Thumper & Pummeller

Played the thumber crew with grim2 and it was quiet impressed by it. Power 16 + knock down or slam for 5 points is really nice. Perhaps you would see more of them if they were allowed in theme forces.

I own two painted Thumpers (MK2 Grim2 theme/3rd is NIB), and am painting my Pummeler.

Thumpers are great for RAT fixing for Bomber(s) or Burrowers (when not taking Grissel2), especially against opposing 'jacks/'beasts with DEF>10.
Thumper crew die too quickly to Khador Mortars or any other blasts, except with Warlocks that can prevent blast damage (Horgle2>Ragnor).
Thumper Slamming one of your own warriors through 2-3+ opposing higher ARM/DEF opposing models is a thing, but hitting the DEF 16 with effective Aiming RAT 9 is still 'tricky' <--D.Knot for sure. It is one of our few remaining ways to do Troll-bowling (/salt).

The Pummeler is one errata or solo-buff from being decent.
eg. Pyre Troll provides Cont Fire on target model's attacks OR Horgle2's Cont Fire buff can be applied to any target model. Or a Artillery solo that provides Cont Fire to target warrior's ranged attack(s). As it is right now, the RAT 1 (or 3 when aiming) is WAY too low and relies on KD first, then blast damage actually working. POW 10 blast is nifty though I'm finding most folks are fielding a bit of anti-blast tech themselves, if fielding much infantry.

[Side note: Wouldn't it be great if the Slag's shot was a 3" persistent corrosion AOE?! CID, meet Trollbloods.]

My thoughts were similar.

Pummeler is not going to hit anything directly with RAT1-3, that initial POW14 is wasted. Double POW 10 blasts with less random chance of drifting is the meat and potatoes on this one. I think it's designed to clear infantry swarms ... at a time the game has moved away from infantry quite heavily. Makes me think it's a touch expensive at 6 points.

I like the idea of the Thumper with slam and knockdown tech but worry the short 12" range and no arcing fire means it's too close to the action and therefore exposed to retaliation after it's one shot. Still, KD to set up something else like a Bomber so it can absolutely whale on a heavy is not that bad for 5 points.

I'd pay 6 points for a 14-16" range Thumper. Flank out and KD a heavy from outside of threat range sounds good.

The new model has me looking at them as options. Which then got me looking at the Razorback Crew. Any experience to share there? Model doesn't look as nice (to me) but 14" range and Reposition3 seem interesting.