Tyranids/Orks vs. "what if"

[Mike X]

I was reading the main rule book earlier tonight and noticed on the galaxy map the little box talking about the Tyranid "tendril" invasions.

It says something along the lines of most of the Tyranid race is just stalking our galaxy, meaning what we've encountered of them is barely anything compared to their true numbers.

So it made me think of how if the Orks ever united in solidarity, they'd conquer the galaxy.

But I was thinking, if the Horus Heresy had never happened, do you think the Imperium would be able to survive a united Waaagh and/or a full-scale Tyranid invasion?

I'm curious what you all think on this.

[krispy]

well as i see it - if the horus heresy hadnt happened then the emperor wouldnt would be as he is and he would simply pwn any race that attempted it ;) but what do i know?
/k

[gold 'orn silvateef]

I think that if the orks united, the Imperium might be done for simply because of the way that orks reproduce. Unless they change the whole orks can come from spores that they emit when they die thing then the Imperium would probably have to put to flame not only ork worlds, but a lot of the worlds that the orks attacked. If you look at the Armageddon conflicts, Ghazzy and his boyz get pushed back off planet, but while his main army force is gone, a whole generation of ork spores are maturing and readying for battle. When Ghazzy comes back, he comes back in force, and already has boyz like Snikrot and the Red Skull Kommandoz on the dirt to lead a force into battle there.
It would just be a numbers game and I haven't read anything about test tube human babies that can be produced quickly and with little care or resources like ork hordes can be.
The Imperium would probably be slowly grinded away to little. Yeah, the Emperor might be around, and completely own any battlfield he's on, but the war would be across the stars.

But, I'm open to contrary theories as well... These hypothesizing exercises are always interestin'

[blueshift]

if the horus heresy never happened, the emporer couldn't provide as big of a psychic shield around the imperium as he does on the golden throne. therefore, issues like abaddon's 13th black crusade might have been a bit worse. however, events like mccragge's invasion could probably had been quelled very easily by the emperor himself and some primarchs with a couple legions of marines.

i don't beleive even the emporer, his primarchs, all of the imperial navy, and space marine legions could survive a full-scale tyranid invasion. thats like a googleplex of hormagaunts.

[keithsilva]

They would have a better chance, I mean the emperor would have finished his project in the webway, give them faster ways to travel, instaed of using the warp. I think they juts might be able to pull it off, before the heresy, the Imperium almost conquerd the either galaxy, they wouldnt be fighting choas as bad as they are nowm because there would be no chaos space marines, no black crusades. I think the Imperium would be alot bigger and stronger, the would have recoverd more lost tech., heck who knows the emperor could have improved the space marine make up by then making them even stronger. It would be one hell of a fight;)

[entendre_entendre]

if the heresy hadn't happened every space marine would probably have terminator armour. let that sink in.
at the "current" heresy strength of the Ultramarines, they alone would have 40,000+ terminators (or something like that). the Imperium would use the webway, so the Chaos Gods would be a lot weaker than they are "today"(M41). Not to mention that space marines themselves would physically better as the process to make them has degraded over 10,000 years. So yeah, depending on how large the swarm ACTUALLY is they could pull it off. oh yeah, if the heresy hadn't happened, the Orks would have been exterminated by the time the 'nids show up through massive crusades to eradicate them.
also: REGIMENTS OF BANEBLADES/SHADOWSWORDS!!!
in short: if the heresy hadn't happened, & the Emperor had finished his goals in the galaxy, they would be able to take the 'nids as they would have a whole galaxy of soldiers to fight them off.

[Faultie]

I might agree. If the Heresy never happened, and Land Raiders were still common and used by everyone from the Guard/Imperial Army to the Space Marines, and tank regiments were mostly Baneblades, and Plasma weapons, jetbikes, webway, etc., etc., were all still common issue, I don't think it would have been as big a deal.

[Emperorsmercy]

Well, there are a hell of a lot of Nids....

[Xas]

if the heresy hadnt happened we would be playing a starship troopers like scenario of humans versus bugs because ALL other races would have been eradicated by now.


with psykers as potent as the emperor and some of his primarch sons (read: magnus!) even the necron's star gods would stand no choice.


as if the imperium would stand a chance against all of tyranidkind there is no answear because in theory there could be a million hive fleets for every spacemarine the imperium has. if the nids have the right numbers they can even take down primarchs and the emperor himself because they can learn and evolve.

for example the nids could trow a million lictor's at the primarch all at once. in the days/weeks it would take him to kill them all ONE might scratch him and take off with the DNA sample so the norn queen could build an atame (the cursed sword that wounded horus) like biotoxin, equip a dozen or two hive tyrants with it and have the primarch die by the first scratch in his armor.


but at same time the current imperium could be all that is needed to defeat the nids. there COULD be thousands of fleets lurking but at same time the ones we have seen so far could be all that is left of the nids.

[oldone]

i don't so as i think some thing would happen to the impreil like the heresy which woulld hurt the impreal just as much

[Da Blak Gobbo]

United Orks, at least a chance to turn them back but with extreme casualties and be very weak, almost too much to come back. For Tyranids, no, the full force would simply be too much to take even if all the marine could concentrate and attack the 'nids would still have fore numbers than could be dealt with. An 'army' of carnifex's would be a headache for any force the marines have and dont even get started on the huge bio-monstrosities that they could bring...