It's Raining Raiders!

[Mr.selfdestruct]

  I have looked at the possibility over and over again...is there a good way to capitalize on the BA land raiders' option to deep strike or is this just a silly idea?  I am wondering about this as a single, or multiple raider option. Thoughts?

[tomjoad]

Given the size of a land raider, I think you need to be mindful of how much space you need to avoid mishapping. Perhaps against a low model count army with minimal terrain? Even then, you're reserving a lot of points who's main benefit is the, at least theoretical, ability to withstand heavy fire while advancing and shooting back.

[hallodx]

Put some furioso dreadnoughts with frag canon and melta in drop pods with locator beacon(two pair of them maybe, and another one for random TSM squad so you could drop both dread) and you can see your LRs DSed in your enemy's deployment zone in your next turn!

Men in them can't charge at the same turn but it's likely your LRs survive till your next turn, for they have to take care of dread first and LRs are so hard!

It is, however, brutal, so prepared to be hated.

[Talnox]

I dont like deep striking landraiders. If you look at the randomness of coming in maybe on turn 2 and that in all deployments you can start 12 inches from the center line. your better off moving 18 on turn one then your 6 inch move 6 inch get out. your looking at 30inches plus your 2d6 charge distance. your more than likely to get a second turn charge which you can not do with deep striking.

[hallodx]

Well, deep strike makes sure the LRs won't need to take enemy fire, and it's also not necessary for passengers to charge. They can be sternguards and simply come out and shoot.

[tomjoad]

If you're worried about land raiders being able to survive the fire, just don't take them. If you want to deep strike into a deployment zone, jump out, and shoot, that only costs 35 points. A raider costs 8 times that amount and gives you very little fire power. You are paying for the ability to stay on the board and not worry about anti-tank fire. If you aren't utilizing that, it's a waste of points.

[Mr.selfdestruct]

So it begs the question- why bother giving the tank the deep strike rule?  At least it's free i suppose.

[John Rainbow]

You really need a locator beacon for this to work reliably as the LR is just so damn big! Remember that when you do this you are also that much closer to melta or grenade range though. Depending on who you play (other BA, IG, Eldar, DE, etc) this could be a really bad idea.

[knife&fork]

Well, if you find a spot where there's no melta, MCs, massed powerfists or lance around you are pretty much invulnerable for a turn or two. As for which landraider we take I suppose it's once again the star of 6th, the crusader. The landraider being huge is both a blessing and a curse, hard to place but once touched down you will block a lot of LoS and movement. Imagine shutting down the fire lanes of a quadgun completely or force a unit to take a long way around possibly with a terrain test. If you survive the enemy turn you probably have a lot of options on what to do next. 

 

Too bad that they made you unable to use the tankshock combo with shooting and assault that you could pull in 5th. That was a really neat way to single out characters and split up tough units. There should be things to pull in 6th too. Imagine dividing a guardblob in 2 and forcing them to spend a couple of turns regrouping! What a mess...

 

Might try some DS with a raider just for the sake of variation, who knows if you stumble on to something viable. 

[j-smuv]

I have used deepstrike with my Landraider Crusader a few times.  When I declare the deepstrike it always gets a few chuckles.  In that way, it's a game-changer.  It changes the tone of the game, and relaxes your opponent.  If it goes poorly, then you have a few more laughes.  If it goes well, then you just put a Land Raider in their face to deal with.  Win-win.

[Venemox]

I have used deepstrike with my Landraider Crusader a few times.  When I declare the deepstrike it always gets a few chuckles.  In that way, it's a game-changer.  It changes the tone of the game, and relaxes your opponent.  If it goes poorly, then you have a few more laughes.  If it goes well, then you just put a Land Raider in their face to deal with.  Win-win.

Win, J-smuv, pure win.

[Ushtarador]

I would also combine it with 2 drop pods with beacons to make for a safe landing. When your opponent has 2 furiosos in his face, he usually won't have the time to kill pods too. Since it's for the lulz anyways, use a redeemer so you can place some AP3-template goodness without scattering :)

[Remmy]

They should have at least given landraiders a tank shock rule that ignores the mishap rules if it deepstrikes onto models or MC. Unfortunately as is it's almost never good to plan a list around deepstriking landraiders.

[Mr.selfdestruct]

That's the other part that still astounds my gaming group about the deep striking raider.  If I shoot at the ground with a drop pod from freakin' SPACE and it's about to land literally on top of a gretchin, the computer on board gets all " WHOOOOOAH THERE!  WE SHOULD MOVE ASIDE!"  and thus the lucky grot gets to be first in line to eat bolter once the pod opens like a pinata at Satan's birthday party.  (I for one would much rather force that grot squad to make a tank shock, or be obliterated)   HOWEVER, if I casually fly over in my thunderhawk transporter and decide that the big green squishy blob looks like a good place to land a 30 ton mobile fortress and try to drop a Land Raider on the grots/guardsmen/gaunts/guardians, you are telling me that the TANK BLOWS UP???  Even Matt Ward couldn't explain how that works.

[redhorse]

You underestimate the 'creativity' of Mr.Ward

[knife&fork]

Deep strike in general is iffy. I could see why terminators have to stick together being teleported, but there's no good reason for jump infantry or other guys jumpin in from planes, to arrive shoulder to shoulder in a big pile. 

 

Makes no sense at all.