5 Minute History: Chimera

The Chimera is the ubiquitous infantry fighting vehicle used by the Imperial Guard. The tank appears as a large, turreted tracked vehicle with six rifle barrels protruding from the top of the tank's rear compartment. The original Chimera was armed with a Multi-laser and a Heavy Bolter but subsequent updated rules sets have expanded the weaponry that the tank can be armed with.

The first Warhammer 40,000-scale miniature of the Chimera was released in 1995 during the game's second edition; the Chimera has previously been available in the Epic 40,000 game since 1990. A complete plastic boxed-set of the tank was produced in 1995, which included the game rules on vehicle data cards. With the release of the Chimera box set the rules for the vehicle were also published in the June 1995 issue of White Dwarf, this release also coincided with the release of the first codex book for the Imperial Guard in that same year.

Chimeras have been present for the Imperial Guard in the Epic 40,000 tabletop game far longer than they have been present in the standard Warhammer 40k game and variants of the tank are much more common at the smaller Epic 40,000-scale. Three variants, the battle cannon-armed Chimedon, the quad-autocannon equipped Chimerax and the slightly-upgraded Chimerro were also detailed in the May 1995 issue of White Dwarf. While models of these variants have been made by the Games Workshop-affiliated company Forge World, they have yet to receive official Warhammer 40,000 rules and boxed sets.

With the release of the 5^th Edition Imperial Guard codex in 2008 the Chimera became an even more widely used chassis with the addition of the Colossus, Medusa, Manticore, Hydra and reintroduction of the Griffon, which disappeared in the 4^th edition codex, into the Imperial Guard motorpool, all of which utilize the chimera chassis. Along with the standard tank, a few variants such as the Chimedon, the Chimerax and the Chimerro have also appeared in other Warhammer 40k related games but never in the main Warhammer 40k game system. The Chimera chassis also is the basis for many other Imperial vehicles including the Basilisk and Hellhound.

The Chimera appears in Final Liberation and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War as the Imperial Guard faction's troop transport.