User:Tealwisp/Equipment in Warhammer 40,000

General terms

Combi-weapons

A combi-weapon is a

In the second edition of the Warhammer 40,000 rules, combi-weapons had unlimited ammunition. Either weapon could be fired as many times as possible in a single game, and both weapons could even be fired simultaneously (with a slight decrease in accuracy).[1] With the release of the Warhammer 40,000 3rd edition ruleset, combi-weapons were toned down. Instead of having an unlimited number of shots, only the main weapon could be fired any number of times. The other weapon could only be fired once per game. Also, they could no longer be fired simultaneously.^[2]

Master-crafted weapons

A master-crafted weapon is a type of weapon in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game. It is used to describe any weapon that is of particularly higher-quality than others of its kind, for example an ornate sword or a specially-made gun. In game terms, it essentially gives the bearer a greater chance of hitting an opponent with the master-crafted weapon.^[2]

Chaos Forces

Use of Plasma Cannons, Storm Bolters, and Multi-Meltas is uncommon. These were rare at the time of the Horus Heresy or captured in small amounts from loyalist Marines. Some Space Marines have defected to the Ruinous Powers since the Horus Heresy, taking their weapons with them (e.g. Red Corsairs Chapter).

To compensate for their technological gap, they utilise the help of daemons and dark magic. This has led to the development of vehicles such as the Defiler, a massive spider-like fusion of daemon and machine.

Certain Chaos Space Marines (such as the Emperor's Children) are noted for their use of sonic weaponry, which uses powerful sound waves to inflict damage.

In the Chaos forges many variations of the existing weapons are fabricated with daemonic powers. One such example is the Kai Gun, a supremely powerful bolter too large and heavy for a man to lift. The Kai Gun fires bolter shells equivalent in power to the plasma rounds used by the Tau.

Renegade Imperial Guardsmen are usually equipped with weaponry identical to their loyal counterparts, as they bring their weapons with them when they turn renegade.

It is worth noting that Chaos worship is not specific to humans, and many alien races have members who worship Chaos as well. These aliens also utilise their own weaponry. The best known of these are the Loxatl, lizard-like creatures who use exotic weapons such as torso-mounted flechette launchers.

Vehicles

The forces of Chaos have access to some of the vehicles used by the

Some of the Space Marine vehicles that are available to Chaos Space Marine armies include the Rhino, Predator, Dreadnoughts, and the Land Raider. In addition to these iconic Space Marine vehicles, Chaos forces also have access to heavily-modified bikes. There are also a few vehicles that are only available to Chaos armies.^[3]

Defiler

The Defiler is a six-legged war machine used by Chaos armies in the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game. A fusion of daemonic entity, machinery and weaponry, it is armed with a battlecannon, heavy flamers and a reaper autocannon in addition to its two massive, crab-like claws.^[3]

War engines

In siege situations and in massive battles, the forces of Chaos bring out their war machines. These are a daemonic fusion of technology and magic.

Khorne

Brass Scorpion

The Khorne Brass Scorpions are dangerous monsters of metal, daemonically infused, allowing the metal to become living, moving with ease as if organic. They are armed with enormous assault cannons.

Doomblaster

Mounting four daemonic cannons, the Doom Blasters are squat, wheeled daemonic artillery pieces that rumble to battle and await the command to fire their quad of gigantic mortars.

Blood Reaper

A dark creation of vile ingenuity, the Blood Reaper is a wheeled monster that towers over its targets, and bristling with turrets that spit death to those foolish enough to come close. Its design somewhat resembles a morbidly decorated siege tower.

Lord Of Battle

The Lord of Battles is a huge construct dedicated to Khorne, much larger than other daemon-engines. It resembles a great beast or gargoyle of solid steel and brass alloys, mounted on a wheeled chassis, and actually contains such a greater daemon bound within it, as a power and driving force. It howls with savage joy as it crashes into the enemy with immense guns blazing. Its tank-sized Chainfist or Hellblade is easily capable of chopping down most opponents, though the Lord of Battles thirst for war is never truly quenched, even by a veritable mountain of dead foes. It also fields a hellstorm cannon, an assault cannon variant, or a doomburner, which sprays gallons of molten brass.

Cannon of Khorne

The Cannons of Khorne are deadly wheeled monsters of metal, far larger than typical artillery, each bound to the power of pure warp energy, and each of which fires a gout of molten brass towards the enemy.

Cauldron of Blood

Rumbling into combat, the Cauldrons of Blood are a testament to the Blood God's murderous ideals. The Khorne Cauldrons of Blood are not completely daemonic but instead rely on a crew of Cultists loyal only to Khorne. They mount a huge open-topped vat of the boiling blood of daemons (so being composed of raw immaterium) which they fire in jets via a grotesque skull-faced pump.

