Thunderfire Cannon

[XXKENXX]

Is the Thunderfire Cannon artillery and therefore destroyed on the first glancing or penetrating hit?

 

In White Dwarf Andy Hall talks to Mat Ward who says"it's not artillery; it's a direct fire weapon" -_-

[WarpSpawn]

Well it's unit type is "artillery", so it follows the rules for artillery models, even if the designers think it's tactical use differs from real world artillery.

 

As much as that statement may confuse things, I assume he means in a real world sense, and not what rules it uses.

 

Edit: Could also be refering to the fact that it's direct fire, as opposed to barrage.

[XXKENXX]

Has anyone used a Thunderfire Cannon? How did it perform?

[boreas]

I haven't used the Thunderfire, but having used the Thudd gun, I'm pretty sure it's going to be lethal. Four small templates, especially the ones that ignore cover, will be murder for Tau and IG. But all hordes will suffer horribly. Three of those would be horrendous. Add to that that each one comes with a techmarine that can add +1 to a terrain's cover (thus possibly giving 3+ cover to most of your army. With a few troops that can bolter/flamer the survivors of such an intense barrage, lascannon the tanks (yeah combat squads!) and a few assault squads with powerfists to kill the characters/MCs you've got a pretty solid all rounder...

 

Phil

[Souchan]

I haven't used the Thunderfire, but having used the Thudd gun, I'm pretty sure it's going to be lethal. Four small templates, especially the ones that ignore cover, will be murder for Tau and IG. But all hordes will suffer horribly. Three of those would be horrendous. Add to that that each one comes with a techmarine that can add +1 to a terrain's cover (thus possibly giving 3+ cover to most of your army. With a few troops that can bolter/flamer the survivors of such an intense barrage, lascannon the tanks (yeah combat squads!) and a few assault squads with powerfists to kill the characters/MCs you've got a pretty solid all rounder...

 

Phil

 

AP6 Ignoring cover won't bother Tau much, Guardsmen though will indeed suffer not being able to take the superior save value. Though with it being AP6 it really feels like Orks or nids are the main targets :)

[boreas]

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the 4+ Tau save... Maybe time for opening a Thunderfire thread in the Tactica Astartes!.

 

Phil

[Shiodome]

Do i understand the thundercannon right? it's move or fire, and to kill it you're shooting at a single marine with a 2+ save. seems like a silly way to waste 100points if you need to set up in the open to get any use out of it, and rely on not taking 1 wound during your opponents turn. (i know i'd happily divert one plasma gun etc for a turns shooting to take out a thundercannon)

[boreas]

Yep, the thunderfire cannon can be very fragile. Hence the utility of the "Bolster Defence" techmarine ability. A well-deployed thunderfire cannon can have a 3+ cover save if well hidden. By the way, the rule when a shot is directed towards the Thunderfire Cannon/techmarine is on a d6 1-4 hits the cannon 5-6 the techmarine (as per artillery rules). So a single plasmagun shooting at it for 12" or less could very well destroy it...

 

Phil

[Shiodome]

if you wanted to deploy in ruins for the 3+ you'd have to be very comfortable with your positioning, as any movement would incur a dangerous terain test and would be automatically destroyed if it failed... an embaressing way to lose your prized toy :lol:

[nurglespuss]

Hmmm yes, you would think with it looking so versatile, it would have move through cover or similar. Damn.

 

Ah well, just have to drop pod it in.