Warhammer 40K targets X-Wing, and its target is true

Games Workshop is greatly increasing the world’s population of small plastic spaceships with Aeronautica Imperialis: Wrath of Angels. This latest version of your tactical combat game features planes piloted by both Space Marines and Eldar, but how does it stack up against your biggest competitors? Polygon put an early copy on the table to find out.

The dogfighting genre has been dominated for the past 10 years by Star Wars X-Wing. Visit your local game store and you will probably find an entire wall covered with a selection of their beautiful pre-painted miniatures. After a second edition reboot, the nearly decade-long franchise is still quite popular, but it’s not without its shortcomings.

Star Wars X-Wing is, for all intents and purposes, the shooting hero of dog fighting games. Each ship on the table has its optimal variation, usually built around acrobatic weapons or elite pilots who can break the rules in the most interesting ways. With three to six boats on the table, it is a true marvel. Scale that beyond a handful of models though, and you’ll end up with something really chaotic, like a 64-player version of Supervision.

Imperial Aeronautics, on the other hand, it presents its boats as much more than daily work boats. They have a few tricks up their sleeve, to be sure, but not in the form of exotic mines or Force-sensitive pilots. To fly them, you will need a bit of skill to avoid crashing.

Although Imperial Aeronautics models land planes, not spaceships, the game is still much more dynamic than X-Wing. That’s because the ships are not locked on a two-dimensional plane. There are five altitude levels in the game, and players must be within a few levels of each other to land a hit.

Further, Imperial Aeronautics simulates using a throttle to speed up or slow down your plane. Each of the different ships in the game has a set acceleration number, which means that it can only speed up or slow down so much each turn. The boats also have a maximum and a minimum speed. Go too fast and it will break mid-flight; go too slow and you will stop and potentially freeze.

Using a simulated throttle and altitude reminds me quite of Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles, a discontinued jewel published in 2018 by Ares Games. That game also simulated both momentum and inertia, allowing players to fly in one direction while looking in another. Imperial Aeronautics it pretty much abstracts that concept, relying instead on a set of eight “ace maneuvers” that ships can perform each turn. The problem is that not all of these ships share the same ace maneuvers, creating a highly asymmetric little war game. This also gives each of the game’s factions its own thematic feel.

As a result of the complexity of its rules, Imperial Aeronautics it’s a crunchy little miniature game. But because it lacks the exotic powers of a game like X-Wing, there are no super-abilities to unbalance or steal the target at the last moment. That allows it to scale incredibly well. You can have a fun and fast game with just a handful of ships in less than 45 minutes. Alternatively, you can fill a table with four players, get a dozen or more ships on each side, and spend the entire afternoon doing it. The abstract rules also make it easy to learn and play with a new faction without much practice.

Wrath of angels It comes with 11 planes, including two different models for each of its two different factions. The Adeptus Astartes come equipped with the venerable Xiphon interceptor and the massive Storm Eagle transport gunship, both built like flying tanks. Meanwhile, the Asuryani Eldar get the Nightwing fighter and the Phoenix bomber, both of which can literally circle heavy Space Marines.

Overall, the quality of the models inside the box is impressive. There are multiple options for building three of the four, and the Nightwing models even feature movable wings that fold back to represent your silhouette while in supersonic flight. Models will even stay firmly attached to their bases without any glue, meaning you can tilt them left and right during gameplay to demonstrate their attitude in flight. Also, after spending weeks working on a single vehicle for the full-scale version of Warhammer 40,000, it’s a real treat to spend roughly the same amount of time and end up with two full squadrons of small ships instead.

If you’re looking for a new 40K franchise to invest in, or just want to spend a little time assembling and painting some satisfying miniatures, Aeronautica Imperialis: Wrath of Angels It comes highly recommended. You can also find slightly older sets of the game, with similar rules and different factions to start with. Aeronautica Imperialis: Wings of Vengeance includes the Astra Militarum and Ork factions, while Aeronautica Imperialis: Skies of Fire presents Astra Militarum and T’au.

Aeronautica Imperialis: Wrath of Angels it was revised with a commercial version provided by Games Workshop. Vox Media has affiliate associations. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.

---