So.... this Imperial Navy Battleship?

[horizon]

Hey,

in the mail is a new addition to my fleets, perhaps one of the most iconic fleets in the game, I faced them multiple times but never played with them. I do have a pimped version of them going by the name of Adeptus Mechanicus.

So, soon will arrive:
1 Retribution Battleship Model
4 unasembled cruisers
12 escorts (no friggin idea which ones).

A well assorted core of 1500pts for a good prize. Yay.

Now I may have many opinions in this game and blah blah.  But I will not make a Retribution out of the Battleship. Mainly because my AdMech has a Retribution BB.

So is it plausible to use the Retribution model as a base for an Apocalypse (concept rules and I wanna be weird) or the Oberon (since it is cool in use)?
With both getting HA and/or fan upgrades they will both fit with me in any fleet.


Secondly this IN fleet saved me from buying an AdMech cruiser (for half the money of this fleet....). It'll have a Dictator which I take as a reserve in my AdMech fleet to get it rounded perfectly at 1500pts as well.

And I will build a Dominator since I envy the Imperial Navy for that vessel....

[commander]

Hey,

in the mail is a new addition to my fleets, perhaps one of the most iconic fleets in the game, I faced them multiple times but never played with them. I do have a pimped version of them going by the name of Adeptus Mechanicus.

So, soon will arrive:
1 Retribution Battleship Model
4 unasembled cruisers
12 escorts (no friggin idea which ones).

A well assorted core of 1500pts for a good prize. Yay.

Now I may have many opinions in this game and blah blah.  But I will not make a Retribution out of the Battleship. Mainly because my AdMech has a Retribution BB.

So is it plausible to use the Retribution model as a base for an Apocalypse (concept rules and I wanna be weird) or the Oberon (since it is cool in use)?
With both getting HA and/or fan upgrades they will both fit with me in any fleet.


Secondly this IN fleet saved me from buying an AdMech cruiser (for half the money of this fleet....). It'll have a Dictator which I take as a reserve in my AdMech fleet to get it rounded perfectly at 1500pts as well.

And I will build a Dominator since I envy the Imperial Navy for that vessel....

Retribution can be used for Apocalyps; Oberon however you better use an Emperor.

[Vaaish]

I gather this is second hand if you don't know what escorts you are getting?  But on to your questions:

1. yes it should be pretty simple to make the retribution into an apocalypse. Just leave off or clip off the prow ram and glue a plastic NC from your Admech and IN sprues in it's place. Then put on the three sets of lance batteries and you should be good to go. If you have putty or GS you could fill in the torpedo holes on the prow as well.

Oberon is also possible and all you'd really need is the right modules in the slots. Maybe add some extra sensors and fill the torpedo holes too. For that matter, the hull you pick for IN battleships really matters very little since the real visual difference to identify the ship is the modules you place on it.

2. As far as cruisers go, if you are building a dominator you will need to build a gothic as well unless you have extra gun bits and even if you could build a different hull the gothic is a good pairing. The problem here is that neither the apocalypse nor the oberon are in lists that have access to the dominator. Since you are planning on reserving in the Dictator, you probably won't have any slots free to reserve in a dominator as well. You could get around that by just taking the IN dictator and reserve in the dominator though. That would mean your four cruisers should probably be a dominator, gothic, and two dictators.

Going that route and taking the Apoc, you can get an extra reroll plus your admiral and still have 250 points to fiddle with your escorts.

The other way is to take the Oberon, reserve in the dominator, build a gothic, dictator, and either a tyrant (so you can have a second dominator if you decide to use different lists) or a second gothic. That way gives you about 300 points for your escorts.

[horizon]

Hey,
thanks for the quick replies.

Cool with the Battleship. Prow adjusting shouldn't be difficult.

The Dictator will be regular IN. The AdMech will add it as a reserve vessel (so non AM upgrades). So within the IN fleet the Dominator would be the only reserve. The Tyrant idea is nice (can we get that prize drop official heh heh).

If I do not build the Retribution wouldn't that leave me with spare weapon batteries?

Correct, 2nd hand, description said 12 escorts. I hope some Swords/Cobra's in the mix. If there are Firestorms I might swap some to my Marines (well the two Marine vessels I have....) as RSV's. But I'll have to wait and see.


At the moment my 'gut feeling' is heading at :
Apocalypse
Dictator
Dominator

for sure.


hmmm
Apocalypse
Armageddon
Dictator
Lunar/Gothic
Dominator [res]

weird bunch. lol

[Vaaish]

Unlike Admech, you probably don't want to be caught with less than 8LB as IN. If you are getting the ret secondhand that very much depends on what you have or can salvage from it. I was assuming that pulling off the old modules would nearly destroy them and that you weren't receiving extra sprues for the Ret.

[horizon]

Yes, that might be true. Glad I have spare weapons around. Shall see.

And the thing about 8LB is noted.

