Second Battle: Deployments

 A second battle takes place at the approaches to a Kzinti Battle Station on the Lyran Border, as the Kzinti Duke's Fleet engages half of the Lyran Red Claw forces.This time the photos are taken from behind the attacking Lyran ships, and I even managed to get some of it played in daylight. Not bad for winter here.

Above is a photo of the left wing of the Lyran deployment: two Heavy Destroyers, then a Heavy Cruiser, and then two Light Cruisers. Some of the counters aren't quite right, but they are close enough for me to be able to keep track.

Moving into the centre of their force, the Lyrans have another Heavy Cruiser, a Heavy Frigate, and a Battle Tug with a Scout Destroyer in close support. The sunlight is causing some trouble, but I hope you get the gist anyway.

The right wing of the Lyran fleet comprises a Command Cruiser and a War Cruiser Squadron. Overall, the Lyrans are powerful as individual ships, but the Kzinti are good on the defence with their drone missiles and fighters.

The right wing of the Kzinti fleet is composed of a couple of Frigate-class ships, a powerful Strike Carrier group with twelve fighters deployed in front, and a Light Cruiser.

Their centre has a Dreadnought with a Scout Frigate in support and an FFK Frigate Leader a bit further back. They also have a smaller CVE Escort Carrier with accompanying Escort Frigate here; you can just about make them out at the top right of the photo with their six fighters set up in advance.

Their left is held by a powerful cruiser squadron: two Battlecruisers and a Command Cruiser.

This is the second of my test fights to see how my fast-play fleet rules work. The first battle saw losses almost entirely amongst the lighter ships because they are the ones who tend to get into battle first, usually being faster. In order to even out the fight a bit more, I have staggered the deployments. Basically, the slowest and heaviest ships tend to warp in first in case there are any surprises, followed by everyone else. The idea is that the ships even out as the battle progresses, with variations of course. It remains to be seen how this works in practice.





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