‘Giant armoured choo choo trains in space’ God damn I adore Andy. I’ve had the pleasure of spending a bunch of time chatting with him at games days, Warhammer World and expos and he’s such a wonderful chap with war gaming in his veins. Thank you so much for recording this.
I was lucky enough to meet Jes a few times and remember a quick chat on artwork ended up being nearly 45 mins of talking about how he designed things, the processes, showing me some concept art etc. a really really cool and talented individual 🤘
Yes. Where rules mechanics and lore become one and the same. Also, this game blew open facets of the 40k universe that have since become core elements, like the size of ships, how space combat feels and works, and how it fits into the greater setting.
I mostly agree. The 90s was the true golden era of tabletop game design, and me and my friends were completely unaware. We were all playing PC games, which arguably was also experiencing a golden era of sorts. I have fond memories of Warcraft, Age of Empires and Command and Conquer among others. We simply didn't know of Epic 40k, Battle for Armageddon or BFG. To be fair, had my much younger self been given a choice at the time between BFG and Homeworld, it would not have been a foregone conclusion that I would have preferred BFG.
I don't care what people say, this is still my favorite game and I do still play it, gonna make my new imperial fist fleet soon enough. If you here about this Mr. Chambers, thank you for making my favorite game.
Ace! Battlefleet Gothic is still alive and kicking. Rules available, many miniature options and a great community. And the fanmagazine Warp Rift is still being made!
Marvellous to hear Andy reminiscing about the creation of one of the greatest naval games ever written. He's right; BFG was the culmination of a great effort by some truly creative and inspiring gamers, writers, illustrators and sculptors. It has rarely been equalled. Also - Excellent interview!
Speaking of scaling, one of my favourite elements of BFG is how well it scales up and down, it makes for an amazing fleet game but plays just as well with a cruiser and 2-4 escorts. One of my favourite elements of its scalability is how you can take a big fleet each side and break it down to give a crowd of people one ship each.
Dropfleet Commander is my favourite game ever, so thanks to Andy for making it. Would love a dedicated interview on how that was developed. Even simple things like the rulebook being the same dimension as BFG really adds to the game. Seeing the ships with their rules profiles below was very reminiscent of building airfix ships as a kid with the stat tables below a profile picture. And can confirm - the ships do blow up just a bit too easily! But the signature / scan system is just amazing; as Andy once said it's the Hunt for Red October in space.
Quite looking forward to playing a game at 1,750 points in a few hours with a Chaos vs Imperials clash. Was lovely to listen to the thoughts of Andy on the classic gem, really gets me into the spirit of death slinging choo choos in space 😊
I WAS WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO - since I saw your instagram post. Thank you mr filmdeg miniatures. I love that you put the ORIGINAL MATERIAL on the table, this is how I imagine meeting Andy in real life.
I love the fact that a games designer can be so excited in the unexpected performance of some of the elements he's designed - when talking about the Mars and Luna. These games really do take on their own life when you play them which is testament to the people who made them.
Holy shit! He STILL has the Righteous Endeavour?! I have always wanted to build this ship ever since reading the concept rules for BFG back in White Dwarf 221, which was the first White Dwarf magazine I ever bought.
I do still adore BFG. A few friends and I have pulled out our fleets late last year and had a blast. Im confident that it remains to this day as one of the best systems GW has ever released.
We had a 4 player affair once, temporary alliances, etc. Everyone started super serious and overly competitive. However we had a pop corn event and everyone laughed so hard, it was amazing. The rest of the game was just chucking dice, and laughing. Best gaming memory of any GW Game by far.
Best ruleset GW ever put out by far What I particularly liked about it was each faction was truly unique and had its own play style and tactics. The Eldar and Ork rules are incredibly thematic. 8:40 my absolute favorite image of Battlefleet gothic. My name is Tim, and I am a loader I come from a long family of loaders that have lived on this ship for hundreds of years In that time we have loaded 6 torpedos
I was working for GW at the old Baltimore HQ when the game was released. Being in Trade Sales at the time we were all given a free copy of the game. Jervis Johnson and one of the other main guys (I can’t remember who) came in from the UK to teach us the game. I ended up utterly addicted, buying five game boxes and gods know how many Imperial Cruiser boxes/sprues while grabbing handfuls of escorts, battleships and battleship parts from the metal room. Then Space Marine, Orks and some Chaos ships. Not to mention the real money I spent with Forge World for the resin Space Marine Escorts. I really regret not getting more than six or eight Chaos escorts. After I left GW I even bought the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet. I was even lucky enough to win the only official BFG tournament ever run at a Games Day that summer in Baltimore. The “trophy” is hilarious. It’s three plastic Imperial Cruisers, cut in half, primed black and dry brushed with Bolt Gun Metal attached to a stained wooden board. It’s as much of a prized possession as any of my later laser engraved lexan trophies.
