Until this moment, Warhammer TV, Games Workshop’s streaming service, has yet to draw me in. Despite being an avid Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar enjoyer, I’ve yet to feel that a $6.99 (£5.99) per month Warhammer Plus subscription justified access to a modest range of spirited (but often clunky) animations and its supporting range of shows and apps.
However, a trailer for an upcoming animation series has forced me to reevaluate my perspective. Games Workshop recently dropped a trailer for its upcoming Warhammer TV animation series, Aeronautica Imperialis. This is because Aeronautica seems intent on using the rich Warhammer 40k setting to explore two rich, underused themes.
The first is the Aeronautica Imperialis itself. For the uninitiated, the Aeronautica Imperialis is a brand of the Imperial Navy responsible for fielding air-superiority craft across the battlefields of the grimdark future. As far as the tabletop is concerned, it doesn’t qualify as a distinct 40k faction. However, the Aeronautica occupies a special place in the hearts of many fans of the wider setting.
This is, in part, thanks to the work of prolific (and talented) 40k author Dan Abnett, who, in the novels Double Eagle and its sequel Interceptor City, spun a pair of gripping Aeronautica war stories fraught with dogfights, interpersonal drama, and sci-fi grit. Both books showed us exactly how intense and gripping stories covering the Aeronautica’s grimdark dogfights can be. Seeing this underrepresented element of the Imperium’s forces brought to life in the form of an animation is a real treat for Aeronautica fans (myself included).
Secondly, the show’s trailer promises to closely examine the technological gulf between the Imperium, populated by overworked mortals working clunky machinery, and the Aeldari – an ancient race of space elves whose mastery of technology is exceeded only by their smugness.
This contrast sits at the heart of stronger 40k fiction, shining a light on the fragility of the teeming masses of humanity that make up the Imperium. These aren’t unassailable superhuman Space Marines; these are fallible, flawed pilots – a theme I can’t wait to see the show explore.
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Source: Wargamer
