Warhammer TV Presenter Nick Bayton has fallen in love with all the small-scale planes and Titans taking to the tabletop of late. We caught up with him to give us the long and short on his new passion.
Nick: Ever since Adeptus Titanicus was released, I’ve discovered a complete love for these smaller-scale miniatures. It got twice as intense when Aeronautica Imperialis landed last year.
Don’t get me wrong – leading my noble Ultramarines into glorious battle or charging headlong into the fray with my Beastclaw Raiders is great fun, but there’s just something more, well… epic about commanding huge Titans as they stride into battle or dogfighting with fast-flying planes above the clouds. I imagine some of you reading this might not have tried either game, so allow me to elaborate.
Adeptus Titanicus
You can picture it in your mind can't you - gigantic battle Titans advancing ponderously through the smokey bombed-out ruins of a war-torn city in the grim darkness of the far future, explosions and firefights in the distance. These dreaded god-machines are the size of the buildings themselves, the very pinnacle of Mankind's devotion to war, effortlessly laying apocalyptic waste to all before them. It’s a remarkably powerful image to a hobbyist and now, with Adeptus Titanicus, we can finally live out the dream of fighting colossal battles between these mighty war engines.
One of the great things about these games in general is that you don’t really need to paint too many models to play (although if you want to field an entire Household of Knights, you can do that too). In fact, you can play some really great games with just the contents of the Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy starter set, and that’s only 6 miniatures!
I dived head first into the game, painting my first maniple (a “squad” of Titans) in less than a month. I found the Titans exciting to paint, as at this different scale you begin to paint miniatures differently, relying less on precise fine highlighting and more on washing, drybrushing and weathering. The heraldic devices of the Titans meant I got to explore using masking and transfers more too, which was great fun.
Then, I got to play some games during the Tale of Four Warlords series on Warhammer Live and really got into playing games too. It’s just so... cinematic – Titans firing massive guns and slowly knocking chunks out of each other as they tower over ruined cityscapes is about as cool as it gets.
Aeronautica Imperialis
Well, I can truly say that with the release of this game, I’ve found (probably) my new favourite game.
First of all, the miniatures – just look at them! Totally faithful recreations of the larger Warhammer 40,000 models with exceptional detail, and a joy to build and paint. Just like Adeptus Titanicus, painting the models requires slightly different techniques, which makes them a really great challenge. I absolutely love painting tiny planes, especially the weathering to make them look beaten and battered – it’s such a fun way to spend hobby time!
But let’s talk about the game. Just, wow. It’s unlike anything else Games Workshop produces right now. When someone asks me what the game is like, I often say “well, it’s predictive rather than reactive!” which might sound pretentious, but it’s basically it. Each turn is a mind game between you and your opponent, both trying to predict what the other will do and to plan accordingly. It’s that battle of minds that makes the game so good. And all with that cinematic image of planes dogfighting in the clouds, piloted by dashing, heroic types (who, of course, talk very posh and say things like “up, up, and away”, “jolly good” and “tally-ho!” lots).
Learning the game is much like how your pilots would learn to fly – it starts off a bit strange, and you have to spend time working things out… but once you’ve logged those flight hours, memorised the manoeuvres, and know exactly what your planes are capable of, it becomes very intuitive. For example, I taught Warhammer Community team’s Ben Galler to play. In our first few games, he used few tactics and his Orks got shot down… but fast forward a couple of months and something like 20 campaign games later, he’s pulling off crazy tricks and winning games big.
The Community
I’ve found that, with both game systems, there is a really great online community of players who love sharing pictures of their Titans or planes and talking about their games. It’s a truly welcoming and positive online space for both games, and that’s really another reason why I thoroughly love them. I was lucky enough to attend the Aeronautica Imperialis event at Warhammer World earlier this year, while an Adeptus Titanicus event was taking place at the same time. So many passionate hobbyists in one place, with so many incredible models, and I played what has probably been my favourite game of anything to date against this glorious chap, Gareth Holmes.
So, why not try the smaller games for yourself? They’re easy to get into – the starter boxes for both Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis are a great way to get going and provide you with more than enough models to play your first games!
What’s next for me? Well, I may have already begun work on my next fleet of T’iny Pl’anes… but more on those in the future…
Thanks, Nick! Want to watch loads of great shows about both Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis? Why not head over to Warhammer Live on Twitch and check out the huge back catalogue of Battle Reports and hobby showcases!