Horus Heresy – Xiphon Interceptor Squadron
The forces in Epic 30k give you the option for air support, and as I already some Aeronautica Imperialis miniatures around, I saw the opion to use the Xiphon Interceptors. Initially, those didn't really fancy for AI, but as you can field them as an attack wing in a of pair two, I thought they might be a good addition.
The kit offered by Games Workshop for the Aeronautica Imperialis range covers six of them, so more than enough. So I picked them up along with some painting material at my go-to store, Radaddel.
Thunderhawks – Hooo!
Closing the gap on the area between Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis got a bit easier, with the recent release of Astartes Aircrafts. And among those aircrafts, is one of the most famous flyers the Space Marines have, the mighty Thunderhawk! (Imagine the Thundercats intro ... hooooo!)
I have to be honest, the Thunderhawk has a special meaning for me. Beginning with the first Thunderhawk, all metal kit, that was released in the late 90s and I even held that one on my first visit to Warhammer World in 1999. And that particular kit got much more attention this year, when Emil a.k.a. Squidmar got one of these Thunderhawk kits, painted it up and sold it for an impressive 25.600 GBP.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Avenger Strike Fighters
The Imperial Navy received a huge update in the second wave of Aeronautica Imperialis. We've seen two new plastic kits in the new starter Skies of Fire and the Arvus and Vulture as resin kits, and now even another plastic kit, the Avenger Strike Fighters.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Arvus Lighter and Vulture Gunship
In the second wave of Aeronautica Imperialis Forge World supports the range with two new resin aircrafts, the Vulture Gunship for the Astra Militarum and the Arvus Lighter of the Imperial Navy.
These are multi-part resin (not Finecast!) kits, available only through Forge World. Each clamshell blister covers two flyers, along with the accessories needed for use in Aeronautica; flying bases, clear rod and status cards with profile. The inlay covers the assembly instructions as well.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Taros Air War
Right along with the Skies of Fire starter box, came Taros Air War, the second campaign supplement for Aeronautica Imperialis.
The Taros Air War is part of the Taros Campaign, a conflict Forge World covered in one of their Imperial Armour books back in 2004, Imperial Armour Volume Three - The Taros Campaign, to be precise. Taros was mining world, in the Ultima Segmentum, in the service of the Imperium of Man. But the Planetary Governor Aulis, head of the Taros government, developed friendly trading relations with the Tau, and sought to defect to the Tau Empire with the support of much of the planetary population. A treachery the Imperium couldn't let go unpunished, and their response was relentless.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Skies of Fire
Games Workshop gave Aeronautica Imperialis an update with 2020, a new starter set, with Skies of Fire, covering the Imperial Navy against the T'au Empire.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Imperial and Ork Ground Assets
The release of Aeronautica Imperialis was much broader, compared to other product lines introduced by Games Workshop. Among the individual kits is one for terrain, the Imperial and Ork Ground Assets.
The flat box costs 32,50 EUR and covers a single large plastic sprue, along with a simple assembly instruction. Unlike other terrain sets, this doesn't come with a Warscroll for use. Those are covered in the Rynn's campaign supplement.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Marauder Destroyers
Among the fine new kits available for Aeronautica Imperialis is a second variant of the Marauder, that isn't part of the Wings of Vengeance starter kit. Reason enough to take a look on the Marauder Destroyers boxed set.
The Marauder is the standard heavy bomber of the Imperial Navy and due to its heavy armoured superstructure a reliable work horse of the imperial forces. As such it is mainly used as the Marauder Bomber, with a payload of to 6,000 pounds of explosives. It can carry up to twelve bombs or six heavy bombs, while four slots are available beneath each of the wings for additional bombs. There are variants of the Marauder, which put the capacity for bombs to use with different gear and refit the remaining armament, depending on its purpose. The most known variant beside the Marauder Bomber is the Marauder Destroyer, a dedicated ground-attack aircraft, which saw action first in the Second war for Armageddon. The bomb bay was halfed, using the space for ammunition for the new armament in nose and rear.
Look up to the Sky, look at the Horizon
I just did the Cruel Seas unboxing and review and Warlord Games introduced the next naval wargame, Black Seas. Similar to how Cruel Seas ties in with Bolt Action, Black Seas will tie in with Black Powder, focussing on the naval battles between 1770 to 1830.
Aeronautica Imperialis – Wings of Vengeance
Keen eyes have spotted the Logo of Aeronautica Imperialis in one of the teasers by Games Workshop published on Warhammer Community. This Saturday the new Wings of Vengeance starter kit for the updated 2019 version of Aeronautica Imperialis was released.
Updated? Yes. Aeronautica Imperialis is not a novelty as you might think and not a Specialist Games revival either. The game was developed by Forge World back in 2006, written by Warwick Kinrade, who went on to write historical rules nowadays (among other publications, the Battlegroup series and the first Armies of Germany supplement for Bolt Action). Forge World was heavily focused on heavy and super heavy gear for the Warhammer 40k range back in the day, especially for the Imperial Guard, as many of the team back then, came from a model building background and brought in a lot of experience and knowledge from the tank design into those resin kits. But they didn't just do tracked vehicles, but aircrafts as well. Playing dogfights with thunderbolts and marauder bombers in 28mm would be or is incredible fun, but you would need a gym (and deep pockets to buy a squadron of Forge World aeroplanes) to run such a game. So scaling that down to 6mm (the common epic scale within 40k until the release of Adeptus Titanicus), would make sense.