30k Vehicle/Automata Concepts - The Manufactorum

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Quad Heavy Bolters/Hurricane Boltguns? Pin down enemy with Suppressive Fire while indirect artillery rains down in their position?

 

That way, Iron Warriors get Shrapnel Bolts for actual pinning. Alternatively, maybe Twin-linked Heavy Flamers?

 

Unfortunately neither the hurricane bolters nor quad-bolters would fit on the armoured sponsons, and I'm pretty sure it's still the case that hurricane bolters didn't exist until 4ok?

 

Do Frag Cannons not have pinning? Seems like they should - I could always come up with Anvilus-pattern Frag Cannons for use in 30k with the rule I guess. Twin-linked heavy flamers seems to pale in comparison to the Flamestorm cannon, which are another of the sponson options alongside the frag cannon & twin-linked lascannon?

 

Very cool! Had you considered not having sponsons at all on the Thunderstrike? 

 

It'd be a nice homage to the Epic 40,000-era Chaos Land Raider; one variant of which was turreted, with no sponsons (it's the assembled one on the lower right through the link). I love little tie-ins like that, and your sketch immediately reminded me of it.

 

Man that thing looks cool, makes me want to do a proper MBT based of the Land Raider hull now :P

 

In the meantime, I could always have the sponsons be optional from the get-go? The reason I though they worked was because of the mention of Thuderstrike tanks accompanying rhinos, predators & land raiders in the pursuit of Corax & the other survivors on Isstvan V, and I liked the idea of a tank capable of engaging enemies over a variety of ranges in a siege scenario - first it makes the breach with its artillery, then uses it's siege ram & close-ranged secondary weapons to clear out whatever's left

[Hesh Kadesh]

If the Flamestorm Cabnons are used on the Land Raider chassis, you'd theb possibly need to explain them away when it comes to the Redeemer which was developed much later. Althoygh they are in a turreted pattern, as a Sponson it is different.

 

Hurricane Bolters also fall into that trap I suppose, although if they were not invented it is an issue.

 

Maybe Reaper Autocannons or Rotor Cannon?

 

Sorry, I just like Dakka heavy vehicles, and the Prometheus has been among my favourites.

[Slips]

Twin-Linked Kheres Sponsons?

Edited June 24, 2016 by Slipstreams

[jimbo13]

Twin-Linked Kheres Sponsons?

You devious fella. I can't tell if I love your thought process or am wondering if you are an in the closet IW

[malika666]

By the way, how about designing some variants on the Xiphon Interceptor?

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

If the Flamestorm Cabnons are used on the Land Raider chassis, you'd theb possibly need to explain them away when it comes to the Redeemer which was developed much later. Althoygh they are in a turreted pattern, as a Sponson it is different.

 

Hurricane Bolters also fall into that trap I suppose, although if they were not invented it is an issue.

 

Maybe Reaper Autocannons or Rotor Cannon?

 

Sorry, I just like Dakka heavy vehicles, and the Prometheus has been among my favourites.

 

As you've probably noticed I'm pretty 'conservative' when it comes to these designs - the flamestorm cannon and twin-linked lascannon are there becaus they've been present on the Land Raider before - in 40k for the former, but they're also present as options for the Mechanicum Land Raider in 30k, so I feel they're slightly more justified - admittedly, the frag cannon is different, but I think a giant tank-shotgun is kinda perfect for advancing into breached fortifications.

 

Twin-Linked Kheres Sponsons?

 

Too big I'm afraid - and as above, there's no precedent - I'm wary of adding to many new things to a design at once

 

By the way, how about designing some variants on the Xiphon Interceptor?

 

Not really, but I've never really liked the prow of the Xiphon - I've always imagined Iron Hands fielding them with modified noses covered in oclus / sensory apparatus - I might be able to do a variant, as it is noted as being an older vehicle although the only major thing I could change alongside the prow is the dorsal missile launcher array - I'll give it a think

 

I will be doing a bomber variant of the storm eagle, completely exchanging its transport capacity for a bombing bay, and adding a sensor array in place of the forward assault ramp

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Something bit different, Malika's suggestion about Xiphon interceptor variants got me thinking, and lead to this:

Legion Xiphon-Theta Strike Fighter:

Xiphon-Theta Strike Fighter:

Sharing most of its deviations from the Legions’ Xiphon Interceptor with the Xiphon variant possessed by the abhuman corsairs of the Theta-Nyx cluster, the Xiphon-Theta Strike Fighter resulted from a concerted effort to modify the extant Interceptor to accommodate a different combat role in response to its gradual replacement in the armories of most Legions by a variety of other air-superiority craft. While the Graviton Surge Projector carried by the Xiphon-Theta was originally used by the Theta-Nyxan corsairs to cripple the void-craft of their prey, the Xiphon-Theta is designed to bring this potent weapon to bear on enemy armour and fortified positions, utilising the airframe’s impressive speed to sunder the heaviest assets of an opposing force in a devastating first strike before they can retaliate.

