The new GW plastic Stormraven gunship is up on the GW website:-

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod900149a

This is actually the perfect sized vessel for Deathwatch player character squads, especially as (according to the vehicle's write up in the Blood Angels Codex) it carries a Dreadnought as well as up to 12 marines, giving parties a valid excuse for mixed marine/dreadnought combat squads. It's lighter than a Thunderhawk, and more manueverable, too.

Thoughts on the model? The concept? Its use in the Deathwatch, anyone?

I've allready used it several times in my Deathwatch game as a way to and extract the killteam, ut not in any actual combat or confrontations yet.

The model itself is ugly as hell. The fact that it has no rear fuselage makes it look like a flying cargo container. It would help alot if the top air intake was removed along witht he ugly turret, and replaced it with something like a razorback turret. That would reduce the heigt of the model and make it somewhat sleeker.

As above, model is ugly like hell, looks like crysis/budget version of thunderhawk or drunk techmarine play with welding tool result. For my Blood Angels Army i plan to convert it into something more slender and aerodynamic (in bulky wh40k standards ofc)

As for DW its main craft of my Kill-team, extreme fast, smaller than thunderhawk, and in our play it can move not only dreadnought but similiar size container with equipment (3 bikes or Land Speeder, bonus ammo, reserve weapons, technical gizmos, mini laboratory and such).

I honestly don't mind the model. I plan on getting one for my space marine deathwatch force. And for the deathwatch game it will be my primary transport for the troops as well. I am just happy that they finally made something that the marines could use other than the thunderhawk (I don't feel like spending $500 for that model.)

Salcor

I think it's a great vehicle for Deathwatch. It gives a right-sized insertion/extraction/gunship capability to the Kill Teams that's not as over-the-top as a Thunderhawk would be.

I like the model, and really it's what me and my gaming group here expected a smaller-than-thunderhawk would look like (aside from the turret, not really sure about that part). It's deffinately the right size for a kill-team, and dear lord, has more firepower than you can shake a stick at.

I pretty much agree with Hostower, I like the model and it is exactly what I expected a smaller-than-a-thunderhawk-transport would look like

What would be the Stats for the Hurricane Bolter, I came up with the following, RoF wise its correct:

Hurricane Bolter: Range 100m, -/3/6, 2d10+5 X, Pen 5, Clip 600, Rld n/a, Storm, Twin Linked

Explanation:
Normal Bolter S/2/4
Storm Bolter are technically 2 bolters firing as one so the actual rate is 2/4/8 + S/2/4 = 3/6/12 divided by 2 = -/3/6 (your not going to fire single shots right?)
This represents 3 bolt guns, times 2 is Twin Linked....

I'd have actually gone 3/6/12 - twin-linked (as stated often, storm is better than twin-linked and the hurricane bolter isn't 3 storm bolters, i'ts 3 twin-linked bolters). And no, I can't imagine firing it on single shot but I wouldn't begrudge leaving the mode there lol, aside from that, I'd say that's pretty spot on.

and, as an addendum, I think the Stormraven is ugly, but it's ugly like Serenity, the Millenium Falcon, or even the original Thunderhawk. They're not meant to be sleek or sexy, or even particularly attractive (unlike the Stormbird, which in Prospero Burns at the very least, is described as almost a work of engineering and art while the Thunderhawk is described as mass produced shlock), which, at least on Warseer, seems to be the biggest complaint leveled against it. That being said, I'm surprised it's a Blood Angels vehicle, their goodies are always... I dunno, they always struck me as more of an aesthetic group, more likely to have "pretty" vehicles. I'd like to see a Stormraven with a good BA painter taking to it, alot of flat space painting mural style and gold filligree, maybe even "feathered" wings like on thier Sanguinary Guard jump packs.

I like it when Space Marine vehicles look a bit sluggish. It says a "We can afford to not give a **** whether this looks lick or not; now eat this."

Alex

I think it goes well beyond "a bit sluggish" and into butt-ugly.

HappyDaze said:

There's no accounting for taste. Me, I think the Land Raider is quite ugly too but that's what I like about it. To me, the Imperium isn't about looking slick, it's about being in your face, beating the hell out of the more stylish races.

Alex

ak-73 said:

I get that, but there are times when it goes too far. I thought the Marauder Fighter-Bomber was really nice looking. I like the look of some of the land speeders. But this is just ugly - it keeps the worst aspects of the Thunderhawk and scruntches it up making it look... Well, I don't like it.

