The Land Raider is regarded by many as the finest armoured fighting vehicle of its class in the Imperium’s arsenal and the mainstay battle tank of the Space Marine Legions. It is a phenomenally powerful war machine, its multi-layered composite armour and reinforced hull all but impervious even to heavy weapons, being a sealed unit designed to resist enemy attack from any approach. Intended to serve in almost any environment as both war machine and exploration vehicle, it can operate freely in war zones ranging from acid swamps to rad-deserts without any noticeable impediment to its performance, and can even operate in hard vacuum, ensuring there is no open battlefield on which its armoured wrath cannot be unleashed. The Land Raider is a masterwork that heralds back to the might of Mankind during the lost High Dark Age of Technology, and since the rediscovery of its STC in the vaults of Mars, several patterns have been established in widespread use varying the balance of its battlefield role from armoured explorer, to assault tank, to command and control vehicle, but all maintain the core components of its established form and function.
| Armour | Transport Capacity | ||||||
| M | BS | Front | Side | Rear | HP | ||
| Legion Land Raider Proteus Carrier (⌀Use model) | |||||||
| Legion Land Raider Proteus Carrier (⌀Use model) | 12 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 5 | 12 |
The Space Marines of the Emperor’s Legions are genetically engineered, psycho-indoctrinated warriors with superhuman abilities, and minds and souls tempered for war. Each of the Legions has its own idiosyncrasies and character – the product of their gene-seed and the unique warrior cultures fostered by their masters.
Any unit with this special rule will have a number of additional special rules and abilities specific to their ‘named’ Legion, all of which will be defined in other Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness publications. A Space Marine unit may only have one such ‘named’ rule, e.g., Legiones Astartes (Sons of Horus). Space Marine units from a different Legion may only be included in an army using an Allied Detachment and in conjunction with the Allies in the Age of Darkness chart.Some weapons are capable of breaching armour with a terrifying ease, whether by specially designed munitions, careful targeting or sheer brute power.
When rolling To Wound for a model that has the Breaching (X) special rule, or is attacking with a weapon that has the Breaching (X) special rule, for each To Wound roll equal to or higher than the value listed in brackets, the controlling player must resolve these wounds at AP 2 instead of the weapon’s normal AP value. This rule has no effect on models that do not have Wounds, such as models with the Vehicle Unit Type.A branch of weaponry now commonplace among the ranks of the Legiones Astartes, bolt weapons are based on a robust Terran design, refined from the weapons used during the Emperor’s battles to conquer Old Earth. These brutally efficient weapons fire a caseless, self-propelled and mass reactive munition, more akin to a miniature rocket than a simple bullet and easily capable of eviscerating most foes against which the Space Marines of the Imperium find themselves matched. Such was the success of these weapons that they would eventually come to replace the more complex Martian weapons that had once dominated the arsenals of the Legiones Astartes.
All weapons listed here are counted as ‘Bolt’ weapons for those rules that affect such weapons.| Ranged Weapon | |||||||
Ranged Weapon | R | FP | RS | AP | D | Special Rules | Traits |
| Bolt pistol | |||||||
| Bolt pistol | 12 | 1 | 4 | 5 | Pistol | Assault, Bolt | |
| Bolter | |||||||
| Bolter | 24" | 4 | 5 | Rapid Fire | - | ||
| Combi-bolter | |||||||
| Combi-bolter | 24" | 4 | 5 | Rapid Fire, Twin-linked | - | ||
| Kraken bolter | |||||||
| Kraken bolter | 30" | 4 | 4 | Rapid Fire | - | ||
| - Tempest rounds | 18" | 3 | 6 | Assault 3, Ignores Cover | - | ||
| - Scorpius rounds | 24" | 5 | 4 | Assault 1, Breaching (4+) | - | ||
| Nemesis bolter | |||||||
| Nemesis bolter | 72" | 5 | 5 | Heavy 1, Rending (5+), Sniper, Pinning | - | ||
| Heavy bolter | |||||||
| Heavy bolter | 36" | 5 | 4 | Heavy 4 | - | ||
| Gravis bolt cannon | |||||||
| Gravis bolt cannon | 48" | 5 | 4 | Heavy 6, Twin-linked | - | ||
| Gravis heavy bolter battery | |||||||
| Gravis heavy bolter battery | 48" | 5 | 4 | Heavy 8, Twin-linked | - | ||
| Avenger bolt cannon | |||||||
| Avenger bolt cannon | 36" | 6 | 3 | Heavy 7 | - | ||
An Ancient Terran innovation, pairing a bolter with another secondary weapon to allow elite formations of warriors to project superior firepower at the climactic moment of battle. Most often used to break through enemy lines or to stymie the onslaught of enemy armour, these weapons are the mark of the elite of the Legiones Astartes, issued to the most skilled of warriors to maximise their worth.
