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I think the general concensus is that taking a transport for marines is a no brainer. For 35+ points I can protect 15 point marines and seeing I have to take a minimum of 5 it seems a good option.

I am going to make the arguement that a Razorback + 5 marines is the right way to go except where you want to emphasize close combat.

Razorback + 5 marines with a sergent with combi weapon. For 140 to 175 points I get a heavy weapon and a one-shot special weapon.

Razorback + 10 marines with sgt with Combi, SW & HW. Add at least 75 points and probably 90. I get the advantage of an additional HW and a special but I have to combat squad meaning I can't come in from reserve and I have to auto expose one 5 man squad. It will probably be the heavy weapon but if I cost that out, we are talking 75 to 90 points to get out one heavy weapon with 4 ablative bolter boys. In other words, 60 points of semi-waste.

Rhino + 10 marines. Obviouse advantage is I can fire two guys out of the top and provided I go stationary, I get to fire the killing power of the tac squad - the SW and HW.
Down side is that I am giving up a heavy weapon on the razorback for 5 to 30 points that can move and fire.

Viewed in a vaccum, you may come up for a reason but I will posit 6 tacticals in razorbacks for around 1000 points versus 4 10-man razorback or 5 10-man rhiino squads is the superior flexible choice. Gone are the days when a marine counts on his tactical squads to win in close combat so you are going to probably field a vangard vet, terminator or command squad to serve as your close combat support. The 6 razors are going to yield your 6 mobile HW shots and 6 one shot SW. While the 4 10-man razoracks will get you 8 HW + 4 SW and 4 one-shot SW. You are going to have 4 groups exposed and that means presenting your opponent with soft squishy stuff right away. The 4 rhino-based squads can sit back and fire but we are talking 2 to 4 less heavy weapons. Chances are that means you are guaranteed to be fighting in close combat. While your tacs can stand up for a turn or two, most will agree tacticals in close combat is not generally a good thing.

Kill points we are talking 12 vs 12 vs 10 not a big difference but the fact that the 4/10 razorback is more squishy and less mobile makes it more vulnerable. The 5/10 rhino is about right in the middle. Big squads that are more durable but as stated before they are less likely to avoid threats and end up in HTH.

Cost wise we are talking 3 boxes of tacticals + 6 razorbacks vs 4 boxes + 4 razorbacks vs 5 boxes of tacticals + 5 rhinos. Without going into specific dollars, the 4/10 razorbacks are going to be the cheapest while I think you are going to be close to a push between the 6/5 razorback and the 5/10 rhino setup. I will lean towards the razorback setup because it may be 30 to 50 $ more but it will be more effective. Definitely not cost prohibitive.

Just a discussion point but I will be interested in what others think so please go through your thoughts.

They all have valid tactics.

A 10 man attached to a razor back is basicly light tank support. The troops can hide behind it, and the razorback can provide mobile heavy weapons. (Since it's move 6 inches to stay with the troops anyway)

6 man attached to a razorback tends to work better with CC units. Wolf Guard, Honor squads, assault squads, vets, etc
All the benefits of the rhino, but with a heavy weapon.

Rhinos are hugely points effective and are great at screening your army after you hop out.

I almost prefer multi special weapons squads in a rhino so they can shoot. (ALA IG vet squads in chimeras)

Its different for blood angels. They get super cheap transports for assault troops... crazy not to take razorbacks.

Really depends on the codex. As Horst said, BA should be taking razorbacks in the majority, though a full squad in a rhino can be useful too.

SW do well in either, rhinos being used for Rune Priests and razorbacks for scoring boxes of death.

Vanilla marines do better with rhinos, as 5-man squads are very fragile and you can't take a special or heavy weapon. They are useful for giving a ride to your HQ if you don't have a land raider.

Basically, its not cut and dry as to what is definitively better. Depends on the codex and the list.

Blacksails wrote:

Vanilla marines do better with rhinos, as 5-man squads are very fragile and you can't take a special or heavy weapon. They are useful for giving a ride to your HQ if you don't have a land raider.

5 men may be fragile but sometimes combat squadding can be useful so heavy weapons can stay in the back while the assault weapons move forwards in a razor

kenshin620 wrote:

Blacksails wrote:

Vanilla marines do better with rhinos, as 5-man squads are very fragile and you can't take a special or heavy weapon. They are useful for giving a ride to your HQ if you don't have a land raider.

5 men may be fragile but sometimes combat squadding can be useful so heavy weapons can stay in the back while the assault weapons move forwards in a razor

True. But if you take 10 men and a razorback you do not have the option to "mount up" if you need to. No matter what... someone is walking. If you get a kill point scenario, is it a disadvantage to have 10 walking troops that are equipped with a maximum of 1 long range shot and who cost ~200 points? In some lists yeah, it might be.

-Myst

Myst that is why only the bare min of troops are taken. Since you have to spend some points on troops, a 10 man squad with the weapon options plus 2x5 scouts is more useful than buying 2 5 man squads in razors.

Ten tactical marines with a missile launcher, meltagun, sgt. w/pf in a razorback. Combat squad the group, sgt., meltagun and three marines go in razorback, missile launcher and other four marines sit in cover in deployment zone and throw missiles across the board.

helium42 wrote:Ten tactical marines with a missile launcher, meltagun, sgt. w/pf in a razorback. Combat squad the group, sgt., meltagun and three marines go in razorback, missile launcher and other four marines sit in cover in deployment zone and throw missiles across the board.

Personally, I've never understood the concept behind putting a power fist on a squad that will nearly always be combat squaded to use the razorback. A 10-man marine squad with power fist is far from being a combat powerhouse, and the fist is debatable there. In a 5-man squad, however, I literally see no point. Its 25pts to hope that if you get out of the transport to shoot the special weapon and weather the counter assault that you'll survive in order to swing back two times at WS4. I just don't see it doing anything. When you take two powerfists in such a unit, you could effectively buy most of a speeder, or most of a naked predator, or a number of other things infinitely more useful than hoping to get two swings with the fist.

Maybe someone can convince me otherwise, but I generally see powerfists as too expensive in tac squads for too little gain, particularly in 5-man squads or combat squads.