Nurgle

Contagion of Nurgle

The main weapon of the Contagion is the plague catapult, a huge armament which bombards the enemy with chunks of Chaos-saturated stone, clusters of decaying corpses and other disease-infested filth. When these vile bombs impact they spray ichor and infected debris across a wide area. The pestilential aura that surrounds the site of these bombardments fills the air with corruption and the malaise of Nurgle's Rot spreads across the battlefield. Those who survive the initial attack soon contract a variety of virulent diseases. Their wounds turn gangrenous and they die swiftly, wracked with pain.

Plague Tower

The massive mortars of the Nurgle Plague Tower blast the foe apart as its ramshackle frame trundles across the battlefield, crushing everything in its path. Inside its protective walls, the determined followers of Nurgle howl their praises to the Lord of Plagues before launching their purulent charge.

Plaguereaper

The Plaguereaper is a mutated Baneblade Super Heavy Tank dedicated to Nurgle. Its main weapon is the Pus Cannon, which is able to completely melt enemy infantry with a noxious stream of foul nurgle infected liquid (but has little effect on armored vehicles).

Tzeentch

Fire Lord

Many of the servants of Tzeentch possess the gift of flight to some extent. The strange Daemonic flyers of Tzeentch are no exception. The Firelord is a large Bomber, nobody knows for sure if the machine is piloted by a traditional pilot or demonic entity. It is armed with bombs and warpfire thrower.

Silver Towers of Tzeentch

The Silver Towers of Tzeentch are an unnerving sight on the battlefield. The silent elegant towers float through the air while raining a silent death of Warpfire upon the enemy.

Doomwing

The Doomwing is a smaller interceptor. As deadly and maneuverable as an Eldar fighter these machines are a dreaded throughout the sectors near the Eye of Terror.

Disc of Tzeentch

This circular item is host to a daemon of tzeentch that allows a rider when mounted on it to hover a few feet off the ground. This allows the user to cast spells over friendly units and if needed escape from the enemy. However in game terms the disc cannot hold a model in terminator armor.

Slaanesh

Hell Knight

The Hell Knight was a heavy walker with one purpose to its creation. Styled in Slaanesh designs it appears to be a mockery of the Eldar knights which were small one man titans. It was armed primarily with the castigator cannon, a gatling gun style cannon designed to mow down infantry.

Questor

The Questor gallops towards its foe with its long, powerful legs, the daemonic spirits inside chattering and screaming with the sensations that battle brings. As the Castigator cannons are brought to bear, these shrieks turn to howls of elation as the foe are pummelled into dust by an unceasing torrent of shells.

Subjugator

The Subjugator embodies the essence of Slaanesh: lithe, swift and deadly. Its Hellslicers rip apart foes many times its own size while the psychically-charged cannon leave a trail of charred wrecks and ashen corpses wherever they are fired.

Hellscourge

Like the Hell knight, the Hell Scourge was a heavy walker with one purpose. Styled in Slaanesh designs it appears to be a mockery of the Eldar knights, small one man titans. It was armed with a thermal lance, to destroy enemy tanks and armour.

Hell Strider

Similar in design to the Eldar war walker, allows its one crew member to stride above the battlefield on robotic legs. Armed with anti vehicle weaponry in each shoulder mount

Eldar

Dark Eldar

See the

Dark Eldar

main page for more information.

Imperium

The

A Gargant is the Ork equivalent of a Titan to the Imperium, fashioned out of scrap metal. They are often unreliable. While mostly invulnerable, due to the poor quality of materials they often suffer from weak points which can be taken advantage of by a cunning opponent.

Aircraft and airborne weapons

In a similar fashion to Ork ground vehicles, Ork aircraft tend to be unreliable and built from inferior products, yet they are still formidable aircraft nonetheless.

Grot Bomb

A guided missile piloted by suicidal (or gullible) Gretchin. They are usually seen mounted on Orkish aircraft, and on launchers based on Ork Wartrakks.

Fighta-Bomma

The typical Orkish vehicle to suit the needs of those orkoids who are obsessed with speed. These

Bomma

This Orkish bomber is just a bigger and more heavily armed version of the Fighta-Bomma, mounting an additional pair of shootas on its dorsal turret and four more rockets/bombs than its smaller variant (which is used primarily in dogfights). Sometimes its payload can include a "Grot Bomb". Warhammer 40,000- and Epic-scaled bommas have both been released by Forge World.

