We built up a shield nano fleet for a quick roam. We were mostly T1: Continuing our quest to get good at T1 before we start on the T2. I was piloting Scythe, whilst my logi buddy was in an specially fit Osprey: Cap stable with a great many reppers. I have to say, the Osprey fit was pretty good, lots of repping power. But I like Scythe for all its versatility. 2 logi with 5 dps seemed to be a decent gang, so we started out on the roam

FW systems are very hit and miss. Whenever we send someone in, the solo button pushers dock up. Too much risk vs reward there. However if you cause some bother in that area you soon get someones attention.

And this attention was quite large, and gives a good set of lessons in small gang logistics:

Get some range from the fight. We were sitting at the gate, but as soon as the decision was made to engage we started burning away from the fight. I was AB fit, but the distance became really important later.

Get an idea of composition. The opposing fleet had Griffins and Exequror as support, and a good set of Cruisers for Damage. We spotted 3 Exequrors on the initial decloak. We thought, rightly so, that we could use our DPS to alpha through the Exequror, whilst kiting, and pick them off over time. We were so wrong.

Be aware when the tactical situation changes. After the first 30 seconds of engagement, a further 2 Exequrors decloaked. This is bad news. The increase in Logi power meant we could do nothing to burn these guys down.

In a small gang, the Logistics call for the scatter. I cannot stress this enough. Our repping power was good, and for a minute or so we were keeping everyone up. Then the opposing fleet started calling primaries as opposed to spreading damage, and there was not a thing I could do to stop it. overheating all our 8 reppers was not preventing the first primary from falling, and with the removal of a good chunk of DPS we made the decision. I told the FC that we were ineffective, kept the repper on the last primary and turned and fled. The FC immediately said we should get out. This saved the bulk of the fleet.

Remember how i said i pulled range? Well, that range saved me, as the lone final Warp Scram dropped off after i overheated my AB to burn for warp. I had just enough range to get out.

We lost 2 ships out of 7. The opposing fleet lost nothing. After the fleet it as revealed that those griffins were very effective in jamming out our DPS. However only losing 2 in such an overwhelming kerbstomp was pretty good.

The fleet we faced was actually 2 fleets, and an almost Shakespearean betrayal later, and one part of the fleet was in pods, flying away. Our personal achievements are listed here: http://www.manson-family.com/relatedkills/816094/

We burned for home. Good lessons learned I think, and we will try again, tomorrow.

Sidebar: I've started to pop Reddit links to my blog posts, and a lot of the Reddit guys have come to have a look. Thanks for taking a read, I am open to feedback, and under no illusions that I am terrible! Feel free to drop any comments, questions, or good lessons as I hope it will help me in my Eve career.