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So I'm working on a new founded chapter and I was wondering would they have access to a battlebarge or are they for earlier founded chapters? And if that is the case what would be good choice for a chapters capital ship?

I'm sure they would have at least one battle barge with supporting strike cruisers and as they grow they can continue to build their fleet.

I should think that on the founding of a Chapter at least one battlebarge and several Strike Cruisers would be built for/given to them.

It is likely that a new chapter is supplied with sufficient fleet assets for it's destined job. This would in all likelyhood include at least one battlebarge + several strikecruisers and escorts. Battlebarges, like strikecruisers, are usualy specialist designs, optimised for orbital assault. Some older chapters still have converted grandcruisers/ battleships, which can be classified as battlebarge too, but it is unlikely that a new chapter would ever receive such a ship ( the Imperial Navy prefers not to share vessels which are designed for ship vs ship combat with the Astartes ).
Of course, such a non standard battlebarge could still be a gift from their founding chapter or the result of a very sucessful boarding action. In such a case anything larger than a cruiser could be considered a battlebarge.

Thanks everyone, I think I'm gonna work it that they have one strike cruiser at there founding and are waiting for the rest of the fleet to be constructed. It limits their naval assets and it fits into the fluff I'm writing for them

At least three Battle Barges I think, with one Strike Cruiser for each Company.

Once they get to full strength they'll have about a ship a company and one or two battle barges but they only have 20 to 40 marines at present (I'm not real sure on the number yet) and are heading to they new home planet to establish their base. Long story short their new planet breaks out in rebellion so they have to deal with that, but there's only a few of them and they don't want to be asking another chapter for help in securing their own home so they go the alpha legion route ( sabotage, hit and run) and develop a relationship with the few pdf soliders who stayed loyal. I'm still working on the rest and the details but thats the main idea.

a newely founded chapter will have a couple of Strike Cruisers and maybe one Battlebarge.

Only chapters with good access to shipyards will ever have multiple Battlebarges.


On another note: the terms "battlebarge" and "strike cruiser" are not tied to a particular make of ship, they are are usage term mostly. There is a particular class of ship that is purpose built for each class, but they arn't set in stone. a Chapter could theoretically use any battleship as a Battlebarge and any Cruiser as a Strike Cruiser with some minor refits.

Many chapters, especially the older ones or those with poor access to naval assets, will use classes of ships that the Navy normally uses as opposed to ships purpose built for astartes.

Grey Templar wrote:a newely founded chapter will have a couple of Strike Cruisers and maybe one Battlebarge.

Only chapters with good access to shipyards will ever have multiple Battlebarges.


On another note: the terms "battlebarge" and "strike cruiser" are not tied to a particular make of ship, they are are usage term mostly. There is a particular class of ship that is purpose built for each class, but they arn't set in stone. a Chapter could theoretically use any battleship as a Battlebarge and any Cruiser as a Strike Cruiser with some minor refits.

Many chapters, especially the older ones or those with poor access to naval assets, will use classes of ships that the Navy normally uses as opposed to ships purpose built for astartes.

I'm pretty sure that Battle Barges are fused designs of Emperor-class and Retribution-class Battleships, while a Strike Cruiser is a modified Dauntless-class with it's lance battery replaced with a bombardment cannon battery. Not to mention stronger hulls, armor, and shields.

eviltrout wrote:So I'm working on a new founded chapter and I was wondering would they have access to a battlebarge or are they for earlier founded chapters? And if that is the case what would be good choice for a chapters capital ship?

Space marine Chapters are given a fleet capable of the job they are given, so a fleet based chapter will have more ships but all chapters have ships as there is no point having an expensive to create strike force stuck on a single planet.

It is assumed that most chapters have 1 battlebarge and a handful of strike cruisers or a fair few strike cruisers instead of a battlebarge.

Tadashi wrote:At least three Battle Barges I think, with one Strike Cruiser for each Company.

3 is a lot for a newly founded chapter...
The Ultramarines have 2 and they are a fairly well supplied and, obviously, an old chapter.
More like to be 1...

A marine fleet with three battle barges or more is considered extremely powerful and well equipped. One to two is more normal. At least, according to the Imperial Armours.

Tadashi wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:a newely founded chapter will have a couple of Strike Cruisers and maybe one Battlebarge.

Only chapters with good access to shipyards will ever have multiple Battlebarges.


On another note: the terms "battlebarge" and "strike cruiser" are not tied to a particular make of ship, they are are usage term mostly. There is a particular class of ship that is purpose built for each class, but they arn't set in stone. a Chapter could theoretically use any battleship as a Battlebarge and any Cruiser as a Strike Cruiser with some minor refits.

Many chapters, especially the older ones or those with poor access to naval assets, will use classes of ships that the Navy normally uses as opposed to ships purpose built for astartes.

I'm pretty sure that Battle Barges are fused designs of Emperor-class and Retribution-class Battleships, while a Strike Cruiser is a modified Dauntless-class with it's lance battery replaced with a bombardment cannon battery. Not to mention stronger hulls, armor, and shields.

You should look at the models, they look totally different.


Fluffwise you would be right about stronger shields, but for some reason GW didn't like Marines much at all in BFG. You have to use the 2010 FAQ and pay 15 points to get a 2nd shield on a Strike Cruiser.

Battlebarges only have 3 shields too. Emperor's have 4

Do marines use captured enemy vessals at all? Or do they consider them tainted by heretics?

Chaos ships are often towed to shipyards for examination.

if they can be cleansed they will do so because the Chaos ships are older and have some lost technologies that are worth recovering.


