Fantasy Tanks Analysed: Baneblade

See the previous FTA post here.

You can use CTRL + F to skip to any part of the post you want If you don’t fancy reading the whole thing.

Introduction

Real Life Inspirations

Crew

Mobility

Weaponry

Survivability

Closing Thoughts

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Introduction

After a long gap, I have finally decided to return to this series. Given its general popularity on my page compared to everything else I post, I thought I would try to add another entry. I would love to write more FTA posts, but the truth is, that there are little to no tank designs that resemble reality that are worthwhile to talk about or that are also demonstrably different from everything else I have covered (if you know of any you think I should cover, please let me know). Alternatively, I could start doing fantasy aircraft or light armoured vehicles – but my knowledge of aircraft and ships is significantly less than that of tanks so that may be difficult.

I initially wanted to avoid delving into Warhammer 40k again, because of my fears of repetition. However, my previous FTA posts on W40k are among the most popular of my entire site. So I thought I would return and analyse another iconic vehicle of the universe. Today’s outing is the Imperial Guard Baneblade.

This model Baneblade was found on a site called Neutral Evil.

One of the most powerful tanks in the W40k universe, the Baneblade embodies the Warhammer 40k philosophy of extravagance in size, weapons, and armour. In-universe, the tank is an unstoppable machine of death, striking fear into the hearts of all that oppose it. But how would it perform in reality?

The good thing about Warhammer 40k is that there is significantly more thought put into various elements of the universe than others. I suppose given the predominant table-top gaming, having detailed stats for vehicles and weapons is necessary. Indeed, there is a full table of stats for me to look at, question, and generally pick apart. So that is what I intend to do. I have split the post into various sections as well, just like usual, so it is easier to navigate.

One other thing I would like to mention is that I am very much capable of distinguishing this fantasy tank from real life tanks. What I mean by that is while I may criticise or question the tank’s usefulness in real-life, I know the Warhammer 40k universe is a world separate from our own, where factors may or may not exist that I could have never considered. I really do like the Baneblade in itself. It looks great, and has lots of dakka. But as to whether it is a functionally effective tank? That is what I intend to find out.

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Real life inspirations

I have access to a great deal of precise information regarding the Baneblade, information that I intend to use. But first, let us look at some possible real-life inspiration.

Multi-turreted tanks have existed in reality. Unfortunately, none of them worked out. I certainly see similarities in the Baneblade with the German Neubaufahrzeug(Nbfz), an experimental multi-turreted heavy tank that existed mainly for propaganda purposes (a small number of units were actually used during the Invasion of Norway.) The turrets are particularly what I am thinking in terms of similarity.

The arrangement of turrets of the Baneblade is very reminiscent of the Nbfz.

But I think it is a bit of a stretch to compare the Nbfz directly to the Baneblade. In truth, I feel the Baneblade has a plethora of inspirations. You of course have the classic sponson-mounted weapons from early First World War tanks, combined with a gradually sloping glacis plate which is a common design feature of modern armour, along with the howitzers and multi-turrets present in many experimental Second World War designs. The Baneblade is a strange mish-mash of every era of tank combat.

Tank development, one hundred years apart. The Baneblade is what would happen if you combined these two vehicles, and then added a sprinkling of W40k magic

For example, the secondary turrets (mounted on top of the glacis and sponsons) look very much like Panzer 38(t) turrets, used by Germany early in World War 2.

The howitzer mounted also on the glacis plate reminds me of a Sturmtiger and its casemate 380mm howitzer.

Anyway, you get the idea. A lot of elements in the Baneblade means a lot of different sources of inspiration. While this may make things a bit harder to gauge its possible usage in reality, I still have access to a wonderfully detailed chart of the tank’s stats, courtesy of the W40k wiki.

So, let us begin.

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The Big Chart

Naturally, as with many other tanks in Warhammer 40k, there are a lot of variants. The one I am focusing is the basic ‘Mars Pattern’ Baneblade. Here is the table from the W40k wiki. I have simply pasted it in for me to refer to throughout the post.

Vehicle Name:	Baneblade	Main Armament:	1 turret-mounted Mega Battle Cannon, 1 hull-mounted Demolisher Cannon
Forge World of Origin:	Mars	Secondary Armament:	1 Co-axial Autocannon, 2 turrent-mounted Lascannons, 3 twin-linked Heavy Bolters
Known Patterns:	I – X	Traverse:	360 and 6 degrees
Crew:	1 Commander, 1 Driver, 3 Gunners, 3 Loaders, 1 Comm-Operator, 1 Engineer	Elevation:	-2 to 28 degrees
Powerplant:	MR507 v18 Multi-Fuel	Main Ammunition:	22 Rounds and 18 Rounds
Weight:	316 Tonnes	Secondary Ammunition:	300 Rounds and 4000 Rounds
Length:	13.5 metres	Armour:
Width:	8.4 metres
Height:	6.3 metres	Superstructure:	200 millimetres
Ground Clearance:	1.2 metres	Hull:	200 millimetres
Max Speed On-Road:	25 kilometres per hour	Gun Mantlet:	180 millimetres
Max Speed Off-Road:	18 kilometres per hour	Vehicle Designation:	0427-658-0435-BB018
Transport Capacity:	N/A	Firing Ports:	N/A
Access Points:	N/A	Turret:	220 millimetres

First of all, crew.

