Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Torpedoes Away! (or starting Battlefleet Gothic Again)

Although I posted some photos of my Imperial fleet and had a few games of BFG in the new year, I haven't done much with the game since then. The group was on a long kick of Warmachine, and when break-time was due, Mk II of the Warmachine rules came along and reinvigorated our interest in the game. However, we've reached a stage where the group is ready to pursue another joint project, and we thought the next monthly Geek Day would be a great place and time to kick things off with a Battlefleet Gothic tournament.

I've been trying to organize my thoughts over the last few days, and for the sake of preparation and organization, I've decided to do so here in writing. First of all, the advantages of a BFG tournament:
  1. Four guys already have close to (or more than) 1000 points painted for the game.
  2. For those who don't have anything painted yet, the model-count for this game is low and the painting effort is minimal.
  3. A great outer space table can be made cheaply and easily - a black cloth and some random celestial bits and pieces.
  4. All of the rules and and fleet lists are part of GW's living rulebooks pages, and are free for download right here.
As you can see, all is looking well. That's not to say, however, that there aren't any concerns:
  1. Some of the guys haven't played very much (or at all). Between now and June 20th, the rules have to be learned.
  2. Only a small amount of terrain may be required; unfortunately, we don't have any yet. We really need some asteroids, gas clouds, a couple of planets... In short, there's some work to do.
  3. We need to download or make some sort of markers to keep track of special orders, as well as attack craft.
Pros and Con's notwithstanding, we are going ahead on the 20th of June. So far, the line-up will likely include Imperial Fleets x 2 (Marc & I), Chaos Fleets x 2 (Ken & Jeff), Eldar Fleet x 1 (Chris E.), Tau Fleet x 1 (Chris H.), and a Space Marine Fleet (Martin). We need one more player to make the number even, so we'll have to see how it develops.

Furthermore, I've envisioned a scenario-based event. Each of the three or four tables will be set up to represent a particular scenario. Each player will play once per table against four different opponents. Obviously, certain accomplishments will equate to a certain number of victory point, and the player with the highest VP total at the end of the day will be crowned the greatest admiral.

Visions of deep space terrain and scratch-built ordnance are dancing in my head. I'll soon have to get down to business.

Thanks for reading,
JET

3 comments:

Chad Sikes said...

JET
I wish I lived near by! I would love to be a part of your group. Seems like the group is open to a lot of cool games, and is willing to take on group projects.

JET (aka Jason) said...

If you're ever going to find yourself in St. John's (Newfoundland, Eastern Canada), let me know in advance. We'll definitely get a game going.

Actually, my group seems to be at the start of a golden age of geeking where new projects are being pursued. It's very exciting for us as well.

Chad Sikes said...

I will definitely do that. Looks like you are only 750k away from Nova Scotia. I have an interest in Oak Island, which is right off the coast there.

It may take several years to get there, but thank you for the invite.

Chad