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Maybe I'm missing something here, but chaos rhino's seem to have pretty good dakka options. For 50 points you can have double twin linked bolter and a combi weapon, 5 points cheaper than the twin linked hb razorback. 12 points to get a havoc too.

I suppose the answer is, they die too easily. But couldn't you take say, 5 of them for a lot of dakka/cover?

Well, they're a dedicated transport, so you'd have to take 5 units that allow rhinos as dedicated transports to have 5 of them.

As for lots of dakka, I'd rather my transports transport my troops and let my havoc squads with autoguns or chaos space marines squads do most of the shooting.

They certainly can be used to shield your stationary units from incoming fire and I've run empty ones next to ones with troops to protect them. Nothing wrong with that strategy. If you have the points to spare for an extra bolter or a havoc launcher, sure! Do it. You could probably get more use out of another marine for your havoc squad or a special weapon upgrade for one of your other units, though.

Sidguard wrote:
Maybe I'm missing something here, but chaos rhino's seem to have pretty good dakka options. For 50 points you can have double twin linked bolter and a combi weapon, 5 points cheaper than the twin linked hb razorback. 12 points to get a havoc too.

I suppose the answer is, they die too easily. But couldn't you take say, 5 of them for a lot of dakka/cover?

Don't havocs have heavy bolters? A double twin linked bolter isn't really anything to be excited about especially as those rhinos are going to go down on turn 1 or 2.

50 points for a bunch of twinlinkes bolters isnt very good. They only get a high volume of fire at 12" and by then their are vunerable to melta, plasma, or assault.

The havoc launcher is ok, but I like mine with dirge casters and that is it.

I've been using a lot of chaos rhinos lately. This is what I've learned.

Combi-Weapons
Situationally useful. Depending on your meta, 5 points for a combi-melta can be really useful. I use this if I have extra points to spare.


Dirge Caster
On part with psy-bolt ammo as the best vehicle upgrade in the game. You don't need it on every rhino, but having a few in your army opens up huge options. 5 points to ignore any overwatch within 6" is huge -- especially on a platform that can move 18" a turn.

I have used this to ignore the overwatch of daemon flamers, sternguard and even normal marines. In every game I bring 2-3 dirge casters now due to the utility of the upgrade.


Dozer Blade
Excellent when you don't want the unit to get bogged down by a bad terrain roll. I use this on land raiders that need to transport a package.


Havoc Launchers
The other day I had 60 spare points so I threw 5 havoc launchers on my rhinos. These weapons are great. STR 5 blast thats twin-linked means their hitting most of the time.
To make it even better they have a 48" range, so can reach out and touch someone. You can use them on long fangs, lootas, etc..

The biggest problem they have is they suffer from the same problem as any blast template. A smart person is going to spread out so your only hitting 2-3 models a shot. Like frag missiles, when it pays off though it pays off in gold. If a deep striking unit does not run, and you can get 8+ models under the template, those 5 havoc launchers can do major damage.

If I ever am in a game where I'm sitting on 40+ points leftover, I will use them on havocs.

The problem with comparing them to Razorbacks is that they're 24" versus TLHB's 36". Also, when you're moving at combat speed, you only fire one weapon at full BS and the rest at snap-fire - that basically means you'll be snap-firing most of your shots if your Rhinos are being used to move upfield (Which you should, if you want to get shots out due to their short range).

That being said, I've been taking a liking to "Havocbacks", basically Rhinos with Havoc Launchers - I concur with labmouse42's judgment on them. They do a surprising amount of damage, and even if you end up with a gunline war with another MEQ army (e.g. GK Purifier spam) you out-range most of their weapons at 48". Str 5 still allows you to glance other light transports to death, if you really have nothing else to shoot. The advantage over a Razorback is that it's cheaper, and that you can still fire guys out of the top hatch despite the havoc launcher, but that's highly situational, of course.

Havocs also don't lower capacity, so where a razorback can only carry 6, the 'havocback' carries 10.

This makes it very useful when spamming MEQ on the table.

 labmouse42 wrote:
Havocs also don't lower capacity, so where a razorback can only carry 6, the 'havocback' carries 10.

This makes it very useful when spamming MEQ on the table.

That too! Totally forgot about that one. Seems most of the time in 6th Ed most people are playing larger squads of 10 for CSM now, it actually really synergizes well and works in our favor.

 labmouse42 wrote:
Havocs also don't lower capacity, so where a razorback can only carry 6, the 'havocback' carries 10.

This makes it very useful when spamming MEQ on the table.

and can fire heavy/special weapons out of the hatches.