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Not sure if this question goes in Lore because this isn't about who these people are in-universe, but who they're supposed to be a reference to.

Maximillian Weismann is SS tank commander and propaganda figure Michael Wittmann and Colonel Obodiah Schfeer is Oddball from Kelly's Heroes.

but who are:

Colonel Snake Stranski, Cadian 114 Mechanized. He's a Chimera mounted CCS. The Chimera has to have a Heavy Flamer, and he has Twin Plasma Pistols and a special rule that has him fire them from the TC's hatch in addition to anything else the Chimera is doing in its turn. That special rule makes me almost sure he's another movie character, but I've probably not seen the movie.

General Grizmund, Narmenian 1. Leman Russ Battle Tanks. Allows other tanks in force to be tank aces. I have honestly no idea where to start, since the rule is so generic.

Myndoras Odon, Cadian 6 Armor. Had a bonus to seize the initiative. His lore blurb in IA11 focuses on him being wounded multiple times and still fighting. He's from a different IA book later in 40k's history than the others, so he might be unique to 40k.

General Grizmund was from the Gaunt's Ghost novel Necropolis.

They're just characters from 40k. Not every 40k character is a reference to a real-life person.

 Gert wrote:
They're just characters from 40k. Not every 40k character is a reference to a real-life person.

Yes, buuutttttt....

All of those mentioned (except the last one) are Forgeworld characters released at roughly the same time in the late 90's/early 2000's so you would be forgiven for thinking they are all named after real people given who wrote those books at the time.

 Grimtuff wrote:
Yes, buuutttttt....

All of those mentioned (except the last one) are Forgeworld characters released at roughly the same time in the late 90's/early 2000's so you would be forgiven for thinking they are all named after real people given who wrote those books at the time.

The OP has assumed that people are as clued in as they are when asking about this.
I know Grizimund is from the Ghost's novel Necropolis and I used Lexicanum to find out about the other two. I don't know who wrote the books you mention so the idea that all the characters are based on real people isn't something that is obvious. If the OP or indeed yourself had explained who wrote the books then from the context perhaps those answering the question could be more helpful.

 Gert wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
Yes, buuutttttt....

All of those mentioned (except the last one) are Forgeworld characters released at roughly the same time in the late 90's/early 2000's so you would be forgiven for thinking they are all named after real people given who wrote those books at the time.

The OP has assumed that people are as clued in as they are when asking about this.
I know Grizimund is from the Ghost's novel Necropolis and I used Lexicanum to find out about the other two. I don't know who wrote the books you mention so the idea that all the characters are based on real people isn't something that is obvious. If the OP or indeed yourself had explained who wrote the books then from the context perhaps those answering the question could be more helpful.

Sorry I guess for insufficient context.

There are 4 characters in the old ForgeWorld Imperial Armor Volume 1 book. I think it was published in 2003.

They are:
Maximillian Weismann: Commander of Baneblade 212 "Arethusa", who died in a "death ride" counterattack against an Ork position. He's pretty obviously Michael Wittmann, an SS tiger ace and general SS propaganda figure who was killed in Normandy. He was commanding Tiger 212 when he died. Interestingly, he may have been killed by British tank ace Joe Ekinsm, who was in the area in action against the counterattack Wittmann was leading and is credited with destroying 3 Tigers that day.

Colonel Obodiah Schfeer: Commands the Leman Russ Vanquisher Steel Dog Alpha, which is fitted with a loudspeaker that he uses to inspire his crew and demoralized the enemy with loud music described as "loud, long, and to the untrained ear, quite painful". He's got a special rule for it called "My Boys Love It" that gives the enemy a leadership penalty against tank shock. He's most likely inspired by the character Oddball from the movie Kelly's Heroes, who is a hippy-esque Sherman tank commander who has his Sherman fitted with a loudspeaker that he uses to play loud music during battle.

Colonel 'Snake' Stranski: Commands the Cadian 114th Mechanized. As mentioned, he's a mounted CCS. His Chimera has a Heavy Flamer, and he has dual-wield plasma pistols. He has a special rule that says he can fire them from the hatch of the Chimera in addition to however many the Chimera can normally fire, and no matter how far it moves. His lore burb says he rallied his men and lead a counterattack firing wildly with his pistols from his Chimera, and that his regiment is nicknamed "Blood and Thunder". All things about him considered, and then also the fact that the other two characters are references, I would feel safe assuming that's he's also a reference, probably from a movie.