So... Apocalypse
2x Dictator
1x Dominator

Then I could choose between a bunch. Gothic is a logical choice for the Dominator. However, the pairing so much used... a Lunar is mainstay and breathes IN (yes I know what I tell people if they ask advice on what's good but I like my own fleets ...less... optimized if fluff tells me other things). I could change a Dictator into a Mars but then I would get more NC then I want (2 max tbh). Armageddon is also a cool design, but would float well along a Lunar. So I might need to rethink my Dominator choice in a way if I went that route. Ah, I have time.

[Vaaish]

I guess it's not to say it's impossible to play IN with low or no LB. I've put together several experimental fleets that do just that with fair success but it is much more complicated to use effectively.

For what it's worth, you REALLY don't want a single lunar. They just don't pair that well with anything else.

If you are thinking of dropping the dominator, you could look at two dictators, 2 armageddons and the apoc. Still leaves you with around 150 for escorts. Since you are building this for 1500 points I don't think I'd recommend taking mars. I used to like them and built two but quickly found that they don't work as well the higher the point value. They are good and effective at low points because they combine weapons to make a good support ship.

[horizon]

150pts escorts is too low for me. Then I rather do 2 Lunars (to get 80pts extra) or Dom/Goth (70pts).

I know Admiral d'Artagnan & Xavi (Port Maw) would/could combine an Armageddon and Lunar. As the Armageddon is the Battlecruiser version of the Lunar.

You are right. 4 LB is too low.

Aaah, long time since I theorized on a fleet... and now I see a burden of too many options in a fleet. haha.

[Vaaish]

I'm not overly fond of combining ships with different ranges. There can be some benefit to doing that since you can hang the armageddon back in formation and still support the lunar as if it were in the same spot, but it feels wasteful when you get little effect out of the s6 batteries and one ship is unable to fire at all.

If 150 is too low then you might want to think about the oberon, dictator, dominator, gothic, armageddon or Apoc, armageddon, dominator, 2x dictator. Either of those leaves you with 200-250 points for escorts after you take the commander and the armageddon can work alright on its own like the gothic paired with a dominator.

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

Using the Retribution chassis for the Apocalypse is no problem. The original author who drafted it used a Retribution chassis since there were no Voss pattern models at the time. You just have to make an NC bit and attach it to the chin.

[horizon]

Heya,
received the following:

Retribution assembled plus magnetized base.
4 Imperial Cruisers: hull assembled but weapon on sprue (!)
8 Cobra's
2 Swords
3 Firestorms
4 Transports.

I managed to remove 4 batteries from the Retribution very easlily, no damage. 2 last ones been destructed...

So, now I build, (why do I ask advice again?):

Apocalypse (Retribution model with lances looks cool, need to attacn NC, removed eagle).
1x Dictator
2x Lunar
1x Dominator
6x Cobra
2x Sword + 1x Firestorm

Admiral Ld8 + re-roll
Exactly 1500points.

Gives me NC, Lunars in squadron (need to start using squads as well), light ordnance, but torp spree.

The remaining
2 Firestorms: allocated to Novamarines.
2 Cobra''s: allocated to Rogue Trader (Havoc Class Recommissioned Vessel).
4 Transports: allocated to Rogue Trader

Good stuff for the prize I paid.

[lastspartacus]

Play the Tyrant like its meant to be, 190 and str6 at 45cm, str6 at 30cm, and its mean with the Admech range upgrade

I fancy the Oberon myself, because its an awesome all around battleship imo. 
How many cruisers are in your Admech fleet?  I think on the MO that light cruisers are the backbone of an Admech fleet.

[horizon]

This is my AdMech fleet (currently):

Retribution (normally always with AWR upgrade)*
Lunar
Gothic
Endeavour
3x Gladius
3x Hunter

few ships, expensive, outnumbered, no carrier. Yet, since I took an Endeavour instead of Defiant I start winning battles. The Retribution and Gothic being the game winners.

Adding a standard reserve IN Dictator will bring above AdMech fleet up to 1500pts nicely (some wiggle room to add extra's).

The AdMech CL's are really bad moulds. :/ And too expensive as well.

[Vaaish]

LS, what are you talking about? Tyrant already get the range upgrade in the standard IN fleet and while 195 points is slightly more, I'd rather have s10 @45.

Horizon,
That's quite the haul, especially the transports. Those can be hard to get your hands on. It is a bit unfortunate that there weren't more swords and a few less cobras.

Your purposed list looks alright, but as I mentioned earlier, you really need 8LB in standard IN so I'd drop both lunars and make a second dictator and a Gothic. Taking the apoc and the cruisers you've got to work with it's the only way I can see to get 8lb without having an odd man out with the single lunar. If you go that route you could drop the single firestorm and end up exactly 1500 points with the reroll or 15 points under if you drop a cobra instead.

[lastspartacus]

I just always thought the Tyrant would be best at 190 and str6 batteries at each band.  Then when you go Admech, you get str12 for a flat 200.  Well, before all the goodies.