Hi all! We finally got another all-Nova Cannon fleet play-test battle done! Here's the results of play test #2, complete with battle report. For the record, the table this was played on is 140cmx140cm. It’s an odd size, but that’s what I have. The scenario was Cruiser Clash, set-up exactly as described in the rulebook. Celestial Phenomena was for Primary Biosphere as follows:
<- Chaos Edge
1 2 3
Sun edge
4 5 6
Imperial Edge ->
2: small planet
3: asteroid field
5: three gas clouds
6: moon
Imperial Fleet:
Imperious (Mars), Ld8, Fleet Admiral w/re-roll
Minotaur (Lunar/NC) Ld8, Squad 1
Cardinal Demos (Dominator) Ld9, Squad 1
Cardinal Haynes (Dominator) Ld6, Squad 1
Caridad Divina (Lunar/NC) Ld7, Squad 2
Tyrant Adamantine (Dominator) Ld9, Squad 2
Rogue Argenis Vigor (Dominator) Ld8, Squad 2
Total: 1480 points
Chaos Fleet:
Soul Thief (Styx), Ld8, Chaos Lord w/re-roll
Dangerous Wind (Devastation), Ld7, Squad 1
Deathbane (Devastation), Ld9, Squad 1
Revolution (Murder), Ld7, Squad 2
Internecivus (Murder), Ld8, Squad 2
Queen’s Consort (Murder/lance variant), Ld7, Squad 3
Malignus Maximus (Hades), Ld9, Squad 3
Destructors (2x Infidel), Ld7
Total: 1485 points
Chaos wins roll to elect set up and also goes first
TURN ONE
Chaos uses small planet to turn entire fleet 90 degrees, and the three escorts move full distance to force Imperials to do leadership checks to ignore them. Squads 2 & 3 move as far forward as possible to close the distance. Squad 1 and Styx hide behind the moon and launch ordnance waves.
Imperial fleet turns in tight formation to go line-abreast. All ships pass Ld check to ignore closest targets. Squad 1 targets Malignus Maximus with three Nova Cannon, which braces. NC#1 misses but drifts into Styx attack craft wave, taking out two markers. NC#2 gets dead-on hit but only drops both shields, NC#3 misses completely. Squad 2 targets Revolution with three Nova Cannon, which braces. NC#1 misses but drifts into entire attack craft wave, destroying it. NC#2 misses but drifts between Malignus Maximus (scoring 1HP) and Internecivus (dropping 1 shield). NC#3 misses but drifts into Queen’s Consort, dropping 1 shield. Imperious NC targets Malignus Maximus but misses completely. Imperious launches 4 fighters, which push forward to meet remaining Chaos attack craft waves.
TURN TWO
Styx and Devastations go All Ahead Full to catch up with Chaos fleet, using moon to steer behind and abeam Chaos gun line, but they gent unexpectedly high AAF rolls and end up virtually beside the rest of the Chaos fleet and clustered too close to it. Chaos gun line staggers into echelon formation so drifting Nova Cannon shots are only effective in a single direction, but as a consequence they risk having the Imperials cross the T when the fleets meet. Gun line prow lances only reach Imperial fighters, but multiple shots only take out one marker. Infidels launch torpedoes to harass fleet even though out of effective range; Imp fighters know fleet is prow-on and maneuver to ignore them.
Mars reloads ordnance, Imperial fleet pushes forward line-abreast 10cm, all ships pass Ld checks to ignore closest target. Squad 1 fires three Nova Cannon at Queen’s Consort, which braces. NC#1 gets dead-on hit rolling 4, dropping shields with 1 un-braced hit causing Fire critical. NC#2 misses but drifts into Soul Thief rolling 5, dropping shields and causing 3HP including Bulkhead Collapse critical +2HP to cripple ship! NC#3 misses completely. Squad 2 fires three Nova Cannon at Dangerous Wind, which fails to brace. NC#1 misses but drifts into Malignus Maximus rolling 5. It was already braced (squad with Queen’s Consort), it drops shields and braces one hit to take 2HP and Thrusters critical +1HP. NC#2 misses completely. NC#3 misses completely. Imperious fires NC at Soul Thief, which misses but drifts into Revolution, dropping both shields. Imperious dorsal lances score two hits on Revolution, including Fire critical. Both Infidel torpedo salvoes reach Argenis Vigor, causing 1HP damage. Chaos ordnance waves continue to move forward. In end phase, Revolution puts out Fire, and Malignus Maximus repairs Thrusters with 1D6!
TURN THREE
Devastations fail Reload Ordnance special order. Chaos fleet continues moving forward as a group to try and close distance, with Infidels remaining in front. Escorts shoot first, missing Minotaur. Chaos strategy is to cripple it before shifting fire to another target. Imperial strategy is to stick it out and avoid losing three Nova Cannon to a BFI special order. Squad 2 shoots at Minotaur, which refuses to brace and ends up only losing one shield (along with Cardinal Haynes in base contact). Squad 3 shoots at Minotaur, dropping second shield and causing 1HP (Cardinal Haynes gets second BM as well). Soul Thief shoots at Minotaur for 1HP, it still won’t brace. Squad 3 fires long-range lances at Minotaur, and it takes only one more HP. Because bomber waves still can’t reach Imperial line but can get right in front of it, they position themselves so that the only damaged Imperial ships can’t maneuver without catching both waves. Fighters pull out of wave to chop down massed CAP, reducing total effectiveness for chance at one good bomb run. Remaining Imperial attack separate waves to bring down strength of any one wave.
