Aeronautica Imperialis: Taros

[klisof]

Thanks IHF :)

 

I like it being set in a 2nd war for Taros, it helps push the story forward and they are not limited by the old narrative.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

 

I saw parts of it - the stuff I remember:

 

The Taros campaign in the book is actually the *second* war for Taros - the Imperium returns to the planet after it's taken by the T'au (at this point it's a pretty well established world and relatively deep in T'au space) to reclaim it. By now Taros has been extensively mined - so extensively in fact that there's a series of massive caverns that wormhole the planet's crust, in which some of the campaign's engagements will take place (they wanted to include rules for more sci-fi themed settings). Another setting mentioned for campaign battles is in the upper stratosphere around a space elevator the T'au have constructed to transport the planet's mineral wealth into orbit.

 

Oh, that's really cool if it's going to be a new M42 era conflict; great if that means AI and Specialist Games will be pushing the narrative forward alongside 40k. A space elevator sounds awesome too, some real Ace Combat vibes there. Thanks for sharing, this is looking like a really exciting expansion so far!

 

Thanks IHF

 

I like it being set in a 2nd war for Taros, it helps push the story forward and they are not limited by the old narrative.

 

Yeah it's kinda curious that they've previously discussed the Aeronautica series as being more of a 'historical' set of campaigns, looking back at conflicts before the current point in the narrative, but with the 1st war for Taros being 998.M41, it kinda has to be set in M42 (although could feasibly still be before the current point in the timeline)

[Arendious]

With the time-skip, it's likely that retaking Taros is part of the latter stages of the Indomitus Crusade. Or maybe relatively early, given the relative proximity of Tau-space to Ultramar.

[klisof]

Yeah it's kinda curious that they've previously discussed the Aeronautica series as being more of a 'historical' set of campaigns, looking back at conflicts before the current point in the narrative, but with the 1st war for Taros being 998.M41, it kinda has to be set in M42 (although could feasibly still be before the current point in the timeline)

I'm going the fly into tinfoil had territory here, but...

We know this book is Navy/Tau but wasn't space marines rumoured to be another of the 5 initial armies?

 

Maybe there is a new primaris fighter launching later this year for 40k?

 

I could see the AI team being told to include that in the AI lineup which would need a more modern timeframe. This could be the groundwork for that.

Just as long as they include Thunderhawks in any SM release!

Edited March 8, 2020 by klisof

[duz_]

Sounds like a discussion that requires its own thread :tu:

[Firedrake Cordova]

Just an FYI that Skies of Fire goes up for pre-order next week: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/05/31/sunday-preview-skies-of-fire/

 

Box contains:

• 2x Valkyrie/Vendetta
• 3x Lightning Strike Fighters (1 can be built as a Lightning Fighter)
• 3x Barracuda
• 2x Tiger Shark

Also up are the individual unit boxes (2 Imperial and 3 Tau [there's 2 Tiger Shark boxes]), dice, cards, and game board.

 

There'll be some features in the week, including one on the Lightnings.

Edited May 31, 2020 by Firedrake Cordova

[duz_]

More tiny planes for me not to paint can't wait! :D

[klisof]

Very happy with this, I will need to board and some planes as well as the book.

It looks like the lightning fighter works like the big shooter upgrade on the Ork jets so the one in three limitation will be due to what's on the sprue. I would like to know if the only option is autocannon or if there are extra chooses.

 

The one disappointment is the lack of ground assets, they are an important part of the game for some missions

[Mandragola]

Maybe the new book won't require ground assets, or maybe they'll be released later. It's kind of tricky because there already are Imperial ones. And Tau (according to their original fluff anyway) don't really build ground fortifications.

[plastic_slug]

Let’s hope that it starts a period of growth for the game, and isn’t a ‘let’s just get the finished stuff out the door and forget about it’ moment. I still think this game is on life support, no matter how good it is. I’ll do what I can and pick up something when it’s out in a couple of weeks.  

[Mandragola]

Hmm. Difficult to decide if I want the new starter or just separate stuff. I guess it depends if I want the tiger sharks, as those will probably make the starter economical. We'll see, I guss.

[klisof]

Maybe the new book won't require ground assets, or maybe they'll be released later. It's kind of tricky because there already are Imperial ones. And Tau (according to their original fluff anyway) don't really build ground fortifications.

I really hope they are released later. The imperial/ork set disappeared off the GW website ages ago and have not come back.

That's going to be a pain for new players. For imperial you can always use AT strategic assets as alternatives but marauders need something to bomb :)

 

I'm hoping we will see smaller mono-faction packs come back so you can get the Ork/imperium/other new faction as needed.

 

For Tau it sounds like the new board may have targets for bombing/troop landing printed on it. It says there is a space elevator on there at least.

 

For Tau air defence they do have some options for ground assets, the sky ray is the classic Tau air defence.

 

In the first Taros war the Tau also seeded the desert with drone turrets to act as static defences and area denial. FW used to make Drone Sentry Turrets and Remote Sensor Towers so I could see FW making updated versions of them.

