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 Grey Templar wrote:
The Commissar won't be commanding it most of the time, but he would have the authority to do so. Their authority is greater than any member of the Imperial Guard. A commissar can execute or arrest a lord general if he deemed he was negligent in his duties, he might take flak for it but he could do it.

In a tank company, he might take over the tank if he needs to execute the tank commander or needs to use the tank to remove another tank. Maybe one crew loses their nerve and flees, he would then order his tank to take out the fleeing tank.

Okay, so he would just ride in the tank rather than taking it over. That makes more sense - and, as you say, he does have the authority to override the commander's orders (of whatever rank) if he deems it necessary.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Nah. Superheavies are just uncommon guard tanks. Your average Guardsman could expect to see one during his service time. Nothing really to inspire awe in people trying to seek religious enlightenment.

The average guardsmen dies horribly within under 24 hours of deployment.

It's more like the average veteran guardsmen is likely to see one during his service.

 morganfreeman wrote:

 TheCustomLime wrote:
Nah. Superheavies are just uncommon guard tanks. Your average Guardsman could expect to see one during his service time. Nothing really to inspire awe in people trying to seek religious enlightenment.

The average guardsmen dies horribly within under 24 hours of deployment.

It's more like the average veteran guardsmen is likely to see one during his service.

I'd say that an average veteran sees more than one in his service time.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
1) Are superheavy tanks common? Are they as common/uncommon as Marines?

Way more common. Thanks to GW's idiotic scale decisions with marines there are probably billions of Baneblades for every marine in the Imperium. They're rare in the same way that plasma guns are rare: supply never meets demand, but it isn't much of a surprise if you have one.

2) There is precedent for them to be organized into regiments and companies. These are usually doled out in singles or company sizes to support other forces, yes? Are superheavy regiments ever fielded as a whole, like Infantry Regiments and some Armored Regiments are?

Correct, they're usually split into squadrons or even single tanks and attached to other units. IA1 gives a FOC for the Konig 19th Armored Regiment and it includes an attached company (HQ Shadowsword and three Baneblades) from a Cadian heavy tank unit. And this matches other fluff where a "conventional" unit gets a superheavy tank assigned to it for the duration of a battle or campaign.

As for whether they're fielded as a whole, in theory yes but probably not often. A whole company would be overkill for most battles and because demand for even a single superheavy tank always exceeds supply it would be hard to justify committing an army's entire supply of superheavy tanks to a single battle. But in a big enough battle (40k certainly has those) with many "conventional" regiments it might be possible to have all available superheavy tanks assigned to support them.

3) Corollary to 2: Do superheavy regiments get support, or are they the regiment that is split up to support someone else?

Probably the second in most cases for the previously-mentioned reasons. If there's a battle big enough to justify using a whole regiment of superheavy tanks then there are probably many regiments of "normal" units and the superheavies would still be treated as support for the hordes of expendable meatshields.

4) What about regimental Commissars? Do they just take over one of the regimental heavy tanks, regardless of whether or not they have the specialized training a superheavy tank crewman requires?

That probably depends on the commissar. One with an ego problem (or the right training) might insist on commanding a tank directly, a more sensible commissar would probably be content to ride in the command area of the HQ tank.

5) Are there mixed regiments of superheavy types? Not variants (Shadowsword, Baneblade, etc) but actual tank types (Malcador, Baneblade, Macharius)? I understand these may be formed as replacements roll in / regiments are merged, but would a newly-founded regiment have its supply lines complicated by having a bunch of different tank types around?

Probably only as a last resort. The Malcador and Macharius hulls are either lower-tier tanks that are only used when a proper Baneblade/Shadowsword isn't available or rare support tanks like the Minotaur and Valdor that would be out of place in a standard tank unit. If you're low enough on the priority list to be using Malcadors you're probably never going to get even a single Baneblade. A mixed unit would probably only happen in cases where there aren't enough Baneblades/Shadowswords available to form a complete regiment but the regiment is needed asap. In that case they might get some lower-tier tanks (possibly diverted from a lower-priority regiment at the last second) added to whatever good tanks they have to make up for the missing strength.

6) Corollary to 3: Do SHTRs have a dedicated maintenance company to keep them operational, similarly to other Armored Regiments?

Probably. If armored regiments have them then superheavy armored regiments probably have them for the same reasons.