Deffkopta

This vehicle was once removed from the Orks Codex but has been brought back since then. They function similarly to jetbikes. They are a rudimentary version of a helicopter, each consisting of a seat, a simple control unit, a motor, two over sized rotor blades, and a weapon (usually a twin-linked big shoota). Other weapons such as saw blades and bombs can also be added. Like any other Orkish aerial weapon, they are also prone to accidents. 3 DeffKoptas are included with the Assualt on Black Reach starter set, and the old models are no longer carried.

Necrons

The

Tau

The Tau are a fictional race of humanoids in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Tau military doctrine largely involves shooting and avoidance of hand-to-hand combat. Their inclination toward ranged combat has led the Tau to develop powerful weapons technology.

Infantry

Most of the infantry in a Tau army is the Fire Warriors. The models are packaged with pulse rifles, and enough pulse carbines to equip about a quarter of them. However, the rules of the table-top game allow for an entire squad to be equipped with carbines. Kroot rifles are equipped to Kroot mercenaries allied with the Tau. A Shaper (the leader of a Kroot team) may be assembled with a pulse weapon by a player. Infantry are never equipped with heavy weapons, and only a soldier wearing a battlesuit is likely to be able to destroy a vehicle. A line-trooper must use a markerlight to call in a missile strike.

Standard Weapons

Standard equipment for line-troopers is intended to allow for a single team of Fire Warriors to lay down a powerful salvo at long range, and to blanket the enemy with fire at closer ranges. When Fire Warriors are deployed in large numbers, they are able to fire on almost any infantry unit with good effect.

Tau equip their Shas’la, the general infantry of the

Any Tau with a drone-controller may use robotic drones. They are not particularly powerful, but they can block weapons fire. When grouped together, they may operate independently for long periods. Drones are available in many forms, the most common being Gun Drones and Shield Drones, though Sniper Drones and Marker Drones are not a rare sight.

Other Infantry Weapons

A few infantry in the Tau forces may be equipped with special weapons, usually to fit a particular battlefield role, or simply because the character is entitled to a weapon based on rank.

A pulse pistol is a pulse weapon issued to personnel for desperate situations. It is just as powerful as the pulse rifle or carbine, but it has less than half the range.

Ethereals, the Tau leaders, may carry an honour blade. Honour blades consist of a lightweight metal shaft with a broad blade fixed to each end. While they are normally used in bloodless, stylized duels, the honour blade is used in sweeping movements that make the edge nearly invisible, making it a deadly weapon. An Ethereal using an honour blade can fight as though he had much greater strength.

Rail rifles are a new asset in the

Markerlights

Markerlights are simple lasers used to guide other weapons. They are most often carried by pathfinders or marker drones. A squad cannot take advantage of a markerlight fired from their own squad, unless it is a networked markerlight, which is larger, found on marker drones, Skyray missile boats, and with sniper team spotters. Markerlights may be used to make another unit more accurate, fire at a target that is not visible during the night, reduce the effect of cover, or suppress a unit more effectively. A markerlight may also be used to direct a seeker missile, a capable anti-armor weapon. This is the only anti-armor option for most infantry, as they are not allowed to carry heavy weapons^[7].

Allied Weapons

Kroot Carnivores carry Kroot rifles, simple slug throwers modified by the Tau. They have blades fitted to the muzzle and stock, so that the Kroot can use them as two weapons in close combat, which is their primary role.

A larger caliber than the Kroot rifle, a Kroot gun must be mounted on a Krootox, a beast of burden. The Kroot gun is effective against some vehicles.

Vespid Stingwings carry a hybrid of Tau and Vespid technology, the neutron blaster. They are a Tau neutron projector mounted with a crystal from planet Vespid. Only a Vespid can use the weapon, as the ultrasonic tone from their wings helps to stabilize the crystal.

Battlesuits

Battlesuits are power suits built to mount a wide array of weapons and support gear. Battlesuits are considered infantry rather than walkers, a type of vehicle, despite their size and appearance. The reason for the distinction is that a soldier wears a battlesuit, rather than piloting it. Battlesuits can be found in several varieties.

Crisis Suits

The XV8 Crisis suit is a versatile and very powerful weapons platform. The suits are worn by teams of Shas’ui troopers who have moved up from the Shas’la rank, sometimes led by a Shas’vre, one rank above Shas’ui, or a Shas’ui who is designated as the team leader. An XV8 is equipped with a jet pack, which allows Crisis suits to use a tactic unique to the Tau: Crisis suits will use their jet packs to dash out of cover, fire their weapons, and then move back before they can be fired upon.

