Chimera

The Chimera is the standard armoured personnel carrier of the Imperial Guard and its chassis is the basis for a large number of other Imperial armoured vehicles such as the Basilisk artillery and Salamander scout vehicles. The basic Chimera is equipped with a Multi-Laser but can also be equipped with a variety of other heavy weapons, such as Twin-linked Heavy Bolters, an Autocannon or a Heavy Flamer. The Chimera also mounts a hull-mounted Heavy Bolter or Heavy Flamer and 6 hull-mounted Lasguns on the vehicle's sides which can be fired from the passenger compartment, allowing the infantry inside to fire at the enemy. It can carry up to 12 Guardsmen or 6 Ogryns. The Chimera also has amphibious capabilities, allowing it to take part in naval amphibious assaults or overcome watery obstacles like swamps and rivers.

Capabilities
The Chimera is the Imperial Guard's most commonly used armoured personnel carrier (APC). These nearly ubiquitous vehicles are extremely durable and practical, capable of mounting a wide array of support weapons. From within the armoured confines of the Chimera, an Imperial Guard infantry squad can use the vehicle's hull-mounted weapons to unleash a lethal wave of firepower into an enemy, protected from all but the most heavy weapons in return. Chimeras are also a powerful symbol of the might of the Imperial Guard and are fitted with a range of equipment, including searchlights, to locate the enemy, and massive bulldozer blades to clear all obstacles in the way of the Imperial Guard's heavier main battle tanks. With scanners and communication voxes, Chimeras are also suitable mobile bases of operations from which Imperial Guard officers can efficiently direct their forces.

Squads of Imperial Guardsmen mounted on Chimeras are usually called Armoured Fist mechanised infantry units. These squads lend speed and tactical flexibility to the otherwise often slow and rigid formations of the Imperial Guard. An Imperial Guard infantry regiment does not typically include any mechanised elements, as it is difficult for most Imperial Planetary Governors to obtain and then maintain the vehicles from the Adeptus Mechanicus needed for such units. Because of this reality, it is quite common for Imperial Guard commanders to attach Armoured Fist squads from other, fully mechanised regiments to provide fast-moving armoured transports to non-mechanised infantry units. Armoured Fist squads are able to respond quickly to emergent threats or move ahead of the main body of an advancing Imperial force and seize vital objectives until reinforcements from the infantry arrive. Enemy positions are quickly overrun as the heavy weaponry of the Chimeras, spitting a stream of fiery death into the packed ranks of the enemy, is accompanied by the charge of the infantry squads on-board who move down the vehicles' rear steel ramps and mow down all the survivors at point blank range. Armoured Fist squads have a reputation in the Guard for getting the job done and are in high demand by infantry regiment commanders. Typically deployed against the most heavily defended of enemy positions where the armoured protection of a Chimera is vital for a successful assault, it is no surprise that Armoured Fist squads have an even higher rate of attrition than standard Imperial Guard heavy infantry units.

Over the millennia, the Chimera has been pressed into service in a variety of different forms, proving its reliability over and over again. The Chimera is a highly versatile armoured vehicle able to operate in the most hostile environments faced by the Imperial Guard. Chimeras are amphibious vehicles and are able to move through dense swamps, deep marshes and even rivers. Many an enemy of the Imperium has been destroyed because its commander believed his flanks protected by such watery obstructions, only to find ranks of Imperial Guardsmen, supported by the potent anti-personnel weaponry of the Chimera that had transported them, driving into the very heart of his forces.

Armament
The most common variant of the Chimera armoured personnel transport, the Mars pattern, is armed with a turret-mounted Multi-Laser, a hull-mounted Heavy Bolter, and six Lasguns controlled by the tank's passengers. Another common variant of the Chimera mounts a Heavy Flamer on the turret and sometimes the hull, or a turret-mounted Heavy Bolter, this allows the Chimera to act as close-support for infantry operating in dense terrain. The Forge World of Gryphonne IV produces its own unique variant armed with a turret-mounted Twin-linked Heavy Bolter, and while it isn't very effective against enemy armour it is able to lay down a hail of explosive bolts that are highly effective against densely packed enemy infantry, such as Tyranids or Orks. Chimeras can also be equipped with an Autocannon, these variants are used as light anti-vehicle tanks. Another variant, the STC data found on the world of Kronus during the Dark Crusade allows a pattern of Chimera, known as the Kronus Pattern, to be built, this pattern replaces the normal Chimera turret with one similar to the Space Marine Predator tank turret, including its Autocannon. The Chimera can also be outfitted with camouflage netting, extra armour plating, track guards, improved communications equipment, a Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher, a Pintle-mounted Heavy Stubber or Storm Bolter, rough terrain modifications, a dozer blade, a searchlight, or smoke launchers.

