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I'm very interested in fielding a Naval Boarding Party/ Naval Brigade for the IG. I remember reading about a quite long winded description about Imperial Naval Boarding Parties in the EISENHORN books even good old Gregor didn't want to mix it up with the Boarding Parties. I think i'm going to use old ARBITES models as Naval Boarding Parties with Bolters, Shotguns, Power Mauls and Storm Shields etc. On another point i will probably use Cadian Models or models with Carapace Armour to make a Force Protection Platoon.
Naval Sniper (SM Scout model + Spotter??? Any thoughts) .Plus a Naval Commando unit will probably be made up KARYSHIN Veterans. How about Mordian Iron Guard Models as Naval Officers?

My Proposed Force

1 x Naval Boarding Unit (ARBITES or converted others) 10 Men

1x Force Protection Platoon (CADIAN OR SIMILAR) 30 Men

1 x Naval Sniper Team ( 2 Men Spotter Shooter team)

1 x Naval Commando Squad (KARYSKIN VETERANS) x 15 Men

1 x Officer Group (Mordian Iron Guard) x 5

Any Thoughts Guys need some Inspiration as i am lacking support elements and Possible conversions?

I think a boarding party would probably be mounted up in Vendettas if they weren't charging into a ship. I'd also think there would be lots of veterans with shotguns, and probably flamethrowers.

How do you snipe inside a ship?

Anyways, given their origin I'd expect lots and lots of short ranged weapons like shotguns, flame throwers, pistols, and CCW. Things that go boom like bolters, explosives in general, etc. are not likely to be popular in the kind of confined spaces boarders are likely to be used to working in. Also armor would be big, after all the biggest nastiest power armor in the WH40K universe, termies, was designed for use in tight spaces like ship boardings.

Well, obviously no tanks but lots of Valk's needed.
You seem to have a good basis of an army, and yes, I wet myself after reading Eisenhorn's description of the Naval Troopers. (If you look in my profile in my gallery for my precinct, the model I use to show scale is a Kasrkin attempted to be done as a Naval Security Trooper, have a look if you want an idea of colour scheme.)
Shotguns are probably the most prevalent weapon you would have, as well as very little Melta/Plasma weapons (on a ship, you must be mad).
If you have the Arbites models - great, convert them. If you're looking to buy them they will be quite expensive, (if you buy some, use some and have some spare PM me, I'll probably be interested). Mordian Iron Guard are a good idea for the officers and for your SNipers you may want to consider the Vindicare models, they look quite Navy-ish in their camo jump suits.

Other than that can't think of anything else,

The OC-D

Do you mean navy in space or on the sea?

Kilkrazy wrote:Do you mean navy in space or on the sea?

I assumed he meant Imperial Navy (space)

.....but you've given me an idea D:

If it's sea navy then some traditional sailor models might be fun.

The weapons would include shotguns, SMGs, power pikes and pistols and some figures could carry the type of riot shield used by modern police.

Boarding actions are notoriously close quarters, bloody, and deadly. IG units that would engage in boarding actions:

Ministorum Priest – these guys would be used to augment close combat capabilities and cut through bulkheads with eviscerators. Fluff wise, they’d be reassuring nearby units that the Emperor is looking ot for them.

Techpriest Enginseer – fiddle with enemy ships electronics. Set up or break down defensive positions.

Ogryn Squad – big and heavy close combat monsters.

Storm Trooper Squad – special ops within a ship to take out engines/weapons/warp drives, etc.

Veteran Squad w/ shotguns and flamers – vets who know what they’re doing would be the backbone of a boarding action.

Penal legion Squad – in some cases, drug influenced hand-to-hand penal warriors would be used as a first wave boarding crew.

Cool some good ideas guys.

Just for Reference guys, Naval Snipers are used off Helo's to whack the engines on Go-fasts and Pirate vessels so Boarding parties can catch up. Nobody wants to Fast rope on to a heavily armed go fast at 40kts.

1. Disable the Boat.
2. Secure it.
3. Board it.
4. Secure the evidence/bandits
5. Sink the Boat (on the pretext that it is a danger to shipping!!)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1169712/Flawless-How-U-S-Navy-snipers-killed-Somali-pirates-just-shots--dark-deck-rolling-ship.html

http://www.eliteukforces.info/royal-marines/fleet-protection-group/maritime-sniper-team.php

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/royalmarines/units-and-deployments/other-royal-marine-units/fleet-protection-group-royal-marines/news/maritime-sniper-team-on-tour-2009

I think the possibility of Valykrie with a Sniper Hanging out would be way too cool for school!

