Mark V background source (help)

[rendingon1+]

Can someone tell me where can I find fluff text about mkV being actually designed astartes armour pattern with some unique qualities, NOT just patchwork of different marks? I know it is there but can't find it.

[Beren]

Mark VI was originaly meant to be designated Mark V, but I doubt that's what you meant.

[rendingon1+]

No,no. I mean mk v "Heresy" armour and what I need is fluff text that confirms it was a planned design.

[Bung]

In the Deathwatch RPG book Rites of battle is a short paragraph:

MK5 was created as a stop-gap, a style with the flexibility to use new or old materials depending on availability.

 

There are no technical special rules for that armour compared to MK7 just some social bonus / penalty.

[Sandlemad]

Forge World's Retribution is where you get the distinction between 'production' (classic, studded, more uniform) and 'non-production' (hodge-podge, overarching grouping) mark V armour.

 

p.86, the Dark Brotherhood warrior: "Other elements of the armour are specific to what would later be retroactively classed as non-production Mark V [...] This mixture of intermediate sub-patterns, field modifications and combining of diverging marks means that few examples of Mark V were exactly the same [...]"

 

Then on p.97 you have an Alpha Legionary wearing what was "later codified as production Mark V", the conventional studded armour. So it doesn't say it was planned, per se, but that it was more than just a hodge-podge. That the one?

[rendingon1+]

I think so... but I also remember reading about MK5 (studded with angry faceplate one) having better armour, easier to maintain though power hungry. Hm... Is it my imagintion?

[Monkeychunks]

Deliverance Lost goes into a bit of detail. Essentially it's spare bits of earlier marks, rigged together and made to work.

If you imagine that Power Armour is actually made of 2 parts; the external armour plates, and all the servos underneath them. The plates are easy to replace and can just be replaced with slabs of metal. The servos are the tricky bit and need a Techmarine's attention to integrate properly.

 

Raven Guard realised that their Power Armour wasn't protecting them against traitor ammo, so added another layer of plates on. These were attached via welding studs from the vehicle stores, since all the tanks had been abandoned. The plates did not have proper cable channels so they were layered on top of the plate rather than underneath it, and again armoured with tank bits. All the excess weight means the backpack is working much harder and so you encounter issues with overheating.

Not sure why the helmet is different, but you can probably handwave it away as a Mk4 with the faceplate removed, or an older prototype that was mothballed at the back of the armoury. Similarly the backpack is the same as on Mk6. I intend to use CSM Anvillus-style backpacks on my Mk5.

[Slips]

I think so... but I also remember reading about MK5 (studded with angry faceplate one) having better armour, easier to maintain though power hungry. Hm... Is it my imagintion?

I think thats Mk III since its basically a Mk II suit that had extra ablative armor slapped on top which caused the suit to require more power and better frontal armor.

 

With regards to Mk V, here are some fragmentary bits I remember, cant source but otherwise attribute to the suit:

• External Power Cables due to less efficient materials and/or shortages as well as the increased weight, and thus power draw, caused by the Molecular bonding studs
• The Bonding Studs were mainly there to add another layer of ablative amour onto the suit without having to up armor it in the style of Mk II -> III
• Easier to fabricate and maintain due to the nature of the suit being generally made from other suits that were cannibalized and re-engineered.

[rendingon1+]

 

With regards to Mk V, here are some fragmentary bits I remember, cant source but otherwise attribute to the suit:

• External Power Cables due to less efficient materials and/or shortages as well as the increased weight, and thus power draw, caused by the Molecular bonding studs
• The Bonding Studs were mainly there to add another layer of ablative amour onto the suit without having to up armor it in the style of Mk II -> III
• Easier to fabricate and maintain due to the nature of the suit being generally made from other suits that were cannibalized and re-engineered.

 

This is what I was looking for.

Source though, where did it come from?! I saw once a scan of the text on 4chan but I won't post a request there for obvious reasons.

[Slips]

It feels like it would be a combo of Deathwatch RPG, Product Descriptions, the "Power Armor Through the ages" cards that were available for some special reason that I cant recall (I have a set so Ill check those if I remember to at home) and the FW HH Books.

