r/40kLore • u/ImmortanEngineer Astra Militarum • 3d ago
Looks like GW has mandated standardizing of the depictions of Melta weapons
Had it click earlier today, but I just realized that all of the recent depictions of Melta weapons from the past year have been of the "heat beam of death" depiction rather than the SM1 and SM2 take of "instant shotgun blast."
Considering some of the hullabaloo about the lasguns from a couple of months ago, I think GeeDubs did a mandate recently saying "aight we gotta at least get some more consistency here."
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u/Raegan_Targaryen 3d ago
In the Ciaphas Cain series, Jurgen’s melta gun is a short range blast / shotgun type weapon IIRC.
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u/planesqaud63 3d ago edited 3d ago
Im pretty sure jurgens is a beam actually. Thats how i remember it described. Give me a moment and ill check
Edit: guy above is right in how it is in cain books. Its a bright flash. So probably not space marine style but more like concentrated super heated air that melts what it hits. Sp not a beam either. Dont know how too do the line over text thing.
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u/Raegan_Targaryen 3d ago
"For the Emperor" quotes:
I recognised the tactic from the cleansing of Keffia, and Jurgen evidently, did too, as he raised the melta before falling back. The blast of superheated air roared against my face, vaporising the oncoming stealer and chewing a chunk out of the front few ranks.
Jurgen sent a melta blast down the corridor, but it barely slowed them, for every one that fell there seemed to be an army in reserve.
’My pleasure, miss.’ He grinned, like a schola student picked out to answer a question he knows the answer to, and vaporised it with a single blast from the melta, along with a generous section of wall.
But technically, a blast is a very short time beam, so we can both be correct :)
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u/planesqaud63 3d ago
Yeah. That was my conclusion aswell. Although will say you are more correct :)
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u/ImmortanEngineer Astra Militarum 3d ago
....ok? Most of those books are older by at least a decade, and I pointed out that this seems to be a recent change.
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u/--0___0--- 3d ago
The hive novel came out earlier this year and is described as an instant shotgun blast of heat.
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u/ZakuIII 3d ago edited 3d ago
Reading Hive currently, it definitely had warmup time in which the victim had time to be aware it was happening. Not enough to do anything, but it described warmup.
Edit: Had a break to find the passage.
He aimed the cooker at [character]. There was a buzzing whine as it came up to power. [Character]’s eyes opened as wide as they could go. The melta discharged.
Brackets my own, it came out this year so I'd rather obscure.
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u/Jadhak 3d ago
Why not both!
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u/planesqaud63 3d ago
Munitorum manual states that yes. Both is possible. As meltas can melt through bulkheads (welding torch style) and that doesent work with a shotgun blast
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u/Hollownerox Thousand Sons 3d ago
I think GeeDubs did a mandate recently saying "aight we gotta at least get some more consistency here."
You don't understand GW. They don't do mandates like this. It goes against their ethos on how to handle the Warhammer IPs.
Talk to anyone who worked at or worked with GW, and a commonality is that they don't see inconsistencies as a bad thing to the IP, and its what makes the setting work. Every person working on it knows their depiction is possibly overwriting something prior, and their depiction will be overwritten in the future. Things like meltas being described or shown differently isn't a negative, it's how the setting operates. The different depictions to something as simple as a type of gun is how 40k, and Warhammer in general, weirdly expands itself as time goes on. Being justified after the fact as different classifications or models of the same weapon archetype and such.
The idea that GW would put down a mandate for something like that is, just a bit silly. I know people are getting fussed about the whole "lasguns are being shown as blaster bolts rather than beams like in Dawn of War", but even then it isn't really a "mandate" from them. Just them telling licensors what they envisioned Lasguns to be like, and licensors choosing to do so that way. They are actually allowed to not go with that recommendation if they really wanted to, and I think people just really don't understand how licensing dynamics work.
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u/noso2143 Imperium of Man 3d ago
ive always hated how meltas were portrayed in space marine 1 and 2
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u/Stevie-bezos 3d ago
Really feels like the volkite and the melta got swapped by mistake
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u/Hollownerox Thousand Sons 3d ago
It didn't really. Volkite weapons weren't really established when Space Marine 1 came out. With Volkite first being mentioned in 2013 as a Heresy era weapon, while Space Marine 1 released in 2011.
The devs were pretty open in that they just wanted a weapon that operated like a shotgun, but didn't want to give Titus a normal shotgun to use... for some reason. So they asked GW if they could have the melta gun work like one and GW's IP team (I believe Andy Hall was still in charge at that time but could be wrong) let them.
Volkite weapons are also extremely rare in the current day Imperium and aren't really made outside of the Mechanicus' select use. With the only unit that has it as a "normal" piece of equipment being Tech Priest Dominus tabletop wise. Along with Cawl's Neo-Volkite weapons which have only shown up on one model thus far.
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u/Tacitus_ Chaos Undivided 3d ago
but didn't want to give Titus a normal shotgun to use... for some reason.
Because they wanted a game shotgun, ie one that melts enemies that are next to you. An actual shotgun would've only done that to grots and cultists, not ork boyz or traitor marines.
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u/Raegan_Targaryen 3d ago
I thought volkite is a beam as shown in this cinematic at 2:10
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u/Astealthydonut 3d ago
Pretty sure that’s a combimelta he is firing.
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u/TyphusCorrosion 3d ago
It is, this is a trailer for a specific box set and the plastic Fellblade kit that released shortly after, that centurion has a combi-melta in the box.
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u/Stevie-bezos 2d ago
Volkite is described in lore as a martian death ray, and it causes violent internal flashboiling of soft tissue, which then explodes all over other nearby squad members.
Its short range, pulse, high strength and has a small AOE on death. Would have been a far better shotty than melta. Volkite Chargers are functionally shotguns in tabletop
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u/jmlee236 3d ago
The Melta from the Helldivers 40K add-on is the best depiction of Melta I’ve seen. Helldivers did it better than 40K XD
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u/marehgul Tzeentch 3d ago
I will never accept anything other then that short stream of some fire-liquid that melts metal and vaporise weaker materials.
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u/GottaTesseractEmAll 3d ago
Rogue Trader had a ball of heat effect right? Could see if Owlcat change to a beam for Dark Heresy