Celestial phenomena are just another word for terrain in games of Gothic and help add a little interest as well as a few hazards to the otherwise empty reaches of space. Rules for using celestial phenomena in your games can be found in the 'Battlefield' section of the Battlefleet Gothic rulebook.

ASTEROIDS

Three clusters of asteroids made from Lava Rock and mounted on Warhammer Monster Bases with flying stands. Entire three-dimensional asteroid belts can be easily built up this way.Asteroid fields are one of the many hazards found in the Armageddon sector (and all space for that matter). They can be represented quite simply using small patches of gravel or sand stuck to card. If you are feeling more creative however something more realistic can be produced using either pitted polystyrene pieces, or better still real rocks.

I had seen the individual asteroids pictured in the Gothic rules book, but it was whilst helping to put together a Gothic display for my local store that I saw an even better method. Using real rocks and some of the square monster bases, groups of asteroids can be stuck onto each base to make fields with varying heights and density. To do this simply glue or otherwise fix the stalks from plastic flyer bases into a number of small rocks and set them to one side until they have set. Pick three of the based rocks, each with a different height stalk, say one small, one medium and one high, then glue them onto the square monster base using the holes available so that all three rocks stand up at different heights. By assembling several bases this way asteroid fields can be built up which look much more 3-dimensional.

For additional flexibility save a few of the rocks and base them individually on the small round bases, that way a few single asteroids can be added in to fill gaps and represent the thinner outlying reaches.

Once I had assembled the number of bases I wanted (about a half dozen or so), I sprayed them with black undercoat and dry brushed first codex grey, then shadow grey and finally space wolf grey for the highlights. Other colours such as browns and reds can be used to represent different types of rock and minerals. You don't have to stop at individual asteroids either, larger pieces such as an Imperial Listening Outpost can be built to make things even more interesting.

With that lot done I should have plenty of cover to hide my Ork Fleet now.

PS: In case I never mentioned, the rocks are known as lava rocks and are readily available from virtually any garden or DIY store; you see they are used in gas fired barbeques! easy eh?

 

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