Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • What You Will Need
  • First Principles
  • Ship Types
  • Leadership
  • Special Orders
    • Taking Command Checks
    • Special Orders Summary
• The Turn
  • Turn Sequence
• The Movement Phase
  • Basic Moves
• The Shooting Phase
  • Direct Fire
  • Direct Firing: Weapons Batteries
  • Direct Firing: Lances
  • Target Orientation
  • The Gunnery Table
  • Nova Cannon
• Damage
  • Critical Hits
    • Critical Hits Table
  • Blast Markers
  • Shields
  • Catastrophic Damage
    • Catastrophic Damage Table
• The Ordnance Phase
  • Launching Ordnance
  • Moving Ordnance
  • Types of Ordnance
• The End Phase
• Advanced Rules
  • Disengaging From Combat
  • All Ahead Full – Ramming Speed!
  • Hit-and-Run Attacks
  • Boarding Actions
  • Planetary Defences
• Squadrons
  • Squadron Command Checks
  • Manoeuvring Squadrons
  • Shooting at Squadrons
  • Shooting by Squadrons
  • Launching Ordnance in Squadrons
• The Battlefield
  • Celestial Phenomena
  • Gas and Dust Clouds
  • Asteroid Fields
  • Warp Rifts
  • Planets
  • Moons
  • Ringed Planets
  • Tabletop Effects
  • Fighting in Low Orbit
• Ships of the Gothic Sector
  • Points Values
  • Forming Up the Fleet
  • Imperial Fleet
  • Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector Fleet List
  • Chaos Fleet
  • Gothic Sector Chaos Incursion Fleet List
  • Eldar Corsairs
    • Eldar Critical Hits Table
  • Gothic Sector Eldar Corsairs Fleet List
  • Ork Pirates
  • Ork Pirates of the Cyclops Cluster Fleet List
  • Planetary Defences
  • High Orbit Defences
  • Low Orbit Defences
  • Gothic Sector Planetary Defences List
• Campaign Rules
  • Getting Started
  • The Campaign Turn
  • Build-Up
  • Aftermath
  • Conclusion

Introduction

This book is divided into six sections containing rules, advanced rules, a guide to painting your models, battles to fight, background information and details of how to fight a campaign set during the Gothic War.

The Core Rules give you rules for staging your own battles using miniatures and dice. Types of ships, leadership, special orders, movement, shooting, weaponry and damage are all covered.

The Advanced Rules introduce extra rules for ramming, boarding actions, ships fighting in squadrons, planetary defences and advice on setting up a tabletop battlefield using celestial phenomena (asteroids, planets, etc).

The Painting and Modelling Guide gives a step by step guide to painting your models, fleet colour schemes, advice on modelling and converting ships, planetary defences and celestial phenomena plus useful pointers on collecting war fleets.

The Scenarios Section contains ten mission scenarios for you to fight and sub-plots to add extra spice to your games.

The Campaign Rules tell you how to run an ongoing series of battles through the Gothic War, with rules for crews gaining experience, commanders winning (and losing) renown, repairs, refits, upgrades and capturing star systems.

If you try to learn everything at once, you may end up getting a bit confused. Very few games, especially if you're just starting out as a Battlefleet Gothic player, will involve all of the rules detailed over the entire book. Our advice is to have a quick look through the rules once. You don't have to read every word, just get an idea of what's going on and where different rules can be found. After that, the best idea is to get stuck in and play a few games! As you come across situations that you're not sure how to deal with, look up the relevant section and read the rules as you are playing.

In particular, the sections on Ship Types, Leadership Tests, The Turn, The Movement Phase, The Shooting Phase, The Ordnance Phase and The End Phase contain all the core rules you need to play, and it is there you will find most of the information you'll need. If you start in this way you will find that you pick up the basic rules in a few games and will be able to play for much of the time using just the information on the playsheets.

What You Will Need

As well as the Battlefleet Gothic rulebook, there are a number of other things you'll require to be able to play. For a start, you will need two or more players, with models to represent their ships. You will also need a battlefield to fight over. Any firm, level surface will do, such as a tabletop or an area of floor – most kitchen tables will do fine! It's a good idea to use an old sheet or blanket to protect the table from scratches and chips. Some players make a special gaming board from chipboard or other similar material, which they can place on top of a table to extend their playing area. Onto this surface, you can then place the celestial objects around which the battle is fought, such as planets, moons, asteroid fields and dust clouds.

As well as players, ships and a battlefield there are a few other things you will need: at least one measuring device marked in centimetres (such as a retractable tape measure or ruler) – all distances in this book are given in centimetres – some ordinary six-sided dice, and a pen and some paper for noting down damage to ships and other details.

First Principles

Scale. First of all – space is big! Very, very big. In order to include interesting and exciting features such as planets and moons on the battlefield and have ship models which are not the size of molecules, Battlefleet Gothic takes some liberties with scale. In short, the ship models are designed to look good and be nice to paint, but they are not intended to be in scale with planets. To prevent this becoming a problem in the game it is assumed that the ships actually occupy the point in space shown by the stem of their base.

Taking Measurements. All measurements are taken from the stem of the ship's base. In keeping with this principle, movement distances are measured from the stem on the ship's base and distances for firing are measured from the stem of the ship's base to the stem of the target model. The actual base of a ship model represents very close range around the ship, no more than a few thousand kilometres. At this distance all kinds of dangers can affect the ship itself, such as torpedoes, deep space bomber squadrons, other ships exploding or asteroids striking. Hence, for the purposes of the game, if something affects an area of the battlefield, like the markers used to represent torpedo salvoes or the boundaries of an asteroid field, a ship is affected if its base is touched, or if a ship moves so that its base comes into contact with the hazard.

3D or Not 3D? As well as being very big, space is also infinitely wide, high, deep etc. Despite this, Battlefleet Gothic is played on a flat tabletop. To allow for the vagaries of three dimensions and the vast distances involved, ships can move and fire past each other without any risks. It's easy to imagine that individual ships are just a few hundred kilometres higher or lower than each other and so have plenty of clear space to manoeuvre in. The reason for the lack of 3D movement is twofold. Firstly, making the game work in three dimensions would add little to the tactics of it, because unlike aircraft combat, where the force of gravity means whoever is highest has an advantage, combat in the zero gravity of space would turn fighting in three dimensions into little more than a range modifier. Secondly, for the practical mechanics of the game, working in 3D would complicate the rules immensely.

Dice Rolls. There are lots of occasions in a battle when you have to roll dice to see how a ship's actions turn out – how effective shooting is, what damage is done to an enemy ship, how well captains and their crews react to the stress of battle and so on. All dice rolls in Battlefleet Gothic use a standard six-sided dice (usually shortened to D6). Sometimes you will need to modify the result of the dice roll. This is noted as D6 plus or minus a number, such as D6+1 or D6-2. Roll the dice and add or subtract the number indicated to get the final result. For example, D6+2 means roll a dice and add 2 to the score, giving a total between 3 and 8.

You may also be told to roll a number of dice together, which is written as 2D6, 3D6 and so on. Roll the indicated number of dice and add the scores together, so that with a 2D6 roll, two dice are rolled and added together for a score between 2–12, 3D6 adds together the scores of three dice for a total between 3 and 18 and so on. For example, a 2D6 roll of a 5 and a 3 are added together to score 8.

Another method used is to multiply a dice by a certain amount. Thus, D6x5 means the result of a D6 roll multiplied by 5, giving a total between 5 and 30. Sometimes a combination of these methods may be used, such as 2D6+5 giving a score between 7 and 17, or 3D6-3 which will total 0–15.

In a few rare circumstances you may be told to roll a D3. Since there's no such thing as a three-sided dice, use the following method for determining a score between 1 and 3: roll a D6 and halve the score, rounding up. Thus a 1 or 2 equals 1, a 3 or 4 equals 2 and a 5 or 6 equals 3.

Re-rolls. In some situations the rules allow you a re-roll of the dice. This is exactly as it sounds – pick up the dice you wish to re-roll and roll it/them again. The second score counts with a re-roll, even if it means a worse result than the first, and no single dice can be re-rolled more than once, regardless of the source of the re-roll.

The Bearing Compass. A vital instrument in Battlefleet Gothic is the bearing compass, a circular card template with a hole punched through the middle. It is used for two purposes. Firstly, to check the fire arcs of your own ships to see which weapons they can bring to bear against the enemy. Doing so is simple: place the template over your ship so that the hole in the centre is above the centre of the flying stand and the two arrows are pointing along the length of the ship. This places the 90° quadrants so that one is in front, one is behind and one is to each side of the ship. Fire arcs and ship's gunnery are explained in more detail in the Shooting Phase section.

Secondly, it is used to find out what aspect a target is presenting to a ship firing at it. In this case the bearing compass is placed over the target in the same way as described above. The aspect of the target is shown by which quadrant faces the firer.

Ship Types

Battlefleet Gothic allows you to fight space battles amidst the cold, bright stars of the Gothic Sector during the period of raging war and unbridled destruction heralded by the ninth Black Crusade of Abaddon early in the 41st millennium. At this time Imperial, Chaos, Ork and Eldar ships of all sizes clashed in deadly conflict. Massive beweaponed battlecruisers joust with lances of fusion fire, lumbering battleships duel with coruscating salvoes of destruction while their agile escort ships dart through the fray to slash at the battling leviathans.

The Citadel miniatures used to play Battlefleet Gothic are referred to as ships (or sometimes vessels) in the rules that follow. Each ship is an individual playing piece with its own capabilities. Different ships can have very different capabilities, so they are separated into the following types: battleships, cruisers and escorts.

Battleships are the largest fighting ships in space. They can absorb a tremendous amount of damage and mount weapons batteries capable of laying waste to entire continents. These vessels are so huge that they are comparatively slow and ponderous to manoeuvre, so they need support from other vessels to bring the enemy to battle.

Cruisers are the workhorses of any fleet. They are manoeuvrable, well-armed ships, capable of operating away from a base for extended periods. This means that cruisers are used for extended patrols, blockades and raiding deep into enemy held space. In a major battle, cruisers screen the battleships and engage the enemy's own cruiser squadrons.

Escort Ships are the commonest warships in any fleet. They are fast, lightly armed and capable of running rings around heavier ships, which they accompany to protect them against torpedo attacks and to fight off enemy escorts. They are also used for independent actions such as scouting, raiding, protecting transport ships, and chasing pirates.

Note that for reasons of brevity, battleships and cruisers are often grouped together under the general heading of capital ships, a term which applies to all ships of both types.

Ship Data Sheets. In the Ships of the Gothic Sector section you will find a complete set of characteristics for each vessel available in Battlefleet Gothic. These characteristics will tell you how fast, manoeuvrable, well-armoured and hideously armed they are. The table below represents the characteristics for an Imperial Lunar class cruiser and a Murder class Chaos cruiser.

NAME: AGRIPPA — CLASS: LUNAR — LEADERSHIP: 7

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port lance battery	30cm	2	Left
Starboard lance battery	30cm	2	Right
Port weapons battery	30cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	6	Right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

NAME: UNCLEAN — CLASS: MURDER — LEADERSHIP: 7

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	45cm	10	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	10	Right
Prow lance battery	60cm	2	Front

Name. All ships deserve a name! Well, except escorts maybe. There is a list of some of the most famous ships that fought in the Gothic War in the Ships of the Gothic Sector section, so feel free to use those or make up your own.

Class. Ships are not all the same, so they are listed as belonging to a particular class. Different classes may be approximately the same in terms of size and weight but vary a lot in details. What is basically the same hull may carry different weapons, bigger engines, more or less armour, etc. Ships may even be converted from one class to another in the course of a major refit.

Leadership. A ship's Leadership value indicates how experienced and well trained its crew are and/or how clever and decisive its captain is in combat. In a one-off game of Battlefleet Gothic the Leadership value of ships is randomly generated. If the ship fights in an ongoing campaign its Leadership can improve or worsen depending on how well the ship performs.

Type/Hits. A ship's Type tells you if it is a battleship, cruiser or escort. Its number of Hits indicates how big and strongly built its hull is and how large a crew it has. In Battlefleet Gothic, a ship's Hits represents how many times it can be hit and damaged before it is reduced to a floating wreck (note that Hits are also referred to as damage points: don't be confused – both mean the same thing).

Speed. The Speed characteristic tells you how far a ship moves in one turn. Vessels can potentially move faster than this but the additional power output needed will divert energy from weapon systems.

Turns. Ships can usually turn just once during their move. This characteristic shows how sharply it can turn.

Shields. Nearly all ships are protected by powerful force field generators that can absorb or shunt aside incoming hits. Shields are rated according to how many hits they can absorb in a turn before they temporarily collapse.

Armour. The ship's Armour rating shows how well protected it is and/or how difficult it is to damage. When the ship is fired upon, the attacker needs to roll equal to or over its Armour rating on a D6 in order to score a hit.

Turrets. In addition to their main armament, most ships carry numerous small, quick-firing turrets. These are mounted over the length of their hull to shoot down incoming torpedoes and fighters.

Armament. This section lists the ship's main armament and its location.

Range/Speed. The maximum range of weapons is shown in centimetres. In the case of ordnance weapons which move towards their target, such as torpedoes or fighters, the speed of the weapon is shown rather than its maximum range.

Firepower/Strength. This number represents how effective a weapons system is when it shoots – the higher the number the better. Special weapons systems like torpedoes and lances have a Strength rating instead of a Firepower value.

Fire Arc. Weapon systems may only fire in particular directions depending on where they are mounted on the ship. Few vessels mount any rear facing weapons – their engines are too massive and the thermal 'backwash' they create makes targeting almost impossible.

Leadership

Even the smallest stellar craft is a marvel of engineering, packed with machinery and technology of the highest sophistication. The truly massive stellar warships are almost impossible to comprehend in their complexity, with thousands of crew members performing millions of tasks to keep the whole vessel in working order. It is said that no single man could fully understand all of the machinery and systems that work together to make such a vessel function. Nonetheless, it is ultimately the captain and crew who will determine how well a ship performs in combat. A ship under the command of an inspiring captain with a dedicated, well-trained crew can consistently outrun or outgun enemy vessels.

In Battlefleet Gothic, the expertise of a captain and his crew is shown by the ship's Leadership value: the higher it is, the better the captain and crew. Leadership is very important, because ships must test against it if they wish to use special orders.

Starting Leadership Values. In one-off games you roll a D6 to determine each ship's Leadership value before the start of the game. Look up the result of the dice roll on the table below to see what Leadership value the ship has. Escorts roll once per squadron, with the whole squadron sharing the leadership value rolled. Each capital ship rolls individually for leadership, even if it is in a squadron.

D6 ROLL	LEADERSHIP
1	Untried (Ld 6)
2-3	Experienced (Ld 7)
4-5	Veteran (Ld 8)
6	Crack (Ld 9)

Special Orders

There are six different special orders and each one allows a vessel to perform better at something, such as gunnery or navigation, during its turn. A ship or squadron can only ever be on one special order at a time. The six special orders are:

All Ahead Full. A ship going All Ahead Full directs more power to its engines to produce an extra burst of speed, gaining an extra 4D6cm of movement. Its weapons are reduced to half effectiveness and the ship may not turn while moving under this order.

Come to New Heading. The ship sacrifices opportunities to fire its weapons in order to turn more sharply, allowing the vessel to turn twice during its movement phase, instead of only once, but at a cost of halving its weapons' Firepower or Strength.

Burn Retros. The ship directs additional energy to its retro thrusters in order to kill some of its forward momentum and hold position. Again, this reduces the Firepower and Strength of the ship's weaponry but the vessel can turn more sharply, thereby using the retros to turn on the spot.

Lock On. The ship maintains a steady course and draws additional energy from its engines to fire its armament in multiple salvoes. While a Lock On order prevents the ship from turning, its shooting is far more effective, because it may re-roll any To Hit dice that miss during the shooting phase, making this probably the most useful special order to issue once the enemy are in range.

Reload Ordnance. Ships start the game with their ordnance, such as torpedoes and attack craft, fully loaded and armed. However, once the ordnance has been fired or launched the vessel must reload before it can use its ordnance again. Reloading is done by using Reload Ordnance orders. Reloading ordnance does not inhibit a ship's manoeuvring or firing but is a vital order for ships which have to rely on their ordnance to attack.

Brace For Impact! This order is unusual in that it can only be used during the ordnance phase or during an opponent's turn (usually when a particularly deadly salvo is about to strike the ship). The captain of the vessel orders his crew to brace for impact; power is redirected to the shields, blast doors are slammed shut and the crew hang onto something secure. The ship gains a saving throw of 4, 5 or 6 on a D6 against any hits inflicted on it by the enemy, but its firing is reduced to half effect and it may not use any other special orders in its next turn (the crew need time to re-open its blast doors, redirect power, etc).

Each of these special orders is covered in more detail in the appropriate sections of the rules and a summary of them is included on the playsheet for your convenience.

Taking Command Checks

In the midst of battle an admiral may order his ships to perform special orders or a captain may decide it is appropriate to direct more of his ship's power to weapons or engines. However, in order to do this the ship undertaking special orders must first pass a Command check.

To make a Command check, roll 2D6 and compare it to the ship's Leadership value. If the roll is equal to or under the ship's Leadership value it has passed the check and goes onto special orders. Then move the ship or squadron as appropriate before moving on to place your next special order. Place a special order dice next to the model with the appropriate symbol face uppermost as a reminder.

With all of the orders except Brace For Impact you must make the check in the movement phase before moving the ship.

If the roll is higher than the ship's Leadership value, it fails the test and may not go onto special orders. Furthermore, once you have failed a Command check for one ship in your fleet you may not make any further Command checks to use special orders in the same turn. It can be imagined that the delays and confusion in trying to get that particular ship to perform special orders means that the opportunity has passed for any further special orders to be issued.

Command Check Modifiers. Some circumstances will make it easier or harder for a vessel to use special orders. To represent this, there are two modifiers that can apply to Command checks, one positive and one negative.

Under Fire -1. If a ship has Blast markers in contact with its base, it is under fire and suffers a -1 modifier to its Leadership. Blast markers are described more fully in the Shooting section of the rules. For now it's simply worth knowing that they represent weapon impacts, debris clouds, radioactivity and other impediments to calm and orderly ship operation.

Enemy Contacts +1. Enemy ships on special orders create anomalous energy emissions which make it much easier for the ship to detect them and react quickly. For this reason the ship gains a +1 modifier to its Leadership value if any enemy ships are on special orders.

For example, the Imperial cruiser Agrippa (Leadership 7) wants to use All Ahead Full orders to catch up with the Chaos cruiser Unclean. The Chaos cruiser used Lock On orders last turn so the Agrippa gets a +1 modifier to its Leadership value. Rolling 2D6 the Imperial player gets a 2 and 6 for a total of 8 and passes its Command check by equalling its modified Leadership value.

Special Orders Summary

Reload Ordnance. The ship may reload any ordnance it is armed with in the shooting phase. Speed: Half to full cruising speed. Turns: Up to one. Armament: Full effect. Ordnance: Full effect.

