Thanks, been waiting for this!
Looks great! The ships seem well-balanced at first blush (didn't note that much had changed), and the fleet lists are much better organized and laid out.
Two minor disappointments: the Hellbringer Light Cruiser from Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is nowhere to be found, and I think I'd heard that wasn't a ship made just for that game, but I could be wrong. I was also hoping to see variations of old-school Chaos "Battle Barges" and "Strike Cruisers," what they would have been before and during the Horus Heresy. But, all the research I've done indicates ships like that didn't really exist at that time, so it's understandable they aren't statted. I like the ability to purchase "actual" Space Marine Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers from the right fleet list, that'll tie in nicely with my campaign rules.
First off, thanks!
As to your questions, I did have rules for the Hellbringer at an early stage of development, but I realized that if I included it I'd be opening a can of worms as I'd be expected to add
all the ships from BFG-A, which would quickly get complicated since the game is still being developed. I'll probably be submitting my Hellbringer stats to the ASC 2.0 at some point in the future though, so you'll be able to find it there.
Speaking of, Gothmog's ASC 2.0 has the Heresy-era BBs and SCs that you're looking for, I think. As for why they're not in BFG:XR - I am trying as much as possible to keep with the BFG:R philosophy of minimizing the number of ships/variants in each book. This is important to maintain the flavor of each faction (so that we don't have a bunch of cloned ships with different accessories) as well as to maintain the balance of ships within each book (as you increase variety, the potential for "strictly better / strictly worse" ships also increases). This is why the ASC is so great - if balance isn't a concern for a scenario or playgroup, you can pull whichever ships you need and have a good time, while still being able to use the rulebooks as a "standalone" if you want a more "pick-up & play" style of game.
In any case, I'm glad you like it! Let me know if you find any errors or have any other questions.
