Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I'm new to 40k and am trying to write up my full 1850 list. My question is are terminators any good, and if so what weapons and should I take a land raider(and if so which one)?

Yes, TH/SS Terminators are awesome. I would suggest putting it in a Land Raider Crusader.

Personally, I take Assault Termies and Vulkan. They are awesome!

When it comes to Land Raiders, I say go with the Crusader. Before adding any bells and whistles, it is already capable of moving up to cruising speed and firing all of it's weapons, plus it has a higher transport capacity, which means more Terminators. You do sacrifice a number of STR 9 weapons, and the Assault Cannon really doesn't have the oomph to take down AV 14 vehicles. Rending results are possible, but not with enough likelihood to make it a reliable option. The Crusader is an suitable against infantry or light vehicles.

Personally I use the tank to keep 'lesser' units off of Vulkan's back while he and the Terminators do the dirty business. Just make sure you came with other options in order to deal with heavy vehicles.

Assault terminators rock, I use either a Stormraven to put them into battle, or a Land Raider Redeemer, I love those S6 AP3 flame cannons!

I tend to use the stabby claw ones with a chaplain to re roll faild to hits and put them into a redeemer

My opponent used an 8-man squad including 6 Tactical Terminators with Assault Cannon and 1 chainfist, a Terminator-Librarian, and a Terminator-Chaplain*, loaded up in a Land Raider Crusader and delivered into my Sisters' main battle line. In a 1250 or 1500 point game, I believe it was. I quickly learned not to use death stars - I had written her list, and had thought it'd be nifty to have a nice unit of Terminators - after two things happened. First, the Terminators easily smooshed a forward unit of Battle Sisters. 150 points gone. Second, roughly 4-6 units of various Battle Sisters, including 6 melta weapons, 4 heavy bolters, and many many boltguns, avenged the deaths of their Sisters by assuming firing stances and wiping the traitorous superhumans from existence with the Emperor's wrath.

The Land Raider was removed by Dominions and Retributors on the next turn. This left my opponent with roughly 2-3 tactical squads on the board, and maybe some other stuff. My memory isn't very good, but I do remember that about 1/2 to 2/3 - points wise - of my opponent's force had been obliterated over the course of 2 turns, and that fraction consisted of a total of 9 models. The whole thing really soured me on using Terminators and Death Star-type units, even though I'd been the one obliterating them. Remember, both Death Stars were destroyed in the movies, each by many smaller, lower-cost things, and the other side won.

All that said, if you really like Terminators or Land Raiders for the models or fluff, include em in some way. I can't comment on their usefulness in a competitive environment, because I don't play competitively. And the above was at a much smaller points limit, and with 2 HQ units with Terminator armor, which means that a massively larger chunk of points were used in the unit I described above, in that army, leaving far far fewer points available for other stuff in the army.

Long story short [In other words, TL;DR], I wouldn't go overboard with either, but at 1850, you could probably include both and still have plenty of points left over for your scoring units and other useful stuff. ^_^

*Just curious, can I include more than 1 Independent Character in the same unit?

number 1. DO NOT RELY ON THIS UNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you learn to make a squad of Terminators and a landrainder a crutch and it gets kicked out from under you first turn (gets destroyed) you will most likely lose.

Now then let us speak of this great unit!

5 assault terminators 3 hammer 2 claws.
landraider redeemer with multi melta.


that seems to be the magic set up for me! don't make it costly. this unit doesn't require upgrades and does not require more killing power. don't design this unit to wipe out half an opponents army because it most likely never will much less even get close. why? its a high priority target.

The problem with Land Raiders of any flavor is that they draw an absolutely stupid amount of fire. They are the one unit Space Marines can take that I would ever advise putting extra armor on, since you don't want your 250 point tank with its equally expensive cargo getting slowed down by a stray rocket. Having two Land Raiders, while expensive, will really spread the love around. Just be wary of long range, high strength weapons like darklances, railguns, or if you get a little closer, demolisher cannons.

These sorts of units are very easy to lean on as a crutch while really they should be the hammer to your army's anvil. Don't rely on them to win the game for you without help from tactical Marines and what have you.