[Battlefleet Gothic] 40,000 Tons Of Metal

[Kakapo42]

"Black 4, Black 6, this is Gate Control. Snap to waypoint 8-8-4-0. EM and quantum waveform disruption detected, Daosk."

"Confirmed Gate Control, we'll investigate. Tau'va."

Kor'vre'T'au Doran'Ko'Shi glanced across his tactical display to double check the waypoint before switching channels to his fellow patrol leader. "Black 6 this is Black 4, you heard that last from Gate Control right? Daosk."

"Confirmed Black 4," came the reply, "We're adjusting course now. Daosk."

"Acknowledged, Tau'va." replied Ko'Shi before switching to his own squadron's net. "624, 626, 628, this is Black 4 Actual. New orders to investigate waypoint 8-8-4-0. Set heading 090 by 030 low and assume cross formation, Daosk."

"Confirmed Black 4, altering course. Tau'va."

"Confirmed Black 4, altering course. Tau'va."

"Confirmed Black 4, altering course, Tau'va."

A glance over the tactical display and the icons on Ko'Shi's HUD verified that his three squadron mates were indeed forming up around him, their tactical icons whirling around and above the projected starscape of the Kor'vre's helmet display to adopt a broad X while the cosmos smoothly spun around him until he was facing the distant point far out in deep space where ships would typically enter the system from extradimensional flight, guided back into real space by the navigation beacons of the Bal'Cora Gate.

A wave of force washed over Ko'Shi and pressed him into the recess of his seat as his Kor'Ui pilot throttled up the engines, and the four Manta Missile Destroyers under his command smoothly accelerated towards the waypoint. If the instruments on the gate's orbital stations were correct, it meant a starship was entering the system - and since there were no friendly ships scheduled for arriving in the next rotaa, that meant trouble.

"Kor'Vre, multiple EM and quantum waveform anomalies detected."

"Black 4 this is 628, multiple EM and QW anomalies on scope, Daosk."

"Black 4 this is 626, multiple EM and QW anomalies on scope, Daosk."

"Black 4 this is 624, multiple EM and QW anomalies on scope, Daosk."

Sure enough, as Ko'Shi brought up the data from his auxiliary systems officer's sensor manager he could clearly see a large area of rapidly spiking electromagnetic activity around twelve distinct quantum waveforms that were growing in signal strength at an alarming pace. Something very large or more likely many somethings were making their way towards the material universe from warp space.

"Black 6 this is Black 4, you reading this? Daosk."

"Acknowledged Black 4, looks like a big contact. Estimate 1.5 Decs to materialisation. What are your orders? Daosk."

"Based on the readings I'd say we're looking at multiple ships. We're loaded for anti-ship, and our vector will put us right on top of them at current speed. Take up an attack position over the contact Black 6, we'll follow you in. Do not fire until positive hostile ID, Daosk."

"Confirmed Black 4, pulling up, Tau'Va."

"624, 626, 628 this is Black 4 Actual, we're going to take up ambush positions over the anomalies. Set heading 090 by 075 high and assume attack formation, but do not fire until we have positive ID these ships are hostile, Daosk."

Ko'Shi listened to the replies from his flight and then ordered his pilot to adjust course, watching as the indicators of his Mantas smoothly shifted into position in the new formation. He checked over the tactical display and watched as the distance to target wound down, first to .9 of a tor'kan'va... then .8... then .7....

The range was at exactly .4 tor'kan'va when it happened. Even at such an immense distance the Kor'vre could make out on the ship's optics the unmistakable rippling wave of flashes far out in the distance ahead and below.

"Kor'vre, multiple contacts! Eleven tracks inbound, designate J 1 though 11, standby for ident!"

"Black 4 this is 628, we have eleven contacts in track, Daosk."

"Black 4 this is 626 confirming eleven contacts in track, Daosk."

"Black 4 this is 624 tracking eleven contacts in attack formation, Daosk."

A glance at the sensors data on his tactical display showed six smaller contacts of roughly gunship displacement traveling in formation ahead of no fewer than five capital ship sized returns.

"Black 4 this is Black 6, eleven tracks confirmed. Signal indicates Gue'la heavy starship strike force, IFF negative. Daosk."

"Kor'vre, reading two Or'es'Myr'Ui heavy starships, one R'Shao'Myr'Ui heavy starship, one Upt'Eldi'Myr'Ui heavy starship and one Che'lel'La starship, formation is beginning decel burn."

Ko'Shi looked over the tactical display. His auxiliary systems officer had done well in marking out the larger tracks and was now working on classifying the smaller contacts. Sure enough the whole group was brilliantly lit up on IR scan, each contact tipped with a glaring horn of heat as each ship fired its retro-thrusters at full power to slow to safe speeds before the physical stresses of reality caught up to the hull. Ko'Shi's foresight had paid off, he could see that the two patrols were perfectly placed to intercept the ships from above as they passed. With any luck they would even be able to catch the intruders before their defensive guns could come into action.

The trouble of course was that there were far too many incoming ships for Ko'Shi's Mantas to intercept them all. Between the two patrols they would only be able to strike at two targets. If they could cripple key ships before they made contact with the rest of the fleet it would be much easier to contain the incursion, and his experience told Ko'Shi that the Upt'Eldi'Myr'Ui carrier and fast moving Che'lel'La assault cruiser presented the most dangerous threats to Tau groups. It took only a second for Ko'Shi to make the call.

"Black 6 this is Black 4, move to intercept, we'll fall in behind them. Engage Track J-9, repeat engage Track J-9. We'll take the carrier, Daosk."

"Confirmed Black 4, Black 6 proceeding to intercept. Fly well, Tau'va."

"624, 626, 628 this is Black 4 Actual, move to intercept and engage Track J-11, repeat engage Track J-11, Daosk."

"Confirmed Black 4, 624 on your lead, Tau'va."

"Confirmed Black 4, 626 on your lead, Tau'va."

"Confirmed Black 4, 628 on your lead, Tau'va."

This was it. The Gue'la ships were hurtling towards Ko'Shi's position. They would be passing in moments.

"Kor'Ui, set to intercept heading and bring us down. Weapons Control standby to persecute attack."

Now was the moment of truth. The stars shifted and wheeled in Ko'Shi's helmet display as the Manta pirouetted and swung downwards with its three squadron mates to meet the incoming Gue'la ships. Ko'Shi watched on the tactical display as the cluster of bright dashes representing them crept along, pixel by pixel, inexorably closer to him, until with a sudden tremendous leap they shot across the display and clear from starboard to port. In a split thought Ko'Shi feared he may have fatally mistimed the intercept.

And then they had them.

The contacts lifted up and froze, suspended directly in front on Ko'Shi's tactical display as the Mantas fell in upon the rear aspect of the Gue'la ships.

"Black 4 to all ships, clear to engage! Weapons free, Tau'va!"

Ko'Shi's crew now sprung into activity.

"Depressurizing weapon bay!"

"Confirmed on attack heading, range 1500!"

"Master on!"

"Power on!"

"Locking weapons bay in attack position!"

A distant whirring hydraulic whine echoed from somewhere in the far back of the spacecraft as the Manta's primary weapon tray lowered into the void, cradling a rack of fusion bombs with it.

"Shields angled forward, maximum output!"

"Target channel illuminated!"

"Weapon load primed!"

The Gue'la heavy cruiser now hung still inside Ko'Shi's combat reticule, a tiny pinprick of light from its engines creeping outward from the centre as an epoch passed by in each second while the Kor'vre waited for his two gunners to lock onto it. Then, finally, Ko'Shi heard a reassuring solemn high-pitched electronic tone in his headset.

"Target locked! Firing!"

One by one, neat pairs of flickering lights sprang from beneath Ko'Shi's vision as the Manta's dozen heavy tracer missiles sprang from their underwing pods, entwining together into a single swarming wave far ahead in the distance as they rushed towards the Gue'la ship.

"Missiles away!"

Two spreads of white flashes danced across Ko'Shi's helmet display before disappearing into space as first one rack of fusion bombs and then another was ejected towards the Gue'la ship.

"One away! Two away!"

"Weapons tracking!"

"Full speed, maximum SR!"

Ko'Shi glanced back and forth between his combat reticule and helmet display as he waited for the impacts. He could feel his body being gently pressed further into his seat as the Manta picked up speed to make its escape.

"Egress high!"

The universe violently whirled around Ko'Shi as his pilot brought the Manta corkscrewing upwards and away from the Gue'la formation, twisting the ship around to keep the target cruiser in visual contact.

"Impact!"

A rippling cloud of flashes enveloped the tiny pinprick of the Gue'la vessel. Ko'Shi switched to the long-range optic feed to survey the damage, seeing up close the roiling pale iridescent fury of the fusion blasts.

And then Ko'Shi's heart fell through his lap as the hideous black serrated shape of the Gue'la vessel emerged from the maelstrom. Vast furiously glowing white-hot bruises scourged its hull, weeping sprays of molten metal into the cosmos, but the ship was very much intact.

"Mont'au! Nil effect on target, target still operational!"

Now the Kor'vre's only comfort was that his fellow patrol flight might have fared better.

"Black 6 this is Black 4, attack run ineffective, repeat attack ineffective! Report attack status, Daosk!"

"Black 4 this is Black 6, no luck on our end either, attack ineffective! Preparing to egress, Tau'va!"

Then Ko'Shi heard the shrill electronic scream of the Manta's attack warning indicator in his headset.

"Kor'vre, multiple fire-controls painting us!"

It was time to leave.

"All ships this is Black 4, Egress! Egress! Evasive heading, manoeuvre with countermeasures!"

A steady low thrumming growl sounded from the reactors deep in the bowels of the Manta as it throttled up to maximum speed. Stars frantically danced in all directions of Ko'Shi's view as the craft danced one way and another in its mad evasive race away from the Gue'la fleet.

"Upt'Eldi'Myr'Ui fire-controls painting us! Jamming in progress!"

"Shields angled! Deploying countermeasures!"

Swirling clouds of glittering silver erupted from the rear of the Manta to fan out behind it while a dozen fiercely burning lights threw themselves from the back end of the craft's roof, whirling away as the Manta twisted around once more.

"Black 4 this is 628, clean egress! Daosk!"

"Black 4 this is 624, clean egress! Daosk!"

"Black 4 this is 626, clean egress, Daosk!"

"Black 4 this is Black 6, no losses on egress, Daosk!"

That they had all made it out in one piece seemed to be the only comfort Ko'Shi would get for now.

"All ships this is Black 4 Actual, regroup on course 270 by 060 low and return to base, Tau'va."

****



"Proximity Alarm! Incoming strike craft! Bearing 180 high!"

"All hands! Attack craft warning! RED ALERT!"

"Get those augers hot, NOW! Track them!"

"No time damnation! The bastards are right on top of us!"

"Evasive action, now!"

The great iron blast shields were still opening, awakening the windows behind them in a daze, when a pattern of furious white flashes rippled along the swirling starscape above the ship and plunged the bridge into brutally harsh white brilliance, throwing into stark silhouette the semicircular rows of wretched figures hunched before towering stacks of grimy monitors and instruments and the cruel figures that lorded over them.

At once it was over, the bridge thrown back into blood-coloured gloom from the distant combat lights nestled in the cavernous vaulted ceiling of pitted alloys that shifted and settled, leering bestial faces occasionally twisting within its surface. As if in resentment of such a bold thrust of the light, the shadows coiled. The darkness breathed.

"Near miss! Outer plating is tested, hull integrity nominum!"

"Augers online!"

"Come about to course! Track them! TRACK THEM!"

An abyssal voice of obsidian authority smothered the din of the bridge as the darkness spoke, coming from a monumental figure the light refused to touch.

"The xenos are alerted to our presence. We dropped out of warp space too close to the navigation beacon."

