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My friends and I are getting into old specialist games trying to recreate the Eye of Terror campaign from when we where kids. I haven't played gothic since then and do not remember any of the rules. My 40k army is Slaanesh soup so for gothic I need help making a good Slaanesh fleet list. What do I need and what is good? I'm really overwhelmed by the rules at the moment and since the game isn't starting till next year I really just want to get some mini's and start painting.

Thank you.

Chaos lists have three advantages: they are fast, they have long ranges and their assault ordnance is potent. You are better off skirting the enemy line and bleeding them from distance than duking it out at close ranges with more durable opponents. That said, if you like blasting through their line and shooting everywhere as you do so, consider a squadron of gunboats like Murders or Carnages as your speartip.

In general, with heavy carriers like Styxes you are able to fill the nearspace with waves of assault boats and cripple the heavier elements of the opposition after their ordnance is dealt with.

 Sherrypie wrote:
Chaos lists have three advantages: they are fast, they have long ranges and their assault ordnance is potent. You are better off skirting the enemy line and bleeding them from distance than duking it out at close ranges with more durable opponents. That said, if you like blasting through their line and shooting everywhere as you do so, consider a squadron of gunboats like Murders or Carnages as your speartip.

In general, with heavy carriers like Styxes you are able to fill the nearspace with waves of assault boats and cripple the heavier elements of the opposition after their ordnance is dealt with.

Why do you say get up close? Is that what Slaanesh does? I know how important leadership is but I'm still trying to figure out what the engagement ranges are.

 charz wrote:

 Sherrypie wrote:
Chaos lists have three advantages: they are fast, they have long ranges and their assault ordnance is potent. You are better off skirting the enemy line and bleeding them from distance than duking it out at close ranges with more durable opponents. That said, if you like blasting through their line and shooting everywhere as you do so, consider a squadron of gunboats like Murders or Carnages as your speartip.

In general, with heavy carriers like Styxes you are able to fill the nearspace with waves of assault boats and cripple the heavier elements of the opposition after their ordnance is dealt with.

Why do you say get up close? Is that what Slaanesh does? I know how important leadership is but I'm still trying to figure out what the engagement ranges are.

Sadly, the Mark of Slaanesh is pretty weak. It does disrupt the opposition a bit, sure, but doesn't really offer as much as the others that can drastically change the way your fleet behaves (Nurgle being harder to cripple and board being a prime example). Most guns in the game fall between 30-45 cm range, but Chaos in particular enjoys a slew of 60 cm armaments on many of their ships that often drive 5 cm faster than their more heavily armoured Imperial counterparts. Your assault boats can also move 30 cm per turn (and another 30 cm in the opposing player's Ordnance phase), meaning you can play merry havoc on any slower ships by outmaneuvering them.

However, Chaos ships get an innate bonus in brutal boarding actions and can have Space Marines or Terminators for extra punch, so being in the midst of the enemy is also entirely viable if more risky. This is where Slaanesh's mark would usually come into effect and could help you win the battle for air superiority by mauling their carriers with your own should they fail their reloads.

Other things to think about:

Imperials ships are built to get in closer, then shotgun you with a torp spread and swing to a broadside duel at 15-30cm range, in classic Nelsonian style. They have the heavy forward armour to bully though weapons batter fire at longer ranges. If you can keep the range open, lances are best at long range (4+ to hit, vs 6+ imperial front armour). Try and keep track of which of his cruisers have fired their torp spreads, as its fairly safe to pass in front of a cruiser that has shot but one still with loaded tubes is a threat.

Everything moves, all the time. At least half their move value (10cm for imp cruisers, 12cm for chaos, 15cm for most escorts). You need to plan for that, and given the limited manuverability of most cruisers (one 45* turn), you can predict where they might go with a reasonable amount of certainty. use this to your advantage, by positioning so they sail past you and you can swing into a lovely rear arc shot with no return fire. on the flip side, your oppenent can do the same. When considering a move for a ship, think of where it will go once it gets their. Your perfect stern shot might force you to fly straight into a battleships fire arcs at point blank.

the trick in BFG, for pretty much everyone, is concentration of fire. two cruisers, broadside on at 15-30cm, arent really able to inflict serious damage on each other, just knock down shields and score a point or two damage. you need to get into two on one or three on one firefights where one ship drops the sheilds, and the other one or two then pummel the unshielded target, which lets you do meaningful damage to them. Your ships have a slightly higher speed and range, which makes it possible to concentrate fire a little easier, but are slightly more fragile.

you can put out more fighters and bombers than a Imperial player, this means you can swamp a target with so many bombers that they cant shoot them all down. however, the imperials can pump out a truly ridiculous number of torps form their cruisers if they want to, which means they can also overwhelm your defenses if they get it right. some imperial players like to hold thier torps until they can shotgun them at short range into a target of opportunity, but some others like to start the battle with a massed volley of torps, using the threat of them to heard the other player into positions favourable to the imp player. it might be worth holding the first smallcraft launch back and then deploying mostly fighters to counter a mass trop spread.

you dont need to use the mark of slanessh if you think the points might be better spent elsewhere.