One of the players in my Traveller game couldn't make it last week, so the rest of us played Starmada instead.  We had two who had never played, and two of us who had played before, so we formed teams of one newbie and one vet on each side.  My ally chose the Imperial fleet from ISS, while my opposing newbie chose a mix of human ships from H&C.  My vet opponent and I were both running custom fleets; I had recently upgraded my Battlefleet Eldar with cloaking and extra speed, and he's been tweaking a medium-range forward-firing Fleet With No Name.  A roll of the die brought us Hit and Run, and another roll put Tim and I on offense.  Tim's ship selection options were kind of sparse; we split the points of each side, so we each had 500 while our opponents each had 700.  He ended up with two light cruisers (The Swift Mongoose and the Heartbreaker) and two frigates (The Fiddlesticks and the "Ur Umm" - we concluded that he was playing the Crazy Empire, and the question was asked why I had chosen to ally with him), as well as a flight of independent fighters, while I was fielding two light cruisers (Sword and Spear of Khaine, modified Solarises; removed the fighters, upgraded the engines to 12, and added extra guns) and an upgunned Aconite frigate (Diving Falcon).  Our opponents fielded a mix of ships; Matt the New had a group of three frigates, a Dai-Ken Light Cruiser (I think), and a UES Heavy Cruiser (all named after Disney characters), while Alex fielded four light cruisers (Elysiums) and a battlecruiser (Avalon).

We rolled for terrain on Harrigan's campaign system's random terrain tables; 5 minefields of varying sizes.  We alternated placement, and ended up with a wide swath of the middle of the board thoroughly mined (we ruled that you couldn't put mines in the enemy's deployment zone, and nobody deigned to mine their own deployment zone).  This left a single channel on the north edge of the map between the two deployment zones unmined, and it was here that the fighting took place (though there was some speculation that I would run my cloaked ships through the minefields and flank, this didn't occur because the minefields weren't really protecting any objectives).

Both sides deployed; the Fleet With No Name in a line in front of the Nations of Earth, and the Crazy Empire on the north side of the channel in close formation and the Eldar in loose formation on the south side of the channel.

Turn 1:
This was our first time playing with plotted movement, so there was a bit of consternation and confusion here.  We considered implementing a time limit on plotting in later turns, but it wasn't necessary once we got the hang of it.  Both fleets advanced cautiously to about 18 hexes distance, but the Urr-Um overextended itself and was obliterated by the forward firepower of the Elysiums.  Tim's long-range missiles did minimal damage to the enemy.

Turn 2:
Both fleets rushed at each other, though the Eldar cloaked while doing so.  The range closed to six between the leading elements of both fleets, and close-range weapons were fired by all.  The Heartbreaker and the Fiddlesticks were obliterated by missile barrages, railguns, hadron guns (misread as hard-on guns...  sigh), and miscellaneous other weaponry, and the Swift Mongoose was nearly destroyed (1 hull at the end of shooting).  Tim rolled horribly for his shooting, but managed to destroy or cripple three of the Elysiums, scoring us 312 VP.  The almost complete destruction of the Crazy Fleet won the enemy around 300 VP.  The independent fighters failed to inflict any damage, but pulled a good amount of enemy fire and were not destroyed.  Tim thinks scenario is unwinnable for offense, and is greatly frustrated by his 5+ ACC weapons and shields 1 (compared to Alex's 3+ ACC plasma weapons and 3 shields).

Turn 3:
Enemy fleet closed for the kill on the Swift Mongoose, Eldar fleet decloaked behind their lines.  The Mongoose was destroyed, but managed to damage one of Matt's frigates and his light cruiser (but not enough for crippling to be probable).  Fire from the two Eldar cruisers crippled both of the ships Tim had damaged, as well as another of Matt's frigates, putting us just over 600 VP.  Fire from the Eldar frigate was wasted on the Avalon's 5 shield rating, and the rear guns of the UES heavy cruiser laid waste to one of the Solarises.  This, combined with the destruction of the Mongoose by its forward-facing guns, put the enemy at around 650 VP, scoring them a marginal victory (technically a draw, but they were ahead in VP, so slightly in their favor).  Tim concluded "Hey, you used me as bait!"  And I shrugged and said "Eldar."

