Would hive gangers fight for big E?

[Theredknight]

As the topic describes.

 

During Horus’s invasion on terra, at the last moment do you think the imperials would take anyone that could?

Evidence shows that conscripted many.

But what about those who evaded the law.

When the time came, do you think they would fight (mainly out of self interest and disgust for the invaders) for the imperials? If only to gain some pardons or better imperial tech?

 

Interesting concept.

 

Personally, I think they would. But not as a unified force. You know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend as the saying goes.

[Brother Tyler]

Some would fight as nominally loyal citizens of the Imperium. Of those, some might "enlist" with the forces of the Imperium while others might merely fight for survival as irregular forces.

 

Some would fall to Chaos, either joining with Horus's invading forces or simply turning on their fellow citizens.

 

Some would run and hide.

[Theredknight]

That’s pretty much what I thought.

How about this for coolness.

 

Malcador holds the unity banner in his museum right?

What if the remaining TW including arrick taranis were summoned and kitted out for a last suicide mission for the emperor. To go down in forgotten glory?

That would be really cool to read.

[Kizzdougs]

Why would any surviving Thunder Warriors fight for the Emperor? He ordered their extermination.

I feel like they would be more likely to side with Horus or strike out on their own and use the confusion and chaos of the Heresy to set up their own mini empires or simple attempt to go into hiding.

[battle captain corpus]

There's really nothing to say that the Thunder Warriors would act in this way. They certainly are not interested in unifying human forces or supporting the Emperor in any way. They were simple weapons made for an era that no longer exist, cares or remembers them. Also as pointed out, the Emperor ordered their execution. Combined with their half life this all but eliminated them as any formed force.

 

Humans? As Brother Tyler says; they'd die, fight or run. I very much doubt that they would sway in any way the outcome of the War of the Palace as this is a battle of the gods and Demi gods. Humans would simply be ground under foot. Or butchered (see Emperors Children invasion of Terra) for sport etc.

 

As a concept it's obviously feasible, however gaming wise you'll find it very hard to represent them I think. With little to no martial training other than street skills essentially. An imperial army unit would roll over them before you even look at Astartes.

 

BCC

Edited February 7, 2021 by battle captain corpus

[Indefragable]

I think most would look out for #1 (themselves) above all else. They would evade both sides as much as possible, except when a wounded person could be looted or such. 

[Noserenda]

I think they would struggle to exist in a system where every plausible combatant has been conscripted in some form. Similarly Fists and Custodes are effectively incorruptible so even if you bribe the Arbites you still have to keep an extremely low profile to avoid the troops who would question what any fit, able humans are doing out of uniform.

So either they end up conscripted, or spend the whole war hiding, either way getting squashed when the conflict finds them.

I could see a "Dads army" of crime though, some crime ring of "unsuitable for service" types getting up to mischief in the refugee camps and ruins.  

[sarabando]

Some would fight as nominally loyal citizens of the Imperium. Of those, some might "enlist" with the forces of the Imperium while others might merely fight for survival as irregular forces.

 

Some would fall to Chaos, either joining with Horus's invading forces or simply turning on their fellow citizens.

 

Some would run and hide.

And all 3 would be hunted through the undercities of Terra by the Nightlords.

[Pacific81]

In some of the background of the Armageddon wars (the Ghazghkul invasion one) Hive Gangers fought against the Ork invaders, so it stands to reason that they would do against Horus or any other invading army. In the old Armageddon tabletop game (the one with counters) there was quite a cool extract about the Ork Kommando units, which Ghazghkul had sent on into the tunnels, coming up against tunnel rat Hive Ganger units. There were actually rules for using the Gangers in the game too, they were represented by their own unit counter IIRC. 

 

Sure it would make a really cool character arc in some of the assault on Terra books, covering some of the gangs coming together and perhaps teaching some rampaging Night Lords or Emperor's Children that had wandered into their territory a thing or two!

[Ryltar Thamior]

as applies the Thunder Warriors comment - here's an exceedingly cool take upon the matter by EdT back when he was doing his (truescale) Heresy kill-teams. I think it captures a vibe magnificently.

As applies the more general questioning around hive gangers ... I mean, it probably depends upon the ganger. Some might do as the prisoners on Van Diemen's Land or whatever Australia was called in The Outcast Dead where the prison riot starts up in favour of the Warmaster. After all, some of those scum and dregs of Terran society don't have much to gain from the current regime remaining in power - and might view the rebels as being a prospective improvement. 

This may (read: probably should) lead to various of those coming to quite the sticky (and/or tentacly) end, as I would hazard that by the time they get to Terra, the sorts of Astartes and even just humans that would be running things in the traitor forces or acting as low-level authority figures would be well on par if not worse than their pre-Heresy Imperial equivalents. 

Now other gangers and suchlike - and this is Terra we're talking about, so some of those gangs might in fact have multi-millennia history and quite the 'noble' pedigree going on for themselves - they may indeed make the call to fight for the Emperor and the Imperium. Maybe it's out of a genuine sense of patriotism; maybe it's an awareness that things may get *worse* under the traitors; maybe they've built up quite the criminal empire and aren't keen to have to start over once the whole place is Under New Management; maybe they think that they can barter/parlay support for the Loyalist cause into legitimacy and social mobility one the Imperium wins. 

But as applies the patriotism theme - I'm reminded of a cheesy bit from some Batman comic of yesteryear - 

[MegaVolt87]

 

Some would fight as nominally loyal citizens of the Imperium. Of those, some might "enlist" with the forces of the Imperium while others might merely fight for survival as irregular forces.

 

Some would fall to Chaos, either joining with Horus's invading forces or simply turning on their fellow citizens.

 

Some would run and hide.

And all 3 would be hunted through the undercities of Terra by the Nightlords.

 

 

I think you mean Emperors Children, Nightlords actually fought at the palace proper. Hive gangers would have been already conscripted or evaded conscription, staying out of the way to see who wins. Post seige, I think hivers would have an interesting set of loot though, same with Terran nobel household troops of various Imperial nobels. Post siege Terra would make an interesting Necromunda style setting IMO. 

Edited February 15, 2021 by MegaVolt87