# Battlefleet Gothic Project - The Farpoint Exodus



## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Gents for a while now I have been meaning to start an Imperial fleet to add to my Chaos and Tau fleets. This started off as a pure Space Marine fleet to go with my Red Scorpion 40k army. Then I decided to add a Grey Knight squadron for my Grey Knight 40k army as well.

This fleet consisted of 1 Battle barge, 2 Red Scorpion strike cruisers and 3 Grey Knights strike cruisers with 6 frigates. See token images below... the Battle Barge is not yet complete...



















After a couple of successful battles I decided to upgrade this into a full Imperial taskforce and started planning my Imperial fleet.

The idea for this fleet is based very loosely on the Battlestar Galactica idea of a ship/fleet defending a large convoy over an extended period of time. It will be a fleet that is capable of operating on its own/behind enemy lines for very long periods of time. As a result it will have support ships including: 

“Dry dock” ship for repairing/refitting capital ships in deep space. Currently I am planning on basing this on a heavily modified Rogue Trader class cruiser. (http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat490030a&prodId=prod1101889I) will replace the gun batteries and construct large pincer style docking arms on either side enabling 2 cruisers to dock within the arms at any one time.

A fighter/bomber maintenance/repair/construction ship, coupled with a pilot training ship. This has already been completed. It will use the rule set for the Defiant class variant of the Dauntless cruiser, with the lances removed.

Various Transport/cargo ships. Initially this will consist of two Forgeworld Heavy troop transports, and three cargo ships (because that’s all I’ve ordered so far!!). This fleet will expand over time and will include scratch built ships. Eventually I would like the number of transport ships to be equal or greater than the number of war ships in the fleet.

Ships of the fleet

Emperor class Battleship..... Redemption
Armageddon class Battle cruiser..... Defiant
Gothic class cruiser..... Crusader
Dominator class cruiser..... Iron Fist
Dictator class cruiser..... Pegasus
Dauntless class light cruiser..... Raven
Dauntless class light cruiser..... Intrepid
Modified Defiant class light cruiser..... Endurance
Modified Rogue cruiser..... Helping Hand
Destroyer Sq 1 
Destroyer Sq 2

Construction is well underway and photos are imminent...


