In the meantime I'd like to ask for your valued opinions on a special character / unit I'm considering for my Blood Drinker army.
In the Fandex I'm constructing, the 8th Company 'Talus' The Talons, in addition to being the Chapters Assault Company, are also it's airborne specialists and they maintain both it's Land Speeder and Stormraven Squadrons.
I envisage The Talons having their own pilots, mainly selected from amongst Marines whose heritage lays with the Dushara Clan's Griffon Riders from the Chapter Homeworld of San Guisuga ( see my Blood Drinkers Origins post ) . I know this goes against the current trend of having Tech Marines crewing vehicles, but I feel Tech's should be a little more on the rare side, like Librarians, Chaplains and Priests. If he's going to be onboard, I want my engineer in the back, working the problems, in case some terrible space monkeys get loose; rather than sitting up front fighting with the controls and saying 'Oh Throne, Oh Throne we're all going to die.'
Getting back to the question at hand, I want to have a HQ unit that reflects The Talons specialism, made up of a Captain and possibly an honour guard.
I've come up with three options that I offer for your consideration, some more outlandish than others.
Option One : The MK14 'Bullock' Jet-Cycle
I have always loved Marine Jet Bikes and despite the IMO bonkers descision to retcon them out of existence, I'm sure I could summon up some fluff to explain the company being led by a few of these. Maybe the 'Drinkers stole a couple from outside the launderettes, while the Raven Wing were inside starching their robes.
Option Two : The Fire Chariot
Page 181 of The Horus Heresy - Collected Visions has a picture, albeit not that great, of this Crusade era machine being crewed by Blood Angels. It looks like, well a Chariot obviously, being pulled by a Jetbike. The Jetbike has a rider and the Chariot has a single Marine passenger. If I went with this idea, I see it as a single relic, kept by the Chapter from it's original share of the Blood Angels Armorium following the Second Founding and it would carry the Company Captain into battle swinging a suitably long and vicious close combat weapon.
Option Three : An actual fethin Griffon!
Following in the very large paws of the Thunderwolf cavalry of the Space Wolves; how about having one or more Griffons from the Chapter Homeworld? I really like the High Elf Griffon rider model from the Warhammer Island of Blood box and with maybe a few added cybernetics it might make a really striking unit; imagine these beasts swooping down alongside Stormravens and Speeders. I know the inclusion of monster mounts into the Marine section of the 40k verse has met with a wide degree of scorn. But the hobby loves wondrous variety and if the fluff fits then why not? After all the Orks have Squiggoths!
Well there they are, I welcome your comments and I'll also post up a poll with the three choices; obviously the next problem will be coming up with rules that I can get agreed by my opponents.
Pictures featured Rogue Trader era Mk14 'Bullock' Jet-Cycle, High Elf Griffon Rider, copyright Games Workshop Ltd.
3 comments:
Wow, why was training so hard? You are not training to be a ninja assasin or anything (or I'd better watch my words). I voted for griffon because I think it is a great idea, simple as that. I think that with proper care it can look really awesome. The 40k universe is vast (much larger than the Fantasy one which is just a planet in the 40K galaxy) so why wouldn't there be any Griffons in it? It doesn't sound absurd to me at all.
One thing though. Are the elfs legs joined with the griffons body?
I'm all for the jet cycle or fire chariot, but having to choose one, I'd go with the fire chariot for the fact that I've never seen it done. You'd possibly be blazing a trail.
@ Antipope, lol I once had a couple of lessons of Ninjutsu, but I'm not nearly lithe enough. I prefer the Indiana Jones approach against an enemy who has obviously trained long and hard in the martial arts. 'BANG!'
You're absolutely right about the rider's legs, I think a bit of careful cutting and maybe some green stuff would see it right, although finding Marine legs that will work may be a problem.
@ Porky, welcome mate, 'blazing a trail' lol, like it. I have seen one un-finished attempt somewhere online, it was a jetbike towing a Warhammer Skeleton Chariot I think. It was too early to judge whether it worked or not.
Thanks both of you for your comments and votes as of this moment it's still tied bewtix the Griffon and the Chariot. Everything still to play for :)
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