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Kahoolin
05-08-2010, 01:38 AM
Has anyone ever seen an illustration of a sarissa? The WH codex just describes them as "vicious, spiked combat attachments" for a bolter.

The name suggests it is something like a pike? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarissa) Maybe it turns a bolter into some sort of gun-pike, but that seems very unwieldy and strange. On the other hand, if a sarissa is just a spike bayonet then why the fancy name? Why not just describe it as a bayonet and/or count it as a ccw instead of putting it in the armoury?

My memory is notoriously poor, but in Cain's Last Stand I think sarrissae are sort of like axe-blades on the ends of the sisters bolters.

So what the hell are they? How would I model one? :confused:

Melissia
05-08-2010, 01:59 AM
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/melissiablackheart/MkIIScourgeBoltgun.png

Kahoolin
05-08-2010, 02:05 AM
Heh, looks like bloody great choppa it is then :cool:

My Celestians are going to be holy terrors. I decided to put sarrissae on them to make them stand out.

Nabterayl
05-08-2010, 02:18 AM
Mel's right. Don't ask me why that gets called a sarissa, but that's what a 40K sarissa is.

Necrosis
05-08-2010, 11:03 AM
Heh, looks like bloody great choppa it is then :cool:

My Celestians are going to be holy terrors. I decided to put sarrissae on them to make them stand out.

I took some scout daggers and put them on my Celestians. Makes them look much better.

Sitnam
05-08-2010, 02:32 PM
Mel's right. Don't ask me why that gets called a sarissa, but that's what a 40K sarissa is.

This is 40k, the land of chainsaw swords, contradicting fluff, and awesome battles. Common sense need not apply.

Melissia
05-08-2010, 04:48 PM
Chainsaw swords make a tiny bit of sense though. The damage is done with the pulling motion, and in the background the sword isn't as thick as it is on the models.

Nabterayl
05-10-2010, 11:39 AM
Heh ... all I meant was that a sarissa isn't an axe, or even a bayonet. This (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~mreames/Alexander/Jones/Jones_pezhetairoi_sarissa_sm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~mreames/Alexander/sarissa_jones.html&usg=__7bp3xxo05tphm6obIrtakDoX1H4=&h=650&w=185&sz=109&hl=en&start=3&sig2=OfEOlQhFwWDX2dBExWr07A&itbs=1&tbnid=E6_I2s2v8VjmgM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=39&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsarissa%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26gbv% 3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=lUToS_zsGoeIsgO5ltWdBA) is a picture of a small sarissa.

Melissia
05-10-2010, 11:41 AM
I know.

But anyway!

The reason Sarissas are so much bigger than normal bayonets is because they're wielded by people with powered armor, and thus are much stronger than normal humans. :)

Faultie
05-10-2010, 12:37 PM
I know.

But anyway!

The reason Sarissas are so much bigger than normal bayonets is because they're wielded by people with powered armor, and thus are much stronger than normal humans. :)

In Crossfire, it's actually describe a lot more akin to a thrusting blade, not a chopping blade, akin to an off-set bayonet from a muzzle-loading musket. One of the Sisters uses one to kind of impale a badguy through the heart.

The point, though, is that it's attached onto the front like that, yes.

Melissia
05-10-2010, 12:47 PM
Lol... I have never seen it described in that way . It's a wicked, serrated attachment...

Faultie
05-10-2010, 01:02 PM
Lol... I have never seen it described in that way . It's a wicked, serrated attachment...
That's the impression I got from the description. There's a very real possibility that I am mis-interpreting the description (I read the book several years ago), but they were definitely used as thrusting weapons.

rbryce
05-10-2010, 01:25 PM
for my sarrisa i use a tomb kings skeleton champions swords. they add some nice length to the bolter, and the blade sweeps in a nice curve. there is enough flat surface to add some gilding type detal too. the joys of inherited models when my old flatmate moved to wales.

Old_Paladin
05-10-2010, 05:02 PM
I always thought of them as actually being several, long, but down-pointed blades (like taking the dark eldar shoulder spikes, and putting them on a bolter); used in a brutal, hacking/chopping manner (like a war pick). I'm not sure why I thought that, probably the simple and brief discription of them.

But, If Mel says they're a jagged halberd blade; well... then that's what they are.

Melissia
05-10-2010, 05:22 PM
I got that from the picture in the Dark Heresy supplement, Inquisitor's Handbook. See the picture above. that's a Sarissa.


Also before anyone asks, yes, Dark Heresy is canon. GW's own writers contribute to Fantasy Flight Games' various productions.