Honor Guard Landraiders

[malorn24]

What is your loadout of choice for the Landraider that you utilize to shoot your HG and CM across the battlefield? I have been using the normal TL LC and have been happy with it for the most part. But since my HG usually target MEQ and below maybe one of the other variants would be better.

[CrystalSeer]

LRC by default, it has enough anti-personnel fire to thin the numbers that could potentially overwhelm an elite unit. Add in a MM so that you have 2 guns to pop transports then assault what comes out.

[Kaedes Nex]

Ignoring capacity, the choices boil down to LR and LRC. The LR is often ignored because of low capacity, but if that's not an issue, the sponsons are amazing and useful weapons that you only paid 10 points for. If you are trying to make contact ASAP and are going Flat Out, the sponson choice does not matter, so "role schizophrenia" is irrelevant. And you can still fire TLLCs at point blank range.

 

The LRC is better for more capacity and killing things that have poor armor saves or if you need volume of dice. IMO the LRR is completely useless and overrated by everyone. The sponson templates will almost never line up unless you're basically on top of the enemy and tank shocking them, at which point the passengers are already in range to lock them in assault, which means you can't fire the templates anyway. Not to mention your assault units may be in the way of the templates even if you fire at an unlocked enemy. Everyone sees the AP3 and think it's the best thing ever, but the LRR is almost useless unless you are playing Salamanders or some kind of fire-themed chapter. It doesn't have as much capacity as the LRC either.

 

If the squad is a small, non-bulky one, the Land Raider Achilles and other variants can also be considered.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I disagree on the LRR, Ultramarini; that's what I use to cart my Honor Guard across the field.  Can lining the sponsons up be tricky at times?  Sure.  But the AP3 combined with Ignores Cover is what makes it worth its while.  If the LRR is confronted with a single unit, then flaming that unit can eliminate your charge target.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, depending the situation.  But if you're confronted with multiple infantry units, then you can flame one and charge the other with no issues.  If you're facing a single large target -- like, say, a full mob of boyz -- then doing both to a single target is actually beneficial.

[Kaedes Nex]

My thinking was that since this is an Honor Guard squad, with the possibility of being more than 5 strong AND carrying a banner, with an assault ramp so on the charge for +1A, that's a lot of power weapon attacks. You don't want to completely kill or sweep the enemy on your turn, leaving yourself vulnerable to return fire. In this scenario, the Redeemer lining up perfectly and not giving the enemy cover saves AND armor saves is not as ideal as Hurricane Bolters providing many shots, but without wiping out the squad entirely. The Hurricane Bolter puts out enough accurate shots that ignore armor as low as Boys' to take out a good chunk, potentially the same or more as the Flamestorm, although requiring luckier dice.

 

Against multiple targets, if they are close enough to aim both sponsons with a good hit, meaning you're not just winging a model or two with the bare tip of the flamer at a 45 degree angle because they're so far away, you can multi-charge them with the Honor Guard to give you even more chance of locking up extra shooting units and preventing yourself from leaving combat. The choice is either a finicky, but powerful weapon that will either be too powerful for your own good, or be positioned in a way where you can't use it vs. a reliable, consistent one that can shoot from further out, on the fly from any position, or snapfiring. I really, really wish the Deimos was cheaper or we had a unit with a turret mount like the Baal or pre-nerf Heldrake. The weapon is amazing, but not as a sponson option and not on an assault vehicle, IMO.

[Captain Idaho]

I always enjoyed the lascannons. They helped me have punch at range and hit the targets that trouble my own army. I just don't need to hurt infantry when Honour Guard are charging since they sweep most things off the board (especially when with a Chapter Master).

 

Since 40K is all about shooting right now, having Honour Guard and a Land Raider Crusader is a little excessive since the targets that hurt Marines are usually hard. ;)

[Acebaur]

To me the best option by far is the LRC. It has the best variety of guns.  The Phobos pattern LR is a terrible assault transport. This is because with the long range anti-tank weapons of the lascannon conflict with the unit inside wanting to charge an infantry unit. The Phobos needs to be sitting more towards the backfield shooting with those long range LC's at full BS. With a unit like HG, it's AT potential is wasted as at best you will be firing 1 LC and snap firing the other.

 

The Redeemer as Ultramarini stated suffers from the opposite. It needs to be extremely close to be effective. So close that either your troops won't be able to deploy because of the enemy unit, or you can't shoot because of your own unit. It also suffers from the problem of not being able to shoot the same unit with both sponsons. Against a giant mob of something like orks, the Hurricane are going to more likely be as good or better anyway. IMO the Redeemer is better as a mid-field area denial unit with an OS troop unit inside to capture stuff when needed. 

 

So that leaves the LRC.  This tank is designed to be in assault range. It has tons of twin linked shots so snap firing isn't as big of a deal for those sponsons. It has good anti troop and anti tank(assuming you took the MM. You took the MM right? RIGHT?!?  :lol:)  You can also move 12 inches and still get semi-effective fire from the Hurricane Bolters, something you won't get from either of the other patterns.  Throw in the extra transport capacity as frosting and I think the LRC is the best LR in the codex for transporting assault oriented troops. 

[Kaedes Nex]

I don't know if this is legal, but if you put both sponsons on the same side of the LRR, that would actually make it work and be pretty damn good.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Doing so will leave the Land Raider's other side undefended. What if the enemy deep strikes the undefended side, while the Land Raider's passengers are distracted by units on the other side?

 

Better to design a Land Raider pattern with two sponson-mounted weapons on each side. The transport capacity will be minimized, but that can't be helped.