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I was looking at a few lists people have made for a few different armies, and see that there aren't many rhinos. Are they decent to use in 30K? I am building up my SoH army and trying to build my to buy list and wanted to know what people thought of them over other transports, if any at all.

They're not scoring in 30k. You also cant score inside a transport. So they are less attractive.

Speaking of Rhinos and transports in general, if I end up selling my soul and buying a Spartan like everybody else, can troops begin the game inside it? I noticed that it isn't a dedicated transport.

Plus, the Legion Tactical Squad works best when it's a nice and chunky unit of 10+ models for your Fury of the Legion attack(s).

Veteran Tacticals work pretty well in them though. Drive around taking Tank Hunter potshots with two Missile Launchers, or Outflank them with flamers or plasma or something.

bigsaks5 wrote:
Speaking of Rhinos and transports in general, if I end up selling my soul and buying a Spartan like everybody else, can troops begin the game inside it? I noticed that it isn't a dedicated transport.

Terminators and some of the special units like Fire Drakes can take a Spartan as a dedicated transport.

They work quite well as mobile walls with the troops walking alongside, buys you a turn of your opponent not being able to shoot your expensive unit.

bigsaks5 wrote:
Speaking of Rhinos and transports in general, if I end up selling my soul and buying a Spartan like everybody else, can troops begin the game inside it? I noticed that it isn't a dedicated transport.

A vehicle doesn't have to be a dedicated transport for a unit to begin the game inside it. It just has to be a transport, have enough room for the unit, and there are no other conflicts like "this unit can't get in a transport because they are claustrophobic."

I use them. Outside of one of the RoWs that allow other dedicated transports, its the only way to get support squads, vet tacs, and seekers around the board without slogging it. I usually toss a havoc launcher on top of them as well making it a poor mans artillery piece.

Plus with the insane amount of nasty anti tank firepower in 30k its pretty darn easy to have your rhinos suddenly explode into a firey crater.

Although it's also very easy to shoot up a footslogging squad.

Rhinos in 30K just aren't stupidly good for the price like they are in 40K. They're still useful and cheap.

See, I rate Rhinos. Rhinos need to be scragged before the contents are dealt with meaning that the Neutron Laser/Gravitons/etc aren't shooting at your own heavier vehicles. Also, the contents are pretty much immune to bolter fire until they disembark or their Rhino is destroyed.

Compare to the 20 man blobs. 20 man blobs aren't immune to bolter fire, a nicely placed Typon/Fellblade/Quad Mortar/Medusa/etc shell will see to the blob squad rather quickly. They are slow and have a large footprint. Blobs tend to be much more expensive than a 10 man/rhino/artificier sergeant as some players add on all and sundry along with Apothecaries (taking up elite slots) to blobs which, when they get hit with very common Str:8 or greater weapons, makes little difference to their survivability. Only certain legions are capable of running blobs and having them survive until they are in a position of being able to do something.

And, if you're infiltrating the Rhinos or they've been ignored, last turn or so will see them racing onto objectives and shielding the sneaky objective grabbers inside.

 zedmeister wrote:
See, I rate Rhinos. Rhinos need to be scragged before the contents are dealt with meaning that the Neutron Laser/Gravitons/etc aren't shooting at your own heavier vehicles. Also, the contents are pretty much immune to bolter fire until they disembark or their Rhino is destroyed.

Compare to the 20 man blobs. 20 man blobs aren't immune to bolter fire, a nicely placed Typon/Fellblade/Quad Mortar/Medusa/etc shell will see to the blob squad rather quickly. They are slow and have a large footprint. Blobs tend to be much more expensive than a 10 man/rhino/artificier sergeant as some players add on all and sundry along with Apothecaries (taking up elite slots) to blobs which, when they get hit with very common Str:8 or greater weapons, makes little difference to their survivability. Only certain legions are capable of running blobs and having them survive until they are in a position of being able to do something.

And, if you're infiltrating the Rhinos or they've been ignored, last turn or so will see them racing onto objectives and shielding the sneaky objective grabbers inside.

