One opponent stares at the dice as it rolls across the board. He is going to deploy first. But, what does his opponent have? What should he prepare for? Is it going to be a goliath on the battlefield, barreling at his line with a slow and steady purpose, or is it gonna be a quick and swift skimmer with the stinging power of the mightiest of weapons? If it is one of these, which should he fear more?After discussing both the pros and cons to fielding a Stormraven and a Land Raider, I figured it was time to compare them directly to one another. Both vehicles have definite strengths and weaknesses that I have already discussed in greater detail in earlier posts. Here I will examine how those strengths and weaknesses compare to one another and try and give a better situational understanding of when and where these two beasts shine, and how they might stack up against one another. By now, many of us have played with or against a Land Raider and a Stormraven. I myself used to use a basic Land Raider in my 3rd edition Grey Knights army, but soon dropped it for the tactical flexibility of three dreadnoughts. After the new codex came out, I absolutely loved the tactical capabilities of a Stormraven, and how they can add so much variety of play and create unusual situations for both the enemy and myself. The Stormraven at its basic form is cheaper than the Land Raider of any variant, but lacks the awesome firepower that the latter can wield. The basic Stormraven comes equipped with a twin linked assault cannon and heavy bolter, with the upgrade capabilities of replacing the assault cannon with a lascannon and the heavy bolter with a multi-melta for free. Replacing either one of these will give the Stormraven more tank hunting ability, making the vehicle more deadly towards mech heavy lists. The Stormraven can add side sponson hurricane bolters for 30pts and can even replace the heavy bolter with a typhoon missile launcher. The different weapons payload can make the Stormraven more versatile, as you can field them in almost any situation and find it useful. The Land Raider variants tend to be more expensive than the Stormraven, but have a heavier payload without having to add weapons onto the vehicle. The Land Raider variants are not as customizable as the Stormraven, leaving you with specific fixed weapon variants. Now, the customizability of the Stormraven does not mean it is a better vehicle, it just means that you can tailor the skimmer to fit almost any situation where you want it to be effective.
