered Armor===
The second generation of power armor, the T-51 series managed to get all the kinks ironed out. Used to kick the Chinese from Alaska and invade China. The quintessential Fallout power armor suit. The T-51b variant is common among the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel. Two suits are known to be in the Capital Wasteland.

This armor only has +1 STR for some reason. What's even stranger is that the hunk of metal that you put on your head (AKA the helmet, but who calls it that?) gives you a +1 CHR bonus (probably because it's heavily featured in old world propaganda, but yet again, so was the T-45d variant). We really should be wearing around hunks of metal on our heads these days. After all, this armor be pullin' all dem bitches...

===X-01 Power Armor===
The Enclave rolled out their advanced power armor in 2220. It went through several upgrades and variants through its operational history, like the Tesla armor, which has improved energy resistance, and Hellfire armor, which has improved insulation against heat (for which the flame weapon-armed troopers who wear them are grateful). It can be encountered, in all of its variants, on the West Coast, the Mojave Wasteland, the Capital Wasteland, and the Commonwealth.

===T-60 Power Armor===
The last pre-war armor made. The US Army began development just after the Anchorage Reclamation, intending to replace the T-45 and T-51. It didn't make it to general issue before the bombs fell, and has not been found outside the Commonwealth. Brotherhood Paladins wear it as a symbol of their station.

===Raider Power Armor===
Raiders in the Commonwealth have managed to refurbish power armor frames. They weld together scrap to make external armor plates. Raider power armor is the least versatile of all the armor types.

==StarCraft Power Armor==
[[File:Terran marine.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Incredibly unoriginal, rip off of space marine armor. But still fucking cool looking.]]
In [[StarCraft]], the Confederate Marine Corps Power Armor, more simply called the CMC power armor, is the standard powered armor suit used by all military factions within the Koprulu sector. Despite the fact that each armored suit comprises a complex array of sensors and other advanced combat technologies, life-support systems, and its own independent power supply that appears to be a portable fusion reactor, it seems to be dirt-cheap as hell to manufacture, given that every armed force within the Koprulu sector can give one of these suits to every Terran marine worth a damn. Unfortunately, that technology doesn't seem to grant much actual protection; the marines are usually unceremoniously wiped out by the <s>dozens</s> hundreds during an engagement.

Along with that, however, it's not exactly known if the armor plating on the suit can protect the wearer from actual combat damage. The CMC armor is incapable of reliably protecting the wearer from projectiles, ruptures, or chemical attacks (apart from the passive hazards found in NBC environments), in both fluff and crunch, considering that it cannot hope hold out against: zergling claws, roach acid, the Marines' own gauss guns (hell, it can't even deflect the pistol rounds from their sidearms), fire and/or plasma, hydralisk spines, Mutalisk wurms, Psi attacks, Protoss photon guns, and really just about anything. Then again even tanks, huge giant robots and battlecruisers could not hold against said attacks en masse - this might say more about how nasty are weapons in StarCraft universe rather than how shitty is armor there, or more likely it's how real world armor works. In fact, some of the fluff describes it as existing more to protect the wearer from the recoil of the [[Gauss]] than anything else. In addition, Starcraft armor is primarily ablative - no armor in the game renders anything in the game immune to damage. In Heart of the Swarm game terms, consider a fully upgraded marine, marauder, reaper, and ghost:

The marine has 55 hit points and armor 3. On a per-hit basis, he takes 6 damage from a marine's assault rifle, 4 from a reaper's pistol, 10 from a marauder's grenade launcher, 23 from a ghost's sniper rifle, and 25 from the sniper rifle when the ghost psionically charges the round.
The reaper is almost identical, but his armor is thicker - he has 60 hit points, so it takes 2 more pistol rounds (one more salvo, since they fire both pistols at once) to put him down.
The ghost's armor is substantially more impressive. Not only does he have 100 hit points, he takes less *base* damage from sniper rifles - 10, rather than 23, so it takes 10 sniper rounds, not 3, to kill him. However, he takes extra damage from psionically charged rounds - 50, enough to kill him in a mere 2 rounds.
The marauder has the thickest armor of the lot: 125 hit points and armor 4, with reduced sniper damage - but his armor is weak to grenades. His spread is 5 from the assault rifle, 3 from the pistol, 9 from the sniper rifle base, 25 from empowered sniper rounds, and 22 from the grenade launcher. This means he'll die in 6 grenades like a marine or reaper, compared to the ghost dying in 10 grenades, but will last much longer against the other three weapons.