A number of Legions used the Xiphon-Theta in this way to alter the nature of engagements which might otherwise have descended into bitter fights of attrition, using wings of the strike fighters flying below the notice of enemy augur arrays in overwhelming, if extremely risky preemptive attacks. The White Scars Legion, notably poorly-disposed towards protracted siege engagements made repeated use of the Xipon-Theta in this manner, decimating the defenses of an enemy bastion before a second wave composed of various assault rams delivered their warriors into the heart of the compromised enemy, gambling all on a single momentous strike.

I've swapped out the Xiphon missile launcher for a Graviton Surge Projector, and added some sensor gear to the nose, which will be represented in rules representing a ground attack role, rather than that of an interceptor.

Fluff-wise, with the Xiphon mentioned as being an older vehicle which was found in different forms across a range of human civilisations during the Great Crusade, it's been outclassed by other interceptors (the 'Wraith' was specifically mentioned), so some vehicles were modified similarly to those encountered upon a high-tech non-compliant human world. This allows them to function as high-speed anti-armour / anti-fortification attack craft, flying below the radar and using speed to decimate enemy forces in a first trike attack.

Rules & fluff-blurbs for this & the Thinderstike will follow soon, as well as something I'm calling the 'Legion Ajax Heavy Support Tank'

Edit: if you want a slightly closer look at the Graviton Surge Projector, look here

Edited June 30, 2016 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Marshal Rohr]

Legion Francis Heavy Suppory Tank*

[Nomus Sardauk]

Legion Francis Heavy Suppory Tank*

http://i.imgur.com/fxUn1ac.png

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Dammit, how did I not see that coming?

Edited June 30, 2016 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Feel free to totally ignore this, but I really needed a list to keep track of all the designs I have ideas for and figured y'all might like a look (if it's on here I've pretty much figured out it's appearance & design):

 

Legions:

* Rhino Advancer Armoured Carrier

* Sabre Tank Destroyer

* Ajax Support Tank

* Predator Dominus (Graviton Cannon) / Predator Incinerator (Volkite)

* Spartan Hermetika Siege Command Vehicle

* Estoc Scout Speeder

* Maelstrom Heavy Artillery Tank

* Thunderhawk Destroyer

* Storm Shrike Gunship

* Balefire-Pattern Storm Eagle Bomber

* Storm Eagle Transporter

* Lucifer Dreadnought

* Malcador-Primus Heavy Tank

 

Auxilia:

* Deathhammer Super-Heavy Tank

 

Questoris Yeomanry:

* Destrier Battle-frame

* Courser Armoured Carrier

 

Mechanicum / Adeptus Mechanicum:

* Matarax Cohort

* Mangonel Dunecrawler

* Venatorii Lyssax

* Kastelan-Ardent Auto-Simacrula

* Gigas Class Battle-Automata

* Charnax Class Battle-Automata

 

Adepta Sororitas:

* Archangel Gunship

Edited July 3, 2016 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[KBA]

Deathhammer?

 

Sounds familiar ;)

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/308805-martian-death-ray-club/?p=4402179

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Deathhammer?

 

Sounds familiar

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/308805-martian-death-ray-club/?p=4402179

 

Interesting......

 

My take is based of FW's fluff blurb for the Fellblade, which says it's basis was the baneblade & deathhammer stc (both mainstays of the imperial army)

 

From that, it's gonna be on a similar hull to the baneblade, but with 'wraparound' style tracks epitomized by the Legions' super-heavies, and a turret which spans the entire hull like the fellblade, rather than the baneblade's smaller turret - as 'hammer' is usually applied to siege tanks, it's gonna have a big ol' cannon for breaching stuff too

[KBA]

Yours sounds fantastic, IF. Gotta build one of your designs soon.

[Nomus Sardauk]

So, what's this "Archangel Gunship" here at the bottom? ;)

[Doctor Perils]

Yup, I'm very interested in the Archangel Gunship and the Mangonel Dunecrawler.

 

And I wants a Sabre !!!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

So, what's this "Archangel Gunship" here at the bottom?

Yup, I'm very interested in the Archangel Gunship and the Mangonel Dunecrawler.

 

And I wants a Sabre !!!

 

Well, I thought it was about time the much maligned sisters got some attention, so...