Ok you're talking blue water navy, not black water.

THEOCD i really like your take on it, i think i'm going to build a Boarding Torpedo as a terrain piece as i think it would make a good centre piece, plus it could be a lifeboat rescue mission, me with a small platoon holding out after abandoning an Ironclad whilst the Enemy close in!!!

I'm thinking along the lines of Space Hulk, Space Crusade and NECROMUNDA for inspiration. I found some old models of Upper Class Hivers who go down into Necromunda or maybe some house Van Saar models. Anything that looks military but doesn't already belong to IG, SM or the Inquisition let me know if you see any appropriate models.

However i am seriously lacking in Hard hitting Heavy Weapons, if i start table topping on an open battlefield with vehicles, i'll get spanked! Again any suggestions.

Well.. there was a cool looking battle report i saw once where a IG army on a space ship in transit got attacked by teleporting chaos deamons. I saw a IG sentinal stuck in the armory depot on that ship because the armory's door was too small verticaly for it to fit.

Perhaps you should also think on the defence too?

- Would you have heavy weapon teams of sorts to help defend corridors and doors on ships?
- Would using some models/rules from the Daemonhunters/Which hunters codex be able to help fill in some gaps?

Hopefuly some of that helps you

Bulkhead and Corridor holding/heavy clearing teams, yeah that sounds good. I imagine they would be armed with Heavy Flamers, Melta guns and maybe one or two Heavy Bolters for extra weight of fire.

Actually sod it, why don't i just build a representative Space Hulk to fight it out in (not fully 3D as it would be impractical, that would make alot more sense? A load of tyranids/ chaos vs my little Naval Party. Does anyone know of any plans, deck plans from Battlefleet Gothic or similiar?

mwnciboo wrote:Bulkhead and Corridor holding/heavy clearing teams, yeah that sounds good. I imagine they would be armed with Heavy Flamers, Melta guns and maybe one or two Heavy Bolters for extra weight of fire.

Don't forget multi lasers, i'm thinking multi lasers might be a more practical idea for a heavy weapon inside a ship, as the lack of a AP would greatly reduce the risk of shooting a hole in the ship.

mwnciboo wrote:
Actually sod it, why don't i just build a representative Space Hulk to fight it out in (not fully 3D as it would be impractical, that would make alot more sense? A load of tyranids/ chaos vs my little Naval Party. Does anyone know of any plans, deck plans from Battlefleet Gothic or similiar?

That would be pretty cool. Perhaps you can just do up the wall sections with foam/plasticard/whatever and just print out a pattern of paper and stick it to the floor of it? Sadly i don't know enough of how imperial ships work, if any (since i'm not a BFG player)

Thanks, I'm glad someone likes my work/ideas. If you are lacking Heavy Weaponary and your opponent allowed it your guys could do as the Arbites do and you could have a dude with a Heavy Stubber. If not, Heavy Weaponary would have to be Autocannons, high strength, more shots, 'man portable' and relistically not powerful enough to breach a starship hull. Storm Trooper/Kasrkin models look good as Navy Troopers.
I once played a game with a Starship interior, I marked it out with Jenga blocks. It was quite interesting and gives a very new approach to 40K.

The OC-D

Some Mock ups using photoshop of what i'm aiming for, the models are primed in my spare room and i'll get round to doing this soon. Theocd cheers for your input, i'll post some of my pictures of my Boarding torpedo conversion when my wife stops shouting at me for ignoring her....

http://1165812288519164904-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/mwncibooflashpointproject/NAVALFORCE.jpg

you could use penal squads to represent the conscripted work gangs (gun crew and such).

Yeah, i thought about that... Maybe as Ratings or torpedo loading Gangs that work reloading the Weapons decks. Mordian Iron Guard do look quite good if you paint them midnight dark blue, with gold/yellow trim and braid.
My main driver behind this is to have a small (approx 60 models) force specifically for boarding actions or small scale Naval Engagements e.g rescuing downed Aircrew or Crashed Savior Pods.
With this small force i can supplement it with my GREY KNIGHTS, a GK Dreadnought and an Inquisitor or Deathwatch Squad to have a much Heavier force for bigger table top games but still retain a kind of Imperial Navy Only force option for small skirmishes.
My mate has a Dark Angel force and we have discussed my Naval Party being TASK FORCE CYPHER who locate a suspected vessel containing an unknown Astartes then we duke it out for LORD CYPHER.

