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Battlefleet Gothic


Isiah

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BFG is a great game, but do yourself a favor and do not spend ANY money on a Space Marine fleet. Not only is the Space Marine fleet not the best fleet, it is probably the single worst fleet in the game. The best fleet in the game is the Chaos fleet.

 

Bah, all Chaos has is speed and a hefty weapons load compared to ImpNav. The best fleet is a pure Marine fleet. Just close the distance and rip the enemy a new one with those bombardment cannon and boarding parties. ;)

 

Anyhow, not only is BFG a fun game, but it's probably the most affordable game GW makes. You can have a pretty good sized fleet without having to shell out too much dough.

 

Agreed. Speaking of which, plastic Cruisers come two to a box for, what, $15? 3-4 Escorts for another $10-$15 per blister? So easy to build up a 2,000+ point fleet...

 

Heck, before I became Penitent!

You, penitent? :P

 

I find it reward in itself, that among the monkeys on my back, you are one of them, Bannus. If only because of the imagery of a Dreadnought piggybacking another Dreadnought... :)

ive played a necron, eldar, and a chaos fleet, my necrons and my eldar are actually my better fleets, like i said gothic requires you to plan a few moves in advance, with necrons just fly past marine fleets and shoot them from behind, with eldar fleets you have more speed (potentially) just flank marine fleets or do hit and runs, chaos and loyalists dont have that option they lack the speed and all round hitting ability and point flexability of the other fleets.

That is the biggest gripe I have with BFG is how they handle the Space Marine fleet.

I'm not endorsing them having ships with capabilities matching their Imperial cousins - but I would like to see a bit more variety. I would like a choice of classes with regards to Strike Cruisers and Battle Barges (granted, the Venerable Battle Barge rules help out a bit in this catagory).

Right now, there is no flexability or variety with the Space Marine fleet - and as a consequence, no suprises. If you've seen one Battle barge, you've seen them all.

How about a Strike Cruiser with torpedoes? Or a Battle Barge with weaker batteries and dorsal mounted lances (45cm?)? These ships would still be similar in capabilities to their sister ships, but a few more choices wouldn't hurt.

And we come full circle. The basis of my BFG thread before was that SM Strike Cruisers are the workhorse of their fleets, yet have pretty weak shields and firepower. Battlebarges aren't in such bad shape, considering the pounding they can take and dish out, but unless you want to recreate every naval battle where your entire Chapter musters, it gets awfully monotonous (speaking from the perspective of playing a purely Marine fleet list).
welcome to being a marine, where brute force is the only way.. yeah marines need more ships and more flexability, all marines have the same fleet, and almost the same fleet list, and its rare entire chapters go to war, so it doesnt make sence to see so many battle barges, they are supposed to be rare ships, usually a chapter doing a large action is 1-3 strike cruisers, as each carries a full company

You can get away with more Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers - even though it is "unrealistic".

Look at the otehr fleets - if they were "realistic" battleships through battlecruisers would be very rare and Cruisers would be as frequent as Battleships are now.

When it comes to "fluffy lists", over half the points in all fleets should be limited to escorts.

Bah, all Chaos has is speed and a hefty weapons load compared to ImpNav. The best fleet is a pure Marine fleet. Just close the distance and rip the enemy a new one with those bombardment cannon and boarding parties. ^_^

 

I do believe you're pulling my leg, Penitent.

 

Anyway, for the potential new player: it sounds like the SM fleet would be good at boarding actions, and to be fair, against ships of equivalent size, they do have an advantage. However, with Strike Cruisers, they're generally up against ships that are bigger than they are, which negates the advantage. Furthermore, there are other fleets that also have bonuses in boarding actions (Orks and Chaos, specifically). Plus, the bombardment cannon battery on a Strike Cruiser is too small to be of much use against anything but defense platforms. This is a real problem, because in BFG you live and die by your cruisers, and the Strike Cruiser is inadequate.

Seems to me like a SM fleet should be allowed to take IMP capital ships as escsorts. It's just too unreasonable to expect a largely weak SM fleet out into the cold void of space- transporting the most precious fighting commodity in the universe- without proper protection.

 

But from my scant knowledge of BFG (so far) it seems this ain't possible. Or is it?

 

cheers

Isiah

Ahoj!

Ahh, the never ending "SM are a weak fleet debate".

If the only thing you play is Fleet Engagement (the Cleanse of BFG), then the SM will have the solid by-products of digestion kicked out of them every time.

