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BATTLE REPORT

Page 3

TURNS 5 & 6

In turn 5, Sean recovered a bit from the torpedo charge I made the turn before. He advanced his northern force to within gun range of my heavy cruiser squadron. Focusing his fire on the Orion, the nearest cruiser, his fire had a telling effect. I decided against bracing the ship for impact, since that would have braced the entire squadron. As a result, the Orion was exposed and pounded heavily. She was finished off by a salvo from the bombardment cannons of Sean's strike cruisers, and suffered a plasma drive overload. KA-BLOOIE! (A).  This was a pretty significant loss in my strength, but it was avenged during my turn 6, when my Cobras unloaded a 10-strong torpedo salvo into Sean's Gladius squadron, utterly wiping it out (B). The Apollo continued to advance north (C), but had no more luck these two turns with her Nova Cannon. She did score a hit with her two dorsal lances on a Strike Cruiser, however. My two healthy heavy cruisers, in conjunction with my light cruisers and frigates, managed to hulk one of Sean's Lunars (D).

Above: I said it once, and I'll say it again: TORPEDOES AWAY!!! Note the plume of burning plasma to the right, marking the passage of the Orion from this plane of existence.

TURNS 7 & 8

The next two turns saw some of the heaviest shooting in the game, as our ships were fully engaged and trading titanic blows. My two healthy cruises made good account of themselves, helping to hulk another of Sean's strike cruisers and crippling his remaining Lunar (A). The Cobras were made the target of several attacks, but thanks to a timely Brace for Impact order and lucky saving throws, none were lost (B). The plucky little destroyers were proving more resilient than either Sean or I could have imagined! The light cruisers advance north (C), assisting with the crippling of the Lunar. However, one was hulked by a returning volley from the strike cruisers cutting across their bows (D). The Apollo fell into the cross-hairs of the Battle Barge, which Sean had Locked-On. I failed my leadership check to brace her, and she was promptly crippled by the Barge's punishing broadsides. My frigates managed to take a couple of hits of the Battle Barge, however, with their own Lock-On order coupled with some lucky shooting.

Above: A general melee ensued , as the game became a war of attrition fought at close range.

Above: The Apollo is crippled by a broadside from the Battle Barge, while my frigates swing around and fire a combined Strength 16 weapons batteries in reply.

TURN 9

While I maneuvered my ships for another round of shooting at his Battle Barge, Sean disengaged his remaining ships. In the final shooting phase, I managed to do no further damage to the Barge, which had been successfully BFI'ed. The Barge was disengaged as well during Sean's next movement phase, effectively ending the battle.  

CONCLUSION

The final  result was a pretty resounding victory for my IN fleet. Sean had taken a toll, having destroyed the Orion and the Panache, and crippling the Apollo. Against this, I managed to destroy one Lunar, cripple another Lunar, destroy 2 strike cruisers and 4 frigates. Here are some of my thoughts about the battle:

• I took an early lead with my very lucky Nova Cannon shot in Turn 2 that wiped out a Strike Cruiser, and it seems that Sean never fully recovered. Truly, the Nova Cannon can be a fearsome weapon, but as subsequent shooting in this game showed, it can be a bit of a hit or miss proposition.
• Sean splitting his fleet played into my hands, as it gave me a crack at a smaller part of his force where I could bring superior fire power to bear and cause heavy damage before his supporting ships could get into position.
• The torpedo charge made by my heavy cruiser squadron is a tactic that I have been toying with lately, and I am pretty happy with the way it was executed here. Even thought it resulted in me receiving more damage than I gave, in the form of the destruction of the Orion, the maneuver was nevertheless valuable for seizing the initiative and unbalancing Sean's plan.  In short, it had a definite psychological value that outweighed its immediate tactical usefulness.
• I'm really surprised that, at the end of the game, I still had all my escorts. This is especially surprising when you consider that I was fighting against the Space Marines, which are one of the best anti-escort fleets out there. Part of this was due to the fact that Sean focused on my cruisers for most of the game, but it also had something to do with me making a lot of saving throws and also using my fighters effectively as an anti-Thunderhawk screen.
• Speaking of focus, I changed mine a bit for this game. Instead of trying to knock out Sean's Battle Barge, I took the fight to his lighter ships instead. A Battle Barge is a very tough target in the best of circumstances, with its 6+ armor and 3 shields. If it is braces, you might as well forget about doing any serious damage to it.  

In the end, this was a really fun game, and I carried the day mainly because of a lot of good rolling. I was able to capitalize on my opportunities because of this, and as a result the game results show a bigger win for me than might have otherwise been the case.  All in all, I would say this game was a fitting end to two years of gaming. Thanks for all the great memories, Sean!

By Andy Rucker