Warhammer 40K: Rules and Fluff Quiz

Answer: It could shoot flames from the hilt of its sword

The entry for the Second Edition Avatar explains that the Avatar could fire flames from the hilt of its sword. A BS of 10 was truly pointless, but it was a far more fearsome model than the current Fourth Edition Avatar, which has drawn significant criticism.

Answer: Banishment

Banishment doesn't cause Instant Death, unlike the other three choices. The Daemon Sword Drach'nyen simply kills whatever it hits, Swallow Whole was a Third Edition ability exclusive to The Red Terror which allowed a single, hapless character to become its next meal, regardless of wounds.

The Force Weapon causes Instant Death with a successful Psychic Test on an already-wounded model. Banishment only causes a Daemon to take a Daemonic Instability test.

Answer: He blasted Horus with the last of his remaining psychic energy

According to legend, the battle began as Horus and the Emperor took swings at eachother with their physical weapons. Those eventually proved ineffective, so they resorted to psychic powers, blasting away at eachother. At one point, Horus completely shredded the Emperor, and just as the Emperor lat dying from the blast, Horus paused a moment before being able to gather the composure to kill his father.

In that instant, the Emperor used his last bit of strength to blast Horus with his psychich energy, cripping his body but killing Horus nonetheless. Rogal Dorn, the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, rescued the dying and shattered Emperor and interred him upon the Golden Throne, thus starting the Age of Imperium...

Answer: The Old Ones

Many millions of years before the game 40k takes place, the Necrontyr battled the Old Ones out of hatred for their race. The C'tan were utilized by the Necrontyr as weapons until the C'tan turned on the Necrontyr and began eating everyone's soul in the galaxy.

The Eldar, though believed to be descendants of the Old Ones, don't figure into this story, and the Humans were millions of years away as a race.

Answer: 1987

It was Rick Priestley who designed a majority of the rules for Warhammer 40k. Some elements of the game (like setting, names, etc.) were seen in an earlier set of rules called Laserburn. Second Ed. came out in 1993, Third Ed. was 1998, and Fourth Ed. was 2004.

Answer: 4

Assuming you can read Roman numerals, the number fastened to the skull's forehead is 4 (IV). In Roman numerals, 1 would be I and 7 would be VII. 40,000 would be 40 M's all strung together (try fitting that on a skull).

Answer: 1/36

The probability a Guardsman will hit is 1/2 (4+), the probability to wound would be 1/3 (5+), and the probability the Terminator fails his save is 1/6 (2+ save roll), and if you multiply that together you get 1/36! I played a game once where this happened 3 times, so it's not impossible...

Answer: Zzap Gun

Ork weaponry takes the prize! The Zzap Gun is highly sporadic in its effectiveness, and if the player is unfortunate enough to roll two 1's, they will have a hard time killing a basic guardsmen. The other three choices are all S3.

Answer: Tzeentch

Tzeentch is described in the Chaos Codex as being the constructor behind any alliances between the four Gods. Rarely can the Chaos Gods agree, as Tzeentch and Nurgle are often at odds (Tzeentch is a creator, while Nurgle is a destroyer) as are Khorne and Slaanesh (Khorne enjoys brute force while Slaanesh prefers manipulation and subtlety). Of course, these alliances benefit Tzeentch the most, as the Lord of Change is always looking to advance his Great Plan.

Answer: Space Hulk

Space Hulk was released in 1989 as just a basic board game inspired by the move Aliens. It involved Terminators running around corridors killing Genestealers, which weren't considered Tyranid since Tyranids hadn't even been invented yet by Games-Workshop! Tyranid Attack was the name of the rereleased Advanced Space Crusade game in 1993. Space Crusade was a game published by Milton Bradely in 1990, and Ultra Marines was a scaled-down version of Warhammer 40k released in the mid 1990's. Space Hulk has always been revered as the best Warhammer 40k board game, since it won awards and actually inspired much of the current Warhammer 40k fluff, including the idea for the Tyranid race.