Editing Leman Russ Battle Tank (section)

==FORGE WORLD LOVE==
GW's specialist subsidiary Forge World made a couple of their own Leman Russes. They also pimped out the appearances of several types.

==={{anchor|Conqueror}}Leman Russ Conqueror===
[[File:Imperial Guard Leman Russ Conqueror.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Leman Russ Conqueror.]]

The '''Leman Russ Conqueror''' was built to be a faster Leman Russ tank -- [[Conqueror Battle Cannon|its cannon fires smaller shells with less recoil,]] which allows the tank to be more mobile, store more ammunition and sustain a higher rate of fire. The smaller cannon also allows the installation of a co-axial weapon, which helps the gunner keep the main cannon on target. In a realistic fluffy way, this might also make the Conqueror much cheaper to produce than the standard Russ. Since a lot of the expense of a Russ comes from producing the inertia controlling technology in its turret. Yes, it has that. Yes, it is expensive. If you don't need it, though...or just get an Exterminator and slap lascannons on its sponsons and nose when a TechPriest isn't looking.

[[Forge World]] created the Conqueror back in Third Edition, when a Leman Russ had to stay still to fire its battle cannon. The main point for a Conqueror now is its mobility. In standard games on a 4x6 foot table, the shorter range doesn't matter. For an extra three points over the vanilla, you get a 48" battle cannon (compared to the 72" regular one) and a co-axial storm bolter. Co-axial weapons provide a hit reroll to the cannon if sharing the same target. If you're playing on a small board, a regular one with lots of intervening cover, or an urban one, this will serve you better than the vanilla. Otherwise, just grab the vanilla for the two feet of range.

When introduced it had a weaker cannon lacking AP and with a smaller blast radius but had rules allowing it to fire its gun and sponsons on the move. After all, it is intended to be a [[Wikipedia:cruiser tank|cavalry tank]]: a faster, more lightly armed vehicle designed to exploit breakthroughs that slower, more heavily armed tanks could create but not exploit. Once it broke though, it would then overrun the enemy's rear areas, causing trouble behind enemy lines while the infantry tanks and regular infantry keep pressing the advance and securing ground behind it. Eventually everyone realized light tanks can do the same just as effectively in far greater numbers and far more cheaply. Now, five editions later, everything can move and shoot (with a penalty) and it's simply more dakka and a reroll paid for through shortening the cannon's range.

The closest equivalent of the LR Conqueror in the real world is the WW2-era [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_III#Armament Panzer III Ausf. E]: the mass production version of the Panzer III equipped with a smaller main gun and twin coaxial MG-34s.

==={{anchor|Annihilator}}Leman Russ Annihilator===
[[File:99590105335_Dkkmarsalphapatternannihilator02.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Leman Russ Annihilator.]]

The Leman Russ Annihilator began as a field conversion: An Imperial officer found his armoured units constantly losing to renegade armour, so he decided to replace his company's Leman Russ' battle cannons with the company's [[Lascannon|lascannons.]] This ultimately won them the battle, [[grimdark|but the officer responsible for these conversions was convicted of tech-heresy and executed.]] However, the supply of [[#Vanquisher|Leman Russ Vanquisher]]s is ever-dwindling after the loss of Tigrus, and the [[Imperial Guard]]'s demand for anti-armor tanks is ever-growing, so the Techpriests eventually sanctioned it in order to try to meet demand; Forge Worlds took the twin-linked lascannons off the [[Predator Annihilator]] and put them in the Leman Russ's turret. Because the lascannon is easier to make, maintain, and use, the Annihilator is the preferred armour-hunting tank of armoured regiments expecting to sustain lots of damaged and lost tanks (like the [[Death Korps of Krieg]]).

Forge World rolled this tank with the Death Korps of Krieg army, and was very popular before 5th edition changed the way a Leman Russ works. Since moving and shooting Ordnance weapons was no longer a problem, the Annihilator lost much of its appeal, but after sixth edition changed which weapons can be fired when a vehicle moves, its utility has risen some: because its cannon is not an ordnance weapon, and the Annihilator is a heavy vehicle (unlike the Conqueror), it can fire all of its weapons at full ballistic skill on the move.

