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Almost everything in the 40k range is not to scale. If it was a marine would be at least another head taller than a guardsman and a rhino would be the size of a landraider, a landraider would be the size of a baneblade ect.

Yes, so the Top hatch and Tank commander poking out of a Lemun Russ is about 25% too big for the tank.


Space Marines are almost the right scale compared to a guardsmen. if you could have the marines stand up straight instead of being in their combat poses and have guardsmen do the same the marines would be about a head taller.

I just finished reading "gunheads", by Steve Parker, which tells the story of a cadian armored division. It describes which astonishing precision how a leman russ functions.

There is no automatic reload on a leman russ. The main gun is manned by two soldiers: a loader and a gunner.
The entire loading mechanism and the ammo of the main gun is located in the turret. The ammo for the gun is stored in a special box situated at the rear of the turret (we can see this box protruding from the rear of the turret on GW's mini). In the previous edition, there was also a smaller, additionnal storage area on the portside of the turret (which was also clearly visible on 4th edition minis). A LMBT can carry 40 shells for its battle cannon. The conqueror variant (fielding a smaller gun) can carry up to 46 shells.
The main gun of a leman russ is said tu use a 120 mm caliber (high explosive and armor piercing shells). As a comparison, the M1 Abrams of the American army fields a 105 mm gun.

Here is how the battle cannon functions: The loader inserts a new shell in the cannon via its rear hatch. The loader then manually closes and locks the hatch of the cannon and signals to the gunner that the gun is ready to fire. The gunner aims at the target that has been indicated by the tank commander, signals the crew to brace for firing and then pulls the trigger. Once the cannon has fired, the rear hacth automatically opens and releases the shell casing. The shell casing falls in a special hatch on the floor of the turret and is stored in the main body of the tank. The loader can now insert a new shell into the gun, and everything starts again.

A standard Leman Russ (without sponsons) needs a four man crew (one pilot, one commander, one gunner and one loader). An additional man is required for each additionnal sponson weapon. As a result, a LMBT equipped with two sponsons needs six soldiers to function properly. The hull-mounted weapon of the tank is operated by the driver (thus, it can only fire if the tank is not moving). The (optionnal) co-axial weapon is manned by the gunner. The pintle-mounted weapon is manned by the tank commander.

In a LMBT, the pilot is the only person situated in the main body of the tank (if we except sponson gunners). The loader, the gunner and the tank commander are ALL situated in the turret of the tank. As such, it is described as a cramped and uncomfortable place of the tank.

EDIT: This is how the LMBT is said to work, but it is obvious, when we look at GW's mini, that we cannot fit three crew, forty 120 mm shells and the loading hatch of the battle cannon in the turret of the tank. I guess IG players just have to deal with it...

If I ever make a Guard army, I will model all my LRBTs with a dude sitting on the barrel sliding rounds in and/or with a satchel of huge shells, and/or covering his ears like he just loaded an ACME cannon.

On topic: Tank is not to scale. Not even with itself.

Xca|iber wrote:If I ever make a Guard army, I will model all my LRBTs with a dude sitting on the barrel sliding rounds in and/or with a satchel of huge shells, and/or covering his ears like he just loaded an ACME cannon.

On topic: Tank is not to scale. Not even with itself.

Sounds cool. Perhaps you should make one as a prototype? BTW, thanks for all the responses guys!

Grey Templar wrote:Yes, so the Top hatch and Tank commander poking out of a Lemun Russ is about 25% too big for the tank.


Space Marines are almost the right scale compared to a guardsmen. if you could have the marines stand up straight instead of being in their combat poses and have guardsmen do the same the marines would be about a head taller.

Marines are much taller than Guardsmen.

An average IG is probably about five feet eight. An SM is about nine feet. Taller in his armour. A true scale SM model should probably be nearly twice the size of an IG model.

If they left the SM models in "heroic" format and redid the IG models in realistic format it would look a lot more like how it ought to. A lot of the body parts on GW's "heroic" scale figures are similar in size to 1/35th scale.

Laodamia wrote:The main gun is manned by two soldiers: a loader and a gunner.

Lol. Yes, a tank commander, two soldiers and 40 rounds of ammunition are going to fit in one of those leman russ turrets.

Fanfics are rediculous, even when given the black library seal of approval. No more rediculous than GW's vehicle designers, though...

jadebullet wrote:Yeah, there are some space issues, but it is probably something like this.

German tiger <3

Ailaros wrote:

Laodamia wrote:The main gun is manned by two soldiers: a loader and a gunner.

Lol. Yes, a tank commander, two soldiers and 40 rounds of ammunition are going to fit in one of those leman russ turrets.

Fanfics are rediculous, even when given the black library seal of approval. No more rediculous than GW's vehicle designers, though...

I know, it is just completely incoherent. But I guess it was the most logic thing to write. Apparently, Steve Parker copied the functionning of the modern M1 Abrams tank and applied it to the LMBT. There is some logic in it. After all, a tank (even if it comes from the 41st millenia) works like any other tank.

Laodamia wrote:I know, it is just completely incoherent. But I guess it was the most logic thing to write. Apparently, Steve Parker copied the functionning of the modern M1 Abrams tank and applied it to the LMBT. There is some logic in it. After all, a tank (even if it comes from the 41st millenia) works like any other tank.

So long as you don't get hung up on it, it's merely something to poke fun at. imo a Baneblade is probably about the right proportions for a modern-day MBT. For something with similar proportions to a Leman Russ, I'd guess that a good comparison might be the World War 2 French Hotchkiss tank... which had a crew of 2!

Is it basically like a rhino in that it is smaller but in true scale its huge?

chyron wrote:Unless they're already tired after loading ten 120 pound 120mm rounds(vs 22-28 ready in autoloaders queue) or (blasphemy, western tanks are not designed for this!) try to reload while tank moves with top speed over rough terrain.

Just wanted to point out that modern tanks, especially Western ones, have advanced stabilization systems that DO allow them to fire accurately on the move. Also, one more disadvantage of an autoloader (at least older Russian ones) is that they could be very dangerous to anyone in the turret. The main advantage of using one is that one fewer crew member allows the tank to be smaller, especially shorter, which makes it harder to hit.

Actually, when we think about it, some leman russ versions are equipped with autoloaders.

For instance, the exterminator is fielding twin linked autocannons and the punisher variant uses a gatling cannon, both weapons that function with autoloaders.

I suppose the executioner (using a plasma destroyer) and the annihilator (fielding twin-linked lascannons) variants don't need a loader either, since their weapons are directly connected to photonic power cells.

@MrEconomics: Actually, I doubt LRBT are equipped with stabilisation systems. Though the tank is equipped with a pretty efficient suspension, firing on the move is always described as a difficult operation, sacrificing a good deal of the cannon's accuracy.

I seem to remember in some of Abnett's books there being human loaders inside of the tanks.