"Tarantulas & Mole Mortars" Topic

Way back when I was playing 40K Second Edition my Space Marines could buy Tarantulas (weapons platforms with duel lascannons, heavy bolters or autocannons) and mole mortar units. I have some really nice figures painted up for them. Do any of the new army lists still use those classic weapons? I see that Forge World still sells updated Tarantulas.

You'll need the Imperial Armor Index: Astra Militarum for the Imperial Guard crewed Tarantulas and the Mole Mortar is in the Death Korps of Krieg section I believe. The Space Marine crewed Tarantula is in the IA Index: Forces of the Adeptus Astartes. You can view the the tables of contents for both on the Forge World web site. Just as a side note, while looking for the info to answer your question I discovered that I needed the Index: Astra Militarum book for the renegade Malcador tanks and not the Forces of Chaos index. Looks like I'm destined to make another FW order whether I want to or not…sigh.

Yes! I picked up the Forge World Imperial Armor book for the Space Marines and they do have Tarantulas! No Mole mortars, but that's okay, they were silly anyway. Sadly these Tarantulas are completely robotic and don't need crew figures. I had kit-bashed some very nice crew figures for my Tarantulas and I may still put them out just for window dressing.

And the units themselves look pretty darn useful. 27 points for a figure with two heavy bolters and 4 wounds. I could see buying a half-dozen and using them either as massed firepower against horde armies or for rear area security against deep strikes. Of course they can't move and pick their targets automatically.

If nothing else they are a cheap unit that could be useful to deploy where they can block deep strikers from getting close to your main force.

Yes, my thought exactly. My last game I got hammered by a deep strike. A Tarantula has basically the same firepower and staying power as a 5-man squad of Space Marines (with no upgrades) for less than half the price.