Land Raider

Sometimes the only solution to a problem is a complete lack of anything resembling subtlety.

A Rhino Transport grown several orders of magnitude too large, the mighty Land Raider is the biggest available tank that Space Marines and Chaos Marines can field. Its firepower is incredible, its armor betrays no weakpoints, and it has maximum armor (14) for every side something that only the Necron Monolith and Pylon shares with the Land Raider; not even Baneblades or fucking Warlord Class battle titans have this. It can also transport Terminators.

The Land Raider has always been a somewhat insane beast, owing to its large weapon load and the fact that only part of this load can usually fire at a given time, making it so that it's of questionable value - this is because there are almost always better choices to do what the Land Raider can do for cost - Predators generally do better at vehicle busting or infantry killing, and the main use of the Land Raider is as a transport vehicle for Terminators and getting them right into the heart of the battle, which is kind of lopsided with its heavy armament.

Even with this, the Land Raider is still something of a good combat vehicle, if only because of the changes to the 5th edition vehicle weaponry rules. Stationary, the Land Raider can fire off all its weaponry in a salvo, which is especially good for the Chaos version, which can mount a Havoc Launcher to add a little extra infantry-raping punch. The Gray Knight version is also notable (Psycannon Bolts help this thing a lot) since it's pretty much the only heavy tank Daemonhunters get.

Make no mistake: It may be inefficient, large, and points-heavy, but the Land Raider is still a powerful force and should not be underestimated under any circumstances. Virtually any form of Land Raider is a daunting foe if it sticks around, whether it has troops in it or not. AV14 all around makes it a tough nut to crack without dedicated anti-armor weapons, and the Land Raider still is likely to survive the opening salvo, especially if it has extra armor.

And before you say it, a Land Raider is not a main battle tank or an armored personnel carrier; it is an infantry fighting vehicle since it can carry people inside and provide heavy fire support (hence Infantry and Fighting). A Baneblade is a main battle tank (well, it is if you don't accept the term heavy or superheavy battle tank), a Rhino is an an armored personnel carrier, a Land Raider is an Infantry Fighting vehicle (though perhaps you could throw in heavy into that term). Well, that is unless you can actually get the Ares and Terminus Ultra pattern models, who traded their transport capabilities for even more and bigger guns, where they're pretty much MBTs.

Variants and Such

The Land Raider has a ton of variants. Some of the more noteworthy ones are listed below.

Godhammer Pattern Pand Raider

The basic one has two twin-linked Lascannons in Sponsons and a twin-linked Heavy Bolter. ~~It cranks out a lot of firepower, but this is pretty much at odds with what the damned thing is intended to be (a heavy transport).~~ It's an heavy infantry fighting vehicle derpfish. It's very flexible, but ultimately rather inefficient; The Predator is better at Tankbusting (it can target three different units plus it's one hunter killer missile wadshoot though only one of those shots will be twin linked) or Infantry Killing (one auto cannon and two heavy bolters let's it shoot at up to eight targets plus two or three depending on whether you choose the stormbolter or heavy stubber, a standard land raider can only make three twin linked heavy bolter attacks plus two stormbolter attacks or three heavy stubber shots), and the Rhino is genuinely a better transport overall (for it's price anyway). The Land Raider can pull double-duty however (it's recommended that you add a heavy stubber/stormbolter, extra-armor, and hunter killer missile to help in this task), making it somewhat more ubiquitous. It may be schizophrenic, but it is effective, especially if you use it right.

Chaos Land Raider

Functionally identical to the Godhammer Pattern Land Raider, the Chaos version has a number of small changes that actually make it quite a bit better than its standard counterpart. It has Assault Vehicle, meaning that troops exiting it can assault the same turn, and it can be further specialized as an assault transport with Daemonic Possession, Extra Armor, and Dirge Caster. It can also be turned into a better combat vehicle due to its ability to pack on a Havoc Launcher; this gives it the ability to fire a few clusters of blast templates downrange for those using it as a heavy offensive vehicle (and you can slap on a combi-bolter or heavy stubber to add just a little bit more anti-infantry punch). It's usually a bit more valuable to Chaos than it is to the Loyalists as a result. However, unfortunately for Chaos; this is the only kind of land raider they get, and compared to some of the other things on this list, it's quite clearly outmatched. And unfortunately for Chaos; it has no upgrades to improve it's anti-vehicle capability, so don't try using this thing primarily as a tank destroyer.