Other variants exist, based on specialised functions. Medics wear a light armor that isn't designed for combat, but which carries advanced field surgical equipment and even some minor cybernetic construction equipment, allowing them to patch up wounded troopers and fix their busted armor. More visually distinctive is a model of power armor worn by Firebats. The armor is much bulkier than the standard armor, which keep in mind was already similar in size to terminator armor, especially in Starcraft II, where the thing's arms and pauldrons are bigger than its legs. Since the the armor's bulk makes it thicker, it can take far more abuse than the regular armor. As the name of unit might indicate, the armor uses a pair of built-in flamethrowers. The armor worn by Marauders in Starcraft II looks almost identical apart from a change in color, and has the same durability, but in place of flamethrowers uses grenade launchers that are best used against armor. The visual similarity between the two is neatly explained by the fact Marauder armor is rebuilt and repurposed Firebat armor. Despite the armors' size (and concomitantly longer legs), the guys using them are just as slow as regular marines. A third type of armor is made for Reapers, which looks similar to [[Assault Marines]] except their jetpacks are bigger.

Less well known, but still present, is the armor worn by the Protoss. This advanced alien armor, although considerably more "ceremonial-looking" than Terran armors, is actually significantly more durable. Not only is it comprised of more resilient materials, but it contains built-in devices that convert the bearer's psionic energy into a forcefield; though this is depleted by absorbing damage, it will eventually regenerate, if the user survives. Presumably, it also provides environmental protection, though that may have something to do with the fact that the Protoss' alien biology makes them hardier than humans. The common "Zealot" armor also has wrist-mounted devices that can focus psionic energy into energy-blades, which they use to rip 'n' tear shit. Dark Templars use similar devices to create "void blades", whose alien energies are one of the few things that can permanently kill "ruler" type Zerg such as Cerebrates.

== Metroid Power Armor==
AKA the "Power Suit" or "Chozo Power Suit", and one of the most powerful armors on this list. Like Starcraft, pretty much every scrub gets a power suit in Metroid (especially if you're with the Galactic Federation), but the main character's suit is the one you probably want to know about. [[Samus Aran]]'s armor is like a wearable, form fitting [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan]], designed by [[Lord of Change|magic bird people]] who took Samus in after her parents were killed. It completely kicks the shit out of basically ''all'' other technology in the Metroid universe; while a Federation plasma cannon is as powerful as a charged shot of Samus's Plasma Beam (which slices through aliens like a knife through warm butter), it's also nearly as big as a person, takes several minutes to charge, and requires a heavy power pack, while the proper Plasma Beam is integrated with all of Samus's other weaponry into her forearm-sized cannon, takes ''seconds'' to charge, absorbs ambient atmospheric energy to function, and is so energy-efficient it doesn't dip into her suit's resources whatsoever.

But that's not all, it's ridiculously modular and can accept pretty much any piece of technology ever and turn it into an upgrade, even if the Chozo had never once encountered the technology in question! Samus doesn't have any idea of how this works either [[Derp|but more or less all she knows about the suit and its functions is that it works.]]

When fully upgraded to end-game status, the Chozo suit shits all over every other suit here like a pigeon with precision diarrhea. The only real flaw in its design is that it is stupid easy to knock all of its power ups and reset to default -- Samus never manages to hold onto her upgrades between games. Like all Power Armours worth their name it also has [[pauldrons]]; the default pauldrons are actually pretty small, but add a Varia upgrade (where some materials have listed the pauldrons as a cooling system associated with the upgrade) and she can shame even the most ridiculous Space Marine.

== Halo Power Armor ==
[[File:Spartan.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Spartan MJOLNIR armour]]
Most people think of the Spartan power armor when they are asked about Halo. These suits cost as much as a UNSC ship and have the decency to protect the wearer from [[What|multiple Fuel Rod shots, despite being penetrated by a single pistol shot]]...inconsistency aside the Spartan power armor is in between the strengths of a Astartes power armor and the Terran power armor. Unlike most other armors, the enhanced speed and strength given by these things is too much for an ordinary human; anybody other than the Spartans, who underwent genetic enhancements, ends up getting mutilated in the armor just by trying to move in it. Other power armor in Halo includes both the Brute and Elite combat harness which boosts their already insane strength (twice that of a human of the same mass for elites, about two or so tons for a Brute) and reaction time (although Brutes tend to be a bit more sluggish than humans).

