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I've recently started collecting my IG army and have been thinking ahead on which of the Leman Russ vairants to include.

I have the IA Vol 5 which has the rules for a couple of them but wondered if anyone had any experience with the the different types in games? I have a feeling that each one will perform better against different opponents but am interested to see which can be included as a standard choice.

Cheers Craig

I like the Exterminator and Demolisher. Exterminator for all the guns, Demolisher for the AV 13.

The Russ is always going to be the most reliable. It's Battlecannon is an excellent weapon, and it's secondary weapons (either a single or a trio of HB's) provide good backup.

The Demolisher is a beast of a tank. Great for area denial, very good secondary weapons, and the ability to mulch anything that comes within 24" makes it VERY nice. Bit pricey, but worth it.

The Exterminator is a great CityFight tank. Three HBs, a Stubber and a TL-Autocannon allows it to mince infantry in cover, as it just throws out so many shots. Plus it'll shred light vehicles without any trouble. Best in an armoured company where it can get BS4.

If you play with a group that plays slightly larger than normal games (2000-2500 as normal games), then you might want to consider ditching the regular Russes and take Vanquishers instead. The AT rounds are excellent, and you outrange Hammerheads. Like with the Exterminator, works better when you can get it BS4, but it can still fire regular Battlecannon rounds.

The Leman Russ Annihilator, whilst pretty cool in theory, is really unnecessary. It's only 145 points for 1 TL and 1 regular Lascannon, and it can fire both of them at the same time (unlike the Vanquisher Cannon/Lascannon combo I usually take), but your Infantry should have all the Lascannon you need. Cool tank, not needed.

The Executioner is just silly. Who needs a 54" Plasma Cannon? No one. It's also overpriced. The one I have is a custom one with Plasma Cannon sponsons and a plasma cannon in the Hull Mount. House rules see the tank explode instantly if all guns roll 1's To Hit!

And the Conquerer is just plain bad. Why would you trade a Battlecannon for a blast autocannon? Firing on the move isn't that important.

My top three are:

1. Leman Russ.
2. Demolisher.
3. Vanquisher

Swap the Russ and the Vanquisher around in large games.

BYE

Second what HBMC said, especially in standard, league, or tournament play. The exterminator is great, but it'll only save you 20pts, and the battlecannon really can be murder against MEQ's. Even skilled players sometimes bunch them, and a single good shot can wipe out a squad.

I like my demolisher, but I haven't yet found an overly compelling reason to take it at the expense of LRBTs, however I mount lots of plasma and rough riders, so I'm less worried about termies than others.

While I was upset they took the vanquiser, Exterminator and griffon out of the the 4th edition codex, they did leave the best tanks in the book (LRBT, demo, and basi). All the IA varients are fun, but the LRBT is a workhorse.

The Executioner provides impressive mobile firepower. But you pay a premium for it, and plasma cannons are really weak in this edition.
I wish I hadn't bought 3 such turrets.

Also consider the Turbo Laser Destroyer, it has no back up weapon but carries a ghull mounted main gun. The turbo laser has poor performance stats for its price in 40K (its a long range blast lascannon) but in Apocalypse has a strength D 5" blast.

I like/fear Demolishers. with the ordinance blast and the plasma cannon goodness, it is an expensive, but durable tank that can suffer several weapon destroyed results and still provide awesome firepower. The single best anti-deepstrike weapon the IG has, especially when combined with a mystic supported Inquisitor. Very nice pillbox style support tank for the Guard - if you are taking multiple Russes, I would make one a Demolisher while using standard for the others.

i regularly face IG that run

1basalisk

1 BC/3 HB russ

1 2 PC/LC/DC demolish(sits in the terrain and fires secondary weapons until its targets are close enough for the big gun)

it has a little bit of everything in the list so you can deal with a little of everything.

For somewhat obvious reasons, I prefer the 2 LR Demolisher + Basilisk combination.

I would think Centurion's combination has the most intimidation factor. I would prefer to run 2 demolishers 1 basilisk, and make sure you stick to the "lots of armor is way better than some armor" rule. Putting two huge-priority tanks out front for your opponent to deal with could buy lots and lots of time for armored fist squads, sentinels, and hellhounds to do critical damage to the foe.

Another possible combination would be one Demolisher and two Leman Russes. The Demolisher will likely bite it early, since it's always priority number one. Hopefully this will buy your regular LRMBTs extra unmolested time to maneuver and fire upon ideal targets. The intimidating secondary weapons of the Demolisher work to ensure that your opponent cannot simply write it off when it becomes disabled, ensuring it continues to soak damage away from your normal LRs until it's dead!

When running MechInf I prefer Demolishers.

My last MechInf army had two Demolishers, 2 SWS's w/Demo Charges and 3 Cyclops vehicles. There was very little that reached my lines.

BYE

I think if you want tanks you need to take plenty of them, the more the better. Hence my heavy support is 'fixed' at one Demolisher and two Russ. I would like room for heavy mortars but that would take away one of my three Av14 vehicles. 2xAv14 isnt anything like as good. One is a joke.

If I were going to muck around and change my tanks I would scrap the lot in favour of 1-2 basilisks and the rest heavy mortars.

Posted By H.B.M.C. on 10/18/2007 5:54 AM
And the Conquerer is just plain bad. Why would you trade a Battlecannon for a blast autocannon? Firing on the move isn't that important.