All Ahead Full. The ship may move at an increased speed. Speed: Cruising speed + 4D6cm (make one roll for the whole formation). Turns: None. Armament: Half effect. Ordnance: Full effect.

Burn Retros. The ship may move at up to half its cruising speed or remain stationary. Speed: Zero to half cruising speed. Turns: Up to one. Armament: Half effect. Ordnance: Full effect.

Lock On. To Hit rolls for lances and weapons batteries may be re-rolled. Speed: Half to full cruising speed. Turns: None. Armament: Full effect. Ordnance: Full effect.

Come to New Heading. The ship can make an extra turn. Speed: Half to full cruising speed. Turns: Up to two. Armament: Half effect. Ordnance: Full effect.

Brace For Impact! You may brace for impact at any time during either player's turn, replacing any special orders the ship already has. The ship gains a 4+ save against each damage point inflicted on it (hits on shields can not be saved). The ship may not be placed on any other special orders while this order is still in play. Leave the Brace For Impact Orders in place during the ship's next turn and remove the orders in the end phase. Speed: Half to full cruising speed. Turns: Up to one. Armament: Half effect. Ordnance: Half effect.

The Turn

A game of Battlefleet Gothic is unlike many other games such as chess or draughts where you only move one piece at a time. A tremendous amount of action takes place in a real battle: ships manoeuvre and fire at each other, fighters and bombers are launched in vast waves and torpedoes scream towards their targets.

In a real battle, this all happens at once amidst the chaos of combat. A Battlefleet Gothic game represents the ebb and flow of battle, but in order for us to decide its outcome players alternate taking turns moving and fighting with their ships. So in a battle, player A will move and fight with his ships first, then player B will move and fight and then player A will move and fight again, etc.

In his turn a player can move and fight with all of his ships. For convenience, moving and shooting are dealt with one after the other. This means that you move all your ships first and then all your ships, that are able to, fire. This helps everyone keep track of what's going on and makes it easier to know when each player's actions are finished. In a turn the player performs his actions in the appropriate phases – the move, shoot and ordnance phases to be precise. Exactly what happens in each phase is described in The Turn Sequence later.

Who Gets the First Turn. Which player gets the first turn of the game can be determined in a number of different ways. Normally both players roll a D6 and the player with the highest score can decide to move either first or second. Sometimes the kind of game you are fighting will decide it for you. For example, in an ambush the attacking side will always get the first turn. Fighting all sorts of different battles is covered in more detail in the Scenarios section.

Ending the Battle. A battle can end in a number of different ways. Most commonly in Battlefleet Gothic fighting continues until either one side surrenders, or has no ships remaining on the tabletop. However, in certain kinds of battles, players might be able to win a 'sudden death' victory which ends the game immediately – eg, if they destroy the enemy flagship. Alternatively you might decide to end a battle at a preset time if you only have a limited amount of time to play in. Different ways of ending the battle are discussed in more detail in the Scenarios section.

Exceptions. There are times when a player will perform certain actions when it is not their turn, such as Bracing for Impact for example. It may also be convenient to interrupt a player's turn because of some event occurring, such as an enemy ship being detected. The thing to remember is that the turn sequence will always continue after the interruption as normal.

Turn Sequence

1. The Movement Phase. This is when a player moves his ships. The player begins by removing any special order dice he placed last turn (except for ships on Brace for Impact orders. They are stuck with them for this turn). Next, the player moves his ships and squadrons one at a time. In this phase he may also take Command checks to institute special orders before moving a ship or squadron. If any Command check is failed no further checks may be made in the same turn. Note that ships must always move at least half their speed unless they wish to use the Burn Retros special orders in order to hold position. See the Movement rules for more details about how to move your ships.

2. The Shooting Phase. Players may fire at each other's vessels during this part of the turn. The player can shoot with any of his ships that are within range of enemy vessels. See the Shooting rules for more details about how to resolve shooting.

3. The Ordnance Phase. Both players may move any Ordnance markers (such as torpedoes or fighter squadrons) which were launched in the shooting phase or are still on the tabletop, having been launched in a previous turn. See the Ordnance rules for more details.

4. The End Phase. Both players may attempt to repair critical damage which has been inflicted on their ships: D6 Blast markers are also removed by the player whose turn it is. See the End Phase rules for more about repairs and removing Blast markers.

The Movement Phase

During the movement phase, vessels manoeuvre into position to begin battle. Moving your battlefleet into the right position to rain destruction upon your opponent is vital – some ships need to keep their distance while others need to come to grips at close quarters. The movement phase is filled with opportunities. By moving your ships you can surround a target and destroy it, smash through the heart of an opposing fleet, lurk behind planets and moons, flee from powerful enemies, even set traps to lure unwary foes to their destruction. A wise admiral can achieve all this and more in the movement phase.

Basic Moves

A player may move each ship up to its standard move distance each turn. Once one ship has completed its movement, the player selects another and moves that one and so on until he has moved all the ships he wishes to move. This can be summarised as:

1. Choose a ship to move.
2. Move the ship up to its maximum move distance.
3. Choose another ship to move.

Note that a player has to move his ships unless they use the Burn Retros special order to remain stationary.

Move Distance. Ships are pushed through the firmament by the most powerful engines anywhere in the galaxy. The aft section of a warship is a mass of enormous drive tubes and vast engine compartments, filled with thundering machinery, that run for up to a third of the length of the ship. In space combat, the thrust available to a vessel can mean the difference between survival and destruction.

All ships can move at up to their normal speed. Speed varies from one ship to another, but by way of example, an Imperial Lunar class cruiser has a speed of 20cm. A ship's normal move may be increased by using the All Ahead Full special order. A vessel's move can also be decreased in some circumstances during a battle. Damage to the ship may inhibit the efficiency of its engines and reduce its top speed, and a ship which moves through Blast markers will be slowed slightly by the shockwaves and explosions.

Minimum Move Distance. Ships moving under engines retain enormous amounts of momentum. If a vessel slows down without the correct preparations, it is so big that there is a very real chance that its structure will be damaged because the whole of its vast length isn't moving at the same speed. Because of this, ships must always move at least half of their speed unless they use the Burn Retros special order. Ships who are unable to move half their speed (due to damage, blast markers etc.) must move the maximum possible distance instead.

Special Orders: All Ahead Full. A ship can move faster than its basic cruising speed by using the All Ahead Full special order. If the ship passes its Command check it adds 4D6cm onto its move distance and must move its full movement distance. In the case of squadrons, just make one roll and add the amount rolled onto the movement distance of all the ships in the squadron. Using All Ahead Full orders means that a ship cannot turn and its firing ability is less effective, as explained in the Shooting rules. All Ahead Full orders are most useful for closing in on a distant foe or escaping from a deadly situation.

Special Orders: Burn Retros. A ship can move slower than half its basic cruising speed by using the Burn Retros special order. If the ship passes its Command check it can move at up to half its cruising speed, or even remain stationary (hold station). A ship can turn when using this order but its firing is less effective. Burn Retros orders are handy for holding back, when moving at full speed would bring you within range of an enemy's guns, or would cause a ship to crash into asteroids.

Turning. The bigger a ship, the slower it will turn. While light escort ships such as frigates are reasonably agile, the larger cruisers are ponderous beasts. The time lag between a cruiser applying thrust and turning is considerable. The truly enormous battleships take even longer to manoeuvre.

When ships move they have to travel in a straight line, directly ahead. However, ships may make one turn as part of their movement unless they are using special orders which prevent them from doing so. A ship can turn by a maximum of either 45° or 90°, how sharp a turn it can make is included in the ship's characteristics. By way of example, the Imperial Lunar class cruiser is able to make turns of up to 45°.

Large ships have to move a certain distance before they are allowed to make a turn. The distance they must travel depends on their type:

• A battleship must move 15cm before it can execute a turn.
• A cruiser must move 10cm before it can execute a turn.
• An escort ship can execute a turn at any point in its move.

Special Orders: Come To New Heading. A ship can turn more sharply by using the Come To New Heading special order. If the ship passes its Command check, it may make an extra turn during its movement. Using Come to New Heading means that a ship is less effective in the shooting phase as explained in the Shooting rules. Come to New Heading orders are best used either for turning to get a more favourable attack angle on an enemy as it attempts to escape, or to outmanoeuvre a larger enemy ship. All the normal restrictions for turning (cruisers moving 10cm first, etc.) apply to the second turn.

Special Orders: All Ahead Full. As mentioned earlier, a ship using All Ahead Full orders may not turn at all.

Special Orders: Burn Retros. A ship that is using the Burn Retros special order can make a single turn without having to move forward first.

The Shooting Phase

In the shooting phase, your ships get to unleash their weaponry against the enemy. The attacks that ships make are divided into two sorts: direct firing and ordnance attacks. Direct fire attacks include weapons such as lasers, fusion beams and plasma launchers which when fired hit almost immediately, even across tens of thousands of kilometres. Ordnance attacks include torpedoes and fighters, which are launched during the shooting phase but are not resolved until they hit their target in a subsequent ordnance phase.

Direct Fire

Direct firing uses a ship's weapons batteries, lances and nova cannon. A player can make direct fire attacks with each of his ships during his turn. In order to make direct fire attacks, the firing ship must have at least some weapons within range and fire arc of the enemy. Once one ship has done all its firing, the player selects another and fires that one and so on until the player has fired all of the ships he wants to. This can be summarised as:

1. Choose a ship to fire.
2. Check the ship has targets within range.
3. Check the ship has weapons within fire arc of the target.
4. Resolve firing.
5. Choose another ship to fire.

Range. Measure the range from the firing ship to the target vessel. Then look up the range of the firing ship's weapons on its characteristics: any target within this range may be fired on (subject to being within fire arc, as explained below).

Fire Arcs. Weapons have a limited field of fire depending on where they are mounted on the vessel. The different fire arcs are: front, left, right and rear. A weapons system must have a target ship within its fire arc in order to fire.

Target Priority. Enemies at close range pose a much greater threat than those thousands of kilometres away, so a ship will normally target the nearest enemy ship or squadron. However, a ship can always fire at whatever targets you like if it takes and passes a Leadership test on 2D6 first.

Multiple Targets. Normally a ship will be in a position where only some of its weapon systems can be brought to bear against the closest enemy. Unengaged weapons may still be fired at other targets, providing that the closest enemy is shot at as a matter of priority.

Direct Firing: Weapons Batteries

Weapons batteries form the main armament for most warships, ensuring that much of their hull is pock-marked by gun ports and weapon housings. Each battery consists of rank upon rank of weapons: plasma projectors, laser cannons, missile launchers, rail guns, fusion beamers and graviton pulsars. Weapons batteries fire by salvoes, using a co-ordinated pattern of shots to catch the target in the middle of a maelstrom of destruction.

Weapons Battery Rules. If a ship's weapons battery is within range and fire arc of the target, look up the battery's firepower on the ship's data sheet. Then look up the target's type and orientation on the Gunnery table that follows. If a ship is firing multiple weapons batteries at the same target, total up the firepower of all the weapons batteries the firing ship is shooting at the target before consulting the Gunnery table. First find your total firepower on the column on the left of the table. Next look across the top of the table to find the target type you are shooting at. Which way the target is travelling is important for gunnery purposes as it is much harder to hit a target moving across your sights (ie, abeam) than one closing or moving away from you. By cross referencing the total firepower of the attack with the target type and orientation you will find out how many dice to roll to hit. Each dice roll which equals or beats the target's Armour value scores a hit and inflicts 1 point of damage.

Direct Firing: Lances

Lances are incredibly high-powered energy weapons that are capable of burning straight through an armoured hull or cutting an escort ship in two. On Imperial and Chaos ships, lances are usually mounted in huge turrets with quad or triple energy projectors that focus into a concentrated beam of destruction.

Lance Rules. If a lance weapon system is within range and fire arc of the target simply roll 1D6 per point of lance Strength. Any dice which score a 4, 5 or 6 hit the target regardless of the target's Armour value and cause 1 damage point. For example, the Agrippa has lances that have a Strength of 2. If the vessel were to fire them, it would roll 2D6 and score one hit for each dice which rolled a 4 or more.

Target Orientation

A target's orientation depends upon which fire arc the firing vessel is in – Closing, Abeam, or Moving Away. Match this with the target's type (capital ship or escort) to find out which column of the Gunnery table to use.

The Gunnery Table

The Gunnery table is arranged as a staircase: the same five columns serve three different target orientations. Read the Defences column whenever the target is a planetary defence (unaffected by orientation), and the rightmost value of whichever pair applies also doubles as the Ordnance column for shooting at torpedoes and attack craft.

Firepower	Defences	Closing (Capital Ships)	Closing (Escorts) / Moving Away (Capital Ships)	Moving Away (Escorts) / Abeam (Capital Ships)	Abeam (Escorts) / Ordnance
1	1	1	1	0	0
2	2	1	1	1	0
3	3	2	2	1	1
4	4	3	2	1	1
5	5	4	3	2	1
6	5	4	3	2	1
7	6	5	4	2	1
8	7	6	4	3	2
9	8	6	5	3	2
10	9	7	5	4	2
11	10	8	6	4	2
12	11	8	6	4	2
13	12	9	7	5	3
14	13	10	7	5	3
15	14	11	8	5	3
16	14	11	8	6	3
17	15	12	9	6	3
18	16	13	9	6	4
19	17	13	10	7	4
20	18	14	10	7	4

Notes: To save space, both cruisers and battleships are referred to as capital ships on the Gunnery table. Defences (for example ground based defences and satellites) and ordnance targets are not affected by orientation.

Using the Gunnery Table. The Unclean opens fire with its starboard (right) weapons batteries. The weapons have a firepower of 10 and the Agrippa is a closing capital ship which on the Gunnery table means that the Unclean rolls 7D6. The Agrippa's front armour rating is 6 so the Unclean needs to roll 6s to hit.

Gunnery Modifiers. Sometimes conditions will affect how difficult a target is to hit. Ships at very long range will be hard to hit and at close range they will be easy to hit. Debris, radiation, etc, can obscure a target and are represented by Blast markers; these can make a target harder to hit. Modifiers are applied in the form of column shifts. A good modifier (such as being at close range) means that you move across the Gunnery table one column to the left when you work out how many Hit dice to roll. A bad modifier (such as being at long range) means you move across one column to the right. The gunnery modifiers are summarised as follows:

• Target within 15cm – shift one column left.
• Target more than 30cm away – shift one column right.
• Target behind intervening Blast markers – shift one column right.

For example, as shown earlier, the Unclean firing at the Agrippa rolls 7D6. If the Agrippa were within 15cm you would shift one column left on the Gunnery table and the Unclean would roll 9D6 instead. If the Agrippa was over 30cm away the column shift to the right would mean the Unclean rolled 5D6 instead.

Splitting Fire. A ship can elect to split the firepower of its weapon batteries or lances between several enemy vessels, but only after halving the effect of the weaponry as a result of special orders, crippling damage and so on.

Special Orders: Lock On. A ship can increase the accuracy of its firing by using the Lock On special order. If it passes its Command check, the ship may re-roll any dice to hit for lances and weapons batteries during the shooting phase. Any dice which missed are simply picked up and rolled again. A ship using Lock On orders may not turn during its movement phase because it must maintain a steady course and direct additional power to its weapon systems. Lock On orders are really useful when an enemy vessel is within range and no course changes will be needed to bring weapons to bear.

Nova Cannon

A nova cannon is a huge weapon, normally mounted in the prow of a ship so that the recoil it generates can be compensated for by the vessel's engines. It fires a projectile at incredible velocity, using graviometric impellers to accelerate it to close to light speed. The projectile implodes at a preset distance after firing, unleashing a force more potent than a dozen plasma bombs.

Nova Cannon Rules. To fire a nova cannon you must nominate a target ship and guess the range to it. Note that the target priority rules do not apply for nova cannon. Then place the nova cannon template so that its outer edge is at the range guessed (the template can only be placed up to the cannon's maximum range). If the central hole of the template is over the base of any ship, friend or foe, that ship suffers D6 hits regardless of its Armour value. If the outer portion of the template touches a ship's base it suffers one automatic hit. If no ships were hit by the nova cannon place a single Blast marker under the centre of the template.

In the example from the book, the Steadfast, a Dominator class cruiser, fires its nova cannon at the Abominator, estimating the range to be 48cm. The hole in the nova cannon template partially covers the Abominator's base, inflicting D6 hits on it. The nearby Doombringer is also caught in the blast and suffers one automatic hit.

Minimum Range. Nova cannon, unlike most weapons, have a minimum range they can be fired. When estimating its range, you cannot guess less than 30cm, as this is the minimum distance the projectile must cover before it can detonate.

Important Note. If you have any ships armed with nova cannon you must fire all your nova cannon before conducting any other shooting. The reason being that unscrupulous individuals have been known to fire other weapons first to establish the range and then 'guess' the range once they have conducted all kinds of measurements and calculations. Therefore if you forget to fire nova cannon before shooting with any other weapons, you may not fire nova cannon at all that turn.

Special Orders: All Ahead Full / Burn Retros / Come to New Heading. A ship using All Ahead Full, Burn Retros or Come to New Heading special orders sacrifices firing opportunities in order to squeeze more performance out of its engines. In the shooting phase, ships on these orders halve their weapons batteries' Firepower and lance Strength, rounding up. Nova cannon may not be fired at all.

Damage

The weapons carried by some ships are powerful enough to reduce whole cities to plains of radioactive glass. Ships are armoured and shielded in order to resist their savage caress, hulls are heavily reinforced so that they can survive the horrific pounding of gigawatts of energy. But within every ship is a crew all too vulnerable to the fires of battle and the deadly cold of the void. Ships are often crippled by crew casualties long before hulls crack or drives explode.

Taking Hits. When a ship is damaged, note the number of hits it has taken on your fleet roster. Once a ship has lost half its damage points it is crippled. When a ship has lost all its hits, it is out of action and a roll needs to be made on the Catastrophic Damage table to see if it explodes in a spectacular fashion or simply drifts helplessly.

Crippled Ships. A ship which loses half its damage points is crippled. Crippled ships halve (rounding up) their weapon strength, Firepower, Turrets and Shields and reduce their move by 5cm. Ships, that have them, will not be able to fire their nova cannon if they become crippled. For example, a standard Lunar class cruiser has 8 hits and is therefore crippled when it has suffered 4 points of damage.

Special Orders: Brace For Impact! Brace For Impact is a special order that can be used whenever a horrific pounding is in the offing. Take a Leadership test for the ship. If it passes it is placed on Brace For Impact orders until the end of its next turn. A ship using Brace For Impact orders gains a saving throw against each hit it suffers (but not against hits on the shields). Roll a D6 for each hit: on a 4, 5 or 6 the hit is ignored. A ship which uses this special order may not use special orders at all in its next turn and its Firepower and armament Strength is halved, while nova cannon may not be fired at all. Brace For Impact only comes into effect against attacks whose Hit rolls are made after the special order has been declared. In other words, you cannot wait to see how accurate a salvo is before declaring Brace For Impact.

Critical Hits

The weapons used in space are so destructive that when a ship is hit there is a chance that a vital location will be critically damaged. Critical hits can temporarily knock out a ship's weapons and engines, start fires or even breach its hull.