Well said, what do you think of using Rhinos as a dual purpose shield, say, transporting a squad with a smaller size cap (like a support squad, or Veteran Tac squad) and then using it to shield a 20 man blob? This is what I am mainly thinking of doing with them since you're not sacrificing as much to the min-unit tax.

With maelstrom type missions, I find I rush from one objective to another, rather than move my guys towards something to kill.

 More Dakka wrote:

Well said, what do you think of using Rhinos as a dual purpose shield, say, transporting a squad with a smaller size cap (like a support squad, or Veteran Tac squad) and then using it to shield a 20 man blob? This is what I am mainly thinking of doing with them since you're not sacrificing as much to the min-unit tax.

Suppose the big question is: What's that 20 man unit going to do? Would the points spent upgrading it to a full 20 man unit be worth spending elsewhere? Does it fit the legion and theme of your Legion? Etc Etc...

I don't like rhinos because they die all the time when my friend has meltas.

 zedmeister wrote:

 More Dakka wrote:

Well said, what do you think of using Rhinos as a dual purpose shield, say, transporting a squad with a smaller size cap (like a support squad, or Veteran Tac squad) and then using it to shield a 20 man blob? This is what I am mainly thinking of doing with them since you're not sacrificing as much to the min-unit tax.

Suppose the big question is: What's that 20 man unit going to do? Would the points spent upgrading it to a full 20 man unit be worth spending elsewhere? Does it fit the legion and theme of your Legion? Etc Etc...

1) I wouldn't look at it so critically. Scoring is at a premium in 30k, and for 250 points, to bring 20 marines (which fill your minimum troops slots) is a good deal compared to the ~360 for a 10-man support in rhino with your "usual" weapons (who don't fill your minimum troops). Pair Fury of the Legion with a 20-man blob, and the fact that with an apothecary (or cover) they are stupid hard to remove from an objective, a 20-man tactical squad usually covers more roles then what you can put in a rhino (if you are to look at them both using the same points cost)

2) 20-man blob squads fit every single legion's fluff, unless your doin' something like post-Istvaan, pre-return to Terra Raven Guard.

 Brennonjw wrote:

 zedmeister wrote:

 More Dakka wrote:

Well said, what do you think of using Rhinos as a dual purpose shield, say, transporting a squad with a smaller size cap (like a support squad, or Veteran Tac squad) and then using it to shield a 20 man blob? This is what I am mainly thinking of doing with them since you're not sacrificing as much to the min-unit tax.

Suppose the big question is: What's that 20 man unit going to do? Would the points spent upgrading it to a full 20 man unit be worth spending elsewhere? Does it fit the legion and theme of your Legion? Etc Etc...

1) I wouldn't look at it so critically. Scoring is at a premium in 30k, and for 250 points, to bring 20 marines (which fill your minimum troops slots) is a good deal compared to the ~360 for a 10-man support in rhino with your "usual" weapons (who don't fill your minimum troops). Pair Fury of the Legion with a 20-man blob, and the fact that with an apothecary (or cover) they are stupid hard to remove from an objective, a 20-man tactical squad usually covers more roles then what you can put in a rhino (if you are to look at them both using the same points cost)

2) 20-man blob squads fit every single legion's fluff, unless your doin' something like post-Istvaan, pre-return to Terra Raven Guard.

I'm more just a fan of the 20 man blob with the extra CCW, and also can't bring myself to run units under their full size because of that tax. What I'm thinking of doing is using a Veteran Tactical squad in a rhino as a LOS blocker/mobile cover for said unit, while the squad inside are themselves moving towards targets. Kind of a dual purpose/dual threat idea.

The differential pricing for the first ten guys and the last ten guys means that you almost never see ten-man Tactical Squads in the first place. Rhinos in 30k are there if you need them for smaller squads, but aren't a core utility vehicle that sees frequent play because of the number of viable strategies that they're irrelevant for.

They're most useful for special weapon squads (Mor Deythan, Legion Veterans, Tactical Support squads, Pyroclasts...) taken in small numbers in support of a larger force, where the squad a) is small enough to fit, b) wants to be mobile, and c) is operating in a list with bigger threats that will draw off the fire that one-shots Rhinos easily.