Chaos Fleet

The Chaos Fleet is the classic opponent for the Imperial Fleet in Battlefleet Gothic. Similar to my Imperial Fleet, it is primarily based on the plastic models from the main boxes set with metal escorts and capital ships. In 2018 I added a few extra ships to cover the options in the Armada supplement. I am still missing a few of the more esoteric models but this should do the job for most games. The paint scheme is based on a classic red Khornate force with several layers of drybrush and brass detailing. Nothing fancy but looks good on the table top.

Battleships: Battleships are the sledgehammer of the Chaos fleet.

The Desolator Class Battleship is one of the deadliest capital ships in the Gothic Sector.

The Despoiler Class Battleship is the name-sake ship of the mighty Chaos Fleet of Abaddon the Despoiler (though the names are technically unrelated in the lore…).

For scenario driven battles the Chaos Fleet also includes a corrupted Blackstone Fortress.

Grand Cruisers: The Armada supplement introduced a variety of Grand Cruisers. Since the models for some of the variants are the same – effectively – as the Imperial Grand Cruisers, I only added the uniquely chaotic one to the Chaos fleet: the Repulsive Class Grand Cruiser.

Heavy Cruisers: Heavy Cruisers are the equivalent of the imperial Battle Cruiser. Same plastic kit but with a bit more firepower.

Two Styx Heavy Cruiser provide ample launch bays for Doomfire Bomber and Swiftdeath Fighters.

An Acheron Heavy Cruiser and a Hades Heavy Cruiser provide a solid mid range core.

Cruisers: Building the Chaos Fleet put my normal “the book” objective a little bit in doubt. On the one hand I wanted to have each of the available cruiser types while keeping an effective combat formation. The assault oriented chaos cruisers really need to be taken in larger numbers to be effective which argued against cruiser type diversity. At the end I simply settled for more cruisers to achieve both objectives.

Three Slaughter Cruisers provide the central core of the fleet.

Closer in, Murder and Carnage Cruisers make the ideal assault force to follow up on the bombardment by the long range ships.

Finally, a Devastation Cruiser provides a bit more long range fleet support.

Escorts: Escorts protect the capital ships and generally are a nuisance to deal with for enemy commanders – especially in the Chaos fleet.

A large horde of 11 Infidel Class Raiders are the core of the escort formation (so many thanks to a mislabelled ebay auction…).

A smaller squadron of 3 Idolator Class Raiders offers a bit of variety.

Iconoclast Class Destroyers are the smallest escort type but nevertheless useful to have.

Light Craft: The fleet can call upon Doomfire Bomber and Swiftdeath Fighters for support.