Crusader Pattern

Began by the Black Templars, and spreading, eventually, to some of the other Marine chapters, including the Grey Knights, who were given a few for helping the Templars out once, the Crusader Pattern Land Raider forgoes long-range firepower in favor of a dedicated role as an assault transport/infantry fighting vehicle, generally making it a bit more effective at getting into the enemy's face and spewing out a truly immense amount of dakka. Equipped with Extra Armor by default, and armed with a pair of Hurricane Bolter sponsons, an optional Multi-Melta (for vehicle rapage), and twin-linked Assault Cannons, the Crusader Pattern basically delivers a truly beautiful amount of dakka at (twelve bolters, and two assault cannons=some 272 rounds per second) close range (with the Multi-Melta being there to deal with the errant vehicle threat) before disgorging its troops into the heart of enemy forces. Making it even better, the Crusader holds more men and has Frag Assault Launchers, ensuring that the disembarking troops gain the benefits of Frag Grenades (which Terminators normally lack). All of this, however, comes at the price of the baseline Land Raider's raw offensive punch (unless you're fighting guard/cultist/ork/tyranid blobs, then you will eat people), however - fight accordingly.

Redeemer Pattern

The Redeemer is designed to maximize close-range punch. Whilst it's not the balls-out dedicated infantry-fighting vehicle/assault transport that the Crusader is, the Redeemer packs on considerably heavier firepower. It maintains the Assault Cannons, Frag Assault Launcher, and optional Multi-Melta, but replaces the sponson-mounted Hurricane Bolters with a pair of Firestorm Cannons - functionally improved Flamers with S6, AP3. Cheaper than the other Land Raiders, this is one of the more popular Land Raiders due to its slightly lower points-cost. Tends to annihilate infantry by the dozens once in-close and makes tyranblob crap itself in sheer terror, but seriously needs Extra Armor. Using these when facing Tyranids is highly recommended since they don't have any vehicles or anything with more than toughness 6.

Ares Pattern (Chapter Approved)

Decides to say "Fuck that shit" regarding transporting and seeks to become the most destructive linebreaker around, trying to eclipse even the dreaded Leman Russ Demolisher. No transport capability, and costs about 50 points more than the standard Land Raider, but you get what you pay for; Twin-Linked Heavy Flamer Sponsons, Twin-Linked Assault Cannons and a fucking Demolisher Cannon make this thing filthy rape to anything with the misfortune of getting anywhere near it. If your opponents weren't shitting bricks trying to kill/escape your Vindicators, they most assuredly will at the sight of this fucking thing. Tyranid players tend to weep tears of blood, piss themselves, and crap their pants all at the same time when these show up. Now if only Chaos had them so we could toss in Havoc Launchers, and if only the heavy flamers were replaced with twin-linked firestorm cannons..Now that would be the ultimate blob destroyer.

Terminus Ultra Pattern (Chapter Approved)

The second of the "fuck transporting!" Land Raiders, which lack transport capability and anything resembling subtlety, the Terminus Ultra is designed as a dedicated vehicle-killer, armed with a hilariously over-the-top three twin-linked lascannons and two single lascannons. Costing a walloping 50 points more than a conventional Land Raider, the Terminus Ultra can overheat and explode if it fires the bulk of its Lascannon payload. Known for making Vehicle units shit bricks, and for destroying Titans on its own. Beam spam indeed. There aren't many other vehicles that are better at the role of tank destroyer than this. Plop these in a nice easily defended spot where your enemy will have to bring his vehicles, superheavy vehicles, high value HQ units, monstrous creatures, and gargantuan through and turn their most valuable units into swiss cheese.

Achilles Pattern (Forge World)

The Achilles Pattern is the heaviest-armored Land Raider, and was originally-created by the Iron Hands. Its armor is impervious to the Lance and Melta special rules and most other weapons suffer a -1 on armor penetration rolls, so the only things killing this thing are heavy-bore anti-vehicle options like the Leman Russ Vanquisher outside of lucky shots with high-strength weapons or anti-vehicle titan guns. It mounts a devastating Thunderfire Cannon and twin-linked Multi-Melta Sponsons, but it carries only 6 people and costs as much as the Ares and Terminus Ultra.

Helios Pattern (Forge World)

The Helios Pattern Land Raider is designed for fire support, omitting the Heavy Bolters of the original Land Raider in favor of being equipped with a missile battery akin to a Whirlwind's, and a pair of twin-linked Lascannons. This allows it to provide heavy fire support at long ranges and with minimal opportunities for retaliation, though it's quite points-intensive for what it does. If you do use one, be sure to employ it with a shooty force that can actually use the damned thing, like a Devastator Squad.

Prometheus Pattern (Forge World)

The Prometheus Pattern Land Raider is the cheapest and lightest points-wise, as well as the lightest-armed Land Raider, since it's mostly packed with communications and scanning equipment. It has a pair of twin-linked Heavy Bolters mounted in sponsons and the Acute Senses rule, among other things. Whilst the cheapest of the Land Raiders it isn't really that good overall and generally is only viable because it's a cheap Terminator transport.