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Lets not forget that even if you manage to prevail over a demonic invasion the Imperium will have you all sterilised and shipped off to die in a penal colony so you don't tell anyone what you've seen. You basically can't win in that situation.

 Tadashi wrote:

 liquidjoshi wrote:
But we're assuming it's as a human / guardsman. Besides, Space Marines "Know no fear", right?

*Human spits out curse in daemon-cant* *eyes glow and body writhes and levitates* *explodes* daemonettes pop out and tear Eldar to pieces - Space Marines watch from a distance and call in an artillery barrage.

*human aim, shot his fancy hotshot lasgun, marine head is a smoldering mess, human makes it away with all the ladies*

And sports a fancy grey coat.

Edit: Unless you're a DKoK guardsman MarsMZ

I gotta go with Tyranids, and here is my reason why.
Unending swarms of claws and chitin, which know no fear washing across the plains as far as the eye can see.

People keep saying toxins of the D'eldar, Tyanids use them too, extensively.
I also GUARENTEE getting shot by a tyranid hurts more, they fire Venom Cannons (Crystalized Acid) Fleshborers (Living ammo that burrows into the vicitm and EATS it from the inside) Deathspitters (Acid Covered Maggots essentially)
Also don't forget the Neurotoxins on barbed ammunition on spike rifles
The air becomes poison, water becomes undrinkable, the ground itself isnt safe, as ravernors may come from beneath it.
The air is choked with gargoyles and the land forces dominated by creatures several times larger than your tanks.

Scary stuff man

The Hive mind's strong psychic presence also weakens the resolve of its foes.

For a second think about what the imperium is going to do to you if happen to see a deamon? The inquisition is going to kill, your friends, vitnesses and couple other innocent people just to make sure nobody knows of the deamonic horrors.

So deamons are pretty scary.

Orks on the other hand have this issue. They no know fear, they possess super human abilities, their technology knows no bounds and they think it's fun to fight against deamons.

How scary that makes orks?

 illuknisaa wrote:
For a second think about what the imperium is going to do to you if happen to see a deamon? The inquisition is going to kill, your friends, vitnesses and couple other innocent people just to make sure nobody knows of the deamonic horrors.

Not always.

 illuknisaa wrote:
For a second think about what the imperium is going to do to you if happen to see a deamon? The inquisition is going to kill, your friends, vitnesses and couple other innocent people just to make sure nobody knows of the deamonic horrors.

So deamons are pretty scary.

Orks on the other hand have this issue. They no know fear, they possess super human abilities, their technology knows no bounds and they think it's fun to fight against deamons.

How scary that makes orks?

That doesn't make them scary. Just makes them brave. Or more likely it makes them stupid.

Grey Knights/Inquisitors may execute/mindsweep their allies in order to prevent information to be spread about their organisation(s), that being said, fighting against them would be be pretty hopeless/freightening.

Also as mentioned above Dark eldar and Tyranids would be very scary...

 Wardragoon wrote:
As a common guardsmen or worse a common civilian I would think an Ork Waagh would be the most terrifying, Tyranid tend to be fairly isolated on a Galactic Scale. I would imagine that only 1% of the IoM know what Eldar actually are, less so for Dark Eldar. Wherein Orks infest every corner of the Milky Way, every civilian has undoubtedly heard tales of Orks ripping apart guardsmen and ships being taken over and slaughtered to a man. So when an Ork waagh lands on your planet all you can think of is the multitude of (some exhagerated) tales that you have heard. And when the horde starts marching on your hive you see millions of these ferocious beasts. Many shrugging off your defenders shots like they were mere scratches. That would scare the gak out of many.

Now if you were educated about the enemies at large, I would say that Dark Eldar would be the most terrifying, every weapon they utilize has the main priority of causing pain, not a quick death. And if they capture you, well that has been covered already.

