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, strategy being what it is, 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.
Incidentally this section is called Celestial Phenomena because terrain simply didn’t seem like the right word. Nonetheless this is terrain for space battles and it forms an important part of the game – so don’t skimp on it!
So you’ve got your battlefield, but it’s a featureless, empty void. While this might be appropriate if you’re in the depths of space it makes for a rather dull battle. Celestial phenomena are an important feature of every battlefield. A good commander will use them 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.
Building up a collection of scenery to represent celestial phenomena is an important and enjoyable part of the hobby, as it enhances your games. Most types can be easily represented on the tabletop at minimal cost using sand, pebbles, etc. Beyond this there are almost limitless opportunities for making scenery easily and cheaply. With a little effort you will soon become an expert at constructing planets, moons and other phenomena out of the most mundane of household goods. You can find plenty of examples of home made scenery online and the White Dwarf magazine often contains articles about making scenery and can serve as an invaluable source of ideas and inspiration.
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. If a piece of scenery is going to be a major feature of the battle, such as a wide asteroid belt spanning the table, then you need to okay this with your opponent. This sort of battlefield is perfectly fine and might make for an enjoyable game but you and your opponent would have to agree upon it beforehand. Here are some different methods you might employ when setting up your battlefield.
Setting Up Celestial Phenomena: 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. This is a good method if you are playing a game at one player’s house, as he can set up the celestial phenomena before his opponent arrives, allowing you to get straight on with the battle.
Setting Up Celestial Phenomena: Method 2¶
Divide the table into 60 cm square areas. Next roll a D6 for each area. On a 4 or more the area contains celestial phenomena which is determined using the appropriate battlezone generator. Roll a D6 to determine which of the generators to use for this battlefield (or agree on one with your opponent) and then roll on that generator for celestial phenomena in each area. Position the phenomena anywhere within the area, but don’t place them on top of each other. We’ve included a set of sample battlezone generators over the following pages, but it’s easy enough to come up with your own customised ones that include all the celestial phenomena in your own collection.
Setting Up Celestial Phenomena: 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.
Battlezones¶
1. Flare Region Generator¶
The flare region is closest to the system’s sun. It is an area scoured by incandescent flares of superheated gas from the surface of the sun and fierce radioactive winds. Planets this close to the star are almost always death worlds, places too ravaged by the sun’s heat to be habitable to life.
| D6 ROLL | RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | Solar flare |
| 2 | Solar flare |
| 3 | Radiation burst |
| 4 | Asteroid field |
| 5 | D3 gas/dust clouds (generally a solar flare remnant) |
| 6 | Planet (roll again: 1-5 = small, 6 = medium)* |
2. Mercurial Zone Generator¶
At the mercurial zone the sun’s ferocity is still awesome to behold, but solar flares less frequently reach out to burn everything in their path. Occasionally a planet can be found in the mercurial zone which can sustain limited life deep underground or constantly moving around its dark side to shelter from the sun’s rays.
| D6 ROLL | RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | Solar flare |
| 2 | Radiation burst |
| 3 | Asteroid field |
| 4 | D3 gas/dust clouds (solar filaments or flare remnants) |
| 5 | D3 gas/dust clouds (solar filaments or flare remnants) |
| 6 | Planet (roll again: 1-5 = small, 6 = medium)* |
3. Inner Biosphere generator¶
As the inner biosphere is reached, planets become more hospitable, though often their atmospheres are a noxious soup of harmful gases. Nonetheless colonies and hive cities occur in the inner biosphere of certain systems.
| D6 ROLL | RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | Roll again: 1-3 = Radiation burst; 4-6 = solar flare |
| 2 | Asteroid field |
| 3 | D3 asteroid fields |
| 4 | D3 gas/dust clouds |
| 5 | D3 gas/dust clouds |
| 6 | Planet (roll again: 1-5 = small, 6 = medium)* |
4. Primary Biosphere generator¶
In the primary biosphere a balance is struck between the burning heat of the sun and the icy cold of the void. Most inhabited worlds lie within this biosphere and it’s here that the bulk of a system’s defences are built.
| D6 ROLL | RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | Asteroid field |
| 2 | D3 asteroid fields |
| 3 | Gas/dust clouds |
| 4 | D3 gas/dust clouds |
| 5 | Planet (roll again: 1-5 = small, 6 = medium)* |
| 6 | Planet (roll again: 1-5 = small, 6 = medium)* |
5. Outer Reaches Generator¶
The outer reaches of a system are the realm of gas giants and worlds generally too cold and harsh to support life. Many battles between ships occur here as the system’s defenders attempt to prevent enemy ships reaching the primary biosphere.
