Talk:Thunder Warriors

Can the Thunder Warriors be conclusively be stated to be superior to Astartes?

If The Outcast Dead is the only source we have available, then it hinges on a single brief combat encounter, and a spoken line from Ghota to Arik Taranis.

That combat involved Ghota taking Tagore with an initial attack from behind, and then he followed this up by defeating Severian in single combat. While Severian is described as a superlative swordsman, he was somewhat impeded by his lack of proper armament and armor (using a makeshift blade with poor reach that was unpowored at that point, and lacking armour; being barechested in fact). Ghota, meanwhile was armed with a heavy powered hammer and was either steel armor, or MK I power armour, even if ancient and delapidated.

And while the superhuman warriors of 40k are often described as having near-boundless endurance, it may be that the condition of the Outcast Dead was less than optimal after weeks of incarceration in a small cell with no attention to training and honing his skills, possibly inadequate nutrition, being in a shuttle crash, and days without adequate rest and facing constant combat encounters. Note also that as a member of the Crusader Host, unlike the typical Space Marine, he had not seen combat for several decades.

The later line in the book is when Ghota reports back to Arik, and states that they are stronger and hardier than the Astartes, but this is not a fact provided by the author's narrative, but Ghota's observation, which was subject to the aforementioned facts.

There's also further discussion that I'd like to bring up, such as the fact it seems that Ghota does have a ceramite-reinforced skeleton, evidenced by his ability to fracture Severian's cheekbones with a (bareheaded?) headbutt; with this in mind, I'm curious as to which of the later Astartes' nineteen enhancements they have. We'll leave this for later, I suppose.

So, while they are certainly in the same strata of close combat effectiveness as Astartes, quite possibly superior in certain respects, can we still offer the outright conclusion that they are in fact combatants of higher caliber?

Cykeisme 23:13, May 22, 2012 (UTC)Cyke