There is a role in any army for high-speed vehicles. These are usually smaller vehicles which will often be used to reconnoitre ahead of an army or rapidly deploy heavy weapons systems or infantry squads to critical parts of the battlefield. Some races, such as the Eldar, use fast vehicles almost exclusively (Falcons, Vypers, etc) enabling them to carry out the lightning raids and deep strikes for which they are rightly feared. Most of the fastest vehicles on the battlefield are skimmers, such as the Space Marine Land Speeder, as these avoid terrain problems which slow down conventional craft.
However, a few wheeled or tracked vehicles are also capable of high speeds, mostly due to either ultra-light weight or extremely powerful engines.
Some vehicles are notably fast either because of their light construction or powerful engines – or both! Fast vehicles can move up to 24" in the Movement phase.
These manoeuvre more rapidly than ordinary tanks and other vehicles so they can fire heavy weapons when they move faster. They may fire all their defensive weapons if moving up to 12".
- Fast vehicles moving up to 6" can fire all their main weapons.
- Fast vehicles moving up to 12" can fire one main weapon.
- Fast vehicles moving more than 12" may not fire main weapons at all.