The mortal admiral at the head of the bridge turned smartly to address the monstrous shape, a slight quiver in her pulse and pause to her voice the only signs to betray the fear in her heart at the implications of those words.

"A setback easily corrected my lord," she said, "Passive sensors are picking up no energy emissions from any other sources besides the two orbitals and the asteroid stations. If there are more ships in the area, they are not currently operational. We still hold the initiative, and their ambush failed to deplete our strength."

"You are still.. confident, you can deliver us?" the voice in the dark replied.

"Yes my lord," the admiral said, desperately fighting down another pause of fear, "We should be able to subdue these Tau and press on to the system interior without serious interruption. I shall see to it personally."

"Very well, Admiral," the darkness said, before an enormous taloned hand swept up from the shadows and motioned for the bridge to be cleared, "I shall leave this battle in your hands. I hope, for your sake, you do not make too many more mistakes..."

It's not often you find yourself with an opponent on your very doorstep, but that's exactly what happened this month when the Night Parrot studio had a visit from the Naked Metal team! Night Parrot team head Kakapo and Naked Metal web team lead MillitantGuerillaCommunistHippie (MGCH for short) are two of the most dedicated gamers around, and with the recent completion of a new space-themed tabletop over the holiday break we just could not pass up the opportunity to pit these two seasoned admirals head to head in a game of Battlefleet Gothic.

Instead of a standard mission, we decided to test our admirals' ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances with a special bespoke scenario. Kakapo would take command of the studio's Tau fleet, guarding against a surprise attack from Millitant controlling a force of Chaos ships seeking to break through the outer defences of a remote star system in the backwaters of the Tau Empire. We also decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to break out the fancy Forgeworld Tau ships that so rarely see action - these would constitute the starting defence fleet, with their bigger brothers in the Kor'vattra racing to their rescue.

So we join the action at the Bal'Cora Gate, entryway to the desolate system of M-139 - once colonised by humans in the distant past, but long since abandoned and forgotten by the Imperium and now under the control of the Tau, who have made it the secret location of the mysterious O'Leath'Elan'ro'Retha... which has just fallen in the crosshairs of the sinister Red Right Hand of Chaos!

So follows a clash of titans. Two strategic geniuses, each one as fiendishly cunning as they are handsome, locked in a white-knuckled battle with no quarter asked for or given - but there can be only one victor...



Blitzkreig!
Millitant: So, a mad dash through the outer reaches of a star system guarded by Tau under the command of the Night Parrot team's top admiral? I do love a challenge!

My key objective in this mission is to get the Red Right Hand Chaos Space Marines through the other side of the table and into the system proper. All other ships besides their battle barge transport are expendable. The other key point that's important for me is I'm allowed free range to take a complete force of heavy cruisers. Chaos cruisers are already some of the best in the game, and their heavy cruisers are scarier still, so an entire fleet of them will truly be a force to be reckoned with!

To start with I've opted for the Red Right Hand to ride in style aboard a Styx class heavy cruiser. I definitely want at least one of these powerful carriers to help guard against the swarms of Tau ordnance I can expect to face, and if I can land a sneaky wave of assault boats or two from it then so much the better! Speaking of, as it is carrying the Red Right Hand themselves I've given the ship a Chaos Space Marine crew, which will make its assault boats even more deadly if they hit. The extra launch bays and Dreadclaws aboard the ship make it an excellent battle barge for carrying a strike force of Chaos Space Marines, and my Warmaster insists on nothing less for a flagship.

Next I'll need a solid battle line, and for that I have not one but two Hades class heavy cruisers. These are excellent ships of the line bristling with weapons batteries and lances, and they'll be able to hammer the Tau in broadside exchanges. I'm backing them up with an Acheron class heavy cruiser to capitalise on the Chaos fleet's advantage in lance weaponry - this guy will hang just back from the Hades and pick apart what they soften up.

It's not all about the heavy cruisers though. I'm also including a Slaughter class cruiser alongside the big hitters. Fast and flexible, this ship will be able to close with the long-ranged Tau fleet quickly to cause some mayhem with boarding actions, or race over to support my other ships in trouble.

Chaos escort ships are often overlooked, but seriously underrated so I'm definitely going to be taking a few. I've opted for a trio each of Infidel class raiders and Idolator class raiders, which will give me some much needed torpedo support and mobile long-range striking power respectively, as well as helping to deal with those inevitable Tau Orcas that can cause havoc if left unchecked.

Finally, I have one last surprise in store for the Tau. I was just going to take a second Styx to help fend off the awesome Tau ordnance threat, but looking at the more decrepit ornate state of the model gave me a truly evil idea, and I've opted instead to upgrade the second Styx into a mighty Daemonship! The ability of Daemonships to emerge from the Warp will let me strike anywhere I desire with it, letting me place a powerful heavy cruiser right where it will be sure to do the most damage.

Now I need to think about how I'm going to make use of all these ships. Chaos fleets in Battlefleet Gothic tend to operate in one of two broad schools of thought, Rifle fleets and Shotgun fleets. Rifle fleets keep back as far as possible and seek to whittle away the other fleet with long-range gunnery from a safe distance - this might work against a different force, but trying to win a long-range standoff with the Tau seemed like a losing proposition. That leaves the shotgun approach, which seeks to race into close contact with the other fleet and shred their ships with brutal close-range firepower and boarding actions - much more like it! A more aggressive approach like that will let me capitalise on the Chaos fleet's strengths in close-range firepower and boarding actions, while also exploiting the Tau's weakness to boarding actions in turn.

This informs much of my battle plan. The main force will storm forwards into the Tau and hammer them up close as much as possible to keep them distracted while my flagship carrying the Red Right Hand slips along the edge of the battle space and with any luck will manage to make it through at least most of the game unmolested.

So that's my fleet amassed and ready. These Tau won't know what hit them!

Armada of The Red Right Hand

Fleet Commander

Admiral Morgana Beladonna - Chaos Warmaster

Capital Ships

Harvester Of Sorrows - Styx class heavy cruiser with Chaos Space Marine Crew (Flagship)

St. Anger - Acheron class heavy cruiser

Exit Light- Hades class heavy cruiser

Enter Night - Hades class heavy cruiser

Leper Messiah - Slaughter class cruiser

Master of Puppets - Styx class Daemonship

Escorts

The Unforgiven - 3 Infidel class raiders

Broken, Beat and Scarred - 3 Idolator class raiders

Armada of The Red Right Hand


Here Come the Vultures...
Kakapo: This is not going to be easy. A full battlegroup of Chaos heavy cruisers is a formidable force even under ideal circumstances, and having my entire fleet start the game either powered down on standby or in scattered deep reserves is hardly ideal circumstances.

My choice in fleet is somewhat predetermined here. Since we've agreed to make use of as much of the studio's Kor'O'vesh fleet as possible I'm essentially working around that array of ships. The good news is that one could certainly do a lot worse for an array of ships to build around. The Custodian is a very respectable carrier by any measure, and the Castellan class is easily the best escort ship in the game. Add to that excellent starting point some solid supporting light cruisers in the form of two Emissaries and a handful of nimble Warden class escort ships and it's a respectable core of a fleet.

The other piece of good news is that since this fleet is technically two distinct forces, it means two fleet commanders. I've put the Kor'O'vesh action group under the command of a relatively green Kor'El, the commander of the Custodian given acting authority until the main admiral arrives - fitting enough for the Kor'O'vesh! The battle hardened Kor'vattra ships on the other hand are under the command of the legendary Kor'O'T'au Kais himself, an experienced Kor'O accompanied by his wise Ethereal advisor who together with the fleet commanders' own native bonuses gives me a mighty 4 re-rolls for the fleet!

While it is technically a separate element the reinforcing Kor'vattra action group is still bound to the regular Tau fleet restrictions for Battle scale games. That means a mandatory fleet commander, which I've already sorted, as well as at last one mandatory Explorer class starship - hardly a liability as I was already sure to take one of these excellent fleet carriers regardless. Between this Explorer class and the Custodian I should have little trouble dominating the ordnance contest.

My next Kor'vattra capital ship is Kor'O Kais's trusty Merchant class starship, required if I am to take the legend himself. An efficient gun cruiser, it should be helpful for fending off any Chaos ships that get into the vulnerable aspects of my other ships. I've also taken as many Orca gunships as I have grav-hooks to spare - these escort ships are dangerous enough in normal circumstances, but because they will be arriving on table with their transporting ship they'll be even more valuable by ensuring I can get some reasonable combat power arriving with each reinforcement.

I was very tempted to round things out with a second Explorer to really unleash the power of Tau attack craft, but instead I called on the local defence force with a squadron of Defender class starships. These magnificent escort ships have been the star performers of many space battles I've had with the Tau, and I expect no less than a full squadron of six of them will be sure to make a valuable contribution.

Finally, as part of the scenario I have two Orbitals at my disposal. Each of these space stations is equipped with a respectable two railcannon batteries to start with. On top of that I've kitted one out with a Launch Bay and a Manufacturing and Research module - an old standby configuration of mine that gives a flexible array of supporting options for a fleet. For the second one I've opted for a Grav-hook to make use of the spare Warden ship in the studio fleet and a Habitat Module for a little extra staying power.

Normally I like to have a carefully coordinated plan with my fleets, especially with Kor'O'vesh Tau fleets which rely on concentrating overwhelming missile fire from multiple directions, but the nature of the scenario doesn't leave me with a whole lot of room for careful strategies this time - I just have to take the availability rolls as they come and make the best of what I get!

Not equipped with shields? Well then buckle up...

Kor'O'vesh Fleet V-47 System Defence

Fleet Commander

Kor'El'T'au Kar'B'Vash'aun'an Lusha - Kor'El (Ld 8)

Capital Ships

Zelbinion - Or'es El'leath Custodian class carrier (Flagship)

Charlotte Wessels - Il'Porrui Emissary class starship

Sharon Den Adel - Il'Porrui Emissary class starship

Escorts

Cristina Squadron - 3 Kir'la Warden class escorts

Lacuna Squadron - 3 Kir'Shas'Vre Castellan class heavy escorts


Kor'vattra Fleet K-42 Relief Force

Fleet Commander

Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh - Kor'O (Ld 9)

Aun'O'T'au Ret'Sav'cyr - Aun'O (Two extra re-rolls)

Capital Ships

Serenity - Il'fannor Merchant class starship (Kel'shan Configuration)

National Geographic - Gal'Leath Explorer class starship (Vash'ya Configuration)

Escorts

Delain Squadron - 6 Kir'qath Defender class starships

Sirenia Squadron - 3 Kass'l Orca gunships

Shuttle 1 and Shuttle 2 - 2 Kass'l Orca gunships


Bal'Cora Gate Control

Planetary Defences

Haven - Orbital with Manufacturing & Research Module, Launch Bay Security Module and 2 Railcannon Battery Security Modules

Gateway Sation - Orbital with Habitat Module, Grav-hook Security Module and 2 Railcannon Battery Security Modules

Escorts

Cristina 0 - Kir'la Warden class carrier escort

The Tau defence fleet


The Battle
As well as setting up a special mission scenario, the Night Parrot team broke out our brand new space table and assortment of Celestial Phenomena. The result was a fiendishly crowded table with a small planet, asteroid field and derelict minefield for a total of not one, not two, but a massive THREE celestial phenomena features for our admirals to negotiate (FOUR if you count the small planet's Charon-like moon!).
Kakapo's deployment was largely constrained by the scenario parameters. The two Tau orbitals of Bal'Cora Gate went along the middle of the table, along a line from the asteroid field, with the Kor'O'vesh ships deployed in a cluster around Haven. Millitant then arrayed his heavy cruiser flotilla with St Anger, Exit Light and Leper Messiah in line abreast formation just behind the two escort squadrons, while Harvester of Sorrows was placed off to the far right flank in preparation for creeping around the asteroids and Enter Night just to the left of the Styx.

