Hi all,
Games Workshop has given us an advance copy of the new Horus Heresy: Aeronautica Imperialis rule book and aircraft cards for the two main factions from the book.
The rule book is genuinely useful for anyone who wants to get into Aeronautica Imperialis and just happens to want to do a Heresy-era squadron; this book contains:
- All the core rules for AI (good news to veterans of the game, these look no different to the previous 40k-era publications - more on this later!)
- A campaign section around the Forge World of Vanaheim
- 8 scenarios (the classic Dog Fight scenario but a bunch of other scenarios like a canyon run - some may be familiar to people who have bought some of the campaign books)
- Squadron lists for Legiones Astartes, Divisio Aeronautica and a section on the Ares Gunship
Each squadron list has their own list of campaign abilities and make reference to the previous campaign books which makes it clear that while this book is set in the Horus Heresy era, you can still play these lists in games of Aeronautica Imperialis with the squadron lists from all the other publications so if you want you can test your Legiones Astartes squadron against an Ork squadron, your Divisio Aeronautica against the Aeldari and so on to simulate air combat in the Great Crusade (or heck, you can see how the legions would have handled the Tau Empire in a "What if..." style scenario).
The Legiones Astartes
If you are familiar with the Adeptus Astartes squadron list then you will know most of what is going on here - they have the same standard upgrades as before, the campaign abilities are also the same. The things that are different however are that there are no named planes anymore and in their place there are legion-specific upgrades instead - I really like this, I wasn't a huge fan of the named aircraft, I really prefer the idea that I can give my planes more fluffy upgrades instead. As I'm a relative novice, an Aeronautica Imperialis expert we know has shared their opinion on the legion specific upgrades:
- Dark Angels: Ravenwing Veteran
A single once per game reroll - basically to turn a below average roll into hopefully an average roll - cost seems a bit steep: best use is on a damage roll where you really need something dead and didn’t get it, but still a bit much for a one off. Note, this is the same points but worse than the Emperor’s Children ability. Could do with a price reduction or add the +1 Ace manoeuvres - White Scars: Swift of Wing
Jink - this is the equivalent of -1 to min speed and +1 to max speed + a little more manoeuvrability on chunky Astartes craft this is a BIG advantage for an every turn ability - Space Wolves: Peerless Hunter
+2 FPR to tailing fire approx 0.5 extra structure off an enemy unless a THawk >1 at Short Range but need to be tailing. Well balanced - Imperial Fists: Aegis Pilot
+1 Structure Point; this would tie in w/ techmarine upgrade as well. This is a bargain, no roll of the dice needed, just straight up increase the number of hits you can take, therefore survivability and damage output for the game. This is the most valuable of all of the upgrades and probably worth more than its current points cost - Blood Angels: Master of the Skies:
Once per game double throttle; useful for Storm Eagle landing troops and getting to peak range fast, seems ok for the points - Iron Hands: Iron Father
4+ repair roll for each lost Structure. Techmarine is already broken on a Thunderhawk, this is just a little worse. A Techmarine on a Storm Eagle/Fire Raptor is 4pts for 5+ per structure -> 2/3rds -> 1 Structure but not guaranteed on a Fire Raptor/Storm Eagle, or 2 Structure on a Gunship. As it’s less guaranteed and might not get a chance to use if over-killed, it’s definitely worth less than the Imperial Fists ability unless on a Thunderhawk Gunship - Ultramarines: Alarus Pilot
A once per game pick a different Ace manoeuvre - handy for reacting to an enemy’s unexpected manoeuvring, but not amazing for once per game - Salamanders: Tempered Plating
Ceramite Plating + ignore extra damage once per game - kinda saves 1 Structure on a reduced XD roll. Likely, but not guaranteed use, seems well balanced - Raven Guard: Shadow Bird
Stealth (-1) is only helpful on a low altitude ground defense unit i.e. bombing an Icarus but probably worth it. Ideally, I’d like to see the Stealth Ability increased to also be -1 to hit at Long Range. Or maybe this could be added to this ability and adjust the points cost accordingly - Emperor’s Children: Phoenix Pilot
