Today we start with the Vulcan Mega-Bolter. This weapon is often overlooked in favour of the more deadly Plasma Blastgun and Turbo Laser Destructor, but at the end of the day it simply is horses for courses.
Range 60" - S6 - AP3 - Heavy 15.
Range: at 60" you are able to shoot up over 2 realm of battle board segments. This immediately places the Engine outside the range of Heavy support squads and most other forms of dangerous Weaponary.
General Effectiveness: Well it isn't the most flattering results you will see today, especially when you compare it to other forms of Titan Weaponary. It can mow through light - medium Infantry units, especially if your opponent strings out his infantry squads to make them less susceptible to blast templates. The weapon does struggle against Heavy armoured troops and I would go as far to say as just charge them instead as you would get a better result anyway.
It eats through monstrous creatures probably better than most other Titan Weaponary apart from Destroyer Weapons.
Effectiveness Against Titans: the best thing to gleam from this is; in a Titan battle, this little weapon has a good chance of stripping down 1-2 Void Shields a turn. This goes extremely well with the fluff as it is recorded that Princeps would use these sort of weapons to batter the shields before firing a Titan damaging weapon like a Turbo Laser Destructor or Plasma Blastgun (in a Warhound's case).
Recommended Deployments: This weapon is best utilised against Forces like Tyranids and Orks, where it can be used to destroy Dreadnoughts, Monstrous Creatures and medium strength infantry units like Tyranid warriors and Ork Nobz / Killer Kanz etc.
It is also effective against Legion / Space Marine forces where the opponent brings a lot of Sv3+ squads.
Summary: The Vulcan Mega-Bolter is an effective weapon, but sadly lacks the stopping power of some of the alternative Titan weapons. Generally when a Titan walks, it walks against something almost equally as destructive, so this weapon may not find a place in your arsenal unfortunately.
Please comment below to discuss the Vulcan Mega-Bolter.
Drake Seta
Great for busting infantry and light vehicles, but seriously outgunned (pun intended) when it comes to anything beyond that. Though it is certainly a good way to punish Monstrous Creatures. Believe it or not, it may actually be better against MCs vs the D weapons that Titans can carry because D weapons can still have cover taken against them where one cover save can negate its multi wound abilities. That, and 5 wounds (average) vs d3 (2 on average) has its advantages. The VMB on the other hand deals separate wounds per shot, meaning more wounds can go through vs cover.
ReplyDeleteAll told though, it does tear up anything that isn't 2+ armor when its used in the right circumstances and is very likely to foul up a 10-man unit to the point of making them ineffective for the rest of the game.
Very true! Hadn't considered that. Definitely a weapon against Tyranids then.
DeleteWhen they brought in the warden knight it pretty much rendered this weapon obsolete, as far asi understand it. With that said, although they are incredibly powerful units, I think it's got to be kind of rare for anyone to bring a warhound (for which these remain a beautiful option model-wise) into a game without first checking with their opponent. And typically if you are looking to watch a story play out, which I think most of us are, you are less interested in power gaming than perhaps the average gamer and thus do not care. I'm currently standing up a warhound that will be able to choose between this and a turbolaser. Strategically, as has already been mentioned, this isn't a bad option for stripping void shields - in fact if you got
ReplyDeleteLucky you could strip a Warlord bare though that's unlikely to happen! It's also worth pointing out that until you get to world burner warlords, this is the only weapon that can target flyers. So rules wise it has that going for it- which is nice. But fluff and model wise I consider this weapon to beautiful to pass up!
-anyway great review and thanks again fort taking the time to run this site!
Cheers Dan. I completely agree. It looks like such a fantastic weapon and should be utilised as much as possible. I was going to add a comment in there about it's ability to down fliers, as generally you will struggle to come against a flier with higher AV than 12. Still a struggle to hit, but enough shells to allow it to happen with a reasonable chance to bring it down.
DeleteA great article Drake. I never really saw the utility of this weapon. Looks like I should get one when the time comes to replace my current Warhound.
ReplyDeleteI heavily debated getting the Vulkan mega Bolter for my warhound. Along with the inferno cannon. But looking at the rules for all the new knight weapons, they are tending to overshadow this as a viable option. Between the acheron and castigator, even the warden, they fulfill the roles of this weapon better. Better, I feel to go with the stronger, multi-use plasma Blastgun and twin Turbo lasers.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, the image of all the shell casings this would be dropping out is epic!
I haven't seen the rules in a while for the Knight weapons, however one thing to remember is that if the Knight's weapons have less range on them (I know the Acheron uses a Hellstorm template, so it may as well be almost as good as the Inferno Cannon), then it doesn't really make the VMB a less attractive or an obsolete weapon. Sometimes a stat and range differential will be all that it takes to keep something viable. However, I would agree that the new Knight Warden does diminish the role of the VMB, even within Apocalypse.
DeleteThis gun while a classic, is definitely situational.
Obsolete was probably a poor choice of words. Range counts for something for sure! But I was thinking the avenger Gatling cannon has the same profile - just a few shots less - plus rending. I really do wish they would give the VMB twin linked or rending, it would go a long way towards making this gun Titan-level scary and more competitive with the other Warhound options. But I did forget it does have a pretty massive range!
DeleteTwin-linked would certainly be a nice addition to this venerable old weapon. And to think, the old "classic" setup for Warhounds is a VMB and Inferno Cannon. Though I do think that a VMB combined with a Turbo Laser could certainly make for some versatility on a Warhound frame and pitch fits for infantry, Monstrous Creatures, vehicles, and Titans alike. Likewise, you loadout a Warhound with hard hitting gear and use support from Imperial Knights to soften up whatever you want a Warhound to kill. You've definitely provided tactical food for thought.
DeleteAll titan Mega Bolters are Twin linked vulcan mega bolters. Reroll to hit so more shots hit than 10 out of 15.
ReplyDeleteHi mellr0. I referenced the rules from the Mechanicum red book. Where does it say twin-linked?
DeleteHi again. The Warhound and Reaver only have Vulcan Mega-Bolter options. The Warhound has an option for two twin-linked Vulcan Mega-Bolters. The rules ath the back don't have the twin-linked special rule either. So either FW have made a mistake or it has been downgraded.
DeleteGoing by standard Vulcan Mega Bolter stats, it is not twin-linked. This is also the case as shown in the Apocalypse book. Bad thing is, get a VMB on a Stormlord, where it can shoot twice if it hasn't moved, and this gun gets stupid scary. Kinda wish a Warhound could do something similar, if it say, sacrificed shooting with its other gun.
DeleteMy bad, only the warlord gets the two twinlinked vulcan mega bolters. Everything else gets just vulcan mega bolters.
ReplyDeleteShows the last time i used my warhound in a game.
I have a homemade lucius pattern warlord and have used twinlinked mega bolters as an anti flyer platform though they do help against void shields, but gattling blaster is always a better choice.