Why a landraider redeemer?

So many things to blog about, where to start. How about the unit at the centre of my army’s tactics my landraider redeemer?
Over the past few months I’ve seen a few people with some harsh words regarding the redeemer, saying that it’s not as good as the other variants and not worth using by comparison. So I thought I’d explain why I use a redeemer in the game rather than another landraider variant.
Fluff: My army aren’t just any old space marines; they are salamanders, the fire-born, masters or flamer and melta weapons. They are also master craftsmen and one of the original space marine legions. Ect ect. You get the idea, a landraider redeemer fits the fluff of my army, especially if there are terminators inside (and why wouldn’t there be?). But does it really matter? Technically not, but there is so much cool fluff and back story for 40k that I can’t help but play to it. There are people who have spent years of work and been paid good money to write the fluff and having that fluff based element in my army is my little way of showing my appreciation for that. (plus it’s fun, but that’s my next point). You will notice on my redeemer when I get some pics up it says “Fire anvil” on the front, this is inspired my Nick kyme’s Salamander Novel which features a redeemer called Fire Anvil. So my redeemer helps to identify my army with the 40k universe as a whole.
Fun: Contrary to what you might think form some of the cheesy power gamming blogs out there, 40k is a game and the most important thing is to have fun! Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to what is fun (Which adds diversity and variety to life), but for me one of the funest things to do in a game of 40k is woooshing out a template (with sound effects) and wounding chaos marines or necrons or ork nobz or whatever else came to close on a 2+ with no armour or cover saves allowed. This is great fun to do to 3+ save troops who normal expect a save from flamers and are shocked when 6 khorn berzerkas die in one shot (BURRRN!)

First into the breach: One of the criticisms people have of the redeemer is its lack of long rang guns compared to the TL lascannon version. This is a fair point, especially if you want to play like fritz does to great effect in annihilation missions (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlYOgYgNPBs&feature=sub ). But as fritz admits this soooooo cheesy and bordering on unsportsmanlike. Yes it work, very well, but it’s not for me. For me, the redeemer actually fits my tactics better than the other patterns. My army doesn’t need more anti tank fire I already have (at 1500pts, current list) 3 TL multimeltas, a TL melta gun, a TL lascannon and 2 krak missiles. No, I need anti infantry support for my terminators as they lead my assault. My land raider charges up the centre using the machine spirit to pop off the odd shot with the multi melta or assault cannon but with the main focus of deploying 5 terminators a Chaplin and maybe Vulkan He’stan down the assault ramp and into the heart of the enemy. This can be devastating, (it aims to break the back of the enemy while the other units get to objectives or offer support) but is not fool proof and WILL lead to retaliation. I need something there to support my charge, either softening up the target before the charge or dealing with dangerous units in position to counter attack. The redeemers is perfect for this with the multimelta, assault cannon and flamestorm cannons it can deal with any target it so chooses and AV 14 all round can soak up some of the retaliation fire (particularly if you position to act as mobile cover for the squad.) For example, in a game a few months back the terminators charged a squad of elder guardians on an objective (I know, talk about overkill). Because it is a transport the redeemer was already in the thick of the fight so lack or range wasn’t an issue, much better to have to flamers to cook a nearby squad of howling banshees in cover to spare me there retribution.

Hopefully I’ve helped to restore the redeemer’s rep and shown you how and why I use the redeemer and given you some idea’s for your army. All comments and questions will be appreciated. Will have pictures soon.

Merry Christmas