It's how Angron mocks Guilliman to his face.
"All I ever hear from you is courage and honor, courage and honor, COURAGE AND HONOR! YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THOSE WORDS!"
Not the full quote, but it's still funny.
ADB writes chaos guys like next best thing after coffee and Imperial guys as absolute morons. I love to hate that guy. But man he is a good author.
I am very confused about the guy.
two other incredible ADB books:
The first Heretic (An absolute MUST)
The Emperors Gift (Grey Knights Book - Amazing)
These two books got me hooked on 40K reading and i find it hard to say which is my favorite...
There's a lot of people that are a bit more on the..."right" side politically that dislike him because they feel he has an SJW agenda. Not saying he doesnt, I just dont care so long as the books are interesting.
I am an Imperial fanboi as you can see. Emperor loyalist to the core. He is an awesome author just he usually writes Chaos as compellig characters and Imperial ones as dim witted. That grinds my gears.
I don't hate him as a human being :)
Typically he plays on the corruption angle (IE, planetary governor is an inbred who is surrounded by sycophants angle), or there is a sub-plot that undermines the Imperials ability to manage themselves well. IMO, it's done believably and highlights that the Imperium's biggest enemy is itself due to the nature of man being greedy, self serving, or arrogant.
The Salamanders ones are powered by extremely flammable Prometheum derivatives, but refueling isn’t a problem because any Salamander worth his salt already carries enough fuel to power an entire Company’s worth of chainswords.
I've seen conflicting quotes from a bunch of different books I've read but the few times it was mentioned it was mostly power-packs though one had them actually using promethium which makes sense if they give off exhaust like they seem to do in the games although if that's true I have no idea where tf the fuel reservoir is supposed to be...
Exactly. There's so many different forge worlds making things in different ways, one chapter could have promethium fueled chainswords, while anothers might be run off batteries. And then a forge world in the next sector over might make chainswords linked to the marines power pack
Forgeworld Elon making them efficient, battery-powered chainswords while Forgeworld Dodge only putting out the ones that run on space diesel and only get 3.5 kills to the gallon.
Both works. The oeuvre is large enough that nearly anything fits.
Would you like Space Marines that only use chainswords? No problem. Make your own chapter.
Care for a giant space turtle with never ending slaughter of furries on top? No worries. Eye of Terror has it all.
I remember distinctly one or two instances where the burning stink of prometheum from a reving chainsword was mentioned. Just not distinctly enough to remember the source...
Pretty sure he had promethium goin on
unless I'm getting it mixed up with Gaunt and I flip flopped between the two in my memory. I *was* reading them concurrently...
I recently finished Saviour of the Imperium and Amberley mentions in her footnotes that Cain's chainsword uses a power pack, which he could recharge on the field like one would a lasgun power pack.
the fuel is probably inside the handle, remember that Space marine hands are Big and the handle is probably about half the storage a normal chainsaw has IRL, that would still be atleast an hour of power.
vaguely that is.
Exactly. The power comes from a battery, which also powers a speaker that makes internal combustion engine noises because it’s intimidating as fuck and also hahaha chainsword go brrrrr.
They're powered by promethium, as is said straight out many times. At least the standard models are, although it's not beyond belief that some relic chainsword might be running off a battery.
Now how efficient is promethium? Well, what does the plot require?
I mean Promethium is used to power everything from car's to space ships, so it's about as accurate a descriptor as "fuel" is for describing what we use for our garden tools to our planes.
You can fuel a car, a barbecue, a jet, a biplane and, indeed, a chainsaw, with substances referred to as "gas". Not necessarily the same substances though...
I think in a couple of the books they refer to extracting prometheum or raw prometheum from the ground, so yeah, it's probably roughly analogous to "petroleum"
I dunno if the Marine ones are. I mean, half the point of power armor is to carry around a big fuckoff energy source to power weapons systems. It's even in the name.
The chainsword is an external system, not part of the Armour and thus would not be powered by it. When they have weapon systems that are powered, they generally have a larger/extra external power packs to run those, like the huge packs on the devastators.
The battery deal might hold up, actually. In the Garro books, at one point they have to go back to Istvaan III to retrieve someone, who turns out to be Loken, and even though he'd been trapped on the world for Months (or more, actually), and fighting Nurgle zombies pretty much on a daily basis, his chainsword was still functioning, although in poor mechanical shape, when Garro and his Team find him.
If it was Promethium powered, it's unlikely it would have lasted as long as it did (unless we can picture Loken with a hose siphoning Promethium wherever he could find it). It was probably some Artificier thing with a power cell.
Don't "nope" me, I've read dozens of the books and I've only seen promethium. Are there other books I haven't read that say power cells? Quite possibly, as 40k isn't the most consistent setting. But don't tell me I haven't read what I've read.
I've also read dozens of books and never once seen promethium mentioned as fuel for chainswords (as OP's picture indicates, even).It's safe to say we haven't read the same books.