At Bal'Cora Gate - Scenario Key Highlights
- The Tau Kor'O'vesh ships deploy first around the two Tau orbitals

- The initial Tau fleet begins the game powered down on standby, all Kor'O'vesh ships need to pass a Leadership Test to activate before they can move and shoot

- The rest of the Tau fleet arrives from reserves on a randomly designated table edge, at a point determined by a scatter die.

- The Chaos fleet deploys last along the short table edge opposite the planet and has first turn.

- The Chaos flagship must exit the table from the opposite short edge to achieve a Chaos victory. If the Chaos flagship is destroyed it is a Tau victory, any other result is a Draw.

- Because the Chaos ships looked so cool with their fearsome dorsal gun turrets, Kakapo and Millitant both agreed to dispose of the normal restrictions for Heavy Cruisers, letting Millitant use an entire battlegroup of them!

Both fleets also needed to roll for Leadership. You can see the results in the cutout overleaf.

Fleet Leadership
Chaos Fleet
Harvester Of Sorrows - Ld 9 (7+2 from the Warmaster)

St. Anger - Ld 6!

Exit Light- Ld 7

Enter Night - Ld 9!

Leper Messiah - Ld 8

Master of Puppets - Ld 7

The Unforgiven - Ld 7

Broken, Beat and Scarred - Ld 6!

Tau Fleet
Zelbinion - Ld 8 (the Kor'El's Leadership rating)

Charlotte Wessels - Ld 7

Sharon Den Adel - Ld 7

Cristina Squadron - Ld 9!

Lacuna Squadron - Ld 7

Serenity - Ld 9 (the Kor'O's Leadership rating)

National Geographic - Ld 7

Delain Squadron - Ld 8

Sirenia Squadron - Ld 9!

Shuttle 1 and Shuttle 2 - Ld 9!

Haven - Ld 9!

Gateway Sation - Ld 9!

Cristina 0 - Ld 8

With their ships in place and crews ready, it was time for the battle to be joined!

[Kakapo42]

Chaos Turn 1
Millitant: The scenario guaranteed me first turn against an off-guard fleet, and I was absolutely going to make the very most of it by getting my ships up as close as possible before they started coming under attack. The sooner I could get in close proximity to the Tau ships the sooner I could board them, and the more hull points I still had left the better my chances in those boarding actions would be.

To that end I wanted every ship in my distraction force moving up as far as possible, so I wanted to put every capital ship besides the Harvester of Sorrows on All Ahead Full orders, and with the fortune of the Dark Gods that's exactly what I got! Unfortunately it was ONLY those ships that were able to go on All Ahead Full, as when I went to test for Broken, Beat and Scarred the Idolators fumbled their command check with their measly Leadership of 6, leaving the rest of my ships unable to go on special orders at all.

Still it could have been a lot worse, and all the capital ships of the distraction force power forward as fast as they can, leaving the swift Slaughter class cruiser Leper Messiah slightly ahead of the pack. The escorts keep up as best they can, with The Unforgiven converging into close contact so they can mass their torpedoes. Meanwhile, the Harvester of Sorrows moves up ahead standard and then turns right, in preparation to creep around the asteroid field.

Even with all that extra movement AND the formidable range of Chaos gunnery, none of the Tau were yet in range, so my entire shooting phase consisted of The Unforgiven launching a 6-strong wave of Boarding Torpedoes and the Harvester of Sorrows deploying its attack craft in two waves, each comprised of two squadrons of Dreadclaws covered by a single squadron of Swiftdeaths.

The Boarding Torpedoes and attack craft all moved forward as close to the Tau as they could in the following ordnance phase, the murderous Chaos Space Marine boarding parties inside thirsting for battle.

Then I was left to face the inevitable Tau retaliation.


End of Chaos Turn 1

"Gate Control this is Black 4, multiple warships closing in attack formation, signal indicates Mont'au'Gue'la heavy starship strike force! Initial attack runs ineffective, I say again attack runs ineffective! Returning to base, Tau'va!"

- Kor'vre'T'au Doran'Ko'Shi

Tau Turn 1
Kakapo: With a wave of Chaos warships bearing down on me fast and no chance of reinforcement until the next turn I needed to get some ships online fast! My first task was to test to get the Kor'O'vesh ships active. The Zelbinion was the first to power up, her crews leaping to their battle stations at the first alert warning issued by the Bal'Cora Orbitals. The twin Emissaries were quick to follow, and Cristina 0 rapidly scrambled to intercept the incoming Mont'au'Gue'la as well, but unfortunately the rest of the escort ships remained idle.

Three capital ships and a Warden is a lot better than nothing though, and all four ships move forward. The Zelbinion moves up ahead half, storming forward over the still idle Wardens, while the Emissaries move forward ahead standard, with the Sharon Den Adel banking left to try and intercept the Harvester of Sorrows.

The Chaos ships are all still just out of range for my gunnery, but the capital ships all deploy every last bit of ordnance they can in the shooting phase. The Emissaries scramble their Barracuda wings, launching their full two squadrons each along with firing their gravitic launchers, while the Zelbinion fires its gravitic launcher and deploys two waves of 3 Manta squadrons and a Barracuda squadron. Haven also launches a single squadron of Barracudas for more fighter support.

All this ordnance races ahead as best it can in the ordnance phase, but falls short of reaching the Chaos fleet this turn.

"Gate Control this is Blue Leader! Enemy units locked in, Tau'va!"

- Kor'vre'T'au Y'eldi'Ko'vash

Tau fleet manoeuvres Turn 1


Chaos Turn 2
Millitant: What a relief! The sight of so much deadly Tau ordnance rushing up to meet me was very intimidating, but by the good will of the Chaos Gods the Tau ended up with the exact same problem of distance I had, giving me another turn's respite.

To make the most of this I want to put my ships on All Ahead Full orders again to get right up next to the Tau ships, but I also want the Harvester of Sorrows and The Unforgiven to reload their ordnance, so I can try to get at least a little of my own ordnance past the formidable waves of Tau attack craft and missiles. Things started out well enough with the Harvester of Sorrows going on Reload Ordnance special orders, but disaster struck when The Unforgiven fumbled my second command check of the turn, leaving every single other ship at my disposal completely incapable of going on special orders at all!

I would have to make do with my ships' regular movement. The Harvester of Sorrows moved up ahead standard and came about, turning left to avoid the edge of the table. Enter Night moves up ahead standard while turning right, and Exit Light mirrors the manoeuvre by turning left, with the intent of catching the Custodian in a bracket between the broadside arcs both ships. Leper Messiah and St. Anger both move ahead standard and swing right to try and bring their own broadside guns on target.

Meanwhile the Broken, Beat and Scarred creep around the left flank to begin softening up the Orbital stations. The Unforgiven, having failed to reload their torpedo tubes and with two of their ships stuck on the crooked headings needed to come together in close proximity, have little else to do but straighten out their formation and press forward ahead half.

We might be too far apart for the Tau guns, but not for mine! The shooting phase begins with Leper Messiah being too far away to hit any Tau capital ships with her short ranged guns, but surrounded by Tau attack craft close by. With a maniacal fit of insane laughter the Slaughter's crew turn their main guns on the incoming attack craft and blast away in all directions, with the barrage managing to catch 1 Barracuda squadron. The Broken Beat and Scarred then open fire on Gateway Station, raking the Orbital with their weapons batteries and landing 2 hits, overwhelming the station's shields and smashing its habitat module.

Then I unleash my pincer attack on the Zelbinion. First St. Anger opens up on the Custodian, scoring no hits with her gun battery but landing 3 lance hits. Both Hades then rake the Custodian with their own broadside guns, but despite firing on a closing battleship only manage to get a single hit each past the ship's forward deflector shield. Finally the Harvester of Sorrows fires on the only thing in range, a single squadron of Barracudas, and scatters them with a lucky hit.

In the ordnance phase I move my attack craft waves around the asteroids and straight towards the Charlotte Wessels, but they maddeningly fall just a few centimeters short! The Boarding Torpedoes do their best to try and peel away from the Tau fighters racing to intercept them.


Tau interceptors fall on the incoming Chaos assault boats!

Then the Tau ordnance hits home. The Zelbinion's missile wave careens into The Unforgiven - the Infidels manage to shoot down half the missiles with their massed turrets, but one of their own ships is struck by multiple impacts and ripped apart by the remaining salvo before the surviving missiles go zooming off into space. A missile wave from the Charlotte Wessels then races into the Leper Messiah, which manages to shoot two down with its turrets before the remaining point misses completely and carries on into The Unforgiven, which mange to shoot it down with their own massed turrets. The Sharon Den Adel's missiles reach Enter Night, but the Hades dutifully swats them all from the cosmos with its point defence turrets.


The full horror of the Master of Puppets emerges from the warp!

The Tau attack craft fare a little better, with the various nearby Barracuda squadrons swarming over the Harvester of Sorrows' Dreadclaw wave nearest the Emissaries and obliterating them before they could ever reach a target. Then a wave of Mantas with fighter cover attack the Leper Messiah, which fails to shoot any down with its turrets. Despite managing a frightening 7 dice on their attack run the Mantas can only manage to land a single hit.

Finally, the end phase sees the horrifying form of my Daemonship appear between Gateway Station and the helpless Castellans nearby!

Now I've weathered the first onslaught of Tau ordnance I'm feeling much better. They'll have to do much better than that if they want to stop me!


End of Chaos Turn 2

Tau Turn 2
Kakapo: Right, it's time to hit back. The start of the turn is a mixed bag. On the one hand only Cristina Squadron manages to power up their ships (the sight of your enormous mothership racing overhead into the fight is a good signal to pull your finger out), the Castellans still left idle as their crews scramble to get into action. On the other hand the my first reinforcements from the mighty Kor'vattra arrive to the rescue in the form of the National Geographic and Sirenia Squadron, which arrive in my rear sector a little distance from the asteroid field.

As normal for a Tau fleet, my main goal at the start of the turn is to get all of my ordnance reloaded across the fleet. Zelbinion, Charlotte Wessels and Haven all manage this well enough, but then the Sharon Den Adel fails her command check - it's just as well I don't have anything else that needed reloading yet!

The fresh ships waste no time in getting into the fight. National Geographic cruises forward ahead standard before turning right towards the planet, so that it can keep some distance from the Chaos fleet. Sirenia Squadron, on the other hand, swing left towards the Chaos ships before powering forward ahead standard. Cristina Squadron and Cristina 0 both converge to engage the Broken Beat and Scarred.

Meanwhile my Kor'O'vesh capital ships all position themselves to concentrate on the Leper Messiah, whose speed makes it most likely to catch my ships in a boarding action and is thus the most immediate threat. Zelbinion moves ahead two-thirds and swings left to bring the Slaughter into her front arc, Charlotte Wessels moves ahead half to keep the Slaughter in her front arc, and Sharon Den Adel moves ahead standard and turns right to get her forward railcannons on target as well.

The shooting phase begins with the Zelbinion opening up on the Leper Messiah, but the Custodian only manages to land a single railcannon hit and a single ion cannon hit, both of which are soaked by the Slaughter's shields. The Zelbinion then launches a fresh wave of Mantas, with an eye towards attacking the St. Anger with them, along with another salvo of gravitic missiles.

Then it's the Emissaries' turn, and between them the two ships proceed to systematically rip the Leper Messiah to shreds. First the Shadon Den Adel lands two hits with her railcannons, but in the process inflicts a massive Hull Breach which leaves the Slaughter crippled. Then the Charlotte Wessels lands another two hits with her own railcannons, finishing off the Slaughter's last remaining Hull Points and detonating its ammunition magazines to leave the cruiser a Blazing Wreck! Charlotte Wessels also launches a very superfluous salvo of missiles from her gravitic launcher along with two fresh Barracuda squadrons.


