Now we come to the big boys and girls, the superheavies. These have never been overly popular on the table top, mostly due to their cost and lack lustre rules, however, they have got better and some of them may actually be quite useful.
The Baneblade is the vehicle we usually think of when we heard Guard super heavy tank mentioned. It has long been the go to super heavy and still seems to hold that position. Granted it’s not as pure vehicle killer of the shadowsword or anti-infantry of the Stormlord but it is a very good alrounder, capable to taking on many vehicles and infantry alike. Its rolling fortress ability is going to be useful to both infantry and vehicle and i can see a formation of several Russ’s and baneblade trundling up the table. This still seems to be the go to version and is again the most likely version we will see.
The Banehammer, to me is completely surplus to requirements. It has a cannon with the same profile as the baneblade but less shots, so why wouldn’t you take a baneblade. It could be due to the 26 transport capacity and the 12 firing decks but with the extra heavy firepower and special rules of the baneblade, do you really need this? The Quake special rule is nice, forcing units to take battle shock tests within 3” for the target unit but the range is very small and there are not going to be many times when this rule affects more than one or two units. I really don’t see why you’d take this over the Baneblade.
The Banesword doesn’t really have a clear role to me. It’s got a good main gun, that triggers deadly demise tests on a 3+ rather than a 6 but if you’re after a vehicle killer, you would take the Shadowsword or maybe the doomhammer. I can’t see why you’d want to take this model over several of the others.
The Doomhammer is a budget Shadowsword and if that’s want you want then you’ll take a Shadowsword. However, it does have an ace up its sleeve, its transport capacity and firing deck. While only being able to take 26 models with 12 firing, it’s still a very useful addition to the close range firepower of this unit, which its going to need with the 24 inch main gun. The fact that it always counts as in half range against vehicles and monsters, thanks to the close-range ability, the damage it can do is still going to be less than the Shadowsword.
The Hellhammer is my favourite super heavy and the one i have. It was never the best but now it has arguably got worse. While toughness has gone up, the hellhammer cannon is still sitting at S7. Ignores cover and ignoring the penalty for shooting while in engagement range are good, there is very little reason that you just wound not take a baneblade. If you think you see one of these on the table, it’ll actually be a baneblade.
The Shadowsword. There is little explanation needed for this titan killer. This has one job and one job only and it does it very well. With 2 to 4 shots at S24 with D12 and the devastating wounds ability, this tank has the ability to chew threw armour like butter. However, if there are no monsters or armour, then it’s a bit useless. You will see this thing on the table, as 10th seems to be a vehicle heavy meta, even if it wont be the most popular super heavy you face.
The Stormlord is a strange beast, it is really a pure anti-infantry super heavy. The Mega-bolter not very strong, only S6 and will struggle to even take out marines, its strength lies in its 24 firing deck positions and 40 man transport capacity. Filling these positions with heavy and special weapons makes this a significant mobile fire platform capable of putting out a substantial amount of low strength fire power. However, this mostly means that it’s left sitting on the shelf in almost all cases. It’s a great fun and fluff vehicle but little else.
The Stormsword is probably one of the weakest superheavies and sits in a similar position to the Banesword, as it doesn’t seem to have a clear role. While the Concussion wave ability is good for spreading mortal wounds around, the range is very small and wont do any serious harm to any units. The main gun is powerful and it can do damage but its not really a vehicle killer and its to powerful for infantry. I’m really not sure where this fits in to the super heavy structure or why you’d take it over many of the other models.
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