+ Violators Fleet Action +

The full 1500 Violators fleet hit the board last night, teamed up with a 1500 plaguefleet (PLANETKILLER & friends) against an incredibly escort-heavy Imperial fleet led by an APOCALYPSE. Generic cruiser clash, with a whopping foud planets on the table for terrain :P

Violators & Plaguefleet vs Unknown Imperial Fleet [3000]

Chaos seized the initiative and began closing with the massive Imperial fleet, though due to the extreme ranges involved the majority of the Chaos fire was directed into the mines that the Imperials had deployed around the planets near the traitor fleet. Gaze of the Unclean, the nurgle planetkiller, however slammed its armageddon gun through two Imperial escorts, obliterating one and setting off the shield on the other. First blood!

The Imperial response was likewise minimal, as the fleet split to engage the two traitor fleets and the apocalypse steamed forward to take the planetkiller head on. Despite the small star blocking much of the Violators fleet from the Imperial guns Bass God took two direct hits from nova cannons! Judicious bracing resulted in only two hits being caused after shields, praise be to Slaanesh. Two squadrons of four cobras lined up the Gaze of the Unclean and launched torpedoes, as did the apocalypse and several other ships, filling that crowded area of space even more, though none made contact as of yet.

Now able to draw their guns into range the Chaos fleets prepared to turn the heat up. The Violators fleet consolidated to the port side of the cruisers jockeying around the star, but extreme range resulted in the weapon batteries of Cacophonic and Distortion putting just three hits onto the closest tyrant. The plaguefleet proved more ferocious, dropping all four shields on the apocalypse and accounting for four of its twelve hits. Both Chaos fleets dispatched fighters to take out the remaining mines and two of the torpedo salvos in coming on the planetkiller.

With the traitor vessels drawing close the Imperial fleet had to react. Against the Violators that arm of the fleet continued moving around the star, with the ships nearest the Chaos fleet firing broadsides into Cacophonic. The tainted ship braced for impact ... and needn't have, as shields absorbed the two hits that landed. Pleasure Throes, bringing up the tail of the Violators and visible around the other side of the star, took a couple shield hits but no cause for concern. The rest of the Imperials descended upon the plaguefleet, but all the fire, torpedoes and bombers resulted in a single hit on the planetkiller and several dropped shields.

Time to kill. The Violators swooped upon the squadron of tyrants, with Bass God going on lock on orders for supreme vengeance. Fire from throughout the fleet resulted in a hulked tyrant, three hits and a destroyed gun battery on another, and a massive bomber flight from Blistering Excess saw a third crippled. Bass God tagged a hit on the apocalypse as well, but the Nurgle warmaster protested loudly as he had moved his fleet in to deliver the killing blow to the battleship. Which they did with an impressive show of force, dropping all four shields and doing the seven hits (and three more!) needed to hulk the enormous flagship. As a parting shot plague bombers gutted two cobras and the nurgle acheron dropped a few shields.

Deeply demoralized but shouldering on, the Imperial fleet mobilized its masses of escorts against key Chaos targets, but it would prove for not. Eleven sword frigates fired upon the Blistering Excess but once again bracing resulted in just two hits getting past the shields. Likewise the Gaze of the Unclean absorbed the other firepower of the other half of the Imperial fleet, bracing and shields resulting in a solitary hit being caused. With that the heroes of the Imperium disengaged.

CHAOS WIN

That brutal third turn really did the lapdogs in, with Slaanesh ships up in his junks going crazy and the Nurgle fleet decapitating his force. There was still a lot of game to go - Chaos was still outnumbered 2:1 in pure ships on the table - but it was likely a foregone conclusion.

Closing Thought -> Wow, BFG is cool. Neat to see in action and a blast to play.

Painting: Ogre Irongut
Buidling: N/A