What is the worst bit of naming in 40k, that you know of.

Whether that be players naming their minis, or GW naming characters.

Personally, I think Corvus Corax is by far the worst name in the 40k universe, simply because it means 'Raven Raven'

Oh sweet summer child....

There are far worse names in 40k than that. (Which IMO it is not. It's a nice pun like Ferrus Manus).

Now, Murderfang wielding his Murderclaws who was discovered on the planet Omnicide OTOH...

 gummyofallbears wrote:
What is the worst bit of naming in 40k, that you know of.

Whether that be players naming their minis, or GW naming characters.

Personally, I think Corvus Corax is by far the worst name in the 40k universe, simply because it means 'Raven Raven'

Corvus Corax is the Latin name for the common raven, which is fine. It sounds like a proper name.

Canis Wolfborn, for instance, does not.

 Ashiraya wrote:


Corvus Corax is the Latin name for the common raven, which is fine. It sounds like a proper name.

Canis Wolfborn, for instance, does not.

It fits in with the rest of the existing SW nomenclature. "Canis" is a little on the nose but the surname slots in well next to "Stormcaller", "Blackmane" and "Grimblood" of the original special characters (And "Rockfist" from the same book in which Canis first appeared).

A lot of the planet names range from silly to "why would they name a planet that, they were basically asking for it to be eaten by chaos"

 amazingturtles wrote:
A lot of the planet names range from silly to "why would they name a planet that, they were basically asking for it to be eaten by chaos"

Wazdakka's current base of operations on Scalex VI is a work of fething genius.

Quoting the Emperor when told of the Spacewolves and their units.

"All I got out of that was wolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwoflwolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwolf and wolf"

I get it they are space wolves. In Dorn's words "The Space wolves are incredibly uninspired". They are space Viking at the same time. They could have named their stormwolf (or whatever the flying box is called) after the ships that Vikings used in battle!
Like rename it the StormKarve (Karve is a ship design used by Vikings). Something ANYTHING other than (name)-wolf!

 gummyofallbears wrote:
What is the worst bit of naming in 40k, that you know of.

Whether that be players naming their minis, or GW naming characters.

Personally, I think Corvus Corax is by far the worst name in the 40k universe, simply because it means 'Raven Raven'

Corvus Corax is the scientific classification genus species of a raven.

Primarch names tbh were probably come up with rather on the fly, because they were originally intended to be about as much of the focus of the setting as the Fabricator General and other High Lords of Terra - in the background, random legends, not the focus of the storyline.

But now they are, thanks to "epicness creep" and we have reminders that yes, these names were just chosen randomly. Leman Russ was originally an imperial guard commander (hence the tank) who was retconned into the SW primarch. Lion El Johnson is just Lionel Johnson (english poet whose most famous work was called "The Dark Angel.") etc, etc.

I can't fault some random english dude 35 years ago figuring out the mythology for his silly game world on the fly for coming up with dumb names.

What I can fault is when a company has focus groups, marketing, creative teams, art teams, and a whole corporate structure and the best thing they can come up with is "Murderfang, with murderclaws, from Omnicide, with the special rule Murderlust."

I have to admit that "Lion El'Jonson" was slightly clever, but I still groaned when I realized the connection.

Canis Wolfborn is pretty silly. Murderfang err, kinda murders the joke.

Ferrus Manus is a little doofy: a guy called "Iron Hand", primarch of the Iron Hands, whose hands are literally made of iron? Maybe that's laying it on a bit thick, belike.

the_scotsman wrote:

 gummyofallbears wrote:
What is the worst bit of naming in 40k, that you know of.

Whether that be players naming their minis, or GW naming characters.

Personally, I think Corvus Corax is by far the worst name in the 40k universe, simply because it means 'Raven Raven'

Corvus Corax is the scientific classification genus species of a raven.

Primarch names tbh were probably come up with rather on the fly, because they were originally intended to be about as much of the focus of the setting as the Fabricator General and other High Lords of Terra - in the background, random legends, not the focus of the storyline.

But now they are, thanks to "epicness creep" and we have reminders that yes, these names were just chosen randomly. Leman Russ was originally an imperial guard commander (hence the tank) who was retconned into the SW primarch. Lion El Johnson is just Lionel Johnson (english poet whose most famous work was called "The Dark Angel.") etc, etc.

I can't fault some random english dude 35 years ago figuring out the mythology for his silly game world on the fly for coming up with dumb names.

What I can fault is when a company has focus groups, marketing, creative teams, art teams, and a whole corporate structure and the best thing they can come up with is "Murderfang, with murderclaws, from Omnicide, with the special rule Murderlust."

This.

Pretty much all of the Primarches are like this. Konrad Curze is a nice favourite of mine. A combination of Joseph Conrad and Kurtz (or Colonel Kurtz, which ties nicely to the Callidus (M'Shen) who assassinated him ),

the_scotsman wrote:

 gummyofallbears wrote:
What is the worst bit of naming in 40k, that you know of.

Whether that be players naming their minis, or GW naming characters.

Personally, I think Corvus Corax is by far the worst name in the 40k universe, simply because it means 'Raven Raven'

Corvus Corax is the scientific classification genus species of a raven.

Primarch names tbh were probably come up with rather on the fly, because they were originally intended to be about as much of the focus of the setting as the Fabricator General and other High Lords of Terra - in the background, random legends, not the focus of the storyline.

