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As a Marine Loremaster... Allow me.

In the fluff, marines literally can breathe water with their multi-lung. And all marines have the sense of honor. Seeing their leader without a helmet tells them that he has balls the normal marines wish they possessed, because they are not only fighting impaired, as they don't have the visuals and advanced targeting their helmet gives them, but because they have their faces exposed to the enemy and can see the carnage. It is also harder for the marine to be ready for battle as the chaplains need to do different rituals to give a marine without a helmet the same blessings as a helmeted one. If he lost the helmet in battle, he still has those blessings

Also, if someone could correct me due to not having a scout squad, I don't think scouts come with helmets at all.


And also, it can look cool on the table top, but none of my Marines will be helmet less due to my lack of face painting confidence. My sergeants will have a silver helmet to distinguish them and my captain and chapter master will be converted to have a helmet.

Tl:dr: It looks cool, marines without helmets have the balls to do so, and if you don't like it, convert your models.

Scouts do not come with helmets(But some with visors)
And many marines get implants so they do have the same data feeding in if they has helmets.

Neutralista wrote:
As a Marine Loremaster... Allow me.

In the fluff, marines literally can breathe water with their multi-lung. And all marines have the sense of honor. Seeing their leader without a helmet tells them that he has balls the normal marines wish they possessed, because they are not only fighting impaired, as they don't have the visuals and advanced targeting their helmet gives them, but because they have their faces exposed to the enemy and can see the carnage. It is also harder for the marine to be ready for battle as the chaplains need to do different rituals to give a marine without a helmet the same blessings as a helmeted one. If he lost the helmet in battle, he still has those blessings

Also, if someone could correct me due to not having a scout squad, I don't think scouts come with helmets at all.


And also, it can look cool on the table top, but none of my Marines will be helmet less due to my lack of face painting confidence. My sergeants will have a silver helmet to distinguish them and my captain and chapter master will be converted to have a helmet.

Tl:dr: It looks cool, marines without helmets have the balls to do so, and if you don't like it, convert your models.

SOLUTION! Iron Hands. Ironfather comes around and says "Take your helmet off, Brother Jerome" "But I'm not wearing a helmet, sir. This is my face. Techbrother Ambrosious carved the weak flesh away and grafted metal to my facial bones." "Very well then. Good marine, Brother Jerome."

 Nerobellum wrote:

Neutralista wrote:
As a Marine Loremaster... Allow me.

In the fluff, marines literally can breathe water with their multi-lung. And all marines have the sense of honor. Seeing their leader without a helmet tells them that he has balls the normal marines wish they possessed, because they are not only fighting impaired, as they don't have the visuals and advanced targeting their helmet gives them, but because they have their faces exposed to the enemy and can see the carnage. It is also harder for the marine to be ready for battle as the chaplains need to do different rituals to give a marine without a helmet the same blessings as a helmeted one. If he lost the helmet in battle, he still has those blessings

Also, if someone could correct me due to not having a scout squad, I don't think scouts come with helmets at all.


And also, it can look cool on the table top, but none of my Marines will be helmet less due to my lack of face painting confidence. My sergeants will have a silver helmet to distinguish them and my captain and chapter master will be converted to have a helmet.

Tl:dr: It looks cool, marines without helmets have the balls to do so, and if you don't like it, convert your models.

SOLUTION! Iron Hands. Ironfather comes around and says "Take your helmet off, Brother Jerome" "But I'm not wearing a helmet, sir. This is my face. Techbrother Ambrosious carved the weak flesh away and grafted metal to my facial bones." "Very well then. Good marine, Brother Jerome."

Bahahahahaha. That's great! +1 to you!

I find helmetless guardsmen less of a problem than Marines and other heavily armoured troops;

simply put, a basic helmet Don't improve your odds of survival by a whole lot, and in fact, with simple steel style helmets like the Guard has, the additional weight and reduced cone of vision can actually increase your odds of dying due to not spotting a threat. By and large, it's better to have something between you and the shrapnel flying around the battlefield, but so to is it a good idea to keep an eye on things.