7) Corollary to 6 and 3: Does the Munitorum's law forcing Imperial Guard regiments to not include support units extend to SHTRs? As in, they have no organic support elements at all?

Probably. They're still just another form of regiment, and they're expected to fight alongside other IG forces. Their support is probably limited to a few vehicles (repair and cargo vehicles, maybe a HQ Chimera for staff that don't fit in the tanks, etc) that are directly involved with the superheavies and infantry/AA/etc would come from other regiments.

8) Corollary to 2 and 3: Would an SHTR be split up and doled out to forces other than the Imperial Guard such as the Adepta Sororitas? And if so, whose officers would be in charge - the company of Superheavies (very valuable and probably influential people) or the Sororitas Convent (very valuable and probably influential people)? Could a Baneblade be under the direct command of a Canoness? A Chapter Master? A Rogue Trader? A Lord Admiral of the Fleet? Conversely, would any of them be under the command of the relevant superheavy officer (Company CO, for example)?

Depends on the rank of everyone involved. If an inquisitor shows up and says "give me a Baneblade to drive" then the inquisitor gets a Baneblade no matter what the official organization says. If a chapter master needs IG support then a Baneblade unit is probably lower in the chain of command just like other IG units assigned to support space marines. Even a superheavy regimental commander is pretty low on the chain of command for the Imperium as a whole, so if they're assigned to non-IG forces the IG officer is probably not going to be the one giving the orders. But I suspect most of those higher-ranking officers would probably take a "hands off" approach and issue general goals that the superheavy unit is expected to figure out how to accomplish, simply because they don't know very much about how IG tanks work.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
1) Are superheavy tanks common? Are they as common/uncommon as Marines?

Way more common. Thanks to GW's idiotic scale decisions with marines there are probably billions of Baneblades for every marine in the Imperium. They're rare in the same way that plasma guns are rare: supply never meets demand, but it isn't much of a surprise if you have one.

Quadrillions of Baneblades? I doubt it.

 Ashiraya wrote:
Quadrillions of Baneblades? I doubt it.

Yes, a billion to one is exaggeration, but the general point remains: because of the idiotic "one million marines" number even relatively modest numbers for Baneblade production result in marines being outnumbered by a huge margin.

This discussion is not about Space Marine numbers, but suffice it to say that 1 million is not idiotic at all.

SM solocapturing planets, that is idiotic. But a superelite force of 1 million SM makes perfect sense. I will explain further over PM.

Thanks, Peregrine! That was super helpful and exactly what I was looking for.

Fluff tends to make it impossible to figure out.

Take a look at Forgeworld books, and you'll see Super Heavies everywhere. Doom of Mymeara, an under equipped IG regiment scrambling to find armor in a backwater system, has access to dozens of them.

You look at some Black Library works though, and systems that are in the path of hive fleets, with the backing of multiple space marine chapters and IG regiments, don't have one.

There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason. It's all just dependent on the author, and what they are trying to sell at that time.

 djones520 wrote:
Fluff tends to make it impossible to figure out.

Take a look at Forgeworld books, and you'll see Super Heavies everywhere. Doom of Mymeara, an under equipped IG regiment scrambling to find armor in a backwater system, has access to dozens of them.

You look at some Black Library works though, and systems that are in the path of hive fleets, with the backing of multiple space marine chapters and IG regiments, don't have one.

There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason. It's all just dependent on the author, and what they are trying to sell at that time.

Most Hive fleets, sans Leviathan, attack at the fringes of the Imperium. It takes a while to go places in the Warp, so it isn't a surprise if many garrison worlds along the frontier end up short staffed on tanks and without resupply.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
Thanks, Grey Templar.

It's worth noting that 3-5 Superheavy Tanks is considered a company, and that (per the 4th edition apoc rulebook) 3 companies are the minimum size for a regiment. So a superheavy regiment could consist of as few as 10 vehicles (3 companies of 3 plus a command vehicle). That's around 100 men, given that baneblades and their variants have ~10 crewmen.

Do you think such regiments still would receive dedicated AA units and maintenance units? I feel like they would be disproportionately weighted towards the support units on the TO&E - you'd have like 500 men supporting 100 men and 10 tanks.

Good point about the trained Commissars - so they would just hijack a tank then, and leave the commander to do what? Find another tank?

