Warhammer TV teases Aeronautica Imperialis animation at AdeptiCon preview

The new Aeronautica Imperialis trailer is less a simple show tease than a hobby prompt, especially for anyone with aircraft sitting half-finished on the painting desk. Warhammer Community dropped the trailer on May 22, and the footage puts Imperial Navy machines against Saim-Hann Aeldari in exactly the kind of sharp, fast-moving dogfight that makes aircraft miniatures look worth the effort.

That matters because Aeronautica Imperialis has always lived and died on visual identity. Warhammer Community frames the game as Horus Heresy-era aerial warfare, with Loyalist and Traitor aircraft fighting deadly battles in the skies, but the trailer pushes that legacy into a cleaner, more immediate Imperial Navy versus Aeldari clash. The teaser language leans hard into “swooping, banking, dogfighting action,” and that is the sort of motion that reminds painters why aircraft schemes need more than a basecoat and a wash.

The hobby angle is obvious in the imagery. Imperial hulls invite hard-edged squadron markings, weathered panel lines, chipped leading edges, and heat staining around the engines. The Aeldari side, especially Saim-Hann, points in the opposite direction, with bright craftworld colors, crisp glyph work, and a sleeker finish that rewards clean blends and precise trim. Even without a box reveal, the trailer is the kind of visual nudge that gets people thinking about cockpit glazing, exhaust effects, and whether to build a matched flight wing or lean into individual ace-pilot character for a display piece.

Warhammer positioned the reveal as part of a larger push at Warhammer Preview Live! at AdeptiCon 2026, where the company also showed a new edition of Warhammer 40,000. AdeptiCon, one of the biggest stops on the competitive calendar, gave the animation a much bigger stage than a standalone media drop would have had. That is the point: Warhammer is keeping niche systems visible by folding them into its broader media and preview cycle.

The first episode of Aeronautica Imperialis is set for May 29 on Warhammer TV through a Warhammer+ subscription. For painters who have been looking for a reason to pull flyers off the shelf, the teaser does the job well enough on its own, because it makes the case that aircraft miniatures still look best when they are streaking, banking, and barely making it back to base.