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Post your headcanon here. Stuff that while not specifically outlined, makes sense to you as part of the dark millennium's nuts and bolts.

Some of mine:

Bolters are armour plated. Certainly Astaetes pattern, probably sororitas bolters too. Lots of them seem to have riveted on plates. A marine advancing with his bolter held at rest in his arms would be covering the more vulnerable midriff with an extra solid plate of armour and it would serve to protect the weapon from Marine Modus Operandi (i), walking into a hail of enemy fire.


Surpluses, tabards and robes (black templars and dark angels, space marine veterans) are made of some kind of flak cloth or kevlar and add similar protection for the area they cover- in the case of loincloth style tabards this is the hip/crotch joints between the plates.

The Armour plating of the Bolter is a good point but whilst it can be used for additional protection for it's wielder it also protects the Bolter itself as they are each sacred relics as much as their armour is. In terms of what you say about the robes I can say that for the DAs Sammael's robe the Adamantine Mantle indeed offers additional defensive properties (can't remember exactly what though) though it is also supposed to have been cut from part of the robes of the Lion himself so it's hardly surprising.

LOTD theory that is my personal headcanon.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/613298.page

 Otto Weston wrote:
LOTD theory that is my personal headcanon.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/613298.page

I agree that the warp has patterns. Some of the stuff I've read details 'warp currents' which form the basis of trade routes etc- a fast flowing warp tide or current in a certain direction can bring a planet significant strategic and commercial advantage.
Warp hubs are planets or areas which center on many such currents and ships will naturally translate there to refuel, resupply, sell stuff and buy stuff.
Conversely, they may be easier for raiders to reach.

One of the Arbites novels mentions a world that used to be important this way until the currents shifted.

Your theory is sound regarding the Legion of the Damned but doesn't explain why they are fiery ghosts. I reckon that as fiery warp souls they'd be better able to navigate/manipulate the empyrean and do what you've described.

 =Angel= wrote:

 Otto Weston wrote:
LOTD theory that is my personal headcanon.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/613298.page

I agree that the warp has patterns. Some of the stuff I've read details 'warp currents' which form the basis of trade routes etc- a fast flowing warp tide or current in a certain direction can bring a planet significant strategic and commercial advantage.
Warp hubs are planets or areas which center on many such currents and ships will naturally translate there to refuel, resupply, sell stuff and buy stuff.
Conversely, they may be easier for raiders to reach.

One of the Arbites novels mentions a world that used to be important this way until the currents shifted.

Your theory is sound regarding the Legion of the Damned but doesn't explain why they are fiery ghosts. I reckon that as fiery warp souls they'd be better able to navigate/manipulate the empyrean and do what you've described.

Seeing as how Eldrad Ulthren thinks they're Daemons, and they're firey ghosts, I'd say that it makes more sense that they're just Daemons. This would be supported by Realms of Chaos: the Lost and the Damned, which states that dead souls enter the Warp and their constituent energies coalesce into whirlpools of energy, which just get larger and larger until they mash together in just the right way to gain sentience (which can happen at any time, it's how you get Warp entities like the Enslavers and independent Chaos Daemons alongsid entities like Nurgle and Slaanesh). Using this, we could say that the LotD is just the result of humanity's energies from worshiping the Emperor coming together, forming a nascent Warp God, and these are the Warp God's Daemons (Astartes are the Emperor's Angels, this is a firm belief that is found throughout most publications involving civilians' perceptions of Astartes).

The Emperor of Mankind is also the Carter of Lovecraft's Dream-Cycle stories, which forms a basis for the Eternal Champion of Michael Moorcock's stories.

As with the Eternal Champion, death is not a career-ending injury. It is, in fact, impossible for this being to ever truly die, and he retains an active, if mysterious, role in the events of 40k. In addition to maintaining the Astronomican from his internment in the Golden Throne of Terra, he manifests mortal avatars in various places throughout time and space to perform certain deeds, just as he always has, often appearing as a mentor or guardian figure for certain mortals destined to do great things.

In addition to being the God-Emperor of Mankind, he is also the Lord of the Dreamlands, which he has reshaped in his own image, just as Kuranes did before him, from the alabaster throne of Celephais. He is, further, foremost amongst the Elder Gods of Order, though he is the "youngest" of that pantheon and, like his divine fellows, opposes the Outer Gods, to whom the Ruinous Powers are but reflections and puppets.

His sacred number is 13, and is associated with the metal chromium. The color grey is kept by him. His sacred planet is Terra. To him is associated the concepts of rulership and civilization.

Thusly are the Elder Gods arrayed, as detailed in the Kitab al-Azif:

Marduk Kurios: Sacred Magics and Protection
Nanna: Travel and Ventures
Inanna: Passion, in both Love and War
Nergal: War and Heroism
Shammash: Light and Life
Nebo: Knowledge and Science
Adar: Hunters and Strength
Kartur: Rulership and Civilization

 =Angel= wrote:
Post your headcanon here. Stuff that while not specifically outlined, makes sense to you as part of the dark millennium's nuts and bolts.