| D6 | ROLL RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | D3+1 asteroid fields |
| 2 | D3 asteroid fields |
| 3 | D3 gas/dust clouds |
| 4 | Gas/dust cloud |
| 5 | Planet (roll again: 1-3 = small, 4-6 = large)* |
| 6 | Planet (roll again: 1-3 = small, 4-6 = large)* |
6. Deep Space Generator¶
Ships coming out of the warp must appear some distance away in deep space or risk destruction among the graviton surges in-system. Many civilised worlds have specific jump points marked by beacons to assist navigation. An ambushing fleet will often lurk near a jump point in the hope of catching an emerging foe unaware.
| D6 | ROLL RESULT |
|---|---|
| 1 | D3 asteroid fields |
| 2 | Asteroid fields |
| 3 | D3 gas/dust clouds |
| 4 | Gas/dust cloud |
| 5 | Warp Rift |
| 6 | Small planet (a rogue planet in a highly eccentric orbit)* |
*In all cases a maximum of one planet will be present on the tabletop: if a second planet is generated roll again. Remember to roll to see whether a planet has any moons. If a large planet is generated, it will have rings around it on a D6 roll of 4 or more.
Tabletop Features¶
The following features are celestial phenomena that are placed onto the tabletop. Remember to leave plenty of empty space between them.
Tabletop features are generally placed in relation to the nearest star. This is because nearly everything caught in the inconceivably gross gravitational pull of a star will be in some kind of orbit around it.
When placing these features, start by determining which table edge is closest to the nearest star, described as “sunward” in Battlefleet Gothic. To do so roll a D6.
Once you have established which way is sunward, you can start to place celestial phenomena. Each of the types is listed as follows with suggested sizes and methods of placement. However, if you have phenomena made up on bases of a particular size or something similar just use them the way they are. Likewise, don’t let the following suggestions stop you from doing something interesting or exciting: they are just there as guidelines to take some of the brain ache out of setting up the tabletop, not as definitive rules.
Any celestial phenomena affect a ship as soon as it contacts a ship’s base. However, it does not block fields of fire unless it physically blocks line of sight from the stem of the shooting ship to the stem of the target ship.
As warp drive implosions are not affected by celestial phenomena for purposes of line of sight, this includes when it takes place inside celestial phenomena such as asteroid fields. Being inside, outside or the other side of an asteroid field from an exploding ship does not affect whether or not it is in the explosion’s 3D6 cm blast radius.
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¶
Gas and dust clouds have the same effect as a single Blast Marker in all respects (i.e. on firing, movement, shields, Leadership and ordnance). Eldar and their kin can make a leadership check to ignore all effects of gas clouds, and their escorts may re-roll this result for free. If passed, it will take no damage nor suffer any effects of being in contact with it.
If a ship having 0 shield strength explodes due to contact with a gas/dust cloud, the explosion will originate at the point the ship entered the cloud.
Placement¶
Use flock or cotton wool to show gas & dust clouds, usually found in bands or streamers running parallel to the sunward table edge. Each band is D6×2 cm wide and D6×5 cm long.
Asteroid Fields¶
Asteroid fields orbit most stars at varying distances. They are generally thought to be debris fragments 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.
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.
Ships using All Ahead Full special orders make the test on 3D6 instead.
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.
Escort and capital ship squadrons make this leadership test normally, once for the whole squadron. In the case of capital ship squadrons that fail this test, each ship that comes in base contact with the asteroid field in any way suffers D6 damage. Escort squadrons re-roll this leadership test for free. In the case of escort squadrons that still fail this re-roll, D6 damage is distributed among the escorts that actually contacted the asteroid field, in the order that the ships were moved. In all cases, shields (but not holofields) work normally against hits.
Blast Markers are not placed when asteroid impacts take shields down, however the ship will be slowed down 5 cm as if it has moved through Blast Markers that turn.
Hulks which drift into an asteroid field are destroyed.
Attack craft squadrons which move through an asteroid field are destroyed on a D6 roll of 6.
Ships cannot shoot into or out of an asteroid field. However, shooting between ships inside an asteroid field can take place only if both the shooting and target ships are both inside an asteroid field. Lances and weapons batteries have no more than 10 cm range, nova cannons don’t work and torpedoes of any type cannot be used. Shooting at enemies within 10 cm range does not impart a left column shift when inside an asteroid field.
Attack Craft work normally but must make a D6 roll every Ordnance Phase they remain in the field, with every wave or individual marker removed on a roll of 6. Ships that are braced or crippled may not shoot inside an asteroid field.