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Farpoint was a planetary system settled in the dark age of technology. Quite how exploratory vessels were able to make it out from the core as far as they did has long since been forgotten, but for thousands of years the four colonised worlds have stood, far beyond the guiding light of the Emperors throne. Farpoint was a well defended world when it was colonised and at the requests of the planetary governor permission was given for a sanctioned ship yard to be constructed above the capital system. 
For ten thousand years the shipyards around Farpoint produced warships and materials for the fleet stationed to defend the sector.
Then came the Age of Strife.
Farpoint was cut off from the rest of the Imperium by the warp storms that engulfed most of the galaxy. By the end of this Era, most had forgotten the very existence of the sector and the people who called it home. 
Thousands of years passed and apart from the odd exploration vessel from unknown alien races, little changed within the Farpoint sector.
Fate however had decided that this small patch of space would not be quiet for much longer.
Without any warning a massive Ork invasion fleet arrived in sector and immediately began landings on the outer colonised planet in the system. The Farpoint defence fleet was deployed against the invading savages, but the size of the Ork invasion mean that some greenskins were always going to make planet fall. The full might of the fleet fought the Orks in orbit to a standstill. In total twelve capital ships were destroyed in the defence of Farpoint IV, but all sixty of the invading Ork ships were destroyed. Orks that had made planet fall quickly overrun the meagre defences stationed on the world and within six months all combat operation on Farpoint IV ceased as Imperial forces were either evacuated of destroyed. Fleet Commanders knew they had lost this world.
With no fleet remaining it was decided to quarantine this world, and the fleet returned to base to regroup and re-arm. A third of the fleet had been destroyed and the world had ultimately been lost. Repairs to the fleet were made a sector wide priority and ship building resources were doubled. 
There would be little rest bite for the people of the Farpoint sector however. Less than five years later their peace would be again shattered, this time by a far more dark and terrifying for. Drone ships were sighted on the fringes of the system and it soon became apparent that a Tyranid fleet of cataclysmic proportions was about to engulf the sector. Conscription was introduced and all reserve regiments of planetary defence forces were mobilised.
The fleet met the invasion force around the orbit of Farpoint III. They never stood a chance. Dozens of hive ships and thousands of other ships blew through the Imperial lines as if they were not there. Resistance finally shattered when the Flagship Triumph was devoured by a hive ship of gigantic proportions, even though the warp core implosion created by its destruction vaporised half the ship. An emergency evacuation order was sent to the planet below and those who could, left in blind panic. Those who didn’t were left behind to the slaughter that followed. The planet and its millions of inhabitants were consumed in less than a week.
The evacuation of Farpoint II was still underway when the hive fleet moved on and consumed it whole. The Imperial fleet fought as hard as it could, and hundreds of Tyranid vessels were destroyed. During these pitched running battles losses were reasonably light, but ever loss was keenly felt. By the time Farpoint II fell, the fleet was exhausted. 
Incredably they steeled themselves for one final, back to the wall defence. They did not have long to wait.
The Tyranids descended upon Farpoint Prime in their thousands, final victory within their grasp. They were met with such fire and steel as has rarely been witnessed in the history of the Imperium. Wave after wave of attack ships, drones and cruiser analogues were blown out of space as desperate defenders. Attrition began to wear down the numbers of the defending ships until less than a dozen remained out of fifty. The government had been keeping a close eye on the battle in space and as heroic as the actions of the fleet were they could see that it was never going to be enough. They passed an emergency bill to begin the evacuation of Farpoint.
The days that followed contained the fiercest fighting of the whole campaign. Transports took off from all over the world and attempted to escape the closing net around Farpoint. Dozens were lost as they tried to escape on their own and it soon became evident that if any were to survive warships would be needed to protect them.
Admiral Titus ordered the fleet split in half. Half would defend the world of Farpoint for as long as they could and half would take the surviving ships and flee the sector. Titus stayed on board his flagship, the Apocalypse class Battleship the End of Days, as mile long tentacles ripped his ship apart. As with the Triumph, the last action of the ship was to self detonate its warp core, leaving a flaming gaping hole in the Tyranid fleet.
Admiral Jenson led the exodus fleet to the edge of the system. Under constant attack the fleet was being picked apart. The Mars class Battlecruiser Unequivocal was boarded by thousands of Tyranid assault organisms and eventually overcome. She was left drifting in the wake of the fleet as Jenson made full bore for the edge of the system in a race against time.
The attacks began to lessen and as the fleet passed into the space beyond the Farpoint system and soon they were alone. Only 8 Capital ships had survived along with around twenty other major transport ships. In total it represented less than one percent of the civilian population of Farpoint and 16% of the military.
With no point of reference to launch into warp space and hasten their journey home, they made the decision to form a convoy and make best possible speed towards the core of the galaxy, with the hope of one day getting a fix on the Astronomican and being able to return to the realm of the Imperium.
Admiral Jenson passed away peacefully a decade later and command passed to his first officer, Admiral Kendrel. 
Among the surviving warships the trading cruiser Helping Hand, had been heavily damaged during the fighting. Many other ships in the fleet were in desperate need of repair so it was decided to convert the Hand into a repair and refit ship. The heavy weapon batteries were cannibalised and the metals re used to construct vast docking arms. Modifications took over a year to complete but once they were repairs began on the vast capital ships of the fleet. First to be repaired was the Emperor class battleship Redemption. Most of the rest of the ships followed, repairs being undertaken with any materials that were to hand. Some of the smaller transport ships were pulled apart and parts used until the fleet was combat ready once again.
The Defiant class cruiser Endurance was refitted into a fighter training and construction ship, able to produce crude Starhawk fighters. The ship has proven invaluable as without it the pilots of the Redemption and the Dictator class cruiser Pegasus would have died out generation before.
For nearly a thousand years the fleet has continued on core bound. It has survived pirate raids, solar flares, strange and weird spectacles of every possible description, but it has endured.
Most secret of all is what is housed within the steel hull of the Redemption. An item of such importance that a thousand years ago, Admiral Titus was willing to let himself and half his fleet be destroyed to give the smallest chance that it would one day return to the Imperium intact. Within the belly of the beast resides a STC of incredible power. If this was known to anyone but the Admiral of the fleet, the armadas of the galaxy would descend on the Exodus fleet and tear it apart. It is a secret imparted on death to whoever is appointed admiral on the death of his predecessor, along with the most solemn of oaths to keep the fleet pointing core-wards in the hope that one day they will pick up the faintest signal of the Astronomican, and finally be able to reach their new home.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Endurance










The traditional Dauntless Cruiser hull has been heavily modified to include a flat carrier style deck and large fuel tanks for refuelling attack craft, as well as bulking up the bottom of the hull.

Pegasus










Again, the hull of this medium carrier has been altered to allow for a large flat deck. Alterations to the area just forward of the bridge have allowed for larger rigging to be placed (in fact a modified Nova cannon piece). Green stuff will fill in the surrounding area

Iron Fist










The rear of this Dominator cruiser has been modified to show alterative engines. The superstructure has been bulked up and the bottom fin removed and reversed. It makes the ship look slightly larger than a normal cruiser and slightly more intimidating.

