Unit Name: Whirlwind.
Unit Type: Heavy Support
Unit Construction: Plastic GW Kit, Rhino Chassis with special mount for missile launcher. (I recommend going with the Razorback, and using the Forge World Hyperios launcher conversion kit, which can be found here and will fit right onto a Razorback weapons mount. – Paul)
Unit Deployment: Hidden, Out of any direct line of sight if possible.
Unit in play: 48 inch range, non line of sight. Large blast template, 2d6 plus a scatter dice.
Unit is most effective against: Any units on foot, in cover or in the open, with an armor save of 4 or greater. Rank and file Guardsmen, most Eldar or Dark Eldar, Ork Boyz. Not at all effective again Space Marines of ANY KIND.
General Discussion:
The Space Wolves Codex has some fantastic choices in its Heavy Support category. Obviously everyone, where possible, fields as many Missile Launcher Long Fangs as possible. For a lot of us out there, this just isn’t possible... whether it is money constraints, or you just haven’t been in the game long enough, to just not knowing where to find the darn launchers! (Forge World does make some nice launchers, I use them… you can find them here. They are pretty nice, and you get some Meltaguns too… but I digress… The purpose of this article it to enlighten you as to the WONDERS of a largely overlooked vehicle in our codex… The Whirlwind! (What else would it be?).
I never used to give Whirlwinds much credit, considering how good Long Fangs are. But once you get a few good hits off of them, you will see just how good they can be! Keep these bad boys hidden, completely if you can. I mean totally out of ANYTHINGS line of sight. Because, get this… Whirlwinds DON’T NEED A LINE OF SIGHT TO FIRE!! Now, the ammunition fired isn’t really much to write home about. But if you’re playing against pesky Eldar with Rangers hiding in cover… you’re good to go. Fire the “Castillian” missile that doesn’t allow cover saves, screwing them out of there advantage! There you go tough guys, hide in your non-existent cover, and make your normal armor saves. Stupid Tau pathfinders trying to rob you of your cover saves? Rob them of theirs right back. It’s brilliant!
Do you have tougher enemies that don’t like to cower in cover? Fire the Vengeance missiles. They’re much stronger, and has some armor denial for the rank and file gribblies in various armies. (I’m looking at YOU Orks, Foot Slogging Guard, Tau, Eldar and Dark Eldar). One good shot and you will make quick work of a pile of standard Boyz, or Kabbalite Warriors.
With a 48 inch range on either ammunition, there is not a whole lot of room to hide from these beasts. Remember, Whirlwinds are nearly useless against vehicles, unless you are looking at armor 10 DE vehicles or some weedy tau pirhanas or something. Even then, the STR 5, you will need a 6 on the penetration roll to do any wicked damage.
If you are facing off against, say, Blood Angels or Grey Knights… leave the Whirlwinds at home. They can’t deny a Space Marine his armor saves and, as stated earlier, they stink at bring down transports.
I have, in the past, run a pair of Whirlwinds completely hidden in cover. It was against Biel Tan Eldar, and they absolutely wreak HAVOC on anything standing on the ground. When your opponent can’t even see what he is being shot at with, well, it brings a smile to this old wolf’s face. Until next time my fellow Sons of Russ…
I never used to give Whirlwinds much credit, considering how good Long Fangs are. But once you get a few good hits off of them, you will see just how good they can be! Keep these bad boys hidden, completely if you can. I mean totally out of ANYTHINGS line of sight. Because, get this… Whirlwinds DON’T NEED A LINE OF SIGHT TO FIRE!! Now, the ammunition fired isn’t really much to write home about. But if you’re playing against pesky Eldar with Rangers hiding in cover… you’re good to go. Fire the “Castillian” missile that doesn’t allow cover saves, screwing them out of there advantage! There you go tough guys, hide in your non-existent cover, and make your normal armor saves. Stupid Tau pathfinders trying to rob you of your cover saves? Rob them of theirs right back. It’s brilliant!
Do you have tougher enemies that don’t like to cower in cover? Fire the Vengeance missiles. They’re much stronger, and has some armor denial for the rank and file gribblies in various armies. (I’m looking at YOU Orks, Foot Slogging Guard, Tau, Eldar and Dark Eldar). One good shot and you will make quick work of a pile of standard Boyz, or Kabbalite Warriors.
With a 48 inch range on either ammunition, there is not a whole lot of room to hide from these beasts. Remember, Whirlwinds are nearly useless against vehicles, unless you are looking at armor 10 DE vehicles or some weedy tau pirhanas or something. Even then, the STR 5, you will need a 6 on the penetration roll to do any wicked damage.