I actually respect this view and can tell you put a lot of thought into this one. I forget that in 40k the average imperial citizen hasn't really heard of Xenos and the concept of chaos is considered non-existent except through the use of unsanctioned psykers and mutants. I recall a story where chaos marines approached an unprotected imperial world (i can't remember the legion i want to say Alpha Legion cause they aren't very mutated...?) and said they were a bogus space marine chapter just checking in on the defenses of the planet and were in dire need of resupply. They were given an audience with the planetary governor at which point spelled the doom of the planet.

The eyes of the Vigilant lol sometimes propaganda backfires for the IOM.

So yeah, i would have to say from a civilian perspective Orks really would be the most dreadful to hear about coming... i even remember an entire in the 4th ed necron Codex which spoke about how unimpressed this old man was hearing the Imperium lost a few worlds to some Xenos nearby called Necrons. He said the IOM would take back those planets and it wasn't any real concern (not that being said obviously he is ignorant but still)

So like my previous post it comes down to perspective again... Orks while not in my eyes are particularly horrific you have to remember they are the most well known of the IOM's foes besides Chaos which was forced back into the warp long ago and any talk of it otherwise is considered heresy. So... in short the INQUISTION would scare the ever living piss out of me if I were a human far more than Xenos lol

Hmmm...

Either nids, crons or Daemons.

There is no other competition. end of.

-Farseer Tahril

Daemons are fear incarnate. If you ever have any doubt about the daemons being the most frightening army to fight against, go to your nearest barnes and noble and pick up the new GW novel Fear to Tread and read from the middle of page 117 to page 125. Honestly gave me nightmares reading it, and that is solely about the odd events before a warp storm, not even when they are fighting daemons.

Honestly it gives a perfect example of why daemons would be flipping frightening to face in the bare flesh, and i would quote it if i could here, but GW would probably come hunt me down and arrest me. But seriously, if you have any free time, do it. It's just

chilling

I'd say Daemons all the way, especially Daemons of Nurgle.
I remember reading one of the early Gaunts Ghosts books where they are stuck in a trench warfare against a chaos traitor army. A Guardsman that got tainted earlier in the book by getting a fracture from a chaos alter stuck in his flesh turned into a Daemon after hearing some weird unlogical drum machines made by the heretics out of industrial pistons and human skin.
It basically drives the guardsmen half insane and suddenly one of them turns inside out and start butchering people in the most horrifying way.

Also the way that the Nurgle chaos warbands attacked in The Siege of Vraks makes for a horrifying death. They bombard the Kriegers with artillery gas canisters spreading chemical warfare agents, then they attacked in waves, first with zombified DKoK troopers and Nurgle Daemons, then with Daemon engines, Cultists of Nurgle and Plague Marines mopping up, and they actually as far as I remember.

There is a reason why Daemons are the only army in the 40K universe with the Fear special rule throughout.

Having just read that part, they actually annihilate the DKoK rearguard, whose job was... to get annihilated so that the rest of the army can reform proper lines.

Dark Eldar and Chaos definitely

I vote for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Because those guys are (literally) inhuman even though technically they are humans.

Fighting against bizarre cyborgs and arcane (and probably insane) technology should be pretty scary especially since if you die, then you will probably join their ranks as a servitor or become vat-food for some clones.

 AtoMaki wrote:
I vote for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Because those guys are (literally) inhuman even though technically they are humans.

Fighting against bizarre cyborgs and arcane (and probably insane) technology should be pretty scary especially since if you die, then you will probably join their ranks as a servitor or become vat-food for some clones.

You know I think a Traitor Titan Legio would be terrifying to fight against, God Machine's blaring insanity inducing noises, with horribly mutated Skitarii that are about as hard to kill as a Space Marine, with firepower equal to a sentinel.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:

 Wardragoon wrote:
As a common guardsmen or worse a common civilian I would think an Ork Waagh would be the most terrifying, Tyranid tend to be fairly isolated on a Galactic Scale. I would imagine that only 1% of the IoM know what Eldar actually are, less so for Dark Eldar. Wherein Orks infest every corner of the Milky Way, every civilian has undoubtedly heard tales of Orks ripping apart guardsmen and ships being taken over and slaughtered to a man. So when an Ork waagh lands on your planet all you can think of is the multitude of (some exhagerated) tales that you have heard. And when the horde starts marching on your hive you see millions of these ferocious beasts. Many shrugging off your defenders shots like they were mere scratches. That would scare the gak out of many.

