Warp Rift 31.pdf

ISSUE 31

MARCH 2011

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Warp Rift Table of Contents

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E d i t o r i a l

Navis Nobilite

l E x i c a n u m : b f g r u l E s a n d t a c t i c s

tactical commaNd: UsiNg the aveNger class graNd crUiser

ships database: spacefleet ships iN bfg

eNcyclopedia gothica: campaigN rUles

t h E f o r g E : b f g m o d E l i n g a n d pa i n t i n g

COVER CREDITS:

dry dock: magNetiziNg graNd crUisers

SEND YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO:

showcase: gothicomp 2010 ship category wiNNer: eldar void stalker

Imperial Entanglements by Jack Watling. This

image is experimental since I have been having

a long running discussion with Roy about how

weapon batteries should be portrayed. I started

by depicting them as lasers, but this appeared too

lance like, so I have started looking further aield.

All of a sudden Halley's Comet came to the rescue

to give me bullet like trails of plasma blue light.

horizon@epic40k.co.uk or

warprift@epic40k.co.uk

s E n s o r r E a d i n g s : b f g f a n f i c t i o n a n d s c E n a r i o s

void stalker: battlefleet limaNte, part i

Please register your support for

this publication. Download your

copy from the oicial web site:

www.tacticalwargames.net/

archive/bfgmag/

officer’s mess: a good deed, part ii

THE WARP RIFT TEAM:

Discuss and Talk about Warp Rift

at the following location:

Aaron Dickey

Vaaish

Warp Rift Forum

Roy (Horizon) Amkreutz

Void Stalker II

Iain (Cybershadow)

Watcher in the Dark

Read the Warp Rift Blog for news

updates and extra material here:

Ray Bell

Admiralty

Reg Steiner

Tyranid War Veteran

Warp Rift Blog

Jack Watling

Magician

ADDITIONAL CREDITS:

From the Nexus Publishing House:

Warp Rift is not endorsed, nor does it endorse, Games Workshop, and it is not an oicial publication of Games Workshop. Any words, phrases or images are used without

permission and no challenge is intended as a result of such a usage, including the use of these words, phrases and images without the appropriate symbols of copyright. Addi-

tionally, these pages – including content, design and images – are copyright (except where copyright should infringe other such rights). Licensed names, images and logos are

copyright their respective companies or authors. No part of these pages may be ‘borrowed’ or reproduced, and no articles or rules should be considered ‘oicial in any way.

Model Photos

Gothicomp Participants

Additional Artwork

Xeones, John Reed (Magelord)

Contributing Authors

David Hscocks, Tom Moseley

Unknown, Zelnik, Canucks Fan

Bryan McMacho, A. R. Aston

WARP RIFT ISSUE 31, M ARCH 2011

Navis Nobilite

Welcome back!

Continuing the theme of ilder vessels, the Ships Database

is delving into using the ancient Space Fleet models and

covers rules for a wide array of ships from the Annihilator

to the old-school Emperor and even the Ironclad battleship.

For those of you who are looking to set up a campaign using

BFG, Encyclopedia Gothica focuses on running a campaing

with more than two players. There are a few twists in there

to keep things fresh for veteran players too! Continuing the

theme of grand cruisers, Zelnik has allowed us to use his

great article about how to magnetize them to keep your

weapons interchangable. Its a great article for those who

like the ship but don't want to shell out the cash for multiple

expensive models.

It's rather amazing at how quickly the

time goes between issues of Warp Rift.

In that time we've seen more progress

on the High Admrialty FAQ and rules

projects with addition of Battleleet

Bakka for the Imperial Navy. I look

forward to the inished products for

the leets the High Admiralty have been

pouring their time and energy into

making. These lists and other updates

should provide a fresh look at the leets

we have been playing for years and

hopefully provide some fun, alternative

builds. There also seems to be an uptick

in activity on Warseer with an inlux of

new players showing up on the forums

there and over on Bolter & Chainsword.

For those of you who may be new to

the game, now is a great time to get

your models painted up in preperation

for Gothicomp, the annual Battleleet

Gothic painting competition. It's a great

way to show of your leets and to see

what everyone else has been working

on over the course of the year so don't

be afraid to enter even if you don't

think your ships will have a chance of

winning.

For the luf nuts around here, we've got several bit for you

in this issue with the conclusion of "A Good Deed" and the

start of what is a rather lengthy work on Battleleet Limante

in Void Stalker. It will probably take several issues to fully

post the luf and scenarios so watch for more on this leet.

