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Back on 2nd edition there was an IG gryph tank. A mortar tank for indirekt fire.

What happened to it?

It was the Griffon. It use to have a mortar with a 'Guess 48"' range.

It went out of production years ago. I have vague memories of Forgeworld doing one too, and I think it might have rules in the FW Index.

It was outclassed a bit by later developments like the Wyvrn.

The Griffon was a Codex unit for the Imperial Guard in 2E and early 3E, they dropped it with the 3.5E IG codex (I'm guessing something happened to the mold), FW started making a model for it, it got reintroduced to the codex in 5E, then it got dropped from the codex again in the very late 6E 2014 codex, and FW stopped producing the model not too long thereafter IIRC. Rules still exist in the FW Index for 8E, but there's no reason to take it really, it's basically an ever so slightly cheaper Basilisk with a substantially less effective and more limited range gun.

It's...a very odd story

As I recall, the Manticore and Deathstrike got a kit together in 5th, as did the Hydra and Wyvern. The Medusa and Griffon had to make due with cutting down the barrel on a Basilisk or shelling out for a Forgeworld conversion kit.

The Griffon hit Tank Puberty, and received very special 40kosterone injections, producing the Wyvern.

A pair of gryphons works pretty well as a cheaper but decent armored artillery "fill in" beside the single basilisk. Its only s6/-1/d3 in the current rules, but the fact that it ignores cover and is a cheaper tank to put where your enemy is going to deepstrike in, charge, and kill one artillery piece no matter what you do, is a good thing.

Fun fact, its t7, while basi and wyvi are both t6, so that sometiems matters too. And sometimes you want an army that is very CP unintensive -- there are no strategems to worry about with these support pieces.

I don't follow IG tank developments closely, but was it cut in the transition from kits with metal bits to all plastic? IIRC the Gryphon's mortar was only metal (or FW as others have said).

Also, some historical perspective.

The Griffon and Basilisk both made their 40k debut in 2nd.

The Basilisk hit harder, fired twice each turn (strictly consecutive shots if memory serves? Had to be same target), and wasn’t especially cheap.

The Griffon? Far, far cheaper. And also had a choice of ammo. One was pretty much anti-infantry. Massive blast marker, but didn’t hit especially hard. Middle Round I just don’t recall. Third round was a Melta Shell, which if it hit a bunker or tank was really pretty potent.

Bearing in mind these memories are nearly 25 years old, so are not to be taken as gospel!

Circa 5e there were 4 IG tube SPG's:

Basilisk: We know it and love it at S9 Ap3 large blast and a range of "across the room", but kind of in the "Lethal Joke Category" because it had a 36" minimum range in indirect fire, though it could use direct fire to overcome that.
Medusa Siege Gun: Basically a super-basilisk. Instead of the 36"-240" range, it got S10 AP2 at 36" range, and could upgrade to bastion breacher shells for 5 points that gave it 48" range, AP1, Armorbane and downgraded it's blast size. It did not have barrage, so it couldn't fire indirect.
Colossus Siege Mortar: 24" minimum range, S6, and cannot use direct fire. It did ignore cover though.
Griffon Mortar Carrier: 12"-48" range, S6, Ap4, so 1 worse AP than the Basilisk and Colossus. It couldn't fire directly, but it did have Twin Linked.



Anyway, I've long wished for the IG SPG's to make a return. Particularly the Medusa.

Oh man, I forgot all about the Colossus. What an incredibly terrible vehicle. Even in an edition where literally everyone always had 4+ cover saves, ignoring cover couldn't counteract a 24" deadzone.

Medusa was always my favourite. The name was nice word-play: it was the only SPG without indirect fire. So... if you saw it, you died.

Really, the trouble with IG SPGs is game scale (as usual). Stuff like the Colossus, Basilisk, Manticore, etc. just don't have room to stretch their legs. They're great in Apoc though.

The Griffon was great in previous editions, especially with Infernus shells. I still have two of them.

 DarkHound wrote:
Oh man, I forgot all about the Colossus. What an incredibly terrible vehicle. Even in an edition where literally everyone always had 4+ cover saves, ignoring cover couldn't counteract a 24" deadzone.

Medusa was always my favourite. The name was nice word-play: it was the only SPG without indirect fire. So... if you saw it, you died.

