Radium Weaponry
"Ferrus: Oh cool, when are you going to stop burning people to death then?"
"Vulkan: I do not understand your question."
- – A conversation between the X and XVIII Primarchs
Radium or Rad Weapons are deadly and highly dangerous weapons that are used almost exclusively by the forces of the Skitarii Legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Think of them as nuclear rifles. Radium Weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders. Although quite frankly, having a gun that just ends up killing you seems to venture into Grimderp territory more than anything else. To make things worse, the Imperium does have extremely potent small-arms-scale radiation protection in both material and energy field form. Most likely the Skitarii don’t use the protection because they're blatantly disposable. Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function; not only to kill the enemy, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon's bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a full volley can cause a localized rad-storm. Those inside such a storm soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away.
So what do they actually... DO? Simply saying "they shoot radiation" isn't descriptive enough; lasguns and melta weapons "shoot radiation" (in visible and infrared respectively). Even plasma, volkite, and projectile weapons generate Bremsstrahlung radiation. That's all photons and charged electrons. What Rad Weapons do is shoot ionizing radiation. Lots of it. Think "peeking into the core of Chernobyl". The shadows at Hiroshima, conversely, were caused by the thermal radiation of the nuclear fireball, not ionizing radiation. The fact that Rad weapons are AP 0 hints that they emit some of the less-penetrative types of radiation, but that might be giving too much credit to GW's knowledge of physics.
Nuclear disaster guns are all sorts of grimderp, to the point of being hard to defend even in-context. Anything that pumps out enough radiation to burn flesh is more than enough to turn pretty much anything else (vehicles, buildings, earth, bones, etc) into short lived radiation sources, meaning that a battlefield with rad weapons will very quickly become deadly and useless to virtually everyone. Vulkan hated them even though his legion was better adapted to eating radiation than any other. There are three caveats to this point: 1) The battlefield being useless to everyone is a good thing if you're executing a scorched earth strategy, 2) some times you 100% don't care about irradiating the place you're fighting at, such as: an already-dead planet, a ship you don't plan to use again, or a place that has already been hit by a nuke, and 3) we don't actually know if certain radium weapons fire radioactive material (with some unknown half-life) or just emit radiation, and if you're lucky the place might become safe to walk around in a few decades like at Chernobyl.
On the tabletop, generally speaking, Rad Weapons have a low strength of 3 and no AP, but a to-wound of 6 causes two damage, although stats do differ depending on what type you're using. In 30k 6s to wound inflict two auto-wounds saved separately. A ten-man squad without special weapons requires about thirty dice rolls. Normally Ork troops would have that much. While having shootouts with the Tau and can even win. But that's how the Adeptus Mechanicus rolls.
Radium rifles and pistols both existed before Warhammer in John Carter of Mars, though in both cases they were far less lethal to the user unless their ammunition was exposed to sunlight. Which makes even less sense but we can give it a pass because the internet didn't exist back then and John Carter's first book actually predates actual nuclear technology.
Imperial Variants[edit]
Rad Grenade[edit]
For more information, see here: Rad Grenade
Radium Pistol[edit]
A small pistol (small!? It’s bigger than an arm!) that uses scaled down radium technology, usually used by Skitarii Vanguard and Ranger Alphas. These nuclear hand cannons are unfortunately not as rad (Hah! See what I did there?) as one might think. You're better off ponying up the points for the Phosphor Blast Pistol instead, unless you *have* to have radium. But really you're better off just not taking a pistol on your Alpha.
On 8th Edition, this little nuclear powerhouse is a single-shot pistol with the above mentioned base stats. If you choose this pistol, you are essentially replacing a Skitarii Alpha's main weapon. Their base weapon does in a turn what this pistol does in two or three. If you choose to drop your main gun for a pistol, there are better alternatives...although this one is free.
In 10th, all the pistols for the Skitarii got condensed down into one single profile, so it's down to aesthetics.
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Front View
Radium Serpenta[edit]
Like the Phosphor Serpenta, the Radium Serpenta is a baroque revolver-type pistol with better range than a typical sidearm. Except, rather than shooting out space white phosphorous, you're shooting out irradiated plutonium.
Compared to the typical Radium Pistol, the Radium Serpenta is far more superior in its craftsmanship as well as having the aforementioned better range. As such, they are only wielded by the high-ranked Skitarii Marshals as their primary ranged weapon. Still has the unfortunate side effect of acute radiation poisoning, so whilst pretty to look at, it is best to stay as far away as possible.
On the tabletop, the Radium Serpenta is actually counted as an assault weapon, not a pistol. It is a 18" ranged S3, AP0, D1 radium weapon. Not too shabby for a sidearm.