Despite earlier consternation, Matt and Tim both enjoyed the game and have started building custom fleets in preparation for a summer campaign.  I finally fielded my Eldar with some success (in previous games, they've been annihilated utterly), and Alex concluded that he'd finally found a good fleet balance.  And so good times were had by all.

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Hammer of Justice, Captain's Log
057.011.M41

We recently received reports of an incursion of human-like xenos in the outer reaches of Segmentum Obscurus, and were dispatched to engage and eliminate them.  I was assigned a five-ship unit, comprised of the Dominator-class Hammer of Justice, the Lunar-class Agrippa, the Tyrant-class Incendrius, and two of the new Falchion-class escorts of the Cypra Mundi Patrol.  After some months hunting the xenos, we encountered them in the Dimmamar system.  They hailed me, and stated that they were "Peacekeepers", and that we much submit to their rule.  Their force consisted of four light cruisers and one truly massive dreadnought (hull 20 as opposed to our 8), larger than anything our Mechanicus have yet built.  Three of the light cruisers were of some sort of organic material, and clearly alien in origin, while the third was metallic and clearly well-armored.  I informed these "Peacekeepers" that they must perish for their invasion of human space, and battle lines were drawn. 

I placed the two Falchions on my port side, and the Incendrius and the Agrippa on my starboard.  Their array was symmetric, with the three organic cruisers in a line in front, then the metallic one behind them, and the leviathan still further back.  I ordered the Falchions forward to test the enemy's range while the cruisers advanced more cautiously and the Hammer of Justice hung back to rain fire upon the enemy with its nova cannon.  The enemy cruisers advanced at a speed similar to the Falchions and opened fire on them; one of the Falchions was soon crippled, as the armament of the cruisers was superior both in range and strength.  It was here that we discovered the frightening range of the dreadnought, as it aided in the destruction of the Falchions.  Its weapons were set in broad turrets with only slightly shorter range that our own nova cannon, though mercifully less powerful.  Also of note was the poor quality of the shooting by the Falchions; I do not know if their crews were poorly trained or their auspex misaligned, but of all the firing they did, only one torpedo struck an enemy ship.  The Agrippa and the Incendrius shortly engaged the enemy cruisers, and obliterated two of the organics with a combined volley of torpedo and battery fire.  The Hammer continued to hang back, bombarding the leviathan relentlessly, though to little effect.  It was not that the nova cannon was not striking it, but that the sheer volume of the target prevented it from inflicting serious damage. 

Then, the enemy armored cruiser engaged the Agrippa and the Incendrius while the remaining Falchion fought the remaining organic.  The armor of the cruiser was the equal of our own, and turned many of our shots aside, while its own weapons, some sort of repeating Gatling energy weapon, caused significant damage to the armor of the Incendrius.  Sensing an opportunity, I ordered the nova cannon fired on both the organic and the armored cruiser, as they were in close proximity, and succeeded in damaging them both. 

As the second Falchion was destroyed, our situation grew increasingly desperate, and the captains of the Agrippa and the Incendrius attempted a forlorn hope against the dreadnought.  They succeeded in inflicting significant damage to both the leviathan and the armored cruiser, disabling the main weapons of both, but both cruisers were disabled in the attempt, left with a handful of guns between them, as we realized that the leviathan's close-range weapons were even more fierce than its long-range ones.  Meanwhile, realizing that the Hammer was the only remaining credible threat, the last organic cruiser attempted to close the range and engage it with its sole remaining weapon (a torpedo launcher of some sort), but was destroyed by the nova cannon. 

The Agrippa and Incendrius were subsequently destroyed wholesale by the combined close-range firepower of the two remaining enemy ships.  I was bewildered by the array of weaponry that they brought to bear; I observed no less than two types of torpedo, two varieties of explosive shells, and three types of energy weapons.  At this point, I began a retreat, hoping to bring news of this grave threat to Imperial sovereignty and return with reinforcements.  In doing so, it became clear that both remaining ships were much slower than the Hammer (whether naturally or through damage to their engines I do not know), and I was able, through a protracted guerrilla strategy, to destroy both vessels by maintaining the range and firing the nova cannon.  While I understand that this Pyrrhic victory is likely to cost me my command, I go happily knowing that I have done my duty to the Emperor by bringing his wrath to the Xenos.