Hmm.... The Chainsaw bits on a Chainsword are supposedly made out of Admantium or something like that, harder then diamonds.

By the 41st Century maybe They had created lightweight materials that the Chainsword could have been designed with, and maybe a smoother running motor to run the Chain on the sword...

Parrying.. with a chainsword? No... how about tearing the enemies weapon out of his hand, then chewing his face in.. there that seems to fit the bill a bit better,

And why swing the weapon? Because it feels good. what other reason do you need.... ok... maybe I need to go worship khorne now.

Or maybe it Helps with Applying pressure in order to push it threw even faster, its not like a hot knife threw butter, but rather a Cold Knife threw a frozen butter stick, but its better then smacking an ultra sharp Blade against power armor, cause thats not going to do anything, other then make a *ping* sound,

Now Admantium tipped chainsaw teeth pushed by an crazy nutter into the chest of a Space Marine... Different story indeed.

 

And why swing the weapon? Because it feels good. what other reason do you need.... ok... maybe I need to go worship khorne now.

Or maybe it Helps with Applying pressure in order to push it threw even faster,

I was thinking about this more. Since the adamantium cutting edge is really doing all the work, there is no reason to swing the weapon or even raise it above one's head ever.

People wielding chainswords more likely attack by simply "pushing" toward their opponents in smooth motions.

Applying pressure shouldn't have any effect - again because the chain bit is supposed to be doing all the work. Pressing down extra hard on the weapon while its cutting would not do anything other than possibly jamming the weapon. In fact, jams probably happen often, whenever someone is trying to cut into armor that is, for example, adamantium reinforced. Repairing jammed chainswords is probably a routine task after each battle with these troops.

I agree that parrying either would not happen or would be difficult. Jeez, a chainsword vs chainsword duel would probably be awfully brutal/messy in real life. A single false move and you've likely lost a limb!

 

I don’t get why would you want to hack something up when you can just shoot them to bits (Khârn is an exception)? I think a chainsword sounds cooler then a just a regular sword. I wonder what would happen if you combine a power sword with a chain sword? A power chainsword sounds really cool to me.

 

Well there are chainweapons that count as power weapons, Kharn's axe for one and in the eisenhorn books he gets a chainsword that is a power weapon.

 

Guys, this has been said loads of times on this site: In 40K, it's not about physics; it's about fun and how cool it looks.

Think about it. A Bolter would need some kind of arm-rest with that much kick-back. But it doesn't have one because otherwise it wouldn't look good. This is a model, on a table, made of plastic. I don't see why physics should come into it. It's a game. Fiction. Nothing more. just a bit of fun. Don't complicate it with the real world.

 

He's got a point, half the stuff doesn't sound like it would work. Hell its like the damn light saber not really possible with the science and laws we have now. In the future who knows. IMO the reason for the sword is the same reason soldiers in real life are give combat knives guns jam, break, or run out of ammo, and times when using a gun is dangerous.

 

Well rail guns arn't a thing of the future. i mean theres one aalready made, of coarse its absolutly huge but it does what a broadside would do.

in the dow intro its got the sergent using his chainsword.

heres a link to it on youtube

he slices and parries.

 

In the video, i don't know how many caught it, but it's all rather easy to explain. If you noticed when the sergeant was using movements that are used in traditional swordplay, the chain was going. When he cut up into the ork, he reved the blade and spilled his guts out. Every CGI thing I've seen used in 40k shows that when the chainsword is actually using the chain, the wielder is "digging" into the opponent and the blade is being forced up further and further. When the blade is just being swung, the chain isn't moving and it's usually to parry or to cut lightly armored/unarmored foes. Just like a normal chainsaw, I imagine that a chainsword just idles until a handle/trigger is squeezed and then a powerful motor kicks it into gear. And, if the teeth of the blade are sharpened and harder than diamond, even slicing around without the chain is going to do some damage. Imagine being sliced with lots of razor blades except they're much thicker and much sharper than the ones we have today.

 

Haha, I never meant to be arguing that 40k should be thought of as realistic or should be required to include any scientific realism, this was definitely just for fun.

That being said, I continue to cement my opinion that swinging/downward force is completely unnecessary with a chainsword: :biggrin:

When you chop wood with an axe, you need to generate force to split the wood by swinging the heavy axe. When you slash with a sword, you draw the sharp blade across an object to slice it into peices.