If you are facing off against, say, Blood Angels or Grey Knights… leave the Whirlwinds at home. They can’t deny a Space Marine his armor saves and, as stated earlier, they stink at bring down transports.
I have, in the past, run a pair of Whirlwinds completely hidden in cover. It was against Biel Tan Eldar, and they absolutely wreak HAVOC on anything standing on the ground. When your opponent can’t even see what he is being shot at with, well, it brings a smile to this old wolf’s face. Until next time my fellow Sons of Russ…
FOR THE WOLFTIME!!
Wolf Lord Paul
18 comments:
February 14, 2012 at 2:44 PM
Unfortunately you won't see very many of these on the tabletop as a heavy support slot in competition with some of the best GS choices in the game, Long Fangs.
The Space Wolf codex is probably one of the worst 5th edition codices because there a few select set of units that are WAY better than all the others in the same slot, so Space Wolf armies are often all very similar.
This is not to say, that you can diverge from the norm and use units like whirlwinds, but doing so will make you less powerful in the game, yet perhaps more appealing due to your uniqueness and reliance on tactics more than dice.
February 14, 2012 at 3:07 PM
I agree with every statement you make in you article but sadly most armies you will face in a tournament are Marines of some sort.
February 14, 2012 at 3:08 PM
I use mine, though rarely... It IS Ord, so Str 5 (on the best of 2d6) vs. the side armor of a lot of vehicles like Chimera hulls works fairly well from a hidden position... But still, the whole mostly useless against 3+ armor saves make this a second line unit at best overall...
February 14, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Yeah, buts its fun just for the non line of sight factor! I love that!
February 14, 2012 at 3:45 PM
Wall of text crits for over 9000. Seriously a good article that could use some formating.
February 14, 2012 at 3:58 PM
I just messaged Noam about paragraph breaks, sorry fellas!
February 14, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Sorry guys, I am still getting the hang of the poor editing choices Blogger provides. I think I have done a good job now.
February 14, 2012 at 5:20 PM
The marines it does work well against are sniper scouts with camo cloaks. It can ruin their day. And as stated with the ordinance rule (best of 2D6 for armor penetration) it can be used to take out low AV vehicles (land speeder squadrons, etc) if there isn't a better target. And one of the best selling points is it is cheap points wise. I wouldn't ever include more than 1, but 1 does tend to let you get some early shots off in the game and start screwing up your opponent where normally you might not have range or LOS.
February 14, 2012 at 5:31 PM
Yeah, I should have clarified, Power Armored Space Marines, I totally forgot about the snipers.. my bad.
February 14, 2012 at 6:10 PM
Since I play Guard as well, I find the Whirlwind to be just a disappointing Manticore. Although I do not buy in to the cookie cutter SW army concept, I don't run these in my HS slots. Those are kept clear for Crusaders...
February 15, 2012 at 4:47 AM
Very nice!
I would very appreciate to read anti-tactica articles.
I mean a tactica against a specific army.
What do you think ?
February 15, 2012 at 12:28 PM
I think thats a GREAT idea! (I will work on this) - Paul
February 15, 2012 at 3:40 PM
Two quick additions.
As an ordinance barrage weapon it does cause pinning tests. You can never cause too many Ld tests on your opponent.
As an ordinance weapon it does roll 2d6-pick highest for armour pen. Which allows it to get the most out of S5.
While these are small points in themselves, they can make the whirlwind a rather pesky unit for your enemy.
February 15, 2012 at 7:49 PM
Indeed, good points brad!
February 15, 2012 at 8:23 PM
I've made fantastic use of the whirlwind against Dark Eldar. It's great fun seeing that blast template gut a warrior unit.
February 18, 2012 at 7:19 AM
Noam; if you could check the space wolves email account I've left you an interesting proposition.
And love the new style of tactics articles.
February 21, 2012 at 2:54 PM
Am I mistaken or everyone's missing the point that ordnance weapons ALWAYS hit vihicles in the side armour(except for the half streangth hits from scattered hits that are resolved against the armour facing the template center)?
June 26, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Whirlwinds were always bad in every edition, not only in 5th.
Almost every army has a tough target that you must deal with (MC, vehicles, large units of multi-wound models...) Best way to deal with these quickly are units with multiple long range weapons, like long fangs or even tanks like the godhammer LR or the TriLas Pred (they're at least better than the Whirlwind in that regard)
Eldar Rangers?. They're an overprized unit for their pathetic damage output. Better ignore them until you're able to charge them with anything in the Space wolves army. If you care about them and want them killed ASAP, use flamers in fast platforms against them.
Stupid Tau pathfinders? Castillian missiles are ineffective against them, AP:5 while pathfinders have a 4+ armour save, so save remains the same.
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