Defense of the Humble Land Speeder Typhoon

[KingCronan]

In the last edition land speeders where all the rage. They were fast, cheap ways to get multi-meltas and heavy flamers into peoples face and if you had good old Vulcan they were twin linked! But now they have all vanished because its so easy to glance them to death with small arms fire. But the typhoon is great despite this and here are some reasons why!

First few are pretty obvious,

1) They are cheap! For 75pts you get 2 missiles and 3 heavy bolter shots. Not too bad IMHO.

2) They are mobile. Being fast skimmers they can still move at cursing speed (ignoring terrain) and fire both of its weapons! That means you can position these guys wherever needed quickly and still be able to fire at their target on the same turn at full BS. Compared to Razorbacks, Predators, and Devastators, the Typhoon will be able to sneak around LoS blocking terrain, get side armor on vehicles, and can almost always get in a position to bring its weapons to bare on a target.

3) They are versatile. Two Krak missiles is some good anti tank output plus a heavy bolter for light vehicles. These make Land Speeder Typhoons perfect for popping light vehicles leaving your Devastators and Centurions free to deal with the big heavily armored threats. Or you can turn them on some infantry and unleash two blast templates and 3 heavy bolter shots into a mob of boyz or unit of gaunts.

Now for some less obvious points.

3) Low perceived threat. One or two Land Speeders are usually not seen as that big of a priority target. This is especially true in the early game whey you have all your Land Raiders, Thunderfire cannons, and Hammernators still alive for your opponent to worry about. This will leave them largely ignored for at least the first few turns as your opponent is focusing his fire on your big and nasty toys.

4) Long range. while 48" range isn't the most amazing thing ever it is still very far, and 36" is not so bad as well. Combine their decent range with high mobility, and their low perceived threat and they are not going to get shot at very much. They can sit back behind your front lines blasting away at targets well out of the reach of small arms fire. While at the same time if your opponent really wants shoot their long range (and usually unnecessarily high STR) weapons at them those are shots that are not being shot at your big heavy hitting units.

So that's basically it. For 75 points you get a decent amount of versatile, mobile fire power that will not draw a lot of attention to itself and late game can go out and contest objectives. I say grab two of them, put them in a squadron (to help avoid first blood) and try them out. You will be surprised what these little guys can do! :)

[ElectricPaladin]

I have had incredible luck with these guys. With their long range and high speed, they can steer clear of most of the stuff that could kill them... unless your opponent decides to waste anti-tank fire on them, which is basically great for you. Las bolts and the like that are aimed at your speeders are potentially wasted due to jink saves - and with their low ROF that's actually kind of liely - and they're not popping your rhinos or land raiders or whatever else they're usually good at killing.

I had a pair of them, but they got stolen with my old Blood Ravens army... I still miss them.

[KingCronan]

Las bolts and the like that are aimed at your speeders are potentially wasted due to jink saves - and with their low ROF that's actually kind of liely

God how did i forget to mention their jink save! Definitely another big thing for them.

[DarkLink]

You know vehicles don't contest anymore, right?

[KingCronan]

doh ya forgot about that

[YorkNecromancer]

I like squadrons of three with two heavy bolters each. Cheap and cheerful with lots of anti-infantry, especially good against things like Tau and Necrons.

[kire]

I used a squadron of 3 of these in my fist game with the new codex. They killed two chimeras a vendetta and a manticore before my opponent downed them with a battle cannon in desperation.

[biffster666]

You should put the newest Ultrasmurf toy Tiggy (Primary/Ally) adding a dash Prescience on your list. Very tasty.

[Da Gargoyle]

Sounds great right up until you run into a Hydra, then its tears before bedtime. I know one IG unit that fields a squadron of 3.

[kire]

if someone blows points on 3 hydras then they can have my speeders that is just less firepower they can put on my ground troops.

[KingCronan]

if someone blows points on 3 hydras then they can have my speeders that is just less firepower they can put on my ground troops.

Exactly!

[chicop76]

When I field my marines I run 2 squads of 2. I go melta and heavy flamer on them. I have debated on double melta on te other squad. I typically turbo with them a lot for the +4 cover save. However I was pondering on taking 3 and going for invisibility. Invisibility would give the unit a +2 cover save any time the move.

[Da Gargoyle]

if someone blows points on 3 hydras then they can have my speeders that is just less firepower they can put on my ground troops

I take your point about points cost, but until 6th Ed, Hydras could choose any target, now they snap shot anything other than skimmers and flyers which they do at normal BS. That is bad news for us Eldar and Tau. In 5th Ed a quad S7 with re-rolls was a handy tool to have, good against skimmers, light transports and massed infantry. I did play against an IG unit yesterday, two Hydras, 4 Chimeras, a Vet squad in each one and a Hellhound and a Commissar. It made life interesting for my Wave Serpents and I spent the first two turns trying to get an angle on the Hydra without getting shot down.

The Hydra are 75 points each and in a squadron of three they will be worth the points. They ignore jink, igore shaken, in the new Squadron rules if imobilised they don't die so can still shoot and still have an anti infantry heavy bolter blasting away. And lets face it, your Typhoon pattern Land Speeder is worth 90 points min. If you can purchase the interceptor rule for the Hydra, you can lose your speeder before it fires a shot. I don't know if the Hydra can have the interceptor rule so it may depend on who goes first, but you need to kill all 3 to make your speeder viable.

