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Writing a Blood Angels 1000pt list and considering a Whirlwind to deal with annoying things that rely on cover saves like pathfinders and rangers etc. and be a threat while the rest of my force advances.

But their utility seems limited by their low strength and AP.

What are people's thoughts on it?

I think it's really points efficient but it's main problem is takes up a heavy spot and can only kill infantry but it's really really good at that. I think it works best if you bring 2. I've used 2 in a 1000 point game and they worked great against tau.

One problem with them is that C:SM players have the TFC in the same slot. So they get a bum rap because they are up against that for many marine players. But they are not bad at what they do. You are either heavy boltering or flamering everything under a large blast template, with the advantage of ordinance and barrage and a 48” range. For a reasonable number of points. The HS slot is the real “price” of taking one.
The other big issue is how much horde thinning do you need in your army? Most marine lists can’t help but put a reasonable number of bolters on the table, which work well for that job. So is it worth taking a mono-task tank for more or it?

Thanks for the advise.

Here's a link to my list.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/627733.page

The most recent post has the list with the whirlwind in. Maybe you can let me know if you think its an appropriate investment?

Thanks again

If your playing standard codex marines the answer is no, it can't out preform the thunderfire cannon at all.

If your any other marine army it's not that bad, I've wielded it to great success but it requires the right time and place to be both useful and effective.

Imo every ba/da/sw/gk should own at least one but should you always field it? Absolutely not, I field mine when I know im facin . What is traditionally a horde army like nids, chaos daemons, nurgle csm (cause typhus), imperial guard, and orks. It is also useful against the king of scumbag (the tau) as its long range mixed with an ignores cover provider means you can clean out his gunlines with relative ease. I've lucked out and slayed an entire tau fire warrior/pathfinder gunline in just two turns (mainly due to bad placement) as they get no save and your wounding in 3's and 2's. So yea whirlwind feasts on the tears of tau players.

whirlwind's not bad as a infantry buster. that said I can't help but look at the Wyvren and wish SMs had it instead

It's decent if you have free HS slots to spare and want just a little extra anti-infantry.

The whirlwind has better ap then the thunderfire cannon.

But tfc still deals more damage, is way tougher and gives you bolster defence. Besides, a techmarine is pretty mean in cc vs something without ap2. Whirlwind is a reasonable unit. TFC is op for the points - it should cost 130 at very least. That's it.