 

Loosely, it's their equivalent to the Valkyrie - being a gunship with a transport capacity of 10

 

Weapons wise, it'll have the following:

 

* on the nose, below the pilot's canopy (which will be similar in style to a single-person version of the valkyrie's), there'll be a ball turret - kinda a hybrid between the Fire Raptor's turrets & the Immolator's transparent turret shield, which starts of with a quad heavy bolter, can be swapped for a twin-linked assault cannon or twin-linked lascannon

 

* on each wing, there will be a single mini-turret (closer to a sponson mount) which can each have a single: heavy bolter / heavy flamer / multi-melta

 

* each wing will also have the option for a single hellstrike missile

 

 

 

The Mangonel Dunecrawler is basically a mobile artillery version of the onager - it'll have the same legs, but with an entirely different upper assembly, featuring a similar driver's compartment to the Krios tanks

 

The Sabre's gonna be tricky, because I have to differentiate it from the laser destroyer vindicator in terms of function & appearance considering they're both in the rhino chassis - I'll probably take it in the direction of a faster, more mobile vehicle rather than the vindicator's heavy siege aesthetic

[Reyner]

The Sisters gunship sounds very much like a Republic Gunship... which is awesome. 

[Doctor Perils]

Hum, I know Sisters have had little love for too long so they aren't very up-to-date once it comes to new Gizmos, but they've never really had access to Assault Cannon or Lascannon. Seems like a bit of a weird choice for Sisters... Conversely, placing flamers or multi-meltas on the wings sounds like you'll be cutting effective range quite a bit. Perhaps you could consider using a Torrent style flame weapon for the wings, more akin to the Heldrake's or the Hellhound's? and then either bolter, flamer or multi-melta in the turret?

Otherwise sounds suitably bad-ass :)

 

The Sabre has always been described as having a Neutron Laser Destroyer (or Beamer or whatever the latest trend is), or a Vanquisher Cannon, so it should theoretically be very much akin to a vindicator with a very long cannon (no puns please! ). I just want Games Workshop to give me a Tank Hunter with Armourbane (see Vanquisher once more :P)

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Hum, I know Sisters have had little love for too long so they aren't very up-to-date once it comes to new Gizmos, but they've never really had access to Assault Cannon or Lascannon. Seems like a bit of a weird choice for Sisters... Conversely, placing flamers or multi-meltas on the wings sounds like you'll be cutting effective range quite a bit. Perhaps you could consider using a Torrent style flame weapon for the wings, more akin to the Heldrake's or the Hellhound's? and then either bolter, flamer or multi-melta in the turret?

Otherwise sounds suitably bad-ass

 

The Sabre has always been described as having a Neutron Laser Destroyer (or Beamer or whatever the latest trend is), or a Vanquisher Cannon, so it should theoretically be very much akin to a vindicator with a very long cannon (no puns please! ). I just want Games Workshop to give me a Tank Hunter with Armourbane (see Vanquisher once more )

 

 

Well, the only other Aircraft that the Sisters are described as using regularly as far as I'm aware is the Avenger Strike Fighter, which features both lascannons and the avenger bolt cannon - I thought it wasn't that much of a stretch to give the Archangel las- & assault cannon, especially considering they don't really have much in the way of longer-ranged weaponry, which is kinda essential when it comes to aircraft

 

In terms of the wing-mounted weapons, they aren't really supposed to be used in-flight, their purpose is to sweep the landing zone clear for deployment - think of them like the heavy flamers on the Mastodon, or the Valkyrie's heavy bolters (they'll be on little swivel mounts for that purpose)

 

Yeah, the Sabre having a Neutron weapon is exactly why I want to try and differentiate it from the Vindicator aesthetically - it's mainly about giving it a different enough role from the Vindi to justify it's existance - I'm planning on mounting the Neutron weapon in the 'upper-right' corner of the chassis, right next to the tracks, with some of it's housing actually projecting above the hull a bit, as well as avoiding having a chunky old siege shield & plough - so it'll be more akin to the Sicaran Venator - a fast tank hunter rather than the laser destroyer vindicator's plodding anti-armour

[Nomus Sardauk]

If the Flamer/Multi-Melta's placement on the wings is an issue then I have two suggestions I think may provide a solution;

 

1. Move the Flamers/MM's up from the wings to the front corners of the main body, next to the engine vents & wing joints.

http://www.ifelix.net/gamingblog/wp-content/valk150209.jpg

 

I imagine these would either be built into the corner itself and controlled remotely from within the troop compartment, or alternatively they could be manned "bubble" turrets on the side underneath the wing joint akin to Ep.2 Clone LAAT Dropships.

