Transport options and tactics

[Reinholt]

Regarding transports, C:SM has the advantage that they all serve different roles, in my view. Thus, taking one comes down to a question of what you need for your force, and I see the following values for each one:

Rhino - it's cheap rolling cover. If you put the squad inside of it, or run the squad behind it, the main value of the thing is making your squad impervious to small arms fire and adding mobility, as the rhino is relatively "pervious" (which I can only assume is the reverse of impervious) to any sort of weapon that is even vaguely anti-tank. I find they are terrible if you aren't running any other armor or 2+ save units (because they get shredded first), but if you have many threats of that variety, the rhino is often ignored and outperforms its points.

Razorback - it's a light tank that happens to be able to transport things. I echo my view about armor saturation with the rhino here; razorbacks are going to be significantly better in forces that provide more dangerous targets. Unlike the rhino, the razorback is too expensive to be worth taking purely as mobile cover. The main value here is the gun, and I suspect players who either use smaller marine squads (I see obvious synergy with sternguard or shooty command squads) or players who intend to sit back and shoot (IF in particular comes to mind) are going to get more mileage out of these. Even in the TLHB form, I think the price increase puts these into the category where if you aren't transporting a small squad that wants the additional firepower (as in, you intend to use it as a light tank), the rhino probably wins out.

Land Raider - AV14, assault, but TLLC. Kind of a confused vehicle, but I've seen them used effectively, especially in fast moving armies, where your counter-assault unit needs to keep pace with the rest of the force. They are also great for flank rushes because they can still reach out and touch something violently even in the far corner of a board. However, I think you need a list with a strong reason to use one. The AV14 makes you impervious to all but the most powerful dedicated anti-tank, though you have to watch out for some specific matchups. This is another one where, again, high value armor saturation helps. Multiple AV13 / 14 vehicles can stretch opposing AT to the breaking point.

Land Raider Crusader / Redeemer - Let's not joke around: smash someone in the face with it. It's the base Land Raider without the versatility, but without the role confusion. If you need a face-crushing tank that can transport a face-crushing unit, this is exactly it in all ways. Again, AV14 comments above apply, but in this case, you have a much more focused unit. There is a hidden downside here which I think people sometimes neglect: you are more likely to get close to precisely the kinds of units that make a mockery of AV14 if you are trying to deliver assault units, which is melta (including bombs), eldar with grenades, etc. So unlike the LR, which sometimes can dance around those issues (to whatever extent a massive hulk of metal can dance), there is an inherent fragility to this unit in some matchups that requires careful usage of what seems like an uncareful unit on the surface.

Drop Pod - I hesitate to include this here, because it's really something very different. The pod is basically 35 points to deep strike (with some better accuracy) your units. You get left with the residual pod after the fact, but it's a one time huge mobility burst, not a transport nor an armored vehicle in any traditional sense that your opponent needs to worry about. So really, the question I ask myself here is "do I want a unit to be able to deep strike well"? I also think, yet again, this tactic benefits from a focused approach. One drop pod? Okay, whatever. All drop pods? Now you have most of my force wherever I want it on turn one.

Storm Raven - Probably too detailed of a discussion to have here, other than to say it depends how you intend to deal with fliers, how mobile the rest of your force is, and what your opponent is doing for anti-air fire.

The punch line that drops out of this for me is that virtually all of the marine transport strategies benefit from redundancy. Armor saturation still works, though is not quite as powerful as 5th. Drop pod assaults are uninspiring with one pod (unless you have a very good reason for it), but waves of them can be painful. High armor redundancy can be lethal unless the opponent has the right counters (in which case your rock just encountered paper given the all-in nature of this strategy).

Just some general thoughts, but that's how I think of each unit being used effectively.

[Lysere]

I also run Dark Eldar; 5 wyches = wrecked Land Raider and if the guys inside want to come out to play that's fine by me too.

 

As far as melta getting close...  uh drop pod, speeders, attack bike, flyers, etc.  Plus, the LR is a priority target.  On the other hand it is 250 points for something that carries things other transports don't, draws a lot of fire away from other units, is a respectable tank in its own right, and can move say your terminators 12" downfield without them taking fire.  It is these capabilities, some of them unique, that are what you pay for and what the LR brings to the table in a combination that is unique.  That combination is what you pay for.

 

Again my point. You drop pod in melta or use speeders and bikes and suddenly the unit inside has a convenient target. Flyers I consider a lesser concern because by the 2nd turn the Land raider is either doing its job or not. If it's not then it getting blown up is just giving you less to think about while if it lives then the flyer just wasted shots at a target any ground weapon can fire at effectively. Melta can also fail to kill land raiders, but either way they will try, again giving you a use for the men inside regardless of whtether or not the landraider lives.

 

Also never take only one land raider unless its a phobos. Crusaders and Redeemers work best in pairs or trios because having several AV 14 tough as nails transports barreling towards your line is not the start of a good day. Ironically I see less mela now a days than I used to see, and while I'm sure lances are a pain I don't see many eldar players either. Plenty of Tau though.

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

 

Drop Pod - I hesitate to include this here, because it's really something very different. The pod is basically 35 points to deep strike (with some better accuracy) your units. You get left with the residual pod after the fact, but it's a one time huge mobility burst, not a transport nor an armored vehicle in any traditional sense that your opponent needs to worry about. So really, the question I ask myself here is "do I want a unit to be able to deep strike well"? I also think, yet again, this tactic benefits from a focused approach. One drop pod? Okay, whatever. All drop pods? Now you have most of my force wherever I want it on turn one.

 

 

 

It's not JUST awesome initial mobility.  The other thing pods do (or even any reserve) is to protect the reserved unit from one or more turns of enemy fire.  The pod allows you to put that unit downfield when it comes in without it (or its transport) having had to move across the table under fire.  Interceptor mitigates this, but to me that is the primary function of the pod, enhanced deployment without having been under fire in previous turns, often used to give micro-alpha strikes.

[aquamarine]

Drop pod assaults are uninspiring with one pod (unless you have a very good reason for it)

 

Some reasons:

- First Blood.

- There is usually something in the enemy line HAS to die straight away.

- It can panic your opponent, and will divert some of his fire away from the rest of your force.

- If the passengers can hold out, Linebreaker.

 

It needs the right passengers to do the job, either 5 tacs with melta weapons or a bunch of sternguard.

 

Excellent post btw Reinholt.

[Reinholt]

Thank you.

 

I will confess my favorite rider for a single pod is an ironclad dreadnought, because it demands the opponent deal with it immediately. That's not something you can just let run around, and I've successfully built multi-pronged assaults using LR (some variant) x2 + podding in ironclad to create an immediate crisis.