Roll a D6 for each hit scored on a ship (but not against its shields). On a roll of 1-5 the hit causes no extra effects. On a roll of 6 the hit causes critical damage. Roll 2D6 on the table below to see what effect it has. Note that you do not roll for further critical hits for any damage caused by a critical hit. Whenever ships are damaged, there's a good chance that it will be serious. Therefore a check for critical damage is made for every point of damage scored on a ship, no matter what its source is.

Critical Hits on Escorts. Escort ships which suffer a critical hit for any reason, such as during a boarding action, are automatically destroyed.

Critical Hits Table

2D6 Roll	Extra Damage	Result
2	+0	Dorsal Armament Damaged. The ship's dorsal armament is badly damaged by the hit – power lines are severed, traverse mechanisms crippled and many gunners are killed. The ship's dorsal armament may not fire until it has been repaired.
3	+0	Starboard Armament Damaged. The starboard armament is taken off line by the hit. The ship's starboard armament may not fire until it has been repaired.
4	+0	Port Armament Damaged. Heavy damage silences the port side weaponry. The ship's port armament may not fire until it has been repaired.
5	+0	Prow Armament Damaged. The ship's prow is ripped open. Its prow armament may not fire until it has been repaired.
6	+1	Engine Room Damaged. The engine room is rocked by explosions, forcing all hands to tend to the reactors. The ship may not make any turns until the damage is repaired.
7	+0	Fire! Oxygen lines are broken, leading to fires in many compartments. Roll to repair (extinguish) the fire in the end phase; if it is not put out it causes one point of extra damage and keeps burning.
8	+1	Thrusters Damaged. The ship's thruster assembly is disabled. Reduce the ship's speed by 10cm until the damage is repaired.
9	+0	Bridge Smashed. The armoured fortress around the ship's captain and his officers is smashed. The ship's Leadership is reduced by 3. This damage may not be repaired.
10	+0	Shields Collapse. The shield generators overload and burn out, leaving the ship virtually defenceless. The ship's shield Strength is reduced to zero. This damage may not be repaired.
11	+D3	Hull Breach. A huge gash is torn in the ship's hull, causing carnage among the crew.
12	+D6	Bulkhead Collapse. Internal pillars buckle and twist, whole compartments crumple with a scream of tortured metal. Just pray that some of the ship holds together!

Notes: If a critical hit is rolled which cannot be applied, for example a ship with no prow weapons gets a Prow Armament Damaged critical hit, apply the next highest critical hit instead. In this case the ship would suffer engine room damage. If a ship suffers multiple criticals to the same location they must all be repaired before the location functions again.

Blast Markers

When ships are fired on, some of the results are shown by Blast markers. Blast markers represent all kinds of events – huge explosions, expanding shockwaves, intense radiation clouds, tumbling debris, unexploded warheads, plasma bursts, etc.

Placing Blast Markers. Blast markers are shown on the tabletop by placing counters where the event occurs. They remain in play until they are removed in a subsequent end phase. Most Blast markers are placed to show the hits taken on a vessel's shields, but exploding ships and especially apocalyptic weapons can also cause Blast markers to be placed. Blast markers are placed in the following circumstances:

• For each hit absorbed by a ship's shields.
• For ships which are reduced to 0 damage as specified on the Catastrophic Damage table.
• For each missed nova cannon attack.

Blast markers that are caused by shield impacts are placed touching a ship's base, facing towards the direction the attack came from. Don't stack the blast markers up, spread them around the base. Note that Blast markers do not move once they have been placed on the tabletop. They show an area of tumultuous, strife-torn space and temporarily become part of the battlefield once they are in play.

In the book's example, two Imperial cruisers are firing on a Chaos cruiser. Each Imperial ship scores one hit, so a Blast marker is placed in contact with the edge of the Chaos cruiser's base facing each of the Imperial ships.

Blast Marker Effects

Movement. If a ship moves through any Blast markers, it reduces its speed that phase by 5cm regardless of the number of markers actually moved through. A ship with a Shield strength of 0 (i.e. ships suffering the Shields Collapse critical) which moves through any Blast markers also suffers a point of damage on a D6 roll of 6. An Ordnance marker such as a torpedo salvo or bomber squadron is removed on a D6 roll of 6 if it moves over a Blast marker.

Shooting. Blast markers interfere with gunnery, disrupting firing and causing plenty of 'ghost' images on the firing ship's sensors. Hence if a ship's line of fire passes through any Blast markers (including those in contact with a ship's base) it suffers a column shift to the right on the Gunnery table. Lances and nova cannon are unaffected. Note that Blast markers come into effect immediately and so can affect subsequent shooting in the same turn in which they are placed.

Shields. If a ship's base is in contact with any Blast markers when it is fired upon, its shield Strength is reduced by -1 per Blast marker.

Shields

Ships are protected by powerful energy shields, so that they can survive travelling through space. The shields form a wavering band of energy around the vessel, a teardrop of invisible force that can absorb or deflect the worst excesses of stellar radiation and meteor showers or a series of weapons hits. The amount of damage shields are able to absorb is limited and they will be overwhelmed by a sustained attack, forcing a temporary shutdown while the shield generators vent off the excess energy.

Each shield will block one point of damage from hitting the ship in a single shooting phase. A Blast marker is placed touching the ship's base for each hit blocked by the shields, to show how much energy has been absorbed. Once the number of Blast markers in contact with a ship's base is equal to its number of shields, no further damage may be absorbed by the shields that turn. Any further hits will inflict damage on the ship itself. Once they have been overloaded the shields may not be raised again until the ship escapes the storm of energy blasts and shock waves represented by the Blast markers. The shields remain down until the ship moves away from the Blast markers in a subsequent movement phase.

Shields are only effective against lances, weapons batteries and nova cannon. Attacks made by ramming, bombers and torpedoes get inside a ship's shields, so they provide no protection.

In the book's example, the Iron Duke (which has two shields) is fired on by the Unclean and receives three hits. Two hits are absorbed by the Iron Duke's shields so two Blast markers are placed in contact with its base to show that it has already stopped two hits with its shields this turn. The third hit scores one point of damage on the ship itself. Any further hits against the Iron Duke this turn will score damage on the ship itself because its shields are down.

Catastrophic Damage

A ship with no hits left is effectively out of action. There may be some crew left alive, trapped in compartments which have not been breached yet, there may even be power available in some sections of the ship, but the ship can no longer fight. When escort ships are reduced to zero damage remove them from play and replace them with a Blast marker, to represent the expanding cloud of debris left by their passing. With a mighty capital ship, there is a chance that the vessel will be destroyed by catastrophic damage as its plasma drive overloads or its warpdrive triggers. Roll 2D6 on the Catastrophic Damage table to see what happens.

Notes: Blazing or drifting hulks will block lines of fire that pass over their base, due to the clouds of venting gasses and debris they produce. Likewise torpedoes which strike a hulk will detonate. If a hulk suffers any hits, roll on the Catastrophic Damage table again. Blazing or drifting hulks have no Shields or Turrets value. Hulks can still be targeted by shooting (usually in the hopes that they will explode and cause vast harm to your enemies!). Use the destroyed ship's Armour value to roll for hits.

Catastrophic Damage Table

2D6 Roll	Extra Blast Markers	Result
2-6	1	Drifting Hulk. The ship is reduced to a shattered hulk drifting in space. The wreck moves 4D6cm forward in each of its subsequent movement phases. Place a Blast marker in contact with the wreck's base after each move.
7-8	1	Blazing Hulk. The ship is reduced to a burning wreck with uncontrolled fires blazing on every deck. In time the fires will either burn out or trigger a cataclysmic explosion. The wreck moves 4D6cm forward in each of its subsequent movement phases. Place a Blast marker in contact with the wreck's base and roll on the Catastrophic Damage table again after its move.
9-11	Special	Plasma Drive Overload. The ship's plasma coils overload and explode in a blazing inferno of white hot plasma. Remove the ship from play, leaving behind a number of Blast markers equal to half its starting number of hits. Every ship within 3D6cm of the imploding wreck is struck by lance shots with a Strength equal to half the ship's starting Damage capacity. Roll to hit as normal.
12	Special	Warp Drive Implosion. The ship's warp drive implodes, ripping a hole in real space that tears at nearby vessels with horrific force. Remove the ship from play, leaving behind a number of Blast markers equal to its starting number of hits. Every ship within 3D6cm of the imploding wreck is struck by lance shots with a Strength equal to the wreck's starting Damage capacity. Roll to hit as normal.

The Ordnance Phase

The term ordnance is used to describe all kinds of weapons that are launched from ships and then travel independently to their target. This includes everything from missiles the size of skyscrapers to swarms of small attack craft such as fighters and bombers.

All ordnance attacks are represented by markers that are moved across the tabletop during each ordnance phase. If an Ordnance marker comes into contact with a ship or another Ordnance marker it will make an attack.

Launching Ordnance

Ships armed with torpedoes and/or launch bays can use ordnance. Ordnance is launched during the shooting phase (the marker is put on the ship's base to show it has fired its ordnance) but the ordnance moves and attacks during the ordnance phase. Once a ship has launched its ordnance it may not launch any more until it has reloaded.

Special Orders: Reload Ordnance. Ordnance needs to be loaded and armed in order to be launched. Ships are considered to start the game with torpedoes in tubes and attack craft fuelled and ready to go. However, once the ship has launched its ordnance it must use the Reload Ordnance special order before it can launch ordnance again. If the ship passes its Command check, its ordnance is successfully reloaded and it may launch ordnance in the shooting phase, or keep the ordnance ready for launch in a later turn. Use the fleet roster to keep track of which vessels have ordnance loaded.

Running Out of Ordnance. If a double is rolled for the Leadership test when a ship is trying to reload ordnance it is considered to have run out of torpedoes, suffered an accident/fire in its launch bays or some similar misfortune. The ship may not attempt to reload ordnance again during the game. The result of the test still stands, so if a ship passed its Command check but rolled a double in doing so its ordnance would be reloaded this time, but the ship couldn't roll to reload ordnance again during the game. Likewise if a ship failed its Command check and rolled a double, it would fail to reload and would not be able to try again during the game.

Moving Ordnance

In the ordnance phase players move and attack with any ordnance they have launched, including ordnance launched on previous turns. Sometimes both players will have to move ordnance so it's important to know who moves first. In this case the player whose turn it is moves all their ordnance first. All ordnance has a speed value that dictates how far it moves during each ordnance phase. Ordnance attacks are represented by markers which are moved on the tabletop.

Ordnance and Blast Markers. Ordnance weapons are not shielded like larger ships, so they may be destroyed if they pass through Blast markers. If an Ordnance marker passes through Blast markers during its movement, roll a D6. The Ordnance marker is removed from play on a roll of 6. Only one roll is made regardless of the number of Blast markers passed through.

Shooting at Ordnance. Ordnance may be fired at in the shooting phase with direct fire weapons. Weapon batteries firing at ordnance use the Ordnance column on the Gunnery table. This is because ordnance targets are relatively small and fast moving. Target aspects are not taken into account, but column shifts for range and Blast markers do apply. Lances and weapons batteries both need 6s to hit ordnance because they are such difficult targets. If an Ordnance marker is hit it is removed from play. Any Ordnance markers caught in a nova cannon detonation are also removed from play.

Ordnance Attacks. If an Ordnance marker comes into contact with a ship's base or another Ordnance marker it will immediately attack it with the effects detailed below. All Ordnance attacks ignore the target's shields.

Types of Ordnance

Torpedoes. The term 'torpedo' has always been used to describe any long-range missile carried by a spaceship. A typical anti-ship torpedo is over 200 feet long and powered by a plasma reactor, which also acts as a sizeable portion of its warhead, turning it into a devastating plasma bomb. The area of a ship given over to the torpedo tubes is a massive space criss-crossed by lifts, hoists and gantry cranes for moving the huge missiles from the armoured magazine silos where they are stored to the launch tubes.

Once a torpedo is launched, the plasma drive propels the torpedo forward at high speed, whilst beginning an energy build-up which will culminate in its detonation. Torpedoes have a limited ability to detect a target and will alter course to intercept if they pass within a few thousand kilometres of a vessel.

Torpedo Rules. Torpedoes may be launched by a ship with torpedo tubes. These are normally fitted to the prow of a ship. In Battlefleet Gothic, torpedo salvoes have a Strength value and a Speed value, which are shown on the ship's characteristics. The higher the Strength, the more torpedoes there are in a salvo and the larger the marker placed to represent the salvo. The higher the speed, the faster the torpedoes travel. Standard torpedoes move in a straight line once they have been launched, travelling a distance equal to their speed each ordnance phase until they have detonated or leave the playing area. Unlike ships, torpedoes may not vary their speed and must make their full move in each ordnance phase.

If the Torpedo marker contacts a ship's base (friend or foe) it attacks. Roll a D6 for every point of Strength in the torpedo salvo. Each dice which equals or beats the ship's Armour value scores one point of damage. Torpedoes will pass through shields before they impact, so ignore any shields when applying damage. The torpedo salvo continues moving after the attack but its Strength is reduced by 1 for every hit it inflicted. Replace the marker with a smaller one as necessary.

For example, a Strength 6 torpedo salvo moves in the ordnance phase and hits a ship. 6D6 are rolled to attack and three dice score hits on the target. The salvo is reduced to Strength 3 and continues moving up to its full move of 30cm. If any other ships were in its path they would also be attacked.

Premature Detonation. A salvo of torpedoes can be triggered prematurely by the following circumstances: on a D6 roll of 6 if it moves through any Blast markers; if the salvo is fired on by direct fire weapons and any hits are scored; or if it hits another Torpedo marker. If a Torpedo marker is prematurely detonated it is removed from play.

Boarding Torpedoes. Boarding torpedoes are designed to punch through the outer hull of an enemy vessel and plunge a squad of heavily armed troops inside to sabotage the target ship's systems. These torpedoes are manned, so they can turn up to 45° at the start of the ordnance phase. Boarding torpedoes attack if they come into contact with an enemy ship's base. Conduct a Hit-and-run raid against the ship immediately. Hit-and-run attacks are discussed in the Advanced Rules section.

Attack Craft. Attack craft are launched from a ship's launch bays and may include any mix of fighters, bombers or assault boats. In combat, they are launched to assist their mother ship or make long range strikes against the enemy. Attack craft vary in size from sleek one-man fighters to lumbering heavy bombers. Attack craft make difficult targets for warships: their small size and high speed enables them to evade the worst fire. However, all attack craft have an extremely limited endurance and can only operate away from their mothership for a short time before they must return to rearm and refuel.

Attack Craft Rules. Attack craft are launched from a ship's launch bays and may include fighters, bombers or assault boats. Launch bays are rated by the number of squadrons they can launch at once, for example a Dictator class cruiser with four bays can launch four squadrons. Each squadron is represented by a single marker. At the time of launch, the player may select which attack craft to use from amongst those available to his ship. The launch could include fighters and bombers, or be made exclusively of one type. Each type is represented by a different marker.

Unlike torpedoes, attack craft can turn freely and move in any direction, up to the distance indicated by their speed on the ship's profile. Any attack craft that come into contact with Ordnance markers or ships may attack as explained in their relevant sections that follow.

Ordnance Defences: Turrets. Most fighting ships mount numerous weapon systems and turrets for shooting down torpedoes and attack craft during their final attack run. A ship's main armament is simply too huge and slow to track ordnance at such close ranges. However turrets will fire immediately when Ordnance touches the ship's base:

• Vs Torpedo salvoes. Roll a D6 for each turret: each dice that scores a 4, 5 or 6 reduces the salvo's strength by 1.
• Vs Attack craft squadrons. Roll a D6 for each turret: each dice that scores a 4, 5 or 6 destroys one squadron.

A ship's turrets can fire against every torpedo salvo that attacks it in an ordnance phase. Alternatively the turrets may fire at every attack craft wave that attacks it in an ordnance phase. Note that turrets can be used to defend against torpedoes or attack craft but not both in the same phase. This makes it possible to overwhelm a target with combined attacks.

Fighters. Fighters are small, fast and extremely agile. They are only armed with weapons suitable for destroying ordnance, including other attack craft. In combat, the fighter's job is to intercept enemy ordnance and protect the vulnerable bombers and assault craft on their way to and from their target.

Fighter Rules. Fighter attacks have the following effects when they come into contact: Vs Ordnance Markers – the defenders are scattered or destroyed in the fighting; the victorious fighters return to their mother ship for rearming and refuelling; remove both the defending and attacking markers from play. Vs Ships – the fighter squadron's puny weapons make no impression on the ship at all, but they steer clear of the ship's turret defences; leave the Squadron marker in play.

Bombers. Bombers are slower, heavier craft with destructive anti-ship weapons. Though vulnerable to enemy fighters, bombers can be a serious threat to ships.

Bomber Rules. Bomber attacks have the following effects when they move into contact: Vs Fighters – the fighters quickly eliminate the lumbering bombers before returning to their mother ship for rearming and refuelling; remove the defending and attacking markers from play. Vs Other Ordnance Markers – the bombers succeed in getting out of the way but nothing more; leave both markers in play. Vs Ships – the bombers make an attack run on the ship; make D6 rolls to hit against the ship's lowest Armour value for each attacking bomber squadron; the number of attacks the squadron makes reduces by one for each turret on the ship; remove the Squadron markers once the attack has been made.

For example, a wave of two bomber squadrons attack a Murder class cruiser that has two turrets. The cruiser gets two dice rolls to shoot at the incoming bombers with, and any that survive will make D6-2 attacks and then be removed from play.

Assault Boats. Assault boats are designed to clamp on to a target vessel and breach its outer hull, allowing squads of elite warriors to storm on board. Once aboard the boarders plant demolition charges, massacre the crew, poison the air and generally cause as much damage as possible before retreating.

Assault Boat Rules. Assault boat attacks have the following effects when they move into contact: Vs Fighters – the fighters overwhelm the assault boats and then return to their mother ship for rearming and refuelling; remove both the defending and attacking markers from play. Vs Other Ordnance Markers – the assault boats simply manoeuvre around the enemy ordnance; leave both markers in play. Vs Ships – the assault boats make an attack run on the ship; conduct a hit-and-run raid against the ship for each assault boat squadron (hit-and-run raids are detailed in the Advanced Rules); after the attack the assault boats return to their ship to be reloaded with troops and refuelled; remove the Squadron marker from play when the attack is made in the end phase.

Launching Waves of Attack Craft. When a ship launches its attack craft squadrons it can despatch them as individual squadrons or combine them into waves of squadrons. To show a wave place the Attack Craft markers so they're touching and keep them together as they move. If a wave contains attack craft moving at different speeds, they move at the speed of the slowest. If enemy fighters/turrets attack a wave they must remove any fighter squadrons before moving onto the bigger ships. You can use this rule to put your wave together so that it contains fighters who will defend the vulnerable bombers or assault boats, sacrificing themselves to save the bigger vessels.

