Badger's Big Update - Part 4 - Battlefleet Gothic Ork Fleet

Morning all,

Today comes part 4 of my Update-a-thon that's been happening all this week, maybe it'll be a polite break for you from 40k content as well.

Over the last month or two, there's been a lot of interest over, and playing of, Battlefleet Gothic. It was pretty handy to get into at first, since the rules were free downloads, club members had spare ships and the msot important thing, actual size of the ship makes no difference, everything is measured from the Stem or to the Base.

Really, to avoid spending a lot of money on buying Metal ships, or scrounging eBay for Imperial or Chaos fleets, there were really only 2 options to go with for scratch building - Tyranids or Orks. There can only really be 1 winner there, and that's the Orks.

So Warboss Nobrot has amassed himself a fleet in the wastes of Manutia and is setting out to explore the stars!

First and foremost, I didn't want to spend more than £10 on making the fleet. Money is tight at the minute and I especially don't have the money to be buying actual models. Luckily on eBay I found a seller flogging Black Hex Flying bases, 30 of them for £3.50 with postage - Bargain. I then had enough for the initial Cruisers and more to cover breakages and expansion.

The original solution for ships, was to use Kinder Egg and other toy capsules as the hull of the ship and bolt weapons onto there. However, that idea fell on it's face because of the rubbish plastic they use on cheap containers. In addition to that, there was a massive amount of empty space on the hulls that I couldn't fill, meaning the model looked more like some kind of zeppellin than a space ship.

The second draft ships were all cobbled together using Ork weapons as the basis, I'll try and discuss as I go through the pictures:

Cruiser Ships - Kill Kroozers (Left), Terror Ships (Right) and Warboss Nobrot's Personal Cruiser "Da Rotta" (Middle)

The cruiser ships were the first to initially use the container hulls, with pretty much all of the bits used on the newer models. However, the empty space made them look cheap and a poor scratch build. So they were ripped off and a fresh start made.

I used Big Shoota barrels to make the central "spine" of the model. The barrels with circular holes in would be my Terror ships, to represent the torpedo bays. After this, I added some cut off Pistols to bulk out the front area, along the the prow made from the front of a Warbike.

Then I added a "Fin" from an Ork choppa, to add a bit more bulk to the model and probably because it's something an Ork would try fitting onto a massive battleship. Top this off with some Tau bits to stretch out the back end, along with a turbine from a Stormboy jetpack to make a crude engine - Voila, job's done.

They're easily distinguishable on the table via the prow styles. Kill Kroozers use the "Voodoo Mask" style fronts, and the Terror ships use the smaller, more angular "Terminator Face" style. My Warboss's personal ship (also a Terror ship) uses a large skull to distinguish him from the other ships.


Heavy Battleship - Slamblasta



The Slamblasta started life originally as how I wanted to make the Cruisers in the first place, using plastic Ork Kannons from the Battlewagon kit as the basis for the hull. However, I only had 1 of these knocking around, was working to a deadline and on a very tight budget. So, the Slamblasta was born!

I chose Slamblasta since it's the only Ork ship that can take any lances, and I think a Heavy Gunz battery and Lance combo would be absolutely punishing to an enemy ship.

It started off as a plastic Kannon, glued next to an imperial Lascannon to create a dual-thruster looking ship. Then I added some gun barrels from Ork Shootas to represent the Eavy Gunz. Then, some Battlewagon armour plates as the fins, to retain the theme I was aiming for.

The front prow is also a lot different to the standard Cruisers, having a faceplate like they do, but also by adding a large Iron Gob to it. After all, it's the biggest ship in the fleet and wants to show it off! To represent the Lance batteries in the prow, I used some wrench/pipe looking weapon that the Warbiker kit comes with and mounted it in the mouth of the prow.

Brute Ram Ships

These were the first ships I built, because I had a really good idea of how I wanted them to be - very small, very nimble and very choppy! They're really simple to build as well, just an Ork Slugga (the barrel is the engine) glued to a Chainsaw Choppa blade.