I reckon that a SH Regiment would actually be larger, just no with more super heavies. I'm thinking things like a dozen chimeras filled with engineers/supporting infantry and/or skitarii (if the AdMech took an interest). Likely a few ammunition and fuel vehicles too, but those wouldn't really be considered part of the regiment.

So I hate to commit thread necromancy, but I am the OP and I do have more information.

I just got a Macharius, mostly because the model was sweet and it was a second-hand transaction so I got an excellent deal.

Now, however, I've a dilemma - do I add the Macharius to my superheavy regiment TO&E and if so what slot should it fill? A reserve company? A line tank in one of the line companies?

Should I just not put it in the superheavy regiment?

Escort for the better vehicles?

I'd just slot it in like the other tanks. Fluff it up as the Regiment being unable to get a proper replacement, so has to make due with a lesser vehicle. Could even have a rivalry develop among the crews- the Baneblade hulls look down on the Macharius Crew, and the Macharius crew has a mix of resentment at being assigned to a lesser tank, and pride at their accomplishments in said lesser tank.

Given how Mars watches over Baneblades like baby chicks, I highly doubt they are very common. The vast majority of Imperial worlds and regiments is probably going to have to do without.
Only on the really well-supplied worlds such as Cadia, Vostroya and Krieg are superheavies going to be relatively common. Outside of that they are probably very rare.
Taking into consideration the value and rarity of superheavies, it is likely that a SH regiment would fill up any holes with Macharius or other lesser designs, if no Baneblade replacements are available. I would put it either in a line company alongside the Baneblades as a replacement tank, or in a reserve company to serve as back-up.

The rarity of Baneblades is relative, there's probably more of them than Space Marines. But yea, the Macharius was made as a cheaper alternative to the Baneblade. If they need a SH assault, and lack Baneblades, these guys are good for the job (in fluff).

Okay. I think I am going to put it in as a replacement tank that is inferior but happened in-crusade (or in-campaign).

Ironically, I was exactly one tank short of a minimum sized regiment, so that works I guess. I could also use it as the command vehicle of a reserve company.

Also, how common are Baneblade variants compared to baneblades themselves?

The STC includes the Shadowsword and Baneblade, if I am not mistaken, so everything else is an admech-sanctioned rebuild or redesign. Does that mean they would be less common because they don't conform to the sacred STC or more common because they are easier to manufacture?

Most Baneblade variants mount rare weapons, are only made on one or two forgeworlds or are battlefield modifications of existing variants. It is logical to assume that at least these variants are much more rare than the standard Baneblade.
In terms of rarity, I would rank Baneblade variants like this

common: (if you could call baneblades common)
Baneblade
Hellhammer
Stormlord
Banehammer

rare:
Banesword (rare Titan-grade weapon)
Stormblade (complicated plasma tech)
Shadowsword (rare Titan-grade weapon)
Doomhammer (field modification)

really rare:
Stormsword (field modification of rare tank)

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
Also, how common are Baneblade variants compared to baneblades themselves?

The STC includes the Shadowsword and Baneblade, if I am not mistaken, so everything else is an admech-sanctioned rebuild or redesign. Does that mean they would be less common because they don't conform to the sacred STC or more common because they are easier to manufacture?

My guess would be it depends on the tank. The Shadowsword and Baneblade are sanctioned STC designs and "common". The Stormblade is an "official" design that is built as one out of the factory, but it suffers from the whole "plasma is rare lost technology thing so it's not very common. The Stormsword is specifically stated to be a replacement gun for a damaged Shadowsword, but rumored to be built from the factory in limited numbers. So that's probably a rare one as well. The Stormlord at least gets a few mentions in formations and 30k army lists, and I'd guess that the structural changes to add transport capacity probably have to be built that way from the beginning. On the other hand, its fluff mentions how risky it is to use one and makes it sound like it isn't all that common. So probably not as rare as some of the others, but definitely not as common as a Baneblade. I'm not sure about all the random plastic kit variants that nobody uses since their fluff is so limited, but I'd guess they're pretty rare if GW pretty much forgot about them after writing the Apocalypse book.

I imagine that Stormblades are harder to come by now, seeing as Ryza is no longer in the hands of the Imperium.

