How many Rhino chassis in a 1500 point army?

[Jebusiah Long]

I just started playing again and I find myself with seven rhino chassis. Three Predators, three Rhinos and a Razorback. I'm going crazy with magnets and don't mind buying bits.

Is there a competitive way to field this many rhino-based vehicles at 1500 points?

[Dalleron]

If the preds were vindicators maybe you could with any marine army.

But you could probably pull of a decent Blood Angel list with their fast predators being able to move and fire more than everyone elses, because they're Blood Angels.

[Gir]

I've won a tournament running 9 in 1500pts with Blood Angels (2 auto/la preds, 1 auto/heavy bolter pred, 1 flamerstorm baal, 1 flamestrom+heavy flamer baal, 1 dakka baal, 3 las/pas razorbacks, and a furioso to top it all off).

[Jebusiah Long]

Thanks much.

How do I add drop pods to the mix?

Or is that just too many points spent on vehicles/transport?

[thecactusman17]

Which codex are you playing?

In Blood Angels or Space Wolves, there's a good argument to be made for "as many as you have marine units." In Black Templars, "Fill any Heavy Support slots not taken by Land Raiders, then 1-2 more max." In Space Marines: "Some, but no more than your troops total." In Sisters of Battle: "One for every unit without a jump pack." Dark Angels: "Probably none." Grey Knights: Depends 100% on list construction.

Each codex has very different and effective Rhino variants, with a variety of costs and abilities and gear. Above, for example, I recommend taking lots of Rhino chassis for Wolves and Blood Angels, but the types I would take are wildly different owing to the capabilities of the Blood Angels vehicles. Sisters of Battle aren't Marines, per say, but they have some critical yet subtle differences in how their vehicles work on the field and what they do for your army.

[Jebusiah Long]

I am running vanilla (Hawklords) but the more I hear about BA, the more I think the rules/fluff would match my temperament/playstyle.

[thecactusman17]

Ok, here's what I might suggest for your Vanilla codex marines. I'm not sure what, if any, characters you might be running and that could change things.

I am assuming that you have some fairly balanced units, given that you are using Space marines. I'm not familiar with most of the smaller chapters, Hawk Lords included, but I'm going to guess you are running Tactical squads with that many Rhinos.

So one good option could be to run the teactical squads as combat squads, and give each a Lascannon Razorback. This will go a long way towards fulfilling your anti-tank duties, with meltas in the Razorbacks, the lascannons, and a free Missile Launcher or better in the backfield. Lots of scoring options and plenty of bodies--Marine bodies en masse are nothing to sneeze at.

The Predators I would suggest running as Autocannon w/ Heavy Bolter sponsons, given that so much of your unit options can already deal with strong armor. The AC/HB combo puts down a withering hail of firepower at long range, enough to typically douse even terminators and similar in wounds. You MAY wish to swap one out for a Vindicator, which can put the hammer down on units like Paladins with a little careful planning.

If you switch to Blood Angels, you are going to like what you have already but you definitely want to upgrade your Rhinos to Razorbacks--the 12" move and shoot is a big deal. I believe that BAs can even get las/plas Razorbacks, and the fast vehicle option there makes them a potent anti-everything unit. You will also want to get lots of Assault Marines--not for jump packs, mind you, but for the dual CC weapons and cheap meltaguns. AMs in a razorback are a nasty combo in the current codex. That may change in upcoming editions, so be careful--current rumors put 6th edition out pretty darned soon.

[Jebusiah Long]

Excellent. Thank you.