# Thunderfire Cannon



## Katie Drake

Like my Legion of the Damned topic in this section, I'm curious, how do people best use Thunderfire cannon? To me, they don't seem like very good choices at all. The unit consists of two models who are very vulnerable to any weapon of S8 or more (as one of the models is minimum AV vehicle and the other will be instant-killed by an S8 wound). If the cannon itself is destroyed, then there's just a Techmarine running about, likely doing a whole lot of nothing. If the Techmarine himself is killed, then the cannon is destroyed as well as per the rules for artillery models.

How on earth do you get a thunderfire cannon to survive long enough to do anything? Let's hear it!


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## Lioneljohnson510

Well to get a Thunder fire cannon to stay alive is u can put behind your men or if u can drop pod it in and move it to cover and mow down the enemy vehicles


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## LeeHarvey

I would place it in cover that I used the Bolster Defenses rule on, in hopes of increasing the survivability. I too think that the Thunderfire cannon is not as cost effective as it should be. None of it's different ammo types are that spectacular and like you said Katie, it and it's Techmarine are relatively weak when it comes to survivability against heavy firepower.


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## beenburned

The only feasible way of using it for me is bolstering defences and hiding it all battle.
I'd much rather take a whirlwind though.


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## Katie Drake

beenburned said:


> The only feasible way of using it for me is bolstering defences and hiding it all battle.
> I'd much rather take a whirlwind though.


Yeah, I've been thinking of going with a Whirlwind too. Thunderfire cannon are awesome, especially with a choice of three different ammunition types, but they just... die too easy.


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## Son of mortarion

what battlefield role are they supposed to play, as they seem like a field peice(light howitzer). It might be one of those units that excels in cityfighting, or in other built up environments, but doesn't do so well in others, such as open-field battles.


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## The Son of Horus

Son of mortarion said:


> what battlefield role are they supposed to play, as they seem like a field peice(light howitzer). It might be one of those units that excels in cityfighting, or in other built up environments, but doesn't do so well in others, such as open-field battles.


They're meant for dense, rocky terrain where you can't physically bring a Predator or Vindicator, according to the Codex. 

The way you get them to survive? Strike hard, strike fast, and don't piss around trying to blow the other guy up. There's absolutely no reason why you can't be on top of somebody by the end of your first movement phase with dedicated Assault units, and at that point, somebody with even half a brain is going to be intelligent enough to deal with that much more immediate concern of fifty Space Marines revving their chainswords at you. If they take the time to kill the Techmarine, then good for them-- the thunderfire cannon is cheap anyway, and those were shots that probably would've been better served elsewhere, like against the squads about to tackle whoever was pulling the trigger to kill the Techmarine. 

Some units don't have to survive the battle. Land Speeders, for example, are there to swoop in, execute a target that more than makes up their points value, and be relatively forgotten about thereafter. The thunderfire cannon may only need to shoot once or twice to get the job you brought it for done. It can dislodge a heavy weapons unit quite easily, for example, and once it's done that, it's provided something useful to the army beyond just killing the other side's models. 

Either way, I think it's something that's best left at home because it doesn't really fit in with the modus operandi of the Space Marines. Since when did they need to bring an artillery piece for a rapid strike?


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## Son of mortarion

it does seem to be something that would be neat in an apoc game that was a seige. especially if the seige is taking place on the outskirts of a hive city, and there are built up settlements.

It does seem a little static to me.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander

Although when you think about it, it seems static for our table top, but in the bigger picture the front lines are always moving, and we only play the front lines, hence it being mounted on tracks with retractable support. If you watched it over the series of a few hours of battle, as one line pushes the other back, it would move forward with the rest of the army, rather than relying entirely on range to precede the front-line.


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## Eric.West

Steps to making the glass cannon..err cough....Thunerfire Cannon more viable, survivability wise.

1. Bolster a ruin, deploy in it, or risk moving to it.
2. Add a unit of very cheap point wise servitors, IN FRONT of your cannon.
3. Add an Independant character to take wounds appose to the techmarine taking the wound if 5-6 is rolled. Then the character takes 1 wound, still lives, techmarine takes 0 wounds, cannon still fires. e.g add a MASTER OF THE FORGE. PEW PEW
4. SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT. Heavy blast 4 is far superior to a whirlwind. A techmarine in full servo harness is almost 100 pts in itself and you get it for FREE. Points well spent.

Let me know if this helps ya.


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## jonnywright104

completely agree, the phrase jack of all trades ace of none comes to mind. it doesnt really match up 2 a whirlwind, or vindicator, or even a squad of guard with a couple of lascannons! most pointless (and over expensive @ £25!!) model in marine armoury. if theyr battlefield role is for in rocky terrain, why not use devestators?


