Manticore Launcher Tank

You are already dead.

The Guard has a Manticore. Your numerical superiority is irrelevant.

The Manticore Launcher Tank is one of the most subtle options the Imperial Guard has, being able to deliver as much firepower as an entire Basilisk battery from a single unassuming vehicle. It is built on the versatile Chimera chassis, with a Manticore Missile Launcher attached to its back.

The great advantage of the Manticore is its versatility -- there are missiles available that are appropriate for almost any occasion. The default armament is the Storm Eagle missile, which breaks apart into high-explosive submunitions as it flies over the enemy. Dedicated artillery regiments may have more specialized payloads available, like the anti-air Sky Eagle or massive, long-ranged Manticore missile.

The main reasons that the Manticore isn't more widely used are that it is difficult to load (so it is extremely vulnerable once its missiles are all launched) and a finicky machine to operate -- the machine spirits of the tracking, guidance, and launch systems are as temperamental as they are advanced. As such, they are limited in deployment to artillery regiments for the most part, as they are furthest from the front lines and most likely to have the tech-priest expertise required to maintain them.

Tabletop

The basic storm eagle missile drops d3 S10 AP4 5" pie-plates at a range only exceeded by the Basilisk and Colossus artillery guns. With a lucky roll, this can land 3 templates, as many as a full artillery battery, that will threaten virtually every basic infantry with Instant Death and has reasonably good AP. Basically, if it's wearing anything less than powered armor (e.g. Dark Eldar, Eldar, Orks, Tyranids, Space Marine Scouts, Tau, Imperial Guardsmen, Necron Warriors), it's a good bet that it will be vaporized when this thing hits. While many artillery vehicles struggle to earn their points back, the Manticore will routinely do so with its opening salvo.

Also of note, in the new imperial armor book from forge world there are rules that let you buy Manticores in squads up to 3, and switch out the Manticore's armament from Storm Eagle Rockets, to Manticore missiles or Sky Eagle Rockets, with statlines as follows:

     Manticore Missile: S9 AP2 Ordinance 1, 7" blasts, range: 36-300" 
     Sky Eagle Rockets: S9 AP2 twin-linked ordinance 1, skyfire, range: 120"

These "upgrades" all cost 15 points less than taking it with storm eagle rockets, and may be used in regular games, not just Apocalypse. However they're not in the codex, so you're going to have to clear with your friends/FLGS if you're going to use them like this.

The limited ammunition and randomness of each salvo (a random number of templates put down each time it fires, and they almost always scatter, especially firing at targets without line-of-sight) make the Manticore a mixed bag, but it's not unheard of for a pair of Manticores to destroy the bulk of an enemy's forces in the first or second turn with a lucky dice roll or two. Expect the enemy to focus everything on its destruction, even to the exclusion of all else, and make sure that he doesn't get there -- once he's within 24" he can fire the rockets but does not get to subtract his ballistic skill if he deviates. Density of firepower is a weakness -- one model can unleash tremendous destruction, but the enemy only needs to take out one tank to stop it), and it's AV 10 on the sides and rear.

In Apocalypse matches, though, all bets are off because there are no force organization restrictions. It's not uncommon to see a battery of thirty or more Manticores turn the battlefield into a moonscape on turn one. 120 Storm Eagles is the true meaning of pain.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!

A player in a major tournament in New York managed to pull off several bits of undiluted win when using Creed to Scout Manticores against Ork players, enabling them to perfectly get line-of-sight with the enemy army and fire off a barrage. This is widely considered cheese, but remains absolutely hilarious and is something that needs to be witnessed, if only once.

The Rebellion Begins

Due to the Manticore being an insanely overpriced model - even by the staggering standards of Games Workshop's notorious tendency to charge an arm, leg, and testicle for its miniatures - players have resorted to increasingly-clever methods for representing Manticores on the tabletop, the most common way being to either mod a Chimera APC, which costs about half as much, or to go the full Monty and using decidedly non-Games-Workshop miniatures in order to represent them on the tabletop. Considerable amusement and much rage from certain Neckbeards have ensued.

Note that it costs no more from GW per model than a Leman Russ does, at least in Europe.

Some of the more infamous ones are shown below.

Gallery

• 
  One of many mods of a Chimera. This one weds a rocket pod from a toy MLRS to a Chimera chassis. It works.
• 
  A fairly clever Manticore made from a Chimera and a Whirlwind.
• 
  This one is reaching. It's a Katyusha rocket launcher, modded to look more Vostroyan or Valhallan. Kind of clever.
• 
  A certain Tau Gue'vesa player is known to use this AT-43 miniature to represent Manticores, though painted and modded to look more Tau-ish.