1999 - JFC I feel old. I remember playing this is a now closed GW store when it came out. Loved it ever since. Great to hear about the background to its development.
Love BFG, when the white dwarf article came out, I was smitten. I went through a really dark period for a while, where I didn’t have much passion to do anything. I was at a new school, and I stopped attending for a while, and I read the BFG related white dwarfs (I think there were several) maybe thirty times, it really helped me through! And I still have a couple of BFG fleets and love the game! And small skirmishes between chaos and imperial, are still massively fun. And the eldar and orks are also fun and different!
Great interview about a great game! I feel the uncontrollable need to say "ah well ackshually", though ... At 6:00, when Andy talks about putting playtest rules in White Dwarf, the magazine issue on the table and shown on the screen isn't the right one. That April 1999 issue, 'Battlefleet Gothic locks on!', accompanied the finished retail release of the boxed game. But the work-in-progress rules Andy is referring to appeared the previous year--in White Dwarf 225, September 1998, which was the issue when the 5th ed WFB Dogs of War army book came out. (The cover artwork was of a bunch of mercenaries with spears.) The rules for spaceship battles featured in Andy's regular 'Chambers of the Horned Rat' column. They featured photos of his mockup ships, and the card section in the middle of the magazine had flat cardboard ships and blast markers to try out the rules with. It's fantastic that Andy still has his original Righteous Endeavour model--that's a real blast from the past. One little thing that's always made me laugh: A few issues after the retail release, White Dwarf included background writeups for various ships and classes. When the metal Eldar battleship was released (the Void Stalker), the background in WD said that the ship was a new design that had been built through a cooperative venture between the Eldar and the Imperials! By the time the Void Stalker background was reprinted in the Armada supplement, that detail had been quietly dropped. Presumably the writers realised that it didn't really make sense in the mistrustful 40K setting.
Such a cool game and the rule book was so beautiful. Love all the minis I have for it. Wish it would get revisited. First try with a Nova cannon hit dead nuts on was BEAUTIFUL!
I haven't played dropfleet enough for a chain reaction to occur. Perhaps I'm playing it wrong...🙃 I've seen an imperial fleet cascade once. One cruiser exploding and triggering another wiping out everything in range. Probably about 1000pts gone due to two cruisers rolling excessively for the explosions. 😄
I was one of the kids that wrote in! I got a very nice letter back with some more rules to playtest. Still one of the best ever 40k settings and games.
As a Star Trek fan who played the FASA Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator, I always loved space combat games. I was looking for something better than the FASA game which after a while, I felt it had some major shortcomings. I tried Starfleet Battles and loved it, but all of my friends hated it. When I first tried Battlefleet Gothic, I was hooked. I loved the pace of the game. Must faster than the other games. I never liked painting, but BFG got me into painting ships. I used only the simpler techniques, but I was surprised how well they turned out. I found the Imperial and Chaos fleets were designed quite well. They played differently and had different advantages and disadvantages. I was not impressed with Eldar and Ork. Eldar were annoying, but the biggest problem is they weren't fun to play against. It's a major issue when you can barely score a hit against them. They just need a planet or asteroid to hide behind and you never get a shot against them. They are so unfun to play against that the only way to stand a chance is to use an equally unfun strategy or you get lucky and there are no terrain that provides cover. Then the Necron came and they were even worse. I played my Ork fleet against a Necron fleet. I scored no hits. I only scored some points because the Necron ship went AAF and rolled so high that it flew off the map. There are a number of unfun battles. I once played my Ork fleet against a Space Marine fleet. That was so boring. Hardly any hits were scored. I think Tyranids and Tau are decently balanced. It was one of the most interesting battles. The entire board was filled with ordnance. Torpedoes and fighters were all over the place. Too bad I didn't have a camera back then. I still have my models. Haven't played for probably 20 years or so. I'm still looking for the ultimate space combat game. BFG is one of the better ones as long as you don't choose any of the unbalanced fleets.
I remember my best friend and I both bought this game when we were heavily into epic. We worked out a game system called "Battlefleet Epic" (genius). Both itno C&C at the time. We had everything worked out in the space battles, so there were different planets with different recources etc etc and you'd have to fight a space battle to get there. when you arrived there'd be a default defending army (depending on the size of the planet) of epic minatures that you could defeat and take control of the planet. It was basically like Risk, BFG and Epic comined.... Really good fun!
