Your torpedo reloading rules are a little weird. In the begining of the turn he would reload any ships that are unloaded, move them and then fire torpedos. If he fails to reload he doesn't have any torpedos. He doesn't get any until he does reload them. If he reloads and then doesn't fire them they remain loaded. He begins the game loaded as well.
We modified the rule so that they automatically reload at the end of the following turn, which I believe is in line with Rogue Trader rules (though I may be wrong). Reasons for this include the fail special order and get no more rule, the fact that reloading your weapon shouldn't be that hard, and the fact that during one game we only managed one reload between us.
Another trick is if he on AAF his torpedoes are still at full strenght, as only BFI and crippling half torpedo strenght. Torpedoes also bypass shields. I am trying to think of a reason his torpedos aren't ripping you a new one as you really can't stop them with anything.
Not being able to land a hit with said torpedoes might be the main reason. The other reason being that he only gets to fire them once under the standard rule because of failing leadership every time. One time he managed to drop a strength 12 torpedo salvo on me... and hit a blast marker. Rolled it and the whole lot went up. However, it may have been that at the time we were rolling per blast marker because it wasn't clear in the rules (but I may be getting confused with a whole bunch of other things that aren't in the rules).
Anyway he should stay close togther, say no more than 10 cm from each other, with his main gunline and send any escorts to engage yours. He can withstand the peppering from the murders as their firepower at range isn't that scary and his armor 6 is fairly tough. If the slaughters AAF their weapons are at half strength and they will be separated from the rest of the fleet. Basicly he will have a local advantage against them. Concentration of fire is very important in BFG. He should try to get his whole gunline in range of one of the slaughters and open up with everything on it until its crippled rather than engaging ships here and there. Same with torpedoes. Save them until you can move into range and then unload them all on one ship. Keep together, face the same direction and stay that way until you get into knife fight range. The IN needs to all work together as a team to get things done.
Sounds pretty good, but remember the murders are a squadron and their broadside is then 20, so even at range you're putting out 10 against a capital ship that's closing.
As for getting into knife-fight range... He did even worse, seeing as the two ship types I field have a much higher broadside! Admittedly I have the advantage of getting between his ships, allowing me to split his fire between two ships and allow me to use both broadsides.
Murders have to point their prow at you to get the best effect, that means I'll be shooting at them in the closing facing and boosts my WB against the soft 5+ armor.
They do? If they're pointing their prow at you, you're well out of range for any weapon that accounts for which way they're facing. We're yet to find anything that can range Murders until you get to battleships. At 45 you get into range with the Tyrant, but you come up against a combined broadside of 20. That's 10 shots against you if you're closing and at long range. Somewhat less if you're abeam - and if you want to bring your guns to bear you will have to be... if you haven't paid for your upgrade then you can trade shots until your ship falls apart.
Of course, having a more solid indication of the fleet he took would help too. based on what you mentioned up there, 2x lunar, tyrant, gothic, dauntless, and 4 cobras, he's got a very eclectic fleet.
If he's using a lance dauntless, it might work better to take 3 swords instead of the cobras and use that to hunt the infidels and eventually the murders. That should also give you points to swap out the tyrant for a dominator to have a NC to answer for long range.
If it's a torpedo dauntless, keep the cobras and dauntless together to hunt the infidels. all it should take is one good torpedo salvo and you'll have toasted infidels.
There's a lot of variables, but it might be that his fleet needs a few tweaks to really work well.
I do have his fleet registry to hand, but it's not all that useful as he changed his fleet for each of the three games. I kept mine for the last two games and even then it had been the addition of one more slaughter as a replacement for the iconoclasts.
I know you guys know a bit more about the game that I do, and I apologise if I sound like I'm just arguing for the sake of it. However, the three games we've played have been so painfully one-sided that the average person might call it quits.
My main issue is the points disparity. The Murder gets range 60 lance str 2 and range 45 str 10 broadsides, and full 25cm movement for only 170 points. You want something to match the range? You get your armoured prow, lose 5cm speed, and pay 195 points. You don't get the 60cm lance either.
The slaughter? Lance and WB broadside, 30cm movement, +5d6 on AAF, and dorsal WB (actually front, but dorsal firing arc), 165 points. That's a maximum broadside of 14 per ship. Plus 2 lance. At 165 points? What can the Imperium field for that price? And this is operating as a squadron of three now. That's a combined firepower of 42 to their main side, 24 to their off-side, and 6 lances both ways. The point disparity just keeps on giving...
But my rantings aside - what would you field against this fleet:Squadron 1:
2 x Murder (2*170=340)
Speed 25, Turn 45
Chaos Warmaster (50)
Port WB, Str 10, Rng 45 (Port)
Stbd WB, Str 10, Rng 45 (Stbd)
Fore Lance, Str 2, Rng 60 (Fwd)
Squadron 2:
3 x Slaughter (3*165=495)
Speed 30, Turn 45, +5d6AAF
Port WB, Str 8, Rng 30 (Port)
Stbd WB, Str 8, Rng 30 (Stbd)
Fore WB, Str 6, Rng 30 (Port, Fwd, Stbd)
Port Lance, Str 2, Rng 30 (Port)
Stbd Lance, Str 2, Rng 30 (Stbd)
Squadron 4:
3 x Infidel (3*40=120)
Speed 30, Turn 90
Fore Torps, Str 2, Speed 30 (Fwd)
Dorsal WB, Str 2, Range 30 (Port, Fwd, Stbd)
Total points: 1005
