Units and Roles
Battle Tanks
The IG uses the ubiquitous Leman Russ as their MBT. There are many variants of Russ, and several variants have multiple patterns based on Forgeworld of origin. All Leman Russ variants have 4+ RA except the Ulani Conqueror, which has 5+ RA. This means many armies will have insufficient AT fire to effectively deal with multiple tank formations through shooting alone. Tank companies are particularly vulnerable to Disrupt and MW Barrages, and massed MW or TK fire, however. Their ranged fire also degrades quickly in the presence of BMs, due to low numbers.
Leman Russ Variants can be broadly divided into three categories: Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), Close Support Tanks (CSTs), and Specialists. Tanks from each category are easily mixed with other tanks from the same role, but are rarely useful in a formation mixed between categories. Specialists tend to be most useful in units composed of single tank types, as singletons within a formation will add too little to a formations capabilities, and tend to detract from flexibility.
MBTs are characterized by a high powered dual role (AP/AT or MW) primary armament with 60cm range or greater, allowing them to engage an enemy formation from beyond the range of most weapons short of other MBTs, Superheavies, and Artillery. They must also have the ability to hold their own in FF, and have multiple secondary weapons systems (sponsons). Note these last two are related, as no Russ variant without sponsons has a FF better then 5+. This makes the Leman Russ, Vanquisher, and Ulani Executioner MBTs. The Minervan Ryza-pattern Executioner has no sponson weapons, and FF5+, and so is a specialist. CSTs have a shorter ranged (</=45cm) primary armament, optimized for infantry hunting and Firefights, and also has multiple secondaries. In game terms, they will have FF3+ due to the nature of their armament. Both the Steel Legion/Ulani Ryza-pattern and the Minervan Acacia-pattern Demolishers, and the Exterminator, are CSTs.
Specialist Tanks fall outside of the above two categories. They generally have fewer, but more specialized, weapons systems, and the associated decrease in FF, and may have other abilities not found in most Russ variants. They also tend to be comparatively rare. The Minervan Executioner is a specialist armor hunter. The Ulani Tank Destroyer and the Minervan Acacius-pattern Tank Destroyer are Titan Hunters. The Thunderer is a siege tank. The Ulani Conqueror and Minervan Mars-pattern Conqueror are fast assault/breakthrough exploitation tanks.
Superheavy Tanks
Superheavy Tanks have similar strengths and weaknesses to Battle Tanks, but magnified. A 4+RA, 3DC WE is correspondingly tougher to take down than a Russ, but suffers even more greatly from lack of numbers. It is vulnerable to the same types of ranged fire as a battle tank. It does take multiple blast markers to suppress each tank, however, so although the total weight of fire is less than a corresponding tank company, the rate of degradation is less. It is also weak in CC, though the ability of WEs to split fire between CC and FF mitigates this somewhat.
SHTs can be divided along the same lines as their smaller cousins. The standard Stygies VI-pattern Baneblades from the Steel Legion and Ulani, and the upgunned Mars-pattern Baneblades from the Minervans are MBTs. They are capable of taking on any target at ranges out to 75cm, and have multiple secondaries and FF4+. The Stormhammer and Stormsword are CSTs The Stormhammer has FF3+ and a short ranged, AP oriented load out, while the Stormsword has only FF4+, but has the awesome 45cm 3BP, Disrupt, Ignore Cover main gun, as well as other AP weapons perfect for urban combat. The specialist SHTs are optimized for tank hunting. Both Stormblade variants (Ulani and the Minervan Lucius-pattern) are optimized for hunting heavy armor and light WE foes. The Ulani variant has FF4+ and thus straddles the line between MBT and Specialist. The Shadowsword is a Titan hunter.
Artillery
Artillery will play a secondary role in an armored Regiment, but an important one. Artillery is unrestricted by LOS issues, and can go where your tanks cannot reach in time. Use it to take out threats to your tanks, particularly for counter battery fire. Prepping assaults and neutralizing smaller formations are also excellent uses, allowing you to gain in static combat resolution and activations respectively.
Shorter ranged Artillery like Bombards and Griffons cannot fulfill all those roles, and lacks utility in an Armored Regiment. Manticores and Basilisks are preferred, due to their greater range. Basilisks are excellent in company strength, whereas Manticores are best broken down into Batteries. This is because each Manticore battery can fire a barrage almost as effective as a Basilisk company, (due to Disrupt, the BMs pile up faster, though hits are fewer overall), but can only do so every other turn. Therefore, multiple small formations are more useful than a company.
Recon Every army needs Reconnaissance, and in Armored Regiments the role is fulfilled by Salamanders and Sentinels, depending on the list. Uses are similar, though the Salamander has a couple extra tricks up its sleeve. Scout screens are effective to cordon off areas of the board, forcing the enemy to use activations to remove them. This lessens the activation disadvantage most Armored Regiments will face. They are also excellent to screen your fragile Artillery from Teleport attacks: more on this in the section on deployment. Minervan Salamanders also have the ability to make a Turn 3 run for the enemy Blitz, with a 105cm March move.
Infantry Unmounted, it has its uses. Garrisoning on TNH is the main one. Mech. Infantry and Valkyrie Mounted Stormtroopers have a high move rate and are good in FF. They are good substitutes for CSTs in lists that can’t take many. I do take an RHQ in my Steel Legion lists for the SC, but at sub-5k levels, that’s all the infantry I buy.
Specialist Units
Same deal as specialist tanks. They have few, highly specialized, weapon systems. Hydras, Deathstrikes and Vultures are most worthy of notice. Hydras are a must, whether organic to your companies or in batteries. Vultures are essentially one shot tank hunters. They can do real damage once, and then become mobile objective grabbers. The Deathstrike is like a Vulture writ large, but without the speed and secondary weapons. Both Vultures and Deathstrikes are in niches well covered by other options in an Armored Regiment, and are on my “leave at home” list, largely due to their one shot nature.
_________________ SG Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.
|