I just got back from giving a good half dozen demo games at Too Many Games! last weekend, and I heard so much "oh I've always wanted to try this out but I could never find someone to play" and I've gotten at least one game store nearby to start up a bit of interest in it. Had a total blast doing it and even if I get 2-3 more people to play with, within a couple hours of me, it's worth it. This game was and remains my favorite tabletop minis game, and the community has taken excellent care of it over the years.
This was by far my favourite game and models for a LONG time. Absolutely wonderful. So much fun. Just the idea of fighting a planetary assault campaign that has a space element... This was a hard watch because I had to sell all my wargaming stuff years ago and this one (and Man o' war) are the ones that hurt the most.
@Andy Chambers - hope you read this good Sir! First of all thank you for such an amazing game system (one of many!) A quick question- is it true that the BFG models (IN in particular) featured deliberately huge weaponry (e.g. Macro cannon barrels) to make them look good/easy to paint etc, and that this was an abstract representation of what were meant to be much smaller (but still massive) weapons? Thank you.
My favorite of all the Games Workshop games, still have every one of my fleets and play it on a regular weekly basis and have done so almost every since it came out Imperials for the win
Another think about the rulebook (which I beleive may be coincidence) is that the size and shape of the book is very reminsant of the Janes Fighting Ships books which were used for ship recognition.
Andy Chambers created what are probably my favorite rules and my least favorite. Even with the ones I didn't like I thought they were intended to be fun or at least improve something. These interviews have reinforced that. Just got to design the games he wanted to play and share them.
Once Upon a time, we fought planetary battles for a couple of summers... BFG was the initial game to determine how much of an army you fought in the World engagements with 40K scenarios with...
Around 19mins, he echoed my thoughts on a new game coming based in Horus Heresy. To be honest, I am up for it. The Adeptus Titanicus 2018 was awesome, new models, correct proportions and hyper detail, Aeronautica and now Legions Imperialis have made it a great reboot of epic. Best models for that scale. Curious to see what can be done with a new Fleet game. I bet it will have a 10 to 15% size boost, so even the smallest ships look crisp. Still a huge fan of this original game, and new models like Italian Moose knocks out... I think the 3D community will just do a scale tweak with these models, one of the perks of it. Anyway, 2025 is the year they will drop it, just have a feeling about that.
Battlefleet Gothic is a cool game if one that is slow and one you need to be far thinking to do well. I taught some of my friends in High School how to play it and we played for a while. Never was as popular as 40k with us but still alot of fun to have my own Chaos Marine and Imperial fleet. I loved building and painting the models.
Super cool video! Its a shame gw didnt give it the loved it deserved its probably one of the best game settings in all their ip. I always wanted to get into it but was too young at the time to be buying forge world models, nowadays i pkay bfg armada on pc but i know it doesnt feel the same!
This game is the one I was wary of until a friend of mine convinced me to get in it at a half off going out of business sale. Best Buy ever! I have so many chaos ships! My buddy said you’ll never be able to play all that in a game. Don’t care more is bette
I was thinking the same 😂 Was waiting for some Nid love since Andy started talking about the factions. Oh well, it didn't detract from how wonderful it is to hear them old guys spreading their old war stories in these videos 😊
First time one of our players (he'd run Space Marines, namely a Dark Angels fleet) ran against a Tyranid fleet, the 'Nid player warned the DAs that "my fleet is really good at boarding actions" and the DAs reply was 'Well, we get a bonus because we're Space Marines". It ended up badly for the Marines.
Tyranids were not part of the original game. Just imperium, orks, chaos and eldar. I'm guessing Andy was full time 40k when fanatic started going through the other races
@@captaincosmo6157 Necrons, Space Marines and Tau were not in the original game either. They are all in the expansion book Andy mentions (Armada). Tyranids are in there too.
I Wish the Gothic and the Eldritch was still available or at least a big book with all the classic art and concepts of 40k in high quality. Additionally maybe it could be worth it to contact Warwick for an interview regarding aeronautica imperialis and the imperial armour books.
Andy’s so handsome, I remember looking at my US White Dwarf magazines and seeing Andy and thinking, ’I want to be that Dude!❤’; but I look more like Paul Sawyer 😂. And the magnificence of Andy’s hair in the 90’s was outmatched only by BFG. 🤘🏻😎
A force greater than myself compels me to point out that the Grand Fleet actually had a seaplane carrier at the time of Jutland, HMS Campania, but she missed the signal to depart with the rest of the fleet from Scapa Flow, left two hours later, and was ordered back to base before she entered the battle area. Given the poor weather, it's unlikely that her Short 184 torpedo planes would have been able to take off, let alone see anything if they could.