More noteworthy perhaps for the fact it does not cost as much as a spacecraft, does not have pauldrons the size of the user's head and is implied to be halfway to efficient or practical (if you took away its active ingredient, the shield generator) and is used by the SAS in SPEHSS is the ODST armour, which has both better data analyst equipment than the MJOLNIR and suspiciously similar play style to the piece of junk used in halo 1.

Of course there are the Forerunner Combat-Skins, but putting them here on the list would shit over any power armor listed there. How powerful are they? Enough that they could shrug off multiple melta-level bombs, fall off and survive a Slipspace rift without a scratch, tanking weapons that could dwarf most WH40K, Starcraft and Halo small-arms altogether, can command up to a million attack drones, and can shut-off your brain like a switch. However, in a setting where battlefleets can blow up planets and combat mechs can level cities (which are the size of continents), they are very tame in comparison.

It is also worth noting that Forerunner armor comes in mini-mecha and form-fitting varieties. Most of the above is for the mini-mecha, while form-fitting armor seems to be substantially less impressive.

== Metal Gear Exoskeleton ==
The Metal Gear series has featured exosuits throughout the series. While not very /tg/-ish, they do deserve a spot on this list for being either [[Indrick Boreale|balls-out wacky]] to [[Gabriel Seth|Complete awesome]].

===Solidus' Powered armor===
Solidus Snake, the third clone of the Sons of Big Boss, has a powered armor suit that allows him to zip around and jump absurd heights, as well as engage artificial muscles to enhance strength, speed, and make himself look like an Austrian bodybuilder. He can disengage them back down to allow him to fit into smaller spaces or appear naturally. [[/d/|It also has a pair of tentacles to choke people]]. Oh, and the tentacles also shoot missiles.

===Cyborg Exosuits===
After the fall of the Patriots, cyborg technology became prevalent. With CNT muscle fiber being as cheap to produce as plastic; just about every mercenary insane enough, opted to be augmented and encased in one of these things. Pioneered by The Patriots, the armor enhances the wearer's strength, agility, and survivability to absurd levels; turning them into [[Eversor|an unstoppable murder machine that will completely wreck the shit out of anything it faces]].

The caveat to this is that majority of cyborgs are...messed up. While some accepted augmentation willingly to enhance their abilities (and are thus, able to come into terms to their new life), there are a lot more who were only forced to undergo cyborg transformation, largely due to desperation or against their will. And those who don't accept the path of being murder on legs after augmentation don't really have a choice in it; recipients can be injected with fear-inhibiting nanomachines that will force them to fight, regardless of the circumstances, [[grimdark|all the while their inner self is trapped screaming in their mind and is unable to stop themselves]].

Some of the more notable examples include: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pWjrHIbss8 Gray Fox, the original recipient of this armor], was resurrected from the dead against his will and became a guinea pig for further experimentation in grafting exoskeletons onto people, particularly finding no reason to live and suffering painful feedback effects from the imperfect system.

Raiden, the more popular surviving recipient, was captured against his will, and was augmented to the point that he was little than the upper half of his head grafted onto cyborg body. His cyborg body is so crazy, that he's known to [[awesome|throw titan-sized Metal Gears into the air]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RypphRK14t8 before slicing them to ribbons before they land]. Other lulzy feats include [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzfYcwo7Wtw fighting, ''suplexing'', and ripping the arm off a Metal Gear the size of a Warhound Titan to engage it in a duel and destroy it.]

==Iron Man suits==
Probably the most well known Power Armor suit in fiction, popularized by the Superhero who's power is that he has power armor. Tony has built a lot of suits, some meant for a specific purpose, some just a stronger version of older iterations. At the high end, Iron man's suit is flat out superior to anything in nonserialized science fiction short of a few cheese builds from role playing games (but hey, comic books), even allowing him to fight Odinforce Thor, who mind you, has the power of a being who can destroy galaxies as the side effect of his fights. Sure his standard suits may be beaten by weaker stuff, but if he really sets his mind to it, the things Tony can build are essentially magic contained in metal and [[Get shit done|get shit done!]]

