Wonder what the specs on a 40k version of the A-10 Warthog would be. Gotta be 10x better than ANY ground support attack craft currently out ( at least according to all ive seen or heard about the IG ) Any ideas? For those that dont know the A-10 was designed to be able to fly back to base with most of both wings gone ( only needs around half wingspan ) , one engine ( out of two ) and most of the tail section destroyed. It carries the biggest gun a jet mounts for ground ops ( vulcan 30mm gatling ...a phalanx classed weapon with a cyclic rate of up to 6,000rnds a minute if i remember right ) and multiple wing pods for scores of missiles rockets and assorted ordinance. Top speed was found to be mach 2 courtesy of a pilot that got into some hot water back in the late 90's / early 00's and had to tuck tail and run to avoid a serious incident.

Any ideas / thoughts on what the 40k specs on that particular jet would be?

In 40k the main anti-armor weapon is lascannon. Autocannons and bolters less so, but rate of fire helps to quickly pop lighter vehicles, before they get close to shoot anything.

The closest is Avenger Strike Fighter : 2x lascannons for heavier targets, 1x Avenger bolt cannon (which on tabletop is 36" S6 AP3 Heavy 7, i.e. much like Vulcan mega-bolter, but with more modest rate of fire and range, or less hard-hitting Castigator) for hosing light/medium vehicles . And according to some sources, hardpoints options include Hellstrike missiles for long range heavy hitting/autocannons/rocket pods.

Vendetta (support variant of Valkyrie): 3x twin lascannons on hull + 2x twin lascannons on hardpoints.

Vulture : can carry Hellstrikes, lascannons and/or launchers with krak missiles on hardpoints, too.

Whoever has Imperial Armour on hand could give more details.

Thanks. I like the Avengers look.

I was thinking about the 30mm being turned into much like the Avenger bolt cannon you listed so that works great. As for the wing hardpoints...well...the A-10 design simply has alot more hardpoints for missiles, pods, guns, etc...certainly more than a pathetic 2 per wing...but then again the A10's wings are alot longer than any of those boxy little fighters are either so....Ive been thinking of putting it at probably 5 hardpoints per wing with upgrade option when it comes to how many missiles can be mounted per hardpoint ( i can see a single heavy, 2 or 3 mediums, up to 5 smaller ones ) 1 missile/rocket pod, perhaps a heavy bolter with X number of rounds in a self contained attached ammo hopper etc....was trying to get a base idea of what kind of armor value it would have as well as its speed etc.etc...

Why would it need more? It's a dedicated vehicle hunter. It has built in high AP, low RoF weapons and high-RoF, medium AP weapon. And a pair of extra hardpoints with either Hellstrikes (for range equal or greater than that of most light to medium AA defences), or something vs. specific expected targets.

For generic ground support with variety of missions there are those gunships and gunship/transport craft.

Generally, "Oh and also we want everything to be as flexible as possible, even specialist units" just is not the direction in which Imperium would want to optimize. It's for those who have few assets.

The 'massive fire ground support unit' is also the Destroyer-Variant Marauder. Rather than a single rotary cannon, it carries three dual autocannons in synced mounts in the nose, a 'top turret' heavy bolter for fending off fighters, and a tail mounted twin assault cannon (!) for leaving targets something to remember it by as it departs.

That thing carries four hellstrikes under each wing, plus an internal bomb bay.

On 8/2/2018 at 2:28 AM, Magnus Grendel said:

The 'massive fire ground support unit' is also the Destroyer-Variant Marauder. Rather than a single rotary cannon, it carries three dual autocannons in synced mounts in the nose, a 'top turret' heavy bolter for fending off fighters, and a tail mounted twin assault cannon (!) for leaving targets something to remember it by as it departs.

That thing carries four hellstrikes under each wing, plus an internal bomb bay.

Interesting. Ill have to check that one out...its closer. Im imagining though that the phalanx classed assault cannon ( as it IS basically what the GAU-8 Avenger of an A-10 would be the rough equivalent of ) could spit more fire and death than single or even tri-barreled assault cannons....( im not immediately calling to mind ANY fighter based weapons capable of anything close to the cyclic rate of ( now fixed ) 3,900 rounds per minute. The cockpit and Gau area armor alone is 1,200lbs of titanium.....with 11 hardpoints ( 8 on wings and 3 fuselage points ) it can carry alot more than most any other fighter jet ive read about so far. Its listed to be able to put about 90% of the 30mm rounds into a 40ft square target area travelling at 4,000ft and at speeds closing 450mph....Id say its fairly accurate. Area saturation i found information on stated that it could put a 30mm bullet into roughly every square inch of target area within that target size within the first 20 seconds or so. ( initial cycle rate of about 50 rounds the first second and then 60-70 rounds per second afterwards...) In its intended role of CAS ( Close Air Support ) it would be handling targets much closer for maximum damage and accuracy in game. For mechanic purposes im sorely considering using the same/similar rules for the ( i think the name is Executioner tank ) Dual Gatling tank...as the size of the weapons mounted to that turret would be comparable to this one ( only the shape and overall size of the weapon system would of course be altered to fit the airframe. From what i remember reading about that tank the GAU equivalents mounted by that tank should generally suffice ( only difference is the fact that the ammo type used by the fighter would NOT be designed for anti infantry suppression but for anti armor details...( in game terms were talking Adamantine or diamantine tipped HEAP style most likely ) It has a payload capacity of 16,000lbs worth of ordinance NOT including the GAU ammo drum.