Armoured Speartip: The 11th-Edition Space Marines Transport Detachment

The detachment first defines a keyword: an Adeptus Astartes Transport that does not Fly and has a Wounds characteristic of 14 or more counts as a HEAVY TRANSPORT. In practice that means Land Raiders and Repulsors, not Rhinos and Impulsors.

The rule itself: each time a unit disembarks from a non-Fly Transport that made a Normal or Advance move this phase, that unit can immediately make a free Normal move of up to D6", or D3+3" if it came out of a Heavy Transport. Units arriving from Strategic Reserves are excluded.

Two things make this much stronger than it reads. First, the transport moves and the passengers move, so your effective threat range is the vehicle's Move plus a disembark plus D3+3". Second, the Heavy Transport version is D3+3", a minimum of 4" rather than a possible 1" — the detachment quietly removes the dice risk that normally makes transport plays unreliable.

• Purgation Doctrine (1 CP, Shooting) — the unit adds 1 to Hit rolls, and adds 1 to Wound rolls too if it disembarked from a Heavy Transport this turn. This is the detachment's damage stratagem and it is explicitly a reward for paying the points for a Land Raider or Repulsor.
• Ceramite Sledgehammer (1 CP, Movement) — a Transport that has not moved yet can move horizontally through terrain, and a Heavy Transport can move through enemy infantry models without ending there. This is the stratagem that lets you drive past a screen instead of grinding through it.
• Advanced Deployment (1 CP, Movement) — units can disembark after the transport Advances, counting as having made a Normal move, though they cannot charge that turn. Enormous reach on the turn you need to reach an objective.
• Rapid Embarkation (1 CP, end of Fight) — an Infantry unit re-embarks in a nearby Heavy Transport, even the same turn it got out. Hit, then hide.
• Machine Wrath (1 CP) — when a Heavy Transport rolls a 6 for Deadly Demise, it moves before the explosion resolves, and can move through enemies. A dying Land Raider gets to pick where the blast lands.
• Armour of Contempt (1 CP, defensive) — worsen incoming AP by 1, which matters a lot on a hull you have built the whole army around.

• Tip of the Spear (40 pts) — if the bearer starts embarked in a Transport, that Transport gains Scouts 6". It is the most expensive enhancement in the detachment and the one that defines it: a Land Raider that pre-moves 6", then moves, then unloads a squad that moves D3+3" is threatening the midfield before your opponent's first turn.
• Armoured Commander (25 pts) — once per turn in the Movement phase, treat the battle round as one higher for setting up a friendly Transport from Strategic Reserves. Gets a second wave on the board a full turn early.
• Shock Deployment (20 pts, Terminator or Gravis) — the bearer's ranged weapons gain Sustained Hits 1 in a Shooting phase after disembarking. Pairs naturally with an Aggressor or Terminator brick riding a Land Raider.
• Liberator (15 pts) — objectives the bearer's unit controls stay yours after you leave. Cheap scoring insurance for an army that is constantly moving on.

• Land Raider (any variant) — the archetypal Heavy Transport: 16 wounds, heavy guns, and the vehicle every Heavy-Transport-only stratagem and enhancement is written for.
• Repulsor and Repulsor Executioner — the Primaris Heavy Transports, with more firepower and the same D3+3" disembark.
• Terminator Squad or Assault Terminators — the classic Land Raider passengers, and legal carriers for Shock Deployment.
• Aggressors — Gravis, hit hard at close range, and get a free repositioning move out of the hull.
• Rhino and Impulsor — still useful, but note they are not Heavy Transports, so their passengers get D6" rather than D3+3" and do not benefit from Purgation Doctrine's Wound bonus.
• A character with Tip of the Spear — riding in your best Heavy Transport, this is the enhancement that turns the list from good to genuinely fast.

Take Armoured Speartip when you own Land Raiders or Repulsors and want to play the fastest, most physically aggressive Marine list available. It has been widely flagged since its April 2026 preview as one of the strongest things Space Marines can do, precisely because it stacks a vehicle move, a disembark, a guaranteed minimum free move, and a Hit and Wound bonus into one turn.

The cost is the whole budget: at 3 DP it fills a 2,000-point army, so no 1-DP support. It is also a genuine investment in models — without at least one 14+ wound transport, the best half of the detachment is switched off and you would be better served by Firestorm Assault Force, which does the mechanised theme at 2 DP with cheaper hulls.

Sample gameplan: put a character with Tip of the Spear inside a Land Raider carrying Terminators or Aggressors. Scout 6", move the Raider flat out toward the midfield, use Ceramite Sledgehammer to drive through a screen if one is in the way, disembark, take the D3+3" free move onto the objective, and spend Purgation Doctrine for +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound. Hold Armour of Contempt for the return fire, re-embark with Rapid Embarkation once the objective is clear, and keep Machine Wrath for the turn the Raider finally dies.