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I'm looking at the Demolisher simply because an S10 AP2 pie plate is pretty awesome against everything. The main drawback is that if/when I lose the main weapon I'm forced to fallback onto whatever backup weapons I have and I'm not sure what to take.

I was originally thinking of just the hull Lascannon, to continue the high S AP2 firepower theme but the limited firing arc for a long range weapons seems like a potential problem. Instead I'm looking at Multi-Melta sponsons and a Heavy Flamer hull weapon. My logic is that both weapons support the flexibile nature of the Demolisher Cannon. The Heavy Flamer helps if I target infantry while the Multi-Melta helps against armor or MCs. Both weapons are also short ranged like the Demolisher so I'm not tempted to hang back and fire them but instead head towards my opponent's forces.

Does this seem reasonable or should I do something else?

Moving to Tactics.

That's why i give mine Plasma sponsons. still a pain with an ap2 weapons.
as for the hull weapon, i go woth the HHB.

Demolishers have such short range that you really can't afford to spend points on sponsons, as you will be wanting to get within 24" and keep moving while you are there to stop CC killing you so easily.

I think that the best choices are either just a flamer or a lascannon. The flamer is cheap and can worry things that get close, whereas the las gives it some extra AT power. My three all have lascannons and dozers (more of a style choice really) and I find the ability to pop light armour is really useful.

Edit: The maxim of the Guard is to keep things cheap. Sponsons can be nice but an extra tank or squad in your army is better than sponsons on everything.

as pointed out above, the 24 inch range limits alot of possible targets. So, i have used that as the main limit of what to equip with. i run my demolisher with multimelta sponsons and a hvy bolter up front. if they kill the demolisher cannon, i still have a good anti tank weapon. in addition, to help targets get into my 24 inch range, i put on the dozer blade and give extra armour. it will only help. yes, it is a 225 point tank, only once out of alot of games has the tank failed to get its points back and more.

martin74 wrote:as pointed out above, the 24 inch range limits alot of possible targets. So, i have used that as the main limit of what to equip with. i run my demolisher with multimelta sponsons and a hvy bolter up front. if they kill the demolisher cannon, i still have a good anti tank weapon. in addition, to help targets get into my 24 inch range, i put on the dozer blade and give extra armour. it will only help. yes, it is a 225 point tank, only once out of alot of games has the tank failed to get its points back and more.

How often do you lose the Demolisher Cannon and rely on the other weapons.

alarmingrick wrote:That's why i give mine Plasma sponsons. still a pain with an ap2 weapons.
as for the hull weapon, i go woth the HHB.

I thought about the Plasma sponsons but they're even more expensive and have a longer range then my main weapon.

Trickstick wrote:Demolishers have such short range that you really can't afford to spend points on sponsons, as you will be wanting to get within 24" and keep moving while you are there to stop CC killing you so easily.

I think that the best choices are either just a flamer or a lascannon. The flamer is cheap and can worry things that get close, whereas the las gives it some extra AT power. My three all have lascannons and dozers (more of a style choice really) and I find the ability to pop light armour is really useful.

Edit: The maxim of the Guard is to keep things cheap. Sponsons can be nice but an extra tank or squad in your army is better than sponsons on everything.

I have considered just the Heavy Flamer as well but I'm worried that a slow moving Heavy Flamer with a limited firing arc doesn't make for a very effective weapon if I lose the big gun.

when the opponent gets a weapon destroyed result, he sometimes has a hard choice. seeing those multimeltas against his meq army, he might opt for that instead of the demo cannon. it happens often enough in any game you will get the wpn destroyed rolled against you, so, at least have something good enough to do some dammage. that way you can go after that landraider

I find the Hull Lascannon to be a meager backup weapon with IG BS, especially when you pay points for it. If you desperately need more long-range firepower, though, it's not a bad choice, and has good target synergy with the Demolisher Cannon. In general, though, IG rarely lacks for Lascannons, and on infantry you get the benefit of Orders.

I usually equip mine with a Heavy Flamer. There are a lot of situations where the Cover-Ignoring template is actually a better choice than the Demolisher cannon, and it has the added bonus of not caring about BS. The range is short, but you'll be up close anyway. It maintains the threat of the tank even after suffering a Weapon Destroyed.

Heavy Flamer every day. Keep the vehicle cheap.

Heavy Flamer because it keeps it cheap like Belerephon said and you don't get full use of sponsons having to move to get in 24 range to use your demolisher cannon and having to keep moving to not get auto hit on rear armor by assaults.

martin74 wrote:when the opponent gets a weapon destroyed result, he sometimes has a hard choice. seeing those multimeltas against his meq army, he might opt for that instead of the demo cannon. it happens often enough in any game you will get the wpn destroyed rolled against you, so, at least have something good enough to do some dammage. that way you can go after that landraider

I think that I would actually be speechless if someone took any other weapon than the cannon off first. I just don't see why someone would take off a single melta over a demolisher, getting rid of the main gun and the benefits of lumbering behemoth. I'm not saying it would never happen, just it seems weird to me.

The lascannon really helps when you get round the side of some armour, it means that one of your weapons will probably hit and is good against things like av11. Combine this with a dozer and you can burst through ruins to get unobscured shots against vehicles and infantry. The flamer is good but I have enough of them on chimeras already. It is probably the best weapon after the cannon is gone though, never underestimate the killing power of a single heavy flamer in the right place (or 2+, all vehicles need support in the Guard).

I think I'm settling on the Heavy Flamer. Its free and doesn't rely on the BS3 of the tank. It won't be able to knock out a monolith like the main gun but I'll just have to take a second Demolisher to insure that something gets to the target alive.

With a related question, what tanks are people putting the Heavy Bolter sponons on? I l think they look the best personally and they're cheap but I don't know what tank would benefit from them except for a Punisher. I feel like if I bought them, I'd want to be static so that means a long range main gun. Maybe Exterminator or standard?

I like the standard russ with lascannon and HBs. It is the best looking out of them all and can do just about anything if you have a pair of them. I know it is not the ideal unit for anything but it is the most common tank variant in the Imperium after all.

Other than that I would avoid putting sponsons on anything with a 24" or less main gun, such as the punisher. They really need their mobility to stay alive.

I guess the exterminator is probably the best thing to put bolters on, as they mesh well with the main gun. Not really as good against light armour as the tank could be but it fits with the multi shot turret.

Some say go cheap, some say go expensive.

I personally went expensive. Plasma Sponsons and Lascannons...loading up on the AP2.

Putting 15 point lascannons on a BS3 tank is probably really stupid but whatever, I don't want to drop even more cash on Vendettas.

I roll around with a pair of these in a squadron, each with 2x MM and a lascannon. Yes, they are expensive, but they're a hideous threat that terrifies the living crap out of just about everything, and with that weapon loadout they threaten pretty much every vehicle in the game until they lose all their weapons or are wrecked. Admittedly, my list includes three other LR hulls, and focuses somewhat on forcing my opponent to make choices and capitalising on said choices.

I keep mine cheap and go with just a hull heavy flamer. Sponsons are too expensive on it in my opinion.

If your advancing heavy flamer no sponsons. However the majority of IG players don't advance on there opponents troops, there opponents troops advance on them, only on my first go is the demolisher cannon usually out of range. I use hull lascannon, and plasma sponson, which works great as it attracts so much firepower it is often immobilised and looses weapons, so it needs guns with a longer range.