Warhammer 40k fluff thread VI: They see me Ward'en, they haten

[Cheesegear]

Morally Justified?

Well, I love it!

[Tychris1]

Page 49 -- that means one more page until we need a new thread.

And a new thread needs a new name.

My proposal: Warhammer 40K Fluff Thread VII: There's a Codex Entry For That

Got my vote.

[comicshorse]

How about: Warhammer 40k fluff thread VII: Morally Justified?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !

[thereaper]

Well, I love it!

Why, oh why do you want the thread to degenerate?

[LeSwordfish]

Page 49 -- that means one more page until we need a new thread.

And a new thread needs a new name.

My proposal: Warhammer 40K Fluff Thread VII: There's a Codex Entry For That

I like this one, myself.

[Squark]

Question about Marines who've left the Deathwatch. I'm currently working on my Wolf Priest, and I had the head of a warding stave (The rest of which became the pole for my third wolf standard) lying around, and thought it might make a good backpack attatchment, since it looks a lot like an Iron Halo. The only issue with it is the Inquisition =I= on the skull. So, onto the question- Are Marines who finish their duties in the deathwatch and return to their chapter sometimes entrusted with wargear they used during their tour, or should I just use liquid green stuff to fill out the Inquisition sigils on the skull?

(Fluff background- The Wolf Priest in question fought in the deathwatch before being elevated to his current position, which is where he got the training represented by his Saga of the Hunter)

Also, on new thread title: I further support, "There's a Codex Entry for that." "Roboute Guilliman, Gently down the stream" should be saved for Thread VIII, since the Ultramarines are Legion VIII.

[The Glyphstone]

Also, on new thread title: I further support, "There's a Codex Entry for that." "Roboute Guilliman, Gently down the stream" should be saved for Thread VIII, since the Ultramarines are Legion VIII.

Excellent logic. Someone make it so.

[GolemsVoice]

In this case, I fully agree.

Or: ... thread VII: Roman Numerals are Sufficiently Gothic

[Squark]

So, I've been considering starting to read the Horus Heresy series. Where should I start? Should the novels be read in order of publication, or is it okay to skip around a bit?

[Cheesegear]

So, I've been considering starting to read the Horus Heresy series. Where should I start? Should the novels be read in order of publication, or is it okay to skip around a bit?

The vast majority of the books have been published in chronological order. The only exception that springs immediately to mind is The First Heretic. And Prospero Burns and Fallen Angels don't count because they're actually considered sequels to previous books in the series.

Whilst Black Library is adamant that you don't need to read all the books, the fact is, the further you go along, the more you find references to other books and previous events, and I've found more than a few references to the audio books, too.

It's often recommended that the first book(s) you should read are Flight of the Eisenstein and Fulgrim, since the 'Orginal Trilogy' dealing with Horus' Fall doesn't make sense and is bad and you can pick up most of what happened in those books further along in the series in the other, better books.

[Hazzardevil]

Two questions about the Ravenor Omnibus:
1: I started reading it today and it mentions in the start it wasn't a sequel, it was a successor, or some rubbish like that. Will this mean I won't understand anything important?

2: They keep saying lasrifles are fired at them, not lasguns. Are they the same thing or is it some sort of better version?

[LeSwordfish]

1) Ravenor's story is fairly self-contained. Stuff you need to know:

Spoiler

Show

Ravenor's old master was Eisenhorn. He fell to chaos. That's it.

One of the short stories has Eisenhorn in, and that's a little less easy to get without more information, but "Radical inquisitor, badass extraordinaire" is about all you need.

I read the Ravenor books before Eisenhorn- in fact, i read the last Ravenor book first. They still work fine, don't worry. You might want to read Eisenhorn before starting the Bequin books though.

2) Lasrifles/lasguns, potato potato. They're the same.

(I guess technically a "lasgun" could be a carbine or long-las but fundamentally they're the same)

[Hazzardevil]

1) Ravenor's story is fairly self-contained. Stuff you need to know:

Spoiler

Show

Ravenor's old master was Eisenhorn. He fell to chaos. That's it.

One of the short stories has Eisenhorn in, and that's a little less easy to get without more information, but "Radical inquisitor, badass extraordinaire" is about all you need.

I read the Ravenor books before Eisenhorn- in fact, i read the last Ravenor book first. They still work fine, don't worry. You might want to read Eisenhorn before starting the Bequin books though.

2) Lasrifles/lasguns, potato potato. They're the same.

(I guess technically a "lasgun" could be a carbine or long-las but fundamentally they're the same)

1. I'll keep that in mind.

2. So all Lasguns have rifling and are all rifles?

[The Glyphstone]

I don't think the writers understand what Rifling means.

[mistformsquirrl]

Indeed, a laser with rifling would be rather pointless <o.@>

That said the way I see it, most people generically consider 'rifle' to mean 'biggest type of personal small arm*' - so in theory you might think of it like this:

Rifle > Carbine > SMG > Machine-pistol > Pistol

That's what I'm guessing anyway.

*Meaning more range and power, not just physical size, though that usually comes with it.

[Squark]

Indeed, a laser with rifling would be rather pointless <o.@>

Doesn't mean the imperium wouldn't make one.

Also, reposting- Would a former deathwatch marine keep materiel they used during their service in the deathwatch? I ask because the Warding stave head I'm using on a Wolf Priest conversion has a rather promininent =I= on the skull, and I need to know if I should fill it with liquid greenstuff before priming.

[DaedalusMkV]

Doesn't mean the imperium wouldn't make one.

Also, reposting- Would a former deathwatch marine keep materiel they used during their service in the deathwatch? I ask because the Warding stave head I'm using on a Wolf Priest conversion has a rather promininent =I= on the skull, and I need to know if I should fill it with liquid greenstuff before priming.