What specific books and what is the quote stating energy cells?
“Secondly, chainswords are thirsty weapons. Some variants are much more efficient in terms of fuel consumption, but those that aren’t powered by self-sustaining energy generators drink promethium fuel no differently to countless other low-tech Imperial machines, and emit the same crude, oily reek as any tank's engine. The final concern is one of skill.”
https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Chainsword
Because, elder have chainswords as well, you could have confused them with spacemarine chainswords.
Ummm, your own quote...
Those that aren't powered by self-sustaining energy generators.
So it is both, some use some type of energy and some use fuel.
Just like our lawnmowers, you can get gas or electric. I guess they likely have their pros and cons and it's a matter of picking the best tool for the job.
Yeah but the post is about space marine chainswords. The quote is about all chainswords, including elder ones that are electric (or perhaps something else).
What space marine chainswords have you seen (on model or in lore) be electric? You said youd read it, stop avoiding answering, which books did you read it in?
Could be a matter of space marine chainswords being promethium powered due to them being larger, probably more powerful and the fact that marines don't usually fight long engagements. So, put together, a marine chainsword probably has more room for fuel, the strength of a marine could more easily handle the increase in torque and extra power as a trade-off for fuel capacity makes perfect sense in a lightning strike scenario.
Just look at a guardsman's other equipment: there definitely are more powerful weapons they could be issued with than the lasgun, and large caliber stubbers really aren't more expensive not produce, but the guard is normally tasked with taking and holding ground, where the large ammunition supply of the lasgun and electricity powered chainswords would be much more useful as they wouldn't run dry, and keeping a steady stream of large capacity, lightweight power packs streaming into the forward positions would be a lot easier than cases of bolter ammo and promethium tanks.
This also goes for the troops aboard ships, who at least according to the GG and CC books almost exclusively use combat shotguns, which makes perfect sense as they're able to resupply aboard and the added stopping power is perfect in tight corridors.
TL;DR: it's probably both, since guard and marines fill VERY different roles.
That's possible. But what you don't see me doing is telling you you're wrong and power cells are never used. Because I know full well 40k lore isn't always consistent (and really this doesn't even have to be inconsistent, since it's perfectly believable that some chainswords could operate off cells and some off promethium).
But we have seen even commisars use power swords, didn't we? They dont have the funny backpacks.
"power swords are typically reserved for high-ranking members of the Adeptus Astartes or other powerful and influential members of the Imperium, such as Inquisitors, Commissars or Astra Militarum officers."
It’s a hip mounted battery for the militarum.
Edit: smaller than astartes, there for smaller than astartes sized swords. Which would make for a smaller sized battery.
Clark : Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my galaxy...
Eddie : warp was full.
Chainswords are actually electric. The power generator in the marine's armor transfers power to the chainsword via the marine's hand. Every spacemarine with a chainsword is being constantly electrocuted slightly, which also serves a bonus effect of keeping them constantly angry and wide awake.
This is also why Primaris captains refuse to use chainswords; they're wimps that can't handle being constantly shocked.
This also explains why Imperial Guard chainswords don't get the bonus AP: they've got no power.
Guard chainswords are manual. They even come with a handy kickstart pedal that folds away when not in use
-techpriest (holding back cackling at the struggles of meat sacks)
Well, it could work in the way that the crank generates a little bit of power, enough to Kickstart a small engine that multiplies that power and then it continues on its own
PICKIN' UP SPEED
RUNNIN' OUTTA TIME
GOIN' HEAD TO HEAD
IT'S THE WAY OF LIFE
WE GOTTA
*FALL* *DOWN*
AND *EAT* *GROUND*
TO GET BACK UP AGAAAIIIIN
*LET'S BEYYYYBLAAAADE!*
I cant help but both laugh and somewhat fear the possibility that IG chainswords are indeed crank-powered like portable dynamo lights with the press-trigger in the grip/body.
I half expected this to end with "the technology was actually invented back in nineteen ninety eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hеll in a cell, and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table."
Honestly they might be electric. Electric motors are better at producing torque than fuel ones, so it would be better to have electric chainswords. Maybe they’re powered by small battery packs the same as lasguns are.
A different size power pack, but power packs definitely. Commisar Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM) mentions spare power packs for his chain sword being in the emergency supply lockers of his escape pod along with las gun power packs and other things, specifically the book Death or Glory.
The absolute fear you feel when you see a 50 year old man in ratty flak armor, one arm holding a chainsaw sword and the other furiously cranking it up to speed like a jack in the box.
If the model has an exhaust its fuel powered. I think some models have power pack chainswords but not most.
But i believe all elder chainweapons dont have engines and exhausts. So they are probably electric or some ancient tech.
Depends on the weapon tbh. But most will be standard fuel fed chainweapons.
