Warhammer 40K: This Week’s Meta Hotness – The Whirlwind (REALLY!)

Let’s take a look at a unit that’s been bombarding top tables, the Whirlwind.

In the ever-shifting meta of 40K armies rise and fall. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about armies that are hot or not and a lot less time looking at units that are running the show. That changes today as we’re taking a look at one of the hottest units currently running around the tabletop: the Whirlwind!

The Unit

The Whirlwind is a Space Marine heavy support unit. This tank acts as a mobile rocket launcher, and is able to bombard enemies across the table and out of line of sight. This classic Marine unit harkens back to some of the earliest Marine books and has a venerable history, though it is somewhat dated.

Why They Are Good

Ok so this is the Whirlwind right? It’s kind of a notoriously BAD unit. Sure its occasionally had its moments, but especially now I don’t think people would call it good, so what is it doing here in a Meta hotness article? Well, the Whirlwind might not be “good” but it does have utility. At base the Whirlwind is a standard Rhino chassis tank. Its got the storm bolter you’d expect, but instead of transport capacity it carries a one of two rocket launchers. The Castellan Launcher gets a lot of shots at high S, but doesn’t have much going for it. The Vengeance Launcher gets less shots, but they are D2 and overall more powerful. Both versions don’t need line of sight.

And thats about it for the Whirlwind. It’s gun isn’t bad, ignoring los is pretty useful and it can do some damage. AT s6 the Castellen Launcher is a pretty good anti-Ork weapon, and the Vegence Launcher is decent anti-MEQ. But neither are great. What makes the Whirlwind useful for some armies is the Suppression Fire stratagem. For 1 CP you can make so that any unit hit by Whirlwind fire (from the launcher) can’t fire Overwatch, Set to defend and also attacks last for a turn. This single stratagem ends up making the Whirlwind a great utility buy, with any damage it does being just some extra icing.

Saying a unit is hot is all well and good but let’s take a look at how players are using it. A lot of Space Marine, and especially Blood Angels, lists have been running Whirlwinds and have done well at recent events recently. One list that shows off the use of Whirlwind isJunior Aflleje’s list he ran to take 1st place at the recent Hammer of Wrath GT.  (via 40kstats.com)​

Using the Unit

To make good use of the Whirlwind you really want to have an assault heavy army. It’s for this reason that Blood Angels in particular have gravitated towards it. Junior’s army features one of them, and a lot of times when an army features just one of a random unit like this you know its got a trick up it’s sleeve. If the Whrilwind was a better unit, you’d see three, but its not. One however is all you need to use the Suppression Fire Stratagem, and that’s what it’s here for.

In a relatively low model count army you don’t want to be losing a lot of Overwatch. And while Overwatch has been nerfed, there are some units that are still very good at it. With the Whrilwind’s range and not needing LOS it can pretty much turn off Overwatch on any one unit it wants to. Forcing the enemy unit to fight last, or at normal time, is also a great counter to some of the powerful melee units that could mess up a multi unit charge turn. Overall its a useful tool to have in your box. If it happens to do some damage along the way, or get to pick off a long character, all the better.

Let us know what units you think are hot right now, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.