General Grizmund: Commands the Leman Russ Grace of the Throne and the Narmenian 1st. His special rule is that he can promote other tanks in the same list to have tank ace abilities, and is otherwise unexceptional. Apparently, he's from Gaunt's Ghosts, so not a reference to outside media, but also not exactly original to the IA1 book either.



Myndoras Odon is from IA 11, where he leads the Cadian 6th Armored against the Eldar. He's a lot newer than the others, so I can't say if he's a reference or just a funny name. The other character in the book is Bran Redmaw, who is a literal werewolf, for the Space Wolves.





Many of the older 40k characters, if they're not Blood Man Leader of the Blood Men or Angry Man Leader of the Angry Men, in general are references to something, for example:
Lion'el Johnson is a reference to the British poet Lionel Johnson who wrote the poem "The Dark Angel"
Corvus Corax is literally the scientific name of the Common Raven, and his last words were "Nevermore", referencing American horror/edgy poet Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem "The Raven". ("Thus spoke the Raven: 'Nevermore'")
and this is especially true in the Imperial Guard, where the entire army is basically composed of movie references with historical references thrown in for seasoning.

 Gert wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
Yes, buuutttttt....

All of those mentioned (except the last one) are Forgeworld characters released at roughly the same time in the late 90's/early 2000's so you would be forgiven for thinking they are all named after real people given who wrote those books at the time.

The OP has assumed that people are as clued in as they are when asking about this.
I know Grizimund is from the Ghost's novel Necropolis and I used Lexicanum to find out about the other two. I don't know who wrote the books you mention so the idea that all the characters are based on real people isn't something that is obvious. If the OP or indeed yourself had explained who wrote the books then from the context perhaps those answering the question could be more helpful.

Warwick Kinrade, Ian Pickstock, Tony Cotterell et al are all big military history nerds, which should be obvious from how the IA books are presented, plus the first two having a massive 40k Stalingrad board called Tsaragrad featured in White Dwarf (later reprinted in the 3rd ed IG codex). All of those characters precede the IA books by a few years (all of them had rules in the Citadel Journal) so were made when the (relaunched) Forgeworld was in its infancy.

I've no idea if any more of those are based on real people, but you can work out from enough context clues given the authors they are more than likely some deep IRL military Easter Egg for the reader's to spot and feel very clever about themselves.

 Grimtuff wrote:

Warwick Kinrade, Ian Pickstock, Tony Cotterell et al are all big military history nerds, which should be obvious from how the IA books are presented

Hell yeah. That Tallarn Armored Regiment chart still haunts me in my nightmares .

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
Colonel 'Snake' Stranski: Commands the Cadian 114th Mechanized. As mentioned, he's a mounted CCS. His Chimera has a Heavy Flamer, and he has dual-wield plasma pistols. He has a special rule that says he can fire them from the hatch of the Chimera in addition to however many the Chimera can normally fire, and no matter how far it moves. His lore burb says he rallied his men and lead a counterattack firing wildly with his pistols from his Chimera, and that his regiment is nicknamed "Blood and Thunder". All things about him considered, and then also the fact that the other two characters are references, I would feel safe assuming that's he's also a reference, probably from a movie.

It sounds like the name could be derived from Captain Stransky from "Cross of Iron" who is driven and callous in trying to win the Iron Cross medal, and not terribly popular with his troops because of it. Snake as a nickname seems to fit that, as he has no care for his troops and is more likely to get them killed than to see to their safety.

The characterization seems like it might fit General Patton. Being American and known to carry two sidearms, I could see Brits portraying his 40k version as a tank commander who gets to dual wield the biggest Imperial pistols available at the time from his cupola. He has a history as a tanker and the counter attack might be a reference to his relief action in the Ardennes in 1944, which also got an iconic scene in the movie "Patton".

That's my best guess.

 Geifer wrote:

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
Colonel 'Snake' Stranski: Commands the Cadian 114th Mechanized. As mentioned, he's a mounted CCS. His Chimera has a Heavy Flamer, and he has dual-wield plasma pistols. He has a special rule that says he can fire them from the hatch of the Chimera in addition to however many the Chimera can normally fire, and no matter how far it moves. His lore burb says he rallied his men and lead a counterattack firing wildly with his pistols from his Chimera, and that his regiment is nicknamed "Blood and Thunder". All things about him considered, and then also the fact that the other two characters are references, I would feel safe assuming that's he's also a reference, probably from a movie.

It sounds like the name could be derived from Captain Stransky from "Cross of Iron" who is driven and callous in trying to win the Iron Cross medal, and not terribly popular with his troops because of it. Snake as a nickname seems to fit that, as he has no care for his troops and is more likely to get them killed than to see to their safety.