It'd be pretty awesome if they gave it the Exterminator treatment where they not only made the weapon twin-linked but doubled its rate-of-fire, which in this case would mean making its lascannons heavy 2 twin-linked. But alas, it's fairly underwhelming at the moment. You're better off just getting a Vanquisher at the moment, seeing as the Vanquisher only costs 5 more points and has a much better gun, it's not twin-linked though, but it could get that from other means.

'''8th ed.''' - Since twin-linked got scrapped, this is the only Russ to have an increase in firepower. Mathhammer-wise, it's on par with the Demolisher for anti-vehicle capabilities (putting out 1.94 wounds against another Leman Russ), but it has double the range, and the turret still costs 40pts. Obviously you're going to put a hull lascannon on it, since you'd have to be lobotomised not to. Also fares slightly better with sponson meltas. The shorter range of the turret means that there's a greater chance of you being in range to use them, unlike the Vanquisher (which scores 0.94 wounds against another Leman Russ by the way).

==={{anchor|Incinerator}}Leman Russ Incinerator===
[[File:LemanRussIncinerator.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Leman Russ Incinerator.]]

A Pre-Heresy Russ variant armed with a massive [[Volkite_Weaponry|Volkite]] cannon called the [[Volkite Demi-Culverin]] in the turret. Only available to [[Solar Auxilia]], it is twin-linked, and has an additional point of strength and shot than its smaller regular culverin. Can cause a lot of damage at great range to infantry, but it cannot take sponson weapons, and the more vanilla variants can do the same job more efficiently.

Because of the downsides of the Incinerator, take it only if you're a huge fan of Volkites. It's limited to causing a maximum of only 10 wounds per round (If your opponent fails its first 5 armor saves, and Deflagrate succeeds in wounding 5 more times). [[Lolwut|It also (For ''some'' reason) shares its AP with every single Volkite weapon smaller than it on the table, including the fucking pistol]].

If you really need to bring Volkite weaponry to vaporize Deamons or other blobs, you're MUCH better off putting some Veletaris in an Arvus or a Dracosan. They can cause up to 40 wounds through Deflagrate, compared to the Incinerator which can only cause up to 10. To maximize its effectiveness, you could double down on the high-strength high-AP attacks with multilasers on the hull and pintle, making a fairly decent hunter of Mechanicum automata. [[Fail|Despite being a very common weapon in both 30k and 40k, other Leman Russ variants (let alone a Baneblade) can't take a pintle Multi-laser for some unexplained reason]]. For those saying "just take a Punisher," Leman Russ Punishers don't in exist in 30K. The closest thing is exclusively mounted on a [[Sicaran_Battle_Tank|Sicaran]] variant, which is Space Marines only.

=== {{anchor|Destroyer}} Destroyer Tank Hunter ===
[[File:Ig30.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Destroyer Tank Hunter.]]

The '''Destroyer Tank Hunter''' is basically the tank equivalent of a sniper. It's the <strike>Sturmgeschütz III Ausf. G (StuG III G)</strike> (the Jagdpanzer IV/Su-100) of the 40K universe, it loses the turret and swaps out the hull-mounted [[heavy bolter]] for a massive [[Laser Destroyer]] -- basically, a twin-linked Ordnance [[Lascannon]], all the better to penetrate armor with. Like a sniper, its job is to hide in a defensive position, kill a high-valued enemy, and move on -- it has the same armor as a Russ, but its only secondary weapon is a pintle-mounted [[heavy stubber]] or [[storm bolter]], making it all but defenseless against enemy anti-armor. Fortunately, as it lacks the increased mass and stabilization requirements of the turret, it moves substantially faster than the Leman Russ Battle Tank, which helps it evade pursuit. The lower profile can also be of some help when it comes to putting it out of line of sight.

On the table, it's quite close to a Vanquisher in intended use, and generally does a better job for 25 more points; it's more mobile, grabs more cover (terrain with 25% cover gives this tank nearly 50%, which becomes a 3+ save with camo netting), its built-in Twin-Linking gets in more hits, and the S9 Ordnance shot damages anything with a toughness value and any AV lower than 14 more reliably than the Vanquisher's S8 Armourbane shot. Unfortunately, Forgeworld has since discontinued this model.