Rad Beamer[edit]
An absolutely batshit insane radiation projector weapon used only by the Archeoteks of House Van Saar in Necromunda. The Rad Beamer resembles a miniaturized version of the much larger Rad Cannon, mounted on the forearm of an Archeotek and powered by the Archeotek's power pack on his Imperial Mesh Armour. Quite frankly, calling this thing "hand-held" is very generous given that it's bulky as fuck and looks like it weighs 30kg.
Firing this Chernobyl-level event deals as much damage as the Rad Cannon at a reduced effective range. Unfortunately, it still lacks the safety one-ton worth of lead shielding to prevent the Archeotek from getting radiation poisoning.
Unfortunately, despite the potential in the fluff, this thing just gives you cancer crunchwise. This gun sucks, like...really sucks. You would expect this heavy piece of radiation equipment would be just as powerful as its larger brother, right? Nope. Instead of behaving like any other rad weapon, using this piece of shit is the equivalent of spending a whopping 70 credits for an Autogun with Rad-phage. Someone really fucked up on this, which is a shame because the weapon kind of looks cool.
Radium Carbine[edit]
The basic weapon of the Skitarii Vanguard, the Radium Carbine is a rapid-firing weapon capable of a punishing rate of fire that sometimes borders on the absurd; it's entirely possible for this S3, AP0 weapon to destroy vehicles by sheer Dakka.
If you want to roleplay as Fallout in WH40K, this is the gun for you. Speaking of Fallout, this gun closely resembles the Fallout 4's similarly named Radium Rifle in both design and function. On the table, at 18" range and Assault 3 allowing Vanguard to cover lots of ground and still hit on 4+, the Radium Carbine usually means lots of hits at short-mid range.
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Bottom View
Rad Gun[edit]
The middle child of House Van Saar's Fallout collection.
The Rad Gun is the rifle of the family, boasting stats somewhere in-between that of the smaller Rad Beamer and the much larger Rad Cannon. Like their siblings, the Rad Gun fires a beam of focused ionising radiation akin to a microwave gun. Just like its siblings, having what amounts to a man-portable Chernobyl event is bound to give any Van Saar member cancer within an hour of using it continuously.
It is a weapon that can be used by the Prime, Augmek and Tek members. They specifically used the Nihilus Pattern.
Crunchwise, despite its awesome appearance, the Rad Gun is a half-strength Flamer with a special rule that does something only half the time. Back in Gang War III, Rad-Phage was a trait to be feared, but it seems that GeeDubs felt that it was too stronk and decided to nerf it. In its current iteration, the Rad Gun is definitely not rad *BLAM*.
Radium Jezzail[edit]
A motherfucking nuclear sniper rifle. The Radium Jezzail is a sniping weapon that is sometimes used by Sydonian Dragoons instead of a Taser Lance. On the table, it's a two shot sniper rifle that Dragoons can take in place of the Taser Lance for free.
Seriously, it has more power than other armies' sniper rifles, beginning at S5 Heavy 2, it would be more accurate to call it an anti-materiel rifle than a sniper rifle. This ridiculous power is offset by its relatively short range (for a sniper rifle) of 30". It could also Wound at 6s, which causes an extra mortal wound, just to make sure that poor sod is right and proper dead.
Basically, if you're going to be taking these on Dragoons you will have to commit to it; as in they're all gonna be sniping.
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Top View
Irradiation Projector[edit]
Dating back to the Great Crusade and working much like an oversized Flamer rather than a light machine gun, only firing pure uranium. An Irradiation Projector, also known as a Rad-Cleanser or Irad-Cleanser, is a specialized Adeptus Mechanicus weapon. A potent anti-infantry relic of the Dark Age of Technology, the weapon itself is a dish-like projector connected to a bulky generator which unleashes a powerful blast of cross-spectrum radiation.
Victims caught in the blast suffer horrendous deaths as they are boiled alive from within and blasted apart on a cellular level (think microwave combined with particle bombardment, kinda like an unfocused Necron weapon). Though less effective against vehicles or targets with heavy armor, the target will likely die a short time later from late-term effects of acute radiation sickness (compare "Walking-Ghost-phase").
The biggest users are Thallaxes, whose enclosed cybernetic harness means that they are less susceptible to radiation poisoning.
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Magos Dominus -
Myrmidon Destructor
Rad Grenade Launcher[edit]
The Rad Grenade Launcher, sometimes known as the Angel's Tears Grenade Launcher, was a type of Grenade Launcher used by the Blood Angels Angel's Tears during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.
Like the slightly bigger Rad Missile Launcher, these Rad Weapons were spawned from the Unification Wars and Age of Strife and proved itself well-suited to the Angel's Tears role as purgation specialists. These were heavy, drum-fed grenade launchers, the type to be fired against dudes in power armour, not cannon fodder. Like their missile-firing counterparts, the rad grenade launchers fired specialised radioactive grenades filled with ionising irradiated materials to completely lay waste to an area, basically making them mini dirty bombs.
