First Blood. Dilgar v Earth Alliance. An A Call To Arms Battle Report

The Dilgar war was the first major interstellar conflict that the Earth Alliance became involved in. Joining after years of conflict the petitions to the Earth Alliance had been tinged with desperation. none of the other major races, the Narn, Centauri and Minbari, had any interest in becoming involved, and Earthforce was untested in a major battle. The Earth Alliance had been preparing for this war though with a massive military expansion program, and in 2231 it would put to good use.

Our campaign is on a slight hiatus due to changing weather and the availability of some miniatures for the Pak'ma'ra so we instead opted to play an Early earth versus Dilgar matchup. Its a simple affair, 5 Battle points, random terrain, most VP's wins

Dilgar Imperium

The Dilgar fleet being controlled by Ginge uses a lot of the ships from 'The Dilgar War' by Charles Lister. They are similar to a lot of the offical ships from the fleets book but have a few weapon swaps making them less multi role than the ships you may be used to. 

The core striking power is the Tikrit Gra Heavy gunship and the 2 supporting Tratharti gunships. They mount an obscene amount of forward firepower in the form of their Heavy bolters and are quite fast i addition. To compensate for these positives they are quite fragile having almost no defensive technology at all.
A pair of Garasoch heavy carriers will provide the bulk of the fighter complement with all the carried fighters being the Thorun Torpedo-fighter variants.
To round out the fleet there are 4 Ochlavita Tae missile destroyers, 4 Jashakar Tae Torpedo ships and 4 of the Jashakar Vi Scout ships. The Ochlavitas are designed to lob missiles at mid to long range and have double the number of missile shots you would expect from an Ochlavita at the expense of practically all the secondary weapons a standard destroyer will carry.

1x Tikrit Gra Heavy Gunship
2x Tratharti Gunship
2x Garasoch Heavy Carrier
4x Ochlavita Tae Missile Destroyer
4x Jashakar Tae Torpedo ship
4x Jashakar Vi Scout Ship

Earth Alliance

I recently reviewed the Early Earth Alliance fleet and this week I am taking them into battle against the Dilgar. I will be using the In service dates for this game and that imposes a few additional limitations on my selections. Of particular note I will not be able to field Aurora Starfurys, instead having to use the Nova and Tiger, and the Avenger and Command Hyperion will likewise be unavailable. There is still plenty of choice to be had though. The core of the fleet is the Orestes Battleship (essentially a worse in every way Omega) and 4 Nova Dreadnoughts. The Nova Dreadnoughts in particular are spectacularly powerful when used in groups and I was planning on ramming all of them straight into the heart of the opposing fleet.
The rest of the fleet is intended as support. The Tethys and Hermes will act as initiative sinks and possibly even as decoys and their missiles should allow them to stay at a reasonable range and away from the worst of the enemy fire. I picked the Hyperion because the 18" range on the laser cannon lets it hit the Dilgar ships before they get into heavy bolter range and it is quite agile as well. The Artemis escort frigate was picked because I wasn't able to bring any fleet carriers and I wanted to have some defense agaisnt massed fighter attacks. The Olympus corvettes are always a strong pick with a flexible armament and the Oracle is a great ship to support Novas potentially giving them re-rolls to hit with their powerful weapons.

1x Orestes-class Battleship
4x Nova-class Dreadnought
1x Hyperion-class Heavy Cruiser
2x Olympus-class Corvette
1x Artemis-class Escort Frigate
1x Oracle-class scout cruiser
4x Tethys-class Missile Cutter
2x Hermes-class Transport

Deployment

The Dilgar lost the roll to deploy. the Earth Alliance scored an 11, and the Dilgar a 7. Forgetting that having more scouts provides a re-roll, the Dilgar deployed their force with the missile ships at the Rear and the larger strike ships ready to move forwards at speed. 

The two sides form up for battle

The Earth Alliance counter deployed and put the 2 central dust clouds between the 2 forces. It wouldn't hinder movement but it would allow the Earth Alliance to close. The Dilgar certainly had the edge when it came to longer ranged firepower but if the Novas could get into the middle of the board then they would have a very happy game.

Turn 1

The range between the Dilgar and Earth Alliance fleets was dropping steadily. They had easily detected each other and neither side was making any significant efforts at masking their intentions. Ugly Earth ships bristling with weapons formed up into formation with fighters keeping formation with them. Smaller ships raced off towards the large gas giant as the lumbering Human Dreadnoughts pointed themselves at the heart of the Dilgar force.

The Earth Alliance is careful to keep the dust cloud between the two forces

The Dilgar reacted, splitting their force into 2 distinct components. The first comprising their most potent warships raced ahead attempting to outflank the Earthforce formation, whilst their missile destroyers fired their thrusters to slow themselves and keep the range open. The much faster Dilgar fighters streamed out of the twin carriers that were present heavily laden with anti-ship torpedoes. The two forces were still out of weapons range, 

Dilgar 0 - 0 Earth Alliance

Turn 2

Dilgar Gunships continued to round the large dust cloud at high speed. The cloud provided some cover with the large density of  particles scattering radar pulses and preventing targeting computers from locking on.

First blood to the Dilgar

Several squadrons of Dilgar torpedo fighters raced through the dust cloud as the lumbering Human ships maneuvered. Their guided weapons homed in on one of the Olympus class corvettes. The corvette's interceptors stopped the majority of the torpedoes but several impacted on the ship, doing minor damage.

The second corvette emerged from behind the cover of the dust cloud into the full view of the squadron of Ochlavita Tae missile destroyers. They opened fire at the ship, their weapons receiving guidance from a nearby Jashakar Vi. The sheer volume of shots overwhelmed the corvettes defences. Dozens of missiles slammed into the ship knocking systems offline. Quick actions from damage control teams prevented a cascade failure of the ships subsystems, instead the ship lost all power, drifting slowly.

