According to the background, the Silver Towers are really a Thousand Sons thing. They are literally the old towers from Prospero transformed into floating monstrosities by warp magic. They've been included in non-TSons forces because they were simply what was available.

The other Tzeentch daemon engines are the fliers. That's cool and in character for general Tzeentch style, but it leaves Tzeentch forces without any ground-based daemon engines.

I think it would be really cool to have some more traditional Tzeentch daemon engines, so I thought I'd post a thread to brainstorm ideas for engines to include with non-Thousand Sons Tzeentch armies.

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For L&D, I did some floating Chaos Altars. Basically, they are floating ziggurats ripped from the ground in the same style as the Silver Towers and throwing mystical energy for weaponry, again like the Silver Towers. I think they work well enough, but they are not exactly original.

To broader concepts...

Tzeentch has a few main motifs for physical traits: avian, flight/hover, third eye, duplicate limbs and fungal. Duplicate limbs and fungal are old school and pretty much only survive on the lesser daemons (horrors - limbs, flamers - fungal) but they might still be useful.

Tzeentch stuff is supposed to be ever-changing. The descriptions of daemons and Magnus and so on talk about how it's hard to determine their exact features, that they seem to shift size, appearing huge at one moment and normal the next, and so on. In light of that, I think that something sort of Obliterator-like in style fits Tzeentch fairly well. A daemon engine that can shift weapons and possibly other abilities as needed would seem to fit.

GW and FW also seem to be leaning towards insectoid styles in general for daemon engines - defiler, blight drones, brass scorpion, etc.. They also have integrated design and (mostly) sleeker machining, rather than the old school cobbled together look of the Khorne and Nurgle daemon engines, though it's not entirely sleek as there is some steampunk flavor clearly present.


So, for some spitballing...

1) A beetle-like or trilobite-like walker. Low and broad rather than bulky and round would probably be more stylistically consistent. It could be cyclopean, or have a third-eye like the multiple eyes on a spider. The large central body could fit with the Obliterator style of extruding weapons as needed, but I'm not sure how you would make that look cool.

1A) A scarab-style version might be appropriate for the Thousand Sons. Perhaps a Defiler variant with a more beetle-like appearance...

2) A dragonfly-like skimmer. Something along the lines of a sleeker, Tzeentch version of a Blight Drone - broader and more slender props, elongated body and so on. I could see some influence from the Dark Eldar Talos in there, with multi-clawed legs underneath the body for some of that multi-limbed flavor. It could also be cyclopean/third-eye instead of the traditional bug-eye dragonfly.

3) It's a little out there, but a skimmer based on a sort of water-bug style might be cool - the ones that walk on the water using surface tension. Instead of walking on water, the feet would end in something like Tzeentch discs. I could actually see this being something big, with 4 legs that split at the last joint, connecting to 8 discs to support its weight. Something like a giant, armored, waterbug crossed with one of the human ships from the Matrix movies.

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Please, everyone pile on if you have anything at all. This is at a brainstorming point, so feel free to run with whacky ideas.

What is the sacred number of Tzeentch? 6? I think it's important to incorporate that somewhere. Additionally, the Dics of Tzeentch are currently just Seekers of Tzeentch with riders. As amusing as a giant Daemonic waterstrider riding 8 Discs of Tzeentch would be, it's perhaps not the effect we're looking for...

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I like the trilobite idea.
Some of them were quite ornate, lots of room for weapons:


There are also existing creatures called Triops, they really do have 3 eyes:


Or the Horshoe Crab would be a good basis for a tank type engine:

9. Unfortunately, big, odd numbers are sort of hard to work into military vehicle design.


The flying discs/pads would be in closer to the body than a long-limbed water bug. Maybe grav-pad engines on short, leg-like struts would be a better way of thinking about them.

Another concept for the propulsion would be like the skimmers of the Necromongers from Chronicles of Riddick, rather than the pads from the Matrix ships. The discs would cause rippling distortion in the air and the occasional wisp or flare of warp energy, similar to the smoke-like effect of the Necromongers' propulsion system. Something opalescent would be more appropriate than black, though.

So... a waterbug/matrix ship/necromonger ship/necron warbarque mashup

I'm sure no one else can picture it, but it looks cool in my mind's eye. I'm starting to like this idea.

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Ogre: Nice. I could see either that trilobite drawing or the triops being a skimmer, again, sort of drawing on the DE Talos, with claws/legs hanging down under the body of the skimmer. A skimmer idea like that would also fit with the bigger waterbug war engine - similar styles on different scales.

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Keep 'em coming. That's what brainstorming is for...

There's the Giant Isopod:





Another strong Tzeentch image is the fish:










Where the bugs would be like floating tanks, the fish could be more like living zeppelins or simply bio-mechanical air-swimmers

Or your could combine the two and go for armored fish:

Awww... Cute! Do you think he'd get along with my cats?

If someone made a daemon engine modeled (no pun intendes) after that, I'd buy it!

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I personally think the insectoid path for Tzeentch is going in the wrong direction.

I did like the idea of anything egyption - so scarab (yes insectoid I know) is kind of in the right direction in my view. I would also look to the Egyptian pantheon for ideas on shapes and designs.

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How about a Greater Winged Horror of Tzeetch?

It's an old Man'O'War model that is basically a baroque, outlandish sailing vessel with wings. I just painted it up and should attach pictures of it. Have used it using the following stats in my LaTD Tzeentch army. Gave the Tzeentch themed list a WE option which has been greatly appreciated. Based off the old Warp Palace Rules. Let me know what you think.

Greater Winged Horror - 400 pts
WE Mv 20cm Armor 4+ CC 6 FF 4: Fearless, Skimmer, RA, Inv Save
Weapons Range Firepower
4xArcane Cannons 45cm AP 4+/AT 5+
2xBeams of Power 60cm MW 5+
Fires of Tzeentch 30cm 3BP, IC, TK(d3)
DC4, Critical: The magical wards binding the horror weaken. Suffer another DC of damage and everything in 5cm suffer's MW6+ shot.

That is not such a bad idea.

The idea of flying lazily as expressed by Lovecraft's dream sequences is how I picture such a unit moving through the sky.

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It's fun to use, and is appropriately sized for a ~Dc4 WE. I will try and take a picture for upload when I get home. Or, you can look at my battle report against Biel Tan.

What about re-purposing models from other ranges.
Tzeentch disk= big flying saucer
Screamer = skywhale type creature

Something like a floating, mechanical Dunkleosteus woul dbe very fitting for Tzeentch.

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if one wanted to stick with strange prehistoric fish:

Dinosaur eels


Frilled Shark



Arowana


Coelocanth


Helicoprion


Goblin Shark


Megamouth Shark


Oarfish

Got impatient and googled.
Hmm looks a bit like too much like a galley with wings "stuck on" for me perhaps, tho is as was said...



here's the bane tower from man of war which looks much like the sort of thing we already have.


Interesting thread...

Helicoprion is a critter I hadn't seen before.

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Heh heh, the looks is not for everyone, but I think it hits the spot as far as outlandishness is concerned. Attached pics for seeing what it looks like and a size comparison.