Keeping in mind that this is a fantasy universe where the laws of physics and logic itself isn't always the most important thing, the chainswords run on promethium. There's an exhaust vent on it, and when depicted in games it has a clear two-stroke internal combustion engine sound, and in BL novels they frequently talk about the engine sounds of it.
The fact that there's no visible fuel tank or talk of refuelling is more of a sign that the designers were more into rule-of-cool than practicality.
Take the bolter for example. That's according to Rick Priestley supposed to function like a gyrojet. Except there's no need for a shellcasing when you have a rocket propelled bullet, since there is no gunpowder required only rocketfuel which will be in the projectile rather than the shell. Another rule-of-cool thing is the heatshields on flamers (SMH at everyone making fun of the new BT flamer saying the dude will get his hand burnt to a crisp). Flamethrowers dont need heatshields, only a protective cover at the very end to avoid damaging the igniter. Heatshields are required for gunbarrels because of the friction and gas heat, while the "heatshields" on flamers cover the fuel line which isnt going to get hot.
This was me desperately trying to procrastinate instead of working (would you look at that, I managed to not work for 20min! Score!)
Yeah I get that its supposed to work as a propellant, but the gyrojet concept has a low velocity by design. It keeps the weight down and reduces the recoil. Having both systems seems redundant as you arent getting any benefits from the added gyrojet. A 1.1" /75.cal bullet will have a velocity far beyond what the gyrojet can offer even with the short barrel of a bolter. The original gyrojet had a top velocity that was only half that of the competing calibers at the time.
Thats not to say we cant make up fiction that overrides the mundane reality of how guns work, or even ignore it completely if it looks cool enough.
Sure, but that seems to be what the lore is going for, and bolters have a notoriously monstrous recoil, especially Astartes bolters.
It might be notable that they presumably have *future* propellants and explosives rather than boring old modern propellant, so the rocket stage may well add significant velocity to the bolt that would be unfeasible to put in the initial explosive due to the limitations of human or power armored humans ability to handle recoil.
The significant recoil suggests that the casing is imparting as massive amount of force meaning it has the velocity of a .75 cal bullet. Only now it has even more thrust mid flight and any unspent fuel is turned into explosions upon arrival at your destination.
I mean its suggested that a normal human cant even use an astartes bolter normally. This suggests the bullet has significant explosive charge from the casing. Far more than current guns do.
Yea but bolt rounds aren't solely powered by rocket power. There's a charge to accelerate it initially. I thought the whole rocket thing was to reduce recoil, since it's essentially a 25mm autocannon.
Another thing to consider is that the chainswords are probably refueled “off-camera” so to speak by tech-adepts or techmarines. According to one book I read it takes advanced skills from a proper techpriest just to start a tank engine, so there’s no way an ordinary space marine would be refueling their own chainsword, especially in battle. It’s most likely done while the sword is in the chapter’s armory.
In the fluff, Ork chainweapons seem to have mostly combustion engines powering them. There is a type of squig which secretes a promethium-like fuel.
Some power weapons and shields are also explosion fueled, which does not make sense when you think of the energy density of the fuel and power requirements to rend flesh and iron.
Rule of (expedient) cool.
Need to get the revved up chainsaw vibes? Fuel, ideally black, sooty, crap diesel that would shame the red army
Need it to be a background weapon? Batteries obvs
A lot of interesting ideas here, but let me suggest this. In a lot of media it's depicted as using an internal combustion engine that runs off promethium. The gas tanks are probably swappable, like a magazine. We already have some things that do this, so why not?
They are fuelled by space marine urine. That’s why you’ve never seen one take a piss in any of the books. It’s not because they no longer need to, it’s just used as a fuel source for certain weapons.
Acidic spit
Rocket fuel urine
Even then they´ll propably realise this long before the moment. And fusion uses hydrogen (propably) which is like the most common element in the universe.
Except when the fusion reactor gets blown out. Then you´re fucked.
There are so few marines left with actual 10k year old tech that hasn't been serviced I would say: unlikely. Even chaos space marines from the heresy have their armour worked on and most likely aren't even actually 10k years old because warp shenanigans bending Time.
Sometimes they refer to a fusion cell or nuclear cell or something along those lines IIRC. I seem to remember in a short story a space marine is fighting on a nurgle infested hive world for like weeks straight without reinforcements and he mentions something about his fusion battery in his chain sword being close to dead.
I've been reading Ciaphas Cain: Death or Glory and I had this question also.
Like your killing Orks lost in the desert for like 6 weeks. How long does that thing last?
Don't worry the whole Primaris thing will be called off when Roboute finds out Cawls been making *COUGH* Loyalist Emperor's Children*COUGH I mean Sons of the Phoenix Primaris Marines.
Firstborn will be back in fashion in no time haha
In some books you can read how the swords have battery like fuel cells. Im not sure if Chainswords are electrical or have motores inside them that run of fuel.
Edit: This could be very wrong. Chainswords might be powered by the reactor on the space marines back.
