OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

23 posts ยท Sep 25 1998 to Sep 29 1998

From: Mark A. Siefert <cthulhu@c...>

Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:59:29 -0600

Subject: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

all right... The only Evil Empire game I dabble in is Epic 40K. Therefore I
don't usually force myself to plunk down the 5 bucks for White Dwarf. However,
the new issue had something that really caught my attention: A new draft
version of what GW hopes will become Battlefleet Gothic. From what I've read,
the rules are patterned off of Epic 40K and so far just cover capital ships.
        They also had mock-ups of the Imperial miniatures they used for
the playtest. For prototypes they look HOT! (BTW, you can enter a contest
where you can win copies of the ships.) Kind of a cross between Notre Dame
cathedral, and the Sulacco from Aliens. They included counters for playing and
have stats for a couple of Imperial and Chaos ships. I'll give them a go this
weekend and post my thoughts on the rules later.

From: Imre A. Szabo <ias@s...>

Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 18:45:26 -0400

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

Just thought I would add a comment.  The best Bio-Ship minitures I have
ever seen where the old Eldar ships from GW's old Space Fleet game without the
sails and painted correctly.

From: Doug Evans <devans@n...>

Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 22:02:27 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

I had also been waiting with baited breath since somebody from the UK had
spilled beans on rec.games.miniatures.warhammer, as, of course, they get White
Dwarf earlier by half a month.

The ships I've seen in the mag look a lot like the old Imperials with just
enough changes to make my large holding unusable (how GW-ish ;->= ).
Really torqued me off that it was Imperial vs. Imperial, Chaos. Sorry, found
it a paucity of imagination. Well, as I haven't actually tried the preview
rules, I'll get to it, and try a preview review laters.

True about the shadow-whatevers: I have one with sails accidently
snapped off that someone else had done in greens and yellows. Eldar ships were
supposed to be somewhat 'organic', but these are almost creepy.

However, I always thought the tenticled 'nids painted in metallic greens and
purples would REALLY be hideous.

Off to give the WD another perusal.

The_Beast

PS. Rules can't be any worse than the old 'how well can I drop dice into
the box top', psuedo-tic-tac-toe. If only they tried going off Man O'
War, which I finally played again this week!

From: Ground Zero Games <jon@g...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 11:06:04 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> all right... The only Evil Empire game I dabble in is Epic 40K.

From: Roger Gerrish <Roger.Gerrish@b...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 13:02:57 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

[quoted original message omitted]

From: Jeff Lyon <jefflyon@m...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 09:17:44 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> At 11:06 AM 9/26/98 +0100, you wrote:
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

What issue number are we talking about? I dropped by the local hobby shop
yesterday, but the most current issue they had (September) was all about
Warhammer Siege.

From: Los <los@c...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:26:26 -0400

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Ground Zero Games wrote:

> Does it really take this long for GW to get WD issues to the States?
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

This is why us Americans and Australians have a much better grasp of the
problems with interstellar Travel and war than you british players do. We
understand the incredible delay in getting things from point A to point B
given the VAST spaces involved. Even in this day of FEDEX, UPS and Concords.

From: Imre A. Szabo <ias@s...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:36:13 -0400

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

Jon, we're talking Games Workshop. They have never let inconviencing the
people who buy their games and figs get in the way of their profit margin.

From: Mark A. Siefert <cthulhu@c...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 09:14:17 -0600

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Ground Zero Games wrote:

> Does it really take this long for GW to get WD issues to the States?
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

FIVE WEEKS!

So much for publishing in the "information age."

From: Mark A. Siefert <cthulhu@c...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 10:33:26 -0600

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Roger Gerrish wrote:

> Don't think you need to worry about the design changes, after all the

Just as long as they kept the Gothic Class Battleship, and didn't change it
too much.

> Ork ships on the way.

I can see it now... a fleet composed entirely of garbage scows!
;-)

The two new Imperial ships they presented in WD were fantastic! I'd love to
see what they've done for the rest of them.

> There will be rules for Eldar and Orks......not sure about Tyranids

I've played a couple of rounds last night to get the feel for the rules.
They're quit playable. Movement could be just a tad more realistic, but it's
nice for beginers. The one thing I don't like are the torpedo rules. They just
move in a straight line 30cm per turn until they hit something. They don't
"home in" on their targets.

> I can't comment on any of the additional stuff as I'm playtesting and

        So this is a real, honest-to-Bog project?  They are serious
about releasing this thing in the not too distant future. (Next Sunday A.D.)

> Please don't take the above as being the words of somebody assimilated

You mean the Evil Empire actually DOES playtest their games? Or is this a
first?

> So far I think the game plays well and will be an interesting addition

So far, what I've seen is pretty playable. Torps need some tweaking
movemen-wise.  When I've played a few real games with some real
opponents, I'll type up a report to Mr.Chambers.

From: Kevin Walker <sage@c...>

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 12:51:24 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> At approximately 9/26/98 5:06 AM, Ground Zero Games wrote:

> all right... The only Evil Empire game I dabble in is Epic 40K.
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

Yup! It's typical for the UK version to be out about 4 weeks ahead of the US
version. Don't know why it takes that long to yank an article or

two and redo the ad a bit.