Combi-weapons are divided into two types: magna and minor. Both are composed of a primary weapon and a secondary weapon, and a model with any combi-weapon may attack with both primary and secondary weapons in the same Shooting Attack without needing the Firing Protocols (X) special rule.| Ranged Weapon | |||||||
Ranged Weapon | R | FP | RS | AP | D | Special Rules | Traits |
| Bolter (Primary) | |||||||
| Bolter (Primary) | 24" | 4 | 5 | Rapid Fire | - | ||
| Flamer (Secondary) | |||||||
| Flamer (Secondary) | Template | 4 | 5 | Assault 1 | - | ||
| Meltagun (Secondary) | |||||||
| Meltagun (Secondary) | 12" | 8 | 1 | Assault 1, Armourbane (Melta), One Shot | - | ||
| Plasma gun (Secondary) | |||||||
| Plasma gun (Secondary) | 24" | 7 | 4 | Rapid Fire, Breaching (4+), Gets Hot, One Shot | - | ||
| Volkite charger (Secondary) | |||||||
| Volkite charger (Secondary) | 15" | 5 | 5 | Assault 2, Deflagrate | - | ||
| Grenade launcher (Secondary) | |||||||
| - Frag | 24" | 3 | 6 | Assault 1, Blast (3"), Pinning | - | ||
| - Krak | 24" | 5 | 4 | Assault 1 | - | ||
| Disintegrator* (Secondary) | |||||||
| Disintegrator* (Secondary) | 24" | 5 | 2 | Rapid Fire, Instant Death, Gets Hot, One Shot | - | ||
Many armoured fighting vehicles bear simple grenade systems rigged to distribute smoke upon being triggered, granting the vehicle a brief and passing cover that can prove crucial in the worst of situations. Such devices are of most use in slow moving engagements, as a vehicle at maximum speed will quickly disperse or outrun its own smoke shield.
The controlling player may choose to trigger smoke launchers once a model with them has completed its movement in the Movement phase, and may only choose to trigger them if the model has moved no faster than Combat Speed that turn. Once triggered, the model with smoke launchers counts as being more than 25% obscured, regardless of terrain, until the start of the controlling player’s next turn and gains a 6+ Cover Save. A model whose smoke launchers have been triggered may not make any Shooting Attacks, except as part of a Reaction, in the same turn. Smoke launchers may only be used once per battle, and once triggered may not be further used – in addition, they do not count as a weapon and may not be targeted by Weapon Destroyed results on the Vehicle Damage table.Mounted illum-beacons or simple electric torches, many vehicles mount some kind of portable light to aid in target identification and destruction in darkness and poor weather.
A model with searchlights ignores the 24" limit to line of sight imposed by the Night Fighting rules when making Shooting Attacks, however enemy units also ignore that same restriction when making Shooting Attacks that target a model with searchlights.The interface between this vehicle’s advanced machine spirit and its fire control mechanisms allows the crew to target foes with incredible accuracy.
A Vehicle with this special rule may attack different targets with each Ranged weapon it is permitted to fire during any Shooting Attack.This vehicle is specifically designed to disgorge troops into the thick of the action.
Passengers Disembarking from Access Points on a Vehicle with this special rule can Charge on the turn they do so (including when forced to make an Emergency Disembarkation) unless the Vehicle arrived from Reserves that turn.This datasheet has Heavy Support Battlefield Role. Full list of Legiones Astartes units sharing same Battlefield Role follows: