BR: 1000pts RoF vs. KoB

Vive la France!

Hey guys, today I played a game vs. my friend's KoB with my French navy.  In this BR, I will follow the same unit review format as I did the last BR before moving onto the mission recap.  Overall, I enjoy this format a little more because it gives me the opportunity to highlight the ups and downs of each unit.  It's also easier to track their performance as I write more BRs.

Here are the fleets:

Charlemagne DN (Cloud) = 240
Couronne BCV (Cloud, Fighters) = 150
3x Marseille (RA) = 195
3x Escuyer CA = 165
4x Chevalier DD = 120
4x Chevalier DD = 120
2x 5x TFT = Free!

vs.

Majesty DN (2x Shield) = 270
+3x Bastion Escorts = 75
Ruler BB (Shield) = 180
3x Agincourt CA = 240
4x Orion DD = 140
4x Attacker FF = 100
2x 5x TFT = Free!

Field Orders:
Me - Destroy all Large and Massive models in any opposing Fleet.
Him - Destroy or capture at least 50% of the Maximum Fleet Value of any opposing Fleet in Victory Points, including all Medium models.

House Rules:
Repair is actually 4+ because we're both GW gamers.
Critical Tables 2 and 12 have been switched because again, we're GW gamers.

My fleet analysis:

• My Charlemagne did very well this game.  I activated him first almost every turn just so I can get the Cloud Generator rolling early.  I needed this ship to preform and thus, I kept him advancing and applying damage every turn that I can with his RB3 rockets.  The primary turrets didn't do much until I was able to get into RB1, which combined with my broadside was able to blast apart 2 wounded Agincourts.  With Cloud Generator rolling, Retardant Armor and me closing fast on the enemy, his focused fire was unable to do any real damage to my ship.  When the game ended, I only managed to take a single hull point's worth of damage, while my Heat Lances managed to do 1 Crit and 1 HP to his Dreadnought and 2 points of damage to his BB.  Overall, this guy took a ton of damage and put out some heavy damage himself by charging directly towards both of his capital ships and getting both ships in Heat Lance territory.
• The Couronne BCV also preformed quite well.  He was able to supply a fighter wing to the party as well as a Recon plane for the extra activation.  I think the biggest contribution that he made to the fight was taking a lot of damage from his fleet.  A lot of fire went into the Couronne because of how Cloud Generator activation works.  If I activate the Charlemange first, my opponent will shoot at my Couronne.  If I activate the Couronne first, my opponent goes after my DN.  Since my DN was instrumental to winning this game vs. his two capitals, I decided that my BCV will take most of the beating.  Even though the Couronne took 3 HP of damage, I managed to down some Orion DDs and Attacker FFs with my broadsides and rockets.  Sadly, his BB launched AP later in the game and derelicted my ship.
• My Marseille Cruisers were pretty decent.  They were able to soak a good deal of damage being put into them, as well as manuever into advantageous positions with their MV9 and Sea-Skimming.  Damage was pretty decent from them as well as I was able to make some longer distance gunnery shots as well as annihilate some of his Destroyers and Frigates with my broadsides.  Being hit on 5s by torpedoes was also amazing as I was able to fend off an entire Torpedo Fighter squadron by themselves.  The excellent AA from a full squad really helped take the damage off the Cruisers.  Later in the game, these guys made a large sweeping manuever around the enemy BB to prize it.  Since all of his marines and my marines from the BCV killed each other, his BB was left wide open.
• I really liked the Escuyer CAs.  Their RB2 AA almost seems like cheating because I was able to annihilate a squadron of TFTs after they made their bombing run.  Given I could of sat back a little more and waited for his TFT to come closer, I chose to advance with the rest of my fleet to get better field presence and weighted fire.  Although they limped forward with the rest of my heavier ships, I didn't find their advance too problematic because of the damage their turrets put out from range.  Hitting for 7/6/5 with secondary turrets all the way to RB3 is really good, and the fact that their AA basically eliminates any chance your opponent will board the Escuyers.  I remember in the game when one of his remaining Agincourt Gunships threw his AP at one of my Escuyers.  Those poor, poor men never stood a chance.
• Last, but not least, I had 2x units of 4x Chevalier DDs as backup fire support.  Yeah, these guys are just really good.  Pack Hunter, a lot of rockets from RB1-3, and good DR.  They were able to put on the hurt to everything in his navy from Frigates all the way to his Gunships.  Overall, these guys can definitely stay in the navy.  Their ranged support is very beneficial to an naval force who needs to get closer to the enemy before they can unleash their more devastating weapons.

The enemy fleet:

• The Majesty and the Ruler put a lot of shots out at my DN when they should of annihilated my mediums.  My opponent agrees that he lost track of the mission parameters and that killing my smaller ships would of been better than wasting shots at my Cloud Generated, slightly retarded ships.  When he launched his final AP assault on my Charlemange later in the game, he failed to kill any of my Fighter CAP and my AA just blew him to shreds.  I think only 3 of his Elite marines made it on board and my own Elite marines were able to clean house without much problem.  What my opponent did well with his capital ships was change fire on whichever of my capital ships activated first so he can shoot at the one without the Cloud Generator.  This is how he managed to put on good damage on my Couronne early, but he got tunnel visioned into the Charlemange later after I threw out 14 dice vs. his Majesty and critted it for damaged engines.
• The Agincourts performed as expected, and their damage mauled my Chevaliers, but poor dice meant they couldn't do much to my other stuff.  I believe he shot at the Escuyers a couple of times and just didn't get anywhere with their damage.  With his field orders being kill my mediums, this was extremely frustrating for him.  I made the mistake of spreading damage on his Agincourts when I should of just focused one down after another.  It was their torpedoes that did the most damage, but my focus on weakening their primaries kept their AP a threat as well.  I know I will be focus firing them down next game instead of spreading the love.
• As for the rest of his units, they all preformed as well as they're going to.  His Destroyers and Frigates did solid damage to my Chevaliers, but their performance vs. my Marseilles were very poor.  The Sea-Skimming made their torps very weak, and their main guns were unable to breach the Retardant Armor that my Marseilles had.  The fact that I flew over land in the later parts of the game kept torpedoes out of the question entirely.  Overall though, they did solid damage to my smaller ships but was unable to do anything to my bigger ships.

Reflection:

• I believe my activation order and firing priority was better than my opponent.  He got tunnel visioned into killing my bigger ships instead of focusing primaries at my mediums.  If he managed to kill 5 Destroyers and all my Cruisers, the game would of been his.  However, this was not the case and I'm sailing back to France with a Ruler BB in tow.