Who would you be most scared of fighting against if you were a soldier in the 40K universe?
I haven't read through the fluff of all the factions, but from what I've read so far, I would say Dark Eldar because they don't just want to kill you, they want to kill you in the most painful way they can! Also they might capture you and then torture you for a very long time. Nasty.
Na with dark eldar I would make sure it would be impossible to get captured by charging head first windmill style.
The most frightening for me would be nurgle. The smell and sights waiting for the ugly things would make you sick, the wasps and stuff, damn. Being eaten by nurglings isnt a good thought.
Daemons, what could possibly be worse than the bowels of hell erupting over every corner of the planet,
If your not fleeing from bloodletters your trying to evade Seekers of slaanesh or staring down a monsterfrom your worst nightmares as it pulls itself into reality through the remains of your uncle Frank.
Eetion wrote:Daemons, what could possibly be worse than the bowels of hell erupting over every corner of the planet,
If your not fleeing from bloodletters your trying to evade Seekers of slaanesh or staring down a monsterfrom your worst nightmares as it pulls itself into reality through the remains of your uncle Frank.
This, imagine being a civilian and running out your house, only to see a great unclean one at the end of the street.
Space marines, for the sheer inhuman nature of these humans and the fact that there tactics should not work in real life.. and yet there isnt a thing we could do about it
Automatically Appended Next Post: The most terrifying unit, however, to fight against would be a Lictor. Ugh, I remember reading a story (Desert Raiders by Lucien Soulban) where a bunch of weary Tallarns are walking to an escape route when a bunch of Lictors garrote/ slaughter a bunch of random Guardsmen.
Oldcrons. Legion upon legion of mechanical warriors, all fighting in perfect synchronization and absolute silence. Plus, I doubt getting hit by a Gauss Flayer would be too pleasant.
Coolyo294 wrote:Oldcrons. Legion upon legion of mechanical warriors, all fighting in perfect synchronization and absolute silence. Plus, I doubt getting hit by a Gauss Flayer would be too pleasant.
IIRC, they're supposed to kill in an instant...while the idea of an implacable foe from ancient times is terrifying, compared to what the Dark Eldar and the slaves of She Who Thirsts would do to you they're about as terrifying as a crack of thunder.
I'm a bit biased saying this, but necrons. In the 40k universe, they are almost completely immortal, only one will truly die in a victory because most that can't repair themselves just phase out. No matter how good a shot you are or how good you are in melee, their is a good chance that the moment you turn your back on the spiritless robot, it will get back up.
Even to play, my friends doubt every single move they make against me because they don't know if it will bite them in the arse later. Perfect example, my friend decides he is going to fire a melta gun into my lychguard at point blank. I go to roll and he says that I don't get an armour save. I just smile, roll a 5, and remove his marine for him.
Either Tyranids because of the sheer overwhelming numbers their bringing and the fact that even if you win you still are gonna have to deal with nids roaming the forests or wherever.
Or the Night Lords, their entire core of tactics is built around inflicting maximum fear in their opponent before they kill them.
Consider me a coward, but I would have to say Orks. You are dealing with creatures who can literally rip a human apart limb from limb, the noise an ork charge would make would be deafening, yells of waagh, the thuds of hundreds of thousands of boots, the sounds of sluggas going off. And all you have against these beasts are your trusty lasrifle, and the man(or woman) next to you.
Next on my list would be necrons, they are kept hush hush from the IoM in general, meaning you are fighting against unkillable metal men that make next to no noise.
Assuming you are a normal guard or PDF member who knows nothing of who they are fighting other than which end of the gun to point at them, or a normal human living your life, of the non human forces it would have to be either Nids or Chaos Demons.
The inhuman horror of things you just don't understand warping reality around you like a living nightmare would make chaos horrific, and the undieing onslaught of millions of bugs would make nids nasty. Both pray on deep set fears.
DE, well they are just humans with pointy ears and no armor. They die just like any other humans, until its to late to realize you were wrong. The pain and torture once caught at least leaves a hope you might escape, at least to start with.
Crons? Without knowing about them they are just robots who will die. If they are not dieing its because you are not shooting them enough. No more frightening than a tank. Not the mind bending inhuman horror of chaos or nids. They would just be eerie rather than truly horrific. Having said that flayed ones would be up there, but as a whole the force would be not that bad.
The most frightening of all though would be an Inquisition force. They are not just going to kill you, but ensure your soul is shunned from the light of the emperor. You will not just be losing your life, but also all hope after death.
Steve steveson wrote:
The most frightening of all though would be an Inquisition force. They are not just going to kill you, but ensure your soul is shunned from the light of the emperor. You will not just be losing your life, but also all hope after death.
Someone calling the old man a 'god' and worshipping him was how this whole mess started...in 40k, there is no hope after death, neither gods nor heaven nor hell exist. Human souls dissolve into the Warp in an instant, while untainted Human psykers have their souls fused with the Emperor's oversoul. The Inquisition and Church can rant all they want, its the truth. Instead of ranting, they should stand and fight with honor alongside Guardsmen and Space Marines.
Hmmm probably certain Chao forces or the SoB, extremists are fething scary man. 'Nids are just animals, scary on a instinctual "Oh we are so fethed" level but fanaticism is it's own special brand of scary.
KalashnikovMarine wrote:Hmmm probably certain Chao forces or the SoB, extremists are fething scary man. 'Nids are just animals, scary on a instinctual "Oh we are so fethed" level but fanaticism is it's own special brand of scary.
Not to the Space Wolves or to loyalist Thousand Sons...the former are too badass, and the latter too smart.
Steve steveson wrote:
The most frightening of all though would be an Inquisition force. They are not just going to kill you, but ensure your soul is shunned from the light of the emperor. You will not just be losing your life, but also all hope after death.
Someone calling the old man a 'god' and worshipping him was how this whole mess started...in 40k, there is no hope after death, neither gods nor heaven nor hell exist. Human souls dissolve into the Warp in an instant, while untainted Human psykers have their souls fused with the Emperor's oversoul. The Inquisition and Church can rant all they want, its the truth. Instead of ranting, they should stand and fight with honor alongside Guardsmen and Space Marines.
I am talking about the fear of the average human or guard member, i.e. "us". They only know what the imperial creed tells them, which is that they serve the emperor, and that he watches over them in life and death, and in death they want to be aloud in to his light.
Steve steveson wrote:
The most frightening of all though would be an Inquisition force. They are not just going to kill you, but ensure your soul is shunned from the light of the emperor. You will not just be losing your life, but also all hope after death.
Someone calling the old man a 'god' and worshipping him was how this whole mess started...in 40k, there is no hope after death, neither gods nor heaven nor hell exist. Human souls dissolve into the Warp in an instant, while untainted Human psykers have their souls fused with the Emperor's oversoul. The Inquisition and Church can rant all they want, its the truth. Instead of ranting, they should stand and fight with honor alongside Guardsmen and Space Marines.
I am talking about the fear of the average human or guard member, i.e. "us". They only know what the imperial creed tells them, which is that they serve the emperor, and that he watches over them in life and death, and in death they want to be aloud in to his light.
Ironically, the old man probably doesn't give a damn about what the Church says.
With Dark Eldar, there's the (albeit slim) possibility of escaping the torture you're headed into. With Tyranids, if you're not off the planet when the assault starts, you're SOL.
The Dark Eldar turn up, hunt you down, and either kill you or take you away to a horrible fate.
Tyranids do the psycological thing better. You'll see the skies turn black in the middle of the day as they're choked with spores, you'll watch all of the vegetation around you bloat and grow to unnatural proportions. You'll see hunks of gristle fall from the sky with ravening dinosaur cockroaches pour out of them. You'll watch the landscape alter before your eyes, turning into a quagmire of digestion pools and numberless organisms devouring the very planet you're standing on.
