Tag Archives: aeronef

Today sees the official website release of our new, remastered Japanese Aeronef capital ships. We’ve previewed these extensively and had them for sale at Tabletop Gaming Live last weekend, so you’ve seen them before. There are four new models – replacements for the Yashima and Yamashiro battleships, and a new version of the Ryujo class carrier. There’s also a brand new ship, the Shinano class dreadnought.

All follow the new configuration of resin hull with lots of metal detail fittings, including separate turrets – the Japanese use the same types as our British battleships.

We’ve reconfigured the existing fleet packs, added a new one containing two Shinanos plus escorts, and introduced a Japanese Grand Fleet Pack for the first time.

VAN-602 – Yashima class Battleship – £7.50
VAN-603 – Ryujo class Carrier – £9.00
VAN-615 – Yamashiro class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-617 – Shinano class Dreadnought – £8.00

VANFP-026 – Japanese Grand Fleet Pack – £48.00
VANFP-601 – Japanese Fleet Pack #1 – £22.00
VANFP-602 – Japanese Carrier Pack – £22.00
VANFP-604 – Japanese Fleet Pack #2 – £22.00
VANFP-605 – Japanese Fleet Pack #3 – £22.00

That leaves us on target to complete the overhaul of all of the major powers’ capital ships by the end of the year. We’re only left with the USA to update, and the new masters arrived for those a couple of weeks’ ago (in fact Phil is already making the moulds for the metal parts).

LINK

Today we’re launching a pair of new British Aeronef dirigibles. The first, and smaller vessel, is the LRS class (Long Range Scout) which, as the name suggests, is a patrol vessel with minimal armament but capable of long duration missions to scout out enemy fleets.

The large, twin-envelope craft is the Mantis class Dig Bomber. These vessels carry significant loads of gravity bombs for dropping on ground targets or, if the bomb-aimer is very good (or very lucky) even on enemy vessels below.

Both craft have non-rigid main envelopes using the distinctive tri-lobe design employed by British WW1 airships, with multiple independent ballonets inside each lobe to provide some measure of redundancy and damage-proofing.

Both craft can operate with the Ark Royal class Dig Tender. A group typically consisting of an Ark Royal, several conventional escort vessels and 6-8 digs would be deployed as an independent long scout unit. The digs would be sent off on patrol missions of several weeks’ duration, returning to the tender for refueling, rearmament and replenishment of their gasbags. The tender can handle either two LRS class or one Mantis class on deck, with room in the large hangar for two LRS.

VANFP-107 – British Patrol Fleet – £22.00
VAN-126 – LRS-class Patrol Dig – £1.00
VAN-127 – Mantis Dig Bomber – £2.00

LINK

We seem to be on a roll with our Aeronef updates as we gradually redesign the range. In between the major fleets, we’ve also found time to update some of the other fleets, and this week the Italians get an upgrade with new versions of their two battleships. The Re d’Italia and Guilo Cesare are smaller vessels, not up to the size of some of huge battlewagons of the major powers, but perfectly adequate to face off against the Austro-Hungarians in their seemingly permanent squabble over the Adriatic Sea.

As with all of our updates, the models now get separate turrets of a new design, which are also available as accessory packs. The hulls are resin, with metal funnels, tails, turrets and masts.

I wanted to do something different with the Italian colour scheme, so I took a cue from my friend Silvio, who owns the largest Italian Aeronef fleet in existence. I went for conventional black hulls, but painted the superstructures and turrets in Azzurri blue (the paint I used is Citadel Caledor Sky). They were painted in my usual base/wash/highlight style and finished with tail markings from Dom’s Decals.

The Italian fleet pack has also been updated, and now contains a Re d’Italia, two Cesares and escorts

VANFP-1801 – Italian Fleet Pack – £22.00
VAN-1801 – Giulo Cesare class Light Battleship – £6.00
VAN-1802 – Re d’Italia class Battleship – £7.00
VAN-7181 – Italian Twin Turrets (x10) – £1.50
VAN-7182 – Italian Triple Turrets (x10) – £1.50

LINK

The German Aeronef Fleet is the latest one to be updated, with the existing battleship and battlecruiser models replaced with new designs. In addition, there are two new models, the Derfflinger class Battlecruiser and Weser class Carrier.

All of the new models are digital sculpts featuring resin hulls with metal fittings. Turrets are now separate parts along with metal tails, masts and other parts.

The existing fleet packs have been updated with the new models (VANFP-301, 302 and 304, which now contains one Moltke and one Derfflinger) as has the Grand Fleet Pack, and there’s a new carrier pack.

VAN-301 – Blücher class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-307 – Markgraf class Battleship – £8.00
VAN-312 – Moltke class Battlecruiser – £7.00
VAN-323 – Derfflinger class Battlecruiser – £7.00
VAN-324 – Weser class Carrier – £9.00

VANFP-023 – German Grand Fleet Pack – £48.00
VANFP-301 – German Fleet Pack #1 – £22.00
VANFP-302 – German Fleet Pack #2 – £22.00
VANFP-304 – German Fleet Pack #3 – £22.00
VANFP-306 – German Carrier Pack – £22.00

This now just leaves us the two Pacific powers, USA and Japan, to be updated, which will be completed by the end of the year.

LINK