Land Raider Variants and Space Wolves

This is a topic which has been causing me no end of wonder recently. In my most recent article, the 1250pts Space Wolf list, you will see I opted for the Land Raider Redeemer eventually to deliver my Wolf Guard (maybe a bit Deathstar(ish)) unit into the heat of battle! (excuse the pun)

But I believe this topic to be one worthy of a little more debate. In our codex, we have access to 3 Land Raider Patterns, the usual, the Crusader and the Redeemer. Here I hope to list the reasons for taking each, and my opinions on them.

Right, so first up we have the usual Land Raider. Weighing in at 250pts, it's expensive as always. (one thing I'm surprised at is that the points weren't lowered in the Dark Angels Codex, but I'm sure they have their reasons). Armed with 2 twin-linked Lascannons, and a twin-linked heavy bolter, it's got a lot of firepower! As well as a transport capacity of 10 and AV 14/14/14 with 4 HPs, all for 250pts. This is the variant I feel is hardest to decide upon the role. For a start, it carries the long range weapons of our arsenal, is the most survivable vehicle we have access to. So I feel sitting it at the back of the battlefield, putting the Lascannons to good use is wasting the overall potential. But sticking a squad of Wolf Guard and the like inside it and pushing it forward is also a little risky, since it reduces the fire ability. For these reasons, I tend to leave this one back in The Fang, it doesn't know what it wants to do with itself.

The Crusader. Again, 250pts, but this time armed with 2 Hurricane Bolters and a twin-linked assault cannon, frag assault launchers, with a transport capacity of 16!! Definitely the dedicated assault vehicle we want to deliver the death star to define all deathstars. The hurricane bolters are effective at the grange this vehicle wants to operate at, close, as does the assault cannon. The one thing it lacks is the straight up fire power. You could argue this is offset by the sheer volume of shots it can deliver, and the payload it will probably be carrying, but when I'm spending 250pts on something, I'd like it to do a little more than simply deliver a unit to the battle safely. This is something the standard Land Raider does well, with it's Lascannons able to de-mech enemy units for the occupants to charge. But with the Crusader, unless it's Dark Eldar you're fighting, with their paper aeroplanes, you're unlikely to get much in the way of de-meching, or softening of the more elite units. Instead, you get something which can soften up an enemy unit moderately, before a 16 (or 8 terminator) model unit finishes it off. Frankly, even I don't take squads this big. Despite the safety of its armour, I still feel there's too much risk involved. And as mentioned above, I like to feel my vehicles do something in the battle, other than merely soften an enemy unit.

This leads me on to the final variant, the Land Raider Redeemer! 10pts less than the other 2, at 240pts (for some reason...) it comes with a transport capacity of 12, a twin-linked assault cannon, frag assault launchers, and my favourite bit: 2 flame storm cannons!! Possibly my favourite weapon in the game - These S6 Ap3 beauties reduce even marine units to molten slag in one shot, even if they decide to cower in cover!
But back on track. Personally, I feel that a capacity of 12 is perfect. It allows for a terminator armoured character to accompany our Wolf Guard Terminators, nothing more I could really wish for. A 10pts multi-melta brings it up to 250pts along with the others, and adds the extra firepower we need to do some serious damage to enemy tanks. The assault cannon is a very useful weapon (the amount of times i've seen it destroy Rhinos...). And the Flamestorm cannons are perfect for dealing with the many MEQ units in the local meta. Unfortunately, the positioning of shots can sometimes be difficult, and if the enemy is optimising model spacing... A dismissed kill count will be achieved (as well as a disgruntled look). But overall, this is my favourite variant.
Able to decisively reduce units threatening to get close with melta weapons, and soften the enemy unit before it's occupants charge in.

Hopefully an article which will help you decide which variant to field, and not too long winded... If you feel I've missed anything out, or have some gay ideas/feedback of your own, as always, feel free to leave a comment!
-Aseldi