Generally speaking, Deathwatch gear stays with the Deathwatch and the only thing that anyone takes home with them is the right to paint one of their shoulder-plates Deathwatch black in honour of their service. Occasionally, someone who gets named a hero of the Deathwatch might be given a piece of equipment as personal wargear in reward for service beyond the call of duty, but people who get named to those sorts of posts aren't usually Marines who ever plan to go back to their Chapters.

Basically, it could conceivably happen but it's extremely unlikely. Unless the Marine served some time in an Inquisitor's retinue and the Inquisitor saw fit to give him the wargear in exchange. That's a lot more likely, really.

[iyaerP]

Indeed, a laser with rifling would be rather pointless <o.@>

That said the way I see it, most people generically consider 'rifle' to mean 'biggest type of personal small arm*' - so in theory you might think of it like this:

Rifle > Carbine > SMG > Machine-pistol > Pistol

That's what I'm guessing anyway.

*Meaning more range and power, not just physical size, though that usually comes with it.

I think it has more to do with the standard scifi weapons naming convention of (energy-noun)(weapon-noun).

A Lightsaber is much more of a longsword than it is a saber. Infact, it has no curve, and we only ever see it used as a cavalry weapon once, and that was in the prequals.

Necron Gauss guns have absolutely nothing to do with real gauss guns, unless their magical green disintigration lightning is controlled by magnetic fields, and then it is only a tangential relation to Gauss's laws of magnetism.

Halo has plasma rifles, despite having a design that would make rifling impossible. Likewise, star trek has Phaser rifles.

I could go on, but I think I have made the point that this is a failing that almost all scifi shares.

[LeSwordfish]

If it helps, "Rifle" is commonly enough used for any gun now that the idea that it might've become a bastardised term in thirty thousand years is hardly inconceivable.

[iyaerP]

Mayhaps, but lightsaber and Necron Gauss guns have no excuse.

[Gryffon]

Gauss weapons use magnetic fields....somehow >.>

[hamishspence]

I don't think Tanith is a proper hive world. A Hive is basically an Arcology, I think you can have a planet with one or more small Hives (As opposed to standard cities) without it being a "Hive World" per say.

Badab Primaris is listed as a Hive World in the Badab War Imperial Armour books (book 2, pages 40-41)- yet its population is a mere 5.17 billion.

It's quite possible that a Hive World might only have one or two small hives.

[mistformsquirrl]

I think that may just be a "writers have no sense of scale" thing too...

I mean consider that the Imperial Guard book considers "billions" of Imperial Guardsmen impressive. Don't get me wrong, that's a lot of people... but you're talking about a force that has to defend a million worlds. Likewise the thing with Marine chapters having only 1000 members is kind of weird when you really think about it. No matter how awesome a Space Marine is, it's just impractical to conquer a planet with 100 people.

Which of course is hardly unique to 40k; but it is one of those things that mildly bugs me.

[LeSwordfish]

In fairness five billion people is pretty bloody impressive in half-a-dozen cities. I personally always saw hive worlds as scattered megacities, as opposed to Coruscant-like planet cities.

[hamishspence]

The 5E rulebook said there were "millions of Guardsmen for each Space Marine"- so putting the total number in the trillions.

In the newest FFG book, Only War- it points out that while there's on the order of a million Imperial Governors- there's more than that number of planets under Imperial control- some governors control multiple planets in a system, and some systems don't have a Governor (maybe someone of lesser rank instead).

[Squark]

New Thread is up, since the discussion seemed to have reached a pause and we were about to hit Page 51 anyway.

[mistformsquirrl]

True, but you'll notice on page 7 the quote by Warmaster Demetrius, right?

He's bragging about having half a million men, 30,000 tanks and artillery pieces under his command.

Which would have been impressive... in WWII on Earth. Not especially impressive considering the vastness of space or the shear amount of manpower and equipment needed to subdue an entire planet.

Ultimately I'm just being pedantic of course >.> it's just one of those little things that bugs me; but it's common throughout speculative fiction, so it's not a big deal, just... slightly bothersome.

*edit* Hooray for new thread~

[Eldan]

I had the weirdest dream tonight.

Games Workshop had decided that the Tau and Tyranid races were both individually too weak and not varied enough. So they joined them into one. An entire race of armoured cyborg tyranids and tau ships with biological parts grafted into them.

I even remember model details. There was a hive tyrant with tau armour plates all over its body, and plasma cannons instead of a hand. And a tau tank that, instead of a main turret, had a glass dome revealing a giant brain filling the entire tank.

It was pretty awesome.

[Tome]

I had the weirdest dream tonight.

Games Workshop had decided that the Tau and Tyranid races were both individually too weak and not varied enough. So they joined them into one. An entire race of armoured cyborg tyranids and tau ships with biological parts grafted into them.

I even remember model details. There was a hive tyrant with tau armour plates all over its body, and plasma cannons instead of a hand. And a tau tank that, instead of a main turret, had a glass dome revealing a giant brain filling the entire tank.

It was pretty awesome.

Sounds like an interesting conversion project.

[Hazzardevil]

I had the weirdest dream tonight.

Games Workshop had decided that the Tau and Tyranid races were both individually too weak and not varied enough. So they joined them into one. An entire race of armoured cyborg tyranids and tau ships with biological parts grafted into them.

I even remember model details. There was a hive tyrant with tau armour plates all over its body, and plasma cannons instead of a hand. And a tau tank that, instead of a main turret, had a glass dome revealing a giant brain filling the entire tank.

It was pretty awesome.

Tau players would accept that without complaining at this point, considering outside of fiction they don't seem to exist anymore.