Recently scratch built an Imperial proxy fleet and grabbed some Dropfleet scourge. Wonderful game, so sad it didn't last til I had enough money to buy it!
Given the huge success of the redo of Necromunda, Blood, epic, etc. they will definitely do an update to this at some point. Id wager not that far off too.
To my infinite regret I remember standing in the Luton Games Workshop store in the 1990's with a Gorkamorka Box and a Battlefleet Gothic box sitting discounted on the shelves (omly time I saw that happen!), and I walked out with Gorkamorka. Don't get me wrong, Gorkamorka was a fine game but I should have left that store with Battlefleet Gothic. Brought up on a VHS cassette of Space Battleship Yamato I was fascinated by huge lumbering warships in space firing fearsome firepower into each other's ranks. The game was a much better fit for me and I should have embraced that. The imagery of Andy talking about the battle of Jutland really play on my imagination. I can't shift Sabaton's song "Dreadnought" as I imagine these massive armoured cathedrals filled to the brim with zeal and a misplaced feeling of invincibility and they smash each other to pieces. I remember the cardboard "beta" of BFG in White Dwarf and I'm sad that somewhere along the line I lost that issue and the pieces. The models were great for the time, and I would love to see a modern re-imagining of the game with current technology. If they stick it in the Horus Heres it will be a hue waste of potential though. I want to see those sleek Eldar ships hit the void once more. I'd also love to see how the Necrons would be re-imagined now that they have aircraft, their fleet dynamics may change somewhat. Regardless. I'll have to try and find a box of this sitting on Ebay and suck up the likely horrendously inflated prices one day.
Awesome! Greatly nostalgic to watch this. "I tried to make Eldar as annoying as possible". Yeah, you did a great job on that part. I dislike Eldar to this very day for that. 😂
My only problem with this game was that it wasn't really Jutland in Space. It played more like Trafalgar in Space. It's still fun. Still play to this day.
‘Giant armoured choo choo trains in space’
God damn I adore Andy. I’ve had the pleasure of spending a bunch of time chatting with him at games days, Warhammer World and expos and he’s such a wonderful chap with war gaming in his veins. Thank you so much for recording this.
It is crazy how much of the form factor of 40k, Jes Goodwin is responsible for. He has an eye for design that is unrivaled
I was lucky enough to meet Jes a few times and remember a quick chat on artwork ended up being nearly 45 mins of talking about how he designed things, the processes, showing me some concept art etc. a really really cool and talented individual 🤘
The best GW game system and setting by far!
Hands down 100%
Agreed!
Still remember when I bought the box 20+years ago.
Great game.
Yes. Where rules mechanics and lore become one and the same. Also, this game blew open facets of the 40k universe that have since become core elements, like the size of ships, how space combat feels and works, and how it fits into the greater setting.
Enter MESBG
I mostly agree. The 90s was the true golden era of tabletop game design, and me and my friends were completely unaware. We were all playing PC games, which arguably was also experiencing a golden era of sorts. I have fond memories of Warcraft, Age of Empires and Command and Conquer among others. We simply didn't know of Epic 40k, Battle for Armageddon or BFG. To be fair, had my much younger self been given a choice at the time between BFG and Homeworld, it would not have been a foregone conclusion that I would have preferred BFG.
I don't care what people say, this is still my favorite game and I do still play it, gonna make my new imperial fist fleet soon enough. If you here about this Mr. Chambers, thank you for making my favorite game.
Ace! Battlefleet Gothic is still alive and kicking. Rules available, many miniature options and a great community. And the fanmagazine Warp Rift is still being made!
Interesting to hear him mention MMS in the video!
The fans are still keeping it alive. There's updated rules and ships out there. I even have a custom made Gloriana for the XI th legion.
Marvellous to hear Andy reminiscing about the creation of one of the greatest naval games ever written. He's right; BFG was the culmination of a great effort by some truly creative and inspiring gamers, writers, illustrators and sculptors. It has rarely been equalled. Also - Excellent interview!
This channel really is doing the Lord’s work…
*Emperor's
Filmdeg is doing an amazing job basically making video format White Dwarf interviews!
Speaking of scaling, one of my favourite elements of BFG is how well it scales up and down, it makes for an amazing fleet game but plays just as well with a cruiser and 2-4 escorts. One of my favourite elements of its scalability is how you can take a big fleet each side and break it down to give a crowd of people one ship each.
@@XX-jn8co absolutely true
Still my favorite GW game. Slowly rebuilding my Imperial fleet.