Depends on how badly the ship is tainted though, a Daemonship will be obliterated.

purplefood wrote:

Tadashi wrote:At least three Battle Barges I think, with one Strike Cruiser for each Company.

3 is a lot for a newly founded chapter...
The Ultramarines have 2 and they are a fairly well supplied and, obviously, an old chapter.
More like to be 1...

Actually they have 9...

Tadashi wrote:

purplefood wrote:

Tadashi wrote:At least three Battle Barges I think, with one Strike Cruiser for each Company.

3 is a lot for a newly founded chapter...
The Ultramarines have 2 and they are a fairly well supplied and, obviously, an old chapter.
More like to be 1...

Actually they have 9...

Where did you read 9? They have 3 according to C:SM, one of which being the Caesar, which is destroyed in The Chapter's Due. Blood Angels have 2, it seems ridiculous that a newly formed chapter would have 3.

Orblivion wrote:

Tadashi wrote:

purplefood wrote:

Tadashi wrote:At least three Battle Barges I think, with one Strike Cruiser for each Company.

3 is a lot for a newly founded chapter...
The Ultramarines have 2 and they are a fairly well supplied and, obviously, an old chapter.
More like to be 1...

Actually they have 9...

They have 3 according to C:SM, where did you read 9? Blood Angels have 2, it seems ridiculous that a newly formed chapter would have 3.

Whoops! Sorry about that, got that number from an older source. All Codex Chapters have 3 Battle Barges at most. Unspecified Strike Cruiser number, but I think one per Company.

Space wolves have tons of ships.

great, now we have ANOTHER reason to like the space furries

Space Wolves are one of several Chapters who obey the Codex in name only.

Tadashi wrote:Space Wolves are one of several Chapters who obey the Codex in name only.

They blatently use the codex as toilet paper while holding up both middle fingers in the general direction of Maccragge. They have special serfs whose job is to wipe so the Space Wolves have both hands free to do the flipping off.


Your thinking of the Black Templars.

Grey Templar wrote:Space wolves have tons of ships.

great, now we have ANOTHER reason to like the space furries

Not really. IIRC, each Great Company maintains their own flagship, but it is never stated that they are all Battle Barges/equivalents. A good amount of them may be Strike Cruisers. Assume they have a few more ships than the 12 from the Great Companies and while it is larger than most chapters have, it isn't exactly a huge fleet.

Unless the Chapter is descended from the Ultramarines, they'll have slight deviations from the Codex. Most Chapters do. Blood Angels: Death Company, Iron Hands: Council of Chapter Masters, Balck Templars: Several Crusades each equivalent to a Chapter in itself, Blood Ravens: a large number of Librarians, etc...

Tadashi wrote:Unless the Chapter is descended from the Ultramarines, they'll have slight deviations from the Codex. Most Chapters do. Blood Angels: Death Company, Iron Hands: Council of Chapter Masters, Balck Templars: Several Crusades each equivalent to a Chapter in itself, Blood Ravens: a large number of Librarians, etc...

Yes, but the Space Wolves completely ignore the codex, just as Grey Templar said.

Well, that's true

Tadashi wrote:Unless the Chapter is descended from the Ultramarines, they'll have slight deviations from the Codex. Most Chapters do. Blood Angels: Death Company, Iron Hands: Council of Chapter Masters, Balck Templars: Several Crusades each equivalent to a Chapter in itself, Blood Ravens: a large number of Librarians, etc...

Even Ultramarine descendents often show great divergences.

Case in point: The Mortifacators http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Mortifactors

Sorry, my bad. Well most Chapters follow the Codex largely with minor deviations...

Orblivion wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:Space wolves have tons of ships.

great, now we have ANOTHER reason to like the space furries

Not really. IIRC, each Great Company maintains their own flagship, but it is never stated that they are all Battle Barges/equivalents. A good amount of them may be Strike Cruisers. Assume they have a few more ships than the 12 from the Great Companies and while it is larger than most chapters have, it isn't exactly a huge fleet.

You seem to be forgetting about their fleet of Battle-Barges.

Coolyo294 wrote:

Orblivion wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:Space wolves have tons of ships.

great, now we have ANOTHER reason to like the space furries

Not really. IIRC, each Great Company maintains their own flagship, but it is never stated that they are all Battle Barges/equivalents. A good amount of them may be Strike Cruisers. Assume they have a few more ships than the 12 from the Great Companies and while it is larger than most chapters have, it isn't exactly a huge fleet.

You seem to be forgetting about their fleet of Battle-Barges.

Maybe that is what Grey Templar was referring to as well, but I really don't know where that comes from. Could you direct me to where I could find this? As I said I only know about the flagships for each Great Company (I'm assuming they have a few more in reserve), and I've never seen it stated that all of those ships are Battle Barges.

Orblivion wrote:

Coolyo294 wrote:

Orblivion wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:Space wolves have tons of ships.

great, now we have ANOTHER reason to like the space furries

Not really. IIRC, each Great Company maintains their own flagship, but it is never stated that they are all Battle Barges/equivalents. A good amount of them may be Strike Cruisers. Assume they have a few more ships than the 12 from the Great Companies and while it is larger than most chapters have, it isn't exactly a huge fleet.

You seem to be forgetting about their fleet of Battle-Barges.

Maybe that is what Grey Templar was referring to as well, but I really don't know where that comes from. Could you direct me to where I could find this? As I said I only know about the flagships for each Great Company (I'm assuming they have a few more in reserve), and I've never seen it stated that all of those ships are Battle Barges.

I believe it's in the Space Wolves 5e codex.