Land Raider

The Land Raider is an Imperial main battle tank and troop transport which serves as the "armoured fist of the Space Marines." Available to the Space Marines, the Traitor Legions of the Chaos Space Marines and the forces of the Inquisition, it is one of the most resilient vehicles in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Land Raider's heritage predates even the fouding of the Imperium of Man, yet it remains the single most destructive weapon in the Adeptus Astartes' arsenal. Protected by bonded Ceramite and Adamantium armour, the Land Raider is impervious to all bar the most destructive weaponry. Equally impressive are its armaments - 4 Lascannons and twin-linked Heavy Bolters allow the Land Raider to deliver punishing support fire capable of decimating enemy infantry and tanks alike.

History
The history of the Land Raider is long and complicated. Supposedly, the original designs for both the armour used in the Land Raider and the anti-gravitic technology used on the Land Speeder were discovered during an expedition deep in the Librarius Omnis on Mars by technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land, after whom the vehicles were named. They were once used by all the various branches of the Imperium of Man's armed forces, but during the Horus Heresy, their use was restricted to the Space Marine Legions by decree of the Emperor of Mankind himself. The popularity of this mighty war engine was so great, that a whole Forge World, Anvilus 9, was entirely turned over to Land Raider production. Anvilus 9 was overrun by the Traitor Tech-priests of the Dark Mechanicum at the beginning of the Horus Heresy, and Land Raider production suddenly slowed to a trickle. With Horus' forces threatening to overrun Terra, the Emperor ordered that all Land Raiders still in Loyalist hands were to be reformed for exclusive use by the Space Marines, who were at the forefront of the fighting. After the Heresy, the decree of exclusive use remained in place. The decree has remained uncontested for ten thousand years, although a small number of Land Raiders have been manufactured for use by the Ordos of the Inquisition.

Warhammer 40,000
The Land Raider was one of the first vehicles to be introduced by Games Workshop for the 1st Edition Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader tabletop miniatures game. Originally, the Land Raider was described as a heavily armoured troop transport for Space Marine and Imperial Guard armies. The original plastic model was released soon after the Rhino armoured transport in the late 1980s. The design of the tank was heavily based on the early tanks of the 20th century's First World War, such as the British Mark I tank, bulky and high with oversized track links. Like the Mark I, the Land Raider had no turret and instead had its weapons mounted on the sides of the tank. Its points value was 750 and it had a number of available upgrades, such as power fields, available to it. By the mid-1990s, the Land Raider had appeared in numerous pieces of art created for Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe, including the game's second edition boxed set. By this time, the Land Raider had been taken out of the Imperial Guard's armoury and became an iconic Space Marine vehicle. Unfortunately for Space Marine players of that time, the Land Raider plastic kit was soon to be discontinued. Later players wanting to field the vehicle had to resort to finding surviving models to buy or converting their own. Only in 2000 did Games Workshop revive the Land Raider's legacy with the release of the new Space Marine Land Raider Mk III plastic kit. A few months later, Games Workshop released the Chaos Space Marine Land Raider Mk III for Chaos Space Marines players. Gaming wise, most players consider the Land Raider to be almost on par with the Imperial Guard's super-heavy tanks. In terms of durability, though, the super-heavy tanks - the Baneblade, Shadowsword, Stormsword, and Stormblade - can survive 3 times the damaging hits, though they have weaker armour on some facings. The Land Raider, being equally heavily armoured on all sides, was much harder to harm in the first place. The relative advantage of the Imperial Guard's Super Heavies lay in their armaments: The Baneblade and all its variants carry primary armament in the form of massive main cannons stronger than any other ordnance in the game, and in addition these behemoths even had weapons similar in size to the Land Raider's armaments as secondary weapons on sponson and hull mounts.

Epic 40,000
Outside the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game, the Land Raider appears in other games set in the same mythos. Plastic and white metal Land Raider models were available for the Warhammer 40,000 spin-off miniatures game, Epic Space Marine. These early-version Epic Land Raiders had the same look as the original Warhammer 40,000 model albeit much smaller in size. When the 3rd edition of the epic scale game (now known as Epic 40,000) was released in 1997, a model of the Land Raider was produced known as the Land Raider MkII, with both a plastic model and a metal "command" version with extra antennae and a copula gunner. The MkII never fully found its way into the Warhammer 40,000 range as a mainstream kit although several aspects of it's design did influence the current MkIII plastic model. A MKIIB 'upgrade' kit was introduced by Forgeworld to modify the current MKIII chassis to resemble the earlier MKII. Metal Land Raider MKIII's were released for the 4th edition of Epic, Epic: Armageddon.

