Tank Company

[TrawlingCleaner]

Hi guys, I'm looking at starting an IG force comprised of mostly Russes. Each Russ is going to be personalised and unique. The overall regiment is going to be pith (praetorians?).

 

Are tank only lists viable? I'm just looking for this to be a painting and modelling challenge for myself but also isn't going to get demolished every game. I also want to name each of the tanks but I'm not sure what to name them, maybe british ship names?

[H311fi5h]

Tank only is ok vs gunlines, but will get murdered by close combat armies. Also you will struggle with certain missions. Imagine having to play Blood Angels just to name on example. Turn one a bunch of Sanguinary Guard or Death Company will chop up at least one tank and bind another two, removing a third of your firepower with just one unit. 

I'd recommend bringing a decent amount of cheap infantry to bubble wrap the tanks and sit on objectives. Fully mechanized doesn't work well unfortunately since AM transports are overcost.

[Delta.Skies]

Tank only is ok vs gunlines, but will get murdered by close combat armies. Also you will struggle with certain missions. Imagine having to play Blood Angels just to name on example. Turn one a bunch of Sanguinary Guard or Death Company will chop up at least one tank and bind another two, removing a third of your firepower with just one unit.

I'd recommend bringing a decent amount of cheap infantry to bubble wrap the tanks and sit on objectives. Fully mechanized doesn't work well unfortunately since AM transports are overcost.

I watched two battle reports go down like this against ultramarines and blood angels.

 

1 Bobby G surrounded by marines and the other all assault marines with 3 predators. They all went down the same.

[WarriorFish]

Indeed, with turn 1 assaults (and all sorts of tricks like BA can pull to ensure them) a pure tank army is going to struggle as soon as the enemy starts closing. As mentioned... that can be turn 1 easily, and there's no guarantee you'll get a turn first. An escort of troops is more essential than ever in 8th, so unless you're going for more friendly games your opponents are going to very quickly adapt. Assuming they're not an assault army so don't need to :confused:

 

It's definitely going to be a cool army (ship names is a great idea too; Victory and Warrior would be my first picks), but I'd look at is more as a tank army with support ;) Plus you never know, given an edition or codex perhaps an all tank army might become more competitive :)

[domsto]

Is your plan a Leman Russ only Army or a Tank only Army?

If the last one you could include some Hellhounds to use them as a screen against first Turn Charges.

Hellhounds are Tanks too;)

[duz_]

Spearhead detachments make them obsec ;) :D :tu:

[TrawlingCleaner]

Tank only is ok vs gunlines, but will get murdered by close combat armies. Also you will struggle with certain missions. Imagine having to play Blood Angels just to name on example. Turn one a bunch of Sanguinary Guard or Death Company will chop up at least one tank and bind another two, removing a third of your firepower with just one unit. 

I'd recommend bringing a decent amount of cheap infantry to bubble wrap the tanks and sit on objectives. Fully mechanized doesn't work well unfortunately since AM transports are overcost.

 

Indeed, with turn 1 assaults (and all sorts of tricks like BA can pull to ensure them) a pure tank army is going to struggle as soon as the enemy starts closing. As mentioned... that can be turn 1 easily, and there's no guarantee you'll get a turn first. An escort of troops is more essential than ever in 8th, so unless you're going for more friendly games your opponents are going to very quickly adapt. Assuming they're not an assault army so don't need to

 

It's definitely going to be a cool army (ship names is a great idea too; Victory and Warrior would be my first picks), but I'd look at is more as a tank army with support Plus you never know, given an edition or codex perhaps an all tank army might become more competitive

I thought this might be the case to be honest, I play against my mate's orks most of the time, although he doesn't use many trukks, they still get in pretty quick.

I really like the idea of having scions in deepstrike for when they get close and DS close to my Russes as a reactive force, but I'm not sure that would work in practice

 

Is your plan a Leman Russ only Army or a Tank only Army?

If the last one you could include some Hellhounds to use them as a screen against first Turn Charges.

Hellhounds are Tanks too;)

 

I'm thinking about some hellhounds to be honest, who doesn't love some flametrhower tanks? ;)

[WarriorFish]

Hellhounds are great (I have a few ;) ), and will serve well as mobile pickets and horde control. Don't expect them to last long in a tank army though, as aside from being much closer they'll also be easier for your opponent to deal with so he'll likely be going for the lower fruit. Serves your purposes if it keeps your Russes shooting (don't forget cheeky charges with the Hellhounds).