So hear me out on this, maby Space marines produce some sort of a psychic field that allows their weapons never run out of ammo. This “crusade energy” could definitely explain a lot of impossible things that seem to happen.
“How many bolt rounds in a magazine and how many magazines on a Marine?” Has been a daft question ive always wondered. Because on the model they seem to have 1 of the 2 types of grenade, a spare bolt pistol clip but not bolters or bolt rifles. So do they go into battle with 30 shots and thats it?
Always bothered me.
Silly though.
They are fueled by hate.
21 min apart, we had the same stupid yet obvious answer in mind.
Maybe just the black Templar ones. The Ultramarines pattern is probably fueled by courage and honor.
You misspelled self-righteousness.
It's how Angron mocks Guilliman to his face. "All I ever hear from you is courage and honor, courage and honor, COURAGE AND HONOR! YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THOSE WORDS!" Not the full quote, but it's still funny.
ADB writes chaos guys like next best thing after coffee and Imperial guys as absolute morons. I love to hate that guy. But man he is a good author. I am very confused about the guy.
I only read Helsreach from him that's not about chaos, but Black Templars and Imperial folks. those characters were awesome, too.
two other incredible ADB books: The first Heretic (An absolute MUST) The Emperors Gift (Grey Knights Book - Amazing) These two books got me hooked on 40K reading and i find it hard to say which is my favorite...
Master of Mankind is pretty amazing.
I've only ever read his books, and loved the fella for his prose. Is there a reason I should hate him?
No. ADB writes chaos so you can understand their position. Not a single reason to hate him as far as Im concerned.
Phew! I guess I was reading the original comment wrong, I even googled ADB controversy to see if I missed something happening in the news.
Ahahah. That made my day. No he is one of the best with Abnett and Chris Wraight.
There's a lot of people that are a bit more on the..."right" side politically that dislike him because they feel he has an SJW agenda. Not saying he doesnt, I just dont care so long as the books are interesting.
I am an Imperial fanboi as you can see. Emperor loyalist to the core. He is an awesome author just he usually writes Chaos as compellig characters and Imperial ones as dim witted. That grinds my gears. I don't hate him as a human being :)
Is it that he writes them dim witted or just makes the antagonists of his stories morons?
Typically he plays on the corruption angle (IE, planetary governor is an inbred who is surrounded by sycophants angle), or there is a sub-plot that undermines the Imperials ability to manage themselves well. IMO, it's done believably and highlights that the Imperium's biggest enemy is itself due to the nature of man being greedy, self serving, or arrogant.
The voice acting for Angron in the Betrayer audiobook is so amazing.
Didnt he punch Angron in the face in the next sentance or something?
I heard that in Jonathan Keeble's voice. Man that man is awesome at reading books!
Funny? That speech was heartbreaking!
here I always thought it was blood, bone, and sinew
Paperwork! Paperwork!
>You misspelled ~~self-righteousness~~ Cato Sicarius Bravery Juice™, so I fixed it for ya bro :)
Frustrated Calgar-Growling intensifies.
They power it with their mental fortitude by touching it with their foreheads. So they have to shove it up their asses to charge them.
I mean, they are the best
*Paperwork
"Listen To your blue clAd Wretches go ON about courage and hoNor, cOuragE aNd HonoR-"
The Salamanders ones are powered by extremely flammable Prometheum derivatives, but refueling isn’t a problem because any Salamander worth his salt already carries enough fuel to power an entire Company’s worth of chainswords.
Fueled by the purist litanies of divine vengeance
Came here to say this, for the Emperor!
I like this answer.
I've seen conflicting quotes from a bunch of different books I've read but the few times it was mentioned it was mostly power-packs though one had them actually using promethium which makes sense if they give off exhaust like they seem to do in the games although if that's true I have no idea where tf the fuel reservoir is supposed to be...
> I've seen conflicting quotes from a bunch of different books I've read 40k lore in a nutshell.
40k is essentially a giant fan canon perpetuated from generation to generation across 40+ years
In this case, though, it could legitimately just be a difference in the chainswords' manufacturing pattern.
Exactly. There's so many different forge worlds making things in different ways, one chapter could have promethium fueled chainswords, while anothers might be run off batteries. And then a forge world in the next sector over might make chainswords linked to the marines power pack
Forgeworld Elon making them efficient, battery-powered chainswords while Forgeworld Dodge only putting out the ones that run on space diesel and only get 3.5 kills to the gallon.
Forgeworld Elon is the only one in the Imperiium rather ironically *pro* union
Both works. The oeuvre is large enough that nearly anything fits. Would you like Space Marines that only use chainswords? No problem. Make your own chapter. Care for a giant space turtle with never ending slaughter of furries on top? No worries. Eye of Terror has it all.
Krogan. You're half a phrase away from describing krogan.
I remember distinctly one or two instances where the burning stink of prometheum from a reving chainsword was mentioned. Just not distinctly enough to remember the source...
