Paul (Clanger) and I had a 5pt Battle at the club last night, it went a little something like this...
Dilgar vs. Earth (Crusade)
My forces – 1 Tikrit, 1 Garasoch, 2 Omelos, 2 Targrath, 3 Ochlavita Ki, 2 Jashakar Tae, 4 Jashakar Vi
Paul’s forces – 1 Warlock, 1 Marathon, 1 Hyperion, 1 Delphi, 2 Chronos Missile Frigate, 2 Myrmidon,
2 Hermes
Paul lost setup and had to place his ships first. On his left flank he had the two Myrmidons, the Warlock and the Marathon. The Chronos Missile Frigates held the centre of his deployment (all the missiles on all ships were of the Flash variety) and his right flank consisted of the two Hermes, the Hyperion and the Delphi.
I had concentrated my forces into three Pentacons; on my extreme left flank I had placed an Ochlavita and four scouts, in front of them were a 2nd Ochlavita, the Garasoch, Tikrit and the two torpedo Jashakars. Lastly, in the centre of my deployment – virtually opposite Paul’s Chronos’ – I had my last Pentacon of the twin Omelos’, the Targraths and the last Ochlavita.
Turn 1
Despite having more scouts, I could not overcome Paul’s slight advantage in initiative and would have to move first… well, by move first, I mean that my 3 Pentacons would all “skip” and thereby force the EA forces to move three of their ships
The Myrmidons made careful progress down Paul’s left flank and one of the Hermes advanced on his right. I moved the Scout Pentacon up and Paul advanced his 2nd Hermes up to sit near the 1st. My 2nd Pentacon moved forwards enough to bring one of the Hermes into missile range of the Jashakars and Ochlavita, the Tikrit launched its 2nd Thorun fighter and the Garasoch succeeded in a “Scramble, Scramble” order (the Ochlavita adding +1 to CQ making it very easy) and the remaining Thoruns from it’s bays flew onto the board.
Paul moved up the Chronos frigates and turned them so their broadsides would be presented to the enemy. Never one to refuse a challenge, my third Pentacon surged forward to bring the Earth Frigates into missile range, but wisely chose to “Close Blast Doors” as the Warlock and Marathon had yet to move… and, as predicted, the two “big guns” on Paul’s team moved up and dog-legged towards the centre, one bore-sighting an Omelos, the other targeting a Targrath.
The fighters on both sides were still distant from their opponents, so my Thoruns went onto defensive duties and acted as interceptors for the targeted ships. Though this wouldn’t help against beams, the Earth force’s missiles were intercept able.
My scouts scored re-directs on the Chronos and Hermes that would be my targets, the Earth crew on the Delphi failed to do anything useful for their admiral.
Paul was to fire first (Pentacons not being able to help here) and selected the Warlock… we decided to use the normal beam rolls, but with Paul failing to roll above 2 on all his dice, it was academic which rules we had used… a big fat miss from the EA boys :twisted: !
I opened up with my Pentacon on the redirected Chronos, 20 AD of missiles winged their way towards the tough little Frigate, but Hull 6 and a couple of Interceptors meant that only a few hit home… I did score two critical hits, but these were a 1-1 and a 1-2… not inspiring :?
On my left flank, 8 AD of missiles flew at the hull 4 Hermes, the Patrol ship was damaged enough that it would explode next turn!
Paul’s return fire saw damage to an Ochlavita and an Omelos, but nothing debilitating.
Turn 2
Earth took the initiative again, but once more, the Pentacons forced the Myrmidons and a Hermes to move. The Myrmidons looped towards the centre but were still out of range, the Hermes tried to put an asteroid field between itself and my fleet. Now that the Garasoch was empty, it was time to split up a Pentacon… becoming 5 more “moves” for the Dilgar. This forced the 2nd Hermes, the Hyperion, Delphi and both Chronos to move before my remaining Pentacons.
