My Usual Opponent with his new Covenant of Antarctica fleet squares up against the Imperial Might of the Blazing Sun. Approximately 700 point lists: he's using the basic naval box set, and I'm using a pair of scout gyros in place of my cruisers and a squadron of three destroyers instead of 4 frigates. Our respective naval contingents meet at a chain of small islands and close for action.
Long range rocket attacks hit the Covenant battleship in turn 1. Bombers spot for the Blazing Sun battleship for indirect fire against a Covenant cruiser, a lucky shot knocking loose the rudder. But the Covenant battlecruiser aims energy weapons and takes out half the tail of the lead Blazing bomber.
The Blazing Sun fleet push everything into the center and turn 2 begins.
The Covenant Fleet draws near. You can't quite see in the photo, but the window cockpits of the bombers and frigates are painted an eerie flourescent green.
The Covenant battlecruiser powers up the energy beam projector and vaporizes a frigate. The beam also burns a hole in the small island immediately behind the disintegrated frigate.
The sea heats up in the center, and a CoA bomber has been captured by frigate rocket marines. Banzai!
Turn 3 and the Covenant force moves the battlecruiser into the thick of the action. Hey, nice Shroud Mages tape measure!
The Blazing bombers slow their engines after a successful rocket attack destroyed two enemy frigates, and an engineer in the lead bomber climbs out on the tail to repair the rudder.
Imperial gunnery attacks from the battleship Ontake against Covenant Cruiser squadron.
The Blazing bombers descend for a bombing run and take out an entire squadron of Covenant frigates. Unfortunately, a lone Blazing Sun frigate was still involved in a close action with the Covenant frigates and was also sunk in the bomb blasts.
The Blazing Sun scout gyros continue to keep their distance, launching rocket salvos at the Covenant battlecruiser at medium to long range.
Turn 5: as the CoA battlecruiser turns to power up and fire the bow energy projector again, this time into the side of the
Ontake, the rear turrets fire at the trailing scout flyer, blasting a fourth hull point. The smoke is only for effect. The guns might be ineffective, but the ship continues to load rocket tubes and launch salvos at the battlecruiser.
In a brave display of glory, a small squad of rocket marines from a lone CoA frigate board the captured bomber and take it back for the cause. Meanwhile, the damage control crew of the
Ontake repairs a single hull point, but it is still down 5 points, making the ship's big guns not so effective, although it manages to sink another CoA cruiser.
Turn 6: still trailing smoke and with only 1 HP, the pair of scout gyros continue to roll 13 Attack Dice against the CoA battlecruiser. The CoA plays a second repair card on the battlecruiser, repairing a total of 4 HP and countering the point of damage I had in inflicting on it each turn; those repairs kept the battlecruiser in good fighting order while the
Ontake continued to lose pieces in the water.
The battlecruiser, submerging again and chasing the
Ontake through the strait, launches a contingent of rocket marines to board and take back posession of the captured cruiser.
Turn 7: the Blazing Sun battleship
Ontake, finally rid of the bomber which had been trailing it, tries to keep out of range from the CoA battlecruiser; it only has 1 HP left and can't bring any effective firepower to bear.
Turn 8: the wounded scout gryo is finally destroyed by the recaptured CoA bomber, and the Blazing Sun battleship loses the final Hull Point to a shot fired by the recaptured CoA cruiser. The Ontake sinks, and the remaining aerial elements of the Blazing Sun force return to their air base, leaving the CoA force in control of this unnamed chain of islands in the South Pacific. Yes, only 2 HP of damage on the CoA Battlecruiser due to three repair cards played on it. My Usual Opponent seems to show a streak of luck for repairing large capital ships, even when we're sharing the same deck!