Remeber that Warp Rift is supported by your contributions,

so please submit articles, battle reports, or photos of what

you are working on to help keep this publication alive. We

really do need you! Until next time, keep painting, keep

playing, and most of all have fun.

Thanks for reading,

Aaron (Vaaish)

We've had a large number of submis-

sions in the last couple of months and

we have a lot of great stuf for you this

time around. Tactical Command fea-

tures a second article about using grand

cruisers with a look at the Avenger.

WARP RIFT ISSUE 31, M ARCH 2011

TACTICAL COMMAND

USING THE AVENGER CLASS GRAND CRUISER

by DAVID HSCOCKS

Recently on the Specialist Games forum website there has been

some discussion about the future of the Avenger class Grand

cruiser. Without recapping the debate here again, many people,

myself included, believe that the Avenger requires an upgrade to

its irepower to better fulil its primary role as a line breaker, as de-

scribed in its luf.

torpedoes, for example, the Lunar class. This type of cruiser shall

be henceforth known as our 'line cruiser'. The line cruisers take the

ire of the enemy leet as they advance towards the enemy, as they

are designed to do. The Avenger stays behind the irst line, making

it unlikely it will come under signiicant ire. However, under the

F&Q2010 changes, this will make using its torpedoes diicult. It

is a trade-of between being protected, and exposing oneself to

enemy ire just to ire torpedoes, the likely gain will not outweigh

the risk of being hit hard, and potentially reducing its much needed

irepower.

duels, it is designed to stand-of from a brawl at long range in order

to justify the extra points spent for 60cm range if nothing else! The

Avenger has similar broadside strength, yet it is 155points cheaper.

This is the price of a light cruiser and a Sword frigate; or 4 Sword

frigates (the latter will provide you with another 16 weapon bat-

teries!). Therefore, just on the points front, taking an Avenger is a

good move, if you need a short range gunship, as the ability to take

another few escorts or light cruiser gives you greater lexibility and

ability to place your irepower where it is most needed over several

vessels, rather than sinking the same amount of points into one

vessel which is not designed as a close range brawler.

Unlike most however, I believe that the Avenger in its current form

is actually an ok ship, so the purpose of this tactica is to try and

explain how I believe one can maximize the efectiveness of the

Avenger. I have had limited success with my Avenger versus Eldar

due to its short range, and have had no experience with it versus

Necrons: so this tactica will be implicitly concerned with Tau and

Chaos leets, although I am not giving race-speciic advice.

When the line cruisers are within 30cm they ire their torpedoes

to disrupt the enemy leet then they enter the standard brawling

stage at close range. The Avenger can now be unleashed into

the fray. Using its strength 16 weapon batteries to decimate the

(hopefully) scattered enemy ships the Avenger can pick of and

cripple, or even destroy individual ships. If required its toughness

(when compared to a line cruiser of 8HP) will allow it to duel with

the larger enemy Grand cruisers and even battleships, although it

is not guaranteed a victory, it will put up a stif ight until its smaller

brethren can come and support it. Its lack of prow armour at close

range is less of an issue as the enemy will be hitting you hard

anyway! When it receives prow torpedoes in FAQ2010 this will give

it another useful weapon, which at close range can be especially

deadly as the enemy rarely have time to intercept a torpedo salvo

with ighter squadrons; and enemy ships will be reluctant to ‘cross

its tee’ to get a devastating barrage into its prow if they know that

next turn it will unleash torpedoes at close range.

Therefore, the Avenger, even in its current form before the up-

grades of FAQ2010, can be, and should be, used as a leet support

ship to exploit the success of the line cruisers. But to do this it

needs the protection the line cruisers provide in order to actually

reach the enemy line intact. Taking an Avenger in your leet can be

seen to provide one with several beneits: it is a cheaper (in points

alternative to the Retribution and therefore allows you to pack

greater irepower in your leet; and it lets you use one of the great-

est looking models in BFG in the original role it was designed for. It

is a simple ship to use and will pay dividends, if it is used correctly.

I hope this article has gone some way to addressing the concerns

raised on the forum, and inspires people to take a second look at

this oft-criticised ship.

The Avenger, in contrast to its relative, the Vengeance, must

operate in concert with other vessels to be efective, or even to

survive. Therefore this will be my main focus. The luf states that

the Avenger is a line breaker, several of its class charging into the

middle of the enemy leet to take and dish out some heavy ire-

power, thereby crippling the enemy leet. Unfortunately most of

us do not have several Avengers to be able to do this so we need to

do the next best thing.