Now if you were educated about the enemies at large, I would say that Dark Eldar would be the most terrifying, every weapon they utilize has the main priority of causing pain, not a quick death. And if they capture you, well that has been covered already.

I actually respect this view and can tell you put a lot of thought into this one. I forget that in 40k the average imperial citizen hasn't really heard of Xenos and the concept of chaos is considered non-existent except through the use of unsanctioned psykers and mutants. I recall a story where chaos marines approached an unprotected imperial world (i can't remember the legion i want to say Alpha Legion cause they aren't very mutated...?) and said they were a bogus space marine chapter just checking in on the defenses of the planet and were in dire need of resupply. They were given an audience with the planetary governor at which point spelled the doom of the planet.

The eyes of the Vigilant lol sometimes propaganda backfires for the IOM.

So yeah, i would have to say from a civilian perspective Orks really would be the most dreadful to hear about coming... i even remember an entire in the 4th ed necron Codex which spoke about how unimpressed this old man was hearing the Imperium lost a few worlds to some Xenos nearby called Necrons. He said the IOM would take back those planets and it wasn't any real concern (not that being said obviously he is ignorant but still)

So like my previous post it comes down to perspective again... Orks while not in my eyes are particularly horrific you have to remember they are the most well known of the IOM's foes besides Chaos which was forced back into the warp long ago and any talk of it otherwise is considered heresy. So... in short the INQUISTION would scare the ever living piss out of me if I were a human far more than Xenos lol

Thank you , and fair point on the inquisition, I forgot which book it was, but it mentions that the Inquisition is pretty much the Boogeyman of the average citizen

They're all bloomin' scary, but Necrons would have to be the most scary. Anyone who's read Dead Men Walking will agree...

Colonel-Commissar wrote:
They're all bloomin' scary, but Necrons would have to be the most scary. Anyone who's read Dead Men Walking will agree...

I prefer Cain's perspective...say what you will, despite his coward-like nature, the man is one of the bravest out there - if he says Necrons are the worst and most terrifying enemies to face, I'm taking it at face value.

For me it would be Tyranids.

Getting hit with Dark Eldar weaponry, though poisoned, would be no different in my mind to being hit by a chemical weapon in the modern day world. I would have the good sense to make sure I didn't survive if there were no forseeable way to escape them.

With Daemons, I'm of the belief that faith can overcome them. So not quite as terrifying.

With Necrons, so what...they move silently...doesn't frighten me.

But Tyranids...nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Not underground in bunkers, not high in towers, not in aircraft, not in submarines, not on deserted islands...not even if you escape the planet as it will probably be surrounded by hive ships.

And they stink...and are slimy...and are big...with lots of sharp pointy things that have acids and poisons and bugs that can infest your body, that cause just as much pain if not more, than Dark Eldar weaponry. And you can't talk to them. You can't communicate to them in any way. You can't even beg for your life as they will not understand. You can't even think straight because of their massive psychic presence causing you to go mad. Even the local plant and animal life massively change into tyranid monstrosities that try to cut you and poison you and cause you harm.

Barring massive intervention from an outside source, when it comes to tyranids there is no hope of escape.

That's pretty terrifying.

You know what, lets just all pause a moment and reflect on how lucky we are that we live in the 3rd Millenium, not the 41st.

Wait, isn't Slaanesh born this Millenium? Feeeeeeeeeeeeth...

30th-31st, She who thirsts was born due to The Fall, just over 10,000 years prior to the setting of 40K.

We're few tens of thousands of years early yet.

Nope, I saw a timeline saying that Slaanesh was born in the Third Millenium A.D.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'm so sorry. Further research has shown that it WAS the 30th Millenium.