Waves of attack craft can split up during their move if you wish. However, once squadrons have split up they may not recombine into waves. A wave may only be formed when the craft are launched from their mother ship. The greatest benefit of attacking in a wave is that a defending ship's turrets only fire once at the whole wave, so there is a better chance of the ships in the wave surviving the defences than individual squadrons have. On the downside, if a wave of attack craft is hit by long-range gunnery or lances, the whole wave is destroyed. Likewise, if the wave rolls a 6 while moving through Blast markers, the entire wave is removed.

The End Phase

During the end phase, players sort out any events which have been set into action during the turn, such as repairing any critical damage. Some of the Blast markers are removed from the table, as the energy and debris they represent is naturally dissipated. The end phase is also a good opportunity to tidy up the table top, count victory points, check up on scenario victory conditions and break out the biscuits. The end phase works in the following order:

1. Attempt to repair critical damage.
2. Remove D6 Blast markers from the tabletop.

Damage Control. Both players can attempt to repair critical damage during the end phase. Repair crews will be working continuously of course, welding up hull breaches, re-routing power conduits, putting out fires and generally trying to keep the ship functioning. To represent this, capital ships roll 1D6 per Damage point remaining in the end phase. Each roll of a 6 enables the ship to repair one critically damaged system or put out one fire. If the ship has any Blast markers in contact, the player only rolls half as many dice as usual (rounding up).

Blast Marker Removal. With time, the debris and shock waves represented by Blast markers will dissipate sufficiently to be of no further impediment to ships or their weapons. To represent this, the player whose turn it is rolls a D6 and removes that many Blast markers. Blast markers in contact with ships' bases may not be removed, but otherwise the player is free to choose which ones will go.

You have now read all the most important rules that you need to play Battlefleet Gothic.

Advanced Rules

The following section is dedicated to all kinds of exciting special stuff which may not occur in ordinary games or would simply get in the way of trying to learn the basic rules. For example, ships ramming and boarding are both viable tactics but don't happen that often. They have been included in this section so that they can be added in once the mechanics of the basic rules have been mastered. Likewise, celestial phenomena and scenarios are not integral parts of the rules but can add a lot of interesting new twists to your games.

Disengaging From Combat

Sometimes it's better to run away and fight another day. A ship may be crippled with no hope of defeating its attackers, or just outnumbered so heavily that its captain decides that it's hopeless to fight on. The classic approach to disengaging is to make a sudden course alteration and then cut all power so that the ship cannot be detected by its energy emissions. With luck the vessel will simply drift out of the immediate battle area and can set course for home once it's clear of the fighting.

In order to disengage, a ship must pass a Leadership test at the end of its movement phase with the following modifiers:

Modifier	Value
Each Blast marker within 5cm	+1
Any celestial phenomena within 15cm*	+3
Each enemy ship or Ordnance marker within 15cm	-1

*This is for a tabletop feature such as an asteroid field or planet. If a tabletop effect such as a radiation burst or solar flare is taking place this bonus applies anywhere on the tabletop.

If the test is passed, the disengaging ship is removed from the tabletop and may not return during the game. If the test is failed the ship remains in play but may not fire, launch ordnance or attempt to use special orders during the turn.

All Ahead Full – Ramming Speed!

A ship moving at All Ahead Full may attempt to ram an enemy vessel as it moves. In order to ram, the ship must move into base-to-base contact with the target during the ship's own movement phase.

Take a Leadership test for the ramming ship: if the test is passed, the captain skillfully manoeuvres his ship into a ramming position. If the test is failed, the would-be rammer misses the target and continues its move. Obviously, it's easier for an escort to ram a battleship than the other way round. So the Leadership test is taken on 3D6 if the target vessel is of a smaller type than the ramming one, but if the target vessel is a larger type than the ramming one then the Leadership test is rolled on just 1D6. Otherwise (ramming a vessel of the same type) the test is rolled on 2D6. For example, the Imperial Lunar class cruiser Agrippa would take a Leadership test on 2D6 to ram another cruiser, on 3D6 to ram an escort or 1D6 to ram a battleship.

If the ramming ship hits, roll 1D6 for each point of its starting damage capacity (not the damage capacity it has left). Any dice that equal or beat the target's armour value score a point of damage on it. Damage from rams is not deflected by shields. If the vessels are hitting head on (ie, front to front) the rammed vessel rolls a number of dice equal to its full starting damage capacity.

The ramming ship may well suffer damage too, so the vessel being rammed rolls a number of D6 equal to half its starting damage. Any dice which equal or beat the ramming ship's front armour score 1 point of damage.

For example: the Agrippa, a Lunar class cruiser, rams the Unclean, a Murder class Chaos cruiser, in the starboard side. The Agrippa had a starting damage capacity of 8 so it rolls 8D6 to damage the Unclean (which has Armour 5), rolling 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6 and scoring 3 points of damage. By way of return the Unclean (with a starting damage capacity of 8) rolls 4D6 to damage the Agrippa (which has armour 6 on the front thanks to its armoured prow) rolling 3, 3, 5, 6 and scoring 1 point of damage.

Hit-and-Run Attacks

In a hit-and-run attack, a select force of warriors is dispatched to attempt to attack a specific location on an enemy ship, planting charges to take it out of action. An enemy vessel can be left helpless from damage inflicted by a hit-and-run raid, leaving it to be finished off with conventional gunnery at leisure. Hit-and-run attacks can be made by assault craft and torpedoes, or by ships teleporting troops onto nearby enemy vessels.

Boarding Torpedoes. Boarding torpedoes carry dedicated assault troops and can be partially guided while in flight. They punch through the armour of the target, disgorging their cargo of warriors into the midst of the enemy. Boarding torpedoes are launched like ordinary torpedoes, and ships that can carry them are noted in the fleet lists. It is not possible to launch ordinary torpedoes and boarding torpedoes from a ship in the same turn. Boarding torpedoes move 30cm in every ordnance phase. Unlike ordinary torpedoes, boarding torpedoes can make a single 45° turn at the start of every ordnance phase, measured from around the centre of the marker. If boarding torpedoes move into contact with a ship's base, they attack just like ordinary torpedoes (roll for turrets and to hit). Each one that hits makes a hit-and-run attack rather than inflicting a point of damage.

Assault Boats. Assault boats attack by clamping onto the outer hull of an enemy ship and then cutting their way through to allow their crew to attack inside. Assault boats can be launched just like any other ordnance from flight decks and move 30cm in any direction in every ordnance phase. The ships which may be loaded with assault boats are noted in the fleet lists. If an assault boat moves into contact with a ship's base, it can be shot at by turrets in the same way as bombers. If it survives, it makes a single hit-and-run attack and is then removed from play.

Teleport Attacks. Ships which are close to their enemies may attempt to initiate a small-scale boarding action using their teleporters. However, active shields interfere with the teleport beams, so such attacks can only be made against an enemy whose shields have been knocked down. Only the largest ships have the teleport capacity to move enough men onto their target to inflict the necessary amount of damage, and such teleport attacks require prodigious amounts of energy from the ship's reactors.

A ship may make a teleport attack in the end phase against an enemy ship, that has no shields, within 10cm. Ships on special orders and crippled ships may not make teleport attacks. As you can imagine, it takes a lot more manpower to disable the weapons batteries of a battleship than it does a destroyer's. Therefore, escorts and defences with only one damage point left cannot make teleport attacks. In addition, a ship can't make a teleport attack against a target with more hits at that point in the battle than it has itself.

A ship may only make one teleport attack each turn. For each teleport attack make one hit-and-run attack against the target ship.

Resolving a Hit-and-run Attack. To resolve a hit-and-run attack, simply roll a D6. On a score of a 1 the attack has failed, on a 2 or more look up the score on the Critical Hits table and apply the result immediately. This critical damage can be repaired as normal. Remember that an escort which has suffered critical damage is automatically destroyed.

Boarding Actions

Boarding actions are bloody, desperate battles between ships at very close range. The boarding vessel manoeuvres close to an enemy ship and sends a wave of armed crewmen across via teleporters, shuttles, life pods and in pressure suits to grab a foothold on the outer hull of the enemy vessel. The attackers then blow breaches in the hull and swarm in to try to overcome the defending crew in vicious firefights and hand-to-hand combat. Boarding actions are dangerous for both sides: even a victorious ship may suffer critical damage in the fighting or a prospective victim may explode with catastrophic results.

Moving in for Boarding. A ship may attempt a boarding action if it's in base contact with an enemy vessel in the end phase before damage control has been attempted or Blast markers are removed. If a vessel is going to attempt a boarding action it must be declared in the movement phase when contact is made. Vessels attempting to board an enemy ship may not fire weapons or launch ordnance in the same turn because their crews are too busy participating in the boarding action.

To resolve the action both players roll a D6 and add the appropriate modifiers from the following list.

Boarding Modifiers

Modifier	Value
Enemy ship has Blast markers in contact	+1
Enemy ship is crippled	+2
Enemy ship is on special orders	+1
Orks or Chaos	+1
Space Marines	+2
Own boarding value is higher	+1*
Own boarding value is twice the enemy's	+2*
Own boarding value is three times the enemy's	+3*
Own boarding value is four or more times the enemy's	+4*

*Only apply the highest modifier.

Boarding Value. A ship's boarding value is equal to the number of damage points it has remaining. The ship being boarded also adds its number of remaining turrets.

Boarding Action Results. The player with the highest total score is the winner. The losing ship suffers 1 point of damage for each point it lost the combat by. There is also a chance of each ship suffering a critical hit during the fighting as shown on the table below. If a ship is reduced to 0 damage by a boarding action do not roll on the Catastrophic Damage table, instead the ship automatically becomes a drifting hulk (exception: if a ship is reduced to 0 damage by a critical hit, roll for catastrophic damage as normal). Ships which survive being boarded may move off normally in their next movement phase.

Boarding Action Results Table

Difference in Scores	Boarding Result	Critical Hit On
1	Stalemate	Winner 5+ / Loser 5+
2	Heavy Fighting	Winner 4+ / Loser 5+
3	Driven Back	Winner 3+ / Loser 6+
4	Stormed	Winner 2+ / Loser 6+
5+	Overwhelmed	Winner Automatic / Loser None

For example, the Hyperion (remaining damage 3) is boarded by the Plagueclaw (remaining damage 6). After modifiers, the Plagueclaw scores a 6 while the Hyperion scores a 4. The Hyperion has lost by 2 so it loses 2 damage points. In addition, the result of Heavy Fighting means that the Hyperion will suffer a critical hit on a D6 roll of 4, 5 or 6. The Plagueclaw will also suffer a critical hit on a D6 roll of 5 or 6.

Drawn Combats. If both players have the same score after modifiers the combat is a draw. In this case the ships grapple together and continue fighting in each subsequent end phase. Neither ship may move, shoot or launch ordnance until the boarding action results in one of the ships being reduced to zero damage. The victorious (ie, surviving) ship can then move off and continue to fight in its next turn.

Multi-Ship Boarding Actions. When several ships attempt to board an enemy vessel they add their boarding values together and a single dice roll is made to work out the boarding results. Any damage points inflicted are distributed amongst the attacking ships by the attacker himself, but the chance of critical damage being caused applies to each and every ship attempting to board.

Escort Ships Boarding. Escort ships can attempt to board other ships using the rules above. They can even attempt to board capital ships if they wish, although escorts will only stand a chance against a badly damaged vessel. Remember that when escorts are boarding or being boarded a successful critical hit will destroy them, so it is quite possible for an escort to win a boarding action but be destroyed in the process.

Planetary Defences

In certain scenarios, one player may be allowed to select planetary defences as part of their forces, generally to assist in defending a planet against an attacking enemy fleet. All races use some equivalent to planetary defences to form networks of armed satellites and ground installations to keep enemy ships at bay. Planetary defences also include system ships (vessels which have no warp drives and so are incapable of leaving the system they are stationed in), minefields, etc. A full list of planetary defences can be found at the end of the Ships of the Gothic Sector section of this book.

Two new unit types are introduced with planetary defences: satellite and ground.

Satellite units may not move as they are stationed in orbit around a planet or moon, or occasionally in deep space. Their weapons are able to fire all round so they don't worry about fire arcs at all.

Ground units protect planets from spaceships getting close enough to send troops down to the surface. These anti-ship weapons are unable to move because they are concealed in deep underground silos for their protection. Ground units are limited to a single 90° fire arc extending up from the planet's surface.

Satellite and Ground Defences: Unit Special Rules. Satellites and ground units are targeted using the Defences column on the Gunnery table. They may only use Reload Ordnance special orders, and are considered to be Leadership 7 when testing to see if they reload. They also use this nominal Leadership value for all other Leadership tests. When Blast markers are removed in the end phase, remove an extra D6 Blast markers from those in contact with each satellite or ground unit.

Defences With Multiple Hits. Some large defensive platforms, such as space stations and the huge Blackstone Fortresses, have multiple hits. When it comes to taking damage, these work just like capital ships. They suffer critical hits just like capital ships and get crippled once they have lost half their damage points. If a defence with multiple hits is reduced to 0 damage, roll on the Catastrophic Damage table. However, defences never drift, they always remain in place.

Notes: If a critical hit is rolled which cannot be applied, for example a station with no lances gets a 'Lances Damaged' critical hit, apply the next highest critical instead. In this case the station would suffer main armament damage instead. If a station suffers multiple critical hits to the same place they must all be repaired before the location functions again as normal.

Squadrons

"Heave the line to and prepare for a fight, battle squadrons Secundus and Veritas form up on my port quarter. By the Emperor we've got them this time!" — Admiral Grafton at the battle of Arunthal.

Small ships, such as escorts, stand little chance of damaging larger ships on their own, so they are normally grouped into squadrons. A squadron will manoeuvre closely together and mass its weaponry to attack more effectively. Although cruisers and battleships normally operate alone, they can also be grouped into squadrons for a major battle, where their awesome firepower can be put to good effect. Squadrons may have all sorts of different names, such as formations, flotillas, packs, groups or forces, but they all work in the same way.

Squadrons are formed at the beginning of the game, before ships are deployed for battle. A squadron can contain up to six ships which must all be of the same type – ie, you can have an escort squadron, a cruiser squadron or (yikes!) a battleship squadron. The ships in a squadron can be of different classes as long as they are all of the same type. For example, you could form an escort squadron of three Cobra class destroyers and three Firestorm class frigates. In practice, it's generally a good idea to form squadrons from ships of the same class because it makes manoeuvring and choosing special orders easier – but it's all a matter of taste.

To count as being part of a squadron, ships must remain close to at least one other vessel from the same squadron during the battle. Each ship must be no more than 15cm from another ship in the squadron so that the whole squadron forms a continuous chain with 'links' of up to 15cm between each ship. Sometimes ships will drop out of formation due to bad manoeuvring, ships being destroyed, etc. If a ship drops out of formation it no longer counts as part of the squadron until it moves back to within 15cm of another ship in the squadron. A ship which is out of formation must be moved back into formation as soon as possible and it may not use special orders until it has done so.

Squadron Command Checks

Using squadrons enables the Admiral of the Fleet to give orders to groups of ships at the same time, instead of having to relay orders to each ship in his fleet individually. In Battlefleet Gothic this translates into the highly desirable advantage of only having to make a single Leadership test to place a whole squadron on special orders. Also, if the squadron is made up of ships with different Leadership values, the highest Leadership value in the squadron is used for taking Command checks.

Normal Command check modifiers for enemy contacts and for being under fire apply to squadrons, even if only some of the ships in a squadron have Blast markers in base contact.

Manoeuvring Squadrons

Individual ships within a squadron can manoeuvre freely within the standard movement rules, as long as they stay in formation.

Shooting at Squadrons

When a squadron is targeted it is quite likely that some of its vessels will present different target aspects to the attacker. For example, some ships in the squadron may be closing targets while others are abeam. In this case, the attacker can select which category of targets to go after but he cannot score hits on anything that is harder to target than the category he chose. For example, if a squadron has two ships closing and two abeam and the attacker fires at them as if they were all closing targets he can only score hits on the two closing ships.

Allocating Hits Against Squadrons. When a squadron is fired upon, any hits scored are allocated to the nearest eligible ship in the squadron until it is destroyed, then the next nearest eligible ship takes the remaining hits and so on. Ships in the squadron which are out of range or fire arc of the attacker may not be hit.

In the book's example, the Chaos cruiser Unclean targets an Imperial frigate squadron and scores 3 hits. The first hit knocks down the shield of the nearest frigate within the Unclean's fire arc and the second hit destroys it. The third hit is taken on the next nearest frigate, knocking down its shield. Note that there is a frigate closer to the Unclean than the one which was destroyed but it is out of the Unclean's fire arc and so cannot be hit.

Different Armour Values. A mixed squadron of ships may include vessels with different armour values, or armour may vary because the ships have differing values on their front and sides. When attacking a squadron with a mix of armour values find out what the lowest armour is before rolling the dice. Any dice which equal or beat the lowest armour in the squadron will score hits: allocate the dice one at a time, starting with the lowest rolls against the nearest targets they can affect and work your way up.

In the book's mixed-squadron example, the Unclean is firing on a mixed squadron including a Sword class frigate (Armour 4) and a Cobra class destroyer (Armour 5). Rolling three dice, it scores a 4, 5 and 6. The 4 is good enough to hit the Cobra and is allocated to it, the 5 and 6 can hit the Sword and both are allocated to that ship as it is a closer target.

Shooting by Squadrons

As mentioned earlier, squadrons combine their firing together. When a squadron shoots it is subject to the normal rules and restrictions for a single ship. So, for example, if a squadron wants to fire at a target other than its closest enemy it must pass a Leadership test to do so. Any ships in the squadron out of range or fire arc of the squadron's primary target may fire on another enemy.

Firing Weapons Batteries. Squadrons firing weapons batteries normally add their firepower together before working out how many dice they roll on the Gunnery chart. However, squadrons firing weapons batteries can throw up a few problems because ships may be in a position to fire at the target ship from different aspects, ranges, etc. Where this occurs calculate the ships' firepower individually.

For example, an attacking escort squadron has three ships abeam of the Unclean and one behind it. In this case, the three ships abeam would be worked out together and the ship firing at the Unclean whilst it is moving away is worked out separately.

Launching Ordnance in Squadrons

Ships in a squadron launch ordnance individually unless they are in base-to-base contact. Any ships in base-to-base contact with other ships from the squadron can opt to combine their ordnance together into a bigger attack craft wave or torpedo salvo. Measure the distance travelled by a combined ordnance attack from the ship furthest from the target, to ensure that it doesn't get a free speed boost due to being part of a combined force.

For example, three Cobra class destroyers in base-to-base contact have combined their Strength 2 torpedo salvoes into a single Strength 6 salvo. Note that the distance the torpedoes travel is measured from the furthest Cobra.

The Battlefield

In order to fight a battle you will need somewhere to set up your battlefield – any flat, stable area will do. Some people make do with a smooth bit of floor but most use a kitchen or dining table (preferably protected by a cloth or blanket). By far the best option, if it's available, is to fight over a gaming board made up of sheets of chipboard, plywood or MDF laid over another table. Typically the battlefield should be between 6' to 8' long (around 1.8 metres to 2.4 metres) and 4' to 6' wide (1.2 to 1.8 metres). You can play on a smaller area quite easily but you'll need to keep the forces that are fighting proportionately smaller to ensure that you've got some room to manoeuvre.