A once per game reroll and +1 Ace Manoeuvres- very good on a low manoeuvrability aircraft. Otherwise it is the same as Ravenwing Vet but better for the same points and to be honest it sounds about right at this points value - Iron Warriors: Hullbreaker Missiles
Upgrade all kraks to XD5+ from XD 6+; w/ 2 sets of Krak that’s 0.2 Structure. I’d drop the points cost on this, unless on a gunship - Night Lords: Anguish Engines
-1 handling within 3 hexes; better if using expanded damage rules, otherwise, pretty pointless - World Eaters: Red Hunter
Once per game +1 to hit rolls within short range. Thunderhawk Gunship 16 dice now hitting on 4s instead of 5s; 3 extra hits for just over 1 extra structure off an enemy craft - too much of a bargain. Otherwise, just helps on a ground attack run w/ Kraks on Xiphon/Storm Eagle = reasonable - Death Guard: Shroud of Barbarus
Cant be targeted or fire for a single turn - Storm Eagle in prep for landing / Fire Raptor in prep for strafing run. Quite a different ability and difficult to place a value on without a chunk of play testing: feels a little overcosted. It’s certainly not an extra point of structure due to the zero damage output at the same time - Thousand Sons: Corvidae Initiate
Fire at full effect in bad weather at Medium and a once per game ignore the +/-1 altitude penalty This is the best overall ability, but takes skill and luck to get the best out of it. Well worth the points - Sons of Horus: Warmaster's Chosen
A once per game reroll Initiative for the turn. Ok, it’s a chance, it can make a difference at a key point in the game, IF the opponent rolls averagely and you roll badly. seems reasonably costed - Word Bearers: Possessed Pilot
A once per game increase S/M range by 2 hexes. Yep, pretty good on a Storm Eagle/Fire Raptor, too good on a Thunderhawk Gunship - Alpha Legion: Sacii Pilot
Redeploy a craft after deployment; minor benefit
The Divisio Aeronautica
This squadron list is basically the 30k equivalent of the Imperial Navy squadron list in terms of aircraft however it looks like they make use of the Astra Militarum ground assets (the hydra flakk battery and the basilisk anti-aircraft gun) so that could give them a slight but interesting twist if you make use of the assets in your games. I am not that familiar with the Imperial Navy/Astra Militarum rules to know if there is any difference in the pilot upgrades and campaign abilities.
Legio Custodes - Ares Gunship
This gunship was previewed a few months back on one of the twitch streams and given the armament, if feels like a heavy bomber but in terms of manoeuvrability it is on on par with a Fire Raptor. This is the only custodes plane (and is a pretty solid one at that) but you have the option of either fielding them as a full squardron of just these gunships or you can add one to a Legiones Astartes/Divisio Aeronatica list - note that in terms of upgrades, they can only choose from the standard Legiones Astartes upgrades (regardless of what list they are in - representing their post-human status and resources available to the Adeptus Custodes), they can't take legion-specific upgrades and they can't use any upgrades from the Divisio Aeronautica list.
Aircraft Cards
I've also got a chance to review these with the book. These are pretty standard for all releases of squadrons for Aeronautica Imperialis so I doubt this will be a huge surprise to anyone. In each of these sets you get pretty much all the cards you will ever need to field a 150 point squadron in Aeronautica Imperialis - there may be some edge cases like if you want to spam a load of vanilla thunderbolts as a full Divisio list then you probably would need a second set.
You generally get 4 of each weapon and aircraft upgrade (though less if it is for a less numerous aircraft like the Thunderhawk), you get single copy of each of your ground assets and ace pilot abilities and in the case of the Legiones Astartes set one of each of the legion specific upgrades so single set should cover all your needs for whichever squadron list you choose.
All in all, this looks like an excellent update so it gives some interesting new options to play around with and I am looking forward to playing some Horus Heresy Aeronautica soon. See you in the skies pilots and good hunting!
Hector Cephas
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