Warhammer 40,000 Explained Through the Imperium's Mechs

Warhammer 40,000 Explained Through the Imperium's Mechs

 

Who would win, Darth Vader or the Master Chief? What's the best sci-fi spaceship, a Star Destroyer, or the Enterprise? Comparisons of different science fiction franchises are a common nerdy mental exercise and topic of debate but one thing that comes up time and time again, if Warhammer 40,000 gets brought into the mix, everything else loses. Why is that? The answer is scale, Warhammer is just on a completely different scale to other science fiction franchises to an absurd degree. 

Fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe know well how massive and expansive it is. Nothing can be more sticky than a friend asking something like: "so what is a Space Marine?" A simple question can lead into hours of explanation over even a relatively simple topic in the universe. Outside of the simple stuff like Space Marines though there are so many other nooks and crannies full of different and diverse organizations, peoples, technologies and concepts. Just talking about the fighting forces of the Imperium most people passing by a Warhammer store or who played Dawn of War will recognize Space Marines, maybe the Imperial Guard but there is so much more its absolutely insane. You have Planetary Defense Forces, Frateris Militia, the Sisters of Battle, the Adeptus Custodes, the Sisters of Silence, the Arbites, the Imperial navy, the Skitarii, Secutarii, Legio Cybernetica, Adeptus Titanicus, Militarum Tempestas, Abhuman Auxilia, Inquisition, Rogue Traders Militant, Imperial Knights, Assassinorum, and heck I'm probably still forgetting a few. Each organization with its own structure, unique weapons and wargear, vessels and technology, iconography, markings, history and much more. So much so that the lore can, at times, appear to be completely impenetrable to someone new to the hobby. After all, with so much to explore, where do you start? Well, I think by taking a single example, the technology of mechs as expressed in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

So, what is a mech? Essentially, we are talking about a walking warmachine of some kind, a combat vehicle that has legs, maybe arms, is piloted by a human operator of some kind, and an operator who controls the machine directly, not remotely. Pretty simple right? Should be, and many different science fiction universes have walkers. Star Wars has the AT-AT and AT-ST, Halo has the Mantis, Battletech has lots of different mechs and even Star Trek has a few. But one thing that is fairly common across different franchises is that whatever mech technology they include, it tends to represent a distinct and singular technology. The mechs in Battlemech are all more or less based on the same technology, any person who can pilot a light mech can also pilot an assault mech broadly speaking, the technology is the same. Anyone can operate an AT-AT with the necessary training, so on and so forth. One of the first differences in Warhammer 40,000 is that there are tons of Mechs but they represent numerous, very different technologies, with many different modes of controlling the machines, housing the pilot, the training or conditioning required to operate them. An Imperial Guardsmen cannot pilot a Titan for instance. Each faction within the Imperium of the Warhammer 40,000 universe that operates mechs tends to have their own distinct technology for doing so, their vehicles often use very different weapons and feature very different technologies, so lets get started with some examples, going from smallest, to largest. 

 

Centurion Warsuit - Faction: Space Marines

-The smallest, and most questionable entry in this list is the Centurion Warsuit. These machines could perhaps more charitably called exo-suits or power armor than proper mechs but are worn over-top of the power armor already worn by first born space marines so it is a little difficult to classify them. The Centurion is a powered warsuit of additional armor and heavy weapons worn over the power armor of the space marine pilots. Centurions are able to mount much heavier weaponry than a space marine would be able to carry on his own and are tough enough to take considerable punishment in return. Somewhat larger than the Terminator Armor of the space marines the Centurions are the smallest mech currently employed by the Imperium.  

Sentinel - Faction: Imperial Guard

-The Sentinel is the workhorse walker of the Imperium. These machines can be found across the galaxy on many planets. They can be broadly manufactured almost anywhere, the technology and components used in their manufacture are common and simple. Anyone with a minimum of training can pilot a sentinel and they are used in various roles including military and industrial. Military sentinels can be fitted with more armor and a variety of basic heavy weapons such as autocannons, lascannons and missile launchers. Many planets also utilize sentinels as industrial equipment, fitting them with hydraulic claws and counter-weights so they can lift and move heavy loads of cargo with ease. Sentinels are operated by a pilot housed within a chassis cockpit that can either be open-topped or enclosed and the machines are controlled by a series of sticks and pedals. 