Wow. If I am not wrong, that is at least 10 men to operate a Baneblade. That is a number very reminiscent of most First World War tanks, which required upwards to 10-20 men to operate. I am glad they have a commander, along with gunners, loaders and co-drivers. This means that each crewman can feasibly focus on his own task and master it absolutely. (During WW2, British and American tank crews were trained in use of all elements of the tank, whereas in Germany, you would likely only be trained in one. Given the size of the Imperium of Man and the expendability of its inhabitants, I do not think that tank crews would be trained in more than one role. )

The problem here is the sheer amount of men. Inside a Mark V (which was crewed by roughly the same amount of men as a Baneblade) you would be facing a plethora of issues before you even reached the battlefield. Space was one – banging your head on the hard metal insides of the tank is going to become common. The heat will likely become unbearable. Combine the heat of the engine and tank’s weapons with ten men that likely have not washed in a while, and you have a cauldron of heat and filth – a cauldron that could very easily be ignited by an incoming projectile. Ten people crowding into the space of the Baneblade’s crew compartment will be, while it may be large, still an incredibly tight fit. Crew compartments are always far far smaller than you expect.

I will get onto armour later, but the tank’s size is already proving itself a weakness here. Instead of combining all eleven barrels or however many onto one tank, it may prove more efficient to separate them into smaller vehicles. This would of course violate everything Warhammer 40k stands for, so I do not think this would be likely.

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Next up, the mobility.

The tank’s power-plant is, to be expected, a fantasy future engine known as the MR507 v18 Multi-Fuel. This simply means the tank can accept all fuel sources. V18 engines do exist in reality, and are used mainly for mining, electricity generation and other industrial purposes. As such it is not such a large leap to consider that a tank as large as the Baneblade would need one to power it.

A large engine, and indeed a large tank, requires a large amount of fuel (as the Axis powers learned during World War II). An extremely large amount, it would seem. The tank can move 25kph on road, 18 kph off. This is an incredible speed when you consider the sheer size of the tank and what is powering it. Even so, 25kph is very slow compared to everything else. By all rights and purposes, this tank should not be able to move – especially when you consider its weight. I will cover this more when I talk about armour and survivability, but lets just say that the Baneblade is obscenely heavy, and that its mobility suffers heavily for it. Without good mobility, and with its large size, the Baneblade is an incredibly large and easy target.

So far, the tank seems easy to destroy, and with far more lost in terms of manpower and resources with each Baneblade.

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So far… not good. But can the tank redeem itself? Let us find out with perhaps the main article of the vehicle – its weaponry.

As I have said before, Warhammer 40k is all about dakka. Loads of guns, even if it is completely unfeasible in reality, is the way forward. As such, the Baneblade has an ungodly array of weapons. The tank’s main weapons are its Mega Battle Cannon, and hull-mounted Demolisher Cannon. Here, the Baneblade’s Sturmtiger-esque inspirations come into play. The Mega Battle Cannon is effectively a version of the Sturmtiger’s 380mm howitzer. Both guns fire rocket-propelled ammunition (because their projectiles are simply too large to be propelled any other way), and both guns are ridiculously large.

The purpose of the Sturmtiger was urban infantry support and bunker-busting. That is, the huge RW 61 380mm howitzer would simply reduce any defensive fortifications to rubble. They were used for their actual purposes only a few times before Germany went on the defensive, and they became effectively large artillery pieces – albeit not very effective ones.

The thing is, the howitzer of the Sturmtiger was only good for support – blasting unmissable buildings, or indirect fire. Using one against a tank would be fairly bad because of the gun’s inaccuracy, and the general size of each shell making loading incredible hard (they were on par with battleship ammunition, which is impossible for someone to handle by hand because of their size). Pair that with the tank’s weight (more than a King Tiger) and you have a bulky machine not meant for any kind of front-line action.

This image from Tanks Encylopedia shows how shells had to be loaded into the Sturmtiger (and just how big they were!)

So how many of the Sturmtiger’s issues translate to the Baneblade? Well, accuracy does not seem to be a problem, for the Baneblade’s projectiles are powered by multiple advanced rockets that guide the shell onto the target with a great deal of accuracy.

