Aeronautica Imperialis: Thunderhawk Review

 

The Thunderhawk Gunship

I had been waiting to get one of these since it was announced last year! Despite a bit of a delay in actually getting my hands on it (out of stock for a while), its finally here- so what is the plastic Thunderhawk like?


Value- 2/5

This one was tricky to rate. I have to admit, I had been slightly put off when the kit came out to see a single Thunderhawk for £26 (as of writing, it is about to see a price increase in March 2022). In a way, I view the Aeronautica range a little more like an Airfix kit- part of the joy is seeing the details of the larger aircraft recreated in such a small scale, but the cost of this is vastly higher than an Airfix kit. 
Perhaps this is an unfair comparison- how does the Thunderhawk compare to another Aeronautica kit?
The Thunderhawk compared with the Grot Bommer

The Thunderhawk is large, and if it weren't for the wingspan, is starting to dwarf the Grot Bommers. However, I think the Thunderhawk feels like slightly worse value. For about £6 (as of writing) more, you get 2 Grot Bommers, and the little Grot Bomms themselves. Even by Games Workshop standards, this one feels pricey!

Quality- 5/5

It's a modern Games Workshop plastic kit, you are getting a high quality product here. The detail is great, and the creation of such an iconic piece of Space Marine Lore in the Epic scale, whilst making it look so detailed- an amazing job. It also feels really sturdy, but I don't fear for the flight stand- it balances well on the base- and you can't always say that about a Games Workshop flight stand...
The one thing I will say- and it's more of a nitpick- the extension they give to your flight stand so you have the option to make it taller, is opaque. A bit annoying if you want a standardised look of clear flight stands.

Keeping up the quality of the Epic scale 40k recreations

Build- 4/5

Surprisingly, this wasn't as fun to build as I was expecting. Just to clarify- there were no build issues! (Hence still a 4!). It just wasn't the build experience I'd been looking forward to like the Grot Bommers had been. It all went together very smoothly, but there was no choice or customisation, and it didn't take that long. It's not the easiest build ever, but if you enjoy putting a model together, this is just good, not great.
I forgot to take any photos whilst building... So here is the Thunderhawk next to an Epic Landraider!

Looks- 4/5


This is, of course, subjective- but I don't find the Thunderhawk perfect. Good, but not a 5/5. It doesn't have quite the same charm as the Grot Bommers, and though it is iconic and definitely looks imposing, the Space Marine flyers are always a bit goofy to me though. In terms of reproducing the larger version looks wise, this is a very well done miniature.

Overall- 15/20

My final verdict- I don't think this is a must buy. It is definitely a good miniature, but I would only recommend it if you a) need it for an Aeronautica or Epic force, or b) absolutely love Space Marines, and want a fun little project for a display piece.
Otherwise, I don't think it's worth the cost, and though iconic, I don't think the name alone is a reason to get this just for a Thunderhawk. If you want to get into Aeronautica, you're going to get far better value with pretty much any other kit (excluding Forge World) if I'm being honest, so it's hard to recommend this to everyone.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the compulsory size comparison with a Primaris Marine!


Comments

Post a Comment

The Hobby Breakfast Show

The Hobby Breakfast Show Youtube

Popular posts from this blog

Creating Middle Earth SBG Crebain out of AoS Miniatures

Image
  For my Isengard army that I'm currently building, I'm going to be including some Crebain- flocks of crows which Saruman uses as his spies. The first point of call would of course be the official models made by Games Workshop. However, the official models are Forge World- and a little on the pricey side... £27.50 for 2 Crebain flocks... I looked at reviews, which do suggest these are good models- but as I needed 3, I didn't feel I could justify £55 for 2 packs- especially as the rest of the army didn't cost much more than this...  I therefore had a look for some alternatives to make Crebain with- although there weren't a massive amount of crow models out there. I found some individual crow miniatures, but would have had to completely construct a base for them. This was perhaps a bit too much effort for what aren't something that I want to become a time sink. In the end, I circled back to Games Workshop, for some other miniatures they make for Age of Sigmar. The
Read more

