So what would 30k Xenos armies be?

[Mr Mystery]

How do?

So current and understandably widespread grumble is the boys in Power Armour getting all the Forgeworld love, with what can only be called token releases for non-Heresy stuff now and again.

Yet, I for one have not given much thought to what a Heresy Era xenos army might look like for the existing nasties.

Orks for instance - well, they're kind of just Orks aren't they? No lost technology type stuff, least not that I'm aware of!

Eldar - Well, they'd more or less just had their little Fall. Commoragh is established to already be underway, but not under Cabal rule.

Niddlydiddlies - Although apparently recent, little reason not to have very, very advanced guard Hive Fleets knocking about.

Necrons - Some Tomb Complexes confirmed in the 40k book to have been rubbing the sleepymen out their cold, dead eyes.

What's your thoughts folks?

[40kGamer]

Orks are Orks are Orks...

I would think Eldar / Dark Eldar may share more technology as it is so close after the fall. Although one could argue the 'purists' took to the craftworlds with untainted technology and the Dark Eldar reflect where technology evolved up to the time of the fall.

Gribblies? I don't know that any full hivefleets would be around but they had to have advance elements arrive at some point to spread the Genestealers about.

Crons were mostly sleeping but I could see isolated tomb world waking up even in this period.

Tau would be noteably absent as they are a young race.

Most of 30k was the Imperium exterminating small xenos populations scattered all about so there would be loads of minor species to explore.

I would expect the Loaxtl and Hrud would be milling about somewhere too.

One of the beautiful mechanics they built into the 40k storyline is the vastness and inadequacy of the imperial records leaving options open to add things in at any time and still have it retrofit the fluff.

[Paul David Luke]

Although they wouldn't suit full size FOC, things like the alien species on Murder, or... that psyker race from the first DA book (its been a while since I read the HH books!) would be rather cool, although they would more obviously suit killteam style games.

[Mr Mystery]

You say that, but look what they're doing with the Mechanicum.

Updates of old Robot classes as Battle Automata, alongside brand new stuff like the Thalax. So stuff on Murder could be a lot wider than the book mentioned (one would assume the Astartes would only really note and be fussed about the elite stuffs)

But just concentrating on the existing 40k races for now, as they'd more likely sell better than a race you couldn't port stuff over into 40k as relics.

[40kGamer]

But just concentrating on the existing 40k races for now, as they'd more likely sell better than a race you couldn't port stuff over into 40k as relics.

I would think the Eldar/Dark Eldar would be the biggest potential xenos mine for dual 30k / 40k service. The whole Engines of Vaul thing and all... or you could go absolutely nuts and fill out a complete Harlequin army.

[ReveredChaplainDrake]

Eldar would probably be some hybrid of Exodite, Craftworld and Dark at this point in their history. I'd imagine the Imperium would mostly be bumping into Rangers. The rest of the Eldar are probably going into panic mode. If we're talking about before the fall, Eldar would probably be a very, very nasty race to bump into. The Craftworld Eldar that we know today (as in 41st millennium) are purposefully limiting their own power so as not to tear holes into reality. The pre-Fall Eldar would probably not be so nice. They'd have all the psychic abilities of the Craftworld Eldar and then some, combined with the perversity and masochism of the Dark Eldar.

Hey, wait a second... Hordes and hordes of Space Marines with super-ancient technology getting shredded apart by a hybrid of Eldar and Dark Eldar... Orks occasionally around... Chaos Marines and Tyranids simply don't exist... Maybe we are playing Warhammer 30k!

Gribblies? I don't know that any full hivefleets would be around but they had to have advance elements arrive at some point to spread the Genestealers about.

While full-blown Tyranid attacks are unlikely, Genestealer Cults are still probably a very real threat. Given the enormous spans of sheer vacuum in the galaxy, combined with the fact that Tyranids don't really have any FTL travel of their own (I barely dignify Narvahls as canon; I refuse to accept FTL-enabling Narvahls as canon because physics called and said no), they're probably already in the galaxy, lurking in between the stars in the vacuum of space. Nobody bumps into them because, pfft, who travels through long stretches of interstellar vacuum when you have warp travel? It would probably go some way as to explaining how we have Genestealers, and how come they seem confined to Space Hulks. They keep getting Genestealer-infested because they flicker into realspace and bump into the dormant Tyranid fleets.

Space Hulks themselves are probably also serious (if not rare) problems, even in 30k. Can you imagine all the freighters that got lost when humanity was just getting the hang of warp travel and with no astronomicon to guide them? For all the mystery behind what the Tyranids were when they finally showed up, Space Hulks and Genestealers seemed to be unusually well-established facts. I don't think Genestealer infestations would be too implausible in a 30k setting.

[daboarder]

combined with the fact that Tyranids don't really have any FTL travel of their own (I barely dignify Narvahls as canon; I refuse to accept FTL-enabling Narvahls as canon because physics called and said no), they're probably already in the galaxy,

Tyranids have FTL, there are no instances of tyranid fleets taking forever to get anywhere, they move as fast (or faster, RE: Krakren) than imperial fleets. Therefore they must have some means of FTL (And I agree the narvhal is stupid, not the least because that entire BS paragraph was just a "nids are **** at space and can take decades to get from one planet in a solar system to another, therefore they lose)

[Chaoschrist]

I'm actually amused by the notion that in the 30k verse, Orks would/could have superior tech, lol.

[Mr.Pickelz]

An Ork Warboss also came close to killing the Emperor, A unified Ork army would be utterly terrifying for the Great Crusade to see.

[CoffeeGrunt]

The Ullanor Orks would be interesting to hear more about, as at the time it was a mighty Ork Empire that IIRC required all the Legions and the Emperor himself to defeat I'd also like to hear more of the PrimOrk who almost matched the Emperor in single combat.