Really, the trouble with IG SPGs is game scale (as usual). Stuff like the Colossus, Basilisk, Manticore, etc. just don't have room to stretch their legs. They're great in Apoc though.

I always felt there was a big difference between the 36" min range Basilisk and 24" min range Colossus that made the Colossus pretty good.

Half the board, including about half of the area that's going to be decisive, is "too close" for a Basilisk in IF [and if you're going to be Direct Firing most of the time anyway, springing the extra 10 or so points for the Bastion Breacher Medusa is well worth it], but 24" gives you enough space to hit the area you need to hit, and going right though cover and killing marines on a 2+ was a pretty solid deal. Downside was piss accuracy, since it couldn't direct fire and always scattered the full amount, it was basically as good at shooting as an Ork, but hell, it was plenty capable.

Medusa was my favorite though. #1 Can Opener, Terminator Eraser, and cheap fire magnet.

The "Colossus" was what the Bombard got changed into. The Bombard was scary.

The Manticore back in the days of 3rd Ed was right scary. 3 of those could wipe out an entire back line.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
The "Colossus" was what the Bombard got changed into. The Bombard was scary.

The Manticore back in the days of 3rd Ed was right scary. 3 of those could wipe out an entire back line.

The fluff blurb for Manticores used to say that a rebelling planetary army surrendered after learning that a whole battery of 3 Manticores has been deployed to their operational area. You couldn't field them as a battery because they were that terrifying.
I think now it says something about them allowing rapid delivery of their payload and then escaping counterbattery fire.

The Colossus Siege Mortar and Imperial Bombard are interesting. The Colossus has an illustration in the 5e Codex, and it's not the Imperial Bombard. The Imperial Bombard is a Leman Russ with the gun mounted on a frame over the engine deck, the Colossus is a Basilisk [and has the 12/10/10 of a Basilisk], with the gun mounted on the front over the driver so the loading tray and open breach are over the crew deck.



I have long wished for a plastic multi-model kit for the tube artillery of yore. Wyverns are cool and all, but I would buy multiple batteries of artillery if they gave me open-topped the gun motor carraiges with their massive gun-howtizers and mortars to drop the sky on the enemies of the Imperium.

The bombard had a model in ye olde epic. I remember using it in the Final Liberation PC game.

The Griffon came out with WD195. The Eversor Assassin was released in that issue too. I bought it as a 2nd hand back issue a "while back" *cough* last century *cough*. So it didn't have the card for it.

 Vaktathi wrote:
Rules still exist in the FW Index for 8E, but there's no reason to take it really,

There is if you own a few.
I don't know about you, but I; 1) Like to use the stuff I've bought/converted & painted over the years. Even the not as effective stuff. I want to be able to use it until, oh say, 2099 at least.
2) Depends upon what type of force I'm looking to portray. Sometimes what fits the theme isn't the mighty Basilisk.... 3) I like to switch up what models I use. I'd get very bored playing with the same exact thing game after game after game through all the years. It's WHY I have the massive collection I do.

When the Griffon had the Infernus shells it was called OP. Can't say I totally disagree. I have two old-school metal griffons. I with they'd update the Basilisk to a multi-kit that had the Griffon as an option. It'd be so easy.

 cuda1179 wrote:
When the Griffon had the Infernus shells it was called OP. Can't say I totally disagree.

As everything's been called OP at some point or another that doesn't mean a whole lot....

As it fits here I think:
a pretty easy to go tutorial to convert Basilisk kit into a Gryphon:
https://theforgefloor.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/converting-an-imperial-guard-griffon-heavy-mortar/

and Models and Minis also produce a nice kit to convert a Chimera Chassis:
https://www.modelsandminis.com/HELIOS_CLASS_MORTAR_VEHICLE_CONVERSION/p2965327_20404981.aspx


On topic: I also really like the model and concept, even though it currently does not seem to be a competetive choice. it might have the very very situational advantage of having a much smaller size than the Basilisk, but the usefulness of that entirely depends on terrain. To my knowledge it is also one of the cheapest ways to just put a bunch of volumninous T7, 3+ wounds on the table (the Salamander Scout comes in 10 points cheaper with one fewer wound). But here again: very situational.


Edit: sorry completely forgot about the standard chimera that's even cheaper. So just ignore that second bit