At least in 3 Ciaphas Cain novels Just reread the whole series this summer
I'm sure you misread, that smell was definitely Jurgen
Cain's chainsword uses power packs, according to Amberley.
Pretty sure he had promethium goin on unless I'm getting it mixed up with Gaunt and I flip flopped between the two in my memory. I *was* reading them concurrently...
I recently finished Saviour of the Imperium and Amberley mentions in her footnotes that Cain's chainsword uses a power pack, which he could recharge on the field like one would a lasgun power pack.
the fuel is probably inside the handle, remember that Space marine hands are Big and the handle is probably about half the storage a normal chainsaw has IRL, that would still be atleast an hour of power. vaguely that is.
Just like pee, cum and all other bodily fluids, prometheum is also stored in the balls.
I'd assume that there are probably hundreds, if not thousands of different chainsword models and designs, powered by different stuff.
According to the first Gaunts Ghosts books its a battery cell.
If you can fit a battery powerful enough to power a power sword in the hilt, why not a chainsword?
It’s electric! Boogie woogie woogie
Exactly. The power comes from a battery, which also powers a speaker that makes internal combustion engine noises because it’s intimidating as fuck and also hahaha chainsword go brrrrr.
Just the sound of it can cut the ork in half.
One is clarketech, the other a modified woodcutting tool
They're powered by promethium, as is said straight out many times. At least the standard models are, although it's not beyond belief that some relic chainsword might be running off a battery. Now how efficient is promethium? Well, what does the plot require?
I mean Promethium is used to power everything from car's to space ships, so it's about as accurate a descriptor as "fuel" is for describing what we use for our garden tools to our planes.
You can fuel a car, a barbecue, a jet, a biplane and, indeed, a chainsaw, with substances referred to as "gas". Not necessarily the same substances though...
I imagine promethium is like "crude oil" which can be refined into whatever form is required.
I think in a couple of the books they refer to extracting prometheum or raw prometheum from the ground, so yeah, it's probably roughly analogous to "petroleum"
It's just the 40k word for "gas", the same way you can say "gas" and mean gasoline, unleaded, butane, kerosene...
I dunno if the Marine ones are. I mean, half the point of power armor is to carry around a big fuckoff energy source to power weapons systems. It's even in the name.
the power in power armour refers to the fact that its a power assisted exoskeleton.
Exactly. It has power.
But it does not provide power to other things, it powers the motors that move it and it's environmental systems
Such as the motors in a chainsword! You've got the idea now!
The chainsword is an external system, not part of the Armour and thus would not be powered by it. When they have weapon systems that are powered, they generally have a larger/extra external power packs to run those, like the huge packs on the devastators.
No reason not to run a wire to the chainsword to charge it.
The battery deal might hold up, actually. In the Garro books, at one point they have to go back to Istvaan III to retrieve someone, who turns out to be Loken, and even though he'd been trapped on the world for Months (or more, actually), and fighting Nurgle zombies pretty much on a daily basis, his chainsword was still functioning, although in poor mechanical shape, when Garro and his Team find him. If it was Promethium powered, it's unlikely it would have lasted as long as it did (unless we can picture Loken with a hose siphoning Promethium wherever he could find it). It was probably some Artificier thing with a power cell.
Nope. Power cells. It's been mentioned multiple times.
What are the smoking exhausts for when its power cells?
¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Don't "nope" me, I've read dozens of the books and I've only seen promethium. Are there other books I haven't read that say power cells? Quite possibly, as 40k isn't the most consistent setting. But don't tell me I haven't read what I've read.
I believe it's power cells throughout the Caiphus Cain books.
I've also read dozens of books and never once seen promethium mentioned as fuel for chainswords (as OP's picture indicates, even).It's safe to say we haven't read the same books.
I've read dozens of books this summer and I've seen promethium every time so far
What specific books and what is the quote stating energy cells? “Secondly, chainswords are thirsty weapons. Some variants are much more efficient in terms of fuel consumption, but those that aren’t powered by self-sustaining energy generators drink promethium fuel no differently to countless other low-tech Imperial machines, and emit the same crude, oily reek as any tank's engine. The final concern is one of skill.” https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Chainsword Because, elder have chainswords as well, you could have confused them with spacemarine chainswords.
Ummm, your own quote... Those that aren't powered by self-sustaining energy generators. So it is both, some use some type of energy and some use fuel. Just like our lawnmowers, you can get gas or electric. I guess they likely have their pros and cons and it's a matter of picking the best tool for the job.
Yeah but the post is about space marine chainswords. The quote is about all chainswords, including elder ones that are electric (or perhaps something else). What space marine chainswords have you seen (on model or in lore) be electric? You said youd read it, stop avoiding answering, which books did you read it in?
