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| - thumb|350px|Tanque Superpesado StormswordEl Stormsword es un Tanque Superpesado usado por la Guardia Imperial basado en el chasis del Baneblade.
- The Stormsword was originally a field workshop conversion of the Shadowsword. When a Shadowsword or Stormblade is knocked out, the salvaged chassis is rebuilt and new weapons are added to create the Stormsword, as troops have christened it. This is common practice with other vehicles, such as the Thunderer and many unique variants of other Imperial Guard vehicles. Whilst such conversions are 'unofficial' and frowned upon by the conservative upper echelons of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Guard commanders facing the enemy on the ground must take a more pragmatic view. Any vehicle that can fulfil a battlefield role can and will be utilised.
- Like all of the variants of the Baneblade, the Stormsword came into being as the solution to a specific tactical need, in its case the Imperium's need for a super-heavy tank adapted to urban combat. The first Stormsword was not specifically designed as such by the Tech-priests of Mars. During one long and grinding battle for a forgotten urbanized world, the Enginseers salvaged a damaged Shadowsword, removed the no longer functional Volcano Cannon, and installed a Hellhammer Siege Cannon in its place. The resulting vehicle was named the "Stormsword" by its crew and both the design and name stuck when the Imperial commanders realised how effective a weapon the Enginseers had cobbled together. Although the more dogmatic Tech-priests frown upon such field conversions, believing them to be an a
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| abstract
| - The Stormsword was originally a field workshop conversion of the Shadowsword. When a Shadowsword or Stormblade is knocked out, the salvaged chassis is rebuilt and new weapons are added to create the Stormsword, as troops have christened it. This is common practice with other vehicles, such as the Thunderer and many unique variants of other Imperial Guard vehicles. Whilst such conversions are 'unofficial' and frowned upon by the conservative upper echelons of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Imperial Guard commanders facing the enemy on the ground must take a more pragmatic view. Any vehicle that can fulfil a battlefield role can and will be utilised. The Stormsword super-heavy tank is built specifically for sieges and street fighting. Whilst the Shadowsword excels at long range and the Baneblade is an 'all rounder' equally at home in the open fields or in street fighting, the Stormsword lends its weight and firepower to troops at close quarters. The main armament's restricted range leaves it dangerously exposed in open terrain and most commanders will only commit them to battle in the enviroment they were built for, in the heart of a city fight where the fighting is at its most intense and fierce, leading the attack, crunching through the rubble and smashing through walls. Each massive siege cannon shell holds enough explosibe to flatten a building with a single shot. Gunners are taught to aim at the ground floor of the building, with the intention of causing the entire building above to collapse. The siege gun barrel has a restricted elevation, which reduces the weapon's maximum range. This is compensated for by the shell's integrak rocket propulsion system. The Stormsword siege gun fires huge rocket-propelled siege shells, each weighing in excess of 180 kgs. Rather than firing a shell by conventional means, a Stormsword literally launches each shell. Exhaust vents on either side of the gun barrel allow the gas discharged by the rocket engine to escape during firing. The size of the shells limits the vehicle's ammunition racks to holding just twenty rounds. Due to the weight of each shell, the vehicle's loader is aided by an automated loading tray, which is hand cranked to move a shell into the barrel. This is a time consuming process and the Stormsword cannot maintain a high rate of fire. In addition to the main gun, a Stormsword is also formidably equipped with secondary weapons for combat in the close confines of a city fight. Turret mounted heavy flamers are used to clear building and rubble of hidden enemy infantry, driving them into the open to become targets for the heavy bolters and supporting infantry. Well adapted to its role, the Stormsword, whilst still rare, has earned a place within the Imperial Guard's arsenal and it is possible that some Forge Worlds have started to produce them in limited numbers.
- Like all of the variants of the Baneblade, the Stormsword came into being as the solution to a specific tactical need, in its case the Imperium's need for a super-heavy tank adapted to urban combat. The first Stormsword was not specifically designed as such by the Tech-priests of Mars. During one long and grinding battle for a forgotten urbanized world, the Enginseers salvaged a damaged Shadowsword, removed the no longer functional Volcano Cannon, and installed a Hellhammer Siege Cannon in its place. The resulting vehicle was named the "Stormsword" by its crew and both the design and name stuck when the Imperial commanders realised how effective a weapon the Enginseers had cobbled together. Although the more dogmatic Tech-priests frown upon such field conversions, believing them to be an affront to the Machine Spirits and the Omnissiah, the more pragmatic amongst them judge the worth of a design on its results, and have accordingly standardised and started to produce Stormswords from scratch on their Forge Worlds. On the battlefield, the Stormsword will only be fielded in those theatres where visibility and range drops to almost nothing, typically during urban or jungle campaigns. The colossal mass of the Stormsword allows it to plow through most obstacles unscathed, while its massive Hellhammer Siege Cannon can obliterate any fortification with a direct hit, and its secondary armament of twin-linked Heavy Bolters and Heavy Flamers allows it to flush out and gun down any opposing infantry with ease. In the chaos of urban warfare, where range is often measured in metres and progress in the form of single buildings captured or destroyed, neither the relative short range of its armament, nor its poor speed and manoeuvrability hampers the Stormsword when delivering fiery devastation upon the enemies of Mankind. When assaulting a city, the Stormsword will spearhead the attack, blasting any fortified strongpoint to rubble, covering the advancing infantry with its secondary weaponry and motivating them with its very presence. Of all the close support tanks in the Imperium of Man's arsenal, the Stormsword is the most brutally effective. For all its efficiency, the Stormsword does suffer from some drawbacks: its size and mass are as often a curse as a blessing, for there invariably will be instances where the Stormsword will be too large to fit and yet unable to plow through obstacles. As with all the Shadowsword variants, the Stormsword's fixed main gun requires that the tank be bodily aimed at the target, and the Stormsword's crew must be specially trained to identify and avoid pitfalls where their massive tank would bog down or shed a track with potentially catastrophic results. The Hellhammer Siege Cannon has a very poor rate of fire, and is actually slightly too large for the Baneblade chassis, allowing a Stormsword to carry only 20 shots, 21 if the crew risks pre-loading the main gun. The Stormsword also lacks anti-armour armament, for only its main gun can destroy enemy armor, and thus the tank needs support from anti-tank infantry units when advancing. Lastly, the Stormsword is all but useless outside of urban combat, due to the short range and poor rate of fire of its main gun combined with the poor top speed and manoeuvrability of all the Baneblade variants.
- thumb|350px|Tanque Superpesado StormswordEl Stormsword es un Tanque Superpesado usado por la Guardia Imperial basado en el chasis del Baneblade.
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