Here is an image of the new plastic space marine gunship… What do you think?

Lightbringer said:

I nearly fell out of my seat laughing the first time I saw it.

I wonder about GW's design staff.

Someone has been playing sillybuggers with that pic:-

Sallright.

AluminiumWolf said:

I had seen the pic you posted first.

I'm just saying that someone over there either has a thing for Super Deformed style mecha and is imposing their will, or any sense of proportion and balance has been tossed out the window in the design studio.

IMO, it's just the latest laughably bad design in a string of bad designs.

Landing gear hanging off of a huge under-nose turret……..really?

The mighty flying goldfish?

It looks ridiculous.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

That's it!

I couldn't place what it looked like.

It looks like an armed and armored goldfish cracker!

My local game store staff are pretty good at talking up the product. It helps that they're cool guys and their store is known (internally) as one of the best ran in GW North America.

I think they're going to have trouble with this one, though. If it's a flop I think they'll just quetly stick a couple in a corner somewhere and never talk about them. lol

It looks really odd, nosecannon is rather stupid looking and I kinda get an overall orky feel from it. Its not space marine -like.

Wow. That's just… wow.

I think I might introduce some of those in my game. Have a few dozen of them sitting in a warehouse somewhere. When the PCs ask about them they're told that they are useless vehicles that the Admech keep sending to the Astartes. The SMs keep telling them "this design doesn't work, it crashes within ten seconds of take off, stop building them you f*%"mooks!" and the Admech reply "this is a holy design of the Omnissiah, of course it works! Just because the STC file we found the design on was corrupted and bits were missing and someone copied and pasted in half the Lemun Russ schematic into the design doesn't mean it won't work!"

Maybe if we saw off the turret and ventral fin plus glue the vectored engines horizontal we can call it a Landspeeder Tempest. Like it should've been.

Jaaniv said:

i know what u mean, it just feels like the guns were added as an afterthought, and in a very orky fashion

like the goldfish idea though

and i on other hand like it, a lot. it looks cool. Flying brick with guns, thats only proper way of design vtols in IOM.

And guys please… dont bring science and logic into Wh40k, if u do that whole setting crumble like house made of cards.

My only beef is that the turret is out of proportion to the rest of the craft. Sizing down the gun isn't really an option. Comparing the size of the assault cannons to the marine in the cockpit, those are the correct size for the ACs- I'd wager they just used the mold from the Terminator assault cannon, or the Land Speeder/Land Raider assault cannons. The problem is that the ship itself is a little too small. Putting the landing skids on the turret also bothers me a little bit.

The only bit that bothers me is the underslung turret, saw that off and it looks fine.

I like the fact that Space Marine vehicles are completely un-aerodynamic, based on the asthetic of a mailed fist rather than a graceful bird.

Having looked at the latest White Dwarf, and had a proper look at it, I don't mind it so much as I did on first glance. The front and 3/4 views that got thrown around initially make it look a little squashed, but from the side it's got the same sort of shape as the gunships in the Mass Effect series, only with bigger engines. Further, unlike the Thunderhawk and Storm Raven, it doesn't attempt to look like an overweight plane - the shape and variable-direction engines definitely mark it as a compact helicopter gunship analogue rather than a poor attempt at a jet interceptor.

I can definitely imagine Deathwatch missions where one battle-brother provides air support while the others (deployed by Storm Raven) deal with a target on the ground, or where several are used to perform hit-and-run raids in enemy territory.

Underslung AC aside, it's fine.

The design aesthetic would bother me more if I hadn't already become acclimated to the Stormraven, and I think the design fits the one-man assault fighter better than it does the transport.

It's still ridiculous, but this is 40k after all.

ddunkelmeister said:

I don't know. By the standards of 40k that is practically hard science fiction.

Maybe too much so - I don't see a single skull on it anywhere!

--

The 360 spin view thing on its product page is worth looking at:-

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1600096a

I like it with one simple modification (and one complex one):

*Replace the Astartes ppilot with a servitor. This isn't an astartes vehicle, this is a vehicle that supports astartes. It should be servitor or chapter serf operated.

*Replace the rear fin with a lateral fan (think the Combine Gunship from Halflife 2 - boss is standing in the cubicle next to mine, so I'm not looking up a link for you. You have google and I trust your ability to use it )

I recon if you make those changes, it'll look good and fit the astartes aesthetic more.

AluminiumWolf said:

Wow, that really does make a difference. Looking at it in profile, the only thing I'm left with some nagging doubts about are the weapon pods. They just seem overly large… But this is 40K, and every **** thing seems to have oversized weapons, so what the hell!

AluminiumWolf said:

Here the turret isn't so bad… the gun pods… meh. Its less ridiculous than the OP's link and the White Dwarf article pics. I wouldn't use giant flying goldfish tank, but I could see a place for it in the Deathwatch's S.O.P. for vehicles and C.A.S. roles.

Well this why GW started putting in 360 degree views. As a model it's more complicated than looking at a single picture, especially ones with large wings.

Seems to fit the criteria though, and they clearly wanted something a hell of a lot smaller than the Storm Raven and even the Imperial Flyers from Forge World (the Lightning is a pretty big kit, the Thunderbolt as massive if you've seen them on tables by other models), so that'll make actual purchasers happy (compared to other GW kits anyway). As for gun size, that's a basic tenet of Imperial vehicles isn't it? Bigger guns than can possibly fit, even as far back as the Leman Russ model, I like that they've actually paid some deference to where ammo would go on those side guns, even though it bulks it out. Certainly more sci-fi than modern plane which is a requirement really.

In summary, niggles but it's a pretty bold design and it ticks the boxes.

I actually think the Ork flyers a better kit, less thought put in (just early jet fighter made Orky) but it succeeds quite well. It looks Orky without looking like it wouldn't fly at all, it's got lots of customisation and character.

Necron Flyer looks good actually, no difference between the two builds except for what's tacked on the bottom (which I guess was always going to happen given the gate thing needed to be there). Would have liked the guns to more integrated (as it's actually pretty streamlined except for that, even with the exposed pilot) I guess but I think that's the way they want to with Nec's. Not sure I'll ever get used to Nec vehicles have separate pilots but that's the way they're going and it's my own hang ups really.

Erg… ugly model. Not as bad as I originally thought, but still bad.

My main problem is that this thing has never existed in the background before, nor (more importantly) anything like it. It just doesn't feel like something you would get in 40k. I have a similar problem with the Stormraven, though in that case it was just copying the same role as an already existing thing (the Thunderhawk) which they couldn't produce a model of, and so they just invented it to have a model to sell.

Frankly, in my version of 40k neither this or the Stormraven exist. The Thunderhawk is the Astartes' transport aircraft and air support, and that's the end of it.

Why can't GW design anything that looks like a "cool" aircraft for SM? The Tempest (By forgeworld) is a fine example. What is this crap? The Orc bomber looks more aerodynamic! The Original Thunderhawk gave that same "Mailed fist" look while still looking at least somewhat like it's meant to fly! This is another ugly duckling like the stormraven! Forgeworld has another mid-sized aircraft called the Storm eagle that would fill a similar role to the Stormraven. Pity GW can't adopt good designs when they see them! http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff

borithan said:

That's a good point. I haven't read anything about the Stormtalon yet- is it supposed to be a new invention?