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I'm considering the merits and drawbacks between these two large guard transports and was wondering if anybody has an opinion about which is more useful. My 'first impression' observations have been something along the lines of:

Gorgon:

+ larger capacity
+ possibly better armed
+ has an invulnerable save
- more expensive in points
- higher priority target because of its capacity and firepower.

CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT:

+ cheap
+ can advance and fire at normal BS
+ possibly a lower priority target, something valuable for a pure transport maybe?
- no invulnerable save
- less firepower

I feel you, since I'm considering the same.

First of: I think if you want to go highly competetive both have a hard time at the transport front competing with their weight in Chimeras at the one end or a Stormlord at the other.

I think the gorgon does not even have to be that high of a priority target, as even though it has a big capacity, the transported models likely don't make up much points. 50 guardsmen are only 200 points which by itself is not a very compelling reason to dedicate a lot of AT firepower at it. And the Gorgons Firepower itself is not that impressive either when there are still Leman Russ etc. running around.
I don't know how god you can pull this off, but I think the gorgon could be an interesting tool to speed up infantry units. What I imagine is moving it up to the middle of the board. Then you can - as long as it stays alive - move infantry up to 3'' of it's one end in turn x and disembark at the start of the next turn 3'' from its opposing end winning a lot of distance in between. The interesting thing is, that this goes both ways, so you could move a Bullgrynsquad up from your deployment zone through the rear end of the Gorgon towards its prow by simulatanously moving a Scion Squad from the prow to the rear. I don't think that stick is worth 300+ points, but it is something new. It might also be interesting for messing with your opponents target preference since shooting down something as sturdy as a Gorgon takes quite some dedication. If he does so he has used a lot of his firepower for removing a Transport that made up only a minority of your firepower and likely contains only some infantry. If he does not a giant obstacle sits in the middle of the field and might hinder movement or LOS.
But again: for 300+ points... its not a competetive use.

I made my CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT for the meme factor but it’s dog awful in game, sadly. Too expensive if you cover it in heavy flamers, too out of position from the rest of your army if it advances and shoots, too easy to crack in a heartbeat with big guns like Frost Cannons or D-Cannons. And then you likely have 30 very squishy guys inside. I love my Party Bus but it rarely sees play TBH.

A shame on both counts really. I kinda knew in my heart of hearts that Chimeras were the way to go; 40k genuinely seems to favour smaller units, but still, that 'bridge' effect on a Gorgon is an interesting idea. As Pyro said though, is it really 300 points and £120 worth of interesting?

As for the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT, again, sad to hear it doesn't perform so well. I had hoped that some of its flaws could be forgiven for its relatively modest points cost but it doesn't sound quite worth it.

I'll find a more conventional way of getting my Bullgryns to the front; Chimeras or a Stormlord, even perhaps a Valkyrie, when the game allows.

CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT is both our Lord and saviour.

If memes are to be believed - but they are funny.

It would be really cool, if the CRASSUS could still transport Cyclops Demolition Vehicles like it seemed to be able in earlier editions. And the same goes for the Gorgon, that is definitly large enough.

Apart from that: I guess two CRASSUS could be a way to build a Superheavy detachment that profits from regimental doctrines, if you have a Shadowsword or something and for some reason don't want/can't put it into a supreme command detachmend.


Another very niche use is that by using those transports together with the Talarn ambush strategem you can put a lot of infantry into deepstrike, as you can only put one vehicle unit in there. Using a Chimera you can only deepstrike up to 4 Bullgryns, with the Crassus its 11+a priest and Commissar and with the Gorgon even 16+ priest and commissar. Its definitly very very expensive and not competetive at all, but I find the image amusing to put this giant Transport model beside the gaming board during deployment saying "This Gorgon and his 16 Bullgryns are deepstriking". But on the other hand, half your points would not be on the table for the first turn.

Also you might be able to do some line of sight shenannigans as the Gorgon should be able to hide for example Manticors or a bunch of the smaller towed artillery pieces behind while being stubbornly hard to remove, but again... for 300+ points... more of a "lets try something funny" approach and not something for serious winning.

A transport is only as competitive as the unit on board needs to move faster than 6+d6" on a turn it does not want to shoot, unless it is valid as a tank in it's own right.

Guard riflemen overwhelmingly do not, and the gorgon and crassus are basically unarmed, so there's no real point for either. Or chimera for that matter.