Hive Helsreach

Hive Helsreach
Battlegroup armageddon defends the lines against the withering ork assault!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Battlefleet Tempestus



I recently got into battlefleet gothic. I decided that an Imperial Navy Fleet would go well with my imperial guard, so I gave it a shot. Turns out I really liked it: the rules, the book, everything. Very well done, in my opinion, and a very enjoyable game.

As a result of this, I decided to go "all out" and buy my fleet and the rulebook. So, to start off, I have an appocalypse class battleship, an Emperor class battleship, 6 cruisers (gothic class), and 3 falchion escorts. Now, once again, I'm new to the game, so I'm gonna have to play a few games to get used to the system. So far, I have one other prospective opponent who will be playing Chaos, one who will be playing Eldar, and one who will be playing Tau. However, I will point out that I'm not too impressed with the Tau ships, but the Eldar...wow. They look like they can be murder, especially against my lance-toting Appocalypse class battleship. I hate holofields.

As a result of my "newbieness", I need some advice. If any of you who are reading this are admirals seeking to aid a fellow commander, please do so. General tactics, advanced tactics, or even fleet-specific tactics, are more than welcome. Please feel free to post here and help out.

-Ave Imperator,

Kilian

4 comments:

Koppenflak said...

Salutations from Battlefleet Hydria. Fair solar winds and following stars to you, sir!

Ok, 6 Gothic class and an Apocalypse can only end in *pain* against the Eldar. Effectively, everything you fire at them will have 2+ saves against it...

Sadly, the only solution here is to invest in some ships that posess good old fashioned weapons batteries.

Praises enough cannot be sung for the pint-sized wonder that is the Sword class frigate. at 35 points a pop, and toting a L/F/R S4 Weapons battery, you cannot honestly get much better in an Imperial fleet against the Eldar. The only catch is that for these guys to work their magic, you'll need a lot of them...

...Think a dozen. Or more.

A good all-rounder in the imperial fleet is the Lunar class. With an even split (effectively) between Lances and Weapons batteries, a healthy torpedo load out with an optional nova cannon upgrade, this ship is extremely versatile. There is a reason this is considered the "standard" warship of Battlefleet Obscurus. It's also very nicely priced for hat you get.

Also consider the Mars class battlecruiser. This is not so much so against the Eldar, but against any other enemy - it will surprise you. It's stats are modest when viewed individually, but this ship is one of the best vessels in the entire Imperial Navy. Few vessels have such a reputation - enjoy them.

For duties against the eldar though, it is difficult not to recommend the Overlord class. Yes, it only has an S8 weapons battery, but at range 60, you'll find it's one of the only vessels in your entire fleet that can consistently shoot back at the little alien blighters! The Eldar's move-shoot-move tactics make it very difficult for ships with an average range of 30cm to actually bring them to battle, thus the reasons for the Overlord become apparent.

The Dominator class is the antithesis of the Gothic. Where the Gothic class takes nothing but lances, the Dominator is treated to a strength 10 weapons battery which, while short ranged, offers you something your fleet is really lacking right now. Carefully marshalled, a weapons battery-fleet can be used to manoeuver in to a position where it will consistently out perform lances on any day of the week. Nova cannons are just an icing on this cake; they'll give anyone not-eldar a serious headache to think about.

Lastly, your battleship choice...

I love the Apocalypse, make no mistake. But it is not a ship that is friendly to newcomers. At range 30, this ship falls flat on its face when dealt with a fluid and constantly changing situation. The Retribution is solid, and is a popular choice... but in my opinion, it is undergunned for what it represents. It's strength lies as a line-breaker where it can charge on in with an armoured prow, paving the way with torpedoes, before raking the enemy on both sides with an S12 battery. Not bad, when considering the additional 3 lances it possesses to add a little kick to it's already impressive boot, but frankly... it's a boring ship.

The Emperor class is the perenial favourite for a reason. On one side, it brings to bear just as much firepower as the Retribution (Firepower 12, plus 3 lances) and what it loses in front armour, it gains in leadership bonuses and the fact it can launch an ungodly amount of ordnance. This said, it's weaknesses are a soft front armour and incredibly slow speed, making it very difficult to use against the eldar, and even harder to use when pressed in to a corner and subjected to fire that can - and does - bring it to a literal halt from blast markers.

Well, that's about all I can readily say in such an abridged topic, but drop me an email if you want to ask anything more. :)

Good hunting

-JJ

Anonymous said...

I had a long post here ready to go, but of course, it got deleted.

No worries.

Greetings from Battlefleet Valhalla.

I would like to suggest you pay a visit to Warseer.com and check out our Specialist Games/BFG forum. There's a lot of experienced players there, and they have helped me refine my fleet list in a relatively short time.

Angelic Despot said...

Do a google search for 'BFG Tactics', by Adam Brown.
He goes through most of the Imperial and Chaos fleets, ship by ship (for some reason he misses out the Imperial battleships), and talks about torpedoes. It's a really interesting and helpful article.

Also have a look at www.dysartes.com
In the tactics, specialist games section there is some useful stuff.

Glad you like the game!

kilian said...

Thanks for the feedback all. My current stuff:

1 emperor class
1 apocalypse class
1 dictator class
2 tyrant class
3 lunar class
3 falcion escorts.

More feedback always welcome!