When you’re the personal demigod bodyguards of an Emperor who rules over a million planets, you really get the pick of gear. Nothing is too baroque, too esoteric, too deadly for the Adeptus Custodes – whether it’s auramite armour, Dawneagle jetbikes, the mighty guardian spear… or the Ares Gunship.
The Ares Gunship is a remarkable fighter craft from a distant age, a terror weapon that developed its infamous reputation during the Unification Wars on Ancient Terra. When the Legio Custodes marched out to fight by the Emperor’s side, the Ares would blaze over enemy lines to utterly destroy landmarks, monuments, and other cultural symbols of any who resisted the Emperor’s peace.
Since then, the Ares Gunship has become the premier aerial runabout of the Adeptus Custodes – and it has the in-game performance to match. Five Structure points make it the toughest Fighter in the game, and it can hover and drop Infernus bombs to boot. The Gunship’s array of weapons – its signature nose-mounted Arachnus magna-blaze cannon, and a pair of heavy blaze cannons – mean it’s absolutely devastating at Medium range.
This thing is an absolute menace in the skies – and at a cost of 43 points per craft, that’s exactly what you’d expect.
The Ares Gunship can be taken by three factions – the Adeptus Custodes themselves can form a fleet comprised entirely of these gunships, but they’ll also pitch in to help out the Adeptus Astartes or the Divisio Aeronautica.*
The Ares Gunship will cast its deadly shadow over your games of Aeronautica Imperialis later this year. We’ll let you know more when we know more – in the meantime, sign up to the newsletter for more dispatches from the air war.
* The what now?