Leman Russ Executioner

The Executioner is one of the oldest variants of the standard Leman Russ tank. Ancient records from the archives of Mars show that during the Great Crusade the Executioner equipped entire Imperial Army armoured regiments. Gradually, over thousands of years, plasma weapon technology has been lost. Now the Executioner is rarely fielded.

Only one Forge World still manufactures the Executioner for issue to the Imperial Guard: Ryza, renowned within the Adeptus Mechanicus for its devout worship of the mystical art of plasma reactor and magnetic containment field construction. Ryza's own Skitarii regiments are almost exclusively equipped with Executioners.

As with its smaller cousins, the Plasma Destroyer cannon is a temperamental piece of equipment, relying on ancient technologies that are bare understood. Difficulty in containing the vast energies make the Executioner an unreliable but potentially devastating weapon of war. Commander complain that the photonic fuel cells lacks the power to maintain the plasma weapon's efficienty over an extended engagement, and reloading the cell is overly time consuming in the heat of battle.

Imperial Guard tank crews do not favour this vehicle. Many old superstitions surrounding the blessing of the gun are still ritually observed before battle. Most tank crew prefer the tried and tested battle cannon, but those men who do ride to battle as Executioner crews enjoy a reputation for foolhardy (many would say insane) bravery.