Tread Heads and Tank Treds!

[kongurous]

Welcome to our newest thread (at the time of this typing), a place for all your questions about tanks in the 40k universe. Do you like the quick but powerful Hammerhead, or are you perhaps a tred-ophile for the Leman Russ? Are you a Fire Prism whore, or perhaps bio-tanks are more your style? Maybe you like APCs instead of full-blown tanks for quick insertion, or you like the Hammer of the Emperor and their artillery. No matter your preference of tank, you'll find a home here.

Now to start us off, I pose you an Imperial Guard question. Because of my regiment's nickname (Kong's Raiders, named after their usual strategy of attacking fast, hard, and randomly and after their regimental commander), I of course like speed in my vehicles. Now, here's the problem.

I have with me a Leman Russ Conqueror and a Leman Russ Vanquisher. The Conqueror packs more armor, is cheaper, and can fire on the move. Both tanks have a BS3. However, the Conqueror's weapon, the Conqueror Cannon, has a range of 48", 7 strength, AP 4 and its a heavy 1 blast. The Conqueror also packs 1 hull-mounted weapon and 2 sponson-mounted guns.

On the other hand, the Vanquisher packs 1 AT battle cannon, a co-axial stormbolter, and can have 1 more hull-mounted weapon. It also gets two side-sponsons. For 20 more points, you can also get a veteran crew and it has an AT cannon, which has a strength of 8, range of 72", and instead of rolling Ordnance blast, you roll using the crew's BS to hit. If you do hit, you roll 2 D6 and add the numbers for hit.

So basically, armor penetration and long range, or mid-range and quick speeds?

[Tech]

Well, first off, I'll warn you that the following opinion has no basis on experience. Sadly I don't have the time or the money currently to get into this game. Even if I did, I would have nobody to play with. However I do like to hear about the strategies of the game. Anyway, I guess on with my opinion, although you'll probably want more experienced people to comment before you decide, obviously.

If your army is based on attacking fast and hard I would go with the long range armor penetration. While it may not be as mobile, you'll be able to hit the enemy without needing to move much, if at all, so there's your speed. Now armor penetration obviously comes in handy against armor, taking out an enemies armor quick can deal a major blow to their strategy, so there's your hard hitting.

Of course I could be wrong, if I am let me know. Eventually I'll have the time and money to pick this up, and I'd use the IG, so any strategy tips are great. Are there any flaws to my thinking on this one?

[Ragnarox]

Well Kong, although I'm not an Imperial Guard player I have played against (and lost several times) the regulars of the Imperium. I've got to say that no matter what kind of Imp army you play, whether it be a simple force of mass infantry, a mechanized division or an Armored Company, (*shudders*) that the Vanquisher will annihilate anything it gets it's crosshairs on from Tau to Tyranids. It's a vicious diabolical weapon (as I'm sure you're proud of) and if I had one of those, I'd try to get my opponent to allow me to use it while playing Catachans.

Anyway, keep the Vanquisher, its a good vehicle.

As for you Tech, there's really nothing wrong with your thinking at all. Although you may want to assume that most players go into battle with armor expecting it to be a primary target and therefore must be ready to accept the loss of the vehicle should it be destroyed.

[Dezzick]

I'm not sure what type of tank to go for, even though I'm a sit back and shoot type of person.

Should we do a list of all types of tank and strengths+weaknesses?

[Ragnarox]

Should we do a list of all types of tank and strengths+weaknesses?

That would be a LONG list considering although there are few tank groups, many of the tanks have their own unique quirks which make it difficult to summarize in a type overview. How about people just ask questions about tanks they are interested in and everybody can discuss them here.

[100thlurker]

I love the Bassie in the DOW games, is it as good on TT?

Does it even count as a tank?

[Ragnarox]

I love the Bassie in the DOW games, is it as good on TT?

Does it even count as a tank?

Well it's heavy support but I think it counts as an open topped vehicle. I don't know much about the Basilisk in DoW but I do know that in 40K table top, it can be a nightmare. I recall an especially agonizing battle when my Death Company had just rolled in on reserves and right on that turn they got an Earthshaker shell dropped right on their heads. Lost half the company...but I still won B). Anyway the Basilisk's range is probably superior in the table top game than in Dawn of War. The Earthshaker in table top is a strength 9 Armor Piercing 2 (I think) weapon which is an Instant Death! hit even for Space Marines. On top of that, it's got a range of 180"! That's enough to fire a shell from one side of the room and have it end up in a battle on the other side of the room! I would like to see that happen sometime.

