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How it works?

reel gud

IRL it wouldn't, apparently...

The Emperor wills it.

It would work, it would just not be a very good idea to use.
It's just a small chainsaw with an addition to the handle and a guard over the back. It would probably be like fighting with a large one of these, seeing as it basically is just a stronger version of it. If someone really wanted to make a Chainsaw it would be possible, just not a great idea as the point of knives at the moment is that they don't sound like a small car is driving straight at you. Chainswords are not stealthy.



(I even found one in the Ultramarines colours )

Fear the machine. Do not question the Machine God. The Emperor wills it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Anyway, I imagine it could work, it might take up an enormous amount of fuel and run for very little time though, unless it had a motor the size of a normal chainsaw. Not a very efficient weapon.

At least 1 of the 40K novels talks about it being really heavy -- like a chainsaw -- which is kinda stupid and impractical (a melee weapon HAS to be well-balanced, especially if it's going to be used one-handed, especially if it's sometimes used by an ordinary human soldier rather than a Space Marine).

IRL, chainsaws would not make especially effective weapons, because it's too easy for the chain to get fouled if you hit anything other than wood with the chainsaw (e.g. rocks, nails in the wood, human bone, etc.). So the chainsword must be something pretty special.

I think the important point to bear in mind with a chainsword though is that it looks really cool...

That's all it has, it looks cool.

It would also kick like a mofo :p

Ian Sturrock wrote:At least 1 of the 40K novels talks about it being really heavy -- like a chainsaw -- which is kinda stupid and impractical (a melee weapon HAS to be well-balanced, especially if it's going to be used one-handed, especially if it's sometimes used by an ordinary human soldier rather than a Space Marine).

I beg to differ, as they must be as balanced as a viking sword, which aren't balanced in the way you'd like. I see your avatar and I can deduce that you are used to swords with the center of gravity near the guard.

The viking swords I've mentioned are unfit for stabbing, only for cutting; and in my opinion, a chainsword would work that was as well.

Now, now, I do think they're not viable here in this real world, first off, as it has been mentioned, you can cut wood but not harder stuff... but in the grim darkness of the 41st century, they have adamantium blades on the chain, and I'm sure that can cut a lot of things.

Dark

Yeah, I know that other weapons are balanced differently -- I mean, stuff like axes & maces will inevitably have the balance point quite far away from the handle, as will some types of sword, like you say. I'm pretty sure that the figure of 10 pounds for a chainsword was mentioned in the fluff, though, and as I'm sure you know, that's way, way too heavy for a one-handed weapon (especially one that's not balanced near the handle).

Atleast for puny humans like us. Those extra-heavy chain-swords must be the one weilded by the Adeptus Astartes, and the ones used by mere humans (like the ones shown in Necromunda) must be the "garder saw" version.

I'd swear I'd read somewhere that the chainsword had a mild power field around the teeth. Not enough to count as a power weapon, just enough to give it the bite it needs to hack through things.

That said, it's a frakking chainsaw sword. It doesn't need a logical explanation, it runs on awesome and is lubed with badass.

Could be. I'm trying to remember whether it was a Guard character or a Marine, where the 10-pound figure was mentioned. I have a feeling it was in one of the Gaunt's Ghosts books, and the wielder was Ibram Gaunt... so the 10-pound thing very definitely didn't ring true (I know he's supposed to be very strong, but he's skinny, too -- and really, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on the planet who could wield a 10-pound close combat weapon effectively).

I admit that I've never read the novels, and yes, 8 pounds is the max exageration I'd put on someone's hand, and I wouldn't expect that person to swing it a couple times and then dropping it.

I'm more onto 6.6lbs (3kg) for a hand weapon for a IG member.

Of course, I just saw the meassures in kg (I'm not tood at lbs) and well, I think I can weild a 10lbs sword, but again, 2, perhaps 3 swings and hoping I'd kill the one I have in front of me with that, after that, I'd let it fall and would prefer my fists xD

Yeah -- there's "could you do it" and "how practical would it be", though, right? I mean -- I have a 10-lb sledgehammer, and a 4-lb felling axe, and a log-splitting maul that's about 8-lb, and I happily wield them as tools, two-handed, but there's a big difference between that and using them one-handed as weapons. Even the felling axe would not make a great one-handed weapon (thought it wouldn't be bad at all as a two-handed weapon). I'm probably not as strong as Gaunt is supposed to be in the books, but I'm not too weak either...

Well in the books, mostly referencing the Cain series here, the chainsword is used for extended periods of time in complex maneuvers and parries. Cain is a tall, strong man but he's still just a man. I'd have trouble seeing a chainsword being that heavy and yet him use it in such a way.

The chainsword isn't getting QUITE the defense it deserves.


The chainsword is often described as having a monomolecular adamite or ceramite blade capable of ripping through heavy armor, a "clutch" for clearing out debree from the blades and mechanisms, and is occasionally described as having some sort of energy field either protecting the engine or keeping stuff from sticking to the blade.

There are obviously also several varieties. Space marine swords are sometimes depicted as cutting through advanced armor like butter, but Ciaphas Cain's sword was only able to scratch the armor of the fallen marine he was battling, forcing him to find pre-existing damage in the armor to actually kill the marine.

Cain's Cainsword then may have been a weapon designed for the commissariat; it is an intimidating weapon and used for dueling and executing traitors and heratics, as is befitting of a commisars weapon. It is apparently light and balanced as evidenced by the fact that he performed complex dueling maneuvers and was able to use it for long periods of time, but was unable to do more than scratch power armor or the shells of Tyranid MC.

The weapons used by space marines seem to be much more advanced and unwieldy, but that is obviously mitigated by their super human physique.


