The Imperial fleet loses a significant number of escort ships as it approaches the Tombship.

“There is nothing better that a man can do than lay down his life in the service of the Emperor.”—Inscription at the top of the Gothic Monolith in the Chamber of Heroes

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Continued from Part 1 . . .

Turn Three

Seeing the Tombship trail behind the rest of the xeno fleet sends a thrill of excitement through Zyphros. If he can strike at this battleship-class warship with his entire fleet, he could turn the tide of battle in his favor.

Once again, he orders “All Ahead Full!” Alas, not every squadron in the fleet responds, and he watches with frustration as one cruiser squadron falls behind. Still, the majority of his cruisers will soon be in weapons range, and the rest of the xeno fleet is too far away and moving too quickly to turn and assist the isolated xeno flagship.

Only one ship, the Doombearer, a Dominator-class cruiser, has a weapon that can reach out to this tantalizing target. It fires its prow nova cannon but fails to strike home.

There is little the Necrons can do to help their flagship. The larger Harvest Ships desperately brake their velocity, but they are poorly positioned to turn around. Instead, all they can manage is to turn slightly to port in hopes that some Imperial ships will come into range next turn of their flank weapons batteries.

The Tombship, however, has plenty of targets in range. It targets a squadron of Firestorm-class frigates that lead the Imperial fleet and opens fire with every weapon it can bring to bear.

The Necron vessel’s Star Pulse Generator engulfs two frigates, as well as two nearby Cobra-class destroyers and turns them into lifeless hulks. The ship’s Lightning Arcs take out two more frigates. Sixty percent of these leading escorts are lost in a blink of an eye.

The Imperial fleet maneuvers to stay on the Tombship’s tail, ignoring the Necron Raiders advancing on the Imperial rear.

Turn Four

As the full power of the Tombship is displayed, Imperial leaders are dismayed but undaunted. Some ships of the Imperial fleet finally come into long range of the large xeno craft and open fire.

Some hits are noted, but the most important weapons fire doesn’t even target the Tomb Ship. Zyphros sees an opportunity. He orders all ships to fire their torpedoes—not at the powerful vessel but thousands of kilometers in front of its anticipated course.

His goal: The Tombship will be forced to either plunge directly into the path of the torpedoes if it hopes to rejoin the xeno fleet, or it will be forced to turn away to avoid the torpedoes, and the Imperial fleet will have the ship even more isolated from friendly support.

As the Imperial fleet concentrates its firepower on the Tombship, a dozen Necron Raiders begin their attack on the rear of the fleet. Saving the day is the arrival of two squadrons of destroyers and frigates that maneuvered around the other asteroid field. The ships quickly engage the xenos and distract them from their attack on the main fleet.

The Necron fleet is utterly disorganized. Its escorts are far ahead, racing to sweep around the asteroid field and come up behind the Imperial fleet. The cruiser-class warships are falling behind, and yet they are poorly positioned to maneuver in support of their flagship.

The xenos do their best. The escort ships decide to pounce on the Imperials, and they make a hard turn around the asteroid field and come up behind the Doombearer. The Dominator-class cruiser takes 13 hits, two of which are absorbed by the ship’s shields, but the rest strike home.

The Imperial cruiser lights up with explosions that erupt in its amidships and stern. Xeno sensors reveal a severe power loss aboard the ship and a loss of acceleration. The xenos know they’ve done damage, but they are as yet unaware that the Doombearer is crippled with hull damage and a partially disabled propulsion system.

The Necron cruisers slow their velocity, turning to bring their port weapons to bear. They are too close to the asteroid field to turn back, but perhaps the Tombship can catch up with the rest of the fleet, and they can all turn their weapons to bear.

Unwilling to face off against the Imperial fleet alone, the Tombship opts to accelerate and brave the cloud of Imperial torpedoes in its path. It proves the correct call: The ship’s destroy two torpedoes, and only two torpedoes manage to penetrate the flagship’s hull.

The xeno flagship remains combat effective.

Five cruisers, two light cruisers, and four escort ships maneuver behind the Tombship and launch an immense bombardment that threatens the giant Necron vessel with destruction.

Turn Five

The Imperial fleet finally closes with the Tombship. The Doombearer‘s prow lance fires and scores a hit, and every cruiser slightly turns to port and targets the rear of the enemy vessel. Weapons platforms fire broadsides that pound into the xeno ship, which takes seven damage from the onslaught.

More damage is wrought by another wave of torpedoes fired by the diminished squadron of Cobra destroyers.

Yet that’s not the worst of it. One strike does critical damage. The ship’s thrusters are hit, reducing the xeno vessel to half speed. It won’t be able to stay ahead of the Imperial fleet and is in grave danger of being destroyed.

The Imperial fleet is in danger with the Necron escorts to its rear, but salvation arrives in the form of the two squadrons that have finally completed their wide swing around the other asteroid field. The squadrons close on the xenos and open fire, only to find to their horror that the xenos dodge and roll and avoid the worst of their fire. Only one Dirge-class Raider is destroyed.

Meanwhile, an enraged Tohan realizes his powerful and ancient warship is in grave danger. Given its value and the challenges of replacing its loss, he orders the use of arcane technology to “phase out” of the battlefield and save himself and his ship.

With their flagship gone, the other Necron capital ships change tactics. Before they leave the battlefield, they move directly toward the now-largely-undefended naval base. They accelerate, even as they engage in evasive maneuvers to avoid the Imperial fire that is behind them.

One of the Harvest Ships, however, manages a quick shot at an overly aggressive Imperial light cruiser. Only one shot strikes home, but it is a good one: It hits the ship’s bridge, killing much of its command staff and leaving the vessel momentarily leaderless.

Meanwhile, the Necron escort ships are forced to call off their attack on the Imperial fleet’s rear and deal with the sizable Imperial escorts firing at them. Their advanced weapons target the squadron of frigates, and all but one are destroyed.

Click here to read the conclusion of this battle.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.