Celestial Phenomena

Space, the void, vacuum. Sounds empty, but actually there's all kinds of stuff floating around between the stars. It's not exactly densely packed, of course, but it has its effects on navigation and combat, so this means that battles will usually be fought around and over it. For example, dust clouds and asteroid fields are enough to force a ship to slow down as it passes through the area, making it an ideal spot for an ambush. Equally, capturing or raiding worlds will always be an objective of enemy ships, ensuring that space combat will often happen in close proximity to planets.

A good commander will use celestial phenomena to his best advantage during a battle, blocking the enemy's lines of fire, getting his heavy ships into good firing positions and concealing his escorts until they are ready to strike.

Placing Celestial Phenomena on the Battlefield. There are many ways to set up celestial phenomena and any method is perfectly acceptable as long as it creates a fair battlefield. Remember that the purpose of setting up celestial phenomena is to provide an entertaining and interesting battlefield, not to impede movement or lines of fire so much that it becomes almost impossible to actually fight the enemy. Here are some different methods you might employ:

Method 1. One of the players positions all the celestial phenomena on the table. His opponent can then pick which table edge to deploy from. Many of the scenarios require you to roll for choice of table edges, but if one player has set up the celestial phenomena then it is only fair that his opponent chooses which board edge to deploy from.

Method 2. Divide the table into 60cm square areas. Roll a D6 for each area. On a 4 or more the area contains celestial phenomena, which is determined using a battlezone generator appropriate to the region of the star system the battle is set in (deep space, outer reaches, mercurial zone, primary biosphere, inner biosphere, or flare region – each has its own generator table of likely phenomena such as asteroid fields, gas and dust clouds, radiation bursts, solar flares and planets). Position the phenomena anywhere within the area, but don't place them on top of each other.

Method 3. As a variant, you can use the fleets' attack ratings to determine which battlezone the battle is fought in. This represents the two fleets trying to pick their ground by offering battle where it suits them best. Each player secretly chooses a battlezone and adds the number of the battlezone to his fleet's attack rating. Both players then declare their total score. The player with the highest score wins and the battle is fought in the zone he chose.

Gas and Dust Clouds

Gas and dust clouds represent areas of space with a notably greater density of (mostly) hydrogen gas or tiny particles of matter. These clouds may be fragments left over from the formation of stars and star systems, the outer fringes of nebulae or protostars, or even gasses ejected by solar flares. They represent a moderate navigational hazard to shipping: basic shielding is sufficient to prevent damage occurring but ships are slowed somewhat by passing through them. Gas and dust clouds impair targeting by weapon batteries and may destroy ordnance which passes through them, making them potentially useful areas to exploit in ship-to-ship combat.

Effects. To ships in base contact, gas and dust clouds have the same effect as a single Blast marker in all respects (ie, on firing, movement, shields, Leadership and ordnance).

Placement. Use flock or cotton wool to show gas and dust clouds, usually found in bands or streamers running parallel to the sunward table edge. Each band is D6x2cm wide and D6x5cm long.

Determining the Sunward Edge. When placing celestial phenomena, start by determining which table edge is closest to the nearest star, described as 'sunward' in Battlefleet Gothic. To do so, roll a D6.

Asteroid Fields

Asteroid fields orbit most stars at varying distances. They are generally thought to be debris or tiny particles of matter left over from collisions between planets during the formation of a star system. Asteroid fields may also be left over after the destruction of a planet or moon, or represent an area of wreckage resulting from a space battle.

Effects. An asteroid field blocks line of fire and any torpedoes that strike it are detonated. Hulks which drift into an asteroid field are also destroyed. Attack craft squadrons which move through an asteroid field are destroyed on a D6 roll of 6.

Ships moving through an asteroid field, or coming into base contact with the edge of one, must pass a Leadership test on 2D6 to navigate it successfully. Escort ships may re-roll the Leadership test if they fail it, but the second roll stands whether it is successful or not. A ship that fails the Leadership test suffers D6 damage from asteroid impacts, but its shields will block damage as normal.

Placement. Asteroid fields can be represented by an area of rocks, pebbles, gravel or kitty litter (unused!). Like gas and dust clouds, asteroid fields are placed so that they run parallel to the sunward table edge. Typically, asteroid fields are D3x5cm wide and D3x5cm long.

Warp Rifts

Occasionally, a temporary rift can occur between normal space and warp space, particularly during a powerful warp storm or after a large fleet has dropped out of the warp. Moving into such a rift is highly dangerous, but may well provide an edge for a desperate or foolish captain.

Effects. A warp rift blocks line of fire and any torpedoes that strike it are detonated. Hulks which drift into a rift disappear, never to be seen again, so they may not be salvaged after the battle. Attack craft squadrons which move into a rift are destroyed.

Ships moving into a warp rift must pass a Leadership test on 3D6 to navigate it successfully. If the ship passes the test, it may be repositioned up to 2D6x10cm away from the rift, pointing in any direction. If it fails, the ship disappears from the battle altogether – lost in the warp! Roll a D6 for each ship lost in the warp after the game: on a 1 it is lost in the warp forever, doomed to drift on the tides of the immaterium until its crew die; on a 2-6 it is only temporarily lost and will eventually find its way back to the fleet.

Placement. Use a strip of white paper, cloth or cotton wool to represent a warp rift. The rift is D3x5cm wide and D3x10cm long.

Planets

Less than 1% of systems have planets orbiting a solitary star in the manner of ancient Terra. Even so, there are millions of star systems containing billions of worlds scattered across the galaxy. Most planets are either desolate, empty and airless, or surrounded by an atmosphere too noxious to support life. In the Gothic sector there are over two hundred inhabited worlds and tens of thousands of other planets. Planets often become the focus of space battles as opposing fleets attempt to establish forward bases or extend their control throughout a contested system.

Effects. Planets are represented by a template or model (ball) placed on the tabletop. The template blocks line of fire and any torpedoes that strike it are detonated. Hulks which drift into a planet are also destroyed. Ships may move 'through' a planet (by passing over or under it).

Every planet is surrounded by an area of space where its gravitational pull is strong enough to affect shipping. This area is referred to as its gravity well. The gravity well extends out a set distance from the edge of the planet template and affects a ship's manoeuvring: ships within the gravity well of a planet may make a free 45° turn at the beginning and end of their move, but the turn must always be made towards the planet. The ship does not have to move its minimum distance before it is able to make its free turn.

A ship within a planet's gravity well may elect to enter high or low orbit. A ship does not have to move whilst it is in high orbit. A ship that enters low orbit is removed from play and (where the scenario requires it) is placed on a separate low orbit table.

Typical Planetary Templates. Small planet (eg, the size of Mercury, Pluto or Mars) – up to 15cm diameter. Medium planet (eg, equivalent to Venus or Earth) – 16-25cm diameter. Large planet (eg, the size of Saturn or Jupiter) – 26-50cm diameter.

Typical Gravity Wells. Small planet – up to 10cm from template edge. Medium planet – up to 15cm from template edge. Large planet – up to 30cm from template edge.

Placement. Planets are usually so far apart that only one will be placed on the tabletop, although in spectacular scenarios you might want to place two planets in close proximity.

Moons

Most planets have many small moons around them and most of these are no larger than generously sized asteroids. These rules are confined to dealing with larger moons several thousand kilometres in diameter.

Effects. Moons count as small planets in all respects, including when deciding the effects of their gravity wells on turning ships.

Placement. Medium planets typically have D3-1 moons, large planets have D6-2 moons. Moons are up to 5cm in diameter. A planet's moons are placed 2D6x10cm from the planet: roll randomly to see which direction they are from the planet.

Ringed Planets

Occasionally planets (usually the larger ones) have rings made up of gas, dust and asteroids. These are represented by gas and dust clouds and/or asteroid fields placed in a ring around the planet.

Placement. If there is a large planet on the table roll a D6. On a 5 or 6 it has rings around it. Place D3 rings around the planet, then roll a D6 to see what sort each ring is: 1-4 = gas/dust, 5-6 = asteroid. Each ring is D6cm wide and begins D6x5cm away from the planet's edge. Note that some may end up merging into one another, but that's fine.

Tabletop Effects

The following features affect the entire battlefield. They may be combined with tabletop features to produce, for example, a battle around a planet close to a sun.

Fighting Sunward. In battles close to the centre of a system, the presence of the local star has powerful effects on a ship's ability to detect other vessels. At extreme ranges, the glare of the sun will tend to obscure the energy signature of enemy vessels, making them difficult to target accurately. In close proximity, an opposing ship with the sun behind it is easier to pick out and track using reflection surveyors and image capture devices.

Effects. In the outer reaches and deep space the light from the distant star has no effect on combat. In battles taking place from the flare region to the primary biosphere, fighting sunward has the following effects: any firing conducted towards the sunward table edge doubles the column shifts for long and short range. At long range (over 30cm) the powerful photosphere blinds long range sensors, so take two column shifts right on the Gunnery table instead of one. At short range (15cm or under) targets are 'silhouetted' instead, so make two column shifts left.

Solar Flares. Most stars periodically release explosive bursts of energy over small areas of their surface – small, in solar terms, meaning areas hundreds of millions of kilometres across. These huge flares of energy rush outward at tremendous speeds, flooding the vicinity with highly charged particles and magnetic shock waves. A shielded vessel can find its protection virtually overwhelmed by these events and a vessel without shields is sure to suffer damage.

Effects. Roll a D6 at the start of each turn. If more than one flare was generated as part of the celestial phenomena, roll a D6 per flare generated. On a roll of a 6 a flare occurs. Each ship on the tabletop has one Blast marker placed sunward of them. Any ship without shields will suffer one hit and will take critical damage on a roll of 4 or more on a D6. Roll a D6 for each Ordnance marker – on a 4 or more it is removed from play.

Radiation Bursts. As well as solar flares and often in conjunction with them, a sun will frequently emit bursts of radiation, including electromagnetic and radio waves. These temporarily scramble any communications traffic between ships and even disrupt ship-board comm-nets. Commanding a ship in these conditions is extremely difficult and for this reason most commanders assiduously avoid the flare region of the local star.

Effects. Roll a D6 at the start of each turn. If more than one radiation burst was generated as part of the celestial phenomena, roll a D6 for each one generated. For each roll of 5 or 6 a radiation burst occurs. Roll a D6 to see what the interference level of the burst is and all ships on the table reduce their Leadership value by the interference level for that turn. For example, if a radiation burst occurs and a 3 is rolled for the interference level, all ships suffer -3 to their Leadership for the rest of the turn. In addition to the reduced Leadership, Fleet Commanders may only use their re-rolls for Command checks for their own ship or squadron during radiation bursts.

Fighting in Low Orbit

In certain scenarios, ships can enter low orbit to attack a planet. Achieving low orbit is essential to any such attack, since a drop ship's range is very limited and any attempt to bombard ground forces from a greater distance is purely up to chance.

You will need a separate table (or section at one end of the main table) to represent low orbit. This doesn't need to be very large – 45-60cm wide x 90-135cm long should be sufficient. One long table edge should be nominated as the planet edge and acts as the planet's surface itself. Ships within the gravity well of a planet may elect to enter low orbit. Place the ship on the low orbit table, touching the edge farthest from the planet.

Ships in low orbit do not have to move and capital ships do not have to move a minimum distance before they can turn. To represent interference from the planet's gravity well and the outermost edges of its atmosphere, all firepower shooting in low orbit suffers one column shift to the right, lances and nova cannons require a 4+ roll to fire and torpedoes may not be fired by ships at all.

Ships which move within 45cm of the planet edge will be gripped in the heart of the gravity well and must use their engines to keep station if they don't wish to crash. At the start of each player's turn, all such ships automatically move towards the planet's surface (without changing facing or turning in any way). The distance that they move depends upon the size of the planet: small = 5cm; medium = 8cm; large = 10cm. Any ship that moves off of the planet table edge in this way is totally destroyed. Escorts and transports which voluntarily move off the planet edge are said to have landed and are removed from play; capital ships cannot land.

If a ship in low orbit moves off the table from any other edge, it is assumed to have left low orbit and is placed back on the main table, touching the edge of the planet. A ship may not enter low orbit and then leave it again in the same turn. Apart from this, movement and combat is resolved in each player's turn as normal.

If you're limited for space, you can represent the low orbit table with a sheet of paper and markers, using a scale of 1mm:1cm on the Deep Space table. Alternatively, you could use graph paper to plot moves in low orbit, again changing the scale as appropriate.

Ships of the Gothic Sector

Contained within this section are a number of fleet lists that enable you to collect and fight with an Imperial, Chaos, Eldar or Ork fleet. By using these lists, you can pick a fleet within certain limitations and ensure that it is balanced and fair when playing against another fleet chosen from the fleet lists.

Each fleet list is divided into the following sections:

Fleet Commander. Your fleet can be led by a commander, such as an Imperial Admiral, Chaos Warmaster, Eldar Pirate Prince or Ork Warlord. A fleet with a total points value of more than 750 points must be led by a Fleet Commander. Smaller fleets may be led by a Fleet Commander if you wish, but this is not compulsory. In the Chaos Fleet list you may also choose Chaos Lords to command vessels within your fleet, while Ork fleets can have several Warlords.

Fleet Commander Re-rolls. Fleet Commanders may have a number of Fleet Commander re-rolls available to them, as indicated in the Fleet Commander section of the fleet list. Each of these re-rolls can only be used once per game and allows you to re-roll a failed Command check or Leadership test for a ship or squadron in their fleet. Remember that you can only use one re-roll at a time, so it is not possible to use several re-rolls on the same Leadership test. If the Fleet Commander's flagship suffers a Bridge Smashed critical hit, any remaining Fleet Commander re-rolls are lost for the remainder of the battle.

Capital Ships. This section shows which, and how many, capital ships you may have in your fleet. Often, the number of larger capital ships such as battleships, Chaos grand cruisers and Imperial battlecruisers you can take is defined by the number of ordinary cruisers in your fleet, because such mighty vessels rarely operate independently and generally fight only in larger fleet formations.

Escorts. This shows the different types of escorts available to the fleet. There is usually no limit to the number of escorts allowed in a fleet, although the number of certain types of escorts may be restricted in some way in some fleet lists.

Ordnance. This details the various types of ordnance available to the ships of the fleet.

Points Values

Each type of vessel in Battlefleet Gothic usually has a points value, which reflects how useful it is in game terms. The higher a vessel's points value, the better it is in battle. For example, a small Imperial Cobra class destroyer is worth only 30 points, while a huge Chaos Desolator class battleship is worth 300 points – that's ten Cobras for every Desolator!

Size of Game. When you fight a battle, you normally pick a fleet to an agreed points limit. For example, you may agree with your opponent to play a 1,500 points Fleet Engagement, which means you each pick a fleet worth up to 1,500 points in total. A 500-1,000 points battle can be fought in a couple of hours, while battles involving fleets from 1,500 or more points will take proportionately longer. A 3,000 points battle will probably take the best part of a day to play and if you want a larger engagement, you'd better have some sleeping arrangements sorted out!

In some scenarios, the fleets are not picked to equal points values, or have additional vessels worth a random number of points. Where this is the case, the scenario will tell you what proportion of points one side has to the other.

Using the Fleet Lists. When you know what size battle you are playing, you can start selecting ships. As you pick ships to include in your fleet, simply add up their points value until you reach the agreed limit. You may not spend more than this on your fleet and often you'll be a few points short because there simply isn't anything to spend those last few points on.

Remember when you're picking your fleet that you must have models to represent the ships you choose. If you have a Gothic class cruiser with two lance batteries, you must have a model assembled with two lance batteries to represent it. This helps both players to remember exactly what each ship is armed with and stops players getting a nasty surprise halfway through the battle.

Ship Class Variants. In some entries you will see certain ships of that class which mount different weaponry to its counterparts. For example, the Minotaur, a Lunar class cruiser, has a prow-mounted nova cannon instead of torpedoes. You may include these ships in your fleet if you wish and often they will cost more or less points than normal. Remember that the ship's armaments must be represented on the model.

Forming Up the Fleet

Escort ships must be formed into squadrons of between two and six ships each. The escorts in a squadron do not have to all be of the same class. Cruisers, heavy cruisers and battlecruisers may be formed into squadrons of two to four ships. Battlecruisers, heavy cruisers and cruisers may be mixed together in the same squadron. Grand cruisers and battleships may be formed into squadrons of two to three ships, but you may not mix battleships and grand cruisers in a squadron.

Fighting Battles Without the Fleet Lists. The fleet lists that follow have been written to allow players to pick a fleet that should be fairly balanced against another fleet chosen from the Fleet Lists. This means that players who have never met before, such as in a tournament, know that they should have a fair game to play.

However, if you are gaming with regular opponents, you may like to choose fleets which ignore some or all of the rules in the lists. For example, you might like to have an all-battleship clash, or allow battlecruisers, heavy cruisers and grand cruisers to be taken without having to take the specified number of cruisers first.

We have also kept the Imperial and Chaos fleets distinct from each other, to make sure that they fight differently and have their own character. However, as most Chaos ships are essentially old Imperial ships there is no reason why you couldn't mix things up a bit and include ships from the Chaos Fleet List in an Imperial fleet and vice versa. Similarly, if you wanted a pirate fleet to represent an alliance of various bands of bloodthirsty corsairs, you could collect a fleet that consists entirely of escorts, chosen from all four of the Fleet Lists to give you a mis-match of Imperial, Chaos, Eldar and Ork cut-throats.

Breaking the Rules. The rules of Battlefleet Gothic, including the scenarios and Fleet Lists, are there to help players who want to fight battles with immense starships. If you want to change something, write your own rules for guided torpedoes, invent a scenario, etc, then you should feel free to do so.

Imperial Fleet

Emperor Class Battleship — 345 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Battleship/12	15cm	45°	4	5+	5

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	60cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	60cm	6	Right
Port launch bays	Furies 30cm / Starhawks 20cm / Sharks 30cm	4 squadrons	–
Starboard launch bays	Furies 30cm / Starhawks 20cm / Sharks 30cm	4 squadrons	–
Dorsal weapons battery	60cm	5	Left/front/right
Prow weapons battery	60cm	5	Left/front/right

Notes: The Emperor class battleship is a slow and ponderous vessel and cannot use Come to New Heading special orders. The Emperor class dispenses with the normal armoured prow and instead carries a mass of sensor probes and forward turrets, giving it +1 to its Leadership rating. For an extra +5 points an Emperor class ship may carry squadrons of Shark assault boats.

Retribution Class Battleship — 365 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Battleship/12	20cm	45°	4	6+ front/5+	4

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	60cm	12	Left
Starboard weapons battery	60cm	12	Right
Dorsal lance battery	60cm	3	Left/front/right
Prow torpedoes	Speed 30cm	9	Front

Notes: The Retribution class battleship is heavy to manoeuvre and cannot use the Come to New Heading special order.

