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How does the Imperial Squad organize and deploy psyker battle squads? I mean frequently individual mechanized companies to sent to work alongside armoured regiments, storm troopers are generally sent in as individual squads, Ogryn regiments are split up and individual squads or companies are sent to where they are needed, but what about psykers? Does an army or regiment just get a single squads of sanctioned assigned to it, or are there entire regiments of psykers that exist only in name, always being split up?

There is an organization within the Imperium called the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. They are responsible for training the vast majority of regular human psykers. It is from these forces that Psyker Battle Squads are formed. I do not if they are permanently attatched to one unit, or assigned for a battle.

Psykers are rare enough that most of them probably aren't assigned on a regimental basis.

Melissia wrote:Psykers are rare enough that most of them probably aren't assigned on a regimental basis.

I was thinking that they might be like IG storm troopers, formed into a single massive regiment, which instead of fighting as a whole is sent to different theaters on a squad, or in very rare cases, company level. Just wondering if there was any fluff directly relating to their organization.

Depends. Some army groups might have only one psyker and some astropaths and navigators, others might have dozens of each.

Battle psykers themselves are a specific kind of psyker, and to be honest, GW hasn't given enough information about them. I imagine that it's more like they're deployed on an individual basis. The stereotypical battle psyker would be a pyromancer, but GW hasn't actually put any pyromancers in tabletop.

I think PBS are more common than a Primaris Psyker...
Though how they are deployed or organised is unknown to me...

A Primaris Psyker is a "rank" of Psyker, an indication of their psychic strength and ability. As psykers go, the Primaris Psyker is terrifyingly powerful. Not alpha-plus or even beta-level, but still quite capable of turning the tide of a battle with the application of the right talents.

Though how they deploy Psykers in the field is not really established. Abnett implies that they are a stand-alone unit, escorted by psy-dampened guards and handlers, and treated like animals, though obviously this is only one example.

Actually primaris can be alpha-plus.

Primaris is a rank that tells more about control than raw power though. Primaris are those that are trusted to operate without being watched over, and even trusted enoughto be put in command positions.

Melissia wrote:Actually primaris can be alpha-plus.

Primaris is a rank that tells more about control than raw power though. Primaris are those that are trusted to operate without being watched over, and even trusted enoughto be put in command positions.

I was under the impression that Alpha-plus psykers are executed as soon as they are found for security reasons, being too difficult to control and being a massive signal to daemons.

Battle Psykers and Primaris Psykers are both trained/deployed from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica and given to the Departmento Munitorum. They are organized into squads and assigned to a given warzone, closely monitored by the Commissariat and Ordo Hereticus the entire way. They aren't permanently attached to Regiments.

Buttons wrote:

Melissia wrote:Actually primaris can be alpha-plus.

Primaris is a rank that tells more about control than raw power though. Primaris are those that are trusted to operate without being watched over, and even trusted enoughto be put in command positions.

I was under the impression that Alpha-plus psykers are executed as soon as they are found for security reasons, being too difficult to control and being a massive signal to daemons.

No, not off hand. An Alpha-plus psyker is of course incredibly rare, and even rarer is one that can control their power. So many do end up getting executed, but its not for being an Alpha-plus.



Psykers are pretty much deployed on a need to need basis. They aren't attached to a particular unit or anything, although realistically they will tend to operate with the same unit for long periods of time.

The Imperium also has enough magic Crystal technology that it can use to amplify psyker abilities that a lesser rating might be able to achieve (briefly) alpha status. We know of Imperial Alpha Psykers in the novel "Rynn's World" (although they may have been in the Navy rather than the Guard" and Eisenhorn was (supposedly) able to boost himself to Alpha level (IIRC) when he got his magic super-staff in Malleus.

That said, it depends on the kind of psyker you're talking about. They can do anything from provide psychic intel or command and control to blasting out warp-based attacks directly.

Well, we almost made it half a page before the magic crystal spam got put in place.

you can do anything with magic crystals in 40K. Especially if you can carve it into the shape of a skull.

I'm gonna have to ignore you. It's for your own good. Your own not-stabbed-in-the-face-with-a-Tabasco-sauce-covered-serrated-combat-knife good.

Mellisa's irrational hatred for magic crystals strikes again!

It isn't irrational...

That was the joke.

Thanks for pointing that out for us, Purple. What would us and the Emperor do without your crack-perceptive skills?

I though psykers were only deployed where there was a chaos threat( in order to neutralize it...), in all the fiction ive read about IG ive not heard of them being deployed, too valuable in imperial standards, plus they could always just send in more guard! there fore the only way i see a psyker seeing combat is either that they were accidentally caught in it or that they were part of an inquisitors staff... only space marines really fields combat psykers but obviously they thought the unit would be cool to use


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so really the answer to the question is that they really dont because they are too useful to be wasted in combat like that

It depends on the nature of the psyker. Telepaths, for example, might be deployed to interrogate prisoners through mind-reading. Telekines and pyrokines are definitely battle psykers. Diviners would be used to assist strategists and commanders. Biomancers might be used as battle psykers, or as form of combat medic.