As you feebly fire into the masses of organisms, then you'll start to be hunted, by the most relentless super predator in the galaxy. You'll be wary of mere shrubs which might hide Lictors or any dark places where Genestealers hide. The spores choke and blind you as you futilely try to find a safe haven to defend. Then as your friends fall, you'll watch them dragged off, living or dead, to be dumped into digestion pools. If they were unlucky enough to be alive, you'll watch them scream as they melt away.
Then it'll be your turn. Again, if you're unlucky enough to be alive, you're dragged off to a digestion pool, watching the shattered planet around you slowly be devourered, waiting for your turn to be dumped in the pool of acid.
And unlike Dark Eldar, where they'll raid a smaller area and take a handful of slaves, this is happeneing to every single person on the planet.
You know where you stand with Tyranids though. Death will come, whether or not it's in some acid pool or at the hands of a gribbly beast.
What I find truly terrifying are the Dark Eldar. You're never sure when they will come or where they will strike. You're never sure if death will be swift on the field of battle or if it will be lingering at the mercy of toxins. And then, if you survive the fight, you're going to be left at the whim of the most sadistic bastards in the galaxy. Your fate, in their hands, will most likely be the most agonizing and prolonged death anyone is ever likely to experience.
I'll take the Tyranids any day over the Dark Eldar. At least I know, when the sky blackens, death will most certainly arrive and that in itself is a giant comfort.
Another thing about tyranids, When they arrive to a planet, they use their psychic powers to block all access to the warp. No communications will go out.
They also use their powerful psychics to cast a sense of doom on the inhabitants of the planet. Even if you are one big bad@$$, the psychic cacophony that these aliens create is enough to drive any hardened veteran to the point of pissing himself from fright at the slightest noise.
Anything could be scary in the right circumstances, being a heretic faced with an Imperial invasion force would be fairly terrifying, the sheer number of drop ships lowering to the ground, along with the literal millions of men and thousands of battle tanks charging at you. Of course this wouldn't inspire such terror as a tyranid hive fleet.
Ok, I have made my decision. I will go with Chaos Space Marines... Kind of picturing something similar to Reavers from the series Firefly, but bigger, spikier and covered in Power Armour, screaming such obscenities as "Blood for the Blood God". Word Bearers would be my least favorite to face...
Dark eldar are pretty low for me marginally higher than ork. Sure it would sucK to get captured but there is the hope you can hide. Compared to the unrelenting terror of hell spilling forth its daemons or nids consuming your world, there pretty tame.
I can't figure out why some people find an immediate death 'more terrifying' than a prolonged and ultimately limitless session of torture. Each to their own poison, I s'pose.
Eiríkr wrote:I can't figure out why some people find an immediate death 'more terrifying' than a prolonged and ultimately limitless session of torture. Each to their own poison, I s'pose.
I agree... and if nids eat me wont I become a part of there living army?? DEATH NOM NOM NOM
Yeah, I agree that 'nids would be terrifying, those limitless numbers, horrific creatures, towering gigantic monsters and being eaten would be a horrific and painful end.
Most other armies just want you dead and you could look forward to quick end being shot or blown up. But the lingering slow deaths offered by 'nids, Dark Eldar etc are the most terrifying.
It's got to be daemons, they don't want to just kill you or torture you they want your immortal soul, they are manifestations of your worse nightmares.
DE are just a bunch of kinky freaks, plus my uplifting primer says they are puny. It wouldn't lie would it?
I'd say daemons. I mean if they were IRL they wouldn't be the little colorful models they are what we perceive them to be. They would be the most twisted creatures imaginable. Think the last time you saw something with its organs falling out (road kill) now imagine that road kill coming after you. Now imagine that's a person or a little plaguebearer with a rusty knife. Just picture something as fethed up as possible is my point.
Necrons... Just because there's not reason to it... No hope just the unrelenting silence of the legions, and when you think one of them is finally dead... It stands back up. That and I imagine a guass flyer is insanely painfull
Sky turns black/red. You begin to cough and hack as micoscopic bugs tear you apart from the inside.
You turn on the TV and see the news "giant alien monsters are invading" and you go for your nearest weapon (while coughing up purple tyranid bugs/goo).
It's noon time and it's dark as midnight outside. Giant squid like things come crashing down out of the sky.
By the time you see your first non-microscopic tyranid you're already half dead.
You see an ocean of snake monsters eatting everything, making it's way closer to you.
You die from within having never gotten a chance to see something cool like a carnifex or lictor.
There is a reason that the movie Alien was so viscerally terrifying.
These... Things... are so alien, so utterly bizarre to you, as (assuming we are a) lowly Imperial Guardsman, that you have no idea what their weapons do, though their teeth/talons/claws are pretty self-explanatory. Watching men you served with for years butchered by legions of gribbly insects and devoured has got to drive you mad.
But apart from that, here's a clincher. There's something inherent in human minds that makes insects generally repulsive to most people. I'm no arachnophobe, or anything of the like, but if you're just chilling outside at night and some giant beetle, attracted by the light, suddenly lands on your bare skin, clinging with its tiny little claws, it makes your skin crawl. Even wasps - a relatively tiny insect - can make a grown man leap out of his chair and swat the air like a little girl, for fear of its sting. Or try watching a bug, like a mantis, on Youtube, chewing apart another insect with its distorted little mandibles and scaled down incredible strength.
Imagine experiences like that, but with massive creatures from god-knows-where. Hell even Hormagaunts would be repulsive, let alone the mantis-like Lictors and vaguely human Genestealers.
Edit: I propose a challenge. If you want to experience this gribbly, "Oh hell no" feeling, look up "giant centipede" on youtube. These things kill mice/snakes/bats. Look at one of those and imagine it x100 and you basically have how a Tyranid would make you feel.
Nids undoubtedly. It's most likely that the stock standard IG from Bumhick VII has never heard of Dark Eldar, and wouldn't think of them as anything more then another enemy to shoot when their encountered. Fear may grow later on, but I think the initial encounter would be seen just like anything else.
Tyranids now... even if you'd never heard of them before they showed up on your planet, the endless waves of these grotesque monstrocities would be enough to make the bowels shift. Especially when you see the larger ones.
While Dark Eldar probably take the biscuit, don't forget what it's like to fight regular Eldar:
Their basic weapon, the shuriken catapult, is designed to cut flesh up like confetti. Rather than killing efficiently, it seems to emphasise killing in a graphic and obvious way: no small hole for a wound, or localised section of burnt flesh but slices of meat everywhere.
The deathspinner style weapons puts a goo on that works against any struggling instinct: the more the victim struggles, the more it damages by lopping off limbs and heads.
Banshee masks drive directly to the nervous system leaving the victim helpless as they are chopped up along with their comrades.
Shrieker ammunition is designed to cause someone to explode from the inside, by their own body. The explosion causes the toxin to spread, causing a chain reaction of exploding bodies.
Daba wrote: While Dark Eldar probably take the biscuit, don't forget what it's like to fight regular Eldar:
Their basic weapon, the shuriken catapult, is designed to cut flesh up like confetti. Rather than killing efficiently, it seems to emphasise killing in a graphic and obvious way: no small hole for a wound, or localised section of burnt flesh but slices of meat everywhere.
I have power armor.
The deathspinner style weapons puts a goo on that works against any struggling instinct: the more the victim struggles, the more it damages by lopping off limbs and heads.
I have power armor.
Banshee masks drive directly to the nervous system leaving the victim helpless as they are chopped up along with their comrades.
Space Marines have augmented nervous systems.
