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After browsing Dakka for hours and reading all the topics on thunderfire cannons (sidenote: oddly enough there is no gray area on these, people seem to either love them or think they are the spawn of the devil), I have finally decided to get one. Despite the whole debate of relying on a 1 wound model to man the artillery, I think the gun would go down before the techmarine (seeing how the hit roll favors hitting the gun) and if that is the case you can still utilize the TM. Anyway, stepping off my soapbox, I was wondering if anyone had some input on useful strategies when using TC's; do you drop pod them to the side of your enemy's flank and risk landing outside cover, or do you just sit them far back on your side and dish out the hate?

Deploy far back, preferably in reinforced cover (remember that the Techmarine that comes with the gun grants Bolster Defenses), and plug away. Your best defense is being outside your enemy's range; your second-best defense is being in 3+ cover. I am not sure why the Thunderfire can drop pod, and I generally wouldn't bother.

Thunderfire + Pods:

I can see that with regards to manipulating what and how many pods come in on the Drop Pod Assault first turn. You don't have to deploy the TFC in the pod.

Else: what Fetterkey said.

Don't expect much from it and I think it will do well enough. Choose the targets wisely.
Hordes is good, But I feel hitting bikes and jetbikes are juicier if you get the chance.

I personally don't like them for the fragility and the board really isn't that big.

I use it almost every game. They're fragile, but Techmarines can reinforce one piece of terrain to give you a 3+ cover, which can really help keep the unit alive, along with anything else inside the cover.

Also, the killing power is lovely.

In my local "Friday night old fogie" group we consider the Thunderfire to be one of the best 100 points in the SM army. True, it's not all that effective against other MEQ forces, but it picks up orks, some 'nid builds, and IG by the bucket load. Thus it is a high priority target for those armies. Don't expect it to be able to fire more than once or twice before the enemy bags it. But then again if he's firing several units at you thunderfire, then he is leaving other more expesive, and potentially more dangerous units alone. Athough with a 2+ save and (idealy) and a 3+ cover save it can be suprisingly resilant.
I don't use it all the time with my own SM army, but I do field it more often than not.

Oh yes, and finally it's a great "counts as" option for those of us who still own thudd guns and/or rapiers.

TR