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 Saber wrote:
I'm not saying that an individual Arbitor is as good at fighting as a Storm Trooper; rather, they both have about the same level of organic equipment and support. They both have lots of APCs, troopers with carapace armor, and excellent small arms. They don't have much in the way of heavy weapons or ordnance.

Storm Troopers are obviously better prepared to fight on a proper battlefield as they are trained and prepared for it, and they have air and orbital support that the Arbitors do not. But by and large they're roughly equivalent in their military power, so if Storm Troopers merit a mini-Codex then the Arbitors could justify one as well.

A Hive warfare Arbites force is a great idea. That would be ten kinds of cool.

Comparing Arbites and Scions is like comparing modern-day SWAT teams and SEALs. You're correct in your assessment. They're both great shots and combatants, but they have very different roles and support equipment. You won't see SWAT teams running around with the heavier weaponry accompanying a SEAL raid.

But I really like the idea of arbites models for SWA/Newcromunda.

It's interesting to note that the Arbites are one of the organizations allowed to have both planetary and spaceborne assets. The latter in the form of, for example, the Punisher class cruiser:
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Punisher_Class_Strike_Cruiser

In one novel, they also used Leman Russ tanks. However, I think it was that planet's capital and it was only 3 tanks.

So they do have some heavy equipment and sometimes orbital support, but it's limited in numbers.

Indeed - one of their theoretical jobs is removal of a lord-governor whos is adjudged in violation of his oath and imperial law. Given the firepower available to a pdf and or governor's guard, you'll need more than the odd shotgun...

 Flanker wrote:

 Saber wrote:
I'm not saying that an individual Arbitor is as good at fighting as a Storm Trooper; rather, they both have about the same level of organic equipment and support. They both have lots of APCs, troopers with carapace armor, and excellent small arms. They don't have much in the way of heavy weapons or ordnance.

Storm Troopers are obviously better prepared to fight on a proper battlefield as they are trained and prepared for it, and they have air and orbital support that the Arbitors do not. But by and large they're roughly equivalent in their military power, so if Storm Troopers merit a mini-Codex then the Arbitors could justify one as well.

A Hive warfare Arbites force is a great idea. That would be ten kinds of cool.

Comparing Arbites and Scions is like comparing modern-day SWAT teams and SEALs. You're correct in your assessment. They're both great shots and combatants, but they have very different roles and support equipment. You won't see SWAT teams running around with the heavier weaponry accompanying a SEAL raid.

But I really like the idea of arbites models for SWA/Newcromunda.

Neither team opperates alone. Seal teams can call in artillery, air strikes, tank divisions. Swat teams have regular police officers, firemen, perhaps some paramedics.

Arbites might be formidable soldiers, but there are some fights they are just not equipped to handle.

GodDamUser wrote:
Physically, Hrud tend to be impossible to study as they wear ragged cloaks which they wear habitually and helps conceal their true form... They have been depicted as being a a crouched, diminutive creature swathed in rags, its face obscured by a hood, and possessing a rat-like tail.[4] It seems that the Hrud prefer darkness and are basically scavengers and tunnel-dwellers

A lot of the GW fluff describes them similar to Skaven in appearance

I do believe the illustrations of the Hurd on that wiki page are from a deviant art account..

The art on Lexicanum comes directly from a Black Library book called Xenology.

The Men of Iron almost destroyed DAoT humans when humanity was at it's prime in both power and technology and fractured the empire to an extent that it never recovered. That rates at least as strong as Chaos in its entirety during 30k and 40k - and Chaos weren't facing humanity at its prime.
Other than that the C'tan who literally devoured stars by themselves.

I am surprised there has been no mention of the Ultimate Enemy...the Pan Fo! All your your secrets are belong to us! The Truth shall be reviled!

A lot of stuff was released in the old Inquisitor game line...too bad so much of it is not transferable to any other game. If you are OK with skirmish level narrative wargames (I love how GW just creates genres) that is a good way to go. Then you can extrapolate what those races have on a larger level for 40K Tabletop.

Most of the Inquisitor line is free now, so that makes it a nice thing to have.

-STS

The Imperial Navy is an obvious choice.

DAOT Humans. We've barely seen a sniff of their tech, and they were arguably more powerful than pre-Fall Eldar, who were arguably the most powerful race since The Old Ones.

I disqualify The Old Ones though, as they were made extinct/exiled millions of years ago, so it's unlikely any of them or their relics survive. It's not impossible though that some DAOT holdouts have a system to themselves somewhere - maybe technologically cloaked from detection, somewhere in the Outer Rim.

Extremely powerful, yes, but aware that their small population and concentration give them a weakness to sheer numbers and/or doomsday weaponry, and what a prize their technology would be to lesser races, so preferring to sit out all the conflict in safe obscurity.

