OST here with the last of my thoughts on the new DA codex before I get into potential list ideas (I have to find a way to run my Death Wing!). Today we are looking at Heavy Support, so since many of our choices are the same as other books, this will be rather short.
Let's start with the new stuff, the Land Speeder Vengeance
The LSV is the new kid on the block, sharing a very unfortunate model with the Dark Shroud which I reviewed in the FA thoughts. Unlike the Dark Shroud, this speeder is just as unfortunate as it's model (in my opinion). Alright, so for the price of a Blood Angels Vindicator, you get a land speeder rocking a weapon that can either throw out three small blast plasma cannon shots or a single large blast with the same damage profile ... at 24". I was kind of still ok with it, until that last part, honestly. Having an expensive vehicle that for some reason (despite its size) is still AV10 with 2HP with your standard jink save ect that goes along with being a speeder, but to harm people, you have to be within bolter range (wich is also the standard range for most S4 weapons and you can't boost away or any other special move. You are stuck. I hope you can do some serious damage with this thing. Basically, the range and vulnerability make this either a suice unit or a surgical skirmisher. The skirmisher idea has merit (hanging by the edges, killing things that can kill it back and funneling the enemy), but most armies you will be up against aren't that linear and have ways to get you ... or weapons that can reach you. The common trend toward low vehicle saturation also means you won't see many of these and if you do, it will be with those rare mech lists out there, which I actually predict will gain a resurgence soon.
With that ugly duck out of the way, I really just want to talk about the whirlwind.
The whirlwind didn't get the flak missiles everyone raved about in the rumors, but it did see a point reduction to 65 points, making it an actual bargain ... but I say that with a caveat: It is still points wasted unless it fits a weakness your DA army has. Most of the DA army will have great anti-infantry options between salvo banners and plasma bikes and whatever else, but there are versions of the army that specifically struggle with hordes: The Death Wing and the Raven Wing. The former struggles because they are not very quick, few in number and don't have a ton of guns. The latter suffers because while they are quicker, they are more fragile, still rather few in number and dependant on tricks (banner) if they want to bring serious anti-horde firepower down. With that being said "pure wing" guys will balk at the idea of whirlwind support, but smart DW and RW players will be looking at these in much the same way we used to eye our single typhoon speeders last edition.
Beyond those two things, there are points adjustments here and there to fine tune some of the choices, which I feel most players in the game are familiar with and where they can fit into any Space Marine list of any brand or color. There are little nuances like Death Wing vehicle, which makes you LR venerable, but I don't really consider it a value for the points cost. Other than that, the Devestators are also worth a look and they have gotten cheaper as well. I think they can be good additions to the list, but I don't see a huge need to over explain a classic unit.
Overall, I think I will mess around with whirlwinds to see if they fill any roles I used to leave for speeders in my old DW lists and with the armies I mess with going forward with this dex. Incidentally, CVinton is playing Raven Wing or at least toying with it, so there will be another author to discuss DA with us as well.
For now I leave it open to you, though. What are your thoughts on the heavy slot? Am I crazy and LSV is the greatest skimmer in SM history? Am I over valuing the slight value I gave the whirlwind? Would you just like to add some perspective based on experience? I am down for anything. Fire away!