Warhammer 40K: The Overlord – The Primaris Thunderhawk Replacement
How do Primaris Space Marines make planetfall if they aren’t allowed to use Classic Marine equipment? They ride the Overlord.
It’s a well documented (if misguided) notion that Primaris Space Marines don’t use the transport options of the Classic Marines. Drop Pods, Land Raiders, Stormravens, and even the humble Rhino chassis vehicles are all skipped over. While Primaris Marines are physically larger than their classic counter-parts, this still seems pretty odd. Can the Primaris Marines not duck or sit down?
But if they can’t use those vehicles, it’s a safe assumption they don’t ride down in Thunderhawks either. Infact, we know that’s not the case as it’s pointed out in the Dark Imperium novel.
Yep – it’s canon
So if that’s the case – how DO they make planetfall? Well, Repulsor Drops are a thing. Grav-Chutes probably help with some and Inceptors can drop straight from orbit…But what about for mass landings? What’s the Primaris replacement for the iconic Thunderhawk? That would be the Overlord.
The Overlord is a new aircraft used by Primaris Space Marines, one of the vehicles commissioned by the Primarch Roboute Guilliman to the Archmagos Belisarius Cawl.
It is described as a new aircraft that seems to be an evolution of the Thunderhawk. It has powerful quintuple engines and twinned hulls thick enough to permit insertion from orbit like Thunderhawks or Stormbirds, despite being similar to Corvus Blackstars. Like Blackstars, Overlords possess twin transport bays with their own assault doors, but they’re considerably bigger and even more blessed with advanced technologies like energy shields.
An Overlord is equipped with anti-munitions cannons, wing-mounted Desolator Lascannons, nose-mounted Melta Cannons and Heavy Bolters fixed on its lower wing surfaces. It can transport up to forty Space Marines. During the Battle of Ardium, an Overlord transported one early-pattern Space Marine and thirty-nine Primaris Space Marines, some of which were wearing Mk X Gravis Armour.
We have examples of other Primaris Space Marine vehicles – like the Repulsor or the Astraeus above. It also sounds like these are much larger and more heavily armed Corvus Blackstars and those are some of the most advanced transports at the Space Marines disposal.
Perhaps it’s more akin to the Caestus Assault Ram:
Unfortunately we don’t have any artwork to go off of. Which is why we want to see exactly how GW envisions the Overlord. Is it just a bigger Corvus Blackstar? Is it a Cestus Assault Ram 2.0? Is it a double-hulled Thunderhawk? What’s the footprint of this bad boy? We want answers, GW! More importantly, we want a model…
Yep. I’m replacing my father’s legacy with my own…
How do you imagine the Overlord – the Primaris Replacement for the Thunderhawk?
