A Penny for your thoughts: Grand Cruisers

[Admiral Koppenflak]

Hey folks,

My Imperial fleet has reached a critical mass; 9750 points, including five battleships. Yet, of all these ships, not a single one is a Grand Cruiser!

I'm a bit of a sentimentalist when it comes to old war horses like Grand Cruisers, and I'd like to break the "10,000" mark with a squadron of two or three of them.

My chaos fleet has a lone repulsive which has always done quite well, which has spurred this decision a little bit. But I've heard very mixed things on the Imperial counterparts to this ship. I'd like some opinions before I throw myself in to the deep end of Mail Order and buy a pair. (or trio)

I guess I'll cover the obvious on things that I've noticed about them already and give you all my thoughts on the matter; they're better shielded than the Repulsive, and they're possibly the only Imperial gunships to actually be worth their cost in gun duels with the chaos Heavies. (I am not a fan of Overlords for this reason; I'm one of the Mars nutters)

This said, the lack of prow weapons is a concern, but it's inherent to all three classes of Grand Cruiser. I like the Vengeance for its versatility, and the Strength 10, range 60 WBs are certainly a step up from the abhorrent S8s on the Overlord, not to mention the fact she's 5 points cheaper, and still boots a pair of lances. I've heard good things about this ship in particular... as opposed to;

the Avenger class, which seems to be nothing less than expensive and heavily gunned cannon fodder. The lack of prow weapons, combined with a short range and no armoured prow makes me wonder if the Strength 16 weapons battery is even going to have a CHANCE at firing while the Chaos ships have a wonderful time blowing holes in it from range before she manages to get through the line.

Lastly. The Exorcist. I honestly don't know on this one. The last thing I want right now is another carrier. Two Emperors, 4 Mars, 2 Dictators and an Oberon have me covered here. If you think I can't do without though, I'd still like to hear your arguments. :)

Thanks for hearing me out. What do you think....?

[Rambunctious Clott]

I have one Avenger class grand cruiser and one vengeance class (which I have yet to use)

I am a sentimentalist too, and love the grand cruisers because they look so cool, but one thing becomes horribly apparent using them: the lack of a 6+ prow means they are always the first thing to get shot. It's really heartbreaking when you only get to use firepower 8 weapons batteries every game from being crippled!

However, reading the fluff on the avenger - I think it would work amazingly well if you hide the avenger behind a shield and rush it forwards locked on to unleash a crippling blow. I personally couple it with two gothics in a squadron :D

When fighting eldar, the firepower 16 seems appealing. Go for the Vengeance though, the range 60 weapons batteries are far more effective.

Bear in mind the lack of forward firing weapons and armour, but as soon as you have an oppurtunity reveal itself - exploit it to the full. The avenger at least might only have one chance to fire it's massive broadside

These are my thoughts anyway :)

[hereticdave]

I think you need to send some of your fleet to me :)

[Admiral Koppenflak]

:D


Im already very chartible in most of the local campaigns and tend to 'requisition' large battlegroups to other people to field. Rolling for appeals takes on a whole new dimension when you're actually asking another player for reinforcements. haha.

but I digress...

I'm thinking a pair of Vengeance cruisers right now. Range is the one thing the Imperial fleet lacks, so it'd be nice to have a gunship squadron that can pummel the heretics from range.

[Pioneer]

I don't like the Grand Cruiser models, but they are fluffy choise for the fleet. Therefore I have modeled a new style Vegenance, here's (http://www.freewebs.com/guardsman/kuvat/alus2.JPG) a picture. Vessel is mainly for smaller games as a flagship to repel against Eldars. Still need to name the ship...

[ReDavide]

I don't like the Grand Cruiser models, but they are fluffy choise for the fleet. Therefore I have modeled a new style Vegenance, here's (http://www.freewebs.com/guardsman/kuvat/alus2.JPG) a picture. Vessel is mainly for smaller games as a flagship to repel against Eldars. Still need to name the ship...

I do hope you saw one in person before concluding that you dislike the models. The profile views in the rulebooks don't do them justice at all.

That's a very pretty conversion though.

[Admiral Koppenflak]

I see Im not the only one who saw Sammael and thought "Imperial battleship!!"

I picked up three of him the other day. I intend on doing alot of converting.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Admiral K, you could do what I did with my Grand Cruiser: use magnets to keep the ship's weapons in place. When I was assembling my GC, I couldn't decide whether I wanted a Vengeance or an Avenger, so I did the magnet thing so I could swap out the weapons as I see fit. Wasn't too hard, either. Honestly, getting it to stand straight on its base has been more of a problem for me.

Also, be prepared to pin the heck out of the thing, and to use green stuff to fill in some gaps. I don't know if everyone has these issues with their GCs, but I did with mine.

[Admiral Koppenflak]

Thanks, Raziel. I've heard of this technique before, but I've not had reason to use it till now. This might be a good way of doing it.