Ride of the Valkyries Part I

Here's the first of my Valkyries painted up, next to the unpainted one for comparison. The inspiration for the camo scheme came from pictures of Soviet Mi24 Hinds and fits with the desert theme of the campaign I've been playing. It doesn't strictly fit with the colouring of most of my other planes, which are more WWII Army Air Corp, but I figure:

(a) I've already wandered from that theme with my Lightnings;
(b) These are likely seconded from a separate squadron, so wouldn't necessarily be in the same colours;
(c) As these guys have to spend their time flying 'low and slow' in hostile environments, they're going to be quite keen on blending in and probably repaint for every new environment.



The challenge now is to try and do the other one by the weekend, so that's two nights then...

Bunkers, bunkers, everywhere

Well, I was so impressed with the Snapdragon bunkers that I couldn't resist painting them this weekend (there goes the painting schedule again). I stuck with the desert theme I'm following with all my Epic/AI scenery at the moment, although a repaint may look in the future. The castings were a real joy to paint, taking the paint well, and nicely textured for dry-brushing.



Here's a bit more detail on my favourite piece, the mountain top bunker.






I've also completed the Forge World Control Tower and bunker, but I've not managed to get any decent photos of them yet.

Next Job will be the Valkyrie dropships.

AI phase IIb

Well,

Another part of my AI project arrived today. A selection of bunkers from Snapdragon Studios. Beautifully clean, crisp castings, they'll provide the perfect targets for Matt's Tau bombers (not that I intend letting him get close enough).

AI Phase II arrives

Well, a nice parcel arrived this morning with the next phase of my AI project: 2 Thunderbolts, 3 Valkyries, 3 heavy AA guns, a control tower and bunkers and various bits.



Unfortunately the Marauder Destroyer bag contained a normal Marauder, so I'll have to get that sorted. Not a great problem though as I'm going to concentrate on the ground defences and scenery before getting on to the planes. I'm going to rebase the control tower, as I'm not that keen on the base it comes with, which seems to be a bit unnecessarily fiddly, and the AA guns are going to get emplacements built to contain them.

Or at least, that's the plan, and I've never been very good at sticking to plans in my painting schedule.

AI Next Steps

Well, phase II of my Imperial force for Aeronautica Imperialis should be underway soon. The order has gone in to Forge World for 2 more Thunderbolts, a Marauder Destroyer, 3 Valkyrie dropships and some heavy flak guns. This should beef up my ground attack forces and give me the capability to do insertion missions.

The heavy flak will also mean a bit more scenery magic. This time I'm going to go for a more prepared look, with proper concreted emplacements.

Watch this space for progress

AI Ground Defences

Aeronautica Imperialis allows you to include ground defences to defend against bombing raids. Unfortunately my Hydra Flak tanks (from my Epic Guard army) looked a bit lost and vulnerable on the gaming table! Bitten by the AI bug, and always having enjoyed making scenery, I thought some makeshift defences might look good.

The aim was to end up with something that looked like it had been quickly prepared by engineers to shelter the AA tanks, rather than a permanent, fixed defence.

I started with a plasticard base, on which I glued styrene insulation foam that had been shaped, first with a hot wire cutter, then a modelling knife. Green stuff modelling putty was used to make sandbags on the parapet, and thin balsa for the internal wooden retaining wall (the panels were scribed with a drawing pen)



Unfortunately, like an idiot I forgot what superglue would do to styrene! Which is why one of the defences has a bit of 'battle damage'!

The revetment was then given a coating of PVA and sand.




Finally they were given a desert style paintjob, as we've mostly been playing the campaign on desert terrain boards, to match Matt's Tau colour scheme (my olive drab imperials look fine almost anywhere as it's such a basic colour).

Aeronautica Imperialis

I've been playing a bit of Aeronautica Imperialis lately, the air combat game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, from Forge World. Incredibly simple rules to pick up, but their simplicity doesn't limit games at all.

There's even a campaign system included (always a plus for a set of rules in my book) which a mate (Matt) and I have been having a go at. Matt's been keeping track of the campaign on his club's website

Link

I've been using my imperial navy aircraft.