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I've been trying to decide whether to outfit my Leman Russ with Side weapons, and I can't decide. I need professional help. What thinketh thou?

i have been play testing an IG:AC list for an upcoming project.

I have found if you like mobile combat, were your tank is always on the move, then they are a waste of points, as defence weapons have to be strength 4 or under and all the choices start at 5.

but if you prefer to take up shooting positions, then they are great as they add extra firepower to the mix.

I tend to avoid them on a standard leman russ, but it depends on the list. In 5th ed weapon destroyed are propertionally more common than they used to be, because tank destroyed results are rarer, so if you weren't sure in 4th ed, take them in 5th.

A few add-on heavy bolters aren't that expensive, and serve to give the tank some sort of threat if the main weapon is knocked out. Gives something like a demolisher a weapon with decent range, too, for when that makes a difference. Finally, some targets are better dealt with a hail of shots as opposed to a blast that can scatter...pretty rare, overall, but it happens occasionally.

Therefore, I'd automatically assume all three heavy bolters for all my tanks. With the new blast rule, however, the question of whether or not to put plasma cannons on demolishers isn't quite as easy to dismiss as it was in the previous edition.

Plasma cannons on a demolisher are just about a must-have. I pretty much rely on them for the first 2-3 turns of shooting.

Heavy Bolters on a Leman Russ are a pretty darn good buy for 15 points. They compensate for the Russ' notoriously bad ability to clean up small knots of guys. When there's 2 marines in cover, your Battle Cannon probably won't get any, whereas the bolters will mop up.

you could always magnetize the sponsons...

Hmm, good points. Thank you all, I think I'll go for the heavy bolters in that case.

I'd always take them.

If you don't, then most tanks are left with 1 or 2 Weapon Systems, which means superficial damage soon leaves it out of the mix.

Add in your Sponsons, and although in a reduced capacity, the Tank *can* still function, for fairly paltry points.

If you don't take em, my Necrons will melt your tank thru glances that much faster.

Aduro wrote:If you don't take em, my Necrons will melt your tank thru glances that much faster.

My sorcerers will do the same.

touché eldramesha... touché

I tried the plasma/hull LC on my Demolisher, and went back to the HF/HHB combo. I want to get that Demolisher cannon in range, and until I do, I'm moving 12". Then if the cannon is destroyed, I'm tank shocking and laying down HF templates + HHB + stubber.

I figure if I wanted to hang back and shoot, I'd take the regular Russ, in which case I'd go with HB's all around since I'm mostly firing ordinance every turn.

Short answer; I take the cheap sponson weps as I can't see spending the points on upgrading weapons I'm hoping not to use much anyway.

I don't like the fact that heavy bolters require the tank to remain stationary to fire more than 1.

I never actually take the demolisher with an eye to get close. I take it with an eye to hurt 2+ opponents, and in that capacity the plasma cannons do a far better job than the demolisher cannon in 5th ed. When a terminator squad deepstrikes or gets out of a transport, you've got pretty good odds of killing them all if you fire the plasmas.

Rumor is that IG gets a new codex early in 2009. I wouldn't be surprised if they get some special rules to fire multiple weapons on the Russ on the move.

I run my Russes with all heavy bolters. It was great fun in 4th Ed, and still has some pro's to doing it in 5th. Others have said it does make you tank that much more survivable against glances. My $0.02 added to that is that when an opponents get a weapon destroyed result they always go for the battle cannon. 3 heavy bolters is still a good bit of firepower. I don't ever take the lascannon though, at BS3 it's too undependable.

Rumor is that IG gets a new codex early in 2009. I wouldn't be surprised if they get some special rules to fire multiple weapons on the Russ on the move.

I can't understand why they would get a special rule like that. 5th ed rules are designed to make tanks stationary when they fire a lot of guns, and there's no real rules or fluff reason to make guard an exception to that rule. If anyone gets exemption from it, I'd expect it to be marines (machine spirit) or eldar (famed for their grav technology).

Flamers on the sponsons are a nice trick against orks and nids, I might chime in with.

And in regards to the new codex, we might get move and shoot rules because there are dedicated gunners on the sponsons. We likely won't, because of the reason Sylph cited; but with the new codex we will have a russ whose point value and rules are priced to 5th ed.

Sylph wrote:

Rumor is that IG gets a new codex early in 2009. I wouldn't be surprised if they get some special rules to fire multiple weapons on the Russ on the move.

I can't understand why they would get a special rule like that. 5th ed rules are designed to make tanks stationary when they fire a lot of guns, and there's no real rules or fluff reason to make guard an exception to that rule. If anyone gets exemption from it, I'd expect it to be marines (machine spirit) or eldar (famed for their grav technology).

Maybe because they have multiple gunners? I'm not saying that it's a given to happen, I'm just saying that I wouldn't be surprised if Guard tanks are a little different. While GW is seemingly streamlining 40k, I think they're also trying to give armies a unique flavor like in WFB where pretty much everyone gets a special rule or bonus. Going back to second edition, iirc:

Predators - crew: 2, driver and gunner
Falcons - crew: 2, pilot and gunner
Russ - crew: 5, driver, commander, gunner main weapon, 2x sponson gunners

No. Next question.

er...Following the rule of V3. You should be firing that expensive piece of ordnance, or moving to get a better position.

Just take Hull heavy bolter and side heavy bolters