Leman Russ variants

[judcottrell]

I want to bulk out my Krieg with some tanks as I want to grow the force quickly.
I’m thinking of using the GW Leman Russ and variants as there really isn’t much difference (except for price!)
I want to eventually build a Tank regiment to go alongside my Siege Regiment’s Artillery.

Now could any of you Treadheads give me a few pointers as to which variants would fill the gaps in firepower that I might be lacking?
I’ll be using Earthshaker Carriages, Quadlaunchers and Heavy Mortars.

I haven’t used Imperial Guard tanks in numbers for a looong time. Are Demolishers still a strong choice?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Machine Gun Kelly]

I use three Lemans as much as I can. I just love them... the firepower, the looks... just love everything. I use two standard Lemans with LC and HB sponsons. To complement them I use a Vanquisher with LC. If I know my opponent don´t use many vehicles I leave the Vanq at home. Unfortunatly, I must say, that if I was interested in winning more and get more bang for the bucks. I should have gone with HBs instead of LC in my ordinary Lemans. But the LC looks more menacing, so they stay.

[judcottrell]

They do look awesome.

Do you find the basic Russ good vs most matchups?
I’m trying to build a decent all comers list.

I like the idea of Lascannons, I have plenty of dakka, so the antitank firepower would be handy.

Should I start with 2 basic Russes and a Demolisher? (The stubby/large gun barrel of the Demolisher just looks too cool!)

[RedsandRoyals]

If you want to run a lot of Russes I'd recommend a tank commander in an Executioner with plasma sponsons, two basic MBTs with a triple HB loadout, and an Annihilator with a hull lascannon, but here's a slightly more detailed analysis...


The three best general purpose Russes are the Executioner and the regular MBT. The Executioner is only hamstrung by it's relatively short range, but has fantastic damage output when overcharged and can survive overheating without being destroyed outright, unlike most vehicles. Your tank commanders will get the most mileage out of it. Always give it plasma sponsons. The basic MBT has good firepower, but don't mistake it as an anti-everything vehicle. It can handle just about anything T7 or below, but shooting other vehicles is best left to different units*. It's best use is mulching heavy infantry and light vehicles. Running it with triple heavy bolters really rounds it out and lets it punish light infantry without wasting the main gun. The last version to consider is the Conqueror. It's functionally identical to the basic MBT except it's gun has less range. In exchange it gains a co-axial storm bolter. If you shoot it and the main gun at the same target, the main gun rerolls all failed hit rolls. It's fantastic, but it needs that storm bolter to be in range so it'll be moving a bit. Don't take sponsons.

The next tier are the specialists; the Punisher, Annihilator, Demolisher, and Eradicator. It sounds like you want an Annihilator since you're after AT. With a hull lascannon, it puts out five lascannon shots a turn on a very tough chassis. It's absolutely fantastic against heavy armor, but you'll only ever really need one in a list. I converted mine by giving it a predator turret with twin lascannons. I would not recommend sponsons, as none of them synergize particularly well and you'll push the cost of the tank over 200pts. I'd avoid the Punisher and Eradicator. It sounds like you already have enough anti infantry firepower. The effectiveness of the Punisher in particular falls off sharply once it starts shooting things in cover or with a good armor save and mortars do the same job for less cost against chaff. Similarly, the Eradicator specializes in digging marines out of cover, but the MBT does the same job almost as well but boasts more range and versatility. The Demolisher is in a sad state thanks to how it's cannon works. While it has a potent statline that theoretically is great against vehicles, it only gets d3 shots (2d3 if you take advantage of Grinding Advance) against them. It wants to be shooting infantry, but there it's generally outclassed by the basic MBT.

Lastly there's the "Sad Tier", Vanqs and Exterminators. Vanquishers have a painfully low number of shots, and the Str 8 gun isn't very effective against enemy heavy armor (like other Russes). The Exterminator is worse against armor than the basic MBT and worse against infantry compared to almost any variant except the Annihilator or Vanquisher. Avoid them.

A quick word on sponsons and hull guns: Sponsons should match the main gun in role and range if possible, or take heavy bolters in the hull mount and on it's sponsons. I'd only recommend hull lascannons on command tanks or the Annihilator. Otherwise you're paying 20pts for a gun that will only hit half the time and can't be buffed as easily as infantry lascannon teams. Finally, if you plan on moving your tanks around I'd run them as cheaply as possible. Take pintle weapons if you can squeeze them in. They're dirt cheap and do a surprising amount of damage.


_{*Like the basilisk. Outside of the annihilator and our super heavies it's arguably the best tank destroyer we have. It has high strength, good AP, a high number of shots thanks to the earthshaker rules, can hide from everything but enemy counter-battery, and it can benefit both from the Aerial Spotter strategem and the Vigilus Defiant formation. Take two, replace the gun shields with lower ones made of plasticard, throw some camo netting on them and call them tank destroyers.}

[judcottrell]

Thanks very much Reds.
Really appreciate the advice, I’ll definitely be adding an Annihilator to my shopping list.

[Major Downer]

That's a really good break down Reds, thanks for doing that.

It makes me sad that the Exterminator is in the Sad tier, they're my favorite tank
The Annihilator is amazing, exactly as Red says run without the sponsons with a hull Las Cannon,they really do dish out damage to Immolators and Repressors, in my experience.

The Demolisher was best thing around in 4th if I remember correctly or maybe 3rd?

[RedsandRoyals]

The Exterminator makes me sad, too. It suffers from autocannons being very niche this edition thanks to their relatively poor AP. Except against very specific targets, only the Armiger version and the accelerator variant handled by Supressors are worth it in my opinion.

Demolishers have been amazing for several editions, and were the only non-FW variant we had before the 5th Ed codex. If the cannon still did d6 shots no matter what I'd say it's second tier, and it's still viable with Tallarn tactics.

[nutty]

I've been meaning to magnetize my exterminators so that I can use them as annihalators as well. I have a non magnetized squadron of them, same as the LRBTs.. simply because I used both types so often in previous editions that magnetizing didn't feel neccessary.

A while back I pickee up some 3d printed Conquerer turrets because they look really good (on paper and on the table) but I haven't gotten around to cleaning up the flat areas yet.