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What in your opinion is biggest threat to the Imperium now?

I can't decide between Chaos, Necrons, Tyranids or Imperium itself.

Right now? Chaos. The 'Nids haven't arrived yet and the Necrons are sleepy.

Yay, another one...

Haven't I seen this thread before?

Anyway, it's Chaos - the battle between the Imperium and the traitors is the axis of Warhammer 40,000's narrative; everything else is just there for variety.

Chaos. Definitely Chaos.

Chaos. The matters of the Materium are a game for the Dark Gods, mortals to be devoured, sating the thirst of these truely malevolent beings. The Emporer's so called Imperial Truth was the only small threat to their power, and now what the Imperium has become is their playground.

Well, let's think.
The Orks and DE aren't willing to unite so they won't, at least at this point, ever make a large enough advance on the Imperium.
The Necrons, maybe just by their lack of lore, really haven't done enough to actually make them a threat.
The Tyranids are off doing something on another distant corner of the galaxy or something and aren't really a threat either, at least at this point.

Which leaves the Chaos Space Marines, who not only have tons of Marines but also the Traitor Guard and the Daemons, and the impetus to actually strike at the heart of the Imperium.

Chaos, but only because every other codex is written to support the central narrative of chaos vs the imperium.

Definetely Chaos, anything else is either a monor threat or hasn't become that big of a threat yet to the IoM

Rocky1 wrote:Chaos, but only because every other codex is written to support the central narrative of chaos vs the imperium.

How so? The codices may reference their own clashes with Chaos, but not the Humanity-Chaos battle.

The Imperium itself.

The Imperium is in a downspiral for a reason.

It is corrupt, brutal, beauracratic and poorly organised. Frankly it's amazing it's lasted this long.

If it wants to survive it needs to have a good housecleaning by soemone with a bit of gumption and an immunity to backstabbing, literal and figurative, from the High Lords of Terra, who are by and large incompetent.

I'd like to see an Imperium at it's height back as much as Coa would, from a humanistic point of view.

From a Xeno point of view (most of my actual armies) as it is right now it feels almost like kicking a terminally ill person to attack them

I always thought that if Armageddon had fallen then Orks would be the single biggest threat the Imperium would have seen since Hours.

Talk about a Unification of the Ork species, once word got out that Thraka was destroying the U'mies after Armageddon. It would have been a snowball effect till the Waagh! reached Tera itself.


.....But it didnt.
So Chaos it is.

The Monk wrote:I always thought that if Armageddon had fallen then Orks would be the single biggest threat the Imperium would have seen since Hours.

Talk about a Unification of the Ork species, once word got out that Thraka was destroying the U'mies after Armageddon. It would have been a snowball effect till the Waagh! reached Tera itself.

Orks will never truly unite.

How so? The codices may reference their own clashes with Chaos, but not the Humanity-Chaos battle.

I mean that every codex is supportive because no other faction can threaten because of the fluff behind them ie orks fight among themselves too much to unify , necrons are asleep, tyranids aren't here yet, eldar and de are too different to work together. So in fact nothing the other factions really matter because they pose little threat.

Brother Coa wrote:

The Monk wrote:I always thought that if Armageddon had fallen then Orks would be the single biggest threat the Imperium would have seen since Hours.

Talk about a Unification of the Ork species, once word got out that Thraka was destroying the U'mies after Armageddon. It would have been a snowball effect till the Waagh! reached Tera itself.

Orks will never truly unite.

It's true. There's a better chance of DE or Chaos uniting. Orks live to fight, and fight each other. Just one rambunctious, power-hungry Nob will ruin any hopes of a garnered force.

That being said, DE only attack to survive, really. I see them more like 'Crons than any other race; They're there to harvest, and wiping out the seeds of the next crop would make no sense. Also, it rules out 'crons. Also, regular Eldar dgaf about the Imperium, so I wouldn't count them in either.

That leaves Chaos, Tau, and 'Nids. Chaos is obvious. 'Nids as well. Tau, on the other hand, has a legitimate approach of basically bribing and supporting outlying Imperial worlds, and convert them to the Greater Good. The first kills to kill, the second kills to propagate, and the third only kills with kindness, and would rather have everyone happy and living, but under their control. That being said, as it is now, Tau aren't as much of a threat, as they work slowly. So, Chaos and 'Nids. That's what you need to look out for.

Rocky1 wrote:

How so? The codices may reference their own clashes with Chaos, but not the Humanity-Chaos battle.