At this point we should make it clear that the Avenger cannot

aford to charge an enemy leet under ire. It does have reasonable

protection and structural strength, but with its 5+ prow armour

any leet worth its salt will badly damage it before it gets to ire its

broadsides. This is especially true as it has no prow irepower. This

is set to change in FAQ 2010 where it will receive the option of prow

torpedoes, but the armour issue will remain the same, making the

addition of torpedoes of minor concern.

Its ability to duel virtually any other large vessel is very useful for

the Imperial Navy as they lack a useful gunship battleship that can

keep up with the main leet. The Retribution can keep up, but it is

very pricey and its weapon batteries are not ideal for close range

editor's note: this article was written before the final version of the 2010 faQ

when the option for prow torpedoes on imperial grand cruisers was under con-

sideration. that option is not available in the final draft copies of the faQ. please

ignore references to the prow torpedoes in this article.

To resolve the armour problem we need to protect the Avenger

with the standard Imperial cruisers who have 6+ prow armour, and

WARP RIFT ISSUE 31, M ARCH 2011

SHIPS DATABASE

SPACEFLEET SHIPS IN BFG

by TOM MOSELEY

Some of you may remember the articles in early Battleleet

Gothic magazine detailing stats for some strange looking

imperial merchant ships and the Siluria light cruiser. As an

old git I was forced to wipe away a nostalgic tear for a game

and ship designs that have passed into the pages of history.

GOTHIC LIGHT CRUISER

135 points

points values are based on the Smotherman formula although

I have had to use my own very skewed judgement in a lot of

places where things not covered by Smothermans pop up.

Imperial ships:

Imperial ships were protected by a number of shields on the

front and both sides that once lost could not be raised again,

the rear was unshielded. Weapons were either batteries or

lasers with no functional diference between the two and

most ships were armed with vortex torpedoes. This list deals

solely with Imperial warships.

Space Fleet was released in 1991, halfway between a board

game and a true tabletop war game. Sadly it was very short

lived, the irst set of expanded rules was released in WD139

with the last in WD147, nine months of oicial support.

During that time models and rules were released for 15

Imperial ships, ten Tyranid and two Eldar. There was also a

huge amount of background information regarding Space

travel and the Imperium as a whole as well as information on

related topics such as the Navigators, astropaths, astronomi-

con, warp travel times etc.

Common upgrades:

These vessels are very rare now and even rarer still are vessels

with their original sensor arrays and targeting matrices. For

an additional 15 pts for each upgrade the ships can gain:

Looking at the old designs you can see how some of them

inluenced the new models and I for one have a desire to pull

these old warhorses out of retirement and let them see the

ield of battle again alongside their descendants. GW has

done a couple of conversions in BFG magazine one and four

but I wanted to make the vessels as close to their old selves

as possible while still using BFG rules and itting into the

current 40K universe. Unfortunately the Space Fleet rules

were quite diferent to BFG and the size of the models means

that even the largest battleship models in Space Fleet are

only about the size of a light cruiser model in BFG, but I’m

not going to let that defeat me. These ancient and sacred

relics will ight again for the glory of the Emperor of man!

•

+1Ld,

•

a +ve shift on the gunnery table,

•

no –ve shift on gunnery over 30cm

Ty p e / H i t s

Speed

Tur n s

Shields

Armour

Tur re ts

Alternatively or additionally you could use the Imperial

vessel age rules presented in WR 29.

Light Cruiser/6

30cm

90°

Armament

Range/Speed

Firepower/Str

Fire Arc

Gothic Battleship

In Space Fleet this was the mainstay of the Imperial leet.

There is a reference to the combat cathedrals being a kilo-

metre high, which would make these pretty vast. Although

battleships in name and size they occupied a place in the

Imperial leet similar to that of cruisers i.e. the main ship of

the line. The Gothic had 6 shields per side and had a powerful

medium range broadside as well as a vortex torpedo attack.

Port Weapons Battery

45cm

Left

Starboard Weapons Battery

45cm

Right

Prow Torpedoes

30cm

Front

I will divide this into three parts; part one covering Imperial

warships, and hopefully part two covering Imperial support

ships and Eldar ships and part three covering Tyranids. All

Notes: he design of the gothic clearly shows its early imperial origins. similar to the dauntless cruiser but dating

from the time of the great crusade, the gothic has superior range and irepower and good defences. hough not

quite a match for a full sized cruiser it would be a foolish captain who did not consider the gothic to be a very

serious threat.

WARP RIFT ISSUE 31, M ARCH 2011

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