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Gah!

I'm stuck in a horrible dilemma.

The Taurox Prime definitely LOOKS COOL with its Gatling Cannon or the katyusha-esque Missile Launcher no doubt, but it can get really costly.

The vanilla Taurox is our cheapest transport (20 points cheaper than a Chimera that can re-roll difficult terrain tests) and can get a squad of Veterans where you want them to be. Veterans do not have access to the Prime, so that's another reason why this transport is valued over the latter. Also, the unit that has access to it (Stormtroopers) can deepstrike, so there really is no need for them to ride into battle aboard a transport - and especially one with such paper thin armor. I'd rather take my chances with a deepstrike mishap than being blasted midway to the intended destination and sitting ducks stranded. The Taurox also rocks a semi-decent anti-light AV weapon, certainly more potent than any single gun on the Chimera, and also one that can actually scratch AV13 unlike the Chimera and lastly, also one with 12" more range. All for a fairly low transport points cost.


The Taurox Prime on the other hand, offers a whole range of tactical flexibility as it can be fielded in many ways.

For one, your Stormtroopers do not have to ride in it - they can just purchase it (say, the costliest variant rocking the missile launcher and the tl-autocannon) and you can then have this Taurox Prime sit behind an ADL and snipe enemy armor with its BS4, while it is protected by a generous 4+ cover save now, suddenly making that points investment pay off. Or, you can load up a normal infantry (or veteran) squad after the game has begun and ride off to claim objectives while the Stormtroopers deepstrike somewhere else.

A) Either you pay the +30 points upgrade just to get the Ballistic Skill upgrade (4), the Fast type (so you can flat out an additional 6", OR you can now move an additional 6 inches (i.e. upto 12") and shoot with normal BS), and most importantly of all, you can shoot 2 main weapons at normal BS, which as a non-fast vehicle you wouldnt even be able to do if you moved 6". So a barebones Taurox Prime can move 12" and fire both the Taurox Battle Cannon AND its twin-linked Autocannon at BS4.

B) You decide to use it as an infantry fighting vehicle and give it a Gatling Cannon for +10 points (so now it is 40 points costlier than the vanilla Taurox) and keep its twin-linked Hot Shot Volley Gun (instead of changing it for the tl-AC). This way, you are looking at moving 12" and still being able to pump 10 S4 AP- shots and an additional 4 tl S4 AP3 shots all at Ballistic Skill 4. I did the math on a 10 man tactical marine squad in the open and this yielded 2.88 dead space marines. Not very convincing, as that is a 90 point vehicle causing around 42 points of damage a turn provided if the marines are sitting ducks in the open, otherwise a mere 28 points of damage a turn - no way will it be able to make its points back as an IFV.

C) You decide to buy the missile launcher to get yourself a mobile tank-hunting vehicle - 2 S8 AP3 krak shots and 2 tl-S7 autocannon shots, all at 48", all at BS4, all being able to be fired from a vehicle that has moved 12" means getting into position and delivering can opening firepower will be no problem. Unfortunately, this is also the costliest option, and you have doubled the cost of your Taurox as it now costs 100 points. BUT, while this may look like a waste of points on paper, it is a whole different story on the battlefield, as you now can employ Eldar-esque mobility and turn the right corners / reach the right LoS blocking terrain and exploit positioning on the battlefield and still be able to bring your guns to bear. Alternately, you can park it behind an ADL and benefit from that 4+ cover save. In this case, paying an additional 25 points will allow you to purchase a Hunter-Killer missile and camo-netting, giving your Taurox Prime a 3+ cover save and an initial anti-tank volley consisting of 3 S8 AP3 and 2 TL-S7 AP4 shots all directed at an enemy tank. Pretty solid tank hunter, if you ask me.

If you just want a transport for vets, the taurox is the best bet. Autocannon for dakka, and fire points to use special weapons.

If you want anything else, take the prime(if you have stormies in your list) It is basically required to take the autocannons over the volley gun, even if you went with the cannon(don't). I would keep it cheap and cheerful with the main battlecannon and autocannons. Enough S7 to threaten light armor, but still decent horde and infantry cleaning power. Kind of like a strange budget hybrid of the chimera and eradicator.

On both, a heavy stubber is worth the points if you have them spare.Cheap way to get more dakka and protect your main guns.

I can't take the prime seriously.

The base Taurox is at least dirt cheap, though I hate the model.

The prime is at least 80pts for an AV11 vehicle. There's a reason people don't get excited over razorbacks these days. If you upgrade the prime, you're looking at 90-100pts, which while it may look strong, is still AV11. With the proliferation of high volume, mid and high strength shots needed to deal with MCs, I'm not confident that the Taurox Prime is worth it.

Personally, I'd still run Chimeras for AV12 saturation.

Agreed with the poster above, Chimeras seem to be the more logical option for a transport.

If you want to run a Taurox I would go for the regular just to save points.

I still can't like the design of it though, even though we are talking about a fluff world of rampaging aliens, magical powers, biologically engineered super humans and gods I cannot believe anyone would design a vehicle where the guns point directly at the exit doors the troops would use.....

The good news is that Secret Weapon Miniatures does a pretty cool 6x6 that's really close to perfectly WYSIWYG. You'd have to remove the hull weapon option, and there are no side doors for disembarking, but I'd totally play a 6x6 as it is instead of the Taurox.

And if you really want a transport with autocannons, the Chimera can run an autocannon turret for an extra 5pts.

How does the fire arc work on the secondary weapons of the Taurox Prime anyway? They seem to be glued to the sides with no chance of swivelling. A hull mounted gun has a 45° fire arc according to the BRB, so this gun, running parallel to the hull, only has half that (22.5°) since the hull blocks the other half?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, the Taurox can take a dozer blade. Is this a codex hiccup or is there any point to this? Can you re-roll a re-roll?

I agree with Blacksails that the Prime is just too overpriced for such a vehicle. I can see using the regular Taurox, though. You trade armor, and a little transport capacity for killing power, range, and points, and I think that's a legitimate trade to make. A TL autocannon is a pretty respectable gun on a transport.