Thus, for special weapon troopers and sergeants for my IG army, lack of helmets don't really bother me, as it's a trend in actual modern warfare where a specialist trooper, particularly marksmen, will use lighter helmets, or none at all, to not impede their primary task of identifying and eliminating hostile targets.

Now, for TDA, a lack of helmet is slowed. This is a suit designed to momentarily transit through the warp, an alternate reality of coalesced hell, and proceed to wade through half an army or blow the bits out of the interiors of starships, titans and so on. These are troops with enormous experience, armoured in virtually indestructible armour, and even a single casualty is a loss keenly felt.

And they don't wear fething helmets. A guardsmen is primarily relying on cover and his wits to stay alive; his armour is more encumbrance than anything else in most cases, unless it's carapace. A Terminator is a walking tank with godawful mobility who proceeds to plow forwards shooting/smashing everything in his way; cover is an obstacle to be smashed aside, his protecting is entirely from his awesomely powerful armour; even the smallest weakness in that armour could spell his death, given the nature of the fights terminators often find themselves in.

That's kind of the key for me; a soldier more reliant on cover and observation in combat without a helmet doesn't really bother me, because that helmet isn't performing a critical battlefield function, whether they be a firewarrior, guardsmen, guardian (though none of them are helmetless) or so on, their survival depends on awareness, which a helmet can impede. A Marine, terminator, stormtrooper and so on rely moreso on their armour to survive battle, it's that armour in conjunction with equally advanced weapons and training which allows them to overcome the tall odds often stacked against them, and to invite a weakness is, to be blunt, suicidal.

Thus, all my marines have helmets (save for my chapter master; when you make a Gabriel Angelos look alike, one must abide the rule of cool), and my guardsmen are more varied.

 MajorStoffer wrote:
I find helmetless guardsmen less of a problem than Marines and other heavily armoured troops;

simply put, a basic helmet Don't improve your odds of survival by a whole lot, and in fact, with simple steel style helmets like the Guard has, the additional weight and reduced cone of vision can actually increase your odds of dying due to not spotting a threat. By and large, it's better to have something between you and the shrapnel flying around the battlefield, but so to is it a good idea to keep an eye on things.

Thus, for special weapon troopers and sergeants for my IG army, lack of helmets don't really bother me, as it's a trend in actual modern warfare where a specialist trooper, particularly marksmen, will use lighter helmets, or none at all, to not impede their primary task of identifying and eliminating hostile targets.

Now, for TDA, a lack of helmet is slowed. This is a suit designed to momentarily transit through the warp, an alternate reality of coalesced hell, and proceed to wade through half an army or blow the bits out of the interiors of starships, titans and so on. These are troops with enormous experience, armoured in virtually indestructible armour, and even a single casualty is a loss keenly felt.

And they don't wear fething helmets. A guardsmen is primarily relying on cover and his wits to stay alive; his armour is more encumbrance than anything else in most cases, unless it's carapace. A Terminator is a walking tank with godawful mobility who proceeds to plow forwards shooting/smashing everything in his way; cover is an obstacle to be smashed aside, his protecting is entirely from his awesomely powerful armour; even the smallest weakness in that armour could spell his death, given the nature of the fights terminators often find themselves in.

That's kind of the key for me; a soldier more reliant on cover and observation in combat without a helmet doesn't really bother me, because that helmet isn't performing a critical battlefield function, whether they be a firewarrior, guardsmen, guardian (though none of them are helmetless) or so on, their survival depends on awareness, which a helmet can impede. A Marine, terminator, stormtrooper and so on rely moreso on their armour to survive battle, it's that armour in conjunction with equally advanced weapons and training which allows them to overcome the tall odds often stacked against them, and to invite a weakness is, to be blunt, suicidal.

Thus, all my marines have helmets (save for my chapter master; when you make a Gabriel Angelos look alike, one must abide the rule of cool), and my guardsmen are more varied.

Exactly. Draigo Himself live in the warp. How would he survive helmetless?

 prophet102 wrote:
Exactly. Draigo Himself live in the warp. How would he survive helmetless?

I consider myself a man of science. That said, it's clear that Draigo has a beard in the warp. Want to survive in the warp? Grow a beard.