The Tau annihilate the Leper Messiah with concentrated railcannon fire

Meanwhile the Wardens get stuck in with the Broken Beat and Scarred. Cristina 0 fires first, landing a single hit that taxes the shields of the nearest Idolator. Then Cristina Squadron open up on them and score a single railcannon hit and two ion cannon hits, destroying two of the Chaos escorts. The last remaining Idolator is then finished off with railcannon fire from Gateway Station.

Sirenia Squadron is only in range of the remaining Deadclaw formation and fires on them as best they can, missing with all their railcannons but eventually managing to scatter the entire wave with a lucky sweep of an ion cannon beam.


Tau gunships vanquish the last of the Broken Beat and Scarred

Finally, Haven launches another squadron of Barracudas and National Geographic scrambles two waves of Mantas.

There is still more carnage in the ordnance phase. The first of the Zelbinion's Manta waves hit the St. Anger immediately. Her point defence turrets fire on the incoming Mantas as best they can, but completely fail to shoot down a single one. In return the Mantas conduct a devastating attack run, with 6 attacks managing to inflict a shocking 4 hits that blow apart the Archeron's dorsal lance turrets and leave the heavy cruiser crippled! The second wave of Zelbinion's Mantas tries to finish it off, but falls short of reaching it this turn.

The missiles from the Zelbinion and Charlotte Wessels move up just short of the Leper Messiah's wreckage - hitting the cruiser is no longer necessary, but they're in a good place to tear through the remaining Chaos escort ships once the wreck passes them by. The Barracuda squadrons from Charlotte Wessels move towards the Harvester of Sorrows at best speed to try and interdict any more attack craft waves that come from the Styx. Haven's Barracuda squadron moves to do much the same with the materialising Daemonship, while National Geographic's Mantas make their way around the asteroid field to hunt down the Harvester of Sorrows.

Finally two blast markers dissipate in the end phase.


End of Tau Turn 2

Chaos Turn 3
Millitant: Ouch! Having a third of my force destroyed or crippled in a single turn is a very painful experience, and more Tau ships are starting to enter the fray by the minute. But I do still have a fair few ships left, and a reinforcement of my own due imminently that will be sure to cause some chaos amongst the Tau formations. Right now though, my immediate priorities are to start making some headway towards the escape point with the Harvester of Sorrows and to try to neutralise some of the Tau capital ships, starting with that Custodian to try and stem the flood of Tau ordnance.

It is just as I am pondering this that I notice something. The battered and crippled St. Anger is currently on such a heading that, if it moves just the right amount of distance, will see the Zelbinion pass directly in front of it during my next turn. This gives me a truly evil idea - if I fail to destroy the Zelbinion with my guns this turn, then I will destroy it in my next by turning the St. Anger into an enormous guided missile! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

First of all though I need to issue some special orders. The Harvester of Sorrows goes on All Ahead Full, while Enter Night goes on Lock On in the presence of an increasingly target-rich environment. The Unforgiven go on Reload Ordnance and reload their torpedo tubes. I decide not to push my luck with any more special orders, not least because I still want my other ships to be able to turn and I don't want to compromise their firepower too much.

The St Anger creeps up ahead half, carefully moving as slow as possible so as to prepare for her coming ramming attack on the Zelbinion. The Harvester of Sorrows on the other hand rockets forward at top speed, coming up alongside Enter Night as the Hades cruises forward with all manoeuvring power diverted to weapons. The remaining ships of The Unforgiven split off to veer around the Leper Messiah's wreckage, which drifts forward 17cm before burning out into a Drifting Hulk. Exit Light wheels right ahead standard to keep the Zelbinion in her broadside arc and bring Cristina Squadron into her front arc.

The shooting phase sees a fittingly brutal revenge for the loss of the Leper Messiah. The Harvester of Sorrows fires as best it can on the Sharon Den Adel, managing to land one weapons battery hit and one lance hit, before launching three independent squadrons of Swifdeaths and three independent squadrons of Dreadclaws to deal with the Mantas bearing down on her and the Orcas blocking her escape course respectively. Enter Night then decides to leave the Sharon Den Adel for the flagship to deal with and instead unleashes its guns on the Charlotte Wessels, landing one weapons battery hit and two lance hits that leave the Emissary crippled!

Not to be outdone, Exit Light rakes the Zelbinion from behind with her own guns, scoring three hits with weapons batteries and another two hits with lances, one of which is a direct hit on the engine room that leaves the Custodian crippled! Exit Light also opens up on Cristina Squadron with her prow lances, with both of them hitting and destroying one of the Wardens.


The Zelbinion is trapped in a devastating crossfire!

St Anger has little in the way of effective firepower left between the damage to her dorsal lance array and the crippling damage to the rest of the ship, but nonetheless fires everything she can into the Zelbinion out of pure spite and inflicts a single lance hit to add insult to injury. Finally, The Unforgiven open fire on the missile waves bearing down on them and destroy one with their gun batteries, before launching their own Boarding Torpedoes.

My revenge continues in the ordnance phase. My first wave of 6 Boarding Torpedoes turns about and runs straight into Cristina 0. The little Warden's point defence turrets completely whiff, leaving all 6 Boarding Torpedoes to latch onto the ship. The Tau crew manage to fend off one of the crazed Chaos boarding parties before the remaining five slaughter them all and utterly destroy the ship in a spectacular frenzied orgy of death.

Another wave of Boarding Torpedoes hits the Zelbinion, which manages to shoot one down with its remaining turrets. The survivor fails its Hit And Run attack, the boarding party of Cultists and Traitors routed by the vessel's surviving Shipboard Security Fire Warriors. The final wave of Boarding Torpedoes fares better, reaching the Sharon Den Adel - once again one of the Boarding Torpedoes is shot down on approach, but the remaining one empties its cargo of blood-crazed Mutants and Cultists into the port quarters of the ship, where they manage to disable the Emissary's port railcannon battery.

The Harvester of Sorrows' latest wave of Dreadclaws is utterly destroyed by the massed turret fire of Sirenia Squadron as they approach the Orcas piecemeal. On the other hand, the Swiftdeaths manage to get close to the incoming Mantas as they continue around the asteroid field.

Then the Tau missiles start to reach my ships again. One wave from the Charlotte Wessels reaches one of The Unforgiven. One point of missile strength runs out of fuel before it can hit the lone Infidel, which completely fails to shoot down any of the remaining missiles with its defensive turrets and is then promptly destroyed when one of them inflicts a hit. The Zelbinion's missiles change course to attack Enter Night. Another point runs out of fuel before reaching the Hades, which guns down another point of missiles with her defence turrets, but takes one hit before the final point of missiles zoom off into deep space.

The Mantas from the Zelbinion turn about to attack Exit Light, which fends off two squadrons with her hull defence turrets in return for no hits suffered back.

In the end phase the crew of St. Anger manage to repair the ship's dorsal lance battery, or what's left of it at least. Another blast marker dissipates... and then the dreaded Daemonship Master of Puppets breaks through the veil of reality and fully manifests in the material universe!


End of Chaos Turn 3

Tau Turn 3
Kakapo: This is not looking good. My forward capital ships are in a total shambles, and that Daemonship is poised to finish them off. My top priority now is to save the Kor'O'vesh capital ships - they've done their part for the greater good by holding up the Chaos fleet this long, now they need to get out of harm's way before they're completely destroyed.

The good news is that Lacuna Squadron finally manages to get their ships online, and Delain Squadron manages to arrive near the planet in the table corner, perfectly placed to intercept the Harvester of Sorrows. I just need to rescue my battered Kor'O'vesh flotilla first.

To that end the Zelbinion and both Emissaries go on All Ahead Full special orders, while Haven and the National Geographic both Reload Ordnance. Sirenia Squadron goes on Lock On special orders, in preparation for an attack run on Enter Night.


Delain Squadron races to the aid of their friends

The movement phase starts with the Zelbinion and both Emissaries rocketing forward with all power diverted to engines, taking them clear past the Chaos formation and out of immediate danger, although the Zelbinion and Charlotte Wessels both have their shields taxed by blast markers as they fly straight into the debris field from the Lepper Messiah's destruction. National Geographic moves ahead standard and turns left to try and engage the Daemonship with her railcannons. Lacuna Squadron move ahead half and converge to mass their missile salvoes. Cristina Squadron moves ahead half to keep Exit Light in their engagement envelope, while Sirenia Squadron pushes up ahead standard with Enter Night dead ahead. Finally, Delain Squadron moves ahead half straight forward.

In the shooting phase Bal'Cora Gate Control decides that the most immediate threat is the Daemonship, and it has to be destroyed right now before it can gain speed and open fire. Both Orbitals train their railcannons on the Master of Puppets and open fire. Gateway Station fails to score any hits despite firing at short range, but Haven manages to inflict 3 hits, overwhelming the Daemonship's shields and landing a point of hull damage.

Sirenia Squadron opens fire on Enter Night, landing 3 railcannon hits and a single ion cannon hit, while Cristina Squadron rakes Exit Light across the prow with their guns - their railcannons miss completely but their ion cannons both hit. Lacuna Squadron also fire on Exit Light and score three more hits with their railcannons before firing their gravitic launchers.


Exit Light comes under heavy fire from the Tau escorts

The three Kor'O'vesh capital ships don't have much firepower to offer, with their weapon strength reduced to power the engines and many of their guns now being out of firing arc anyway. Nonetheless they fire at whatever targets of opportunity they can. The Zelbinion catches Enter Night in her port broadside arc and shoots, but completely misses with everything. Charlotte Wessels is much more successful, catching the last remaining Infidel of The Unforgiven as it crosses over to her starboard broadside arc and destroying it with two hits from a well-timed railcannon volley.

The ordnance phase sees Lacuna Squadron's missiles fly straight into Exit Light, which shoots down two points of them before the rest inflict two hits and go zooming off, leaving the Hades crippled!

The Mantas peeling around the far side of the asteroid field cannot escape the Swiftdeaths, which fall upon them and shoot down three squadrons. Their comrades on the other side of the asteroid field push forward while the nearby Barracuda squadrons move to keep up with the Harvester of Sorrows and Haven's Barracuda squadron moves closer to the Master of Puppets.

Finally in the end phase the Sharon Den Adel's repair teams manage to get her port railcannon battery back online, and 4 blast markers disperse.


End of Tau Turn 3

Chaos Turn 4
Millitant: COWARDS! You cannot escape the wrath of the Chaos Gods forever! No matter, the movement of both the Tau ships and my own might have taken them out of the firing arc of my guns before I could destroy them, but functional or not those Kor'O'vesh capital ships are now out of the fight for the time being. It's now time to focus on their Kor'vattra friends pouring into the battle space. The only special orders this turn are on the Harvester of Sorrows, whose ordnance I want to reload again. The crew pathetically fail their command check, forcing me to use my single precious command re-roll which results in a pass.

The Harvester of Sorrows and Enter Night then both move up alongside Sirenia Squadron to destroy them with broadside firepower and clear the way along my escape route. The Master of Puppets moves ahead half and turns to bring Lacuna Squadron into its front arc.

Screaming horrible blood-curdling curses at the Tau for cheating him of his dark destiny, St. Anger's captain resolves to ram the Orbital Haven instead. But just as he is about to give the order the captain is struck with a wave of convulsive seizures before freezing silent as he receives a vision from the Ruinous Powers. Yes, if he cannot have the Custodian as his prize, then he will drive this vessel into the heart of the largest Tau starship instead, annihilating both ships in a tremendous spectacle of death and sacrificing the souls of their crew and his together in a monumental blood offering to the Dark Gods!

St. Anger moves along at best speed and turns left in preparation to intercept and ram the National Geographic.

Exit Light is also gripped with visions of horror and death from the presence of the nearby Daemonship and moves ahead standard directly ahead to lock into contact with the lead ship of Cristina Squadron in the first Boarding Action of the game!