Some of mine:

Bolters are armour plated. Certainly Astaetes pattern, probably sororitas bolters too. Lots of them seem to have riveted on plates. A marine advancing with his bolter held at rest in his arms would be covering the more vulnerable midriff with an extra solid plate of armour and it would serve to protect the weapon from Marine Modus Operandi (i), walking into a hail of enemy fire.


Surpluses, tabards and robes (black templars and dark angels, space marine veterans) are made of some kind of flak cloth or kevlar and add similar protection for the area they cover- in the case of loincloth style tabards this is the hip/crotch joints between the plates.

I kit bashed my Inquisitor partially out of the sternguard kit and used a dark angels head with a hood. In my head all of his cloth is strong enough to stop atleast a las shot and combined with his refractor field (he's a counts as Solomon Lok), explains why a side or back head shot should be represented with a two plus save against anything short of plasma.

That Space Marines are so far removed from humanity so as to essentially be their own race/own gender. I imagine they use their own pronouns instead of terms like "brother".

The Ork psychic gestalt doesn't make things work just because they believe it will. It can "fudge the numbers" a bit in the Ork's favor though. If you loaded a shell with dirty, unrefined powder it would probably just fizzle out. The psychic gestalt makes it actually fire. They can't run a Trukk on water but they can get it to run on old gas that wouldn't work for a Guardsman.

I absolutely agree with Pour. The Orky gestalt can influence reality, but it can't out and out violate, say, laws of physics.

By this logic Orky Meks actually do build viable equipment under solid engineering principles, even if they don't consciously understand why. (I imagine the better Meks have more than an intuitive grasp on engineering.)

As long as a gadget is around, say, 90% functional the gestalt can do the rest. A fast red vehicle will go a little faster because of the psychic nudge, but a slow vehicle won't become fast just because an Ork slaps red paint on it, and a broken red vehicle won't move at all.

I also imagine that Grots have far more input on Ork engineering than the fluff or the Meks themselves are willing to admit. If swarming Grot assistants manage to hammer out a whirligig that actually improves function, their Ork Mek will simply claim credit and incorporate the design into his future creations. After all, they ARE his Grots...

My two cents.

The Leman Russ can vary to some degree in design and make as long as the end result passes Munitorum minimum requirements. Some tanks are clunky, basic affairs with minimal systems to assist the crew (Autoloaders, gyrostablizers etc) while others contain a suite of advanced (For the Imperium) optics, gun stablizers etc. It depends on how wealthy the world that made it is.

while I hate the term head cannon, here's what I use to poke fun at the local UM player.


Guilliman is the real arch-traitor.

It's well established that Guilliman was a master of logistics and fairly strong at planning. How would this man not sent spies, scouts, or other form of 'heads up' method when the Emperor very openly sent legions to fight legions.

Guilliman used Horus as a front (they were possibly not in cohoots) to act as the main detraction and to let the traitor legions shatter the loyalist legions and vice versa, meanwhile he built up his own imperium and power base (oh! but Sanguinius is in charge, really! Ignore that he's just a figure head) Oh! would you look at that; somehow BOTH Sanguinius and the dark angels managed to get to Terra first, while Guilliman and the Ultramarines lagged behind.

Now, thanks to Guilliman taking his time getting to Terra AND pulling 2 loyalist legions to Ultramar rather then Terra, he set the stage for the Emperor to die. He willingly chose to lag his legion behind long enough for Horus to have time to possibly cripple the emperor and the loyalist legions at Terra, while leaving forces loyal to him and his future plans at near to full strength.

Here's where it gets blatant: 1) GUILLIMAN decides that no one should have all the power of a legion, and using his OWN ideas forces his brother Primarchs to cripple their own power and bend to his ideals of leadership. When one Primarch aims to fight it (Dorn) he allows loyalist forces to open fire on the Imperial fists, insuring that Guilliman get's his way. Since Sanguinius died thanks to Horus, Guilliman has no real political threats from any of the other Primarchs. He is also at the head of the largest number of men (technically speaking, all UM, and Imperial army forces would side with him in the case of a 2nd civil war), so if push came to shove, he WOULD have the upper hand in forcing his Ideals onto the other marines. 2) Guilliman put himself in charge (with the inclusion of the high lords) while negating much of the say of the other primarchs before they all died/disappeared.

conclusion: Rawbutt Girlyman is the true big bad of the Horus Heresy.

 Brennonjw wrote:
while I hate the term head cannon, here's what I use to poke fun at the local UM player.


Guilliman is the real arch-traitor.

