NOTE: In the main rulebook, the factions are divided into "armadas" (IN & Chaos) and "raiders" (Eldar and Orks). The main difference is a lack of Battleships for the raiders. This is directly the result of how the campaign system works. There are battleships for both Eldar and Orks in the supplements.

Imperial Navy
Along with Chaos, the faction with the most options, the Imperial Navy (IN) boasts plenty of cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships, carriers, and escorts. The vast majority of their capital ships have 6+ armor on the prow, making them very resistant to enemy fire while closing. Almost all of their capital ships and many of their escorts also mount torpedos on the prow making closing with them even trickier, and the capitol ships without torpedoes mount the very feared Nova Cannon. However, the IN's guns are usually mid range at best, often making it a priority for them to close with the enemy, and their most devastating barrages usually fire from the less armored port and starboard arcs.

Chaos
As with the IN, Chaos boasts a very large array of ships in all classes. The ability to field a large number of lances with a comparatively huge range makes the Chaos fleet a good choice if you want to stand off and shoot for as long as possible. While their armor isn't as good in the front as their Imperial counterparts, a 5+ all-around is still plenty resilient. With a good selection of carriers and a few torpedoes here and there, and the option to add Chaos marks for additional benefits, Chaos definitely fills the bill for those looking for customization and adaptability. The downside is that their flexibility comes at a cost: Every Chaos fleet, no matter how small, MUST take a Warmaster (50 or 100 points extra depending on the LD you want) who must go on your most expensive vessel, adding a good bit to it's victory points, and if you want your ships to benefit from marks you must buy one or more for the warmaster, or buy Chaos lords for another vessel(s) and further upgrade them; Chaos has to spend a lot of points for it's not-insignificant benefits.

Eldar
The Eldar specialize in the hit & run. Arguably the most maneuverable fleet in the game, Eldar ships get the huge benefit of being able to turn as much as they want at the beginning of their move, where the other fleets all have maximum turning arcs coupled with a minimum move before performing such a turn. Add in the ability to move twice in a turn (yes they get to turn before EACH move) and the tricksy elves can pop out from behind LOS blocking terrain, fire, and then immediately turn 180 degrees to move back behind the cover, denying their enemy the chance to return fire. This is often referred to as "Move shoot move". Their Holofield rule makes enemy gunnery rolls more difficult, and grants a save against every other form of attack (lances, torpedoes, etc.), the Holofield grants them a 2+ save against the damage. All this comes at a price, of course. Eldar ships are some of the worst armored in the game at 4+, and the chance of any given hit resulting in a critical is increased from 1/6 to 1/2. On the offensive end of things, Eldar come out fairly well, with weapons that can multiply hits, always count the target as closing (the best orientation on the gunnery table), and their torpedoes are extremely hard to target with turrets and also get to re-roll misses. An automatic +1 to their leadership score makes Eldar ships a bit more reliable when you need your special oreders to succeed. Eldar can be tricky to use as their orientation to the sun is the deciding factor in their movement.

Orks
Orks are Orks, even in space. The Ork fleet specializes in closing fast and boarding enemy ships. To facilitate this their armor is focused in the prow (6+) and sacrificed in the sides and rear (4+). Unlike other races the Orks never have to pass a leadership test to execute the 'All-ahead Full" order, though being orks their engines aren't the most reliable, halving the distance travelled compared to the other races. The Orks are the only race to field ships whose sole purpose is to ram the enemy. Their weaponry is random, and can be equally devastating and paltry, depending on the dice. Their ordinance phase is likewise a mixed bag; While Orks combine fighters and bombers, their bombing runs are less effective than usual, and their torpedo slavos vary in strength, again according to the dice. Orks also lack in leadership, automatically subtracting 1 from the starting value generated at the beginning of the game. If you want to field a fleet that truly makes it difficult to reliably enact a battle plan, or test your ability to adapt and over come, this is the faction for you. Win or lose, Orks tend to do it big.

SUPPLEMENTAL FLEET LISTS

Adeptus Mechanicus
The Adeptus Mechanicus (Ad-Mech) fleet is one of the most interesting fleets available, in my honest opinion. Ad-Mech ships are simply IN ships set to space to test out experimental systems. Being able to fit a Nova Cannon on any capitol ship with a 6+ prow, an AD-Mech fleet makes a great 'bombardment' list. Other improvements include extened range weapons batteries, and an automatic +1 turret value. Being crewed by a majority of scientists means that, while not particularly bad at boarding actions, Ad-Mech ships tend togive up more advatanges to the enemy than more militarily oriented vessels, in the way of re-rolls for the enemy. Also, being strongly influenced by a mandatory, personalized sub-plot table makes the Ad-Mech faction very powerful in one off games, as sub-plots aren't usually factored into victory conditions for the scenarios. Definitely geared towards campaign play.

