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So I think I'd like to run a russ. Not pask. It will be targetting vehicles, maybe biker varients, infantry. I think the battle cannon one might be best?

Battle Cannon is always a solid choice. The Executioner with Plasma Cannon sponsons is also fun for taking out light vehicles, Terminators and Bikers.

I'm also a fan of the Demolisher if you like to rush things and can support it properly to get in range.

The Battle Cannon with a single hull Heavy Bolter is probably your best all-rounder - threat to all but the heaviest vehicles, chews up MEQs and relatively light on points.

Battlecannon is a good all round gun.

If absolutely needed, a Lascannon to its hull can at the least scare things the Battlecannon can't kill.

Don't bother with Sponson bolters as the Cannon firing makes them Snapshot (or sponson anything).


Edit: The Leman Russ Annihilator is a nice little tank as well. You can have a TL LC shot, a LC shot, and HB sponsons and can scare anything around it. Only problem is its an Imperial Armor vehicle (aka forge world), and the points need updating. Its not expensive (compared to other tanks), but its not in line with the codex tanks.

Give the Exterminator a look too. 4shot Twin-Linked Autocannon is good against Light/Medium vehicles, plus a Lascannon and Plasma/Multimelta Sponsons. Good All-Rounder.

Battle cannon is crap imo because of ordinance. If you want anti-tank, use the tl autocannon variant with lascannon and multimeltas.

If it's not pask I vote battle cannon or demolisher cannon. Battle cannon is just all around good, can take on anything that isn't 2+ or AV 14 and the range is beautiful. Demolisher is nice because it can handle just about anything, but the higher points and shorter range need to be kept in mind.

I'm going to offer a different alternative.

The Leman Russ Eradicator.

The main turret weapon, the Eradicator Nova Cannon, is Large Blast with good range (36") at ST:6, AP:4. Not quite as powerful as the batlecannon, however it doe benefit from the Ignores Cover special rule. It'll wound most infantry or non marine models (eldar jetbikes, etc) on a 2+ and wounds space marine bikes or other T:5 models on a 3+, denying any jink saves and forcing armor saves only.

In addition, the Large Blast from the Eradicator Nova Cannon is NOT an Ordnance blast, so you can take sponson weapons to suit your taste depending on what you want the tank to do; multimelta for armor shots, heavy bolters for added anti infantry firepower, etc.

I field mine with hull and sponson heavy bolters and a heavy stubber up top for maximum shots down range.

Lastly, it's the cheapest variant Leman Russ chassis you can put on the field. With all of these upgrades: Sponson heavy bolters or Multi Meltas, a hull heavy bolter, a pintle mounted heavy stubber, AND relic plating, it's just 148 points. A couple of points cheaper than a bog standard Battlecannon LRBT with zero upgrades.

Drop the relic plating and the pinte mounted heavy stubber and you can plug a lascannon into the hull weapon slot, put Multimelta sponsons on instead of heavy bolters (same point cost) and it's 150 points on the nose. It can now hurt tanks with 3x anti tank weapons and fling a large blast that ignores cover if need be.

It's the best single tank platform in my experience, point for point, and pairs nicely with most of the other Leman Russ variants out there.

Just offering my input on that. Hope it was helpful.

Take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

The eradicator is the 2nd best Russ next to the autocannon one.

For solo Russ :

Str6 ap4 ignore cover blast is great.
4.shot twin linked autocannon also good.

All plasma Russ pretty nice with either enginseer or or prescience nearby.

Normal Russ seems nice until you see the price tag like red thirst explained above.

Choice depends on your army/what you face.

If you don't want to run Pask, the hb+hb sponson eradicator proved to be the best. It's not oriented towards killing heavy armor but than no russ without Pask is all that good at killing vehicles. At least the eradicator is ok at it's job. I'd vote against a battlecannon. It is a weak option for whooping 150 pts.

Eradicator's also not great but it's at least not too bad.

I suggest the conquerer, though the actual model is hard to acquire, the regular LRBT model can stand in for it fine; its main gun is not ordinance and its a FAST tank, so it can move 12" and fire.

They all have their use, but the least useful imo is the annilator.

 crimson_caesar wrote:
Not pask.

There's your mistake. Pask is what makes LRBTs viable. Take Pask.

I prefer the Exterminator
Its an AP4 Machine that can take out Light Vehicles with its main cannon (a 4 Shot Twin Linked Autocannon)

After experience with four different IG codexes, I feel that I must warn you that what works now might not work or be as cost effective in future editions. Example: 3rd edition vanquisher was a BOSS; it could choose between two firing modes (standard battle cannon round and anti-tank round). 4th edition came and eliminated it as an option at all. When the vanquisher returned in 5th and again in 6th, it was reduced to firing anti-tank rounds only. Very disappointing. During that same time, the standard battle cannon option has been consistently effective, even if not always the optimal variant.
If you are going the "what's best right now" route, try to assemble it in such a way that the main gun and perhaps even hull/sponson weapons can be swapped. If you go the "what is likely to always be decent or better" route, go with the standard battle cannon and whichever hull weapon you prefer. Leave the sponson upgrades in storage--you may want them in the future.

Definitely don't glue in the hull/sponson weapons. They don't even need magnets and fit nice and securely.
If you can magnetise the gun somehow, there's bound to be dozens of tutorials around on how to go about that.
Maybe even try to magnetise the sponsons themselves on.

 kirotheavenger wrote:
Definitely don't glue in the hull/sponson weapons. They don't even need magnets and fit nice and securely.
If you can magnetise the gun somehow, there's bound to be dozens of tutorials around on how to go about that.
Maybe even try to magnetise the sponsons themselves on.

To this point, I'd have to variations of the exterminator: one with triple heavy bolter and one with lascannon and multimelta sponsons.

Exterminator is indeed very good. It is probably the best variant because the built in twin linked weapon compensates for BS3 quite nicely, and you can make full use of your sponsons. Kitted out with your choice of sponsons and a lascannon it costs about as much as a naked LRBT and is far more effective.