==Destroyer Armor==
Perhaps the snazziest and most powerful armor in fiction. This creation of Odin (Marvel Universe version) cannot be damaged by anything less powerful than Odin himself and can destroy just about anything weaker than Odin in a single hit. Forerunner suit, Chozo suit? HAH. This is made by gods who actually feel godlike. Crafted by someone who could eradicate entire galaxies as a side effect of his fights to battle even more powerful beings. Accept no substitutes, this is the finest power armor you'll ever find that does not ascend you to Celestial wonkyness. Even if it does run on magic.

Humorously, the things it was design for, to fight [[C'Tan|Celestials]] fails as they just one shot it the second it shows up.

== Strike Legion ==
[[Strike Legion]] has teraton pistols, Uzis that can outgun all of WH40K and planet busting grenades. You can survive those in one of these babies. [[Meme|''Like a bauss.'']] Even the weakest ones have built in shield generators and flight capabilities. That is really all that needs to be said. They are also mass produced. Like, standard issue level mass produced. By factions that can outnumber the Imperium of Man.

== X-COM ==
[[File:NXCom.jpg|right|200px|thumb|XCOM operatives in Titan armor]]
[[File:MEC.png|right|200px|thumb|A trio of MEC troopers with kinetic pilebunker fists and minigun. Yes, you can make your own [[Terminator]] squad using MEC upgrades.]]
[[X-COM]] always had high-tech armor, but only two of these were actual power armored suits in the first game. The first one is the "Titan" armored suit, a heavy personal powered armor suit composed of alien alloys. These could drastically reduce damage, give the wearer increased strength and stamina, and were fully sealed from the outside-environment and had an array life-support systems, so the wearer was immune to poison, fire, and getting chocked to death. The other is the "Archangel" armor, while only about as durable as medium carapace armor, it instead sported a personal jetpack that allowed the user to hover and fly for limited amounts of time until they ran out of fuel. It was still sealed and possessed the same life support systems as the Titan armor.

However, in the ''Enemy Within'' expansion to the 2012 remake. This came in the form '''M'''echanized '''E'''xoskeleton '''C'''ybersuit troopers, or "MECs" for short. Departing from the usual type of armor, these require a considerable amount of cybernetic enhancements through the use of the game's Meld resource to use, which in game is shown in that MEC troopers have much of their body replaced with cybernetics (they basically look like smaller version of Robocop, minus the helmet) to interface with MECs; Giant powered-armor suits capable of carrying an array of powerful weapons, one of which is a giant fist weapon that can insta-kill just about almost anything it hits.

The pay-off far that is enormous, however. Unlike other low ranking soldiers in X-COM, the MEC troopers are extremely durable (to compensate for their size meaning they can't use cover.), and can use the most powerful guns in the game, that only the MEC's strength and durability allows them to use. Additionally, additional rank-up abilities and suit upgrades will further make MECs much more lethal as they progress through the ranks.

However, while MECs are incredibly powerful, they are not invincible. They are like XCOM's equivalent of tanks, and much like tanks, they tend to draw the biggest amount of enemy fire in the map (This is especially made more problematic by the fact that even the aliens' basic plasma pistol can be a threat to MECs and the enemy AI will usually prioritize anyone not in cover.), very limited ammunition stores that forces frequent reloads, and overall [[Imperial Guard|tend to lose against numbers where they're simply drowned by the sheer amount of attacks that come their way]]. Thus, relying completely on MECs isn't the best strategy, it is always best to supplement MECs with some infantry troops for support.

== Warmachine ==
[[File:PIP33007 500.jpeg|200px|thumb|right|A Khador Man-O-War Shocktrooper]]
[[Warmachine]] has had a number of different armors that technically qualify as power armor (almost all warcaster armor, for instance, includes enhancements to the wearer's strength and speed fueled by their magic), but probably the closest (and likely most famous) thing it has to traditional power armor is [[Khador]]'s Man-O-War armor. Designed because Khador found it the lack of materials to make cortexes for its [[Warjack]]s meant even with the effort it put into building its jacks to last, it had a problem with still having a lot of resources it wasn't using and its lack of any cheaper jacks meant the jacks it had tended to be too badly outnumbered. To compensate for these problems, they designed huge suits of armor that would allow the wearers to function almost like pseudo-Warjacks. The Man-O-War functions the same way Khador's jacks do: it's slow, heavily armored, and hits really hard when it gets in close. [[Fluff]] wise there's a problem with the built in boilers releasing steam where it shouldn't go and killing the wearer, but this doesn't show up in gameplay since it would make them too unreliable (plus it only happens when they're damaged enough, depending on the addition to the game). Not that they care as they gladly DIE IN STEAM!! Since the armor is still expensive to manufacture, Khador only allows its veteran troops to wear it, meaning they possess high skill with melee weapons.