Escort Ships - Savage Gunships (Left), Ravager Attack Ships (Middle) and Onslaught Attack Ships (Right)

The escort ships were the second lot to be built, as they were smaller, they were easier for me to get ideas from the bits box. The central spine for these guys was an Ork shoota, then I added some Warbiker exhausts (or Stikkbombs for the Savage ship) as the thrusters.

Then came the issue of how I distinguish these guys based on their weapon options?

The Savage ships I used the Sluggas from the Ork Nobz, as they have a double barrel, which can happily show "Eavy Gunz". Afterall, what's 'Eavier firepower wise than 2 massive guns?

The Ravagers I used Chainaxes as the heads, to try and keep the bladed theme running over from the Brute Ramships, then for the Torpedos, I used spare Bullet Chain sections from the Shootas I had chopped up for the hull of the ships.

Finally, the Onslaughts are basic ships with standard gunz. The tricky part was that I had already enforced the "Standard Slugga Barrels are engines" policy so had to try and find something new to be used as a standard Gunz barrel. Luckily, there's a very nice, rounded, Grot Pistol that fit the part.

So that's that. After a ton of planning and an epic amount of rooting through my Bitz box, I finally got my Ork fleet built and painted, ready for gaming. Next up to add to the fleet are some Roks I've been working on, but I'm not happy with how I've made them, so back to the drawing board!

Hopefully, a section of them should be gracing the tabletop on Monday in all their painted Glory, but knowing Ork technology, they'll only end up blowing themselves up or steering into their own Torpedoes!

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with how they turned out, considering that I paid for nothing, except the bases for the models. I'm even thinking of rolling on from this and looking at making a Necron fleet, just because I enjoyed making the ships so much, it was a real change from 40k.

I've waffled on long enough...

What do you guys think of the Fleet then? Any suggestions or changes to bear in mind if I make any more?

Peace,

SB

*P.S. Tommorrow's update is gonna be a big 'un! ;)

Battlefleet Gothic First Impressions

Morning all,

Over the last few weeks, part of the 40k circle of MAWS have attempting to give Battlefleet Gothic a run, as a break from 40k. Heavy tournaments, busy summers and general boredom made most of us take a look at our gaming storage and think "What else could we play?" and one that's stood out for a good 15 months or so is Battlefleet Gothic.

So where to begin... A couple of weeks prior to me getting involved, Angryman and Straken had a few games, read up on the rules and got the hand of it, then I observed and rolled some dice in a game between the two, on the Imperial side.

It seems like a pretty strategic game, moreso than 40k for me, simply due to the way in which the ships have to move. Ships have to constantly be on the move (or pass a LD test) and have to move in order to turn (in most cases). This means you'll need to be planning your attacks way in advance and how to react to enemy manouvres.

At one point on Monday in a 2 v 2 game, we ended up with a swirling, circling ship fight, as no one wanted to sacrifice their firepower in order to re-manouvre. It was a twist that I really enjoyed.

Shooting in BFG is also drastically different to 40k. It retains the target priority system, requiring an LD test to fire at further away enemies, but ththe ranges of weapons are a lot shorter than in 40k. A LOT shorter... as we found out on Monday when misjudging weapon distance.

You're also allowed to fire different weapon arcs at different targets, meaning a ship can sacrifice volume of fire, in an effort to attack more ships. One situation on Monday had a Chaos cruiser wedged between 3 Imperial ships and fired each system at each of the ships, managing to weaken some for the other Chaos ships to fire.

We've yet to try some things like boarding, planets and celestial phenomena, but overall I'm really enjoying it.

Continuing playing at the minute is key, as I'm trying to build up an Ork Fleet to combine this into our 40k campaigns. At the moment I've been cannibalising Ork vehicle and weapon bits in order to make crude ships. I just need to make a start on the 4 Cruisers I need to actually play a Cruisher Clash scenario on Monday.

So I'd say to those who are interested, the premise of BFG is pretty easy to learn and understand and I've managed to read the core rules, take them in and understand them pretty quickly (with help from others). All the rules are free to get hold of, fleets can be made quite cheaply (if you're not a mega purist) and it's a quick enjoyable game.

If anyone's got any thoughts on BFG, feel free to drop a comment - my aim over the weekend is to get my Ships painted up and posted on here.

Peace,
SB