But now they are, thanks to "epicness creep" and we have reminders that yes, these names were just chosen randomly. Leman Russ was originally an imperial guard commander (hence the tank) who was retconned into the SW primarch. Lion El Johnson is just Lionel Johnson (english poet whose most famous work was called "The Dark Angel.") etc, etc.

I can't fault some random english dude 35 years ago figuring out the mythology for his silly game world on the fly for coming up with dumb names.

What I can fault is when a company has focus groups, marketing, creative teams, art teams, and a whole corporate structure and the best thing they can come up with is "Murderfang, with murderclaws, from Omnicide, with the special rule Murderlust."

Careful, your soapbox might tip.

Ruin wrote:
<dillsnip>

Pretty much all of the Primarches are like this. Konrad Curze is a nice favourite of mine. A combination of Joseph Conrad and Kurtz (or Colonel Kurtz, which ties nicely to the Callidus (M'Shen) who assassinated him ),

Heck, even Nostramo is a Joseph Conrad reference, there.

Murderfang was obviously named by a six-year-old on Take Your Child To Work Day.

jade_angel wrote:
I have to admit that "Lion El'Jonson" was slightly clever, but I still groaned when I realized the connection.

Most of them can definitely use a little work to sound natural. For example, this one could be Ellis Jonson with "the Lion" being a nickname.

LunarSol wrote:

jade_angel wrote:
I have to admit that "Lion El'Jonson" was slightly clever, but I still groaned when I realized the connection.

Most of them can definitely use a little work to sound natural. For example, this one could be Ellis Jonson with "the Lion" being a nickname.

That's my problem with a lot of the primarchs names they are just a bit too awkward.

But most of the really bad names are probably to be found in the Space Wolf codex now sadly.

Most of the newer GW stuff is atrociously poorly named, seemingly intentionally so. Space Wolves probably have the worst of it currently, but the Chaos stuff is also increasingly awful these days, as is most of the AoS stuff, and the ridiculous and unnecessary renaming of the Imperial Guard and Stormtroopers doesnt help either.

This should be a throw down between ridiculous "blood" names from Khorne and equally absurd "wolf"names from the Space Wolves. They're almost all terrible without exception.

Every once in a while I hope for the Space Wolves to fall to Chaos just to get some truly hilariously juvenile names.

The entire Khorne Bloodbound range sounds like it was named by Nathan Explosion.

Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Cleuseau from Rogue Trader.

Everything space wolf related since the 5th edition codex. Seriously, it's that bad.

They've pretty much entirely lost their original schtick of being space Vikings now. I honestly don't understand how anyone can play them with a straight face. Why on earth GW doesn't give more focus to their Viking roots, or even just stuff like their cool ideas for frost weapons and runic magic, is beyond me. It's taken past the point of parody now, they have to realize what they're doing. It was a cool concept absolutely ruined by taking it too far, in a setting where everything is supposed to be turned up to 11. Then they went a step further, and gave the wolves wolf sleghs, wolf mounts, and wolf claws, and wolf Wolf's and whatever other asinine ideas marketing came up with.

The blood Angels aren't much better, but at least they don't shove the word "blood" or "angel" into every single character and item's name, and they actually drink blood.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Everything space wolf related since the 5th edition codex. Seriously, it's that bad.

They've pretty much entirely lost their original schtick of being space Vikings now. I honestly don't understand how anyone can play them with a straight face. Why on earth GW doesn't give more focus to their Viking roots, or even just stuff like their cool ideas for frost weapons and runic magic, is beyond me. It's taken past the point of parody now, they have to realize what they're doing. It was a cool concept absolutely ruined by taking it too far, in a setting where everything is supposed to be turned up to 11. Then they went a step further, and gave the wolves wolf sleghs, wolf mounts, and wolf claws, and wolf Wolf's and whatever other asinine ideas marketing came up with.

The blood Angels aren't much better, but at least they don't shove the word "blood" or "angel" into every single character and item's name, and they actually drink blood.

I think the above Inquisitor won. Small text, but boy that name is hilarious.

Otherwise, I agree with the Space Wolves Wolfy Wolfing Wolf stuff as what I find the most absurd.

Blood Angels get right up to the edge of the absurdity ledge for me, but they have not made the leap yet. The moment they start adding Vampire Bats to the model range is the moment they descend into Space Wolf hilarity IMO.

Also, is KDK really that bad? Btw, actual question. No one around here plays them and all of the codexes are shrink wrapped, so I have been unable to look. Examples are nice. I love these naming threads for a laugh.

I looked like a crazy person with my maniacal laughter on the ferry reading off that Inquisitor in my brain.

Edit: I swear autocorrect hates me.

The names for stormcast units. Judicators, retributors, decimators, prosecutors, something-tors, something-tors, something-tors. I can't for the love of Gork and Mork remember this gak. And it doesn't help that they're all the same guy with weapon swaps.

 Don Savik wrote:
The names for stormcast units. Judicators, retributors, decimators, prosecutors, something-tors, something-tors, something-tors. I can't for the love of Gork and Mork remember this gak. And it doesn't help that they're all the same guy with weapon swaps.

I can be fine with stuff like Judicator or Retributor, it summons themes like a Paladin or Archon from DnD. But names like "Heraldor" just make me cringe.
The infamous Bloodsecrator. But all the "Sylvaneth" and "Orruk" stuff of AoS is just disgusting on many levels.

Dark Angel's "Interromancy". I mean really?