Shrieker ammunition is designed to cause someone to explode from the inside, by their own body. The explosion causes the toxin to spread, causing a chain reaction of exploding bodies.
I'm still not convinced at anything comes even close to Daemons.
Shuriken catapults pale into insignificance when compared to hell let loose.
Think you can defend yourself with your trust lasgun or bolter? What about when your shorts pass through the ghostly apparition that's just cleaved through your mates? Or covered them in an acidic bile? Or plucked their soul from their body.
Where the laws of physics need not apply (if your really unlucky on a mass warpstorm/incursion)
When the stench of death and decay and screams f the dying are ever present despite being hidden and alone.
Or when where moments before was your daughter, she grins. With a mouth no human should have, scratches out her eyes and grows a 2ft tongue and horns before trying to eat your soul.
Every other race you shoot, you can drop your target. You have a fighting chance. Against daemons its you against reality as well.
liquidjoshi wrote: But we're assuming it's as a human / guardsman. Besides, Space Marines "Know no fear", right?
*Human spits out curse in daemon-cant* *eyes glow and body writhes and levitates* *explodes* daemonettes pop out and tear Eldar to pieces - Space Marines watch from a distance and call in an artillery barrage.
unmercifulconker wrote:Na with dark eldar I would make sure it would be impossible to get captured by charging head first windmill style.
The most frightening for me would be nurgle. The smell and sights waiting for the ugly things would make you sick, the wasps and stuff, damn. Being eaten by nurglings isnt a good thought.
Spoiler:
As you draw near, the lead warrior raises his splinter rifle and shoots you in the gut. The most intense pain you've ever felt explodes through your body as the hypertoxins latch onto your bloodstream, every vein, every nerve feels like it's on fire as it spreads through every cell, your muscles go into spasm. You topple, skidding through the dirt stopping at the feet of the one who shot you.
The alien reaches down and grabs your hair, still concious but locked in a twitching, spasming foetal ball, he drags you towards the strange green glow that's appeared nearby. As you keep walking, even through the agony you notice the air is colder, damper, there's a sense of despair and hunger permeating the air. You hear strange words, and the alien passes you to a tall, faceless creature made entirely of bruised muscle, which lifts you like you were a toy and goes to stand with 5 other faceless brutes behind a disturbing individual that seems to have no organs and is just flesh stretched tight over bone, that even hunched is taller than the faceless things.
The bone-man looks at you, smiles with a jaw too big for the flesh that covers it, whispers something in that strange language as he reaches out and gently strokes your face with a gauntletted hand. Even though you didn't think it possible, where he touched you even worse pain blossoms on your cheek where you were touched, you try to scream but the agony torrenting through your body has caused the muscles in your face and throat to lock shut. The creature looks up, seemingly hearing something only he can hear, and decides he has enough bounty from this raid, and signals for his faceless beasts to follow him, carrying you and your fellow humans away.
You're taken through streets paved in black stone, under towers made of black metal, everything is sleek and sharp, the scent of blood in the air, everything lit by twilight. The toxins have made it so the muscles in your eyelids are forced open, through everything you can't close your eyes. Looking up you see creatures flying through the air. One crawls over a ledge, looking down and notices your group, he screeches, displeased for some reason you can't fathom and dives for the wracks, it grabs one of the others, a woman, you recognised her though you couldn't quite place from where, and the bird-man flies upwards, the organless leader turns and shouts angrily at the winged one, what you can only assume are profanities.
Another bird-creature decides it wants her, and swoops in, you watch as they scratch at each other, at the woman, spinning through the air until finally she's ripped in half by their fighting. The blood flying through the air, her intestines fall free and land feet away from you. Their toy broken, the winged things discard the halves, flying off into the half-light. Her torso lands in front of the group, the skeleman looks at it and spits on it, shaking his head in disgust at the waste, as you pass you see her eyes staring blanky at you, the face locked in abject terror and where his saliva hit the body, the flesh is bubbling and melting.
After some time the area changes, subtley at first and eventually you realise somethings wrong with the walls, suddenly you see a rib cage... it still has a beating heart inside. The wall around it is taught flesh, crudely stitched to more flesh. The stretched holes where it's been stitched are bleeding. You look closer and see the wall is moving, breathing, alive. As you get deeper, the walls, the floor, the ceiling all become living. You see a face above you, it's mouthing 'kill me, please kill me, please' over.
Not long after, you stop, you don't know why, you don't even know how long you've been moving. One of the other captives is starting to move, starts screaming and babbling, begging to be let go, saying he'll do anything just to go home. The skin-creature cocks his head slightly, chitters to himself a little, then speaks your language. He tells the screaming man his home is here now, and that he will serve his new masters as a Wrack. The boney man thing then lifts a mask of black glass, the inside seems to be lined with fish hooks and needles, with clusters of nails where the eyes should be, and tube curled up at the mouth. As it's brought closer to the screaming man, the mouthtube unfurls as though alive, it starts writhing and reaching for the man, and as it draws closer forces itself into his mouth. The screams become choked gurgles as it pushes its way down the mans throat. The alien then presses down hard with a flick of the wrist, and the man spasms as the hooks and needles press into his skin, and his eyes burst from the spikes pressed into them.
The creature then talks in his strange tongue and the fleshbeast still holding the man then carries him off down a corridor. The creature then moves to the next in the group, speaks and has them taken away too, down a different corridor. The next, a woman, he pauses at, reaches over to a work bench and forcibly attaches a small metal unit covered in needles just behind her ear. Lights on device start flickering and when satisfied it's working properly, you watch as the insane alien slowly cuts around the womans hair, behind her ears, down her back and around her chest. You're made to watch, you can't move to look away. After what seems an eternity, he puts the knife away, then slowly pushes his fingers into the womans mouth. He pulls his hand up sharply and the womans head and spine pull away, her hair left behind, her brain exposed to the air, you can see now with it exposed the unit has spread tendrils and is taking over the job of heart, and keeping her alive. The creature turns, and carefully slots her into a gap in the wall. He leaves the fleshbeast that had been holding her, making thick thread by twisting together her hair, then roughly sewing the womans flesh to the rest of the wall.
Then, the alien moves away, out of your sight. You even feel the intense pain lessening a little, like your muscles aren't quite so tight. Maybe it's wearing off, maybe you can make a break for it. Then you see the creature come back. It's pushing a cart covered in vicious looking scalpels, curving, spiked scissors and all manner of instruments you can't even guess at. He then gestures at the creature holding you, who brings you over to the madmans workbench and sets you down. You can see the woman still being sewn into the wall screaming silently at you. You look down and the alien has what looks like a combination of a drill and a razorblade in his hand that is moving towards you. As it draws near, you find the toxin from earlier is lessening again, that you can work you jaw a little, you give a little whimper, then as the razor-drill starts its work, your screaming starts~
Three Hundred years later, your body is one mass of scar tissue. Every day, your only solace is being thrown into a strange tank, full of a liquid that heals your wounds and seems to make you live longer and even though its other effect is to light every nerve on fire, it's less painful than the time spent on the Haemonculis table. As you float in the viscous liquid, you see fuzzy shapes outside, you hope it's not your turn again, but a hand reaches down and grabs you by the neck, pulling you out. Maybe, you think for you haven't been able to make a sound outside screaming for the last 2 centuries, maybe today will be the day they finally kill you, maybe today you'll die. But that day never comes, you always go back in the tank just long enough to keep you alive, every day is just more painful than the last. The hand puts you down on a table, then reaches for a tool tray....
TL;DR - you get subdued, taken back and tortured for centuries, each day more painful than the last.
That went on a bit... but that's how I see your 'windmill charge' going. Your best bet would really be eating a bullet. At least with a nurgle invasion, while likely a horrible, pus related death, it'll still be over fairly quickly.