Absolute perfection of a game! thanks for bringing it to life Andy
That art on the BFG box is forever ingrained in my brain. It just screams of SCALE
Check my video with John Blanche where he talks about painting that piece (and others!) 🙂
always good to hear from Andy Chambers.
Dropfleet Commander is my favourite game ever, so thanks to Andy for making it. Would love a dedicated interview on how that was developed. Even simple things like the rulebook being the same dimension as BFG really adds to the game. Seeing the ships with their rules profiles below was very reminiscent of building airfix ships as a kid with the stat tables below a profile picture. And can confirm - the ships do blow up just a bit too easily! But the signature / scan system is just amazing; as Andy once said it's the Hunt for Red October in space.
Quite looking forward to playing a game at 1,750 points in a few hours with a Chaos vs Imperials clash. Was lovely to listen to the thoughts of Andy on the classic gem, really gets me into the spirit of death slinging choo choos in space 😊
I wish GW would sell Battlefield Gothic again! That cover art beats different!
Well, rules are freely available, many options for miniatures and a great community. Join!
We still play it here in Prague ❤
I keep coming back to this game.
I hope they do more now, the sculpts would be beautiful
Andy Chambers is a legend.
I WAS WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO - since I saw your instagram post. Thank you mr filmdeg miniatures. I love that you put the ORIGINAL MATERIAL on the table, this is how I imagine meeting Andy in real life.
I love the fact that a games designer can be so excited in the unexpected performance of some of the elements he's designed - when talking about the Mars and Luna. These games really do take on their own life when you play them which is testament to the people who made them.
They're sub optimal. But bfg has pretty good internal balance that you won't be punished for taking them.
Holy shit! He STILL has the Righteous Endeavour?! I have always wanted to build this ship ever since reading the concept rules for BFG back in White Dwarf 221, which was the first White Dwarf magazine I ever bought.
I do still adore BFG. A few friends and I have pulled out our fleets late last year and had a blast.
Im confident that it remains to this day as one of the best systems GW has ever released.
We had a 4 player affair once, temporary alliances, etc. Everyone started super serious and overly competitive. However we had a pop corn event and everyone laughed so hard, it was amazing. The rest of the game was just chucking dice, and laughing. Best gaming memory of any GW Game by far.
As it should be.
Im one of the people who gas played BFG and really, it's still my main game. I absolutely love this game.
Excellent work once again
Best ruleset GW ever put out by far
What I particularly liked about it was each faction was truly unique and had its own play style and tactics.
The Eldar and Ork rules are incredibly thematic.
8:40 my absolute favorite image of Battlefleet gothic.
My name is Tim, and I am a loader
I come from a long family of loaders that have lived on this ship for hundreds of years
In that time we have loaded 6 torpedos
Great game. Great interview. Thanks for all the good memories Andy
Another incredible interview. Documentary level stuff, again, cannot thank you enough for the work you do preserving these memories 🙏
Saw your post on Reddit recently. One of the most important UA-cam channels on the subject by far. Fantastic interview.
I was working for GW at the old Baltimore HQ when the game was released. Being in Trade Sales at the time we were all given a free copy of the game. Jervis Johnson and one of the other main guys (I can’t remember who) came in from the UK to teach us the game. I ended up utterly addicted, buying five game boxes and gods know how many Imperial Cruiser boxes/sprues while grabbing handfuls of escorts, battleships and battleship parts from the metal room. Then Space Marine, Orks and some Chaos ships. Not to mention the real money I spent with Forge World for the resin Space Marine Escorts. I really regret not getting more than six or eight Chaos escorts. After I left GW I even bought the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet.
I was even lucky enough to win the only official BFG tournament ever run at a Games Day that summer in Baltimore. The “trophy” is hilarious. It’s three plastic Imperial Cruisers, cut in half, primed black and dry brushed with Bolt Gun Metal attached to a stained wooden board. It’s as much of a prized possession as any of my later laser engraved lexan trophies.
Andy is speaking. Brace for impact ! 😜
I love that game. Still have an imperial and ork fleet.
I d love a resurrection for this game.
1999 - JFC I feel old. I remember playing this is a now closed GW store when it came out. Loved it ever since. Great to hear about the background to its development.
Still have a big Eldar Corsair and Craftworld fleet :D
Looking at my boxed set sitting on my bookshelf; have a sizeable Corsair fleet as well and several Craftworld ships still in blisters.
Love BFG, when the white dwarf article came out, I was smitten. I went through a really dark period for a while, where I didn’t have much passion to do anything. I was at a new school, and I stopped attending for a while, and I read the BFG related white dwarfs (I think there were several) maybe thirty times, it really helped me through!
And I still have a couple of BFG fleets and love the game!
