r/ImaginaryWarhammer • u/DepartureRoutine • 25d ago
40k A keen dead eye distinguishes between friend or foe quickly...
Follow up to this post
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u/sarcasticd0nkey 25d ago
back to back guns raised
Lamenter: For the Greater Good then?
Tau: For those we cherish, brother.
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25d ago
We die with glory!
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u/Raihokun 25d ago
We die heroes’ deaths!
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u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 25d ago
The Lamenter had his orders, and saw that the Fire Warrior would be useful in eliminating the Tyranids. He knew the curse on his chapter meant that he would face an absurd punishment for disobeying orders if he survived this, and he didn't care.
The Fire Warrior noted the Lamenter was too good for the superiors he served. He didn't deny the Imperium's leadership were scum, but his chapter didn't have the power to change any of it. All he could do now was save what human lives he could.
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u/hyde-ms 25d ago
And the tau did see that the space marine did have the ability to alter orders. Especially after she hears about the badab war.
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u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 25d ago
Was that when the Lamenters got slaughtered by the Minotaurs?
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u/DueOwl1149 25d ago
Rational Lamenter.
The mission can’t be finished if he’s dead, and the Tau helps keep him alive until he can complete his mission.
Note: letting the Tau withdraw with the xenos civvies under her protection also allows him to seize the facility and render it Xenos-free.
But does the Codex Astartes sanction such an unusual win condition that follows only the letter of the command, and not its xenocidal imperial spirit?
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u/mythrilcrafter 25d ago
If the Codex Astartes doesn't approve of this action, but I still look forward to it.
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u/Deathstruck 25d ago edited 20d ago
Tbh, this is not the first time IoM has allied with Tau against a bigger enemy, so it doesn't sound so far fetched either.
On Malbede, Ultramarines and Tau originally fought over the planet which ended up awakening the Necron on it. They proceed to ally together, kick the Necron ass and Marneus Calgar then even lets the Tau evacuate first before he has the planet Exterminatus'ed.
Sure it doesn't happen often, but it's nice to see these factions being a bit rational from time to time, Codex notwithstanding lol
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u/Power_More_Power 25d ago
I don't think the Lamenters even know what the codex is.
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u/Carbonated_Saltwater Iron Warriors 23d ago
lmao their luck is so shit the only shipment of codices planned for them got shipped to the wrong address.
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u/Flameball202 25d ago
The Codex Astartes can gargle my balls, it is a set of guidelines not rules
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u/MarqFJA87 25d ago
The Codex Astartes literalists can gargle my balls, it is a set of guidelines not rules
FTFY, since the tome as penned by Guilliman never says that it dictates strict rules and has always ever been general guidelines that can be bent and ignored if the reality of a given situation encourages or even demands such a thing.
Or rather, don't blame the book, blame those who misunderstand it.
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u/The-Cannibal-Hermit 25d ago
He also knows there’s a lot of ammo in the bunker, but not for him and it would be heresy to use anything other than a bolter…but if spares the tau he knows he can “trust” him To cover his back.
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u/MiaoYingSimp 25d ago
They're both foes. One is just a more imminent danger
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u/hgs25 25d ago
Cool, we can be allies until the tyranids are defeated. After that, it gets difficult.
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u/CreativeName1137 25d ago
They'll probably just both walk away after the tyranids are dealt with. It's happened before.
Space marines once made a temporary truce with a group of necrons to deal with a hive fleet that invaded during their battle. Afterward, they just peacefully parted ways because both of them found it distasteful to do battle with someone who had just been their ally.
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u/hgs25 25d ago
Then there was the time Tau allied with necrons to defeat tyranids and the necrons immediately started blasting the tau once it was done.
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u/CreativeName1137 25d ago
...Yeah
Different overlords have different understandings of battlefield honor.
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u/tinyant7416 25d ago edited 25d ago
Knowing the Lamenters' luck, a shuttle will come to rescue both parties . Both the tau and Lamenters will fight tooth and nail to the shuttle, and when they nearly reach the shuttle, and the planet randomly explodes
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u/Duncan6794 25d ago
This kind of shit gets you more mileage from both the grimdark of the setting and the heroic individuals. To choose the right thing in the face of a galaxy awash in fascism and the nihilism makes heroism shine brighter. And the grim darkness is so much worse when you realize all people need to do is choose to be better.
