Chaos Grand Cruiser
Grand Cruisers are a type of warship that carry the firepower of a Battleship on the smaller but much swifter frame of a Cruiser. Due to the complex systems needed to build such craft, the Imperium no longer makes Grand Cruisers, but a few still remain in the Imperial Navy's service in Reserve fleets.
Many Grand Cruisers had gone over to the service of Chaos over the millennia due to one reason or another. Due to their combination of raw firepower and speed, these ships are favored by many Renegade commanders.
Grand Cruiser Classes[edit]
Basic[edit]
Repulsive[edit]
The prototypical Grand Cruiser: the firepower of a Battleship carried on the hull of a Cruiser. Though its defences are nowhere near those of Battleships, the Repulsive's firepower is nothing short of phenomenal.
Originally known as the Corinus-class, these ships entered Chaos use when the Death Guard captured several and returned with them to the Eye of Terror. When corrupted variants appeared afterwards, Imperial scholars reclassified the class as the Repulsive instead.
The Repulsive is armed with 6 front-mounted Torpedo launchers and 4 short-ranged Double-Barrel Light Lance turrets, as well as 4 mid-range broadside Mega Heavy Macro Battery Weapons. Coupled with its heavy armor and shields, this means that the Repulsive is more than capable of surviving close-ranged firefights and meting out pain in return.
- Length: 7.4km
- Mass: 39 megatons; approx
- Crew: 134,000 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 2.4 gravities max sustainable acceleration
Hellfire[edit]
Not to be confused with the similarly named Hellfire-class Heavy Cruiser.
A mixed-weapon Grand Cruiser. The Hellfire is a relatively new addition to the Fleets of Chaos. It also looks quite different, at least in terms of the prow.
As such, it is also one of the largest of the new ships added in the Chaos Campaign expansion for BFG Armada II. Coming in on the cheaper side of things points wise, the Hellfire packs a wealthy amount of DPS and CPM in its mixed lance/macro armament, along with a couple of powerful turrets for frontal wide arc protection. It definitely seems worth considering the Hellfire as a go-to choice for affordable, durable damage-dealing at range.
The Hellfire is armed with a wide variety of weapons including: 1 Triple Barrel Heavy Macro Turret, 1 Double-Barrel Lance Turret, 4 Double-Barrel Lance Battery Weapons and 4 Macro Battery Weapons.
- Length: 7.4km
- Mass: 37 megatons; approx
- Crew: 130,000 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 2.4 gravities max sustainable acceleration
Carrier[edit]
Retaliator[edit]
A Carrier-type, the class had been in service of Chaos since at least M35, when an entire squadron of ships mutinied. The Retaliator carries four Launch Bays carrying a complement of Swiftdeath Fighters, Doomfire Bombers, Dreadclaw Assault Pods or more rarely, Kharybdis Assault Claws, plus 4 mixed Macro and Lance/Merged Macro Battery broadside guns.
The design intention is pretty clear as it lacks firepower. Against large ships, use fighters and bombers to cripple enemy firepower and communications and engines while pounding at their shields. Then either kill it over a long period of time or ignore the de-fanged foe. Against smaller ships, basically the same but with the firepower to quickly kill them while the attack craft does other things instead of engaging those ships. In fact, even against large craft whether or not to leave it to the fighters and bombers or pound at the shields probably depends on what support your own ship has to attack them with.
While in-universe lore describes the Retaliator as a "Master of None" type of ship (versatile, but doesn't excel at all at any one role), the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada games decide to give the class short-ranged mixed broadsides instead. This not only limits its damage output, but also puts it in an odd spot of being a Carrier that has to close in to even use its guns.
- Length: 7.4km
- Mass: 36.7 megatons; approx
- Crew: 114,000 crew, 20,000 pilots and support personnel; approx
- Acceleration: 2.4 gravities max sustainable acceleration
Lance-Boat[edit]
Executor[edit]
The dedicated Lance-boat of the Grand Cruisers, the firepower that the Executor could put out was much appreciated by Imperial Navy commanders. The last squadrons of this class vanished pursuing raiders close to the Cadian Gate, only to reappear under Renegade control some five hundred years later.
The Executor comes with a mix of short-ranged and mid-ranged Lance broadside batteries as standard. Thanks to the sheer power of lances, this isn’t the problem it sounds like (needing to get close to use all lances) but instead means the ship can target a good number of attack escorts whose shields have been stripped, while also providing good lance coverage against enemy cruisers at the same time.
In the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada games, this gives the class incredible accuracy, in return for having a relatively narrow firing arc.
Overall, total weapons include 4 Double-Barrel Lance Battery Weapons and 4 Double Barrel Light Lance Battery Weapons.
- Length: 7.4km
- Mass: 35 megatons; approx
- Crew: 120,400 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 2.4 gravities max sustainable acceleration
In Battlefleet Gothic[edit]
Chaos Grand Cruisers fill the need of a quick platform capable of putting out the firepower and having almost the durability of a Battleship. These are also much cheaper points-wise, and can be used to anchor a Chaos list if there aren't a lot of points to spare.
A Grand Cruiser may be taken for every two Heavy or regular Cruisers in a fleet list. If commanded by a Chaos Lord, a player may select any of the four Marks of Chaos available.
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2[edit]
Like their Imperial counterparts, Chaos Grand Cuisers provide a cheaper alternative to Battleship in fleet composition. That said, barring the Repulsive, the relatively short ranges of the other classes leave some players scratching their heads, as they go against the trend of long-ranged firepower for Chaos warships.
| Vessels of the Traitor Legions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Space Station | Blackstone Fortress | |
| Super Battleships | Abyss | |
| Battleships | Battleship (Gloriana - Planet Killer) - Ark of Omen | |
| Cruisers | Light Cruiser - Cruiser Heavy Cruiser - Grand Cruiser | |
| Escorts | Escort | |
| Others | Silver Tower of Tzeentch | |
| Combat Spacecraft | Doomfire Bomber - Swiftdeath Fighter | |
| Landships | ||
| Siege Carriers | Siege Carrier | |
| War Machines | Chaos Harvester - Nurgle Plague Tower - Woe Machine | |
| Titans | Questor Scout Titan - Slaanesh Subjugator Feral Scout Titan - Ravager Battle Titan Chaos Warlord Titan - Chaos Emperor Titan Skull Reaper | |
| Troop Transports | Mastodon | |
| Superheavy Tanks | Baneblade - Fellblade - Plaguereaper Tower of Skulls | |
| Airships | ||
| Flying Fortress | Harbinger | |
| Aerospace Vessels | Stormbird | |
| Seaships | ||
| Oceanic Battleships | Oceanic Battleship | |