Land Speeder

The Humble Aluminum Box, Suspended by forces that we don't understand and employed regardless

Not to be confused with the "landspeeder" from Star Wars.

The Land Speeder is a light reconnaissance and strike vehicle used by the the loyalist Adeptus Astartes. None of the traitor legions use them because GW is loath to give them any kind of tabletop mobility grav-technology has issues in the constantly-changing physics of the Warp (and, on a note of practicality, they don't have the tech needed to maintain them, on top of the inevitable attrition that comes with waging millenia of warfare). However, some of the newer warbands that were once loyalist Chapters do have them and use them. Land speeders came from an STC found in M31 by the esteemed and venerated OG Techno-Archaeologist Arkhan Land (of Land Raider fame). It just so happened to be that the Space Marine Legions were looking for a paper plane to ride around in fucking with their enemies, so the land speeder took off! During the Great Crusade the Imperial Guard (at that time the Imperial Army) made use of the Land Speeder, but by the 41st millennium only the space marines get them because grimdark technology is being lost we forgot how to anti-grav everything sucks yadda yadda. This only sounds dumber when faced with the fact that numerous bits of fluff and literature (Ravenor, Eisenhorn, and Ciaphas Cain in particular) make mention of air-cars, air-bikes, speeders and other such vehicles in civilian use which are presumably anti-grav Of course, this could just be because the technology that is still known to the Imperium simply isn't up to the rigors of combat, similar to how cars existed for several decades before being reliable enough to work as military vehicles. Alternately, they could be like boltguns: easy enough to make but impractical to field and maintain.

On the campaign trail land speeders are primarily used as light reconnaissance vehicle, used to scout out assorted information when marines don't have air superiority to scout things out the sensible way. Occasionally they're used in battle as fast attack strike vehicles, especially by the Raven Guard and their descendant chapters. Land speeders rely on speed and firepower to survive in battle, ideally jetting in and destroying whatever they're attacking before it can retaliate, though more often than not they end up exploding in a glorious ball of flame after blowing up a few things. The default Land Speeder is armed with a heavy bolter, but they're often up-armed with rocket launchers, Multi-Meltas, heavy Flamers, or assault cannons.

By the codex, land speeders are piloted by the 7th company and attached to battle companies as needed in the same manner as other reserve troops. In theory, the entire company should be able to deploy entirely in speeders, if needed, although this rarely occurs in practice. Pilots for marine aircraft are often drawn from the 7th's piloting pool.

Variants

Land Speeder Tornado

Smurfs in a Land Speeder Tornado

The Tornado is an up-armed dedicated fire-support Land Speeder variant. The standard loadout is a heavy bolter or heavy flamer and an underslung assault cannon. All the best parts of a typical Land Speeder with some extra anti-infantry firepower. Fluff-wise, this is the most common Land Speeder employed by the Adeptus Astartes.

Land Speeder Typhoon

Occasionally you just need some missiles on a speeder

The Typhoon is a Land Speeder variant designed to serve as a heavy-support platform. It's a Land Speeder with a big goddamn missile launcher taped to the back. It often times has a multi-melta, and is effective as a skirmisher that can rapidly outflank and destroy enemy vehicles.

Land Speeder Tempest

Yes it does look like a tiny fighter jet. No it does not actually fight other fighters

The Tempest is a specialized Land Speeder variant that differs from other Land Speeder in two main ways. Firstly, instead of having an open cockpit, the entire crew cabin is enclosed and armored, thus helpfully preventing the pilot from being shot in the face by some punk on the ground with a heavy stubber. Secondly, the Tempest is loaded up with better overall armor, internal missile launchers and a beefier engine, and serves as more of a fast attack support craft then other more fragile Land Speeders.

Land Speeder Storm

ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP! ROAD TRIP!

A stretch version of the Land Speeder for Scout teams to (sneakily) rocket into the chaos of battle. The Storm can also provide fire support for them with its heavy bolter and Cerberus missile launcher. The giant radio aerial sticking out of the back of the chassis isn't only for tuning into Gothic rock as you purge Xenos scum, it also jams teleport homers in a short radius.

Land Speeder Legion

The flying blender has returned!

The infamous Land Speeder of the Legio Astartes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. This rickety flying blender from the days of Rogue Trader has made its return in the Horus Heresy line and by the Emprah does it look as dangerously designed as we last remembered. This flying death trap earned its name by being literally a bunch of jet engines duct taped to a couch. Seriously look at that thing. The marines are so exposed that one ricochet of an Autogun round would either blow up the engines, knock out the pilot or shred his seatbelt, sucking the poor SOB into the blender that is the jet turbine right behind him, not to mention that even just the heat wash from the multi-melta's beam (which is meant to be tens of thousands of degrees Celsius) would likely melt the crews' helmets to slag. No wonder they were quickly phased out.

However, it does look like the under-slung sensor on the front uses the same mounting as the multi-melta, so you could probably just swap them to make it look a bit more reasonable. The damn thing's an obvious prototype anyway.

Land Speeder Vengeance

Dark Angels. Having cooler toys than you since always

The Land Speeder Vengeance is a much heavier version of the Land Speeder exclusive to the Dark Angels and their successors. Armed with either a Plasma Storm Battery that can tear apart TEQs or an ancient relic that repels enemy fire, it is a potent asset for the Unforgiven that they inevitably have refused to share with anyone else.

On the Tabletop

Crunch-wise the Land Speeder is a fast skimmer made of wet cardboard. With AV10 all around and 2 Hull Points you better keep it far and away from the enemy's weapons, or deep strike it to make a suicide run. For the first method you should kit it with a Typhoon ML and either a Heavy Bolter or a Multi-melta, while for the latter you can choose a combination between Multimelta and Heavy Flamer.

In a Gladius it can fill the Fast Attack role (if for some reason you don't want to take the almighty Bike Squad) quite cheaply. Give it a Heavy Flamer, keep it in cover the entire game then on the last turn zip it halfway across the board to capture or contest an objective (remember it has ObSec from the Gladius).

A couple of patterns stand out: the Land Speeder Storm can carry a half-squad of Space Marine Scouts, while the Land Speeder Tempest is fully-enclosed and more armored. The Dark Angels also employ their own versions of the Land Speeder, which have larger thrusters, a large turret on top, and a small gun cage on the front end. Which makes you wonder what they were thinking, attaching a tiny turret manned by a massive, heavy marine to the front of an extremely fast and fragile skimmer...