Clarification of Nova Cannon

[lastspartacus]

Thanks for the input.  I'm always loathe to Brace but it may be worth it.  Just a part of the center hole has to be touching right?
So ships in btb could both suffer a d6.  I play Chaos.

[russ_c]

Thanks for the input.  I'm always loathe to Brace but it may be worth it.  Just a part of the center hole has to be touching right?
So ships in btb could both suffer a d6.  I play Chaos.

I play Chaos as well...Do I need to notify Abaddon of your ramshackle ship captains!?

General Advice:  I would recommend keeping your cruisers at least 8cm apart from one another unless they MUST be touching for turret massing.  Usually this is not a problem though.  If you take escorts, always keep them apart until there is ordnance closing on them.  Then it's typically best to bring them in tight for massing turrets against the incoming ordnance.

Chaos tactics:

Take at least a pair of Slaughters.  With all ahead full they can cover grotesque distances (34 to 54 cm) in a single movement.  When a NC cruiser sees them closing so quickly his focus will change.  Pair these Slaughters up with a small squad of Idolators or Infidels and you have a dangerous flanking task force that is highly mobile.

Support your flanking ships with long range lances.  Lances can give you a potent alpha strike that will make your IN player wish he had lances instead of NCs.  A Hades and 2 murders can go on lock-on within 60 cm and pump out 8 lance shots with re-roll.  This can quickly whittle a NC cruiser down.  He'll want to start closing on you instead, which will conflict with his NC strategy.

Try messing with him psychologically by taking a Repulsive with a 3rd shield.  It will become a fire magnet and can take a lot of abuse before being crippled.  This buys your other hulls more time to get into the fight.  If he discovers quickly that it's much to hard to stop the Repulsive, then his only choice is to ignore it to pick off easier targets.  Ignoring it means he'll have to deal with it when it closes within range and that won't be pretty either!

Try doing an All ahead full with your fleet at turn 1.  This can work as it may only give the IN player a single turn to fire NCs and he'll have to deal with your hulls at close range by turn 2.  Chaos are quite good at long distances, better then most fleets, but ironically they are deadly within 30cm.  Basically, just don't puts around giving him turns to fire; Get in their.  Once you are close he will find a massive shortage of Torpedoes since he elected to take NCs.  Without torps just about any Chaos cruiser will out match an IN cruiser at 30cm.

Let us know how your next game goes!

Russ

[lastspartacus]

Love it, thanks alot.

I am a big fan of Slaughters, I can't believe how cheap the things are.

I'll let you know how the next game goes

[tanith]

hello!I have a question:
Need I to shoot to the closest valid target with the nova cannon like others weapons?so have I to pass a LD test to shoot someonelse or "everywhere"in the 2007faq means that i can freely choose distant targets?

[lastspartacus]

I also have a question.  Is it possible for a nova to 'overwatch' a target area, and not directly target a ship.

[horizon]

Tanith, nova cannons can shoot at any target between 30-150cm no need to test for further away targets.


LS, yes, possible. Though if you HIT it is kinda wasted.

[lastspartacus]

Not wasted exactly, my thought was on closely clustered escorts and stripping off their shields.  Good to know its possible.

[Admiral_d_Artagnan]

I beg to differ on the Ld test:

"A leadership test has to be made if the closest target greater than 30 cm is not at least partially under the template." Page 22 of the PDF.

And second, what do you mean by target area? The rules say, the template "does not have to be centered on a single enemy vessel and can be placed so that it touches more than one ship." Meaning yes, you don't have to directly target one ship but it doesn't mean you can just place a template anywhere. There still must be a valid target for you to place it on.

So with your idea about knocking down the escort shields, yes it will work. Putting the NC template anywhere on the table bet 30-150 cm without a target does not.

[horizon]

woops...

[tanith]

noooooo!!!!        (I'm not lucky in LD tests....)