BatRep: Covenant of Antarctica vs Prussian Empire "Highlander" List (800 pts)

Admiral Von Shtupp was in his bunk, reading a letter from his sister Lily.  Apparently her tour of America was going well.  Her show was reasonably successful and she was planning to head to the western states soon…

Not that it really interested Admiral Von Shtupp.  He was aboard one of the new Sturmbringer Submarines, the U-102, heading back to port after a training exercise.  While learning the new strategies and tactics using the new submersibles had been interesting, he was looking forward to returning to his Flag Ship…

“Battle Stations!  Battle Stations!  Admiral to the bridge!”

“Status Report!”

“Admiral, we had just met up with our escort when the recon flight spotted a naval force heading in our direction.  It’s the Antarcticans!”

“Have they responded to our hails?”

“Sir, they claim we’ve stolen State Secrets and are demanding we stand down and prepare to be boarded.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen…”

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Doing another 800 point battle, I decided I wanted to do another “Highlander” list, but forgot to mention this restriction to my opponent.  Still, it would be a challenge for me and would test the list.

Deployment:

The Covenant of Antarctica (CoA) deployment (From Top to bottom):

3 Diogenes Frigates
Flight of Fighters
Flight of Dive Bombers
Aristotle Battleship with Energy Beams
3 Diogenes Frigates
2 Plato Cruisers
3 Diogenes Frigates
3 Fresnel Support Cruisers (1 X MK I, 2 X MK II)

The Prussian Empire (PE) Deployment (From Top to Bottom):

Flight of Fighters
Emperor Battleship with Tesla Generator
3 Donnerfaust Support Cruisers
4 Arminius Frigates with Sturmbringer Submarine and its Recon flight already launched
Flight of 4 Small Skyships (2 X Jaeger, 2 X Speerwurf)

After deployment, the CoA rolled “Destroy or Larges and Massives in the Enemy Fleet”.  PE Rolled “Destroy all Mediums and destroy / capture 50% of the fleet value” (400 pts).  Both of us decided to stick with what we rolled.

Start of the Battle!

Turn 1:
CoA won the Initiative.

The Fresnels started things off, moving forward and turning starboard.  The MK I failed its Amplification Generator roll, and the squadron was out of range to the Prussian Battleship.  The Prussian Spotter Plane from the sub killed an activation by flying over the island – prepared to spot for the rest of the fleet.

The CoA Battleship made a leisurely turn to starboard, sailing beside the island, then trained all their Energy Beams on one of the Support Cruisers, critting it (Engine Damage)!

The Prussian Skyships stayed obscured and moved forward at full speed, moving over the island.  Concerned, the CoA Fighter Drones moved at maximum speed towards the Skyships.

I was concerned about the CoA Fresnels.  If they had the opportunity to fire at full power at any target, it was going to be some serious damage.  I decided to take a chance and moved the Prussian Frigates forward at full speed and blasted the lead cruiser who was *just* in RB2, causing a crit (Hard Pounding – 1 AP left) and crippled the cruiser.  I found out later that by chance I had damaged the Mk I with the Energy Amplification Generator!

Angered, the CoA Plato Cruisers moved forward and turned to starboard, firing their turrets and broadsides at the Prussian Frigates, sinking half the squadron!  The Prussians passed their Break Test.

CoA Takes 1st Blood!

The Prussian Sub surfaced and moved forward, turned to port, then split its fire between the Plato and Fresnel cruisers.  The Fresnel was lucky and received no damage, but the Plato first took a hit from a Speerschleuder, received a Lightning Rod token, and then was hit by a separate salvo from the Tesla Bombard which critted the hapless ship (Shredded Defences).  The submarine then passed its test to Panic Dive and slipped below the waves before the enemy could retaliate, leaving the Plato with only a single hull point!

The Sturmbringer Submarine Attacks!

CoA Frigates on the right, in a brilliant show of maneuverability, snuck between the Fresnel Cruisers and managed to sink 1 Prussian Frigate, leaving just 1 lonely survivor in the squadron.

The Prussian Frigates Continue To Get Mauled

The Prussian Battleship advanced, its Tesla Generator gave it an extra inch of movement.  The CoA Battleship was directly ahead, but the mission was to deal with the Medium Craft of the fleet, so reluctantly, the Great Ship trained her guns on the lead Plato Cruiser and fired both turrets, critting it (Engine Damage).  The CoA Frigates on the far left used their Dolphin Dipper to gain maximum movement but were unable to damage the Prussian Battleship.

Prussian Cruisers moved forward and turned to starboard, firing weapons and damaging the lead Plato Cruiser, adding a Lightning Rod to the damage.  CoA Dive Bombers moved at maximum speed towards the Prussian Cruisers.  Fearing the potential danger the Dive Bombers posed to their sub, the Prussian Fighter Wing attacked the CoA Dive Bombers, and successfully shot down 1 bomber token for no losses.

