Battle Cannon Ammunition

These are some optional rules which you may like to try with your Imperial Guard tanks.

You'll have to keep note of which tank fires which shell.

These rules can be used for the following vehicles, whether loyalist or traitor: Leman Russ, Demolisher, Vanquisher, Conqueror, Thunderer, Medusa, Baneblade, Basilisk, Griffon, Stormsword and Earthshaker cannons.

Also Space Marine Vindicators and Chaos Defiler. Looted Ork vehicles can also use these rules, but Orks cannot take specialist or rare shells.

If you use these rules then they entirely replace the current ordnance rules for battle cannons and the like.

Ammunition Types

These rules split battle cannon ordnance shots into different types of ammunition.

High Explosive Shells

Rules: When firing a HE shell use the vehicle's standard weapon statistics (so a Leman Russ Battle Cannon HE shell is Str 8, AP 3, Ordnance 1/Blast). When rolling to penetrate armour roll 2D6, but you must choose the lowest result. Use the Ordnance table when rolling for damage.

Diagram: Leman Russ Mk3 G4 High-Explosive Round — a cutaway of the HE shell showing its impact fuse, ballistic cap, case, 'Fyceline' explosive material, and driving band (which spins the shell through the barrel rifling).

Anti-Tank Shells

Rules: An anti-tank shell uses the vehicle's standard weapon stats, but has no Ordnance blast template. When firing an anti-tank shell, shots use the crew's BS rather than rolling the scatter dice. If a hit is scored, roll two dice to penetrate armour and choose the highest.

Use the Ordnance table when rolling for damage.

Diagram: Leman Russ Mk12-G4 Anti-Tank Round — a cutaway of the AT shell showing its soft metal cap, adamantine tip, penetrating projectile, small explosive charge, driving band, fuse, and tracer (which allows spotting whilst the shell is in flight).

An anti-tank shot can be fired at an individual target. Any hit uses the weapon's STR to roll to wound as per a normal weapon.

Vanquisher Anti-Tank Shells

The Vanquisher's own cannon already fires a dedicated anti-tank shell as part of its standard weapon profile — see the Leman Russ Vanquisher entry for the full rule, which is unaffected by these advanced ammunition rules.

Siege Shells

Rules: Use the standard Ordnance rules for Siege shells. Roll to hit with the Scatter dice. If the roll is not a 2D6, choose the highest to penetrate buildings or bunkers, roll 2D6 and add the results together.

Specialist Shells

Illumination Shells

Rules: If any vehicle fires an Illum shell then for the rest of the Shooting phase, any unit on the table can re-roll their Night Fighting roll for targeting the enemy. They must accept the second roll even if it is worse than the first.

Of course a lighter battlefield for one side is also a lighter battlefield for the other. Your opponent may also re-roll Night Fighting targeting dice in the next Shooting phase.

Infernus Shells

Also referred to as Phosphorus, Incendiary and Promethium shells.

Rules: An Inferno shell has the same effects as a High Explosive shell, except any infantry unit that is hit must make an immediate full move, just as if it had been hit by a Hellhound's Inferno cannon.

Diagram: Leman Russ Mk7-G4 Incinerator Round — a cutaway showing its ballistic cap, penetrating warhead, remote tube, casing, incendiary material, and propellant (or scattering incendiary material).

Smoke Shells

Sometimes used instead of vehicle mounted smoke launchers, a smoke shell can be fired to hide a vehicle from enemy fire or create a smoke screen.

Rules: Choose a friendly unit visible to the firer to protect with a smoke screen. The smoke shell provides a friendly unit with a 5+ cover save. Place some cotton wool in front of the unit to represent the smoke screen. The unit protected by a smoke screen cannot fire through it themselves. If the smoke shell is fired to hide a vehicle, then it counts as if it had used smoke launchers; any hits are glancing hits.

Diagram: Demolisher Mk4-M Siege Shell — a cutaway showing its ballistic cap, hardened armour piercing tip, thick case, explosive charge, delay fuse, and tracer.