Model

A Crisis suit is sold as a plastic model, usually in boxes of a single suit. The model is sold with weapons and support systems, which must be glued onto the shoulders or arms. It is roughly twice the size of a Tau Fire Warrior, the standard infantryman.

Crisis Suit Weapons

Battlesuits are always equipped with three weapons or support systems. They may be taken in almost any combination, allowing battlesuits to take on nearly any role in the battle field, and when equipped properly, more than one.

Tau employ a multitude of anti-infantry weapons, some of which can also threaten light vehicles. An airbursting fragmentation projector weapon fires bomblets over a wide area, which fragment upon detonation. Because of the fragmentation, the weapon negates the benefits of cover. This weapon is currently available through special issue, as it is going through field testing. A burst cannon uses the same technology as a pulse weapon. It is a four-barreled weapon mounted on battlesuits and vehicles, with a much higher rate of fire but only the range of the carbine. Similar in nature to the ion cannon mounted on Hammerhead tanks, a cyclic ion blaster is meant to eliminate large counts of weak infantry. It generates a stream of ion radiator, which is released through the four barrels. The unstable nature of the ion radiation means that some shots will be far more powerful than others, capable of penetrating vehicle armor. Using the same unstable plasma technology as other races, a plasma rifle is a slightly less powerful form that has the benefit of user safety. Still, the plasma rifle remains a potent weapon for combating heavy infantry, including the thickly armoured Space Marines. It is usable against some vehicles, but only the lightest of skimmers, unless a Crisis suit can maneuver to the rear of a vehicle to hit the thinner armour. Akin to a conventional flamethrower, a flamer is very useful in close-quarters combat. It is capable of hitting large numbers of troops, but it is effective only against light infantry, being much weaker than other Tau weapons.

The Tau keep two dedicated anti-armor weapons. One of the most powerful weapons available to the Tau, a fusion blaster is limited only by its short range. Primarily designed as an anti-tank weapon, a Crisis suit that gets close enough is almost guaranteed to penetrate even the thickest hull. A missile pod is capable of taking down light vehicles, and occasionally medium tanks. It is also effective against medium-armored or very tough infantry.

Support Systems

Battlesuits gain a large part of their ability from the support systems they carry. They can enhance many aspects of a battlesuit. Some systems are available in a hard-wired form, as cybernetic implants or jewelry, but only to higher ranking soldiers or team leaders.

Essentially a set of gyroscopes and sensors, a battlesuit with an advanced stabilization system can remain somewhat mobile even while firing heavy weapons. This system is useful only to Broadside battlesuits in most cases, as Crisis suits do not carry heavy weapons and can compensate for light recoil. A blacksun filter is simply a set of night vision equipment, and is available in hard-wired form. An advanced communication suite, a command and control node helps a leader direct nearby troops. A drone controller allows the user to direct Gun, Marker, or Shield drones. It is available as a hard-wired system. A multi-tracker is a firing controller that lets a battlesuit fire two weapons at once. It can be hard-wired. A positional relay helps to move reserve units into combat more reliably, but more slowly. A shield generator projects a protective field around the battlesuit. A target lock allows a warrior to fire at a target different from the rest of the squad. A targeting array is an advanced suite of equipment that aids the user’s aim. A set of additional maneuvering thrusters, vectored retro-thrusters allow a battlesuit to escape close combat.

Battlesuit Wargear

Battlesuits that are worn by team leaders will often have access to wargear, which includes hard-wired support systems and upgrades to the battlesuit.

XV88 Broadside Battlesuit

A Broadside is a Crisis chassis fitted with much heavier weapons and armor, in exchange for the jet pack. They are equipped with a twin-linked railgun, which is capable of penetrating any armor, and a smart missile system. Both weapons are normally found only on a Tau main battle tank, usually a Hammerhead. The smart missile system may be replaced with a twin-linked plasma rifle.

Model

A Broadside looks just like a Crisis suit, except that the arms are replaced with missile racks, it has very large, rectangular

A stealth suit is designed to move rapidly toward the enemy undetected. The original XV15 suit was used in an anti-infantry role, armed with a burst cannon. The newer XV25 suit is significantly larger, and looks more like a vehicle than the XV15, which was a close-fitting suit of armor, but is still much smaller than a Crisis suit. The XV25 is capable of mounting a fusion blaster to take on an anti-vehicle role.

Model

An XV15 is roughly the size of a standard infantryman, with a little extra height and bulk added by the armor. One of the arms is replaced by the burst cannon. An XV25 is noticeably larger and bulkier, with a somewhat less form-fitting appearance, and the burst cannon or fusion blaster is slung under the arm, rather than in its place.

References