As a Grenade Launcher, it has less range than the Rad Missile Launcher, but it is able to rapid fire and act as a form of light artillery.
Crunchwise, these are S4, AP4, 24" Assault 3 Rad Weapons with Rad-phage and Fleshbane, very, very nasty weapons against GEQs and MEQs alike, although Terminators and vehicles can tank them.
Rad Missile Launcher[edit]
The big cheese of the Imperium's Rad Weapons. Rad Missile Launchers were a type of Rad Weapon deployed during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. These Terran-derived missile launchers are a dark relic of the genetic wars waged during the Age of Strife, using custom loaded-warheads which combine high explosive fragmentation charges with radioactive isotopes.
The effect is to create an intensely toxic radiation weapon that inflicts a hideous death on its victim, no matter their resilience. Because of their contaminating and hideous nature, these weapons were deployed sparingly, most commonly by Destroyer Space Marines. The effects of these weapons were so horrific that they were only used against the vilest xenos species and most recalcitrant human civilisations. Even the most ruthless of the Legiones Astartes had very little trust for those who would dare use these weapons, the exceptions being the Death Guard and the Dreadwing of the Dark Angels, who employed them as a matter of course. The effects of the rad missiles often forced the Destroyer Marines to replace their limbs and organs with cybernetics, as the ammunition fired by the launcher itself caused aggressive forms of cancer that could afflict even Space Marines. The outbreak of the Horus Heresy turned the Destroyers and their weapons into a necessary evil for both sides. Pre-Grey Knights, these were the best answer the Imperium had against Chaos Daemons, and they wreaked havoc on anyone dumb enough to not wear or too broke ass to afford Power Armor. Most likely abandoned by Chaos Space Marines due to the possibility of dying from cancer, one of the most humiliating ways to go for a bloodthirsty berserker.
Tl;dr, it's a dirty-bomb launcher/Fat Man from Fallout.
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Back View
Rad Cannon[edit]
Rad Cannons are the big daddy of the lot. They are used by House Van Saar's Augmek and Tek gangers on Necromunda. These are extremely bulky weapons that shit out Chernobyl-meltdown levels of radiation in the vicinity of whatever they're aimed at.
They are extremely powerful, albeit unwieldy and deadly weapons (for both the enemy target and its user). Unsurprisingly, Rad Cannon users often count their lifespan in months, due to the radiation backwash. For some unknown reason, the AdMech and the Destroyer squads never seemed to utilize these weapons, despite the fact that they would and probably in all likelihood should, though their version would be much less shitty and look like a larger Irradiation Projector.
On the Necromunda tabletop, this is a 5” and 32” range blast weapon. Since Van Saar sorely lacks blast weapons otherwise, this weapon could have been a godsend. However, the weak-ass Strength of 2 means that it doesn't hitting above its weight. As such, it is a pretty mixed-bag weapon, quite situational honestly.
Karacnos Mortar Battery[edit]
For more information see here: Karacnos Mortar Battery
Tau Variants[edit]
The Tau Empire only utilize one type of rad weapon, and only the Vespids are known to use it.
Neutron Blaster[edit]
The primary weapon of the giant cockroaches. Neutron Blasters are a type of rad weapon that fires... neutrons. The Neutron Blaster is one of the most bizarre and impractical weapons ever conceived by Games Workshop. This is due to the fact that in order to fire it, you need a constant, ultrasonic tone emitted only by the vibrations of the Vespid wing casings which perfectly modulate the energies contained within the crystals. Whilst some may claim that this is a great way to deny the use of these weapons to the Empire's enemies, it also limits the usefulness of this weapon in close spaces or the hard vacuum of outer space which may render the weapon quite useless... whoops.
The Neutron Blaster is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology. The bulk of the weapon is of Tau manufacture, as the Vespid have not yet attained the technical facility to fabricate it themselves. Mounted on the barrel of the weapon is a highly energetic and unstable crystal harvested from the lowest levels of the largest stalactite islands of the Vespid homeworld, in the deepest reaches of Vespid's cloud seas. At such depths, the atmospheric pressures create all manner of exotic, bizarre and unique crystal formations, and it is only the larger female Vespid, those who form the leader class of the species, who have the constitution to descend to such depths and harvest the purest crystals.
Neutron Blasters are capable of emitting short-ranged but deadly streams of neutron radiation that are able to pass straight through all but the sturdiest of ray-shielded enemy armor to reduce biological matter or delicate machine circuitry to cinders.
For some reason, the neutron beam it fires is a sickly green despite the fact that neutrons aren't known to come in green.
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Sergeant Variant
