Warhammer 40K: The Original Blackstone Fortress
It was 1999, and something dark and sinister stirred in the Gothic Sector. Meet the original Blackstone Fortress.
Battlefleet Gothic arrived in 1999, bringing naval combat to the tabletop. It wasn’t the first game to do so – that honor fell to the earlier Space Fleet from 1991.
Battlefleet Gothic was a much more complex and nuanced game, and it brought with it a new narrative setting, the Gothic War, set in the (obviously) Gothic Sector, also known as the 12th Black Crusade. This war dealt with Abaddon’s conquests and ultimate retreat from an key Imperial Navy stronghold and revolved around 6 mysterious artifacts – the Blackstone Fortresses.
Let’s take a look at what these were in their original incarnation.
The Original Blacktone Fortress Mini
First, let’s take a look at the miniature itself.
Box front, not that this is it’s “activated” configuration, and is open with the 4 gun things sticking out.
And the back of the box. Now I wonder if that 8-pointed star shape means anything?
The miniature itself. Look at that giant chunk of sexy white metal. How I miss you.
The Rules
And now the rules.
It’s slow, with 10cm being less than half of a Battleship’s 25cm of movement. That said, it moves freely in any direction, and its Firepower 8 Warp cannons are potent, having range, and battleship weapon strength. Its defense 16 is off the charts, well above the largest of Abaddons’ fleet the Planet Killer. Finally, note that these weapons don’t include the Blackstone’s star-killing “super mega-death” weapon. Apparently, that was so powerful the designers decided to keep it out of standard tabletop play.
Maybe for good reason…
Fast Forward 24 Years
Two decades later, and GW gave us an all-new game set INSIDE a Blackstone Fortress, which only made them more mysterious. The 8th Edition Necron Codex dropped further hints of their shrouded origins, and still they are one of the Grimdark’s big questions marks. They were created by either the Old Ones, or the Necrons, to destroy their enemies – based on which legends you believe. At least two are still undiscovered, and they appear to be sentient. Abaddon returned with his last one, to wreak havok during the Fall of Cadia. But unsettling mysteries aside, we did get a LOT of great art and videos out of that Blackstone Fortress game – if not the promisied lore reveal.
The brand new 10th Edition Codex Necrons sheds even less light on the origins of the Blackstone Fortresses, than previous editions did.
~It’s 2023, and we STILL have no idea what the Blackstone Fortesses mystery is all about? There’s always 11th Edition…
