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I have the core rule book, and some other side books i found PDF's of, as well as some print and play models for chaos and imperial fleets.

But for a reasonable game, what should i aim for when building a fleet.

Never played the game, and very new to table top wargaming too.

The closest i have got was Blood bowl.

As a huge fan of BFG, I feel I should offer you first a warning that the game may be a bit... obtuse if you're still pretty new to tabletop wargaming. This is because BFG, being an out-of-print game, has several very similar rule-sets floating around out there - some official, and many unofficial. Assuming you have a community already (in-house, in-store, online, or whatever), it's important to understand what rules they plan on using, or to discuss this with them if you all haven't yet decided.

For starting out, I would recommend getting into the game with nothing more than the Imperial and Chaos fleets outlined in the core rulebook. Decide what you like and don't like, then work on expanding your play experience from there. As a general guideline, a good time to begin expanding would be after you've played each of the core rulebook scenarios a couple of times (both the Raids and the Battles).

As far as faction specific advice, the best I can tell you is that Imperials like big guns and combined firepower, while Chaos' strength is long range and massive waves of attack craft. That said, there are other builds for these factions if you want to spice things up. I'm sure there are some other people around who can answer these questions better though.

BTW, if you haven't already, check out: The Specialist Arms Forums. It's a bit quiet there on their BFG boards, but they've got probably the best collection of english-language BFG experts around atm. (DISCLAIMER: I've got my big BFG project in development - BFG:XR - over on those boards currently, so I'm not exactly unbiased).

In any case, BFG is a fantastic game and I'm happy to hear about new people trying it out. Welcome to the game!

Cheers ill have a full read of the rules when i have the chance, thanks for the advice.

Rule set wise whats the most common that people will use?

Having not played BFG with anyone and only drawing off of the internet and watching bat-reps, take what I am about to say with a grain of salt.

My experience has been that people tend to use the core rule book for their games, but have sometimes used other sources for certain factions so they can play a more fair game without having a whole rock/paper/scissors effect with whole factions.

For example, I have heard that Eldar are amazing against all but Chaos, who beat them soundly every game. Thus, people who want to play Eldar will use alternate rules/stats regarding the Eldar fleet to make them more balanced. I have seen one of these alternate rules sets, exclusively for the Eldar fleet, mentioned and linked in a wiki for a gaming segment of a, shall we say, notorious and infamous website.

 Okottekoneko wrote:
Cheers ill have a full read of the rules when i have the chance, thanks for the advice.

Rule set wise whats the most common that people will use?

I think the most common is probably the combination of 3 things: the v1.5 Main Rulebook (the last one released, and the one currently available as a PDF), plus the Armada Rulebook (which has the expansions for other races), and the 2010 FAQ / Compendium (a half-official errata/expansion document produced near the end of BFG's lifetime, which fixes some issues and adds a few extra options).

With that said though, people will rightly warn you that Eldar and Necrons can be un-fun (and/or unbalanced) in the core rules. The important thing is to try it out and see how your group feels about it. If things aren't working, take a look at some of the other rulesets floating around, and you can pick and choose which parts you want.

Sounds like you're where I was about a year ago. I started buying cool little space ships and from there went looking for a game.

The rules are pretty easy to find and download, but you might want a physical rule book. I like the BFGX ship stats since they put things in one place and the authors are religious about noting the changes and why. The art and layout are fantastic and it really is a gold standard of fan works.

As for what you need, first off I'd track down counters and dice on ebay or the swap shop here. Regardless of faction you'll need them. Sure you can print and paste them and cut them out but I didn't find them that costy and I'd rather put time into building and painting.

For ships I've been using old Space Fleet ships, but I'm crazy. The BFG ships tend to be costy these days, I've seen people wanting $40 for an Imperial cruiser, over $100 for a battleship.

Vanguard has some great subsitutes for the Imperial fleet that are sheer joy to build and paint. I highly recommend their Gothic Starships and Helios.

http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk

Agents of Gaming have a large line of Babylon 5 ships that can sub for some Xeno factions.

https://agents-of-gaming.myshopify.com/

I also really like the Bandai Yamato ships, they're a bit bigger but have a nice style and aren't as intrusive as say Star Wars or Star Trek. I'm using them for Tau.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-518-50952_Space%20Fleet%20and%20Battlefleet%20Gothic.html




Hawk Wargames UCM ships are also good, the Cruisers have a unique look that might not fit into 40k but the UCM frigates are nicely generic and great kits to build. I'll be using them as Marines.




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Oh and download BFG Leviathan

http://www.battlefleetgothic-leviathan.com/

It's a mobile port of the game and a great way to learn the feel. Right now they offer Navy, Marines, Nids, Necrons and Chaos.

Cheers for the info everyone.

I reached out to a few places, a local gaming group member shot these links my way.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_3DkXoD9DLEbXR1LTZSQzdyMUk?dti=119256271467892&fref=gc

^rules and suppliments.

https://yuki.la/tg/45762711?fref=gc&dti=119256271467892

^ and archived /tg/ thread with a ton of print out 2d images for ships and armaments etc.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
also would love to try the android version of leviathan, but for some reason in Australia its not available
.

For BFG, Aliexpress and Shape Ways is a great way to get new ships and not pay an arm and a leg.

Or get some ships from Vanguard Miniatures or Battlegroup Helios.

Really if you want to play the game download the app, figure out which fleet you like then buy.

But if you're a models first kind of guy... be ready to pay.