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Crew Complement on Leman Russes and Chimeras

Started by Zen, October 07, 2015, 02:38:35 PM

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Zen

So, I was thinking of writing a novel about a mechanized regiment (Totally not ripping off 2 well-known series with famous commissars in it) and having watched Fury, I question the crew make-up for the Chimeras and Leman Russes.

For the Leman Russ, it seems the Loader has access to the hull-mounted weapons even though his logical location would be in the turret so unless I'm missing something (e.g. remote control for hull-mounted weapons), a Leman Russ should have a crew complement of 5: Commander, Gunner, Loader, Driver and Assistant Driver (Plus 2 Sponson Gunners if the Leman Russ even have those).

For Chimeras, I find it odd that the Commander is the one manning the turret. There should be a dedicated gunner for that while the commander does important commander stuff like radioing other commanders.

Opinions? Can I retcon some of these so it may make sense?

Narric

From a modelling perspective, the Commanders popping out of the cupola could be for more stationary dioramas, with the Commander issuing orders not only to his own vehicle, but to the surrounding regiments and units. I think this also makes sense in gameplay, as iirc Orders are measured from a vehicles hull, rather than a specific entry point or cupola.

You also have to take into consideration that all GW miniatures are Heroic scale, meaning that almost nothing is in scale to anything else (Guard being the same height or taller than a Space Marine depending on modelling, for example). Looking at real world cutaways of tank crew positioning, it seems that the turret can sometimes seat two people, meaning a Chimera turret could have one person (the commander) standing up and out issuing orders, while a second guardsman handles the loading and firing. This does assume that 40k tanks have some sort of autoloader system, which could be argued as cannon, due to vehicles (Mainly tanks) having a Machine Spirit, which we would consider as an automatic system.

For both Chimeras and Leman Russ tanks, the Driver and forward gunner would most likely be side by side, though with the gunner sat back slightly to account for the gun and targeting mechanisms.

Sponsons can be a likely tricky, as tanks often have increadibly chunky wheels to support and guide their tracks. A sponson gunner position would either be increadibly cramped between these wheels, or more likely considering the apparant bulkyness of LeRus the Sponson gunners occupy an area beneath the turret gunner positions with some sort of targeting mechanism (which would explain the "Cameras" on sponson turrets).

Thats just my thoughts on the subject at least. I look forward to this Novel, especially if you'd post some choice cuts from it to the forum ;)

Mabbz

I don't have much to add, I'd just like to express agreement with Narric. Especially about posting on the forum  :)

Cammerz

#3
The Forge World Imperial Armour books are quite good at this sort of thing (and most of the details then make their way onto lexicanum). According to Imperial Armour;

The Chimera has a crew of three: commander, driver, gunner
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Chimera#Technical_Information

Whilst the Leman Russ has six: commander, driver, gunner, loader, 2x sponson gunners (IA assumes that the Russ has a pair of sponsons, if not then the tank will probably only have the four crewmen).
http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Leman_Russ_Battle_Tank#Technical_Specifications

The Only War core rulebook (Imperial Guard RPG by Fantasy Flight games) supports this whilst adding that the Leman Russ loader doubles as the hull gunner.

These all confirm that there is a seperate gunner in the turret. I'm sure I've seen a cross-sectional diagram that shows this but I can't remember where or what vehicle it was (might have been the baneblade but it would work in the same way).