On the Deployment of Land Speeders (Lorewise)

[CommanderJonny1]

As part of a project/thought experiment I'm working on currently, I've been going back through various sources on Codex Astartes related items (specifically vehicles at the moment), and have arrived at Land Speeders. Most of the capabilities, specs, etc. of the various vehicles are there, but some information is missing or lacking. With most vehicles it explicitly says what they can carry and/or be carried by, but Land Speeders are one of the exceptions. While the specs and whatnot for Land Speeders are there, and there's information on how they're generally organized and used, I haven't really been able to find anything on how they are initially deployed.

 

The closest that I've been able to get so far is from the Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition)- "The gravitational drive of a Land Speeder does not allow it to function at high-altitudes, but it can be used to perform a controlled descent from the upper atmosphere. This allows a Land Speeder to deploy from overflying Thunderhawk Gunships and assail the foes without warning." This doesn't exactly say how it's deployed though, just that it somehow is. Are they loaded within (and if so, how many could you carry), or are they somehow externally attached, like something more akin to Thunderhawk Transporters? I would think that even if they were able to get them to move [externally] with the Thunderhawk, they would still be affected by heat and vacuum. The only other way that I have found for deployment is via an ablative shell that is dropped/launched from an orbiting ship (although this was in the context of use by the Ravenwing, so I'm unsure if it's a tactic exclusively used by the Dark Angels and/or the Unforgiven).

 

Is there an actual (canon) way that the Land Speeder is deployed that I have been unable to find, or just another piece of lore that was left unsaid? The first way stated above is unclear, but logistically makes sense; while the second way is clearer and makes tactical sense, but it doesn't make sense logistically, as unlike Drop Pods, the shells are nonrecoverable (unless they're so cheap and/or easy to produce as to make that a nonissue).

[Lathe Biosas]

I'm not sure how the weird "we pray to a  textbook, rather than doing it the way the Emperor taught us" Chapters do it, but the Dark Angels, aka the First Legion, does it this way:

 

According to the novel Ravenwing by Gav Thorpe (the first book in the Legacy of Caliban trilogy) explicitly describes exactly how Dark Angels Land Speeders deploy from orbiting starships to a planetary surface.

 

The book features a scene right at the beginning showing the Ravenwing performing an orbital drop:

 

Quote

"In the skies above the devastation, the remains of ablative drop-shields peeled away from plunging Land speeders. Descending on their anti-grav engines, the anti-grav craft spiralled around the diving Thunderhawks..."

 

So that's obviously the correct answer. You shouldn't doubt yourself. 

 

Always go with How the Dark Angels did it, as the correct answer to any topic involving warfare in the Imperium. 

Edited October 9 by Lathe Biosas

[Tacitus]

21 hours ago, CommanderJonny1 said:

As part of a project/thought experiment I'm working on currently, I've been going back through various sources on Codex Astartes related items (specifically vehicles at the moment), and have arrived at Land Speeders. Most of the capabilities, specs, etc. of the various vehicles are there, but some information is missing or lacking. With most vehicles it explicitly says what they can carry and/or be carried by, but Land Speeders are one of the exceptions. While the specs and whatnot for Land Speeders are there, and there's information on how they're generally organized and used, I haven't really been able to find anything on how they are initially deployed.

 

The closest that I've been able to get so far is from the Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition)- "The gravitational drive of a Land Speeder does not allow it to function at high-altitudes, but it can be used to perform a controlled descent from the upper atmosphere. This allows a Land Speeder to deploy from overflying Thunderhawk Gunships and assail the foes without warning." This doesn't exactly say how it's deployed though, just that it somehow is. Are they loaded within (and if so, how many could you carry), or are they somehow externally attached, like something more akin to Thunderhawk Transporters? I would think that even if they were able to get them to move [externally] with the Thunderhawk, they would still be affected by heat and vacuum. The only other way that I have found for deployment is via an ablative shell that is dropped/launched from an orbiting ship (although this was in the context of use by the Ravenwing, so I'm unsure if it's a tactic exclusively used by the Dark Angels and/or the Unforgiven).

