BFG FAQ

(BattleFleet Gothic
Frequently Asked Questions)

by Michael Powers

WHAT IS THIS THING?

This is a monthly posting of several of the more frequently seen questions about Games Workshop's space combat game, "Battlefleet Gothic". It deals mostly with rules questions and ambiguities; the source of these answers is postings to the BFG mailing list, either by general discussion among the list members or by Venerated Lord Admiral Andy Chambers. Recently, White Dwarf has started printing BFG Q&A sections; these will be filtered into the FAQ where appropriate. (The vast reams of BFG Q&As are not found here; these are, supposedly, just the most-asked questions we see.)

WHERE IS IT POSTED ON THE WEB?

At the most worthy "Realm of Inisfail" site, maintained by Thomas Setzer at bfg You should really spend a day and read everything on this page, because there's a _ton_ of useful stuff there.

HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN AROUND?

Revision History:

pre-7/1999: Commodore Otto, Pavel, and various members of the Battlefleet Gothic mailing list decided to try and write a quick page of answers to the most commonly-heard questions involving BFG.
7/1999: Annoyed at seeing _yet_another_ post about torpedoes, Commodore Otto decides to post the FAQ to the list and to rec.games.miniatures.warhammer. Seeing as how these questions aren't likely to stop coming, he decides to make it a monthly posting.
8/1999: Updated "Blast Markers", "Ordnance". Took into account WD#235 Q&A.
9/1999: Some stylistic changes. Updated "Blast Markers".

SO WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS, ANYWAY?

WEAPONS

Weapons Batteries (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Weapons batteries may not be shifted off either side of the table; just use the rightmost (or leftmost) column.

Choosing Targets (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Nova Cannon still must aim for the closest target; they may ignore targets closer than the cannon's minimum range, though.
Lance batteries (as well as weapons batteries) may split their firepower between different targets.

SCENARIOS

Scenario Nine: Exterminatus! (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

The Exterminatus ship is modified from one of the ships the player purchases with his fleet allowance; it is not provided free of charge.

TERRAIN

Asteroid Fields (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Asteroid Fields really _do_ prevent you from firing on ships that are hiding inside. However, those ships also cannot fire out.
(House Rule) Ships which are in an Asteroid Field can fire at other ships in the same Field, with a column shift to the right. (Thus, you can dive into a Field to go after those Eldar.)

Planets (House Rule, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Planets only block LOS _through_ them; you can shoot at ships which are on top of a "planet" template, and they can shoot out, but you can't shoot at things on the other side.

ELDAR

Holofields (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

*Eldar holofields work in the following way:
--Against weapons batteries, they cause an additional column shift to the right (note that you still can't be shifted off the table.)
--Against _anything_ else that can damage the ship, they provide a 2+ save.
Anything except for...
--Ship explosions, terrain effects, and blast markers, which cause hits to Eldar ships the same way that they affect everyone else.

Pulsar Lances (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

If an Eldar ship uses "Lock On", it may reroll misses it gets on the 'second' or 'third' hits (assuming that the earlier shots hit; if your 'first' missed twice, you don't get any more.)

Campaign Refits (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Eldar ships that recieve the "+1 shield" result reroll it; Eldar may not get shields.
Eldar ships _may_, however, get the "+1 turrets" result.

Ramming (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Eldar ships may not ram, as they cannot use the "All Ahead Full!" Special Order.

ORDNANCE

Special Orders (Clarification, list discussion)

The three 'movement' Special Orders only affect weapons batteries, lances, and Nova Cannon; Ordnance strength is normal.
"Brace for Impact", however does affect Ordnance strength (which is halved)
(This is a house rule and not the official ruling by Andy Chambers - The official ruling is that Brace for Impact does NOT halve ordnance.)

Torpedoes (Clarification, list discussion)

Torpedoes may be "aimed" in any direction in the front arc; they need not be pointed directly straight ahead.

Crippled Ships (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Crippled ships do halve ordnance strength.

Movement and Resolution (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

The Ordnance segment proceeds in this manner:
--The "phasing" player (that is, the one whose turn it is) moves all of their ordnance.
--The phasing player resolves all of their ordnance.
--The "non-phasing" player moves all of _their_ ordnance, then resolves all of it.

Destroying Markers (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Fighters remove only one enemy squadron from a wave; whether the enemy wave is escorted or not only determines whether an enemy fighter squadron or bomber/assault boat squadron is removed.
Hits from capital-ship fire (Lances, batteries, etc.) destroy an entire wave, regardless of its size or composition.