In the last activations, the CoA Frigate Squadron in the center moved around the Plato Cruisers, but were too far away to do any damage.  The Prussian Dive Bombers moved forward at ½ speed – not wanting to get too close to the CoA Fighter Wing near the center of the table.

In the End Phase, the Prussians failed to repair the Engine Damage to their Cruiser while the CoA repaired the Shredded Defences on the Plato Cruiser but failed to remove any of the Lightning Rods that had impacted their ships.

End of Turn 1

Losses:
PE:         75 pts                    3 Sunk Frigates
CoA:      77 pts                    2 Crippled Plato and 1 Crippled Fresnel Cruisers

Turn 2:

CoA Won Initiative.

The CoA Battleship continued its course to the left of the table.  Once again, Energy Beams fired, this time targeting the Prussian Battleship, and causing a crit.  Without warning, the Prussian Battleship disappeared in a great cloud of flame and smoke: Magazine Explosion!  Fortunately, no other ships were close enough to be caught in the devastation, but the CoA had accomplished half of their objective!  If they could sink the Prussian Sub, the CoA would win!

Magazine Explosion!!!

Prussian Cruisers redoubled their efforts and sank both a Plato Cruiser and a Frigate.  Both squadrons passed their Break Tests.  The last Plato Cruiser, realizing the danger, steamed at full speed to hide behind an island, but sank the last Prussian Frigate with a last, vengeful parting shot.

Prussians Strike Back!

The Vengeful Plato runs away...

Realizing the CoA Dive Bombers were still a serious threat, the Prussian Fighter Wing attacked once more and successfully shot down all the remaining drones for no losses!

CoA Frigates on the right made a torpedo attack run on one of the Prussian Cruisers, but failed to damage it.  The Prussians, wanting to waste a turn, once more moved the Spotter Plane Token.  The CoA Frigates in the center made their attack on the Cruisers, a torpedo attack causing some damage to a cruiser while the broadsides failed to damage.

Hoping to bait the CoA Fighter Wing, the Prussian Skyships moved forward at the Obscured level – staying outside of RB1 of the Fresnel Cruisers.  The Fresnels moved forward and split their fire, critting the Center Prussian Cruiser (Engine Damage) and hitting the damaged Cruiser, reducing it to a single HP!

Desperate to stop the CoA Cruisers, the Prussian Sub surfaced and split its fire.  Although the Plato escaped unharmed, the MK I Fresnel with the Amplification Generator was sunk!  Unfortunately, the sub failed to make its Panic Dive and sat, exposed, on the surface!

The Fresnel Mk I is sunk!

Ignoring the sub, the CoA Fighter Wing moved in and attacked 3 of the 4 Skyships, damaging a Jaeger for no losses.  With the Fighters having made their move, the PE Dive Bombers crossed the table at full speed, heading between the Plato and Fresnel Cruisers.  Finally, the leftmost CoA Frigate Squadron turned and made a torpedo run on the Prussian Sub, but failed to damage the Admiral’s Flagship.

In the End Phase, the rearmost Prussian Cruiser repaired its Engines, but the other Cruiser failed in spite of the Commodore’s reroll.  The CoA managed to get rid of the last remaining Lightning Rod – the rest had gone down with the ships that had them.

End of Turn 2!

Losses:
PE:          324 pts                  4 Frigates and the Battleship sunk, 1 Cruiser & 1 Jaeger Crippled
CoA:      202 pts                  1 Plato, 1 Fesno & 1 Frigate sunk, 1 Plato Crippled

Turn 3:

CoA again won Initiative!

Things were not looking good for the Prussians.  All the CoA needed to do was sink the sub and they would have won.  Seeing the sub on the surface, the CoA Battleship activated, turned and trained all weapons on the helpless Prussian, but when the smoke cleared, the mighty ship had failed to damage the sub! 

The Prussian Sub had a difficult decision to make.  If he dove, he wouldn’t be able to shoot and the Plato would probably get away.  With 3 squadrons of CoA Frigates closing on his position, being on the surface wasn’t the best place to be, but suspected he would be within depth charge range anyway if he dove.  The Commodore took a chance: Staying on the surface, the sub moved forward and trained all weapons on the last Plato Cruiser – successfully sinking it before it could hide behind the island!  Sadly, the Prussian ship failed its Dive Test and remained on the surface – the crew held their breath…

The Fresnel Cruisers advanced and fired multiple volleys at the Prussian Sub.  When the smoke cleared, the sub had suffered 2HP damage.  With the CoA’s two power hitting units failing to do significant damage, things were looking good for the Sub!  Now it just had to survive 3 squadrons of Frigates…

Unable to help the Sub, the Skyships finally came out of the clouds and attacked the rearmost Fresnel.  Though the cruiser squadron did managed to shoot down the damaged Jaeger before it could attack, the 3 remaining air ships inflicted a Triple-Crit!  One of the crits caused the Sturginium Generator to overload and flair; teleporting and crashing the stricken Fresnel onto its squadron mate, inflicting an HP of damage on its squadron mate before sinking to the bottom!  With no hope of the last Prussian Large surviving the turn and with only a single damaged medium CoA Cruiser on the table, it appeared the Prussians might be able to complete their mission objectives and squeak out a tie!

