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So somebody I know told me that the 'malfunction' that made the Crimson Fist base blow up wasn't so much a malfunction has the work of an assassin sent to punish the CF for some unknown crime.

I had never heard of that, but more knowledge of 40k lore is far from complete. There's no mention of this on the Lexicanum, but the Lexicanum itself is often filled with inaccuracies... so I asked him where the information was and he said the 3rd edition Assassin Codex. I got my hand on it, and it's more of a booklet really... a handful of pages. Can't find any mention of the Crimson Fists, Waagh Snagrod or Rynn's World.

So is it in the lore? Is it in another book? Are my legs being pulled?

I would guess it would be in the rynn's world book.

I actually read that, and it's not in there.

You get to 'see' the missile hit the forteress from several character's point of view and it goes on to say that the cause of the malfunction will never be properly explained, yadda yadda, but no super secret assassin plot.

Don't get me wrong, I kinda like the idea of the explosion being engineered somewhat and it raise all kind of juicy questions - i.e. What the hell were they being punished for that more or less required their entire chapter to be wiped out? - but it's not in the fluff, then yeah...

Considering it was meant to be a fluke that the missle not only went through all the armour on the chapter monestary but also that it hit their armoury i doubt it was engineered even if it was they can have known that was going to happen.

Well, according to 'the guy', he says the missile never actually punctured the armor, but that many charges had already been placed in the munition depot and other key points, and when detonated they caused the whole thing to fall apart... the missile malfunction was meant to create a diversion and and erase traces of this.

Like I said, I actually like this version better, I'd just like to know if it's true.

Apparently the Assassin Codex I got is really battered, I only have 12 pages... from what I gathered, that means I'm missing like 15 or so, which is where the information would be.

I think Space Marines who generally excel at blowing stuff up would be able to tell the difference from a missile hit and planted charges.
Also did he say what the punishment was for?
They don't seem to have been particularly beligerant as far as chapter go.

Tarkand wrote:Well, according to 'the guy', he says the missile never actually punctured the armor, but that many charges had already been placed in the munition depot and other key points, and when detonated they caused the whole thing to fall apart... the missile malfunction was meant to create a diversion and and erase traces of this.

Like I said, I actually like this version better, I'd just like to know if it's true.

Apparently the Assassin Codex I got is really battered, I only have 12 pages... from what I gathered, that means I'm missing like 15 or so, which is where the information would be.

I think "the guy" is making some huge assumptions in regards to something that is only briefly speculated on in passing. I am pretty sure I own all the codices that discuss assassins and marines and have never read this anywhere that I can recall. To my knowledge it has always been assumed to be due to a weapons malfunction/human error that the missile misfired and fell back into the monastery/fortress. That having been said, the "Rynn's World" novel actually states that the actual cause would never be known and it could have been malfunction, sabotage or the "will of malicious gods" that cause the missile to fail and subsequent explosion. This is speculation by the survivors however and in an earlier section it is stated that one missile of many that were being launched after the shields had been dropped appears to malfunction and veers off course.

It is also stated that the underground munitions stores were detonated by the initial explosion which was the only thing that could cause such devastation. Because of the shileds being lowered, the missile is stated specifically to have detonated at a depth of 200 meters and igniting the munitions stores so sabotage seems unlikely as getting a missile to fall back to earth with such precision would be near impossible. It is a case of plain bad luck. Just before the missiles fired the Forgemaster had reported a problem with the battery system that he felt was a momentary glitch and this is indicated as a possible cause of the disaster.

All of this seems to point to just a plain old weapons malfunction occuring and nothing so sinister as sabotage. Given the fact that the marines normally walk around with a weapons system (Plasma-guns in their various guises) that malfunction 16% of the time, it is not a huge stretch to find other systems of theirs malfunctioning every once in a great while.

Alright, I'll assume he's mistaken until he actually shows me the passage.

I see no reason for an assassin to "punish" the CF.