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In all the fluff I've read Chimeras are amphibious, but does this mean that all things on the chimera chassis are? I figured the Leman Russ or basilisk wouldnt be because of ammo and turret weight, but maybe a devil dog or griffon, since they would have less/lighter ammo?

The russ has a different chassis.

You could probably argue that a Griffon would still probably float, especially if you added a bit of a skirt in the same way the WW2 DD tanks were fitted out. The hellhound, I'm not so sure about as the flamer fuel would add a heck of a lot of weight.

How could something called a Devil Dog NOT be allowed to be amphibious?

The Basalisk - probably not. Unless they have a rowboat full of ammo behind it, since it appears to have no stowage itself...

Umm, doesn't petrol float though?

Not when it's in a heavily armoured steel container.

Bear in mind that "amphibious" doesn't mean that it floats. Rather, it means that it's waterproof enough to travel underwater. Think James Bond's Lotus Esprit, only instead of jetting along we're tracking along the seabed.

If I recall correctly, Land Raiders can do it too.

Land Raiders are vacuum and pressure rated enough to drive on a seabed or operate attached to the hull of a starship.

Chimeras just float and happen to have some sort of aquatic drive mechanism. I'd imagine the ordnance tanks built on the chassis have either weight distribution issues or lack the open internal volume to provide buoyancy.

For the Hellhound variants, promethium might be lighter that water, but it is inevitably heavier than air. The more powerful engines may also be incompatible with the Chimera's aquatic drive mechanism, or just too heavy. I'm sure someone with a copy of IA1 can track down the fully loaded weight of a Chimera and a Hellhound to see how they compare.

I have never heard of Chimeras floating.

Amphibious tanks travel on the sea floor.

If they float... they'd be boats.

No. Amphibious tanks float. Check out the USMC's AAV7 for an example. The UK's Royal Marine Viking is another example of a tracked vehicle that can be sea-worthy, though the Viking requires a few minutes of bolting on a piece or two.

DaddyWarcrimes wrote:
No. Amphibious tanks float. Check out the USMC's AAV7 for an example. The UK's Royal Marine Viking is another example of a tracked vehicle that can be sea-worthy, though the Viking requires a few minutes of bolting on a piece or two.

I'm not talking about real world tanks.

I'm saying I've never heard of CHIMERAS floating.

Though I must admit that the AAV7 look's to be the inspiration for the Chimera.

It says they're amphibious but how exactly do they propel themselves through water? I could see them being able to trudge through a shallow river, but can you take them on open water?

 More Dakka wrote:
It says they're amphibious but how exactly do they propel themselves through water? I could see them being able to trudge through a shallow river, but can you take them on open water?

Perhaps a bunch of Servitors with life-jackets swim underneath and carry it along.

 More Dakka wrote:
It says they're amphibious but how exactly do they propel themselves through water? I could see them being able to trudge through a shallow river, but can you take them on open water?

Some amphibious vehicles tracks can act like water scoops to propel them along, presumably so can the Chimera's.

They just drive on the bodies of the guardsmen sent to secure the waterways.

Or it has a hydrojet system built into each track assembly. Who knows? I'm sure one of the IA or Black Library books has addressed it at some point.

Can anyone point to a fluff source that states it either floats or drives on the bed?

Note that the word "amphibious" doesn't count either way.

The chassis itself may be amphibious but with the extra weight of the guns any of the artillery pieces are probably not amphibious.

I think either case would fit with the fluff. Ie it would depend on the STC that it was made from to determine it* . Its perhaps a bit arbitrary to argue which one it does though seeing as there's that many variants out there, just as long as its capable of travelling across water.

I interpret it as the thing actually floating though, as that fits in more with the style of vehicle that GW based the thing on in the first place.

*Ie like where most chimeras are powered by Promethium, but more advanced ones have nuclear reactors (the source stating that the knowledge was lost and so an alternative had to be made)

I didnt know that bit about landraiders, quite cool. But I bet Chimeras would float and use the treads as paddles like modern APCs do. The landraider is high tech fancy stuff so driving along the bottom seems a bit more in line for it.

The Chimera is supposed to be amphibious because it's supposed to be a BMP (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMP_development ), it's not a rule I see referenced commonly, since water terrain is annoying to implement physically on the board in many cases.

A vehicle that is amphibious is one that is capable of crossing a body of water safely, whether floating or submerged. The BMP-2 is an amphibious APC that floats in the same way the DUKW did. I would imagine the Chimera, being quite near in appearance to the BMP APCs would probably float and is probably propelled, with a few adjustments, by conversion of the movement of the tracks into water jets.

Honestly I imagine Chimeras to be like the IFV's in BF3 crossing water, just like in rush on kharg island

Just the chimera has more dakka and its bigger

Is there a relevant difference between "amphibious" and "submersible" when applied to vehicles? To me amphibious means it floats. Also while it is well known that you can run land raiders along the sea bottom, in-game they don't have the amphibious rule.