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[SillyEskimo]

Robot Girlyman is a fine choice for best Primarch, but my default always has and always will be Sanguinius. Without his selfless act of engaging Horus on his battleship, the Emperor would not have been able to go on to defeat him (thanks to a weakness he created in Horus's armor during the fight). Guerrillaman also thought that Sanguinius should have been given the Warmaster title over Horus. Prior to his downfall, even Horus himself said that should he die, Sanguinius should be his replacement.

Even the daemon Kyriss said that Sanguinius was the only one of the Primarchs, who, if turned, would have a chance of finding greater favour with the Gods of Chaos than Horus himself.

I like Robutt's term of the "Dauntless Few" whom he considered his greatest allies within the ranks of all the Space Marines. He claimed he could win any battle if his Ultramarines were allied with the following:

Blood Angels
Imperial Fists
Space Wolves
Iron Hands

I am creating a Blood Angels army with Ultramarine allies based on this bit of lore. Space Wolves and Imperial Fists may follow.

 

[cntr]

oh hey, I didn't know we had an OT for WH40k

 

[Fou-Lu]

Best primarch? Hmmm... Well we have:

The one with way too many daddy issues: Horus.

A crazy terrifying badass: Konrad Curze.

A self-sacrificing hero and angel-vampire: Sanguinius

A step above everyone else but still losing due to crippling paranoia: Lion El'Jonson.

The one that is actually intelligent: Jaghatai Khan.

Way lamer than anyone else: Roboute Guilliman.

An actual bro: Vulkan.

The most arrogant tool in the universe: Rogal Dorn.

A total whiny weirdo: Fulgrim.

The Emperor's pet attack dog: Leman Russ.

Iron man, mciron-hands, the iron boy: Ferrus Manus.

A badass psyker who happens to be a cyclops: Magnus the Red.

A bitter robot who is still kinda badass: Perturabo.

A squicky lord of death: Mortarion.

Somehow an even bigger tool than Rogal Dorn: Lorgar.

Someone way too angry, so much so that it's his name: Angron.

The one everyone forgets about: Corvus Corax.

The small ones with the twins gimmick: Alpharius and Omegon.

I am going to go with Curze, Sanguinius, Alpharius and Omegon, Khan, and the Lion (my Dark Angels bias is showing).

 

[Chrome_Age]

Was there any special reason that the Emperor chose Horus over his brothers to be Warmaster?

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Was there any special reason that the Emperor chose Horus over his brothers to be Warmaster?

He was the first one to be found by the Emperor and the more 'well rounded' of the Primarchs.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Lion'el Jonson, while just as well rounded and impressive as Horus, was much to paranoid.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Lion El'Jonson's paranoia is the only real thing holding him back from being a great leader.

 

[manfestival]

I know there is way more on the imperium of man but the tau and eldar are far more interesting

 

[Chrome_Age]

what was The Lion's paranoia about? Chaos?

 

[SillyEskimo]

I know there is way more on the imperium of man but the tau and eldar are far more interesting

Eldar was my first army back when they were basically just space pirates. Then GW revamped them entirely by fleshing out their background. This is when they added the stuff about The Fall, aspect warriors, warlocks, ghost warriors, ect. It was all free in a White Dwarf back then, believe it or not! Their need for soulstones, the Infinity Circuit within their Craftworlds, and the entire concept of The Path is top level stuff. Their weapons, vehicles, and overall aesthetic are amongst the best in all science fiction. They also have the most interesting sub factions with Harlequins, Exodites, and their distant cousins the Dark Eldar.

Tau are interesting, but they are a young army/race and I think their lore shows it. Same with Necrons IMO.

 

[Tacitus_]

what was The Lion's paranoia about? Chaos?

Everyone. He wasn't really a people person.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Tau are interesting, but they are a young army/race and I think their lore shows it. Same with Necrons IMO.

Necrons suffer from GW not knowing what the heck they want to do with them. They used to be undead space Terminators with Eldritch Horror Gods. Now they are undead space Egyptians who enslaved their gods.

I love Eldar too though, definitely the most interesting and thought provoking fluff in 40k.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Eldar was my first army back when they were basically just space pirates. Then GW revamped them entirely by fleshing out their background. This is when they added the stuff about The Fall, aspect warriors, warlocks, ghost warriors, ect. It was all free in a White Dwarf back then, believe it or not! Their need for soulstones, the Infinity Circuit within their Craftworlds, and the entire concept of The Path is top level stuff. Their weapons, vehicles, and overall aesthetic are amongst the best in all science fiction. They also have the most interesting sub factions with Harlequins, Exodites, and their distant cousins the Dark Eldar.

Tau are interesting, but they are a young army/race and I think their lore shows it. Same with Necrons IMO.

