Warhammer 40,000

True, even if the Genestealer Cults and hypothetical space-Skaven have enough differences between them for both factions to be able to exist simultaneously. But I can see why GW probably would not officuially introduce space-Skaven, aside from allusions in the lore.

Space-Skaven would be kind of fun as rivals to the Genestealers, come to think of it. Or, alternatively, as "auxiliaries" for them - like the normal space rats are about as smart as a howler monkey, but then when they get infected, they become a lot smarter and the Genestealer Cults can give them guns.

Plus the age old joke of the Imperium being the Skaven analogue already.

As for the niche of "very real threat the Empire pretends very hard does not exist"...well, that's pretty much all of the threats the Imperium faces. The Imperium enforces ignorance among their general populace of the various hostile factions.

Space-Skaven could easily be the face of a demi-human/mutant/lesser xenos faction.

If Space Skaven ever became a thing, I'd prefer they became an actual example of playable Chaos xenos. Chaos xenos are a thing in the background lore, but all of the actual tabletop Chaos units are either corrupted humans (including the Astartes) or daemons.

As for which Chaos gods they'd follow...well, rats tend to be associated with plague.

Edited by M84 on Mar 13th 2024 at 10:49:20 PM

What if they were simultaneously Chaos aliens and Tau auxiliaries, with the Tau not fully understanding who/what they're dealing with? (This wouldn't necessarily be naivete - if their experience with Chaos is marines and daemons, the space rats might come across totally differently.)

Speaking of Chaos aliens, I've always been fond of the idea of a counter-Deathwatch - like a formation of Chaos Marines that draws in specialists from different legions and tries to go out and corrupt aliens to the Ruinous Powers' service.

I remember thinking a while ago that there's a notable contrast in the universality of Chaos in 40k and in Fantasy.

In Fantasy, Chaos corruption is found among almost all sapient races. You've got plenty of Chaos humans, obviously, but also the Chaos Dwarfs as a distinct faction, then the High and Dark Elves have... only slightly less of a problem with secret Chaos cults than the human nations do, then there are also Chaos Ogres and Chaos Giants, and then you have entire Chaos species in the Skaven, Beastmen, and Dragon Ogres. The only three groups to have no Chaos-aligned members, ever, are the Lizardmen, the Orcs & Goblins, and the undead generally, which makes this a distinctive and notable trait for them.

In 40k, by contrast, the only species to have a notable presence within Chaos are the humans — all Chaos cults and warbands in the setting are human ones. The only exceptions of note are the Laer and the Saruthi, who are both a) very minor factions, and b) extinct. As for the rest, well — the Eldar and Kroot use discipline and knowledge to avoid Chaos, the Tau and Kin have the psychic presence of a potato battery, the Orks just aren't interested in what Chaos is selling, the Necrons literally don't have souls, the Tyranid hive mind is too alien and big and bizarre for Chaos to sink its hooks into, and the various minor factions just apparently don't deal with Chaos.

The price of this is that on an individual level, "this race resists the lures of Chaos" isn't actually a notable trait, since "resisting the lures of Chaos" is by all appearances a pretty universal trait — what's notable is in fact the reverse, since humanity appears to have a very unique affinity for it and Chaos for it in turn. Which... also kind of damages the idea that Chaos is this terrible universal constant, since apparently there's only one widespread species that it has any luck in working with.

Imperials must have killed all their competitors by now. As usual, big businesses are pushing little guys out and imposing monopoly.

I guess the idea is that the Chaos Xenos were wiped out by the Imperium during the Crusade — along with most other Xenos in their way.

Kinda? the have being instance of chaos in order race but is very minor and I think the issue is lack of chaos xenos miniature in general, you can find chaos trolls or ogres but hardly you will find chaos kroot(it exist in fact).

the cabal was seriously concern in his plan to enact a double murder of humanity and chaos. GW really should show more chaos xenos minis, even as mercenaries at very least.

also Chaos tends to be somewhat more attractive in Fantasy, it's way to dangerous in 40k by comparison?