But with the chainsword, you're simply bringing the chain track in contact with an object. The chain teeth remove material from the object at a rate related to how fast the teeth are spinning. Pushing down harder will not cause more material to be removed. In fact it would probably slow things down, as you would get increased friction of the teeth against the object.

Really, an important skill in wielding a chainsword would be learning not to push down with any excessive force, letting you maximize damage and minimize the chances of a jam.

 

i like the idea that Zeros has, cause watching the vid again i did relise that the chain is idle unless it is in contact and digging.

and slicing would be necessary when the chain is idle, maybe cause it ran out of power or using the motor isn't neccessary. and anyway, how would a chain axe work then?

you wouldn't just rest it on some guys shoulder, of corse your gunna swing it, its an axe, theyre ment for swinging. come to think of it a chainaxe in real life would be rather usefull...

 

have you ever used a Chainsaw trunkburger?

Cause I am alost positive that it requires Pressure on the saw to get it to cut through the tree, or else it will just keep on cutting the same damn place.

Now Applied to 40K

Chainsword vs. Thick Ceramite Armour.

A slight Pressure against an Armoured opponent with thick Armour isn't probably going to do anything, and more then likely without pressure, the teeth will not catch, simply scratching the surface.

You Swing so the Teeth dig into the Armor, then you turn it on, digging through the Armor.

Now you think the poor bastard is just going to sit there while you attempt to cut him to pieces, I doubt it. So he will try to remove the blade from him by stepping back

Enter Physical Force and Pressure in order to keep the blade in the enemy.

 

but how hard can a SM hit. with his enhanced muscles + the servo motors behind his swing those teeth could dig in there pretty good. on a side note how much weight can SM bench press anyway:dunno:

 

*still arguing only for fun - i like figuring this stuff out*

Obviously you need to move the weapon in order to cut more, but none of the force you are applying goes into making the cut.

Consider an ideal chainsaw that had teeth which always moved infinitely fast. In this case, anything put in front of it gets plowed out immediately and anything you would cut would offer no resistance at all. Like a lightsabre.

A real chainsaw is a bit different. The material (wood, ceramite armor, etc) being cut is going to resist the teeth. Some of that material is going to be plowed out, and some of it is going to be ripped out. Pushing down with extra pressure would affect this plowing/ripping ratio: you can choose to introduce more material to the teeth than they are ready for. But your pushing down is still doing nothing to cut the material - - - all the cutting is being done in the direction the teeth are moving.

Again, even if you're cutting super strong terminator armor, you're able to press down to feed more material into the chainsword, but the limiting factors in the cutting will always be 1) the geometry/material of the teeth and 2) the speed & strength of the motor moving the teeth. You are not adding "extra power" by pressing down.

..... so swinging a chainsword is still pointless.
:grin:

Some of the older fluff implies that chainsword teeth move extremely fast and (due to their sharpness) cut very well - so the behavior is probably more like the ideal "lightsabre-like" case I suggested above. Which makes sense, as I brought up before, wielding a "20th-century-like" chainsaw in battle would be pretty awkward.

 

wasn't there some thing said in one of the gaunt's ghosts book about the use of chainswords, gaunt has a one on one duel with his uncle with a chainsword apiece. it talks about normal fencing going out the window.

 

trunkburger, the best thing you can do is go out and use a chainsaw to cut up a particularly tough tree trunk. If you don't apply pressure and rely on the blade to feed itself, you'd be there forever.

Now, if you're a SM trying to cut through a cranky ork in mega armour, you'll want to swing as hard as you can so that your initial impact is aided by your enhanced musculature and servo assisted armour, getting through the armour as quickly as possible instead of just scratching the paintwork. You're trying to gut him, not tickle him.

Another reason for using conventional sword craft with a chainsword is that you only have to teach one way to use a sword, as opposed to two completely different methods. And I agree, a chainsword v chainsword duel would be a brutal affair. If anyone who has used a chainsaw has ever hit a nail or steel peg stuck in a lump of wood, they'll know how it almost jumps back out of the cut, so trying to cut through armour or another chainsword would be dangerous enough without someone trying to do the same to you.

But, as someone else has said, sci-fi is all about suspension of disbelief. Physics, Who needs it?

