Belphegor wrote:The best advice for imperial fleets: Just start with cruisers and battlecruisers.
Points and cash, you get the best best millage with these.
Write up a 1250 list out of the ships listed in the basic book (available online for free through GW).

I like ordnance, my 1250 fleet looks like:
Cruisers
   Dictator x2 - hybrid carrier
   Lunar (with nova) x1
   Dominator x1
Battlecruisers
   Overlord x1
Command
   Admiral with x2 extra re-rolls

And admiral etc , Im a bit lost here.

I do not understand about these lunar dominator etc ships , are they just named for the cruisers or I dunno.

Also Is it the "armada" book to see the profiles of the ships?

Belphegor wrote:The BFG files that have the answers you need are HERE
The ships, there descriptions and thier rules are contained in those documents.
Take a look.
If you have more questions after that, feel free to ask.

What makes a lunar is listed in the basic book.
(which is available free with the link I provided)

And admiral etc , Im a bit lost here.

Admirals are explained in the basic book.

I do not understand about these lunar dominator etc ships , are they just named for the cruisers or I dunno.

The Cruisers that I listed under cruisers. are cruiser class ships.

Also Is it the "armada" book to see the profiles of the ships?

The armada book is an expansion to the basic game.
It has different (and not as good) ships than in my little example fleet.

KIPPER.j2 wrote:

Belphegor wrote:The BFG files that have the answers you need are HERE
The ships, there descriptions and thier rules are contained in those documents.
Take a look.
If you have more questions after that, feel free to ask.

What makes a lunar is listed in the basic book.
(which is available free with the link I provided)

And admiral etc , Im a bit lost here.

Admirals are explained in the basic book.

I do not understand about these lunar dominator etc ships , are they just named for the cruisers or I dunno.

The Cruisers that I listed under cruisers. are cruiser class ships.

Also Is it the "armada" book to see the profiles of the ships?

The armada book is an expansion to the basic game.
It has different (and not as good) ships than in my little example fleet.

ok thank you so much for your time , I will start reading through these.

cheers dude , If i need any help I'm going straight back to you because your awesome , wether you like it or not ;D

rowanalpha wrote:That's a good start to get you playing. At that level, an admiral isn't really worth the points, you could just as well squeeze in a couple more Swords. You'll want to expand into some Dictators later for some air support as well.

If they still offer the BFG starter box, definitely grab one, because its the best deal out there (4 Imp cruiser, 4 Chaos cruiser, plus rulebook, blast markers and other gribblies for less than the cost of the ships)

Belphegor wrote:Well, escorts (unless eldar) get eaten very quickly.
I just want to let you know that this sort of fleet is going to be very, er, challenging to play.
In general Imperial and Chaos escorts are over-priced compared to cruisers.
Most games played with this style of fleet will be up hill from turn 1.
So the up-hill-ness may get wearing, just remember if you get frustrated change over to cruisers.
Also remeber you cannot squadron between hull classes.
So escorts and escorts.
Cruisers/Battlecruisers and Cruisers/Battlecruisers.
Battleship and Battleships.
So escorts don't really 'shield' capital ships the way that WWI escorts did.
About the Dauntless, plan to run them in matched pairs (ie Torpedo/Torpedo or Lance/Lance)
I prefer the torpedo version.
Knocking out 12 torpedoes point blank to target from a squadron is fun.

abhorsen950 wrote:ATM im obsessed with necrons so im thinking of throwing together a necron fleet

but i would love to see how your fleet comes together

ABH

KIPPER.j2 wrote:Hello , I am completely new to battle fleet gothic and I have just taken interest in it a few days ago.
I don't know much so could you answer a few questions for me, It would help so much.

1) I am looking to buy a imperial fleet , and I have £40 , what is the best things to buy? (baring in mind I do not know anything about upgrades and things like that)
2) Is it a game that you will get bored of in about a week or two?
3) Are the models hard to paint or iis it just basic drybrushing?

I do not want to start of big and get like a huge emperor class ship and all this stuff , so yeah and also if you do recomend any ships could you tell me what they do , as I said , Im new to this game completly but I do have basic knowledge of games like 40k and the 40k universe etc.

thanks.

JB wrote:

KIPPER.j2 wrote:Hello , I am completely new to battle fleet gothic and I have just taken interest in it a few days ago.
I don't know much so could you answer a few questions for me, It would help so much.

1) I am looking to buy a imperial fleet , and I have £40 , what is the best things to buy? (baring in mind I do not know anything about upgrades and things like that)
2) Is it a game that you will get bored of in about a week or two?
3) Are the models hard to paint or iis it just basic drybrushing?

I do not want to start of big and get like a huge emperor class ship and all this stuff , so yeah and also if you do recomend any ships could you tell me what they do , as I said , Im new to this game completly but I do have basic knowledge of games like 40k and the 40k universe etc.

thanks.

Here's my two cents in answer to your questions:

1) I agree with the folks that recommend some cruisers/battlecruisers. Avoid battleships until you play much larger games. I like escorts to go with the cruisers but the small ships do die quickly against enemy cruisers, until you cripple them. I am also a fan of ordnance, which you can use counters to represent. Aesthetically, I like models for the fighters and bombers, and I'm thinking about making some models for torpedoes too; but counters are more than good enough and don't cost you anything.

2) I don't get bored of BFG but it is important to play with someone who is honest. The rules for turning and movement are important and reward players that think ahead. A dishonest person who makes illegal turns to get his bacon out of the fire really ruins games. Fortunately, most of the BFG players I meet are quite honest and really enjoy putting together nice fleets (a cut above the average 40K player I meet).

