A middle weight contender, the Fellblade Super Heavy comes in 'stock' at 540 points for 12 HP's and armour of 14/13/12 so it is tough up front, however is somewhat vulnerable to artillery and deep striking/drop pod play on the rear armour. It's 12 HP's however do give it quiet a lot of staying power and it will definitely be hard for any opponent to pick off early game.
The main feature of this huge beast is the "Turret-mounted twin-linked Fellblade Accelerator Cannon" which oddly enough doesn't have the 'Primary Weapon' rule attached to either of its weapon stats. It has two variable shots, both ranged at 100", which is a slight overkill on tables that are 6'X4' as nothing will be able to sit out of range of this things main cannon. The first 'shell' is the HE, I'll nick name it the "Human Extinguisher" comes in at S8 AP3 Ordnance 1, Massive Blast 7". So practically a larger Battle Cannon shot. It's quiet a good weapon as its 7" blast BS4 and twin-linked basically guarantees it's going to land close to where you place it. It has Ordnance to help out tear into tanks and shave off them HP's and force some snap firing as it can't destroy with only AP3, but you can get quiet a lot of coverage of targets with it.
Unfortunately, this 'shell' is basically a much weaker but long ranged version of the Dreadhammer and in every situation bar range I can see the Dreadhammer coming out on top for damage output.
The alternate shell is S9 AP2 Heavy 1, Armourbane, Blast 3". Again with the BS4 and twinlinked you are going to land close to where you place the blast, but not as much as the 'Human Extinguisher' shells. S9 Armourbane means it's pointing towards hitting them tougher tank targets at long range such as Raiders, Knights and other LoW. The small trip up I see is that you are going to be glancing or penetrating the hit you get, but you are only ever finishing the model or getting the +D3 on a 6 (So 13% of the time) So really you are just getting a HP strip a turn which seems a bit weak for a LoW's main weapon.
Along side this weapon that I am yet to cast verdict on are 2 Quad lascannon sponsons giving the Fellblade 4 extra twin-linked shots. Again these weapons are brilliant for stripping hullpoints and also have the AP2, so together with the AP shell, I will call it "Armour Pounder", you have a higher chance at 48" to wreck an opponents vehicle although they don't really give much of a hand to the "Human Extinguisher" shells.
These can be exchanged, for free, for Laser Destroyer sponsons. Halving the number of shots and shortening the distance to 36" they gain AP1 and Ordnance, so your sponsons have better chance to destroy vehicles than your main weapon... weird. They do still maintain twin linked, so still high chances on getting them hits.
Mounted on the Hull of the Fellblade is a Demolisher Cannon at S10 AP2 large blast 5" Ordnance 1, there seems to be a theme assembling with all the Ordnance you can shove on this thing. It's a good weapon no doubt, stands at the same damage, but at +1 strength to the "Armour Pounder" rounds but has a bigger blast too and is stronger than the "Human Extinguishers" at getting rid of elite units.
Finally it has a Twin-linked Heavy bolter that might as well be a whistle blower for what this thing is build towards, however for free you can exchange it for a twin-linked heavy flamer which is what a stupid person would do, so don't do it.
Before I dive into the upgrades, lets list the stupid ones you will never use and shouldn't buy. Warpflame Gargoyles, Havoc Launcher, Destroyer Blades, Malefic Ammo and Daemonic Possession (30 points for -1BS, you got hard countered bro)
Small segway, I think that there should of been a "Super Heavy Daemonic Possession" added into the book somewhere but may have been forgotten because why would it be 30 points to just make your tank that much shitter? doesn't make sense to me.
Armoured Ceramite comes in at +20 points, this seems like a no brainer to me as your side and back armour scream "Melta me here boys" and keeping that on the low is a good idea.
The Fellblade may also take a Pintle Mounted weapon from the following list, Heavy flamer +15 points to do fuck all, Heavy Bolter +15 points to also do fuck all and finally Multi-melta at +20 points to possibly get off a hit or two if things get too close.
Ok, so what is the point of the Fellblade? Well as I said before it's sponsons can be better at destroying tanks than it's "Armour Pounder" and the demolisher wrecks troops better than it's "Human Extinguisher" So why purchase it over the Typhon?
So far I have this.
The Fellblade can dish out 3 Ordnance (or 4 Lascannon and 1 Ordnance) and an Armourbane shot in a single turn + cheeky Melta. All of these have high hit chances with it being BS4, twinlinked or a 5" blast. It also has a high glance/ pen ratio with each hit meaning you will be stripping HP's and getting the pen table rolls quiet often against targets hoping for the 5 or 6 roll to see something go bye bye.
The "Human Extinguisher" shell isn't as powerful, but also being Ordnance facing off against a lighter armour value means you can catch more under the template but do less damage than the Dreadhammer.
It doesn't have a D weapon to boast which other variants and cheaper LoW do and its arguable that the Typhon can go on par with it in certain scenarios like beating up smaller tanks and wiping infantry off the field for a lot cheaper. Saying that the Fellblade should then fall into the gap of taking out other LoW on top of wiping smaller things out, which it can do through consecutive turns of focused firepower. Head to head in a gun duel unless the enemy LoW has a D weapon your 12HPs and superior range will bring you out on top in the long run. Cheeky Warpsmith repair activate?
Honestly, this review has made me rethink my verdict on the Fellblade. I initially thought that its weapon options are lacking in damage output and it's main weapon isn't much in terms of shock and awe. Now, I think it has a place albeit a place many CSM players don't go. Gunline. I say this because it doesn't suit my aggressive play style but it is something that would worry me setting up against my Knight as it can chip away from go and other supporting fire power elements of an army can make these untouchable for the most part of a game. Trying to deal with something like this is a lot different from a Typhon as you have to be concentrating on it from turn one or drop 4 Knight Wardens in it's face, which is the popular thing to do in the UK, in other words you are going to have to deal with it as it's out put will slowly grind you down tank by tank and unit by unit.
How I would take it:
Chaos Fellblade - Armoured Ceramite, Quad Lascannons - 560
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