Starting Gothic--Need Advice

[Hrothgar]

Hey--this place was recommended to me by Shadow Hunter, so here I am. ;D

I haven't gotten the starter box yet (saving up the cash at the moment), but I was wondering what cruisers I should assemble with the sprues in the starter box. I have purchased a blister of swords and a blister of cobras already, and am painting them up. I plan on getting some more escorts to protect the capital ships, and I really like the look of the dauntless class, so I plan on getting those as well. I just don't know which weapon fits would be best. I read the tactics article elsewhere on the site, and it seems like I don't necessarily want to go heavy on the launch bays. So what are the best cruiser classes for a starting fleet?

[Shadow_Hunter]

Hello Hrothgar, glad you came over.

I would recommend at least one carrier. You need to be able to lanch some protection for you fleet against enemy bombers or torps, at least. And bombers are very handy since they attack the lowest armour value of a ship, and not the one in firing line.

The cheaper carrier (cant remember its name) would be the best to get. And then I would recommend one of the cruisers with a nova cannon, and some tropedoe launching ones. When I get back home I'll have a look at the names, though I'm sure someone here will beat me to it.

The light cruisers are very handy, can take a few hits, but are still manouverable. I would take the torpedoe armed ones though. The lance ones need to clse with the enemy, and they are a bit fragile for this role in my opinion. I dont play Imperial though, and others may know better uses.

[CyberShadow]

Shadow_Hunter said:

When I get back home I'll have a look at the names, though I'm sure someone here will beat me to it.

Dictator! ;D

Have you got the rule book yet? If not, have a look here:

www.games-workshop.com/40kuniverse/battlefleetgothic/fleets.htm#

and click on the Imperial cruiser. That will give the the datafax for each cruiser. Have a look. The Gothic, Lunar, Dominator and Dictator are all standard cruisers.

Pick a selection of four, basedon their stats and tell us your list. Then we can let you know any flaws or strengths of your selection. Welcome to the game.

[grumbeast]

I'd definately recommend a Dictator. You must be able
to defend yourself and most fleets contain at least one carrier.

Shadow_hunter recommended the torpedo armed light cruisers, personally I prefer the lance armed ones in a squadron, you just have to be careful in the way you use them but remember that they are far more manouverable than other cruisers (the 90 degree turn is really useful). Its really dependent on your style of play. If you like to hang back, the torpedo's can be better, if you like to charge in, go with the lances.

many take Gothic class cruisers, I've never had much luck with them myself, prefering ships with heavy broadsides. Again this depends on your style of fighting, there are few things as devastating as a point blank broadside against a closing target when your ship is locked on!...

So good luck! and enjoy!, BFG has to be GW's most well thought out game, I've never had a game I didn't enjoy (even the ones where I got slaughtered! (damned Eldar!! hiding in asteroid fields!! aargh!)


Graham

[Axtklinge]

I am in situation very similar to Hrothgar.
I have a blister of cobras, one of swords and both dauntless's.
Still, no box (nor rulebook)!!!
In fact I'm waiting for the new box to come out, so I guess this post might be very usefull to me too!
So, if I may, here it goes one 1k fleet:

Fleet Admiral
Dictator CC
Dominator CC
Lunar CC
Dauntless LC
3x Sword
4x Cobra

How does it looks like?

Theres something else I would like to ask, I've check on the BFG official page for the "bombers" and other ordenance stuff. They all say "6 sprues". Does that mean that with each blister we can build 6 bases of the respective ordenance ?
(Sorry if this looks kinda stoopid question, but we dont have ANY GW store in Portugal so we cant check the blisters for the contents...)
Anyway, how many and wich ones would you experienced commanders advise us to buy (still talking about ordenance)?

Thanks a lot in advance!
Axt

[Hrothgar]

Thanks for the link--I haven't gotten the rulebook yet, so the info was very helpful. How does a Dominator (Nova cannon/weapon batteries), a Dictator (Torpedoes, weapon battery, launch bays), and two Lunar class (Lances, Weapon Batteries, and Torpedoes) sound for a basis? I'd almost rather drop one lunar for two Dauntless Light Crusiers, but I can do that once I have some extra money. So with those four as a core, I could add escorts to protect them. I already have 3 swords and 4 cobras, and would like to double those numbers, if not more, depending on what I can get into 1500 points.

[CyberShadow]

Hrothgar - That seems a pretty good starting fleet. I am not an Imperial player (although I face them a fair bit) but it seems a good basis - you have one Nova Cannon, one carrier and lots of torpedoes. Seems a great start.

Axtkinge - Your fleet is very similar, just exchanging a Lunar for a Dauntless, so the same comment applies.

As for the attack craft, I would guess that a single sprue is enough for a base, so five craft. Six sprues should = six bases. Has anyone actually bought these and can confirm the numbers and what the ships are actually like? (It would be good to have a review as a lot of people are curious.)

How many you need will depend on whether the you play the original ordnance rules or the newer version. If you play the original version, you will need a fair few - I am aiming at 20 bases of each type. If you play thge newer version then one base per launch bay for each type is the maximum that you can use.

[Hrothgar]

It seems that using the lance armed Dauntlesses in squadrons is popular. With the cruisers from the starter box, and the escorts I already have, I have nearly 1000 points (and thus I need an admiral). Any recommendations on that? I'd rather have more ships, I think, so I'm leaning toward a lower ranking admiral. I'd like to fit it 3 dauntlesses, escorted by 3+ firestorms. For 490 points, I can get 3 Dauntlesses and 4 firestorms, for 13 lance shots. This sounds like fun to me--can anyone tell me otherwise?

[FishPig]

Dauntless cruisers should have lances...you should have torpedoes enough with the rest of the fleet. Besides, without the lances, the Dauntles kinda sucks...4 firepower...woo hoo.

I wouldn't put too much faith in lances, especially if you are going to fight Eldar. One of my mates took two Gothics and they did OK against my Orks (until I rammed 'em...heheh), but needless to say they got whacked when he fielded them against Eldar.

[Hrothgar]

Even against eldar, that many lances could be effective--their cruisers only have 6 damage points, right? 13 shots=6-7 hits=3-4 points of damage=crippled cruiser. Other things might be better, but that's not bad. And I'm trying to have plenty of torps/batteries and a nova cannon in the other 2/3 of my fleet.

[CyberShadow]

True, but you left out the fact that the Eldar ships get a 2+ save against lance shots. Weapons batteries just right-shift on the gunnary table. Suddenly your lances hit a lot less!

[Hrothgar]

And there I betray my newbiness. So yeah, against eldar, I'd have some problems.

[FishPig]

I think Imperial ships have a real problem dealing with Eldar...I recommend a whole lot of Swords (coz they are shooty) and Dominator-class cruisers. Overlord battlecruisers are nice as well. Watch out for Hemlocks. And Eldar attack craft. And torpedoes.

I lose most of my fleet whenever I fight Eldar. Maybe I play too Orky for Orks.

Hopefully you won't have to fight Eldar too often! (Though with the amount of people who play them...) Chaos are good to fight as you have heavy armour facing down weapons batteries and few lances, so you can really do some damage.

If in doubt, RAM.

Oh wait, Imperial...ah, ram anyway.