I would like Skaven in 40K because Skaven are fucking hilarious

Not really? Fantasy Chaos is just as bad as 40k Chaos. The vast majority of Chaos warriors who don't die in battle very explicitly turn into Chaos Spawn when they can't handle the "gifts" of their gods, and those that avoid this still end up undergoing a general loss of identity as their old goals, desires, and personality become subsumed by those of their god. Characters like Scyla Anfinngrim (a mighty Champion of Khorne who turned into an ape-like, nearly mindless monster for his god's amusement) or Be'lakor (endlessly taunted and humiliated by the gods) are pretty typical for Fantasy's Chaos characters in that regard.

I mean, you do have Chaos champions who enjoy their position or who are long past caring about anything but killing/spreading plagues/whatever, but that's also the case in 40k.

Not to mention just how bad things got when Chaos managed to decisively win and brought about the End Times.

Chaos is bad mojo in Fantasy and 40K alike.

I think it's more due to 40k's general tendency to focus most of their stories on humanity while devoting comparatively little to the xenos. It's the same reason why we keep getting mixed messages on how bad the Imperium is supposed to be.

While xenos Chaos worshipers in recent lore have been few to none, there have been Chaos corrupted xenos with the some of the Tyranid Hive Ships that got sucked into the warp when the Great Rift opened returning heavily mutated.

While I don't know if Fantasy Chaos is not as bad as 40K Chaos, it does seem to be easier to cleanse the taint of Chaos on the Fantasy side of things, particularly in Age of Sigmar where you can cure Chaos tainted land by using magic spells, magic water or the blood of flagellants. Ghal Maraz is also bable to purge Chaos from someone's soul, with some Chaos Warriors killed by it being reforged as Stormcast.

Blood Bowl Chaos is by far the least evil as there the Chaos Gods have outright given up trying to conquer the world and just want to watch Blood Bowl instead.

Basically cleansing Chaos taint in 40k is much harder than in Fantasy, and it's much easier to just cut out the diseased part and be done with it. Hence why the Grey Knights since 5th have been characterized with a Zero-tolerance stance compared to, say, the Uriel Ventris books, where not only do we have a Grey Knight strike squad visibly interacting with regular Imperial Command, but seen outright by regular troopers.

Heck even Chaos resistance, like what Captain Titus showed in Space Marine, raises eyebrows.

The Skaven have something of a presence in 40k the form of the Hrud. Burrowing, scavenging parasites capable of infestation and sudden swarming 'migrations' fighting with warp plasma fusil rifles and powers of entropy and visual distortion. I like the idea that their decaying ability is more related to a temporal entropy rather then copying Nurgles flavour. Although their exact form varies on how rat like its depicted.

Edited by Gaiazun on Mar 15th 2024 at 5:50:32 AM

I feel like in an older edition, a Hrud army or unit would have a rule that makes it so that you can make an ability that triggers every round trigger multiple times at once, or completely stop.

Like if some degenerating nurgley chaos guy loses a wound each round, you could make him lose five. Or if a khorney chaos guy gets angrier and angrier each round, you could make that ability stop checking at the top of the round.

It's not the kind of rule they do anymore, but they might have back then.

A Hrud army would be a nightmare to fight, if they were even remotely close to what were in the books. Heresy-era Iron Warriors aged centuries in the short time fighting them, equipment degrade to rust. Heck, in the Speranza series of books, a colony of them was the only thing stopping temporal shenanigans from going out of control.

Today on Warhammer Community: Action figures for Horus◊ and Heresy era Abaddon◊. Abaddon looks a bit dull but Horus is cool.

I'll probably never buy any of the action-figures, but some of the bulkier Marines look like they could be fairly easily be customized into more humanoid Titans. Alternatively, you can also buy a model-kit for a Zaku of the same size, then turn that into an action-Astartes. Either way, you save money.

New Chaos Lord and Jump Lord, as well as information on the upcoming Chaos 'dex.

Still no sign of new Chaos Bikers though!

Looks cool, though I am not to much of a fan of the Jump Pack Lord's pose.

Also from AdaptiCon we have:

• A Kill Team box for Genestealer Cults vs Kin◊ that includes new Brood Brothers, who look nice but I absolutely love the coats on the Hernkyn Yaegirs.
• Teaser trailers for Necromunda (possibly Genestealer Cults again) and Horus Hersy (Mechanicum)