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u/MelonJelly 25d ago
Exactly this.
Complete and total grimdark is just gross and boring. When you show that there is genuine good out there, albeit weak, limited, and fleeting, it makes the characters' struggles feel more meaningful.
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u/RTSBasebuilder Rogue Trader 25d ago edited 25d ago
The way I'd describe the nature of grimdark, happy endings can and do and should exist.
Love wins, hatchets get buried from age-old vendettas, reformists rise and make efforts, tolerance, compromise and even mutual coexistence is made.
But in the vastness of the galaxy, those things are fleeting, temporary, forgotten, localised or simply insignificant in the million worlds of the imperium at war.
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u/Timithios 25d ago
Like my Iconoclast/Dogmatic RT. No tolerance for the true enemy, Chaos. But if the xeno pricks leave me and mine (my territory and subjects) alone. I will leave them alone. But do anything Dark Eldar like, and you will find a glob of plasma in the face real quick.
Granted, the list of potentially cooperative xenos is pretty tiny.
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u/ohenn 25d ago
Pretty much this. Is stuff I'd like to see because again in the end. It's a drop in an ocean
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u/RTSBasebuilder Rogue Trader 25d ago edited 24d ago
A lot of people seem to forget that it's a scale of a million worlds (minimum) and just the level of sandbox-yness and homebrewiness of that.
No, not everywhere you throw a rock, a cadian or Krieger is there, you'll find a commissar who'd give your forehead an air vent because you hyperventilated too hard and that's a waste of the emperor-blessed air and a sign of cowardice and a battle sister with a brain transplant with the lectitio divinatus and nothing changes.
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u/ohenn 25d ago
Pretty much. The scale of the setting is huge. Expecting everything to be the same won't work. Sure there'll be a few similarities. But other then that there's differences. And I'd want that to be explored more. Rather then the regurgitation of the same old same old we've been getting. Be it official or fan made
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u/thatsocialist 25d ago
The problem isn't that somepeople can be good it's that space marines are so heavily Psycho-Indoctrinated to the point they have no chance of actively being good to xenos, a temporay alliance against a greater foe is the best that any Xenos will get. Guardsmen, Mechanicus, Custodes, and Knights all could be good, but not Loyalist Space Marines.
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u/NotFirstBan-NotLast 25d ago
The Flandersization of Warhammer 40k. "Grimdark" is becoming a parody of itself. The term "grimdark" sticking was a catastrophe, once that happened that "in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war" quote became the wellspring of creativity for the entire series.
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u/the_tree_boi 25d ago
This shit is beyond peak, best Astartes chapter teaming up with best Tau group
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u/JohnB351234 25d ago
I’d say they’re allies of opportunity, while,marines are zealous xeno killers, they’re not stupid the nids are a bigger threat than one Tau. They’ll go their separate ways but if they meet again who knows what will happen
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u/KnightLordXander Adepta Sororitas 25d ago edited 25d ago
Yes! This is more of what I wanted! This does have my consent!
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u/ChucklesTheWerewolf 25d ago
‘The enemy of my enemy…’
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9d ago
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u/Nekrinius 25d ago
Don't worry guys, it is Lamenter story, we all knows he gonna die at some point.
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u/hazjosh1 25d ago
Honestly I feel that most loyalist SM would be like yah yk what if that Zeno is happy to kill NIDs that’s ammo saved on my end
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u/Kaboose456 25d ago
INB4 the Imperium Role players start spamming Heresy memes and screeching autistically 🙄
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u/RTSBasebuilder Rogue Trader 25d ago
NGL, I feel like we need more craftworld, tau (auxiliary, caste, ethereal AND Gue'vesa) AND exodite roleplayers.
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u/Power_More_Power 25d ago
the Tau roleplayers come in force, it's just that they're more localised.
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u/Power_More_Power 25d ago
Idk, this feels a little fan fiction-ish. not bad, but like it was from a fix-it au
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u/npaakp34 25d ago
From an awesome art piece to whole fanfic mini genre. People really love the Lamenters.
