would Grey Knights fight in a Hulk

[Deamon Wolf]

Hey Guys

 

Im trying to write up a backstory for a Zone of Mortalis Campaign I am running so far there are 6 races involved

Imperium ( Mechanicum Astarties ( Sally rules ),  GK , Sisters )  , Nids , Crons and Eldar 

 

the Idea is the hulk is an Old Pharon Capital Cruiser from the time of the old ones that has been captured by the nids that is on course towards a shrine world the Mechanicum want the ship as it has valuable Tech the sisters need to kill it the crons are trying to recapture their ship the nids own it at the mo and the Eldar see the ship as a pivit point that could tip the galaxy in to ruin  

 

only trouble is the knights cannot think why they are there

 

so would Grey Knights fight on a space hulk if there are no Deamons to fight ?

 

thoughts and ideas are welcome

 

Cheers DW

 

 

[jeffersonian000]

Check out the new GK novel, where GKs have to rescue a bunch of Purifiers in their own ship.

 

SJ

[Deamon Wolf]

will do

[Malicth]

Also you could just have CSM there and they will summon a powerful daemon so they are there to stop it. Or the space hulk was at one point tainted by daemons and they were sent to cleanse it or something.

[Captain Coolpants]

Some artifact could be on the ship?

Or the ship is infected by some kind of nurgle rot?

 

Maybe someone had a premonition or something about one of the campaign characters starting a chain of events that will some how summon chaos? So pre-emptively neutralise it?

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Any number of reasons. You'd probably need to make it pretty dire. Even lesser Marines don't bother boarding hulks unless there is something of immense value on board. Grey Knights would usually just blow it up. So, probably either some kind of artifact they need to recover. 

[Deamon Wolf]

I thought that Space Hulks were usually attacked from inside to blow them up ast the were nearly impossible to shoot down

[thade]

Short answer: it's plausible. The GK's primary role isn't just "kill demons" but to serve as a preventative measure to demonkind, which includes "kill demons" but also includes "contain dangerous artifacts" and "destroy dangerous individuals and unwitting conduits" with a side of "protect our own assets which support our mission."

The basics are already touched upon: maybe the space hulk in question has a known lost ship within it that has a thing (artifact) that can't be allowed to fall into anyone else's hands; maybe this space hulk is going to crash into our secret forge world where we make secret stuff and do a ton of damage, so we need to redirect or blow it up.

The only loose end I feel is the whole "blowing up the hulk" which maybe even planted charges can't do, let alone shooting it with all the guns. Consider that, when an Imperial element decides it wants to neutralize a planet without asset recovery and without involving infantry, they use weapons that target the population, not really the planet. Kill-ships render a planet clean of life but they still leave a planet behind. That's just so much mass that no amount of orbital strikes or cyclonic torpedos are going to do anything to whatever's miles and miles below the surface. Blowing up a planet is a very difficult thing to do. I don't want to say impossible (maybe one of Vulcan's lost artifacts can do this crazy thing) but for our purposes, it kind of is impossible here.

So, my hypothetical space hulk here is a really really really big space hulk. One that is large enough to be orbited, having moon-like gravity levels. One that has so much mass that there's a warm core at its center from all of the pressure of the hunks and hulks further from its center. Now, somewhere many many miles below the surface, too deep to teleport or hammer into with drop pods, too deep to hope that shipboard weapons can punch down to destroy it, there is a thing. We need to know the thing is contained because if anything else stumbles across it, we'll have even bigger trouble.

GK trouble is always big trouble, but it's good to minimize where we can.

Fortunately, this is what terminator armor's primary purpose is: close quarters and tight corridors fighting. So, when our most holy warriors much spend months in the bowels of a giant metal nightmare to retrieve the Cursed Coffee Pot of Infinite Decaf for safe containment on Titan, they'll be safe no matter what's hiding in there.

++ EDIT. Small clarification. -t ++

[Deamon Wolf]

Ooooo I like That :)

[Quozzo]

Yet you didn't "Like" it

Grey Knights would board a space hulk, why wouldn't they? They have just as much reason to board a space hulk as any other chapter, maybe even more so knowing that some space hulks intermittently travel through the warp. Not really sure how that happens, maybe their warp drive implodes or some other space science. So the Grey Knights would know it could be infested by daemons. If Blood Angels and lately the Dark Angels have games surrounding boarding space hulks then Grey Knights would be just as likely to enter one for the same reasons. What are those reasons? Well, Thade touched upon it, but it's whatever reason your story needs. Fortunately the topic title is "Would Grey Knights fight in a hulk", not "Why would Grey Knights fight in a hulk"

[thade]

I think the only constraint we were concerned with in here is whether the GK would go onto a space hulk if there were no demons aboard. If the space hulk was swarming with Tyranids and nearing an Ultramarine recruitment world and the nearest Imperial assets were the GK, well, the GK would almost definitely note "Not our problem" and move on to the next problem that is relevant to their mission.

 

Not that anybody would have known the GK were nearby anyway.

[Deamon Wolf]

to be fair i do agree with Thades last comment but only because its an Ultamarine world

 

and no one really cares as they have a legion of marines to kill it

[Quozzo]

I think the only constraint we were concerned with in here is whether the GK would go onto a space hulk if there were no demons aboard. If the space hulk was swarming with Tyranids and nearing an Ultramarine recruitment world and the nearest Imperial assets were the GK, well, the GK would almost definitely note "Not our problem" and move on to the next problem that is relevant to their mission.

 

Not that anybody would have known the GK were nearby anyway.

Is the fact it is an Ultramarines recruitment world relevant? What about the Storm Lords? I would have though it would be a top priority if it was threatening the existence of a chapter. If they have a mission (and with prognosticars forseeing battles before they happen, I would imagine GK don't get a lot of thumb twiddling time) then they would assess the best course of action based on the possible results for the imperium. If a chapter falls then so will a lot of worlds. If a planet falls it can be exterminated, depending on the type of world. Knight worlds, forge worlds, hive worlds or even agri worlds supply the imperium so they might even take priority over a chapter's recruiting world. It would be up to the GKGM or commander to make that risk assessment on the spot.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

In general, any GK officer is going to choose 'next world infested by daemons' over 'non-malefic threat'. Grey Knights are simply too valuable and rare a resource to be wasted on missions that don't require their unique skills. It would be like sending in another Chapter's Terminators to break up an underhive gang war. Yes, they'd do it better than virtually any other force, and would probably smash all opposition aside. But it's a colossal waste of their abilities, when they could be fighting more pressing threats that actually demand their level of skill and effectiveness. Hence, Chapter Masters generally only deploy the First Company sparingly (they rarely gather as one, like most Companies they break into strike forces), and wouldn't waste them on mortal squabbles. 

 

By the same token, Grey Knights cannot let anything get in the way of their overall mission. They can't be everywhere at once, and by their own admission the Chapter can't deal with every daemonic outbreak or warp portal. They have to prioritise, even between threats of equal measure (as travel time, available forces etc limit them). Grey Knights rarely fail to deal with the warp threat once they arrive, but even choosing where and when to be is a huge call. Hence why Brother-Captains command a Brotherhood, but when the mission is incredibly critical, the Chapter entrusts it to the ranking Grand Master instead. 

 

So, if you want Grey Knights doing a Space Hulk purge, you'd need a very pressing reason. Be creative by all means (the warp is ever changing), but be aware you can't just make it some small issue. Even if the Hulk was headed to an Imperial world, the Grey Knights might judge that a lesser evil than stopping a daemonic outbreak.