-Loki- wrote:With Dark Eldar, there's the (albeit slim) possibility of escaping the torture you're headed into. With Tyranids, if you're not off the planet when the assault starts, you're SOL.
The Dark Eldar turn up, hunt you down, and either kill you or take you away to a horrible fate.
Tyranids do the psycological thing better. You'll see the skies turn black in the middle of the day as they're choked with spores, you'll watch all of the vegetation around you bloat and grow to unnatural proportions. You'll see hunks of gristle fall from the sky with ravening dinosaur cockroaches pour out of them. You'll watch the landscape alter before your eyes, turning into a quagmire of digestion pools and numberless organisms devouring the very planet you're standing on.
As you feebly fire into the masses of organisms, then you'll start to be hunted, by the most relentless super predator in the galaxy. You'll be wary of mere shrubs which might hide Lictors or any dark places where Genestealers hide. The spores choke and blind you as you futilely try to find a safe haven to defend. Then as your friends fall, you'll watch them dragged off, living or dead, to be dumped into digestion pools. If they were unlucky enough to be alive, you'll watch them scream as they melt away.
Then it'll be your turn. Again, if you're unlucky enough to be alive, you're dragged off to a digestion pool, watching the shattered planet around you slowly be devourered, waiting for your turn to be dumped in the pool of acid.
And unlike Dark Eldar, where they'll raid a smaller area and take a handful of slaves, this is happeneing to every single person on the planet.
The 'nids are pretty nasty, but you will die, likely sooner than later.
Also - there's been several recorded instances where the Dark Eldar raid and steal entire planetary populations, leaving hive worlds empty. Or during the War of Dark Revelations, they duped the Tau and took everyone on the planet Rubikon back to the Dark City.
I will say, hand's down it's got to be the Dark Eldar would be the worst to fight, with the worst fate - with the lucky ones simply dying. (Though sometimes, they get brought back, so death's not necessarily a way out.)
'nids, Daemons,etc, it's a bad fate, but it's relatively shortlived. With the Tyranids you will die before long. And with the daemons, you'll die, torture, but there's the decent chance of an out if you take to worshipping the daemons / god behind them.
Daemons; because at least most of the nasties out there (a) loosely obey the laws of physics and logic and (b) stop hurting you after you die.
Plus, nothing exploits emotions quite as well as creatures which are mostly formed from emotion. Tyranids want you to despair because it makes things easier for them, Dark Eldar want you to despair becuase it makes things more fun for them, Daemons of Nurgle are despair incarnate. Not only is there no hope agaist them, but the fact that you realise that makes their existance your fault.
Fearful? I'd probably have to say Tyranids, because your entire planet is gone, once it starts.
I would imagine it would be pretty demoralizing to fight Necrons though. Seeing a perfect tank round land and blast some Necrons into pieces, then watching those pieces repair themselves back into a seemingly unharmed Necron warrior, that is now stripping your tank apart, would cripple morale.
Oh man. You've all gone for the obvious anwser, but the true terror of the 40K universe is obvious:
The Tau.
1) They will CONTROL your MIND with freaky hormone nose gasses. The trusty tinfoil hat isn't gonna help on this one.
2) Crazy mind alteration sends you on a trip. If you disobey, the ethereals will send you on a bad trip. Bad trips aren't fun.
3) You gotta work with Kroot. They, like, EAT people man! With their mouths! Freakin gross!
4) Vespid are like giant man-beetles. With guns. That live on asteroids in SPACE. That's scary fething stuff man.
5) Tau are like fish. Fish are evil, souless beings that hunger for human despair. Therefore, we can extrapolate that tau are pretty much the same.
6) You'll be the illegal alien/subjugated race everywhere you go. Think black man in 1800s Louisiana. Pretty terrifying.
7) Tau are similar to cows. This suggests that cows or their equivalents are available to tau forces. What could possibly be more terrifying than a man fish with a laser gun riding the half ton muscular killing machine that is the angry cow?
Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote: Oh man. You've all gone for the obvious anwser, but the true terror of the 40K universe is obvious:
The Tau.
1) They will CONTROL your MIND with freaky hormone nose gasses. The trusty tinfoil hat isn't gonna help on this one.
2) Crazy mind alteration sends you on a trip. If you disobey, the ethereals will send you on a bad trip. Bad trips aren't fun.
3) You gotta work with Kroot. They, like, EAT people man! With their mouths! Freakin gross!
4) Vespid are like giant man-beetles. With guns. That live on asteroids in SPACE. That's scary fething stuff man.
5) Tau are like fish. Fish are evil, souless beings that hunger for human despair. Therefore, we can extrapolate that tau are pretty much the same.
6) You'll be the illegal alien/subjugated race everywhere you go. Think black man in 1800s Louisiana. Pretty terrifying.
7) Tau are similar to cows. This suggests that cows or their equivalents are available to tau forces. What could possibly be more terrifying than a man fish with a laser gun riding the half ton muscular killing machine that is the angry cow?
I rest my case.
I would probably give my position away with laughter and then get blown to pieces.
Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote: Oh man. You've all gone for the obvious anwser, but the true terror of the 40K universe is obvious:
The Tau.
1) They will CONTROL your MIND with freaky hormone nose gasses. The trusty tinfoil hat isn't gonna help on this one.
2) Crazy mind alteration sends you on a trip. If you disobey, the ethereals will send you on a bad trip. Bad trips aren't fun.
3) You gotta work with Kroot. They, like, EAT people man! With their mouths! Freakin gross!
4) Vespid are like giant man-beetles. With guns. That live on asteroids in SPACE. That's scary fething stuff man.
5) Tau are like fish. Fish are evil, souless beings that hunger for human despair. Therefore, we can extrapolate that tau are pretty much the same.
6) You'll be the illegal alien/subjugated race everywhere you go. Think black man in 1800s Louisiana. Pretty terrifying.
7) Tau are similar to cows. This suggests that cows or their equivalents are available to tau forces. What could possibly be more terrifying than a man fish with a laser gun riding the half ton muscular killing machine that is the angry cow?
I rest my case.
I would probably give my position away with laughter and then get blown to pieces.
Its for a good cause...it'll buy enough time for an orbital strike.
Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote: Oh man. You've all gone for the obvious anwser, but the true terror of the 40K universe is obvious:
The Tau.
1) They will CONTROL your MIND with freaky hormone nose gasses. The trusty tinfoil hat isn't gonna help on this one.
2) Crazy mind alteration sends you on a trip. If you disobey, the ethereals will send you on a bad trip. Bad trips aren't fun.
3) You gotta work with Kroot. They, like, EAT people man! With their mouths! Freakin gross!
4) Vespid are like giant man-beetles. With guns. That live on asteroids in SPACE. That's scary fething stuff man.
5) Tau are like fish. Fish are evil, souless beings that hunger for human despair. Therefore, we can extrapolate that tau are pretty much the same.
6) You'll be the illegal alien/subjugated race everywhere you go. Think black man in 1800s Louisiana. Pretty terrifying.
7) Tau are similar to cows. This suggests that cows or their equivalents are available to tau forces. What could possibly be more terrifying than a man fish with a laser gun riding the half ton muscular killing machine that is the angry cow?
I rest my case.
I would probably give my position away with laughter and then get blown to pieces.
Its for a good cause...it'll buy enough time for an orbital strike.
*Commissar pulls out rubber ducky, and bolt pistol* Laugh you worthless dregs, LAUGH IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR!!!
Justicar_Thunderflanks wrote: Oh man. You've all gone for the obvious anwser, but the true terror of the 40K universe is obvious:
The Tau.
1) They will CONTROL your MIND with freaky hormone nose gasses. The trusty tinfoil hat isn't gonna help on this one.
