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hey all,
does anyone run Demolishers with hull heavy bolters instead of hull lascannons?
just curious. it seems like a good way to free up 15 points.
thanks

No, but I do run it with heavy flamers, why not your advancing most of the time.

As I already have dedicated anti-tank units in my Guard army, I will indeed run my Demolisher with the standard Heavy Bolter. If I didn't have many anti-tank units already, then I'd probably use the lascannon.

Hmm...that is an interesting secondary question, to use the Heavy Bolter over Heavy Flamer or not. I shall have to give it more thought...

On my Demolisher i have PC sponsons and a heavy flamer on the hull. I usually play my Demolisher up close and personal , so it is always in danger of being assaulted; if an assault is inevitable ill gladly take a template over 3 measly shots from a HB

True that. H.Flamer is a good way to go with a line-breaker tank.

Heavy Flamers are pretty much the default hull weapon on all my tanks. Perfect when something like Eldar Pathfinders need removing from a piece of cover.

I just played a few games with some different variants.... with the demolisher it is definitely a good bet to go with either multi-meltas or heavy flamers. Multimeltas are good if you are tank hunting with it, but the flamers are awesome at making mincemeat of infantry squads. Boyz Flambe, anybody?

Heavy Flamer is probably the way to go on most tanks for hull weapon just in case infantry gets close. The las cannon isn't so good at bs3 since you miss half the time.

Naked demolisher with HHF is awesome. I play an armored blitzkrieg style mech army and run a plascutioner with 2 naked demolishers.

Two things I want to say about them..

1) At first, given I have a russ that fires 5 plasma blasts as well as 9 plasma guns in my army, I thought the demolisher was a waste as I got plenty of ap 2, however it was't until recently I discovered its true power.... Anti tank. Don't let that template fool you, that thing almost always lands on a land raider due to its size, and rolls 2d6 and picks the highest on str 10. I dare say at 24 inches, its more reliable than a railgun (given the likeliness to hit and the 2d6 pen)

2) The best part part about the HHF (for me) is not the "if the enemy gets too close role" but rather the "My cannon got blown off so now im a heavily armored HF zooming at you" Best scenario ever: Lost cannon to hive tyrant, moved 12 into some leaping gaunts, they needed 6s and i'm rear armor 11, they do nothing. I use movement to line up a flame that hits 11 of them. Also good for when mobs assault your tanks and kill one, you dont get a move for destroying a vehicle so they are still in HF formation.

Cheers.

I use my Demolisher as an all Ap 2 firepower source: PC sponsons, Hull Lascannon, the works...
But I play a lot of MEQs ...

Back in the day, Demolisher only had Hull HB or Hull Las, so I ran Hull HB to keep points down.

archite666 wrote:Don't let that template fool you, that thing almost always lands on a land raider due to its size, and rolls 2d6 and picks the highest on str 10. I dare say at 24 inches, its more reliable than a railgun (given the likeliness to hit and the 2d6 pen)

Just remember that you need the hole over the vehicle to get S>5. If the blast is over the vehicle, but not the hole, it does nothing to a LR.

I don't really think that its worth the 15pts to slap on a 1 shot per turn weapon that only hits 50% of the time. You're also most likely going to be shooting the Demolisher at stuff the Lascannon is less than amazing at killing, and if you are shooting at armor the main gun is strong enough on its own. I'd stick with the HB/HF to save points and depending on how the rest of the list looks, fill an important gap (my current list runs 6 hull mounted heavy flamers and it needs them all).

People take Lascannons on Demolisher for when the main gun is destroyed.

IMO, it's a waste, as AV14/13/11 Demolishers are pretty sturdy for the most part, so of the tank is operational, you might as well fit with something cheaper as it won't generally be used.