Macharius Heavy Tank

The Macharius Heavy Tank, often called a "Second-Generation" Baneblade, is a heavily armoured tank of the Imperial Guard. It is larger than the standard Leman Russ Tank but smaller than the Baneblade it was built to replace when none are available.

History
Due to the scarce number of Forge Worlds that have access to a functioning or complete Baneblade STC and the huge demand for super-heavy armour, many Forge Worlds have resorted to building tanks that perform the same battlefield role as Baneblades, but with reduced features and abilities. The first Macharius heavy tank was build on the Forge World of [|Lucius] by Mechanicum Magos Nalax sometime in the 41st Millenium. The Macharius Heavy Tank is named after the famous Lord Solar Macharius after his death during the Machanian Crusade of 392-399 M41.

Armament & Equipment
The most common armament for the Macharius is a turret mounted Twin-Linked Battle Cannon, a Twin-Linked Heavy Stubber, and a sponson-mounted Heavy Bolter on each side, other less-common varients may have Twin-Linked Vanquisher Cannons as the main weapon. A special varient known as the Macharius Vulkan has a Vulcan Mega Bolter as the main turret weapon. All Macharius Tanks can also have the following improvments; a Hunter-Killer Missile System, an Improved Comm System, a Minesweeper, a Pintle Mounted Heavy Stubber, a Searchlight, and a Smoke Launcher.

Trivia:
The special "Vulkan" pattern Macharius Tank is named after both its main weapon, a Vulcan Mega Bolter, and the name of the Salamander's Primarch Vulkan.

Sources:

 * Imperial Armour: Apocalypse, pp. 11 - 13
 * Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One, pp. 125-126
 * Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two, pp. 114-115
 * Imperial Armour Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara, pp. 37-40

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