Kourmonen: Faction War, Reborn

I logged into EVE this afternoon to find the system of Kourmonen burning in a fire. The Amarr, who for some reason have been pushing at the system for over a week now, came out in full force to attempt a full take over. When I joined fleet, we were only a few plexes away from losing the system, and leadership was asking everyone to prod corpmates in order to provide additional numbers to help defend the system. 

The Amarr brought considerable force to the table. At one point, I caught a massive fleet of Harbingers, Hurricanes and Guardians on scan with Amarrian numbers in local reaching 50-60+. At one point, the activity and movement of the Faction War fleets caused the low-sec system to go into Time Dilation for a brief period. 

With the Minmatar facing heavy losses, (and many from dayfleet not basing in the area) the need for fit ships became an increasing concern. At one point, the Minmatar were forced to carrier drop supplies onto the front lines.

Also, in an unparalleled call for numbers, Annah Kitheran opened fleet to general militia, openly accepting new and old pilots --experienced and inexperienced--for the defense of the warzone. Many only had to pod to the warzone, and accept a cheaply fit destroyer that was offered to them at sub-market prices. At several points between fighting, more experienced militia members explained plexes, and other Faction War mechanics to some of the newer pilots.

As the Minmatar numbers increased, (putting massive amount of DPS on the field) and FC Annah Kitheran began to reach a higher level of exhaustion, the decision was made to stop calling primaries. Instead, we were ordered to sort our overviews by distance, and shoot anything close to us after taking out any nearby ECM. 

During the first battle where we experimented with this strategy, voice coms were eerily quiet. However, the strategy had huge results as the hostiles began to vaporize under the dps of 50+ guns-free destroyers. Several Minor plexes were taken using this method, and the Minmatar began to take back a strong foothold in the system.

Conceding most of the Major plexes, where the Amarr were setting up massive BC and logistics fleets with significant ECM support, the Minmatar focused on Standard and Minor plexes --quickly reshipping between cruisers and destroyers as necessary.

Meanwhile, during the course of the hot fighting in Kourmonen, a single Minmatar pilot (Machiavelli's Nemesis) was slowly plexing down the system of Labapi 3 jumps away. The pilot, once reaching the point where one more plex would set the system vulnerable, held off until our position in Kourmonen was secured.

After solidifying our position in Kourmonen, the pilot was ordered to plex Labapi to vulnerable, and Annah Kitheran, who at this point had been FCing for 11+ hours straight, leroyed the 60-70 man destroyer fleet to the Control Bunker, melting it in a relatively short period of time. (And, leaving the Amarr with a mere 12 systems in their control.)

The system of Kourmonen, at one point, reached the status of the most dangerous system in EVE - with four times as many ships destroyed than any other system in EVE during one three-hour period. Kills for the day within Kourmonen  easily reached well over 800, according to Dotlan Maps.

Battlereport One (Late Night Alliance)

Battlereport Two (Amarr Board)

Battlereport Three (Iron Oxide.)

Battlereport Four (Iron Oxide.)