Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Greetings everyone,

I've got Thunder Warriors on the brain! I just finished the Valdor book, and I've been eyeing a certain set of cool 3d printed minis for awhile, but right now the biggest hurdle for me making a fun, thematic Thunder Warrior army is this:

What existing faction would best proxy them?

Obviously they are the precursors to the good old Space Marines, so space marines seem the place to start, however they are supposed to be bigger/tougher so I was thinking of using the gravis models as a base for the proxy, as they have more wounds, are chunkier and slower, but still kinda fit.

Next is the Custodes: in Valdor their is some fun Custodes v. Thunder Warrior action (though not nearly enough for me!) and so I thought they might make a good proxy army. The pros there are a very small model count, very good stats, and with a lot of close-combat (which the TW seem to prefer). The cons are, well, the Custodes are just flat out better than the TW so it's kinda a hard sell. I suppose you could make the argument that 12k years of hiding in the shadows and doing whatever they can to survive might have given them those better stats, but then you also get into things like their armor (TW armor is def inferior) and all that.

Last is Chaos: this one seems almost as obvious as the space marines really. The dark pact ability would nicely mimic the biological instability they have, there are plenty of beefy boys to use as proxies (terminators, chosen, obliterators etc) and they even share the "old tech, scary tech" side of things. The only downside is really that I don't want my TW to be chaos worshipers, so having to tell my opponent that these are chaos but NOT chaos just seems a little eye-rolly to me.

And before anyone asks: my local group is fully down with proxies and 3d prints and all that, and we already have several full proxy armies floating around and all that good stuff.

So what do you think? Which fits the lore best? Oh, and feel free to suggest an option I might not have considered too!

Thanks for reading!

leerm02 wrote:
The cons are, well, the Custodes are just flat out better than the TW so it's kinda a hard sell. I suppose you could make the argument that 12k years of hiding in the shadows and doing whatever they can to survive might have given them those better stats, but then you also get into things like their armor (TW armor is def inferior) and all that.

I think this is a non-issue. It's widely agreed that in-story ability and tabletop performance are far from 1:1.

In The outcast dead Taranis implanted himself Astartes progenoids. So TW initially stronger then SM and with progenoids they should be like custodes. So just use custodes

 kabaakaba wrote:
In The outcast dead Taranis implanted himself Astartes progenoids. So TW initially stronger then SM and with progenoids they should be like custodes. So just use custodes

Nah, I don’t see that.
I think Gravis marines are a good base.

 kabaakaba wrote:
In The outcast dead Taranis implanted himself Astartes progenoids. So TW initially stronger then SM and with progenoids they should be like custodes. So just use custodes

I heard about the TW action in that novel, so I'm reading it next!

I would use Stormcast bodies as a base and then add on other bits.

If you are cool with internet stuff, there are two statlines roaming around in the wild.

Otherwise, I second Custodes.

-STS

Why would thunder warriors be more powerful than marines? They were marine beta test, so surely the finished product should be better?

I got this wild hair up my but a long time ago too. I did this back when Firstborn marines still had one wound and Primaris Intercessors had three different types of bolter.

My solution was to run an all-Primaris Flesh Tearers list.

I converted 150 Stormcast Eternal bodies with Marine arms/weapons, mk3 backpacks from Horus heresy, and all the Heads were from the Venerable Dreadnought. Yes, that's right, I made bits sellers VERY happy ordering 150 Venerable Dreadnought heads.

 Crimson wrote:
Why would thunder warriors be more powerful than marines? They were marine beta test, so surely the finished product should be better?

They were, to my knowledge, stronger than Marines. But their genetics were a lot less stable, so they didn't last as long.

Yeap, they stronger and faster then marines but quite unstable genetically and psychically.

 Crimson wrote:
Why would thunder warriors be more powerful than marines? They were marine beta test, so surely the finished product should be better?

TW were more powerful but much less stable. They were prone to extreme aggression and were generally unreliable. TW were created to conquer Terra as quickly as possible. The Emperor didn't care about their long-term stability and only created them to maximise their power.

SM were less powerful but much more stable and more suited to the lengthier campaigns away from Terra they were designed to undertake.

TW are kind of like the concept car with all the weird extra gubbins that is completely impractical for mass production. SM are the high-end production car. Still rare and expensive, but mass produced.

Slipspace wrote:

 Crimson wrote:
Why would thunder warriors be more powerful than marines? They were marine beta test, so surely the finished product should be better?

TW were more powerful but much less stable. They were prone to extreme aggression and were generally unreliable. TW were created to conquer Terra as quickly as possible. The Emperor didn't care about their long-term stability and only created them to maximise their power.

SM were less powerful but much more stable and more suited to the lengthier campaigns away from Terra they were designed to undertake.

TW are kind of like the concept car with all the weird extra gubbins that is completely impractical for mass production. SM are the high-end production car. Still rare and expensive, but mass produced.

I think that's a very good summary!

The genetic instability is the only part that really fits the chaos marines, as I think that the dark pact would do a great job of representing it.

Rando thought, does Trazyn have a Thunder Warrior in his collection?

-STS

Probably not. He is too proud and braggy of his pre-heresy captain to have something even older. TW also didn't do a lot of wars across the stars.

slade the sniper wrote:
Rando thought, does Trazyn have a Thunder Warrior in his collection?

-STS

There is a Hammer and Bolter episode that apparently shows a thunder warrior in his collection.

 Jidmah wrote:
Probably not. He is too proud and braggy of his pre-heresy captain to have something even older. TW also didn't do a lot of wars across the stars.

Very true... I wonder what he would trade for a TW? They ARE quite rare nowadays... apparently there might be one left? Might be some value in that.

-STS