Vortex grenade
The Vortex Grenade is a rare and deadly weapon which is difficult to produce.
It takes the form of a weighty sphere, approximatley the same size as the fist of a grown man. Inside is outer shell lies a delicate, though temperamental, warp mechanism. The designs of the device date back to the Dark Age of Technology.
When the grenade is activated, it creates a tiny rift between the materium and the immaterium, a rift that becomes a vortex in the very fabric of space, similar to a black hole. Everyone and everything encompassed by the vortex is destroyed; all matter and energy is drawn through the vortex and it is turned inot the very stuff of the warp.
Vortices are doubly dangerous, as once they are created they behave in an unpredicatable and uncontrolable manner. They may shrink, expand, vanish, remain for long periods of time, move or even divide. For this reason, they are as deadly to their user as their intended targets.
Vortex Grenades first appeared as a peice of wargear in Rogue Trader and remained in use through the 2nd edition of Warhammer 40,000 as a Wargear Card.
They were removed during the 3rd edition of the game, but were brought back into the 4th edition in the form of an Apocalypse Expansion Strategic Asset.
The 'Tactical Asset' entry in the Apocalypse Expansion describes them as: "The most potent man-portable weapon in the galaxy."
Sources
Warhammer 40,000: Battle Manual Pg. 89
Apocalypse Pg. 187