 

2. Replace the Flamers with a new weapon, in this case I'd suggest an incendiary grenade launcher, still bringing the burny goodness but with a more long-ranged delivery system.

Edited July 11, 2016 by SanguiniusReborn

[Charlo]

What about Rear grapples for a Penitent Engine... And a Repentia Launcher ;D

 

Sabre sounds cool, be interested to see how it looks compared to other Rhino base things.

[STC Logisengine]

Just a thought but wouldn't the L-D cannon currently in sole use by the Destroyer Tank Hunter be a better fit for the Sabre?

I mean it has the same stats more or less (twl ordnance 1) but double the range at 72", and there is already a short-ranged tankhunter in the destroyer vindicator. wouldn't the saber then be more of an open-field kind of tank?

 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I checked up on the stats and they have nerfed the destroyer through thé floor with a pdf. it's now exactly the same as the vindicator's laser destroyer Array. and since the vindicator has the Power Capacitator rule it outstrips the olde leman russ destroyer by miles.

Edited July 11, 2016 by STC Logisengine

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

If the Flamer/Multi-Melta's placement on the wings is an issue then I have two suggestions I think may provide a solution;

 

1. Move the Flamers/MM's up from the wings to the front corners of the main body, next to the engine vents & wing joints.

http://www.ifelix.net/gamingblog/wp-content/valk150209.jpg

 

I imagine these would either be built into the corner itself and controlled remotely from within the troop compartment, or alternatively they could be manned "bubble" turrets on the side underneath the wing joint akin to Ep.2 Clone LAAT Dropships.

 

2. Replace the Flamers with a new weapon, in this case I'd suggest an incendiary grenade launcher, still bringing the burny goodness but with a more long-ranged delivery system.

What about Rear grapples for a Penitent Engine... And a Repentia Launcher ;D

 

Sabre sounds cool, be interested to see how it looks compared to other Rhino base things.

 

I appreciate the suggestions, but this stuff doesn't really work with the actual fuselage of the Archangel - it'll be much easier when I post some concept sketches

 

Just a thought but wouldn't the L-D cannon currently in sole use by the Destroyer Tank Hunter be a better fit for the Sabre?

I mean it has the same stats more or less (twl ordnance 1) but double the range at 72", and there is already a short-ranged tankhunter in the destroyer vindicator. wouldn't the saber then be more of an open-field kind of tank?

 

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I checked up on the stats and they have nerfed the destroyer through thé floor with a pdf. it's now exactly the same as the vindicator's laser destroyer Array. and since the vindicator has the Power Capacitator rule it outstrips the olde leman russ destroyer by miles.

 

Yeah, plus I'm far more inclined to give the Legions a better weapon than the Imperial Army cos y'know, the Legions

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Well, I mentioned it, so here's the Ajax - it was pretty much inspired by this which Apologist shared:

LEGION AJAX HEAVY SUPPORT TANK:

The Ajax is a vehicle which owes its origins to the brutal wars of suppression against the Hrudd xenoforms which occupied the IV^th Legion in the final decade before the Heresy’s outbreak. Developed in concert between the Legion’s artificers and the Adepts of the Morai Mechanicum, the tank’s primary purpose was to provide a mobile bulwark against the cataclysmic energies which accompanied the warhosts of the Temporaferrox xenos, a purpose for which it’s design drew from a number of technologies prototyped upon the Deredeo Dreadnought frame.

At the outset of the civil war, most Legions outside the IV^th possessed only a scant handful of Ajax Heavy Support Tanks, having been delivered a number of initial prototypes for field testing against the myriad enemies of the Great Crusade in order to gauge it’s most effective deployment. The Iron Warriors themselves however are known to have fielded the vehicles in staggering numbers considering their complexity, resource demand and the span of time between the Ajax’s development and the first battles of the Heresy, a fact which has been attributed to the fervent industry which gripped the Legion after the staggering blow which was the rebellion of Olympia.

Rules-wise, it's pretty much meant to be a mobile void-shield bubble - the weird circular thing in it's sponson is Void Paviase - basically a mix of the Stormbird's void shield projection & the Deredeo's atomantic pavaise - it's got 2 void shields which it projects in a radius of 6" from each generator, and anything under the area (incuding the tank) gets a 6+ invulnerable save / +1 to an existing save. It's also got a 10 person transport capacity, and in terms of weapons it starts of with a turret Leviathan Storm cannon which can be swapped for a Laser Destroyer Array or Hellfire Plasma Carronade, plus it's twin linked heavy bolter can be swapped for a twin heavy flamer.

(I'll do a proper rules write-up a bit later)