The future looks bleak for the Tau as the full might of Chaos is unleashed!

The shooting phase begins with a whimper as the Harvester of Sorrows opens fire on Sirenia Squadron but completely whiffs its shooting dice and misses with everything before launching a wave of 3 Dreadclaws and 3 independent Swifdeath squadrons. Enter Night fares better, inflicting two hits on Sirenia Squadron with its lances and destroying one of the Orcas, as well as scattering a formation of Mantas with a lucky hit from the prow lances.

The Master of Puppets unleashes two waves of assault boats and a single squadron of fighters, before firing on Lacuna Squadron. Unfortunately the Daemonship can only manage a single hit that gets absorbed by the shields of the nearest Castellan.

St. Anger blazes out wildly in all directions with her guns. Her prow weapons battery scores 1 hit on Lacuna Squadron, with one Castellan then being sliced in half by a beam from the dorsal lance turrets after they manage to land a single hit. The starboard lance array fires on the Charlotte Wessels and inflicts 1 hit while the ship's shields are down from nearby blast markers, leaving the Emissary on just a single Hull Point! The port lance deck fires on Cristina Squadron but misses completely.

In the ordnance phase the Master of Puppets' fighter squadron pounces on the nearby Barracudas, clearing the way for her assault boat waves. One wave makes a bee-line for Lacuna Squadron, the nearest Castellan shooting down one squadron with hull defence turret fire. The second squadron connects and the Castellan is destroyed, its crew massacred by the Daemons pouring in from their stygian transports. The second wave attacks Gateway Station, but the Orbital's point-defence turret array proves far more formidable than expected and manages to shoot down all the assault boats on approach!

The Harvester of Sorrows' Swiftdeaths sweep the immediate vicinity of Tau attack craft, then her Dreadclaw wave races into Sirenia Squadron. This time the Dreadclaws arrive together in a simultaneous wave, and while the Orcas manage to shoot down two squadrons with their massed defence turrets, the remaining squadron makes it through and latches onto the nearest Orca. The murderous Chaos Space Marine boarding parties swiftly slaughter the ship's crew and plant demolition charges at the key points necessary to rip the ship apart with their detonations before withdrawing back to their carrier in triumph!

The end phase sees Exit Light unleash a brutal boarding action on Cristina Lead. Despite the considerable disadvantage from being crippled the Hades class rolls a 5 to the Warden's 1, which together with superior Boarding Value, a larger crew and the horrifying combat prowess of piratical Chaos crews sees the Warden's crew completely overwhelmed by the hordes of bloodthirsty Cultists, Mutants and Corsairs pouring through the boarding tubes. The Warden's crew are butchered to a Tau and the ship is completely destroyed in the fighting.

Finally the Daemonship takes advantage of the blast markers surrounding the last remaining ship of Lacuna Squadron and performs a Teleport Attack on the Castellan while its shields are down. Daemons pour through the gaping wound-like portals that open up throughout the ship and slaughter the crew, destroying the Castellan in the process and wiping out Lacuna Squadron completely.


End of Chaos Turn 4

Tau Turn 4
Kakapo: Having my Kor'O'vesh capital ships gutted was one thing, but having their corresponding escort force all but wiped out is even worse! That Daemonship is an absolute terror, but I can't worry about it for the time being - right now I have to focus on the Harvester of Sorrows so I can try and stop it while I still have at least a few ships left!

All the Kor'O'vesh ships are now either activated or dead, so there isn't anything more I need to roll for to power up. The good news is the last of my Kor'vattra reinforcements arrive this turn. The bad news is they arrive at what is just about the worst possible place they could - on the opposite side of the board to the asteroid field, far away from the planet table edge just outside of the Chaos fleet's deployment zone, light-years away from where the action is. Nonetheless Serenity and her accompanying Orcas immediately go on All Ahead Full special orders to try and close the distance as quickly as possible.

The Zelbinion makes a command check to Reload Ordnance and.... rolls an 11.

Perfect. Wonderful. It's just as well I don't have anything else that actually needs reloading this turn, or I would be very irritated. As it is I decide it's not really worth using up a command re-roll on, as I still have the rest of my ordnance platforms loaded except the Emissaries, which are largely out of position anyway.


The Tau flagship Serenity races towards the battle... but will it arrive too late?

My movement phase begins with Serenity and Shuttles 1 and 2 tearing across the board at full speed towards the asteroid field to catch up to the Harvester of Sorrows. Zelbinion and Charlotte Wessels both creep along at a snail's pace as they try to clear the Leper Messiah's debris field. Sharon Den Adel moves ahead half and banks left to try and get back into the fight once the ship is back in order, her crew desperately trying to restore order to the pandemonium that has plagued the ship for the last few decs.

Meanwhile National Geographic moves ahead standard and turns left to keep the Master of Puppets in her sights, while the lone surviving Cristina 1 pushes through the surrounding clouds of debris and banks left to chase down the St. Anger. Delain Squadron keeps a steady course and moves forward ahead half, preparing to unleash a massive missile barrage on the Harvester of Sorrows.

Finally, the lone surviving Orca of Sirenia Squadron finds itself in a predicament. They are currently the only ship in a position to engage and pursue the Harvester of Sorrows, but their single gunship does not have nearly enough firepower to stop the heavy cruiser alone. They are also still in close range of both the Harvester of Sorrows and Enter Night, and have no chance of surviving a shooting match between two heavy cruisers.

However, the wrecked hulk of the Leper Messiah has drifted very close to the two ships. At such short range and on a closing heading it would be an easy target. If Sirenia Lead could trigger a plasma core overload on the Leper Messiah's hulk, or even better still detonate the wreck's warp drive, the resulting explosion could decimate both Mont'au'Gue'la ships in a single stroke. The only catch is Sirenia Lead is close by the wreck too, and will have no way of escaping the blast zone in time.

After discussing it amongst themselves the Orca's crew reach a decision. It will likely mean sacrificing themselves, but it will be a sacrifice for the greater good! The Orca moves up past the nearby debris field and banks right towards the Leper Messiah's wreck.

The shooting phase starts with Haven bringing its railcannons around and opening fire on the Harvester of Sorrows in the brief window before the ship disappears behind the asteroids, and lands two hits on the Styx. National Geographic fires her railcannons at the Master of Puppets, but misses completely. National Geographic also launches another two waves of Mantas and Haven launches a squadron of Barracudas.

Cristina 1 shoots Exit Light with her ion cannon, which hits, and St. Anger with her railcannons, landing another hit. Then Sirenia Lead commences their daring gambit. Despite firing at a closing capital ship from short range, the Orca only manages a single hit on the wrecked Leper Messiah with any weapon, but a single hit is all it takes... or at least it would be if the resulting catastrophic damage roll did not completely fail to ignite anything!

Finally, Delain Squadron launch their two waves of 6 gravitic missiles.

Said missiles race straight forward at maximum speed in the ordnance phase, while National Geographic's Mantas split up - one wave heads towards the asteroids to intercept the Harvester of Sorrows, while the other wave moves to try and attack the Master of Puppets. Haven's Barracuda squadron moves up to the Master of Puppets as well to try and cover their Manta comrades.


End of Tau Turn 4


Chaos Turn 5
Millitant: Right now I'm finally feeling very confident. The Daemonship is rampaging through the Tau more or less unchecked, the Kor'O'vesh ships are all largely out of the fight, the fresh Merchant and escorts are going to be far too late to catch the Harvester of Sorrows, and the one remaining Tau capital ship that is actually a threat is on course to be rammed to oblivion by my Acheron-shaped guided missile. The only real danger now is those infernal Defenders that are sitting smack bang in the middle of my escape route, just waiting for the Harvester of Sorrows to clear the asteroids and fly face-first into a hail of railcannon shells and guided missiles. Between the heavy cruiser's guns and Dreadclaws I should be able to clear a hole through them easy enough, but not if the flagship gets hammered with missiles first.

What I really need right now is... a missile sponge. And the Enter Night should do nicely.

The Harvester of Sorrows goes on Reload Ordnance special orders - I want an assault boat strike on Haven before Harvester of Sorrows flies out of range, so that the Master of Puppets will have an easier time mopping up the Tau there. Enter Night meanwhile goes on All Ahead Full.

While Enter Night races forward at full speed, the Harvester of Sorrows hangs back and only moves ahead half, both to stay in range of Haven and to let the Hades take point and take the incoming missile waves head on. The wreckage of the Leper Messiah drifts straight into a cloud of debris, but after some very tense dice rolling still fails to ignite, let alone explode. Exit Light and St. Anger both move up ahead half, while the Master of Puppets pushes through the nearby debris fields and turns left.


The Tau Orbitals are overrun by the hordes of Chaos

The shooting phase sees Exit Light shoot Gateway Station with her port gun batteries and inflict one hit, and then open fire on the National Geographic with her prow lances and roll.... two 1s. Great. Well done.

St. Anger fares little better, completely missing Haven and only landing a single lance hit on Cristina 1. Master of Puppets also fires her lances at Cristina 1 and misses completely, but does score 3 hits on Haven with her prow weapons battery before launching a wave of 4 assault boat squadrons and 2 fighter squadrons.

Enter Night opens up on Delain Squadron with her prow lances, both of which hit and destroy one of the Defenders. The Hades also catches the National Geographic just inside range of her port weapons batteries. At such extreme range on a target moving away even the mighty Firepower 10 battery can only generate 3 shooting dice... which all hit! The Harvester of Sorrows unfortunately can't target anything, being out of range of Delain Squadron and unable to get a bead on anything else through the asteroid field.

The ordnance phase starts off promisingly enough with the Master of Puppets' attack craft wave reaching Gateway Station. The Orbital's defence turrets shoot down both fighter squadrons and a single assault boat squadron on approach, but the remaining three assault boat squadrons all hit home. The station's Fire Warrior garrison manages to fend off the first wave of Daemons (1 failed Hit-and-Run attack) but the following Daemons rampage through the station's power core and inflict 2 Reactors Damaged criticals! Unfortunately this success can't be repeated with Haven as the Harvester of Sorrows' attack craft wave falls just short of reaching it this turn.


Enter Night is destroyed by Tau missiles as it tries to shield the Chaos flagship from harm!

Then disaster strikes when the incoming Tau missile waves obliterate Enter Night. The Hades manages to shoot down two points of missile strength with her hull defence guns, but the remaining four land 2 hits on the ship, leaving her crippled and destroying the port weapons battery in the process. Even worse, the final 2 points of missiles pass straight into the Harvester of Sorrows, make it past the turret fire and land a single hit on the flagship! The final missiles then carry on into the Lepper Messiah's wrecked hulk.

Then the second wave of missiles also runs straight into Enter Night, whose defence turrets miss them completely before they inflict another 3 hits, finishing off the ship's remaining Hull Points and leaving her a Blazing Hulk! My only saving grace is that the remaining missiles then sail past everything else, and the Manta waves fall short of reaching the Harvester of Sorrows and Master of Puppets.

Finally just to add insult to injury the plucky Earth Caste aboard Gateway Station manage to repair one of the Orbital's damaged reactors in the end phase.

"Admiral, Enter Night reporting multiple torpedoes inbound!"

"Dreadclaw wing is reporting they are now 1000 from target station!"

"Multiple warships on intercept course, frigate displacement! Bearing 0-0-0"

The bridge was alive now with the choreographed pandemonium of battle, officers running back and forth between monitoring stations and instrument panels and the ratings feverishly working at them. The bridge combat lights bathed the chamber in a hellish ruddy glow from their perches high in the vaulted ceiling, but at the centre of the bridge was a mass of shadow no light dared reach, punctuated only by a pair of ghostly ice-blue eyes that burned with balefire as they stared out through the forward viewing portal into the void beyond, fixed on some distant point in the abyss.

"Hold your course admiral!" the darkness hissed, "These Tau would not guard the system so fiercely if the rumours were untrue!"