[Brother Styphus]

The source for ad hoc and bonded spare parts, with external pipes and running hot whatnot, is from White Dwarf 129 and also Deathwatch: Rites of Battle p149-152.

 

The "MkV was both spare parts suits, as well as a dedicated production with the features on purpose" is a FW retcon, and is in one of the Black Books. The FW website description for MkV listing also has this mk as a dedicated production line that was made and distributed before and during the Heresy.

[rendingon1+]

The source for ad hoc and bonded spare parts, with external pipes and running hot whatnot, is from White Dwarf 129 and also Deathwatch: Rites of Battle p149-152.

 

The "MkV was both spare parts suits, as well as a dedicated production with the features on purpose" is a FW retcon, and is in one of the Black Books. The FW website description for MkV listing also has this mk as a dedicated production line that was made and distributed before and during the Heresy.

The iconic MkV ‘Heresy’ pattern of Space Marine Power Armour was first created during the dark days of the Great Betrayal. Remarkably durable and easy to produce and maintain, large quantities were supplied to the Space Marine Legions prior to, and during, the Heresy. As the galaxy spanning civil war progressed, new supplies of arms and armour for the Traitor Legions were heavily disrupted, forcing them to scavenge components from their fallen enemies.

 

Ha! That will definitely do! Thanks Brother Styphus!

I don't undestand it though..."first created during dark days of the Great Betrayal" refers to what? Horus Heresy? If yes, then why in the next sentence it says MKV was "supplied to the Space Marine Legions prior to (Horus Heresy)"????

[Brother Styphus]

Because they were named via the mk numbering system, and the nickname came later, hence the quotations. Sylvester Stalone's birth certificate doesn't have "The Italion Stallion " on it.

[Brofist]

I think so... but I also remember reading about MK5 (studded with angry faceplate one) having better armour, easier to maintain though power hungry. Hm... Is it my imagintion?

You're not crazy, I remember reading this a long time ago too. I don't remember where, but it was from a canon source. I feel it was old, maybe 3rd edition or earlier.

[No Foes Remain]

 

I think so... but I also remember reading about MK5 (studded with angry faceplate one) having better armour, easier to maintain though power hungry. Hm... Is it my imagintion?

You're not crazy, I remember reading this a long time ago too. I don't remember where, but it was from a canon source. I feel it was old, maybe 3rd edition or earlier.

 

I remember that as well, maybe the 5th ed codex? That was the one that had all the nice pictures of the various armour marks in it, wasn't it?

[Nova_Dew]

I can't remember the source but the helmet was taken from early production/prototype Terminator armour that would become Indomitus type (the 40K suits)

[Huggtand]

In white dwarf 129 (September 1990) there was a background article for the power armour variants:

 

In short it mk5 is a mk4 armour that is repaired with older parts since spare parts for mk4 got hard to get by in the heresy. The studded parts was a way to reinforce the mk4 when using inferior materials due to lack of supplies. The extra weight due to older heavier parts was leading to a larger power output and more heat build up or the alternative to operate at a reduced power level. 

 

The helmet in the article is a spin of from the terminator program. An early type of pre-production helmet sharing the same auto-sense components as contemporary terminator suits. Being somewhat an improvised stop-gap, it is common for mk5 to vary a great deal. Where mk4 helmets, armored plates and cabling where available these where often used.

[Arion]

The mkV helmets are "Mantilla" pattern: originally prototypes destined for Tactical Dreadnought Armour (Terminator Armour), more specifically the Indomitus pattern IIRC; that ended up being fitted to mkV suits probably because of lack of resources, supply chain issues and the urgent need to have operational suits of armor.

 

Not the greatest source, I know, but this backs up the fluff around Mantilla helmets:

 

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/08/40k-lore-mk-v-heresy-armor.html

Many Mark V suits ended up featuring an unusual helmet design appropriated from supplies generated by the Tactical Dreadnought Armour program; this spin-off helmet featured similar levels of improved auto-senses as Terminator suits, but was still found to be inferior to those of Mark IV suits. The respirator used for this helmet was codified as the Mantilla-pattern, and saw use as early as late M30.