Goatboy’s Monday Thoughts – Release the Land Raiders!!!
Do you know what time it is boys and girls? It’s LAND RAIDER time! VROOM-VROOM!
Goatboy here again with a bit of Meta thought. We all know the game has swapped out to a Str 7 death fest when you get within the magical 24 inch range. With terrain not being nearly as special as it was before, plus a desire to sell those huge dice boxes and you have a shift in 40k. It seems Armor 13 and 14 might need to come back and scare some of these Xenos jerks.
So with that in mind I decided to see what kind of Land Raider nonsense I can build out with all of the codexes (except Marines and Black Templars as they are getting their brand new book with new tricks). I know the mean ole Wraith Knight does a good number on them but I think with some decent placement you can quickly remove that jerk and move on with your rumbling chunks of plastic.
Let’s start with the first 3+ Armor save book we have for 6th edition – the much Maligned Chaos Space Marines. I know I have complained about the book but I come to this looking at things freshly. Plus I have seen a lot of older LR pictures that make me think – heck this might be fun to play. You can go different directions and I plan on throwing a few lists out there that just move beyond the mobile bunkers of doom most people think the LR lists are about.
CSM – Land Raider Spam (2-3 depending on the type of list might work)
CSM Main/Black Legion Ally
Warlord – HQ: Sorcerer, Lvl 3, Spell Familiar, Meltabombs, Gift of Mutation
Troops: Cultists X 10
Troops: Cultists X 10
Troops: Cultists X 10
FA: Heldrake, Baleflamer
FA: Heldrake, Baleflamer
Heavy: Land Raider, Dozer Blade, Havoc Launcher, Combi-Plasma
Heavy: Land Raider, Dozer Blade, Havoc Launcher, Combi-Plasma
Heavy: Land Raider, Dozer Blade, Havoc Launcher, Combi-Plasma
Black Legion
HQ: Sorcerer, Lvl 3, Spell Familiar, Last Memory, Meltabombs, Gift of Mutation
Troops: Cultist X 10
Heavy: Obliterators X 3, MoN
1839
You move up – cast spells and see if you can get some invisible Land Raiders to have a set of pain in the ass vehicles. The Obliterators will help give you some shooting versus the jerk face Wraithknights as you move up, engage and get to doing the business end of what Chaos does.
The Next one is trying to use and abuse Dirge Casters. I am wondering if they might actually be viable right now with turning off Tau’s – crap don’t assault me rule. It could be very deadly for them as you move up, hit them with bunch of stuff and cause a ton of issues. It also just looks bonkers on paper as it is a Daemon w/CSM Allies
Daemon Main/CSM Allies – no Heldrakes!
Warlord – HQ: Herald of Tzeentch, Lvl 3, Exalted Gift (Book)
HQ: Herald of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Exalted Gift (Portal Glyph)
HQ: Herald of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Greater Gift, Lesser Gift
HQ: Herald of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Greater Gift, Lesser Gift
Elite: Bloodcrushers X 3, Blood Hunter, Lesser Gift, Icon of Chaos
Troops: Pink Horrors X 16, Iridescent Horror
Troops: Plague Bearers X 10
Heavy: Skull Cannon
CSM
HQ: Sorcerer, Lvl 3, Spell Familiar
Elites: Chaos Terminators X 3, Combi-Plasma X 2, Land Raider, Dirge Caster, Dozer Blade
Troops: Cultists X 10
Troops: Cultists X 10
Heavy: Land Raider, Dirge Caster, Dozer Blade
So yeah this is a weird one that has the Land Raiders move up, engage, get the dirge casters to activate and the Crushers Charge in. You can put the Book on the Crushers, you have the Skull Cannon to make Grenades mean nothing and you can move in, kill and chase things down as needed. I bet you could do something like this with Slaanesh but Khorne just seems a lot more interesting. Plus splitting up into 4 death units sounds awesome. It might need another Skull Cannon but hey – leaving it as is will look odd, confuse people, and probably be interesting to play. Remember to put that cannon in the warp and have it come down off of the Crusher Icon.
So there are two CSM lists. Let’s look at a Marine option. Will start with Space Wolves, got to Blood Angels, and end with Dark Angels.
Space Wolves – Land Raiders are Awesomes!
HQ: Logan Grimnar
HQ: Rune Priest, Storm Caller, Tempest Wrath
Elite: Lone Wolf, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Powerfist
Elite: Lone Wolf, Terminator Armor, Storm Shield, Powerfist
Troop: Wolf Guard – Arjac, Terminator Armor X 3, Powerfist X 3, Storm Shield X 3, Land Raider Redeemer, Multi-Melta
Troop: Wolf Guard – Wolf Guard Power Armor X 5, Land Raider, Multi-Melta
Troop: Wolf Guard – Wolf Guard Power Armor X 5, Land Raider, Multi-Melta
Yeah this is a dumb as hell looking list. It is all about 3 LR’s moving around, getting in the way and hopefully punching something. The Lone Wolves are hiding around and give you some anti punch with Logan and friends. I was just looking at the smallest list and most likely a Grey Hunter specific build without Logan would be better. But this is a hell of lot cooler looking. And no IG so it is the best!
Blood Angels – I can Deepstrike these? Awesome!!!
HQ: Librarian
Elites: Assault Terminators X 5, Storm Shield/Thunder Hammer X 5, Land Raider Redeemer, Multi-Melta, Search Light
Elites: Furioso Dreadnought, Blood Talons, Heavy Flamer, Search Light
Elites: Furioso Dreadnought, Blood Talons, Heavy Flamer, Search Light
Troops: Assault Squad X 5, Lander Raider, Multi-Melta
Troops: Assault Squad X 5, Lander Raider, Multi-Melta
Troops: Assault Squad X 5, Lander Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta
The Dreads hide behind the LR’s, keep your opponent honest, and with the armor 13 front it makes it hard to pop. Plus you could do a cool looking list that just rocks face with its painting and style. Plus 4 LR’s look awesome on a table top as they go zoom zoom and hopefully make something go boom boom.
Dark Angels Raider Nonsense!
Ok well we all know how it works. I wanted to only have two Crusader LR’s as I think 3 is a little too much for the DAs. This is what I Army Builder’d up.
HQ: Librarian, Terminator Armor
HQ: Librarian, Terminator Armor
HQ: Command Squad X 5, Devastation Banner
Elites: Deathwing Terminators X 5, Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield X 5, Land Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta
Troops: Scouts X 5
Troops: Scouts X 5
Troops: Scouts X 5
Heavy: Land Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta
Heavy: Land Raider, Multi-Melta
Heavy: Land Raider, Multi-Melta
It moves up, shoots, and hopefully your opponent fails saves. It is boring and seems to have gone out of favor for Riptide nonsense. Still it might be ok.
So there you go a bunch of Land Raider thoughts that could be ok. I really like that funky Daemon/CSM list as it just seems like a pile of Junk but it has a lot of interactions within the build that isn’t just rolling lucky spells. I wish I could fit in Fateweaver to help with the Warp Storm. You could always move onto dogs or just go all Tzeentch and use Screamers to turbo boost super fast and aggressive. I would miss the Icon but it is another thought.
So should Land Raiders come back? Do we need to dust off ours on the shelves? Who has the best Land Raider Build? Give your thoughts on crazy lists that use at least 2 Land Raiders.