"I should hope so," said a hulking figure in baroque armour littered with gruesome mementos and adorned with fearsome lightning, "This little venture has already cost us considerably."

"Replaceable losses Mercurio," the darkness hissed back, "With the ultimate weapons we find here we will be able to dominate the entire Maledicta Sector and replace these mortal thralls a thousand times over."

At once a flickering pinprick of brilliant white light flashed in the space ahead where the heavy cruiser Enter Night flew far, far in the distance.

"Admiral, Enter Night has been hit," called out the bridge communications officer, "They're reporting heavy damage... massive casualties... they're abandoning ship! Hull integrity compromised, fires are burning out of control!"

"Torpedoes inbound!" cried an ensign, "Prepare for impact!"

Ruby and silver flashes glittered in the space beyond the ship's baroque spearhead prow as the point defence turrets opened fire, throwing out a wall of laser and megabolter fire. The onslaught shifted closer and closer, until a constellation of radiant flares emerged from it and shot beneath the prow. No sooner had they vanished from sight than a slight tremor coursed through the deck and walls of the bridge.

"Impact!"

"Deck 3 hit! Lower port hydroponics bays destroyed!"

"Number 2 auger array offline!"

"Plasma leak in Deck 2 fuel lines! Heavy casualties reported!"

The chaos of the bridge raged on, but the eyes in the darkness remained fixed ever forwards into infinity.

"So close," the darkness hissed, "So very close... to conquest!"

End of Chaos Turn 5

[Kakapo42]

Tau Turn 5
Kakapo: What a reversal, but I still need to do something about the Harvester of Sorrows now that it's starting to get dangerously close to the escape zone. It is at this point that I realise that the Sharon Den Adel is still combat effective with only one Hull Point lost, and could catch up to the Harvester of Sorrows if she pushes it. If I can manage that then I might be able to catch the flagship between Sharon Den Adel and Delain Squadron and destroy it in the crossfire, or at least slow it down enough for Serenity and her Orcas to catch up to it.

This plan very nearly ends in disaster before it can begin when Delain Squadron fumbles my first command check of the turn! Fortunately the inspiring presence of the Ethereal aboard my flagship lets them just scratch by with a 7 on the command re-roll, letting them reload their gravitic launchers and letting me continue putting other ships on special orders. National Geographic also goes on Reload Ordnance, and most crucially the Sharon Den Adel goes on Come To New Heading, while Serenity and Shuttles 1 & 2 go on All Ahead full once again. The party stops there however when Zelbinion fails the command check to reload ordnance again - that crippling damage must have really made a mess inside the ship!

Accelerating ahead standard the Sharon Den Adel swings around to port to get herself on the trail of the Harvester of Sorrows, while Serenity and Shuttles 1 & 2 continue their mad dash across the table at flank speed. Zelbinion and Charlotte Wessels both limp forward, finally getting clear of the debris field they had flown into, while Cristina 1 moves forward and banks left towards Exit Light and Master of Puppets. Sirenia Lead chases down the Harvester of Sorrows, and National Geographic moves forward at best speed to get clear of the blast marker left at her stern.

Finally, Delain Squadron splits into two elements. Delain 3, 4 and 5 continue to stay together and move up ahead half, while Delain Lead and Delain 1 move ahead a little faster on a split heading, seeking to deploy some anti-fighter missile waves now that I am in real danger of losing ordnance superiority.

The shooting phase sees an opportunity - Exit Light has drifted into a debris field that is taxing its shields, meaning it will only take two hits to destroy and if I can manage to make the ship explode then that infernal Daemonship is very likely to be caught in the blast!

First Gateway Station fires on Exit Light and inflicts one railcannon hit. Then Cristina 1 also fires on Exit Light, missing with her railcannons but landing a hit with her ion cannon that leaves the Hades a Drifting Hulk. Haven's command team is initially split between firing on the incoming Daemonship or targeting the hulk, but quickly decides that catching the Master of Puppets in a catastrophic explosion is their best chance of stopping the abomination and gives the order to open fire on Exit Light's wreck. The Orbital's railcannon battery opens up on the wreck and lands a single hit, which slams straight into the main plasma reactor and triggers a catastrophic meltdown resulting in a PLASMA DRIVE OVERLOAD!


Exit Light's plasma reactors go critical! The ship is vapourised in a cataclysmic explosion!

The Master of Puppets is consumed by the astronomical plasma blast, and for a moment the Tau dare to hope... until their hearts sink as the Master of Puppets' horrifying twisted silhouette emerges from the raging plasma storm unscathed, having suffered only 2 hits from the blast wave that were both absorbed by the Daemonship's shields. The National Geographic tries to finish off the Master of Puppets, but her railcannons miss completely.

Meanwhile Sirenia Lead fires on the Harvester of Sorrows and hits with her ion cannon, and Delain Squadron launch another wave of missiles.

In the ordnance phase a wave of Mantas reach the Master of Puppets, which fends off 2 squadrons with point defence turret fire. The remaining Mantas can only manage a measly 3 dice on their attack run, of which only one hits. The other Manta wave can't even manage that against the Harvester of Sorrows, losing one squadron to turret fire and also managing a paltry 3 attack dice that all miss completely.

The missiles from Delain Squadron all move up at half speed, in preparation for joining up with a follow-on wave.

Then the Harvester of Sorrows' attack craft wave reaches Haven. The Orbital's defence turrets shoot down the Swiftdeaths and one Dreadclaw squadron before the remaining 3 squadrons of Dreadclaws lock onto the station's hull. Merciless Chaos Space Marine boarding parties pour through the breach and disable all of the station's offensive weapons, their demolition charges crippling both railcannon modules and the launch bay module.

The damage is so extensive that the Orbital's repair teams are completely unable to repair any of the weapon systems in the end phase. Their comrades on Gateway Station fare no better, being unable to repair the remaining damaged reactor.

"Double the number of repair teams on the ship intercom lines, use messenger drones if you have to but get me control of my Mont'au starship! Activate the reserve Kor'vessa and divert them to the flight decks and gravitic launcher. Standby to divert all power to gravitic drive on my mark and concentrate all grav-points for hard Juntas turn. All hands prep for come to new heading. Signal the Il'fannor'Kais - Il'Porrui'Ya'cova is in pursuit. Repeat, Il'Porrui'Ya'cova - in pursuit."

- Kor'El'T'au Sa'lar'Ya'cova

End of Tau Turn 5


Chaos Turn 6
Millitant: I don't have many ships left now. On the other hand Kakapo isn't that much better off with most of the Tau fleet crippled or out of position, the Master of Puppets cannot be stopped, and all that matters is that I get my flagship off the table edge. To do that I'll need to clear out a few more of those Defenders.

The Harvester of Sorrows reloads her ordnance to do just that. The enormous plasma explosion might not have damaged the Master of Puppets, but the massive energy spikes must have disrupted the Daemons because she fails her command check to reload ordnance... but not before St. Anger goes on All Ahead Full!

St. Anger throttles up to maximum speed. The ship passes the additional Leadership test for ramming stations. A thousand whispers of death and dark glory fill the ears of the captain, whose mind is filled with visions of blood and horror. The intercept heading is exactly in line with the National Geographic, their aim is perfect...















.... but despite managing an impressive 41cm of movement the St. Anger falls just a few centimetres short of reaching the National Geographic!

The crew are left trapped, immobile, as they watch helpless while the Explorer starship sails merrily past. Meanwhile the Harvester of Sorrows moves up ahead standard, as fast as she can go while reloading the flight decks, and the Master of Puppets clears the blast zone and turns towards Haven. The wreck of Enter Night drifts along and burns out.

In the shooting phase the Daemonship opens fire on the National Geographic and scores 2 hits with her weapons battery and another 2 lance hits. Screaming a litany of soul-chilling vile curses to the stars for robbing him of his dark destiny once again, the St. Anger's captain vows that if he cannot obliterate the Natiaonal Geographic in a single magnificent spectacle of death then he will tear it apart piece by piece with his ship's guns until they can attempt a second ram, and the Acheron opens fire on the Explorer. The captain's impotent rage and hatred are only further inflamed when the ship misses with every single weapon.

The Harvester of Sorrows fires on Delain Squadron and destroys another Defender with two weapons battery hits and a lance hit, before launching two waves of 3 Dreadclaw squadrons.

The Dreadclaws rush forward at full speed in the ordnance phase but fall short of reaching Delain Squadron this turn. On the other hand, Delain Squadron's big strength 6 missile wave is on a misjudged heading and veers off the table before reaching the Harvester of Sorrows. The two small waves immediately wheel around and both reach the Harvester of Sorrows instead, which shoots down all but one point with turret fire. Despite being only small anti-fighter munitions the cluster missiles' submunitions mange to find enough holes in the battle-damaged hull to inflict a hit.

Finally in the end phase repair teams on Gateway Station finish repairing the last of the reactor damage and Haven's repair teams manage to bring the Orbital's railcannons back online.



Tau Turn 6
Kakapo: Things are getting very desperate now. Although I've managed to neutralise most of the Chaos fleet, the Harvester of Sorrows is almost home free, never mind that Daemonship that simply cannot be killed. There is nothing else for it.

The Harvester of Sorrows must be stopped - no matter the cost.

Serenity and Shuttle 1 & 2 both stay on All Ahead Full, while Sharon Den Adel reloads her ordnance in preparation for the coming chase. Delain Squadron also reloads their ordnance. National Geographic, having already reloaded her launch bays the previous turn, takes the opportunity to go on Lock On orders to better defend against the Chaos warships bearing down hard on her. The special orders end there however as Zelbinion still cannot manage to pass a command check.

Serenity and Shuttles 1 & 2 race forward at best speed, and Sharon Den Adel moves ahead standard in full pursuit of the Harvester of Sorrows. Delain Squadron moves ahead standard to get clear of the incoming Deadclaws, parting around the wreckage of Enter Night. Sirenia Lead also continues to chase the Harvester of Sorrows.


Sharon Den Adel launches onto the tail of the Harvester of Sorrows!

Meanwhile National Geographic moves ahead at best speed, and Cristina 1 continues to chase the Master of Puppets. Finally Zelbinion and Charlotte Wessels both move at best speed and turn left with an eye towards staying in the fight.

The shooting phase begins with both Orbitals firing their railcannons on the Master of Puppets. Gateway Station misses completely, but Haven manages to at least land a single hit. Cristina 1 also fires on the Master of Puppets but misses with all weapons.

National Geographic returns fire on the St. Anger doggedly pursuing her, and scores 2 hits with her railcannons. Then the Explorer launches a single massed wave of 4 Barracuda squadrons and 4 Manta squadrons, whose mission is a last-ditch effort to intercept and destroy the Harvester of Sorrows before it can escape further into the system.


The Tau desperately try to stem the Chaos onslaught


Sirenia Lead fails to hit the Harvester of Sorrows with anything. Then Delain Squadron rakes the Harvester of Sorrows across the prow with their railcannons, scoring three hits. Two are stopped by shields, but the remaining railcannon shell slams straight into the Styx's bridge and inflicts a Bridge Smashed critical hit! Delain Squadron also launch another wave of missiles.

The attack craft make best speed towards the Harvester of Sorrows in the ordnance phase - there is a brief moment of terror when they are forced to fly through a blast marker, but the strike force manages to navigate the hazard without incident.

Only one strength 2 missile wave reaches the Harvester of Sorrows, which guns down half the missiles with turret fire before the rest all miss and continue sailing past. This is because the main wave of missiles fired by Delain Squadron instead manoeuvres on an intercept course with the Master of Puppets to try and put a dent in the damn thing.

Then the Dreadclaws wheel around and double back, managing to catch Delain Squadron. Although their massed hull-defence turrets fend off four squadrons in total, the final Dreadclaws press home and two more Defenders are destroyed by the furious Chaos Space Marine boarding parties.

