Rapier Laser Destroyer

Original article by Jervis Johnson Published by Fanatic in The Citadel Journal #43
5th Edition Warhammer 40,000 update by Andrew Gelbman 

The Rapier Laser Destroyer

The Rapier Laser Destroyer is an archaic weapon platform commonly used by the Imperial Planetary Defence Forces. It is a self propelled anti-tank gun originally designed for defending cities and fortresses, with just enough mobility to move into ambush positions in broken ground or forested areas.

It incorporates a weak machine spirit which takes care of target acquisition and firing, making it a semi-independent weapon needing an operator only for moving and operational mode selection.

It is considerably more powerful than the standard issue Imperial Lascannon. Its multi-barrel design allows the adjustment of the barrels for optimal armor piercing performance. The machine spirit adjusts the convergence of the beams according to the range to focus the beams on a single point, thus achieving beam intensities simply not possible for single barrel weapons.

The price of the power is increased maintenance due to the moving barrels, heat build-up due to the proximity of the multiple laser chambers, size due to effectively having several heavy weapons on a single platform and power requirements again due to multiple weapons.

The Rapier is a venerable design that dates back to the earliest days of the Imperium, and, although it was once very common, it has fallen increasingly into disuse over the millennia. The reason for the Rapier's declining popularity is mainly due to difficulties in maintaining the machine, and it has now largely been supplanted in both the Imperial Guard and Space Marine Chapters by simpler and sturdier designs that are easier to maintain and use.

This said; tens of thousands of Rapiers are still used by Imperial Forces all across the Imperium. The Rapier is mainly used by the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus and by Planetary Defence Force regiments on advanced Imperial planets where the skills needed to make, maintain and operate the Rapier are easily found. The Rapier is also used in limited numbers by some Imperial Guard regiments, Space Marine chapters and the Inquisition.

Although rare, the Rapier is extremely popular with the troops that use it; it is a potent anti-tank weapon and in the right hands is perfectly capable of destroying almost any armored vehicle it may encounter. The Rapier's main short coming, apart from being difficult to use and maintain is its lack of mobility compared to the other heavy weapons used by Imperial forces. The Rapier moves fairly slowly and is so heavy that man-handling it through areas of difficult terrain is all but impossible. Because of this, Rapiers are usually fielded in specialized Rapier batteries and are seen as primarily defensive weapons used to break up enemy attacks, especially enemy armored attacks. When used in this role there are very few weapons that can match the destructive capabilities of the Rapier.

Using the Rapier Laser Destroyer in Warhammer 40,000

In his original article (now several years out of date) Jervis set the points cost of a Rapier at 75 points. Since the cost of a guardsman fell from 6 points to 5 while the cost of a marine went up slightly, by applying both factors to the original cost of a Rapier Laser Destroyer, its should drop to about 65 points (your mileage may vary) 

The Imperial Guard

Heavy Support: Each Rapier battery takes up one heavy support choice in an Imperial guard army. 1-3 Rapiers can be taken as a single heavy support choice.

Imperial Guard Rapier Battery

Forces of the Imperium

In the original Citadel Journal article and indeed in past editions of 40k Imperial Space Marines had access to the Rapier Laser Destroyer. However since that article was written the forces of the Imperium have been expanded, so far two Inquisition rulebooks have been released and another is likely to follow. As a result I have included a generic Imperial crew option allowing the rapier to be fielded as a support weapon for the forces of the Inquisition in Daemon-hunters and Witch-hunters armies.

Inquisitorial Crewmen: The Ordos of the Inquisition have armed forces of their own in addition to the Ordos Militant such as the Grey Knights and Adeptus Soriatas. These forces, known as Inquisitorial Storm troopers are occasionally equipped with Rapier Laser Destroyers. They are not the only troops called to fight for the Inquisition therefore the profile below can also represent other Imperial troops, modified gun servitors, Adeptus Arbites or even veteran Imperial Guardsmen equipped by the Inquisitor.

Space Marine Chapter Traits: The chapter trait Flesh over Steel from the Space Marine codex will prevent a codex Space Marine army from fielding Rapier laser destroyers.

Heavy Support: Each Rapier battery takes up one heavy support choice in a Space Marine, Daemon-hunters or Witch-hunters army.

Space Marine & Inquisitorial Rapier Battery

Rapier

Battery: The Battery consists of 1-3 Rapiers at 65 points per rapier.

Crew: Each Rapier in a Space Marine army must be accompanied by one to two Space Marine crewmen at +16 points each. Each Rapier in an Inquisitorial army must be accompanied by two to three Inquisitorial crewmen at +10 points each.

Weapons: Each Space Marine crewman is armed with a bolt pistol or bolter. Each Inquisitorial crewman is armed with a hellpistol or hellgun.

Options: None.

SPECIAL RULE

Artillery: Rapiers are Artillery see Warhammer 40,000 rulebook

Related Pages

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Rapier Laser
Maccabee Grav Tank
Shomir Grav Tank
VDR Designs