True-Scale Thunder Warriors

[Thunder_god]

Excellent! I've been thinking of using AoS parts for some true scale goodness. These thunder warriors are going to rock.

[Doghouse]

That is looking really nice.

 

A good starting point if you want the original look of the TW is to use Cadian helmets but slice off the lumps on the sides and add a top knot. Might have to try these for a kill team, well done. :tu:

[Lord_Ikka]

Really exciting to see these brutes come together. Can't wait to see a finished cohort.

[stilgar the flayer]

any update on this

[CommodusXIII]

I have my bases and enough bits to build the first few Thunder Warriors, but was pulled away by a last-minute Kill Team project. I should get back to this over the weekend.

[Bernard The slayer]

Really looking forward to seeing more!

[TRIBUN]

Absolutely cool project. I'll keep an eye on it.

[torealis]

I will absolutely be following this. First rate work.

[Bythehololight]

I've been enjoying a long break from 40K to explore Age of Sigmar. Lately, though, I felt the itch to dive into another Kill Team-scale project. After kicking around a few ideas, I came to rest on the Thunder Warriors. I've always been a sucker for obscure facets of 40K history, and the Thunder Warriors have not only been glossed over - they've been purposefully buried.

 

My projects typically begin with the rules. This particular project started when I was thumbing through Horus Heresy, Book 6. I found that the Blackshield Chymeriae are perfect to represent Thunder Warriors in 30K. Their genetic attributes push their abilities well above Space Marines, and also represent their inherent instability. The wide range of weapon options for the Blackshield Marauders and Reaver Lord suit the nature of the Thunder Warriors quite well.

 

Finally, their Pariah Power Armour is a great way to represent Mk I Thunder Armour. I'm pulling a lot of inspiration from White Dwarf 129, which describes these early suits as follows:

 

The first type of armour is now often referred to as 'Mark 1'. In fact this is the sort of armour worn by the techno-barbarian warriors that dominated the Earth. When the Emperor began his conquest of the planet his retinue was equipped and armed in the same way as the troops of other warlords. The first Space Marines formed part of that retinue and were equipped with the same sort of armour as other warriors of the time.

 

The thunder-bolt and lightening emblem on the breastplate of this suit was the personal badge of the Emperor in those days, predating the Imperial eagle which only became the symbol of the Imperium much later. This emblem gives the suit its other common name - Thunder Armour.

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/qvxDQAhl.png

 

This is not really a single enclosing suit and offers no atmospheric protection or life-support facilities - all of these being unnecessary while fighting was restricted to Earth. The helmet and the top plume are fairly typical, but these early suits were manufactured on an entirely local basis and their exact designs were often a matter of personal taste. The main part of the armour is the massive powered torso which encloses the chest and arms. Beneath the armoured chest plate coiled energy cables transmit power into the arms, effectively multiplying the wearer's fighting abilities three or four times over. During this period most fighting consisted of close combat, warriors preferring to grapple with each other rather than use long range weapons - the power of a warrior's chest and arms was therefore of paramount importance.

 

The warrior's legs are not power armoured at all but enclosed in tough padded breeches. In the example shown the warrior wears armoured greaves and armoured boots. These were not standard by any means, but were worn by many of the better-equipped warriors and were common amongst the early Space Marines. The warrior wears a backpack which provides his suit with power - most of its bulk is taken up by a cooling mechanism meant to prevent the power unit from overheating.

 

Warriors equipped in this way fought during all the Emperor's wars on Earth, and also on the Moon and Mars which have Earth-type atmospheres. Mark I armour is unlikely to be seen on the 41st millennium battlefield but ceremonial units are sometimes equipped this way.

Basically, Thunder Armour is limited to the chest, arms and backpack. The legs and head are non-powered, possibly even unprotected. This opens up a lot of options for modeling. It's also a great chance to test out some true scale concepts without looking out-of-place next to other armies - the Thunder Warriors dwarf Astartes anyway.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Mj9bwm5l.jpg

 

This except explains the armour and tactics, but leaves quite a few gaps as it was written before the concept of Thunder Warriors or even proto-Astartes came about. To fill those gaps, my other major source of inspiration is, unsurprisingly, The Outcast Dead. I certainly won't quote that book in detail here, but the general idea is that the Thunder Warriors performed well for conquering Terra but didn't match the Emperor's vision for the warriors needed for the Great Crusade. We know what that vision was - the glorious Astartes. It stands to reason, then, that the Thunder Warriors were the opposite. They were huge, hulking brutes - and just as barbaric as the other Terran armies. Hardly the inspiring presence the Emperor would want to project into the galaxy during the Great Crusade, and so they were unceremoniously culled.

 

To represent this inherent barbarism, I'll be incorporating a larger number of parts from the Chaos Space Marines and Age of Sigmar lines. If an Astartes were to stumble on a Thunder Warrior, his first reaction should be shock - similar to a Roman soldier encountering a Neanderthal. The overall concept strikes me as being closer to the wasteland warriors of Mad Max.

 

http://i.imgur.com/5GvkE5Dl.jpg

One stylistic change that I'm making involves the helmets. To be honest, I really dislike the "combat helmet, aviator sunglasses and topknot" look of the classic models and illustrations. In keeping with the "wasteland warriors" theme, most of my Thunder Warriors will have bare heads with respirators. A few will have feral proto-Astartes helmets. For those, I'll be referencing Blanche's later artwork - these illustrations are still much more regal than I'm shooting for, but it's a great place to start.

 

So that's the background. Now, I just have to wait for all of the bits to arrive.

I was too curious not to ask how theses thunder warriors turned out!?

I was looking at doing a militia army and count ogryns with survivors aid the dark age and a human helot to represent thunder warriors