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So, we all love the idea of bringing the emperor's unlimited-range phallus to the battlefield, but, struck by a streak of creativity, I was thinking about how you could model a deathstrike to still be a deathstrike, but without the giant missile. Ideas include...

Fuel bomb - basically a massive barrel on a catapult. It takes a few turns to top off the bomb, but once you've got it ready to go, the vehicle just flings the giant barrel at something, and it goes off like a MOAB. Alternately, you could have it be a barrel full of toxic, corrosive sludge.

Target caller - I'm imaging a chimera with a huge satellite dish looking thing on it. It uses its advanced communication skills to call down a massive one-shot airstrike, or to call down an orbital bombardment

Tech tank - It has some sort of strange science on the back that, after a few turns of charging its capacitor banks, unleashes a single blast of craziness. Perhaps it could be a microwave tank that zaps one spot in a giant melt-you/EMP blast. Perhaps it could be a vortex generator, temporarily opening up a hole into the warp. Perhaps it could be a chronus tank, opening up a rift and sending the effected units back in time.

Cluster bomber - basically something that looks like a 40k version of the hwacha. Rather than one big explosion, its 2.3 million little explosions in one spot.

Propaganda tower - Either through a series of speaker systems, or perhaps by catapulting leaflets over onto the enemy, the tank is set up so as to make the enemy reconsider their options. Destroyed units have, instead, defected or surrendered. It might take a few turns for the enemy to realise this, and, of course, after you get your first batch, the ones who remain are going to be immune to the effects of that tank's propoganda.

Anyways, I thought this was all kind of funny, and so wanted to ask if anybody else had any good ideas for how to counts-as a deathstrike missile.

I like the Target Caller idea. You could have a guy peeking out of the hatch while screaming coordinates at the navy.

The propaganda tower is the most hilarious idea, and therefore the best

you could always make a 40k version Katyusha




what about a tunneling bomb? giant drillbit front attached to something on tracks that explodes.

what if the vehicle itself IS the bomb? a tank covered in ordinance yet having enough armor not to go off early.

 ProfessionalAmateur wrote:
The propaganda tower is the most hilarious idea, and therefore the best

Well there is also this approach with a very angry payload.


Joking aside my favorites are the Katyuscha and the targeter. But you modelling-wise you'd probably have to go all out with satelite dishes and sensor array so that it is clearly distinguishable from regular tanks.

^This, a thousand times this.

ALWAYS ANGRY, ALL THE TIME
maybe you can make them angrier though

Blasphemer! Nothing can be angrier than the angry marines.
RrraaaAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!







But back to topic
Here are some images that might create some inspiration. (Wrong tank chasis for IG but nice ideas.)

The model is in desperate need of paint, but here is my version of the Deathstrike as a spotter vehicle. I play a HEAVILY converted WWI inspired army and the general idea behind it is that they have a giant artillery piece (along the lines of the Dora cannon from WWII but mounted on a pair of Baneblade class track units rather than rails) and this spots and targets for it. It follows the WYSIWYG rules by keeping the hull mounted heavy bolter and I modeled the pintle heavy stubber in a light turret along side the spot light. The turret itself is a pair of Chimera turrets placed bottom to bottom and has various bits to show radio gear and targeting optics. Enjoy!

Neat, I really like that double-turret.

What about a massive teleport array. Instead of materializing a payload over the area, sophisticated technology takes a few turns mapping the target area for a mass-teleport. Fortunately the science of where it goes (nobody cares as long as its in space!) was much easier to develop!

Ginormous plasma weapon, spends a turn or two generating a small sun and then lobs it onto the battlefield for a massive explosion. The finicky self-destructive natures of plasma weapons kind of fits the way a death-strike works eh?

Hmm, those both really fit under tech tank...

Another tech tank would have a small (grenade sized maybe) black sphere held in a magnetic field. Singularity launcher. Not sure why it would have a charge time though, maybe targeting or aligning the magnetic field...

How about something like a Tesla tank a la Red Alert? Instead of a big missile its a massive tower that fires a focused beam after its charged X hours?

Marbo with a over-sized ACME style bomb and fuse?

On a slight tangent I've fancied building an Ork looted Deathstrike, with a Nob riding the missle Dr Strangelove style.

I'm liking the marbo idea, maybe convert a chimera chassis to obviously denote it as marbo's personal transportation vehicle, the turn or three of charging up is marbo sneaking into position.

If you wanna get silly, why not an over (the top) charged lasgun. Mount a lasgun (and unlucky guardsman) on the top of a chimera. The hull of the chimera would be dotted with strapped down lasgun power packs as well as several larger generators, all feeding into power cables connected to the lasgun. Its the extremely hot shot lasgun. The tank could also have several dozen lasguns with similar power supplies instead.

If it's marbo's ride they'll never know.