Adamantine moves first to take both bomber waves, it ends up taking no damage! The rest of Imperial fleet moves forward in a shallow wedge, with intent of putting damaged ships to rear, but Minotaur ends up on leading edge because it is the only way to get it in range of desired targets. Fleet moves to put Infidels 29cm away so that even a failed leadership check allows them to ignore escorts. The tactic works- Squad 1 fails to ignore closest targets and fires three Nova Cannon on Internecivus, which braces. NC#1 drifts but drops a shield. NC#2 gets dead-on hit rolling 2, causing 1HP. NC#3 drifts so that very edge touches base to cause 1HP but hole gets dead-on hit rolling 6 on Queen’s Consort, causing 4HP along with Fire and Engine Room (+1HP) criticals. Squad 2 passes Ld check to ignore closer and fires three Nova Cannon on Soul Thief, which braces. NC#1 gets dead-on hit rolling 5. All brace rolls fail and Soul Thief dies a blazing hulk! NC#2 shifts to Deathbane, which refuses to brace and gets dead-on hit rolling 3, dropping shields and taking 1HP. NC#3 misses completely. Imperious Nova Cannon fires on Internecivus, getting dead-on hit rolling 3 to cripple ship, which braces 1 to take 2HP and cause Prow critical. Imperious lances score one more HP on Internecivus (fails brace roll again). Imperious launches 4 fighters which take up CAP. Chaos repairs all critical damage again!
TURN FOUR
AGAIN Devastations fail Reload Ordnance special order, and with Styx dead their re-roll is lost. Infidels move full distance to get behind Imperial fleet and turn abeam to target Minotaur at point-blank. Soul Thief blazing hulk only moves a short distance, then goes catastrophic with an 18cm blast radius, catching entire Chaos fleet except escorts! Queen’s Consort and Dangerous Wind both take 1HP, the rest of the fleet emerges unscathed but are awash in blast markers. Chaos fleet moves to catch half of the Imperial line with their broadsides and the other half with their prows. Entire fleet concentrates prow fire on Minotaur, which refuses to brace. Broadsides concentrate on Adamantine, which also refuses to brace. Minotaur dies a drifting hulk, and remaining fire shifts to Cardinal Demos, which takes 2HP damage. Adamantine loses shields but takes no damage.
Squad 1 attempts to Lock-On but fails special order AND re-roll! With both fleets in knife-fight range now, Imperial fleet maneuvers to get broadsides on part of fleet and Nova Cannon at minimum range on stragglers. Unfortunately, Minotaur hulk forces imperial fleet nearly on top of each other to make it happen, and fleet is in difficult maneuver position if unable to close the game in this turn. Squad 2 targets Deathbane with three Nova Cannon, which braces. NC#1 gets dead-on hit but only rolls 1 to drop a shield. NC#2 gets dead-on hit rolling 4 for 3HP (al brace rolls fail) as well as Shields Collapsed and Bridge Smashed criticals! NC#3 scores dead-on hit rolling 6! Three brace rolls fail, and the ship takes 3HP and a Fire critical. Squad 1 targets Dangerous Wind with two Nova Cannon. NC#1 only drops a shield. NC#2 drifts only 2cm, rolling 4 for 2HP (two brace rolls fail). Imperious fires on Dangerous Wind, getting dead-on hit rolling 6. Three brace rolls fail, taking 3HP to die a drifting hulk! Squad 2 fires broadsides on Revolution scoring 6 hits, with three brace rolls failing for 3HP, crippling it. Squad 1 fires broadsides on Internecivus for 4 hits, with two brace rolls failing for 2HP and an Engine critical (+1HP), dying a drifting hulk. Internecivus and Minotaur hulks block Imperious batteries, but dorsal lances score 1HP on Revolution (fails to brace). Deathbane takes 1HP damage from not repairing Fire.
At this point we stopped the game. Here was the tally at this point:
Imperial Fleet:
Imperious (Mars), Ld8, Fleet Admiral w/re-roll UNDAMAGED
Minotaur (Lunar/NC) Ld8, Squad 1 DESTROYED
Cardinal Demos (Dominator) Ld9, Squad 1 UNDAMAGED
Cardinal Haynes (Dominator) Ld6, Squad 1 2HP Damage
Caridad Divina (Lunar/NC) Ld7, Squad 2 UNDAMAGED
Tyrant Adamantine (Dominator) Ld9, Squad 2 UNDAMAGED
Rogue Argenis Vigor (Dominator) Ld8, Squad 2 1HP Damage
Total: 1480 points
Chaos Fleet:
Soul Thief (Styx), Ld8, Chaos Lord w/re-roll DESTROYED
Dangerous Wind (Devastation), Ld7, Squad 1 DESTROYED
Deathbane (Devastation), Ld9, Squad 1 7HP Damage/FIRE
Revolution (Murder), Ld7, Squad 2 6HP Damage
Internecivus (Murder), Ld8, Squad 2 DESTROYED
Queen’s Consort (Murder/lance variant), Ld7, Squad 3 6HP Damage
Malignus Maximus (Hades), Ld9, Squad 3 6HP Damage
Destructors (2x Infidel), Ld7 UNDAMAGED
Total: 1485 points
Keep in mind that the scenario played was Cruiser Clash, where the fleets can’t start any farther than 90cm apart (60cm plus any slant range induced by set-up). This does NOT take into account scenarios like Planetary Assault that entail much longer treks across the table, nor does this account for how a 140cm x 14cm table is a bit on the small side as far as gaming tables go.