Finally Haven's repair teams fail to repair the Orbital's damaged launch bay this turn.


End of Tau Turn 6


Chaos Turn 7
Millitant: So close now... I can almost feel the freedom of the inner system! The Master of Puppets reloads ordnance to press the attack on the Tau. The Harvester of Sorrows however is left in a state of total chaos with the destruction of her bridge and the death of her bridge crew, and predictably completely fumbles her command check to reload.

Nonetheless the Harvester of Sorrows presses on at best speed, infuriatingly slowed down by blast markers at the worst possible time with multiple Tau forces closing! The Master of Puppets circles around Haven, seeking to crush the Orbital's defiance once and for all, while St. Anger circles around National Geographic, still hell-bent on the Explorer's destruction.

In the shooting phase the Master of Puppets opens fire on Haven, landing 3 hits on the Orbital and reducing it to a Blazing Hulk, then launches a massed wave of assault boats. St. Anger continues to fire on National Geographic, landing 2 weapons battery hits and a single lance hit that leaves the Explorer crippled. Finally, Harvester of Sorrows fires everything at Delain Squadron but can only manage a single measly hit.


Things look hopeless as the National Geographic is besieged by a relentless horde of darkness...


The Tau get a taste of their own medicine in the ordnance phase when the Master of Puppets' assault boats reach the National Geographic. Things look pretty bleak for the Explorer with its point-defence turrets reduced by crippling damage, but she might still be able to at least soften the blow by shooting down a few squadrons first. The hull defence turrets open fire and....



.... roll 3 1s!



The Tau are left at the mercy of the Chaos Daemons, and they show no mercy as their hellish Assault Boats swarm over the helpless Explorer's hull and rip the outer plating open. The Daemons swarm through the interior, slaughtering the Tau without respite and rampaging unchecked through the ship in an unholy orgy of destruction. 2 Prow Armaments Destroyed on the railcannon battery, 2 Starboard Launch Bays destroyed, the port side launch bays disabled AND the ship's engine room is smashed beyond all recognition. The Tau's own massive strike force of attack craft falls just short of reaching the Harvester of Sorrows in return.

So catastrophic is the damage onboard the National Geographic that the ship's repair teams are completely unable to repair anything in the end phase.

If I can just have one more turn of luck like that then victory is as good as mine!


End of Chaos Turn 7


Tau Turn 7
Kakapo: Endgame. It's now or never. Serenity, Shuttles 1 & 2 and Sharon Den Adel all go on All Ahead Full to chase down the Harvester of Sorrows. National Geographic also goes on All Ahead Full - there is no sense in staying around in the firing line of two Chaos warships. Delain Squadron reloads their gravitic launchers. The Zelbinion's crew give up on getting their ship's ordnance reloaded for the time being and focus instead on turning around to help out in the battle. They prove much more successful with this and duly go on Come To New Heading orders, along with the Charlotte Wessels. Instead it's Sirenia Lead's turn to fumble her command check as she fails to Lock On to the Harvester of Sorrows.

The National Geographic starts the movement phase racing away from danger as fast as possible, ultimately passing close by Gateway Station. Shuttles 1 & 2 reach the asteroid field, with Serenity trailing behind them. Zelbinion and Charlotte Wessels both spin around towards the asteroid field. Sharon Den Adel chases down the Harvester of Sorrows, as does Sirenia Lead.

Delain Squadron will overshoot the Harvester of Sorrows even if they only move ahead half, so the Defenders alter course to attack the Master of Puppets instead, with Cristina 1 still snapping at its heels.

The shooting phase comprises of Cristina 1 and Delain Squadron shooting the Master of Puppets while Sharon Den Adel and Sirenia Lead fire on the Harvester of Sorrows. All of them...





.... miss completely. Not a single gun hits even once in the entire shooting phase.



To make things even worse, the missiles Delain Squadron launch also fail to do anything at all in the ordnance phase, with 3 of them being shot down by the Master of Puppets and the remaining point of missiles zooming by without inflicting any hits at all.

That just leaves the attack craft. The strike force easily reaches the Harvester of Sorrows. The Styx's hull defence turrets blast away frantically with the desperation of the damned, but only manage to shoot down 1 Barracuda Squadron. The remaining attack craft descend on the heavy cruiser with a vengeance, the Mantas generating no fewer than 15 dice for their attack run. Only 3 of those hit, but they inflict 2 critical hits! One fusion bomb lands smack bang in the middle of the ship's thruster array, smashing apart the manoeuvring system. Another fusion bomb hits bang smack on top of an ammunition magazine, setting a raging Fire!

National Geographic's repair teams are still unable to make any progress on repairing the critical damage all over the ship....




The Chaos flagship is destroyed!



..... but neither do the repair crews on the Harvester of Sorrows! They fail to repair either critical damage, before the Fire burns away the ship's last remaining hit point! The fire rages out of all control and consumes the ship in a massive inferno, leaving it a Blazing Hulk!

"ALARM! ALARM! twelve decks hit! Fires in the starboard defence magazines and Number 12 fusion coil! Deck 103 meson accelerator is going critical! ... The armoury! They hit the armoury! ... Get Brother Savataar the medicae bay, quickly!"

- comm intercept from the Harvester of Sorrows

Chaos Turn 8
Millitant: The destruction of the Harvester of Sorrows sends shockwaves throughout what remains of the fleet. Aboard the St. Anger the ship's insane captain still orders all hands to continue the attack on the National Geographic, demanding the entire crew continue fighting until the last man is dead and the last drop of blood is given to the Dark Gods. He continues to shout a constant stream of orders and screams in ecstasy about how the Tau are broken and triumph is at hand... before one of his officers rams a shard of metal through his throat. The command crew brutally murder him and then disengage the ship, retreating before they can be annihilated by the vengeful Tau.

Likewise the Master of Puppets, free of its infernal master, vanishes into the Warp without a trace, leaving the Tau holding the field in a hard won victory!



Result: Tau Victory!



End of Turn 8

Sad But True...
Millitant: What an epic! My knuckles were white the whole time, and the game really was down to the wire. In the end the difference between victory and defeat was just a single round of attack dice. Had those accursed Mantas just landed a couple less hits, or even just no critical damage, I could very well have carved out a win even with the horrendous losses I took.

I still feel like my basic plan was solid enough, but in hindsight I think I made two fundamental mistakes. First, I should have kept an escort with the Harvester of Sorrows from the start, which would have saved me a lot of trouble by soaking up Tau ordnance. I had the right idea of sending a missile sponge out ahead, but came to that idea a little too late and so said sponge was only able to stop one round of missile waves before it was destroyed. Had I set up a heavy cruiser on point earlier, I would have been in a better position to weather multiple turns of Tau ordnance with timely Brace for Impact orders.

Second, I could have been more aggressive with my distraction force. While I had originally planned to race straight into close range with my attack force, the siren song of that gunnery firepower ended up getting the better of me and while it did mange to inflict a lot of damage it also left my ships exposed to Tau firepower for a little too long. If I had just stuck to my guns and pretended I was an Ork, running straight up and focusing on boarding actions as soon as possible, I might have managed to cripple a few more Tau ships or even destroy some. It's true what they say, playing the long-rage standoff game with Tau really is a losing proposition.

Even so I still managed to give as good as I got. While my main force certainly did a number on Kakapo's Kor'O'vesh ships, much of my progress was in no small part thanks to the sheer unstoppable might of the Daemonship! The Master of Puppets may not have managed to board the Custodian like I had an eye to when I placed its deployment point, but the Daemonship was still placed to cause a lot of damage to the Tau, and a lot of damage it did! The thing carved through just about every Tau ship it came across like a chainsword through a roast dinner, and soaked up a truly astonishing amount of Tau firepower for only a couple of Hull Points lost. I was almost tempted to play on just to see how many more Tau ships that beast could chew up, but with the loss of my flagship I had lost the scenario regardless.

One other worthwhile thing to mention is just how dangerous assault boats like the Dreadclaws can be. I had originally planned to only use them opportunistically alongside plenty of Doomfire bombers, but time and again kept going back to the assault boats instead. Their extra speed over the Doomfires was great for catching the Tau that much more quickly, and not only could they destroy the numerous Tau escorts with ease but also take whole capital ships out of the fight for a long time, as seen with the attack on the Tau Explorer ship.

In the end though Kakapo did a tremendous job in marshalling his scattered forces and making the most of what ships the dice gods deigned to give him at the time. Having your units staggered in their arrival is never an easy time, but Kakapo was ultimately able to throw up just enough punches at just the right time to steal victory out from under me at the 11th hour.

This was an amazing game and a strong testament to just how thrilling Battlefleet Gothic is. The Tau may have won the day in space, but they haven't seen the last of the Red Right Hand yet. I'll get you next time Kakapo! Next time!

ENTITY of The Match



While plenty of the ships involved in the battle had thrilling stories to tell, perhaps none were quite so awesome as the unstoppable rampage of the Daemonship Master of Puppets. From the moment it emerged from the warp the ship reaped a fearsome toll on the Tau, accounting for two escort ships and one Orbital as well as destroying the weapon systems aboard the Explorer class starship National Geographic. But what really made the Daemonship so legendary was its unholy resilience - from railcannons to missiles to the burning fury of a cataclysmic plasma core detonation, this monstrosity weathered everything the Tau could throw at it and simply would not die!

Stand My Ground!
Kakapo: It's often said that naval warfare in real life is fought in a series of pulses, and this game really showed how it's much the same in Battlefleet Gothic. Time and again I was convinced this was the end as huge chunks of my active ships were crippled or destroyed, only for the pendulum to swing right back over when it came time for me to strike back. The whole game was very close-run and right up until the end could very well have gone in a very different direction.

Normally I like to have as meticulous a strategy as possible, but the randomisation of what ships were at my disposal meant that this time I was largely stuck with making it up as I went along based on what I had to work with at the time. The ratio of tonnage sunk or crippled seems compelling evidence I managed to do that well enough, but there was certainly room for improvement.

To start with I wasted some precious turns' worth of attack runs by sending out pure waves of Mantas. This is based on my experience with Ork capital ships, and also works well enough against other cruisers, but against Chaos heavy cruisers the extra third defence turret makes this approach much less effective and really requires fighter cover to get past. The final destruction of the Harvester of Sorrows shows how frightening a big wave of combined fighters and bombers can really be, and could well have ensured more of the Chaos ships were destroyed sooner before they could cause too much damage.

The other big blind spot of course was my old nemesis, forgetting all about Brace For Impact. Normally my main defensive response is to go on All Ahead Full to get out of the way of danger altogether, and that approach certainly saved a lot of my ships from outright destruction, but it is also a reactive defence and timely Brace For Impact orders could certainly have saved me from some damage over the battle - especially with the Emissaries which only have 4 Hull Points each. There is an art to knowing when to Brace For Impact, it's not often very obvious at the time when dealing with gunnery attacks that tend to nibble away at ships over the course of a turn without presenting a big obvious threat to Brace against, and it's an art that still eludes me.

The Kor'O'vesh is an interesting animal. The Emissary class starships often get overlooked but are not to be underestimated - when they can coordinate their firepower they can be very lethal indeed, and are fast enough to respond to threats and get to where they're needed most quickly. The Custodian is a solid carrier, and while some bad luck meant I never really got to push them to their limits here Lacuna Squadron's crippling of a heavy cruiser in a single turn shows how dangerous Castellans can be.

I would be lying if I said luck had nothing to do with the outcome, as my Defender squadron arriving in a perfect place to intercept the Chaos flagship was a big help, as was getting the Custodian up and running from the start. It's not like I had all the luck though - my Merchant being left on the other side of the table to the fighting was very rough, and that damned Daemonship wound up being attacked with enough firepower to annihilate a battleship many times over, to say nothing of its assault boats neutering my poor Explorer class starship!