While the Man-O-War is an industrialized solution to lacking mechanical brains for light warjack-production, they are not the only power armours in the [[Iron Kingdoms]]: Some very exentric mechaniks actually build their own armour called "Ironhead armour". Though the Man-O-War-armour is big and scary, these tend to be even larger and impractical, and are usually built so only the bearer can use it properly. The use for these is everything from mechaniks-work to warfare, as proved by Captain Dominic Darius of Cygnar, who actually build himself a small, wearable light 'jack which in turn creates new miniature 'jacks called Halfjacks as long as he activates the thing. The thing is a four-ton heavy machine, that births smaller machines at all times. I couldn't make this shit up.

Also, the [[Iron Kingdoms]] RPG allows players to own these armours - The Gods, Nations and Kings expansion allows for the use of Man-O-War armour and career, and the 52# issue of [[No Quarter]] has rules for your own custom-build murdermachine of steel and awesome.

== Star Wars ==
The [[Star Wars]] Expanded Universe has had some minor power armor use. The iconic Stormtrooper armor is unpowered, but the zero-G assault Stormtrooper or "Spacetrooper" armor is a suit of powered armor that is worn over regular Stormtrooper armor, and may have been associated with the Dark Trooper armor. Dark Trooper armor itself was bigger and had strength enhancing and protective systems, but it attracted the most deadly of Jedi forces, and was canceled for that reason. It incorporates a set of thrusters and other integrated weapons. Visually, it looks a bit like a cross of [[Terminator]] armor and NASA's Manned Maneuvering Unit, with a goofy, oversized Stormtrooper helmet.

These were all based off of Mandalorian armor, which was more streamlined and effective than storm trooper armor, but also more expensive.

Power armor isn't used as much, since some sources indicate that the materials used in regular armor can hardly stand up to the ubiquitous blaster, nor the much rarer but much more asskicking lightsaber. Though in actuality, power armor is practically useless in the universe when compared to [[Plot Armor]].

There's also the Phase III Dark Troopers, which functioned as both automated robot infantry or could be worn as Power Armor, and was pretty much 40K Terminator Armor that wasn't hunched over, and had a built-in jetpack along with fun stuff like micromissiles.

Sadly, like all cool things in the Star Wars universe, it shows up for just a couple games and books, then gets immediately destroyed and you never use it.

== Real Life ==
[[File:Powered Exoskeleton.jpg|thumb|right|250px|DARPA exoskeleton going through it's paces in a rather literal sense.]]
[[File:RLpowerarmour.jpg|thumb|left|250px|TALOS Power armour.]]
While they are still some ways off from producing a fully functional power suit, there is interest in the idea. Some people are now looking into making functional powered exoskeletons, this includes some guys in Japan and the US government. While it's initially going to be used to help do heavy lifting where heavy equipment is impractical/inadvisable, using it for military applications is in the works. Hell, just look at the image. The basic idea works well enough, but there are still in the experimental phases and while they got the basics of the "power" part down they have yet to add the armor.

Even so, they still have a fair bit to go since most early versions will be restricted by a power tether or run on batteries that have at most a few hours of juice. Still, the first airplane's flight only was about 35 meters.

When they have a working model, this will by the only Superpower ability that isn't fictional or part of a pseudoscience (although that might be a redundancy).

When they do get armour, it will probably look like Fallout power armour.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:IronHandsMarkI.jpg|Mark I Thunder Armour
File:IronHandsMarkII.jpg|Mark II Crusade Armour
File:IronHandsMarkIII.jpg|Mark III Iron Armour
File:IronHandsMarkIV.jpg|Mark IV Maximus Armour
File:IronHandsMarkV.jpg|Mark V Heresy Armour
File:IronHandsMarkVI.jpg|Mark VI Corvus Armour
File:IronHandsMarkVII.jpg|Mark VII Aquila Armour
File:IronHandsMarkVIII.jpg|Mark VIII Errant Armour
File:Power Armour Components.png|Diagram of Aquila armour components.
File:Terran marine cutout.jpg|It actually fits! Still a bit unsure about those hips though.
File:Newsletter vision study.jpg|Eternal Crusade concept art. Again, fitting real snugly.

