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have finally taken the plunge to play BFG.

i have 2 Strike Cruisers and 4 each of Nova and Gladius escorts.


my opponents will be DE and Necrons(2 other friends are starting up too)


wondering if anyone has any tactics and tricks to use against these opponents and with Space Marines in particular. purchase reccomendations would be nice too.

the Necrons will be 1 Tombship and the large cruiser they have. DE are just the 2 different ships they have.

Great to see another new BFG player! Unfortunately, I have never faced either the DE or the Necrons. I will say that based on what you have listed above, you will be out-pointed by the Necron player. It is also difficult to give you any advice on the DE, as they have so many options their ships can take. Do you know if your friend will be bringing more of the cruisers or escorts?

One thing I can say is that you will want to get yourself a battle barge at the soonest opportunity!

he has 1 Cruiser and(IIRC) 2 packs of escorts.


i calculated the points for my ships up and i have 670 points. the Necron player has 775 points, but i can take upgrades for my ships to make out the difference(Master of the fleet, rerolls...)

i probably will be getting more ships(Christmas is coming up )


we are all newbies at BFG so that should even things out too


i was skimming through and heard that Space marines were underpowered in BFG. Why?

Well, the biggest problems that people have with SM fleets IMO is that they try to play them like they are an Imperial Navy fleet (which, superficially, they resemble). SM require a little bit different tactics to succeed. Since you are just starting out though, you have an advantage since you don't have to un-learn a different play style.

SM are going to be looking to use a lot of hit and run attacks through a combination of T-hawks, boarding torps, and teleporters. Their +1 bonus to these attacks mean that they can't fail on a roll of 1. Same thing goes for boarding; 2 strike cruisers can easily take down a healthy enemy cruiser this way.

The biggest challenge is going to be getting the most out of your strike cruisers. The fact that they have only 1 shield and 6 hull points means that, even with 6+ armor, they are fairly fragile. In fact, there were several times where I have destroyed SCs with a single Nova Cannon hit(rolling a 6 for damage, and then getting a critical hit that takes the last hull point) So, you will need to use speed to position them so that they can take down vulnerable ships on the periphery of the enemy's fleet. Also, their guns aren't all that impressive on their own. You will need to squadron them to overcome that problem. This is why you need to get a battle barge, so that it can "tank" for your lighter SCs and escorts.

So use my Cruisers to initiate boarding attacks and strafe with Thunderhawks.


Now Necrons seem pretty nasty little buggers. with all that speed they can just escape and get away when i get close enough. and always doing damage as if my armor was a 4+? just nasty.

are boarding attacks wise against Crons. they can do Teliport attacks too.



How about buying a Terminator Teliport attack? the chance to do 2 points of critical damage on a hit and run seems like a bargain.

Honestly, not having played Necrons, I really can't say. I will say that, as a point of general advice, you should avoid taking a lot of upgrades to balance forces with an opponent. Especially at the size of game you are looking at playing (that is, around 750 pts), those upgrades typically don't provide as much help as another cruiser or escort squadron would. Just my $0.02

Space Marines upcoming update rules:

Draft2010

http://tinyurl.com/23nul8q