The Space Wolves Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf is the worst thing ever.

Astra Militarum Tempestus Scions.

Tempestus Scions.

By the Emperor, that name makes me shiver. Storm Troopers was so much better. (Frankly, kind of preferred the old models too, would have been cool if they simply "updated" them with plastic sculpts)

Everything in the entire space wolves codex.

 Engine of War wrote:
Quoting the Emperor when told of the Spacewolves and their units.

"All I got out of that was wolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwoflwolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwolfwolf and wolf"

I get it they are space wolves. In Dorn's words "The Space wolves are incredibly uninspired". They are space Viking at the same time. They could have named their stormwolf (or whatever the flying box is called) after the ships that Vikings used in battle!
Like rename it the StormKarve (Karve is a ship design used by Vikings). Something ANYTHING other than (name)-wolf! Hell the only character without "Wolf" in their name is Logan Grimnar but he is still called the "Old Wolf" Which is fine as its a nickname, but everyone else is (something)-wolf!! gaah!

They used to be vikings in space but by this point the guys writing it lost track of what a viking is and after the bloodbloodbloodbutnotkhorneyouguys worked for the blood angles it was probably easier to just dumb them down to wolfwolfwolfalsonotchaoticmutationsyouguys.

 Kaiyanwang wrote:

The infamous Bloodsecrator.

Bloodsecrator sounds so much better if you change it to "Blood Secretary". Try it!

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Cleuseau from Rogue Trader.

While the aforementioned classic is the worst, I think a lot of the new AoS Khorne and Stormcast Eternals are taking the naming conventions to a low possibly lower than the Space Wolves.

My biggest gripe is "Codexes." GW actually copyrighted a grammatical mistake. Close behind is using dice as the singular form. I have no idea what form of bastardised Anglo-Saxon English is taught in England, but in Scotland, that widnae float, and would result in having to do laps of Loch Lomond while reciting Rabbie Burns. I even doubt it would be okay in the colonies, infamous for aloominoom and other spellings specifically forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

orkimedes is one of the worst

 Cothonian wrote:
Astra Militarum Tempestus Scions.

Tempestus Scions.

By the Emperor, that name makes me shiver. Storm Troopers was so much better. (Frankly, kind of preferred the old models too, would have been cool if they simply "updated" them with plastic sculpts)

I do like Kasrkin, Inquisitorial and Plastics, for different reasons. Is true that Kasrkin have a special vibe, dunno.
I am scouring Ebay for all three of them

I am looking forward anvil industry for more specialized troops, I want a veteran army.

Tempestus and Tempestor are awful, yes :(


Automatically Appended Next Post:

the_scotsman wrote:

I can't fault some random english dude 35 years ago figuring out the mythology for his silly game world on the fly for coming up with dumb names.

What I can fault is when a company has focus groups, marketing, creative teams, art teams, and a whole corporate structure and the best thing they can come up with is "Murderfang, with murderclaws, from Omnicide, with the special rule Murderlust."

Because GW is made of cheapstakes. When they can cut cost, they do.
I think that the current rules seems written by underpaid interns, because they probably are.

Now I am here, waiting for:
"b-but the cool video about hero bases"
"b-but muh Roundtree"

 Kaiyanwang wrote:

Because GW is made of cheapstakes. When they can cut cost, they do.
I think that the current rules seems written by underpaid interns, because they probably are.

Now I am here, waiting for:
"b-but the cool video about hero bases"
"b-but muh Roundtree"

It's Phil Kelly and his heavy medication that's at fault, combined with at one point, 40k allegedly had 2 playtesters. Total.

 oldzoggy wrote:
orkimedes is one of the worst

I think you misspelled best

95% of the Space Wolf Codex is a horrid mess of unoriginality and was best summed up in Big E's Text to Speech

Creepy Custodes #1 finishing up a long list of Space Wolf units, characters, and wargear.
Big E: "All I got out of that was wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf and wolf"
Centurion : "The Space Wolves are incredibly uninspired"

Rogal Dorn means Imperial Fist, as befitting the primarch/legion naming convention.

LunarSol wrote:
Every once in a while I hope for the Space Wolves to fall to Chaos just to get some truly hilariously juvenile names.

How have you not heard of the traitor great company, the "Blood Hound Gang"?!

 ChazSexington wrote:

 Kaiyanwang wrote:

Because GW is made of cheapstakes. When they can cut cost, they do.
I think that the current rules seems written by underpaid interns, because they probably are.

Now I am here, waiting for:
"b-but the cool video about hero bases"
"b-but muh Roundtree"

It's Phil Kelly and his heavy medication that's at fault, combined with at one point, 40k allegedly had 2 playtesters. Total.

Oh, I totally agree. it was a jab at those who think things are changing. Is all cosmetic my dearest, you will realise it soon.

Kelly is criminally overestimated. His quality as a rules and fluff writer are way worse than most people think.

Do you think space wolves communicate explictly using one word "wolf"?

- wolf wolf wolf wolf - said brother Wolf
- wolf wolf - agreed Wolfwolf

Ferrus Manus
Which means "Iron Hands" in Latin (Which is odd as he didnt have his Necrodermis Covered Hands when he was named)

So "Iron Hands" (who has iron hands) is the Primarch of the Iron Hands who also have iron hands

 Kaiyanwang wrote:

 ChazSexington wrote:

 Kaiyanwang wrote:

Because GW is made of cheapstakes. When they can cut cost, they do.
I think that the current rules seems written by underpaid interns, because they probably are.

