How does one play a Thunderhawk?

[Waaaghpower]

I'm pretty sure that the title says it all: I recently acquired myself a Thunderhawk Gunship, and now I need to figure out what I'm going to *do* with the damn thing.

Some thoughts I've had so far:
With 6 one-shot Ordnance S8 missiles, I can garuntee a single kill against the first flyer I come across, but after that my AA becomes decidedly weak, with only two Lascannons and four Heavy Bolters.

If I go with the basic Thunderhawk cannon, I can throw on the Battle of Keylak legacy to get ignores cover.

Alternatively, a Large Blast destroyer weapon is pretty useful.

If I were to include 8 Iron Hands Techpriests and 3 Servitors, it would become impossibly to kill unless you could punch it out in one turn.

Fighter Ace is only 35 points, and all of the buffs are useful.

With 30 Transport Capacity and 3 Exit Points, I can get a lot of assault power into play at the same time.

Being a flyer, though, I am limited in deployment options. I need it to come in on turn 2. Thus, I either need a Skyshield (and prayer that the othr guy doesn't have lots of long-range anti-tank,) or an Aegis Iine, Comms Relay, and troops to man it.

A Drop Pod with 5 Tactical marines might fix any 'Wiped off the board' fears I have.


So... any thoughts, tips, etc?

[Narric]

If I remember correctly, during a Campaign battle report in White Dwarf, a marine player brought in a thunderhawk gunship. They played it almost like a skimmer Land Raider with a bigger main gun and armour. This was before Flyer rules were standard part of 40k.

I think you have some of the wargear wrong though:

This mighty engine of destruction is armed with a pair of wing-mounted Lascannons, 4 twin-linked Heavy Bolters, a Thunderhawk Cannon that can be upgraded to a Turbo Laser, and wing mounts for up to 6 Hellstrike Missiles.

Thunderhawks also have four entry points (by the model: forward, side, and a rear under the fuselage). Though I haven't seen its official rules in some time.

Deployment wise, I'd have it simple come out from my own board edge, in one of the corners, and just do strafing runs of the board after disembarking whatever is inside behind enemy lines.

And don't Space Marine have access to plenty of Deep Strike anti-mishap wargear like teleport homers and beacons? Wouldn't they offer some reliability for proper deep striing of the THGS?

[Waaaghpower]

Arriving accurately isn't so much an issue, (I see no real reason to deep strike,) it's arriving on the correct turn that really matters. If I don't come in on turn 2, then I'm liable to betabled, can't start assaulting until turn 4, and lose a turn of firepower.

With a Skyshield, I have the useful 4++, but also must sit through 1-2 turns of firepower, and with only 9 HPs and 12/12/10 armor, (though immune to Melta!), the Thunderhawk isn't built to take a pounding.  With a Comms relay, though, there's still a 1/9th chance that I don't come in, and if I lose my lose the guys manning it I'm up to a 1/3rd chance of failure.