Representing a Battle Barge with an IN Battleship model

[carlisimo]

I'm trying to put together a 1500 point Heresy-era White Scars fleet and hadn't noticed that you could only have one single Venerable Battle Barge (embarrassing to have misinterpreted the wording like that).  I'd been toying with a list that used one of the cheaper lance-heavy Battleships (was thinking Victory) and a Grand Cruiser, just because the models seemed period-appropriate based on the content of the novels Scars and The Path of Heaven.  The rest of the fleet would be comprised of a pair of strike cruisers and a bunch of escorts.  I started buying up models off eBay and Shapeways and have them all now, including an unassembled Apocalypse-class battleship.

To keep it legal, the battleship needs to be built to use the 425-point Battle Barge rules.  That's fine, I just need advice on what modules to stick onto it.  A forward-mounted Launch Bay followed by two Weapons Battery modules on each side seems to make the most sense... it almost captures the prow launch bays, and the model has torpedo tubes in the prow.  It doesn't sound aesthetically pleasing, though.  Would you do anything different?

The list would be:

Admiral, 0 rerolls
Battle Barge
Executor (all-lance GC)
2 Strike Cruisers w/ extra shields
3 Nova
3 Gladius
4 Hunter
1500

I have a third, differently-styled strike cruiser and another two Hunters that get me to 1750 points if needed, or make it easier to make a lower-points fleet that doesn't use a battleship.

[Bozeman]

I think your idea is both wonderful and true to the fluff.  However, I can't say whether your list is good or bad because it depends on the scenario and opponent.  It does seem to be a pretty balanced list with a lot of options.

If you're still into expanding your list, I'd go with more Strike Cruisers.  I love having a bunch of Strike Cruisers hunting like sharks, hitting the enemy at their weakest, boarding, and then moving away to shake off any Brace for Impact results and reloading ordnance, then going in again.

[Seahawk]

Actually, you can use any Imperial or Chaos battleship as a Venerable battle barge.

[carlisimo]

Thanks, Bozeman! I need to get a feel for strike cruisers before I buy more, but I'll keep that in mind.

Seahawk, I have an Apocalypse model but need to build and run it as a standard battle cruiser so I can run a different ship as a venerable battle cruiser. I'm just wondering what modules to stick on the hull.

[Seahawk]

Ahh, I see what you're getting at; I thought you meant in terms of rules.

I'd use just the weapons batteries bits, because that's all a BB has on P/S. You need guns...lots of guns.