</gallery>

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

Pauldrons

2016-01-23T17:30:48Z

2601:246:8200:EB1:85C1:2368:3B:BD0B:

[[Image:Emperor.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Emprah]] shows off his mighty pauldrons.]]
[[Image:Epic_vladimir_tzepesci_full.jpg|thumb|right|They can clang shut over his head to deflect well-aimed arrows.]]

In the [[grimdark|grim darkness]] of the [[41st millennium|far future]]/[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Renaissance Europe]], there is only war. Unless you have Imperial [[Power Armor]]/Chaos Plate or Norscan Marauder's hide armor, in which case there are also '''pauldrons'''. Pauldrons are the sections of armor that cover the shoulders, and are well known for the tendency of [[Drawfag|artists]] drawing ''[[Warhammer 40k]]'' material to make them ridiculously huge. ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' armor also tends towards oversized shoulder-plates.

In the far far future... Manliness is measured in the size of your pauldrons.

It is theorized that position in Imperial society is directly related to how large your pauldrons are, as exemplified by artwork of the [[Empra]] himself, who has power armor with pauldrons so massive he cannot see over his own shoulders or raise his arms to more than a forty-five degree angle.(Imperial Power armor bypasses this inhibition by having their pauldrons being automated. Thus when an Astartes must look over his shoulders, the pauldrons will automatically lower. As for moving their limbs fluidly, one must keep in mind that the average Space Marines has tremendous physical strength, [[Serious Business|and thus would be capable of lifting his arms fluidly despite the weight of the armor.]] And the power armor is automated anyway, so they move for him at the speed of thought.)

Those unfortunate enough not to be equipped with power armor instead use the size of their [[hats]] in a similar manner.

Privateer Press has copied the style of the huge pauldrons of ''[[Warhammer 40k]]'' and added comically large pauldrons to some of the characters in its ''[[Warmachine]]'' game, mostly in the Khadoran army. This is most pronounced with Vlad Tzepesci, aka "Lord No-Peripheral-Vision", to the extent that the pads on Vlad's third incarnation are probably a massive [[troll]]. A few other models, like the Great Bears of Gallowswood, are certainly not innocent either. The fluff reason is supposedly to protect the head from a warjack punch, but really it's just because PP's concept artists have pauldron envy. When Warmachine: Tactics came out, a computer game set in the Warmachine world, the pauldrons actually had to be downsized so the animation team could render things like swinging an arm upward without decapitation.

==Summarised In a [[Chaos]]y Fashion==

Our enemy wears [[METAL BOXES|METAL BAWKSES, DA COWARDS, DA FUHLES!]] we... weeee shall wear ''bigger'' metal bawkses...

==Summarised In a [[Eldar]]y Fashion==

What are those Mon'keigh doing?

==Summarised in a [[Tau]] Fashion==

''''cough' Armor envy 'cough''''

==Summarised In a [[Necron]]y Fashion==

-.. --- -. .----. - ..-. --- .-. --. . - - --- -.. .-. .. -. -.- -.-- --- ..- .-. --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. .

==Summarised In an [[Ork]]y Fashion==

'ERE BOSS, YOO WAN GET US SUM OF DEM METEL PLATES? ILL GET DA MEK.

==Summarised for [[Tyranids]]==

Pauldrons are hard to get through, but when you do... pauldron wearers taste good. KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEZERGRUSHDEVOURNOMNOMNOMNOM

==Summarised by the [[Imperial Guard]]==

Armor is for PUSSIES!

==Summarised in [[Dark Eldar]] fashion==

Heh, you know what they say about hunks with huge pauldrons... *fapfapfap*

==The Truth==

The real, secret reason that Imperial society features such massive pauldrons is so that Games Workshop can claim that their armour is distinctive enough to justify suing the pants off any rivals/imitators/wellmeaning fans who produce anything that could be used with their products. Seriously, check [http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/12/04/52810.htm this shit out].

also: they help hide cracks and joints between the arm and the body thus allowing you to [[THIN YOUR PAINTS|cover up modelling mistakes]], or allow for a bit more flexibility in posing.

[[File:Pauldronius.png|400px|center|thumb|'''EXTERMINATUS-PROOF''']]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Meme]]