2) Crazy mind alteration sends you on a trip. If you disobey, the ethereals will send you on a bad trip. Bad trips aren't fun.
3) You gotta work with Kroot. They, like, EAT people man! With their mouths! Freakin gross!
4) Vespid are like giant man-beetles. With guns. That live on asteroids in SPACE. That's scary fething stuff man.
5) Tau are like fish. Fish are evil, souless beings that hunger for human despair. Therefore, we can extrapolate that tau are pretty much the same.
6) You'll be the illegal alien/subjugated race everywhere you go. Think black man in 1800s Louisiana. Pretty terrifying.
7) Tau are similar to cows. This suggests that cows or their equivalents are available to tau forces. What could possibly be more terrifying than a man fish with a laser gun riding the half ton muscular killing machine that is the angry cow?
I rest my case.
I would probably give my position away with laughter and then get blown to pieces.
Its for a good cause...it'll buy enough time for an orbital strike.
*Commissar pulls out rubber ducky, and bolt pistol* Laugh you worthless dregs, LAUGH IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR!!!
*Crewman looks up from sensor station* "Sir, we have the location of the Tau guns." "Signal the armada, lances to full - fire when ready."
I have this thing about 'Nids...they just creep me the feth out.
First, they have to many ways to kill you. Acid, flesh tearing beetles fired out of guns, claws, fangs.
Second, for everything the nids have you can find something in real life nature that is a a pretty close comparison.
Third, they fight to devour every living thing in the universe, its terrible.
Fourth, they can overrun the Guard...the Imperial "we have more bodies than you have ammo" Guard can, and do, get overrun by numbers with these things.
Fifth, they frighten me a bit. Not the models, nah those are fine, its the fluff that does it. NOMNOMNOM mindless nomming of all you know and love. The never ending tide of fangs and claws. *Shivers* terrifying.
Chaos would be the worst race to kill just because they can play on your emotions and turn you against yourself and your comrades without realising it.
Necrons would be the most terrifying. I mean you kill them and they just get back up again and smash you to bits.
SM's or GK would be frightening I guess as well if your chaos. You'll shoot them and the bullet would just bounce off the armour and they'll just advance and blow you into the 51st Millenium with their psycannons and bolters and if you survive that they'll pumble you with their pointy sticks.
Daba wrote: While Dark Eldar probably take the biscuit, don't forget what it's like to fight regular Eldar:
Their basic weapon, the shuriken catapult, is designed to cut flesh up like confetti. Rather than killing efficiently, it seems to emphasise killing in a graphic and obvious way: no small hole for a wound, or localised section of burnt flesh but slices of meat everywhere.
I have power armor.
The deathspinner style weapons puts a goo on that works against any struggling instinct: the more the victim struggles, the more it damages by lopping off limbs and heads.
I have power armor.
Banshee masks drive directly to the nervous system leaving the victim helpless as they are chopped up along with their comrades.
Space Marines have augmented nervous systems.
Shrieker ammunition is designed to cause someone to explode from the inside, by their own body. The explosion causes the toxin to spread, causing a chain reaction of exploding bodies.
I have power armor.
Note this is based on fluff, not TT rules.
In the older fluff (2nd edition Wargear book), Shuriken Catapults could penetrate Power Armour easily. Also, Space Marines nervous systems are vulnerable to Banshees; even when augmented their nervous system isn't up to the larger creatures (like nids or other monsters); Banshee masks still work on them.
The story for the old webspinner in particular had an example of a Chaos Marine falling apart in it, wearing his armour so Power Armour shouldn't be a defence against that.
IIRC, Shuriken Catapults have an AP value of 4, better than Bolters, but Power Armor has an AS value of 3+, so I would interpret it as being unable to pierce most of the armor, and having only partial effect against weak points and joints...Death Spinners, well, I can't remember the TT rules for that, but IIRC, they make use of monofilament cables, so I have no idea how that should even work against Power Armor. And the howls of Howling Banshees are psycho-somatic in nature, so perhaps their effect on Space Marines (and that of Tyranids) is purely psychic, with the augmented nervous systems blocking out purely the physical effects. Librarians though, should have psychic shielding, which should render them immune to the Howling Banshees' howls.
Ruleswise: They had a save modifier of -2 (both weapons)
However, talking about fluff the Shuriken Catapult one said each disc could penetrate several inches of armour, which is thicker than what a SM could wear.
The example of a webspinner in action chopped a chaos marine to bits, in armour. Monofilament cables are meant to be so sharp and the mesh covering enough that it'll get in.
Ruleswise: If you failed a save against the webspinner type weapon, you died regardless of toughness or wounds. You did get an I check to jump out of the way though, or not move.
Daba wrote: Ruleswise: They had a save modifier of -2 (both weapons)
I don't have 6th Edition yet, and I don't see the -2 in my copy of 5th Edition, so an explanation would be much appreciated.
However, talking about fluff the Shuriken Catapult one said each disc could penetrate several inches of armour, which is thicker than what a SM could wear.
Maybe not Power Armor, otherwise Space Marines would have been rendered useless against Eldar, and its clear that Eldar consider Space Marines as one of the few true opponents they can face.
The example of a webspinner in action chopped a chaos marine to bits, in armour. Monofilament cables are meant to be so sharp and the mesh covering enough that it'll get in.
Ruleswise: If you failed a save against the webspinner type weapon, you died regardless of toughness or wounds. You did get an I check to jump out of the way though, or not move.
IIRC, mono-filament weapons are supposed to be ineffective against heavy armor...but then again, as I've said before I don't really know much about mono-filament weapons.
Armour penetration isn't an all or nothing thing like the rules represent (it would be best to get out of the AP mentality). The armour will still provide some protection, and not every hit is a good hit. It certainly did dent power armour, but that doesn't mean it was useless against it either.
In 2nd edition, mono-filament weapons and Shuriken Catapults had better armour save modifiers than Plasma guns.
Top 3 have to be Tyranids, Chaos Daemons and Dark Eldar.
But for me it's going to have to be the tyranids because even the smallest ones carry such weapons as the devourer:
a conical lump of partly rotted flesh infested by writhing worm-like parasites with balck shiny heads, when this horrific weapon is triggered...A creature infested with these parasites is driven mad with agony as they rapidly eat their way through its nervous system to the brain
Not a good way to go
And i recall a story in the old nid codex where a commisar coughs up black chunks of his rotting lungs, because of airbourne spores
If I was just a regular guardsmen, I would be more scared of Tyranids, because of how they look and the sizes they can be. I wouldn't be scared of DE as much. Probably because I wouldn't know what the DE actually do to their enemies? I would also say Chaos get a look in.
1. Nids 2. Chaos 3. Dark Eldar
A regular guardsmen probably wouldn't know that. It's only because we know the fluff behind the Nids and DE and are basing our decisions on what we know in this world, other than what some Average Joe might know. If I was a Space Marine, I would not fear anything, for I am fear incarnate.
For Having to Fight - Tyranids , More speficially in an Underground Enviroemnt
To lose - Nurgle Plague Marines & Demons ....... Just the Smell and the fact that they won't grant me the peace of Death , But only the long lasting horror of Servitude
After reading that, I'd say Slaugth as well. Getting eaten by maggots is an aweful way to go. However, if it's out of the main 40k races, I'd probably say Daemons or Tyranids.
In all the other enemies, if you shoot it, it bleeds, even if the price of failure is terrifying, there is still a hope. Because you can see that your efforts are at least doing something.
But daemons. They don't take wounds, they don't bleed, they don't back down until dead. They also don't look like either people or animals, but take the form of your worst nightmares as they decent upon you.
Fear is truly subjective until you cannot sanction your mind away from it.
