Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I remember in the 2nd last chancers novel, the penal regiment goes into a Tau controlled area dressed as mercs- and there are other human mercs there, as well as the necessary Kroot.

Main problem with mercs is that the Imperium is the Imperium- everyone is supposed to fall in line and be under one banner of humanity. Thus, you'd have to end up fighting for other non-human factions, which is a big no-no. However, SOMEONE has to fill out the average Inquisitor's retinue with a "tough as nails Hombre man-with-no-name" gunslinger type.

I think this just shows the problem of lore vs. tabletop- I realize there's no way to represent 100% of it, but things get swapped around. EX: Squats are a thing/ they all died to Tyranids/ no they didn't, they're leagues of Votann now. There's like 3 other Assassin temples that don't have a model.. granted, a poisoner and/ or hacker wouldn't be much of a help vs an army.

It is indeed the main short coming of 40k, being that many aspects of the univers can't be really used or développed on the table. However I think that other forms of productions (BL, video games) or games (like the RPG they did) could help fill this gap

 Haighus wrote:
I am pretty sure that the line between mercenary and privateer is basically non-existent.

A mercenary is actively paid to perform a specific task or tasks. A privateer is given state sanction to perform certain actions, but isn't directly compensated by the state to do so.

To use an historical example, a privateer in the 1600s might have received a Letter of Marque from the British Crown giving permission (and state backing) to attack Spanish ships in the Carribean. But aside from promising safe harbors where said privateer wouldn't be hung for piracy, the Crown offered no further support. The cost of outfitting the voyage would have been handled by the captain (or whomever was backing him), and the profits of the voyage would be based purely on what was seized. A mercenary, on the other hand, would have been paid by the Crown to go attack Spanish ships in the Carribean.

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
It is indeed the main short coming of 40k, being that many aspects of the univers can't be really used or développed on the table. However I think that other forms of productions (BL, video games) or games (like the RPG they did) could help fill this gap

All backgrounds contain limitations. It's hard to have western gunslingers during the Roman Republic while keeping it authentic.

Sci-fi is no different. The Star Wars universe (or what is left of it) is not 40k, nor is it Space: 1999 or Star Trek.

The Grim Dark Future of 40k is one of incessant, all-out war by mutually hostile factions. That's it's vibe. If one wants more of a great power system with free companies wandering around, Battle Tech beckons.

And yet there are places beyond the Imperium's reach where any number of weird factions can exist. The problem is that the mechanics of travel through the warp severely limits accessibility to FTL travel.

Again, that's a limit but it also opens up cool notions such as the Eye of Terror and warp storms, etc.

And a notion for which I have got an acute taste: places overlooked and left aside.

The further development of what you just rightfully pointed out is that, since not everyone is even remotely capable of FTL travel and even less to chart everything and monitor everything, then it leaves ample room for backwater stuff, such as awkward mercenaries in our instance.