And small skirmishes between chaos and imperial, are still massively fun. And the eldar and orks are also fun and different!
Great interview about a great game! I feel the uncontrollable need to say "ah well ackshually", though ...
At 6:00, when Andy talks about putting playtest rules in White Dwarf, the magazine issue on the table and shown on the screen isn't the right one. That April 1999 issue, 'Battlefleet Gothic locks on!', accompanied the finished retail release of the boxed game. But the work-in-progress rules Andy is referring to appeared the previous year--in White Dwarf 225, September 1998, which was the issue when the 5th ed WFB Dogs of War army book came out. (The cover artwork was of a bunch of mercenaries with spears.)
The rules for spaceship battles featured in Andy's regular 'Chambers of the Horned Rat' column. They featured photos of his mockup ships, and the card section in the middle of the magazine had flat cardboard ships and blast markers to try out the rules with.
It's fantastic that Andy still has his original Righteous Endeavour model--that's a real blast from the past.
One little thing that's always made me laugh: A few issues after the retail release, White Dwarf included background writeups for various ships and classes. When the metal Eldar battleship was released (the Void Stalker), the background in WD said that the ship was a new design that had been built through a cooperative venture between the Eldar and the Imperials! By the time the Void Stalker background was reprinted in the Armada supplement, that detail had been quietly dropped. Presumably the writers realised that it didn't really make sense in the mistrustful 40K setting.
Such a cool game and the rule book was so beautiful. Love all the minis I have for it. Wish it would get revisited. First try with a Nova cannon hit dead nuts on was BEAUTIFUL!
Excellent interview with my favorite game designer and one of my all time favorite games! Amazing episode and behind the scenes stories
I’m so glad he acknowledges that the explosion system was too drastic lol
I haven't played dropfleet enough for a chain reaction to occur. Perhaps I'm playing it wrong...🙃
I've seen an imperial fleet cascade once. One cruiser exploding and triggering another wiping out everything in range. Probably about 1000pts gone due to two cruisers rolling excessively for the explosions. 😄
Here down at the bottom of the world in middle earth (NZ) we still play it! Thanks for an amazing game Andy!
Which region is that? Is there an online community somewhere other than facebook?
I was one of the kids that wrote in! I got a very nice letter back with some more rules to playtest. Still one of the best ever 40k settings and games.
'Gaze into the fist of Dredd!' Awesome T Shirt.
Very interesting. The famoys quotr from the battle of Jutland "“There’s something wrong with our bloody ships today!” seems highly appropriate to BFG.
Battlefleet Gothic is still one of my favourite GW games.
I hope they will release a new version that stays true to the original.
Massive props for this game Andy.. it was/is perfect
Best GW content on YT. Thanks
I did 30-odd illos for the early attempt at Battlefleet Gothic which mutated into Space Fleet. Most of them only appeared in White Dwarf.
As a Star Trek fan who played the FASA Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator, I always loved space combat games. I was looking for something better than the FASA game which after a while, I felt it had some major shortcomings. I tried Starfleet Battles and loved it, but all of my friends hated it.
When I first tried Battlefleet Gothic, I was hooked. I loved the pace of the game. Must faster than the other games. I never liked painting, but BFG got me into painting ships. I used only the simpler techniques, but I was surprised how well they turned out.
I found the Imperial and Chaos fleets were designed quite well. They played differently and had different advantages and disadvantages. I was not impressed with Eldar and Ork. Eldar were annoying, but the biggest problem is they weren't fun to play against. It's a major issue when you can barely score a hit against them. They just need a planet or asteroid to hide behind and you never get a shot against them. They are so unfun to play against that the only way to stand a chance is to use an equally unfun strategy or you get lucky and there are no terrain that provides cover.
Then the Necron came and they were even worse. I played my Ork fleet against a Necron fleet. I scored no hits. I only scored some points because the Necron ship went AAF and rolled so high that it flew off the map.
There are a number of unfun battles. I once played my Ork fleet against a Space Marine fleet. That was so boring. Hardly any hits were scored.
I think Tyranids and Tau are decently balanced. It was one of the most interesting battles. The entire board was filled with ordnance. Torpedoes and fighters were all over the place. Too bad I didn't have a camera back then.
I still have my models. Haven't played for probably 20 years or so. I'm still looking for the ultimate space combat game. BFG is one of the better ones as long as you don't choose any of the unbalanced fleets.
