SHIPS OF THE GOTHIC SECTOR

SHIPS OF THE GOTHIC SECTOR
ACTIVATED BLACKSTONE FORTRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750 pts
How the forces of Chaos learnt the means to activate and control a Blackstone
Fortress remains a mystery, though evidence points towards their theft of the alien
artefacts known as the Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness. A fully operational
Blackstone Fortress was the most devastating vessel in the galaxy at the time. Its many
weapons utilised a knowledge of warp technology which far surpasses that of even the
Eldar. Whatever the exact processes involved, it seems that the Fortress’ primary
weapons were able to slice through the barriers separating the warp and realspace,
unleashing a beam of pure immaterium. The fluctuating energies within the beam
could, most worryingly, bypass a vessel’s shields and rend ships apart. This technology
could be used to tear through the fabric of space and unleash an unstoppable warpshockwave
which would obliterate anything in its path. This awesome power can be
combined by several Fortresses. During the Gothic War, Abaddon managed to use the
power of three Blackstone Fortresses to destroy the Tarantis star and who can guess
what inconceivable power he would have possessed if he had captured all six?
TYPE/HITS SPEED TURNS SHIELDS ARMOUR TURRETS
Defence/16 10cm Special 6 6 0
ARMAMENT RANGE/SPEED FIREPOWER/STR FIRE ARC
Warp cannons 90cm 8 All round
Special Rules: A Blackstone Fortress cannot go onto special orders but is assumed to automatically pass all other Leadership tests it is required to
make. The Blackstone Fortress can move up to 10cm in any direction in the movement phase: it does not turn like a normal ship. It has no crew
and so does not add a D6 to its boarding score during a boarding action. A Blackstone Fortress’ warp cannons roll 1 dice per point of Strength
and require a 4+ to hit, like a lance. However, a warp cannon shot ignores shields: all hits will affect a ship directly.
Designer’s note: At the moment, we’re leaving the Blackstone Fortress’ ‘super-mega-death’ shot out of these rules, but maybe we'll introduce them,
along with rules for combining Blackstone Fortresses together, in an issue of White Dwarf magazine. If you’ve got any ideas in the mean time,
we’d like to hear them!
ir! The Blackstone Fortress appears to be scanning us. It’s making our surveyors go haywire!” Ensign Davo
“Sreported breathlessly.
“Drop emergency bulkheads!” commanded Captain Blade. “Activate compression rams! Set internal bracing! All
Engineer repair squads at full alert! Fire teams report to all stations! Issue brace for impact alert! I repeat, brace for
impact!”
127
GOTHIC