 

trunkburger, the best thing you can do is go out and use a chainsaw to cut up a particularly tough tree trunk. If you don't apply pressure and rely on the blade to feed itself, you'd be there forever.

to true mate, the blade just ends up "pulling" itself along and off of the wood thats being cut unless you apply some downwards pressure, what i want to know is why dont they hold the victims? try cutting a piece of wood that isnt properly held down, i call it a shin smasher, as that is what itll do!

 

So what is it actually like to wield a chainsword? I think it is absolutely not like a regular sword: you're not going to be slicing or stabbing with this weapon, as these movements do not take advantage of the chain edge. Attacks with the chainsword would be in more of a chopping motion, with the blade moving perpendicular to the target. There's no slicing with a chainsword.

Treat the Chainsword like a Katana. It works best in a cutting, slashing motion. Thrusts are possible with the Chaos variants as the protective guard on the rear of the Loyalists looks to prevent it. The spinning teeth will tear open whatever it can even if it is a light cut.

The next issue, how fast are you going to be moving this chainsword? If the blades were moving at about the speed of a normal chainsaw, you would need to be swinging the blade quite slowly. It seems like this would be a terribly awkward weapon. Then again, 41st millenium technology probably has the cutting chain moving much much faster. With a fast chain, you could move the blade more quickly, but it would still be like using a chainsaw. Parrying get's complicated; obviously you don't want to parry with the chain edge. Maybe the back of the blade only?

Most sword arts teach to never use the edge to parry but rather the flat of the blade or an unsharpened rear edge. Precisely to protect the cutting edge from getting dinged and notched. Again, I tend to think that the blade is moved fast where it will slice off arms and lower legs with a single slice, but on larger target areas, the intent would be to tear and rent the target area. This gives a two-fold advantage, first the wound would not be a clean cut and would bleed profusely and debilitate the opponent. Second, the teeth would apply a force that can shift the balance of their opponent or spin them. Opening them to a second decisive cut.

The big question in my mind is which way are the teeth spinning. If they are like a normal chainsaw, the teeth will pull the blade out of the hand of the user. The reverse would push the blade toward the wielder. To add another level of detail, some chainswords have curved teeth. Think how directional spin affects the effects of the cuts.

Even with the fast chain, there is still no need to swing the weapon quickly/violently like an axe: the chain edge is supposed to be doing all the work. Someone wielding a chainsword would probably be making very smooth, moderate speed movements to maximize the chain's effectiveness. With that kind of smoothness, it would probably look a lot more like a tai chi sword form than anything else.

So there you go- the closest thing to chainsword fighting in the 20th century is... tai chi swordplay.

I prefer to think they use a Samurai style. Check out James Williams and see just how fluid his motions are and that's with a non-motorized blade.

 

imagine though, if you will, if all guardsmen were armed with chain knives like out of hot shots: part deux

, bout 2.30 in now that would be funny

 

:laugh: nice post. and who knows maybe they do have chain knives. they just dont have the reach of a chainsword . what the guardmen should do is make chain bayonets

 

tbh i did mean bayonets, but put knives.

me speek england good

 

Can you imagine how much fun you could have with a real Chainsword? Great for Halloween Costumes. "The Grim reaper aint got shit on me!"

 

your right imagine how much more candy ul get if u have a chainsword. hell u can even get some money!!:biggrin:

 

Alright, you all make some good points. My two cents is this.

Smoothly moving a chain-sword edge isn't gonna do anything if your opponent passes his armor save. So might as well swing hard as hell and hope you at least stun or knock back the guy with sheer force.

Other than that? It's fiction. The cooler something looks the more powerful it is.

 

i think i might of started a vidio trend in this thread.

but anyway imagine a chain scyth, i migfht do a conversion....

 

I made one of these for my scratch built cannoness. Ill post pics when shes all done.

 

how about a chain pike/spear/halberd, like a chain sword but able to cut from a distance!

 

there are actually things like that for cutting up limbs high up in trees so i mean its obviously feasible but then again i have to agree this is about having fun and what looks cool

 

or how about a gun? you could shoot them from far away.:victory: i dont get how its like damn it my gun cant peirce their armor. i got an idea let me go kill him with my sword. you would think that the guns would be way more deadly then chainswords. no matter how you weild them. i can see a point where your over run from nids and u pull out a sword. but other then that you would think a gun would have advantages.