I remember my best friend and I both bought this game when we were heavily into epic. We worked out a game system called "Battlefleet Epic" (genius). Both itno C&C at the time. We had everything worked out in the space battles, so there were different planets with different recources etc etc and you'd have to fight a space battle to get there. when you arrived there'd be a default defending army (depending on the size of the planet) of epic minatures that you could defeat and take control of the planet. It was basically like Risk, BFG and Epic comined.... Really good fun!
Awesome interview, thank you!
I just got back from giving a good half dozen demo games at Too Many Games! last weekend, and I heard so much "oh I've always wanted to try this out but I could never find someone to play" and I've gotten at least one game store nearby to start up a bit of interest in it. Had a total blast doing it and even if I get 2-3 more people to play with, within a couple hours of me, it's worth it. This game was and remains my favorite tabletop minis game, and the community has taken excellent care of it over the years.
This was by far my favourite game and models for a LONG time. Absolutely wonderful. So much fun. Just the idea of fighting a planetary assault campaign that has a space element...
This was a hard watch because I had to sell all my wargaming stuff years ago and this one (and Man o' war) are the ones that hurt the most.
We have 3D prints now
Much love for the Lunar class!
Always looved battlefleet gothic ❤!!!
@Andy Chambers - hope you read this good Sir! First of all thank you for such an amazing game system (one of many!)
A quick question- is it true that the BFG models (IN in particular) featured deliberately huge weaponry (e.g. Macro cannon barrels) to make them look good/easy to paint etc, and that this was an abstract representation of what were meant to be much smaller (but still massive) weapons? Thank you.
So happy I found this channel, the videos and topics are excellent, plus having the added nostalgia of some of the old days is wonderful! Thank you!
My favorite of all the Games Workshop games, still have every one of my fleets and play it on a regular weekly basis and have done so almost every since it came out Imperials for the win
Another think about the rulebook (which I beleive may be coincidence) is that the size and shape of the book is very reminsant of the Janes Fighting Ships books which were used for ship recognition.
Andy Chambers created what are probably my favorite rules and my least favorite. Even with the ones I didn't like I thought they were intended to be fun or at least improve something. These interviews have reinforced that. Just got to design the games he wanted to play and share them.
Really enjoyed this. Gothic was a favourite game for a while and I was hooked from the WD with the card board ships.
This and Epic 40k are still my favorites.
Amazing. A really great game, had such a good look
Once Upon a time, we fought planetary battles for a couple of summers... BFG was the initial game to determine how much of an army you fought in the World engagements with 40K scenarios with...
Never played BFG but read the rules and loved the ships for this and Space Fleet back in the day.
Hands down, my favorite GW game
Hey Tom! R U planning on dropping in on BOYL next month?
Yea I’ll be there - most likely just on the Saturday
I love my BFG fleets and have my kids friends playing it. A game for the ages
You're doing the Lord's work.
For me it Battlefleet Gothic and Necromunda. Played more Necromunda but enjoyed Gothic too and had some good games.
Oooh that Clean ... How gothic... He's a dedicated fan I must admit.🌚
Fantastic interview, can never hear too much about BFG
I loved these models so much! The game was also a lot of fun
Another great video! Never played epic myself but my dad used to play a lot
i really hope for a new release of this.
Around 19mins, he echoed my thoughts on a new game coming based in Horus Heresy.
To be honest, I am up for it.
The Adeptus Titanicus 2018 was awesome, new models, correct proportions and hyper detail, Aeronautica and now Legions Imperialis have made it a great reboot of epic.
Best models for that scale.
Curious to see what can be done with a new Fleet game.
I bet it will have a 10 to 15% size boost, so even the smallest ships look crisp.
Still a huge fan of this original game, and new models like Italian Moose knocks out... I think the 3D community will just do a scale tweak with these models, one of the perks of it.
Anyway, 2025 is the year they will drop it, just have a feeling about that.
I looooOOOOved Battlefleet Gothic... ✌😄
Oh man I'd do anything for a sealed copy of this game
Battlefleet Gothic is a cool game if one that is slow and one you need to be far thinking to do well. I taught some of my friends in High School how to play it and we played for a while. Never was as popular as 40k with us but still alot of fun to have my own Chaos Marine and Imperial fleet. I loved building and painting the models.
@@Zach_Bloomquist hey, if you get the hang of it the game can go really fast actually.
What a pleasant chat!
My first GW game I played, and would love if I lived near an active community. This is a fantastic system and beautiful models
There’s a few “Battlefleet Gothic” groups on Facebook, might be worth joining one and maybe find someone to game with!
Super cool video! Its a shame gw didnt give it the loved it deserved its probably one of the best game settings in all their ip. I always wanted to get into it but was too young at the time to be buying forge world models, nowadays i pkay bfg armada on pc but i know it doesnt feel the same!