 

Scions would be good as a rapid reaction force, but to protect your precious tanks you'll still need some units starting on the board to keep your opponent back. Scions would be a bit pricey and short ranged for this, so you're back to infantry again. Scout Sentinels are an option too, as you can scout them forward to push the enemy back further and buy your tanks more shooting time.

[shandwen]

If you are dead set on armor alone, scout sentinels can make the deepstrikes drop far further away from your firepower.

[Halfpint100]

I love hell hounds, I use 3 most games (maybe 1 will survive if I am lucky). But they take their fair share with them, I find being aggressive and annoying with them is great, cheeky charges, disrupting battle lines, all fun! You can use a CP to re-roll the explosion dice as well

[TrawlingCleaner]

Hellhounds are great (I have a few ), and will serve well as mobile pickets and horde control. Don't expect them to last long in a tank army though, as aside from being much closer they'll also be easier for your opponent to deal with so he'll likely be going for the lower fruit. Serves your purposes if it keeps your Russes shooting (don't forget cheeky charges with the Hellhounds).

 

Scions would be good as a rapid reaction force, but to protect your precious tanks you'll still need some units starting on the board to keep your opponent back. Scions would be a bit pricey and short ranged for this, so you're back to infantry again. Scout Sentinels are an option too, as you can scout them forward to push the enemy back further and buy your tanks more shooting time.

 

 

I love hell hounds, I use 3 most games (maybe 1 will survive if I am lucky). But they take their fair share with them, I find being aggressive and annoying with them is great, cheeky charges, disrupting battle lines, all fun! You can use a CP to re-roll the explosion dice as well

 

 

I play against my mate's Orks mostly and he plays with hordes, so I definitely think Hellhounds will be a very useful addition.

 

I've ordered some Pith helmets and some other conversion bits so I can start on some infantry, I think that you guys are right and that I should use some screening infantry, they don't need a huge amount of upgrades.

 

Here's my first conversion for Pask, the spotter will have a Pith helmet when I get them.

 

20180415_164637 

 

20180415_164602 

 

20180415_164551 

 

20180415_164547 

[WarriorFish]

Love the pipe, looking forward to seeing more when you get the bits :tu:

[TrawlingCleaner]

Love the pipe, looking forward to seeing more when you get the bits

 

Thanks man! I've only ever done Big armour panels on space marines before, the pipe was very fiddly. It could also double up as a laddel or spoon

[TrawlingCleaner]

The recent FAQ has git the tank company pretty hard. I can only take one detachment of Russes. My group of mates are very vocal on wanting to use the FAQ so this has definitely taken the wind out of my sails. Not the end of the world so I'm going to put this on hold for a while. I'll have the bits when I come back to it

[H311fi5h]

3 of each datasheet still allows 3 Tank Commanders, up to 9 regular Russes, and up to 9 of each variant of Forge World Russes (yes, they can all squadron, and they all have their own datasheet). So you can theoretically field 39 Russes (48 if you include Death Corps) without taking more than 3 of each datasheet.

[domsto]

This Stupid rule of 3 is a suggestion not a rule.

Maybe you can convince your group to let you play your Tank Company with this argument.

 

In my Gaming Group we are just ignoring this rule because it limits Listbuilding very much for no real benefit

[TrawlingCleaner]

I think we're just going to see how it effects us and if it changes much. We're all of the similar mindset of, if we accept one FAQ rule we accept all the FAQ rules. We all agree that changing the deepstrike rules will be a great thing for slowing the game down a little and making sure first turn isn't absolutly crucial. We all also agree that changing to the rule of 3 makes a lot of sense and makes some armies and lists dangerously broken. I'm going to put it on hold for a bit and see where these rules take us to be honest. I might just do it for the painting and modelling opportunity that I could make viable one day

[allegedlynerdy]

But the FAQ hasn't hurt tank companies at all. You can take 12 russes still,(3 commanders and 3 squads of 3), 13 if you play Cadian since pask, and that's without forgeworld. You can take more than you can fit in a standard 2000 point game. Over 2000 points the rule of 3 becomes the rule of 4. And remember, this is just for organized play. The chart is "organized play suggestions" iirc. If you're playing for fun most people won't care. If you're playing competitively you're still just as strong.