Stalk Tanks - Ideas for armament

[Aristeo]

So long story short, I'm a newcomer to Renegades and Heretics.  A box of FW Renegade bits has been sitting in my closet, so I picked up the Lost and the Damned book in the hopes of digging out those models and putting them to use.  Instead of tanks and sentinels, I have some AT-43 Red Blok walkers and Dust Axis walkers I want to use to represent stalk tanks.  The problem is I don't know what units to pick or how to arm them, especially since everything is in the Heavy slot (golly gee is that about?).  To keep up an overall aesthetic, I intend on scratch building the weapons.

 

Here's a pic of the Red Blok walkers so you know what I'm talking about:

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a482/aristeo66/002_zps40b62b59.jpg

 

The smaller ones will be armoured sentinels (obviously) and the big one I was going to use as a leman russ.  It's armed with what looks like a big laser cannon and a heavy mortar.  It was suggested to me to use it as a vanquisher to utilise the exisiting weaponry without much modification, but I can build whatever weapons I need.

 

So right now, I'm looking at suggestions for how to arm 2 leman russes and some armoured sentiinels, and any further suggestions for choosing more units.  I also have some walkers I intend on using as a chimera and a hydra, but which could also be converted into something else.  Thanks for any help you all can provide.

[nuclearfeet]

http://shop.ramshacklegames.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=436

 

 

[Aristeo]

Huh, that's pretty cool!  Never seen it before, thanks for sharing.

 

I've narrowed down some choices for my army based on what models I have.  Looking through other lists I've seen here, I realize it's probably not an optimal build but I'm going for a theme.

 

Arch-heretic Revolutionary - mainly because I want to use a macharius, that thing looks awesome and it's one of the few tanks I like.

 

HQ - I have the FW renegade militia command squad, 2 rogue psykers, and 5 militia enforcers.

 

Elites - 10-man marauder squad. No idea how to arm them.

 

Troops - 30 infantry. I'm using chaos cultists, 2 of the autogun squads and 1 ccw/pistol squad but I can convert/change them as needed.  Also a 10-man veteran squad.

 

FA - 3 armoured sentinels which I plan to expand to 6. No idea how to arm them.

 

Heavy - 2 counts as leman russ, and will probably add a 3rd. This is where I definitely need help so I can build the proper weapons. 1 counts as hydra, but could convert it to a wyvern.

 

I also have a counts as chimera.

 

So this is where I'm at so far, and I intend on making some purchases to expand the army.  Any suggestions for how to arm what I have, or what else I could add to the army would be greatly appreciated!

[Castellan Cato]

Heres my two cents:

 

 

Arch-heretic Revolutionary - mainly because I want to use a macharius, that thing looks awesome and it's one of the few tanks I like.

 

HQ - I have the FW renegade militia command squad, 2 rogue psykers, and 5 militia enforcers.

Give these guys a heavy weapon and hide them in cover.  Sadly our psykers suck, so those models will probably be collecting dust.

 

Elites - 10-man marauder squad. No idea how to arm them.

Turn these guys into veterans.  Theres really nothing worth taking in our elite section.

 

Troops - 30 infantry. I'm using chaos cultists, 2 of the autogun squads and 1 ccw/pistol squad but I can convert/change them as needed.  Also a 10-man veteran squad.

I would do this as a platoon- 2x10 with an autocannon; 1x10 with 2 flamers. 2 vet squads in chimeras with 2x plasma.  If youre sold on R&H, give those chimeras cheap autocannons! Not a very beefy troop section, but an enforcer in each squad will help with morale.

 

FA - 3 armoured sentinels which I plan to expand to 6. No idea how to arm them.

Autocannons are probably your best bet here.  Armored sentinels are only cost efficient in large squads, so try this 1x6 and hope that its not too much overkill...

 

Heavy - 2 counts as leman russ, and will probably add a 3rd. This is where I definitely need help so I can build the proper weapons. 1 counts as hydra, but could convert it to a wyvern.

I would tell you to run 2x demolishers as they are the best all arounders. Battle Tanks or eradicators are also quite good.  I don't really have any good advice for you converting those tanks though =\

Take that money for a third russ and get a second wyvern.  They don't need upgrades and 55pt wvyerns will probably make their points back on the first volley.