From: Oerjan Ohlson <oerjan.ohlson@t...>

Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 15:56:41 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> The Beast wrote:

> I had also been waiting with baited breath since somebody from the UK

Um... I'm not sure if you noticed, but all the ships in the article were
either scratchbuilt (based on Jes Goodwin's concept scetches for the Space
Fleet models), or conversions of old Space Fleet models...
Considering Andy's documented love for converting models - look at
Gorkamorka, or his E40K Ork armies (reviewed in WD), for example, I'd've been
surprised if he hadn't done any conversions <g>

> Really torqued me off that it was Imperial vs. Imperial, Chaos.

?? It torqued you off that Andy hasn't had time to write up complete stats for
all races before he publishes the *experimental*draft* rules?

In effect, Andy Chambers has done almost exactly what Jon did for the
Fleet Book - published an incomplete set of rules and asked for
comments. The four sample ship designs are so people have something to
playtest with, not the entire force mix available. If you want Eldar in the
game, write to him and say so! The address is printed at the end of the
article.4

> PS. Rules can't be any worse than the old 'how well can I drop dice

<g> They aren't worse. They're better - a lot better - but there are
some
crimps in them (and a lot of details that are missing - the WD article
only covers the core rules).

BTW, Aaron, have you told GW about the new location of the Space Fleet page?

Later,

From: scipio@i...

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 00:14:39 -0400

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> At 09:17 AM 26-09-98 -0500, you wrote:
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...
In Canada we have had it about a week, at least I first saw it then.

From: Oerjan Ohlson <oerjan.ohlson@t...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 13:32:39 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Jeff Lyon wrote:

> What issue number are we talking about? I dropped by the local hobby

WD225 (main story: Dogs of War). WD224 (Siege) was the August one, at least in
Europe.

From: Tim Jones <Tim.Jones@S...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 13:35:53 +0100

Subject: RE: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

So do we Brits, you try buying the latest micro-machines
or B5 wars minis here - NOT. Ditto US pulp fiction like Baen books.

If only the global economy could be global than all these isolated pockets.

I'm just very thankful GZG is based in Needham Market thats all.

From: Jonathan Jarrard <jjarrard@f...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 10:41:45 -0400

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Does it really take this long for GW to get WD issues to the States?
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

Oh, yes.

From: Doug Evans <devans@n...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 10:55:14 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the USA gets a different edition, with
different ads, and possible some different articles. I opined that the thing
was probably electronically shipped to the USA, and printed entirely here.

However, given the 'Falcon tragedy', it could take a lot longer if they
were printed in the UK and shipped to the US. ;->=

Back to the article on new ship game NOT to be Battlefleet Gothic, I looked at
the back of the article, and saw the more complex ships. While the plan
view cut-outs look very like the older ships, the pics are of ships with
more differences. The largest 'piccie' reminded me of an old chaos
conversion beamer, with the head sawn off and a flat-iron prow added. I
thought of all the various GW weopens I thought would make fine ships.

Whatever the case, more ships eventually to be watching for in cut out bins
if the game is produced. ;->=

I do want to hear from anyone if they 'win' any of the prototype
ships...

The_Beast

Jonathan Jarrard <jjarrard@ford.com> on 09/28/98 09:41:45 AM

Please respond to FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk

 To:      FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk

 cc:      (bcc: Doug Evans/CSN/UNEBR)

 Subject: Re: OT:  New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Does it really take this long for GW to get WD issues to the States?
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

Oh, yes.

From: Thomas.Granvold@E... (Tom Granvold)

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 09:10:33 -0700

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> Mark A. Siefert wrote:

> >all right... The only Evil Empire game I dabble in is Epic 40K.

Are the rules for Battlefleet Gothic included in the magazine or is it just a
bunch of pretty pictures and text saying how great it is going to be?

Enjoy,

From: Los <los@c...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 09:52:28 -0700

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

If you guys are having a problem getting Weber books I can get them at a local
book store and send them over.

From: Doug Evans <devans@n...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 12:28:09 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

Oerjan sez:?? It torqued you off that Andy hasn't had time to write up
complete stats for all races before he publishes the *experimental*draft*
rules?

***

If it came off like that, I apologize. I actually have problems with using
chaos more than it being a non-developed system. I was hoping for a BIT
more color involving a second race. However, swimming against the stream in
my lack of enthusiasm for things warp-evil.

I agree the rules are indeed looking much better than Spacefleet, though I
think I'm still less impressed basic system than with FTII, even making
allowances for a work-in-progress. That said, I'll point out that I've
been saying they are first impressions, and will wait for a few playtests of
my own before further comment.

The_Beast

From: Roger Gerrish <Roger.Gerrish@b...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 19:06:53 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

[quoted original message omitted]

From: Ground Zero Games <jon@g...>

Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 19:47:29 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

> At 11:06 AM 9/26/98 +0100, you wrote:
This
> issue was out about 5 weeks ago over here...

From: Oerjan Ohlson <oerjan.ohlson@t...>

Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 11:56:00 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: New Battlefleet Gothic in White Dwarf.

Tom Granvold asked:

> Are the rules for Battlefleet Gothic included in the magazine or

Core rules with some sample ship designs and a request for playtests and
comments.

Later,