Mars Class Battlecruiser — 270 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port launch bays	Furies 30cm / Starhawks 20cm	2 squadrons	–
Starboard launch bays	Furies 30cm / Starhawks 20cm	2 squadrons	–
Port weapons battery	45cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	6	Right
Dorsal lance battery	60cm	2	Left/right/front
Prow nova cannon	30-150cm	1	Front

Notes: The Mars class battlecruiser Imperious was retrofitted with a salvaged targetting matrix after the Battle of Orar. This gives its weapons batteries a left column shift on the Gunnery table and costs an additional +15 pts.

Overlord Class Battlecruiser — 235 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	60cm	8	Left
Starboard weapons battery	60cm	8	Right
Dorsal lance battery	60cm	2	Left/front/right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Notes: The Cypra Probatii can have its turret array upgraded from 2 to 3 at an additional cost of +10 pts.

Lunar Class Cruiser — 180 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port lance battery	30cm	2	Left
Starboard lance battery	30cm	2	Right
Port weapons battery	30cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	6	Right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Notes: The Lunar class cruisers Minotaur and Lord Daros can replace their prow torpedoes with a nova cannon at an additional cost of +20 pts.

Tyrant Class Cruiser — 185 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	45cm	4	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	4	Right
Port weapons battery	30cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	6	Right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Notes: Zealous and Dominion can replace their 30cm range weapons batteries with 45cm range weapons batteries at a cost of +10 pts. Zealous can also replace its prow torpedoes with a nova cannon at a cost of +20 pts.

Dominator Class Cruiser — 190 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	30cm	12	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	12	Right
Prow nova cannon	30-150cm	1	Front

Notes: The Hammer of Justice was originally fitted with 45cm range weapons batteries (firepower 6). These were later upgraded to shorter ranged but more powerful weapons as shown. The earlier version of the ship may be used for a reduced cost of -5 pts.

Gothic Class Cruiser — 180 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port lance battery	30cm	4	Left
Starboard lance battery	30cm	4	Right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Dictator Class Cruiser — 220 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	20cm	45°	2	6+ front/5+	3

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port launch bays	Furies 30cm / Starhawks 20cm	2 squadrons	–
Starboard launch bays	Furies 30cm / Starhawks 20cm	2 squadrons	–
Port weapons battery	30cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	6	Right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Dauntless Class Light Cruiser — 110 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/6	25cm	90°	1	5+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	30cm	4	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	4	Right
Prow lances	30cm	3	Front

Notes: Improved thrusters (+D6cm on All Ahead Full special orders). Vigilant and Havock can replace their prow lances with a Strength 6 torpedo salvo at no additional points cost.

Sword Class Frigate — 35 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	25cm	90°	1	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	30cm	4	Left/front/right

Firestorm Class Frigate — 40 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	25cm	90°	1	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Prow lance	30cm	1	Front
Weapons battery	30cm	2	Left/front/right

Cobra Class Destroyer — 30 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	30cm	90°	1	4+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Prow torpedoes	30cm	2	Front
Weapons battery	30cm	1	Left/front/right

Notes: The 24th Destroyer Squadron (Widowmakers) carried experimental long-range detection gear. This doubles the Leadership test bonus for enemy contacts (ie, enemy on special orders) from +1 to +2 but removes the destroyer's weapons batteries.

Imperial Transport — pts: special

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	15cm	45°	1	5+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Dorsal weapons battery	15cm	2	Left/front/right

Notes: Transports do not have the powerful drives routinely fitted to warships. Transports using All Ahead Full orders only add +3D6cm to their speed. They also reduce their randomly rolled Leadership by one, so they will have a Leadership value of between 5 and 8. Transports have 'special' for their points value as they are usually only used as objectives in missions or as fire ships for planetary defence purposes.

Imperial Attack Craft — pts: special

Fury class interceptors are built primarily for speed and manoeuverability, with distinctive oversized thrusters and attitude jets. Furies carry a crew of between two and four and are typically equipped with several banks of forward firing lascannon and missile bays. Starhawk class bombers are larger, slower craft which carry a heavy payload of plasma bombs and armour-piercing missiles for attacking enemy ships. Shark class assault boats are built around a powerful central engine and an armoured troop-carrying compartment, studded with powerful magnetic clamps and melta charges for blasting through the outer hull of a ship.

Attack Craft	Speed
Fury Interceptor	30cm
Starhawk Bomber	20cm
Shark Assault Boat	30cm

Note that attack craft are always carried into battle by larger ships and therefore have no separate points value.

Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector Fleet List

Fleet Commander: 0-1 Admiral. You may include 1 Admiral in your fleet, who must be assigned to a ship and improves its Leadership to the value shown. If the fleet is worth over 750 points an Admiral must be included to lead it.

• Fleet-Admiral (Ld 8) — 50 pts
• Admiral (Ld 9) — 100 pts
• Solar Admiral (Ld 10) — 150 pts

Admirals get one Fleet Commander re-roll included in their points cost. If you want more you'll have to pay for them.

• One extra re-roll — 25 pts
• Two extra re-rolls — 75 pts
• Three extra re-rolls — 150 pts

Capital Ships.

Battleships. You may include up to one battleship in your fleet for every three cruisers or battlecruisers. Imperial Retribution class battleship — 365 pts. Imperial Emperor class battleship — 345 pts.

Battlecruisers. You may include up to one battlecruiser in your fleet for every two cruisers. Imperial Mars class battlecruiser — 270 pts. Imperial Overlord class battlecruiser — 235 pts.

0-12 Cruisers. Imperial Dictator class cruiser — 220 pts. Imperial Dominator class cruiser — 190 pts. Imperial Tyrant class cruiser — 185 pts. Imperial Lunar class cruiser — 180 pts. Imperial Gothic class cruiser — 180 pts. Imperial Dauntless class light cruiser — 110 pts.

Escorts. You may include any number of escorts in your fleet. Imperial Firestorm class frigate — 40 pts. Imperial Sword class frigate — 35 pts. Imperial Cobra class destroyer — 30 pts.

Ordnance. Any ship with launch bays may choose to have them launch any mix of Fury interceptors and Starhawk bombers. An Emperor class battleship may carry Shark assault boats at an additional cost of +5 points. Ships with torpedo tubes are armed with ordinary torpedoes.

Chaos Fleet

Despoiler Class Battleship — 400 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Battleship/12	20cm	45°	4	5+	4

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port launch bay	Swiftdeaths 30cm / Doomfires 20cm / Dreadclaws 30cm	4 squadrons	–
Starboard launch bay	Swiftdeaths 30cm / Doomfires 20cm / Dreadclaws 30cm	4 squadrons	–
Port weapons battery	60cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	60cm	6	Right
Dorsal lance battery	60cm	3	Left/front/right
Prow lance battery	30cm	4	Front

Notes: May not use Come to New Heading special orders. The Damnation's Fury replaces its prow lances with Strength 8 torpedoes at a cost of +10 points.

Desolator Class Battleship — 300 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Battleship/12	25cm	45°	4	5+	4

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port lance battery	60cm	4	Left
Starboard lance battery	60cm	4	Right
Dorsal weapons battery	60cm	6	Left/front/right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	9	Front

Notes: May not use Come to New Heading special orders.

Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser — 230 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/10	20cm	45°	2	5+	3

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	45cm	14	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	14	Right
Dorsal lance battery	30cm	3	Left/front/right
Prow torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Notes: The Bringer of Despair was equipped with ancient targetting systems which increases the range of its dorsal lances to 45cm at an additional cost of +10 pts.

Styx Class Heavy Cruiser — 290 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	3

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port launch bays	Swiftdeath 30cm / Doomfire 20cm / Dreadclaw 30cm	3 squadrons	–
Starboard launch bays	Swiftdeath 30cm / Doomfire 20cm / Dreadclaw 30cm	3 squadrons	–
Dorsal lance battery	60cm	2	Left/front/right
Prow weapons battery	60cm	6	Left/front/right

Hades Class Heavy Cruiser — 200 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	45cm	10	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	10	Right
Dorsal lance battery	60cm	2	Left/front/right
Prow lance battery	60cm	2	Front

Acheron Class Heavy Cruiser — 190 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	3

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port lance battery	60cm	2	Left
Starboard lance battery	60cm	2	Right
Dorsal lance battery	45cm	2	Left/front/right
Prow weapons battery	45cm	6	Left/front/right

Devastation Class Cruiser — 190 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	3

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port launch bays	Doomwing 30cm / Firelord 20cm / Dreadclaw 30cm	2 squadrons	n/a
Starboard launch bays	Doomwing 30cm / Firelord 20cm / Dreadclaw 30cm	2 squadrons	n/a
Port lance battery	60cm	2	Left
Starboard lance battery	60cm	2	Right
Prow weapons battery	30cm	6	Left/front/right

Murder Class Cruiser — 170 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	45cm	10	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	10	Right
Prow lance battery	60cm	2	Front

Notes: The Plagueclaw and Despicable Ecstasy can be armed with Firepower 4 and Strength 2, 45cm range lances on their gun decks, for no extra points.

Carnage Class Cruiser — 180 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	25cm	45°	2	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port weapons battery	45cm	6	Left
Starboard weapons battery	45cm	6	Right
Port weapons battery	60cm	4	Left
Starboard weapons battery	60cm	4	Right
Prow weapons battery	60cm	6	Left/front/right

Slaughter Class Cruiser — 165 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/8	30cm	45°	2	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port lance battery	30cm	2	Left
Starboard lance battery	30cm	2	Right
Port weapons battery	30cm	8	Left
Starboard weapons battery	30cm	8	Right
Prow weapons battery	30cm	6	Left/front/right

Notes: Improved thrusters, moves +5D6 on All Ahead Full special orders.

Idolator Class Raider — 45 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	30cm	90°	1	5+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	45cm	2	Left/front/right
Lance battery	30cm	1	Front

Notes: Does not suffer a column shift for firing over 30cm.

Infidel Class Raider — 40 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	30cm	90°	1	5+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	30cm	2	Left/front/right
Torpedoes	30cm	2	Front

Iconoclast Class Destroyer — 30 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	30cm	90°	1	4+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	30cm	3	Left/front/right

Chaos Transports — pts: special

Notes: For details of transport ships, see the Imperial Ships section. Chaos forces did not build merchant transports of their own; they made ready use of captured Imperial vessels, often crewed by pirates, cultists and renegades.

Chaos Attack Craft — pts: special

The most common Chaos attack craft were the fighters code-named Swiftdeaths, invaluable for picking off torpedoes. The deadly Doomfire bombers were the plague of many Imperial escorts and even capital ships. The Dreadclaw assault craft carried contingents of fanatical and crazed Chaos devotees, or even renegade Space Marines of the Traitor Legions, using ancient phase-field generator technology to burn through the thickest hull in minutes.

Attack Craft	Speed
Swiftdeath Fighters	30cm
Doomfire Bomber	20cm
Dreadclaw Assault Boat	30cm

Notes: For details of attack craft, see the Imperial Ships section.

Activated Blackstone Fortress — 750 pts

A fully operational Blackstone Fortress was the most devastating vessel in the galaxy at the time, its many weapons utilising a knowledge of warp technology far surpassing that of even the Adeptus Mechanicus. Its primary weapons were able to slice through the barriers separating the warp and realspace, unleashing a beam of pure immaterium that could bypass a vessel's shields and rend ships apart.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/16	10cm	Special	6	6	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Warp cannons	90cm	8	All round

Special Rules: A Blackstone Fortress cannot go onto special orders but is assumed to automatically pass all other Leadership tests it is required to make. The Blackstone Fortress can move up to 10cm in any direction in the movement phase: it does not turn like a normal ship. It has no crew and so does not add a D6 to its boarding score during a boarding action. A Blackstone Fortress' warp cannons roll 1 dice per point of Strength and require a 4+ to hit, like a lance. However, a warp cannon shot ignores shields: all hits will affect a ship directly.

Gothic Sector Chaos Incursion Fleet List

Fleet Commander: 1 Chaos Warmaster. You must include a Chaos Warmaster in your fleet, even if it is worth 750 points or less. He must be assigned to the biggest (ie, most expensive) ship and improves its Leadership to the value shown below.

• Chaos Warmaster (Ld 8) — 50 pts
• Chaos Warmaster (Ld 9) — 100 pts

Chaos Warmasters get one re-roll. In addition they may be given up to four Marks of Chaos as shown below (no Mark may be taken more than once):

• The Mark of Slaanesh — +25 pts. The Chaos Warmaster is accompanied by the dissonant, siren cry of the Daemons of Slaanesh. Enemy ships within 15cm of the Chaos Warmaster's ship suffer -2 to their Leadership value.
• The Mark of Khorne — +20 pts. The Chaos Warmaster's ship doubles its value in boarding actions and adds +1 to any rolls for inflicting critical damage in a boarding action.
• The Mark of Tzeentch — +30 pts. The Chaos Warmaster gains a re-roll.
• The Mark of Nurgle — +35 pts. The Chaos Warmaster's ship gains a damage point and may not be boarded.

0-3 Chaos Lords. You may include up to three Chaos Lords in your fleet. Each Chaos Lord must be assigned a ship and improves its Leadership rating to the value shown.

• Chaos Lord (Ld 8) — 50 pts

A Chaos Lord may be given up to one of the following Marks of Chaos: Mark of Slaanesh (+25 pts), Mark of Khorne (+20 pts, ship doubles its value in boarding actions), Mark of Tzeentch (+30 pts, gains a re-roll), Mark of Nurgle (+35 pts, gains a damage point and may not be boarded).

Capital Ships.

Battleships. You may include up to one battleship in your fleet for every three cruisers or heavy cruisers. Chaos Despoiler class battleship — 400 pts. Chaos Desolator class battleship — 300 pts.

Grand Cruisers. You may include up to one grand cruiser in your fleet for every three cruisers or heavy cruisers. Chaos Repulsive class grand cruiser — 230 pts.

Heavy Cruisers. You may include up to one heavy cruiser in your fleet for every two cruisers. Chaos Styx class heavy cruiser — 290 pts. Chaos Hades class heavy cruiser — 200 pts. Chaos Acheron class heavy cruiser — 190 pts.

0-12 Cruisers. Chaos Devastation class cruiser — 190 pts. Chaos Murder class cruiser — 170 pts. Chaos Carnage class cruiser — 180 pts. Chaos Slaughter class cruiser — 165 pts.

Escorts. You can include any number of escorts in your fleet. Chaos Idolator class raider — 45 pts. Chaos Infidel class raider — 40 pts. Chaos Iconoclast class destroyer — 30 pts.

Ordnance. Ships with launch bays can have a mixture of Swiftdeath fighters, Doomfire bombers or Dreadclaw assault craft. Ships with torpedo tubes are armed with normal and boarding torpedoes.

Eldar Corsairs

The Eldar race is an ancient one and their ships are amongst the most sophisticated in the galaxy. The captains and crews of the ships are arguably the best trained and most naturally able spacefarers of any race. Eldar ships move by capturing stellar energy through their sails and using this to power their movement. The amount of energy they can capture and therefore the distance they can move, depends on their facing with regard to the nearest star. Their ships are graceful and extremely manoeuvrable, allowing them to dart in and launch an attack and then pull back before their slower moving enemies have a chance to react. Eldar ships are protected by holofields which distort targeting sensors and make them very hard to hit, rather than offering any physical protection. However, attacks that do strike home tend to cause considerable damage to their sophisticated but fragile vessels.

As a race, the Eldar are highly accomplished raiders. They use rapid hit-and-run attacks to eliminate isolated pockets of the enemy, utilising their speed and manoeuvrability to hit where he is weakest. However, if the enemy is able to bring sufficient force to bear, Eldar ships are not sturdy enough to withstand the furious bombardment of a full fleet engagement.

Eldar Leadership. All Eldar ships add +1 to the Leadership score generated on the Leadership table, giving them a Leadership value between 7 and 10.

Due to their unique method of movement, the Eldar may not use the following special orders: All Ahead Full, Burn Retros, Come To New Heading. Note: because Eldar ships cannot use All Ahead Full special orders, they also may not ram.

Eldar Ship Movement. The movement rules below replace the normal movement rules for Eldar ships. Assume anything not modified below applies normally to the Eldar.

Eldar ships move in their movement phase and in the ordnance phase of their own turn. Note that they do not move in the ordnance phase of the enemy's turn.

Before an Eldar ship moves, it may turn to face any direction. It always turns before it moves and then remains facing in that direction until the start of its next move.

Work out the speed an Eldar ship can move at after it has turned. Its speed depends on its facing towards the sunward table edge. All Eldar ships have three speeds (for example, 10/20/30). The first is used if the sunward table edge is in the Eldar ship's front fire arc; the second is used if the sunward table edge is in its rear fire arc; and the third is used if the sunward table edge is in its left or right fire arcs. If the sunward table edge lies on the line between two fire arcs, the Eldar player may choose which he uses.

Eldar ships have no minimum move distances. They move from zero up to the maximum distance allowed by the direction of the sun. After their initial turn they travel in a straight line and may not make additional turns as they move.

As noted above, the Eldar move twice in each of their turns. The second move is made in the ordnance phase after any ordnance is moved, but apart from this all the rules described for Eldar movement will apply.

Blast Markers and Gravity Wells. Eldar are affected by Blast markers in the same way as other ships without shields – they will take a point of damage on a D6 roll of 6 and reduce their speed by 5cm that turn. Gravity wells allow Eldar to curve their normally straight line move around the planet and so the ship may make a free turn towards the planet at the end of its move (since it can turn in any direction at the start, there is no additional benefit at the start of its move).

Holofields. Against attacks that use the Gunnery table, the holofields cause one column shift to the right, in addition to any other column shifts for range or Blast markers. Against any other form of attack (lances, torpedoes, etc), roll to hit an Eldar ship as normal, but the Eldar player may then make a saving roll for his holofields:

D6	Result
1	Hit! Score a hit on the Eldar ship.
2-6	Missed! Place a Blast marker in contact with the ship.

Note that holofields do not negate hits from moving through blast markers, exploding ships and celestial phenomena. They do, however, work against ordnance hits, hit-and-run raids, boarding actions, ramming or nova cannon.

Eldar Critical Hits. Any hit on an Eldar ship causes critical damage on a D6 roll of 4+, rather than the usual 6+. Roll 2D6 on the Eldar Critical Hits table below, rather than the standard Critical Hits table.

Eldar Weapons. Eldar ships carry three main weapon systems:

Pulsar Lance. Pulsar lances fire volleys of high energy laser bolts. These count as lance shots, and hit on a 4+ no matter what the target's armour. However, if a pulsar lance shot hits, then you may roll to hit again and you may keep on rolling to hit until you miss or the lance has scored a total of 3 hits.

Weapon Batteries. Eldar weapons batteries are short-ranged weapons that unleash a torrent of fire. They employ sophisticated targeting systems which make them very accurate even at extreme angles of attack. To represent their accuracy, Eldar weapons batteries count all targets as 'closing' on the Gunnery table, no matter what the target's actual aspect is. This aside, all the normal rules apply.

Torpedoes. Eldar torpedoes use sophisticated targeter scrambling systems to make themselves virtually undetectable until they strike. To represent this, defensive turrets only hit Eldar torpedoes on a roll of 6, rather than on a roll of 4, 5, or 6 as is normally the case. In addition, the highly accurate targeting sensors on Eldar torpedoes allow you to re-roll the dice to hit for any torpedo that misses a target on the first attempt.

