Monday, September 23, 2013

BatRep: 800pt KoB vs PE (Experimentals!)


Admiral Von Shtupp looked around the bridge of his command.  Everyone was at their station, working hard (or at least appearing to be).  Rumor had it that the British were up to something and Von Shtupp’s mission was to investigate.

At least they’ve given me a new toy to play with, thought the Admiral.

Included for the first time in his fleet was one of the dreaded, upgraded Metzger B.  While Von Shtupp was curious to see what it was really capable of, the presence of anyone with Teutonic order always made everyone uncomfortable…

“Admiral!  Ships on the horizon!”

“Is it the British?”

“Yes Sir!”

“Message to the fleet – Battle Stations.  Please make sure the Knights have been informed.  Let’s see what their robots can do…”



The title might be a bit of a misleader – The fleets are “experimental” because both fleets were using new vessels we hadn’t used before.  In the case of the British, they were using both the Hood Battle Cruisers and the new Vanguard MkII submarines.  The Prussians were using the update Metzger Ausf B Robots for the first time.

 

Deployment:
For the Prussian Empire (PE) (Top to Bottom)

3 X Frigates
2 X Cruisers
Metzger B
4 X Frigates with a Battleship (Using a Tesla Generator in the rear turret location)
2 Flights of Fighters
Carrier with a Squadron of Torpedo Bombers deployed
3 X Frigate

 

For the Kingdom of Britannia (KoB) (Top to Bottom)

3 X Frigates with a Vanguard MkII Sub
Battleship hiding behind the island
Vanguard MkII sub
3 X Frigates with Wing of Fighters
2 X Hood Battle Cruisers to the back edge
4 X Frigates with Wing of Fighters

 

After deployment, we both elected to just go for the 70% of the Fleet values.  (560 points)

(Actually, we forgot until after turn 1 and ended up there as a default!  Oops!)

 


Turn 1
British won initiative for the first turn.

The British started things off moving Frigates forward on the Right of the map.  The Prussians were quite happy to move their Frigates opposite forward at maximum speed and sank a British Frigate!  First Blood to the Prussians!  The British squadron passed their Break test.

 
The British sub on the left side of the islands moved forward, submerged.  Torpedoes were launched but no damage was caused to the Prussian Frigate opposite of the sub.  One of the Prussian Fighter wings moved forward at ½ speed.  The second British Sub moved forward on the other side of the island, also submerged, firing torpedoes at the Prussian Robot.  Sadly, the torpedoes again failed to damage.  The Prussian Torpedo Bombers moved forward at maximum speed (5 fuel left), while a wing of British fighters advanced at ½ speed.  Finally, the Prussian Cruisers moved forward from behind the island and managed to sink a Frigate with a long-ranged shot.  The Prussians are ahead 2 Frigates to nothing!
 

British Frigates in the center advanced, then turned to the left, exposing all turrets to the Prussian Cruisers.  Linking fire, the Frigates succeeded in damaging one of the Cruisers!
 

The Prussians got a little greedy.  The Frigates in the center sallied forward to attack the British Frigates that had damaged the Cruiser.  The Prussian Frigates split their fire and only managed to damage 1 British Frigate.  The British made them pay for it.  Both British Battle Cruisers came forward and turned to fire all turrets down range.  When the smoke cleared, they had damaged the damaged Cruiser (down 2 HP) and sank 2 of the 4 Frigates in the Center squadron!  The frigates passed their Break Test.
 

The Prussian Carrier moved forward at maximum speed, and turned to fire its Bombard at one of the Battle Cruisers, damaging it.  The British Battleship turned to the right from behind the island, but found itself without Line of Sight or Out-Of-Range to anything it could see.  The Prussian Battleship activated its Tesla Generator, maximizing their speed to 10” and fired on a Battle Cruiser, but failed to damage anything.  The second British Fighter wing moved forward at ½ speed.  The Prussian Robot moved forward, following the Prussian Battleship.  The British Frigates on the left of the island finally moved forward and turned to the right.  Long range fire resulted in a Prussian Frigate taking damage.  This was the last of the British Activations for the turn.  The Prussian Frigates on the left charged forward and returned fire onto the British Frigates that had fired on them, damaging 1.  Finally, the last Prussian Fighter wing landed on the Carrier to re-arm.