Penitent Engine - Faction: Sisters of Battle

-Functionally the Penitent Engines are fairly simple pieces of technology not particularly different from the Sentinels used across the Imperium. However instead of featuring an enclosed cockpit housing a trained and willing pilot the operators of the Penitent Engines are criminals and heretics who have been wired into a neural control cradle mounted on the front of the machine and further fitted with machines that amplify and feed the operator a constant stream of horrific pain. Driven by agony and rage the operators of Penitent Engines hurl their machines into battle to slay the enemies of the Emperor in a brutal frenzy until the pilot is killed, and sooner or later they certainly will be. Unlike most mechs employed in the Imperium the pilot of a Penitent Engine is not meant to survive a battle and no-one would willingly choose such a fate willingly. 

 

Ironstriders - Faction: Skitarii of the Adeptus Mechanicus

-Utilizing advanced perpetual motion technology whose secrets of manufacture are now lost to the Imperium the Ironstriders of the Adeptus Mechanicus are advanced mechs operated by two pilots. One pilot is a mind-wiped and cybernetically augmented servitor that is hard-wired into the controls of the mech mounted in front of the torso. The second operator is a warrior of the Skitarii Legions who rides atop the machine and either operates a mounted heavy weapon or wields a long shock-lance. Much like the centurions of the space marines the ironstrider straddles the line of what is and is not a mech, technically the Skitarii pilot who is the principal operator of the machine rides it like a mount, instead of piloting from inside the machine, however the ironstrider also features a hard-wired pilot who does operate the machine from inside a cockpit of a kind. 

Onager Dunecrawler - Faction: Skitarii of the Adeptus Mechanicus

-The Onagers of the Skitarii are the only mech on this list with more than two legs. The Dunecrawler mounts a cockpit chassis similar to but larger than that of a sentinel and mounted on two sets of articulated legs the Onager can mount a variety of powerful and advanced heavy weapons systems. Several operators are required to pilot the Onager, the principal pilot being permanently wired directly into the control mechanisms of the Onager while a secondary gunner is able to stand up in the top hatch and operate a pintle-mounted stubber if the situation requires it. 

Paragon Warsuit - Faction: Sisters of Battle

-A newly announced mech utilized exclusively by the Sisters of Battle the Paragon Warsuit is a mech operated by a member of the Adeptus Sororitas from a cradle fitted into the center of the machine. The pilots legs are housed in the upper-thighs of the machines own legs and armored plates enclose the pilot's torso and neck. The operator seems to use her own legs to move the legs of the warsuit and operates the arms with a pair of hand controls. Armed with over-sized power weapons in the right hand and melta, flamer or heavy bolters mounted on the left, with additional heavy-weapons mounted above the torso the Paragon Warsuit is a heavily armed and agile little mech, appearing to be around as large or larger, but lighter in construction, than a Dreadnought. 

 

Invictor Warsuit - Faction: Space Marines

-A recent addition to the arsenals of the Space Marines the Invictor Warsuit in form looks like a cut-down version of the Redemptor Dreadnoughts, with Dreadnought sarcophagi removed and replaced with a pilots cockpit able to fit a Primaris Space Marine who controls the machine with a series of sticks and pedals instead of by direct MIU interface. Currently this is the only mech available to the space marines where the pilot can enter and exit the machine at will and is not permanently interred into the control mechanisms of the suit. 

 

 

Dreadnoughts - Faction: Space Marines and Custodian Guard 

-Of all the mechs employed by the Imperium the Dreadnought is one of the most varied, these machines come in a wide variety of sizes from the boxy MKV Dreadnoughts, to the towering Leviathan Dreadnoughts or the mighty Custodian Telemon Heavy Dreadnought. They are also quite unique in that unlike any of the other mechs in the Imperium the pilots of Dreadnoughts cannot willingly leave their machines. Dreadnought pilots are taken from Space Marines or Custodians who have been mortally wounded in battle, and instead of being allowed to perish from their wounds have been granted the honor of immortality entombed in the life-support caskets of a Dreadnought Sarcophagus. The sarcophagi incorporate a host of advanced life-support technologies able to keep the withered torsos and heads of their occupants alive for centuries, even millennia. Most Dreadnought pilots are kept asleep in stasis for extended periods of time, awoken only when they are most needed. When awoken the sarcophagi are fitted into the armored chassis of a wide variety of different Dreadnought makes and models, armed with a dizzying array of different weapons and sent into battle to unleash their terrible might and considerable experience on the enemies of the Emperor, controlling their new adamantium and ceramite forged bodies through the use of a Mind Impulse Unit or MIU that connects their minds directly to the control mechanisms of the Dreadnought war machines. The most ancient and advanced models of Dreadnought, such as the Contemptor and Leviathan, feature Atomantic Reactors capable of powering advanced defensive energy shields, granting them considerable greater protection than most war machines of their size. 