We're safe for now...

Nurgle, even if you win you get terrible diseases that turn you into a daemon.

In a fight, Tyranids. Imagining all those bounding hormagaunts running at the front lines.... *shudder*.

In a war, Necrons. You can beat Tyranids, you'll take a few billion casualties, but they can be beaten. Necrons only stop attacking if it suits them better, because chances are at the end of a battle you might have killed maybe 10, total. Necrons are attrition incarnate, it doesn't matter how many victories you have, how many Necrons you fell, even declaring the planet Exterminatus and destroying it, they'll just keep coming. And there's basically nowhere in the galaxy to run from them, their Empire spanned the entire galaxy all those millions of years ago, so every time you go to a new world, chances are there's more. They might be a different dynasty, but it's highly unlikely they'll invite you down to the Tombs for tea and crumpets. What's more, their standard gun can rip through a tank like paper, and to be hit by a Gauss Flayer is to have a bit of your body erased from existence, leaving a huge amount of blood and gore where you flesh was ripped away from you.

There are scarier armies to fight, but a war with the Necrons leaves you without hope.

Hormagaunts fall, but imagine the helplessness of seeing every shot just get absorbed into their armour...

Ork or Daemon. Nothing would be as frightening as a huge brute charging at you brandishing an axe as large as you. A daemon would just screw with my head.

Dark eldar. Firstly, they generally attack during some time when the locals expect something bad, e.g. an eclipse. Next, they start the attack in an all too scary fashion, zooming in faster than your eyes can follow, an array of spiked craft that seem to defy gravity and that emit some lovely screaming sounds as they come down.
Next, their weaponry. A hit from a poison weapon results in a few seconds of utter agony before death, which while quick for the dark eldar is far worse than the basic weaponry of any other race. And while nids use poison as well, that's designed to kill as quickly as possible, this is designed to kill as painfully as possible. Shreddars/shardnets aren't all that pleasant, being torn apart by nearly invisible wires, with nothing anyone can do to escape. Combat is another terrifying experiance, with the enemy wanting to kill you in as many hits as possible, slowly bleeding you to death while they dance around you, impossible to hit. And while their anti-tank weapons are a quick death for infantry, seeing your prized land raider blow up after a single hit is a little nerve-wracking. Which brings me onto the subject of wracks. What could possibly be more terrifying than all the things mentioned above, plus the fact that the things doing it are basically humans turned inside-out? And then there's giant versions of these, the haemonculus wonder-weapons, the chronos and talos...

And most of all, you don't want them to take you alive.

And if you win? They'll probably come back some time and take revenge on you. And that will be as above, only ten times worse because you know that this time it's inevitable, and that even if you win this one, it's not going to do anything in the long run...


Yeah, crons are perhaps nearly as scary in battle, and what she who thirsts will do to you if you're captured is probably about the same as what the dark eldar will do to you, but the horrors of battle and the fact they'll quite possibly tell you what they're planning to do to you if you're captured (see the message above Vect's stats in the 3rd edition codex), there's not a whole lot of stuff that can possibly be more scary.

I'd say Nids because who would want to be ripped to shreds by millions, billions of xenos that devour humans, plants, and every living organism.

Dark Eldar are second.

Dark Eldar raid a world cause havoc and fear throughout and then take slaves who are killed violently or tortured and killed slowly or made to serve the eldar and are brutally treated.

Orks Third:

Orks are a green tide of ferocious beings that killed everything every their own kind. And surviving a war with them and being taken alive is worse than death. Orks eat them, torture them, and playing horrifying games that usually end up with the participants dead or mauled.

The Inquisition.

Although I suppose it's hard to justify calling them an army, they really aren't.

I also believe Nugle followers all the nastiness, the smell and just the horror of it all.

Mine would be necrons there unfeeling unstoppable and when you do destroy one he fades out like a ghost to be replace by another if he docent just put him self back together right there on the battle field.
It would also depend on what army your in if i was say a ork that would just be freaking awesome!