Laser Destroyer
The Laser Destroyer is a laser weapon, capable of destroying enemy tanks from long range. It is a highly-complex system that all but a few Forge Worlds can still reproduce; those who can create new ones must hand-craft each one through a painstakingly slow process.[1b]
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Rapier Laser Destroyer
The Rapier Laser Destroyer is a semi-automated[8] tracked weapons carrier used by the Imperium of Man, including the Imperial Guard, Adeptus Mechanicus and Space Marines. A potent anti-tank weapon, it mounts a powerful multi-barrelled laser cannon with which it shares its name.[5]
Imperial Guard
The Imperial Guard uses this weapon primarily on the Destroyer Tank Hunter. The chance of receiving any replacement for lost or destroyed models is very slim, often leading to recovered tank destroyers instead being fitted with another weapon.[1b] During the invasion of Armageddon, though, a number of Chimeras were refitted with Laser Destroyers and re-designated APDS-6a 'Defenders' as an effective stop-gap measure against the Orks.[1a]
Space Marines
Heavy Laser Destroyer
The Heavy Laser Destroyer is a type of heavy Laser Weapon with powerful anti-armour capability. It is commonly mounted on the Repulsor Executioner tank.[2] It is capable of posing a risk even to Titans.[6]
Magna Laser Destroyer
During the Horus Heresy, Deimos Pattern Vindicators could be equipped with a Magna Laser Destroyer array[4a], allowing them to tear through the armour plating of enemy vehicles[4b]. The laser destroyer's rate of fire could be greatly increase through mounting a power capacitor in the vehicle's internal volume, which is normally taken up with a munitions store for the more common Vindicator's Demolisher cannon. Stability is required for this overcharged firing however, and it is possible for the capacitor to overload the vehicle's energy grid with disastrous consequences.[3]
Sources
- 1: Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy:
- 2: Warhammer Community
- 3: The Horus Heresy Book Six - Retribution, pg. 241
- 4: Liber Astartes (2nd Edition):
- 5: Forge World Quad Rapier (last accessed 04 February 2016)
- 6: Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide, pg. 38
