Armageddon steel legion heavy tank options.

[Hunter]

As my Steel legion army approaches completion i was wondering fluff wise what kind of super heavy tanks the legionnaires have access to post 3rd war of Armageddon.

primarily the exotics like
the MACHARIUS , PRAETOR ,CRASSUS , MALCADOR , GORGON , VALDOR , MINOTAUR , Ragnarok

i know the Ragnarok is in the same class as the Leman Russ Battle Tank and designed on Krieg but could a couple have made there way in the hands of the steel legion ?

[Chris*ta]

I just had a quick look at the article on Lexicanum (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Armageddon_Steel_Legion#.UGNPoXaI2kI) and the best info that I could find is that "super-heavy vehicles are typically Baneblades and Shadowswords."

Your best bet for more info would be chasing up the references in that article, notably the Epic Armageddon Rulebook and the novel Helsreach.

Maybe someone on BoLS has them to hand?

Also, do you have any conversion planned for the Ragnarok (if you're going to use them)? I remember a really nice KV-2-alike conversion in a Vostroyan army on the GW website, before they purged all the good articles :(

[LordJefferson]

Well, according to IA 5-7, Minotaurs, Malcadors and Valdors are outdated vehicles which were merely stored on Vraks (an Armoury World) until they would be needed to urgently resupply Imperial units as they are far more ineffectual than current imperial patterns (The temperamental Neutron Laser of the Valdor for example).

This can be seen in IA 11 (Doom of Mymeara) when the Cadian regiments on Mymeara use outdated vehicles such as the Crassus and Praetor, out of urgency and necessity rather than preference. The Ragnorok is an incredibly outdated vehicle, manufactured on Krieg during the 500 year civil war, and would have only been deployed with the Krieg regiments raised during the initial tithe of twenty regiments and thus I would find it hard to believe that Krieg regiments would still have them, let alone those from other worlds.

As for the Gorgon, it's a rather unique vehicle deployed mostly by siege Regiments but sometimesis used by Armoured regiments, furthermore, as there are five Krieg Regiments deployed on Armageddon (40k Rulebook (Big one) pg 193) it's not inconcieveable that a destroyed one might be repaired and pressed into service once more to repel the Orks.

And last, but not least the Macharius is an alternative to most superheavies, a Baneblade-lite if you will, and is only produced by Forgeworlds where Baneblade production is not able to meet demand and thus the quicker to produce Macharius is favoured, and so with the sheer scale of the Armageddon Wars, it's likely that super-heavy production could include Machariuses to match high losses against the Orks.

[Chris*ta]

According to Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition, the Crassus
is now being used extensively to re-supply units close to the Eye of Terror to replace on-going losses in that steadily worsening warzone.

So, it's apparently in (fairly) widespread use, as (I assume) the variants on the same chassis would be.

As for the Gorgon, I get the feeling they're used rarely, but are very widespread. Not sure what I am basing this on though.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

The Munitorium's supplying is inconsistent and weird, and each "type" of Guardsman (Steel Legion, Death Korps etc) comprises thousands of distinct regiments, each supplied independently, and potentially mixed with elements of other regiments in order to bring them to fighting strength. I'd say you have free reign to include anything you so desire as the super-heavies. Say, with the Ragnarok; perhaps mothballed Ragnaroks were passed on to a PDF in the sector. While unsuccessfully defending that planet from 'nids, your regiment is merged with the PDF, equipment and all. Planet gets exterminatus-ed, regiment now has access to older style tanks.

[Hunter]

first of all thank you for replying , all your contributions have been very insightful .

So Macharius are in as an alternative to Baneblades , slightly out of my price range new but will put it on my Ebay watch list.

Note i did have this mental image of a Techpreast and Co under siege in a museum , frantically trying to awaken a Malcador's and other vintage tanks on display's war spirit to repel the ork invaders.

This came about because someone was selling some Steel Legionaries along with a scratch built Ragnarok , i got outbided at the last second .

[Chris*ta]

So Macharius are in as an alternative to Baneblades , slightly out of my price range new but will put it on my Ebay watch list.

I do remember seeing on the web somewhere shortly after Apocalypse a conversion of the Baneblade, to make it close to the size of a Macharius. It was excellent.

Hmm, my search fu didn't turn up the original but I did find this in my search for "baby baneblade":
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/297679_10150364461862510_533447509_8148149_1179796 125_n.jpg
It's rather close to how I remember the other one. Actually, come to think of it, it might be by the same guy, iirc, the original was from an Australian. From here (http://www.wargamerau.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=126185&pid=1805556&mode=threaded&show=&st=&).

This is a rather difficult conversion if I remember the comments from years ago correctly, though. So, may be more trouble than just getting a "proper" Macharius.