Battlefleet Gothic Battle Report

BATTLE FLEET GOTHIC

This battle was between my son and I. the vile forces of Chaos have attacked the Ultima sector. Can the Imperial Fleet send them packing? This is the start of a continuing series of battles we plan to play as our fleets grow.
the Imperial Fleet

The 3rd Imperial carrier fleet was lead by a mighty Emperor class Battleship. While large and powerful it carries no where near the firepower of the Planet Killer. Instead relying on squadrons of attack bombers as it's main weapon. Acompanying the Flagship was a Mars class battlecruiser, a powerful ship with a good mix of weapons and attack craft. A Dictator Cruiser/Carrier similar to the Mars but slightly less powerful and also had a Dominator class cruiser, a powerful short ranged gunship.
The Chaos fleet

The Chaos fleet was lead by Warlord Jake. The Chaos flagship was none other then the Planet Killer itself. This massive battleship has the Armageddon gun, a Gun of increadible power, and is packed full of weapons batteries, lances and torpedoes. Accompanying the Planet Killer was A Styx Class heavy cruiser, a carrier ship that would be vital defending against the swarms of Imperial bombers. Also prsent were two Murder class cruisers. The Murders are basic gunships with heavy broadside guns.Deployment
We rolled randomly for deployment and we set up as two spread out battlelines moving perpendicular to each other. My carriers moved slowly to buy time and keep the range open. The longer I stayed away the longer I could fire the Nova cannons. The Dominator gunship set a course for the massive Planet Killer, hoping to buy time for the carriers in the fleet. I started combat by firing Nova Cannon shots at long range at one of the Murders. The notoriously random Nova cannons all missed. I also launched all my attack craft, which set a course for the the closest Murder.

The Chaos Admiral was a little taken aback at the 16 bomber squadrons screaming through space towards his seperated ships. The Styx launched all fighters to try and take out at least some of the bombers before they could reach the Chaos ships.
The first major action of the battle is the bomber attack on the center Murder. Bombers scream in before the Chaos fighters can get there. Imperial bombers roll an impressively low number of attacks but still manage to cripple the Chaos cruiser. Long range fire from the Emperor and Mars manages to destroy the evil ship, it's engines emploding.
Bombers swarm the first Murder


Almost as an act of revenge the Planet Killer comes about head on with the Imperial Dominator. The Armageddon gun smashes into the Imperial cruiser while the the rest of the Chaos firepower cripples the Imperial ship, dropping it to only 2 hits left. Slowly the Dominator makes for the edge of the board and safety.

The Planet Killer smacks the Dominator (Dominate this!)


Exploding Murder



With one Chaos Murder cruiser dealt with and the other trying to turn around and get into the fight I had a local superiority in firepower... if I could re-load my launch bays. Luckily the Emperor and Mars both re-loaded but the helpless Dictator (Leadership 6!) couldn't re-load... and would, in fact, manage to reload only once the rest of the game!
As the main body of the Chaos fleet (Styx and P.K.) turned into my ships we were set for a head to head. Long range Nova Cannons exchanged fire with the Armageddon gun. This time the Mars recieved a heavy hit, Crippling the battlecruiser!
return fire crippled the Styx!

Hello Planet Killer!


Two ships just passing in the night.



Swarms of Imperial Bombers moved in on the Planet Killer but the wiley Chaos Warlord ruthlessly ordered the crippled Styx into the Imperial attack planes to clear the way for the flagship. The bombers destroy the Styx and the Planet Killer moves towards the Imperial flagship.
The Planet Killer's massive gun fires again, taking down the Emperor's shields. However she braces for impact and saves most of the incoming hits.Return fire scores a single hit on the Planet Killer.
The second Murder finally joins they fray, pulling alongside the Emperor.
Big mistake as the firepower of the Imperial Battleship, followed up by a massive bomber wave, destroys the Murder.



the fleets begin to withdraw, as the Mars stuggles to move off the board with only one hit remaining. On the last turn of the game the Planet Killer turns broadside and blasts the Mars into a floating wreck.

End turn



Overall points wise it was a victory for the Imperial Navy. three Chaos cruisers destroyed to the imperial's one destroyed, one crippled.
However since we agreed that the winning conditions hinged on the Planet Killer being destroyed the Imperial Navy takes the loss.
AAR: The Imperial fleet performed well, except for the Leadership 6 carrier! The Dominator was crippled before it could really do anything. However carriers are not the answer when trying to take down the Planet Killer. All those defense turrets mean bomber attacks will be pretty unsuccessful.
The Chaos fleet was hindered by their deployment. They were spread out in such a way that one cruiser took most of the game to get turned around, by the time he got into the fight he was blasted to bits. The Planet Killer performed well. Inflicting almost all the damage to the imperial fleet. The Armageddon gun worked well, not just damaging the Imperial ships but clearing out bomber waves as well.
All in all a fun battle. Stay tunned as the Chaos incursion continues!