Holy Shit Battlefleet Gothic RTS! Warhammer 40000 Space Combat

[Soviet Heavy]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/01/16/holy-ships-battlefleet-gothic-armada-announced/

Cathedral ships, ahoy! Focus Interactive have announced that they will publish a real-time strategy adaptation of Games Workshop?s Battlefleet Gothic. Armada is already in development and we?ll be taking a closer look in very near future but the first details emerged moments ago. Fleets will be drawn from four forces ? Imperial, Chaos, Eldar and Ork ? and ships will be fully customisable, from their weaponry to support sub-systems. Admirals and crew will gain experience from one battle to the next, but the initial press release doesn?t contain any details regarding campaign or mission structure. Giant images await below, in the Warp.

Click to see the full majesty of the pics, including the one at the top of the article.

Spoiler

These ships really couldn?t be any more goth, could they? Sure, you could add eyeliner and big hair but that would cross the gothic streams and we?d end up with Robert Smith measuring out space for a flamboyant arch around his bedroom niche.

Developers Tindalos Interactive have previous in the space-based RTS space, most notable with Stellar Impact, which pleased Brendan back in 2012.

I had a brief dalliance with tabletop Battlefleet back in the day, as I did with most things Games Workshop. Weirdly, despite my preference for dark futures, I preferred Man O? War, mainly because I knew a couple of people who had stacks o? ships for use in its seafaring skirmishes. As is usually the case with 40k, I love the aesthetics but I don?t remember the specifics of the ruleset well enough to intelligently ponder how much will be jettisoned in the move to computerised realtime. I?m looking forward to finding out though and will tell you all about it in due course.

In short, holy shit this is awesome. Battlefleet Gothic is one of the most overlooked parts of the Warhammer 40K mythos, where 5km plus sized battleships wage void combat like 18th century sailing vessels and long range submarine warfare. In short, I'm fucking pumped.

 

[Muspelheim]

Yes! Yes! Yes! I've been hoping for something like this for ages! And the developers seems like they know what they're doing.

Steady as she goes, Mr. Finch!

 

[Superbeast]

Haha! Awesome - BFG was probably the best game I never got into (the model line was pulled just as I had the money to actually buy some ships), and I'm a huge RTS fan, so this is a match made in heaven for me.

 

[Darks63]

Nice hopefully it is ST Armada levels of good or better. Too bad I likely wont be able to play for a few years due to not having a strong enough PC to run it.

 

[Muspelheim]

Haha! Awesome - BFG was probably the best game I never got into (the model line was pulled just as I had the money to actually buy some ships), and I'm a huge RTS fan, so this is a match made in heaven for me.

Had the same problem. I got in to it partly because you needed less guff than the other games. Had a battleship and two cruisers, if I remember right.

I hope we get to name and decorate the ships, too. Get the old fleet back in action for new days of glory.

 

[Erttheking]

Huh. Probably won't be able to play it due to hardware limitations, but I hope it's good.

 

[Elfgore]

I keep throwing my credit card at the screen and the game is still not on my computer! I want this... now. Playing as the Orks scavenged together space craft sounds amazing.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Damn, that looks pretty awesome. Not really big into the 40k universe (though I do like the games), but that looks fucking rad regardless. Those ship designs are glorious and I have always loved big-ass space battles with huge capital ships. Looking forward to this.

 

[Maphysto]

Oh hell, when I skimmed the RPS article earlier today I thought it said it would be turn-based. Real-time is even better!

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Holy Motherfucking shitballs!!! Praise the Emperor, praise Khorne, praise Tzeentch (& the other 2), praise Gork and Mork, even that stupid wimpy eldar god that smells of poo!

Must look up Stellar Impact to see if it's any good. *Starts praying to all the above*

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Well...if Space Hulk, Kill Team, Fire Warrior, Storm of Vengeance, and whatever that other terrible side-scroller was called are anything to go by, I think we can safely assume it'll be shit. Basically a game made by 40k fans, not video game makers. So it'll be clunky, awkward, needlessly complex and overall lackluster.

As a rabid 40k fan myself, what most of my fellow fans forget is that the tabletop games are generally shit and should never be recreated.

 

[xaszatm]

Well...if Space Hulk, Kill Team, Fire Warrior, Storm of Vengeance, and whatever that other terrible side-scroller was called are anything to go by, I think we can safely assume it'll be shit. Basically a game made by 40k fans, not video game makers. So it'll be clunky, awkward, needlessly complex and overall lackluster.

As a rabid 40k fan myself, what most of my fellow fans forget is that the tabletop games are generally shit and should never be recreated.

Well, we also had Dawn of War, Blood Bowl and Space Marine so it might depend...except THQ doesn't exist and this company has made a grand total of one other game so...*Starts furiously praying to Nuffle*

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Tindalos Interactive?
Fuck yes, I enjoyed the hell out of Stellar Impact. If this is made by them, then I just know I'm gonna enjoy it too.

 

[Gavmando]

Hmm. I really hope they have an advanced customization thingy for all the ships and an ability to create your own maps and move ships and stuff about on it without having a game going. Those two options would be awesome for anyone who plays any of the Fantasy Flight 40k Role Playing Games. Especially Rogue Trader.

 

[renegade7]

YES! I've always felt Warhammer 40,000 was missing out by not having more space battles, and Battlefleet Gothic is so niche it's impossible to find anyone to play with.

Also, that ship looks like a Catholic church had sex with a boat. I know that there is supposed to be a strong Medieval influence in the Imperial style, but that ship has way more going on than any of the illustrations I've seen.

A pity we're limited to just those four armies :/

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Well...if Space Hulk, Kill Team, Fire Warrior, Storm of Vengeance, and whatever that other terrible side-scroller was called are anything to go by, I think we can safely assume it'll be shit. Basically a game made by 40k fans, not video game makers. So it'll be clunky, awkward, needlessly complex and overall lackluster.

As a rabid 40k fan myself, what most of my fellow fans forget is that the tabletop games are generally shit and should never be recreated.

You know, Space Hulk Ascension is actually pretty good (maybe you specifically meant the first modern Space Hulk), if it included the multiplayer functionality of the first I'd be heartily recommending it. As it is, the first one feels like they're attaching the multiplayer to an alpha version of Ascension and charging the same price, so £45 for what I'd call a full game, which is a lot. The first one and how it relates to Ascension casts a bit of a shadow over the "series" as a whole. My main complaint about Ascension when looked at in isolation was the very dark map, kind of annoying but fixed when I bought a monitor that wasn't shit.

 

[Wraithsight]

YES. YES. ALL OF THE YES.

*Curls up in corner and cry's tears of manly happiness*

But seriously will be interesting to see what _kind_ of RTS it is. I would actually be OK with it being turn/hex based a-la Age Of Wonders since you could then work in the turning/gravity/celestial phenomenon from the table top game, but something along the lines of Sin of a Solar Empire would be cool too what with warping off and all that.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'm cautiously excited for this. I never really got to play Stellar Impact.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Wow... Those ship designs. XD

Almost looks like a cross between ocean going wooden warships with... Um, an entire gothic town bolted on top of it...

I mean, I'm sure those are already well-known designs, what with it being warhammer 40k... But it is equal parts awesome, and rediculous looking... XD

 

[Dandark]

SO MUCH YES!!!

I know plenty of 40K games have been disappointing in the past but I can't be anything other than hyped for this. There have been good 40K games as well so I want to hope that this turns out well.
I love spaceship combat, not that crap with small ships or fighters that fly around dodging stuff, I mean REAL SPACESHIP COMBAT!!! WITH GIANT BATTLESHIPS!! I can't wait for this *Squeals*