Known Users of the Chimera

 * Imperial Guard - The Chimera is the most common vehicle of the Imperial Guard, most Guard regiments have many in their armouries and they are used all over the galaxy.
 * Inquisition - The Inquisition uses Chimeras to transport both Inquisitors and infantry such as Storm Troopers during their operations.
 * Planetary Defence Forces - Many Planetary Defence Forces make use of Chimeras in the same ways the Imperial Guard uses them, many defence forces have no heavy tanks and must rely solely on Chimeras for their heavy support.
 * Adeptus Arbites - The Adeptus Arbites uses the Chimera for transportation during large scale riots or rebellions, these Chimeras are sometimes equipped with water cannons for non-lethal crowd suppression.
 * The Lost and the Damned - The Lost and the Damned consists of Imperial Guard soldiers and others that have turned against the Imperium and have either sided with the Forces of Chaos or have became renegades. These soldiers and renegades still use the Chimera as their transport of choice.

Notable Users of the Chimera

 * Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Tyrus - Chimeras carried Storm Troopers during the Purging of Gladrinus VI
 * Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Lord Coteaz - Chimeras were used during the Cleansing of Opridia
 * Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Hector Rex - The Chimera is used as Storm Trooper Transports
 * 6th Magdellan Armoured Regiment - Used during the Battle of Tsaragrad
 * 18th Krieg Armoured Regiment - Used during the Barbarius Campaign
 * 98th Cadian Armoured Regiment - Used during the Luxor Uprising
 * 113th Cadian Mechanised Infantry Regiment - Part of the Cadian Gate garrison forces
 * 7th Mortant Regiment, "The Headhunters" - Took part in the Sacking of Colonia
 * 3rd Tallarn Armoured Regiment, "Desert Storm" - Fought during the Defense of Balle Alpha, and during the Taros Campaign
 * Armageddon Steel Legion - Involved in the Defense of Hive Infernus during the Third War for Armageddon
 * 193rd Tallarn Armoured Regiment - Used during the Achernar Prime Campaign
 * 84th Mordian Armoured Regiment - Used as transportation vehicles
 * 527th Valhallan Ice Warriors Infantry Regiment - Used as transportation vehicles
 * 81st Phyressian Armoured Regiment - Used as transportation vehicles
 * 8th Palladius Armoured Regiment, "The Warhounds" - Fought during the Atria Wilderness Campaign
 * 23rd Krieg Mechanised Infantry Regiment - Took part in the Cleansing of Radnar
 * 114th Cadian Armoured Regiment - Took part in the Taros Campaign
 * 266th Cadian Armoured Regiment - Fought against escaped Tyranids from a secret Adeptus Mechanicus research base on the planet of Anphelion IV
 * Vraksian Traitor Militia - The Vraksian Traitor Militia fought against loyalist forces during the Siege of Vraks
 * Forces of the Inquisition - Fought during the Betalis III Campaign against the Eldar of Craftworld Mymeara

Derivatives
The Chimera chassis is the basis for many other Imperial armoured vehicles, including:
 * Basilisk - Long range artillery vehicle
 * Bombard - Heavy artillery vehicle
 * Griffon - Heavy mortar vehicle
 * Colossus - Heavy artillery vehicle
 * Medusa Siege Tank - Short range artillery vehicle
 * Hellhound - Flame tank
 * Hydra - Anti-air tank
 * Manticore - Missile tank
 * Death Strike - Long range missile tank
 * Salamander - Scout vehicle
 * Trojan - Utility vehicle

Variants
While there are many variants of the Chimera, there are three special variants that are used by the Imperium, all of these variants of the Chimera retain the original's amphibious capabilities and transport capacity, these three are also the only named variants:
 * The Chimerax was by far the most widespread variant of the Chimera, the Chimerax was armed with turret-mounted Quad-linked Autocannons. Its design was intended as a stopgap measure to be used as a mobile anti-aircraft artillery piece that could also carry a squad of Imperial Guardsmen and provide close support for them. While the quad-linked Autocannons actually fared poorly against aircraft they proved more than capable of supporting the ferried troops. This variant has been mostly replaced with the much more effective Hydra anti-air tank.
 * The Chimedon was essentially a light tank. The Chimedon is armed with a turret-mounted Conqueror Cannon in its turret for added firepower. Some Chimedons were further upgraded with a Battle Cannon, but the stronger recoil of this weapon had the chance to seriously damage the vehicle itself upon firing the gun.
 * The Chimerro possessed either a single Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher tube attached to the turret and an automated reloading system or a rack of 8 cubic box Missile Launchers on the top of the rear hatch. While the former variant of the Chimerro still retained the top hatch, it was difficult to keep it in proper working order, so it was rarely used. The second variant of the Chimerro was more common in Imperial service as its Missile Launcher was useful in providing combat support for Guardsmen attacking strongly fortified targets.

Also See

 * Imperial Guard Vehicles

Gallery
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