Sunday 29 November 2015

Rounding Out Battlefleet Valkyrie

Over the last few weeks I've been adding some final elements to round out my Battlefleet Gothic fleet. I think I'm sitting at over 3,500 points including static defences and the fleet contains most everything I'd regularly use.

This it not to say that I've got everything painted, a big box of unpainted models is evidence to the contrary, but that I have 'enough' for now. There will still be some occasional additions such as a Long Serpent, Avenger, another Dictator, a Rogue Trader cruiser and a bunch of escorts but I'll be trying to focus on some other old Warhammer/40k models and Infinity over the holidays.

So enjoy this influx of spaceships while it lasts!

The Overlord class battlecruiser Vanguard and the Lunar class cruiser Senator Albrecht supported by a CAP.

First up were two more cruiser types that were unrepresented in my fleet so far. I'd had both models around for quite a while but they had a variety of damage (missing turrets, prow rams and wonky batteries) so needed a lot of cleaning up before they could be painted.

The Overlord class is a cheap battlecruiser with long range batteries and lances. Typically overshadowed by the Mars, the update it received from the 2010 FAQ (cost reduced to 220 and a left shift for 15) makes it a formidable gunship and a consummate destroyer of Eldar vessels.

The Lunar, as I'm sure other Imperial admirals will tell you, is just a capable all-rounder and never a bad choice. The fact that I was missing one for so long was a travesty.

I also added in a couple of Forge World orbital batteries. They were second hand, so a little damaged, but they look okay painted up. I've got a few more of these in a variety of configurations but they are yet to be assembled and I'll hold off on them until I have a particular reason to put them together.

Two orbital defences with weapon batteries.

You may notice they are in an inverted colour scheme. This is partly because I just fancied a change, but mostly because I came up with some background fluff for them while out walking and it amused me.

In the year 782 of the 37th millennium a typographical error by a low ranking Officio Administratum clerk named Ezekiel Tibbell caused all orbital defences in the system to legally be moved under the authority of the local planetary governess. They were repainted in local PDF colours to signify this change.

The mistake was finally uncovered approximately 382 (Terran standard) years ago and there are now tens of thousands of clerks working on updating every document since to erase the consequences of the error. Work is expected to be completed in the middle of the 42nd Millennium at which point control of the  defences will be transferred back.

Unfortunately for Tibbell's family he was convicted of deliberately trying to sabotage the Navy by weakening its grasp on the planetary system. His entire lineage was tried in absentia and convicted of treason by genetic association. Tibbell was uncommonly promiscuous however and his bloodline now fills an entire penal legion where reinforcements come from newly uncovered branches of his family tree.

Eight bases of Fighters - Adler II class Light Fighters

The last thing to be added was some assault craft markers. While the card counters in the box set do that job okay it was always fiddly trying to pick out the right ones and making sure they were the right way up. Also they were nowhere near pretty enough for my liking.

Unfortunately the official GW Imperial assault craft fetch rather absurdly high prices on our favourite auction site, so I needed to improvise.

Twelve bases of Bombers. - I can't remember which ones these were, sorry!

Step in Ground Zero Games.

All the assault craft are from their Full Thrust Starships range and were priced at ~£1.80 for a pack of six. Unfortunately I can't tell you which the Bombers are as their website doesn't yet have pics of all their ships but I'll update when I can

The quality and detail on all of them is plenty sufficient for this scale and they even came with bases and a little six-spoked stand to place them on. The entire set, plus a few extras to grace my planetary Air Bases, set me back just under twenty pounds. Bargain.

They also had some great looking transport ships that I was super tempted by and in fact may pick up at a later date.

Four bases of Assault Boats - Falke II class Heavy Fighters

Of course, I just had to make my own life a little bit difficult and I couldn't just use the bases they came with. Instead they are all re-based onto 20mm square slotta bases and drilled out so they can sit on a length of paper clip at different heights. I think it was worth it though as they look fantastic on the battlefield.

Next up will be some whole-fleet shots!

4 comments:

  1. Nice work - those GZG ships are a great stand-in! I might use them myself :)

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    1. They've got a really extensive range of ships, a lot of which would fit BFG fairly well in terms of scale. Well worth taking a look at.

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  2. Beautiful, beautiful pieces, I love all of them. Those swarming fighters are imposing!

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    1. Cheers, the fighters are definitely the ones I'm happiest with. You can just about imagine them buzzing about like an angry swarm. :D

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