Tank commander HQ choice - Which tanks and why?

[commissarbob]

OK, with the new codex out for a bit now and us now being able to field a squadron of Leman Russ tanks as our HQ, what tanks are you fielding and why? The obvious go-to for the commander of course is Pask in a Vanquisher or Punisher as his higher BS and special rules play well with those, but my question has more to do with the escorting tank(s) and deploying them in a complimentary manner due to the requirement of taking at least one escort.

[yvain]

When you say escorting the Pask or TC are you talking about his buddy tank? Or are you talking about escorting Chimeras or something else. I am assuming you mean the buddy tank.

There are three things to consider.

One: The TC and by extension Pask are both pretty expensive. That means your side tank choice should generally be cheaper. You could do 2 demolishers if you like, but now you are throwing a lot of points into a unit.

Two: because of the split fire order the tanks do not need to match Pask's weapon profile. The best tanks for Pask are Punisher, Exectioner, and Vanquisher (in that order). Here the advantage of the Punisher is that its great against all targets. Executioner Pask will struggle against some heavier tanks, and Vanquisher Pask will struggle against hordes. This is the one situation that you can pick a complementing vehicle.

Three: What gets the most out of Pask's preferred enemy ability. The TC should be your Warlord. PE on Pask makes him even more insane and you essentially do not need a Prescience buff afterwards.

Tanks that are poor choices worst to best:

7. Battle Tank: Expensive and get no benefit from accuracy from preferred enemy. The ensured wound is nice, but you could still miss horribly. Ordinance negates extra weapons. This tank is much better on its own or in a regular squadron in the HS section
6. Demolisher: Pretty much same Except More expensive. The one difference is the preferred enemy is more crucial because you really want that strength 10 to mean something, but generally a waste.

Tanks that are average choices:

5. Punisher: Punisher just are okay (unlike Vultures which are awesome). Pask makes his pretty great, but the rest need twin linking to be effective. With Pask you could have a super horde killing team, but there are probably better all comers options.
4. Exterminator: Basically the same as the Punisher. Except it has the advantage of being cheaper.

Tanks that are good choices(worst to best):

3. Eradicator: The reason it gets mentioned its because it is dirty cheap. It has the same problems that the BT and demolisher have except you can put it down and not care as much if it dies.
2. Executioner: Preferred Enemy means no gets hots and everything will wound. It a solid tank to take that complements a Vanquisher or Punisher Pask well
1. Vanquisher: Cheap, effective against Vehicles, strong armor save characters. Complements a Punisher or Executioner Pask well. Can use preffered enemey to both help hit and to help wound especially verse vehicles as you can reroll 2 ones. Because of its price, you can easily add a pair of multimeltas or a lascannon and not go broke.


The one other thing you should consider is camo nets because they are pretty sweet now.

[commissarbob]

Yeah, the escorting tank is referring to the buddy tank in the HQ choice. Thank you for the insightful review!