 Nerobellum wrote:

 prophet102 wrote:
Exactly. Draigo Himself live in the warp. How would he survive helmetless?

I consider myself a man of science. That said, it's clear that Draigo has a beard in the warp. Want to survive in the warp? Grow a beard.

Just how space wolves can survive a bolter round to the face! genius!

 prophet102 wrote:

 Nerobellum wrote:

 prophet102 wrote:
Exactly. Draigo Himself live in the warp. How would he survive helmetless?

I consider myself a man of science. That said, it's clear that Draigo has a beard in the warp. Want to survive in the warp? Grow a beard.

Just how space wolves can survive a bolter round to the face! genius!

Let's review some data.

-Leman Russ : May or may not have had a beard. Most sources indicate he was at least rocking a pretty smarmy five'o'clock shadow from the moment he set foot on Fenris. Current status? Assumedly alive, somewhere out there, being the galactic equivalent to Tommy Lee Jones.

-Roboute Guilleman : No sources have ever depicted him as having a beard. Current status? Just shy of dead in a stasis tube, apparently in danger of being nicked by a certain Necron. Galactic equivalent of Nicholas Cage.

-Lion El'johnson : Has pretty much always been shown as having pretty kickass hair (like Viggo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters 2), but decidedly clean shaven. Current status? Basically dead. Watchers in the Dark are pretty tight lipped on his status, but I'm doubting he's in capacity to put a cigar out on someones face if the need arose, ya know what I mean?

-Jaghatai Khan : Rode the 31st millenium equivalent of a Harley and rocked a massively awesome Fu'Manchu. Current Status? Playing "Hide the fist" with Eldar faces or something. Most likely knows both the location of Black Library AND who the Stig is (assuming he isn't already actually The Stig)

-Rogal Dorn: Mixed news. Some show him rocking the mustache, others show him going West Point shaven. Eitherway, he looked like a mix between Ray Finkle and Joseph Stalin. Current status? Dead. Get's a pass because no one is running around pretending he's alive, but just grounded or something.

-Sanguinus : Yeah, definitely no mustache/beard/goatee on this bloke. He's right there on the border between "Yeah, I have a single word for a name, so what?" and "Stripper". Current status? Dead.

-Ferrus Manus : The man had iron hands....was named Iron Hands....and lead a chapter called Iron hands. I won't give him any crap, but he did indeed lack facial hair. Current status? Dead.

-Vulkan : Not a lot of art on this guy. May in fact be Idris Elba....who has a facial hair. Current status? Making Eldar and Tau lock their doors at traffic lights. Probably works at a shipyard off some backwater forgeworld.

-Corax : Decidedly does not have facial hair. Nearly got beat up by a preacher. Is a walking Edgar Alan Poe poem. Current status? Who knows? Probably a redditor.

-Big E : Could have psykically grown facial hair, chose not to. Reveals himself to humanity as the Emperor of Mankind and doesn't bother to at least work in a nice beard or goatee. He IS from present day Turkey. Current status? Dead. Let's be honest, the throne room probably smells like Bengay and rotten meat at this point. The Golden Throne probably works fine, the AdMec IT techs are probably just tired of going near the damn thing because the stupid Ecclesiarchy says they can't just put a sheet over the corpse. Dead.


So as we see.....Facial hair is generally speaking, superior to not-facial hair.

There was a test in survivability of current day marines that actually showed that bearded marines had a lower casualty rate

 prophet102 wrote:
There was a test in survivability of current day marines that actually showed that bearded marines had a lower casualty rate

That could have something to do with how your survival odds skyrocket if you survive the first couple of weeks in a warzone. Two weeks is enough for me to grow a recognizable beard, although not an impressive one apart from turning a bit red.

Spetulhu wrote:

 prophet102 wrote:
There was a test in survivability of current day marines that actually showed that bearded marines had a lower casualty rate

That could have something to do with how your survival odds skyrocket if you survive the first couple of weeks in a warzone. Two weeks is enough for me to grow a recognizable beard, although not an impressive one apart from turning a bit red.

True. A veteran who is used to the layout of the land and terrain is going to be much more efficient of a soldier then a recruit who just showed up the day of.

