Time for another battle report! In the ongoing campaign for the Armus sub-sector, the Chaos fleet led by the Lord Kol Sarat takes on the Imperials once more, this time in a punitive raid on Kittery-804. Not participating in the raid himself, he sent the Warmonger, Agony, and Hellblade to reconnoiter in force. Patrolling the far flung penal colony system at that time fell to the Brazen, Valiant, and 711th Squadron.
Cruiser Clash
Chaos (subplot - Enemy Plans)
Hades Class Heavy Cruiser Warmonger
Slaughter Class Cruiser Agony
Slaughter Class Cruiser Hellblade
Imperial Navy (subplot - Experimental Ship)
Lunar Class Cruiser Valiant
Gothic Class Cruiser Brazen (+2 HP, -1 Ld)
5 Firestorm Class Frigates 711th Squadron
Turn 1: Chaos
The Agony's captain, fresh from repairs within the warp and eager to spill blood, ordered his squadron to close as fast as possible with the enemy. With gusto and blazing engines they shot ahead 57(!) cm (the roll was 6, 6, 6, 6, 3). The Warmonger followed along leisurely behind, coming into extreme range with its heavy lance armament. At long range the gunners showed their metal, scoring three hits on the Brazen. This is where I found out the ship actually had 10HP to start the game with, hoi!
Turn 1: Imperial Navy
Holding their discipline in the face of the insane bravado of the Slaughter squadron, the Imperials took advantage of the close range to unleash their particular brand of hell on their enemy. Linking their fire, the 711th and cruisers bracketed the Agony, stripping shields, sundering the hull, and damaging the thrusters, resulting in several hull breaches. Torpedoes screamed into the Hellblade, and while the turrets took out an average number, they still scored a hit. A telling turn of events, and the Agony's captain was cowed...
Turn 2: Chaos
Bleeding heavily into space, the Agony attempted, and failed, to disengage. The Hellblade turned into the enemy's rear and peppered a weak broadside into the Brazen's aft quarter, taking down the shields and scoring a hit. The Warmonger locked on, bringing all guns to bear (as I'm writing this, I just realized I didn't reroll my misses due to lock on, gosh darn it!) on the Firestorms and the cruisers. Still, the weapons batteries scored three hits and the lances two, resulting in two destroyed frigates. The prow lances missed the Brazen, and since I forgot my orders, I passed the turn...
Turn 2: Imperial Navy
The remainder of the 711th squadron swung around to light up the Agony, while the cruisers were poised to make use of both broadsides. The Agony's captain suffered the final humiliation for his hubris, and his ship was rendered combat ineffective. It proceeded to drift out of the engagement area, and his fellow captains saw fit to not retrieve his hulk. Despite the weight of fire, only shields sustained hits during this turn, though the Hellblade was also crippled. The Emperor's light seemed to be shining on the Imperials now!
Turn 3: Chaos
While the Hellblade came about for another gunnery run, the Warmonger closed in on the Brazen for an exciting boarding action! The result was a crushing victory for Chaos (he rolled a 1, I rolled a 6), and it took a huge amount of damage! I also succeeded in uncovering the enemy's battle plans during the action (I was after his lucky charms!), completing my subplot.
Turn 3: Imperial Navy
Well, the 711th disengaged at high warp, while the cruisers unfortunately remained, due to low leadership values.
Turn 4: Chaos
The Warmonger continued her persecution of the Brazen, targeting her with available guns and hulking the ship, while the Valiant finally escaped. A fine prize indeed...
What a back and forth game! First he smashed me, then vice versa. I thought I was in trouble, early on. The Slaughters definitely overshot where I wanted them to go; they were supposed to be the ones to board an enemy ship, but they definitely got too close, then wreckfaced because I was thinking "I only need one to do what I need to...right?" Poor choice, as his Firestorms went bananas and scored a bucket ton of hits all at once. Oh well, live and learn right? The boarding action swung the game back in my favor, no questions there; a 1 to a 6 is always going to hurt. Just wasn't expecting it, though I can't complain about the result.
Would you have played it any different? Spot anything we missed? Let me know in the comments section!
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