Hellhound

The Hellhound takes the reliable Chimera hull and turns it into a weapon of pure incineration. In place of a troop bay it carries larger engines and bulky, volatile tanks of promethium fuel, feeding a monstrous turret-mounted flamethrower known as the inferno cannon, or the Dragonfire Thrower. Rather than a mere gout of flame, it projects streams of burning, self-igniting chemical out to a considerable range.

This makes the Hellhound a specialist of close fire support. It excels at burning entrenched defenders out of their positions and at breaking up the enemy assaults that so often try to overwhelm Imperial tanks at close quarters, washing attackers away in a tide of fire.

The pattern spawns deadly cousins. The Devil Dog trades the inferno cannon for a snub-nosed melta cannon to hunt armour and heavy infantry, while the Bane Wolf mounts a chem cannon to poison massed foes. So complementary are these variants that Hellhounds and Devil Dogs are frequently fielded together in mixed squadrons: the flame tank's rivers of fire keep swarms away from the melta tank, while the Devil Dog's armour-melting blasts guard the vulnerable Hellhound from enemy tanks. It is a lethal pairing, though the Hellhound's own cargo of volatile fuel makes it a danger even to its crew.