Basic Close Combat Weapons
These are the non-powered and overall basic and simple close combat weapons used by the Imperium.
Combat Knife
The most simple, widespread and ubiquitous CCW ever. During the time of the Great Crusade, combat blades were a catch-all category which described a variety of lethal hand-to-hand weapons favoured by the Space Marine Legions, the exact form varying from Legion to Legion by its culture and tradition. They ranged from heavy razor-edged chain-bayonet, to adamantine gladius and Thule-alloy battle-axes that would be too heavy for an unaugmented human to wield.
Most Combat Knives are used as a bayonet for Imperial Guardsmen's flashlights, although their effectiveness is pretty subpar in an age of power armored roid monsters. Thus it is used against Grots and Tau.
Astartes Combat Knife
Combat Knives for the SPESS MEHREENS. Of course, due to their size, they actually considered as a short sword by Human standards. Astartes Combat Knives comes in all shapes and sizes, and are often the standard issue CCW of Tactical Squads. Tough and thick, these knives are designed for in-close fighting and are often the last weapon a Space Marine will use when all others have run out of ammunition or power.
They are best seen in the Space Marine Video Game where Titus is so awesome that merely stabbing an Ork in the head causes it to blow the fuck up.
Night Reaper
The smallest of the Catachan Knives.
Smaller than other typical designs, the blackened blade of the Night Reaper is especially suitable for infiltration and night missions, when light reflecting from a blade can mean the difference between life and death.
The blade itself is triangular in shape, so any wound caused by it is unlikely to knot or heal. Catachans are also known to poison these knives using one of the many venoms native to their nightmarish world, making them even more deadly.
Catachan Fang
Measuring up to twenty inches of gleaming steel, the Catachan Fang is the most common type of knife used by the Catachan regiments. It is renowned as a symbol of the Catachan Jungle Fighters across a thousand systems and is equally useful for cutting your way through jungle or enemies of humanity.
This knife is also used for settling disputes between Catachans: one knife is placed in the center of a fighting pit and the combatants must each strive to get hold of it. The duel ends when one fighter draws blood, but some duels still end with death.
Devil's Claw
Named after the Catachan Devil - the fearsome predator of the Catachan jungles, this is the largest type of the traditional knives of Catachan. Anywhere between three and four feet long, the Devil's Claw is closer to a sword than a knife.
The blade is hollow and half filled with mercury to give it greater swinging power. It is used mainly on the battlefield in close quarters and it has even achieved a fearsome reputation amongst Orks, who call it 'Da Cutta'. Catachan Power Swords are often identical in design to the Devil's Claw. The elite Catachan Devil Squads are also partly named after these knives, which they wield in battle.
Hunting Lance
Hunting lances are single-use weapons employed by Rough Rider Squadrons of the Imperial Guard. The lance is effectively a nine foot long shaft with a shaped explosive tip. When the lance impacts with an enemy the tip explodes, increasing the killing power already behind the lance. Once used, however, the lance is rendered useless for the remainder of the battle.
These weapons are advanced versions of those used for hunting big game on the primitive worlds the Rough Riders themselves are often recruited from. They are particularly effective against riotous mobs or compact hordes of infantry. When used properly, they can prove to be more effective against heavily armored troops than a standard lasgun. In game terms, this is demonstrated by the hunting lance's ability to bypass armor saves when the unit charges.
The Hunting Lance has a variety of different heads for different uses such as:
- Inferno Tip: consists of a broad, blunt head, designed to impact as much surface area of the target as possible, rather than to puncture armour. When the lance impacts a target, promethium canisters affixed below the blade expel their contents in a burst of white-hot flame.
- Krak Tip: Consisting of a shaped charge similar to that of a krak grenade, a hunting lance krak tip explodes with even more devastating effect than the standard hunting lance charge, making its use preferable against resilient enemies such as Orks.
- Melta Tip: Devastating to armored targets, they are extremely heavy due to the explosive reactive charge. Aim and poke at the side armor of any vehicle and watch it explode into metallic chunks.
- Plasma Tip: Only used in dire circumstances by regiments with deep ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. When a hunting lance plasma tip impacts a target, it triggers a containment breach of the volatile energies stored within. As with all plasma weapons, they are of dubious reliability.
- Poison Tip: Useful against xenos opponents. These tips are filled with advance and deadly neurotoxins, poisons and venoms from a host of animals and plants collected by the Imperium. These tips is most effective against monstrous creatures such as Tyranids and Squiggoths.
- Shock Tip: Used when the Imperial Guard seeks to take prisoners, it delivers a crippling electric charge. However, there is a chance that a prisoner would die due to a weak heart or the tip has been overcharged. Could also be used to stun and incapacitate a valuable target.