The Delphi squared off against the ships on my left, the Hyperion turned to bore sight an Ochlavita with its rear beam, my Tikrit moved around an asteroid field to bring its front to bear on the Hyperion and Delphi…
With my scout Pentacon moving up, but still miles short of bolter range, all this accomplished was to make Paul move a big ship before my last – and most dangerous – Pentacon. The Warlock tried to “Come About” so that it could bore sight the Tikrit, but failed. This left me to move my boys into the side arc of the warship and to hope for the best…
With only the Marathon to go, I could see why Paul had left this until the last… the battleship moved and turned to bring both rear and front bore sights into play… the front on the Garasoch, the rear on one of my Targraths. Fighters, once again, took up defensive roles for both sides, a few dogfights did ensue… and honours were about even.
The Warlock fired first, and a miscalculation on my positioning meant that the Ochlavita was just inside the front arc… and was summarily destroyed. The port guns opened up on the wounded Omelos, but the Thoruns I’d placed as interceptors did enough to keep it in the fight.
With pulsars to whittle down the warships interceptors, the redirected missiles and bolters should really have done more, but the thick plating of the Warlock was enough to keep the ship running, albeit in a straight line for now (the Adrift critical being the best I rolled in this battle).
The Marathon scratched the Targrath and Garasoch, and the Chronos finally finished off the damaged Omelos. The Tikrit split its fire – missiles on the Delphi, bolters on the Hyperion. Unfortunately (for me that is) I couldn’t break Stealth on the Delphi, and the 18 AD of bolter fire damaged, but did nothing special to, the Hyperion.
Turn 3
The Dilgar took the initiative this turn, and, as I still had one functioning Pentacon, Paul had to move his Myrmidons first. They continued a leisurely stroll towards the rear of my right hand Pentacon, but their positioning meant that they would only able to use their turret guns. The Warlock had also been used as a move, slowly drifting forward, bore sights being completely taken out of the equation.
The Delphi threw caution to the wind and charged in amongst the “little” Dilgar ships on my left, the Hyperion making tracks away from this particular conflagration – though it did use it’s rear bore sight on one of the torpedo Jashakars.
My Tikrit followed the Hyperion, the Ochlavita and torpedo ships had moved to bring the Warlock into range, just in case the reduced squadron couldn’t finish it off…
The troublesome Chronos were still cruising around, and their missiles were starting to annoy! The Marathon bore down on the Garasoch, but this time, there would be no rear bore sight target…
The squadron of the surviving Omelos and two Targrath flew right up to the Warlock, it would not escape again!!!
Sure enough, the fire from the squadron was enough to see the Warlock off, the Aft weapons and turrets I had split amongst the Myrmidons – thinking that this would be enough to destroy both – but once more, the combination of decent hull (5) and Interceptors, meant that one was hurt but functioning, the other was only killed off because of a critical hit that – thanks to the Dilgar special ability – turned single damage Pulsars into double damage.
More damage to the Garasoch by the Marathon, slight damage to the Omelos from the Chronos’ and some paintwork knocked off a torpedo ship by the Hyperion, which was then vaped by the Tikrit… thus ended turn 3.
Turn4
Dilgar took the initiative again (the loss of the Warlock reducing the EA score by 2) and the scout Pentacon was still intact. The surviving Hermes and Myrmidon moved into a dust cloud and faced the centre of the table, the Chronos kept circling, and the Delphi succeeded in a “Come About” order that would see it right behind the Garasoch, who wouldn’t be able to move out of bore sight due to being a big lumbering unit (which is also how I’m sometimes described :lol: )!
The Marathon sped past the spot that the Garasoch had vacated and turned to bore sight the Ochlavita leading the scout Pentacon.
My torpedo ships moved around the other side of the asteroid field that the Marathon found itself on, they would sweep around it next turn, if needed. My squadron “All Powered” across the board, also on the wrong side of the asteroid field to shoot at the Marathon this turn, but also ideally placed to jump it when it moved next time…
The Tikrit glided through the Hyperions debris and turned towards the Hermes, Myrmidon and two Chronos. My single Ochlavita also moved to bring the EA “little” ships into missile range…
6 Thorun torpedo fighters bore down on the Delphi, whose Anti-Fighter fire took out half of them, the remaining fighters doing scant damage to the hull 5 scout.
