Chaos ships have a +1 boarding modifier. A ship with Chaos Space Marine crew has a +2 boarding modifier (before all other modifiers are applied normally).

Command

A Daemon ship may never be commanded by a Warmaster or a Chaos Lord. A Daemon ship may never have a Chaos Space Marine crew. Daemon ships cannot carry Exterminatus weapons and do not score any points for landing troops in a planetary assault. Daemonships cannot be used in squadrons. Any Daemon ship may have a single Mark of Chaos with the same effects and cost in points as described in the Battlefleet Gothic rulebook.

Warp Translation

A Daemonship may be kept off table at the start of a game while the rest of the fleet is deployed. In the End phase of any Chaos turn after the first, the Daemon Ship may enter play from the Warp as follows:
Select a friendly or enemy Capital ship, and position the Daemonship within 20 cm of the chosen vessel facing in any direction. Next, roll 4D6 and a Scatter dice and reposition the Daemonship accordingly, keeping the ship on the same heading. A Daemonship cannot be forced to disengage by a scatter roll that places it off the table. If a Daemonship scatters off the table when deploying, place the Daemonship so that its base is completely on the table on the point of the table edge indicated by the scatter dice, facing any direction. If a ‘Hit’ is rolled on the Scatter dice, then the Daemonship arrives on target. The arriving Daemonship is unaffected by celestial phenomena and does not trigger attack by ordnance markers it may happen to land on. If it would appear in contact with an enemy vessel, reposition it by up to 1 cm so that it is out of contact.

Spectral Daemonships

When first placed on the table, a Daemonship is spectral. Any enemy vessel attempting a special order when within 15 cm of the Daemonship is at -1 Leadership (if the ship also has a Mark of Slaanesh the penalties are cumulative). The Daemonship cannot move, shoot, board or conduct any action in any way, though any Marks it may have still take effect immediately. It also may not be shot at, boarded, rammed or have any action done to it while spectral. At the end of any subsequent Chaos End phase the Daemonship may complete the translation to real space on a D6 roll of 2+. This final translation cannot be made if the Daemonship is in contact with an enemy vessel. No actions can be undertaken in the End phase during which final translation occurs. From this point on the Daemonship is solid and fights like a normal ship. If a Daemon ship fully materializes in contact with celestial phenomena, it suffers any effects of those celestial phenomena, such as gas clouds, asteroid fields, etc. before the start of its movement phase. However, if it materializes in an asteroid field, it may then attempt to avoid damage by making a leadership check normally.

Haunting

A Daemonship may disengage at the end of any Chaos Movement phase without having to make any dice roll. It simply drops back into the Warp leaving no trace. A disengaged Daemonship may re-enter play on any Chaos turn following the one in which it disengages. This is done following the translation rules detailed above. When a Daemonship is ‘haunting’ or is spectral it can still suffer damage from fire critical hits. If it was damaged when it disengaged it may be repaired when it returns, roll a D6:

Add +1 to the roll if it is a battleship, and +1 for each full turn the Daemonship spent in the Warp. In addition to repairing damage, they may repair critical hits while in the warp rolling normally, repairing critical damage on a 4+ as opposed to a 6. However, Daemonships may not make repair rolls in the end phase they are first deployed when returning into play. If Daemonships repair enough hits while “haunting” to no longer be crippled, they will still count as disengaged for purposes of victory points but will no longer count as crippled. A returning Daemonship cannot come back with more hits than it could normally have. At the end of the game a Daemonship which disengaged (even just once) will count as having disengaged for Victory points purposes, unless of course it is destroyed or crippled when the normal rules apply.

Daemonships in Campaigns

Daemonships do not automatically regain hits after each battle. They have to be regained either in a game by warp translation or by expending repair points, or they can be withdrawn normally.

Thunderhawks and Enemy Ordnance

Thunderhawk gunships combine the abilities of assault boats and fighters, and move like any other attack craft, with a speed of 20cm. A Thunderhawk counter that is intercepted by enemy fighters or move onto an enemy ordnance marker removes the enemy as fighters would. However as they are extremely resilient, roll a dice when this happens. On a score of 4+, do not remove the Thunderhawk marker. Thunderhawks can only remove one enemy marker in any given ordnance phase and stop moving as soon as they intercept an enemy, and if a Thunderhawk marker uses its save to remain in play and comes into contact with another ordnance marker in the same ordnance phase, it is removed normally.

