Have you seen this unit? Part 2

Part 2 of this little series will focus on another Space Marine unit, the Land speeder Storm. Now this unit is only available (currently) for the codex or regular Space Marines.



This vehicle does look neat. Why is it not being used?



This is a reasonably priced fast attack vehicle. It is a skimmer, open topped, armor 10 on all sides and fast. It comes standard with a heavy bolter, jamming beacon, cerberus launcher, and is ballistic skill 3. It has the Deep Strike and Scout universal special rules. Finally, it is ballistic skill 3 and can carry 5 scouts (and only scouts). What does the jamming beacon and Cerberus launcher do you ask?

The jamming beacon, well, is a jamming beacon. Any icon, teleport homer or other item of that sort will not work with 6” of this vehicle. So deep striking without error (icon, homer etc) will not work if within 6” of the Storm. It also causes any unit attempting to deep strike within 6” to roll 4D6” for scatter instead of the standard 2D6”. Wow that sounds pretty useful.

The Cerberus launcher gives a nice assault buff to any squad jumping out to fight. An enemy unit that is assaulted, by the squad embarked on the Storm, will suffer a -2 to their leadership for that assault phase. Wow quite a buff in the hectic world of 40K close combat.

So why is this vehicle left off battle fields? Well I think it is due to the fact it is a frail non-dedicated dedicated transport. It can only carry scouts and five at that. There is not a lot that is scary about five scouts jumping out to assault. Wait how is it dedicated and not dedicated? Well it is a vehicle with transport option (non-dedicated) that can only carry scouts (dedicated to scouts only).

Then there is the fact it competes with; bikes, non-open topped speeders with better ballistic, attack bikes and even Vanguard Veterans. Space Marine players look at these as better fast attack options than then Storm.

There is also the ballistic skill of 3, which is not terrible. It is just low for marines. You can swap the heavy bolter on the Storm for a heavy flamer, multi melta or assault cannon. However, at ballistic 3 half of those shots are going to miss. The heavy flamer at least mitigates the BS 3, but when you need a multi melta shot, you can find it cheaper and more accurate elsewhere in the codex.

Last is the fragility of the vehicle. The armor 10 typical for a marine speeder, however, the open topped is not there. Plus regular land speeders can be bought in squadrons, and gain the added benefit (basically) of extra armor and wound (glancing/ penetrating) allocation. The Storm is singular and open topped armor 10. A well aimed and rolled boltgun can drop this vehicle, just ask the Dark Eldar.

How could this be changed in the future? Well first thing is that this should be a dedicated transport option for scouts and not a fast choice. Even, keep the limit of only a five scout capacity. Sure more scouts would  This just makes sense. Why it was not done in the first place is a mystery. Maybe it is the fear of multiple jamming beacons or the cerberus launcher instead of the three that can be taken now. Is there fear that too many people would be running multiple small five man scout squads in Storms, instead of tactical marines in Rhinos? Was G.W. afraid the Storm and scouts would out sell marines and Rhinos? Who knows?

This is a nice looking model, the attached scouts are a great touch. The abilities and special rules for it's wargear make for a possibly fun transport. There are definitely a tactical use for the Storm, especially with Blood Angels falling from the skies, demons dropping out of the warp, and a myriad of Terminators teleporting. It is a shame that a descent looking model has been shelved by its location in the codex.