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In the Soul Drinkers series an Inquistorial Interrogator uses a huge sword with anti-grav motors to duel with Sarpedon... is there any other info on this kind of weaponry? It was described as unwieldy but if used properly the momentum was able to shear through pretty much anything, even more easily than a power weapon.

Which book?
I vaguely remember something with an Inquisitor but it's been a while since i read the book.

Hellforged I think

Way back in the days of Space Crusade one of the Imperial Fist wargear choices was suspensors, which were small anti-grav motors used to make your squad's heavy weapons less encumbering. This sounds like a different use for the same tech.

That said, the sword you describe should not be more effective than a power weapon, unless it was itself an upsized power weapon.

I don't remember an inquisitor in Hellforged (Necron one right?)

I believe the book was called Souldrinker, and yes, it was a massive blade which looked hard to wield for even a space marine to use, let alone a minorly enhanced human. However it had two anti-grav motors, one at the tip of the blade, the other on the pommel, so it could be wielded. It wasn't a power sword, but its edge was a mono-molecular one (the same as SM combat knives) hence its ability to sink into the floor. The flaw with the motors was that, if it was swung upwards with any reasonable force, the motors would carry it up and up and up, so the interrogator had to use a set of moves which Sarpedon managed to figure out the steps to, in order to defeat the interrogator.

IMO all space marine power armour must use this tech, as every time they walk over a swamp they dont sink!

Any ideas on modeling this?


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I can't think of anything that would look like an anti-grav motor... especially on the tip on a blade. Maybe a sort of staff-sword with one on the base of either blade? But again... what should it look like?

All the little motors in 40k look the same but I want it to show haha

Ok I have come up with a plan. I'll make a flail with smaller motors spread out along the chain, and make the chain itself longer than would normally be possible to display that the anti-grav engines are what allows the flail to keep it's momentum.

*scuttles off to find thin armature wire*

Ordo Dakka wrote:Ok I have come up with a plan. I'll make a flail with smaller motors spread out along the chain, and make the chain itself longer than would normally be possible to display that the anti-grav engines are what allows the flail to keep it's momentum.

Please don't. You'd be taking a reasonably effective weapon, making it worse (by increasing the length of the chain to the point where it is a risk to the user), then making it worse again by attaching motors to the damn thing.

More importantly, anti-grav motors would not make a bigger flail a better weapon, because the limiting factor is not weight but rotational momentum, which will try to pull the weapon from the wielder's hands. An anti-grav motor can only make it easier to handle by reducing its effectiveness.

Because flails are an effective weapon normally, especially against the armor we're packing in 40k, right?

Come on, let me have my fun. I'd rather wield this thing than a chain sword in a fight...

I'll repeat what I said: you're talking about making a weapon that looks worse, is less dangerous to your enemy and more dangerous to you. If you want to make it anyway I can't stop you, but I've told you why I wouldn't.

A chainsword is merely less effective than it would first appear. This is an active liability.

The anti grav motor on a mace would make more sense then a flail you need momentum and weight to spin a flail and make it useful but a mace,sword or ax would be more practical...

Anti grav isn't used to benefit the wielder it seems. It would make sense if it reduces the weight of a heavy weapon when your goal is
to move it with less than 2 persons ( teams ). This crazy idea of a 'sword' ?

What should an oversized weapon achieve? Greater range in CC?
Usually agile opponents can dance around slow destructive weapons.
Now, antigrav makes up for the lack of speed? Still a shooty weapon kills you without a chance to use your extra big 'sword'.
Bigger = heavier. But antigrav = bigger + light? Looses the momentum of addtional weight just to add 'show effects'.
This antigrav weapon may make a poser happy, but never a fighter.

So, practical use would either lower the weight of a weapon when carried or use the anti-grav against the opponent.

Aimed fields of anti grav would be fun, lift up a heavy MC ( maybe 50m ? ) and have it feel gravity again when you switch it off.....

1hadhq wrote:Anti grav isn't used to benefit the wielder it seems. It would make sense if it reduces the weight of a heavy weapon when your goal is
to move it with less than 2 persons ( teams ). This crazy idea of a 'sword' ?

What should an oversized weapon achieve? Greater range in CC?
Usually agile opponents can dance around slow destructive weapons.
Now, antigrav makes up for the lack of speed? Still a shooty weapon kills you without a chance to use your extra big 'sword'.
Bigger = heavier. But antigrav = bigger + light? Looses the momentum of addtional weight just to add 'show effects'.
This antigrav weapon may make a poser happy, but never a fighter.

So, practical use would either lower the weight of a weapon when carried or use the anti-grav against the opponent.

Aimed fields of anti grav would be fun, lift up a heavy MC ( maybe 50m ? ) and have it feel gravity again when you switch it off.....

they had grav weapons in rogue trader..it would of been awesome if they kept these weapons to battle flying units like thunderbolts drop from the sky like rocks..

The point is that the weapon doesn't become lighter, it becomes easier to wield while still being able to generate all the momentum it had when it was heavy.

It can be heavy in all directions rather than just downward.
Theoretically. This is 40k, and while this is all bs, my idea is to have a big ass flail. I can't believe this is being shot down on the background forum... it's not like its not in the canon.

Ordo Dakka wrote:The point is that the weapon doesn't become lighter, it becomes easier to wield while still being able to generate all the momentum it had when it was heavy.