 

Nemesis Dreadknight - Faction: Gray Knights

-Unique to the warriors of the Gray Knights Chapter of the Space Marines the Nemesis Dreadknight is designed to allow the Terminator-Armored pilot to face the most powerful daemons of the great enemy in single combat and prevail. Dreadknight pilots already wear some of the most advanced protective armor in the Imperium, Terminator Armor custom forged for the use of the Gray Knights, and are then housed in an open-control cradle mounted on the front of the Dreadknight. Pedals and hand controls allow the pilot to operate the arms and legs of the Dreadknight, striding into battle and unleashing the heavy weapons mounted to the forearms of the mech and wielding crushing fists of massive Nemesis Force Weapons. 

 

Armigers - Faction: Imperial Knights 

-The smallest machines available to the arsenals of the Imperial Knight households the Armigers are not true Imperial Knights, rather they utilize a separate and less sophisticated control mechanism known as the Helm Mechanicus. Less advanced than the Throne Mechanicus used to operate Imperial Knights the Helm Mechanicus does not grant the pilot access to the thoughts or experience of previous pilots, and further it has the capacity to directly control the actions of the Armiger pilot as the Helm connects directly to the systems of nearby Throne Mechanicus and is able to receive orders and override the decisions of the Armiger pilot. Despite this inferior control mechanism the Armigers are nevertheless advanced and powerful warmachines in their own right, easily the match for most any other mech utilized in the Imperium that is smaller than an Imperial Knight. Armigers mount powerful heavy weapons and are protected by advanced Ion Shields just like their larger Imperial Knight kin, technology of the like absent from all but the most advanced Dreadnoughts of the Imperium. 

 

Imperial Knights - Faction: Imperial Knights

-Massive warmachines that tower over all but the greatest engines of destruction in the galaxy Imperial Knights are ancient and advanced engines of war forged in the glorious Golden Age of mankind to colonize the most hostile worlds in the galaxy. Over long millennia the unique technologies of the Throne Mechanicum molded and changed the minds and personalities of their pilots, inspiring the anachronistic chivalric codes of conduct and feudalistic cultures of the Imperial Knight worlds. No other control technology utilized by the Imperium manifests such influence over the minds of their operators and why such effects were worked into the technology of the Throne Mechanicum remains something of a mystery. Only the first Thrones Mechanicum used by the nobles of House Taranis are free of such influence. Despite the strange effect on their pilots the Throne Mechanicum are nevertheless powerful and advanced technology that incorporate the memories and experiences of past pilots and share that stored knowledge with their pilots. This stored experience is also a mechanism for control of the pilot and potential Imperial Knight pilots must undergo a dangerous ritual known as the Becoming where they first try to bond with a Throne Mechanicum, plugging themselves directly into the neural interfaces of the thrones. The mind of pilot and the technologies of the throne become one and if the spirits of the throne deem the pilot unworthy the results are often crippling or even fatal. Despite the risks successful bonding is a great reward for it grants the noble pilot the power to wield one of the most advanced and devastating weapons in the Imperium. Imperial Knights are large and heavily armored, protected by directional energy shields called Ion Shields and mounting a variety of super-heavy weaponry. Imperial Knights come in a variety of different models, from the wide-spread Questoris-class to the tall and agile Cerastus-class or the rare and massive Acastus-class engines that are only slightly smaller than the Warhound-Titans of the Adeptus Titanicus and are the single-largest single-pilot war machines used by the Imperium. 

 

