Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

a friend that plays CSM said he played an IG player that ran 9 Russes of vairious types (he wasn't sure which). i'm still waiting to hear how it turned out.
so my question is how viable would a list like that be? one up side i could envision is how hard it be to take out 9 AV 14 vehicles. the first downside
that comes to mind is the rest of your list would suffer with that many points invested in Russes. anyone tried a list like that? anyone faced one?

It wouldnt be very viable in the world of Melta Spam/Thunder Hammer spam that is 5th edition.

Ive seen it tried several times and it just isnt possible in games of 2000pts and under due to overcost tanks and upgrades.

The other thing it suffers from is the rear armour. Land Raider spam becomes viable against some armies because they are av14 all around. (basically just Orks, pre deff-ram) With Leman Russes, you're just asking for anything speedy to pop one in your tailpipe.

Orkestra wrote:The other thing it suffers from is the rear armour. Land Raider spam becomes viable against some armies because they are av14 all around. (basically just Orks, pre deff-ram) With Leman Russes, you're just asking for anything speedy to pop one in your tailpipe.

do you realize how hard it is to let that last comment go without a smart a$$ reply...
God, your cruel!

Another problem is that the Leman Russes would be fielded in squadrons, meaning that Immobilized results would be converted into Destroyed (Wrecked) results while there was still more than one tank in the squadron. That means they'd be able to be destroyed on Glancing hits and 50% of Penetrating hits. AP1 weapons would destroy them on a 3+ on a penetrating hit!

Haha, you're right.

I can tell I'm a nerd because when I wrote that I was thinking of Luke blowing up the Death Star.

"Blowing up the Death Star" sounds like a great sexual euphemism.

I run a Heavy mech IG army with 7 LR. The problem with running that many tanks is that they need to be in squads to field that many which has its pros and cons.
Pros:
-Counts as firing as a squad, they don't block LOS on each other
-More Tanks
-Effective at both AI and AT
-Most common armor facing towards the attacker is what is rolled against. So if you had the follwing set up: A= Attacker, X = tank 1, Y = Tank 2, Z = Tank 3
A

XX
YZ
YZ

The attack would roll against the front armor of the tanks. Why you would have a set up like that, I don't know. It just works that way

Cons:
-Take damage as a squad. So if he assaults one tanks, and gets 3 penetrations, you have to put one on each tank. So he could theoretically kill of 3 tanks in one assault. Which sucks.
-Expensive in points 9 150+ tanks w/o upgrades is 1350+ points.
-Also, when you immobilize a tank in a squad, it automatically counts as wrecked due to the fact that you are abandoning the tank with a scuttling charge and keep on going. So all the attacked needs to do is roll a 4+ on the damage table and you're screwed. Even if the attacked immobilized all three of the tanks in the same turn, they all count as wrecked. Silly GW :(
I play against my friend who runs SW, he loves outflanking from behind with scouts armed with melta bombs. Does not usually end well for me.
- Counts as firing as a squad, single target.

Running that many tanks has its disadvantages. You'll need a fairly high Point game, Around 2000-3000 points to field it efficiently with lots of infantry providing support for the tanks to prevent people from getting close and assaulting the tanks. If can provide the infantry support, they're a very dangerous unit that can dish out a lot of firepower. If you got the points and support troops, go for it.

Or you can convince your FLGS to allow FW AC update and kick some serious ass with a pure tank army.

Yes, the LRBT is a troop choice, and Yes, as a troop it can hold objectives.

This is the only way that I would field Lots of tanks anymore.

That codex is awesome.
Ace Driver, assaulting models take a wound on a 4+
Ace Sponson, I 10 sponsons during assault
AT ammo for battle cannons
Its awesomeness in a book for tanks.

To be completly honest I was shocked that they didnt somehow incorporate that book into the last guard release, espically with as many "options" that it has.

They kind of shied away from doctrines. They would have made tanks horrendously expensive. They would have added nice features like tank aces though.

Nine Leman Russes ? Bad idea : you lack the tenth tank, the company commander !



To be honest, I do not like R. Cruddace foolish idea of promoting squadrons for nearly every vehicle in IG armoury. I don't like the reputation of having a "broken codex" because of that. Squadron rules make sense only for those light heap-scrap vehicles. This is purely a business move towards Apocalypse and tank force sets, not towards a cool looking game. What if 5'ed SMurf codex had introduced squadrons of 3 for Dreadnoughts, Predators, Vindicators and Whirlwinds ?



Putting aside these rants, I think your idea may be worth a try. But like all that I've heard about armoured companies, it may end in either you wipe your opponent or get wiped. Nine LRBT : that's too much of a spam, but what about taking six ? I'm thinking about pairing them, benefitting of a slight edge over squadrons of 3. Here are some thoughs :

4 standard LRBT and 2 Executioners (with lascannons) would cost about 1000 points "only". At 2k point level, this should leave enough room for troops.

With LRBT pairs, you could have some advantages despite the drawback : immobilisation --> abandoned. Usually this drawback would happen only once (instead of two times for squadrons of 3), as the remaining tank is treated individually. Exepted if your squadron suffers simultaneous damages. And multiple immobilisation / destroyed results, on a single volley of shooting are quite rare on AV 14, aren't they ?

Plus, vehicles in pairs are ideal for setting cover saves combos :
Find a nice large cover against identified threats for one of your tanks, now both get a 4+ save. You can create this cover using a Chimera if needed. One of your tanks is shaken or has an awful line of sight ? Reposition it 6 inches and unleash smoke. The other tank in squadron benefits from smoke and can still fire his guns !



Owning only one Leman Russ for the moment, so this is just theoryhammer heh ! What about you ?

i agree that 9 is WAY too much. but i've often thought that 6 would be interesting.

Ravajaxe wrote:

Plus, vehicles in pairs are ideal for setting cover saves combos :
Find a nice large cover against identified threats for one of your tanks, now both get a 4+ save. You can create this cover using a Chimera if needed. One of your tanks is shaken or has an awful line of sight ? Reposition it 6 inches and unleash smoke. The other tank in squadron benefits from smoke and can still fire his guns !

if they operate as a unit woudl this work? If oen pops smoke and both benefit from the cover, wouldn't both tanks be unable to fire?

Note i don not play IG and have not read the codex - just wondering how it would work. (keep gettign worried my regular IG opponent is going to field a squadron of executioners)

Too many points spent on three units that can only fire at three targets per turn in the 9-Russ list.

As for smoke launchers, they're applicable only on a per-vehicle basis.
For example, you have three Russes in a squadron. One pops smoke, and Two and Three fire at the target. In the next turn, the enemy hits the squadron with two glancing and one penetrating hit. The squadron's owner must allocate the hits to the tanks before results are rolled. You place the glances on Two and Three, and the pen on One. The results for the glances are rolled, and applied to the individual tanks (we'll say Two is Weapon Destroyed, and Three is Immobilized). Then the result of the pen is rolled for One, with a result of Wrecked. One then rolls its cover save from the smoke, and passes.