Tau is in a very interesting situation. I feel like GW can introduce more xenos species through them.

 

[Enosh]

Was there any special reason that the Emperor chose Horus over his brothers to be Warmaster?

good list of accomplishment, all the others liked (or at least respected) him, first to be found

what was The Lion's paranoia about? Chaos?

he spend the first 10 years of his life surviving alone in the worst part of a death world infested by chaos monsters
as a result his people skills were rather lacking to say the least

First Heretic even shows that he was one of the primarchs selected by Chaos to fall (argel tal has visions of all of the fallen primarchs landing on their planet and Lion is among them) the fact that he resisted and stayed loyal is rather remarkable

 

[Chrome_Age]

good list of accomplishment, all the others liked (or at least respected) him, first to be found


he spend the first 10 years of his life surviving alone in the worst part of a death world infested by chaos monsters
as a result his people skills were rather lacking to say the least

First Heretic even shows that he was one of the primarchs selected by Chaos to fall (argel tal has visions of all of the fallen primarchs landing on their planet and Lion is among them) the fact that he resisted and stayed loyal is rather remarkable

which primarch pretty much had the most crap life?

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

which primarch pretty much had the most crap life?

That is a tie between Angron, Cruze, or Mortartion.

 

[Chrome_Age]

So there are 3 theories that talk about the Emperor's Rebirth

Star Child

Sensei-Emperor

and the God-Incarnate

which one do you think is more plausible?

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Emperor_of_Mankind#Transcendence

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

The God-Incarnate out of those three, but those theories are kinda of bad to begin with.

 

[Chrome_Age]

The God-Incarnate out of those three, but those theories are kinda of bad to begin with.

I kind of wish GW would move the setting past the 13th Crusade

 

[Fou-Lu]

I'm partial to the Star Child because of the name and it was the first theory I heard of.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I kind of wish GW would move the setting past the 13th Crusade

It would be nice to see, but I rather see them try and expand on other events in 40k history.

 

[Chrome_Age]

If the Emperor dies, does the Imperium fall? is what I want to know

 

[twobear]

you would have thought, if the emperor's death is going to bring about some glorious rebirth that vanquishes the chaos gods foever, that they wouldn't be so intent on killing him

 

[Tacitus_]

If the Emperor dies, does the Imperium fall? is what I want to know

Yes.

Now what happens afterwards will determine whether there are any scraps to build Imperium Secundus from. Even if he just regenerates like the rest of the Perpetuals, the Astronomican going out while he's regenerating will doom the Imperium.

 

[cntr]

There's also the whole thing with daemons invading Terra, too

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

There's also the whole thing with daemons invading Terra, too

There is that too. I cannot wait for Master of Mankind to be released this November.

 

[Olengie]

I agree that Vulkan was a bro

 

[HariKari]

So there are 3 theories that talk about the Emperor's Rebirth

Star Child

Sensei-Emperor

and the God-Incarnate

which one do you think is more plausible?

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Emperor_of_Mankind#Transcendence

I'm not sure which one it is, but I was always a fan of "the emperor is a perpetual that must die to be reborn again" theory. I also don't know what Cypher has been up to in the lore lately, but it was hinted or said that he was moving towards Terra before. Him having to convince others to let him kill the emperor could be a cool storyline.

Basically, they need to turn the astronimican off and plunge the universe into absolute anarchy for a bit. Have some crazy stories that don't really advance the plot, but the emperor being reborn and then the quest to find him again (if he even wants to be found...) would be fun.

 

[Karakand]

‘First Claw, soul count,’ ordered Malcharion. The captain’s stern tones were raspy with vox breakage.
‘Talos, aye,’ the Apothecary replied at once.
‘Vandred, aye,’ said Sergeant Anrathi a moment later.
‘Ruven, aye.’
‘Xarl, aye.’
‘Cyrion, aye.’
‘Sar Zell, aye.’

Dat fanservice.

 

[Tacitus_]

Crazy bastards made a working chainsword.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Crazy bastards made a working chainsword.

By the God-Emperor....

 

[manfestival]

Crazy bastards made a working chainsword.

That looks absolutely amazing. I cant believe they actually made a real working one

 

[EYEL1NER]

I finally started reading War of the Fang. I am still currently in the Hunt for Magnus short story and haven't made it to Battle of the Fang proper yet. I was worried for a bit that I wouldn't like it, because everyone says that Chris Wraight's portrayal of the Wolves is so different than everything else, and I like wolfy wolfing wolfness of the regular 40K Wolves (I don't mind the more Viking style HH Wolves either though). So far so good though. I can't wait to get more into the depictions of the Rubric Marines too; I'm not really a fan of any of the other Traitor Legions but Thousand Sons make so few appearances that they still have a lot of mystery and intrigue to me.

