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I feel that the squadron rule is a semi-decent way to shoehorn an extra tank or two into my army without having to take out a single heavy choice like the Manticore and so towards this goal, I'm looking at what types of LR tanks go together the best. Considering that you have to fire on the same target, I'm sure the easiest answer would be 2 of the same type but I'd like to look beyond that and see if there are viable alternatives that don't involve spamming.

TL, DR = which pair of Leman Russ tanks would work best together in a squadron

I suppose that you could have a vanilla LRBT hang around just to soak wounds, for a pair of more expensive variants? Yeah, this kind of thing just isn't feasible IMO. too expensive.

I would not take squadrons.

If I had to they would be 2 tanks of the same type.

I would not take a squad of 3.

As for which 2 I would run together, depends on what your army needs. Probably not demolishers or punishers.

as was said before, its generally a good idea to run two of the same type.. But if your really set on two different types, take in to concideration the main weapon's range and plan accordingly.. taking a Demolisher with a Vanquisher would put the two tanks in conflict with each other. now a LRBT and a Vanquisher could work.

Try to avoid squadrons at all costs, they squander one of your chief strengths with Lemans: durability. You pay a premium for that stuff, and you lose it with squadrons. The other big problem is overkill. Very few targets need two S8 AP3 templates at once, and ever fewer demand 2 S10 AP2 templates. 90% of the time you'd do better shooting those templates at seperate targets.

Now, if you absolutely have to, I'd say squadron two of the same tank together so they have the same target profile. A Demolisher and a Punisher will have two very different targets in mind. Two LRBTs is probably the one squaron I say could be worth it.

All tanks would be of the same type for me, and of those either LRBTs, demolishers all, or executioners all. And if at ALL possible, I would avoid using them as squadrons.

For example, lets say I zoom up to 12 inches with a MM/HF land speeder, and I actually manage to hit. If I pen, a 3 becomes immobilized (due to AP1) and because immobilized = Wrecked in squadrons...I will get to take one tank out by rolling a 3+ on the damage table. On a -Glance- if I manage to roll a 5 or 6 I take a tank out of the squadron.

Even worse, one of the tanks gets assaulted by a tactical marine squad or similar. Remember, If they inflict a penetrating hit with the sergeants powerfist, and THEN another 2 pens with krak grenades, you get to assign a damage chart roll to ALL three vehicles! YAAAAAAAAY!

SOFDC wrote:All tanks would be of the same type for me, and of those either LRBTs, demolishers all, or executioners all.

This ^

i do this from time to time. two LRBT w/ lascannons together, and that is it.

Seems a lot of people are totally opposed to squadroning russes. I use it to some great effect, and my normal opponents are Black Templars, Space Wolves, and CSM. And I disagree with a lot of people I guess, cuz I think the more templates thrown at a target the better. But then again, I cant roll a bullseye to save my life, so it helps me.

As for which russes to squadron....I'd avoid squadroning Eradicators, Vanquishers, and Exterminators. (I'd avoid Exterminators entirely, but thats just me.) Any of the other 4 varients I think are fair game. I once squadroned an Executioner w/ LC and Plasma sponsons, a LRBT with LC and HBs, and a Punisher with LC and HBs....fire all those templates and bullets at a 20 man squad of the 'special' CSM (Thousand Suns, Plague Marines,etc) and dare them to make all those saves. It took 2 full deep strikeing obliterator squads, and 2 deep striking dual land speeder squadrons with HF/MM to take out my russes.

But again, this is all just personal experience.

I'll say that I'm both disappointed and unsurprised by the advice (itself, not the people giving it, lets be clear!)

I assumed that squadrons wouldn't be the best way to go about it but I'm stuck with the basic problem of only having 2 open HS slots when I want 3 LR variants so I'm trying to figure out what I should do.

Thanks though, I'll have to re-evaluate my list again.

I generally would throw in PLascannon armored sentinels, or bane wolves/hellhounds when I run out of HS slots.

SOFDC wrote:I generally would throw in PLascannon armored sentinels, or bane wolves/hellhounds when I run out of HS slots.

Plasma sentinels? Aren't those like ~80 points for 1 PC when you could pay ~200 points for 5 PC on a leman russ?

Correct.

5 plasma executioner is 230 points minimum. 3 Armored sentinels is 225. The executioner gets 4 shots moving (And it better be moving if your opponent has his head on his shoulders) and the ASents get 3. The executioner takes one good railgun hit or melta hit and you lose a plasma cannon platform, ASents lose one shot. Asents are AV12 in CC. Asents can tarpit units like hormagaunts forever if needed.

For my part, with most of my real AT threats coming from massive overkill threats (Multiple multimeltas, railguns, etc. on one vehicle) or CC (Yay, AV10!) the PC sentinels have done well for me. Give em a try if your meta fits with it.

Squadrons are nowhere near as bad as most people think. All that is seen is the immobilised and the same target aspects. They are bad, but other things balance them out.

People ignore the many good points of squadrons. You can allocate damage away from one of your tanks. Enemys have to use the facings of the closest tank, so it is far harder to get side shots. One of your guns will probably miss anyway, so you really don't waste too much fire. Also, you can do more damage with the combined fire as you wrap wounds around the squad and make them take saves on valuable models. You get extra armour for free too.

Saying that squadrons are always bad is a bit sweeping really. Last game I even used a pair of scout sentinels when they were my only fast attack, it worked a treat as they came in together and on the same side, helping me kill off a load of attack bikes.

As to the original point, I do prefer squadrons to be matched pairs. I suppose a cheap LRBT could eat the first damage and go with some of the more expensive tanks, but it wouldn't be great.

I run a squadron of Lemans
2 Executioners SSPlas, HHF and 1 Eradicator SSPlas, HHF 690 pts.
Also, 1 Exec and 2 Erad 660 pts.

Using Creed this unit does a number of things in a tourney mission.
1- It is 1 KP, it saves me the early Victory point loss and is a HARD KP for the opponent to pick up.
2- Reserving and outflanking causes some SEVERE issues for the opponent as far as board control.
3- Dropping 10 templates on the move and 13 stationary will wipe out ANY foot unit it hits. The meta here is MEQ and TermA, Orks/Nids horde.
4- Supporting the rest of the reserve list has seen the unit suffer very little loss in multiple games.

Squadrons have always been disparaged and IMHO it is those that don't know how to run them that see them as fail...

To anyone who thinks IG squadrons are a waste, next time you are giving up 15-20 KP in a tourney against an opponent who has 8 or less KP you might have wanted a squadron of Lemans...

40K is a game with limited turns and limited actions, BOARD CONTROL wins battles.

I run blob Guard. I've got a total of 8 kill points at 1500 points, 10 if I want smaller blobs.

Squadrons aren't necessary to tone down kill points, and honestly it's MECH Guard who have to worry about kill points.