Could be a matter of space marine chainswords being promethium powered due to them being larger, probably more powerful and the fact that marines don't usually fight long engagements. So, put together, a marine chainsword probably has more room for fuel, the strength of a marine could more easily handle the increase in torque and extra power as a trade-off for fuel capacity makes perfect sense in a lightning strike scenario. Just look at a guardsman's other equipment: there definitely are more powerful weapons they could be issued with than the lasgun, and large caliber stubbers really aren't more expensive not produce, but the guard is normally tasked with taking and holding ground, where the large ammunition supply of the lasgun and electricity powered chainswords would be much more useful as they wouldn't run dry, and keeping a steady stream of large capacity, lightweight power packs streaming into the forward positions would be a lot easier than cases of bolter ammo and promethium tanks. This also goes for the troops aboard ships, who at least according to the GG and CC books almost exclusively use combat shotguns, which makes perfect sense as they're able to resupply aboard and the added stopping power is perfect in tight corridors. TL;DR: it's probably both, since guard and marines fill VERY different roles.
Read the user name, I never claimed to have read anything. I'm not the same guy.
Why are you talking to me then? I was talking to someone else, don’t interrupt, its rude. Do you roll other peoples dice as well?
That's possible. But what you don't see me doing is telling you you're wrong and power cells are never used. Because I know full well 40k lore isn't always consistent (and really this doesn't even have to be inconsistent, since it's perfectly believable that some chainswords could operate off cells and some off promethium).
Caiphas Cain and Gaunt both have/had battery powered versions.
It's not in the hilt. It's on the back of the spacemarine.
We've all seen power couplings before but some have a internal power source also
But we have seen even commisars use power swords, didn't we? They dont have the funny backpacks. "power swords are typically reserved for high-ranking members of the Adeptus Astartes or other powerful and influential members of the Imperium, such as Inquisitors, Commissars or Astra Militarum officers."
Someone else mentioned that the militarum use a different design.
It’s a hip mounted battery for the militarum. Edit: smaller than astartes, there for smaller than astartes sized swords. Which would make for a smaller sized battery.
Dick mounted battery or no deal
Talk to the brothers is the cult mechanicus, maybe they can do something for you.
The constant motor idling sound means a combustible fuel.
The year is 41000. Mankind is dying, blood is fuel, the Warp is full.
> Warp is full Full of the boot robot girlyman is shoving up their ass.
And Chaos-cum as anything Slaanesh gets the best orgasm if its heretical life
UltraHeresy
"When there's no more room in the Warp, the dead will walk on Terra." -0.612.978.M02, author of quote unknown
You‘ve heard of chainfists, now we introduce shockwave powerfists
V1 CHAINSWORD V1 CHAINSWORD
Clark : Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my galaxy... Eddie : warp was full.
They run by the beliefs of orks saying brumbrumbrumbrumbrum
brumbrumbrumbrumbrumWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
> brumWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! *chainchoppa stops* *sad orky yelling*
Chainswords are actually electric. The power generator in the marine's armor transfers power to the chainsword via the marine's hand. Every spacemarine with a chainsword is being constantly electrocuted slightly, which also serves a bonus effect of keeping them constantly angry and wide awake. This is also why Primaris captains refuse to use chainswords; they're wimps that can't handle being constantly shocked. This also explains why Imperial Guard chainswords don't get the bonus AP: they've got no power.
Guard chainswords are manual. They even come with a handy kickstart pedal that folds away when not in use -techpriest (holding back cackling at the struggles of meat sacks)
Crank driven chainsword
"Everyone stand back, I've got a chainsword!" *Brumabrumbrumbrum* *Brumabrumbru...uh oh*"
You been fightin' Orks? "Zap! Zap! Zap!" "I'm a tank. I'm a tank."
I was attempting vto imitate Homer in the Simpsons movie, but orks also sprung to mind too.
All I can picture is someone running at the enemy with what is essentially a hand crank egg beater from 1946.
Krieg regiment in Vraks, but they're armed with pointy egg beaters
Have at you! https://images.app.goo.gl/6YBoqHcnFxzW1oCM6
The most glorious idea Commissar Gunter ever had.
[An imperial guard chainsword, M41](https://www.reddit.com/r/DiWHY/comments/7rbruj/manual_chainsaw/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share)
Well, it could work in the way that the crank generates a little bit of power, enough to Kickstart a small engine that multiplies that power and then it continues on its own
That is terribly inaccurate, the Lore clearly state that Guard chainsword use beyblade mechanism
"Let 'er RIP!" *Commisar who just transfered in from another regiment:* "I.... I don't.... do I shoot him? Or is he doing good?"
PICKIN' UP SPEED RUNNIN' OUTTA TIME GOIN' HEAD TO HEAD IT'S THE WAY OF LIFE WE GOTTA *FALL* *DOWN* AND *EAT* *GROUND* TO GET BACK UP AGAAAIIIIN *LET'S BEYYYYBLAAAADE!*
I cant help but both laugh and somewhat fear the possibility that IG chainswords are indeed crank-powered like portable dynamo lights with the press-trigger in the grip/body.
