1500 Space Marine Fleet

[Grand Master Overcannon]

Heirs of Vulcan Assault Fleet

1500pts

Venerable Battle Barge “Angel of Death�
Planet Killer, Venerable Battle Barge, Terminator Boarding Party;
-Master of the Fleet (5,
600pts

Battle Barge “Mortis et Gloria�
Battle Barge,
425pts

Strike Cruiser “Ignis de Odium�
Strike Cruiser
125pts

Strike Cruiser “Ignis de Ardor�
Strike Cruiser
125pts

Escort Squadron “Gladii Imperator�
3x Gladius Frigates
135pts

Escort Squadron “Secundi Gladii�
2x Gladius Frigates
90pts

I was thinking of using some thuderhawk stuff for screening purposes for the planet killer, and the escorts for flanking purposes. while the Battle Barge and Strike Cruisers at the battle Barge's Flanks. The Venerable Battle Barge ought to hang back and "snipe" any dangerous targets.

[mEGALOMANIAC]

I'm fairly certain you can't take a Planet Killer as a VBB, since it's a "special character" (same as a Blackstone, etc, couldn't be a VB. It's, well, one-of-a-kind. Not something that gets made into a VBB.

Even if it is legal (wait for more opinions, I guess), you've built yourself a fairly top-heavy list. I have one BB, and I don't use it in games smaller than 2500pts.

Drop one of the BB's, get a second (and maybe third) Strike Cruiser, and then fill up on more escorts. Hunters, by the way, are amazing ships.

[Grand Master Overcannon]

Really, Hunters are? I looked at them and didn't like them. I suppose that four strength 2 torpedo shots could do a good job. I favored the Gladius because of a strength 4 battery.

Now, the reason I came across the Planet Killer as a VBB is army builder. I was just looking through stuff, and it suprised me. I saw the option, and I thought, "you know, that would really suprise an opponent." With it and the battlebarge's template weapons (and some practice guessing in centimeters) I figured that I would be well able to deal with escorts at an extreme range.

Oh, I do have two Strike Cruisers. Fire of Hate and Fire of Zeal. A third would not be a bad plan, but I would probably take 2-3 more if I dropped the barge.

Now, I have played countless games that involve 2d space/naval combat, and I have yet to see the awesome might of the frigate. Perhaps that is because most of the time, I attack from a position of strength. Most of the time, if I have a small ship, I see it take a moderate amount of fire and blow up, where a big ship may take several turns of shots. In this game, I see that flanking is a viable strategic option, especialy if you are an Imperial Player, so I have taken escorts to help hinder flank attacks.

Now, I am new to BFG, so I would like some sound tactical reasoning to explain your favoring of more smaller ships. I have seen clouds of small ships murdered by a large one time and time again, so I need to know the why to your stratagem. Forgive my newbishness.

[mEGALOMANIAC]

With squadroned vessels in base-to-base contact, you can merge ordnance salvos. A torpedo salvo that is four times as wide (ie, four Hunters in a row) is a LOT harder to evade. That, and they have very high Ld values (being SM ships) and therefore can reload fairly regularly. I have two squads of 5 of them in my current list, and they get more kills than anything else I field...

Now, the reason I came across the Planet Killer as a VBB is army builder. I was just looking through stuff, and it suprised me. I saw the option, and I thought, "you know, that would really suprise an opponent." With it and the battlebarge's template weapons (and some practice guessing in centimeters) I figured that I would be well able to deal with escorts at an extreme range.

Army Builder isn't official at all. Hell, half the stuff you can find in there isn't legal or correct. I'm standing by my opinion that "special character" ships can't be VBB-ified.

Oh, and a Battle Barge doesn't have any template weaponry...

[Grand Master Overcannon]

Ah, regarding Battle Barge weaponty, duh. I just need to re-read those rules. I guess it won't be too effective against squadroned ships (on account of overkill), but probably very effective against capital ships.

Well, there is no rule against it. The rules say that you may include the planet killer in a fleet of 1000+ points. Rules also say that if Abbadon is present, he must be onboard the planet killer (not a problem). But, it is listed as a chaos battleship, and so can be made a VBB as per the rules. Logic arguments aside.

As a side note, it was SAID to have been destroyed at Kharlos 2, who knows what really happened...

Now if I saw other people useing a venerable planet killer, I wouldn't use one. The plan is shock value and novelty.

[mEGALOMANIAC]

Well, there is no rule against it. The rules say that you may include the planet killer in a fleet of 1000+ points. Rules also say that if Abbadon is present, he must be onboard the planet killer (not a problem). But, it is listed as a chaos battleship, and so can be made a VBB as per the rules. Logic arguments aside.

That only applies to 13th Black Crusade lists - look at the rules closely. If you could take it in any fleet, then everyone'd use one. But you can't.

[Grand Master Overcannon]

Well, those are the 13th Crusade rules.

As per page 7 of the Slayer of worlds rules, found on the GW BFG downloads page, under the additions to the Chaos Fleet list heading, subheading Capital Ships, "a fleet of 1000 points or more may include the planet killer"

Anyhow, my thoughts on the matter stems from rules. Yours comes from the thought of fluff and logicial interpretation thereof. No one would expect the planet killer in a marine fleet. It just happens to be a bit of a point sink, but I think it would be downright fun to take.