 

[AbsolutBro]

Crazy bastards made a working chainsword.

Holy shit I know the hilt maker Rick!

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I finally started reading War of the Fang. I am still currently in the Hunt for Magnus short story and haven't made it to Battle of the Fang proper yet. I was worried for a bit that I wouldn't like it, because everyone says that Chris Wraight's portrayal of the Wolves is so different than everything else, and I like wolfy wolfing wolfness of the regular 40K Wolves (I don't mind the more Viking style HH Wolves either though). So far so good though. I can't wait to get more into the depictions of the Rubric Marines too; I'm not really a fan of any of the other Traitor Legions but Thousand Sons make so few appearances that they still have a lot of mystery and intrigue to me.

Battle of the Fang has some crazy stuff in it.

 

[Karakand]

RE Angels of Caliban: Not like this Zahariel. Not like this.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Battle of the Fang has some crazy stuff in it.

Just finished it. It took me a bit of time because I was only reading it for a few minutes each day while waiting in the parking lot for my daughter to get out of school. I decided today that I wanted to finish it today though, so I plowed through a little over 300 pages to get to the end. I didn't like how quickly it felt like it wrapped up, but that is a fault of most of the 40K books I've read so far: you get to the final battle with whoever the big bad is and notice that you only have like 15 pages left and then it is over and you are wanting more. I also kind of forgot that "Everyone dies" in a lot of 40K books, so I was bummed at the end when people I thought would survive died (the whole time I thought 'surely Ironhelm is going to die, but Greyloc will replace him as Great Wolf.' Then Magnus showed up and it was like "Nope, everyone's fucked"). Luckily some of them got actual deaths and had heroic moments; there have been a few characters in different books that I've grown to like and then something happens like "The wise Space Marine captain glanced back at the squad with a gleam in his eyes and a smile on his face and bellowed "Follow me into glorious battle!" In an instant his expression froze and his eye bulged before exploding outward in a shower of gore as a stray bolter round found its mark and detonated in the back of his skull."

I think my only complaint would be the constant use of "loped" and "loping." Maybe "lope" is super-common in the UK? I mean, I knew what it meant when I first came across it and felt like it was a perfect verb to use that first or second time. By the tenth time I came across it though I was rolling my eyes. Not a huge deal or anything but it just seemed like it horribly overused.

Great book though. I'm unsure what to read next. I might pick up some of Wraight's other Space Wolf books or the Sanctus Reach novel (which Ben Counter did some writing for). Or before this I was reading Commisar Cain and just now Space Wolves, so maybe I'll go in a different direction and read the Eisenhorn trilogy? I can post a list of the unread books I have shortly and see if anyone wants to direct me to read a specific one.

 

[EYEL1NER]

So here is what I've got on my plate, or what I could see myself buying, if anyone wants to tell me what I should go with:
Unread Novels
-Horus Heresy: I own the first 16 books
-Faith and Fire
-Rogue Star & Star of Damocles
-Double Eagle
-Let the Galaxy Burn
-Daemon World
-Blood Angels Omnibus
-Ultramarines Omnibus
-Eisenhorn Omnibus
-Gaunt's Ghosts series: I own the first 8 books

Unread Artbooks or Other
-Imperial Infantryman Uplifting Primer
-Imperial Munitorum Manual
-Index Astartes I, II, & III (no IV) and Apocrypha
-The Sabbat Worlds Crusade
-The 13th Black Crusade
-Insignium Astartes
-Horus Heresy Visions I, II, & III

Things I Want to Buy (on a "To-Buy" list currently)
-Flesh Tearers
-Ragnar Blackmane (still a month until the non-LE comes out though, so I can't buy and read it now)
-The Last Chancers series
-Silver Skulls: Portents
-Space Marines Battles: Sanctus Reach
-Atlas Infernal
-Grey Knights: Sons of Titan
-Blood of Asaheim
-Stormcaller
-Night Lords Omnibus
-The Soul Drinkers Omnibus
-Baneblade
-Titanicus
-The Yarrick series
-Various Imperial Guard books

EDIT: Oops, forgotten one, probably the book I want to buy the most but can't find a cheap copy in good shape: The Emporer's Gift.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Gaunt's Ghost and Horus Heresy are things you need to get into. I would recommend the Night Lords, Soul Drinker, and Titanicus if you're going to buy stuff.

 

[Karakand]

Night Lords omnibus is the best 40K series, hands down.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

Did any of you check out the new black library books that were announce/reveal today? It happen on twitter and on the bolster and chainsword website.

 

[EYEL1NER]

Thanks for the advice. I need to get the Night Lords Omnibus soon then. I said above that I am not really a fan of any Chaos marines but like how few appearances the Thousand Sons make. I'm sure that if I had already read the HH that maybe I would have latched onto a traitor legion. Maybe the Night Lords Omni will change my mind and make me a fan of a chaos group. I've read the reviews on Amazon many times and know that it is supposed to be very well-written.

