The Thunderhawk is perhaps the iconic 41st Millennium aircraft – it’s been ferrying Adeptus Astartes to the front lines for nearly four decades since it first appeared as a dinky metal box in the original Epic Space Marine game.
It’s been through many incarnations since – not least in a highly collectable, metal Warhammer 40,000 version that was famously impossible to keep stuck together. But it’s the latest version we’re here to talk about today – the undisputed king of the skies in Aeronautica Imperialis.*
And yes, this is the first time there’s ever been a Thunderhawk in plastic, rather than metal or resin – and it’s a doozy, as we all saw recently when your friendly Warhammer Community team were let loose on a dozen different Chapters.
You now know exactly how gorgeous this beautiful beast can look, so today we’re answering the killer question – is it any good in combat?
In short, yes. Get a load of this.
The Thunderhawk is the craft for the squadron leader who demands everything. It can hover, manoeuvre better than Orks or T’au, transport a wodge** of troops... and just look at how many guns it has. Its many banks of Heavy Bolters put out a storm of point defence, while that Turbo Laser Destructor is a brilliant long-range sniper.
Those eight structure points make it really hard to bring down, and you can simply stick a Techmarine inside it to keep it in the air almost forever. Add in all those missiles, and there’s nothing a Thunderhawk can’t do.
Of course, the Thunderhawk is also available from Forge World, for your full-scale games of Warhammer 40,000. And if you think its Turbo Laser Destructor is good in Aeronautica Imperialis, just wait ‘til you see what this Titan-killer can do against individual infantry…
It’s so big that it can transport a complement of up to 30 individual Space Marines – or a whopping 10 bikers. For the complete experience, play a game of Aeronautica Imperialis before you get started with any game of Warhammer 40,000 – if your Thunderhawk survives the skies, you’ve got three extra squads to deploy!
The new Thunderhawk Gunship for Aeronautica Imperialis is available for pre-order from this weekend. In the meantime, why not acquire a copy of Wrath of Angels, the new starter set, which contains five Space Marine aircraft, six for the Aeldari, and all the rules, boards, and other kit you need to play a cracking game of aerial dogfighting.
* Those attempting to dispute it were shot down by Xiphon Interceptors.
** That’s the technical term, yes.