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So you guys really have success with blasts? I'm just interested, because my opponents are always sure to spread out to the max, and as a result blast weapons are pretty useless to me.

I'm not sure why I haven't played around with the Exterminator more with my vanilla IG list, as it's an absolute beast in Armored Company.

I think what is going on here is that many posters make valid points but they keep in mind DIFFERENT (!!!) opponents.

What you face determines what AP games you can play. A Punisher may be ok vs the worst armor (orks, little bugs) and best armor (TEQ), but most people face MEQ, against which it just disappoints. LRBT sounds versatile and cheap but plentiful cover and TEQ make it quite inefficient. Exterminator sounds great against light transports, but what will it do against DSing MEQ and TEQ that don't use transports.

So, the bottom line is most of these are situational and highly dependent on your local meta.

If you do want to build a universal list, I can only recommend the Executioner. I have not had a game in which it has not been a total terror on the table. Terror is good.

Perhaps it depends on what kind of psychological affect you want the tank to have on your opponent more than what you actually want it to kill.

I would recommend the Executioner over the LRBT as well, because my battle cannon shots always seem to scatter away.

True dat. The executioner can threaten light tanks better than the LRBT anyway, and is better at killing infantry. A little too expensive though.

Well, I run my Executioners in two squads of three with a hull Lascannon and Plasma sponsons. The cannon is useful against tanks and the 5 S7 blasts can take out practically any kind of infantry and light vehicles. And yes, I do have three Vet squads with meltas in my Vendettas.

6 Executioners and 3 Vendettas? Jeez. 2000 points?

Well, that's in high-pointage games. 4-5k. In lower games, one would normally run 1 LR squad, two if he's mech. One or two Vendettas.

Executioner is quite effective versus everything except for AV13-14 (That's meltavet's job)
While expensive, it is definitely one of the best LR out there.

KestrelM1 wrote:

I field 3xExterminators with Plasma Sponsons (keeping the Hull Heavy Bolter) with my 2k Steel Legion and they have survived virtually every game unscathed, as most of my opponents simply can't muster the long-range shooting to kill them, let alone get any Meltaguns past the wall of Chimeras barreling toward them. Meanwhile the barrage of Autocannons and Plasma Templates puts holes in transports and makes squads on foot very unhappy. I'd highly recommend the tank.

I have the sudden urge to try this "Exterminator/ Plasma Cannon" thing. Right now I have a LRBT with all the weapon options, and I am thinking of running it with hull lascannon and MM sponsons. Crazy, I know, but it would be running up with blob squads who have lots of plasma guns, so that AT firepower would be useful on keeping them safe.

The Vanquisher, while being my favorite tank, sucks. BS3 is not good. If you don't have A. Tons of shots or B. Twin linked, your BS 3 models have no excuse to be useing single shot weapons.

The only variant I haven't run is the Eradicator. Conceptually I love the tank, who wouldn't want a vehicle that shoots neutron bombs? But alas, the 36" range is a bit too short.

I ran a death star squadron @ 'Ardboyz that had two Executioners w/PC's and an Exterminator w/PC's & LC. I played two games with it and suffered one shaken result. It killed 3 Chimeras, two squads of melta vets, a Vendetta (glanced to death!), a Piranha w/fusion blaster and a super tank killing Crisis suit squad with two shield drones, a Shas'o with a plasma/fusion and a body guard with missile pod/fusion. The crisis squad dropped behind the tanks, unloaded with everything on AV11 (out of melta range) and did nothing. I swiveled the tanks around and got 21 blast hits (I had 12 PC template shots, I rolled 9 "hits" with my scatter die and had two scatters that moved less than 4") along with three Heavy Bolter hits and three AC shots (LC missed of course, just like IG LC's always do!), my opponent didn't even bother roll to see whether the unit would survive, that was a little bit satisfying.

I ran the Punisher last year, the best thing it did was mow down a regenerating flyrant in two turns, and it nearly offed another regular one through two hive guard. It's certainly not the most efficient or effective, but it is kinda fun to roll a bucket of dice. Not a WAAC unit by any means.

Paskquisher is awesome against vehicles, it's an absolute hard counter to vehicles. With an LC, he's pretty much guaranteed to pop his target.

Demolishers are bullies against everything, I run one with triple heavy bolters to prevent wound allocation shenanigans. The template might not hit everything, but the 9 HB'S will slap around what's left. I run it in a squadron to help shield the Demolisher cannon from a random weapon destroyed.

Exterminator's to me do very well squadroned with a LRBT. They smear units out of cover and can stack up enough wounds on one in cover to start racking up bodies. Grossly underestimated IMO.

I love the LRBT, it's the reason I started playing guard in the first place. With 5th Ed movement rules it is one of the best mobile fire platforms. I run my newest one with multi-meltas and a HB. It can move and have an 9" melta bubble, plus the battlecannon. Hard to beat the versatility. It's great to roll up to a transport, pop it, and then have artillery turn the passengers into paste.

But of course,the Executioner is completely amazing. FNP, MEQ, MC's, light to medium transports and hordes hate this tank with unbound fury. It drinks their milk shakes and laughs all the while. It's only drawback is cost, even then it's raw destructive potential mitigates the high cost. Besides, I would hate to see a bunch of non-IG players quit because of an undercosted vehicle. (That's what the Vendetta is for! )

My buddy and I recently played a game where we switched armies, I played his GK and he used my IG.

He opted for a list with 7 Executioners with PC sponsons, while I attempted Draigowing. Even with all that AP2, I won, with Draigo still with 3 Wounds, and a full squad of Pallys.

Needless to say, I am still unimpressed by blasts. But I am seriously considering another list with 7 Exterminators...