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Hello everyone.

As I do, I like to dream big and build bigger. So when I finally saw that Battleship movie and the stores were playing the Pirates Of The Caribbean soundtrack, I just had to have a go. Now with new skills I'm dreaming up even better ships like these.





I'm thinking of writing a rules book for using these things in Apocalypse scenarios but I'd like to ask what you all would think of including these in such games. How would you all use them?

The easiest thing coming to my mind is using the rules of superheavys with movement limited to water for gunboats and the likes.
Larger ships (think cruisers and battleships) could be treated as indestructible pieces of terrain with single destructible components for guns and subsystems like engines, steering and conning tower. Add to that obligatory movement like flyers have maybe? Albeit slower...

Just a few random first thoughts. Love the designs and being a little naval nerd damn would i love some (surface!) naval expansion to 40k

Your designs are clever in the ways they incorporate 40K imagery and weaponry. Good Job!

A battleship is a strategic asset, much like an army division. 40K is a platoon/company level game, so you are proposing a major difference in scale. To put that into a size perspective, 40K vehicle models are approximately 1:35 to 1:48 scale. Incidentally, 40K figs are almost twice that scale. 1;48 scale is 1 foot = 1/4 inch. So,at 1:48 scale, the 860' long USS Missouri would be 17' long. Clearly, one would have to fudge the scale to something more manageable. Of, build a model that represents part of the ship, and maybe use it as the battlefield itself. Or, build a more reasonable sized model to represent the ship off shore, and not being directly fought over. Or, a more modest vessel. Seems like GW 40k fortress terrain mounted on a hull would be cool. The Wall of Martyrs: Aquila Strongpoint looks like it could sit on a naval hull.

Another option is a more modest vessel, like a Vietnam riverine Swift Boat. I once built a darn nifty PT 109 model with a Blood Angels crew. So nifty my nephew and his friends "played" with it to pieces (kids...there aught to be a law, Man!). I currently have on my gaming table a Necromunda scenario set in the Underhive Sump with a 12" long Africa Queen-ish boat crewed by Pit Slaves, raiding a shoreside Ratskin settlement. If I can get my dang son to stop playing X-box for a couple of hours, we could play the scenario (kids...there aught to be a law, Man!).

I know the leap from computer screen to table-top model is epic. I wish you luck!

Holy cramoly, that looks cool!

Honestly, you could fight a whole battle on a battleship, as they're so damn big.

 Gobbla wrote:
Your designs are clever in the ways they incorporate 40K imagery and weaponry. Good Job!

A battleship is a strategic asset, much like an army division. 40K is a platoon/company level game, so you are proposing a major difference in scale. To put that into a size perspective, 40K vehicle models are approximately 1:35 to 1:48 scale. Incidentally, 40K figs are almost twice that scale. 1;48 scale is 1 foot = 1/4 inch. So,at 1:48 scale, the 860' long USS Missouri would be 17' long. Clearly, one would have to fudge the scale to something more manageable. Of, build a model that represents part of the ship, and maybe use it as the battlefield itself. Or, build a more reasonable sized model to represent the ship off shore, and not being directly fought over. Or, a more modest vessel. Seems like GW 40k fortress terrain mounted on a hull would be cool. The Wall of Martyrs: Aquila Strongpoint looks like it could sit on a naval hull.

Another option is a more modest vessel, like a Vietnam riverine Swift Boat. I once built a darn nifty PT 109 model with a Blood Angels crew. So nifty my nephew and his friends "played" with it to pieces (kids...there aught to be a law, Man!). I currently have on my gaming table a Necromunda scenario set in the Underhive Sump with a 12" long Africa Queen-ish boat crewed by Pit Slaves, raiding a shoreside Ratskin settlement. If I can get my dang son to stop playing X-box for a couple of hours, we could play the scenario (kids...there aught to be a law, Man!).

I know the leap from computer screen to table-top model is epic. I wish you luck!