Now I am here, waiting for:
"b-but the cool video about hero bases"
"b-but muh Roundtree"

It's Phil Kelly and his heavy medication that's at fault, combined with at one point, 40k allegedly had 2 playtesters. Total.

Oh, I totally agree. it was a jab at those who think things are changing. Is all cosmetic my dearest, you will realise it soon.

Kelly is criminally overestimated. His quality as a rules and fluff writer are way worse than most people think.

Agreed. Upon re-reading my post, I didn't mean to disagree at all, but I see how that was totally what it conveyed - sorry about that!

orkimedes is one of the worst



I think you misspelled best

Agreed! Its brill

 Ratius wrote:

orkimedes is one of the worst



I think you misspelled best

Agreed! Its brill

Its a Bit Like Ghazzy's Full name...
Which Sounds Like Margeret Thatcher...

"Astra Militarum"
Because "Imperial Guard" did not sound pretentious enough.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Cleuseau from Rogue Trader.

What a gem!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the "Taurox".

Did a GW employee walk past the guy/gal responsible for naming that feth ugly box saying 'hey my Tau army rocks...'? Yoink, stolen and slapped on the box.

 NoiseMarine with Tinnitus wrote:
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the "Taurox".

Did a GW employee walk past the guy/gal responsible for naming that feth ugly box saying 'hey my Tau army rocks...'? Yoink, stolen and slapped on the box.

I assume its the usual garbage Latin that GW loves and its suppose to be named after a bull (Taurus). Considering its fragile, all terrain, and isn't really all that suited for ramming it would seem it would be better off being named after something like a goat.

The Hircumrox. Catchy.

 Vankraken wrote:

 NoiseMarine with Tinnitus wrote:
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the "Taurox".

Did a GW employee walk past the guy/gal responsible for naming that feth ugly box saying 'hey my Tau army rocks...'? Yoink, stolen and slapped on the box.

I assume its the usual garbage Latin that GW loves and its suppose to be named after a bull (Taurus). Considering its fragile, all terrain, and isn't really all that suited for ramming it would seem it would be better off being named after something like a goat.

Is actually a ripoff from forgeworld. FW has the tauros from the Elysian. They bulked up it, changed weapons, and exchanged an s with an x.

The Taurox/Tauros thing is, I suppose, a call to some mythological bull or minotaur, since guard vehicles are generally named after greek mythological monsters (barring the main battle tank, named after a furry).

 Elbows wrote:
This should be a throw down between ridiculous "blood" names from Khorne and equally absurd "wolf"names from the Space Wolves. They're almost all terrible without exception.

You take that back.


"Blood for the Blood God"

Why make it complicated? Collect skulls, spill blood. What does this unit do? It lets blood out, bloodletter. What does this unit do, it goes beserk for Khorne, Khorne Beserker. What does this thing do, it finds prey, fleshhound. Whats this guy do, he decapitates people, Skulltaker.

Khorne is literal because his followers are too nuts to understand complicated names. The space wolves have no excuse and border on heresy every chance they get.

 sfshilo wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
This should be a throw down between ridiculous "blood" names from Khorne and equally absurd "wolf"names from the Space Wolves. They're almost all terrible without exception.

You take that back.


"Blood for the Blood God"

Why make it complicated? Collect skulls, spill blood. What does this unit do? It lets blood out, bloodletter. What does this unit do, it goes beserk for Khorne, Khorne Beserker. What does this thing do, it finds prey, fleshhound. Whats this guy do, he decapitates people, Skulltaker.

Khorne is literal because his followers are too nuts to understand complicated names. The space wolves have no excuse and border on heresy every chance they get.

you know, there is a good difference between a cool battlecry "Blood for the Blood God", and placing "blood" on everything remotely khornate.

Even better, like probably in case of Astra Militarum and Militarum Tempestus, not because of poor vocabulary, education, creativity from the designers' part, but because the lawyers say so.

Think about how long, boring and humiliating those meeting were. Such a suffering for a creative person. Designers proposed a name cool in their minde, and lawyers said "no, we cannot claim that". It must be spirit-crushing.

The one that really bugs me is "bloodcrusher". How does one crush blood, anyway? I suppose you could crush someone until they bleed, but come on, couldn't they have gone with "skullcrusher"? It makes Khornate sense: this thing crushes skulls. Done.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Cleuseau from Rogue Trader.

This one!

That name and character are the most amazing thing, and anyone who thinks otherwise is just a crazy person.

Rowboat Girlyman...

Mirael Sabathiel - who names their kid that, even in the 40k universe?

It is as if someone said 'how many vowels can we cram into one name'? And no, please leave Custodes names out of it as they are gargantuan.

zerosignal wrote:
Rowboat Girlyman...

One of the only primarchs whose name isn't an embarrassingly literal pun or a blatant ripoff of a historical figure, and you still don't like it because you can't figure out how to pronounce it.

No pleasing some people!

What is Rogal Dorn a rip-off of?

Honest question.

My friend named every single one of his tactical marines Billy, except for two. One was called Betty (IDK why) and the other was named Rambo in honour of his battlefield distinction.

 kronk wrote:
What is Rogal Dorn a rip-off of?

Honest question.

Roughly translates as 'Royal Fist'.