In 40k-lore for the Imperium, Super-Heavy tanks in the 41st Millennium are very rare. They are thousands of years old and meticulously maintained. They're worshiped like holy relics.

The fact they always appear in fluff and game is just for rule of cool.

In Horus Heresy-era stuff, both the SM Legions and Imperial Army had entire divisions of super-heavies.

For other races like Eldar super-heavies are more common per capita, but still rare as there aren't many Eldar to begin with.

 Harriticus wrote:
They are thousands of years old

No. Superheavy tanks of various types (including Baneblades, Shadowswords, etc) are in active production in "current" 40k. There are probably ancient and honored relic Baneblades out there somewhere, but you can still get one fresh from the factory. The few that see limited production in "current" 40k tend to be obsolete designs like the Malcador, and even those are still built in limited numbers.

So then what do you all think the composition of a superheavy tank regiment would look like? Forge World's Krieg regiment in IA1:2e has a superheavy company from a Cadian regiment attached with 1 shadowsword command tank and 3 baneblades.

Do you think the typical superheavy regiment would have something like that, with mixed variants in a single company? Do you think there even is something like a 'typical' superheavy regiment? I imagine they'd be easier to regulate being so few, but on the other hand I can see the munitorum not bothering regardless.

My guess would be that, much like how "conventional" regiments are not at all standardized, superheavy regiments have a variety of organizational structures and vehicle mixes. A freshly-created regiment armed with tanks directly from the factory might have a uniform set of tanks (whatever the local forge world produces), or it might have some other types mixed in because the factory was behind schedule and alternatives had to be diverted from somewhere else. A dedicated titan-killer regiment might be armed purely with Shadowswords, unless of course it has lost some in battle far at the end of its supply lines and had to replace them with whatever other tanks were available. A superheavy regiment built with the intent to split it up into attachments for every "conventional" regiment in the war might be created with a variety of tanks so that it can cover all possible roles, or maybe someone thinks the Stormblade is the best possible tank for every job and every "conventional" regiment shall be supported by a squadron of Stormblades.

One other thing to keep in mind is that a superheavy regiment is a powerful and high-value unit that is often split up to fight in multiple separate areas. So it's a lot less likely to be annihilated in a single battle compared to, say, a regiment of DKoK siege infantry. And when it does suffer losses it's a lot more likely to continue to exist as an independent unit and be reinforced with more tanks instead of broken up and mixed into whatever other units need a few more bodies. So who knows what tanks a regiment might end up with after long years of fighting. It might be a "ship of Theseus" problem where no tanks from its original creation remain, and whatever tanks it has currently are all replacements.

The old fluff had it that baneblades and their variants were quite common. They are effectively a cheap stand-in for the far more rare and difficult to produce Titans. They were often organized into formations aimed at taking down enemy titans and their equivalent, while Imperial Titans could be deployed elsewhere for maximum effect (and also minimize the risk of their own Titans being seriously damaged). Even the more recent imperial armour siege of Vraks (i can't recall the number) references them being used in this capacity. Any major warzone would see a minimum of a few dozen, most likely a few hundred - even thousands would not be out of the question.

As the the game has progressed over the last decade, it is a good deal less precise. But, with the understanding that baneblades are the equivalent of the leman russ in the superheavy category - that is, mass produced standard war machine - it would be safe to assume that they vastly outnumber space marines. Think billions of baneblades and their variants. There are, after all, entire forgeworlds devoted to pumping out just baneblades. While these planets are quite rare, often only one per sector, that doesn't undermine the fact that they can produce large quantities of baneblades every year. Now, what that actually means for the average guardsman is an entirely different question. They are still precious resources in comparison to leman russ, basilisks, etc. Certain sectors would obviously have a larger supply. I think it would be a common sight for any guardsmen attached to a tank company, still fairly common for a rapid assault based forced, then become more rare for siege forces - that usually rely on huge numbers of conventional artillery (like death corps of krieg) - and, finally, very rare for static defense guardsmen on fortress planets. When you are talking about anything on a galactic scale, there would be tremendous variation in one's experience, of course.

Looking at Epic Armageddon's fluff and rules, it wouldn't be all that uncommon to see a Baneblade or three floating around some of the larger battlefields, spearheading assaults and acting as mobile command bases.

Enemy titan incoming? Shadowsword company.

Waaagh forgot its trukks? Banelade company.