It's well established that Guilliman was a master of logistics and fairly strong at planning. How would this man not sent spies, scouts, or other form of 'heads up' method when the Emperor very openly sent legions to fight legions.

Guilliman used Horus as a front (they were possibly not in cohoots) to act as the main detraction and to let the traitor legions shatter the loyalist legions and vice versa, meanwhile he built up his own imperium and power base (oh! but Sanguinius is in charge, really! Ignore that he's just a figure head) Oh! would you look at that; somehow BOTH Sanguinius and the dark angels managed to get to Terra first, while Guilliman and the Ultramarines lagged behind.

Now, thanks to Guilliman taking his time getting to Terra AND pulling 2 loyalist legions to Ultramar rather then Terra, he set the stage for the Emperor to die. He willingly chose to lag his legion behind long enough for Horus to have time to possibly cripple the emperor and the loyalist legions at Terra, while leaving forces loyal to him and his future plans at near to full strength.

Here's where it gets blatant: 1) GUILLIMAN decides that no one should have all the power of a legion, and using his OWN ideas forces his brother Primarchs to cripple their own power and bend to his ideals of leadership. When one Primarch aims to fight it (Dorn) he allows loyalist forces to open fire on the Imperial fists, insuring that Guilliman get's his way. Since Sanguinius died thanks to Horus, Guilliman has no real political threats from any of the other Primarchs. He is also at the head of the largest number of men (technically speaking, all UM, and Imperial army forces would side with him in the case of a 2nd civil war), so if push came to shove, he WOULD have the upper hand in forcing his Ideals onto the other marines. 2) Guilliman put himself in charge (with the inclusion of the high lords) while negating much of the say of the other primarchs before they all died/disappeared.

conclusion: Rawbutt Girlyman is the true big bad of the Horus Heresy.

When Space Marines deep strike, they also throw tons of chaff\fake pods\whatever to confuse enemy sensors. In fact, most battlefields are covered with counter electronic warfare leading to the seemingly outdated style of warfare everyone bar the Tau tend to use.

Additionally, Space Marines are successful not because they weather enemy fire and walk forwards but that they use some of the best Imperial technology and have leaders with centuries of experience. They don't make stupid mistakes because of that.

The Eldar also don't make stupid mistakes. They very rarely use Guardians and their technology is considerably superior to any bar the Necrons (Dark Eldar are equal). Their powers of prophesy enable them to outmaneuver their opponents the vast majority of the time they need to engage in direct combat.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:
When Space Marines deep strike, they also throw tons of chaff\fake pods\whatever to confuse enemy sensors. In fact, most battlefields are covered with counter electronic warfare leading to the seemingly outdated style of warfare everyone bar the Tau tend to use.

I reckon this is the case too. The Eldar and necrons must certainly be using a form of Electronic warfare. In my mind such measures always cancel each other out.
When the Imperium does meet a genuinely regressed society, suddenly all their stuff starts working again.
In my mind, larger guard equipment (like tanks) include countermeasures as part of the STC template which protect the guard as a whole. The techpriests may be aware of this function or may ascrie it to the machine spirit. Lasguns/chimeras may incorporate advanced targeting systems that never see play because they are baffled by Ork fields or Eldar douchery or the sheer reality bending nature of chaos.
Most of the time they'll be fighting Imperial insurrections who will have similar jamming tech to the Imperium. Other times the environment itself- kilometers of steel and concrete, subterranean caverns, alien background radiation- may inhibit their active sensors.

I like to think that, as with armour and arms, the pendulum has swung in favour of passive and active defenses, necessitating chainswords and eyes-on ranged combat.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:
The Eldar also don't make stupid mistakes. They very rarely use Guardians and their technology is considerably superior to any bar the Necrons (Dark Eldar are equal). Their powers of prophesy enable them to outmaneuver their opponents the vast majority of the time they need to engage in direct combat.

This. the fact that Eldar need to maintain tanks and giant battle robots for anything other than local defense is silly. Other than retaking maiden worlds from human/ork/necron expansionism, a standing military shows a lack of subtlety (as typified in the Fire Dragon aspect) . The Eldar have prophets who can be invisible and guys with sniper rifles- that's all you should need to accomplish 90% of a craftworld's goals, unless they include riding fast on bikes. Saim Hann.
I suppose they have the excuse that they have a literal god of Murder as a shoulder angel, shouting in their collective pointed ears to do less than reasonable things.

My "it makes sense" contributions: The oldest and most storied Imperial Guard regiments maintain relics, like the Valdor, on their TO&E. It would make sense that among those relics, the Leman Russ Incinerator would be in the mix. I'm not aware of any specific mention that they are. But it just makes sense that they would be (in very limited numbers).


Another bit of "it makes sense" is that the most common Land Raider in Imperial Army service was the old Proteus Pattern.