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Looking at the IG codex and it said the crew was made up of 4 people or 6 if there is sponsons. This is the wiki entry- 1 Commander, 1 Driver, 1 Main Gunner, 1 Loader, 2 Remote Gunners (if sponsons are attached). My question is who is controlling the HB in front? Also I hope this is the right forum and if not please correct me. Thanks to anyone who helps me.

Either Commander or Machine Spirit

Probably the diver. He would be the closest to that position, if the layout is anything like a modern tank.

The Commander wouldn't be in position to do it, he sits in the turret.

It's the driver,

According to the Only War RPG book, it is the Loader who doubles as the hull gunner.

All imperium vehicles have two dudes who sit in front of them behind the angled part. I don't know where you're getting your information from, but it's not correct.

There's the driver, who drives, the hull gunner, who hull guns, the turret gunner, who shoots the main gun, and the commander. With 2 added for sponsons. The idea that there's a tank commander, and loader AND a gunner in that tiny russ turret is absurd. What happens when there's a pintle gunner as well?

And no, you can't be spending all of your time laying down a thick curtain of fire as you desperately butcher the hordes of the enemy of the Emperor and be doing anything else at the same time.

Ailaros, hate to break it to you but the gunner doesn't need to be in the turret necessarily. You could rig that to sit anywhere in the tank as long as you have a sight for them to use(and an electronic one works fine).

 Ailaros wrote:
All imperium vehicles have two dudes who sit in front of them behind the angled part. I don't know where you're getting your information from, but it's not correct.

There's the driver, who drives, the hull gunner, who hull guns, the turret gunner, who shoots the main gun, and the commander. With 2 added for sponsons. The idea that there's a tank commander, and loader AND a gunner in that tiny russ turret is absurd. What happens when there's a pintle gunner as well?

Unfortunately, per Imperial Armour Volume 1, that is incorrect. There is a loader, and he is, indeed, responsible for firing the hull gun. If the loader is occupied loading the main gun, the driver fires the hull gun.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

Unfortunately, per Imperial Armour Volume 1, that is incorrect. There is a loader, and he is, indeed, responsible for firing the hull gun. If the loader is occupied loading the main gun, the driver fires the hull gun.

That is some incredible multitasking on the driver's part. I'm imagining some Catachan dude driving with one hand and flooring it, and blasting away with a heavy bolter with the other.

 Zed wrote:

 Tannhauser42 wrote:

Unfortunately, per Imperial Armour Volume 1, that is incorrect. There is a loader, and he is, indeed, responsible for firing the hull gun. If the loader is occupied loading the main gun, the driver fires the hull gun.

That is some incredible multitasking on the driver's part. I'm imagining some Catachan dude driving with one hand and flooring it, and blasting away with a heavy bolter with the other.

Floor pedals for accelerate and brake, automatic gearbox, one hand on the wheel/stick/whatever, one hand left to use the remote gunnery joystick to which the hull gun is slaved. Given that it fires large explosive projectiles an HB brobably doesn't need to be aimed terribly accurately to be effective Also as its fixed forward it can be limited to shooting directly forward to whatever the tank is pointing at, making it easier for the driver to comprehend the problem.

The other main resource that regularly mentions drivers using the hull weapons is the Cain books. Jurgen drives the Salamander and fires the hull HB.

Thanks for the help guys and most likely the driver wouldn't have to multi-task because it's likely he are either driving or staying still and shooting, not doing both.

The current guard codex says the operation of the Heavy Bolter is cycled between the Commander, Loader and driver as needed, IIRC.

The LR is modeled after WW1 tanks, so the ammo is stored in the main body of the tank, and the gunner stands inside the open middle area. The gun has to tilt up to allow the gunner to load the shell in the breech, and then it tilts down again and the gunner aims and fires.

The gunner sits in front of the commander with only his upper torso in the turret.

The front heavy bolter/lascannon can be fired by the driver, who doesn't really bother to aim, or the aux driver/radioman/loader.

the M3 Lee, which had a hull cannon, turret auto cannon and 3-4 machine guns had a crew of 7.

The M4 Sherman had a crew of 5 and a main gun plus four machine guns.

Generally, it seems tanks had enough guns for each of the crew except the driver to fire simultaneously.

The hull heavy bolter being fired by anyone who has the time, but most of the time by the driver makes good sense, they aren't that good at shooting anyway.

Tannhauser42 wrote:Unfortunately, per Imperial Armour Volume 1, that is incorrect.

Both Forge World as well as Black Library are not exactly known for sticking to the GW core team's writings.
According to 2E Codex: IG, a Leman Russ' crew is: 1 Driver and 4 Gunners. It appears the Commander is doubling as the operator of the main gun. Makes sense when you consider how tiny that turret appears to be.

Technically, there is no incorrect answer, as all answers are equally valid.

I've always seen it like it was shown in Gun Heads.

the driver has the lascannon/HB/ whatever slaved to his driving controls and can aim and fire it with his driving controls. It makes more sense to me personally but I can see how others could control it through electronic controls, but I always imagine its just the driver shooting it.

 Engine of War wrote:
I've always seen it like it was shown in Gun Heads.

the driver has the lascannon/HB/ whatever slaved to his driving controls and can aim and fire it with his driving controls. It makes more sense to me personally but I can see how others could control it through electronic controls, but I always imagine its just the driver shooting it.

Wasnt the loader responsible for firing the hull weapon? I read gun heads and I could have sworn the loader was responsible for firing the hull weapon and if he was busy then the driver was the one who was responsible.

Also to ailaros-if there was a pintle mounted gunner thats actually just the tank commander. In the book gunheads the TC(tank commander was out of the cupola up top firing the pintle weapon.