Autism. Pure autism. Is there any lore explanation why melee is even a thing in WH40K? There are flamers, meltas, shotguns and other shooties for close range so this ''hurr if da ork comes too cloz xD'' argument doesn't work at all besides they use swords and axes even when they don't fight orks or nids.
Because at the speed most melee units run it's faster than shooting. And flamers take a while to kill the stuff that normally wants to get up close and eat your face off. A chainsword is simply faster to draw and mulch an angry Ork brawler with.
Because swordfights are cool.
>>44375992
yes they are
but not in the middle of a goddamn gunfight
Autism. Pure autism. Is there any reason to sperg out over a game giving the option to bash shit in melee because ita fun?
>>44375998
no, they're still cool
>>44376009
fun is not fucking allowed you faggot
>>44375930
You seem pretty fucking autistic OP.
>>44375930
Because there are a lot of things that even bolters, flamers etc. can't harm or will only make small wounds to, and in the case of space marines a melee is preferable to a fire fight with many factions, since guardsmen, tau etc. can't really do anything to them when they're in their midst while at a range they could defeat them. Then there's also city fighting (small corridors etc.), xenos that use melee (nids etc.) and various other circumstances where being able to fight in melee is a must.
>>44376050
so you're saying explosive round of fire don't hurt as much as a blade? Wow this setting is retarded.
>>44376068
A power sword or especially a power fist/servo-arm/etc. will apply a lot more pressure and thus energy than most of the weapons, and are probably a lot easier to create and maintain than meltaguns, lascannons (which couldn't even be used at small ranges), plasma guns etc. and many of the things in the 40k universe are heavily armored (and then there's psychic powers which can deflect flying objects like grenades or bolts but won't fully stop a space marine or ork swinging a melee weapon)
>>44375930
Space Marines are space knights.
Knights sword things.
Therefore, Space Marines sword things.
QED
>>44375930
Imagine the rock hard erection you'd get if you were mowing down genestealers with chainsword
>>44375930
The fact that Chaos and more specifically Khorne exist. Warring is a big chunk of the galaxy's collective psyche and the coalesced representation of that loves melee combat, since it's the most pure and simplistic expression of conflict. Therefore, with the way the laws of the 40k universe work, reality is inclined in a way such that melee combat will never be obsolete.
![BenKenobi[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/xlkm4Sh.jpg "BenKenobi[1].jpg")
>>44375930
It reminds them of a more civilized time.
>>44375930
Has something to do with the fact that it allows certain groups, SM for example, to put their advanced physique to greater use.
Furthermore, a sword doesn't run out of ammo. A bolter will eventually. When yer talking about forces that may be deployed to fight for weeks on end with no sleep or re-supply, melee weapons and conservation of ammo is pretty important.
>>44375930
Because
>>44376018
Fuck off.
>>44375998
They're even cooler
>>44376342
There are many valid reasons why melee weapons and training exist in 40k ITT
During the fall of humanity; techno-barbarians couldn't always produce ranged weaponry. This made melee prowess the primary factor, one of the reason the Thunder Warriors could shit on modern astartes in close combat.
Melees are fun and dramatic.
>>44375930
You must be a tau player.
>>44375930
Because Warhammer 40k is about knights in space fighting evil knights in space. It's an 80s album cover made into a game. The only argument needed is "the 80s," and your faggot fedora obsession with ruining fun collapses. You will never take away my chainsaw swords, heathen.
>>44376390
>stealing a weapon you can't maintain, fix, power up/reload, not to mention is a filthy xeno made thing
Report to the nearest commissar for *BLAM*
>>44375930
>Autism. Pure autism
Thanks for warning us.
Because the guys who made 40k thought it was cool. And they, as do the authors, roll with it. And it seems to sell too.
All of other arguments ITT are stupid. No faction has real reasons to resort to melee weapons and if they would be written realistically none would. Except for Orks and mindless berserkers, but even they'd switch to guns if everyone else did it. I'm not even talking about hard realism.