That's why it's more of an Apocalypse idea, unless you were wanting to run a deck-clearing scenario without bringing in the ships guns. I built a ship for an apocalypse game in Puyallup and they basically had it sitting on its own table off of the main battle. It was firing the vortex missiles and the macro cannon into the battle from that table while both sides fought for control over the structures and the weapons on the deck. They were able to approach by deep strike, flyer, and skimmers; though Chimeras at least used to be amphibious so they'd count too. Here's a photo of that ship under construction:

I would use it as the main terrain feature of the table. It would be fun to play a boarding scenario on it.

Back in the 4e Apocalypse book there was an Armageddon scenario involving massive Ork submarines Ghazhkull used to sneak an army behind Imperial lines (they were mostly there to be terrain at the edge of the board representing the landing zone), and there were interesting WHFB naval combat rules from back then. Will see if I can dig any of them up.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Back in the 4e Apocalypse book there was an Armageddon scenario involving massive Ork submarines Ghazhkull used to sneak an army behind Imperial lines (they were mostly there to be terrain at the edge of the board representing the landing zone), and there were interesting WHFB naval combat rules from back then. Will see if I can dig any of them up.

I actually have a copy of the old Apoc book with the Submersible data sheet. It's another aspect to these ideas and maybe I'll end up 3D printing Epic scale versions of these ships and we can get creative with the Epic Armageddon/BFG rules. I remember hearing about a short story in which there was a planet with two main continents on opposite sides of the world, separated by ocean. One was settled by the Imperium, and the other had an Ork infestation. But they hadn't known each other were there until some chance meeting. Then the Orks kept building ships to try to invade, and the PDF was building ships to stop them, etc. I just can't find a copy of that story anywhere.

I don't think ships would work well with 40k - they'd be so expensive only a small group of players would be able to get one (like the Manta or Warlord Titan). But a ship would require so much materials that it wouldn't be cost-effective.

Now, Battlefleet Gothic is something much more appropriated for naval battles (albeit in 3D). Maybe using similar rules and adding some watery stuff.

 Vector Strike wrote:
I don't think ships would work well with 40k - they'd be so expensive only a small group of players would be able to get one (like the Manta or Warlord Titan). But a ship would require so much materials that it wouldn't be cost-effective.

Now, Battlefleet Gothic is something much more appropriated for naval battles (albeit in 3D). Maybe using similar rules and adding some watery stuff.

I hate to even think about how much I spent on that missile cruiser. Though, if I were to do it again I'd probably get even more involved.

Navy Ships in 40k?

Dont you Mean Chimera Boarding Craft? (As their "Amphibious" rule allows them to literally cross oceans...)

Better Idea.



Go Big or be Heretic.
Full on Land Battleship. Make Titans shudder in fear. Make cities crumble, make mountains skitter aside as their passing.


I want to build one and have gone around making blueprints and actually have a Carrier I plan on building into a light VTOL platform on tracks.

Best way to run battleships and other large naval war craft in Warhammer would be under a combination of the Gothic and the Epic rulesets. At that scale you can have large ocean battles that represent the distances these type of vehicles would be firing from, the correct size vs infantry, and most importantly, battleship vs Titan battles.

So, basically, a titan restricted to water?

I'm not as impressed. To me, water-based craft just don't make a lot of sense in the current 40k universe. They're bound to a planet's surface, without the presence of an even larger ship.

Aircraft and Air-Spacecraft are much more flexible. They can bomb shoreline positions, attack any water-based craft a planet's natives may have built, and drop soldiers and vehicles off at the battlefield.

Even for submarine engagements, like attacking underwater cities or sabotaging promethium platforms, It's likely, from what I've read, that most of the more advanced races [i.e. anyone but Orks] would either modify an existing aircraft for water operations carrying soldiers in special suits, or create a small, purpose built craft to get the unique mission accomplished.