Something that is commonly forgotten is that this is an era where the effectiveness of armor has outstripped the effectiveness of ranged weaponry. Ranged weaponry became the norm in our world because it's effectiveness far outstripped the effectiveness of armor. Any defensive armor we can make can be easily penetrated by by ranged weaponry. Apparently this is not the case in the 40k universe. CC weapons seem to be much more reliable at penatrating armor than ranged weaponry, and as a result have enjoyed a Renaissance as a result. Additionally the predominance of hordes of creatures that prefer close combat and have the numbers to overcome ranged weaponry necessitates CC tactics.

Yes, the fluff is kind of silly about the CC stuff, but I don't think it is quite as far out as many people claim.

Tyyr wrote:Well in the books, mostly referencing the Cain series here, the chainsword is used for extended periods of time in complex maneuvers and parries.

Which is funny, because when Gaunt and Darius are dueling with chainswords in the first book, he mentions specifically that Chainswords are designed NOT to do complex maneuvers and parries like an epee because of their size and weight, they're designed to just to be swung and let the teeth do the main work.

I'm gonna side with Abnett on this one over the author of the Cain series, mostly because of how the Imperial Chainswords looks and that Abnett works closer with GW than most other BL authors do.

And so this comes down to how you choose to interpret discrepancies in the fluff.

My interpretation is, again, that there are multiple varieties of chainsword.

To tie it into real world examples, you had your dueling swords which were designed for fast, unarmored dueling and looks (a rapier, foil, or Cain's sword), then you had your war swords which were made to bash through heavy armor and cut swaths through enemy infantry (greatswords, bastard swords, and Gaunts weapon).

Obviously this is simplifying things a lot, but it is how I interpret the situation.

Tyyr wrote:Well in the books, mostly referencing the Cain series here, the chainsword is used for extended periods of time in complex maneuvers and parries. Cain is a tall, strong man but he's still just a man. I'd have trouble seeing a chainsword being that heavy and yet him use it in such a way.

Cain actually possesses augmetics to some extent- as I recall he has several fingers that he admits to. That, and his long career, imply further augmentation. Then too, most of the book is told from the perspective of Cain, a consummate exaggerator. He may simply be very skilled in 'chainsword fencing'. Personally, I picture that art as typically being very much like the 2handed sword duel in Red Sonja, where it ends in a draw after they both are too tired to lift their blades.

Except that while he notes his augmentic fingers he notes no other augmentation, ever. Nor does Amberly imply any additional augmentation in any foot notes. Aside from juvent treatments he appears to be mostly OEM. It's also worth noting that he typically does a fairly good job of keeping himself alive and intact.

Also, Amberly notes several times that Cain has considerable skill with a sword and while he is an exaggerator his duels with traitor space marines, ork warbosses, and others take place in full view of many witnesses. Exaggeration can be expected from eye witness accounts but the end results aren't. He was able to use his skills with a chainsword to keep him alive long enough for Jurgen to kill one traitor, him to trick the ork, and flat out kill the second traitor, all vastly more powerful and quite skilled opponents themselves. Not people likely to declare a draw because they're too tired to lift their weapons.

Now if you want to totally dismiss Cain out of hand or invent things there's no evidence of to explain it, like augmentics, go right ahead. There's absolutely no logical reason to do so but please go right ahead.

now the next thing I wonder about the chainsword is how it's powered? Does it use an oil/fuel mixture like your standard chainsaw type? Or does it use a more relaible source? It'll be highly problematic if your chainsword runs out of fuel in the middle chopping some heretic's head...

And nobody ever thinks about how easy it is to stop a chain blade.
A thin coating of fibers on whatever you want to chain-proof and it will jam instantly on touch.
Nothing to do with cutting power but friction inside the gears.

Eviscerator.

Late in his career (but before the 13th crusade) Cain notes with pride that only two of his fingers were augmented.

Amberly notes that even at a fairly advanced age Cain's skill at chainsword dueling is renowned at the academies, to the point that no instructor or solder has been able to best him, much to their chagrin.

The thing about the Cain series is it mostly is NOT him exaggerating, and there is every indication that he is selling himself short. He tries to give an accurate account of how really, he didn't do much, but when you start reading between the lines, what he does is rather impressive. As was mentioned, there were numerous witnesses to him dueling two traitor marines, but he plays it down as "merely" holding up a traitor marine in close combat and while making him look like a fool to distract him long enough for his allies to melta it and "merely" engaging in close combat with another traitor marine, using split second reflexes to parry and dodge, finding damage in its armor, slipping past it, and inserting his chainsword into the battle damage. He plays it down, but both instances took an amazing amount of skill and tactical acumen.

He also alludes to a tradition of chainsword dueling and instruction, and at one point challenges another commisar.

For me that is enough evidence to suggest that there are at least SOME chainswords designed to be used in such a way.

It seems silly to me to assume that while we have thousands of varieties of swords on our one little world, but in the Imperium there is only one variety of chainsword. We know there are many makes and types of lasgun, and it seems to be the case with chainswords as well.

They could work, reasonably well, if we had a proper 40k one.

They are heavy, but require no finesse. Unsuited to stabbing (still do-able though), they use the weight of the weapon
and the monstrous teeth to do damage, as you would only have to glance your target to horrifically maim it.

The only downside is the fuel needs and noise.






Unless they have silencers/suppressorsfor swords in the future; which leads me to thinking, could you silence a laser weapon?

I think you're taking the chain saw side of things a bit too far. There's no reason to assume it couldn't use an electric motor or some such for power.

In Cadian blood the Commissar in it uses a chainsword in the shape of a saber.

I think it's a simple, hard chainsaw with sword-shape. But do not question the Machine God!

It has a fumes vent near the handle , showing it uses a motor, and also if I am not mistaken on the model there are two small button things on the hilt, I will have a better look.