Video Games
As part of the Epic 40,000 universe, Mark II Land Raiders were fieldable units in the 1997 Final Liberation computer game. In THQ's hit-RTS game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, the Land Raider is the Space Marines faction's ultimate "super-unit."

Specifications
The standard configuration Land Raider, known as the Land Raider Phobos pattern, is one of the most powerful main battle tanks in the Imperium's arsenal, armed with two twin-linked "Godhammer-pattern" Lascannons mounted in side sponsons. A twin-linked Heavy Bolter is mounted on top of the tank to provide anti-infantry fire. As with most Space Marine vehicles, the Land Raider can also be armed with a pintle-mounted Storm Bolter and a single-shot Hunter-Killer Missile Launcher. The Land Raider is supposedly the most heavily armoured vehicle available to any army smaller than a full Imperial Guard armoured company, and its armour is believed to be second only to that of the Necron Monolith in strength. Particularly noteworthy is that the Land Raider's all-around armour is equally thick everywhere on the vehicle and has no weaknesses, unlike other tanks that often have thinner side and rear armour. Its durable protection, combined with its transport capacity (10 Space Marines in Power Armour or 5 Terminators), make it essentially a mobile, fortified bunker, save for the lack of firing ports for the passengers. Land Raiders are also equipped with a "Machine Spirit", an artificial intelligence crafted by the Adeptus Mechanicus that allows the hulking behemoth to move and fight, even without a crew, as if the vehicle were on autopilot. The Chaos Space Marines also have access to these powerful machines as they took with them countless numbers of these destructive behemoths following their defeat on Terra during the Horus Heresy. In the Eye of Terror, the Machine Spirits of the Chaos Land Raiders used by the Traitor Legions were destroyed and replaced with Infernal Devices containing the captured spirit of a daemon that performs similar functions for the vehicle.



Land Raider Crusader
The Land Raider Mark III Crusader was released in September of 2000 as a close assault version of the Land Raider geared towards transporting more troops. The Land Raider Crusader was originally developed by the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter. The Crusader was eventually approved by the Adeptus Mechanicus as an authorized design, allowing other Space Marine Chapters to field them in abundance.

The Land Raider Crusader's main differences from the original Land Raider lie in its weapons loadout. Instead of the twin-lascannons on the original version, Crusader's side sponsons are armed with hurricane-pattern bolters. The Crusader replaces the standard Land Raider's twin-linked heavy bolters mounted on the top of the tank with shorter-ranged, gatling gun-like twin-linked assault cannons. Finally, the Crusader sports a Multi-Melta mounted right beside the commander's cupola, instead of the standard Storm Bolter. The removal of the generators used by the lascannons freed up space inside the hull of the Land Raider chassis, increasing the vehicle's transport capability by 5 Space Marines in Power Armour or three Terminators.

Like the standard Land Raiders, Crusaders make an appearance in Epic: Armageddon, the 4th Edition of Epic. Only the Black Templars Chapter is able to field Crusaders in Epic and since there is currently no model players must convert their own.

Redeemer
The Land Raider Redeemer is a variant of the Land Raider Crusader specially developed for urban warfare. It sports a pair of powerful Flamestorm Cannons on its sponsons in place of the Hurricane Bolters. This variant was first used by the Fire Lords Chapter in battle, and though it carries less troops than the Crusader, it makes up for this lack with the destructive fire that can incinerate even a Space Marine within his armour. Prometheus was the first Land Raider Redeemer built which still serves in the Fire Lords' 2nd Company.

Ares
Another variant of the Land Raider Crusader developed for siege warfare is the Land Raider Ares. It mounts a Demolisher Cannon on its hull, a dozer blade and heavy flamers on its sponsons. This variant sacrifices transport capability for a much heavier armament.

Other Land Raider Variants
Aside from the ones commonly seen, other variants of the Land Raider have been described in various Games Workshop publications in various forms. Some published variants have actual game stats while others have merely been mentioned in passing as background material. These rarer modifications of the Land Raider are in service with some chapters of the Space Marines.

Prometheus
The Land Raider Prometheus was developed specifically to serve as a unit's command tank. The original Phobos pattern Land Raider's Lascannon sponsons have been replaced with two pairs of twin-linked heavy bolters each and the hull-mounted heavy bolters have been replaced with special communications and sensor equipment. This variant is supposedly used by Space Marine commanders as their mobile base of operations as its heavy armor can withstand the most hard-hitting attacks.

Helios
The Land Raider Helios was also introduced in the Imperial Armour Update supplement produced by Forge World. As with the Land Raider Prometheus, a resin Land Raider Helios conversion kit is available from Forge World. Like the Prometheus, the Helios replaces some of the standard Land Raider's existing weaponry with a more specialized loadout. The Helios mounts a Whirlwind Missile Launcher in place of the twin-linked Heavy Bolters. The Land Raider Helios was designed by the Red Scorpions Space Marine Chapter to supplement their existing artillery during the Siege of Helios. Purportedly, the extra space required for storing the Whirlwind Launcher's missiles reduced the personnel transport capability of the vehicle.