=== {{anchor|Thunderer}} Thunderer Siege Tank ===
[[File:99590105345_ThundererSiegeTank04.jpg|250px|right|thumb|<s>Ferrus Manus</s>Thunderer Siege Tank.]]
The Laser Destroyer is a rare weapon, so units with Destroyers whose main cannon is destroyed will seldom be given a replacement; A [[Demolisher cannon]] is installed the laser destroyer's mount, resulting in the '''Thunderer Siege Tank'''. This tank is basically the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmgesch%C3%BCtz_III#Further_variants SturmHaubitze 42]](basically a StuG with its general purpose 75mm tank gun swapped for a 105mm howitzer intended for infantry support) of the 40K universe. It is essentially a faster, discounted [[#Demolisher|Demolisher]], except its stuck with a fixed forward casemate (though if your Demolisher is in a position where it has to shoot something behind it, you are in a ''bad place'') and it cannot take any secondary weapons besides a pintle-mounted heavy stubber or storm bolter (not that it needs any more firepower than S10 AP2 5" Blast, though when the Vehicle Damage table comes calling you may be glad you took something else to lose on a Weapon Destroyed result). The reduced versatility means that most commanders would rather use a proper Demolisher, but as vehicle reserves run low, any Demolisher cannon is a welcome addition to the line of battle.

In practice, it's gone from a tank destroyer to an assault gun; it functions like a more expensive (by 15 points), but ''much'' tougher [[Vindicator]] (which is rather hilarious, since Space Marines ''love'' the Vindicator, while the Thunderer is a second-line Guard assault gun usually passed over for the Leman Russ Demolisher). Don't mention this around [[Space Marines]] -- they're still bothered that the Imperial Guard have what amounts to a Vindicator with better armor on every facing and access to camo netting, which in turn inspired them to make the [[Land Raider Ares]]. But that comes with the price tag of a Land Raider, so...

'''8th ed.''' Functions just like a Demolisher Leman Russ with one extra wound but without the hull mounted Lascannon option, Forgeworld Leman Russ were considerably more expensive than GW in 8th but Chapter Approved 2017 normalised them to the GW price cost.

=== Alternate Patterns ===

[[Forge World]] has also released variant turrets and hulls for Leman Russ models.

; Mars Alpha Pattern Hull : The [[Mars]] Alpha hull has more internal space and a larger engine, resulting in a slightly bulkier hull overall (especially noticeable with the engine sticking further out the back of the tank). The hull-weapon's mount is slightly different, with a more streamlined joint than the boxy sponson-like mount of the standard pattern. The increased internal space is used for ammunition storage on battle-line tanks, or for extra communication equipment on command tanks.
; Ryza Pattern Turret : Ryza is most known for their work on plasma weapons, but the tech-priests realized that their [[#Executioner|Executioner]] turret looked really cool, so they made turrets for the regular Battle Tank, Annihilator, Demolisher, Exterminator, and Vanquisher (with co-axial [[autocannon]]) turret variants. It is a sleeker turret than the original, with straight sides angled forward and a searchlight or scanner on the left side, while the weapon is contained in a slightly more sensible-looking elevation joint. Ryza turrets are often mounted on Mars Alpha hulls.
; Gryphonne IV Pattern Turret : Before it got overrun by the [[Tyranids]] of [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]], Gryphonne IV made turrets for the Conqueror, Exterminator, and Vanquisher (with co-axial [[storm bolter]]) tanks. Gryphonne IV turrets are much more "[[wikipedia:greeble|greeble]]d" than the standard turrets, and are distinguished by the flared-out sides and the searchlight mounted to the right of the commander's hatch.
; Stygies VIII Pattern Turret : Stygies VIII also produces a Vanquisher turret with a co-axial storm bolter, and is also a rather greebly turret (though its searchlight is mounted on the left side, like the Ryza turret), but their variant of the Vanquisher cannon is shorter than the Gryphonne IV's (which is ridiculously long, to be honest), and it is unrifled, to bring the muzzle velocity back up to that of the Gryphonne IV cannon.