Thorun Torpedo fighters dodged and weaved as they came under intense fire. the entire Earth Alliance fleet opened up on them smashing many of them, and forcing others to return to their carriers

Dilgar 3 - 0 Earth Alliance

Turn 3

The crews of the Earth Alliance Nova dreadnoughts were pressed hard into their seats as the thrust from the engines of the four ships increased. They reached maximum military power and then passed it and the ships seemed to surge ahead. 

Nova Dreadnoughts surge forwards

Dilgar officers and crew sat upright in their seats as their sensors registered the human ships had locked on to them. The Dilgar gunships strained to come about, the sudden surge of speed meant that they had moved outside of the arcs of fire of their primary armament. Only a single ship was now presented as a target to the Tikrit, The Orestes. Dilgar ships opened fire on the lumbering human ship, weapons impacted on the ships hull as the Orestes' interceptors were overwhelmed and started a system reset. The fire was intense and savagely damaged the Orestes but not enough to prevent the ship from firing its main armament into an unlucky Garasoch.

The Dilgar flanking force is almost caught out of position

The Dilgar carrier found itself the focus of massive amounts of the human fire as not only the Orestes but 4 Nova dreadnoughts had achieved their weapons locks. The cascade of fire into the Garasoch was relentless. The ships hull was pounded into molten slag and the shots then penetrated the ships vitals. Escape pods poured out of the ship with fires raging uncontrollably. Fire from the rear batteries of the Novas also slammed into one of the Tratharti gunships. The heavy fire tore through the ship as if it were tissue paper, Starfuy's added to the maelstrom leaving it crippled and only just operational. The Novas forward guns also had a target and one of the Jashakars was disabled in a deluge of fire. A second Jashakar was eviscerated as the Hyperions medium laser cannon sliced through the ships hull as if it wasn't there, completely gutting the ships internal systems

Heavy fire is exchanged

The fire into the Orestes continued as a Tratharti and the second Garasoch poured fire into it. miraculously the ship survived but damage to it was severe. The fire continued unabated and one of the Tethys-class laser cutters was wrecked. 

Dilgar 8 - 11 Earth Alliance

Turn 4

The Nova Dreadnoughts continued to pile of the velocity and emerged from the dust cloud right into the centre of the Dilgar fleet. The Dilgar gunships had overshot the Human ships due to their unexpected burst of speed and desperately tried to come about but the strain they had already put on their engines and thrusters and they were left trailing. their only target was the severely damaged Orestes Battleship which shrugged off the impacts from debris as the Garasoch that had been the focus of so much fire exploded. The ship then came under concentrated fire and was disabled shortly after its laser cannon had cut one of the Jashakars into pieces.

Nova dreadnoughts continue at speed leaving the Dilgar gunships in their wake to finish the Orestes

Fire from the Dilgar ships pounded into the earth fighters as they finished off the crippled Tratharti and dogfights were swirling all around the two fleets. the Artemis Escort frigate lending its support but it was obvious the Dilgar fighters were getting the upper hand.

Fighters overwhelm a Tratharti

And then the battle was decided. The Nova dreadnoughts opened fire. The Hyperion and the Hermes lent their fire to the Novas but it was the 4 dreadnoughts that made themselves known.
Their rapid velocity had placed them in the center of the Dilgar force and they fired in all directions. It was hard to register what was happening in such a short amount of time. One by one the Dilgar ships were targeted and quickly destroyed. A Jashakar, then another one, then an Ochlavita, then another ship, and another, and another. The Dreadnoughts tore through the Dilgar fleet and in quick succession 4 Jashakars were destroyed, and 3 of the Ochlavitas, one of which detonated spectacularly as its missile magazines were pierced. A few missiles were launched by the Ochlavitas before they met their fate and impacted on one of the Novas, hull fragments span away but little real damage had been done.

Nova Dreadnoughts deliver a hammer blow to the Dilgar fleet

With the light Dilgar ships dealt with, the Novas turned in formation to face the surviving Dilgar gunships.

The Battle was over, the Slaughter began

Dilgar concede

Dilgar 15 - 33 Earth Alliance

Conclusion.

Both the Earth Alliance and the Dilgar have impressively armed ships. The Dilgar edge have the edge in firepower against a single target, by a large margin, second only to the Centauri but this is balanced out by the relative lack of defensive traits. Dilgar ships are a lot flimsier than they appear.
This proved decisive as the Earth Alliance was able to plough straight into the Dilgar fleet and that left my Novas in their ideal location. Surrounded by the enemy. The Dilgar had me right where I wanted them.
We could have continued but it was clear that the Earth Alliance was in a dominating position. The key moments were the Olympus 'accidentally' finding itself in the open and easily within missile range of the Ochlavitas if they moved a little bit and the Novas using All power to engines for 2 consecutive turns. Novas don't really need to turn, and can be quite slow but the extra move combined with the forced move of the Ochlavitas on turn 2 put them right where I wanted them
This also let them outmaneuver the Dilgar gunships that were left out of position. I misjudged how quickly the Dilgar would be able to turn and that cost me the Orestes, but everything else was according to plan.
losing the fighter battle was a little rough, but I was using In service dates for my ships which limited my ship selection.

So yes, Nova-class dreadnoughts are amazing

What would you have done differently? 
Which fleet do you prefer, Earth Alliance or Dilgar? let me know

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thanks for reading, and I will see you next time.

Miniature STL's by Tyrel Lohr and Badqueencreations
Miniatures painted by me and ginge
Photography by me.
Thanks to Ginge for being a great opponent as always