Axis and Allies - Battlefleet Gothic

 I played a game of Space Hulk at the club which got me on a Warhammer 40k kick again. I’ve started designing planetary campaign tiles based on old Star Smuggler planet cards and discussing campaign rule options with my friend. 

An imperial fleet attempts to burst one of the Tyrant's blockades during the Badab War

For space battles I decided I would use the system I’m most familiar with - Galleys and Galleons - with new ship types based on those from the game. A few slow days at work were spent drafting rules for Imperial vessels from Battleships through cruisers down to frigates and destroyers. I’ve also made up rules for signal ships and transports. 


Meanwhile, in the spirit of Rogue Trader I’ve been scratch building starships out of old WWII battleships I got from an old and disused copy of Axis and Allies. The conversion was simple - take two ships of appropriate size and shape and glue them together along their keel. This produces a figure with conning tower and turrets along both sides giving them all a 3D look. 


Most of the ships I managed to make using the figures from Axis & Allies.


Once I had the figures finished I drilled holes in them and the bases with a hobby razor and then cut a flight stand to size from some paperclips I had handy. You can see them before paint below.


A few ships with their stands. The airplanes are part of a different project.

A few Ork Roks. I made these early figures out of garden rocks which I had to scrap
as I could not drill them deeply enough for their stands to hold.

A few ships from the two main fleets painted. Other ships will be painted unique
to act as mercenaries or pirates in special scenarios.

Each ship was base coated a single main colour - either grey or black, and then dry brushed with a lighter shade to add highlights and some texture to the figures. Next the front of the ship was denoted with a separate colour. Finally, the tower and turret sections were picked out with a metallic colour. Once this was done I retouched the figures, making sure the stand and base were completely black and ended with a quick black ink wash to add some shading to the metals.

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