Your Help Needed (Legio Lexicon, Acronyms, Abbreviations)

[Brother Tyler]

As with any community, a specialized language has developed around both the Warhammer 40,000 and the Bolter & Chainsword site. There are often terms or abbreviations that we use which will be unfamiliar to new members. In order to help those new members as well as to help established members that might not be familiar with all of the terms/acronyms/abbreviations, we've developed the Legio Lexicon. Many of the terms/acronyms/abbreviations in the Legio Lexicon are also included in our acronym filter. The acronym filter is basically a listing of terms, abbreviations, and acronyms along with full explanations for each. When a post is processed (i.e., first composed and submitted or edited later), the acronym filter will search the post for any of the terms, acronyms, and abbreviations. If any are included, they will appear with a dotted underline. If you hold your cursor over these terms, the full explanation will appear.

For example:

• TDA
• PF
• WB

If you search through the Legio Lexicon, you can see which of the terms, abbreviations, and acronyms are included in the acronym filter by identifying those that appear with the dotted underline (any others haven't been added). I've gone through the Legio Lexicon and added all of those terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that I think are necessary to the acronym filter. However, there may be some that I missed that you think should be added.

 

In addition, as the game continues to evolve and practices on the Internet change, it's highly likely that there are terms, acronyms, and abbreviations that are either obsolete or which should be added to the Legio Lexicon and/or acronym filter. What we're looking for is suggested additions/deletions.

 

Note that we're not trying to make up terms, acronyms, and abbreviations. We're just trying to codify those that are already in use in order to facilitate communication among the members of our community.

 

If you can think of any terms, acronyms, or abbreviations that you think need to be added or deleted, please post them either here or as a reply to the Legio Lexicon.

[ThePenitentOne]

AoR = Armies of Renown may be relevant if the next campaign book also includes them.

[Gederas]

AT = Adeptus Titanicus (both the faction and the game system), also anti-tank

[RWJP]

LVO = Las Vegas Open
WHC = Warhammer Community

[Halandaar]

HOGC - Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon

OGC - Oriental Goose Capture Onslaught Gatling Cannon

[Aqui]

BSS = Battle Sister Squad.

[Shinespider]

MSU - Many Small Units / Minimum-Sized Units

 

*editing this post to see if the acronym pops*

 

*it did, yay*

Edited March 25, 2021 by Shinespider

[Brother Tyler]

I've added all of the acronyms submitted so far.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

LRC - Land Raider Crusader, comes up a lot in the BT sub.
EC - Emperor's Champion

ToT - Teeth of Terra

MoS - Master of Sanctity

[WrathOfTheLion]

Had some trouble when reading a thread about terminator loadouts, so I think it would be good to address those.

 

CML - Cyclone Missile Launcher
CF - Chain Fist

Edited March 24, 2021 by WrathOfTheLion

[Xenith]

VV - Vanguard Veterans

SG - Sanguinary Guard

DC - Death Company

DCD Death company dreadnought

SoT - Scarab Occult Terminator

SS Storm Shield

Edited March 24, 2021 by Xenith

[Brother Tyler]

I've added all of the suggestions so far.

Note that some of you have suggested acronyms/abbreviations that were already in both the Legio Lexicon and the acronym filter. You can pre-check your suggestions by doing a post preview - if the dotted underline pops up, it's already in there and you don't need to suggest it. 

[Angel of Death]

DoW - dawn of war.

Obj. - objective

WS/BS - weaponskill/ballisticskill.

DE - dark eldar.

GW - games workshop.

SM - space marine(s).

CSM - chaos space marine(s).

HS - heavy support.

AI - anti infantry.

AT - anti tank.

AA - anti air.

[Sarvis]

LCTB: last chance to buy

[Valkyrion]

I read something the other day, though I can't find it now to provide context, that was 'BoR' and I didn't know what that was.

 

 

edit - and the context wasn't 'blades of reason'. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Valkyrion

[Brother Tyler]

I read something the other day, though I can't find it now to provide context, that was 'BoR' and I didn't know what that was.

 

 

edit - and the context wasn't 'blades of reason'. 

 

One guess is "Belt of Russ" for the Space Wolves.