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## Eric.West

Devastators can't bolster defenses first off. To maximize this benifit, toss some scouts in the same ruin as your cannon. That takes a scout save of 4+ to 2+. 
4+ cover, + bolster (3+), + stealth(camo cloaks), 2+.

Another way to keep it alive, is throw other scary things in your opponents face first turn. E.g Droppod in a dreadnought with 1 twin-linked heavy flamer, another heavy flamer, plus a deathwind launcher on the pod. Soon as you torch half a squad and they see the deathwind launcher getting ready to start dropping 5" templates, they may fire their str8+ shots there instead of the cannon. 

Dont make it one of your only templates, give your opponent lots of targets. e.g whirlwinds or vindicator. Even some plasma cannons in tac squads, or hellfire rounds in scouts.

Ya..if you feild the thunderfire cannon as your only heavy support or next to only blast tempalte, and fire it off first turn, its probably going to get knocked off almost immediately. I find droppodding dreads to be the most effective to giving your enemy a higher priority for that turn.

Outflanking close combat groups 2-3rd turn , or speeding them up the field in a rhino helps for later. You got to just keep rushing them and your cannon should survive alot longer, but...watch out for placing it on the edges where other enemy outflankers can run in and smack it.


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## Longinus

Yes it is easily destroyed but on the other hand it has a long range wich means you opponent have to shot with one of his larger guns(for range) wich means he probably dont have to many shots at it and if its in cover with bolster defence its gona have 3+ cover save wich gives it a pretty good chance of surviving at least 1 or 2 rounds.
And you only need 1 or 2 round of shooting before it have paid its points back.
On one round of shooting i shot a brood lord and retinue and all the survived was 2 stealers :biggrin:


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## LordWaffles

I played in a 2vs2 at 1500 and my teammate was trying to spam the cannons.

They seemed remarkably underwhelming, managing to tickle a hive tyrant and irratate several of the gaunts during the course of the game. It seemed to fire alot for how many points you put into it, but it died just as fast.

Put it in a building, put scouts in front of it, epic win?


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## livingregret

I have found it be quite useful. People have nailed down how to best use it/what to put it near but not quite sure why so many people are underwhelmed by it. I will say it's effectiveness very much has to do w/ what your facing. Face any sort of Horde army and you can blow chunks out of the army and face a more elite army it will/should force plenty of saves.


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## Xpyre35

Confused. I've seen two (maybe more) suggestions to put servitors or scouts infront of the Cannon. Wouldn't that give your targets the cover save also? (obviously not counting the ignore cover ammo)


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## Pauly55

I would just out range em Katie. Most armies don't have a gun which can go far enough to tag it.

If it is deployed waaay in the back corner, It won't be impossible to kill, but the enemy will have to go through some serious work to get there.

Immense range is what makes Basilisks a must have in guard armies. The same principle works here.

edit: and for the love of god, don't put another character in a unit with the thing. Adding 100+ points on to its cost for a 1/3 chance of making it survive a bit longer is asinine.


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## Dessel_Ordo

Techmarine can still take servitors.

In a marine gunline it can really shine, same output as a ML dev squad, for fewer points, with more options and spiffy effects.

and yea, getting bolstered cover works pretty well for a smaller 'vehicle' model, as its pretty easy to do.


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## Refyougee

I'd maybe field one and use it to harass models with its Tremor shot. If you give your opponent enough targets to focus on chances are the cannon will be ignore; the forces that are really threatened by its effectiveness are those who can't shoot back, so you can use it as bait if you need to.

I find the cannon is great against armies fielding bikes, because it disallows the cover save conferred from Turbo Boosting; IMO, that is what makes it great and the other modes of firing ensure the points aren't wasted against other armies.


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## Fugital357

I’ve found that Thunder fire Cannons usually last plenty long enough to do their job. They only cost 100 points to play, and using the techmarines “bolster defense” ability to help out with a scouts squads Cover Save is plenty reason to take one. Never mind that the gun itself is very powerful… 

The best way to make the gun actually survive is to use against a enemy that is weak in ranged weaponry. If you used it against Imperial Guard, then it would probably get blown up pretty fast. However, played against Orks or Tryanids, which use short-ranged low-power weapons, this gun will probably live the whole game. 

I mention Orks and Tyanids because its mostly an Anti-infantry weapon, and both armies are infantry heavy.


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## gblai6

As someone who's both been on the receiving end and the giving, I really like the unit. It is both powerful and fragile. I had 2x9 man squads of thousand sons just decimated by the thing in two turns (very easy to dish out a massive amount of wounds which take some good rolling to make the saves on).

Putting in cover can be restrictive sometimes. I've taken out a troop squad that the cannon could see and then had it sit around and do nothing much for the rest of the game as my opponent was able to keep out of sight.

If you can, staying out of range and getting two turns of firing is the best I'd hope for it.


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