Rare Shells

Rare shells must be bought and paid for before the game like a vehicle upgrade. An army may never include more than one rare shell.

Augur Shell

Developed on Gryphonne IV specifically for the Conqueror cannon, the Augur shell was an attempt to up-gun the lighter Conqueror cannon when faced by heavy enemy armour or fortifications. It is another variation of the common high explosive round. The warhead consists of a soft explosive in a thin shell that is designed to open on impact, spreading the explosive over the target's surface for a short microsecond delay before the base-mounted fuse detonates it. This causes cratering and cracking on the outer armour. On the inside of the tank, however, the blast often causes some of the interior layers of armour to break off and ricochet around inside the vehicle. This will kill or wound any occupants, and can also disable controls and instruments, making the vehicle inoperable.

It was not regarded as a success and few shells are produced now.

Diagram: Conqueror Mk2-G4 Augur Round — a cutaway showing its impact detonator, directional cone, steel funnel, explosive charge, thin casing, secondary detonator, and tracer.

Rules: An Augur shell should be treated as a High Explosive shell, but instead of using the Ordnance blast marker, use the smaller blast marker. Roll to penetrate as for High Explosive and use the Ordnance table for damage. Any vehicle or building hit by an Augur shell permanently reduces its Armour value on that facing by -1 for the cracking and cratering.

Only a Conqueror can fire Augur shells. One Conqueror may take 0-1 Augur shell for +10 pts.

Hunter Shell

Once the cutting edge of battle cannon technology, the Hunter shell was developed on Tigrus and only ever produced on that Forge World. The technology of its construction was lost with the Forge World's capture by Orks. A few shells are occasionally found in storage and issued, but the vast majority of tank crews will never see a Hunter shell, let alone fire one.

The Hunter shell is blessed by the Machine Spirit and contains a small logic-engine, similar to that in a hunter-killer missile, which tracks its movement. Just before impact the shell will rise up, and drop down on top of the target, hitting its thinner top armour.

Rules: Roll to hit and penetrate as with a basic anti-tank round. All rolls to penetrate should be made against the target's rear armour value (actually the top). If the vehicle has siege armour then roll to penetrate against the side armour value. Only a Leman Russ or Leman Russ Vanquisher can fire Hunter shells. One tank may take 0-1 Hunter shell for +20 pts.

Optional Rules: Ammunition Capacity

Tanks only have a limited storage area for ammunition. Once it is fired, they must withdraw to re-arm or call for a supply vehicle to bring up ammunition.

Each vehicle is rated with an ammunition value, this is the total number of shells, of all types, it can carry. The number given is an abstraction based on the vehicle's actual capacity rather than the actual number of shells.

The different ammunition types available to a vehicle are shown in the table below. Those marked with a Y are always available. Those marked with a – are never available. Those with a number show the dice roll that must be made to be equipped with a single shell of that type. Only roll once for each shell type. If a specialist shell is unavailable then a standard round must be taken instead.

In the Shooting phase declare which type of shell is being fired before rolling any dice.

Example 1: Arming a Leman Russ

A standard Leman Russ has an ammunition capacity of 8 rounds. The player decides to take 4 HE shells, 2 AT shells, an Inferno shell and (thinking he might end up playing a Night Fight mission) an Illum shell. Rolling for the Illum requires a 4+ which he passes, but needing a 5+ for the Inferno shell he fails. Instead of the unavailable ammunition he takes another AT shell instead, giving this tank the following ammo: 4 HE, 3 AT and 1 ILLUM. He notes this down and crosses of shells as he fires them.

Example 2: Arming a Vanquisher

A Vanquisher has an ammunition capacity of 7 rounds, but can only take HE or Vanquisher shells. The player decides to take 2 HE shells and 4 Vanquisher shells. This leaves him a single shell, which he spends the extra 25 points to buy a Hunter shell. He has now bought the only rare ammunition choice allowed for his army. He notes down what ammuniton his tank has and crosses them off as he fires them during the game.