 


Losses:
KoB:       74 points
PE:          94 Points

 

 

Turn 2:
PE won Initiative!

Worried that the Battleship would be hammered by the Battle Cruisers, the Prussian Battleship again activated the Tesla Generator, maxed their move to 10” again, and fired their turrets at a Battle Cruiser, critting it (Hard Pounding: 1 AP left!).  Broadsides and Teslas fired at Frigates on both sides, but only managed to damage 1.
 

The British, fearing the potential of the Torpedo Bombers, attacked with a Fighter Wing, causing the Prussians to use up an extra fuel (3 left) for the loss of 1 Fighter Token.  The Prussian Center Frigates maneuvered around the Prussian Battleship, firing rear Teslas and guns at 2 Frigates, sinking 2, and capturing a third!  Unfortunately, we used up most our AP capturing the Frigate, so we abandoned it as a Derelict, leaving 1 Frigate with 1 AP and the other 0!
 

The British attempted to sneak a Frigate Squadron between the Prussian Carrier and the Battleship, but failed to do any damage to the Carrier.
 

The PE Torpedo Bombers attacked one of the Battle Cruisers, but failed to damage it and lost a token to AA, leaving the rest with 2 fuel.  The British Submarine on the right stayed submerged and fired another torpedo salvo, but again failed to damage anything.  The Prussian Carrier launched a wing of Dive Bombers and moved forward.  The British Battle Cruisers turned and linked their turret fire at the Prussian Battleship causing a Crit (Engine Damage).  Prussian Cruisers moved forward and Critted one of the Battle Cruisers (Systems Offline).  At this point, Graham remembered that the ships had Shield Generators, but a quick roll revealed no change in the outcome (this time).
 

British Frigates from the left of the table split their fire.  They sank 1 Prussian Frigate, failed to damage a second and failed to damage a Cruiser with torpedoes.  The Prussian Frigates passed their Break Test.
 

Prussian fighters engaged their British counterparts, shot down 3 tokens (1 token left with 2 fuel) for no losses, then landed on the Carrier to re-arm.  The British Battleship finally cleared the island and fired on the Prussian Battleship, but failed to damage it.  Prussian Frigates on the right turned and attacked the British Battle Cruisers causing no damage after all their dice missed!  British Fighters attacked the Torpedo Bombers and finally shot them all down for the loss of 1 Fighter Token (5 fuel left).  The Prussian Robot turned to engage the Frigates near the Prussian Carrier and successfully sank both, finishing off one squadron.
 

The British Sub on the left came to the Surface, completed its turn around the island and torpedoed one of the Prussian Cruisers with a Double-Crit!  The Survivor passed its break test.
 

As the final activation, the Prussian Frigates on the left attacked the surfaced British Sub and inflicted 1 HP damage to the Sub.

 

In the End Turn, the Derelict British Frigate collided with the sub, causing 1 HP damage to the Frigate but no damage to the Sub.  The British repaired the System Failure on the Battle Cruiser while the Prussian Commodore used his re-roll to repair the Engine Damage to the Battleship.

 

Losses:
KoB:       247
PE:          152

 

 

Turn 3:
KoB won Initiative.

The British started things off by bringing a sub to the surface and attempted to torpedo the Prussian Carrier, but the Robot was in the way, blocking Line of Sight to the Carrier’s center, reducing the torpedo salvo in half!  The reduced salvo failed to damage the Carrier and then the sub failed to make its Panic Dive.  Prussian Frigates from the right charged at the British Battle Cruisers, firing on one, but failing to damage it, then boarding the one that was reduced to 1AP, successfully taking the Battle Cruiser as a Prize for the Prussians!
 