Overall Millitant's plan was simple but very effective and ended up only a hair's breadth away from success. He did great in identifying the safest route to the escape zone and did an excellent job in keeping me from doing too much about it until the later stages of the battle. This was a fantastic game full of awesome cinematic moments that only Battlefleet Gothic can provide - the Acheron class St. Anger's mad quest to ram the biggest battleship it could is a particular highlight for me!

These Mont'au'Gue'la fought like devils but in the end not even they could triumph against the skill and technology of the Tau Air Caste. The day has been saved and the galaxy is a better place for it. For the greater good!

The darkness groaned, a tortured iron dirge that rumbled through the bones of the great darkened chamber as the shattered eviscerated carcass of the ship continued to break apart. The lights in the chamber had long since died, leaving the room in smothering blackness punctuated only by a few timid sparks from cabling in the rent wounds of the walls.

"It is over now I should think. The sounds have died down outside."

"Then we live to be trapped in this metal coffin."

It had been many hours since the fifteen towering armoured figures had gathered in the chamber, desperate to escape the unstoppable firestorm sweeping through the ship and lethal even to their enhanced Space Marine constitutions. What remained of the world outside their chamber was a mystery, save that enough of the ship was intact to send ghostly metallic wails of anguish through the walls.

"Alright," said Baradas, "The closest launch bay hangars should be four decks below us. Let us salvage a pair of Dreadclaws and escape this metal corpse while we still can."

"It will be a treacherous route there," replied Iscend "Without power the lifts will be out of action, and We do not believe it likely that damage will have blocked the main pathways."

"We must do something," interjected brother Haakon, "I will not wait in this forsaken tomb for our air to run out or for those godless devils to return and finish us off."

"Suppose we did reach the hangar decks and there were enough working pods left," said brother Sepentor, "Where would we go from there?"

"I say we steal the nearest Tau ship and make a run for it!" answered Baradas.

"There was a small planet close by," said brother Haakon, "We could seek shelter there, bide our time."

"Should we not at least attempt to see if our brothers on the ship still live?" asked Iscend.

"Do not fool yourself," replied Baradas, "You saw the damage readouts. The bridge was destroyed, smashed to atoms, and our leaders with it. There is no 64th Company without a leader, we are on our own now."

The discourse was silenced as the room began to shudder. At first some thought the chamber may finally be about to collapse and decompress, until the quaking became punctuated by colossal purposeful footsteps. At once the shaking stopped, and a sickening screech of metal saw the room cast into a lighter shade of darkness as the door was pulled aside. Beyond its threshold stood a monumental figure. Oily black ichor wept from jagged wounds scattered across its colossal body, and its once pallid flesh was almost entirely seared scarlet and black. Smoke billowed from holes in its monstrous armoured pauldrons, and sparks fell from the torn metal tubing that ran between and into the creature's flesh.

"Garinol, my lord," said Iscend, "You survived!"

"Barely," the Daemon Prince replied, its monumental voice rasping with pain, "If I did not know the fires of perdition before I do now. That was certainly ONE way to rid the ship of useless corruption."

"What of the rest of the command?" asked Iscend.

"The admiral is dead, but there are still those of our brothers who yet live. We will have need of them."

"What of the xenos, these Tau?" asked Baradas, "We are at their mercy, they will surely finish us once they are done with the rest of-"

A slow staggering sweep of a massive chipped talon commanded silence once more.

"The xenos mistakenly think us vanquished," Garinol said, "They will not come. They are busying themselves with recovering their downed crews and tending to their wounded instead of hunting us down and striking the final deathblow. Their compassion is their weakness. And when we slip past them in this wrecked hulk we will unleash such terror on them that they will regret such foolishness until their last bloody gasps."

As one the traitor legionnaires stood to their feet. "What would you ask of us?" said Iscend.

"Go forth across what remains of this ship, and find the others. There is much work to be done," replied Garinol, "And make ready to salvage the warp core. We will have need of it yet..."

[Jonathan E]

As the pages of Night Parrot fall open, many a mind is cast back to younger, happier, halcyon days: to that sense of rushing across the playground, a hundred and twenty pages of hot hobby burning a hole in their backpacks. "Have you read it? Have you?"

And from a lofty orthopaedic throne in Armchair Development, a once and future correspondent smiles a mercurial smile. It's always a pleasure to see the lads in action... even if they don't quite make it, that's no more than they deserve.


Wonderful bit of battle reportage, that. Classic Sawyer/Haley period writeup. Ironically, the Chaos fleet's tactics mirror my own approach with the Battlefleet Vidyagame: aggressive All Ahead Full usage to unleash shotgun blast broadsides and boarding actions (those Bloodletters do not mess around...), and if the attack should falter, what is a failing captain but Bigger Ordnance in the making? Ramming the limping St. Anger into whatever target was big and breachable is exactly the decision I would have taken and I would also, no doubt, have missed it by a mere handful of hemi-semi-demi-kloms.

As the previous admiral of the Chaos fleet, I was initially surprised at the choice of the second Styx as Daemonship - my drafts had always nominated the fast-and-disposable Slaughter class to get in amongst the squalid foe and serve the will of Slaanesh for maximum disruptive impact. I cannot, however, argue with results - the massed assault boats bursting out within the Tau line were a glory to behold.

I always have less to say about Tau tactics - the faction has never held much appeal for me, and all I can do is congratulate Kakapo on a job well done. So near... and yet so far.

[Kakapo42]

Making people feel like they're a little kid rushing across the playground is a key goal at Night Parrot Magazine. In a good fun 'reminiscent of innocence' way of course and not a 'reliving all your worst school experiences over and over again' way like the recurring nightmares do.

Ironically, the Chaos fleet's tactics mirror my own approach with the Battlefleet Vidyagame: aggressive All Ahead Full usage to unleash shotgun blast broadsides and boarding actions (those Bloodletters do not mess around...), and if the attack should falter, what is a failing captain but Bigger Ordnance in the making? Ramming the limping St. Anger into whatever target was big and breachable is exactly the decision I would have taken and I would also, no doubt, have missed it by a mere handful of hemi-semi-demi-kloms.

Glad you approve of that decision! The Chaos fleet has a big strength in that it can generally outfight what it can't outgun and outgun what it can't outfight. The aggressive shotgun blast approach is very sensible against Tau or to a lesser extent Imperial Navy, but as has been pointed out to me before is more questionable against a fleet like Tyranids or Orks who want to be at point blank range even more than you do.

Unless of course you're a proper champion of the Dark Gods, in which case being close in is always best so that you can be sure to claim as many heads in offering to the Great Powers and any retaliation does not matter for the Gods welcome your blood also.

As the previous admiral of the Chaos fleet, I was initially surprised at the choice of the second Styx as Daemonship - my drafts had always nominated the fast-and-disposable Slaughter class to get in amongst the squalid foe and serve the will of Slaanesh for maximum disruptive impact. I cannot, however, argue with results - the massed assault boats bursting out within the Tau line were a glory to behold.

The choice of Daemonship was largely driven by aesthetics - the combination of gold trim and wonky missing dorsal turret, missing bridge antenna and crooked remaining bridge aerial made it look the most like a warped haunted baroque ghost ship from ages past, visually distinct from all the other cruisers except the Acheron. Had it not been for the missing dorsal gun and the bridge aerials it would have likely been marked out as the Battle Barge transporting the Red Right Hand Chaos Space Marines instead.

Millitant was also very happy with how it performed, and is currently exploring further refinements to the concept of a Daemonship as an assault boat delivery vehicle to paralyse the other fleet while the rest of the Chaos ships get into position to finish the job - possibly with a quick rush from the speedy Slaughter class to provide some immediate support and keep the Daemonship from getting too mobbed on arrival.

That said the Slaaneshi Daemonship and Slaaneshi Slaughter are both classic Chaos staples for a good reason.

[Just Tony]

This report RIGHT HERE is making me think it's time to start looking for Brute Ram Ship stls...

[Jonathan E]

The Chaos fleet has a big strength in that it can generally outfight what it can't outgun and outgun what it can't outfight. The aggressive shotgun blast approach is very sensible against Tau or to a lesser extent Imperial Navy, but as has been pointed out to me before is more questionable against a fleet like Tyranids or Orks who want to be at point blank range even more than you do.

Unless of course you're a proper champion of the Dark Gods, in which case being close in is always best so that you can be sure to claim as many heads in offering to the Great Powers and any retaliation does not matter for the Gods welcome your blood also.

My experiences in real-time virtually-simulated strategium training against the machine spirit confirm this. I've been running a very successful Night Lords battlegroup - Carnage and Desolator class cruisers, and a squadron of Iconoclast destroyers - around the Scarus sector, keeping the Green Kroosade in check, and it's a dramatic contrast to the struggle of my World Eaters close-range fleet in the same battlespace. Turns out circling the bounders at extreme range goes a long way. I actually found myself longing for a torpedo boat in the last engagement, and that's not something I ever thought I'd say. (I find my approach is slightly too chaotic to really get the most out of "think five minutes/turns ahead" munitions like torpedoes...)

The choice of Daemonship was largely driven by aesthetics - the combination of gold trim and wonky missing dorsal turret, missing bridge antenna and crooked remaining bridge aerial made it look the most like a warped haunted baroque ghost ship from ages past, visually distinct from all the other cruisers except the Acheron. Had it not been for the missing dorsal gun and the bridge aerials it would have likely been marked out as the Battle Barge transporting the Red Right Hand Chaos Space Marines instead.

Millitant was also very happy with how it performed, and is currently exploring further refinements to the concept of a Daemonship as an assault boat delivery vehicle to paralyse the other fleet while the rest of the Chaos ships get into position to finish the job - possibly with a quick rush from the speedy Slaughter class to provide some immediate support and keep the Daemonship from getting too mobbed on arrival.

Function follows form, then! I'd forgotten about the state of that Styx (it was like it when it arrived with me, I swear), but I'm glad it turned into a fun tactical option.

[Kakapo42]

My experiences in real-time virtually-simulated strategium training against the machine spirit confirm this. I've been running a very successful Night Lords battlegroup - Carnage and Desolator class cruisers, and a squadron of Iconoclast destroyers - around the Scarus sector, keeping the Green Kroosade in check, and it's a dramatic contrast to the struggle of my World Eaters close-range fleet in the same battlespace. Turns out circling the bounders at extreme range goes a long way. I actually found myself longing for a torpedo boat in the last engagement, and that's not something I ever thought I'd say. (I find my approach is slightly too chaotic to really get the most out of "think five minutes/turns ahead" munitions like torpedoes...)

It is not for no reason that I consider Chaos escorts underrated and implore even the most power-crazed Warmaster to at least take a couple of squadrons of Infidels.

There is certainly an art to the finer points of torpedo usage, especially given that the regular straight-runners are very much a psychological weapon for playing the other player, something that's not likely to translate well against an all-seeing all-knowing AI adversary. Millitant did observe during this game that boarding torpedoes, which Chaos torpedo platforms get as standard, are much more of a 'fire them in the general direction of the other fleet and they'll find something useful to hit' type weapon. Not quite to the same extent as Tau missiles with their supersonic 40cm move on top of turning, but certainly a refreshing break from carefully plotting five turns ahead and if that's something you don't enjoy then consider the boarding torpedo instead.

Function follows form, then! I'd forgotten about the state of that Styx (it was like it when it arrived with me, I swear), but I'm glad it turned into a fun tactical option.

It's OK, truth be told I had actually forgotten about a lot of the original doctrine work that had been hashed out for this fleet and Millitant had to end up improvising a few things on the spot based on general vibes. That Styx is at least in better shape than the second Slaughter I have sitting in dry-dock along with some other Chaos friends and a growing Imperial Navy flotilla.

This report RIGHT HERE is making me think it's time to start looking for Brute Ram Ship stls...

Do it!