Craftworld Eldar
This is the 'armada' to the main rulebook's 'raiders'. Craftworld Eldar (CWE) use all the same rules as thier piratical bretheren. This list contains a few more options for ships including heavier cruisers, (no battleships in this fleet list, thought there IS one or two in a different fleet list simply named 'Eldar') and expanded rules for Eldar campaign play.

Dark Eldar
The Dark Eldar (DE) are similar to their cousins (as can be expected). Moderately armored and agile, the edge still goes to the Eldar in sheer manueverability. DE ships lack the minimum move distance before turning that plagues the slower races of the galaxy, and do not need a command check to enact the 'Come to New Heading' special order, however they may not issue a 'Burn Retros' order. Like the Eldar they gain a +1 to the leadership value generated for their ships. In lieu of Holofields, DE boats employ Shadowfields; The effect is exactly the same. DE revel in assaults, but lack the stamina for drawn out combats. In the first round of a boarding action the DE recieve a +1 modifier, this becomes a -1 in subsequent rounds. They also have the ability to give up the roll on the critical chart resulting from a Hit and Run action (which they get a bonus for), instead recieving an automatic 10 victory points for each roll forfeited in this manner. 'Mimic Engines' allow for a pre-game move, and confer immunity to attack for the first turn or until the DE ship itself attacks, whichever happens first. Only having two 'classes' of ship, the DE are rather unique; their ships fulfil different requirements depending on the upgrades they take.

Inquisition
Simply rules for adding inquisitorial ships to an IN or SM fleet. Special rules hinge on the Inquisitorial branch: Hereticus, Xenos, Or Malleus. Some cool upgrades available at an appropriate cost. Shouldn't really change the flavor or function of the parent list beyond perhaps focusing it more towards a particular type of enemy.

Necrons
The dreaded broken list. Necrons are fast. Necrons are resilient. Necrons hit hard. Necrons make Eldar cry. Firstly, all Necron ships have great armor at 6+. Secondly, they get a save vs damage depending on the ship class: Escorts get a 6+, Cruisers get a 5+, and Battleships get a 4+. When under the "Brace for Impact" special order ALL Necron ships improve their save to 2+, but lower their armor to 4+, and finally, Necron ships repair critical damage on a roll of 4+ instead of the normal 6+. The Necron weapon battery does not suffer the normal column shift for eldar holofields or shadowfields, and treats ALL targets as closing. Necrons have a "Star Pulse Generator" which grants an automatic roll to hit against all ships in range (one roll each), which ignores Holofields. The Necron lance equivalent ignores shields on a roll to hit of 6, again Holofields cannot save against this. Necrons love to get up close and personal, where their "Portals" give them extra hit & run attacks. While they don't get bonuses to these rolls per se, the ability to make multiple H&R's per capital ship, and ignore most of the restrictions pertaining to such make this much more of an asset than normal. Necrons can close very fast; The "All Ahead Full" special order grants them an addition 1D6x10 cm's of additional movement instead of the normal 4d6, and they can turn once for every 20cm travelled unlike other races which cannot turn at all. The firepower and strength of Necron weapon systems are affected by special orders as normal, as are their turret values, making lances very valuable against the tin tide. Causing Necron ships to 'Brace for Impact' by firing fusillades of lance fire is also helpful as they cannot 'All Ahead Full' while braced. Also, since Necrons don't have shields to absorb incoming fire this means that there are no blast markers placed by the lances, leaving weapon batteries unaffected while firing second. The Necron fleet has it's own victory point table which is very harsh - any cpatal ship which is destroyed but not left as a drifting hulk (meaning it exploded or is otherwise not on the field at the end of the match) is worth 200%, and a drifting hulk (destroyed but still on the field) is 300%. Also, for campaign play, Necrons are charged double the amount of resources to effect repairs. I think the drawbacks are fairly balanced against the advantages, especially in campaign play, as Necrons are unable to upgrade at all while their opponents will presumably be getting more powerful and efficient ships.

Ork Clanz
Orks are still Orks, even when Clanz are in space. This list is just more Orks, although with upgrades that seem to make the list a little more reliable, such as the ability to upgrade some ships with Lances. Also contains rules for individual Clanz, altering how the fleet plays on the tabletop. Once again, no battleships, but does have an "assault cruiser" (10 hits!). Introduces Mob Rule - a bonus in Leadership for escort squadrons numbering above five. Lots of customization here.

Powers Of Chaos
This fleet list is just plain cool, stats for the Flagships for The Death Guard, World Eaters, Thousand Sons, Emporer's Children, and Black Legion too. Complete Rules for the Activated Blackstone Fortress (rididulous), and alternate lists for fleets dedicated specifically to each of the 4 major Chaos gods. Couple new ship classes too. If you want to play a Chaos Space Marine fleet without just using the Loyalist rules, this is how you do it.

Rogue Traders
Well it was just a matter of time, wasn't it? A Rogue Trader (RT) fleet is all about customization perhaps even more so than the Ad-Mech. The base ship is fairly middle of the road, not too great, not too bad. The upgrades can do a lot to turn this fleet into a fairly heavy hitter, though the lack of a Battleship can hurt in larger engagements. A RT fleet requires a minimum number of the base class ship, but after that has limited access to the IN fleet list. Ships bought from the IN list may not be upgraded outside of anything in it's own profile. This fleet has access to Xenos ships not usually found elswhere in the game. Another list designed heavily for campaign play, There are even 6 new scenarios included as well as a list for a Pirate fleet. I think a RT list might have problems tackling a dedicated battlefleet. Though I may be wrong, as I have no real experience with it, nor have I read anything significant about it on the forums.

Space Marines
One of the biggest things new players have trouble wrapping their minds around is the fact that Battlefleet Gothic is NOT Space Marine-centric. If you want a fleet that simply dominates the field (if any fleet truly can) with little planning or thought, Space Marines (SM) are not it. This being said, the Space Marine fleet is by no means a pushover. 6+ armor guarantees resilience, and while short ranged, their weapons are quite powerful. Space Marines are not scared of getting in close and dirty, recieving bonuses for boarding actions and hit and run attacks, and giving out negative modifiers for hit and run attacks performed against their own ships. Their bombardment cannons fire like weapon batteries, but always hit on 4+ like lances. In addition, successful hits inflict critical damage on a 4+ instead of 6+. Ouch. In the ordnance phase, Thunderhawk gunships perform as both fighters and assault boats are resilient (getting a 4+ save), and a SM ship can always fire boarding torpedoes instead of normal torpedoes. The basic list has the option of one Battleship class and a choice of two classes of cruiser, but can selct from a very few IN cruisers as well. Alternate lists open up a couple more choices but not many. All in all, a very solid fleet, but not a whole lot of variation.

Tau
Tau are fairly average, mainly their special rules are just new ways of effecting stuff that's already done in other lists. Slow moving, average armor, and short to mid-range weaponry makes them struggle against tuned lists. Where Tau excel is their torpedoes. With the only torpedoes in the game able to change both direction AND speed Tau can be quite dangerous at ranges where opponents might usually be safe. Add in the fact that Tau torpedoes get a save vs. turrets and this threat grows even more. Tau also have an escort class ship that employs tracking systems allowing other nearby Tau vessels to ingore penalties for long range, and to re-roll turrets. Pretty nifty. Tau ships are unable to intitiate Hit and Run attacks, and are at half strength for boarding actions. With this taken into account, I found the basic Tau list to be fairly underwhelming the very few times I played against it. Oh, and the models for these ships are hideous. GW apparently thought it was ok to have a race who realize that aethetics mean nothing in space..... too bad they mean almost everything in miniature wargames.

Tau Protection Fleet
The miniatures for this fleet are gorgeous... and only available through Forgeworld. /facepalm Unfortuantely this fleet list is more of the same, except for a greater preponderance of long range weaponry, which should help it out quite a bit. I will advise that you take a look at the Tau fleet(s) yourself; while it didn't fit my playstyle or my opponent's, perhaps you can see a way to make it work better than we did. I do believe that the torpedoes themselves are a huge asset, and with the added range of the Protection fleet along with the escorts with the sensor arrays to mitigate long range modifiers, I think this would be a good stand-off fleet.

Tyranids
Where to start? If you REALLY like customization, this is the fleet for you. No standard ship to just pick and play, you build every single ship from a base and a long list of options. If you like long lists of special rules, this is the fleet for you; very few of their options function like anything else in the game. Tyranids love Boarding actions and Hit & Run actions. During boarding actions Nid ships double their base value, and instead of rilling a single die, they roll two and pick the highest. When initiating Hit & Run actions Nids add +1 to the result, when the enemy initiates a Hit and Run action he rolls 2D6 and picks the lowest. Tyranid lance equivalents ignore shields but are ridiculously short ranged. Tyranid weapon battery equivalents are mid ranged and and if they inflict a critical result automatically inflict an additional fire crit as well. Now for the downside: Tyranid Hive Ships must tell the other ships what to do, much like having to give your entire fleet special orders. One Hive Ship failing does not prevent another Hive Ship from attmpting to issue orders, but if all hive ships fail to issue a subordinate ship any order then you must consult the 'instinctive bevaior' flowchart which tells you what action the ship takes that turn. How fun.

Muggzy wrote:
I like it, I am just now getting into BFG and have been downloading, printing, and reading all the rules and such over the last few weeks. This all sounds about right to me, having not actually played any games yet myself. However your mention of the various chaos flavored fleets made me go find that PDF and dangit but they never made anything but the Nurgle ship!