Dark Eldar: What I am laughing at personally is how every Deldar wants to feel like they are some horrifying race of scary boogey men when they are literally pirates who emerge from safe webway portals ride our, raid and pillage then return with their slaves and waste all their time torturing. Yes, the levels they torture are the worst in the galaxy perhaps but this is a desperate attempt to keep themselves alive so Slannesh doesn't devoure their souls.
You do not need fear pain if you can no longer escape it, you are a prisoner your descent into maddness is garanteed but fear will not be what grips me it will delusion and anguish trying to seperate the two and/or wish i wasn't there. 'I understand they can drug me change or just ruin me... but such is the fate of a prisoner the next examples of fear for each race will be listed in tandum.
Tyranids: Like many have said horrifying to face, because it is certain doom, but not in a civilized manner odds are you are already conscripted into the IOM if things have gotten so bad that the Nids are now Planetside. You are conscripted to face an endless legion with more than likely no back up or assistance. The smallest thoughts of abandoning your post and trying to make your own to a skyport are strangled from your mind each time you see a Comissar walk by eyeing each and everyone of you. Being hunted like an animal puts a deep fear in any person especially if they still want to live, it is the uncertainty that survival might be possible until they finally arrive... Once they have its worse than you can imagine, not only are you seeing everyone and thing around you being devoured screaming and still alive but you find yourself fortunate enough to flee as your Commissar is taken down only to hear the screeches of the horde apporaching and the pyschic power of their Snyapse creatures riddle your mind with horrible images and thoughts while your body begins to consume noxious clouds and the Horrendous sky scraper monster descends from the sky letting loose a flak shot of writhing beetles into your body as you spasm and die being devoured still somehwhat alive.
Necron: I must admit, i have a hard time 'fearing' necron because they have become a gimmick to me. However Flayed ones, wraiths and scarabs would certainly be horrific especially without the basic knowledge of their kind like an average imperial citizen would have. Unless they changed the fluff and people were being converted into new necrons or something I think this is a simple robotic death much like Terminator.... effective at killing but not nessicarily horrifying as much as it would be imagining a platoon of any enemies walking by that just won't bother to talk to you. They will kill you and you won't kill them.
Space Marines: Considering the idea of rogue marines do exist, and chaos marines even more so I find a typical Space Marine a bit scary but only from the general sense of the word... scary, not frightening. He is a 2 ton killing machine unable to be drown, killed in a vacuum, spits acid, totes deadly weaponry and is purely better than me in every way i can imagine. Assuming a bit of humanity still resides past their indoctrination I wouldn't fear them. But reverse the tables and this champion of the IOM becomes a subject of justice against me... for every great crime i shall see more and more of them until I am no more.
Imperial Guard: Oddly, i think a bit more horrifying than Space Marines, veterans are creepy people 9/10 i wouldn't want to see the scars left behind after decades of INTENSE battle and what it does to them. Not to mentiothe faceless mobs of the IOM are all different people and justice or mercy will not be shown to me were I an Enemy of Mankind I rate them minimal like the Space marines but it all depends on perspective again.
Orks: I am not trying to sound Bias, but to me orks are a decent horror in the universe because it represents a lot of what people fear in real life, brutality and savages. I can't recall how many times i've heard a veteran say witha quivering voice about the recordings of American soldiers having their heads sawn off for their crimes. Yet to orks that is a long drawn out mundane affair. Impaling someone on a stick and leaving them outside their camp is the same as doing the Laundry to them, it's done on a daily basis. Not to mention the inability to predict or even understand the crude minds of your enemy. Worst part is living under their reign in my opinion especially if you have skills. the dumb new requests and inventions they will ask you to make or even worse the beatings you will endure until one of them just wants to kill you for fun. Living on pins and needles the rest of your life and watching the orks just kill a lot of you for a good laugh... it's a bad way to live and some full of traditional societal fear.
Eldar: I respect the idea of their Aspect warriors alot i do think they provoke personal fears especially when they need you dead or to take back something you took from them. but ultimately this is more the comparison fear again that something that lives a long life is faster, more advanced and even nerve racking to face in combat is going to kill me.
Tau: I agree they aren't frightening but the idea they are a conspiracy is impressive for the normally optimisitic tau, I just wish they had some horrifying units other than perhaps the kroot when they slink through the woods. Ultimately this is a range superiority fear... a fear you will die due to technological difference.
I ultimately give the elements of horror to Chaos, Be it the 8 foot tall godzilla worshipping demon zealots, their sorcerers plaguing your midn and slowly corrupting your mind till you are gibbering fool ready to kill yourself at a moments notice because the wall grew teeth and eyes and it trying to consume you. Or perhaps that the warp is an illogical nothingness spiraling with demons and beauty which will make you lose your concepts of friend and foe, life and death, or pain from pleasure. Watching your flesh twist and peel and convert into the wills of anarchists and demons all enduring it for perceived eternities only to eventually lose what you are completely and just be a gibbering Chaos spawn if youare lucky enought to nto be devoured daily by recurring nightmares ect ect ect.
Basically i award psykers the highest honors of fear due to their ability to force it upon you, i then looked at how you fit into their concepts such as devouring, changing or torments In my mind chaos is underplayed in 40k for the horrors it unleashes so parents aren't off put when they consider buying their children some models... in the fluff chaos is just hands down the worst. Dark eldar i think are close to being there but in my mind it is something not forced on you every moment of your existence you can eventually just go mad enough to not care you are tortured. and Nids is more primal fear before you die
Mine would probably be the Emperor's Children. I wouldn't mind it so much if I thought they would kill me, but the whole getting abducted to the Eye of Terror and working as some kind of sex slave for daemons, then having my body melted down to make drugs when I eventually die kind of creeps me out.
I'd not be so scared of CSM or cultist forces - if you carve an 8-pointer into your skin, or make yourself useful to them then you might survive - like Septimus in the Night lords novels.
Fluff daemons, on the other hand? no thank you... my nightmares are bad enough when I can wake up from them.
As a common guardsmen or worse a common civilian I would think an Ork Waagh would be the most terrifying, Tyranid tend to be fairly isolated on a Galactic Scale. I would imagine that only 1% of the IoM know what Eldar actually are, less so for Dark Eldar. Wherein Orks infest every corner of the Milky Way, every civilian has undoubtedly heard tales of Orks ripping apart guardsmen and ships being taken over and slaughtered to a man. So when an Ork waagh lands on your planet all you can think of is the multitude of (some exhagerated) tales that you have heard. And when the horde starts marching on your hive you see millions of these ferocious beasts. Many shrugging off your defenders shots like they were mere scratches. That would scare the gak out of many.
Now if you were educated about the enemies at large, I would say that Dark Eldar would be the most terrifying, every weapon they utilize has the main priority of causing pain, not a quick death. And if they capture you, well that has been covered already.
I don't know, but Orks just don't scare me. Maybe it's because they come over comical in the stories and they have that 'I wanna rip you 'ead off...but in a fun way' kind of vibe.
I genuinely struggle to understand how anything could be scarier than Daemons. I mean, forget the miniatures you've seen, forget the artwork that's been published, fluff daemons are literally your worst nightmare made flesh. The most horrific sights, smells and sounds available, the most horrifically evil things ever to have existed, thrust straight from hell onto your doorstep.
Then factor in the fact that they won't only kill you, but take your soul back to hell with them, purely just to torture you in the most impossibly fethed-up ways that you couldn't even begin to imagine... for all eternity.
Yeah, I'll take freaky space aliens, S&M elves or giant green mushroom-men any day of the week, thanks. Daemons, on the other hand...
