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I've heard in some bits of fluff (can't remember names now) that the IoM is clinging on to old weapons from the Dark Age of Technology or something of that name/ilk. But having seen the new GC models none of them seem to have plasmas and meltas, mostly these volkite weapons and things, and I don't remember seeing much of them in the fluff from the HH either.... So a) what happened to the volkite weaponry and b) how many HH weapons are still in 40k now? And c) what sort of weapons have been created in between?

I have not got the new HH book - but not seen any references to Volkite weapons - however some of the Heresy designs are taken from really old books etc so can be considered current.

Plus GW might retcon stuff into mainstreem 40K if they like it - Centurions have apparently been around since at least M.36 and not just last month

Many of a chapter's relics seem to be from the GC or HH, Captain Sicarius' left pauldron is from a set of Mk. II iron armour, the new relic bolted the Primarch's Wrath is said to come from Guilliman's personal armoury, the Gauntlets of Ultramar were used by Guilliman, the Raven's Talons were crafted by Corax, Dorn's Arrow was used by Rogal Dorn I think, there are scattered references to Marines receiving special pieces of ancient wargear as rewards.

I'd assume most Chaos Space Marines possess Horus Heresy era weapons and gear. Not sure about Space Marines though

So is it the same with grav tech, ie one day rare in 40k, next every squad has them?

Most things will have had at least some examples survive to the present day. Passed down from first founding to successor chapter, or sitting in the original Legion's armory gathering dust.


Things that were around during the GC/Heresy:

Plasma Guns and Pistols

Vehicle mounted Plasma Cannons

Melta guns, Inferno Pistols

Vehicle mounted Multi-meltas

Autocannons

Reaper Autocannons

Gravity weapons

Volkite weapons



Things invented after the Heresy

Astartes portable Multi-meltas and Plasma cannons

Assault Cannons(replaced the Reaper Autocannon)

MkVI armor and later marks(Traitors mostly use older marks, or whatever suits they can scavenge. thus newer marks can appear in their ranks)

Razorbacks

Crusader and Redeemer pattern Land Raiders

Thanks, that was more what I meant when I asked.

I doubt we'll see volkites in current era now, GW didn't put them in the SM book and they had a good chance/precedent ie grav weapons

 Grey Templar wrote:
Things that were around during the GC/Heresy:
Volkite weapons

Things invented after the Heresy
Astartes portable Multi-meltas and Plasma cannons

Source inconsistency there: So far the only source for the existence of Volkite weaponry is the the FW Betrayal book, which has man-portable Multi-Meltas and Plasma Cannons as standard issue to Astartes Heavy Support Squads.

Maybe they've changed things, but I've always interperted the lack of Plasma Cannon/Multi-melta options on chaos marines, plus IIRC its been outright stated, that there weren't man portable versions of those weapons during the Heresy.

Multi-Meltas were stated to be post-heresy back in 2nd edition, but it was a full thing not just man-portable. 2nd edition also said the same thing about Power Swords.

I share your interpretation regarding Plasma Cannons, however it was stupidly contradicted by Dark Angels 'thing' in 3rd edition being having lots of Plasma Cannons due to being the 1st Legion and therefor having lots and lots of them. (as in, having built up a stockpile before the other legions were formed thereby diluting the distribution) - something I believe has made a comeback with the new codex.

For accuracy sake there really should be multiple lists of pre/post-heresy reflecting the major sources.

Addendum: Regarding the Volkite question, exactly what a Volkite weapon is isn't all that well defined by Forge World, the main thing about them in the FW book is weapons rather cool rules, the thing is those rules are kinda cool but they aren't overly effective against marine armies which is all the FW rules are currently intended for use agains, the rules would need SERIOUS work to balance out for use in general 40k which the Studio probably figure isn't worth the effort..

Master of the Forge models take Conversion Beamers, which are pre-heresy weapons. And looking at the stats, they can really pack a punch. Key leaders of the Space Marines have them passed down, for example, Chapter Masters. Specifically, Vulkan He'stan ( Forgefather of the Salamanders chapter) is on his quest to find 9 artifacts left by the Primarch Vulkan, so you can safely assume that those are also pre-Heresy (or at least soon after).And while not strictly "weapons', both the Rhino and Land Raider pre-date the Imperium, considering the "age of the imperium" was after the Heresy, those are also pre-Heresy (well at least the designs and technology for them are).

Back in 2nd edition it used to be that Imperial plasma weapons were post-heresy constructs. Back then Imperial versions didn't actually have the "Get's Hot" rule, only the Chaos versions. The fluff was that the plasma weapons from the Heresy were deemed too high risk even taking into account their high damage output, so the Imperium toned them down over the following millennia, resulting in lower intensity but much safer weapons.

But then it got retconned in 3rd edition onwards to have all plasma weaponry be the old style of higher damage, higher failure design.

Most Imperial weapons in the game are from designs as old as the Heresy, and several of the "new" weapons are "retro" ones that are being brought back from 1st edition 40K, like Grav weapons and Conversion Beamers. Some, like the Grav weapons, are not nearly the same as they used to be.

The Volkite weapons are a completely new "old" weapon pattern invented by Forgeworld. As far as I can tell they are longer ranged melta weapons. As for melta weapons, one of the fun things you used to be able to do with Dreadnought mounted Multi-meltas was to open up the focusing array and use them as Heavy Flamers as well as their normal configuration.