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I've just been wondering what other peoples favorite variants of the Leman Russ are. If you have a favorite, what's your favorite sponson loadout? Do you use sponsons? Which hull weapon do you prefer? Do you use any of the other upgrades?

Personally, my favorite variant is the Executioner with Plasma Cannon sponsons and a heavy flamer up front, and to me, none of the other upgrades are really worth it.

I like a Leman Russ to be as expensive as possible, as i will blast it away with my trueborn blasters.

When I played IG I used standard russes, and an occasional Demolisher. The rest are a waste, IME. No sponsons, and standard Heavy Bolter, although the Demolisher ran with a flamer.

I once outflanked a Demolisher against Tau with Creed. It was nice. Hitting side with Demolisher and within 12" to boot. Nice.

two favorites i use ofter:

demolisher with multimelta sponsons, and hvy flamer up front, with a dozer blade thrown on.

exterminator with hvy bolter/flamer sponsons with a las cannon up front.

I'm all for the standard LRBT without any addons. Cheap, can insta-kill almost anything and has a fabulous range. Usually I kit them with lascans for that extra tank-hunting ability and no sponsons. Don't wanna pour the points in something that forces me to stand still. Better get some more efficient stuff for those points.

Allthough, against T6 Nid spam, the Executioner really makes the opposition nervous. I've tried all variants and in the end, it all comes back to the LRBT.

I like the bog standard LRBT, with lascannon and bolters. It is such a good all rounder that I just love it. It is the best looking varient too.

However, the demolisher is the tank that I take most often. With a lascannon and dozer blade it can take out almost anything it likes, doesn't lose firepower on the move and can drive through scenery to deny cover or get side shots.

I like mine with a commander who brought a sword, G-d only knows how often he can come in handy.

"driver, move up! I want to hit them with my sword."

My favorite is the Punisher, followed by the standard LRBT. No other Russ can match the Punisher's killing power (against an intelligent opponent), and while I usually run it with HB sponsons I'm warming up to the idea of running them in pairs. Granted, I run an Armored Company out of IA1, so they aren't competing for slots.

Conceptually my favorite is the Vanquisher. The ol' vehicle sniper, laying in wait to crush those ridiculous Land Raiders.

In gameplay, my go-to has always been the maxed Executioner. For when I want an enemy unit absolutely dead... 5plasmalol.

mebobsayhi9 wrote:I've just been wondering what other peoples favorite variants of the Leman Russ are. If you have a favorite, what's your favorite sponson loadout? Do you use sponsons? Which hull weapon do you prefer? Do you use any of the other upgrades?

Personally, my favorite variant is the Executioner with Plasma Cannon sponsons and a heavy flamer up front, and to me, none of the other upgrades are really worth it.

The wrecked kind?

The one with the four plasma cannon shots is the bane of my existance. Four plasma cannon shots can pretty much destroy anything Dark Eldar can field.

Demolisher with lascannon, Plasma sponsons, takes on all comers is my favourite, but the standard LRBT with lascannon the HB sponsons probably dishes out more damage on average.

vanquisher with co-axial heavy stubber
Annihilator with hull lascannon

The Plasma Flinger with Plasma Sponsons.

Kills marines dead.

I enjoy running a lot of different variants. Right now my favorite is a LRBT with a Heavy Bolter and multi-melta sponsons. It ruins people's day.

kronk wrote:The Plasma Flinger with Plasma Sponsons.

Kills marines dead.

Yeah, and so does the LRBT, only way cheaper and with better range. And it isn't forced to stand still.
I realize this is a borderline religious topic, and I must admit it's a lot of fun fielding a maxed out Executioner. If only for the despair in my opponents eyes, but then again, 2 basilisks usually also have that effect. For roughly the same prize.

Mmmm, tanks... I wish I could take them as troops, not just the chimera, that is.

Not to drag the topic off, but the Executioner, by dint of more templates, is going to have a higher average and a higher maximum than any single shot big template.

Think about it. 1 Marine standing in a field.

Both tanks Minimum is 0.

The Maximum is 1 for the LRBT and 5 for the LRE.

The Average will be 0-1 for the LRBT and 2-3 for the LRE.

There are very, very specific formations where the LRBT might eke out more hits than the LRE on a direct (for ex 1 guy dead center, 4 guys with bases barely touching the edge of the large blast) but overall more > bigger. And, naturally, the LRE is more expensive, so therein the balance lies.

Normal russ, with lascannon and HB sponsons. And as many as possible of them.

LRBT, and the Plasma Bus (exexutioner w/ Plasma Sponsons).

Both have their uses, and optimal targets, but the Plasma Bus is always good for that OMG moment:

Your 10 man squad takes 30 wounds. No Armor saves, or FNP.

Vanilla Russ, Demolisher, Executioner. No sponsons, no lascannons, just a heavy bolter or a heavy flamer. Keep them cheap and bring more armour.

just the battle tank with bolter sponsons for infantery, the executioner with full plasma, or the demolisher with MM and heavy flamer, those are the best

My favourite is definitely the standard variant. The strength and ap on the main weapon is simply awesome. That and if the main tank gets immobilized, the ridiculous range means that its effective threat range is still pretty much the ENTIRE board.

I used to love running it with bolter sponsons, but after getting nuked in close combat for standing still too long, I now run it naked with a heavy bolter to keep on the move and continuously blasting everything.

I always field a demolisher with plasma sponsons, dozer blade and hull heavy flamer for extra firepower, but sometimes I field it as a standard LRBT instead.
So far I have gotten a lot more mileage out of the standard, because most of the time the demolisher lacks the range to reach out and touch the opponent where it hurts. I already have a medusa, so I don't have a lack of STR 10 AP 2 large blasts in my army

That is my favourite untill I actually pull myself together and buy that sexy modified Ryza Executioner turret from forgeworld...

I you have a board 80" long, 3 bare leman russes against a kan wall. <3

Punisher with pintle stubber and 3 heavy bolters... to remove every, godamn, ork, i, see.

sphynx wrote:Punisher with pintle stubber and 3 heavy bolters... to remove every, godamn, ork, i, see.

well, if you are going to make it expensive, take pask.
more chance to hit, so more will die.

and also, he can kill vehicles and MC in 1 turn.

last time i used it, i killed a wraithlord

FWIW the maxed out Punisher w/out Pask kills less than 6 Boyz with a cover save.

Demolishers with just a flamer up front, and an executioner with just an HB up front. You have to be able to move in this edition, thus I think sponsons are usually a waste (especially since you'll rarely be able to fire both sponsons at once). I like the normal Russ, but that rear of 11 is an absolute blessing in disguise.

Once you start adding sponsons, they become too expensive.

sourclams wrote:FWIW the maxed out Punisher w/out Pask kills less than 6 Boyz with a cover save.

Fwiw; The only russ variant that kills more than 6 boyz in cover(at range) is the Eradicator; every single other variant kills 3 or Less(based on averages).

Any of them with HFs all over can kill more, but then you are not outfitting your LR to be a dedicated Flame tank are you?

IMX executioner does far more than 6, even in cover, simply because terrain inevitably forces Orks to be bunched, but that's purely an anecdotal observation.

You've largley shown that the Punisher is the second least bad of many bad options for killing Orks, in which case why even bring it up as an argument?

sourclams wrote:FWIW the maxed out Punisher w/out Pask kills less than 6 Boyz with a cover save.

for what its worth (down with acronyms!) why are you firing your 20 shot tank at orks in cover?