Note that against Eldar fighters, which also have this ability, it is possible that you end up with neither marker being removed! If this happens, either marker is free to move away in their next turn, or they can stay in place and attempt to remove their enemy again.

Thunderhawks and Enemy Ships

When a Thunderhawk marker moves into contact with an enemy ship’s base, they are treated exactly like assault boats (with the +1 bonus to their hit and run attack for being Space Marines). Using its 4+ save does not prevent it from attacking a ship if in base contact with one when stopped. Once a Thunderhawk marker has made its hit and run attack, it is removed from play.

Refitting to carry Thunderhawks

Any vessel that earns or pays for a refit to carry Thunderhawks may then ONLY carry them, and its launch bay capacity is reduced by half (rounding up when applicable). Escort carriers may never be upgraded to carry Thunderhawks!

Thunderhawk Annihilators

Some Space Marine vessels are noted as carrying Thunderhawk Annihilators. Thunderhawk Annihilators combine the abilities of bombers and fighters, and they move like any other attack craft with a speed of 20cm. A Thunderhawk Annihilator that is intercepted by enemy fighters or moves onto an enemy ordnance marker removes the enemy marker exactly the same way fighters would. However, they are extremely resilient and follow all special rules for Thunderhawks above. When a Thunderhawk Annihilator comes in contact with an enemy ship’s base, they attack it like bombers, even if they have used their resilience to remain in play. Once they complete their attack, they are removed normally. Thunderhawk Annihilators cannot be used as assault boats.

The Armageddon gun may not be fired if the ship has been crippled or is on Burn Retros, All Ahead Full or Brace For Impact special orders.

The Armageddon gun can only be fired directly ahead of the ship. To fire the Armageddon gun, place the nova cannon template so that it is touching the Planet Killer’s stem and then move it directly ahead 90cm. If the hole in the centre of the template passes over a ship’s base (friend or foe!), that ship suffers D6 automatic hits. If any other part of the nova cannon marker moves over a ship’s base then the ship suffers one automatic hit. Hits take down shields exactly as normal. Ordnance touched by the template is destroyed. Once the Armageddon gun has fired you must use Reload Ordnance orders before it can fire again. If you roll a double 6 for a Reload Ordnance check, then the Armageddon gun has disastrously malfunctioned, inflicting a critical hit on the Planet Killer and rendering the Armageddon gun useless for the rest of the battle. On a roll of any other double, the Armageddon gun can be fired once more before it must be shut down to prevent overloading. Note that as the Planet Killer also has torpedoes, it is possible that you will need to use Reload Ordnance orders for these at the same time as for the Armageddon gun. In this case, only make one Command check.

The Armageddon gun is a line of sight weapon and cannot fire through obstacles or celestial phenomena that act as normal line of sight obstructions, such as planets, moons, asteroid fields, etc. However, place D6 blast markers at the point the Armageddon gun template contacted the asteroid field, moon, etc. for the vaporized rock left in its wake.

Exterminatus

The Planet Killer, as its unsubtle name suggests, is designed to attack worlds. This makes it particularly appropriate for the Exterminatus scenario. If the Chaos fleet is attacking, it can include the Planet Killer instead of using modified exterminators or a Blackstone Fortress. The Planet Killer does not lose any of its weapons for being an exterminator, but if the Armageddon gun cannot be used for any reason then it can no longer act as an exterminator and the Chaos player loses the battle automatically. Though the Planet Killer must enter low orbit to fire a planet-killing shot like other vessels, it has a range of 60 cm and does not need to roll a 4+ to destroy the planet.

The Planet Killer must declare it is charging over three consecutive turns. No leadership check is required, but the ship may not turn, shoot or go on any special orders, including Brace For Impact. Once started, the process cannot be stopped, during which time the ship gains +2 shields. After the movement phase of the third turn, the ship immediately fires by moving the Nova Cannon template directly in front of he vessel 60 cm (not 90 cm). If any part of the template touches any ship’s base, that ship is completely destroyed, no saves allowed. The first planet or moon touched by the centre hole is removed on a 2+ in D3 turns and replaced by a 2D6×2D6 asteroid field. This shot can fire through asteroid fields but will not remove them by doing so. After firing this shot, the Planet Killer must pass a Reload Ordnance special order for two turns to bring the Armageddon Gun back online, during which time it may not fire any weapons at all but moves normally.