Carrying non-infantry units

In Epic 40,000 transport vehicles are assumed to be only capable of carrying infantry units. However, as mentioned briefly in the Battles Book, it is not entirely unreasonable to assume that larger transports such as Leviathans and Nurgle Plague Towers can carry larger cargoes, like Dreadnoughts or Imperial Guard Sentinels. The same applies to flyers with a sufficient transport capacity (Space Marine Thunderhawks for the moment).

There is actually no reason why you can't extend this idea to enable you to transport other vehicles which aren't walkers, both for flyers and ordinary transports. This only applies to transports with a capacity of 6 or more (you can't fit a Rhino into a Land aider!). Of course, this is only a house rule and you'll have to agree with your opponent if you want to transport non-infantry units.

For instance, the Space Marines have several different operational loads for their Thunderhawks. As well as being able to carry troops to the planet's surface, Thunderhawks arc quite capable of carrying vehicles and even unassembled fortifications such as bunkers and Imperial bastions. Here are just a few of the different loads a Thundcrhawk may carry as part of its duties.

The standard transport is 3 squads of ten Space Marines each. The Thunderhawk contains an on-board medi-centre, plus a small workshop and armoury so that an Apothecary or Tech-Marine can have access to more sophisticated equipment and fulfil their roles to the best of their abilities.

The Formido payload replaces one unit of Space Marines with a Dreadnought (so if you are carrying ten-man squads, one can be left behind in favour of two Dreadnoughts). The Space Marines use this kind of load for reinforcing defensive positions or delivering the killing blow to broken troops. It is a great advantage for the Space Marines to deploy their Dreadnoughts from Thunderhawks, as they may otherwise be left behind as the Space Marines roar forwards in their Rhinos and Land Raiders.

Although Thunderhawks can drop their cargoes almost anywhere, there are still areas which are closed to them — zones defended by intense anti-aircraft fire, for example. However, these places are not invulnerable to the Space Marines' lightning assaults. A Thunderhawk can perform an Intrepid landing, carrying a single squad of Space Marines within its armoured shell and also transporting a Rhino slung beneath its hull. This allows the Thunderhawk to deploy the Space Marines as close as possible to the target, who then use their Rhino to complete the journey, striking where the enemy thought themselves safe. When four or five Thunderhawks act in concert this can deliver a sizeable force deep into the foe's territory, ready to assault his rear lines.

Following on with this principle, the storage bays of a Thunderhawk are easily capable of accommodating disassembled vehicles such as Rhinos and Whirlwinds. In this situation, the Thunderhawks operate in pairs, with one ship transporting three disassembled vehicles while the other carries three squads of Space Marines. Other variations are used too. If one Thunderhawk is carrying two Rhinos and a Vindicator, this is only enough ground transport for two squads, so the other Thunderhawk may well transport two squads and two Dreadnoughts instead of three squads. It is the flexibility of the Thunderhawk that make them such a powerful weapon.

There are other possibilities too, such as carrying a disassembled Land Raider, or perhaps transporting support weapons such as Tarantulas and Rapiers to forward positions to hold off the enemy while the rest of the army deploys.

If you like, a good house rule for transporting disassembled vehicles is to say that the vehicles must give up all of their Movement phase while they are being assembled. However, this does not stop them moving in the Assault phase if the detachment has appropriate orders. Of course, with the skill of the Space Marines, you could just say that having to assemble their Rhino hardly slows them down at all, and there's no penalty whatsoever! It's up to you to agree with your opponent what you think is suitable for your games.

These changes don't just apply to Thunderhawk Gunships. Other large transports should be able to accommodate different payloads too. The best guide for this is to look at the size of the models in relation to each other — if you think a Hellhound could comfortably fit into the back of a Leviathan, then you should discuss this with your regular opponents. In the end, allowing a vehicle with a large transport capacity to carry non-infantry units adds to the colour of your battles and doesn't affect game balance very drastically.