Nice, like the mock-ups; the colour scheme is nice and the officers appear to be above the troopers but still tied into the same force. I'm glad I could be of help.

Merry Christmas,

The OC-D

I'd do Vet squads with lots of flamers, meltas (for hatches) and shotguns. Power swords on the sgts.

Valkyries/Vendettas as transports.

Armored Sentinels maybe? Ships can be pretty darn big.

Sounds like a great army.

Yeah, concur with the Melta's as cutting through bulkheads would be major part of what they do. Just bought a CADIAN VET squad off ebay so i'll crack on with that and a crappy Karskyn Squad which i will clean with Pine Sol and re-paint. This bloody hobby is well expensive...

The Ciaphas Cain Omnibus has him doing a naval-type boarding of an oil-derrick type construct in the ocean. He had to take out a chaos cult. Damn bloody mess.

I would think that flamers would play a huge part cause the flame can clear out corridors and lap around corners. SWAT Team tactics in clearing out rooms with flashbangs or 40k version type grenades. Small, compact versions of the lasgun (Elysian style). Mehbeh even nightfighting type rules cause the rooms and parts of the ship have had their lights blown out or intentionally turned off by the defenders.

Hold on, how about Storm Troopers they look like they have NVG's on! (Night Vision Goggles) Yeah some flamers would definitely be in there, plus you could douse corridors and reduce the axis of the Enemy resistance/ limit lines of approach within the ship SPACE HULK Stylie. Short Lasguns or Shotguns would be preferable, with Special weapons Flamers, meltas and grenade launchers with Power Weapons and Fists for Sergeants and above. This could definitely work, i'm short on vehicles but Valkyries would work especially if....

Standby for a Mock up in Photoshop...

http://1165812288519164904-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/mwncibooflashpointproject/SniperValkyrie.jpg

My idea of a Sniper Valkyrie for the Battlefield, just a thought and obviously wouldn't work in space unless i got a Sniper in a Sealed Suit?....

look in the gallery for Lanceradvanced's IG Coastguard units. they might be of help. you could probably pm him for more shots too.

Can you post the mock up in the gallery?

For night vision really check out the Pig Iron heads, they ahve some great visor and helmet heads that would look perfect.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?dq=pig+iron



And my humble addition

Awesome stuff guys, i got the book Battle of the Abyss for Xmas and i'm gleaning as much Imperial Naval Fluff of it as i can.

Kid Kyoto, I can put the mock ups in the Gallery, but i think it makes a mockery of all the fully completed, modded and painted models.

Actually my IG is a Naval (Space) based force that serves both as security and troops aboard ship as well as a initial landing force for establishing beachheads planetside as well as boarding actions as needed. As such Valkyries and Vendettas are of prime consideration but so are Sentinels and even limited armor, for those planetside missions. I also have snipers in my force simply based on the immense size of both your larger naval vessels and Space Hulks as well as planetside actions.

My ultimate goal is to actually have a variety of troops for those various type actions. Right now I am focusing on the Strike Force for establishing planetsaide beachheads but I have some ideas on utilizing Veterans/Stormtroopers with shotguns, sidearms and flamers for shipboard actions as well. I think that the Scout sentinels would also be useful in some of the larger bays and spaces as demonstrated in the fluff. I know that in several books such as the Ravenor books, there were some shipboard combats taking place and in the Sould Drinkers series I seem to recall combats going on across a Space Hulk and they still have not nearly explored the entire thing.

Hah! These guys really grabbed my attention in Eisenhorn, too. I'm going to be painting up a batch as soon as I can get my hands on some Kasrkin, and for their officer I'll be using the Fleet Liaison (or whatever he's called) from the Regimental Advisors set (painted in dress whites, just like Lord Procurator Olm Madorthene).

I can't wait to see how your finished products look!

For some inspiration in the close quarters combat department watch the boarding sequence in the Steve McQueen movie "The Sand Pebbles", I think it could really give you some ideas.

Also, what paint scheme do you plan on using for the non-Storm Troopers or will it all be the same?

When I first read the topic name I imediately thought of Chaos Bikers launching from a hole in their ship, into a hole in the enemy ship, riding down the halls with their bolters blasting all the way, for some reason.