Demolisher cannon

The Demolisher cannon is a short range, large bore direct fire cannon mounted on various vehicles, but most commonly on the Baneblade super heavy tank, Leman Russ Demolisher and Space Marine Vindicator. Primarily designed with siege, urban, and bunker busting warfare in mind, the cannon has also known to be of great use against enemy vehicles and infantry, destroying both with equal ease.²

It's destructive power is accomplished via use of large armor penetrating shells, which explode milliseconds after impact. Because of this slightly delayed blast, this renders all but the thickest of armour useless. It's explosive power is also tremendous, sending out large pieces of hot shrapnel as well as powerful concussive effects. To this end, it's been known for crews of Vindicator tanks to form "Line Breaker" squadrons and combine this mighty fire power into salvo's of 3 or more shots against one target, causing great destruction and flattening entire areas of terrain (as well as anyone unlucky enough to be inside it at the time)¹

The Demolisher cannons only main draw back comes at it's short range compared to many other ordinance weapons. This forces tanks that use this weapon to advance dangerously close to the enemy, often in range of their anti-tank forces, instead of safely firing from long range or out of sight. Because of this, many tanks armed with one will also be equipped with extra armor and dozer blades or siege shields.^{3 4}

Sources

• ¹: Apocalypse Rule book - Demolisher Line Breaker squadrons
• ²: Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition)
• ³: Codex: Imperial Guard (3rd Edition, 2nd Codex)
• ⁴: Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition)