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I downloaded and read through the rulebook the other day, and the game really caught my interest. What's a good point size to start out with (I was rather impressed by how low the actual model count seems to be, what are the feelings about model prices)? I was thinking about starting an Imperial Navy, and Necron fleet (to mirror my 40k armies). That way, I just have to find someone willing to play, not someone both willing to pay, and possessing their own fleet.

If there are any general reccomendations, those too would be helpful.

I do have one question on the rules, although I might have just missed the answer in the rulebook. When you remove blast markers, you cannont remove any that are in base contact with your ship. Are those permanentely attached to your ship, or when it moves, do you leave those blast markers behind?

I say 500 points is a good start. That should be a core of a few Crusiers that give you some leway with the Imperial ships. Necrons, I am told are Expensive, points wise. After you get a solid core with the 500 then go for 1000 filling in your weak spots and more of what you like.
I play Tau so I can say what ships would be good are not but I know that the Imperial strength is in their torps, strike craft and Nova Cannons. Well that is just my experaince.

To answer the question: they are left behind. If they're where you pass through them, they slow you by 5cm, but they stay in place. If they followed you, you'd be down shields permanently after the first few hits... Rather brutal.

Your best option is to buy the starter set.  You get 4 Imperial cruisers, 4 Chaos cruisers, the rulebook, and all the assorted paraphenalia you need to play.  There's a fair bit of that - special orders dice, torpedo and attack craft markers, blast markers, terrrain markers, and whatnot.  Anyhow, with the starter set, not only do you have a good start on an Imperial fleet, but you can give a friend a good start on a Chaos fleet, so you have a ready-made opponent.  If he decides he wants more stuff, you can talk him into splitting the cost of another starter set and letting you take the Imperial cruisers as your share.

As far as price goes, it varies.  Last I checked, standard Imperial and Chaos cruisers were two to a box for $15 per box.  Battleships are generally pewter and cost $30.  I don't remember how much blisters of escorts cost, but they come 3-4 to a blister, depending on what kind of ship you're getting.

Necron will be very expensive in the long run...At least compared to IN...Actually it's more about the IN and Chaos being very affordable...All you really need to play are cruisers and those are dirt cheap for the core two fleets...Of course things like battleships and Escorts are cool and useful but not truly a must have for a begining player...

Hey, at least you're not going for Tau with their $30/100 pt cruisers...

Yes, they are expensive. But you can have a good fleet with only Five Crusiers, one Hero and 4 Merchants, and three Messengers (No shifting to the right for over 30cm AND each has two turrents each). Very useful with all the 45cm ranged weapons with Tau and adding to defence.

Being a long time Eldar player I'm well aware of the difficulties posed by having too few deployments, not to mention targets for opponent's guns...Especially since Orcas are cheap points wise...And of course the Tau maneuverability doesn't help with that few ships...

Ya a big 15cm for the Hero. But their over all greater range with rail battieries, 45cm which all can fire forward and torps at 20-40cm, they will hit first. With the Messengers not shifting guns to the right at 30cm+ they get I would say average hits off compaired to a Imperial broadside if their weapons had range that is. Every fleet has its own strengths and weaknesses just play a few game using the different rules with what you got to see what you like.

Posted By spacewolflord on 03/23/2006 11:05 PM
I say 500 points is a good start. That should be a core of a few Crusiers that give you some leway with the Imperial ships. Necrons, I am told are Expensive, points wise. After you get a solid core with the 500 then go for 1000 filling in your weak spots and more of what you like.
I play Tau so I can say what ships would be good are not but I know that the Imperial strength is in their torps, strike craft and Nova Cannons. Well that is just my experaince.

In my experience so far, the Weapon Batteries have been what made my Fleets.  I've had 1 bit of success with Torpedoes, and thats when I unleashed a Str 12 Salvo at a Desolator battleship from 20cm away.  In my second game, I completely devestated another Imperial Fleet with my Weapon batteries.  Popped two Dominators in the middle of his fleet, with 24 firepower batteries going both ways...  well you get the idea, and that same situation helped devestate the Eldar fleet in my first game.  Lances, I've had marginal success with, but they always seem to be the first target for my opponent.

My Dominator Cruisers have done nothing short of simply amaze me so far, and I believe their now my favorite Cruisers, with their strength being the Weapon Batteries more then the Nova Cannons.

Its better to have a good mix of lances and weapon batteries. I tend to use alot of lunars, or dominators/tyrants paired with gothics. The book says use the batteries to bring down the shields, then the lances to hit 'em. I find it works better the opposite way, lances first, then batteries. I like to know I'm getting those shields down right off the bat. With the new rules for nova cannons not needing to actually be guess ranged, they are much more potent. With a fleet of lunars, gothics, a mars, and dominators/tyrants, I dropped a space hulk in just a few round of shooting. I never ever use torps except as close range one-uses or my target is stationary or near-crippled. I prefer the cannon.

Definitely do the gothic and dominator pair. Long power and double deadly up close. Or go one better and upgrade the named pair of lunars with nova cannons. Also, don't forget the Dauntless. I still say it's the buy purchase for the fleet. Field as many as possible. 3 forward firing lances are amazing, especially paired up with a larger cruiser or battlecruiser.

Imagine an apocalypse with 6 dauntless' and a pair of gothics? That's a certified dead cruiser a turn.
With a couple tyrants or dominators, its a few more.

Bjorn

Umm. If you bring the shields down with the lances, you get a right shift for the blast markers you just created when you fire for batteries. Fire the batteries first and you get more dice for them, and the lances ignore the blast markers anyways.

The Nova Cannon got worse for most people, because you can't control the scatter now. If you had a decent eye, you could nail nearly every Nova Cannon you shot. The reason that they made it place and scatter is because people were too accurate with them.

The major benefit of Torpedoes outside of long range is to break enemy formations. If they end up trying to dodge the waves of torpedoes you send (and Imperial fleets can mass those torps) they can end up out of range/angle to support the other ships in their fleet and you can move in for the kill.