The Tornado pattern Land Speeder mounts twice as many heavy weapons as the basic Land Speeder and can also choose from a wider variety of weapons, able to mount an assault cannon or a heavy flamer. Because the Tornado's points cost increases only moderately (+10 points for a heavy flamer and +30 points for the assault cannon), the extra heavy weapons can become extremely effective. It should be noted that for the cost of three standard Land Speeders armed with multi-meltas, you can get two Tornados with a total of four heavy weapons!

My favourite variant, the Land Speeder Typhoon, is extraordinary at anti-personnel actions on the battlefield. Costing 70 points (making it cheaper than a Tornado with assault cannon), the Typhoon mounts a twin-linked Typhoon missile launcher. The Typhoon missile inflicts a hard hit with the Blast template at long range (up to 48") and rarely misses since it is twin-linked. The Typhoon variant's only real drawback is its lack of versatility - the Typhoon missile launcher is excellent at destroying infantry or light vehicles, but almost useless against even medium armour such as the Eldar Falcon or Tau Devilfish.

Don't forget that the Imperial Armour Update book has another variant known as the Tempest. Sporting better armour, an assault cannon, and a twin-linked missile launcher, the Tempest is among the most feared versions of the Land Speeder. The Tempest has a bit of a difficult combination of weapons – the assault cannon has a 24" range while the missile launcher fires out to 48". Better frontal armour means that the Tempest can usually get in close to troops without much worry. However, I normally do not field any Tempests, as they are not focused enough for my purposes and cost almost as many points as three basic Land Speeders! Also, Tempests are not upgrade variants like the Tornado and Typhoon. Instead, the Tempest is a separate Fast Attack vehicle option, and can only be fielded in squadrons of one model. This means a maximum of only three Tempests can be fielded in a standard Space Marine army. However, the twin-linked firepower of the Tempest's missile launcher and its increased armour make the Tempest a force to be reckoned with, maybe next time if I have an open Fast Attack choice!