How Draigo survives in the warp without helmet? Warp dust!

So... I should start modelling my marines with beards instead of helmets? What about bearded helmets?

 gaovinni wrote:
So... I should start modelling my marines with beards instead of helmets? What about bearded helmets?

Bearded helmets gives you 2++ invuln

I found the easiest way to show that my slightly feral Blood Drinker marines had regressed somewhat to the state of vampirism was by having them helmetless. Its easier to drink someone's blood without a helmet.
And its easier to see that they are vampiric if you can see their big pointy teef

Haha Ok

Sorry, but as someone who has been on a battlefield, I think its stupid. And read a novel, no SM I can think of willingly started fighting without a helmet. But they usually write it in that the leaders helmet conveniently got damaged so he takes it off.

(I also hate painting faces :p )

When it comes to models, it's because it looks cool.

In the fluff, it is a symbol of leadership.

 cvtuttle wrote:

 DeathReaper wrote:
Helmetless Models look lame and no one should use them.

Really it is a disappoint when my opponents helmets are missing.

Not going to not get a game in because of it, but it just looks bad.

That's clearly a matter of opinion. I completely disagree.

That was clearly factual. You are completely wrong.

all real bad es dont were helmets!
tho seriously id not want a bucket on my head fora whole battle my self some people just like being able to see more.

i also think it's stupid OP and i prefer the look of helmets anyway. luckily GW usually puts in lots of head options.

models in power armour/TDA w/o helmets should get -1 save or something, lol. it really is pretty dumb.

kb305 wrote:
i also think it's stupid OP and i prefer the look of helmets anyway. luckily GW usually puts in lots of head options.

models in power armour/TDA w/o helmets should get -1 save or something, lol. it really is pretty dumb.

I wouldn't go that far, getting headshots in real life isn't as easy as vidya games make it out. Most soldiers are trained to aim for the chest. Maybe a +1 to any sniper rifle related rending rolls but that's it. Even then... ehhh.

As for helmetless models? It's unprofessional, it's unmilitary, it's nonpractical, it's stupid from every point of view. But man, does it make your characters look awesome.

I guess it was about time for another newbie to wax inconsequentially about this....

Isn't this thread necromancy, anyway?

TheCustomLime wrote:

kb305 wrote:
i also think it's stupid OP and i prefer the look of helmets anyway. luckily GW usually puts in lots of head options.

models in power armour/TDA w/o helmets should get -1 save or something, lol. it really is pretty dumb.

I wouldn't go that far, getting headshots in real life isn't as easy as vidya games make it out. Most soldiers are trained to aim for the chest. Maybe a +1 to any sniper rifle related rending rolls but that's it. Even then... ehhh.

As for helmetless models? It's unprofessional, it's unmilitary, it's nonpractical, it's stupid from every point of view. But man, does it make your characters look awesome.

if youre talking about pistols and stuff, ya, it is pretty damn hard to get a head shot in real life with small arms.

this is 40k tho, there's rapid fire machine guns, rapid fire heavy weapons, balls of plasma flying everywhere and exploding, giant explosions throwing shrapmetal everywhere. i think you would want your fricken power armour helmet on lol. It's not like it's offering some small ammount of meaningless protection to your head either, it's fricken power armour.

 DeathReaper wrote:
Helmetless Models look lame and no one should use them.

Have you seen the crazy hair helmets the Eldar have to wear? The average DA squad is all going to die of broken necks if the pilot of a wave serpent uses vectored thrust in a emergency landing. They must all come from treeless craft worlds, else they would be bouncing off low limbs left and right. My newly built DA rock DE heads just to skip the main sail look of the avenger helmet.

ITT we apply logic to 40k and think realistically about it. Humor aside, there are many things that really don't make too much sense but exist to go with the "hero scale" and make the models look more awesome. The massive shoulder pads on marines comes to mind. I do know that some players model only helmets on marines and some even pursue the legendary "true scale" marines because they go for realism. In the end it is just an option in the kit and not required at all.

Yarr! I'm a pirate.

Ignore this, I failed to see something someone already said.