Crusader










The bridge of this Gothic class cruiser has been modified. Ive brought the bridge forward and heightened it so it looks down on the heavy lance batteries. Other than that the ship is pretty standard. It is the only ship in the fleet equipped with a ram.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Redemption










The fleet was only ever going to contain one battleship. Torn between wanting the carrier capacity and fluff of the Emperor and the looks of the Apocalypse I did in fact end up buying the Apocalypse but decided to magnetise the weapons to I can swap then out as/when needed. After thinking long and hard I decided that the “Official” Redemption would be an Emperor, but I would keep the magnets for the Apoc so I could always swap them out if I fancied a change in the odd battle.
A complete lack of lance turrets led me to use spare masts in the dorsal holes, and I created a tower for the central gun, giving it a good field of fire. I wasn’t sure about this, and tbh it looks a bit odd in this pic, but after spraying it looks great.

Destroyers










Every battlefleet needs some escorts, and Ive decided for and all Destroyer force, dispensing with the frigates of the Imperial fleet. In all honesty its half fleet composition and half because I think Cobra’s look cool! Im running two squadrons of four each. In the future I may add another squadron, but atm these are my escorts.

Dauntless Cruisers – Intrepid and Raven










Many Imperial fleets ive played against have contained a “token” Dauntless cruiser and tbh it usually gets blown up pretty early and easy. I wanted to try and run a diverse mixture of ships in the fleet and include Dauntless as a threat, rather than a liability. I plan on using them in a squadron to outflank and deliver str12 torpedo salvo where it hurts.
Ive slightly modified one of them by bulking it up and adding a small aerial, but they are designed as straight up Dauntless’. One of them is old and has had a couple of paint jobs already so please excuse the quality of the painting when it comes, itll most likely be a little less crisp than the others.

Defiant

The Defiant is a straight forward Armageddon class battle cruiser, more or less straight out of the shipyards. It is not modified in any way. The only battle cruiser in the fleet, it is designed to be the ship second in command after the Redemption.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

These are looking awesome so far! One day I will work on my eldar fleet, I promise!


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Awesome! One day I will have to get some of these myself...


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

Its cool to see some BFG on here. I regret selling mine a few years back. We had some great games back in the day!


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## Graf Spee (Apr 29, 2009)

looking good! nice background.

and i like your all out cobra escort approach. get another blister and boost them to 2 full 6 ship squads. with a strenght 12 torpedo salvo they kick some serious ass for no points at all! 

neat looking grey knight cruisers! have some rep


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Thanks guys, really appreciate the comments and the rep 

The fleet is progressing well, I have painted a lot of the fleet and last night I set about making the dry dock ship. Its turned out exactly as I wanted and im really happy with it. Piccies to follow...
Also My transport fleet is starting to take ship. Ive had my Forgeworld transports and they are ace, and ive also scratch built another heavy transport. I havent decided whether I like it enough yet but ill let you guys be the judges!! lol.
Piccies to follow... hopfully tonight.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Helping Hand










This is the helping hand, a heavily converted Rogue Trader cruiser. As you can see by the photo I have added a large landing pad from a non-gw company on one side and attached additional fuel tanks and structures underneath this. On the other side are the main docking arms. I made sure that most of my cruisers can actually fit into the arms and there was room for the stand to fit in between the two arms. Its worked really well actually. The only bit im not 100% happy about the bridge section, ill have to see it after its painted.
Just as an aside really, has anyone ever actually had a look at the rogue trader cruiser model? Its really good!! Any Imp players who want a cruiser that looks a bit different I would recommend getting one. The only down side is the hole where the stand goes into the model it WAY to far back, you’ll have to drill/glue your own or it will never stand up.


Transport fleet wave 1










This, coupled with the Helping Hand is currently all my transport fleet. Ive never seen these Forgeword models before and tbh im really impressed. They are well made and the resin was very well cast, something that hasn’t always been the case with FW BFG in my experience. The larger transports came in 4 pieces, meaning you could combine them with as many modules as you wanted. Its food for thought for future conversions I can assure you. As it happens I went for 2 modules in each. 

Scratch built transport.










Hummm… im not sure tbh. Its ok, apart from the front. I couldn’t really come up with a good front for it. I was out of GW parts and even my 3rd part stuff wasn’t doing it for me. I can pull it off if anyone’s got any better ideas. I don’t know, maybe im just to close to it… I like the bridge, engines and sides but… I dunno. Maybe ill change my mind after painting?!?

Pegasus – painted










Well ive finished a couple of paint jobs now, one of which im happy with, my medium carrier. Ive tried to keep it simple – shades of battleship grey with boltgun metal and silver and gold highlighting. Im still really tempted to try and get some battle damage onto these ships but im not sure yet. Would need to do a test ship I think. Anyone ever tried??


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Can you provide a link to the company you bought the conversion bits from?