I wound up starting the Eisenhorn omnibus a few days ago. Haven't made too much of a dent yet though. I also finally got a cheap copy of The Emperor's Gift on eBay, less than $10 for a hardback, after trying in vain for a while to get a paperback copy in better than average condition at a price under $20. I love Space Wolves, I like Grey Knights, and I like the brief bits in the Wolves and GK codex that touch on what goes down in this book. So Eisenhorn will have to go on the back-burner when Emperor's Gift arrives next week. I have been waiting what feel like forever to read this. I just hope that I like ADB's portrayal of the Wolves and GKs. I like King and Wraight's Wolves and Counter's GKs already.

After I blow through those, I might start the GG series. I could use some more Commissar action and getting a vastly different take on a Commissar than Cain will be refreshing.

 

[Arkanius]

I feel overwhelmed.
Other than the pop culture we all know and share about Space Marines, God Emperors, Orks and stuff, I'm a complete virgin on the Warhammer 40K (Or just Warhammer) lore in general.

I want to jump on the train of the new Space Hulk: Deathwings game but I would prefer to go knowing some backoffice lore about the world when I jump in.

What should I read or know for this?

 

[Tacitus_]

I feel overwhelmed.
Other than the pop culture we all know and share about Space Marines, God Emperors, Orks and stuff, I'm a complete virgin on the Warhammer 40K (Or just Warhammer) lore in general.

I want to jump on the train of the new Space Hulk: Deathwings game but I would prefer to go knowing some backoffice lore about the world when I jump in.

What should I read or know for this?

It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.

Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants - and worse.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods. note

That's the main gist. If you want to learn more about a (sub)faction, dive into the Lexicanum or read a book about them.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Deathwing
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Angels
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Space_Hulk
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Genestealer
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Librarian

These should get you up to speed for the game.

 

[SillyEskimo]

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Space_Hulk

Start there and branch out. It covers what a space hulk is, why they are important, and links to some of the more famous encounters and battles within them.

You can follow that up with using the lexicanum to learn/refresh yourself on genestealers, genestealers hybrids, and the Tyranids in general.

 

[cntr]

Just wiki-walking through Lexicanum should give you a good overview for the setting

 

[Karakand]

I feel overwhelmed.
Other than the pop culture we all know and share about Space Marines, God Emperors, Orks and stuff, I'm a complete virgin on the Warhammer 40K (Or just Warhammer) lore in general.

I want to jump on the train of the new Space Hulk: Deathwings game but I would prefer to go knowing some backoffice lore about the world when I jump in.

What should I read or know for this?

The trick to 40K is not to try and take it all in at once and to build your understanding of it gradually. The "broad strokes" of the lore are pretty simple, but they're sandwiched between tomes of minutiae that's written for us dweebs that have been following this shit for decades now. To wit:

Hyperspace is extremely dangerous in 40K. (Why it's dangerous is a complicated answer best examined later.)

Ships get lost in it, and not infrequently either. It's totally unpredictable what happens to those ships once they get lost there. Sometimes they collide with other ships that are in hyperspace too and fuse into bigger pieces of debris called space hulks.

Sometimes those space hulks inexplicably emerge from hyperspace. And sometimes they emerge in human space. What's the big deal about that you might wonder. Well, there's two primary issues with that:

1. Security - Aside from the fact that they're unpredictable, space hulks can be full of dangerous aliens... or other organisms that aren't exactly aliens but are also super dangerous. Some human systems are sparsely populated in 40K, others contain trillions of people, but in either case it's customary to send people aboard a space hulk to make sure that it's not a threat to solar system or even interstellar security.

2. Technology - 40K is a post-apocalyptic universe and a component of that post-apocalyptic society is that human technology is almost exclusively the purview of a religious order called the Adeptus Mechanicus. This organization doesn't do a real good job at developing new technology despite having near infinite access to it, however. In fact, they actually lose the knowledge on how to operate, construct, or repair technologies to the point where the prequel series to 40K (the Horus Heresy) has stuff in it that might as well be science fiction in the 41st millennium. So the only reliable source of new technology in 40K is finding it in working order and since space hulks have been getting lost in hyperspace for at least 10,000 year now, they can be a source of priceless technology.

 

[Tacitus_]

The Great Crusade had magical technology a scant millennia after it, given the way Koorland acts after he sees a Grav-Rhino.

 

[Karakand]

The Great Crusade had magical technology a scant millennia after it, given the way Koorland acts after he sees a Grav-Rhino.

Stormbirds too. 😜

 

[cntr]

always liked how a thousand years is a "scant" amount of time for the series