The characterization seems like it might fit General Patton. Being American and known to carry two sidearms, I could see Brits portraying his 40k version as a tank commander who gets to dual wield the biggest Imperial pistols available at the time from his cupola. He has a history as a tanker and the counter attack might be a reference to his relief action in the Ardennes in 1944, which also got an iconic scene in the movie "Patton".

That's my best guess.

Neat! Thanks, I won't take it as a for sure, but both sound like they might be good possibilities.

I like the direction, but the must-take-flamethrower thing seems very specific. And from there, Chimera instead of Hellhound also seems odd.

Is Dr. No the Bond movie with the flamethrower tank on an island? That comes to mind, but it also doesn't really fit. I'm trying to think of a B movie with a flamethrowing troop carrier but coming up blank.

+1 For Iron Cross though, I watched that not too long ago.

Do any of these authors/designers respond on social media?
If so, just ask them.

Ok, so this sort of thing has been going on for YEARS!!!

There are definielty real world equivalents for a LOT of 40k characters.

At the risk of going slightly off topic....

Probably the best example is the original lore for the 3rd war of Armageddon.

Now, everyrone mostly knows the whole "Ghazkull Mag Uruk Thraka = Margaret Thatcher thing, and although modern GW has done its best to officially deny and distance itself from this, anyone around my age who was there for the founding of Rogue Trader and onwards will understand this is just corporate speak for "we don't want to get in trouble for poking fun at people and NOBODY is to ever mention the inquisitor known as Obi- wan Sherlock Holmes EVER AGAIN!!!"

Buuttt..... did you know that in the original lore, there was a traitorous Hive Governor who allowed the orks to gain a foothold on the Planet in return for being guaranteed safe passage off planet before all the fighting started??? (yeah, i know, trying to bargain with orks......)

His name? Mikhail Hesselstein.

Margaret Thatcher's right hand man in the British Conservative Party at this time was named..Michael Hesseltein.(spelling may be slighty off)

Coincidence??? i think not

I'm pretty sure the only place this is mentioned is in the lore section of the old cardboard token based Armageddon boardgame and has been buried in the mists of time by GW.

Only tangenitally related to OP's question, but fun nonetheless I think

princeyg wrote:
Ok, so this sort of thing has been going on for YEARS!!!

There are definielty real world equivalents for a LOT of 40k characters.

At the risk of going slightly off topic....

Probably the best example is the original lore for the 3rd war of Armageddon.

Now, everyrone mostly knows the whole "Ghazkull Mag Uruk Thraka = Margaret Thatcher thing, and although modern GW has done its best to officially deny and distance itself from this, anyone around my age who was there for the founding of Rogue Trader and onwards will understand this is just corporate speak for "we don't want to get in trouble for poking fun at people and NOBODY is to ever mention the inquisitor known as Obi- wan Sherlock Holmes EVER AGAIN!!!"

Buuttt..... did you know that in the original lore, there was a traitorous Hive Governor who allowed the orks to gain a foothold on the Planet in return for being guaranteed safe passage off planet before all the fighting started??? (yeah, i know, trying to bargain with orks......)

His name? Mikhail Hesselstein.

Margaret Thatcher's right hand man in the British Conservative Party at this time was named..Michael Hesseltein.(spelling may be slighty off)

Coincidence??? i think not

I'm pretty sure the only place this is mentioned is in the lore section of the old cardboard token based Armageddon boardgame and has been buried in the mists of time by GW.

Only tangenitally related to OP's question, but fun nonetheless I think

Yeah, I know. My friends and I were having a laugh about all the old characters, and I realized that there were a few I didn't know from my faction. So I set out to find the reference.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't GW that said the Thatcher thing isn't true but rather the guy who wrote the book after they'd left GW.

Snake Plisskin from Escape From New York

 BlackoCatto wrote:
Snake Plisskin from Escape From New York

Yes, that's the name of the main character in that movie. Your point?

ccs wrote:

 BlackoCatto wrote:
Snake Plisskin from Escape From New York

Yes, that's the name of the main character in that movie. Your point?

I assumed they were still looking for the reference that Colonel Stranski is based off of.

 BlackoCatto wrote:

ccs wrote:

 BlackoCatto wrote:
Snake Plisskin from Escape From New York

Yes, that's the name of the main character in that movie. Your point?

I assumed they were still looking for the reference that Colonel Stranski is based off of.

Refresh my memory, I haven't seen Escape from NY in 30+ years.
How, other than sharing the name "Snake", is the 40k character referencing the movie character?

The name