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

http://spartangames.co.uk/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=196

Your wish is my command 

They have a lot of cool stuff, some of their models are high on my list of possible conversions. Enjoy!


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

I think that last conversion is particularly splendid, especially with such an excellent paint job. Great to see!


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## Graf Spee (Apr 29, 2009)

spartan games rule.
armada and dystopian wars kick some major ass. in small scale war


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Crusader - painted










Next off the production line was the Gothic class cruiser Crusader.



Raven – painted










The first of my two Dauntless Cruisers, the Raven was painted over an old paint scheme. This explains why the paint is a little less sharp than some of the others.


Redemption Battleship - painted



















I tried my best but I couldn’t wait any longer… I really wanted to crack on and paint the flagship. As you can see it is now in its Carrier configuration, as it will be for most of its career. I added the eagle off a Retribution class Battleship to the bridge area, and I added a small landing pad for shuttles etc onto the side of the superstructure. I figured if it was the flagship of a fleet there would be lots of comings and goings and VIPs etc might want to use that rather than a carrier deck. It was also inspired by current modern navel warships, many of which have helipads on them for SAR, ASW etc. Im really happy with the Redemption.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Loving your fleet so far mate! I picked up the rules for BFG sometime ago at Games Day, but I have yet to take the plunge into buying an models. I think I will live vicariously through you for awhile if that is alright! Keep up the good work and I look forward to more.


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## Skari (Dec 20, 2011)

Love the look of that flag ship. Awesome, inspiring me to dig up my own fleet and paint her up.


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## Bubblematrix (Jun 4, 2009)

Full rep for these, really like the subtle conversions and the paintjobs - BFG ships are a pain to paint well, keep it up


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

Dude! Those are looking awesome as all hell!


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

Makes me want to check out some models and put together a chaos fleet. Impressive work.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Many thanks for all the comments guys. More photo updates to follow soon 

And everyone who says they want to start/re-start BFG... Do it!! lol Its so easy to link to whatever army your collecting atm: Every army needs a way to get around between planets!!


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Endurance - complete










Presenting the Endurance, my heavily modified Defiant class Dauntless cruiser. I removers most of the superstructure behind the bridge and added huge fuel tanks. The idea is that this ship is a total support ship for the rest of the fleet, including a fuel tender. It also has a flat carrier deck so it can act as a fighter/bomber training ship for the rest of the fleet, as they will not be making port any time soon: New fighter pilots would still have to be trained.
Special rules: The Endurance is a Defiant class variant of the Dauntless Cruiser. In order to maintain the re-fueling rigs and pilot training facilities it has had its entire weapons compliment removed. 
It has a turret rating of 2. 
Any allied vessel within 10cm may make its reload ordinance roll on three dice and choose the two lowest to represent the supply of pilots, fighters and fuel from the Endurance.

Iron Fist – complete










The Iron Fist is designed to one of the three main fighting cruisers of the fleet, along with the Crusader and the Defiant. The Dominator is a very well armed vessel and possesses the only Nova cannon in the fleet. I have constructed a new engine array for the Fist using the Firestorm Armada bits pack that I mentioned earlier.


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## Djinn24 (Jan 12, 2008)

great looking, you make me really want to break out my BFG models.


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Update time guys!
The civilian fleet is taking shape:










and










When it came to painting them, if i was to stick to my own fluff (and if i dont, who will?!? :rtfm: lol) then they are random vessels that escaped the destruction of their home world. Therefore i presumed that they wouldnt be in naval fleet colours so i could experiment a little. Washing them gives them a nice, dirty, hard worlking life kinf of look that i really like.

Defiant – complete










Ive also nearly finished the second-in-command ship, the battlecruiser Defiant. Im going to try some detail on the prow at a later date and i havent washed it yet, but this is the mighty vessel as it stands now. Also im going to paint over the name and print off proper names and stick them on, because, quite frankly, my painting of letters sucks!!

Ive ordered a few more transport type ships from Forgeword but I cant put it off any longer, next WILL be the dry dock ship!! Stay tuned…


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## godzy (Jun 5, 2008)

Me and mt local (same country) group are re entering- two years ago I got me some SM and got them all painted up. another friend had crap-loads of chaos, he made a beautiful air-brushed table we used once and never got to play again. now we are coming back with two other new player, and a third one interested to get into it.

your work is wounder-full, and inspiring, I might borrow and idea or two to make my strike cruisers more individual.


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## Nazrax (Apr 23, 2011)

Wow, some really great stuff! It makes me want to finish up my Necron fleet and get it painted. BFG is such an awesome game, I wish more people knew about it and played it in my area.
Have some rep!


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## Phrazer (Oct 14, 2008)

Many thanks guys for the rep and the comments, i MUST try to complete this in the near future, its on the to-do list but then again, so is a lot of stuff at the moment!!


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