How do you equip your Land Speeders?

[foostoofoo]

So I'm still debating on what army to do but if I was to go for the land seeder spam army (9 speeders) how should I equip them? 3 with missile launchers, 3 with 2 heavy flamers each and 3 with multi meltas? Or a variation? Just let me know what you would do

[Chumbalaya]

Generally, it's one of two setups, each for different roles.

Multi-melta, heavy flamer: Cheap, versatile fire platform. Should always be moving 12" and firing whichever weapon is necessary. Pops tanks, roasts infantry, costs a measly 70 points. Good in just about any army, still fragile though, so field lots or at least have other armored threats to draw aggro.

Typhoon, heavy bolter: Standoff Speeders for long range dakka. Stay back and fire off 2 missiles a turn, great for knocking out transports, stripping wounds off of MCs, or dropping blasts on things. The range of its weapons is protection enough since its main enemies (tons of medium to low S shots like bolters, scatter lasers, etc) have a much shorter range (autocannons are the exception, Hydras love these buggers). They're also pretty pricey and have no real effect on AV14 or entrenched infantry.

The typhoon is more for knocking out transports, staying back, and being a generalist (like a dakka Predator), while the MM/HF variant is more in your face and specialized in killing infantry or popping tanks.

[ggg]

It is worth remembering that the missile / heavy bolter combo also allows you to move 12" and fire 2 frag missiles and the heavy bolter. This gives you a mobile anti infantry speeder as well as a anti-tank fire platform. I lean towards either the heavy flamer / multi-melta or the missile and heavy flamer as they are the most efficient choices. I love the long range on the heavy bolter / missile launcher speeder, you can sit outside the range of dreaded bolter fire.

I have a regular opponent who is a ravenwing player and he is compelled to use assault cannon/ heavy bolter combos for his troop choice units. They are not reliable enough against tanks, not reliable enough against troops in cover and still have to get within 24" to fire at full effect.

I've never used more than three speeders in a game, so I would be interested to see how you get on. If I recall correctly, land speeder spam, loaded to the gills with assault cannons used to be in vogue in the 4th edition but speeder spam is not so common these days. I would caution against taking 9 speeders.


-- to answer your question, gun to my head, I would keep each squad specialised to optimise effect. I would have have one MM/HF squad and the rest as ML / hb units.

[Cryl]

I'm a big fan of assault cannon / multi melta speeders. They're nice and flexible and also very killy. Not cheap at 100 points each but I tend to use one to three of them.

[mercer]

I don't or haven't used Speeders before, so this is all on paper. But a multi melta and heavy flamer one are awesome. They can deep strike in and melta rear armour, if they survive the returning fire they can burn infantry.

Another setup is heavy bolter with a assault cannon for some serious dakka, or typhoon rocket launcher for that bit of anti tank.

[Sunstone]

I typically run 3 of them in 1850 games. I almost always run 2 TML/HB and 1 Asltcan/MM. 2 long range support and one anti-tank/pin-point support. I some times run 2 TML/MM if I need more anti-tank or have the extra points.
I typically squadron the 2 TML/HB and leave the Asltcan/MM on its own. Besides, Mathhammer says you need 4 ML shots to get about 100% probabability to take out a rhino.
FWIW, I find running them with dual MM is an instant target and too squishy for my opponent to resist. Though they can usually make their points back if you can get them in range first.

[TheKingElessar]

I am a fan of the HF/MM ones, mostly. Typhoons are equally valid, but a lot more costly. As a result, I recommend 6/3 on those grounds.

[Brass Scorpion]

The squadron I built for my new Space Marine army has all three Speeders with Heavy Bolters, two with Assault Cannons, and one Typhoon. I gave the Multi-Melta tank hunting role to my Attack Bike squad with all three having Multi-Melta.

[TheKingElessar]

Aren't you concerned about flying close wasting the range of the Typhoon Launcher?

[Vince]

. The beauty of the landspeeder is that you can move across the board. Some of the cheapest options on the speeder are also the most range dependent weapons.

A land speeder with a multi melta on it assure you of getting that 2d6 penetration role. Attack bikes are a poor substitute as they are not as maneuverable as a landspeeder are more points (2 attack bikes compared to one double melta land speeder)and are more vulnerable to assault.

Why run a heavy bolter/anything when you can run a heavy flamer in that slot. A heavy flamer template will kill more of anything then a heavy bolter. A land speeder with a heavy flamer means one well placed template.

When you have a flamer/melta or double melta speeder you have a real threat that they have to play around. No one wants to let you flame a large squad of troops. No one wants to let you fire 2 melta shots at close range. Someone wanting to shoot a heavybolter/missile launcher /assault cannon at my squad or tank is not nearly as big of a deal. Also if you play with Vulkan you just got a hell of a lot better landspeeder.