 

Is there an actual (canon) way that the Land Speeder is deployed that I have been unable to find, or just another piece of lore that was left unsaid? The first way stated above is unclear, but logistically makes sense; while the second way is clearer and makes tactical sense, but it doesn't make sense logistically, as unlike Drop Pods, the shells are nonrecoverable (unless they're so cheap and/or easy to produce as to make that a nonissue).

A Dread can deploy from a Thunderhawk, no reason a Landspeeder can't hover inside either. 

[CommanderJonny1]

16 hours ago, Lathe Biosas said:

I'm not sure how the weird "we pray to a  textbook, rather than doing it the way the Emperor taught us" Chapters do it, but the Dark Angels, aka the First Legion, does it this way:

 

According to the novel Ravenwing by Gav Thorpe (the first book in the Legacy of Caliban trilogy) explicitly describes exactly how Dark Angels Land Speeders deploy from orbiting starships to a planetary surface.

 

The book features a scene right at the beginning showing the Ravenwing performing an orbital drop:

 

 

So that's obviously the correct answer. You shouldn't doubt yourself. 

 

Always go with How the Dark Angels did it, as the correct answer to any topic involving warfare in the Imperium. 

 

Well, I don't know about "doing it the way the Emperor taught us", but one of the core tenets of the project/thought experiment is... 'strict'... adherence to the Codex Astartes, so anything that's more Codex compliant is preferable. The very fact that the Dark Angels (and to a lesser extent the Unforgiven) often operate in an unorthodox manner (at least in comparison to the 'usual' way) is why I'm unsure if the ablative shells are actually commonly used, or or if they're some kind of secret held by the Dark Angels.

[The Lost Son]

I could have sworn it was by some form of drop pod (I always imagined a cross between those old hot wheels carry racks and a toaster for some reason) although I have zero recollection of the source for this. I'm assuming it was said somewhere else than mentioned by @Lathe Biosas as I know I haven't read that book maybe 3rd/4th edition codex(s).

[CommanderJonny1]

43 minutes ago, Tacitus said:

A Dread can deploy from a Thunderhawk, no reason a Landspeeder can't hover inside either. 

 

True, but a standard Dreadnought seems to be smaller than a Land Speeder, and you can only carry one at a time (barring any special cases that I'm unaware of).

Land Speeder: H=3m W=5m L= 4.7m

Dreadnought: H=3.7m W=3.4m L=2.2m

 

If you can fit it, would it be just the one, or could you carry more? You can fit an entire squadron of Bikes in a Thunderhawk, but I haven't been able to find any dimensions for either the Attack or Assault Bikes to make a comparison to the Land Speeder. There's the various models, but since they're not scaled exactly to each other, that would be an estimate at best.

 

 

6 minutes ago, The Lost Son said:

I could have sworn it was by some form of drop pod (I always imagined a cross between those old hot wheels carry racks and a toaster for some reason) although I have zero recollection of the source for this. I'm assuming it was said somewhere else than mentioned by @Lathe Biosas as I know I haven't read that book maybe 3rd/4th edition codex(s).

 

I'll recheck the Codices to see if I missed something, but so far that's the only source for the ablative shell method. Perhaps there was an actual drop pod variant mentioned somewhere that connects to this.

[Tacitus]

3 hours ago, CommanderJonny1 said:

 

True, but a standard Dreadnought seems to be smaller than a Land Speeder, and you can only carry one at a time (barring any special cases that I'm unaware of).

Land Speeder: H=3m W=5m L= 4.7m

Dreadnought: H=3.7m W=3.4m L=2.2m

 

Id say the tough part is the Height and Width.  

 

I'd guess how many fit are based on the configuration of the Thunderhawk.  Yank the Seats and maybe 3 or more could fit in the hold.  put the Bike Racks in and you carry the Bike Squadron.  Pull the Bike Racks, and put the Seats back in for some squads and a Dread.