1250 Shaltari vs PHR

So. 1250 point game. The lists were as follows:

On the PHR Side:
https://goo.gl/photos/zmm98P3vcBT44mo29
https://goo.gl/photos/GjCuSaAqY5q4y8vr8
Battlegroup A: 13 SR
- Orpheus
- Ganymede
- 2x Medea
- Calypso

Battlegroup B: 18 SR
- Hector
- Theseus
- 2x Medea
- Calypso

Battlegroup C: 9 SR
- Ikarus
- 2x Andromeda
- 2x Europa

Battlegroup D: 7 SR
- Francis
- 2x Pandora

On the Shaltari side:
https://goo.gl/photos/mGQuWLSaurWVRdmr6
Battlegroup A: 15 SR
- Platinum w/ Star Shaman admiral

Battlegroup B: 17 SR
- Basalt
- 2x Turquoise
- 2x Voidgate

Battlegroup C: 6 SR
- 4x Topaz
- 2x Amethyst

Battlegroup D: 8 SR
- Emerald
- 3x Voidgate

Battlegroup E: 8 SR
- Emerald
- 3x Voidgate

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The mission: Forget the name, but it involved a bunch of sectors on and around the center line.
Deployment: column
Point level: 1250

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Turn 1: https://goo.gl/photos/Qh2vLnLohRR1w5xQ7
PHR moves in with battlegroups A and B. Two Medeas go for the far eastern Large cluster, two Medeas go for the near eastern Medium cluster. Orpheus, Hector, Ganymede, Theseus and Calypso max thrust up the middle towards the central cluster while the plate of cookies holds the west flank. Plate of cookies is overpowered. Nerf cookies.

Shaltari moves the How I Met Your... mothership with her voidgate escorts up the west flank while the Alatrist -- a Platinum class supercarrier -- moves onto the board with orders to course change. She moves up to position the enemy Hector heavy cruiser at exactly 2x the thrust range of her bombers and then does a 90 degree turn.

Voidgates and Medeas all descend an atmospheric layer. So does the How I Met Your...

All bombers are deployed against the Hector. They will attack next turn.
https://goo.gl/photos/bSBHUM4MEnw5mtsp7

Cookies continue to be overpowered.

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Turn 2: https://goo.gl/photos/L4ELr8FvBHjFFGQX9
Cards are flipped. 15 for the Shaltari player, 17 for the PHR. Shaltari chooses to go first, activating the Alatrist. The supercarrier immediately moves forward and drops from a major spike directly into Silent Running, denying the PHR fleet the opportunity to fire at her. The Hector and her escorts have nothing to fire at. PHR player is sad and max thrusts the Hector again to try to shake off the bombers and manages to get rid of 3 of them. He moves the battlegroup into position over the central Cluster, and then takes 7 bombers to the face. Hector is damaged. Shaltari player moves the Of Course I Still Love You and her Voidgate escorts in. The Of Course I Still Love you is positioned to have a shot on the Hector next turn if necessary.

PHR player max thrusts his Ikarus and her escorts onto the board and thus cannot use strike craft this turn.

Two Turquoise cruisers and one Basalt fleet carrier with their two voidgate escorts move onto the board and open up on the already wounded Hector. Despite the best efforts of the nearby Calypso, the Hector is crippled, reduced to 2 health, and suffers the critical effect, 'sensors offline.' PHR player is sad.

All dropships and voidgates descend an atmospheric level. Supercarrier cannot launch this turn. PHR begins landing troops on three different clusters. Shaltari begin landing on two. 4 Bomber flights are deployed against the Calypso but the Shaltari player flubs the roll and gets nothing.

