Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Ground Assets (Orc-Slayer-Tober ’19) (Contrast Paint Experiment #13)

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Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Ground Assets

Wait. Wut? Models that were released this year? Models that were released only weeks ago? What happened to this blog? Oh wait, it’s okay. They’re super simple. Yes folks, this is the Imperial half of the Ground assets box that was released recently fort Aeronautica Imperialis. A game that has extremely fond memories for many people in it’s previous incanation as a Forge World product that was recently re-released by GW-Proper. Now, I’ve been pretty good at holding to my 28-32mm only policy, with the only exceptions being Flames of War that I bought into many years ago, and Gaslands, which only requires a visit to the Hot Wheels/Matchbox aisle in the local department store. Oh, and X-Wing, though those are pre-paints, so they don’t count.

Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Ground Assets

Still, I was determined to skip this one, as I did Adeptus Titanicus last year – since I don’t need a new scale with models that don’t cross over into anything else. It was Altsain, of the blog A Tabletop Wargamer’s Diary who convinced me indirectly, as he managed to paint up the aircraft super easily, and talked about how well the game is suited and set up for scenario and campaign play, with a relatively few models, as opposed to an endlessly huge points-based bring-and-battle. So with that, I ordered a bunch of stuff online, and as fate would have it, my Ground Assets arrived before the core set, and so I started working on them.

Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Ground Assets

Once again I took inspiration from Altsain, by pretty much ripping off his paint scheme for the Imperial Forces. I did fine that his method of washing with Athonian Camoshade didn’t work so well for me, possibly because of my spray undercoats, and so I instead took the opportunity to bust out the Contrast Paints again. I found that an all-over of Militarium Green gave a nice effect, and then followed up with some Vallejo Model Air Metallic “Rust” (really a brown, dark copper shade of metal) for the trimmings where hje had used a brighter copper, a bit of iron primer, some washes and then a final drybrush of Vallejo Bonewhite. Then some translucent yellow as well as gemstone red and blue for lights across the models. It has shown me how well the Contrast Paints can work on smaller scale models, how much easier this colour was to use over the usual premade wash solution, and it can also be seen that they give quite a stark look to the shading and highlighting, especially following a lighter drybrush to further pick out the details. With a light green rather than a bone colour, they’d have remained much richer and a little warmer.

Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Ground Assets

Mine do look a lot more “dry” and muted compared to Altsain’s – who has ended up with much richer colours that are more akin to my usual, but I’m still happy with how mine ended up, especially as an evening-and-following-afternoon paint project. Oh, and some might wonder how these bloody things count as Orc-Slayers? Well, the Rynn’s World Campaigh that the game is based around is entirely Imperium vs Orks, so these models have literally been designed and produced specifically to battle nothing but Orks for at least several months before Another Challenger Appears. So ….yeah.

Also, forgive any typos. I’ve corrected seemingly dozens of them so far, but I’m sure some slipped through. My computer finally gave up the ghost a few days ago, and now I’m getting used to a new keyboard as I do the new-machine-new-install-everything-dance-thing taking up most of my time for the next few days on the replacement. So not as much painting as I’d hoped this weekend…

34 thoughts on “Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Ground Assets (Orc-Slayer-Tober ’19) (Contrast Paint Experiment #13)”

  3. Great work on the ground pieces for Aeronautica, seems like you’re finding many uses for the contrast paints. I was reading on another blog that they fit in scale wise with the Adeptus Titanicus models, would suggest a crossover at some point

    Liked by 4 people

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    • Yeah, they are apparently the same scale. Titans are rabbiut hole I’d rather not fall down. Certainly at this stage. Besides, I already have some stuff to paint one day at the regular scale…

      Liked by 1 person

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  4. Far be it from me to tell you that you’re doing the hobby wrong, but this just isn’t how things are done. What you’re supposed to do is buy models you’re really excited about, start to assemble/paint them, grind to a halt, ignore them for at least a year (preferably more like a decade – this allows them to “mature”) then slap some paint on them and go “sod it, now it’s done”. These are our ways, that have served our people well for generations. No good will come of this heresy I tell you!

    That said these are looking really good so I shall forgive you! 😉

    Liked by 8 people

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    • Yes, I am also disappointed that you didn’t let these things sit for at least a year before finishing them, young man! 🙂

      Nevertheless you did a great job on them and they look very nice. I feel sorry for any uninvited air forces that fly/flap/float/whatever your way….

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      • Nope, no getting away with it. You’ve totally broken ‘the unwritten law’ of gamers and modellers. That’s bad jew-jew right there! 😉. They do look good though and another great example of the use of contrasts.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. I’ve always liked stuff like this, previously mostly for Epic, but there have been a few other examples. Even more so now with the amount of detail they can put on. Great job bringing all that detail out with your paint work.

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    • Yeah, despite my avoidance of new-Titanicus, I did play the original (and the Original Space Marine), though by the time that Epic became a thing, I’d dropped out of GW for a few years and returned, and then stuck to the Necromunda-40k-WarZone-Blood Bowl side of things, because I didn’t have the money to do all of that (which were active games in my group) as well as look into the Epic stuff on top of that…

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    • Thanks mate. Got up to some more stuff last night with them and still finding them very useful. Built a little backlog to get posted up, so it’ll be a few days before they get posted up. And still gotta finish them as well!

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  11. Sorry to hear about your computer but I also hope that you like the new one that you bought once you get it all setup. These look really cool! I like how muted the green is and for some reason, it seems very imperial to me. Imperial Guard in particular. Air combat has never appealed to me much so when I saw this game being announced I didn’t think much of it, but campaign play and low model count certainly have my attention now! Thanks for putting it on my radar (no pun intended!) 🙂

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    • Thanks Kuribo. New PC is pretty much set up now. I’m at that stage where it’s just a matter of using it and then occasionally finding that I need to (re)install something here and there that I had on the old one. It can run games like a beast as well though, and so now I’ve gone from unable to run things like TW:WH I and II to Ultra settings in 4k. so I’ve definitely rejoined the PC Master Race.
      The IG/IN (AM/AI) connection is one I wanted to establish there, and Altsain’s simple but effective paint scheme helped sell me on it (and the game itself) as well. Air Combat appeals to me in the same way that Naval Combat does – different scale with smaller models and a low model count (and not getting too expensive) – and as a game much more than as a painting/”hobby” item. Quite honestly, I’d have been just as happy if the AI stuff were pre-paints, and much happier of the actual flyers weren’t all multi-part models but one-piece casts…

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      • PC gaming is great and while I don’t play on mine as much as I used to (did a stupid thing and committed myself to having a really good Steam profile with a high level of achievements so now I don’t want to buy anything on Steam that will ruin my 90% achievement rate), there are so many fun games that are PC-only or play best on that platform. I know you’ll have a great time with the new PC. Also, I finally got my PS4 network issues resolved so let me know if you’d like to be friends on there 🙂

        Those are good points about Air and Naval combat. I’m generally for anything low model count. I know exactly what you mean about wanting to have a game that doesn’t require a lot of hobbying. That is just about the only kind of game I’m in the market for at the moment as there is too much LOTR stuff to do.

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    • Well if they didn’t come boxed with/against Orks and the campaign setting wasn’t Rynn’s World, I wouldn’t have made a connection there or even thought about it! 🙂

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  15. Pingback: Aeronautica Imperialis: Ork Ground Assets (Orctober ’19) | Azazel's Bitz Box.

  16. Pingback: Aeronautica Imperialis: Imperial Navy and Ork Waaagh! Ground Assets Set – Completed! | Azazel's Bitz Box.

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