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I am in the process of making a foot guard with Leman Russes and some artillery. I was building the 1st russ last night, but stopped once it got to the sponsons. I gave it the heavy bolter in front, and I'm wondering if adding hb sponsons would be a waste of 20 points?

also, if hb sponsons aren't worth it, are there other sponsons that are better?

Will the tank move? If so h. bolters aren't worth the points. If it's stationary the whole game then maybe they are, but that makes the tank super-vulnerable to assault.

L. Wrex

It comes down to how you play, really. As Wrex says, if you're planning on keeping your tanks mobile, leave them off. I would leave them off, personally, as it allows you to keep optimum mobility without fretting about losing your sponson fire. Spend the points on something else. If you're planning on sitting still the whole time, though, they're definitely worth the points.

I usually run a Leman Russ, then a Leman Russ Punisher (simply because I have no more built!). Both have emergency Heavy Stubbers, but only the Punisher has sponsons (Heavy Bolters). The wieght of shots it gives out is immense, 29 at St 5, 9 of which are AP4, then another 3 at St 4. The standard Russ does not get Sponsons because it sits at the back and does not get close enough to use them. If I allow the enemy to close in on this stand-in artillery peice, then I am a poor general.

On a normal leman russ, plasma cannon sponsons probably go best with the battlecannon, but I would personally rather run with no upgrades.

When I play a marine bike army, the HB sponsons cause me a great deal of hassle. When I'm turbo boosting, the pie plate will cause me to make 2 saves at best.
The HB sponsons, however, will double that number of saves I need to make.

While my army is not the most common, it illustrates the point. The HB sponsons give you an option that you would otherwise not have, and given their cost, I believe they are a good addition for a well rounded army.

I prefer them with sponsons because they look cooler, if that makes an appreciable difference.

sphynx wrote: The standard Russ does not get Sponsons because it sits at the back and does not get close enough to use them. If I allow the enemy to close in on this stand-in artillery peice, then I am a poor general.

Huh? How do you keep the enemy outside the 36" range of HB?

My LRBT has HB sponsons. I think six S5 shots in a AV14 hull for 20 pts is a good deal.

Yes, you lose those shots if you need to move, but if you deploy correctly, you probably will not need to move much.

Besides, most armies will try to come to you, so it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which they will be outside 36".

I think the idea that you should avoid sponsons for fear of losing the shots because you have to move as a counter-assault tactic is not realistic. If you are getting assaulted, it does not really matter if the opponent will be autohitting or hitting on 4+ because they would have a ton of attacks anyway and they hit your weak back armor. So, if you get assaulted with something that can hurt you, you are dead anyway. If you want to run away from assault or make it hard for them to hit, you can make a cruising move, which loses all shooting anyway, so LB rule does not help, and you are already in trouble because LR should shoot, not cruise around. Either way, CC worries are irrelevant to the sponson discussion.

Finally, without sponsons, the LRBT has only two weapons, so it can easily become a harmless piece of terrain. With the sponsons, a turretless immobilized hull is a nice bunker with the firepower of 2 HWTs. The enemy is put to an unpleasant choice - do I waste valuable AT shots to silence the bunker or do I ignore it and get peppered by the 2x HB?

More Dakka wrote:I prefer them with sponsons because they look cooler, if that makes an appreciable difference.

Really? I take the opposite view, I think they make the tank look even more boxy and old-fashioned.

I am returning to say I might dislike HBs because all my opponents seem to take rock-hard elite units or tanks, against which S5 AP4 is useless. If you face plenty of light infantry, they are efficient I suppose.

Most of the time, your russ should be moving so its a bit of a waste

Now HB on valks is amazing for half the price

From my experience, if you run a Platoon at all, then no, the sponsons are not worth it, as they bring more anit-infantry - something that a platoon does well with Autocannon spam. The sponson points are better off going towards something else in the army with AT capability.

However, in my MechVets list, I find myself wanting more long range anti-infantry shots than my Chimeras can put out, against certtain lists/builds. Since I keep my meltavets mobile, they do not take ACs. Here, the option to have those extra Heavy Bolter shots to finish off squads, or just to force morale checks, is very often worth the points for sponsons on my LRBTs and Vends.

Well, I have yet to get to a store to play, but I will most likely be playing my friend, who plays with [my] orks, (which happen to be green tide) so would hb sponsons be good to thin down squads of boyz?

Battle Brother Lucifer wrote:Well, I have yet to get to a store to play, but I will most likely be playing my friend, who plays with [my] orks, (which happen to be green tide) so would hb sponsons be good to thin down squads of boyz?

Arguably, that is what HB sponsons on LRBT are built for - dealing with loads of light infantry at mid-to-long range.