BFG BatRep – Space Marines vs Imperial Navy 500 pts

Battlefleet Gothic returns to family game night. 

Deathbot, Mrs Zorcon, and I played a rematch of our last game. Not surprisingly, this game took place over a month ago and I am just setting down to write up the BatRep.

SET UP:

Once again we play the intro scenario 'Cruiser Clash' at 500 points. This time instead of the game box, I used asteroids to mark off the play field boundaries. This will become an issue later in the game.

FLEET LISTS:

We used the same lists.

IMPERIAL NAVY (285pts) - Deathbot

• Tyrant Cruiser
• Cobra Destroyer Squadron x3

IMPERIAL NAVY (215pts) - Mrs Zorcon

• Dauntless Light Cruiser
• Sword Frigate Squadron x3

SPACE MARINES (500pts) - Zorcon

• Strike Cruiser
• Strike Cruiser
• Gladius Frigate Squadron x2
• Hunter Destroyer Squadron x3 

TURN 1:

Everyone opened up the game advancing towards the middle (red arrows) and launching ordinance (white arrows). The Imperial Navy (IN) missed the mark with their torpedoes, but the Space Marines (SM) caused some minor damage with their Assault Boats.

TURN 2:

By this stage, everyone is in firing range. For the first time between this and last game, I split up my Strike Cruisers--This will turn out to be a mistake.

TURN 3:

With ships crisscrossing each other, the IN Dauntless class light cruiser is destroyed by massed weapon batteries and attack craft.

TURN 4:

As the IN sends its main ship away from the rest of the fleet, the SM fleet prepares to surround the lone enemy vessel.

TURN 5:

The SM fleet circles around to attack the IN capitol ship.The mass of blast markers in the lower left shows evidence of the killing blow to the IN Tyrant class cruiser. The explosion took out one of the SM Gladius Frigates.

TURN 6:

Now that both capitol ships are destroyed, the 2 IN escort squadrons regroup and cause heavy damage to one of the SM strike cruisers.

TURN 7:

Here is were 2 previous mistakes come to pass at the same time--Separating my strike cruisers and not clearly defining the battle zone. The heavily damaged strike cruiser captain orders the ship 'all ahead full'. In an unexpected burst of speed, the ship ends up at the edge of the field of battle. Since I did not clarify at the beginning of the game where the boarder actually is (at the edge of the asteroid's base or at the center of the post), it was unclear id the strike cruiser was out of play or not. 

We chose the best way to resolve the situation was to roll a die; 1-3 the ship stays in play, 4-6 it is off the board. I rolled a 4 and lost the ship.

TURN 8:

With renewed morale, the IN went on offence, attempting to repeat its previous efforts. They made a valiant effort to damage the remaining strike cruiser, but the SM fleet was ready and counter attacked. After the end of the turd, the strike cruiser took a few points of damage, but not enough to cripple it. Unfortunately, the IN lost another ship, a Cobra class destroyer.

Game ends with another SM victory. The lad and Mrs are really getting the hang of the game (and I am re-familiarizing myself with the rules). In the next game we will introduce celestial phenomena (terrain).