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I have one of these, and was wondering if they're better used staying back taking pot shots from behind cover, or running forward in the hope of putting a template over 2-3 tanks or some nasty infantry?

Also, is it just me or does the small blast seem kind of puny for such a massive gun?

I think the best thing to compare the Warp Hunter to is a Fire Prism.

For shooting at non-vehicles:

The Warp Hunters blast shot always wounds on a 2+, ID anything on a 6, and is AP2.
The Fire Prisms focused shot is S9 AP2. So, it woulds anything less than T8 on a 2+ and ID anything T4 or less.

The Fire Prism gets WAY more range (60" vs 36") and operates at a higher BS. The only advantage the Warp Hunter has is that it is barrage, so causes pinning and doesn't need LOS.

However, almost all units that are subject to pinning (non-fearless and a lower Ld) are units that you'd much rather use a large blast template from the Fire Prism.

For shooting at vehicles:

The Warp Hunter glances on a 3-4 and penetrates on a 5-6 against any armor value.
For a Fire Prism focused shot, it clearly outperforms vs AV 12 (penetrating on 4+) and just slightly under-performs vs AV13 (losing that extra glance on a 3).

The Warp Hunter shot clearly does better vs AV14, but those units are often times handled by Fire Dragons.

And, again, the Fire Prism gets way better range, and more BS. The Warp Hunter should get a bit of a boost vs vehicles since it's barrage and hits side armor. But, it doesn't care about armor values.

The big advantage the Warp Hunter gets is that you can avoid obscured saves.


Overall, I'd say the Warp Hunter simply isn't usable as a sit back and fire the D-Cannon. If that's what you want, it's much better to take a Fire Prism.

The only real use for the Warp Hunter is that special shot. It doesn't scatter, which is really nice, and acts as a super-heavy flamer. I don't know if it's worth the points, but that's the shot that makes the tank worthwhile.

Agree with grakmar - because of the utility offered by a large blast, linking, and range, fire prism is better allround. But the sheer destruction a warphunter can unleash on the most elite units is fantastic, especially if you compare the hellhound-style shot to almost anything in the game. And barrage is nothing to sniff at. I think that if the warphunter were a codex choice, I would field one alongside 2 fire prisms. As it is, I won't really bother getting one since it's outside the pick-up games scope of things.

I got one already because a D-Cannon tank has been a pipedream for me since late 2nd edition.

I might see if I can use it when I next play Eldar, though I haven't played 40k in a while.

I think one thing about the Warp hunter blast is that you don't need to hit 'under the hole'. If the template glances, it still hits with full effect. A shame it's lower BS than the Prism though.

Ohh D Cannon tank, I'm salivating with excitement! What book is it in, one of the IA's?

At the moment, there's a PDF on Forgeworld's website.

I expect them to be in (or updated) in IA11 when it's released though.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/W/Warp-Hunter.pdf

I'd take one just for the flamer fire mode. It auto hits, covers a larger area and more importantly ignores cover.

edit ...
just realised it has no strength value ... It's a defensive weapon ^_^