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.
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