Editing Land Raider (section)

==Overview==
[[File:Land_Raider_Insides.png|500px|right]]
The Land Raider has always been a somewhat insane beast, owing to its large weapon load, large size, high point value, and the fact that due to movement and targeting restrictions from 3rd through 7th editions, it could usually fire only a portion of its weapons at a given time. This often made it seem of questionable value, because there were almost always better choices to do what the Land Raider could do for cost - Predators generally did better at vehicle busting ''and'' infantry killing, for example. Consequently, during these editions the Land Raider was mainly used as a transport vehicle for elite squads like Terminators, which hindered its ability to deliver raw firepower even further.

Even with this, the Land Raider was (and still is) a good combat vehicle, if only because of incremental changes to vehicle weaponry rules. In 5th Edition, for example, the Land Raider could finally fire off all its weaponry when moving. This was a ''very'' big deal back then, although it's something that players in 8th/9th now expect as a matter of course. Make no mistake: it may have been inefficient, large, and points-heavy, but the Land Raider was a powerful and daunting foe, and not to be underestimated in any circumstance. AV14 all around made it a tough nut to crack, and the Land Raider was very likely to survive the opening salvo, especially if it had extra armor, and as long as it was sheltered from the heaviest anti-tank weaponry.

And before you say it, a Land Raider ''is not'' a main battle tank like the Leman Russ, or an armored personnel carrier like the Rhino; it is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle like the Razorback (albeit a very large and heavily armed one), since it can both carry troops inside and provide dedicated fire support (hence Infantry and Fighting). Well, that is unless you can actually get the Ares and Terminus Ultra pattern models, who traded their transport capabilities for even more and bigger guns, where they're pretty much an assault gun and a tank destroyer respectively...

Okay, now that we've explained how and why the Land Raider is an IFV, it should be noted that the original Land Raider was designated an MBT by the man who found the STC and whom the vehicle is named after, Arkhan Land. And now you are certainly asking, "But you JUST said the Land Raider was a heavy IFV, and not an MBT?" Well, if the theory that the Land Raider Proteus is actually the default/original variant of the Land Raider is correct, then the Land Raider WAS meant to be an MBT, it's just that the variants that permitted honest troop capacity were utilized more often by the Assault-happy Astartes to the point that Land Raiders are now known by the more common offspring of the original pattern. Whatever the intent of the original design concept, in the current era of the 40k timeline most Land Raiders do indeed function as a kind of hybrid heavy infantry fighting vehicle, as previously mentioned.

In terms of appearance, a Land Raider is basically a cross between a giant Mark I tank from WWI and a modern armored fighting vehicle. It's shaped more like the latter, but the exposed treads on the entire front of the tank and the sponson-mounted guns hearken back to real-life WWI designs that used such mounts to lower the center of gravity while enabling gunners to fire directly to the sides as they crossed trenches. Why GW decided to model something after this is a mystery (it's probably because they're British), but over the years GW's preference for such early-20th-Century design touches has defined many of their most popular designs.

Now in 8th/9th edition, the Land Raider is a much more fearsome beast, being able to fire all of its weapons at the same or different targets whether it moves or not, and benefiting greatly from the new twin-linked rules that effectively doubled its potential firepower. It's also T8 with 16 wounds and one of the very few 2+ armour saves on vehicles. It basically went from schizophrenic IFV to being a ''very'' effective IFV.