It's an imperial warmachine and as such, is well suited to it's utilitarian look. It's not supposed to look pretty. (Although I think some IG craft are more easy on the eyes). If you want beautifull lines, look to the eldar. But I personally like it. I just pre-ordered mine today and look forward to adding it to my Grey Knights army and winning many painting competitions with it. I'd prefer a thunderhawk though, But like someone else said, I don't think it's worth the 800 dollars cdn to buy from Forge World. I would be willing to pay 150-200 dollars for it though. I should stress that beauty is in the eye of the beholder though and have noticed a lot of negative feedback towards it's looks. My freinds like it as well though, however so it's a bit of a mixed reaction as far as I can tell.

interesting hadnt thought about using one as deathwatch transport , my players are looking into a landspeeder storm possibly with HALO gear from under a thunderhawk as a more stealthy way in , that may change if they end up with dreadnoguth etc

yes imperial vehicles are chunky but i dont like the storm raven model a bloke at my club did a better one before the model came out which still looked imperial. the imperial vehicles have a design philosphy which gives them a common look ( like the empire in star wars) the stormraven has some features that really dont fit this especially the turret compared to razor back turrets , I prefer the cestus assault ship (see forge world) which would be ideal for deathwatch in space and rather handy in normal landings

Since our group is miniature heavy I imagine that we will use the Stormraven as our transport.

But as far as looks go, thats one **** ugly transport. It makes the aquilla lander from forgeworld look sleek.

Mechanicus made vehicles for the imperium can still look clunky and cool, Marauder Bomber, and then there is the Thunderbolt which I think is the best looking vehicle in the imperium.

The first impression I had though is why the short range guns? Twin melta, Twin assault cannon, Hurricane Bolters? I understand there is a Lascannon upgrade, but for a 'strike craft' that is a bit underwhelming.

Lucrosium Malice said:

I'm sure that GW tried to find a way to mount chain weapons on the wings, but failing that, since they see it as an assault vehicle, they must figure it needs short-range firepower.

i suppose the idea is that the short range guns help cover dis embarking troops , think helicopter gunship / osprey rather than strike aircraft

means its easy prey to vendettas in air to air , apparently this sumer will be about flyers for 40k

My thoughts:

The stats: Perfect for Deathwatch kill teams.

The design: Creatures Anathema p. 23. Sorry, but The big piece of nothing under the drives and turret on the top make it look like it was never meant to fly at all or at least could only fly upside down. It looks just wrong.

It's sort of the AC-119 of Astartes flyers when it comes to aesthetics.

But the capacity, armor, armament, speed and size are all nice for both TT and Deathwatch play.

Hell, go ahead and design your own "Fabio-pattern" Stormraven with sleeker lines and and cool gull-wing doors if you want.

Yes cause we all know the only reason a brick like that can fly it's because it's painted red...

Looking at all the friction points there is no way in hell this thing can do reentry and survive... The turret would rip off, etc. Can't even guess how it could stay strait with so much mass in the front of the nose and so little under the wings...

Really is ugly, to me te pod and the good old flight of the valkiry "Taddada da taddada!" for evacs.

I just found a photoshopped version that I like. http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/154621-storm-raven%20redesign.html

If something like that could be built from the kit I would even buy it.

I have been using a Thnderhawk in my game(( not the model but the idea of it)). I actually think the Stormraven is okay but i much prefer the Caestus Assault Ram now that is an angry monster.

MILLANDSON said:

Then you really don't have much of an imagination then.

The individual sections of the model by themselves look great. But combined it looks like rather than shrinking a thunderhawk they just chopped the middle out and stuck the front to the back.

There are a multitude of conversion photoshops out there, for my part, the minimum changes required to make it look good enough to want are in the PS I made on warseer:

www.warseer.com/forums/showpost.php

The dakka one above is a really great one too, but requires more work.

Of course, people buying a horribly designed model just to convert it to look better are still telling GW that the model sells. If you want to ensure GW don't make models that horrible, buy a different model and convert it instead. Like say the valkyrie. Valkyrie sales increasing when the stormraven comes out should get the message across.

Hellebore

Love your 'apologists' comment Hellbore...really makes me want to side with your point of view on this.

It's an ugly model, to be sure, but I've found myself growing fond of it, mostly because I know that it's mere existance seems to annoy you enough that you complain about it.

(Edit: Seriously, even if people buy lots of Valkyries and covert them, GW won't care... they'll be making money. If they cared about what the fans thought, we'd have lower prices and Squats.)

That said, 12 models For crying out loud that's like trying to squeeze a squad of men into a Rhino. I know someone's done it model-wise, but the Stormraven doesn't really scream 'spacious'.

Now, what about RPG stats for the blasted thing?