Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello.

I have had the boxed game since new, played once and now we want to start playing some more.

Can you recommend some starting fleets for Chaos, Necrons, Orcs and Tyranids.

Since I have the ships (four cruisers) from the starter box, it would be nice to base the Chaos fleet around those, with not too much other ships and then adjust the other fleets to that point level.
All advice welcome and please remember, my knowledge about BFG fleet building is close to nothing.

/ Best regards, Fredrik

You can start with pretty much anything, just check that there isn't too big of a difference in the launch bay capacities between the fleets as that can turn ugly quickly. What size do you prefer to play? 1000, 1500, more points?

Starting with a 1000 points, as an example off the top of my head, might net you an Imperial force with 3 basic cruisers (180 ppm or so), a battle cruiser for a flagship (250-300) and a squadron of Cobras or similar escorts (30-50 ppm). This gets you a solid leader (that could be a carrier), some workhorses for the line and an agile group of harriers to zip about the place.

For Chaos it's quite similar, you might take 2-3 fast gunboats to attack things and a heavy carrier like Styx to belch forth assault boats while cheap escorts like Infidels fill out the points and provide threats on the table.

Don't know about Orks, but for Tyranids I'd start with a LD 8 Hive Ship with some durability upgrades (300-400) and some carrying capacity, surrounded by six escort drones (20 ppm or so) and six Krakens (25-40 ppm) because unlike other fleets, tyranids love escorts but can only take 12 per Hive Ship. The remaining points can then be spent on one or two Cruisers and various upgrades to the fleet. Alternatively, take two cheap Hive Ships and go nuts with escorts.

Have fun

Orks I'd recommend Terror Ships (the cruiser-weight carriers) and Brute Ramships, which are the best ork escort by miles in my mind (fastest, most agile, and cheapest, and frankly point-for-point about as shooty as their heavier counterparts).

Terror Ships are nice because they're one of the only carriers in the game less than 190 points, meaning Orks get fighter-bombers and assault boats in a cruiser clash game.

The other thing to remember with orks is always play an actual scenario. Orks are a pirate fleet with a high attack rating - versus imperial navy, you should almost always be playing a raid scenario with you attacking and often with transport on the board - THAT is what makes eavy gunz actually useful.


Chaos I'd strongly go in favour of a standoff gunline - chaos cruisers have a serious edge in range and firepower over imperial ships - the latter want to form line abreast and close for a short-range broadside fight and torpedoes, the former want to stay at 45-60cm lobbing lance and battery fire and bomber waves into closing targets. Honestly, an even mix of devastation-class carriers and carnage-class line cruisers is not a bad fleet.

If you're new to the game, I'd strongly recommend sticking to Chaos and Imperial ships (and possibly Orks) to begin with - necrons and Tyranids ships have a lot of wierd rules and getting your head round the basics first is good.
How many points were you thinking?