However, if one plays scenaros, Raids included, then a shocking revelation occurs - the SM are fantastic in battles between light forces and in attacks on planets!

At this point brighter minds start pondering the question - "maybe the SM fleet IS NOT designed for Fleet Engagment?"

The SM fleet is not an all rounder like in Wh40K. It is a specialized fleet, strong in some situations, and weak in others. This is flately stated in the introduction to their fleet rules. If you chose them, don't whine that in some situations they fare poorly.

The boosting of the SC in the Armada made it a very, very capable vessel. Deadly when run in squadroned pairs.

 

Borys

But my point still stands.

 

An SM fleet pounced by a chaos fleet (or any other) would suffer badly. So how are hundreds of Chapters transported around apparently without incident, to arrive safely at their destination?

 

An SM fleet should be allowed heavier protective escorts as allies to make them viable in all situations.

 

Otherwise the Empires' finest would quickly become so much molten slag floating around in space.

 

cheers

Isiah

Ahoj!

Are we mixing "BFG rules" with "WH40K Real Life"?

 

Borys

 

Yes. Absolutely.

 

I would have expected the tie-in to reflect the larger 40k picture. Isn't it part-and-parcel of the same thing?

 

This isn't a critcism of what you are saying Borys (as a BFG 'newbie' I welcome your erudite comments)- it's just that I am disappointed with the lack of 'cross-platform' capability to use a phrase.

 

It still hasn't put me off trying it though.

 

Isiah

Ahoj!

OK - I'll take the plunge into WH40K RL ...

Space is huge, and catching a SC is not easy. With all around 6+ armor (this is 2+ in Wh40K terms) and the pesky (if slow) Thunderhawks, IMO the SC is the best light cruiser there is. The only thing faster than it is the Slaughter (but less nimble, and with no Attack Craft). I'm discounting Nekrons, which have just made an apppearance and are few and far between, and Eldar (both varieties) - as pirates/slavers they have no interest in fighting somebody who can actually fight.

 

The SC can run from anything larger it comes across, and can beat anything its size (cost). So running a company of SM from one Sector to another is not so dramatic.

 

And think - a single company of SM is enough to subdue a revolting world ... on second thought maybe "rebelious" is a better word. And a SC with escorts can be expected to take upon a single enemy cruiser. If the enemy's forces are too large for your typical "SC with escorts" to beat, than the SM either call in more of their own forces, or the IN - as slugging it out in mass engagements is the IN's job.

 

 

Borys

OK I'll buy that answer Borys. Thanks for the explantion.

 

Now, how is this for the theoretical strength of the Dark Angels Fleet:

 

3 battle barges (two in use, one in ordinary)

10 strike cruisers (6-8 in use, the rest in ordinary)

15 (?) Rapid strike vesels

30 (?) Hunter Class Destroyers

5 Nova Class Frigates

 

various 'commandeered' small escort and patrol/transport vessls for local inter-system useage.

 

Have I got the right amount of escort vessels for a SM fleet- too little, too many?

 

 

Comments welcome.

 

Cheers

Isiah

Seems to me like a SM fleet should be allowed to take IMP capital ships as escsorts. It's just too unreasonable to expect a largely weak SM fleet out into the cold void of space- transporting the most precious fighting commodity in the universe- without proper protection.

 

But from my scant knowledge of BFG (so far) it seems this ain't possible. Or is it?

 

cheers

Isiah

Yes. It is possible:

Armageddon Fleet List

Space Marine Dominion Fleet

 

- take your pick :)

Don't under-estimate the value of your thunderhawks... they are some of the games top fighter/ bombers. A marine fleet really comes into its' own when you add that second battle barge, it allows your fleet to absorb massive amounts of damage while still dishing it out in spades! BFG, imho, is a game that is less dependant upon good dice rolling as it is on good tactics... savvy fleet commanders know it isn't always about the ordnance that hits, but sometimes the ordnance that frightens your enemies into moving where you want them to (close range of those bombardment cannons). :devil:

Ahoj!

To clarify things:

A Thunderhawk is a Fighter-Assault Craft hybrid.

Only the Thunderhawk Annihilator, used exclusively by Crusader Fleets, is a Fighter-Bomber.

The difference is that

Bombers cause Hull Point damage,

while

Assault Craft make Hit&Run attacks,

which cause Critical Damage.

 

Also:

or

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