Yvain and I played a battle, Steel Legion vs Ghazgkhull Warhorde. I still plan on posting a full battle report eventually but for now I'll talk about the Baneblade's performance.
Yvain fielded a single Baneblade and a single Shadowsword. They both hung out in the backfield laying down fire. The Shadowsword did some heavily lifting against the Ork Gargant, the Baneblade mostly laid down blast markers at long range and I think killed one Battlewagon.
It wasn't the best showing because it didn't exercise the mid-range shooting that makes the Baneblade worth taking, but it did give us a feel for what the two shot change means.
Our verdict was that:
- two shots on the main cannon is in no way broken or overpowered. It feels like a more reasonable amount of firepower for what should be a fearsome weapon. It makes the tank not feel like a waste at that range
- two shots on the main cannon does not feel like it's in line with the usual EA weapon stats. Yes the game is highly abstracted, but multiple shots are usually reserved for high ROF weapons
Now, I would stop there, but a very long debate with Yvain about whether 2 shots was appropriate at all, whether the Baneblade was hopelessly underpowered or not, and whether the Baneblade really needed a better Firefight value in addition (or instead) prompted me to lose my mind and mathhammer a comparison between the Baneblade and the Leman Russ at every range band. "Feeling" is not enough, I really wanted to know how this tank stacked up to a comparable unit and what this change would do to damage output.
Baneblade Vs. Leman RussI chose to compare the Baneblade to the Leman Russ for three reasons. First, they compete directly as company formations. Second, their durability is comparable (same armor, both have Reinforced Armor, the Baneblade Company is 15% cheaper per hit point and harder to suppress, but each Baneblade has a 1/6 chance of exploding every time it takes damage). Third, their armament is comparable (mostly battlecannons, lascannons, and heavy bolters). I used the stock Baneblade as a baseline and looked at two different updates: the 2 shot Baneblade battlecannon discussed here, and a single shot AP2+/AT2+ battlecannon instead.
Since the Leman Russ formation is widely regarded as worth taking, and since the overall durability and armament of the formations are comparable, I feel this is a worthwhile comparison (with the slow speed of the Baneblade being the main difference that isn't captured here). My feeling is that the Baneblade needs to put out equal or better damage than the Russ at most ranges on a point for point basis to make up for its slow speed.
MethodologyI did two separate comparisons from the Steel Legion list (singleton Baneblade vs 3x Leman Russ upgrade, and Baneblade Company vs Leman Russ Company). I calculated the distribution of possible numbers of hits, and normalized the results by point value for a fair comparison using the following formula:
Quote:
Normalized Hits = (# hits) * (normalized point value) / (point cost)
I also subtracted out 25 points from the price of the formations as an estimate of the cost of one activation. Note this makes the singleton Baneblade the exact same cost as the 3 Leman Russ upgrade. I did not capture the effects of Ignore Cover on the Baneblade's Demolisher shot.
Apologies in advance for the wall of plots.
Close CombatFirefightAP 0-30cmAT 0-30cmAP 31-45cmAT 31-45cmAP 46+cmAT 46+cmConclusionsWhat we see from this is that
- the bog-standard Baneblade is, roughly speaking, equal to or worse than the Leman Russ everywhere except against INF targets at 0-30 cm range when taken as a company after normalizing for point cost (although a Baneblade Company is marginally better at Firefight on a point-for-point basis). The Baneblade gets significantly worse with range
- upping the battlecannon to AP2/AT2 barely improves the firepower of the Baneblade
- increasing the battlecannon to 2 shots at AP3/AT3 makes the Baneblade equal or better at every range band after normalizing for points - a Baneblade company is clearly better at AP and AT within 30cm, holds an advantage at AT at 31-45cm, and maintains parity at long range
So in the end, I have to say I support the 2 shot change. I think it makes the Baneblade Company an attractive choice, at least one you would consider over a Leman Russ Company. You're slower, but you're cheaper, and on a point-for-point basis you will put out more firepower at close range.
Based on these numbers, I would also recommend adding a single Baneblade as a formation upgrade for 175 points. Damage output from a single Baneblade is directly comparable to 3 Leman Russes, durability is comparable, and the speed synergizes well with an Infantry Company on foot.