It can be heavy in all directions rather than just downward.
Theoretically. This is 40k, and while this is all bs, my idea is to have a big ass flail. I can't believe this is being shot down on the background forum... it's not like its not in the canon.

Except that's not even how it works in 40k.

The only real usage of anti-grav tech you'll find in 40k canon as of this very moment is suspensors. They're used mostly by the Deathwatch for their Heavy Bolters, but you see it crop up in the fluff sometimes as being mounted on Heavy Stubbers to let Guard units move+fire them too.

It allowed them to move and fire Heavy Bolters, since it makes the weight and basic "aiming at the target" while moving principle a bit more manageable. The drawback is they're far less accurate being fired while moving due to still suffering the same recoil .

Your "anti-grav flail" is basically going to be tossing your butt in the air or throwing you completely off balance every time you even attempt to strike with it. The same thing would occur when using pretty much any melee weapon with some form of suspensor/anti-grav field to offset the weight/balance of the weapon.
This is why, also, you should ignore Ben Counter's stuff just as much as you should ignore C.S. Goto's. The two can't write worth a crap, and don't pay any attention to what they do write, outside of "is this a sentence? does it make sense following the previous one?".

As an aside: Look into medieval greatswords. Those things got to be huge in some cases, and yet could still be used without fancy anti-grav tech. It's all about balancing and technique. The downside to them, however, is always stamina and strength. You just can't avoid those two.

Ordo Dakka wrote:The point is that the weapon doesn't become lighter, it becomes easier to wield while still being able to generate all the momentum it had when it was heavy.

I know that's your intention. But that doesn't make it true. You want to make this flail easier to spin, correct? There are two ways to do this: with an omnidirectional effect (an "inertial dampener"), or with an effect that pushes the head of the flail in a specific direction. The former would make the flail easier to spin, but it would also make it easier to stop spinning, meaning you only break even, even though you're using a bulkier, more expensive weapon. The latter would make the flail easier to spin but far harder to control, making it less dangerous to the enemy and more dangerous to you.

I can't believe this is being shot down on the background forum... it's not like its not in the canon.

...Yes, it is. Every time a character takes a step and doesn't launch themselves into space, every time a tank drives forwards instead of spinning its tracks futilely, the canon is telling you that certain things are true about the setting.

Ordo Dakka wrote:The point is that the weapon doesn't become lighter, it becomes easier to wield while still being able to generate all the momentum it had when it was heavy.

It can be heavy in all directions rather than just downward.
Theoretically. This is 40k, and while this is all bs, my idea is to have a big ass flail. I can't believe this is being shot down on the background forum... it's not like its not in the canon.

Did assume we accept Gravity=>weigth.
A weapon needs :

- a weight that does not tire the wielder
- a balance supporting its use
- enough hitting/cutting/stabbing power to penetrate counter measures like armor
- a reasonable size. Each weapon had its place, some for close distance, some medium.

Your flail falls short of the usability. It may have the weigth of a smaller weapon, but so does it have the hitting power of this smaller weapon.Maybe you get the balance right. Still doens't solve the size issue, as a 'big ass' weapon isn't meant for CC. Most oversized
weapons were used in duels.

Please believe the background forum is there to help, not as gathering of backpatters.

IMO, a flail has not the flexibility of other weapons and thus wasn't used that often.
Your flail may benefit from less 'comic style oversize'. But if you want the looks, I can't stop you.

Remember the rarity of anti grav and how common powerfields are. Plus power weapons have an equal size to standard weapons.

Im not shooting you down its just a matter of reasoning lets say your flail head weighed 100 pounds with the anti grav motor off and when you turned it on the head weighed 0 pounds have you ever tried to spin a piece of sewing thread really fast it doesn't do much because it doesn't have mass to add to its momentum so it flutters and floats.but now take a rope or chord and spin it has momentum and mass and will build speed and energy...but i just had a epiphany unless the only grav motor on your flail is in the handle but then the wielder would have to be a hulk to spin the flails head effectively and have great control of it unless he wants to go go gadget him self a helicopter....i hope i made some sense to you

A chain flail is more Grimdark™ though, especially if you make it an anti-grav chain chain flail with monomolecular blades on the teeth.

In point of fact, weight is what we feel by result of gravity acting on mass. An anti-gravity motor would remove the weight from an object but not its mass, so it would be just as difficult to wave around as before.

Plus it wouldn't help if you put the anti-grav field emitters on the flail heads.

Because then it would pretty much negate the force from you swinging it(or so the theories go regarding anti-grav handwavium stuff), and redirect the force of your swing to enact upon you.

Ork "titans" can use a device wich lifts vehicles and then leave them fall back to earth, better if in top of someone

That's a crane.

Lifta-droppa.

That's a 'tractor beam'. Not an antigrav weapon.

There were 'graviton' weapons in RT 40k. They worked on the (handwavium) gravity particle waves (wavicles?) and made things heavier.

An anti-grav flail is just epictacular fail. Even for 40k.

1hadhq wrote:

Aimed fields of anti grav would be fun, lift up a heavy MC ( maybe 50m ? ) and have it feel gravity again when you switch it off.....

The eldar distort cannon did something similar in 2nd ed, but used warp technology to move things about, including underground and 10 meters into the air!


Besides that, sod anti-grav motors in weapons, give me Zagstruk's rokkit-powered choppa any day!!!