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I was building a Leman Russ and was wondering what to arm it with. I already gave it a lascannon for the front sponson, but what else should I give it? Just wondering.

GIVE ME ANSWERS...please

If it's a normal LR I'd probably go for HB sponsons, they work the best with the Battlecannon.

Sounds good!

Arm it with no sponsons. They're usually not worth it.

Only time I like sponsons is when I feel like laying down 5 plasma cannon shots with an executioner

Otherwise I could probably find more useful items to spend points on. A normal LM with a lascannon is already fine enough

You are going to be moving and firing your battlecannon to cause the most damage, not wasting time firing sponsons!

No sponsons, then?...
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I frequently fight swarm armies i.e: other guard, orks, nids

I used to run with sponsons all the time until i started taking advice from the players on this site. No sponsons is best because the lumbering behemoth rule allows you to move at combat speed while firing both your turret weapon and your hull-mounted weapon. The advantage here is that anything which gets into assault range of your tank needs 4+ to hit it in combat, which makes a huge differece from automatically hitting. If you against aggressive players that like to close the gap and find a lot of success getting in close combat with your vehicles, no sponsons is the way to go.

Unless you're rolling an Executioner with plasma cannon sponsons. Then they're worth it.

i'd suggest Magnetizing the sponson weapons, if you add them. gives you choices if the Meta or your opinion changes.

Plasma for executioner. Melta for demolisher. Heavy bolters for none. No sponsons if you wish.

If you got one of the newer kits you don't actually have to glue anything, the push-fit design works pretty well. I'd glue the sponsons on but leave the slots empty so you can always put in whatever you want or leave them empty if you don't want to use them at all.

I've magnetized the turret already, why not go all the way? I think I'll mostly use HBs though. Thanks for the advice, guys!

Yeah, sponsons aren't worth it, most of the time. On those rare instances that you're going to want them, they're probably going to be heavy bolters. Don't listen to people who want you to spend 230+ points on a single russ.

No sponsons, then

Hey, at least that leaves me with tons of gun and armor bitz for conversions (any ideas? )

I guess i just like to pimp my russes with heavy bolter sponsons. My reasoning is when the battlecannon get blown off, i still have a nasty armor 14 unit that can pump out 9 st. 5 ap4 shots. That's just me. It's 20 points, and unless you're using a bunch of russes, it isn't that big of a deal. I just like felxibility.

I figure if it keeps the tank as a threat once the main cannon is gone, it's worth it. Even if you kill 1 or 2 marines with them, it's paid for.

I'm torn between the two:
Sponsons to be, or not to be! Everyone just make up their mind!
I want to use bolter sponsons, but apparently they're not worth it! Make up your mind, people!

Hang on, are you expecting a common consensus to be reached *on the internet*?! Sorry dude, that ain't goin' to happen.

As has been previously suggested: magnetise them. That way you can try them out on a game-by-game basis and see for yourself whether they are worth the additional points cost.

L. Wrex

Plasma cannons, on an Executioner? Isn't it expensive enough as it is?

Magnetize the sponsons and magnetize the weapons.

Back when I ran leman russes I had leman russ with hull heavy flamer and no sponsons. Heavy flamers are good against backfield threats like snikrot and wolf scouts. The heavy bolters don't go well with the battle cannon if shooting at marines because they may let the opponent stack ap3 wounds. The las cannon isn't really worth it because its only bs3.

I seen people put plasma cannon sponsons on the main battle tank which sounds decent if your not moving much and shooting at Marines who fell out of transports so they clustered up. If your moving you can only fire one sponson so this may not be worth it.

you'll probably move more than you shoot your sponsons (at least if you want your tank to live longer than 2 turns), so you may as well have none since you can't shoot them

killykavekommando wrote:I was building a Leman Russ and was wondering what to arm it with. I already gave it a lascannon for the front sponson, but what else should I give it? Just wondering.

GIVE ME ANSWERS...please

For your specific case: Plasma Sponsons compliment the other armament.

Quick and Dirty guide to sponsons:
Leman Russ Battle Tank - Plasma Sponsons
Leman Russ Executioner - Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Leman Russ Vanquisher - No Sponsons
Leman Russ Eradicator - No Sponsons
Leman Russ Demolisher - No Sponsons
Leman Russ Punisher - No Sponsons
Leman Russ Executioner - Plasma Sponsons

There's more to consider than this but the options above will always serve you well.

ElCheezus wrote:Arm it with no sponsons. They're usually not worth it.

With 5th edition rules this is true.

Complete magnetization is the way to go, then?
If so, then I'm glad that I already have some expirience magnetizing turret weapons.
It's all good in the neighborhood

btw: I'll try to post some pics next week of the finished tank with magnetized sponsons BYEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Give it whatever you thinks looks best, if you want something different just point it that way and say that they count as X. (personaly i think HB are the best)

So, I should go for what looks best, not the most functional gun for now, and just see how it works for now?
I'll try that out, and I guess that means HB sponsons, then.

What about MM sponsons?

Take a Demolisher, give it MM sponsons and a front flamer and you have a tank that can perform almost any role in 24".


It's 195 points though. Would it be worth it?

Not really, IG shouldnt have the need to tack on meltas to vehicles unless you want a multirole hellhound or something

I actually think that MM Sponsons on a Demolisher fit better than any other turret/sponson pair for LRs. Same range, comprable AP, IDs T4, hurts vehicles. Both weapons ace heavy infantry and seriously threaten vehicles. My problem is still that you pay for two, and only get to fire one. You can buy a Lascannon that does all the same things for less.

Strongly advise no sponsons. I would run the worthwhile leman russes (demolisher and standard tank) without any upgrades at all, usually exchanging the hull heavy bolter for a heavy flamer.

Some things are worth considering:
Plasma-sponsoned executioner, a point sink but very scary, there isn't much point taking an executioner without the sponsons.
Plasma sponsons on LRBT or demolisher, not to my tast but not horrible.
Multimelta sponsons on demolisher, can be useful.
Lascannon hull weapon on either demolisher or LRBT, if you face a lot of vehicles.
For some boards, a dozer blade on a demolisher.

If I bought one of the new leman russ kits, I would make sure all the turret weapons and the hull weapon were switchable. I would make sure I had a plan to attach sponsons by magnets if I ever wanted to experiment with them.

On the Battle Tank, I like plasma sponsons and if points allow a lascannon.

That keeps the APs relatively the same in that they shred MEQ. Some will argue the Executioner is better for this, but the big template has its advantages and you save 40 points in the matter.

A dozer blade on a demolisher is indeed a good idea. With its short range, you really don't want it immobilized.