If you wish to shoot at an asteroid field, you must first pass a leadership test even if it is the only possible target. Treat it as an Ordnance marker. For every roll of 6, place a Blast Marker in contact with the asteroid field facing the direction the shooting came from. In each end phase, each asteroid field will lose D6 Blast Markers and these do not count towards the number of other Blast Markers that can be removed that turn.
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 D3×5 cm wide and D3×5 cm 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 2D6×10 cm 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 D3×5 cm wide and D3×10 cm 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.
When a ship’s stem is actually on a planetary template (as opposed to behind it), the template does not block its line of sight or any ships line of sight to it. If multiple ships are on a planetary template, they can all see each other.
A ship counts as being upon a planetary template if its stem touches the template, not merely if it is in base contact or if its base partially overlaps the template.
Torpedoes are destroyed when they come into contact with the template’s edge, either when launching them toward the planet or from it by ships in high orbit upon the template itself. It is possible to launch torpedoes while on a planetary template but they will be removed when they touch its edge.
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 as follows.
Typical planetary templates:¶
- Small planet (eg the size of Mercury, Pluto or Mars) – up to 15 cm diameter.
- Medium planet (eg equivalent to Venus or Earth) – 16-25 cm diameter.
- Large planet (eg the size of Saturn or Jupiter) – 26-50 cm(!) diameter.
Typical gravity wells:¶
Small planet – up to 10 cm from template edge.
Medium planet – up to 15 cm from template edge.
Large planet – up to 30 cm from template edge.
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. Free turns provided by gravity wells can be used even when the ship cannot normally turn, such as when under All Ahead Full or Lock On special orders. They can also be combined with Come To New Heading special orders.
This does not change the fact that the free turn can only be used before the start of the move and again only at the end of the move. In either or both instance(s) the ship must actually be in the gravity well to use it, and the free turn is only toward the centre of the planet’s or moon’s gravity well or toward a space hulk’s stem or no more than 45 degrees, whichever is less.
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, but such a stationary ship uses the defences column for gunnery purposes if it elects to remain stationary. A ship that enters low orbit, however, is removed from play and (where the scenario requires it) is placed on a separate low orbit table. Ships moving up from low orbit are placed touching the outer edge of the planet template.
Placement¶
Planets are usually so far apart that only one will be placed on the tabletop, although in spectacular ‘When Planets Collide’ scenarios you might want to place two planets in shockingly close proximity.
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 D6 cm wide and begins D6×5 cm away from the planet’s edge. Note that some may end up merging into one another, but that’s fine.
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 5 cm in diameter. A planet’s moons are placed 2D6×10 cm from the planet: roll randomly to see which direction they are from the planet.
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 the 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, deep space and the primary biosphere the light from the distant star has no effect on combat. Fighting sunward is only of consequence in the Flare Region, Mercurial Zone and Inner Biosphere, and has the following effects:
Any firing conducted towards the sunward table edge doubles the column shifts for long and short range.
To determine if you are shooting sunward place the bearing compass over the firing ship with the arrows parallel with the sunward edge (see pg. 109 for the sunward edge). If the target is within the arc facing the sunward edge you are shooting sunward.
At long range (over 30 cm) the powerful photosphere blinds long range sensors, so take two column shifts right on the Gunnery table instead of one. At short range (15 cm or under) targets are ‘silhouetted’ instead, so make two column shifts left instead of one.
Solar Flares¶
Most stars periodically release explosive bursts of energy over small areas of their surface. Of course small, in solar terms, means 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 any roll of a 6 a flare occurs, but a flare will only manifest itself once per game. Once a flare occurs, this roll no longer needs to be rolled. 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. Eldar and their kin can make a leadership check to ignore all effects of solar flares, and their escorts may re-roll this result for free. If passed, it will take no damage but instead turn directly away from the solar flare and move 2D6 cm.
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 commnets. 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. Only one radiation burst can happen per turn even if multiple radiation burst were rolled for. 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 for the interference, 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 – 45-60 cm wide × 90-135 cm long should be sufficient. One long table edge should be nominated as the planet edge and represents the planet itself. Ships within the gravity well of a planet may elect to enter low orbit at the start of any of their turns – place the ship on the low orbit table, touching the edge furthest 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 45 cm 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 ships within 45 cm of the planet table edge are moved directly towards the planet (without changing facing or turning in any way).
The distance that they move depends upon the size of the planet: small = 5 cm; medium = 8 cm; large = 10 cm. 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 1 mm : 1 cm on the Deep Space table. Alternatively, you could use graph paper to plot moves in low orbit, again changing the scale as appropriate.