The Old Ones also created the Rashan and the K'nib alongside the Eldar and Orks. if they're as powerful as either of those, then they're up there too. The K'nib have been (vaguely) referenced in modern fluff too, so still exist in the current timeframe too.

honedstly though including DAOT humans in a 40k question that way is like also saying medieval humans.

Bear in mind the OP specifically mentioned the Enslavers as an example.

Golden Age humans are a lot more recent than them, and had as big an impact on the galaxy. It's a valid candidate.

Poly Ranger wrote:
The Men of Iron almost destroyed DAoT humans when humanity was at it's prime in both power and technology and fractured the empire to an extent that it never recovered. That rates at least as strong as Chaos in its entirety during 30k and 40k - and Chaos weren't facing humanity at its prime.
Other than that the C'tan who literally devoured stars by themselves.

It wasn't really just the Men of Iron though.
They actually had that beaten, the issue was fall of the Eldar empire at the same time, resulting in warp instability.
The fragmented DAoT mankind became unable to communicate and trade with each other, that combined with all of the destruction from dealing with Men of Iron led to them falling into techno-barbarism.

Jokaero don't have an army and they are extremely powerful, although not really interested in war so it might be hard to make an army for them.
The Slaan could also have a resurgence.
Enslavers would be a good choice as well.

However with all 3 of these, they are ancient powers and would probably have to be diminutive spin offs or very high point cost units.

Whatever is in the ghoul starts. Also there is another small Empire to the north of the Tau on the northern edge of the disc that incorporates and conquers smaller aliens much like the Tau.

Those two. Both are vying for control of the Demiurg clans, but the distance between the two means it's not really direct combat.

Poly Ranger wrote:
The Men of Iron almost destroyed DAoT humans when humanity was at it's prime in both power and technology and fractured the empire to an extent that it never recovered. That rates at least as strong as Chaos in its entirety during 30k and 40k - and Chaos weren't facing humanity at its prime.
Other than that the C'tan who literally devoured stars by themselves.

Not necessarily.

The biggest advantage the Men of Iron had over DAoT mankind was how much mankind relied on them. AI was at the core of DAoT tech. Strip that away and humanity was nearly toothless. A good analogy to make would be having a good old hypothetical fistfight.

In 40k, Chaos and the IoM are like two drunken nutbags having a punch-up outside of a pub. Standard fight involving two separate people. Men of Iron vs DAoT mankind is like one bloke who's drunk so much that one side of his body decides to have a punchup against the other side. Each of them has an equal chance of victory against their chosen opponent, but if you pit 50% of a person against a whole person, I'm fairly certain the whole person would win.

Of course, if you factor in technological regression it gets more complicated, but the point still stands that just because one threat almost defeated humanity it doesn't mean it's equal in power to another threat that almost defeated humanity.

Add into that the fact that DAoT mankind was more of a bit-player in galactic events at that time. A big fish in a small pond as most of the galaxy was ruled by the Eldar Empire. So, what you have is 50% of, say, 30% of the galaxy...vs 100% of, say, 80% of the galaxy. The only potential edge the Men of Iron would have if pitted against Chaos in a fistfight outside of a pub is that their one fist has knuckledusters (better technology). Whether that's enough to make up the difference, who knows...

Hierophant wrote:
Bear in mind the OP specifically mentioned the Enslavers as an example.

Golden Age humans are a lot more recent than them, and had as big an impact on the galaxy. It's a valid candidate.

The Enslavers are still around and capable of taking over entire worlds should Psykers not be killed or sanctioned in a timely fashion.

BrianDavion wrote:
honedstly though including DAOT humans in a 40k question that way is like also saying medieval humans.

Have the "Iron Men" been mentioned yet? They exist in at least one 40K novel.

Now that would be an interesting army.

 Frazzled wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
honedstly though including DAOT humans in a 40k question that way is like also saying medieval humans.

Have the "Iron Men" been mentioned yet? They exist in at least one 40K novel.

Now that would be an interesting army.

The Men of Iron wouldn't be an army outside of Epic or BFG.

Utilise many relics and technologies from the Great Crusade and earlier.
Maintain Titan Legions, Skitarii in the billions if not trillions and other divisions such as Cybernetica etc.
Use the Warp and/or Daemons in order to improve/augment tech, making what they have even more scary.
Close association to Chaos Space Marine warbands and by extension the warmaster Abaddon.

You tell me which force that's extremely powerful and lacking a codex

 Otto Weston wrote:


Utilise many relics and technologies from the Great Crusade and earlier.
Maintain Titan Legions, Skitarii in the billions if not trillions and other divisions such as Cybernetica etc.
Use the Warp and/or Daemons in order to improve/augment tech, making what they have even more scary.
Close association to Chaos Space Marine warbands and by extension the warmaster Abaddon.

You tell me which force that's extremely powerful and lacking a codex

Oh man these guys need to be released. Just think of the conversion/kitbash opportunities!

I'd love to see a dark mechanicum faction released.