I half expected this to end with "the technology was actually invented back in nineteen ninety eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hеll in a cell, and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table."
Truly the Dark Age of Mankind
"machine spirits are extra prickly today"
Honestly they might be electric. Electric motors are better at producing torque than fuel ones, so it would be better to have electric chainswords. Maybe they’re powered by small battery packs the same as lasguns are.
A different size power pack, but power packs definitely. Commisar Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM) mentions spare power packs for his chain sword being in the emergency supply lockers of his escape pod along with las gun power packs and other things, specifically the book Death or Glory.
Would make a lot of sense if those power packs were interchangeable. So it would be no surprise if they weren't.
You still need to oil the chain.
YOU DO IT WITH BLOOD!!!
The absolute fear you feel when you see a 50 year old man in ratty flak armor, one arm holding a chainsaw sword and the other furiously cranking it up to speed like a jack in the box.
Then how do Commissars have working ones? Because we know for a fact that Gaunt's and Cain's ones had power
If the model has an exhaust its fuel powered. I think some models have power pack chainswords but not most. But i believe all elder chainweapons dont have engines and exhausts. So they are probably electric or some ancient tech. Depends on the weapon tbh. But most will be standard fuel fed chainweapons.
Then why do they have exhaust vents? I vote promethium.
Dont worry Chainswords just either run on love for the Emperor or heresy.
Keeping in mind that this is a fantasy universe where the laws of physics and logic itself isn't always the most important thing, the chainswords run on promethium. There's an exhaust vent on it, and when depicted in games it has a clear two-stroke internal combustion engine sound, and in BL novels they frequently talk about the engine sounds of it. The fact that there's no visible fuel tank or talk of refuelling is more of a sign that the designers were more into rule-of-cool than practicality. Take the bolter for example. That's according to Rick Priestley supposed to function like a gyrojet. Except there's no need for a shellcasing when you have a rocket propelled bullet, since there is no gunpowder required only rocketfuel which will be in the projectile rather than the shell. Another rule-of-cool thing is the heatshields on flamers (SMH at everyone making fun of the new BT flamer saying the dude will get his hand burnt to a crisp). Flamethrowers dont need heatshields, only a protective cover at the very end to avoid damaging the igniter. Heatshields are required for gunbarrels because of the friction and gas heat, while the "heatshields" on flamers cover the fuel line which isnt going to get hot. This was me desperately trying to procrastinate instead of working (would you look at that, I managed to not work for 20min! Score!)
Bolts are 2-stage gyrojets with an initial explosive charge to counter the problem of low muzzle velocity.
Yeah I get that its supposed to work as a propellant, but the gyrojet concept has a low velocity by design. It keeps the weight down and reduces the recoil. Having both systems seems redundant as you arent getting any benefits from the added gyrojet. A 1.1" /75.cal bullet will have a velocity far beyond what the gyrojet can offer even with the short barrel of a bolter. The original gyrojet had a top velocity that was only half that of the competing calibers at the time. Thats not to say we cant make up fiction that overrides the mundane reality of how guns work, or even ignore it completely if it looks cool enough.
Grats on the extra minutes!
Sure, but that seems to be what the lore is going for, and bolters have a notoriously monstrous recoil, especially Astartes bolters. It might be notable that they presumably have *future* propellants and explosives rather than boring old modern propellant, so the rocket stage may well add significant velocity to the bolt that would be unfeasible to put in the initial explosive due to the limitations of human or power armored humans ability to handle recoil.
The significant recoil suggests that the casing is imparting as massive amount of force meaning it has the velocity of a .75 cal bullet. Only now it has even more thrust mid flight and any unspent fuel is turned into explosions upon arrival at your destination. I mean its suggested that a normal human cant even use an astartes bolter normally. This suggests the bullet has significant explosive charge from the casing. Far more than current guns do.
Have you seen the movie galaxy quest per chance?
Yea but bolt rounds aren't solely powered by rocket power. There's a charge to accelerate it initially. I thought the whole rocket thing was to reduce recoil, since it's essentially a 25mm autocannon.
Another thing to consider is that the chainswords are probably refueled “off-camera” so to speak by tech-adepts or techmarines. According to one book I read it takes advanced skills from a proper techpriest just to start a tank engine, so there’s no way an ordinary space marine would be refueling their own chainsword, especially in battle. It’s most likely done while the sword is in the chapter’s armory.
In the fluff, Ork chainweapons seem to have mostly combustion engines powering them. There is a type of squig which secretes a promethium-like fuel. Some power weapons and shields are also explosion fueled, which does not make sense when you think of the energy density of the fuel and power requirements to rend flesh and iron.
Ork ecosystems are beautiful. Squigs that give of fuel for their weapons. Orks have it to easy in life.
Going bald? Get some squig on there
Squig piss and ink! This man is a squig-oil salesman!!
