Space Wolves Landspeeder

Land speeders are iconic vehicles in almost any galaxy/space related lore, theme, or pop culture. In Warhammer 40k, land speeders are used for a number of roles such as scouting, spearheading assaults (alpha strikes), or outflanking enemy positions - basically anything related to destroying the enemies of the emperor except ramming other vehicles (of course!) because let's face it: those things look fragile! Even so, it is amazing how a fragile thing can bring so much devastation in the battlefield!

The Emperor laughs at this "speeder"!

Land speeders are, in my opinion, one of the best units in any marine army. They are a Fast Attack choice, can move 12 inches and still fire 2 weapons giving them a threat range of 48-60 inches depending on your load out. With the release of the 7th edition Space Wolves codex, their appearance on the table could be expected to dwindle due to the points reduction made to its fellow Fast Attack choices, which now seem to be tempting options to explore. So let's see what land speeders can bring to the table!

Land Speeder Squadron - not mine

THE PROS

They have Maneuverability!

• land speeders can move 12 inches and turbo-boost for 12 inches more! useful for getting from cover to cover in the unfortunate event that you roll hammer and anvil for a battlefield. This is also very useful for getting to objectives quickly or landing a line breaker at the end of the game
• they can fire 2 weapons even if they move 12 inches
• they are now scoring units
• they can have a 4+ jink save even if they do not move

They have Fangs! (These are the loadouts I tend to use)

Land Speeder Typhoon - MINE

• Land Speeder Typhoon (just a heavy bolter/HB and a cyclone missile launcher/CML)  = 75 points each
• this is crazy good as they became 15 points cheaper from the previous codex! Maybe this was to bring them in line with the Space Marine Land speeders. What this brings to the table is a HB that can spit  3 Str 5-AP 4 shots and a CML that launches 2 Str 8-AP 3 shots! Now imagine 2 to 3 of these in the field! This is perfect for alpha strikes! Use them to pop AV10-12 vehicles or provide suppressive fire as your warriors charge up the field! I can't stress how many times my 225 point land speeder squadron earned back their points and even more!
• Land Speeder with Multimelta (MM) and Heavy flamer (HF) = 70 each
• I like the flexibility of this build as it can be part of a "take all comers list". With these bad boys, you can deal with either armor using the multi-melta or an infantry list with the heavy flamer!
• Land Speeder with Double Multimelta = 80 each
• This could be considered your suicide squad! your titan killer! your knight killer! If you can deepstrike these boys within 12 inches of any armor of even if they just reach their targets within that range, say bye bye to it! When your opponents see these on the battlefield, chances are that their eyes would widen and they would allocate sufficient fire power to ensure the destruction of the said unit therefore becoming a fire magnet.

 So we talked about the wonders of Land Speeders! But being good at something would always mean a trade-off...

THE CONS

They are AV10 in every facing with only 2 Hull points and that means anything Strength 4 can potentially glance it to death and any weapon strength 5 and above would really cripple it in different ways! I had bad experiences with rapid firing marines, dakkafexes, and flyrants. Hopefully your careful positioning, jink saves, and bad opponent rolls can prevent this from happening. When your speeders get charged (which means you are playing them wrong), say bye bye to them unless your opponents roll badly. When you roll the mission "The Scouring" suddenly they can become a liability by providing your opponents an extra victory point if they get destroyed!

Another sad trivia about Land speeders is that the Space Wolves weren't issued the Land Speeder storm, which is a dedicated transport for scout companies. Are the scouts of the wolves so elite that they eschew any form of fast transportation now?? I really think they need it now since their "Behind Enemy Lines" rules was removed in 7th edition, basically turning them into just better scouts combat and shooting-wise.. sigh..

Land Speeder Storm, not mine

WISHLIST

In the spirit of Christmas, I've decided to include this segment, which is a wishlist of what I would like GW or future Space Wolves codex writers to do or consider regarding Space Wolves Land Speeders

1. Land Speeder Helfrost Variant - a speeder that has a helfrost cannon equipped.

2. Land Speeder Storms - I hope the wolves get issued this soon :)


CONCLUSION

It is a wonder that Space Wolves even use these speeders because weren't they depicted as "uncomfortable with flying and would like to fight with two feet firm in the ground just like Russ intended"? One may argue that they are not flying but simply hovering or something to that effect. Whatever the pet peeves of the wolves might be, the power of the Land Speeder cannot be denied! It is like a wolf circling a prey and striking when the opportunity presents!

In my 3 years of war-gaming, only once did I fight a person using only one land speeder. In my opinion, the others should consider it and take a look at this taken-for-granted unit. Unfortunately, there are now more tempting choices for Fast Attacks slots in the Space Wolves codex so their sorty into the battlefield may take a bit of re-considering.

So what are your thoughts regarding Land Speeders? I would love to hear how you equip yours (if you even use one). Do you use any of the other Land Speeder variants? Have I left something out? Let me know! Once again this is Camacho, Jarl of the 8th signing out! :D

Oh and by the way, my Wolf Wing Squadron says HI!

P.S. - some images are mine and some were taken from the internet without permission. If you see your work here, that means I thought it was very cool and it deserves to be shared to others ^^