I am not positive, but I don't think the fueling idea has ever really been set in stone.

I would imagine that like most weapons and such made by the Imperium, or Once-were Imperium, there are hundreds of designs, if not more.

So I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were multiple ways to fuel a chainsword.

Sorry that may not be a ton of help, but I really don't think there is an exact answer to this.

 

I reckon it runs in a similar way to chainsaws, and lawnmowers. I'm sure I've read somewhere that they use a power pack. That would seem believable anyway.

 

Chainswords (and chain axes for that matter) don't have a set power source.

Some might be incredibly bulky internal combustion engines that must be fitted to a back pack or a smaller one fitted into the pommel of the sword.

Others might use a small fusion reactor built into the grip dating back to rthe Dark Age of Technology, or perhaps a more primitive plasma cell reactor. Chaos chain swords might be powered by magic or warp energy. You might even get incredibly efficient batery operated Chainswords.

The Chain fists used by Terminators are probably powered by the suit itself.

In short there is no standard way of making chainswords go. Every Hive or forge world will have its own method.

 

Chainswords come from the STC design of chainswords.

That means they can probably run on anything from fossil fuel to nuclear batteries.
Most chainswords seem to have exhaust ports, so they probably burn something. Then again, Marines are meant to be able to fight in space, so maybe the same blade can work in several ways.

 

Yes but the chainswords of different races and factions will work in different ways, a striking scorpian chain sabre won't be designed from an STC design.

Also there may well be variations in the standard STC design, in the same way there are many variations of other weapons and equipment.

This is because an STC design isn't a unique way of building the piece of equipment but simply a process for building equipment using whatever resources are available.

 

My gut instinct is that, like Astartes power armor itself, Chainswords are powered by a micro-nuclear-reactor/battery. The "exhaust" ports are more probably heat vents; compensating for the fact that the fact that instead of a massive complex, it's handheld or man-portable (Chainswords and power armor, respectively).

As far as Striking Scorpion Chainswords go...chalk it up to Eldar tricknology/psychic "technology". The Spess Elf codex waxes eloquent about how all of Eldar technology is so much more advanced than the Imperial counterparts, so who knows? Maybe they have a plasma battery, or even, barbarically but efficiently, a flywheel battery (like some of today's tech).

 

It is a chainsaw that is also a sword. Please suspend your disbelief.

 

Quickly flipped through the codexes of races that use chainswords, only one has anything that explained chainsword fuel: pg. 84, CSM, diagram of a chainsword with a M37 gas fuel motor block. So a SM's weapon might run on the same fuel as a Husqvarna.

 

Hadn't thought about the Eldar (or Ork) Chain weapons.
STC are very flexible, but they all work more or less the same.
There is an example about Rhinos, that can run on anything from space ship fuel to burning wood.

 

Hadn't thought about the Eldar (or Ork) Chain weapons.

Ork chain weapons need not be mentioned. They run on more because than the rest of the universe. They also spin faster when red.

 

The real issue here is that chainswords would not work as effective weapons, not if you're chopping/slashing with them. Have any of the game designers ever used a chainsaw? You don't hack at a tree with it, you press it firmly against the tree and it slowly buzzes through. The way they portray fighting with chain weapons makes little sense and would probably damage the teeth of the saw if not take the entire chain off track or break it.
Also, a chainsword with a wider body than the teeth would never work because the wider body of the saw would not fit through the gash created by the saw teeth.
I know its a fantastical universe filled with psychic powers and aliens, I'm just saying that chain weapons is physically impractical.

 

Quite true. The gratuitously thick chainsaw-sword "blade" is a tad silly and is more probably there to look awesome than as an accurate reflection of the best way to design a chainsaw-sword.

If you are very intent on having an accurate grimdark army, there is a simple solution in this regard. Modeling knife.

As far as the usage goes... it does make sense as a weapon, swing hard to make a deep initial cut, then apply pressure to shred insides to appropriate degree. It's how Relic portrays it in all of their DoW trailers, anyway.

 

The reason they use chain swords in 40k that are like really big toothed chainsaws is because of the advanced thick armor many people wear.

It helps you get through the armor



Also they have chainsaws on their guns in gears of war for a similar reason.



I'm not saying it's practical I'm just saying that's the most logical explaination aside from "It looks effin' sweet!"

 

Plus a tree is a lot harder to cut through than flesh, and most fluff accounts show chainswords only working against armour if a constant steady pressure is applied. Not to mention all the times you hear about chainswords duelling and lots of the teeth being broken off when the two weapons clash.

 

Yup, one would assume they are used almost like clubs.
once contact is made the teeth will either rip up the flesh it strikes, or bounce off armour.
By putting weight behind it, you can cut through that thick armour.

Looking cool is more important that being realistic when it comes to grimdark 40k.

 

Chain.

Sword.

Let it go.

 

Do you think the machine spirit would do anything here?