Titans - Faction: Adeptus Titanicus

-The largest ground-based war machines used by the Imperium are the God Engines of the Adeptus Titanicus. These ancient and mighty weapons of war are crewed by teams of highly trained personnel, hard-wired servitors, gunnery and steersman Moderati and are commanded by a Princeps. The smallest Scout-class Titans are fast and agile for their kind but are nevertheless all but impervious to the weapons of lesser machines. Protected by a pair of void-shield generators and armed with a devastating super-heavy weapon on each arm Warhounds are devastating engines of destruction and they are the smallest of their kind. Reaver, Warbringer, Warlord and Warmaster Battle-Titans grow from the huge to the absolutely ridiculously massive, each armed with weapons of apocalyptic destruction and shrouded in overlapping layers of powerful energy shields. The largest and greatest of their kind, the Imperator Titans, are walking cities, each leg a bastion housing whole companies of Imperial Guard or Mechanicus troops and their backs crowned with a cathedral of war. Not merely war machines the Titans are worshiped as sacred avatars of the Machine God's wrath. Many war machines in the Imperium, from the Land Raiders of the space marines to the vessels of the Imperial Navy are controlled in part by semi-sentient machine spirits, complex devices of esoteric function but none are held in as high regard as the bellicose and mighty spirits of the Titans. Bonding directly to the machine spirit by MIU interface the pilots of the Titans share control of their engines with the machine spirit. Over time a pilot becomes more and more dependent on their connection to the machine until eventually, likely after a century or more of service, it is not uncommon for a Princeps to eventually lose themselves, their mind and spirit becoming lost in the joining with the machine and their lifeless remains must be removed and replaced with a new pilot whose spirit is doomed to slowly burn away under the incredible pressure of the Titan spirit until he or she too loses themselves. Until that day however a Princeps commands the power to level mountains, scorch cities to rubble and obliterate armies with a single volley from their mighty weapons. The oldest and most experienced Princeps are often hard-wired into an amniotic tank. A fluid-filled glass tank where the naked Princeps will be kept alive by hard-linked support systems. In such a state the physical infirmity of the Princeps and the strain of piloting the largest battle-Titans can be reduced and ameliorated somewhat, though internment is generally a prelude to a long, slow decline terminating in the eventual mind-death of the Princeps. 

Psi-Titans - Faction: The Ordo Sinister

-Rare variants of the Warlord-class Battle-Titans of the Adeptus Titanicus the Psi-Titans of the Ordo Sinister strip out the usual control mechanisms and replace them with a hard-wired choir of bonded psykers capable of manifesting psychic phenomena on a truly massive scale. The Imperium employs many battle-psykers capable of shooting lightning from their fingertips or emitting blazing light from their eyes but none are able to swathe kilometers around them in crushing psychic fear or rebuild massive plates of shattered armor the way the Psi-Titans can. The very presence of a Psi-Titan projects an aura of terror so severe that battles can be shifted in the Imperium's favor before a shot is even fired. So terrible is the presence of a Psi-Titan that no normal human could possibly pilot such machines, instead of a Princeps from the Collegia Titanica the pilots of the Ordo Sinister's Psi-Titans are a dedicated cadre of psychic nulls, or Pariahs as they are known in the Imperium. Human beings born with the incredible rare condition of lacking a soul the pariah's are anathema to the power of the warp and thus the perfect candidates to command the Psi-Titans of the Imperium without going insane or being torn apart by the terrible psychic energies unleashed by the bound psykers. Only a handful of Psi-Titans are known to have been in existence before the Horus Heresy, whether any remain and are still in use is a mystery likely known only to the most exalted lords of the Imperium. 

From levels and pedals, to hard-wired servitors, life-support sarcophagi, mind impulse units and thrones mechanicum the control mechanisms of Imperial mechs are as varied as their sizes, forms and capabilities. Many of the different mechs used by the Imperium are unique to one particular branch of the Imperium's widely varied militant orders. None but the nobles of the Imperial Knight houses can successfully bond with the technology of the Thrones Mechanicum, only the augmented and highly trained Princeps of the Collegia Titanica have any chance of commanding the machine spirits of the Titans, only mortally wounded space marines or custodians are interred in the advanced life-support sarcophagi of Dreadnoughts and only the Sisters of Battle use the cruel and horrifying punishment of the Penitent Engines. Titans are protected by Void Shields, energy shields that shunt incoming projectile and energy attacks directly into the warp, while the Ion Shields of the Imperial Knights are directional energy barriers that reflect away incoming attacks and the Atomantic Shields of the Contemptor Dreadnoughts are powerful omni-directional energy screens. The varied mechs of the Imperium utilize a wide array of different technologies and weapons systems, some so rare and esoteric they can no longer be replicated, others crude and mass-produced industrial equipment with guns bolted to them. More to the point this incredible variety in size, technology and organization is only representative of the mechs within the Imperium of Man. There are still numerous other types of mechs operated by other races in the galaxy from the Triarch Stalkers of the Necrons to the widely varied Battlesuits of the Tau Empire, the War Walkers and Titans of the Aeldari and the varied array of mechs used by the Orks. Wherever you turn in the universe of Warhammer 40,000 you can find some variety of mechs but no two groups of them are entirely alike. Now consider that the huge variety just shown in mechs, can also be found in regards to any other type of war machine, technology or concept represented in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

And that is the lesson I hope to impart, the huge scale of Warhammer 40k. From mechs, to ships, to handguns there is no end to the varied array to be found in the 40k universe and it is always growing. So, might as well start somewhere and jump in with both feet.