i have been asked by my group if i can come up with a strike cruser or battle barge for them to use in BC once it gets going. i don't have any rogue traders books and was wondering if the stats are in one, or if not some good ideas. please note that this is not for a RT game so it does not need to be to detailed. thank you

Nothing official. Try http://www.darkreign40k.com/drjoomla/index.php/component/docman/doc_download/276-ships-of-the-adeptus-astartes

Chaos ships (not battle barges, but their other vessels) have mostly been covered in Rogue Trader books though, and they're arguably better (more rounded for both space combat and orbital bombardment) than battle barges.

No Millandson, that is only 50% correct.

Space Marine Strike Cruisers & Battle Barges are potent vessels. But indeed in a ship to ship combat the Imperial Navy will have an edge on them.

However, Barges and Strike Cruisers are designed for one role: Planetary Assault.

Barges & Strike Cruisers should and must be better at orbital bombardment (to pave the way for the Marines) then the Chaos ships (older technology).

In Battlefleet Gothic the Barges & Strike Cruiser have specifically designed Bombardment Cannons to do this job. Weapons not normally available to the Chaos fleet. (Yes RT BFK gave Chaos some of this but Marines should have it better and more).

horizon said:

In 40K older is almost always better.

Keep in mind that the modern Astartes fleets are a shadow of what they were during the crusade. This was done specifically so that the Imperial Navy could dominate them in a space battle if another heresy came about.

Yes, true (to a large extend).

However, after the Heresy when the Imperial Army got split in the Imperial Navy and Space Marines they decided Marines may never be a threat to the Navy in space.

Their primary role being planetary assault. To add to this they developed the Bombardment Cannon specifically to do this job. It never existed before.

horizon said:

And if you actually read what I said, you'll see that I didn't say that the Chaos vessels were better at both orbital bombardment and space combat - I said they were more rounded, being good at both. If you want a ship that can do both (which is often what Chaos need, since they don't have the separation of Astartes and Navy like the Imperium does) well, go with a normal ship - only go with an Astartes Battlebarge or Strike Cruiser if you are willing to sacrifice space combat potential for bombing planets from orbit better.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Nova_Frigate

the Nova is what they are looking for... a conter codex ship.

crisaron said:

You mean a ship that has only recently (in the last millennia or so) been invented, and is still in relatively small numbers, and not all Space Marine Chapters use them, and Chaos followers, short of boarding and taking one, or all the Marines on that ship turning traitor at the same time (and you being one of those traitors), wouldn't have any sort of access to them, since they didn't exist when the Heresy occurred?

MILLANDSON said:

Ain't that the fab of the REd Corsair? Like stealing ships under the nose of the space wolf? Like the Wolf of Fenris, where several traitor Wolf marines are?