An armed freighter of the Imperial merchant fleets.
An armed freighter is a commercial freighter voidship of the Imperial merchant fleets that has been outfitted with military-grade weapons batteries to help protect their crews and precious cargoes while operating in dangerous areas. This extra firepower comes at a price, however, as the freighter's cargo capacity is drastically reduced in order to make room for the new armament. Although armed freighters will never be mistaken for true Imperial warships, they have been known to lend support to outnumbered, isolated, or otherwise desperate fleets.
The Imperium swarms with transport vessels. Millions of these civilian voidcraft plough the space lanes, ferrying pilgrims, ore, fuel, foodstuffs, weapons, materiel, machine parts and luxury goods to untold billions of eager consumers across the galaxy.
Role[]
Dorsal view of an armed freighter of the Imperial merchant fleets.
Often freighters of the Imperial merchant fleets operating in dangerous areas of the galaxy would install military-grade gun batteries and fire control systems operated by former warship crewmen. It sometimes even helped.
Less common, but still not unknown, is for these freighters to actively engage in military duty, lending what little support they were capable of to an outnumbered or isolated Navis Imperialis battlefleet.
Sources[]
- Battlefleet Gothic Armada (Specialist Game), pg. 160