The Skies Burn Over Stigmata [Hyperion T5 BFG Report]

After a brief hiatus of either unspectacular or unphotographed BFG games I'm back with a big 'un. This round as the Imperial Navy and the Chaos fleet battle it out for domination of the space around the Imperial shrine world of Stigmata, the Imperials receive some (not so) unexpected help from the Eldar, and the Chaos fleet is bolstered by the Eldar's ancient enemy: a Necron Tomb Fleet!

The battle was set a a Fleet Engagement, and with both fleet attempting to encircle the other it began as a good, old fashioned broadside to broadside shooting match. All of the fleets are mostly wysiwyg and yes that includes the Planet Killer! (even though they are paper the Necrons are still wysiwyg). The points break down to about:
Chaos - 3100
Imperial - 2300
Eldar - 2700
Necron - 1150

The big advantage that the Chaos fleet has is that only the Chaos and Imperial Fleets (plus a small contingent of the Eldar fleet) start on the table putting the points about equal or slightly in favor of the forces of darkness at the outset. The rest of the Eldar and Necron fleets will be trickling in throughout the  first 4-5 turns.

Turn 1

A fairly uneventful turn as we begin to turn towards each other. A trio of Eldar controlled Imperial escorts were destroyed along with some minor damage to a cruiser that started a little too close to the Chaos fleet. They got their revenge by taking out a trio of chaos escorts in return (well one of those escorts managed to crash himself into an asteroid).

Turn 2

 In Turn 2 the bulk of the Chaos fleet shoots forward to hammer the Imperial flank. Though little real damage it done outside of crippling a strike cruiser, it does force much of the Imperial fleet to Brace for Impact! In return the Imperial Fleet damages the lead Chaos Devestation cruiser that had become the front line of defense for the planet killer which fires it's Armageddon Gun ineffectually. Three Eldar cruisers join the battle, but the Necrons bide their time waiting for a juicy target.

Turn 3


The Chaos fleet manage to wipe out two cruisers on the Imperial flank, but the last strike cruiser remains unscathed. In return the leading Chaos Devestation cruiser is destroyed, a second is damaged, and the Planet Killer is crippled and a squadron of imperial assault boats manage to take many of her weapon systems offline and damage her engines!


A Necron cruiser and escort squadron scream in from the edge of the battlefield to destroy an Eldar Eclipse cruiser hiding behind the planet. Eldar reinforcements show up and destroy a few of the Necron escorts in return.

Turn 4

With much of the Chaos fleet out of position now that the battle has shifted to the center, and no one listening to their orders now that the warmaster is not around the Chaos fleet's return fire does only a little damage to the Imperial fleet.

The Imperial fleet manages to damage the Planet Killer even further, and cripple the previously damaged Devestation. The Eldar escorts manage to bring the Planet Killer to within an inch of destruction, but the crew's effort to Brace for Impact! manage to just save her. A second Necron cruiser shows up to the battle and between the two they manage to cripple the Imperial Emperor Battleship, while the Necron escorts manage to destroy a second Eldar light cruiser before being destroyed by the fresh Eldar reinforcements.

Turn 5

Turn 5 starts with the Planet Killer promptly cutting engines and disengaging from the battle with it's last HP left.  The middle of the battlefield has become rather congested, and the Chaos devestation cruiser squadron is dead center of it all. They manage to damage one of the Imperial battleships, just bringing it down enough to cripple it.

The Imperial retaliation somehow misses it's mark at point blank range and the devastation cruisers live another day. The last of the Necron reinforcements show up and do some light damage to the Imperial battleship, while the cruisers damage and Eldar escort squadron. In return the eldar cut down four of the newly arrived Necron escorts.

Turn 6

After the Necron Cruisers had heavily damaged it last turn the Chaos Murder cruisers' lances are able to finish off one of the Imperial Emperor class battleships. The ensuing explosion manages to do a little damage to the remaining Emperor Battleship, crippling it.

The crippled Emperor promptly disengages and the remaining imperials do some minor damage to the Necron fleet. The Necrons take out one or two Imperial escorts and fail to hurt the Eldar, who in return hulk one of the Scythe cruisers and force the other to Brace for Impact!

Turn 7

With the majority of the Imperial fleet gone, the Chaos ships attempt to do some damage to the Eldar, but are generally unsuccessful. In return the few remaining imperials manage to damage several of the lead Slaughter cruisers.

Meanwhile the entire Eldar fleet focuses on the last of the Necron cruisers, but can't quite manage to destroy the Necron's reactive hull, leaving it on 1 hp left.

Turn 8

The Chaos fleet decides to slip off the board edge and disengage rather than try to batter the Eldar into submission. That is all except for the Loose Cannon commander of the Heathen Promise slaughter class cruiser who refuses to Come to New Heading, so he can't quite make it to the board edge. Instead he flies into a dust cloud where he fails to cut engines and disengage. This lets the last Imperial cruisers come up behind him, at which point he refuses to Brace for Impact and is blown to hell. The Eldar finish off the remnants of the Necrons and then sing kumbaya or something with the Imperial fleet.

Even though the Imperium holds the field the battering they took and the lack of anything salvagable in sight but a single Necron hulk makes it a . . .

[Chaos Victory]