Unit Review: Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

 

Hello, battle brothers! I'd like to tell you about a unit that's quietly been popping up in competitive lists with some frequency, and that's the Storm Speeder Thunderstrike. It hasn't been the focal point in the lists its appeared in, but it's appearing consistently enough that I thought it's worth a look, as the Storm Speeders haven't gained as much attention as units like the Gladiator Lancer or the Redemptor Dreadnought. So, I'm here to put it on your radar.

The Thunderstrike shares the same profile as the other Storm Speeders. What's remarkable about the profile is they are fast, with a 14" movement, but have Toughness and Wounds appropriate to a gun tank - T9 and 11 wounds. That's only 1 less Toughness than a Gladiator, and the same number of wounds. 

For firepower, the Thunderstrike is packing 1 Strength 12 AP-3 Damage D6+1 Stormfury Missile shot and 2 Strength 9 AP-3 Damage D6+1 Las-talon shots. That's pretty fair anti vehicle/monster firepower, and with these shots it hits on 2+, so you can be pretty confident it will hit with all 3 of these shots. 

In addition to it's main firepower, it also packs a Twin Icarus Rocket Pod, which seems cute in comparison to its main guns - D3 shots, Strength 8 AP-1 Damage 2 hitting on 3+. On the surface, this just seems like a cute extra add-on, but it's important because you can use it to trigger the Thunderstrike's ability to buff the rest of your army's shooting, freeing up your big damage shots to be put into a high-value target.

The major value the Thunderstrike brings to a list is its Thunderstrike ability. This allows you to select one Monster or Vehicle hit by one of the Thunderstrike's ranged attacks and add 1 to the Wound rolls of the rest of your army's shooting against that target that phase. It's important to note that the ability triggers off just hitting the target - you don't have to make damage stick. That really increases the damage output the rest of your units can put into those tough targets. 

Don't sleep on the fact the Thunderstrike has Deep Strike either. That can help ease congestion when deploying, while letting you position the Thunderstrike where you can put the Icarus pod's shots into the unit you want the shooting buff against while putting the big damage shots into something you just want to make go away. 

If the Thunderstrike has a weakness, it's that it's melee profile isn't very impressive, 4 attacks hitting on 3+ at Strength 4. You wouldn't charge things with the Thunderstrike by preference anyway, but it would also make for a pretty anemic Tank Shock, so only try it if you only need to peel that one last wound off a target.. 

Currently, we can put a Thunderstrike in our lists for 160 points, which is the same amount of points for a Gladiator Lancer. I think it's an internally-balanced points value. For their primary shooting roles, the Lancer will do more reliable damage, but the Thunderstrike has a higher ceiling of damage with the anti-armor weapons. The Thunderstrike lacks the bucket of low damage shots the Lancer can put out, but it has its ability to buff the rest of your army's shooting. 

A Thunderstrike was in Cam Hawkins' list when he took first place at the Iron Cage GT: Bedford Beatdown the weekend of April 6-7. Here's a quick look at his list.

Azrael
Techmarine: Target Augury Web
Techmarine: Adept of the Omnissiah
Techmarine: Master of the Machine War
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Redemptor Dreadnought
Redemptor Dreadnought
Redemptor Dreadnought
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Stormraven Gunship
Stormraven Gunship
Callidus Assassin
Inquisitorial Henchmen: 4 squishy fellows

You'll note the lack of the units with higher strength guns like the Gladiator Lancer or Ballistus Dreadnought. The Thunderstrike lets the Redemptors and Stormravens punch up with their 3-damage plasma shots that would ordinarily wound a Toughness 9+ on 5's, and are instead wounding them on 4's, which is a heck of an increase in damage output. In this list, the Thunderstrike is a more valuable addition than a Gladiator Lancer would be. 

So that's the Thunderstrike: good fire support, great intra-army synergy. If you're trying to make Hellblasters or Ravenwing Knights work for you, you could do way worse than including one in your list. I hope using them helps us find success in our games!