Rhinos & Transports

[yan]

So, are people still running Rhino's or other transports?

I still love them to put some extra toughness and wounds on the table to block things and move my Bloodclaws on to an objective.

But whats the best load out? are they worth spending points on for extra bolter shots or an hunter-killer missile? or is it better to keep them cheap and pop smoke to just be annoying?

What are your thoughts?

[Karhedron]

I still find my Assault Cannon Razorbacks do good work. They are fairly cheap and carry decent firepower. I normally use them to carry squads of Grey Hunters.

 

9th edition does not really encourge large squads so I haven't really played about with Rhinos. For dedicated melee units, I would be more tempted to try Drop Pods or using Cunning of the Wolf to put them in Reserves.

 

One thing to bear in mind is that 9th edition is pretty lethal so one or two vehicles will probably not last long. If you are thinking of meching up, my feeling is "go big of go home". Run 2 or 3 transports and back them up with a couple Dreads. Dreads and Razorbacks are among the few vehicles in the Marine codex that are worth their points. Most of the dedicated tanks do not bring enough durability or firepower for their points. Rhino/Razorbacks are cheap enough to spam effectively while Dreads benefit from the -1 damage rule and are Core (so get rerolls). Dreads also work quite well with our Chapter Trait as they hit and hit on a 2+ in the first round of combat.

[Kallas]

Yeah, Razorbacks are still, pound-for-pound, very effective and efficient workhorses.

 

Twin Assault Cannons give you a hand at horde clear (and also has almost the perfect profile for adding wounds to Drukhair Raiders); Twin Lascannons give you some very welcome long ranged punch.

 

Really though it depends on how you run your force. If you're running larger squads of, say, Blood Claws, then Razorbacks are going to be less effective, since you won't be able to sit your infantry inside - though they could certainly still work as moving cover. Generally, though, MSU is still the best way to go, with maybe one or two key units that are larger (eg, Wolf Guard Terminators).