Bomber Attacks (Clarification, List Discussion)

*Bombers attack ships by the following procedure:
--Each bomber wave that hits a ship is attacked by the ship's turrets (assuming that the turrets aren't shooting at torpedoes instead.)
--Each surviving bomber squadron rolls 1d6 and subtracts the number of turrets on the ship; this is the number of attack _rolls_ that squadron gets to make. It is possible for a squadron to make no attacks if it rolls too low.
--Each attack roll is made against the "weakest" armor value on the ship.

Running Into Ordnance (Clarification, White Dwarf Q&A)

If you come into contact with Ordnance during your movement phase, the Ordnance attacks you. (Enemy ordnance and torpedoes, of course; you don't get bombed by your own bombers.)

SPECIAL ORDERS

Brace for Impact (Clarification, White Dwarf Q&A) (cribbed directly from the source...)

"The rules for Brace For Impact specify that it may be attempted in the shooting and ordnance phases, but I allow ships to (try to) brace at any time; it's also relevant vs. ships ramming, exploding and so on. This won't upset game balance at all; the braced ship will always have to "pay later" by reducing its firepower and not using special orders in its next turn."

(House rule, List discussion)

Ships which were on Special Orders prior to using "Brace for Impact" lose any benefits of that order but keep any restrictions; a ship which used "Lock On" and switched to "Brace for Impact" before the shooting phase would lose the rerolls, not be allowed to make any turns, _and_ have its weaponry halved.
Ships which were on "All Ahead Full!" orders may switch to "Brace for Impact" and still ram; however, they are treated as being one size class larger than they actually are (thus, "Braced" cruisers will need to pass their test on 3d6 in order to successfully ram another cruiser.)

SQUADRONS

Leadership (House rule, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Make one roll to determine the Leadership of a squadron; this value is used for every ship in the squadron (instead of determining them separately and using the highest.)

BLAST MARKERS

Placement (Clarification, White Dwarf Q&A)

Blast markers after the "first" are placed so that they begin to surround the target ship's base; they aren't stacked on top of each other.
Blast markers produced as a result of 'drifting hulk' or 'blazing hulk' are placed at the rear of the hulk.

Who is affected (Clarification, List Discussion)

If a ship has Blast markers in contact with its base at the beginning of its turn, it is affected by the Blast markers as though it were "moving through" them. For example, a ship which takes hits from the rear has its speed reduced, even though it is "moving away" from the blasts. And Eldar which Holofield-save against attacks might be hit anyway by the blast markers produced.
Blast Markers only have an effect once, regardless of how many actually are present; if you move through one or one hundred markers, you still only lose 5cm of speed (and only have to test once to see if you're damaged.)

"Unshielded" ships (Clarification, White Dwarf Q&A)

Only ships with a shield strength of 0 (due to a 'Shields Collapse' critical or being Eldar) can be damaged by moving through Blast Markers (or by other things that affect 'unshielded' ships.) Ships which have 'overloaded shields' (by having Blast Markers in contact with their bases) are _not_ unshielded.

Removal from Orbital Defenses (Clarification, List Discussion)

Each End, d6 Blast Markers are removed from those in contact with the bases of orbital defenses; these are in addition to the d6 "free-floating" Markers removed.

CHAOS

Marks of Chaos (Clarification, Andy Chambers Q&A)

Chaos Lords with the Mark of Khorne do _not_ get a +1 on "critical-due-to-boarding-action" rolls; this is _not_ a typo.
Ships with the Mark of Nurgle may initiate their _own_ boarding actions if they wish; this is treated as a standard boarding action (the only special boarding-action effect of Nurgle is that people can't initate boarding actions _against_ you.)
Boarding torpedoes and assault boats work normally against Nurgle ships (these are hit-and-run attacks, not full-scale invasions.)

MY QUESTION'S NOT ON THAT LIST! AAAA!!

Go check the "Battlefleet Gothic Q&A" section at the Realm of Inisfail. It's probably there.

BUT IT ISN'T! WAAAAHHHH!!!!

Patience, young Paduwan. Soon all will be revealed...

HOW CAN I JOIN THE BFG MAILING LIST?

Go to http://www.egroups.com and join the "bfg-list" group. Alternatively, send a blank email message to bfg-list-subscribe@egroups.com

SILLY QUESTIONS

HEY, WHY IS (Chaos, Imperials, Eldar, Orks, Space Marines, Fra'al) SO MUCH BETTER THAN (Chaos, Imperial, Eldar, Orks, Space Marines, Everybody Else)?

That's for you to decide. Are you sure that your problems with them aren't because you try the same things every time you play against them?

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?

Go home.

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