Horus Heresy Review: Legion Storm Eagle Assault Gunship

The Legion Storm Eagle is a very nice looking craft from Forge World, albeit financially pricey. Within the 30k Space Marine Legions, the craft is excellent at transporting large infantry units -- which is much needed in an era when tactical squads can be up to 20 large in number. The Storm Eagle fills this role by permitting up to 20 regular infantry models to be carried on board and is an assault vehicle to boot (i.e. the models can assault directly after they deploy). I suspect that it will also be useful in the descent of angels rite for legions such as the Raven Guard and similar. With four access points, the craft is an all around threat in a very literal manner as well!

The armaments are nice, if a little bland at a base level. Without AP3, they lack the real punching power required to take out power armoured opponents, but the high strength of the tempest rockets is nothing to be sneezed at either. Several of these can certainly take down a monstrous creature (assuming some missed saves) and stands a chance of taking out characters. Below are some builds to think about.

1 Legion Storm Eagle Assault Gunship, with extra armour and a search light (221 points)
The basic build for transporting in large troop numbers. Consider upgrading with armoured ceramite for extra durability if the opponent is using melta (e.g., Salamanders Legion!).

1 Legion Storm Eagle Assault Gunship, with twin linked multi-melta, two twin-linked lascannons, searchlight, armoured ceramite, extra armour (296 points)
The full upgrades designed to pressure almost anything on the board whilst transporting large numbers of troops. Perhaps a land raider option might be better? An alternative to the lascannons is to use the hell strike missiles instead - slightly cheaper and potentially better for certain tasks.