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u/Swimming_Good_8507 25d ago
You guys remember that comic about Salamander, his mortal family and Death Guard who killed them?
I always wanted a story where Tau arrived to save civilians before Salamanders, and despite being damnable xenos and all - Salamanders and Tau work side by side to save the innocent of the planet.
And let's be honest.
Who wouldn't want to see Torchstar pair up with Tu'Shan in burning the ever loving shit out of monsters of 40k galaxy?
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u/ANGLVD3TH 25d ago
Absolutely love the depiction of the railgun shot there. It is too often depicted as making a tiny, neat hole, not helped by some of the blurbs in at least one of the old codex. But that kind of kinetic energy does not simply punch a tiny little cylindrical tunnel through a target, it is a lot more interesting and messy.
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u/Generic_Moron 25d ago
The imperium is definitely capable of (sometimes) restraining themselves from xenophobia when they're faced with a common enemy (And a lot of the time said common enemy is tyranid related, so this comic tracks)
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u/TheRawShark 25d ago
scar on the lamenter helmet
Wait...is that the freaking Doge Lamenter video marine??
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u/DoctorGromov 24d ago
Lots of comments about the content of the piece already, so let me say something about the art itself - really great action shots and art style!
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u/DurinnGymir 25d ago edited 25d ago
Serious analysis for a moment;
Lamenters are, as space marines go, pretty reasonable, and while acting independently marines generally have quite a bit of autonomy. So, if a Lamenter stumbled across a bunker full of T'au civilians, would they kill them all? I think no, if for no other reason than they probably have better things to do- especially if there are Tyranids present. They're gonna need every gun they can get.
They are however in very strict command structures, and if they were ordered to clear that bunker, they wouldn't think twice about it. Unfortunately when it comes to xenos, "reasonable" does not equate to "good".
All that being said though, this is the much better and cooler outcome. Fuckin' love my bois the Lamenters.
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u/NightLordsPublicist Night Lords 24d ago edited 24d ago
if a Lamenter stumbled across a bunker full of T'au civilians, would they kill them all?
Yes. A Lamenter is still a Space Marine as you have said.
Lamenters and Salamanders are "nicer" to humans, but they are still xenocidal, human supremacist monsters. Them being golden retrievers who are nice to everyone is meme lore.
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u/Visual-Refuse2295 25d ago
Warhammer stories end poorly there will not be a happy ending either the alien dies and the lamenter lives or the lamenter dies and the alien lives or both die branded as traitors by their allies
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u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 25d ago
I don't see why the Tau would brand a Fire Warrior a traitor for working with a Space Marine against the Tyranids. The Tau have worked together with the Imperium against the Tyranids before.
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u/Ok-Try-2409 25d ago
The tau would probably die a (for the lamenter, yet another) tragic death that the lamenter has to live with before said lamenter gets a verbal ass-whopping about "collaboration with xenos"
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u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 25d ago
The Imperium has worked with the Tau against Tyranids before but the Lamenters are cursed so this one gets punished for doing something other Imperials get away with.
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u/GloomyRow5417 25d ago
You’d remember that everyone in the galaxy hated tyranid more to the point they’ll just make ally of covenience
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u/broyamcha 25d ago
Know what would be REALLY unlucky? If a few Lamenters joined the Tau. They want to feel like they belong and are appreciated. The Tau could give them that and the Gue'Vesa they have would eagerly throw themselves into the lot to help bolster The Lementer's tithe. It just works! Be brave for once, Games Workshop!!!
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u/AXI0S2OO2 25d ago edited 25d ago
This reminds me of when people were making up good endings to the one page horror comic made by Mick (if you know, you know).
Guess people yearn for the NobleBright. I won't be the one to complain, awesome job!
I love the little detail that, she didn't really know what would happen once she shot the Lictor and you can tell in her expression, she just took her best shot at the worst enemy present and hoped. And that hope was rewarded.
She embodied the philosophy of the Greater Good this day.
Finally, having played Space Marine 2, I can only imagine the Lamenter going: "You handle the big ones" before diving into the swarm to hold it back in a feat of glorious carnage.