Yesterday I finally got them with a storm guardian unit with fusion guns, having chipped away at hull points with missile shots from the Serpents. I also found that randomising weapon destroyed results works against you if a couple of extra points are spent on Storm Bolter mounts, it becomes a one in three chance you will kill the Flakk gun if you get a weapon destroyed result. And while this was happening I was taking fire from the 4 multi lasers on the Chimeras which equated to 6 armoured vehicles pumping out 20 S6 & 7 shots plus heavy bolter fire for 455 points.:eek:

[Da Gargoyle]

Bye the way, do you guys see the return for points spent on a unit as redeemed in what that unit kills, or do you also allow some measure for what they saved by killing a unit and preventing it from killing your units. The Typhoon for example. 3 Hydras down the Typhoon first turn, it can't then use its missiles on troops or vehicles. Does that increase the worth of the return from the Hydras which were 225 without extra equipment?

[Luckee22]

Forgive this crotchety old man, I need to address a matter of jargon. In the long, long, ago there were three Land Speeders. First, your standard, useless, one weapon vanilla pattern, Land Speeder. Then, when you gave it another weapon, it became a Tornado; Heavy Bolter/Assault Cannon, or my favorite Heavy Flamer/Multi-Melta. Last, and all by itself, was the Typhoon which is a Heavy Flamer or Heavy Bolter and a Typhoon Missile Launcher. These terms were partly phased out in the 5th ed codex and they're completely non-existant now. But it's an important distinction for some of us.

Personally, I love the Typhoon. I routinely run a pair of them in my lists and they have rarely disappointed. I first added them to my collection in 5th edition, they had just gotten a new box which made them easier to assemble (the old missile launchers were metal blobs tenuously glued to the outside of a model balancing on a ball joint, womp womp).
They pair nicely with a pair of HF/MM Tornadoes. With the bevy of excellent fast attack units, this can seem indulgent but I play an Imperial Fist gun-line and their mobility is an perfect balance to the rest of my more static force.

That's really where the Typhoon, and by extension the Land Speeder, excels. They give a static army the mobility and flanking heavy weapon support they need. Which, in turn, means that there are many lists that have no use for them. I don't see too many white scars or Blood Angels players hounding for more speeders.

Their inherent frailty is their main problem; the 3rd edition codex describes them as:"Weak armor, vulnerable to enemy shooting", which certainly hasn't changed. As KingCronan said it's best to make them appear innocuous untill they can get a turn of shooting in. My gun-line operates like a herd of zebra, by having a wall of medium units, none of them being overly intimidating in their own right, it makes it more difficult for your opponent to zero-in on your slightly more vulnerable speeders.

A possibly useful technique that comes to mind is the refused flank, outflank. Static armies, like mine, tend to be vulnerable to assault oriented armies. By deploying exclusively in one corner, you can force your opponent to turn their flank to your deployment edge, in order to bring all of their models to bear. This means that Typhoons in reserve come in to play seeing nothing but side armor and get their first volley in optimum position and unchallenged. Their long range can hopefully keep them beyond the reach of many of the more popular interceptor units which abound, and are incidentally less numerous in assault armies.

[Luckee22]

Bye the way, do you guys see the return for points spent on a unit as redeemed in what that unit kills, or do you also allow some measure for what they saved by killing a unit and preventing it from killing your units. The Typhoon for example. 3 Hydras down the Typhoon first turn, it can't then use its missiles on troops or vehicles. Does that increase the worth of the return from the Hydras which were 225 without extra equipment?

I feel it's a stretch to think of units as counting each other out, or really any system by which a unit is justified based on how much of the opponents force it can eat before being eaten in turn. The dynamics of 40K mean that the only true comparison is on-the-table experience. With the abundance of tacticas and forum threads, it becomes essential to have some kind of comparison rubric, but no system I've seen comes even close to a real-world representation of the game.
The above example is very specific and would only cover a couple of games in the history of an army's life. Even if you play only one of your friends, they aren't going to run their typhoons right into your Hydras more than twice.
Instead see how your list complements itself, rather than how it counters the lists of others. Your units should work together and create mutual killing zones and protected alleys. So instead, the example should look more like: A Demolisher, a Colossus/Griffon squad, and a pair of Hydras form an effective field battery. For 530 points the Guard army has an effective and more accurate artillery section which has close support and concealment by a siege tank and flank/air protection from the Hydras. Granted, that's a third of the player's list but it's the IG, Heavy support is where it's at.

[Chexmix282]

Bye the way, do you guys see the return for points spent on a unit as redeemed in what that unit kills, or do you also allow some measure for what they saved by killing a unit and preventing it from killing your units. The Typhoon for example. 3 Hydras down the Typhoon first turn, it can't then use its missiles on troops or vehicles. Does that increase the worth of the return from the Hydras which were 225 without extra equipment?

I don't care if a unit "made it's points back" during a game, only if the unit did what I needed it to do. In most games I will intentionally deploy a unit to "bait" my opponent, having him/her fire at what he/she thinks is a good opportunity target even though it was intentional on my part. In this case the unit wouldn't have killed a thing but has been very useful.

TL;DR: Yes.