Back to Battlefleet Gothic

Way back when in 1999, Games Workshop dropped Battlefleet Gothic on my tender teenage self.  I’d come to the hobby just too late to get into Epic, and didn’t know anyone playing Necromunda, so it was my first 40k spinoff.  I got pretty excited, started collecting two different fleets, joined the most epic narrative campaign of anything I’d ever played, and burned out on it so hard I’ve never touched it since.

Whilst the reasoning is complex and nuanced the biggest factor was fighting Eldar.  They could dash forwards, blast you to smithereens, then retreat back out of gun range all in one turn, whilst everyone else was ponderously gliding about trying get enemies into their side arcs. They were fragile, so mistakes could be punished, but in the hands of a skilled opponent (which mine was) they were murderous.  I don’t think I won a single game against them. 

Over the course of a long campaign I tried everything I could imagine, every tactic, every manoeuvre, and bought a lot of new models to try different options, and nothing worked.  Campaign rules being what they were, the winners got stronger and the losers got weaker.  Technically I came second in that campaign, but in this case it really was that the Eldar won and I was merely the first amongst losers.  

There are a lot of ways this could have been dealt with maturely during the game to make it fun for everyone, but it was a campaign amongst teenage boys.  Quarter was neither requested nor given.  I left that campaign with absolutely no interest in playing BFG ever again.  Just thinking about it fills me with a sense of pointless futility.  It has become death-of-joy, destroyer of good times.

I still like the idea of it, spaceships are fucking cool, and I frequently have thoughts about things like multi-layer games such as a fleet action BFG game to take orbital supremacy and deploy landing craft, then an Aeronautica Imperialis game to push landing craft through the air defences and finally a 40k game to use whatever forces got through to…  do whatever (this idea has many problems yet to be resolved, don’t do this).   Also several Bunkerites are fanatically keen on BFG, and it’s a shame I never want to join in with their fun.

Charlie: Confession time: it was me, I was that Eldar player. It remains a quintessential example of why the most important rule (ensure your opponent is having a good time) is the most important rule. Break it, and you can't play games anymore. Yes, there are balance issues with the Eldar, but a competent wargamer can compensate for that by being a good sport. My teenage self reaches greasily through time and space to remind us all of the perils of chasing the victory at all costs.

Eating Sprouts

Bear with me here.  I’m writing this first draft around the festive period, and the subject of sprouts has come up several times.  I don’t like sprouts.  Whenever I say that, people say “oh but I cook sprouts in bacon and garlic and they’re delicious!”  To which I respond, “no, bacon and garlic are delicious, you’re just using them to hide the sprouts and the recipe would be better off without them.”  

But what if you don’t actually hate sprouts, you just remember hating them because you always got fed your grandma’s soggy sprouts, boiled yellow and gross?  Maybe if you eat enough bacon and garlic sprouts that are nice, you might then find yourself able to enjoy them with less bacon and garlic and even one day no bacon and garlic and still like them?  Or at least find them inoffensive?  As long as they aren’t full of Eldar boiled yellow.

This is, broadly, what Charlie is planning.  Because I really fucking love GM led narrative wargaming.  The plan, as it has been explained to me (he’ll probably write about it himself at some point) is for a limited length small scale narrative campaign that will be a mix of roleplay, politics, BFG and Boarding Patrol.  For me it’s all about wrapping BFG in the bacon of Raven Guard roleplay and the garlic of co-op gaming.  For Drew it’s a challenge to get her new Marine army painted up the 500pts of Marines she will need for boarding patrol and teaching her a new game system (BFG).  

If that sounds manipulative, well, I guess it kind of is, but it is with enthusiastic consent.  I would love to enjoy BFG again.  

Collecting a Fleet

“But they stopped making BFG models!” I hear nobody cry.  You are correct, voice in my head.  But hobby never dies.  Or something.

The scope was laid out very simply.  The requirements to play are thus:

• 1x BFG Strike Cruiser
• 3x BFG Escorts
• 500pts+ 40k Astartes

For me, Astartes are in the bag, see previous posts for the entire battle company I have collected.  As a fringe goal however Charlie has suggested that if and when I get it painted (still waiting for perfect spray weather) we could use the Thunderhawk as part of the scenery in Boarding Patrols, which would make it the most expensive deployment zone marker ever conceived.  But I only ever collected Imperial Navy and Chaos fleets, I had no Astartes ships.