3) Drybrushing works really well with Imperial ships. Once you get several ships drybrushed, it's easy to go back and add little details to all of them. Washes and inks also work well with Imperial vessels.

You can have a lot of fun with just 2 cruisers and a couple squadrons of escorts. I actually prefer smaller games with a good storyline and perhaps a tie in to a follow-on 40K game.

Belphegor wrote:Core fleet should = 2x Cruisers + 1 Battlcruiser

JB wrote:You can make many of the battlecruisers from the plastic imperial cruiser models. That's how I built my Mars class.

The class of the cruisers is up to you. What fleets will you fight against? Some cruisers are better against different types of opponents.

Belphegor wrote:Core fleet should = 2x Cruisers + 1 Battlcruiser

BAWTRM wrote:Battlecruisers are made with the same plastic cruiser models you build the regular cruisers with.

Thinnk of them as souped up cruisers, more guns/armour/shields etc. (for more points of course) on the same spaceship frame.

slice of toast wrote:Keep in mind, with the Dictators and the Mars, you'll need to get yourself some Assault Craft, namely, Fury Interceptors and Starhawk Bombers, at some point. You could probably just proxy them with appropriately labelled markers at first, to get a feel for them.

If it were me, I would do one of two things:
1) Try to find a used fleet - they come up from time to time on Dakka, and there are quite a few on feE-Bay for very good prices compared to GW. You'll get a bunch of different ships, that you can experiment with and find your own style with.
2) Get two or three blisters of cruisers, and put them together, except only using walltack/tape/spit/etc. to put on lances/batteries/hanger bays. Do a couple of test games against a friend, and see what ships you like playing. Some people swear by certain classes of ships, and some hate them.

AFAIK, the box set is not sold anymore. If you find some of them, by all means, let me know where you got them

Belphegor wrote:Well, if your heart is set on have a bunch of little ships, don't let game losses dissuade you.
But also don't expect those little ships to be on the table for long.
escorts have crappy ordnance defense and get munched by hit & run attacks (chaos/necrons)

If you want to have a fleet with a bunch of escorts make sure you have a solid cruiser core with a clear focus.
ie: Dictator x2 + Mars x1 (for carrier) <-- this is the one I'm suggesting for an escort heavy fleet
or
Tyant x2 + Overlord x1 (for gun batteries)

Torpedoes are best used in conjunction with bombers at short range in order to overwhelm the defensive turrets of your enemies.
Escorts cannot do this without cruisers.

Belphegor wrote:Mars
Cruiser Squadron: Dictator x2
Escort Squadron: 3x Cobra
Escort Squadron: 3x Cobra

Those cobras would not be 'escorting' any of the cruisers.
In game play they behave a separate unit.
You can not link them to the Dictators in a defensive fashion.
The closest you can get to this is by forcing you opponent to make a fire priority check by attempting to keep them between the enemy and the cruiser.
Buy they are bad at this, since if your opponent is successful in there check; they hit the cruiser.
If they fail the check, they hit the escorts of a 4+ with weapons batteries (since the cobras are armor 4+), probably wiping the squadron.
So pretty much you give your opponent a choice that give him a chance for neutral consequence and a positive consequence.

A better plan would be to have the Mars hang back lobbing Nova shots after launching defensive fighters for the Dictators.
Nova cannons are good.
Squadron the dictators so that they can link ordnance (12 stacks of torpedoes are NICE).
Have the two squadrons of Cobras stay out of harms way until they can go in and pick off crippled enemy cruisers.

A battlecruiser is a better set of systems on a cruiser hull (same model sprue) look at the pictures in the book and compare them (the Mars and the Overlord) to the cruisers.
Same pieces, different configuration.

JB wrote:The Mars battlecruiser and Dictator class cruisers are essentially the same model. The difference is that the battlecruiser has two dorsal lance turrets instead of antennas and a nova cannon instead of a prow ram.

Yes, you can name your ships. You can write or paint the names on the edge of the base where you can see them or put a label underneath the base. I named my large ships, but I do not put the names on the bases since I like bases that are solid black with star fields on them. I use Army Builder and just annotate which ship has which colored dorsal dome. My two Dictator class cruisers have different colored domes.

This is one of my Dictator class cruisers. It has a red dorsal dome.



This is my fleet. In addition to the ships I mentioned before, I have a Gothic class cruiser. The two cruisers at the top of the pic are both Dictator class. The Gothic class is at the front right side. Sometimes lots of lance batteries come in handy. My flagship, the Mars battlecruiser, is at the front left side. As you can see, it's no larger than the cruisers. The top mounted lance turrets and the nova cannon are the only distinguishing features.



As you can see, I like white prows with black trim and then Dark Angel Green bodies with lots of details. The DA green matches my 40K Cadian army.

I agree with Belphegor about testing various battlecruiser/cruiser configurations by dry fitting the weapon types before you make a final decision and glue them on. If you're good with magnets, you might try magnetizing the weapons so that you can swap them out. K&J Magnetics make some very small magnets (don't drop one on the floor, you'll never find it). I'm sure there are English suppliers as well.

Good luck and have fun!

Hmm Thats a good idea , I think I might just buy 4 cruisers , make 1 a mars 2 dictators , possibly make the other one gothic like yours , I think that's pretty cool.

and for escorts I will buy 2 lots of 3x cobras.

Or! instead of the cobras I could buy some nice little shark boats or something , because I think on one or two opf the ships they have those on it. and plus they look pretty cool ;D

I definatly will buy 4 sets of cruisers , and make one a battlecruiser for sure , but now onto escorts , what do I do? escorts or shark boat bomber thingys :S?

Love your fleet by the way , looks great

also what is this dorsal dome thing? why do they need to be different when they are the same class cruiser?
or Is that just for looks or something.