The conqueror is in the same boat with the exterminator for the bucket of dice effect.  It gives you the most shots of any vehicle short of a baneblade, though a coaxial stormbolter and searchlight are hardly worth 25 extra points over the exterminator. Cool vehicle, overshadowed by cooler exterminator.

I was actually considering taking the Exterminator pattern tank. I'm currently still looking for a cheaper second hand copy of IA1 so am not too sure at the moment. Can anyone give me an approximate points cost of the vehicle please? Without breaking any crazy copyright laws.

Craig

I also support the Conqueror, ish. With the firing on the move changes for all battlecannon they upped the Conqueror by dropping its ordnance weapon status.

Its not as good as an Exterminator, you get one S7 Ap4 blast rather than 2x twin linked S7 Ap4 shots for twenty points more. That doesnt add up.

However, where the Conqueror 'shines' is that because the weapon is a modified battlecannon you can easily 'counts as' a standard Russ (with three HB's) as Conquerors if you are planning a battle against swarm nids or similar.

The Exterminator is a better tank, but it stretches a bit to call a Russ an Exterminator, this way you pay a price for the versatility.

No, I am not advocating determining whether a Russ is a standard Russ or a Conqueror arbitrarily during games.

When I remake my Russ I will be replacing the 'access shaft' battlecannon with something that looks better. While doing so I will magnetise Conqueror and Vanquisher options.

The rules for the exterminator haven't changed since the old Imperial Armor, or even the old IG codex, or the Armored company list available here:

http://us.games-workshop.com/games/40k/imperialguard/gaming/ac_rules/default.htm

The exterminator runs 20 pts cheaper than a stock LRBT, with similar upgrades.

Demolishers are the ideal choice. Vs. Eldar they rock since the side armor is immune to the Str6 shots that Eldar armies have a ton of. So if they want it dead they have to bring fire dragons close or rely on their pulse lasers on falcons. All things that are difficult if your army is constructed right. If they are taking fire prisms it's even better since you can neutralize a prizm much easier than a falcon. Blow off the weapon and it's worthless.

Capt K

I generally use the Standard with Bolter sponsons, and the Demolisher with Plasma sponsons.

The autocannon one (Exterminator), well that's great if you know what you will be facing ahead of time. The Str 7 blast one, name eludes me, being Str 7 is essentially similar to the autocannon one. Vamquisher is great vs tanks but most guard have enough infantry-carried lascannon, and it's also expensive. As for the plasma one, take the Demolisher with Plasma sponsons instead.

in my guard list i use two regular leman russ' and one demolisher backed up by two hellhounds. everything has heavy bolters. to me that is about the best setup for any russ' since the turret gun usually doesn't go and if it does start tank shocking

I was pondering using 2x Executioners w/3x heavy bolters and 1x Leman Russ w/lascannon (no sponsons) for my 1500 point 'Desert Raiders' list.
Though I suspect my fascination with the Executioner is the plasma thingy (which, coincidently, is fluffy for Desert Raiders).

- It's able to move and fire ALL of it's weapons (Plasma cannon, 3x heavy bolters)
- It has longer range than the Executioner
- Points cost before Vehicle upgrades: 180

Then again, for this role it seems it's chief opponent is the Demolisher:

- Main weapon is powerful, but ordnance (no other weapons can be fired)
- Range is shorter than the Executioner
- Armour is higher than the Executioner
- Points cost before vehicle upgrades: 165 (counting 3x heavy bolters)

Any other points I should be aware of in this regard?

Incidently, I've been trying to find a thread that discusses the different super heavies in a simliar way to this one. Search didn't turn anything up, does anyone know of one?

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

Agandhjin wrote:Any other points I should be aware of in this regard?

Coolness factor simply must be taken into account! A giant plasma cannons is way cooler than a Demolisher!

Pariah Press wrote:

Agandhjin wrote:Any other points I should be aware of in this regard?

Coolness factor simply must be taken into account! A giant plasma cannons is way cooler than a Demolisher!

Until you actually fire it and place that tiny template. . .

Yeah, as I said, there's nothing good about the Executioner. It's overpriced by a significant margin, it's gun is no good, and it does nothing other tanks can't do better - don't bother. Nevertheless, it leads my third of my Armoured Companies, and has that FW Commander with the big speaker box on it, just 'cause it's cool. It serves no practical purpose other than looking cool.

And no, nothing anyone ever says will make the Conquerer into an effective tank. Even with Auger shells it sucks. S7 AP4 Blast < S7 AP4 Heavy 2/Twin-Linked.

BYE

Well, this annoys me quite a bit. I've been thinking about this for some time now, trying to come up with a situation were the
Executioner might actually be a superior choice. So far, I've come up short.

Except for the fact that it can move 6" while pumping out 9 heavy bolters shots and a plasma cannon blast (small one... )
at a range of 36". The Demolisher can't use it's main weapon alongside the others, but then again it probably does significantly
more damage, albeit at shorter range. To compensate, it has additional armour.

So, is the Executioner useless, apart from being a overly cool, overpriced, nifty enginseers wet dream?

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

The Executioner would be an awesome fountain of plasma death if you could take it in an Armored Company list from Chapter Approved, give it the Improve Sponson doctrines (plasma cannons instead of Heavy Bolters), and put a tank ace in it. Yes, it would be a lovely harbinger of death to any deep striking silliness. Even MC's wouldn't love x3 S7 AP2 shots plus an extra S9 AP2 if you threw in a lascannon. Wouldn't be too mobile, but it would be most excellent. But yes, as it is, the Executioner is only useful for its looks.