Lets not forget that even if you manage to prevail over a demonic invasion the Imperium will have you all sterilised and shipped off to die in a penal colony so you don't tell anyone what you've seen. You basically can't win in that situation.
liquidjoshi wrote: But we're assuming it's as a human / guardsman. Besides, Space Marines "Know no fear", right?
*Human spits out curse in daemon-cant* *eyes glow and body writhes and levitates* *explodes* daemonettes pop out and tear Eldar to pieces - Space Marines watch from a distance and call in an artillery barrage.
*human aim, shot his fancy hotshot lasgun, marine head is a smoldering mess, human makes it away with all the ladies*
I gotta go with Tyranids, and here is my reason why. Unending swarms of claws and chitin, which know no fear washing across the plains as far as the eye can see.
People keep saying toxins of the D'eldar, Tyanids use them too, extensively. I also GUARENTEE getting shot by a tyranid hurts more, they fire Venom Cannons (Crystalized Acid) Fleshborers (Living ammo that burrows into the vicitm and EATS it from the inside) Deathspitters (Acid Covered Maggots essentially) Also don't forget the Neurotoxins on barbed ammunition on spike rifles The air becomes poison, water becomes undrinkable, the ground itself isnt safe, as ravernors may come from beneath it. The air is choked with gargoyles and the land forces dominated by creatures several times larger than your tanks.
Scary stuff man
The Hive mind's strong psychic presence also weakens the resolve of its foes.
For a second think about what the imperium is going to do to you if happen to see a deamon? The inquisition is going to kill, your friends, vitnesses and couple other innocent people just to make sure nobody knows of the deamonic horrors.
So deamons are pretty scary.
Orks on the other hand have this issue. They no know fear, they possess super human abilities, their technology knows no bounds and they think it's fun to fight against deamons.
illuknisaa wrote: For a second think about what the imperium is going to do to you if happen to see a deamon? The inquisition is going to kill, your friends, vitnesses and couple other innocent people just to make sure nobody knows of the deamonic horrors.
illuknisaa wrote: For a second think about what the imperium is going to do to you if happen to see a deamon? The inquisition is going to kill, your friends, vitnesses and couple other innocent people just to make sure nobody knows of the deamonic horrors.
So deamons are pretty scary.
Orks on the other hand have this issue. They no know fear, they possess super human abilities, their technology knows no bounds and they think it's fun to fight against deamons.
How scary that makes orks?
That doesn't make them scary. Just makes them brave. Or more likely it makes them stupid.
Grey Knights/Inquisitors may execute/mindsweep their allies in order to prevent information to be spread about their organisation(s), that being said, fighting against them would be be pretty hopeless/freightening.
Also as mentioned above Dark eldar and Tyranids would be very scary...
Wardragoon wrote: As a common guardsmen or worse a common civilian I would think an Ork Waagh would be the most terrifying, Tyranid tend to be fairly isolated on a Galactic Scale. I would imagine that only 1% of the IoM know what Eldar actually are, less so for Dark Eldar. Wherein Orks infest every corner of the Milky Way, every civilian has undoubtedly heard tales of Orks ripping apart guardsmen and ships being taken over and slaughtered to a man. So when an Ork waagh lands on your planet all you can think of is the multitude of (some exhagerated) tales that you have heard. And when the horde starts marching on your hive you see millions of these ferocious beasts. Many shrugging off your defenders shots like they were mere scratches. That would scare the gak out of many.
Now if you were educated about the enemies at large, I would say that Dark Eldar would be the most terrifying, every weapon they utilize has the main priority of causing pain, not a quick death. And if they capture you, well that has been covered already.
I actually respect this view and can tell you put a lot of thought into this one. I forget that in 40k the average imperial citizen hasn't really heard of Xenos and the concept of chaos is considered non-existent except through the use of unsanctioned psykers and mutants. I recall a story where chaos marines approached an unprotected imperial world (i can't remember the legion i want to say Alpha Legion cause they aren't very mutated...?) and said they were a bogus space marine chapter just checking in on the defenses of the planet and were in dire need of resupply. They were given an audience with the planetary governor at which point spelled the doom of the planet.
The eyes of the Vigilant lol sometimes propaganda backfires for the IOM.
So yeah, i would have to say from a civilian perspective Orks really would be the most dreadful to hear about coming... i even remember an entire in the 4th ed necron Codex which spoke about how unimpressed this old man was hearing the Imperium lost a few worlds to some Xenos nearby called Necrons. He said the IOM would take back those planets and it wasn't any real concern (not that being said obviously he is ignorant but still)
So like my previous post it comes down to perspective again... Orks while not in my eyes are particularly horrific you have to remember they are the most well known of the IOM's foes besides Chaos which was forced back into the warp long ago and any talk of it otherwise is considered heresy. So... in short the INQUISTION would scare the ever living piss out of me if I were a human far more than Xenos lol
Daemons are fear incarnate. If you ever have any doubt about the daemons being the most frightening army to fight against, go to your nearest barnes and noble and pick up the new GW novel Fear to Tread and read from the middle of page 117 to page 125. Honestly gave me nightmares reading it, and that is solely about the odd events before a warp storm, not even when they are fighting daemons.
Honestly it gives a perfect example of why daemons would be flipping frightening to face in the bare flesh, and i would quote it if i could here, but GW would probably come hunt me down and arrest me. But seriously, if you have any free time, do it. It's just
I'd say Daemons all the way, especially Daemons of Nurgle.
I remember reading one of the early Gaunts Ghosts books where they are stuck in a trench warfare against a chaos traitor army. A Guardsman that got tainted earlier in the book by getting a fracture from a chaos alter stuck in his flesh turned into a Daemon after hearing some weird unlogical drum machines made by the heretics out of industrial pistons and human skin.
It basically drives the guardsmen half insane and suddenly one of them turns inside out and start butchering people in the most horrifying way.
Also the way that the Nurgle chaos warbands attacked in The Siege of Vraks makes for a horrifying death. They bombard the Kriegers with artillery gas canisters spreading chemical warfare agents, then they attacked in waves, first with zombified DKoK troopers and Nurgle Daemons, then with Daemon engines, Cultists of Nurgle and Plague Marines mopping up, and they actually
Spoiler:
break through the Krieg lines
as far as I remember.
There is a reason why Daemons are the only army in the 40K universe with the Fear special rule throughout.
Having just read that part, they actually annihilate the DKoK rearguard, whose job was... to get annihilated so that the rest of the army can reform proper lines.
I vote for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Because those guys are (literally) inhuman even though technically they are humans.
Fighting against bizarre cyborgs and arcane (and probably insane) technology should be pretty scary especially since if you die, then you will probably join their ranks as a servitor or become vat-food for some clones.
AtoMaki wrote: I vote for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Because those guys are (literally) inhuman even though technically they are humans.
Fighting against bizarre cyborgs and arcane (and probably insane) technology should be pretty scary especially since if you die, then you will probably join their ranks as a servitor or become vat-food for some clones.
You know I think a Traitor Titan Legio would be terrifying to fight against, God Machine's blaring insanity inducing noises, with horribly mutated Skitarii that are about as hard to kill as a Space Marine, with firepower equal to a sentinel.
Wardragoon wrote: As a common guardsmen or worse a common civilian I would think an Ork Waagh would be the most terrifying, Tyranid tend to be fairly isolated on a Galactic Scale. I would imagine that only 1% of the IoM know what Eldar actually are, less so for Dark Eldar. Wherein Orks infest every corner of the Milky Way, every civilian has undoubtedly heard tales of Orks ripping apart guardsmen and ships being taken over and slaughtered to a man. So when an Ork waagh lands on your planet all you can think of is the multitude of (some exhagerated) tales that you have heard. And when the horde starts marching on your hive you see millions of these ferocious beasts. Many shrugging off your defenders shots like they were mere scratches. That would scare the gak out of many.