Eldar Critical Hits Table

2D6	Extra Damage	Result
2	+0	Infinity circuit damaged. The ship's infinity circuit, which aids control and internal communications, is damaged by the hit. The ship's Leadership is reduced by -1 until the damage can be repaired.
3	+0	Keel armament damaged. The keel armament is taken off line by the hit and may not fire until it has been repaired.
4	+0	Prow armament damaged. The ship's prow is ripped open. Its prow armament may not fire until it has been repaired.
5	+0	Mast lines severed. The systems that allow the ship to alter the angle of the sails and turn swiftly are broken by the hit. Until the damage is repaired, the ship may only turn up to 90° before it moves.
6	+0	Mainsail scarred. The ship's main solar sail suffers surface damage, reducing the amount of energy it can store. Each of the ship's speeds is reduced by 5cm until the sail is repaired.
7	+1	Superstructure damaged. The hit tears into the ship, causing a small breach. Until the damage is repaired, roll a dice every time the ship turns over 45°. On a roll of 1, the ship suffers 1 extra point of damage.
8	+0	Mainsail shredded. The solar cells of the mainsail are torn to tatters by the hit. The ship cannot move in the ordnance phase until the damage is repaired.
9	+1	Infinity circuit smashed. The fine crystal matrix of the infinity circuit is shattered by the hit. The ship's Leadership is reduced by -3. This damage may not be repaired.
10	+0	Holofield generators destroyed. The holofield generators are smashed beyond repair by the hit. The ship no longer benefits from its holofields. This damage may not be repaired.
11	+D3	Hull breach. A huge gash is torn in the ship's hull, causing carnage among the crew.
12	+D6	Bulkhead collapse. Internal pillars buckle and twist, whole compartments crumple with a scream of tortured metal, just pray that some of the ship holds together.

Shadow Class Cruiser — 210 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/6	10/20/25	Special	Holofields	4+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Keel torpedoes	30cm	4	Front
Prow weapons battery	30cm	12	Front

Eclipse Class Cruiser — 250 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/6	10/20/25	Special	Holofields	4+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Keel launch bay	Darkstar 30cm / Eagle 20cm	4	–
Prow pulsar lance	30cm	2	Front

Hellebore Class Frigate — 75 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	10/20/30	Special	Holofields	4+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Prow pulsar lances	30cm	1	Front
Keel torpedoes	30cm	2	Front
Prow weapons battery	30cm	1	Front

Aconite Class Frigate — 65 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	10/20/30	Special	Holofields	4+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Prow weapons battery	30cm	5	Front

Nightshade Class Destroyer — 40 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	15/20/30	Special	Holofields	4+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Keel torpedoes	30cm	2	Front
Prow weapons battery	30cm	1	Front

Hemlock Class Destroyer — 40 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	15/20/30	Special	Holofields	4+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Prow pulsar lance	30cm	1	Front

Note: A Hemlock class destroyer cannot initiate boarding actions. A ship that boards a Hemlock class destroyer gains a +1 modifier in addition to any other modifiers.

Eldar Attack Craft — pts: special

Eldar Darkstar fighters are possibly the most accomplished interceptors there are: highly agile and extremely fast, with crystal power generation systems that allow them to operate for longer periods than other fighters. The Eagle bomber benefits from a modified version of the holofield generators found on larger vessels, designed to distort the craft's sensor image at close range, and often carries highly destructive sonic charges. There were no reported incidents of Eldar corsairs employing assault boats in the Gothic sector.

Attack Craft	Speed
Darkstar Fighter	30cm
Eagle Bomber	20cm

Special Rules: When an Eldar fighter removes another Ordnance marker by contacting it, roll a dice. On a roll of 4, 5 or 6 do not remove the Eldar fighters, they remain in play. A fighter can only remove one enemy marker per ordnance phase. Against other ordnance with this same ability, it is possible that neither marker will end up being removed; if this happens, either marker is free to move away in their next turn, or may stay in place and attempt to remove their enemy again. Defensive turrets need a 6 to hit Eldar bombers, rather than a 4, 5 or 6 as is normal. You may re-roll the dice when determining how many attacks an Eagle bomber makes. Remember that the second roll stands, even if it is worse.

Gothic Sector Eldar Corsairs Fleet List

Fleet Commander: 0-1 Pirate Prince. You may include 1 Pirate Prince in your fleet, who must be assigned to a ship and adds +2 to its Leadership, to a maximum of 10. If the fleet is worth over 750 points a Pirate Prince must be included to lead it.

• Pirate Prince (Ld+2) — 100 pts

You may purchase Fleet Commander re-rolls for your Pirate Prince by paying the cost listed below.

• One re-roll — 25 pts
• Two re-rolls — 50 pts
• Three re-rolls — 100 pts

Capital Ships: 0-12 Cruisers. Eldar Eclipse class cruiser — 250 pts. Eldar Shadow class cruiser — 210 pts.

Escorts. Your fleet may have any number of escorts. Eldar Hellebore class frigate — 75 pts. Eldar Aconite class frigate — 65 pts. Eldar Hemlock class destroyer — 40 pts. Eldar Nightshade class destroyer — 40 pts.

Ordnance. Any ship with launch bays may choose to have them launch any mix of Darkstar fighters and Eagle bombers. Ships with torpedo tubes are armed with Eldar torpedoes.

Ork Pirates

Orks are not the greatest space-faring race in the galaxy. Their ships are often ill-kempt, unreliable rust buckets kept in operation only by the constant efforts of Ork Mekboyz and their Gretchin slaves. They make great use of salvaged hulks and their largest vessels are often refitted space hulks that providentially drift out of the warp near one of their worlds. Ork pirate attacks are brutally direct, with their ships rushing headlong towards their target, guns firing wildly as they come. Unfortunately Ork ships are exceedingly heavily armed for their size, so this tactic is harder to defeat than might be imagined.

Ork Special Rules

Leadership. While Orks approach space combat with the same gusto they reserve for all forms of violence, the technical nature of the fighting is often at odds with their ability. This means that all Ork ships reduce their Leadership by -1 from whatever they rolled, giving them a Leadership range of 5 to 8.

All Ahead Full Special Orders. One thing Orks need very little encouragement to do is go fast. Their ships commonly mount a plethora of excess (and excessive) thrusters, boosters and extra drives. Because of this, Orks do not need to pass a Command check to use All Ahead Full special orders. However, Ork drives are less efficient than those of other races and are often short on fuel, so they only travel an extra 2D6cm on All Ahead Full orders instead of 4D6cm.

Boarding. Orks are ferocious close combat opponents and exceptionally good at boarding actions, where their brute strength and hardiness is most useful. To represent this renowned savagery, they get a +1 bonus in boarding actions.

Ork Weapons. Ork weapons are mostly limited to fairly crude but efficient slug-throwers and missiles, mixed with other captured weaponry salvaged from hulks and defeated ships. The effectiveness in battle of Ork firing varies wildly from moment to moment as different weapons break down or are repaired, or even improved during combat.

Gunz. Standard Ork weapons batteries are referred to as 'gunz'. These have a random firepower which is rolled each time they are fired. The dice roll and modifier for different gunz is indicated on the Ork ship's characteristics.

Torpedo Launchas. As with their gunz, Ork torpedoes can vary wildly in their effectiveness. The strength of a salvo from an Ork torpedo launcha is randomly generated each time it is fired by rolling the dice indicated on its characteristics. Ork ships in squadrons may not combine torpedoes into larger salvoes.

Heavy Gunz. The Orks commonly mount massed batteries of very powerful but short ranged weapons on their ships, as well as more standard weapons batteries. At close ranges, the barrage of fire from these weapons has spelled the doom of many ships. Heavy gunz roll to hit like ordinary weapons batteries but do not count gunnery modifiers for range. Each hit scored by heavy gunz causes double damage, ie, two hits instead of one.

Fighta-Bommas. Ork attack craft are known as fighta-bommas and perform the roles of both interceptor and bomber. They carry heavy bombs and rockets for attacking at close range, but gladly pounce on other attack craft they encounter. This hybrid approach means that they function as fighters normally but can attack ships as if they were bombers. However, when attacking a ship, each squadron only rolls a D3 not a D6 for the number of attacks they inflict.

Ork Kill Kroozer — 155 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/10	20cm	45°	1	6+ front/5+ sides/4+ rear	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port heavy gunz	15cm	4	Left
Port gunz	30cm	D6	Left
Starboard heavy gunz	15cm	4	Right
Starboard gunz	30cm	D6	Right
Prow heavy gunz	15cm	6	Front
Prow gunz	45cm	D6+2	Front

Notes: An Ork kroozer may replace its prow heavy gun battery with a torpedo launcha (Speed 30cm, Strength D6+2) at no extra points cost. If fitted with a torpedo launcha, a kroozer may carry boarding torpedoes (Speed 20cm, Strength D6+2) at a cost of +5 pts.

Ork Terror Ship — 185 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Cruiser/10	20cm	45°	1	6+ front/5+ sides/4+ rear	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Port gunz	30cm	D6	Left
Port launch bays	Fighta Bommas 25cm / Assault Boats 30cm	2	n/a
Starboard gunz	30cm	D6	Right
Starboard launch bays	Fighta Bommas 25cm / Assault Boats 30cm	2	n/a
Prow gunz	45cm	D6+2	Front
Prow heavy gunz	15cm	6	Front

Notes: An Ork Terror ship may replace its prow heavy gun battery with a torpedo launcha (Speed 30cm, Strength D6+2) at no extra points cost. If fitted with a torpedo launcha, a Terror ship may carry boarding torpedoes (Speed 20cm, Strength D6+2) at an additional cost of +5 pts.

Onslaught Attack Ship — 45 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	20cm	45°	1	6+ front/4+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Gunz battery	30cm	D6+1	Front

Savage Gunship — 40 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	20cm	45°	1	6+ front/4+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Heavy gunz battery	15cm	4	Front

Ravager Attack Ship — 35 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	20cm	45°	1	6+ front/4+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Torpedoes	30cm	D6	Front
Gunz battery	30cm	2	Front

Brute Ram Ship — 25 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	25cm	90°	1	6+ front/4+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Gunz battery	30cm	2	Front/left/right

Notes: The Brute ram ship is built for smashing into an enemy vessel at top speed, hence it rolls 4 dice to damage an opposing ship when it rams.

Ork Pirates of the Cyclops Cluster Fleet List

Warlord (0-1 per 500 pts). You may include 1 or more Warlord in your fleet, each of whom must be assigned to a ship or squadron. If the fleet is worth 500 points or more it must include at least 1 Warlord to lead it.

• Ork Warlord — 40 pts

Warlords get one re-roll. They can have up to two more re-rolls for the additional cost noted below.

• One extra re-roll — 20 pts
• Two extra re-rolls — 40 pts

A vessel carrying a Warlord doubles its boarding value and may include up to one of the upgrades shown below at the additional cost indicated.

• Maniac Gunners — +35 pts. The ship may re-roll the dice for the firepower of its gunz.
• Mega-armoured Boarding Parties — +15 pts. +1 modifier on boarding.
• Looted Torpedoes — +20 pts. The ship may re-roll the dice for the strength of torpedo salvoes when it fires.

An Ork fleet can include a max. of one Warlord per 500 points. Ie, if the fleet is worth up to 500 points, it may have one Warlord. If it is worth 500-1,000 points two Warlords may be included, etc.

Kroozers. You may include up to six kroozers in your fleet. Ork Kill kroozer — 155 pts. Ork Terror kroozer — 185 pts.

Additional Warlord upgrades: Mad Meks — +25 pts. The ship may re-roll the dice for damage control. Extra Power Fields — +25 pts. The ship's shield value is increased by +1.

Escorts. You can include any number of escorts in your fleet. Ork Onslaught attack ship — 45 pts. Ork Savage gunship — 40 pts. Ork Ravager attack ship — 35 pts. Ork Brute ramship — 25 pts.

Planetary Defences

As well as relying upon the intervention of interstellar warships, a planetary system may also be protected by local defences. The first of these are the high orbit defences, that are capable of attacking enemy ships as they approach the planet. These defence platforms are armed with ship weaponry, such as gun batteries and torpedo launchers, providing a solid ring of protection around the world. Larger installations can also be found, such as space stations and orbital docks which bristle with weaponry and attack craft launch bays. Most supreme of all are the six Blackstone Fortresses of the Gothic sector, with an immense battery of weapons capable of obliterating capital ships and cutting through whole squadrons of lighter vessels.

As well as stationary defences, many systems also use system defence vessels. Unlike larger warships, these ships have no warp engines and are therefore confined to the system. They are slow compared to the sleek frigates and destroyers of the Imperial Navy, but their guns are still potent enough to damage the largest enemy vessels.

In addition to high orbit defences, a planet may also have a number of ground-based laser silos, missile batteries and airfields which can attack ships that enter low orbit, intent on bombarding the planet's surface or deploying troops for a planetary assault.

Including Planetary Defences in Your Games. There are a number of ways to use planetary defences in Battlefleet Gothic:

Scenario Driven. Some scenarios specify that the defender can spend a certain amount on planetary defences. In this case, the player with planetary defences chooses from the planetary defences list up to the points value indicated in the scenario.

During Standard Games Around a Planet. As well as in special scenarios, you can also use the following method to play battles using planetary defences. If you generate a planet as a celestial phenomenon, you can also give it planetary defences if you wish. A small planet will have D6-2 orbital defences, a medium sized planet will have D6-1 planetary defences and a large planet D6 planetary defences. If the scenario has an attacker and a defender, then the defender is assumed to have control of the planet. If there is no attacker and defender, both players roll a dice to see who controls the planet. Each planetary defence can be worth up to D6x5 points – roll each one separately. You may combine the points of several planetary defences to buy a single, more expensive defence system.

Alternatively, you can decide beforehand that you'll be fighting near to a planet, in which case the defending player may buy planetary defences out of their normal points value – a small planet can have no more than 4 planetary defences, a medium planet can have a maximum of 5 planetary defences and a large planet a maximum of 6. It is also a good idea to put an upper limit on the amount of points that can be spent (for example, in a standard battle perhaps no more than 10% of the fleet's points may be spent on planetary defences).

In a Campaign. If you are playing a campaign and you know which system type (eg, hive, agri-world, etc.) you are fighting in, you can use the following table to decide the level of planetary defences. You can also use the table to generate a random planet type during a non-campaign game – roll 2D6 and see what type of planet you're fighting around.

2D6	Planet Type	No. Defences
2	Forge world	D6+1
3	Hive world	D6
4-5	Civilised world	D6-1
6-7	Uninhabited	D3-1
8-9	Agri-world	D6-2
10-11	Mining world	D6-2
12	Penal colony	D6

Planetary Defences Leadership. As noted in the planetary defences section of the Advanced Rules, planetary defences may only attempt the Reload Ordnance special order, for which they have a nominal Leadership 7.

High Orbit Defences

High orbit defences may be placed around a planet or its moons. They must be deployed within the planet or moon's gravity well (ie, 10cm for a small planet, 15cm for a medium one, etc.).

Orbital Defence Laser Platform — 30 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/1	0	0	1	6+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Lance battery	30cm	2	All round

Orbital Torpedo Launcher — 30 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/1	0	0	1	6+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Torpedoes	30cm	6	All round

Orbital Weapons Platform — 30 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/1	0	0	1	6+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	60cm	6	All round

Orbital Mine — 5 pts

An orbital mine is a piece of heavy ordnance placed to protect a location such as a planet, moon or space station. With its own small engine it will home in on any energy signature it detects which is not accompanied by a friendly beacon signal. At close range it detonates a powerful warhead, which can cripple even the largest vessel.

Special Rules: The orbital mine moves 10cm towards the nearest enemy ship in each ordnance phase. If it moves into contact with the base of an enemy ship it detonates and rolls eight dice to hit the target vessel. The target vessel may fire its turrets normally. If the mine is hit it rolls four Attack dice instead of eight. An orbital mine is treated like any other ordnance for the purposes of movement, Blast markers and shooting. Except for fighters, mines are not affected by, and do not affect, any other Ordnance markers they come into contact with. If the mine comes into contact with fighters, both markers are removed as normal.

Minefields — 40 pts

As well as solitary mines, some systems are protected by minefields covering several thousand kilometres. If an enemy approaches too close, the motion-tracking surveyors may detect the intruder and activate several of the mines to seek out the target and detonate.

Special Rules: A minefield covers an area that is D3x5cm by D3x5cm and must be placed with an edge within 15cm of a tabletop feature (such as a planet, moon or asteroid field). A minefield will block line of sight through it.

In the owning player's ordnance phase, roll a dice for each enemy ship within 30cm of the edge of the minefield. On a roll of a 5 or 6 the ship has been detected. Add +1 to the roll if the ship is on All Ahead Full orders and deduct -1 if it is on Burn Retros orders, also subtract -1 if the ship is an Escort. For each ship detected, the player may place one orbital mine anywhere in contact with the edge of the minefield. Once in play, orbital mines follow the normal orbital mine rules.

It is possible to suppress a minefield with firing, using gun decks and lances to create a swirl of gas and debris to blind the field's motion trackers. A minefield may be fired at like an Ordnance marker and has an armour value of 6. Each hit scored allows you to place one Blast marker in contact with the minefield. If a minefield has Blast markers in contact with it, deduct -1 from any dice rolls to detect ships. In each end phase, each minefield will lose D6 Blast markers and these do not count towards the number of other Blast markers that can be removed that turn.

Fire Ship — 10 pts

Fire ship is the name given to a variety of de-commissioned warships, merchant transports and other old vessels which have been packed full of unstable plasma and incendiary explosives. They are guided into the enemy fleet by a skeleton crew, who sets the ship to explode and then evacuate in escape pods. The massive explosion caused by a fire ship detonation will pass through a ship's shields and can cause horrendous damage to the structure of a vessel caught within its blast.

Special Rules: The controlling player can detonate a fire ship at any point in its movement phase, inflicting D3 Fire critical hits on every ship within 3D6cm. As with any escort suffering a critical hit, escorts within the fire ship's blast will be automatically destroyed, as are any Ordnance markers. Remove the detonated fire ship and put a Blast marker in its place.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	15cm	45°	1	5+	1

System Ships — 20 pts

System ships are a mix of short-range strike vessels and other starships incapable of interstellar travel. They often have civilian crews and lack the sophisticated targeting systems, superior engines and manoeuvring thrusters of a warship, but when used in numbers can still pose a real threat.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	15cm	45°	1	5+	1

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	30cm	3	Left/front/right

Defence Monitor — 60 pts

Defence monitors are dedicated defence ships crewed by Imperial Navy personnel, designed to hammer the enemy at close range. Much of the power generation systems are linked to armaments rather than engines, which means that they pack a lot of weaponry for their size, but are relatively hard to manoeuvre.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Escort/1	10cm	45°	2	6+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	30cm	8	Left/front/right
Lance battery	30cm	1	Front

Orbital Dock — 90 pts

During peacetime, orbital docks are loading and unloading points for an interstellar transport's lighters and boats. If the system is attacked, the orbital dock's extensive facilities can be turned to preparing and launching military craft to fight off the enemy.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/6	0	0	2	5+	3

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	30cm	4	All round
Launch bays	Fighter 30cm / Bombers 20cm	4 squadrons	–

Space Station — 150 pts

The term space station covers a number of large orbital installations whose roles include commercial and military shipyards, Adeptus Mechanicus research facilities, Naval command bases and stations built purely for habitation. The largest are capable of handling several large military capital ships at once.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/8	0	0	2	5+	4

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	60cm	12	All round
Lance battery	30cm	3	All round
Launch bays	Fighters 30cm / Bombers 20cm	4 squadrons	–

Blackstone Fortress — 400 pts

The mighty Blackstone Fortresses were the foundation of the Imperial Naval strategy and presence in the Gothic Sector. Although almost entirely dormant, a Blackstone Fortress was still open to exploitation by Imperial forces, who linked numerous weapon systems to its alien energy grid, opened up vast chambers to be used as attack craft launch bays and installed defence turrets over its surface.