Dead Man's Hand Plastic Gunfighters Review

Image
  Welcome back to the blog with my next review: Dead Man's Hand Plastic Gunfighters from Great Escape Games. I picked this box up as a small project for some skirmish gaming in the Wild West (I'd been watching a few Western's recently and wanted to scratch an itch). I'm intending to use the Ruthless rules, which I saw on the LittleWarsTV Youtube channel, and loved the look of these- I generally try to get plastic miniatures where possible (personal preference) and these appeared like good value (£15). So, what are my thoughts on the kit? Value- 5/5 You can't fault the value on this kit- 10 miniatures for £15 is already fairly reasonable, but with the options you get in the kit, this could form the basis for many different kinds of miniatures for miniature games in the West- you could just buy this box and be ready to play a game. The sprues contain twice as many heads as needed, and about twice as many weapons and extras needed too. The only note I would make in reg
Read more

Blood Bowl Sevens- Old World Alliance vs Halflings (S01GW01)

Image
Here it is, the second match of Game Week 1, the Old World Alliance team, the Altdorf Commanders face off against the Halflings team, the Mighty Mootland Mice . As always, punditry and highlights are brought to you by our ex-player commentary team, Brokk Frorson and Thistle Hedgehill. Pre-Game The weather is perfect for Blood Bowl, and with both teams starting undervalued- neither has brought any inducements to play. The Halflings win the coin toss, and elect to receive, and with that the game is off. First Half The Halflings receive the ball, bouncing just in-front of their line, and start to charge up to create an offensive line at the mid-point of the pitch. The initial stages are cagey- the Treeman and Ogre immediately clash, but nothing but a push-back is rolled. Midway through the Half, Dwarf Runner, Thrar Frondison, Blocks a Halfling Hopeful, and Badly Hurts the Hopeful. Brokk: 'With all the heavy hitters on the pitch, you'd never have guessed the Runner would get the fi
Read more

Middle Earth SBG: Saruman and Grima Review

Image
  As part of the Tale of Three Wargamers that I'm doing along with two friends on the Blog ( here's a link if you're interested ), I picked up the Saruman and Grima plastic kit that was released a couple of years back now. I've got a couple of these new kits for Middle Earth SBG now, and have been impressed with them all, so how does Saruman stack up? As always, I'll be breaking my thoughts down into value, quality, build and looks: Value: 3/5 As with all Games Workshop kits, you are paying a premium. All 3 miniatures (and the palantir) are squeezed onto a single sprue- which is impressive, but in terms of sheer quantity of plastic- it's not much for £26 if you buy straight from Games Workshop (you can get a discount from a FLGS for this though!) What saves this for me is that you're getting 3 miniatures, and a nice token/scenery piece in the palantir. When you compare this to a Warhammer 40k character sprue, for example, there you are getting just a single
Read more

Blood Bowl Sevens- High Elves vs Porklings (S01GW01)

Image
Welcome to the first game of the Sevens Blood Bowl League. Our first fixture today is going to see the High Elf Home Team, the Ellyrion Eagles face off against the visitors, The Blue Reach Boars (Goblins/Porklings). Lets have a look at the Match Highlights, and punditry from ex-players, Brokk Frorson and Thistle Hedgehill. Pre-Game With Perfect conditions for Blood Bowl, both teams arrive fully prepared for the upcoming fixture. The Porklings use the opportunity of some available petty cash to buy a bribe for the referee, and with that- it's time for Kick-Off. Brilliant Coaching is rolled on the Kick-Off table- but a resulting draw leaves neither team with an extra Re-Roll. First Half With a well placed Kick, the Porklings deftly aim the ball into the centre of the pitch- forcing the Elves to come towards them, and the Boar (Troll) straight out of the gate. This immediately paid off for the Porklings, as in their first turn, they were able to Blitz the Boar into an Elf Blitzer, KO
Read more