>>44375992
>>44376194
>>44376342
>>44377064
Basically this. There is so much stuff in 40k that makes absolutely no goddamn sense, so trying to justify why something works in the setting beyond that the creators thought it'd be cool is an exercise in futility.
>>44375930
FUCK YOU
I get NOTHING new in the SM update, Crusader squads aren't being sold together, i have no cool codex anymore and my gameplay is shit and you're telling me i'm an autist now?
THE FIRE IN ME BURNS STRONGER THAN BABY DADDY VULKANS SPAWNS'
1V1 MY BITTER INDIGNATION SEE WHAT HAPPENS
>hur dur melee unrealistic in warfare dominated by ranged combat
This is why modern armed forces dont do unarmed combat or bayonet drills except for ceremonial purposes.
Now, in Lore, e.g. Most recently I Am Slaughter, there are frequent references to SMs choosing melee to dispatch opponents where ammo is in short supply.
>>44375930
/k/ please go, it's fucking fantasy, no one cares that your guns can't curbstomp melee weapons
This whole thread reeks of bait, but what the hell. It's christmas. I'll give it a go.
Like bows, guns have the strength of dealing damage over distance. Unlike bows, guns deal a lot of damage (rounds) over enormous distances and don't require a lifetime of training.
If you change the equation, the force composition of the battlefield naturally also changes. In the early 18th century, cavalry was still a thing not only because they were effective in running down fleeing troops (in a rout, which is when the bulk of casualties occur) but also because they could cut through a block of musketeers if they could close the distance.
In Warhammer 40k, melee infantry can and do close the distance. Space Marines are all but impervious to anything but massed lasgun fire. So are other space-marine tier threats.
That establishes why each race has dedicated melee infantry, but the question remains: why do commissars have chainswords?
I'd argue the reasoning behind troops embedded in a infantry guard unit having melee weaponry being the same as the reasoning behind having a bayonet: it serves as a weapon of last resort.
Merry Christmas, OP, anons.
>>44377605
Tau and Necrons show that guns can and will curbstomp those retarded chainaxes
>>44377659
bows didn't require a lifetime of training either you retarded nigger
I bet you are one of the dumbfucks who think swords weighted 40kg
>>44377779
Depends on what sort of bow we're talking about. The famous English Longbow can and did take a lifetime. But the point was that a bow requires a longer time to train to reach roughly the same effect.
And the weight of a sword is usually 2-3 pounds for a rapier, 4-5 for a longsword. Which doesn't seem that much until you've been sparring for an extended period of time.
I'm not sure what that would be in kilos.
>>44377779
>hyperbole is sword weighing 40kg
>not a warhammer weighing 40kg
>>44377908
>be american
>get shot
>>44377940
Sorry, I'm not black.
>>44377940
>browse /int/
>shitpost
>>44377659
Why not take whatever the blade teeth of a chain sword are made of and use that to make bullets?
>>44375930
Because if you have armor that's pretty effective against most ranged weapons but also have melee weapons that work well against said armor then melee would make a comeback. This is even more true if you are far tougher and stronger and faster than humans (Space Marines, Necrons) or don't give a tenth of a fuck about losses (Orks, Tyranids).
>>44376068
no, you're just an idiot and a contrarian asshole.
>>44377759
>"Tau curbstomp melee hurr durr"
Have you heard of Drop Pods?
>>44375930
Why not use chainswords and power swords when you regularly fight enemies that force you to club at them with your shotguns anyway?
>>44375930
>>44377439
Close quarters combat will remain a staple forever. Bayonets were last fixed in the Iraq war.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-famous-bayonet-charge-of-modern-conflict-2012-10
In a universe like 40k where ship board and city combat is common there will always be a need for efficient melee drilling.
>>44375930
Because it's fun.
>>44375930
Because Daemons are hard to kill with guns.
>applying logic to 40K.
