Goatboy’s Oldhammer 40K – Crazy Grenades From The Past
Did you know that back in the day, there used to be specific Grenade weapons in 40k? Let’s peel some old books and check out some of my favorite grenades from yesteryear.
The grenades came in all shapes and sizes. Some had rules that hardly mattered, whole others could win you a game all by themselves. These were a weapon you could either throw, plant on something in an assault, or it did something if you charged into combat with them. It was a wild time and while the simplicity of the current edition with grenades and some cheeky mortal wounds is nice there was some insane stuff from older editions. Here are some of our favorites from 6th Edition>
Frag/Krak Grenades – 7th Edition – almost all the Imperium armies and some Orks
The old days would let your units have Krak Grenades that would give your little trooper a stronger single attack into a vehicle. It would help you punch a bit up but wasn’t always the best. The Frag grenade on the other hand would be a way to have your unit throw a d6 attack into the enemy as a shooting attack or lets you assault at your initiative if you charge into someone in cover. There was a time that the greatest trick you could do to a horde army who didn’t have Frag grenades was sit in cover and get to punch them first as they rushed in. This was back in the day when cover wasn’t just ruins and could be trees, pipes, and craters.
Psychotroke Grenades – 6th Edition Inquisitors
This grenade was bananas. It was an effect that happened if you charged in or get assaulted. You would roll a d6 and consult a table to see what dreadful thing happened to the unit slamming into your inquisitor unit and they retinue of chosen wounds. A roll of 1 meant nothing happened. A roll of a 2 means your unit just doesn’t care too much and is auto hit. Oh they also can only fight back with 1 attacks as well. 3 let you reroll hits against the enemy unit. 4 means the enemy is reduced to leadership 2. 5 has the enemy have their Initiative reduced to 1 which usually means they fight last. A roll of a 6 has all the enemy models roll an Initiative test and any failures has them hitting their own unit. This is a wild batch of effects and I remember many a game having my poor models punch their friends in the face.
Every tank HATED these dudes…
Meltabombs – Multiple Older Editions
A meltabomb was the method in which an infantry unit would become a threat to any vehicle or bigger issue. It would grant the unit a stronger attack that would either have bonuses to doing vehicle damage or have a high enough value to chew thru armor. The Melta rule from back in the day would have the attack get an additional 2d6 on any armor penetration roll which usually allows it to punch up with their normal strength of their attack. I would remember a lot of games where my Meltabomb unit – purchased for each individual model – would rush in and cover the enemy in penetrating hits. Looking at you Eldar Fire Dragons!
Psyk-out Grenades – 6th/5th Edition Grey Knights and Inquisitors
This was a funky grenade which was heavily used in the old Psyker heavy editions. This grenade would cause any psyker unit that charged into combat with a unit that had Pysk out grenades to lose any of their charge bonuses. They would also allow the unit with them to get a throw attack that would cause any unit hit by it and was a psyker to suffer a Perils of the Warp hit – which could do a large amount of damage to the unit.
Rad Grenades – 6th Edition Inquistors
The last Grenade is the tried and true Rad Grenade. This option would cause any unit being charged by the wielder or charging into the wielder to get a -1 to their Toughness. This in turn would stack with any other -1 to toughness power to cause all kinds of crazy problems. Then on top of all of that it would also affect the unit in the case of any instant death attacks – those attacks that the strength was double the units toughness. This was a wild time indeed with crazy 40k nonsense combos.
There were many games where a pile of Inquisitors and their Death Cult Assassins would pile out of a Land Raider, charge into combat, cause all kinds of crazy affects, and then wreck whoever they hit in a whirlwind of “power weapons”. Will have to talk again about the time frame where a power weapon could mean all kinds of fun stuff like Power Axe, Power Sword, and Power Maul.
What Grenades do you miss the most from old 40K editions?