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Defence/16	0	0	6	5+	6

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Weapons battery	60cm	20	All round
Lance battery	60cm	4	All round
Launch bays	Fighters 30cm / Bombers 20cm	8 squadrons	–

Low Orbit Defences

Low orbit defences may only be deployed on the low orbit table. They are all ground-based, so must be placed along the table edge which has been designated as representing the ground. Laser and missile silos have a front fire arc which faces away from the planet's surface and into space. Low orbit defences can never attack ships which are not on the low orbit table. It is particularly important to realise that ordnance launched from the ground cannot move up to high orbit – the fuel expended to achieve escape velocity means that the ordnance is rendered useless by the time it gets there.

Defence Laser Silo — 15 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Ground/1	0	0	0	6+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Lance battery	60cm	3	Front

Missile Silo — 5 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Ground/1	0	0	0	6+	0

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Torpedoes	30cm	6	Front

Air Base — 20 pts

TYPE/HITS	SPEED	TURNS	SHIELDS	ARMOUR	TURRETS
Ground/1	0	0	0	6+	2

ARMAMENT	RANGE/SPEED	FIREPOWER/STR	FIRE ARC
Launch bays	Fighters 30cm / Bombers 20cm	4 squadrons	–

Gothic Sector Planetary Defences List

Orbital Defences. Orbital defence laser platform — 30 pts. Orbital torpedo — 30 pts. Orbital weapons platform — 30 pts. Orbital mine — 5 pts. 0-2 Minefields — 40 pts. 0-6 Fire ships — 10 pts. System ship — 20 pts. Defence monitor — 60 pts. Orbital dock — 90 pts. Space station — 150 pts. Blackstone fortress — 400 pts.

Low Orbit Defences. 0-8 Defence laser silos — 15 pts. 0-8 Missile silos — 5 pts. 0-4 Air bases — 20 pts.

Campaign Rules

At some stage all wargamers contemplate running a campaign. A campaign allows you to fight your own 'ongoing war' by linking battles together, so that the results of one battle will have an effect on the future ones you fight. Over the course of the war you will be able to develop cunning strategies to conquer a whole sub-sector of the Gothic system and you will be able to watch your fleet develop as ships' crews gain in skill and ability – or are destroyed and have to be replaced with inexperienced crews.

Getting Started

In order to run a campaign you'll need at least one player with a Chaos fleet and one player with an Imperial fleet. Any amount of extra players can join in, including players with Ork or Eldar fleets.

Once you've got your players together you need to pick one of the sub-sectors we've provided maps for as the location for your campaign. For your first campaign we recommend starting off with one of the smaller sub-sectors, unless there are lots of players (ie, more than eight) taking part.

Next you need to get all the players together for a 'campaign briefing' to go over the rules and decide how long the campaign is to last (for your first campaign we recommend playing for one month of real time). Players should also elect a 'campaign arbitrator' who is in charge of making sure that the campaign runs smoothly.

Starting Systems. At the start of the campaign, many of the systems in the sub-sector will be neutral. Imperial and Chaos players start with one of the systems in the sub-sector under their control. Roll a D6 to decide the order that both players pick their system. Eldar and Ork players start with a hidden pirate base instead, and should write down secretly which system it is hidden in (they can pick a system controlled by an Imperial or Chaos player).

Starting Fleets and the Fleet Register. Imperial and Chaos fleets begin the campaign with 2,000 points and Ork and Eldar fleets start with 1,500 points. You must have models to represent all of the ships in your fleet. Each player has his own fleet register, used to keep notes and dates of when a capital ship or escort squadron was commissioned, its class, when it takes its fleet trials (ie, it's assembled, painted and its Leadership rating is rolled for), its campaign history and its loss if and when they occur. If a vessel is used in battle before its fleet trials are complete it will suffer a critical hit on a D6 roll of 1 every time it uses special orders. Ships which are added to the fleet register after the start of the campaign suffer a -1 modifier to their Leadership due to their hasty training and less experienced officers.

The Commander. Each player's fleet has a commander who represents the player himself. Over the course of the campaign, your commander will collect renown points and gain in rank, and at the end of the campaign the commander with the highest renown is the winner. He'll need a name, and starts off with 1 point of renown and one re-roll. You must pick one ship in your fleet as his flagship. If this ship is involved in a battle then 'you' are there, and you may use the commander's re-roll or any other special abilities he may have in the battle. If the flagship is destroyed, then it is assumed that your commander manages to escape somehow; he may not have any further effect in that game, but you may choose a new flagship for him once the game is over.

Fighting Battles. In order for things to happen in the campaign players must fight battles. Players challenge any other player in the campaign to a game and if they agree the game uses the additional campaign rules as well as the rules used for a normal game. It's best if Imperial players are not allowed to attack each other, and if the Chaos and Eldar players restrain themselves, if possible, from attacking players of their own race.

The Campaign Turn

Each time that two players have a game they both get what is known as a campaign turn. The turn uses the following sequence of play:

1. Build-Up – Determine Initiative; Roll for incoming Orders, select target system if necessary; Select Forces from Fleet Registry.
2. Fight Battle
3. Aftermath – Claim System; Adjust Renown; Promotions & Demotions; Ship Experience; Repairs & Withdrawals; Make Appeals.

Build-Up

The build-up stage takes place at the start of the battle, before either player deploys or picks his fleet.

1. Determine Initiative. Roll to see who is attacker and who is defender (the player who rolls highest is the attacker). If one player has more systems than the other his forces are stretched more thinly, so the player with fewer systems gains a +1 bonus to the dice roll.

2. Receive Orders. One of the players must roll a D6 to determine what type and size of scenario is to be played.

D6 Roll	Orders
1-2	Raid (500-750 points)
3-6	Battle (750-1500 points)

If one player has 21 Renown points or more he may choose whether to fight a battle or a raid (if both are this status then roll to see who decides).

Decide Location. The attacker must select the system in which the scenario will take place. The system must be connected to one already controlled by the player via a warp route. If no systems are already held, any may be chosen. If an uninhabited system is chosen, the defender must reduce his points value by 100 pts.

Decide Size of Battle. Players agree the points value of the game and select their forces within the limits listed on the Incoming Orders table. If one player holds more systems than the other, each extra system a player holds over his opponent reduces his fleet size by 10 points.

Ork & Eldar Scenarios. Ork and Eldar fleets only ever make raids, they never take part in battles. If you roll up a battle on the Incoming Orders table, then it is treated as a major raid instead (roll for the scenario for the major raid on the Raids table, but the size of the battle is increased to 750-1,500 points).

Attacking Pirate Bases. Orks and Eldar never get to capture systems, but instead have a secret pirate base. If an Ork or Eldar player's opponent with a rank of Admiral or higher gains the initiative for a scenario, then he can attempt to attack the base instead of playing a normal scenario. The attacker must first find the base: roll a D6 and multiply the score by 10. If you roll under the Ork or Eldar side's renown, then you've tracked down the base. If found and the attacker controls the system (or it is neutral), play either the Planetary Assault or the Exterminatus scenario. If the attacker wins, the base is destroyed and can no longer be used.

Decide Scenario. Roll on the tables below to determine which scenario is to be played, or if both players agree you can pick one from those listed for the type of scenario.

Raids: D6 Roll	Scenario
1	Cruiser Clash
2	The Bait
3	The Raiders
4	Blockade Run
5-6	Convoy

Battles: D6 Roll	Scenario
1	Exterminatus!
2	Surprise Attack
3	Planetary Assault
4	Escalating Engagement
5-6	Fleet Engagement

3. Pick Fleets. Both players must now pick their fleets using ships from their fleet register, up to the agreed points total. You can't change the details of ships on the register or adjust their points value at this stage. With the build-up completed, roll for a sub-plot and then fight the battle.

Aftermath

Once you have fought a campaign game, the aftermath stage has the following steps:

1. The Spoils of War. Whenever an attacker wins a battle, he may claim control of the system if it is connected by a warp route to one he already controls, and if it previously belonged to the player he defeated or was previously neutral. Whenever an attacker wins a raid, he may count the opponent's system where the raid took place as his own for the rest of this campaign turn.

2. Adjust Renown. Renown is a measure of the fame or infamy enjoyed by you, the fleet commander. Players start the campaign with 1 point of renown and can gain or lose renown as shown on the Renown table. At the end of the campaign, the player that has earned the most renown is the winner.

Renown Table

Renown is gained for: winning a battle or major raid (+2), winning a raid (+1), victory points earned (+VPs/100, rounded up), sub-plots (variable), each capital ship hulk captured (+1), fighting a commander with higher renown (+1), fighting a fleet with higher points value and losing (+1), fighting a fleet with higher points value and winning (+2).

Renown is lost for: losing a battle (-1), losing a raid (-1), each capital ship lost (-1), sub-plots (variable).

Note: A commander can never be reduced below 1 renown point.

3. Promotions and Demotions. The player gains promotions according to their renown as shown on the tables below. It is possible to lose rank if you lose renown points. Your rank determines how many re-rolls or Marks of Chaos you receive in the scenarios that you fight.

Imperial Promotion Table

Renown	Title	Ld	Notes
1-5	Commander	8	1 re-roll
6-10	Battle Group Commander	8	2 re-rolls
11-20	Subsector Commander	9	2 re-rolls
21-30	Admiral	9	3 re-rolls
31-50	Fleet Admiral	10	3 re-rolls
51+	Solar Admiral	10	4 re-rolls

Chaos Promotion Table

Renown	Title	Ld	Notes
1-5	Chaos Champion	8	1 re-roll
6-10	Exalted Chaos Champion	8	1 re-roll, 1 Mark of Chaos
11-20	Tyrant	9	1 re-roll, 1 Mark of Chaos
21-30	Chaos Lord	9	1 re-roll, 2 Marks of Chaos
31-50	Overlord	10	1 re-roll, 2 Marks of Chaos
51+	Warmaster	10	1 re-roll, 3 Marks of Chaos

Ork Promotion Table

Renown	Title	Re-rolls
1-5	Nob	1 re-roll
6-10	Big Nob	2 re-rolls
11-20	Boss	2 re-rolls
21-30	Big Boss	3 re-rolls
31-50	War Boss	3 re-rolls
51+	Warlord	4 re-rolls

Eldar Promotion Table

Renown	Title	Ld Bonus	Notes
1-5	Captain	0	1 re-roll
6-10	Lord	+1	1 re-roll
11-20	Shadow Lord	+1	2 re-rolls
21-30	Prince	+2	2 re-rolls
31-50	Shadow Prince	+2	3 re-rolls
51+	King	+2	4 re-rolls

4. Ship Experience. As the campaign progresses ships (or rather, ship crews) will gain experience, represented by increasing their Leadership characteristic, and by giving them special 'crew skills'. A ship that is badly damaged is likely to have lost a sizable proportion of its experienced crewmen, reducing its effectiveness, while a ship that is destroyed will have to be replaced by a new or salvaged vessel with a very inexperienced crew.

Gaining Experience. Ships which fought in a battle and were not crippled or destroyed roll 2D6. If the roll is higher than their Leadership rating, then either their Leadership may be improved by +1 point (up to a maximum of 10) or the ship may roll on the Crew Skills table. You may choose which option to take, unless the ship has a Leadership of 6 or 7, in which case you must choose to increase the ship's Leadership by +1 point instead of taking a skill.

Crippled Ships. Ships which were crippled in a battle lose -1 Leadership (to a minimum of 6). Crew skills aren't lost for being crippled.

Destroyed Ships. Ships which are destroyed (ie, reduced to 0 damage points) must be replaced with a new ship. Change their name on your fleet register. The new ship has a Leadership of 6, no crew skills, and any refits that have been taken are lost.

Escort Squadrons. Escort squadrons gain and lose Leadership and skills in the same way as ships. Escort squadrons which suffer 50% or greater casualties are considered crippled for the purpose of experience, while those that are wiped out are considered destroyed.

Crew Skill Table

D6	Skill
1	Expert Gunnery. When the ship attempts Lock-on special orders you may roll 3D6 and discard the highest roll before comparing the score to the ship's Leadership.
2	Skilled Engineers. When the ship attempts All Ahead Full or Burn Retros special orders you may roll 3D6 and discard the highest roll before comparing the score to the ship's Leadership.
3	Adept Trimsman. Whenever the ship attempts Come to New Heading special orders you may roll 3D6 and discard the highest roll before comparing the score to the ship's Leadership.
4	Excellent Pilots. Any bombers launched by this ship may re-roll the dice when determining how many To Hit rolls they have. If fighters from this ship intercept attack craft or torpedoes, roll a D6; on a score of 4+ the fighters remain in play instead of being removed.
5	Disciplined Crew. Once per battle the ship may re-roll a failed Leadership test or Command check.
6	Elite Command Crew. Once per battle the ship may automatically pass a Leadership test or Command check – there is no need to roll any dice.

5. Repairs & Withdrawals. In a campaign, ships that have suffered damage must be repaired, and it is the number of systems a player controls that determines how much damage can be fixed. You can either withdraw damaged ships to be repaired outside the sub-sector, or let them limp on as they are until you have time to repair them.

Repairs. Each system a player controls may repair a number of damage points, varying depending on the type of system and your renown, per the Repairing Vessels table below. All criticals are repaired automatically, including ones which may not be repaired during a battle (ie, Bridge Smashed and Shields Collapse). You can use Repair points to bring escort squadrons back up to strength, in which case each escort ship is worth 1 damage point.

Repairing Vessels Table

Renown	Agri	Penal (min of 1)	Mining	Forge/Hive/Pirate base	Civilised	Uninhabited
1-2	1	1	2	3	1	1
6-10	1	D6-4	2	3	2	1
11-20	1	D6-3	2	4	3	1
21-30	2	D6-2	2	5	4	1
31-50	2	D6-1	3	6	5	1
51+	3	D6	4	12	6	1

Withdrawing Ships. A player may choose to withdraw ships to get them fully repaired at a major base. Ships which are withdrawn are unavailable for the player's next game, after which they return to the fleet with their full number of hits. Escort squadrons which are withdrawn may return at full strength.

6. Appeals. After repairs have been completed, both players can appeal to higher authorities/the gods of Chaos for aid. The number of appeals that may be made depends on the players' renown.

Renown	No. of Appeals
1-10	1 Appeal
11-30	2 Appeals
31-50	3 Appeals
51+	4 Appeals

Appeals may be made for the things listed below. You must declare what you will appeal for this turn before rolling a D6 for each appeal to see if it is granted.

Type of Appeals Allowed. Imperial: Refits, Reinforcements, Space Marines. Chaos: Refits, Reinforcements, Forces of Chaos. Ork: Refits, Reinforcements. Eldar: Refits, Reinforcements.

Appeal Granted On

Appeal	Granted On
Reinforcements	2+
Refits	4+
Other	5+

Reinforcements. If granted, one new capital ship or a squadron of up to five escorts may be added to the player's fleet registry (you must have the models to represent them).

Refits. A player who is granted a refit must choose one of his capital ships to undergo the refit, then roll a D6: on a 1-2 a ship refit, 3-4 an engine refit, 5-6 a weapon refit. Then roll on the appropriate Refit table. If you roll a result the ship already has, roll again. The points value of the ship is increased by 10% for each refit it has.

Other Appeals allow you to request the aid of other allied forces – for example, Imperial players can call on the aid of a Space Marine Chapter (rolling on a Space Marines table for gifts ranging from loaned battle barges and strike cruisers to boarding bonuses and reduced enemy points), and Chaos players may draw on the power of the warp (rolling on a Forces of Chaos table for daemonic gifts and curses).

Engine Refit Table

D6	Engine Refit
1	Secondary Reactors. The ship rolls an extra 2D6 when on All Ahead Full special orders.
2	Evasive Jets. At the start of the enemy shooting phase, the ship may take a Leadership test; if passed, it may make a single 45° turn immediately, but may not go on to special orders next turn.
3	Manoeuvring Thrusters. The ship reduces the distance it needs to move before turning by 5cm.
4	Arrester Engines. When attempting Burn Retros or Come to New Heading special orders, the ship may add +1 to its Leadership.
5	Auxiliary Power Relays. The ship gains +5cm to its speed.
6	Navigational Shields. The ship does not suffer reductions to its speed for moving through Blast markers (including gas and dust clouds and similar effects).

Ship Refit Table

D6	Ship Refit
1	Improved Sensor Array. When taking Leadership tests to go on to special orders, the ship gains +2 for enemy ships on special orders, rather than the normal +1.
2	Additional Shield Generator. The ship gains +1 Shields.
3	Superior Damage Control. The ship may roll one extra dice in the end phase when attempting to repair damage.
4	Reinforced Hull. The ship's damage increases by 25% (rounded up) but its speed is reduced by 5cm.
5	Improved Logic Engines. The ship does not suffer -1 Leadership for being in contact with Blast markers.
6	Overload Shield Capacitors. For each hit against the shields, roll a D6; on a roll of 6 the hit is ignored and no Blast marker is placed.

Weapons Refit Table

D6	Weapons Refit
1	Extra Turrets. The ship adds +1 to its Turrets value.
2	Turbo-weapons. The ship does not suffer a right column shift when firing over 30cm.
3	Targeting Matrix. All firing by weapon batteries benefits from a left column shift on the Gunnery table (before any other column shifts).
4	Auto-loaders. The ship adds +1 to its Leadership when attempting Reload Ordnance special orders.
5	Superior Fire Control. The ship adds +1 to its Leadership when attempting Lock-on special orders.
6	Motion-Tracking Targeters. If the ship is on All Ahead Full, Burn Retros or Come to New Heading special orders, its firepower and lance Strength is reduced by 25% (rounded up) rather than halved.

Conclusion

You should set a deadline for the campaign. When the deadline comes up the player that has built up the greatest renown is the winner. Once you've got some experience running campaigns like this, you should feel free to change the criteria for victory – for example, first player to gain control of five systems, or playing until the entire sub-sector is controlled by one side. Other alternatives include a convoy run, where a fleet has to travel from system to system across the map fighting opponents along the way, or a game based on an Ork Waaagh! where Ork players are allowed to control systems. The rules above are only a starting point, and the possibilities for making up your own campaigns are really only limited by your imagination.