Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Although I am biased against Forge World's fluff and some of their models (did anyone notice their Elysians do not look at all like how the core studio drew them in pictures?), the skids are actually a good argument.

Yes, they could be catapult-launched (it might even make sense - Galactica-style), but how would they land? Would they just ... scrape over the runway until they come to a standstill? That seems doable, but very, very dangerous and impractical.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
As regards Lightnings, etc, though, we have an official source in the Forge World models, which are all equipped with skids, meaning they must be VTOL.

Edit: Although I guess they could be catapult-launched like the V2, although that seems even less intuitive...

Double Eagle by Dan Abnett has lightnings and thunderbolts launched with rocket assist from launch rails.