Tentaclid

 Vankraken wrote:

 oldzoggy wrote:
orkimedes is one of the worst

I think you misspelled best

95% of the Space Wolf Codex is a horrid mess of unoriginality and was best summed up in Big E's Text to Speech

Creepy Custodes #1 finishing up a long list of Space Wolf units, characters, and wargear.
Big E: "All I got out of that was wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf and wolf"
Centurion : "The Space Wolves are incredibly uninspired"

That Centurion is ROGAL DORN himself xenos! PRIMARCH OF THE IMPERIAL FISTS. He finds the method of humans expressing praise funny. As smacking the floppy end parts of your arms together to make a noise is hilarious. (Ha). He is also the best Tree House builder in the galaxy!

Another that always has bugged me is the Baneblade hull line of tanks. While I find "Baneblade" as the name of a Tank is fine, its the way all the different variants are named that irriates me.



There couldn't possibly be another way to name them all? Or give a good reason they are categorized as such maybe.

Such as the "blade" line could be "Battle Tank-like" variants, with "Hammer" being turretless Siege/Assault Tanks and so on. But No. Its like tic-tac-toe name the tank!

Space Wolves aren't viking themed guys, they're WOLF themed. Its why they're called Space WOLVES. I have the third edition Space Wolf codex right here, its pretty much the exact same when it comes to naming conventions. How much older do we have to go back to get the 'real' space wolves? 2nd edition? 1st?

Lets see what they added lately.
Good:
Fenrisian Wolves = they are literally wolves, so duh.
Thunderwolf Cavalry= cavalry that ride thunderwolves, obv
Wulfen= werewolves so a wolf name makes sense
Wolf claw= on the nose but its vikings naming a claw weapon after their favorite animal claw.

Bad:
Stormfang Gunship/Stormwolf= not awful, could be better.
Harald Deathwolf/Canis Wolfborn= dumb
Murderfang= dumb

in fact they removed: wolf pelt, wolf tail talisman, wolf totem, wolf tooth necklace.

If you ask me its not as bad as people make it out to be.

That super heavy table is a thing of beauty!

 Don Savik wrote:
Space Wolves aren't viking themed guys, they're WOLF themed. Its why they're called Space WOLVES. I have the third edition Space Wolf codex right here, its pretty much the exact same when it comes to naming conventions. How much older do we have to go back to get the 'real' space wolves? 2nd edition? 1st?

Lets see what they added lately.
Good:
Fenrisian Wolves = they are literally wolves, so duh.
Thunderwolf Cavalry= cavalry that ride thunderwolves, obv
Wulfen= werewolves so a wolf name makes sense
Wolf claw= on the nose but its vikings naming a claw weapon after their favorite animal claw.

Bad:
Stormfang Gunship/Stormwolf= not awful, could be better.
Harald Deathwolf/Canis Wolfborn= dumb
Murderfang= dumb

in fact they removed: wolf pelt, wolf tail talisman, wolf totem, wolf tooth necklace.

If you ask me its not as bad as people make it out to be.

You and I have very different opinions on the word "good" apparently.

Pet wolves makes sense, but riding wolves into combat is pretty dumb looking, and the wulfenite are worse from a lore standpoint. If any other chapter displayed such open mutation they would be declared mutants and purged.

But now they are, thanks to "epicness creep" and we have reminders that yes, these names were just chosen randomly. Leman Russ was originally an imperial guard commander (hence the tank) who was retconned into the SW primarch. Lion El Johnson is just Lionel Johnson (english poet whose most famous work was called "The Dark Angel.") etc, etc.

Even in Rogue Trader, Leman Russ was a Space Marine. The fluff back then was slightly different, and he was just some random dude who did well, then founded the Space Wolves, and they weren't a founding chapter, they were founded in M32, but his fluff is not completely changed.

 kronk wrote:
That super heavy table is a thing of beauty!

How is "Doomlord" not a thing yet?

 MrMoustaffa wrote:

You and I have very different opinions on the word "good" apparently.

Pet wolves makes sense, but riding wolves into combat is pretty dumb looking, and the wulfenite are worse from a lore standpoint. If any other chapter displayed such open mutation they would be declared mutants and purged.

Plenty of chapters are borderline heresy. And the inquisitional forces have tried to do something about it before in the past, but they keep failing as Space Wolves have the largest space fleet of all the space marines. So you're right in that sense.

As far as the thunderwolf cavalry go, I mean, yea it is kind of silly, but I like the models enough to let lore slide. I am an ork player first and foremost, so silly is my blood.

 Engine of War wrote:

When you start running out of space for new superheavy tanks, you can always go for tripples like Banedoomhammer or Fellhelllord.

Banelord was a chaos Beetleback titan for epic.
It had metal replacement bits for head, arm weapons, etc.

jade_angel wrote:
I have to admit that "Lion El'Jonson" was slightly clever, but I still groaned when I realized the connection.

Canis Wolfborn is pretty silly. Murderfang err, kinda murders the joke.

Ferrus Manus is a little doofy: a guy called "Iron Hand", primarch of the Iron Hands, whose hands are literally made of iron? Maybe that's laying it on a bit thick, belike.

The silly thing about Ferrus is he had that name before he killed that serpent and got hands made of iron. So his name was "iron Hands" and he just happened to fight a monster that ended up with his hands becoming Iron Hands, and then renamed his Legion to that as well (although at least that part has been changed to where only a handful of legions had actual names before they found their primarch, and it was on the Primarch to name them; the Iron Hands legion was unofficially called the "Storm Walkers" until Ferrus was found, which IMHO sounds a lot cooler )

 ChazSexington wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
Inquisitor Obi-Wan Sherlock Cleuseau from Rogue Trader.