>>44375930
Because escapist fantasy is about not conforming to realism andvshower making up reasons why it doesn't after the fact. That's why it's not set in the real world, you cunt
>>44376018
Well then your the one who's not going to have a good time here so fuck off
>>44377908
Long swords actually didn't weigh more than 2 1/2 pounds usually and, for the most part, weighed less. Swords were remarkably light.
>>44381392
It's bound to happen eventually, some people aren't willing to accept something totally braindead.
OP, I recommend you just move on. If you're bothered by something stupid in the setting, there's no way to address it and the cultish fanboys will just shout you down for any criticism.
>>44381768
Before anyone gives me shit for calling them cultish unfairly, I'll point out that this is the same fanbase that regularly pines for there to be an actual Imperial Cult for them to devote themselves to hurrmanity through.
>>44381708
Yeah even those 5-6 feet claymores were 10-11 pounds. I expected 15 pounds minimum, since that's how heavy the shitty eBay chinese nodachis are, and western blades seem much more hefty and solid than eastern ones.
>>44381801
>there to be an actual Imperial Cult for them to devote themselves to hurrmanity
Are you dence or something?
>>44375930
OP
Autism is not understand that everything has to be realistic or even remotely so.
>>44376421
>What is reverse engineering
Case 1:
You just shot that guy you could barely see. He drops to the ground. Well done, you killed him!
You approach. Turns out he wasn't dead. He shoots you. RIP you.
Case 2:
You just motherfucking decapitated the bastard with your huge ass sword. You don't even need to check the kill, because he's deader than dead.
tl;dr melee secures the kill, shooting sometimes doesn't.
>>44383794
Heresy and daemonbait?
>>44375930
If you don't count Tau and Eldar bullshit, advanced armor works pretty good for assault troops with automatic weapons, flamers and melee weapons.
>>44383831
Oh yes, "heresy" the magic word that keeps the status quo in the Imperium.
I forgot everything but dying like an imbecile is heresy, carry on commissar Dence Mcasshole.
>>44383884
That's how Chaos thinks.
>>44376018
>people getting mad at this anon
I'm so sorry you're misunderstood by these 40k babies. They don't understand humour. Only edgy teenager roleplaying
>>44378115
Devil's advocate time. You might be able to shoot a tree down with bullets, but a chainsaw is a hell of a lot more efficient.
>>44383992
Ah fuck it I am turning to the dark side, let me get a black tunic and a edgy name.
Evil Badstar is my name now, and the Empire is stupid but none more stupid than the Eldar.
>>44375930
Soft sci-fi is more akin to fantasy than hard sci-fi. And in particular, the era of 40k's original conception, the 1980's, was filled with media where the point was more important that everything that happened inbetween.
So yes, it's fun and aesthetically appropriate to a future where WWI trench warfare is still being raged, star ships regularly employ Age of Sail tactics, and Gothic Cathedrals regularly serve as the command post for robots the size of mountains.
You're going to have to get your blood-on-screen so wheelistic elsewhere.
>>44375930
>hurr durr pure autism
Kill yourself. Part of the reason beyond the many other reasons that others have posted is the honor in melee combat. It takes much more skill. Faggot
>>44384043
I'm not sure if running up to the tree while the tree shoots explosive bolts at you can really be considered efficient.
>Autism, sperges
>Memes, maymays Insert thing here is a meme army, book person w/e
>Cucks, cecks
>Shills,
>Tumblr
>/pol/
Remember when we told people to go back to /b/?
>>44375930
Power fields on bullets are more expensive.
Swords don't run out of ammunition
>>44375998
Because the setting is meant to represent fantasy tropes in space and you're overthinking it. Just have fun.
>>44386604
Pepperidge farms remembers
>>44386604
Buzzwords. Buzzwords everywhere.
>>44382243
A buddy of mine has a 6 1/2 foot lowlander claymore, it weighs 6 pounds I think? I'll have to ask him, he got it a while back and I can't remember for sure, but think it's around 6 7 pounds.
>>44387371
Ancient ones were closer to 10 pounds. With modern metallurgy, shaving weight off that doesn't sound unreasonable.
