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Do it use some kind of fuel or do it have it's own unlimited power source?

its uses fuel

It's a beefed up chainsaw. You can see the exhaust port on the model, too.

-cgmckenzie

black templar wrote:its uses fuel

I thought it was a power cell similar to the lasgun

Exhaust to vent the heat?
You can switch it off/on. But fuel? Never heard / read about recharging or refilling chainswords.

Maybe Its driven by the righteous fury of its wielder...

1hadhq wrote:Exhaust to vent the heat?
You can switch it off/on. But fuel? Never heard / read about recharging or refilling chainswords.

Maybe Its driven by the righteous fury of its wielder...

Like a Striking Scorpion chaisword?

1hadhq wrote:Exhaust to vent the heat?
You can switch it off/on. But fuel? Never heard / read about recharging or refilling chainswords.

Maybe Its driven by the righteous fury of its wielder...

In the Guants ghosts books (i can't remember which one) guant vaguely about the power cells to is chian sword

Technically, a power source is require to spin the motor, so it can be a fuel/power cell, rather than liquid fuel.

And I always thought the idea of Chainsword came from this guy

As human beings do not have the psychic powers of Orks (like guns firing without any movable part in it), I guess energy-cells are the most common power source for chainswords. Though on primitive worlds, fuel-based Chainswords (like current chainsaws) do not seem unrealistic...

Don't ever call Bruce Campbell or Ash 'this guy'. That's just opening the door for a world of pain. ESPECIALLY in nerd circles, like the internet or Scifi/fantasy game players.

-cgmckenzie

edit: added the because I realized it sounded very threatening and angry.

I belive they use powercells.

Evisorators actually use fuel, as in gas, IIRC.

regular old chainswords have a battery.

As many portable weapons, they use power cells. The sword revs up and its adamantiun teeth welcome anthing into a world of pain.

Don't they belch smoke though? That would indicate fuel.

I've never heard of them belchng smoke. If you take the infamous UM movie as a reliable source, the chainswords there didn't belch smoke.

I also never locked smoke, except for the chain-blade ( carrying by IG priest ).

And what would be the magnitude of that power pack? I have seen Chainsword cutting trough many hard objects. I know that it is build from very strong materials, but it still need big strength to cut trough various opponents.

And how long can one powerpack last? I never heard about Chainsword "run out of power" in a middle of a battle.

The first Ragnar book says his chainsword is giving off smoke when he is being tested for Chaos taint, but that could have been because the sword was damaged. It seemed like liquid fuel was being used though.

Fuel (promethium?) or battery power - depending solely on the individual taste of the author who wrote the novel.

As far as I know, GW themselves never established a rule.

You need an exhaust for a combustion engine but not necessarily for a battery cell operated engine.

You can run a modern chainsaw for more than an hour on less than a litre of fuel, the tank on them is very small compared to the engine so I reckon the better question would be where the engine is?

It could be within the blade I suppose. Or by the exhausts, but then where would they store fuel.

The engine is in the hilt, which is why the cross-guard on most minis is so bulky. They use a ubiquitous "power cell", though it doesn't say if this is a battery, a solid fuel cell, or some combination of the two.

the exaust could be from the oil used to lubricate the weapon and not the actual power source. at high speeds it would give off black oily vapors.

One of the Ciaphas Cain books mentioned him recharging the power pack for his chainsword, must be some kind of battery.

there could also be multiple ways of powering a chainsword.


a wimpy guardsmen sized one would make better sense with a power pack because it would be smaller and lighter.

a Marine sized one could easily fit a small gas moter and fuel tank. I have looked at my dads chainsaw and figured that a 8ft tall super human could easily swing that thing around like a sword. heck, a normal human with enough arm strength probably could do that.

In the CSM codex on p.84 there's a picture of a chainsword claiming it has an M37 gas fuel motor block. Also consider that 40,000 years in the future motors will have developed and be smaller and more powerful. Remember about 20 or 30 years ago when a car had a 3 litre engine but only chuffed out about 70 or 80 bhp? Now it's more like 300bhp and it's probably more economic. Stands to reason then that in the foocha - tiny motors will have enough power to run a chainsword that will neatly hack through armour and limbs alike.

monkeyh wrote:In the CSM codex on p.84 there's a picture of a chainsword claiming it has an M37 gas fuel motor block. Also consider that 40,000 years in the future motors will have developed and be smaller and more powerful. Remember about 20 or 30 years ago when a car had a 3 litre engine but only chuffed out about 70 or 80 bhp? Now it's more like 300bhp and it's probably more economic. Stands to reason then that in the foocha - tiny motors will have enough power to run a chainsword that will neatly hack through armour and limbs alike.

Best answer, thanks

monkeyh wrote:In the CSM codex on p.84 there's a picture of a chainsword claiming it has an M37 gas fuel motor block. Also consider that 40,000 years in the future motors will have developed and be smaller and more powerful. Remember about 20 or 30 years ago when a car had a 3 litre engine but only chuffed out about 70 or 80 bhp? Now it's more like 300bhp and it's probably more economic. Stands to reason then that in the foocha - tiny motors will have enough power to run a chainsword that will neatly hack through armour and limbs alike.

Actually in 40k I'd say the opposite. Their technology has gotten less advanced since the heresy, so current chainswords probably don't work as well.

MandalorynOranj wrote:

monkeyh wrote:In the CSM codex on p.84 there's a picture of a chainsword claiming it has an M37 gas fuel motor block. Also consider that 40,000 years in the future motors will have developed and be smaller and more powerful. Remember about 20 or 30 years ago when a car had a 3 litre engine but only chuffed out about 70 or 80 bhp? Now it's more like 300bhp and it's probably more economic. Stands to reason then that in the foocha - tiny motors will have enough power to run a chainsword that will neatly hack through armour and limbs alike.

Actually in 40k I'd say the opposite. Their technology has gotten less advanced since the heresy, so current chainswords probably don't work as well.

Point taken - but we've still got several thousand years to develop the humble chainsword 'til Horus undoes all the good work!

Lol, we should get started then.

MandalorynOranj wrote:

monkeyh wrote:In the CSM codex on p.84 there's a picture of a chainsword claiming it has an M37 gas fuel motor block. Also consider that 40,000 years in the future motors will have developed and be smaller and more powerful. Remember about 20 or 30 years ago when a car had a 3 litre engine but only chuffed out about 70 or 80 bhp? Now it's more like 300bhp and it's probably more economic. Stands to reason then that in the foocha - tiny motors will have enough power to run a chainsword that will neatly hack through armour and limbs alike.

Actually in 40k I'd say the opposite. Their technology has gotten less advanced since the heresy, so current chainswords probably don't work as well.

less advanced relative to the Heresy era.

they are still far FAR more advanced then now.

When I said current I meant 40k current, as in M41, sorry for the confusion.