Aeronautica Imperialis – Avenger Strike Fighters

The Imperial Navy received a huge update in the second wave of Aeronautica Imperialis. We've seen two new plastic kits in the new starter Skies of Fire and the Arvus and Vulture as resin kits, and now even another plastic kit, the Avenger Strike Fighters.

The Avenger Strike Fighter is widely used as a ground support aircraft by the Imperial Navy and was manufactured even before the Horus Heresy. In this role it fits very well the Taros Air War. Beyond that it saw service not only with Imperial Guard, but with the Adepta Sororitas / Sisters of Battle as well as the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The main armament of the Avenger is the weapon system, giving it its name as well as making it an highly effective tank-killer, the Avenger Bolt Cannon, a gatling bolter system. Beside that it can be armed with autocannons or lascannons, along with Hellstrike and / or Skystrike missiles beneath its wings.

The pattern itself was added to the lore via the Forge World Imperial Armour books (Vol. I Imperial Guard 2nd Edition and Vol. XII The Fall of Orpheus) and was available so far only as a resin kit by Forge World in 28mm, now available for the first time for Aeronautica.

The Avenger Strike Fighters comes with four flyers per boxed set, spread across two identical sprues. The kit is set at the regular 34 EUR price tag of AI boxes (recently raised from 32,50 EUR) and cover two mentioned before medium sized sprues, four Aeronautica flying bases incl. multiple ball-pin rods and a decal sheet.

The instructions are well done and clearly understand. The only thing that is lacking in these new sets, is a description of which weapon system is which. This might be a bit difficult for new players, who are not familiar with the designs of the guns.

The sprue is mirrored by 180° on the second half, and these sprues are included two times in the boxed set. Casting is as usual on a very high level and the details very clearly seen. It is amazing to see, how well these small scaled kits, Aeronautica as well Titanicus, are made. The sprues are well used and leave no unused space.

The fuselage is the main part of the kit. A slim and long design, only as broad as the cockpit makes for the main part of the Avenger, including the ball point joint for the AI flying base.

The wings are angled and kept in a very aggressive design, including the exposed engines. Cleaning the sprue connectors from the engine fronts is a bit delicate, as the studs along the cover are a very fine detail.

The horizontal and vertical stabilizers are the last part of the aircrafts body, completing the built - without the weapon system.

Now for the final part, the weapon systems. In the middle below the cockpit the Avenger Bolt Cannon is added, and on the inner wings either the las- or autocannon, leaving the outer spots for either Hellstrike or Skystrike missiles. Here I used both variants for you to see.

The aggressive V-shape of the flyer, along with the slightly angled wings shows a clear ressemblance to the world war 2 flyers as the Ju-87 or Vought Corsair.

I spoke about the proper choice of aircrafts for the Imperial Navy, to compare these to each other, here's a side-by-side picture of the medium sized aircrafts, with the Valkyrie, Lightning, Avenger and Thunderbolt.

And to close the review, the fully armed Avenger from different angles.

Conclusion
After seeing the Vulture and Arvus as resin kits released by Forge World, I wasn't 100% sure if the Avengers would be released as plastic or as resin kits as well, after seing the announcement earlier this year. Of course, from a price point I prefer the plastic kit, which is reasonably priced. 8,50 EUR per aircraft is moderate and you get a well made set of new flyers for your Navy. With the Avenger being in service for such a long time and many imperial forces, it makes for a great addition for Adeptus Titanicus, as well as several Epic 40k/30k armies.

Fit of the parts, along with the casting is superb. They were fun and fast to build, and the Imperial Navy has a variety to choose from, other air fleets could only dream of. Therefore to extend the idea, you might go for a traitor or non-Imperial Guard navy, to spice things up a bit. Yes, the options are not that vast, but that is the way with most of the flyers, where the only variation came from the armament beneath the wings, mostly choosing different missiles.

If you intend to use the Avenger with your navy, you'll need the Taros War campaign book, as the rules for the this aircraft are not included in the box and only covered in the campaign supplement.

Warhammer 40,000 and Aeronautica Imperialis are brands by Games Workshop.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.