So, soldiers in sealed armor/suits and specially customized small craft on the seafloor would be cool. So would a battle on top a sea mining platform, utilizing things like Valkyries, Stormravens, and Wave Serpents backing up infantry fighting across pipes and catwalks.

But big ol' ships resembling old Earth battleships? Not for me.

I think it's in Eisenhorn or Ravenor a local PDF uses Ekranoplans instead.

I've all ready scratch built/kitbashed a Leviathan command vehicle, and that was a large undertaking.

I've been toying with a similar idea myself though, being inspired by the 1/48 scale model of the battleship Iowa in the Des Moines capital building. Truly an impressive model.

I think something like an Imperial version of a Manta would work better for 40k though.I've been hoarding hatches, vortex missiles, battle cannon, lascannons, and turrets from the Vengeance Weapons battery and the Fortress of redemption.

To be honest, we will never have a capital ship sized 40k model, unless some crazy Saudi Prince converts his private jet. I think the best we can hope for is some kind of light patrol craft, scout ship, torpedo assault ship, or squad landing vessel.

Call me crazy, but I think I'll build that battleship.

I might have just gone over the top with this. She's 10' long and made almost entirely of existing bitz. You'll need the following boxes; 1 Shrine of the Aquila, 1 Sanctum Administratum, 4 Firestorm Redoubts, 8 Basilica Administratum, 18 Imperial Bastions. You'll also need a ton of plasticard, one of the cogwheel wall tiles from the Manufactorum, and 8 Quad Guns from the Aegis Line. The turrets are made with plasticard and 1/2" PVC pipe and fittings.

The scenario I see here is this thing sitting on a separate table from an Apocalypse battle and firing those big guns (thinking of Vengeance Cannons from the old Emperor Class Titan data sheet) into the land battle. In the mean time, the opponent is attacking with flyers, deep strike, skimmer, etc. trying to board and commandeer or destroy the turrets. Does this sound like fun at all?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I forgot to mention the Skyshield platform on the stern..

Roller Girl Tasha Skar wrote:
I might have just gone over the top with this. She's 10' long and made almost entirely of existing bitz. You'll need the following boxes; 1 Shrine of the Aquila, 1 Sanctum Administratum, 4 Firestorm Redoubts, 8 Basilica Administratum, 18 Imperial Bastions. You'll also need a ton of plasticard, one of the cogwheel wall tiles from the Manufactorum, and 8 Quad Guns from the Aegis Line. The turrets are made with plasticard and 1/2" PVC pipe and fittings.

The scenario I see here is this thing sitting on a separate table from an Apocalypse battle and firing those big guns (thinking of Vengeance Cannons from the old Emperor Class Titan data sheet) into the land battle. In the mean time, the opponent is attacking with flyers, deep strike, skimmer, etc. trying to board and commandeer or destroy the turrets. Does this sound like fun at all?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I forgot to mention the Skyshield platform on the stern..

Amazing. I want to play on this now.
How much would this cost?! Any estimates?

What program did you sue to make that design?

GodDamUser wrote:
What program did you sue to make that design?

It's called Hexagon 2.5, part of the DAZ Studio animation software. I mocked up the bitz for Cities Of Death kits so I can test out my scenery ideas before getting into the plastic. Things go so much better that way.

Yet another dream for me

GIANT FLYING BATTLESHIP OF THE OMNISSIAH"S FURY. Just add giant lift engines and such.

I saw someone made a flying small carrier and it is awesome. But its not big enough or covered in enough dakka for me.



The Omnissiah's God machines do not only walk the earth to bring his wrath. They also soar through the heavens! Raining destruction upon those who defy him! Or they crawl across the land, guns thundering and bringing entire continents to their knees!

This is really cool. I remember at Games Day in Baltimore years back someone had a naval battle table. Imperial PT boats (a US Coast Guard theme IIRC) vs an Ork carrier filled with Deth Copters.

Anyone else remember it?