I was firing first and the Tikrit blasted one of the Chronus. Paul returned fire at the Tikrit with the Hermes… a 4-6 critical hit later and the Tikrit’s formidable front guns were taken offline! This victory was compounded with the Garasoch failing to do more than a couple of points of damage to the Hermes, and the remaining Chronus frigate succeeded in killing the lone Ochlavita!
The Marathon had a good round, as it destroyed the last Ochlavita with its TD beam, the resulting explosion and additional front weapons fire killing two more Jashakars and damaging the remaining two!
With the exception of one Jashakar torpedo ship, there wasn’t a single ship on the board that wasn’t damaged, we knew the next turn would be the last…
Turn 5
Dilgar took the initiative again, and I still had enough ships to make the difference. The Chronus, Myrmidon and Hermes moved in such a way that the Tikrit could bring its Aft guns onto one ship and turret onto another 8) the Garasoch had barrelled forward to put the Myrmidon right in front of it, and the two torpedo ships succeeded in “Concentrating All Firepower” on the Delphi.
Paul realised that without a “Come About” order, he would not be able to get his front arc to face my squadron that would be coming around the asteroid field. He failed his roll so elected to send the Marathon away from the field; Unfortunately (for him this time) the speedy Raid ships of the Dilgar easily brought him into Bolter range… also, as two of my scouts had been destroyed, I tried to “CAF” the Marathon and succeeded with the Omelos and one of the two Targraths.
The firing from the squadron junked the battleship, and the “CAF”’d torpedo ships also saw off the Delphi in this turn. The Tikrit killed the Hermes, and Paul decided that “enough was enough” and we called it there…
A close run thing, but Dilgar aggression prevailed in the end… glory to the imperium!
Dilgar vs. Earth (Crusade)
My forces – 1 Tikrit, 1 Garasoch, 2 Omelos, 2 Targrath, 3 Ochlavita Ki, 2 Jashakar Tae, 4 Jashakar Vi
Paul’s forces – 1 Warlock, 1 Marathon, 1 Hyperion, 1 Delphi, 2 Chronos Missile Frigate, 2 Myrmidon,
2 Hermes
Paul lost setup and had to place his ships first. On his left flank he had the two Myrmidons, the Warlock and the Marathon. The Chronos Missile Frigates held the centre of his deployment (all the missiles on all ships were of the Flash variety) and his right flank consisted of the two Hermes, the Hyperion and the Delphi.
I had concentrated my forces into three Pentacons; on my extreme left flank I had placed an Ochlavita and four scouts, in front of them were a 2nd Ochlavita, the Garasoch, Tikrit and the two torpedo Jashakars. Lastly, in the centre of my deployment – virtually opposite Paul’s Chronos’ – I had my last Pentacon of the twin Omelos’, the Targraths and the last Ochlavita.
Turn 1
Despite having more scouts, I could not overcome Paul’s slight advantage in initiative and would have to move first… well, by move first, I mean that my 3 Pentacons would all “skip” and thereby force the EA forces to move three of their ships
The Myrmidons made careful progress down Paul’s left flank and one of the Hermes advanced on his right. I moved the Scout Pentacon up and Paul advanced his 2nd Hermes up to sit near the 1st. My 2nd Pentacon moved forwards enough to bring one of the Hermes into missile range of the Jashakars and Ochlavita, the Tikrit launched its 2nd Thorun fighter and the Garasoch succeeded in a “Scramble, Scramble” order (the Ochlavita adding +1 to CQ making it very easy) and the remaining Thoruns from it’s bays flew onto the board.