While the aforementioned classic is the worst, I think a lot of the new AoS Khorne and Stormcast Eternals are taking the naming conventions to a low possibly lower than the Space Wolves.

My biggest gripe is "Codexes." GW actually copyrighted a grammatical mistake. Close behind is using dice as the singular form. I have no idea what form of bastardised Anglo-Saxon English is taught in England, but in Scotland, that widnae float, and would result in having to do laps of Loch Lomond while reciting Rabbie Burns. I even doubt it would be okay in the colonies, infamous for aloominoom and other spellings specifically forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

Haha, it's not just me then! See also: using "automata" as a singular noun.

Bloodsecrator...

It's been said 1000 times but the Wolves take the cake for me. They have the whole Viking motif to work with and they just go with Wolfy Wolferson.

High King Logan Grimnar
Jarl Ragnar Blackmane
Thanes as lesser commanders
Huscarls instead of Wolfguard
etc
Replace lame Wolfborn surnames with Viking inspired epithets such as 'Ironside' 'Forkbeard' etc.

As a Guard player I don't know why we got something called a Valkyrie, seems like a much better name than fangwolf or whatever flier SW get now.

Blood Angels would be my second choice for awful naming conventions.
Lord Iron Hands of the Iron Hands legion is also really stupid.

 koooaei wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:

When you start running out of space for new superheavy tanks, you can always go for tripples like Banedoomhammer or Fellhelllord.

Could always just add new words.


God Hammer Tank sounds like something bigger than even the Baneblade line.

Titan Lord and so on. Just add "awesome" names and have fun gluing them together.

Anything orky, the broken english for ''comedic'' value doesn't work for me

 Engine of War wrote:

 koooaei wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:

When you start running out of space for new superheavy tanks, you can always go for tripples like Banedoomhammer or Fellhelllord.

Could always just add new words.


God Hammer Tank sounds like something bigger than even the Baneblade line.

Titan Lord and so on. Just add "awesome" names and have fun gluing them together.

Surprised we haven't seen a Swordblade or Swordhammer yet.

I feel someone should expand that chart to encompass all of the silly words in 40K...could be a real gem. Perhaps a Space Marine chapter one:

IRON, BLOOD, IMPERIAL, etc.

FISTS, HANDS, LEGION, etc.

Lots of potential for silliness.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:

 koooaei wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:

When you start running out of space for new superheavy tanks, you can always go for tripples like Banedoomhammer or Fellhelllord.

Could always just add new words.


God Hammer Tank sounds like something bigger than even the Baneblade line.

Titan Lord and so on. Just add "awesome" names and have fun gluing them together.

Surprised we haven't seen a Swordblade or Swordhammer yet.

Give games Workshop time....

I believe at one point I went through the space wolf codex and tried to reach maximum "wolf".

What I came up with was a Wolf Lord On a Wolf with Fenrisian Wolves with a Wolf Claw and the Fangsword of the Deathwolf plus the Wulfenstone (this was before the 1 relic per ruling so I suppose it'd have to change now).

 Elbows wrote:
I feel someone should expand that chart to encompass all of the silly words in 40K...could be a real gem. Perhaps a Space Marine chapter one:

IRON, BLOOD, IMPERIAL, etc.

FISTS, HANDS, LEGION, etc.

Lots of potential for silliness.

Imperial Rainbow Shark Fists?

Slightly OT: But how cool would be if the Space Wolves had stuck to the Viking theme and incorporated a Valkyrie unit of some sort that resuscitated fallen heroes?

Or things like an Eye of Logan that could be used for scouting or anti-stealth purposes?

They had so much to work with...and they just went wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf WE ARE VIKING (not) WEREWOLF SPACE MUHREENS!!!

EoW I'm so using that grid for a game of hobby bingo!

 JamesY wrote:
EoW I'm so using that grid for a game of hobby bingo!

I would like to note I got it from here.
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Baneblade_Homebrew


I INTEND TO CONSTRUCT SEVERAL OF THE MISSING BANEBLADES. FOR THE MACHINE GOD

Expecially the Doomsword. Giant Radiation Engine attached to a giant tank. THE ENEMY WILL GLOW WITH THE OMNISSIAH'S FURY AS WE DO (Giger counter going nuts)

 Engine of War wrote:


God Hammer

I believe this is also a weapon configuration for a land raider. The twin-linked lascannon sponson setup.

 Engine of War wrote:

 JamesY wrote:
EoW I'm so using that grid for a game of hobby bingo!

I would like to note I got it from here.
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Baneblade_Homebrew


I INTEND TO CONSTRUCT SEVERAL OF THE MISSING BANEBLADES. FOR THE MACHINE GOD

Expecially the Doomsword. Giant Radiation Engine attached to a giant tank. THE ENEMY WILL GLOW WITH THE OMNISSIAH'S FURY AS WE DO (Giger counter going nuts)

I was going to say I liked ShadowHammer and suggest a missile system and then I read your post and find someone has already coined the chassis and made the conversion. Spooky.

Flame Boy wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:

 JamesY wrote:
EoW I'm so using that grid for a game of hobby bingo!

