Land Raider (Warhammer 40,000)

In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Land Raider is known as the "armoured fist of the Space Marines", being used as a mobile bunker or to spearhead assaults.

The standard configuration Land Raider one of the most powerful tanks in the Imperium's arsenal, armed with two twin-linked "Godhammer-pattern" lascannons mounted in pairs in side sponsons. A twin-linked heavy bolter is mounted on top of the tank providing anti-infantry fire. As with most Space Marine vehicles, it can also be armed with a pintle-mounted storm bolter and a single-shot hunter-killer missile. It 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 the Necron Monolith. Particularly noteworthy is that the Land Raider's all-around thick armour has no weaknesses, unlike other tanks that often have thinner side and rear armour. Its protection, combined with its transport capacity (10 marines in power armour or 5 Terminators), makes it a perfect mobile bunker. 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 on autopilot. In game terms, this is represented by the vehicle having the "Power of the Machine Spirit" vehicle upgrade built-in to its game stats.

The Chaos Space Marines also have access to these powerful machines as they took with them countless numbers of these destructive behemoths. In the Eye of Terror, the Machine Spirit is destroyed and replaced with an Infernal Device that performs similar functions.

History
The history of the Land Raider in-game is long and complicated. Supposedly, the original designs for both the "Land" Raider and the anti-gravitic plates 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 branches of the Imperium's armed forces, but during the Horus Heresy, their use was restricted to the Space Marines by decree of the Emperor himself. The popularity of this mighty war engine was so great, that a whole Forge World, the Anvilus 9, was entirely turned over to Land Raider production. Anvilus 9 was overrun by renegade techpriests at the beginning of the Heresy, and Land Raider production suddenly slowed to a trickle.

With Horus' forces threatening to overrun Terra, the Emperor stated that all Land Raiders still on the loyalist side 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 Inquisition. This is seen in game rules by the availability of Land Raider transports for certain squads in the Daemonhunter and Witch Hunter army lists.

In the Games
The Land Raider was one of the first vehicles to be introduced by Games Workshop for the 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 at about the same time as the Rhino armoured transport in the late 1980s. The design of the tank was heavily based on early tanks of the 20th century, 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.

By the mid-1990s, the Land Raider 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 had already been discontinued and remaining boxed sets were almost impossible to find. 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 MkIII plastic kit. A few months later, Games Workshop released the Chaos Space Marine Land Raider MkIII for Chaos players.

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 MkII, with both a plastic model and a metal "command" version with extra antennae and a copula gunner. The MkII never found its way into the Warhammer 40,000 range although several aspects of it's design did influence the current MkIII plastic model. Metal Land Raider MKIII's were released for the 4th edition of Epic, Epic: Armageddon.

As part of the Epic 40,000 universe, Mk 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 Marine faction's ultimate unit.

Land Raider Crusader
The Land Raider MkIII Crusader was released in September of 2000 as a close assault version of the Land Raider geared towards transporting more troops. The rules for the Crusader were originally included in the Codex: Armageddon supplement as part of the Black Templars army list. Originally, only players using Black Templars armies could use the Crusaders in abundance, while Games Workshop made concessions to non-Black Templar Space Marine players by allowing other marine armies to field a maximum of one Land Raider Crusader. With the 2004 release of the 4th edition Space Marine codex, the limitations on fielding Land Raider Crusaders have been lifted, allowing Space Marine players to field as many as five.

According to background information from Codex: Armageddon, the 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. Background material states that 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 five marines in power armour or three Terminators. Finally, the Crusader sports a multi-melta mounted right beside the commander's cupola, instead of the standard storm bolter.

Like the standard Land Raiders, Crusaders make an appearance in Epic: Armageddon, the fourth edition of Epic as miniaturized MkIII Crusaders available only in metal. For the time being, only the Black Templars Chapter is able to field Crusaders in Epic.

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.

The Land Raider Prometheus originally appeared in the February 2001 issue of the Citadel Journal magazine published by the Specialist Games branch of Games Workshop. A resin conversion kit for the plastic Land Raider was released in 2001 by Forge World. The rules for it later reappeared in the Imperial Armour Update: New Vehicles for Warhammer 40,000 sourcebook released in 2002. According to the sourcebook, the Prometheus was developed specifically as a command tank. The original 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.

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 background for the tank states that the 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 transport capability of the vehicle.

The Land Raider Spartan was a variant of the Land Raider originally mentioned in an article in White Dwarf magazine. In the game's background, the Spartan was designed during the Horus Heresy to break through the 'Ring of Death' surrounding the 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 then) and either a heavy bolter or heavy flamer on a turret on top. It was widely spread after the Heresy, but disappeared when the standard Land Raider 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"

The Hellfire Land Raider was an early type armed with sponson-mounted lascannons and a pintle-mounted bolter. They are no longer in production, though examples are known to have survived with the White Scars chapter. This variant was described in the first Space Marine army list in Chapter Approved - Book of the Astronomican.