Space fleet - Imperial Fleet

Alright ! After my last poste about my freshly acquired tyranid fleet, it was time fo rme to have a look at the Imperial models I have to see if both forces match or not. Since I haven't been collecting them with a definite plan in mind it's highly unlikely both would be of equal size but the opportunity is also to look at what I have and what I could do with it.

After a couple of trades (and several gifts) over the last 2 years, I've managed to assemble this force with a bit of everything.

Now let's have a look in detail :

Emperor Capital Ship :

The emperor capital ship is the biggest (and most expensive) ship you can have in the game. that's the one saying "gothic human dictatorship" to everyone in space. The model is in 2 pieces and weighs a good load.

As you'd expect from a ship that size, it's not tailored for delicacy. The big ramming bonus with front shields and the good side batteries mean this one is to be found in the middle of the fight.

Dominator Battleship :

That's the nasty one here, I actually have 2 of them. The dominator is the "deathray" ship. It fires a huge shell (I suppose, looking at the shape of the cannon) which blasts a large zone. Ideal to remove many threats and gain a pyschological advantage.

Ironclad Battleship :

I like this one for many reasons. The first one is that it's supposed to be an antic design which doesn't use the shield technology but just heavy physical armour. The second reason come from the first, since it doesn't tank with shield, it tanks with hull which in gamer french would be "il tank hull" which sounds exactly like "il t'encule" meaning "it fucks you in the ass"

OK I know the last reason is stupid and childish but all french gamers will agree with me on this one I'm sure.

Gothic Battleship :

The Gothic Battle ship is your swiss army knife, the basic battleship you get in the box with good average performances. Sort of a Jack of all trades.

Firestorm Cruiser :

The firestorm cruiser is just a reduced version of the Battleship above, same design with just reduced stats.

Cobra Destroyers :

Those are pretty cool, alone they can't do much but in groups they can be quite deadly and resilient to one point. They're actually merging shields meaning it's better to field 3 per square (maximum) to mlake them last for longer. Yes, that means I need 2 more.

Galaxy Troop Ship :

A bit of an odd one, this model is free and has specific rules. Not exactly fit for combat, it is however very useful for boarding and could easily be a very intersting piece scenario wise.

Then I have a bunch of assorted modesl from different ranges (I owe them all to the kindness of different hobbyists). Given their size they could be played as Pirate Cobra destroyers, the heavy varuation in style and look could actually fit a pirate armada quite nicely.

This means I know have at least 860 points that could be brought to 960 if I'm using the spare ships as cobra destroyers. Given my tyranid force is about 820 to 920 points strong, I think I'm pretty lucky to have gathered equal forces for both forces !

The ideas for a paintscheme for the tyranid force is emerging now  and it will most likely be uniform over the whole fleet with a few points to differentiate ships. Now the imperial force is something else. I may have to think a bit deeper as I'd want something coherent (apart from the pirates) but with a good distinction between types of sjips. There no point painting the old Ironclad like the Emperor class or the cobra destroyers I think. Maybe I should paint them in small groups of similar ships and see how the whole force evolves. The organic evolution could be very fitting to such a fleet actually. But then what model to pick first ? An easy one ? The biggest one (I tend to favour painting characters first in my armies.

Still loads of questions but at least the rules and collecting part are done and behind me now. Le'ts move on to the modelling one !