Imperial Armour Compendium - Marine Super-heavy Flyers

Battle Brothers, though few in number (we have some more in the queue), on the blog you are in attendance representing your Chapter.  Thus now we come upon your time in the Imperial Armour Compendium just released from Forge World. 

Today we’re reviewing the classic tried and true Thunderhawk and its predecessor, the Sokar Pattern Stormbird.

Stats

Like the Titans, the starting BS 2+ is gone from the top bracket.  It’s safe to say at this point that BS 2+ is reserved for the absolute cream of the crop now, something that has affected even the mighty Leviathan Dreadnought.  Both flyers have now gone to T8 but have picked up the all-important armour save of 2+.  Like with the Titans this isn’t a major deal as it only really helps S8-S18 weapons, but the boosted armor is a great benefit.  No updated wounds value, so you’re still somewhat squishy.

There were some reductions in the number of attacks these flyers get, but it’s overall a good change.  The maximum number of attacks has been reduced, but in the later stages these two flyers instead gain a set number of attacks that exceeds what they used to get on average with the random roll.

Thunderhawks lost their 5++ in this update while the Sokar Stormbird picks up void shields of the same number and quality as the Warhound Titan.

Image Source: Forge World

Overall, it’s not a lot of bad for either of these flyers to absorb, especially in light of the gain of the 2+ armour.  The biggest change is that the flyers can now carry a mix of BOTH Firstborn and Primaris, and Primaris no longer chew up double slots in comparison.

While the changes trend towards the nerf for these flyers it is offset by absolutely massive improvements to their points and Power Levels.  The Thunderhawk dropped 41 percent and 47 percent respectively, while the Stormbird sheds 50 percent and 57 percent respectively.  This far outweighs the losses they suffered.

Weapons

There’s nothing special to talk about with the Stormbird’s weapons since its load out is comprised of things familiar to all Marine players.  However, the Hellstrike Missile Battery takes the place of the old missiles and has a very nice boosted profile that doesn’t suffer penalties to shooting at the ground and ignores the -1 of the flyers while doing extra damage to AIRCRAFT.

The Thunderhawk’s turbo-laser actually lost blast but picked up a point of armour penetration for its troubles, making it a dedicated flyer killer.  However, the change to the Thunderhawk Heavy Cannon is glorious.  It picks up the blast trait and, while the damage does lose a point off of its maximum , it is now guaranteed three damage with the potential for a little extra, finally making this weapon usable.

Final Thoughts

Like the Knights, the Marine super-heavy flyers got tweaks that brought them in line for balance.  While not as tough they are more durable now due to their new saves.  Their weapons have been improved while their astronomical points and power costs have been heavily toned down.  Overall, a win here for these venerable war machines.