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Has anyone here had some successes with the vibro cannon? How did it do for you, and what are the right tactics to use with it?

They used to be really good, now its no more useful that a Gauss Flux Arc projector on a Monolith. For keeping 1-2 vehicles from shooting every turn its great, anything other than that not so much.

hmm... wouldn't it do well vs. say... horde of orks?

It does well point wise.

But when compared to squadrons of warwalker
since they take up same heavy slots, i perfer warwalkers.

hmm warwalkers. they really can mount up some big weapons.

Rutteger1 wrote:hmm... wouldn't it do well vs. say... horde of orks?

Lets say you had a unit of 3 cannons shoot a squad of 30 orks, you would get a D6 hits at STr 6, meaning a max of 6 dead orks, this unit will cost you somewhere like 120-150 points if that. On top of all this the unit cannot move and fire and has 6 guardians crewing them.

A unit of 3 walkers with 2 scatter lasers fires 24 shots, for a max of 24 dead orks, has armor 10 so its hard to scratch and can move and shoot. This costs you 180, much better for a bit more points.

Definately walkers then

Ragewind wrote:

Rutteger1 wrote:hmm... wouldn't it do well vs. say... horde of orks?

Lets say you had a unit of 3 cannons shoot a squad of 30 orks, you would get a D6 hits at STr 6, meaning a max of 6 dead orks, this unit will cost you somewhere like 120-150 points if that. On top of all this the unit cannot move and fire and has 6 guardians crewing them.

A unit of 3 walkers with 2 scatter lasers fires 24 shots, for a max of 24 dead orks, has armor 10 so its hard to scratch and can move and shoot. This costs you 180, much better for a bit more points.

The whole point of the vibro cannons is that you could in theroy hit mutiple squads of boys + that errant tank. If they ignore cover saves (they kind of do against tanks) then that would be better.

They will also only work well with static armies that hold back & allow the support weapons to lay down lanes of Str6 death Or very mobile mechanised armies which can avoid said lanes of death.

One day I will make an armie based around atleast two choices of these weapons (one on each flank) but as of yet I havent mustered the courage.

I've used vibrocannons with some success. I found them most useful in for putting auto-glances on multiple vehicles to stop them shooting, especially the zippy ones (hammerheads) or heavily-armored ones (vindicators, land raiders)

As troopkillers they're mediocre. In 4th edition it was possible to use a line of grav tanks to shock a bunch of targets into line for the vibro shot, but with vehicle assaults now hitting rear armor, that's much chancier.

Also once your opponent knows what the vibrocannons do, they will usually go after them. One volley of smart missiles or heavy bolter fire will usually cripple the unit.

I typically found a unit of 2 vibrocannons optimal for balancing cost and capability, especially since I was more interested in antitank rather than antitroop. Putting a warlock with the unit allows you to use his BS for one of the guns. So if you're really only interested in shooting vehicles, one gun with a warlock is a possibility--and much easier to hide.

Flavius Infernus wrote: Putting a warlock with the unit allows you to use his BS for one of the guns. So if you're really only interested in shooting vehicles, one gun with a warlock is a possibility--and much easier to hide.

How do you figure that you would use the warlock's BS for shooting the vibro cannons?


That aside, vibro cannons can be useful, but you have to understand what they really do. The real strength with them is that they can hit multiple units. So the trick is putting them in places where you can draw their lines though several units at once. So while they are bad at killing off large units, they are great at doing damage to several smaller units. They are also great for attacking things you can't shoot at normaly. Got a whirlwind sitting back out of line of sight, no problem. Got a unit of harlequins charging up towards you, also not a problem for vibro cannons. So in the end, it's up to you to decide if they fit well in your army.

hmm. well, when my eldar are more established, i will have to try one

Phoenix wrote:How do you figure that you would use the warlock's BS for shooting the vibro cannons?

It's in the BRB under the rules for artillery.

To be more precise, page 55:

BRB wrote:Sometimes the player has the choice of adding leaders or additional models to the crew of an artillery unit. These models are part of the crew in all respects and may operate the guns as normal, even if they are otherwise slightly different from the rest of the crew.

The 5th ed rules question I haven't investigated completely is whether or not the targets of a vibrocannon get cover saves.

yeah i dont get that... it shouldnt give cover, i can see how it would (how can you tell?), but i cant see if it says it wouldn't

Vibro cannons are great against dark eldar, especially at taking out their vehicles. If you know for sure who you are going to fight, I'd definately take them against dark eldar and maybe tau and or IG.

I usually take a d-cannon battery and have never been disappointed by them, if any suport weapon were to be taken D-cannons just ROCK! Specifically, they go along well with my heavy wraithguard list so they are not for every army.

They basically are drop pod/deep strike insurance and can destroy ANY kind of target. Being barrage they ignore cover depending on where they land (area terrain always gets cover as per rules).

I fear vibrocannons greatly, they'd auto destroy my thunderfires. However, war walkers with scatter lasers I fear even more.

but does anyone know for sure if the vibrocannon does give cover saves? if so, how can you tell, it just draws a line...

I think the answer to the question would need a thread in YMDC.

The problem is that the rule on page 21 about cover saves refers to a "target model" that gets a cover save. How you read the rule with reference to vibocannons then depends on whether you use the strict definition of "target model," which the vibocannon doesn't have (thus no cover save), or whether you use the more generic definition of meaning any model that happens to get hit (which would get the cover save).

Probably not an answerable question based on the rules IMHO.

i've had warwalkers eat through a squad of my orks a turn and was discustingly painful to watch. it was most definetly my worst loss ever

The other big question we had about vibro cannons is what happens when they hit a vehicle squad. I don't really remember comming to a good conclusion on that one either.

vibro's just sound confusing :(