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Turn 3: https://goo.gl/photos/BUypfrSi8wBhupT4A
Shaltari player again goes first. The Turquoises and the Basalt advance and open fire on one of the PHR cruiser size dropships with the bulk landers. Shaltari player decides not to raise shields. PHR player is frustrated by not having range to said targets with the majority of his fleet. Hector attempts to ram the Shaltari Basalt Fleet Carrier -- the Undesirable Alien -- and fails. Hector is destroyed. The remainder of the battlegroup tries to get into position but doesn't have much of a shot on anything. They manage to put a few points of damage on the Basalt. Shaltari frigates move in and open fire on the more dangerous of the two troopships. With them, the Of Course I Still Love You, and the Turquoise group all focus firing, they bring it down, cutting the PHR's ability to drop troops to the central cluster in half. They also wipe out one of the Calypsos. Shaltari player hates calypsos and wants them all to die.

Shaltari player begins deploying troops on the center and far-east clusters and teleports troops in from the west to the center. All 11 bombers are focused on the Orpheus. PHR responds by deploying all of his fighters to protect it. Bombers take the Orpheus from max health to 1 health remaining.

Also, this turn, Shaltari player scans the central cluster and reveals it as a critical location.

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Turn 4: https://goo.gl/photos/1kahSs56TMG55f5P8

The PHR fleet falls apart. They manage to take down three frigates and the Shaltari Basalt, but they lose almost everything else in turn. Shaltari player uses debris fields to shield his motherships while the rest of the fleet does battle. It's very, very bad. Between the Turquoise death-squad consisting of the 'So Much For Subtlety' and the 'Frank Exchange of Views' and the Platinum supercarrier, PHR ships drop like flies. At the end of the turn, the PHR has his Ikarus, a Calypso, four Medea, a Europa and a Pandora remaining. Victory points are tallied. Shaltari control the critical location. Central large cluster is contested. Shaltari controls western medium cluster and far-western large cluster. PHR controls eastern medium cluster and far-eastern large cluster, which Shaltari contests.

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Turn 5: https://goo.gl/photos/DH6UuQ197dggKVUV7

Shaltari does cleanup. PHR manages to finish off the Shaltari frigates, but in turn the PHR loses his Ikarus, Calypso, and Europa. Shaltari doesn't have arcs to hit the last ships. PHR medeas bombard the far-eastern cluster and destroy one of the sectors the Shaltari had controlled. They then seize the rest of the cluster. Troops continue to land. A pair of medeas leave the medium cluster they have firmly under control and move to the large cluster in the far east.

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Turn 6: https://goo.gl/photos/7jK4sNRrYvrTij9B9

Shaltari player kills the Pandora but is unable to scratch the Medeas. Shaltari player decisively loses the battle for the far-east large cluster but holds almost everything else. Shaltari holds two large clusters and a medium cluster plus a critical location.

Shaltari wins by a landslide.

Losses incurred by the PHR: https://goo.gl/photos/36HiUNBykiLvPtrG7
Losses incurred by the Shaltari: https://goo.gl/photos/sjR2eXehtJzLC3Yz6

So... what should the PHR player have done differently? Because he's a little frustrated by his performance in this game, and it isn't an isolated incident.

Nobody has any advice for the PHR player?

Currently there are no scenarios where you have to scan clusters. The scenario will sate which clusters (or space stations) are critical locations. You played Scenario 1 Take&Hold where all clusters are critical locations.

Also I would play with a bit more debris fields.

As the PH player I wouldn't ram with the Hector but instead would have gone weapons free. Also maybe it would have bee nbetter to bring in the carriers and troops ships first.

Max Trust in Turn 1 never turns out health, well not for me. I play PHR and normaly only use 10" ships only exeption is the troopships.

No commander? And i always have one BG of SR 3 or 4 with Pandoras or medeas, wich can do the double turn trick.

Sounds to me like the PHR player was way too aggressive and used Max Thrust a bit too much. I personally am not a fan of the PHR list (and Shaltari could probably use a 3rd Emerald by my preferences) but it looks like he just ran up and got shot. Shaltari played more cagey (love the silent running battleship) and focused on the task at hand rather than blind rushing. But thats after a quick read so grain of salt and all that...