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I'm thinking about getting two lascannon razorbacks to support two tactical squads in a 1500 point space marine list. I like to break the tactical squads up into combat squads so a razorback seems like all I need as far as transports go and having a twin-linked lascannon on top of it means that it'll have a pretty good shot at knocking off vehicles, monstrous creatures, and, when necessary, heavily armored troops. The question is this: are they worth the 75 points? At the end of the day, it's a pretty lightly armored vehicle, but I think the firepower and mobility will be well worth it. What are your guys' thoughts? Should I keep these in the list or spend my points on something else?

What kind of list are you running and what heavy weapon do your Tac Marines have?

there are 2 ways to run Rbacks. it will either be mobile cover/fire support for the Heavy weapon 1/2 OR a transport for the 1/2 that has the Sergeant and Special weapon.

if they go with the special weapon and sergeant then they should have a TL-assault cannon instead of the Lascannon.

if they are going with the heavy weapon they should either be a Heavy Bolter or Lascannon.





tl-lascannon is good as a Fire support weapon/mobile cover/quick escape option for the Heavy weapon.

I'm running a Librarian, two shoot terminator squads (1 with an AC, 1 with a CML), two tactical squads (1 with a PC, 1 with a ML, both with PFs and PGs), a five man bike squad (2 meltaguns), an attack bike (with multi-melta), and a typhoon speeder. Oh, and the two razorbacks of course. I was thinking las-cannon so i can have more anti-tank, which i might be a bit low on, and I would like it to be flexible as a transport or as back line fire support, depending on the situation.

Unless you know you need range, the Assault Cannons are better. They're better at AT, they're also better against virtually all infantry.

Only the range of the Lascannon makes them appealing.

Assault cannons might not be a bad idea. Given the list I'm playing (see my second post) do you think I can get away without having the long range? Maybe take one LC and one AC?

Gotta say, looking at that list, those LCs are gonna be a good way to vary the range you need, just using them as fire support. Transport is an just an added bonus at that point. Never been a fan of the AC razorback. As soon as you get the darned thing close enough, somebody assaults it or a loose autocannon around finds a nice home in its hull. Irritating. Much prefer the lascannon variant.

Assault cannons are money. TL with more shots then the las cannon and rending. The 24 inch range is condusive with the range of the bolters as well. If your tact squad dosnt have much along the lines of heavy or plasma weapons then go with the lascannon. But if you have those things id go with the auto cannon. Its also more flexible VS troops then the LC

I had crunched the numbers and found an Assault Cannon(within range) is statistically better at cracking armor than a Lascannon vs all AVs.

Twin Linked Lascannon Chance to destroy AV 14 = 4.9383% chance

Twin Linked AssCannon chance to destroy AV 14 = 1.6461% / shot, or 6.5843621% chance over all

The lower the AV the Better the Asscannon gets.

Welp, most of your list (including the marines in the razorback) seem like they want to get close, so assault cannons are the way to go (you need at least some quick units...)

Kommissar Kel wrote:I had crunched the numbers and found an Assault Cannon(within range) is statistically better at cracking armor than a Lascannon vs all AVs.

The thing with lascannons is that they have twice the range of the assault cannon...

does everyone else but Dark Angels get assault cannons on razorbacks? sorry, I don;t own any other codexes but my own...

Don't rule out Lascannon/TL Plasma

SoloFalcon1138 wrote:does everyone else but Dark Angels get assault cannons on razorbacks? sorry, I don;t own any other codexes but my own...

Yes, unfortunately.

I agree with General_Chaos. Lascannon and Tl plasma is a versatile combination that can bag tanks and heavy infantry. THe razorback's role is not to be a shooting tank, but a better armed transport used for supporting the squad its carrying. Leave the heavy duty weapons to preds and LR

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

Kommissar Kel wrote:I had crunched the numbers and found an Assault Cannon(within range) is statistically better at cracking armor than a Lascannon vs all AVs.

The thing with lascannons is that they have twice the range of the assault cannon...

True, and I did account for that, see the parentheticals. But; in all standard missions of 40k the furthest you set up from the enemy is 24", or at least the Furthest you are required to set up is 24", and you can Move 6" before you start firing. So you should(with proper deployment) be able to start firing on enemy targets on turn 1.

Kommissar Kel wrote:

AlmightyWalrus wrote:

Kommissar Kel wrote:I had crunched the numbers and found an Assault Cannon(within range) is statistically better at cracking armor than a Lascannon vs all AVs.

The thing with lascannons is that they have twice the range of the assault cannon...

True, and I did account for that, see the parentheticals. But; in all standard missions of 40k the furthest you set up from the enemy is 24", or at least the Furthest you are required to set up is 24", and you can Move 6" before you start firing. So you should(with proper deployment) be able to start firing on enemy targets on turn 1.

Your opponent can choose to get further than 24" away within his deployment zone. And if he moves faster than you, he can avoid assault cannons indefinitely.

Back when I played mech Eldar, I used to love to see an army with nothing that had a range longer than 24". Fun to watch them try to move 6" and get a shot, while I was backing up at 12" and firing my 36-48" range weapons with impunity.

Lascannons would have put a stop to that.

Kommissar Kel wrote:I had crunched the numbers and found an Assault Cannon(within range) is statistically better at cracking armor than a Lascannon vs all AVs.

Twin Linked Lascannon Chance to destroy AV 14 = 4.9383% chance

Twin Linked AssCannon chance to destroy AV 14 = 1.6461% / shot, or 6.5843621% chance over all

The lower the AV the Better the Asscannon gets.

This does not provide an entire picture, there was a couple threads about this. Against AV 12 the lascannon can glance and is slightly better.

That being said, I use 2 TL assault cannon razorbacks in my 1500 point tourny list. Sure they are fragile, so you have to be careful with them. I would suggest swapping your special/heavy weapons in the tacticals around a bit and take Assault cannons. Get flamers/lascannons in the tacticals to give you a consistent long range couple of lascannon shots from backfield objectives. Take the 2 combat squads with sgt and flamer guys in the assback (assault cannon razorback) and use them to support the terminators and bikes in taking objectives.

Dracos wrote:That being said, I use 2 TL assault cannon razorbacks in my 1500 point tourny list. Sure they are fragile, so you have to be careful with them. I would suggest swapping your special/heavy weapons in the tacticals around a bit and take Assault cannons. Get flamers/lascannons in the tacticals to give you a consistent long range couple of lascannon shots from backfield objectives. Take the 2 combat squads with sgt and flamer guys in the assback (assault cannon razorback) and use them to support the terminators and bikes in taking objectives.

This seems like a pretty good tactic. I myself am actually doing something very similar with my army. The Assault cannon is more multi purpose, as it can really handle infantry also, while lascannons can't.