The second British Sub moved forward on the surface to torpedo the Prussian Battleship, causing another HP damage.  Sadly, this sub also failed to make a Panic Dive.  Prussian Dive Bombers that had launched last turn, attacked the sub that had attacked the carrier, causing a Crit (Nav Lock) for the cost of 2 Tokens.
 

The last British Battle Cruiser maneuvered around its prized compatriot without causing a collision, caused another HP damage on the Prussian Battleship (crippling it!) and then captured a Frigate that had 0AP left.  Afraid of being boarded, the Battle Cruiser called back all their boarding parties and left the Frigate a derelict.
 

The Prussian Battleship, crippled but not out of the fight, advanced and fired on the British Battleship, but failed to cause any damage.  However, in spite of being crippled, the Prussian Battleship was able to board and prize the 2nd British Battle Cruiser!
 

Annoyed, the British Battleship came forward and brought all turrets and torpedoes to bear on the Prussian Battleship, sinking it with 2 separate critting attacks!  Revenge for the British!
 

The Prussian Cruiser turned and presented its broadsides and turret to the closest British Sub and sank it with combined weapons fire!
 

The British Frigates from the left of the table caused a Crit (Engine Damage), then an extra HP damage on the Prussian Cruiser, crippling it in one activation!  Prussian Frigates failed to damage the last British Sub.  British Fighters attacked and shot down 2 dive bombers for the cost of 1 token.  The Prussian Robot, lacking anything else to do, turned and shot at the last sub and managed to damage it with a Lightning rod.  Unfortunately, I had no more Tesla weapons in my fleet to take advantage of it!  For their last activation, the British single fighter decided to attack the squadron still on the carrier, but the carrier’s AA shot it down!  Finally, the last activation, the Prussian Carrier held the last squadron of Tiny Fliers on board, turned towards the British Sub and managed to Crit it!  The Sub teleported backwards, narrowly missing the Prussian Frigates chasing it, then sank under the waves…

 

We didn’t need to count up the points to see that the Prussians made their objective, but…
 

Losses:
KoB:       797pts
PE:          379pts

Crushing Triumph for the Prussians!



Wow!  That last turn was incredible for the Prussians!  I did NOT expect everything to go my way.  I was incredibly lucky.

Graham had a rough time with his dice.  I wish I could convey that properly.  He missed causing double-crits by 2-4 hits multiple times and as a result, critical ships were able to complete their moves and cause more damage than they should have.  When he did roll well, it was against Frigates – not worth the points that the rolls were wasted on.

If I had to critique anything on the British side, the first was Graham’s use of his subs in the first turn.  By keeping them submerged and firing torpedoes, the penalty to hit made them useless.  He wasn’t able to cause damage when he needed to.  His subs were far enough away that I really couldn’t damage them.

The Second problem on the British side was the placement of the Battleship.  While deploying it behind the island kept it safe, it did nothing for the first turn and in the second turn, it was only able to bring ½ its turrets to bear.  Third turn it finished off the Prussian Battleship, but it was too little too late to save the British cause.  Everything else in the British fleet was able to do something every turn – whether they were successful or not.

The Prussians were not faultless either.  I brought the Metzger B to see what it could do.  And I hid it behind everything.  I wanted to try some Boarding and never got close enough to try it.  Though it did do some damage, it didn’t make up its points value.  The Battleship did capture a Battle Cruiser and inflicted damage, but in the end, I still lost it.  Finally, how did those British Frigates get passed my pickets to fire on the Carrier?  That should never have happened!
 
On the other hand, I think the Carrier did sterling service – allowing me to re-arm the one Fighter wing as Dive Bombers and if I had needed another turn, I was prepared to re-launch the 2nd fighter wing as either Torpedo or Dive Bombers.  As it was, the Bombard turned out to be an excellent weapon on its own!

Overall, it was a fun game.  We'll just have to play again so I can try boarding with a  Metzger...

Until Next Time!

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