Horus Heresy Review: Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer

This variant of the Sicaran Battle Tank is a tank destroyer, as might be summized from the name. And significantly, it actually does what its name suggests it should!

The main weapon of the tank is one of the best of its class in the game: a S10, AP1 neutron laser beam that is Ordnance 2. Alone, this is going to cause some serious level of impact on many tanks in the game. But its use is not just limited to this. With the "Shock Pulse" rule, the neutron laser beam can cause any tank it scores a penetrating hit on to only be able to take snap shots the next turn.

I really cannot underscore enough what an incredible effect this is. Really. If you manage to get a penetration on any tank -- including any super heavy that you like -- they can only snap shot the next turn. Hence even if you don't destroy a target tank, it is entirely possible to take them out of play (effectively) in terms of shooting for an entire turn. This is absolutely amazing in Warhammer 40,000 and I don't know of another example like it anywhere. It can absolutely ruin an opponent's day and hand an super heavy a crushing negative effect that cannot really be countered in any concrete way (correct me if I'm wrong on that, please).

In terms of builds, there are options to add on side sponsons, but given the main weapon is an ordnance weapon, this probably isn't such a good idea unless we want to provide an alternative "weapon destroyed" result. The other upgrades are situational, but okay.

Here are a couple of example builds to think about.

Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer (190 points)
The naked version to spoil a super-heavy's day. Take a Hunter-Killer missile to taste.

Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer, Armoured Ceramite (210 points)
This is probably about as much upgrading as one wants to do, and is purely defensive.

Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer, Armoured, Ceramite, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Auxilliary Drive, Dozer Blade (245 points)
Probably too many upgrades here to be honest, but placed here as an illustration of the kinds of upgrades that can be possible for this tank.