Battlefleet Gothic tactics question, Dealing with nova cannons

[Barrakus]

Ok, my local gaming group has just seen a major return to BFG. We now have at least 6 large fleets tooling around and are beginning to incorporate these battles into our campaigns. My problem comes from one imperial fleet in particular, this person takes a large number or nova cannons and to be honest, is tearing through my chaos fleet like a 'nid through a day care center. I know that when I close in, my fleet ship for ship is easily a match for anything the imps have but those first 2 turns under the nova cannon fire I seem to loose at least one ship outright and suffer crippling damage to at least one or two others before I can even begin to shoot back.

So far I'm hoping to make better use of my escorts to try and draw this fire in the beginning and I am beginning to spread my battle groups out more to (hopefully) reduce the amount of concentrated fire, but I'm not so sure if these actions will be enough.

My question is to any old chaos fleet veterans out there, how did you deal with nova cannons? any tips or tricks you can reccomend? any imput will be appreciated.

[hushrong]

I have no idea how I missed this over the past few months. Awhile back my group got into BFG. It's really me and one other fellow as our group is concentrating more on other games. Everyone else knows what fleet they want...just no purchases have been made .

Anyways, I got a Chaos fleet and my buddy has IN. As for the cannon...bum-rush it!!! If you sit back and engage his fleet at a distance his nova will get more chances to wreak havoc on your ships without being threatened. The last game I can remember, I would close with his fleet, which threatened his own ships with friendly fire, where I would then try to bring down his ships piecemeal.

Fortunately the chance of the nova cannon missing and deviating has saved me many times.

It has been several months since you original post...did you come up with any good tactics in that time?

[blackcell8]

One advantage Chaos has over the Imperium is range. But, the Nova Cannon fights against that. The main thing to remember is Nova Cannons are always Prow weapons. Charge down its flanks, split your fleet, it's got to pick one group or the other, leaving the other ships to pick away at it.

[hushrong]

Yeah, the nova cannon has to be facing its intended target which in my case it always has the opportunity to do so. My opponent usually sits it far back so it can attempt to fire for several turns as my fleet closes with his.

I am personally against splitting up a fleet. I think it depends on game sizes, as I've only played BFG at the 1000pt level, but doing so kind of cuts down the strength of your entire fleet. With this, all your opponent has to do is keep his fleet together and concentrate on yours piecemeal. The IN will throw torpedoes, ordinance, and will be firing that NC every turn.

If they manage to severely cripple or destroy a segment of your fleet...the remaining half will be left with a lot of work to do.

[blackcell8]

It depends. The problem with facing Imperials is that they can always fire something at you. Be it broadsides or prow Torpedoes/Nova Cannon. One thing to consider is that the Nova Cannon is the longest ranged weapon they have, then it's your weapons, and then the rest of their fleet. There is a kind of 'sweet spot' range where you can hit him, but he can't hit you, barring the Nova Cannon. The trick is keeping at that range, because his ships will be trying to close that gap. This means the Nova Cannon will be cut off from the rest of the fleet. If I remember correctly, the Nova Cannon can't fire if it goes on Special Orders? If that's the case, do everything you can to flank it, even if you shoot something else, make the ship have to Burn Retros or Come To New Heading.

[hushrong]

I have to read about the nova cannon's rules again. We are playing with the 2010 FAQ, so that thing isn't as dangerous as it was. It does suck when it deviates and hits an unintended target. When it does fire, I think it requires a reload order if you want to use it in the next turn. I could be wrong.

You're right, there is the range advantage too. Most of their guns are 30 while most Chaos ships have 45. Perhaps it's me trying to be aggressive or just trying to get that left column shift on the gunnery table as to why I close in and just try to gun them down in my turn.

The other thing to consider is that IN have strong front armor. It's best to get your front & left/right weapons aimed at their port or starboard, use your lock on order, and fire everything. I loved it when I had a carnage exchange fire with these conditions (and getting the left column shift for its distance) and taking down an enemy cruiser in a single salvo.


*This is also making me wonder what it will be like to square off with other fleets.

[blackcell8]

Yeah, Imperium ships are nasty when they're closing. 6+ armour, torpedoes and the Nova Cannon.

That said, all my advice has been theory. I've got a 4000 point Death Guard Fleet, all capital ships, Mark of Nurgle, Death Guard crew. It means every single ship is 70 points more expensive then they need to be. More for fluff reasons than anything practical. Though it does mean I have an advantage with boarding (can't be boarded myself, Marine crew makes me better at it), so I charge straight in. Big mistake, but I can't help it!

[hushrong]

Yeah, closing in and hitting the sides of the imperium dogs is the way to go when it comes to using the big guns. Use batteries first and try to knock out those shields and then use lances. that 6 frontal armor is just a mess to deal with but thank goodness for lock-on orders.

The host of my ships I have, Night Lords and soon to be some Iron Warriors, comes up to around 1500 points. Adding marines to your crew is great for fluff and does add bonuses to your ship. I like how they add +1 to the LD, so rolling for reloads and such are a breeze. I may look into the black crusade fleet to make my fleet more fluffy, the only concern is since a lot of points get invested into one ship, like you stated, you will start to find yourself more and more outnumbered.