However, just like all ordnance weapons the Basilisk must remain stationary to fire the Earthshaker cannon. Also, the Basilisk in Dawn of War is far more accurate than the one in the table top game simply because of the rules for firing ordnance weapons. The shooter must roll a scatter die to determine where the shell is going to hit. The Earthshaker is also a guess weapon, meaning that the shooter doesn't get to initially measure the distance from the Basilisk to the enemy unit. Instead, the player must use intuition to judge how many inches lie between the Basilisk and the unit being fired upon before the weapon can fire. If the number of inches is incorrect, which doesn't happen often, well then too bad, try to scatter the shot back.

The Basilisk is also vulnerable to assault and is a rather large target to shoot at. It's armor is very weak and with the exception of the hull mounted weapon, it has no real defensive systems.

[Dezzick]

correction - you can choose whether to fire it normally (0"-120"), or have it upgraded to a barrage (guess range) weapon with a range of 36"-240", for +25 points.

the other stats remain the same. S9, AP3.

btw, I used my codex for this, so read through it if in doubt.

[Ragnarox]

correction - you can choose whether to fire it normally (0"-120"), or have it upgraded to a barrage (guess range) weapon with a range of 36"-240", for +25 points.

the other stats remain the same. S9, AP3.

btw, I used my codex for this, so read through it if in doubt.

Holy Shit! Is that in the new Imperial Guard Codex? I haven't gotten the chance to read through it so I was using what I remembered from the 3rd edition rulebook. I had a hunch it was an AP3 but I wasn't positive.

[Dezzick]

By the new codex, do you mean the one printed in around 2003-ish? because that's what mine says on the cover. =/

you really should get up-to-date.

[Ragnarox]

By the new codex, do you mean the one printed in around 2003-ish? because that's what mine says on the cover. =/

you really should get up-to-date.

Well I don't play as Guard and I haven't played against them in a while. Because of this I lost a lot of info on exactly what all their weapons could do so I just referred to the 3rd edition rule book and Chapter Approved 2004. I'll have to remedy that quickly though.

By the way, is the 2003 Codex the newest Imperial Guard version? I distinctly remember a new codex being issued later than that.

[Dezzick]

Mine says copyright games-workshop 2003 ect ect...

So that's what I'm referring to. I think mine's the most recent one, and there's been nothing in WD about a new IG codex.

EDIT - It is the most recent codex, and we really should get back on topic, so I'll add some stuff on the Lemen russ.

The Lemen Russ

The Lemen Russ is the main battle tank of the imperial guard, named after the space wolf primarch.
It has 2 sponson weapons, one on each side, which can be a pair of heavy bolters, or a pair of heavy flamers. There is also a hull-mounted lascannon or heavy bolter, and it's main weapon is the turret-mounted battle cannon. This tank has the best front armour, but the worst rear armour, and it's side armour is in-between.

It also has many varients, the most common being the demolisher, which has increased armour, can also have either 2 plasma cannons or 2 multi-meltas in the side sponsons, and the turret weapon is a short-ranged, but powerful demolisher cannon.

Other varients -

* Vanquisher

The Vanquisher variant mounts a high-calibre long-range battle cannon and is used for long-ranged anti-vehicle support.

* Conqueror

The Conqueror mounts a stub-barreled low-calibre battle cannon that can be fired with greater accuracy when on the move. This allows the tank to be used in an assault and infantry support capacity.

* Exterminator

The Exterminator variant carries a pair of linked autocannons in its turret. In conjunction with its heavy bolters, the Exterminator can lay down large amounts of fire.

* Executioner

This tank replaces the standard battlecannon with a plasma destroyer. This is an extraordinarily powerful but temperamental plasma-based weapon which is prone to breakdowns and explosion.

* Mars/Alpha pattern

Mars/Alpha pattern Leman Russ tanks feature an increased interior capacity; for this reason, they are favoured as command tanks.

(the previous varients, except demolisher, are copied from wikipedia, as I have none of the rulebooks for them)

[kongurous]

I have the Imperial Armour supplement, so I've known of the Leman Russ variants. I've decided to go with the Vanquisher for a usual deployment and the Conquerer will come in handy when I'm fighting an enemy that has to get pretty close to attack. Warriors in MMOs aren't called tanks because they don't suck up damage like a real thing, after all.