The Overlord, as described in Avenging Son (no spoilers)

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

Thought some folks who haven't read the book might like to hear the description of the Overlord, as it's more detailed than in earlier (chronologically later) appearances:

 

"It had two spacious transit holds, one in each section of its double fuselage. Swept-down wings and the hunched cockpit between the two hulls gave it the look of a raptor crouching over its prey. Weapons bubbles carrying crewed heavy guns lined the outside of each hull, while the wings were tipped with gatling las, and their broad spread played host to a myriad missiles."

 

Yep, it does say "gatling las" (and for that matter also says "a myriad missiles" instead of "a myriad OF missiles").

 

Is this the first mention of gatling las anywhere? A specific detail like that sounds ALMOST like it would have to be pulled from the stats for an actual in-development model... except for the fact that it's probably just a wink at the Gatling Laser from Fallout.

 

That one weapon aside, while the level of detail is otherwise still suggestive of the idea that Guy Haley actually had a blueprint or even a test model to reference while writing that passage, I thought that before while reading The Great Work. And unfortunately I don't think the two descriptions gel. Not only does TGW say nothing about two separate holds, but it specifically says the cockpit is above the hold, not nestled between two holds. That position is important as the "stacked" nature of the cockpit over the hold results in very little headroom for the Overlord when entering a particular landing bay, so it wasn't just a stray mention.

 

That said, maybe the Overlord is intended to have two different configurations as with the Thunderhawk or maybe it will always be a book-only unit and thus the description will change to meet the needs of the story and to accomodate external influences like Fallout.

 

Thoughts?

Edited August 20, 2020 by Lord Nord

[UtariOnzo]

Might even be a result of an internal design change between the two writings. Which one will be the final design, if either, we’ll have to wait and see... Though, honestly, I suspect it’s a case of the authors getting a very rough blurb of the design ideas and having the freedom to fill in as the story needs/artistic licence

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

Might even be a result of an internal design change between the two writings. Which one will be the final design, if either, we’ll have to wait and see... Though, honestly, I suspect it’s a case of the authors getting a very rough blurb of the design ideas and having the freedom to fill in as the story needs/artistic licence

 

Well, if it's a design change then it would mean an Overlord model is a LONG way off. The Great Work was published last September, so it would have been current with any design changes up through spring or so. And as we've seen, it's generally several years between final design and the model actually being released.

 

But - and I should have mentioned this originally - the Overlord's appearances in Dark Imperium, The Great Work, and Avenging Son were all written by Guy Haley. You'd think the same author would either use the same design or just invent a different transport if he's going to use radically different designs... UNLESS there was actually an Overlord model being planned and he was, as you suggested, using the current design in his books.

[Son of Sacrifice]

I'm in two minds about the Overlord. If we're not going to get a model, then why ever mention it? But also it air-drops two Repulsor tanks in SOTE, so it must be enormous and surely too big for the table top?

[Bryan Blaire]

There are plenty of things in 40K that might never get a model - should none of those get mentioned either?

 

I don't think that an Overlord that would be properly scaled for the game would ever hit the tabletop - it's probably twice or larger in volume a Thunderhawk - but you know what they say about never saying never.

 

Where we might see it would be in something like Aeronautica Imperialis.

 

With the mention of the double hull, hunched cockpit between, and downswept wings, my mind immediately conjured an oversized, but bulkier version of the Corvus Blackstar.

[Brother Casman]

With the mention of the double hull, hunched cockpit between, and downswept wings, my mind immediately conjured an oversized, but bulkier version of the Corvus Blackstar.

Yep, me too - I want one that looks like this, even if it's only in Aeronautica Imperialis.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Still waiting for my plastic thunderhawk over here .

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I'm pretty sure it was described as twin hulled in DI.

[Boldthreat]

I'm pretty sure it was described as twin hulled in DI.

It was described similarly in Dark Imperium. I believe the Corvus Blackstar was referenced specifically in said description.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

 

I'm pretty sure it was described as twin hulled in DI.

It was described similarly in Dark Imperium. I believe the Corvus Blackstar was referenced specifically in said description.

 

 

It's been so long since I read D.I. that I didn't remember it getting much in the way of detail aside from being big. But comparing it to the Blackstar, I can see how the descriptions in The Great Work and Avenging Son aren't necessarily incompatible.

 

While the Blackstar's cockpit is "between" the twin hulls, it's still above them. I had envisioned the cockpit's top being roughly level to or even lower than the top of the hulls, but the Avenging Son description doesn't say that exactly.

 

So I have to retract my claim about the description "changing" between The Great Work and Avenging Son (although I should say that I haven't re-read The Great Work since it came out, so there could be something in there that conflcts with the description in Avenging Son, but not the placement of the cockpit).

 

This of course would mean that Guy Haley has been working from  a static description basically since DI, which means GW does have a set design for the thing should they intend to bring one out. On the downside, the scale of the thing may just make that impractical.