The tower was basically just a markerlight system for targeting seeker missiles, the turret had different gun options. Air defence versions of both would make sense.

 

An air defence add on for the tide wall would also fit, and could be a CAD design for both an AI and 40k release

[Arendious]

I'm holding out hope for Sky Rays and tracked Hydras for the Ground Assets sprue this go around. (Even if they're immobile during a game)

 

But I suspect we would have seen something about that by now if that were the case.

[Firedrake Cordova]

The one disappointment is the lack of ground assets, they are an important part of the game for some missions

Yes. Whilst one could use tokens, it is a bit immersion-breaking.  Last time I looked, there were some nice crashed-plane-in-a-crater models on Thingiverse at least, which could logically be a target (along with a de-bigulated Imperial bastion) ...

 

If you're looking for a set, my local GW had 2 on the shelf just before lockdown kicked in - might be worth a check with your local one when they re-open?

 

I'm hoping we will see smaller mono-faction packs come back so you can get the Ork/imperium/other new faction as needed.

This is what I'm hoping.

[Mandragola]

I noticed that they refer to two kinds of lightning - the strike fighter and the ...fighter. I wonder what the difference is. It's interesting that only 1/3 of them can be built as the non-strike fighter.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I noticed that they refer to two kinds of lightning - the strike fighter and the ...fighter. I wonder what the difference is. It's interesting that only 1/3 of them can be built as the non-strike fighter.

It's an alternate weapons loadout, designed for ground-attack (loses the autocannon and gets more hellstrike missiles).  I'm guessing the limit on the number you can build is due to sprue space? (although it's annoying you can't build them all as one or the other)

[gilt_imp]

^Yep. The difference will be in the armament and therefore targets:

 

Think,

Lightning Fighter – Autocannons, hellstrike or skystrike missiles (air targets)

Lightning Strike Fighter – Lascannons, more hellstrike missiles (ground targets)

 

 

I'm liking the Valkyries with Vendetta option too, even have different nose add ons to help distinguish them in addition to other weapon loadouts.

 

 

 

EDIT:

Hmm was actually just told in the new game what I thought was an armament is wrong and it's actually multi-lasers!

Well that just makes me curious for the warcom preview this week to make sure lol. We'll see. 

Edited June 1, 2020 by gilt_imp

[thewarriorhunter]

I think this might be the set I jump in the game on. I love the look of the models and the Tau ships look very cool.

[duz_]

TWH, on closer inspection I rescind my "like" please report immediately to the Chaplaincy

[Mandragola]

^Yep. The difference will be in the armament and therefore targets:

 

Think,

Lightning Fighter – Autocannons, hellstrike or skystrike missiles (air targets)

Lightning Strike Fighter – Lascannons, more hellstrike missiles (ground targets)

 

 

I'm liking the Valkyries with Vendetta option too, even have different nose add ons to help distinguish them in addition to other weapon loadouts.

 

 

 

EDIT:

Hmm was actually just told in the new game what I thought was an armament is wrong and it's actually multi-lasers!

Well that just makes me curious for the warcom preview this week to make sure lol. We'll see. 

 

Well you get both options. You get the twin lascannons for the vendetta and the multilaser for the standard valk. Presumably the points cost for these will be pretty different, since the standard valk is barely armed with anything relevant to air to air combat. If those three twin lascannons are as effective as the ones on the TB and Marauder then the vendetta will be really interesting.

 

I'm really keen to see the rules for the tiger shark. We've seen that the 1-0 is a sort of sniper, but I'm very curious to see the rules for drones. I guess they could basically work a lot like bombs - the plane leaving them behind it to blow stuff up.

[MithrilForge]

TWH, on closer inspection I rescind my "like" please report immediately to the Chaplaincy

 

  Did you seriously unlike a post cause he mentioned xeno's love...  

 

Mithril 

[duz_]

:yes:

 

 

I'll give him a kiss from my Vendetta lascannons :D

 

New pics make them look even better! Ugh my wallet because I think I need some of those dice too...

[thewarriorhunter]

Alright duz_, challenge accepted. If we're ever near each other we shall fly tiny planes and shoot each other from the sky.

[Mandragola]

New flight plan article about the Tau: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/06/02/faction-focus-tau-air-castegw-homepage-post-2/

 

And it tells us... not a whole lot. There are the three chassis we've already seen and very few rules. Barracudas can bank and are allowed drones, which presumably do something. Tiger sharks have transport capacity 2 - which I guess represents them dumping drones about the place. Come to think of it, I wonder if drones will have a rule about being able to safely "parachute" form any height, what with being capable of independent flight. Well if so, the article doesn't say.

 

One small nugget I got from the previous article is that they said the tiger shark is the biggest Tau plane for AI. I don't know if that means there won't be a Manta, or if it's just lazy copy writing.

 

Overall a slightly frustrating article I think. But it does build up my anticipation of seeing the full rules, which is probably the point.

[thewarriorhunter]

Those Tau flyers look sooooooo good. I think the Valkries are better looking that the previous box as well.