Terminus Ultra
The Terminus Ultra pattern of the Land Raider is the ultimate in Space Marine anti-armour vehicles. The Terminus Ultra forfeits its troop carrying capability completely in order to mount a battery of extremely powerful Lascannons capable of punching through defensive Conversion Fields, Void Shields and the thickest armour. The huge power build-up generated when a Terminus Ultra fires can cause irrevocable damage to the vehicle's systems, and so it is only used when all other options have been exhausted. Only when the largest armoured targets are encountered are these venerable machines deployed from a Chapter's Armorium, if they even possess any. Against the power of the Terminus Ultra, the massive war engines of the Emperor's foes have no hope. With a single salvo a Terminus Ultra can cripple a super-heavy tank, demolish a Chaos Battle Titan or destroy an Ork Stompa.

Spartan
The Land Raider Spartan was a variant of the Land Raider originally mentioned in an article in White Dwarf magazine. The Land Raider Spartan was designed during the Horus Heresy to break through the "Ring of Death" surrounding the hive city of Aries Prime on Mars. It was originally the only Land Raider capable of transporting Terminators. The Spartan was armed with the standard Land Raider loadout of the day, two twin-linked Lascannons (Heavy Bolters were not standard at the time) and either a Heavy Bolter or Heavy Flamer turret on top. The Land Raider Spartan was widely used after the Heresy, but fell out of use when the standard Land Raider Phobos pattern was re-designed to carry Terminators. The Spartan came about as modelling conversion project in White Dwarf magazine that used a mixture of parts from the original Land Raider and Rhino model kits to make a new vehicle. The parts not used in making the Spartan were the subject of another modelling article in a subsequent issue of White Dwarf for a Rhino based "tank hunter"

Hellfire
The Hellfire Land Raider was the standard variant of the Land Raider used during the Rogue Trader 1st Edition era of Warhammer 40,000. It was relatively lightly armed, with sponson-mounted Lascannons and a pintle-mounted Bolter. This variant was described in the first Space Marine army list in Chapter Approved - Book of the Astronomican. It is not comparable in strength to the standard Land Raider Phobos pattern and is now rarely used, effectively having been replaced by the "standard" Land Raider pattern which is far more effective on the battlefield.

Ares
The Land Raider Ares was created by the Dark Angels Chapter for use by their Deathwing Company. It features hull-mounted, twin-linked Assault Cannons, one prow-mounted Demolisher Cannon and sponson twin-linked Heavy Flamers. It first saw action during the attack on the backwater world of Murus, where the Chapter faced the Fallen Dark Angels called "the Tribunal." Despite the failure of the attack, only one of the six Land Raider Ares deployed were destroyed. A few other Chapters have since obtained the design for the Land Raider Ares and created their own versions of this pattern.

Land Raider Artificial Intelligence
Land Raiders are also equipped with a Machine Spirit, an Artificial Intelligence crafted by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Machine Spirit is smart enough to move the tank and continue combat operations even if the crew is injured or otherwise incapicitated, increasing the durability and firepower of the Land Raider considerably. A Land Raider is a blessed artefact to the Techmarines that oversee its repair and maintenance. This is not least because a Land Raider's Machine Spirit is so much stronger than that of lesser tanks, a fact taken to mean that a substantial portion of the Machine God's essence resides within the Land Raider's impenetrable adamantium hull. Accordingly, should even a Land Raider's sponson be lost in battle, the rest of the Chapter will fight like men possessed for its retrieval, often calling in further reinforcements to ensure that the component is not lost. So it is that lives of men can be stilled in order to preserve the spirit of a machine, but the Space Marines honour such a sacrifice and go willingly into a battle of this kind.

Regardless of its value in matters of faith, the Land Raider's Machine Spirit is a potent asset. The Machine Spirit allows the tank to function with a smaller number of crew than comparable vehicles, and is capable of taking control of engines, weaponry or other systems if the Astartes crew is incapicitated or otherwise absent. Indeed, the Crimson Fists tell that the uncrewed Land Raider Rynn's Might, narrowly surviving the missile that levelled their fortress-monastery on Rynn's World during the assault of an Ork WAAAGH!, immediately thereafter fought a solo war against a rampaging Ork warband, killing the Warboss and many of his followers in a night of slaughter. Rynn's Might did not survive the encounter, but its example serves as a reminder that a Land Raider is not a machine to be taken lightly, whether its crews is aboard or not.