 

Actually, this brings up something important that I had implemented earlier, but which I forgot about this time around. The acronym filter will only be used for acronyms/abbreviations that only have one meaning in order to avoid confusion (e.g., "AA" for Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Arbites, anti-air(craft)). In addition, acronyms/abbreviations that might be mistaken for words (e.g., "WE" for World Eaters, "AM" for Adeptus Mechanicus/Astra Militarum) won't be used.

 

More importantly, this points out a very important principle that many of our members ignore - you shouldn't use an acronym unless that acronym has been defined in that discussion first. This is a principle that is a basic element of most style guides (along with "don't use acronyms unless they're clear") and is followed in most educational, professional, and governmental documents. We are none of those things, of course, but there are far too many cases where an acronym can be unclear.

 

The Legio Lexicon will include as many acronyms/abbreviations/terms as we can think of; but the acronym filter will only include those that are very clear. I've gone through and removed a bunch of the acronyms from the acronym filter.

[Skywrath]

Do these keywords have to be generic, or can they be chapter specific?

[Brother Tyler]

There are plenty of Chapter-specific abbreviations/acronyms/terms that are in the Legio Lexicon/acronym filter.

[Skywrath]

Alright, here is a few GK specific ones..

 

BC - Brother-Captain

BChamp - Brotherhood Champion

GM - Grand Master

FitF - First into the Fray (WL trait that grants re-rolls to charges)

AA - Astral Aim (Grey Knight power that ignores LoS)

LoS - Line of Sight

LM - Lore Master (WL trait that grants one additional power to the wielder)

GoI - Gate of Infinity (Grey Knight power that allows you to re-position a unit 9" away from enemy models)

 

Will add more as I remember more abbreviations.

[Brother Tyler]

These are some good examples of how the use of acronyms can be confusing.

 

BC might also mean Brotherhood Champion, Blood Claws, Brazen Claws, Black Consuls, etc.

 

GM might also mean a game master (for our RPG players).

 

AA, as has been pointed out, also means Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Astartes, and anti-air(craft).

 

Similarly, some other possible additions that duplicate abbreviations/acronyms/terms that are already in the Legio Lexicon/acronym filter:

• SS - Silver Skulls, Shadow Spectres (already listed for storm shields)
• DA - Dire Avengers (already listed for Dark Angels)
• CC - Chaplain Cassius (already listed for close combat)

We might have to re-think the (sub-)faction-specific abbreviations, acronyms, and terms. We might have to create lexicons in each of the (sub-)faction forums to cover the abbreviations/acronyms/terms as used within those (sub-)factions, leaving the generic Legio Lexicon as abbreviations/acronyms/terms that are universal. With the sheer number of potential abbreviations/acronyms/terms, we're going to quickly be out-paced. Consider how many entries there would be if every Warlord Trait, Stratagem, Relic, unit, and weapon were given an abbreviation/acronym/term.

 

All of this underscores the fact that acronyms, while a handy shortcut for the author, can be problematic for the reader. When the number of abbreviations/acronyms/terms that have to be explained exceeds a certain point, the end-state is more confusion than if authors simply took the time to write out the actual word(s). While context often makes it easy to understand which meaning is intended (when the reader has that knowledge), it can be difficult for newer hobbyists. Moreover, the acronym filter can't assess context and will only show whatever definition is entered in the database, regardless of whether or not that definition applies.

[Halandaar]

I read something the other day, though I can't find it now to provide context, that was 'BoR' and I didn't know what that was.

 

 

edit - and the context wasn't 'blades of reason'. 

 

I'll guess it was Book of Rust? The newest campaign supplement?

 

On a related note: WZC - War Zone Charadon

[N1SB]

You think I'm kidding, but I'm not, we've had to explain (and rightly so) what this word means to many Fratres:

 

Choom - an onomatopoeia associated with Volkite weapons, which are rarer now than during the Horus Heresy

 

I leave it to your judgment whether or not that should be included, but honestly the most common question about terminology is "why do you guys keep saying CHOOM?"

 

Edit - I made a small grammatical correction.

Edited April 2, 2021 by N1SB

[LameBeard]

I disapprove of acronyms and initialisms, but I heartily approve of CHOOM!

[TrawlingCleaner]

Here's a few of Dark Eldar ones that I've found myself using recently:

PfP - Power from Pain

AoV - Agents of Vect

CD - Combat Drugs