So, somewhat uncharacteristically, I actually did go and scratch build a bunch of ships. Just finished two Battleships and I need to paint them. I had a bag of 9 Imperial and 6 Chaos Escorts from
BFG that I've put together at last, and I made 3 cruisers and 5 light cruisers for an Imperial fleet. Planning on scratch building 3 Iconoclast escorts and doing 4 cruisers, 3 light cruisers and 2 battleships for Chaos.
That should be plenty of depth to allow for interesting games between the two sides!
Was actually really fun doing the scratch building once I let myself unclench and accept that having flawed scratch builds was a lot better than no ships at all.
They look a lot better from tabletop distance than up close, but overall I'm happy with the outcome. Chipboard silhouette, foamboard to build it up, then clad in various sizes of cable ties. Final details from the Dropfleet Commander Space Station kit that I got for half price when my local shop was having a clear out. I'll be using the bits from that to make the chaos fleet as well, and maybe a Tau fleet down the line.
I've got some Dropfleet Scourge I'm going to use for Ancients (Eldar) and am thinking about how to scratch build some Brute (Ork) ships. I don't like the
BFG designs for Orks so if anyone has any examples of different designs for them, I'd love to see them!