Banesword - Banesword: The Banesword is a super-heavy tank of the Astra Militarum and a variant of the much older and more common Shadowsword. The main difference between the Banesword and the Shadowsword is that the Banesword possesses a different main armament and performs a different battlefield role. The Banesword is armed with a weapon known as a Quake Cannon while the Shadowsword is armed with a Volcano Cannon. While the Shadowsword is used as a tank and Titan-killer, the Banesword fulfills a role as a heavy siege tank designed to assault heavily-defended fixed enemy fortifications.Yet the Banesword excels at utterly obliterating both vehicles and fortifications. Walled strongpoints and arrayed enemy armour can prove insurmountable to an Astra Militarum offensive, regardless of how many foot-slogging troops are marched against them. But a single Banesword can level such obstructions with ease. With a handful of shots, a Banesword's Quake Cannon tears gaping rents in the most redoubtable defensive lines. Imperial infantry and close-quarters attack vehicles are then free to pour into the breach and eradicate what enemies are left alive. Furthermore, the extreme range of the Banesword's armament allows it to perform this function before the opposing forces can even return fire.The Banesword is one of the newest variants of the Shadowsword. The commanders and tacticians of the Imperial Guard had long requested a super-heavy tank which could destroy fortifications like the Shadowsword, but which would possess better mobility and a higher rate of fire. The Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus eventually managed to fulfill this long-standing request by swapping the Shadowsword's Volcano Cannon for a Quake Cannon, both weapons normally found on Titan weapon hardpoints. The Quake Cannon is one of the largest artillery pieces in the Imperium of Man's arsenal, and by wedging an armoured casemate specially designed to dampen the Quake Cannon's massive recoil into the Shadowsword's chassis, the most brutally effective siege tank was born.Like the Basilisk, the Banesword's place on the battlefield is in the rear areas, obliterating enemy fortifications with long range fire. Like the Basilisk, the Banesword can also be pressed into the frontlines. The Banesword's armoured mass and secondary armament of three sets of twin-linked Heavy Bolters and two Lascannons allow it to perform much more efficiently than a battery of Basilisks when fielded in this way. In addition, the sight of a super-heavy tank rumbling forward and blasting the enemy into oblivion is always a potent morale bolster for the Guardsmen fighting alongside it.The Banesword dispenses with the most hampering disadvantage of the Shadowsword, namely having to disengage its engine before firing. However, like all super-heavy tanks based on the Baneblade chassis, it suffers from poor top speed and maneuverability, and the Quake Cannon's fixed setting requires the Banesword to be bodily aimed at its intended target. Additionally, the Quake Cannon is inefficient against enemy Titans, for unlike the Lance beam from a Volcano Cannon, or the massive plasma burst from a Plasma Blastgun, the massive shell will be stopped by any remaining Void Shield, requiring the target's shields to be taken down before the shot is taken with any hope of success.