BFG: Battlefleet Ragnarok

It's been just over two years since I first started work on Battlefleet Valkyrie - my Imperial Navy fleet for BFG. In about six months I'd rounded it out to around 4,000 points of various ships and I'd largely considered the project to be done and dusted. After all, there wasn't a great deal more that I could add.

Hahaha... yeah, right.

Battlefleet Ragnarok

This project had been shelved for a good while, partly down to laziness and partly down to not knowing what colour scheme to go for. I've been spending the last few months steadily acquiring (one might say 'hoarding') more ships and I had a vague plan of starting a Voss pattern fleet but the fact that cruiser sized vessels didn't really ever get released was an issue. Still, there is something glorious about those sweeping prows...

I managed to get round the issue of the distinctive prows by acquiring some bits and pieces from Resin Addict early this year, but the motivation still wasn't quite there. It would take something special to kickstart this project for me.

The Sword of Voss - Endeavour light cruiser

This beauty of a ship came from an online trading group and is one of the few metal Endeavour-style light cruisers produced. Not only that but it seems to be the one featured in issue 12 of Battlefleet Gothic magazine and the Armada book!

It has needed a bit of touching up, dusting and repair work but I'm super happy with it. I'm planning to take a bunch of post-repair pictures in the near future as the ship has a lot of neat features - including a pair of turrets mounted above and below the prow.

Obviously I couldn't bring myself to repaint a bit of history, so I tried to use it as inspiration for the colour scheme of the rest of the fleet.

I used an undercoat of Army Painter Desert Yellow and then a rather rough, thin coat of GW Balor Brown to really bring out that rich, golden orange/brown. The prows are a mix of P3 'Jack Bone, GW Evil Sunz Scarlet and Vallejo Old Gold, and there are details picked out in GW Chainmail with finally GW Teclis Blue as a spot colour.

The ships were then given a wash of GW Agrax Earthshade, drybrushed with more 'Jack Bone and then the remaining colours were given a highlight or two.

The stems are 32mm plastic rod glued in place as after playing with magnetised bases for a couple of years I felt that I wanted something a bit sturdier. I haven't settled on a proper basing scheme yet, but I suspect I'll be aiming for some nebulae sponged on and then splattered with white stars

The cruisers Archer (Armageddon), Challenger (Dictator) and Pandora (Gothic)

In a rather accidental homage to my start with Battlefleet Valkyrie, my initial wave of ships comes to a fleet of exactly 1,005 points. I am planning on using the Segmentum Solar, Armageddon Sector Fleet List from the Armada rulebook.

• Fleet Admiral (LD 8)
• Armageddon class battlecruiser
• Dictator class cruiser
• Gothic class cruiser
• Endeavour class light cruiser
• six Falchion class frigates

The first pick for the fleet had to be the eponymous Armageddon class battlecruiser. It's like a super-Lunar and brings a good amount of long-range lances. From there I added a Gothic (even more lances!) and then a Dictator to provide some much-needed air support.

The next part of my fleet was an obvious choice too. Six Falchions will provide good cover for the rest of the fleet. These are quite sweet little ships and I think their torpedoes could do decent work if I can pair them up with a bombing run.

Falchions - Adventure, Arundel, Assurance from Alpha squadron and Success, Surprise and Siren from Sigma Squadron

Like all the other ships, the Falchions were drilled out so I could put them on sturdier stems and I took the opportunity to remount them more centrally over their bases.

I'm really excited about this fleet and have a lot more in the works including an Apocalypse battleship, and a lot more cruisers, (3rd party) light cruisers and escorts. I'd also love to add some strike cruisers to the fleet, but am having trouble settling on a chapter that will complement my colour scheme. Suggestions on a postcard please.

In the short-term, I'm prepping 2,000 points to start a campaign with my local club. My long term plan is to get to about 10,000 points of Imperials and then have a weekend-long all-comers game. The good news is, I'm about half way there now. :)