The Space Marine fleet list given above is designed as a separate force in its own right, however on many occasions in the Gothic War, Space Marine vessels fought alongside other Imperial ships. There are several ways to include Space Marines in a fleet of the Imperial Navy. Firstly, if you are playing a campaign then you can request aid from the Space Marines, which may or may not result in a vessel being despatched to fight alongside your ships. If this is the case, you can include the vessel as indicated. See the Space Marines table on page 157 of the rulebook.

If you wish to include a combined fleet in a one-off game, then here are two ways you might like to do this. One option is to basically amalgamate the two fleet lists into one, so that battle barges are another battleship type, strike cruisers are in the cruisers category and rapid strike vessels are escorts. You then pick your fleet as normal (with all the restrictions for including battleships and battlecruisers unchanged). As an alternative, you can divide your total points value between the two fleet lists and then select two separate fleets that are fielded together on the tabletop.

Whilst, historically, the three Chapters placed around the Gothic Sector were the White Consuls, The Exorcists and the Red Talons, there is no reason why you can’t paint your Space Marine fleet to match any Space Marine Chapter. So, if you have a Dark Angels army in Warhammer 40,000 for instance, there is nothing to stop you painting your fleet to match it!

You can use a Space Marine fleet in any of the scenarios from the rulebook, however certain missions are more appropriate to Space Marines than others. Here are some ideas for variants on the standard scenarios to make them more appropriate for a Space Marine fleet. Of course, you don’t have to play with Space Marines to use these ideas, they’re just characterful of the way Space Marine vessels operate.

1. An Imperial Navy fleet is ambushed and their distress calls are answered by a nearby Space Marine vessel. To fight this out, you could base the battle on The Raiders scenario, though both forces start with an equal points value. In addition to these fleets, randomly determine what Space Marine presence is in the area – perhaps three D6 rolls: 1-2= D6 rapid strike vessels, 3-5= strike cruiser; 6= battle barge. Each Space Marine vessel or squadron is represented by a contact marker, and arrives as detailed in Escalating Engagement.

2. An enemy fleet has made a sudden offensive against an Imperial world, and the Navy’s ships are not in a position to respond. However, several Space Marine vessels have been sighted in the area and are underway to combat the invasion. The race is on! This is a variant of the Planetary Assault scenario. The two fleets start an equal distance from the contested world – the enemy has troop transports as detailed in the Planetary Assault scenario, whilst the Space Marines just have their ‘natural’ expertise. Both sides score ‘assault points’, and the victor is the side with the most assault points at the end of the battle, or the first to reach a predetermined total. As mentioned in Planetary Assault, you can continue this fight on the surface with a game of Epic 40,000 (planetary assault scenario) or Warhammer 40,000 (the Planetfall mission in Codex Space Marines).

3. A strategically important planet has rebelled against the Emperor’s rule, and the Space Marines have despatched a small task force on a punitive mission. A display of the Emperor’s military might should curb the rebellion in its infancy! Again this is a variant of the Planetary Assault scenario. The Space Marine player has only a small fleet (two strike cruisers and some rapid strike vessels perhaps) while the defender spends an equal points value on planetary defences. Obviously the Space Marines shouldn’t have too much difficulty, but if they do lose a strike cruiser this will be a terrible shame for the Chapter to bear!

4. The Space Marines have recently reconquered an enemy-held planet, but just as they are departing, an enemy fleet shows up with reinforcements. The enemy fleet is unaware that the world is no longer theirs, until the Space Marine vessels cruise out of low orbit on an attack course! This is kind of a reverse Planetary Assault. The Space Marines start on the low orbit table, within assault distance of the planet’s table edge, and must prevent the enemy from landing any troops on the world.

5. A small force of Space Marine vessels is on patrol through wilderness space when it encounters an enemy force massing for an invasion. The Space Marines must get as much information as possible about the enemy fleet, before escaping to report the build up of the opposition. This is based upon the Surprise Attack scenario, with the Space Marines attacking. The Space Marines are limited to strike cruisers and rapid strike vessels. However, rather than attempting to destroy as much of the enemy as possible, the first time a Space Marine ship approaches within 45cm of an enemy capital ship or escort squadron, it scans and identifies it (this doesn’t affect either vessel’s ability to move or shoot). The Space Marine ships can exit off the table edge or disengage without giving away victory points (unless they have been crippled). The Space Marines score VPs equal to the points value of each enemy vessel or squadron they identify, the enemy score VPs for destroying or crippling ships as normal.

You can also fight battles to resolve Space Marine help generated from the Space Marines table in the Campaigns section of Battlefleet Gothic. For example, you could use the rebellious planet scenario above for determining how many of a planet’s defences are destroyed before the Imperial Navy assault the world (result 12), or you could fight a Convoy scenario to represent them attacking enemy supply routes (result 11).