Standard Land Raider

Godhammer, vanilla, whatever you want to call it - this article is about the straight up regular land raider and why I think it's easily one of the best vehicles in the game.

Players don't give too much credit to land raiders in these dark days of 5th ed 40k. Overcosted some say, since it's near impossible to make its points back in a game and you'll likely get punked via a meltagun by turn 2. That's if you're using average joe tactics by trying to cram your land raider up in your opponents grill with terminators+lib/chap inside. It can work in a pure deathwing list, but I am inclined to believe it is better suited for chilling at safe ranges and soaking fire.

Versus melta, AV 14 doesn't mean too much. But it's really only vs. melta & other close range nasties where AV14 becomes vulnerable. Railguns and Vanquishers are perhaps an occasional hindrance, but relatively speaking there are few mid to long range weapons capable of laying the hurt down on a LR (if such threats exist, wipe them off the table first). If you get stunned by a lucky missile or lascannon, big deal. Machine spirit keeps you firing every turn.Weapon destroyed? No biggie. Immobilized? Probably wasn't going to move it anyway.

An LR will make its points back by soaking up str 8-9 long range fire from a clueless opponent wasting his effort on your "centerpiece" target. The vast majority of competitive armies take meltas / pod combi meltas or chainfist as their answer to the all-too-common and poorly played LR. I screen my LR with terminators to keep it secure every game. You want to get close? Get through over 400 points of my tough as-nails elites first. Most players opt to take the aformentioned route of spamming all their ML and Las into AV14 rather than getting close to tons of termies.

You can take a multi melta on your regular land raider. It's 10 points, there is no reason not to take one. First and foremost, it is a deterrent as it has potential to scare off vehicles from getting close to your castle. If you get a weapon destroyed you'll still have enough firepower return the favor.

My Land Raider is critical to the entire deployment and tactics of my army when I choose to field it. Protect it from 2D6 pen rolls, force your opponent waste shots better used on the rest of your army, lay down the hurt. Leverage in units, set traps, there are tons of ways to make a LR more than pay for itself by changing the flow of the game to your advantage.