Battlefleet Gothic: Heart of Oak Repurpose?

[Karack Blackstone]

Hello; looking for someone to sounding board ideas off of to hammer out what I hope will be a new version of BFG, based on modified Heart of Oak rules that I got from a gaming store owner a while back.

 

The Heart of Oak rules can be simplified to not need sail settings, allow the myriad number of directions of travel, "wind" can be based off the star in the mission, etc.

 

Where I think this conversion can really start to come alive is the simple fact that crew is doled out in ratings, divided up amongst varying tasks that need to be done to keep the ship going; the nitty gritty part is where the reserve crew ratings come in; in essence, the BFG Orders, simplified into a system where the minimum number of crew population of the ship has, say, the tens position of people, as an example, to carry out tasks aboard the vessel.

 

My biggest problem is that in Heart of Oak, there's a very real chart that specifies where the crew is assigned, including the excess, where the orders can be reflected. The hard part is going to be learning the system of Heart of Oak well enough to figure out the play balance of BFG in this system.

 

Any thoughts, interest, input, etc.?

[Gillyfish]

Hi Karack,

 

It's an interesting premise, but there are some other rulesets available that might be easier to adapt as they are for space combat and allow you to design your own ships, weaponry, etc.

 

You could try Colonial Battlefleet by Steel Dreadnought Games as a starting point. Some thought and agreement with your opponent should allow you to re-design the fleets for that system. Victory By Any Means is another (although more complicated). The design systems are supposed to be pretty proof to 'death star' designs and there is a good level of balance. Be warned though, the start up is likely to be hefty as you will need to design the ships to fit the system, but do give it a go!

[Karack Blackstone]

Hi Karack,

 

It's an interesting premise, but there are some other rulesets available that might be easier to adapt as they are for space combat and allow you to design your own ships, weaponry, etc.

 

You could try Colonial Battlefleet by Steel Dreadnought Games as a starting point. Some thought and agreement with your opponent should allow you to re-design the fleets for that system. Victory By Any Means is another (although more complicated). The design systems are supposed to be pretty proof to 'death star' designs and there is a good level of balance. Be warned though, the start up is likely to be hefty as you will need to design the ships to fit the system, but do give it a go!

 

I think at this time I'll look into Victory By Any Means 2nd Ed. to start; if that doesn't work out, I'll go over to Colonial Battlefleet next.

 

I quite enjoy the ship building aspect of Rogue Trader RPG by Fantasy Flight Games; the problem is, tweaking parts into my liking and inventing new things is a basic no-go in RT. With VBAM 2nd Ed. I think I might be able to come up with a reasonable Broadside system that can work for all ships involved for the Imperium and Chaos factions. Tyranids are space kraken, and shouldn't take too long once I learn the system. The biggest issues I foresee might be the Necrons and Eldar, however, this forum is not allowing that discussion, which is fine.

 

Thanks for the helpful guidance, Gillyfish.

[Gillyfish]

Not at all - if it works, do let us know, preferably with a battle report or two! :)

[Karack Blackstone]

Not at all - if it works, do let us know, preferably with a battle report or two!

No problem; it'll be my first Battle Report ever, so, a quick walkthrough guide wouldn't hurt if you can help link one.

If not, that's fine too; I'll just search fu through google to see what I turn up.

I'll have to see if there's some way to do the Broadsides if there's nothing already built-in as far as VBAM 2nd goes in terms of rules sets.

[Gillyfish]

Well, if it's still available, vassal used to have a BFG module which would allow you to depict the ships etc. Otherwise a brief description for each turn is more than enough - it doesn't have to be a great work of writing. :)

[Karack Blackstone]

Well, if it's still available, vassal used to have a BFG module which would allow you to depict the ships etc. Otherwise a brief description for each turn is more than enough - it doesn't have to be a great work of writing.

Kewl.

I'll try to see what I can find on that supplement.

I'll try to spice up the battle report, as a sort of Admiral's Log or something, depending upon how it goes overall. I don't have that many fieldable ships, however, once the Specialist Games section is back up and running, I plan on getting a pretty healthy number of ships to get a "reasonable" fleet going for use. The problem is going to be to find a willing opponent; I know someone that might be game, I just might have to help him out with rules explanations, as well as, and I hope not, picking up some ships for his greenskins.

Outside of the need for more ships, the rulebooks were ordered yesterday for VBAM 2nd Ed. Once they get here, I'll know more on how to proceed looking forward.