@@planestrainsandgames715 You can still start BFG now. free rules, many models and STL available. Plus a great community
This game is the one I was wary of until a friend of mine convinced me to get in it at a half off going out of business sale. Best Buy ever! I have so many chaos ships! My buddy said you’ll never be able to play all that in a game. Don’t care more is bette
Amazing writer.
After Warmaster, BFG is my 2nd favorite…
I love BFG! That video was very interesting to watch. No mention of the Tyranids, though. ;)
I was thinking the same 😂 Was waiting for some Nid love since Andy started talking about the factions. Oh well, it didn't detract from how wonderful it is to hear them old guys spreading their old war stories in these videos 😊
First time one of our players (he'd run Space Marines, namely a Dark Angels fleet) ran against a Tyranid fleet, the 'Nid player warned the DAs that "my fleet is really good at boarding actions" and the DAs reply was 'Well, we get a bonus because we're Space Marines". It ended up badly for the Marines.
Tyranids were not part of the original game. Just imperium, orks, chaos and eldar.
I'm guessing Andy was full time 40k when fanatic started going through the other races
@@captaincosmo6157 Necrons, Space Marines and Tau were not in the original game either. They are all in the expansion book Andy mentions (Armada). Tyranids are in there too.
yeah they were cool in space fleet!
Great video. Best game GW did.
I Wish the Gothic and the Eldritch was still available or at least a big book with all the classic art and concepts of 40k in high quality.
Additionally maybe it could be worth it to contact Warwick for an interview regarding aeronautica imperialis and the imperial armour books.
It's a great book. I have it, and I think more people should have access to it.
Andy’s so handsome, I remember looking at my US White Dwarf magazines and seeing Andy and thinking, ’I want to be that Dude!❤’; but I look more like Paul Sawyer 😂. And the magnificence of Andy’s hair in the 90’s was outmatched only by BFG. 🤘🏻😎
best man for the best gw system!
Such a coincidence: I grabbed the rulebooks last week and build two 500pts fleets to make a little starter set…
A force greater than myself compels me to point out that the Grand Fleet actually had a seaplane carrier at the time of Jutland, HMS Campania, but she missed the signal to depart with the rest of the fleet from Scapa Flow, left two hours later, and was ordered back to base before she entered the battle area. Given the poor weather, it's unlikely that her Short 184 torpedo planes would have been able to take off, let alone see anything if they could.
What force would that be?
Recently scratch built an Imperial proxy fleet and grabbed some Dropfleet scourge. Wonderful game, so sad it didn't last til I had enough money to buy it!
Gaze into the fist of Dredd! Awesome t-shirt
Still play gothic still the best ruleset from GW i know
Battlefleet Gothic, the game of circles
Given the huge success of the redo of Necromunda, Blood, epic, etc. they will definitely do an update to this at some point. Id wager not that far off too.
To my infinite regret I remember standing in the Luton Games Workshop store in the 1990's with a Gorkamorka Box and a Battlefleet Gothic box sitting discounted on the shelves (omly time I saw that happen!), and I walked out with Gorkamorka. Don't get me wrong, Gorkamorka was a fine game but I should have left that store with Battlefleet Gothic. Brought up on a VHS cassette of Space Battleship Yamato I was fascinated by huge lumbering warships in space firing fearsome firepower into each other's ranks. The game was a much better fit for me and I should have embraced that. The imagery of Andy talking about the battle of Jutland really play on my imagination. I can't shift Sabaton's song "Dreadnought" as I imagine these massive armoured cathedrals filled to the brim with zeal and a misplaced feeling of invincibility and they smash each other to pieces. I remember the cardboard "beta" of BFG in White Dwarf and I'm sad that somewhere along the line I lost that issue and the pieces. The models were great for the time, and I would love to see a modern re-imagining of the game with current technology. If they stick it in the Horus Heres it will be a hue waste of potential though. I want to see those sleek Eldar ships hit the void once more. I'd also love to see how the Necrons would be re-imagined now that they have aircraft, their fleet dynamics may change somewhat. Regardless. I'll have to try and find a box of this sitting on Ebay and suck up the likely horrendously inflated prices one day.
Awesome! Greatly nostalgic to watch this.
"I tried to make Eldar as annoying as possible". Yeah, you did a great job on that part. I dislike Eldar to this very day for that. 😂
He mentioned move move shoot. there is an alternative for people who 'didn't get it' 😅
@@RoyAmkreutz yep. I have seen the vid. 😁
Mission accomplished.
My only problem with this game was that it wasn't really Jutland in Space. It played more like Trafalgar in Space. It's still fun. Still play to this day.