FT : AAR UN incursion turned back

Place: Neu Mannheim System

Co-Ordinate system: Cine & Inches 8'x4.5'

Situation

UN forces ( 1 BC 2 CH 1 CE 1 CL 1DD 2 FF) Blockading the system for Tax
purposes are met by a Battle force of the NSL ( 1 Maria Von Burgund, 1
Richthofen, 1 Markgraf, 1 Radetzky, 2 Waldburgs, 1 Ehrenhold)

Tech Note: UN design philosophy is Average hull Medium Armour Shield thrust 4
all arc class 2's with a spinal mount (class 4) in the BC and needle beams in
the cruisers. NSL standard from FB

Planet gravity 2" out to 6" 1" out to 12" directly towards planet doesn't
change heading

Starting positions

 |-----------------------|
 |U1                     |
 |                       |
 |           P          N|
 |                       |
 |                       |
 |U2                     |
 |-----------------------|

U1= BC, CH, CL, FF U2= CH, CE, DD, FF

Excerpt from NSL News media

"As Usual the UN dogs crept forward unhappy to engage a real fighting force,
While our men leapt at the chance to deal with the Pirates. We decided to
tackle group U2 first so headed to the port side of Neu Mannheim (NM). The
scurvy dog of a UN commander realised that we were going to pounce on one part
of his force and so tried to recombine them.

End turn 1
 |-----------------------|
 |   U1                  |
 |                       |
 |           P           |
 |                       |
 |                  N    |
 |   U2                  |
 |-----------------------|

U1= BC, CH, CL, FF U2= CH, CE, DD, FF

Undeterred we pushed forward accelerating to get to grips with the thieving
brutes as soon as possible to remove their taint from our loyal system. Extra
Long range fire dealt a surprising amount of damage to the Ehrenhold cutting
through its armour and causing it to lose control of one of its main batteries
and a PDS. The scum where beyond our weapon range.

End turn 2
 |-----------------------|
 |                       |
 |      U1               |
 |           P           |
 |                       |
 |                       |
 |    U2         N       |
 |-----------------------|

U1= BC, CH, CL, FF U2= CH, CE, DD, FF

Tricking our opponents our fleet slowed down to allow our advantage in long
range fire power to have some effect. A pulse torp from our flagship slammed
into the Heavy cruiser in front of us while our class 3's savaged his all
escorts effectively removing them from the fight by either knocking out their
puny fire control systems or taking out their weapon systems. (Note UN main
drives also seam to be highly susceptible beam fire! 2 out of 3 lost a step)
Return fire from the BC caused more damage to the Ehrenhold removing its fire
control system.

End turn 3
 |-----------------------|
 |                       |
 |                       |
 |       U1  P           |
 |                       |
 |                       |
 |     U2      N         |
 |-----------------------|

U1= BC, CH, CL, FF U2= CH, CE, DD, FF

The next phase saw the defeat of the UN forces as our admiral split of the
damaged Ehrenhold and a Warsaw to protect it while continuing to slow our main
force. We misjudged slightly and ended up at close range to his opposing
group. The pirates managed to get the drop on us and lashed the Richthofen
with fire from the CH that stripped away its armour but barely damaged it
hull. It responded by targeting the CE and showed the scum how a real navy
fights by reducing it to a barely functioning hulk ( killed half its weapons
systems and all its fire cons plus taking out is main drive) Fire from the
other HC hit the Radetzky and had a similar effect to the fire from its
brother ship. i.e. not much. return fire caused a bit of damage to the CL but
nothing too dramatic. The Bc the fired on the Markgraf which took all its
armour and two thirds a row of hull damage. Our flagship responded by firing
on the CH it had hit the turn before with the pulse torp and fired on the CL
with its PT. After most of the systems fell over our escorts and the Markgraf
put the coup de grace in by destroying the CH and doing further damage on the
CE (one hull left)and the CL.

At this point the UN commander hauled down his flag and surrendered the
remainder of his forces (only 2 were capable of fire the BC and the CH)

End turn 4
 |-----------------------|
 |                       |
 |                       |
 |           P           |
 |       U1 N2           |
 |                       |
 |      U2  N1           |
 |-----------------------|

U1= BC, CH, CL, FF U2= CE, DD, FF

N1= BB,BC,CH,CE,DD N2= DD FF

Overall a glorious victory by the NSL forces"

End Excerpt

Note:- the reporter covering the battle has been sent to remedial
diplomacy classes.

What went well :- planet worked well NSL forces got caught it the grav
well which allowed the long range shot against the frigate. NSL policy of
firing injured ships ASAP to make sure that they got a chance to use their
fire power. On paper at range 1 the UN forces could do more damage on average
that the NSL, in practice the loss of his small ships and the removing of the
larger ships fire cons due to threshold checks cut his available fire power
quite a bit while we only missed out on one frigates worth.

What went wrong :-

Once again I was too eager to get to grips with him and I misjudged my closing
speed so we did not stay in range band 2 at all.(4,3,1)