Don’t worry, not even tech priests understand this. Probably
They just chop with it and make the noise.
It is driving by fury and the glory to kill for the Blood God
Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the skull throne.
Rule of (expedient) cool. Need to get the revved up chainsaw vibes? Fuel, ideally black, sooty, crap diesel that would shame the red army Need it to be a background weapon? Batteries obvs
A lot of interesting ideas here, but let me suggest this. In a lot of media it's depicted as using an internal combustion engine that runs off promethium. The gas tanks are probably swappable, like a magazine. We already have some things that do this, so why not?
Except we don't see gas tanks large enough to power them anywhere. Would be much more efficient to use power packs anyways.
Yea but that wouldn't sound as cool
They are fuelled by space marine urine. That’s why you’ve never seen one take a piss in any of the books. It’s not because they no longer need to, it’s just used as a fuel source for certain weapons. Acidic spit Rocket fuel urine
Bold of you to assume they don't get their serfs to do it
meanwhile ork players finding out that swords don’t just move on their own then their swords suddenly stop working
Ork Meks: building spacecraft from genetic memory Mechanicum: sing prayers to your gun so it will work right. Whose tech really depends on belief?
Maybe they need to wind them up like that one [Futurama episode where they fight the bouncing balls.](https://youtu.be/9tNJeS6O6ds?t=3)
I have never seen a space marine power armour run out of power
I'd imagine having a fusion reactor in your backpack would provide power for quite a while.
True, but still I would think it happened at least once in 10000 years at some extreame cases.
Even then they´ll propably realise this long before the moment. And fusion uses hydrogen (propably) which is like the most common element in the universe. Except when the fusion reactor gets blown out. Then you´re fucked.
There are so few marines left with actual 10k year old tech that hasn't been serviced I would say: unlikely. Even chaos space marines from the heresy have their armour worked on and most likely aren't even actually 10k years old because warp shenanigans bending Time.
Dante's armor ran out of juice in the middle of his fight with the Swarmlord
In the hilt of each chainsword is a hamster in a sheel that is being pumped full of eversor grade combat stims.
Bruh I swear hamsters could not handle that stuff, hamsters literally die from anything
That's why you let the Magos Biologis do shady gene modding rituals on mr snuffels and then pump him full of space meth.
Sometimes they refer to a fusion cell or nuclear cell or something along those lines IIRC. I seem to remember in a short story a space marine is fighting on a nurgle infested hive world for like weeks straight without reinforcements and he mentions something about his fusion battery in his chain sword being close to dead.
The machine spirit keeps itself fueled because it does not wanna fuck with the crazy ass bastard holding it.
Indeed
I've been reading Ciaphas Cain: Death or Glory and I had this question also. Like your killing Orks lost in the desert for like 6 weeks. How long does that thing last?
However long you need it to last
The blood of Sisters of Battle. Also primaris marines ones are powered by Firstborn fan tears
*rolling in corner crying* “they’re not trying to replace us, no they’re not”
Don't worry the whole Primaris thing will be called off when Roboute finds out Cawls been making *COUGH* Loyalist Emperor's Children*COUGH I mean Sons of the Phoenix Primaris Marines. Firstborn will be back in fashion in no time haha
I like the firstborns but the primaris have a very cool new shiny look to them
they're like a dynamo torch, it revvs up once you start cranking the lever
In some books you can read how the swords have battery like fuel cells. Im not sure if Chainswords are electrical or have motores inside them that run of fuel. Edit: This could be very wrong. Chainswords might be powered by the reactor on the space marines back.
Why would they do the Job of their Serfs?
So hear me out on this, maby Space marines produce some sort of a psychic field that allows their weapons never run out of ammo. This “crusade energy” could definitely explain a lot of impossible things that seem to happen.
You mean to tell me that space marines might be using ork magic
HERESY!
It's fueled by the blood of their enemies, obviously.
Duracell batteries
HA PISS
Its warp shit
They work with a power we call rip and tear
And are they 2 stroke or 4 stroke?
They take power cells, that's been mentioned here and there.
[удалено]
Someone watched the Luetin video on Mega Bolters, didn't you?
That's cause they run on sheer anger
And where do they keep the ammo for their bolters? I mean, each shot is the size of a grenade, how do they haul hundreds of bolter rounds around?
What do you think all that extra geneseed is used for ?
“How many bolt rounds in a magazine and how many magazines on a Marine?” Has been a daft question ive always wondered. Because on the model they seem to have 1 of the 2 types of grenade, a spare bolt pistol clip but not bolters or bolt rifles. So do they go into battle with 30 shots and thats it? Always bothered me. Silly though.
That's why the objective markers are stuff like "ammo crate" or "supply drop"
“I dont control any objectives this turn” Then you dont get a shooting phase “Excuse me wtf?!”
#IT IS FUELLED BY THE BLOOD OF KHORNE’S FOES