 

I imagine the machine spirit of a simple chainsword would be quite weak, but it may make the blades spin faster when being used to smite an enemy of the omnissiah!

 

Hmmm. I mean, the machine spirit of power armor interfaces with the weapons that a Marine is carrying to boost reaction time, which sounds like the most basic Imperial weapons make do without a machine spirit.

Only the ones that are currently beyond our technological capacity have the "even dumber AI" known as the machine spirit.

 

The modeled exhaust ports notwithstanding, most Imperial chainswords probably run on lasgun powerpacks (for humans) or plug into power armor (for Marines). Both would provide sufficient energy and be readily available.

As for the real-life workability of chainswords, I always thought the main issue would be inertia. Get a big part of the thing whirling really fast and you end up with a serious gyroscopic effect.

 

Wow. Didn't even notice that last point. Very thoughtful.

 

Naturally,four rechargable AA batteries. You can buy them anywhere.

 

The other issue is modelling.. If they made the blade convincingly thin then bits would break off very easily.

Also, this being 40k I imagine the teeth are made of some kind of super-alloy.. The real suspension of disbelief moment for me is how you balance something with so many moving/vibrating parts.

 

Experience proves you need to rest it often against squishy enemy bodies so that your arm doesnt go all numb and tingly from struggling with it for too long. I also think that the most scientifically plausible method of powering a chainsword would be a very high capacitance capacitor (rechargeable from a marine's power armour as mentioned in a previous post) I agree that the fast revolving blades would make it very unwieldy to use, and also someone mentioned chainsword against chainsword fighting..that would result in both being flung away from each other when their rotating teeth meet,i believe?

 

I don't think chainsword is such an unplausible idea. After all, they do make hand-wielded, man-portable chainsaws capable of cutting through concrete and natural stone in Real Life (tm). Furthermore those thingies aren't some ultra-special gizmos but actually just normal chainsaws changed with different chain and water instead of oil for blade lubrication... And those things have been around for half a century now. I mean come on. If some government military now got the idea of making up a chainsaw close-combat weapon the result could be pretty near to the things in WH40K. Also, funny little detail: The kickback of the chainsaw is usually witnessed because the material being cut (wood) is fibrous. Tough, non-fibrous materials (like stone or metal) are much safer to cut and thus the usual, approved technique of cutting stone or concrete with chainsaw is plunge-cutting, by pushing the tip of the blade into the material... Like so:

 

I I mean come on. If some government military now got the idea of making up a chainsaw close-combat weapon the result could be pretty near to the things in WH40K.

OK you have that and the best armour we can make, and I'll have a 30mm autocannon, and you stand 500m away and run at me trying to get in close-combat. Yeah...

Reasons why close quarter fighting isn't huge swirling melee fights in our world:
1) Our weapons are far better than armour. The most expensive body-armours can only take a few hits from assult rifles and none can stand up to a .50 cal. A most people don't have the expensive stuff or any armour at all.
2) Our guns don't have a maximum range of 144ft. Even the effective range can be 900 - 1500ft.
3) From a distance of 72ft away a soldier isn't going to miss half the time, with half of those bullets not even wounding the guy.

 

Try wielding that like a sword, most chainsaws needs to be held with both hands at different angles (in your picture, on top and behind). Very difficult to make an efficient one-handed sword weapon out of a chainsaw, especially one that can be used to duel with instead of simply as a broadsword.

 

I don't think they actually rev the chainsaw until it's made contact with the enemy. It'd be stupid to rev the chainsaw while you're holding it, it'd jump out of your hand.

The other thing I was thinking was that chainswords aren't actually wielded like swords. You can't thrust, parrying is retarded (what happens when two saw chains hit each other?) and you'd have to physically push the sword through instead of just swinging it (a lot of sword-based martial arts, like kendo, teach you to jerk the blade back just before contact so it doesn't get lodged in the person but still inflicts a fatal blow. You can't really do that with a chainsword, you'd want to get it lodged in someone). A chainsword in action would really look more like a hacking competition than a medieval swordfight.

 

Presumably they're extrapolated from the game, which is silly..

A bolter is meant to be in every way superior to a conventional firearm and has a game range of 24". An Exitus rifle is supposedly the most perfect firearm ever built (and in the fluff is capable of reliably hitting targets from a good mile away with a vindicare operator) and the abseloute pinacle of ballistic engineering and it doesn't get much further in game. This should tell you everything you need to know about how simplified the game's idea of shooting is.

In fluff, Tyranids and Orks can overwhelm their opponents by simply fielding enough numbers and being resistant enough to fire to just run through it in a great horde, resulting in close combat. Necrons and Marines, in the fluff, can walk through devastating ammounts of fire without injury thanks to their heavy armour and toughened physique. Kroot, genestealers and the like use cover and ambushes to approach the enemy. I think that's every army which likes to use close combat covered.