As luck should have it, I ended up taking two of the three possible approaches to collecting BFG over a decade after GW cancelled it.

Second Hand

Firstly, for my Strike Cruiser, I bought one on eBay.  That sounds simple, but actually since completing my Battle Company I’ve been wanting to get one for completionism. The 5th company cannot be truly complete without a ship to transport them, so I have been intermittently checking eBay for them ever since.  After months of occasionally looking I found one for £30.  I don’t recall exactly but GW probably charged about £10-£15 for them 20 years ago, so I didn’t feel £30 was extortionate. Given that I mostly see them on offer used for £70+ I slammed the buy button hard and fast.

That said, it was brand-new-in-blister-pack, so opening it felt a bit sacrilegious, but I’ve never been one for collecting things just for the sake of owning them, so open it I did.  To match my escorts (see below) I added some sadly long out of print Forgeworld etched brass Raven Guard icons to the chapter icon disc, rather than use a transfer or freehand.  A day after building it, I tapped it gently and it absolutely exploded.

Ah yes, solid metal models with limited contact points on a poorly balanced stem.  I remember you.  So I pinned the ever-living-fuck out of it and carried on.  

3D Printed

I haven't seen any Space Marine escorts on eBay for rational prices.  But there are quite a few people out there making compatible 3d models; their own designs that nevertheless are close enough to the original as to be immediately recognised.  One designer, ItalianMoose, does what I consider to be the best looking models.  Considering that they also give out their files for free, I assume that this is because they are modelling for love, not for profit, and it shows.  Also, just to cement them as the all round best, they share them as .step files, as well as .stl files, meaning people like me can easily open them up in 3d editing software and change them.  

Thus, being as I am an incredibly lazy person who would rather do a bit of 3d modelling than apply decals, I made a version of the Gladius with embossed Raven Guard icons on them and got three of them printed out.  

I absolutely could have done this with the strike cruiser too, but I really liked the idea of my strike cruiser, the home of the 5th Company, being an original model.  Nevertheless if I couldn’t have found one on eBay I would have; and I’m quite happy to use 3d printing again if I ever expand this fleet.

3rd Way?

I mentioned I used two of three possible ways to collect BFG decades later.  The third is recasters.  People debate the ethics of recasting an out of print model, after all GW are no longer offering it themselves so they aren’t losing out on a sale.  Similarly what’s the difference between recasting and GW sculpt and using a 3d printed alternative?  I’m not sure where I stand on that, but I’m pretty sure that ethics aside it is illegal, and furthermore since that means dealing with criminals, dodgy as hell.  It’s a gamble as to whether you’ll ever actually get your models.  If you do, they’ll presumably be coming from somewhere far from UK legal jurisdiction, take ages to arrive, and possibly have complications at customs. Not for me.  

Painting

You’d be forgiven for assuming that the paint scheme was automatic for a given chapter, but in BFG that is not the case.  For example the Ultramarine fleet in both the original models GW painted when they first produced BFG, right up to its recent appearance in Space Marine 2 and the Secret Level animation, is not blue but is painted primarily in off-white with blue sections and gold details.  

That said, yeah, I painted my ships black.  I did say Raven Guard.  The Space Marine equivalent of the teenager who wants to paint their bedroom black.  Of course they will paint their ships black.  The only real debate for me was how to paint the chapter icon.  They are depicted on a disc, so I could either ignore the disc and have a white raven on a black ship, or I could paint the disc white, allowing me to paint the raven black.  Ultimately I chose the former as that's how I've done them all in my 40k army so it's consistant.

The only other noteworthy thing here is that I forgot how much of an absolute bitch is was to get spray undercoat into the deep recesses of BFG models.  Quite a bit of touch up was required.

So, the deadline for us to get ready for this game is still a month away, but I am ready to go.  Drew, to be fair, has a lot more to paint than me.  Concerns about BFG notwithstanding, I am looking forward to this, and am really delighted to see my little ships.