Stealing the Relentless, Part 1

Last we saw the Imperial Battleship "Relentless", she was heavily damaged in action.  http://govgensectorsix.blogspot.com/2013/02/going-on-offensive.html 
She was barely able to jump clear and is presently laid up at a neutral station undergoing essential repairs. Once she is spaceworthy, the Relentless will be escorted back to Lugo (the major Imperial Base in the Sector Six frontier).

The Governor General (well, more like his "advisors") see this as an opportunity to gain a capital ship for their small navy.  A daring plan is made to capture the Relentless as it sits in dock.

Part 1 is the Naval action to drive off the Imperial Escort Squadron and insert the boarding party.
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The Relentless and her escorts are in orbit over Catilla at the K'tusk Free Trader Station.  According to the Governor General's intelligence sources, the Relentless is powered down but immediate repairs are almost finished.
The Imperial escort squadron consists of:
CA Sulla (and the 4352nd Fighter Sqn onboard)
FFG Auerilia
FFG Hera

The Colores attackers consists of:
CA Phalanx (with the 4th Fighter Squadron)
CA Companion (with the 7th Fighter Squadron)
CA DuGuesclin (with the 1st Assault Boat Squadron)

The 3 KC cruisers jump in at a conservative distance. The Imperial units have time to form up and meet them significantly outbound from the station, but just before the ships reach weapons range, the DuGuesclin inexplicably jumps away.
To take advantage of the sudden mis-match the Imperial units accelerate and engage in a furious exchange of fire.
A missile barrage inbound on the Companion

She is heavily damaged and the Imperial Frigate Hera is destroyed

The KC plan is revealed when the DuGuesclin jumps back into the action, just behind the station.  The escorts have been drawn away and the Assault Boats with the boarding party are launched with a clear path.

The Imperial commander orders the Auerilia to leave the battle and proceed at best speed to Lugo Naval Base for reinforcements. The Sulla protects the jump and is destroyed.

Will the Boarding Party be able to take the Relentless?
Will the Kingdom of Colores be able to get the Relentless under way BEFORE the Imperial Navy returns?
If not, can the KC's win against a major Imperial Fleet?

Stay Tuned!!!

Hexing the Mat

Sooooooooooo.... I am addicted to hexed/gridded playing surfaces.  It speeds up gaming so much over measuring that I don't want to ever go back.  I figured I'd do a post about how I create a hexmap.

To play Star Navy, I broke out the Battleship Galaxies board and quickly ran into the issue that just because the base of a ship fits into the 1" hex, doesn't mean the ship fits into the hex.  Things begin to look jumbled and messy very quickly.

For my ground games, played in 28mm, 6" hexes work quite well, but for space/air/flying games there are not enough hexes on the table for maneuvering.  I found some red Solo cups at about 3" that split the difference. I already had the dark blue vinyl mat and I bought a set of $2 oil pastels to get a white marker.

March of the Red Menace

With an officer to maintain order

After about 2 hours, I finished a 7'x4'6" surface. The only drawback is that the oil pastel will smear.  It's not so delicate that touching it will cause a problem, but I am worried about rolling it up for storage.

Lastly, some beauty shots featuring my Ravenstar Cold Navy ships...