 

 

 

That gives you a decent armour contingent to run alongside the macharius.  I feel like the weakness of this list is a fairly mediocre troop section, so your future expansions probably want to work on beefing that up.  Either mechanizing them or putting more men in each squad so that they stick around longer.

[Aristeo]

Alright, thanks for your help Castellan Cato!  I have a few questions just for clarification:

 

Are you suggesting to change the marauders to vets just to beef up the troops section, or because marauders just really suck that badly?  Like never take marauders ever?

 

Running with the troops section you have suggested, would doubling it get it to a more ideal number?

 

And finally, what do you think about hellhound tanks?  I have some other walkers I'm looking at that I think could make decent hellhounds, any suggested builds for those?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Left-side vehicle (the "Sentinel"): Twin-linked heavy bolter. The weapons already mounted on it, resembles the WH40K heavy bolter the most.

 

Middle vehicle (the "Leman Russ"): Demolisher cannon (mounted on the left) and a Hydra autocannon variant (mounted on the right). That should give it a good balance between short and long-range firepower, and effectiveness against a variety of targets.

 

Right-side vehicle (the "Sentinel"): Missile launcher and melta cannon. Again, the weapons already mounted on it, resembles the WH40K weapons I listed. (I was going to suggest a hunter-killer missile mounted on the left, but felt the vehicle needed a short-range weapon for close defense, hence the suggested multi-melta.)

[Castellan Cato]

Alright, thanks for your help Castellan Cato!  I have a few questions just for clarification:

 

Are you suggesting to change the marauders to vets just to beef up the troops section, or because marauders just really suck that badly?  Like never take marauders ever?

 

Running with the troops section you have suggested, would doubling it get it to a more ideal number?

 

And finally, what do you think about hellhound tanks?  I have some other walkers I'm looking at that I think could make decent hellhounds, any suggested builds for those?

 

1) Like never take marauders ever.  They're not very different from vets and they lose Ob Sec in exchange for a terrible rule that makes them never able to regroup. 

 

2) This depends on where you want to go with your army.  You can just straight put more boots on the field and thats never really a bad thing with our book.  However you have quite a bit of armor so maxiumum MSU riding around in autocannon chimeras sin't so bad.  I think this is a case of try it out and see what works for you and your theme.

 

3) Hellhounds depend a lot on your playgroup.  What do you need to kill:  Infantry?  Hellhounds will murderize them.  Marine MSU? the AP3 template will hurt if you can get it in close.  Tanks?  The devil Dog isnt very good. You're probably better off looking at the HS slots for tank killing or putting some meltas in with your mobile squads.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

With the release of 'Codex: Skitarii', maybe you can consider running the middle vehicle as an Onager dunecrawler instead of a Leman Russ? The Onager has thinner armor, but it also has an Invulnerable Save that increases with the number of like vehicles in close proximity.

[Aristeo]

@ Bjorn Firewalker: These models aren't being used as is, I'm converting and scratchbuilding weapons for them.  I also really want to to use the Renegades & Heretics list from Imperial Armour 13.  Besides, enough people are going to be using Adeptus Mechanicus lists and I'd rather do something different.

 

@ Castellan Cato: Thanks again for your advice.  I've changed my mind about hellhounds for right now as some of the models I've purchased haven't turned out to be quite what I was expecting.  At this point I'm actually considering 2 full squads of sentinels, 1 light and 1 armoured.  You're probably wondering why I would do this, and I'll go into that in a moment, but it's primarily to make use of the purchases I've made.  Do you think autocannons all the way or would you think that arming the 2 squads differently would be a better option?  It makes sense to me to utilize the 2 squads somewhat differently.  I have a bunch of rocket pods that the walkers came with, but of course can make whatever I need.

 

So pretty much, while I liked the idea of using some Dust Axis walkers, the models I ordered left a lot to be desired.  The models come pre-built, most very poorly, glued together and primed.  At first, this was a huge pain, but then some ideas I found surfing the web gave me hope.  I had starting tearing the walkers apart to fix the problems with how they were built, and realized at that point I could rebuild them however I want.  I've found all kinds of crazy mech designs for inspiration, and I have a ton of plastic from the local hobby shop for scratchbuilding.  Here's a link to a pic showing the style I'm going for: http://dmitrys.deviantart.com/art/Warlands-lotech-mech-135737219.

 

Edit: added link