Paul moved up the Chronos frigates and turned them so their broadsides would be presented to the enemy. Never one to refuse a challenge, my third Pentacon surged forward to bring the Earth Frigates into missile range, but wisely chose to “Close Blast Doors” as the Warlock and Marathon had yet to move… and, as predicted, the two “big guns” on Paul’s team moved up and dog-legged towards the centre, one bore-sighting an Omelos, the other targeting a Targrath.
The fighters on both sides were still distant from their opponents, so my Thoruns went onto defensive duties and acted as interceptors for the targeted ships. Though this wouldn’t help against beams, the Earth force’s missiles were intercept able.
My scouts scored re-directs on the Chronos and Hermes that would be my targets, the Earth crew on the Delphi failed to do anything useful for their admiral.
Paul was to fire first (Pentacons not being able to help here) and selected the Warlock… we decided to use the normal beam rolls, but with Paul failing to roll above 2 on all his dice, it was academic which rules we had used… a big fat miss from the EA boys :twisted: !
I opened up with my Pentacon on the redirected Chronos, 20 AD of missiles winged their way towards the tough little Frigate, but Hull 6 and a couple of Interceptors meant that only a few hit home… I did score two critical hits, but these were a 1-1 and a 1-2… not inspiring :?
On my left flank, 8 AD of missiles flew at the hull 4 Hermes, the Patrol ship was damaged enough that it would explode next turn!
Paul’s return fire saw damage to an Ochlavita and an Omelos, but nothing debilitating.
Turn 2
Earth took the initiative again, but once more, the Pentacons forced the Myrmidons and a Hermes to move. The Myrmidons looped towards the centre but were still out of range, the Hermes tried to put an asteroid field between itself and my fleet. Now that the Garasoch was empty, it was time to split up a Pentacon… becoming 5 more “moves” for the Dilgar. This forced the 2nd Hermes, the Hyperion, Delphi and both Chronos to move before my remaining Pentacons.
The Delphi squared off against the ships on my left, the Hyperion turned to bore sight an Ochlavita with its rear beam, my Tikrit moved around an asteroid field to bring its front to bear on the Hyperion and Delphi…
With my scout Pentacon moving up, but still miles short of bolter range, all this accomplished was to make Paul move a big ship before my last – and most dangerous – Pentacon. The Warlock tried to “Come About” so that it could bore sight the Tikrit, but failed. This left me to move my boys into the side arc of the warship and to hope for the best…
With only the Marathon to go, I could see why Paul had left this until the last… the battleship moved and turned to bring both rear and front bore sights into play… the front on the Garasoch, the rear on one of my Targraths. Fighters, once again, took up defensive roles for both sides, a few dogfights did ensue… and honours were about even.
The Warlock fired first, and a miscalculation on my positioning meant that the Ochlavita was just inside the front arc… and was summarily destroyed. The port guns opened up on the wounded Omelos, but the Thoruns I’d placed as interceptors did enough to keep it in the fight.
With pulsars to whittle down the warships interceptors, the redirected missiles and bolters should really have done more, but the thick plating of the Warlock was enough to keep the ship running, albeit in a straight line for now (the Adrift critical being the best I rolled in this battle).
The Marathon scratched the Targrath and Garasoch, and the Chronos finally finished off the damaged Omelos. The Tikrit split its fire – missiles on the Delphi, bolters on the Hyperion. Unfortunately (for me that is) I couldn’t break Stealth on the Delphi, and the 18 AD of bolter fire damaged, but did nothing special to, the Hyperion.
Turn 3
The Dilgar took the initiative this turn, and, as I still had one functioning Pentacon, Paul had to move his Myrmidons first. They continued a leisurely stroll towards the rear of my right hand Pentacon, but their positioning meant that they would only able to use their turret guns. The Warlock had also been used as a move, slowly drifting forward, bore sights being completely taken out of the equation.
The Delphi threw caution to the wind and charged in amongst the “little” Dilgar ships on my left, the Hyperion making tracks away from this particular conflagration – though it did use it’s rear bore sight on one of the torpedo Jashakars.