I would like to note I got it from here.
https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Baneblade_Homebrew


I INTEND TO CONSTRUCT SEVERAL OF THE MISSING BANEBLADES. FOR THE MACHINE GOD

Expecially the Doomsword. Giant Radiation Engine attached to a giant tank. THE ENEMY WILL GLOW WITH THE OMNISSIAH'S FURY AS WE DO (Giger counter going nuts)

I was going to say I liked ShadowHammer and suggest a missile system and then I read your post and find someone has already coined the chassis and made the conversion. Spooky.

Doomsword------520 points

BS 3, F 14, S 13, R 12, HP 9

Equipment:
One turret mounted Big Boy launcher with coaxial autocannon
One hull mounted Irradiation cannon
One hull mounted twin linked Heavy Bolter
Two sponson mounted twin linked Heavy Bolters
Two Sponson Mounted Lascannons
One Geiger Breaker

Options:
May exchange any of the twin linked Heavy Bolters for twin linked Heavy Flamers at no additional cost
May remove the sponsons to gain AV 14 on the sides
May add in another pair of Sponsons, each with a twin linked Heavy Bolter and a Lascannon for 50 points
May take any vehicle upgrade from the Imperial Guard codex
Any weapon on the Doomsword that does not already have the 'Rad Sickness' (see below) special rule may purchase it for +30 points per weapon.

Special Rules:

Big Boy Launcher; This massive weapon is somewhat a mix of a catapult, spigot mortar and missile launcher all in one. Mounted within the turret of the Doomsword this massive launcher fires huge shells containing active radioactive elements hurtling into the enemies ranks. R 48", S D/10, AP 1/2, Ordnance 1 Primary Weapon, 10" blast, Ignores Cover, Radsickness, Ground Zero.
>Ground Zero: The Big Boy has two profiles, one with S 'D' AP 1 and one with S 10 AP 2. When working out hits, any model within the central (5") blast of the 10" template is hit my the S 'D' profile. Other models are hit by the S 10 profile.

Irradiation Cannon; In the place of the standard Demolisher Cannon the Doomsword mounts the fearsome looking Irradiation Cannon. This weapon fires special shells filled with highly irradiated incendiary substances that can slay even the mightiest of beings. R36", S6, AP3, Ordnance 1, 5" blast, Ignores Cover, Rad Sickness, Deathly Glow.
>Deathly Glow: Any 'To Wound' roll of a '6' inflicts Instant Death. If a model with 'Eternal Warrior', or some other form of avoiding 'Instant Death' suffers this it will instead take D3+1 wounds.

Rad Sickness: Any enemy unit suffering one or more wounds from a weapon with this special rule loses one point of Toughness for the rest of the game. this effect is cumulative. If this effect reduces any model to Toughness '0' or less they are removed as a casualty regardless of the number of wounds they have left.

Geiger Breaker; This bulky attachment to the main drive emits concentrated radiation that bathes the area surrounding the tank and weakens the enemy of the Emperor. All enemy models within 12" of the Doomsword have -1 Toughness.

Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

 chromedog wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:


God Hammer

I believe this is also a weapon configuration for a land raider. The twin-linked lascannon sponson setup.

I want to see a warhound with a big ass hammer. Melee: D-Squared!

 kronk wrote:

 chromedog wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:


God Hammer

I believe this is also a weapon configuration for a land raider. The twin-linked lascannon sponson setup.

I want to see a warhound with a big ass hammer. Melee: D-Squared!

I would like that model

jade_angel wrote:I have to admit that "Lion El'Jonson" was slightly clever, but I still groaned when I realized the connection.

It gets worse the more connections you make for him


Anyhow, some other names I've disliked over the years:

Kayvan Shrike... well, a Shrike is a type of bird, and he's in a bird chapter

Sanguinius, the primarch of the blood angels, a chapter which also has the Sanguinor


Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

 kronk wrote:

 chromedog wrote:

 Engine of War wrote:


God Hammer

I believe this is also a weapon configuration for a land raider. The twin-linked lascannon sponson setup.

I want to see a warhound with a big ass hammer. Melee: D-Squared!

OT:
Giant Knight Titan hammer being built as we speak.



Back on topic.
Some Second founding and onwards space marine chapter names are kinda off. Like just silly off.

I'd like to throw in the "Blood" naming trend of the Blood Angels. Not because it'll win the contest, but because it deserves to compete.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:



Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

Pun names have been part of Lizardmen since day 1. Kroq Gar, Mazdamundi and the Skink dude on the Pterodactyl whose name escapes me were all riding the Dinobots FFS. Grim'Loq, Slaq and Swup respectively. Their temple listening out into space for signs of The Old Ones is called XETI.

This isn't even touching on some of the other special characters like Koppakettel etc.

 Engine of War wrote:

I seem to remember the original two were Baneblade (turret w/ battle cannons) and Shadowsword (with the volcano cannon). I think in this context "blade" implied a short-ranged/up close tank (like a "knife-fight"), while the sword was for long distance sniping at titans. I don't have any idea on what the thinking was for the rest of the lines.

There should be some rhyme or reasoning to the name; Blades should be "short-ranged", Hammers should be for city fighting, Lords should be command/support and Swords should be long ranged. Then Banes should be guard weapons, Dooms should have infantry transport, Fells should be melta weapons, Hells should be armed with flamers/plasma, shadows should be "snipers", and Storm should be used by non-guard forces (Inquisition, marines, etc.).

Loving this thread!

As a U.K. native, I would have to draw international community's attention to the Ork's:

MEGANOBZ

Nob is slang for Penis. So yeah...someone at GW was feeling cheeky during that naming session.

