Some of the oldest human vessels still flying are the ultimate survivors, designed to guard early colonial expansion. The largest warships built before the first modern battleship, EAA Barbarossa - are classed as old battleships. They lack the speed, point defences, scanners, and power generation of newer vessels, but are still tough and formidably armed. Many survived the Scourge invasion, being reduced to frontier picket duty above distant outposts.
This set contains a Resistance Battleship, which can be built in a variety of configurations to suit your needs. Each box can be used to assemble two Old Battleships or one mighty Grand Battleship.
Musashi Class Old Battleship
Once among the mightiest ships ever built by mankind, the Musashi is now a relic, even among Resistance fleets. Introduced in the mid-24th century, around the time of first contact with the Shaltari, the youngest of these veterans is over 300 years old. However, they were overbuilt for the rigours of exploration and have proven supremely reliable. Its broadsides of chemically fired N-12 cannons are undemanding workhorses with a low power draw, so most Musashi’s spinal turrets have been refitted with 9K mass drivers over the centuries.
Recorded ships of the class:
Musashi, Endurance II (Independents), Loki, Proud Empress (Kalium)
Lexington Class Old Battleship
Like other Old Battleships, the Lexington could rightly belong in a museum, although it’s still a formidable warship today. Many survived the Scourge invasion since they were mostly relegated to frontier picket duty, being outmoded even then. In the hard centuries that followed, the Lexington has proven its worth countless times, offering a reliable loadout of NC-16 missiles, a single ventral torpedo, and a fair-sized strike craft hangar. The negligible power drain of all of these gives the class excellent toughness, endurance, and utility for its age.
Recorded ships of the class:
Yorktown, Missouri (Independents), Black Prince, Scharnhorst (Kalium)
Iowa Class Old Battleship
Much rarer than its sister classes, the Iowa was the earliest known testbed of vent cannon technology. It mounts a pair of turreted heavy vent canons by dispensing with any broadside armament, freeing up space for a much enlarged, antique power core. Ventral NC-16 missiles complete the Iowa’s armament, given their negligible power drain. Like all Old Battleships, the Iowa has poor scanners and point defences by modern standards, necessitating careful use.
Recorded ships of the class:
Ardent, Queen Bess (Independents), Iowa, Great Founder (Kalium)
Nelson Class Grand Battleship
Mankind built hundreds of what today are termed Old Battleships to guard its expansion into the cosmos. However, once relations with the Shaltari soured, humanity found itself woefully outgunned. Rather than go through a costly, counter-productive scrapping process, many old battleship hulls were hastily twinned around a newer, much improved central power core. This allowed these new Grand Battleships, the first of their kind, to mount improved scanners, armaments, and point defences while offering substantial survivability. The Nelson is the most common survivor among these trailblazers, being built around a pair of Musashis.
Recorded ships of the class:
Victory II, Trafalgar (Independents), Might of Kalium, Steel Fist (Kalium)
Yi Sun-Sin Class Grand Battleship
Yi Sun-Sin is a UCMF class designation for a Nelson class Grand Battleship that has since had its broadsides refitted with vent canons. Such a class did not exist in the days before the Scourge invasion—it’s entirely the product of kill-hungry Resistance admirals who don’t mind the odd fatality due to chronic overheats from weapons discharge. Disturbingly, Kalium seems to have similarly converted several of the Nelsons it inherited when it seceded from the nascent UCM. The Kabal’s readiness to trade losses for victory perfectly matches the unstable savagery of this colossus.
Recorded ships of the class:
My Masterpiece, Invention Number Four (Independents), Killforge, Our Grace (Kalium)
Barbarossa Class Grand Battleship
A specialist variant of the Nelson, the Barbarossa replaces the power-hungry, early mass driver turrets with NC-16 missiles. In addition to offering increased lethality at close range, this frees up power for an enormous scanner array. Unlike most vessels with a detector role, the Barbarossa typically fights at the forefront of any engagement, caring little for the increased visibility that comes with running active scanners due to its already vast signature. To fully utilise the remaining power, the class’s lethality was further bolstered by a pair of chin-mounted vent canons.
Recorded ships of the class:
High Eagle, Eye of God (Independents), Our Gaze, Illuminator (Kalium)
Farragut Class Grand Battleship
Developed alongside the Barbarossa, the Farragut offers a more straightforward weapons loadout with surplus power capacity. This surplus and the relative simplicity of its armaments gave the Farragut legendary endurance and has made it a favourite of Resistance fleets. Offering the same quad-turret NC-16 battery and NC-12 broadsides as the Barbarossa, the Farragut also mounts six enormous torpedoes in three tubes, allowing for two devastating spreads. Few ships can survive a single salvo from this ancient leviathan.
Recorded ships of the class:
Endeavour, Tribe Bane (Independents), Hammer of Reason, Subjugator (Kalium)
Drake Class Grand Battleship
The Drake class was the first human vessel to mount an apocalypse-grade, non-nuclear weapon: the Spinal Mass Annihilator. It is an enormous kinetic energy weapon capable of driving a house-sized lump of tungsten carbide-coated, ultra-dense metal clean through a battleship, lengthwise. Such a weapon required enlarged power cores aboard the twinned Old Battleships and the new central core to feed it, necessitating the loss of its broadsides. Secondary armaments include NC-16 missile turrets and a pair of heavy vent canons to burst surplus energy onto any survivors.
Recorded ships of the class:
Bonaventure, Revenge (Independents), Soul Reaver, Executioner (Kalium)
Nimitz Class Grand Battleship
The Nimitz was the last class to be built via the expedient of twinning Old Battleship hulls, alongside its sister class, the Yamamoto. This method of shipbuilding, although apparently crude, offered more flexibility in its modularity vs the newer, purpose-built Grand Battleships. This made a risky experiment cost-viable: mounting the largest vent canon ever built. The Spinal Vent Lance demands a massive hull and all the power it can guzzle. Therefore, the Nimitz’s secondary armaments include NC-16 missiles and hangar bays. The Nimitz is a frightening combatant even today, although its captain always runs the risk of broiling the engineering crews tasked with maintaining the weapon.
Recorded ships of the class:
Sunbeam, Ragefire (Independents), Volcanic, Your Fate (Kalium)
Yamamoto Class Grand Battleship
The Yamamoto class Grand Battleship is a consummate flagship killer. Like its sister class, the Nimitz, it mounts a Spinal Vent Lance. It forgoes the flight decks in favour of enlarged power cores to run its mass driver turrets and mounts a pair of torpedo tubes with capacity for two spreads. One focused volley can cripple a battleship. Due to its flexible, modular construction, like all twin-hulled Grand Battleships, the Yamamoto can be refitted with additional drives to better propel it towards its victim.
Recorded ships of the class:
Sol Requiem, Sadness (Independents), Spear of Onyx, Decapitator (Kalium)
- This set includes:
- 2 x Plastic Ship Sprues
- 3 Dropfleet Bases