My Tikrit followed the Hyperion, the Ochlavita and torpedo ships had moved to bring the Warlock into range, just in case the reduced squadron couldn’t finish it off…
The troublesome Chronos were still cruising around, and their missiles were starting to annoy! The Marathon bore down on the Garasoch, but this time, there would be no rear bore sight target…
The squadron of the surviving Omelos and two Targrath flew right up to the Warlock, it would not escape again!!!
Sure enough, the fire from the squadron was enough to see the Warlock off, the Aft weapons and turrets I had split amongst the Myrmidons – thinking that this would be enough to destroy both – but once more, the combination of decent hull (5) and Interceptors, meant that one was hurt but functioning, the other was only killed off because of a critical hit that – thanks to the Dilgar special ability – turned single damage Pulsars into double damage.
More damage to the Garasoch by the Marathon, slight damage to the Omelos from the Chronos’ and some paintwork knocked off a torpedo ship by the Hyperion, which was then vaped by the Tikrit… thus ended turn 3.
Turn4
Dilgar took the initiative again (the loss of the Warlock reducing the EA score by 2) and the scout Pentacon was still intact. The surviving Hermes and Myrmidon moved into a dust cloud and faced the centre of the table, the Chronos kept circling, and the Delphi succeeded in a “Come About” order that would see it right behind the Garasoch, who wouldn’t be able to move out of bore sight due to being a big lumbering unit (which is also how I’m sometimes described :lol: )!
The Marathon sped past the spot that the Garasoch had vacated and turned to bore sight the Ochlavita leading the scout Pentacon.
My torpedo ships moved around the other side of the asteroid field that the Marathon found itself on, they would sweep around it next turn, if needed. My squadron “All Powered” across the board, also on the wrong side of the asteroid field to shoot at the Marathon this turn, but also ideally placed to jump it when it moved next time…
The Tikrit glided through the Hyperions debris and turned towards the Hermes, Myrmidon and two Chronos. My single Ochlavita also moved to bring the EA “little” ships into missile range…
6 Thorun torpedo fighters bore down on the Delphi, whose Anti-Fighter fire took out half of them, the remaining fighters doing scant damage to the hull 5 scout.
I was firing first and the Tikrit blasted one of the Chronus. Paul returned fire at the Tikrit with the Hermes… a 4-6 critical hit later and the Tikrit’s formidable front guns were taken offline! This victory was compounded with the Garasoch failing to do more than a couple of points of damage to the Hermes, and the remaining Chronus frigate succeeded in killing the lone Ochlavita!
The Marathon had a good round, as it destroyed the last Ochlavita with its TD beam, the resulting explosion and additional front weapons fire killing two more Jashakars and damaging the remaining two!
With the exception of one Jashakar torpedo ship, there wasn’t a single ship on the board that wasn’t damaged, we knew the next turn would be the last…
Turn 5
Dilgar took the initiative again, and I still had enough ships to make the difference. The Chronus, Myrmidon and Hermes moved in such a way that the Tikrit could bring its Aft guns onto one ship and turret onto another 8) the Garasoch had barrelled forward to put the Myrmidon right in front of it, and the two torpedo ships succeeded in “Concentrating All Firepower” on the Delphi.
Paul realised that without a “Come About” order, he would not be able to get his front arc to face my squadron that would be coming around the asteroid field. He failed his roll so elected to send the Marathon away from the field; Unfortunately (for him this time) the speedy Raid ships of the Dilgar easily brought him into Bolter range… also, as two of my scouts had been destroyed, I tried to “CAF” the Marathon and succeeded with the Omelos and one of the two Targraths.
The firing from the squadron junked the battleship, and the “CAF”’d torpedo ships also saw off the Delphi in this turn. The Tikrit killed the Hermes, and Paul decided that “enough was enough” and we called it there…
A close run thing, but Dilgar aggression prevailed in the end… glory to the imperium!