The other problems, however, still stand. There is not one, but two of these huge howitzers aboard the tank. Loading both these guns is an incredibly difficult procedure, requiring a complete set of systems or machinery to assist the loader in doing so. You then have the absolute nightmare of loading this ammunition into the tank. This brings me to the question of where is it all stored? Keeping eleven guns all stocked is going to require a gargantuan amount of space, leaving even less room for those ten cramped crew members. Not to mention that a shell successfully penetrating the tank’s armour will almost certainly hit one of those mega-sized shells, causing instant death.

The main guns also have very little in the way of vertical depression and elevation – only 28 and -2 degrees respectively. While this may seem like a small thing, this hampers the versatility of the tank immensely. Having to wait while you come over a hill to fire is a major disadvantage. Pair this with the hull-mounted gun’s lack of traverse, and you have a tank that, much like the Sturmtiger, should seemingly only be used in a strictly support-only situation – not spearheading offensives like the wiki describes it doing.

Okay. What about secondaries? Well, it is safe to say that yes, it has secondaries. 

These secondaries consist of a coaxial autocannon, two lascannons and three twin-linked heavy bolters. That is a lot of guns. Interestingly, despite sparing no expense, there is not a cupola mounted machine-gun for the commander – this would be incredibly helpful to ward off swarming infantry that would invariably attempt to approach the Baneblade and disable it by throwing explosives on the engine deck. What’s more, the secondaries only face the front of the tank. This means the Baneblade, for all its supposed strength and might, is completely defenseless from the rear. It could bring its main turret onto bear, but the amount of weapons in that thing, I would be amazed if it could turn quickly enough. The KV-2, with its 150mm howitzer, takes an ungodly amount of time to traverse, and one can expect the Baneblade would too. Yet another weakness for this supposedly all-powerful tank.

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Okay, so the weapons are flashy in theory, but in actuality they are a serious detriment to the tank. We have one last thing to discuss. Survivability.

The armour of the tank seems decent – 180-200mm. Unfortunately, it is not specified what kind of armour it has. I can only assume it goes by the standard rule of equating everything to its thickness in rolled homogenous steel. If that is the case, then the Baneblade’s armour is actually not that great. If it were, say, composite armour (or any of the other advanced protection mechanisms available to modern tanks) would be a monstrously well-armoured tank indeed. Of course, one has to consider that perhaps the anti-tank weapons available to those in the Warhammer 40k universe are far inferior in terms of penetrating power than the ones available to us (there is always a point of mentioning how lots of technology has been lost over the millennia which is a factor that could affect the universe in far more ways than we realise).

But the quality of the tank’s armour does not matter, in my opinion. As I have already mentioned, the tank’s ludicrous size is going to make it simply too hard to miss. Its weight is 316 tonnes. 316 tonnes! The P1000 Ratte, a giant building-sized tank designed by Germany was 1000 tonnes – the heaviest and largest tank ever concieved is only 3x the weight of the Baneblade. This ludicrous weight is going to be bearing down on the tank at all times, wearing out its running gear, suspension, and engine faster. Not only is the tank slow, its hard to hit, its weapons, while technically powerful, can be limited in their effectiveness, and, it takes a hell of a lot to build and train the men responsible for crewing it. It even admits in the wiki that a single Leman Russ could feasibly destroy a Baneblade. I think that is entirely possible – all it would take would be to outflank the machine and it would be no-more.

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Closing Thoughts

It looks like the tank would, at least in a real-life situation, be very bad. In every category, there is a weakness. The strengths of this tank over a smaller, more mobile and versatile vehicle, are none. I have spoken about the reasons why both multi-turreted tanks and heavy tanks went out of fashion. Well, all those reasons are demonstrated to you clearly in the Baneblade. The amount of armour required to protect a tank from modern weapons is simply too much for it to be able to move (especially with the advanced weapons available in W40k), and the weight and complexity of having multiple weapons on a tank (let alone multiple massive howitzers that each require large unwieldy ammo that cannot be feasibly handled by a human) are problems too big to ignore – and they are problems that can be easily capitalised on by the enemy. You only need to look to the Nbfz, the M6a1 the Vickers A1E1 and the T-35 to see examples of this.

I do love the Baneblade, but I understand that it is a fantasy tank. As with pretty much every vehicle in this series, it relies on that fantasy to work. I expect that the designers of the Baneblade took the universe and aesthetic/feel of the Imperial Guard into account when creating their tank. In those regards, they get full marks. If the Baneblade were to be transported into our reality, however… it would not fare well. Not at all.

I also expect the nerds who like 40k are not the kind of nerds (ie me) who relish in picking apart the strengths and weaknesses of a vehicle. I say this before, and I say this again – they are fantasy tanks for a reason. That’s not going to stop me picking them apart, however.

That is all I have for this tank, I think. If you feel I missed something out (I am aware the Baneblade has multiple variants), or have any ideas for other tanks I should cover (I really do need ideas because I am pretty much out of decent fantasy tanks now), then feel free to contact me.

See the next FTA post here.

LCR