The Battlefleet Gothic games are a pair of video game adaptations of Games Workshop’s space fleet wargame, Battlefleet Gothic. They matter because they’re the main way most 40k fans have ever actually played fleet combat, since the tabletop original went out of print in 2013.
What Battlefleet Gothic actually is
Battlefleet Gothic started life as a tabletop miniatures game, not a video game. Games Workshop published it from 1999 to 2013, with Andy Chambers as lead developer, and it’s a spin-off of Warhammer 40,000 that swaps armies on a planet for fleets of spaceships.
The name comes from an in-universe Imperial fleet, Battlefleet Gothic, which guards the Gothic Sector from aliens, traitors, and stranger things. Players command ships from a range of 40k factions and fight over a 4×6 foot table scattered with asteroids, planets, and other obstacles.
It’s still a dice game at heart. Manoeuvring and objectives decide a lot, but luck absolutely plays its part.
The two video game adaptations
Games Workshop stopped supporting the miniatures and rulebooks after cancellation, but the setting didn’t disappear. Two video game adaptations have been made since 2013, which is why people talk about “the Battlefleet Gothic games” rather than one thing.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada came first, from Tindalos Interactive, and put real-time fleet battles on PC. Its sequel, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, followed with a bigger campaign and more factions. If you’ve never pushed a tiny plastic cruiser around a table, these are almost certainly what you know the name from.
Which fleets you can play
The base box covered the Imperial Navy, Chaos warfleets, and alien pirates from the Orks and Eldar. Expansions added a lot more over the years.
Ships themselves are small, usually somewhere between 2 and 10cm long. Beyond the headline factions, there are human ships too, from Space Marine chapters to the Inquisition, Arbites, Mechanicus, and Rogue Traders.
- Imperial Navy of the Imperium of Man
- Chaos warfleets devoted to the Chaos Gods
- Ork pirates and later full Waaagh! fleets
- Eldar, both Craftworld Asuryani and Drukhari
- Tau Empire fleets, including the Air Caste and allied races
- Tyranid Hive Fleets
- Necron Raiders
- Space Marines, Inquisition, Arbites, Mechanicus, and Rogue Traders
Where it sits in 40k lore
Battlefleet Gothic zooms out from the usual ground-level warfare. The same Imperium, Chaos Gods, and xenos races are all there, just seen through void combat and the ships that carry armies between worlds.
That makes it a useful companion to the main setting rather than a separate universe. If you know the factions from 40k, you already know most of what’s going on in a Battlefleet Gothic game.
Key facts
- Battlefleet Gothic is a space fleet miniature wargame published by Games Workshop from 1999 to 2013.
- Andy Chambers was the primary developer.
- It’s a spin-off of Warhammer 40,000, set roughly 38,000 years in the future.
- The name comes from an in-universe Imperial fleet defending the Gothic Sector.
- Two video game adaptations exist: Battlefleet Gothic: Armada and Armada 2.
- Miniature ships in the tabletop game are typically 2 to 10cm long.
FAQ
Are the Battlefleet Gothic games still supported?
The original tabletop game isn’t, Games Workshop cancelled it in 2013 and no longer supports the miniatures or rulebooks. The video game adaptations were made after that point, so they’re the more recent side of the franchise.
How many Battlefleet Gothic video games are there?
Two. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada and its sequel, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, both real-time fleet combat games on PC.
Is Battlefleet Gothic the same setting as Warhammer 40,000?
Yes. It’s a spin-off set in the same universe, roughly 38,000 years in the future, focused on space battles instead of ground combat.