I mean that every codex is supportive because no other faction can threaten because of the fluff behind them ie orks fight among themselves too much to unify , necrons are asleep, tyranids aren't here yet, eldar and de are too different to work together. So in fact nothing the other factions really matter because they pose little threat.

Chaos fights itself just as much as Orks do. Space and resources (slaves) are limited in the Eye, and the Gods are in a constant struggle for power amongst themselves, no more than glancing on the material realm from time to time.

The Imperium is it's own biggest threat. It's brutal regime pretty much throws people into the arms of Chaos, and it's eating itself from the inside.

CoI wrote:The Imperium is it's own biggest threat. It's brutal regime pretty much throws people into the arms of Chaos, and it's eating itself from the inside.

you could say the Imperium is rotting like the corps of the dead man it worships.

If you don't count the Imperium itself, Chaos is pretty evidently the largest threat at the moment.

Void__Dragon wrote:If you don't count the Imperium itself, Chaos is pretty evidently the largest threat at the moment.

The Imperium? I understand that it is not nice, but just remember that there is at most a few hundred TRILLION people that is under the control of a central government.
It is my opinion (and my US Gov. teacher agrees) that a form of government should be directly related to the population. If you have a small number of people, more freedom is better. But if you have to control a whole -ton of people, freedom will be the downfall of the government.

But...I am focusing on just the governmental part.
The Imperiums main problem is their injection of religion into everything. It is also of my opinion that when one has too much religion in society/government, things REALLY begin to go downhill.

Everyone seems to be downplaying the danger of the Orks due to the fact that they can't unify, but they don't need to. Since it is practically impossible to kill them all and still have a habitable planet, they can never be taken off worlds they land on, and the constant minor attacks on a million fronts break down defenses far better than the larger, more occasional attacks of Chaos. Also, like 'Nids and Necrons, once you lose a planet to Orks, you can't reclaim it for colonization. The Orks are the biggest threat the Imperium faces by far.

I cant decide between those so heres a list, the top being the most threatening:

1.Chaos (as always since they kick ass! )
2.Tyranids (they eat every world on which they walk, plus theres a gazillion amount of them)
3.Necrons (sleepy for now but once awakened fully, the galaxy will be in big trouble)
4.Imperium (danger to itself? true but the most littlest threat)

The Tyranids, definitely. The more havoc they cause, the bigger and better they get. Not only that, but there are several instances theyve inflicted immensly heavy casualties on the Imperium (on the virge of catostraphic). At this point, Chaos can only Conduct raids and has no force big enough to really cause massive damage to the imperium.
Not only that, but since the heresy there have been numerous preventative measures taken (such as the creation of the grey knights), as well as the fact that the space marines now number way over that of the chaos space marines.

And yet, the more Space Marines you get, the more likely it is that some will fall to Chaos. Chaos marines should be far more skilled than the normal Space marine anyway, since they're twice as old or older.

Since when?

Since it says in the codex that the same marines that assaulted the Emperor's palace still fight the Imperium.

Chaos.

Durza wrote:Since it says in the codex that the same marines that assaulted the Emperor's palace still fight the Imperium.

Some of them. And there are probably some marines who fought chaos on Terra who are probably still fighting as well.

From most to least....

1.) Tyranids. They were shown to be the first existential threat to the Imperium since the Heresy and the Tyrannic Wars have drained Imperial resources on a level previously unseen. And this is all just the appetizer...
2.) Necrons. Similar to the Tyranids, but they're still less active right now.
3.) Chaos. Can cause significant unrest, but they'll always be a localized threat unless they can break out of the Eye of Terror, and they've yet to do that.
4.) Orks. The most enduring enemy who was around long before the Imperium and will b e around long after, but while capable of enormously depleting wars (Armageddon) they're still localized sector-level threats at their greatest, not capable of far-reaching campaigns or uniting.
5.) Dark Eldar/Eldar. Cause devastating attacks, but again just localized/raiding parties.
6.) Tau. Too small and only localized to a part of the Eastern Fringe.
7.) Emerging Alien Empires: Ulumeathic, Draxian, Dracolith
8.) Rebellion. The Imperium's system of rule means that a rebellion can lose a world or maybe even a system, but it will never spread beyond that unless Chaos is there to lead it.

Jollydevil wrote:

Durza wrote:Since it says in the codex that the same marines that assaulted the Emperor's palace still fight the Imperium.

Some of them. And there are probably some marines who fought chaos on Terra who are probably still fighting as well.

Nope. There's two that remember the time. One's a SW Dreadnought and the other's a Salamander who couldn't move.