The Sturginium Flair Crashes the 2 Fresnels Together!

The Prussian Sub braced for the first Frigate Squadron torpedo attack.  In a brilliant use of Concussion Charges, the sub managed to block 6 torpedoes from the salvo – resulting in no damage!

Could the Prussians pull off a win?

As it turned out, the CoA had made a serious miscalculation, though neither of us realized it at the time.  By becoming fixated on sinking the sub and completing their objectives, the CoA Fighter wing had failed an opportunity to stop the Prussian Dive Bombers, which activated next and attacked the last remaining Fresnel Cruiser with a full strength wing!  Going maximum speed, the Dive Bombers inflicted a Double-Crit on the hapless Cruiser, sinking it and completing the mission objectives for the Prussians! 

Prussian Dive Bombers Sink the Last Cruiser!

Could the Prussian Sub hold out the rest of the turn?

The next CoA Frigate squadron made their torpedo attack run, and also failed to damage the Prussian Sub!  That left just a single Frigate Squadron with only 2 Frigates to sink the sub!

The Prussian Cruisers, seeing the threat, manoeuvred to block Line Of Sight to the sub, attempted to trap the last Frigate Squadron and opened fire.  When the smoke had cleared, the last Frigate Squadron had lost 1 Frigate, reducing the squadron to a single ship!  Another squadron suffered a loss and 2 damaged Frigates.  Though the firing failed to destroy the last Frigate of the last squadron to activate, it had virtually assured the Prussians a Victory as the chances of a single Frigate sinking a large by itself were small!

The Prussian Cruisers Try To Save The Sub!

Yet it was possible…

The last Frigate Squadron, unable to get the Line Of Sight he wanted, attacked one of the damaged Cruisers instead, but failed to damage it.  The Prussian Spotter Flight moved and then the CoA Fighters, activating too late, attacked the Skyships once more, damaging 1 for the loss of 1 token.

End of Turn 3 & The Battle!

Losses:
PE:          354 pts                  4 Frigates, 1 Jaeger and the Battleship sunk, 1 Cruiser  and 1 Speerwurf Crippled
CoA:      489 pts                  All 5 Cruisers and 3 Frigates sunk, 2 Frigates Crippled  *Objectives Met*

Prussian Victory!

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Wow!  What a Squeaker!

I thought for sure the CoA had won this Battle after my Battleship exploded in turn 2!  I continued to fight to make it interesting, hoping for a tie, never expecting to pull off a Victory!

I wish I could claim it was brilliant tactics and strategy on my part, but quite frankly, the CoA had terrible luck in that last turn.  The sub, trapped in the open on the surface, survived 2 Torpedo Attacks, a Battleship and 2 Cruisers firing, and only suffered 2 HP damage.  By rights, the sub should be on the bottom of the sea.  By luck, it stayed afloat with minimal damage.

Looking over the notes, I think what cost Graham the game was the amount of effort he devoted towards the Donnerfaust Cruisers.  While not attacking the Dive Bombers with his Fighter Drones allowed the Bombers to sink the last Cruiser, the Prussian Cruisers were close enough to do the job as well.  

So while devoting so much of his resorces on the Cruisers may have appeared to be an error on his part, the reality was that these Prussian Cruisers were screening the sub for the better part of 2 turns.  Also, the Cruisers were a major “firebase” of my fleet.  They had Rugged Construction and as the weapons were all Tesla-based, they only lost 1 AD strength for every 2 HP of damage per ship.  With 5 HP each, this made the Donnerfaust hard to hurt and harder to weaken!  They needed that amount of attention to make a noticeable impact on the squadron.  Overall, I was quite happy with how the Support Cruisers performed.

Speaking of performance, the Sturmbringer Submarine was great!  I first thought it was very strange to have a sub without torpedoes, but I can’t complain about the weapons it does have!  While it is tempting to add escorts to it, the sub does have Line Of Sight of a Medium ship so it’s not easy to screen the sub while keeping its own weapons clear to fire around the Escorts.  I would probably prefer to float an extra Frigate squadron to follow the sub the next turn…

 On the Covenant's side, I've heard how "terrible" the Energy Beam weapons are.  While the Battleship failed to damage the Sub on the last turn, overall the Energy Weapons in the Covenant Fleet were well used and did make their presence felt.  I think Graham played the fleet very well and proved that the weapons are fine.  

If I were to question anything Graham did, I think it would be moving his Battleship too far to the left.  This kept him from turning around and bringing the Particle Accelerator into play.  However, arming the Battleship with Energy Beams meant he wasn't going to get any benefit from his main guns getting closer so it's an argumentative view.  I prefer to get in closer with a higher number of Attack Dice, but that would leave the CoA Fleet vulnerable to Boarding.  Tough call - you would need to decide on your game style and arm the fleet accordingly.

Another Great Game!  Hope you enjoyed the report!