Interior of a Battle barge - Set design

[Mainely Wargamming]

Hey everyone,

 

We're trying to recreate the interior of a battle barge for my gaming table next month, and I can't find any good introspectives as to what's in one, aside from the books which talk minimally about them.  I want the board to be the inside of a battle barge that is being attacked, and boarded.  

 

Several persons have suggested to use the inside of the space hulk in the game of the same name, but is that the same thing?  Are space hulks battle barges?  I just need good ideas for the layout of terrain in side the battle barge.  I was hoping to be designing sort of the "loading bay area" so a lot of crates, barrels, pipes, containers, and no real buildings or multi-level structures.  Maybe cat walks?  Anyone with any advice would be gratefully appreciated!

 

Thank you, 

[BluejayJunior]

I think taking a Space Hulk-like design and upscaling it a little would work. Making the hallways and rooms bigger so more models can easily fit in them. 

A hangar bay or something would also work pretty well. I would think you could easily make that a good chunk of a 6x4 board. It would be good for catwalks, could allow for some vehicles from the defender (or at least have them as terrain). Maybe have some hallways around leading to other rooms with control panels, so if someone has control then they get some sort of bonus (like taking control of turrets or bringing down shields, or venting a portion of the board into the void). 

[Brother Tyler]

Space hulks comprise multiple ships, including ships of the Imperium as well as xenos ships and pre-Imperium ships. The tiles in the Space Hulk game represent vessels that are decidedly human in dimension and design, following STC designs that would be appropriate in a battle barge or strike cruiser of the Imperium. Each of the scenarios in Space Hulk represents a small portion of a ship, though, so you could combine multiple sections for corridors and rooms.

If you're looking to design a loading bay, though, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You could combine the current zone mortalis aesthetic (in terms of the floors, walls, and doors) with a modern industrial look for a warehouse or maintenance bay. Gantry cranes, catwalks, etc. would seem wholly appropriate.

Here are some images from a 3rd edition battle report in which a Black Templars force was tasked with attacking a space hulk inhabited by Orks during the Third War for Armageddon:

The fact that Orks inhabited the hulk doesn't mean that the sections of the hulk shown in the battle report are of Ork design.

[Mainely Wargamming]

The thing is, GW has never really wanted to make ship terrain, and that always bugged me.  Time to go break out the Rustoleam metal paint cans.  

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

Zone Mortalis, anyone?

 

I always portray ZM terrain as, like, an Underhive - and the Necromunda plastic seems to be supporting me on this - but my opponent interprets it as ship terrain.

[Elzender]

There is a diorama at Warhammer World featuring a boarding action between Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists during the battle of Phall. It is basically made with the FW zone mortalis tiles, but it has plenty of interesting details. I think there should be a few pictures of it around the internet, and it is probably the closest to an official GW depiction of an Imperial ship interior design in miniature form.

Other than that, I don't know if the Battlefleet Gothic videogames might have some cinematics showing the inside of Imperial vessels to get some inspiration from them.

[Brother Tyler]

For the most part, that diorama used the Forge World zone mortalis boards for the interior settings (the exterior of the ship used some different stuff - not as important, but cool, nonetheless).

 

 

A lot of pictures are featured in The Horus Heresy Model Masterclass: Volume One from Forge World (no longer available from Forge World, so you'll have to find it at exorbitant prices elsewhere). That diorama is titled "The Taking of the Contrador." The Contrador was an Iron Warriors warship, a 'Legatus' class battle barge of the Great Crusade era.

[Mainely Wargamming]

So, that honestly looks more like a table top version of space hulk, and less like a game of 40k.  I feel it would be seriously limiting to some of the players not to have any vertical axis to play on.  That's why I was considering making it just a large hanger bay.

 

The tiles that I see in all these pictures, what are those?  They look far better than the neoprene mats I constantly use.

[Sete]

I dig those old school Templars.

Got any more of those Bother Tyler?

Might paint my Primaris Crusade like that.

White Cross on black Background, I dig it, White helmets for veterans.

I feel the fires of zealous inspiration arising.

[Brother Tyler]

So, that honestly looks more like a table top version of space hulk, and less like a game of 40k.  I feel it would be seriously limiting to some of the players not to have any vertical axis to play on.  That's why I was considering making it just a large hanger bay.

That's every bit a game of Warhammer 40,000, simply using the zone mortalis setting (close confines, much like a space hulk, the underhive, or any enclosed area). While space ships of the Imperium have an over-the-top quality, it's likely that the majority of the ship interiors will be zone mortalis, with only a few areas (hangars, gunnery decks, storage compartments, maintenance bays, etc.) being spacious enough to allow for what you might consider normal WH40K (i.e., big enough for vehicles and, perhaps, flyers).

 

The tiles that I see in all these pictures, what are those?  They look far better than the neoprene mats I constantly use.

Those are Forge World's now discontinued Zone Mortalis boards. Hopefully the new plastic ones from Games Workshop fulfill form, fit, and function. 

 

I dig those old school Templars.

Got any more of those Bother Tyler?

Here, here, and here

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

For the most part, that diorama used the Forge World zone mortalis boards for the interior settings (the exterior of the ship used some different stuff - not as important, but cool, nonetheless).

 

 

A lot of pictures are featured in The Horus Heresy Model Masterclass: Volume One from Forge World (no longer available from Forge World, so you'll have to find it at exorbitant prices elsewhere). That diorama is titled "The Taking of the Contrador." The Contrador was an Iron Warriors warship, a 'Legatus' class battle barge of the Great Crusade era.

Aaaaah, I love it. I geeked out a little at the sight of the Dark Imperium diorama at my local GeeDubs, much less something of that scale.

[Exilyth]

That diorama, as nice as it is to look at, probably was created to maximise visibility of models.

Imho we need to imagine that being just one deck of a ship and the walls extending to the top, as indicated by e.g. the cut-off pillars on the right in the back.

 

With imperial ships being made from STCs, most of the rooms and corridors probably look the same, with the exception of the more important places.

I'd be inclined to say that a space marine battlebarge would look more like a monastery: gothic arches everywhere and littered with alcoves containing relics/statues/machinery.

 

Lore is full of descriptions of the large galleries and upper decks of ships being lined with frescos depicting imperial saints and heros, or important events from imperial history - yet we never see such on the battlefield.

 

Still, the new zone mortalis would make a great base for (multilevel) ship terrain.