As a Nid player, I find the Tyranno-Tervi-T-T-t thing a bit repetitive, but not sure it qualifies for horrendous.

Reading through the thread, it looks like the poor Space Wolves lose/win and were victims of some lazy Friday afternoon, post pub lunch naming shift....

Again, the winner is the tentaclid.

It's hard to find it, but if you do, the Hive Crone will do anything for you.

We are in "Boaty McBoatface" territory sometimes.

 DarkBlack wrote:
Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

I wouldn't have thought the concept of "hell" to be forgotten; not when it exists.

On a more serious note, the names are, of course, supposed to allude to other concepts which are know to the readers of fiction. It's why all sorts of "thematic" names are a well-understood trope in fiction across all genres. It's a shortcut to the mood and themes of the work (or just a joke by the author). A couple of examples from works I've read recently; Preacher's Jesse Custer (which not only alludes to Jesse James and George Custer, but given the nature of the work, the initials are rather relevant too) or The Laundry Files' main protagonist, an IT manager called Bob Oliver Francis Howard.

More generally, it's why High Gothic is Latin; it's daft to say it really "is", but its use refers to the use of Latin in the Western Church during the Middle Ages, and instantly helps to build the setting, mood and themes.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:


On a more serious note, the names are, of course, supposed to allude to other concepts which are know to the readers of fiction. It's why all sorts of "thematic" names are a well-understood trope in fiction across all genres. It's a shortcut to the mood and themes of the work (or just a joke by the author). A couple of examples from works I've read recently; Preacher's Jesse Custer (which not only alludes to Jesse James and George Custer, but given the nature of the work, the initials are rather relevant too) or The Laundry Files' main protagonist, an IT manager called Bob Oliver Francis Howard.
.

This.

Meaningful names are a trope in almost all literature. To give an example of one of my favourite characters in tabletop games. Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov. His first name is VERY close to the Latin for Bear (Ursus). This conveys this is a giant of a man (he is), coupled with the title of "the Butcher" is someone not to be messed with. But conversely; you have the axe the man carries, curiously named "Lola". "Lola" is the shortform of the name Dolores, which is Spanish for "Sorrows". Now why would a hulking mass of a character have such a polarizing name to his axe to go with him? Well, if you know the rest of Kommander Zoktavir's background. You know why.

It happens in almost all settings even Eldar suffer from it when the designer can't come with decent names while trying to evocate soemthing special.

The Wraithguard,Wraithblades,Wraithseer,Wraithlord and Wraithknight names are a good proof of that and without falling into the Space wolves idiocy.

 Engine of War wrote:
Hell the only character without "Wolf" in their name is Logan Grimnar but he is still called the "Old Wolf" Which is fine as its a nickname, but everyone else is (something)-wolf!! gaah!

I feel a need to call shenanigans a little here. Based on the GW website, these are the named characters with models available today:
- Logan Grimnar
- Murderfang
- Bjorn the Fell-handed
- Canis Wolfborn
- Wolf Lord Krom
- Ulrik the Slayer
- Njal Stormcaller
- Arjac Rockfist
- Lukas the Trickster
- Ragnar Blackmane

While I'm not going to defend the silliness of Murderfang, only two of the ten characters feature "Wolf" in their name, and that only stretches to four if we include parts of wolf to the list (adding Murderfang and Ragnar Blackmane). The playable characters aren't too bad - I'd say that seven or eight would work as a Viking name - though the amount of wolf in their item loads may go off the deep end...

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 DarkBlack wrote:
Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

I wouldn't have thought the concept of "hell" to be forgotten; not when it exists.

They don't call it hell though, we do. Shouldn't they use "warp"?

Ruin wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:



Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

Pun names have been part of Lizardmen since day 1. Kroq Gar, Mazdamundi and the Skink dude on the Pterodactyl whose name escapes me were all riding the Dinobots FFS. Grim'Loq, Slaq and Swup respectively. Their temple listening out into space for signs of The Old Ones is called XETI.

This isn't even touching on some of the other special characters like Koppakettel etc.

Incy-wincy was a lizardman also (the spider nursery rhyme).
The kroxigor were basically fed on "choccy biccies".

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Another doozy that's always good fun to dust off: Lord Kroak... who is a frog, who happens to be dead.

And the giant from Albion, who wasn't very clever and communicated by shouting his own name at people. His name was Bologs.

 DarkBlack wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 DarkBlack wrote:
Words/names with "hell" in. All the bloodskull or wolf is ridiculous, but not entirely out of place in the Grimdark. The concept of hell would be forgotten by the year 40 000, considering the humanity wide replacement of our religions and the Wrap standing in. I feels like characters are using our language instead of theirs, which scratches the immersion.

There is probably some fluff I'm not thinking of but still.

I wouldn't have thought the concept of "hell" to be forgotten; not when it exists.

They don't call it hell though, we do. Shouldn't they use "warp"?

That's me point; "we" are the ones writing this stuff, so of course the language is going to be chosen to have cultural meaning to the readers. Consider it a cultural translation if you must. After all, none of it would "really" be written in a language that probably died out or changed beyond recognition over 37,000 years "ago".

I'm sure they do; Warp, Empyrean, Void, Realm of Chaos, Hell, ...

I have a dislike for any names with weird sounds in them, as it causes my tongue to do a neck-breaking backflip whenever I need to say their names.

Offenders are usually from Necrons or Eldar.