Now every codex has some of these issues when GW makes a unit with no model and you're never quite sure what it will look like or even what base it will be on. I have seen both sides of this debate and hell i have been on both sides of the debate, but when i called GW customer care and thought i would get an answer to this question i knew it was a longshot.
My question to GW and local players is what size base is correct for the thunder wolf cavalry?
Now to explain in the beginning i used bikes as proxies while i waited for my models from www.mythicast.com to arrive in the mail, but when i did that i felt i was not playing in the spirit of the game. I knew in my heart that the bases of these hit or miss units had to be bigger cause of the other models that seemed to fit the size that i imagined the models.
Back to the question what base to use? well i can tell you after trying bike/cavalry bases and feeling like i was cheating in some way, i then tried 40mm bases and that felt better. It wasn't till i got my models from mythicast.com and assembled and painted them and finally played them on the field did i truly feel that the Thunder wolf cavalry belongs on a 60mm base, i say this cause of my understanding of the fluff and also they need to stand out also.
Here is where i back up and look forward to you're comments, my two primary examples are Bloodcrushers from Chaos Daemons (there a large mount with a rider), and obviously Canis Wolfborn is on a thunder wolf. Canis's special rule to me just says he is not to be placed on another base to abuse his ability, not that i would accually use canis in a game cause i feel he is over priced and with a leadership of 7 is rubbish but i'll cover that topic another day.
To give you an example of what a thunderwolf cavalry assault can do..... they have a base attack of 4, 5 attacks on the assault, increased toughness and strength, 12" assault, and the fleet trait via cavalry trait in addition to a 2 wound model.
So on the charge the unit gets 5 attacks at WS 4 and Strength 5 with a chance of rending on each model if you don't upgrade there CC wpn. not to mention a 3+ invulnerable save and if you upgrade 1 model with a wpn of you're choice wether it be 2 wolf claws or a thunderhammer w/ storm shield then it's 5 strength 10 attacks.
Now the comparison to the Bloodcrushers
WS (5),BS (0) S (5), T (5), W (2), I (4), A (3), Ld (10), Sv. 4+ (5+i)
So just off the line the Bloodcrusher is at a disadvantage cause the TWC have 1 more base attack better unit upgrades.
Soo in closing if you know of a good reason why Thunderwolf Cavalry should not be on 60mm bases please comment below i have also linked pictures to my finished TWC unit with my conversion of a Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf.
Jason K.