Now if you were educated about the enemies at large, I would say that Dark Eldar would be the most terrifying, every weapon they utilize has the main priority of causing pain, not a quick death. And if they capture you, well that has been covered already.
I actually respect this view and can tell you put a lot of thought into this one. I forget that in 40k the average imperial citizen hasn't really heard of Xenos and the concept of chaos is considered non-existent except through the use of unsanctioned psykers and mutants. I recall a story where chaos marines approached an unprotected imperial world (i can't remember the legion i want to say Alpha Legion cause they aren't very mutated...?) and said they were a bogus space marine chapter just checking in on the defenses of the planet and were in dire need of resupply. They were given an audience with the planetary governor at which point spelled the doom of the planet.
The eyes of the Vigilant lol sometimes propaganda backfires for the IOM.
So yeah, i would have to say from a civilian perspective Orks really would be the most dreadful to hear about coming... i even remember an entire in the 4th ed necron Codex which spoke about how unimpressed this old man was hearing the Imperium lost a few worlds to some Xenos nearby called Necrons. He said the IOM would take back those planets and it wasn't any real concern (not that being said obviously he is ignorant but still)
So like my previous post it comes down to perspective again... Orks while not in my eyes are particularly horrific you have to remember they are the most well known of the IOM's foes besides Chaos which was forced back into the warp long ago and any talk of it otherwise is considered heresy. So... in short the INQUISTION would scare the ever living piss out of me if I were a human far more than Xenos lol
Thank you , and fair point on the inquisition, I forgot which book it was, but it mentions that the Inquisition is pretty much the Boogeyman of the average citizen
Colonel-Commissar wrote: They're all bloomin' scary, but Necrons would have to be the most scary. Anyone who's read Dead Men Walking will agree...
I prefer Cain's perspective...say what you will, despite his coward-like nature, the man is one of the bravest out there - if he says Necrons are the worst and most terrifying enemies to face, I'm taking it at face value.
Getting hit with Dark Eldar weaponry, though poisoned, would be no different in my mind to being hit by a chemical weapon in the modern day world. I would have the good sense to make sure I didn't survive if there were no forseeable way to escape them.
With Daemons, I'm of the belief that faith can overcome them. So not quite as terrifying.
With Necrons, so what...they move silently...doesn't frighten me.
But Tyranids...nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Not underground in bunkers, not high in towers, not in aircraft, not in submarines, not on deserted islands...not even if you escape the planet as it will probably be surrounded by hive ships.
And they stink...and are slimy...and are big...with lots of sharp pointy things that have acids and poisons and bugs that can infest your body, that cause just as much pain if not more, than Dark Eldar weaponry. And you can't talk to them. You can't communicate to them in any way. You can't even beg for your life as they will not understand. You can't even think straight because of their massive psychic presence causing you to go mad. Even the local plant and animal life massively change into tyranid monstrosities that try to cut you and poison you and cause you harm.
Barring massive intervention from an outside source, when it comes to tyranids there is no hope of escape.
In a fight, Tyranids. Imagining all those bounding hormagaunts running at the front lines.... *shudder*.
In a war, Necrons. You can beat Tyranids, you'll take a few billion casualties, but they can be beaten. Necrons only stop attacking if it suits them better, because chances are at the end of a battle you might have killed maybe 10, total. Necrons are attrition incarnate, it doesn't matter how many victories you have, how many Necrons you fell, even declaring the planet Exterminatus and destroying it, they'll just keep coming. And there's basically nowhere in the galaxy to run from them, their Empire spanned the entire galaxy all those millions of years ago, so every time you go to a new world, chances are there's more. They might be a different dynasty, but it's highly unlikely they'll invite you down to the Tombs for tea and crumpets. What's more, their standard gun can rip through a tank like paper, and to be hit by a Gauss Flayer is to have a bit of your body erased from existence, leaving a huge amount of blood and gore where you flesh was ripped away from you.
There are scarier armies to fight, but a war with the Necrons leaves you without hope.
Ork or Daemon. Nothing would be as frightening as a huge brute charging at you brandishing an axe as large as you. A daemon would just screw with my head.
Dark eldar. Firstly, they generally attack during some time when the locals expect something bad, e.g. an eclipse. Next, they start the attack in an all too scary fashion, zooming in faster than your eyes can follow, an array of spiked craft that seem to defy gravity and that emit some lovely screaming sounds as they come down.
Next, their weaponry. A hit from a poison weapon results in a few seconds of utter agony before death, which while quick for the dark eldar is far worse than the basic weaponry of any other race. And while nids use poison as well, that's designed to kill as quickly as possible, this is designed to kill as painfully as possible. Shreddars/shardnets aren't all that pleasant, being torn apart by nearly invisible wires, with nothing anyone can do to escape. Combat is another terrifying experiance, with the enemy wanting to kill you in as many hits as possible, slowly bleeding you to death while they dance around you, impossible to hit. And while their anti-tank weapons are a quick death for infantry, seeing your prized land raider blow up after a single hit is a little nerve-wracking. Which brings me onto the subject of wracks. What could possibly be more terrifying than all the things mentioned above, plus the fact that the things doing it are basically humans turned inside-out? And then there's giant versions of these, the haemonculus wonder-weapons, the chronos and talos...
And most of all, you don't want them to take you alive.
And if you win? They'll probably come back some time and take revenge on you. And that will be as above, only ten times worse because you know that this time it's inevitable, and that even if you win this one, it's not going to do anything in the long run...
Yeah, crons are perhaps nearly as scary in battle, and what she who thirsts will do to you if you're captured is probably about the same as what the dark eldar will do to you, but the horrors of battle and the fact they'll quite possibly tell you what they're planning to do to you if you're captured (see the message above Vect's stats in the 3rd edition codex), there's not a whole lot of stuff that can possibly be more scary.
I'd say Nids because who would want to be ripped to shreds by millions, billions of xenos that devour humans, plants, and every living organism.
Dark Eldar are second.
Dark Eldar raid a world cause havoc and fear throughout and then take slaves who are killed violently or tortured and killed slowly or made to serve the eldar and are brutally treated.
Orks Third:
Orks are a green tide of ferocious beings that killed everything every their own kind. And surviving a war with them and being taken alive is worse than death. Orks eat them, torture them, and playing horrifying games that usually end up with the participants dead or mauled.
Mine would be necrons there unfeeling unstoppable and when you do destroy one he fades out like a ghost to be replace by another if he docent just put him self back together right there on the battle field.
It would also depend on what army your in if i was say a ork that would just be freaking awesome!
The Death Korps to an extend, sur its not as bas as most armies mentionned here, however, think about it, what you are fighting is obviously human, but their soldiers are acting in almost inhuman ways at time, think about how they disregard their own troops and now consider that you are their enemy and finally, I don't picture the DKoK men to shout like SM or some IG regiments and their voices would be muffled by their masks either way, which brings the real last point, they are faceless, some of them look like armored skeletons, yeah there's scarier, but its still pretty unnevering.
My scariest opponent would have to be chaos.
Orks are scary but Khorne berserkers have them beat on insane bloodshed and violence.
Nids are scary but Nurgle demons have them beat just by how they devour with diseases.
Dark Eldar are scary but Slanesh demons will rape you and torture you with things you didn't even know existed in holes you didn't know you had.
Tzeentch and his magic would just be terrifying too because you really wouldn't have any idea what was going on there.
All in all most of the armies are scary but they mostly need to comply with the sideways physics of 40k, chaos doesn's even need to do that.... and i really dont like the idea of being raped by something that even has control of whether I die or not.
, and fair point on the inquisition, I forgot which book it was, but it mentions that the Inquisition is pretty much the Boogeyman of the average citizen
