Admiral Von Shtupp had a smile on his face. At Last!
Back at sea again. And once more,
back on the latest Dreadnought SMS Knesebeck. Von Shtupp had reason to be happy using this
famed ship once again as his flag. The
Emperor didn’t normally allow such a large task force this far out of the
Baltic, let alone a Dreadnought.
The mission was simple: the government was fed up with the
Covenant of Antarctica’s meddling. Intelligence
reports indicated that the CoA had a task force in the area (doing what was not
so important). Von Shtupp was to “interfere”
and cause as much “confusion and destruction” as possible.
Now if only we can find those pesky tin heads…
“Admiral! Large Antarctica
Task force spotted by the Pflicht Scouts!
They’ve spotted us and have turned to intercept!”
“Battle Stations! All
ships turn to engage. Have the carrier
launch Dive Bombers and Recon Flights as soon as possible!”
Too bad it’s so late in the afternoon. I hope the light lasts long enough…
So, in an attempt to catch Graham off-guard, I brought the
Prussian Fleet instead of my Russians.
Unfortunately, Graham had the same idea and brought the CoA instead of
his British fleet. Dang! Hate it when a plan back-fires like that!
For a change of pace, we decided to play length-wise on a 6’
X 4’ table and randomly rolled terrain.
Once again, we got more terrain than we expected…
Prussian Empire
(PE) Deployment: (Top to bottom)
Squadron of 4 Stolz Destroyers
Squadron of 4 Arminius Frigates
Recon Flight from Carrier
A Rhine Carrier
Flight of Dive Bombers
Squadron of 4 Arminius Frigates
Squadron of 2 Reiver Cruisers
Flight of Fighters
Squadron of 2 Pflicht Scout ships (Obscured)
Flight of Fighters
Blűcher Dreadnought (1 Tesla & 1 Shield Generator)
Covenant of Antarctica
(CoA) Deployment:
Squadron of 4 Diogenes Frigates, with a 2nd
Squadron of 5 Diogenes Frigates behind
Squadron of 2 Ptolemy Bombers
Flight of Fighter Drones
Squadron of 2 Plato Cruisers with a 2nd Flight of Fighter Drones
Epicurus Sky Fortress (drones still on board)
Daedalus Large Skyship
Prometheus Dreadnought
Both sides rolled a ‘1’ for the mission objective – both sides
were forced to take the 70% casualties or captured!
Long stretch of open water in the middle...
Turn 1:
CoA won initiative for the first turn.
As we were playing length-wise, First turn was pretty much
juggling for position and moving forward.
Things of note:
Turn 2:
First Blood to the CoA!
- 1 Squadron of CoA Frigates went over the sand bar at ½ speed
- 2nd Squadron of CoA Frigates went the wide way around – towards the board center.
- PE Recon flight moved forward at maximum speed (hoping to be able to spot for Turn 2)
- All other PE tiny Flyer (TF) Tokens flew at ½ speed to conserve fuel
- PE Pflicht Zeppelins moved forward while still at Obscured level
- CoA Skyfortress launched a squadron of Dive Bombers before moving.
The distance is getting smaller...
PE won the initiative for Turn 2
Second turn was mostly jockeying for position, though there
were some shots fired…
- CoA Frigate Squadron was stuck moving forward at ½ speed as they were still in the Sand Bar
- CoA Fighters shot down the PE Recon Token when it strayed a little too far forward, for the loss of 1
- CoA Large Skyship managed to damage one of the PE Pflicht Zeps
- Both PE & CoA Dreadnoughts move passed their respective islands and started turning towards the center
- PE Frigates managed to shoot down 1 TF Token and damaged 1 CoA Bomber
- CoA Cruisers managed to move and turn to the left, damaging 2 frigates as Turrets & Broadsides came to bear
- CoA Frigates torpedoed a PE Frigate Squadron, sank 1 and damaged another – the PE Squadron Broke!
- PE Carrier managed to use its Bombard to damage a CoA Cruiser after moving into range – Direct Line of Sight
First Blood to the CoA!
In the End Phase, the PE Frigates rallied successfully.
Losses:
PE: 61
CoA: 0
Turn 3:
The CoA Dreadnought speaks!
PE won the Initiative for Turn 3!
Now things started to get really nasty!
Prussian Cruisers started things off. Moving forward at Maximum speed, they got in
to range of the CoA Skyfortress and Crit it (Hard Pounding – 3 AP left) with
turrets which caused the Fuel Stores to catch fire. The PE cruisers then shot down 2 Dive Bomber
tokens with AA, fired their Teslas independently at a bomber (2 AP and 2 HP
left). Good Shooting, Cruisers!
The CoA Bombers turned and retaliated by dropping their
mines between the PE Cruisers and fired their guns at the Zeps – but both guns
and mines failed to damage anything. The
PE Zeps turned and fired back at the bombers, but only managed to damage the
previously damaged bomber. CoA Dive
Bombers attempted an attack run, but AA shot down all the tokens before they
could drop their bombs! The PE
Dreadnought turned and brought all their turrets and Teslas to bear on the Large
Skyship, getting a Crit (ANOTHER raging fire!) and then successfully captured a
nearby CoA Bomber!
The Prussian Dread speaks out!
The CoA Skyship turned to bring their turrets to bear on the
PE Cruisers, dropped a mine and shot their turrets at a Cruiser, causing a Crit
(Weapons Damaged)!
CoA Skyship attacks the Prussians!
The PE Frigates on the right moved forward and shot a CoA
Cruiser, causing a Crit (ANOTHER Weapons Damaged?!?), then did something
DUMB! After I had started to move the
Frigates, I “saw” only 1 AP left (there was another 4AP counter on the other
side that I missed), so I attempted to board the Large Skyship. First, only 3 Frigates were close enough to
attempt to board. Second, the Skyship
split its AA across all 3 Frigates and in a brilliant display of AA gunnery,
shot down 7 of the 9 Boarding Parties.
Finally – with only 2 AP left in the attack, the remaining 5 CoA
AP destroy all the remaining boarding parties! The 3 Frigates are all out of AP! :O
Now that wasn't supposed to happen!
The CoA Cruisers moved forward, fired on 1 frigate, damaging
it, captured another frigate (3AP left on the Cruiser), then fired their
broadsides at another frigate squadron (which failed to damage). PE Fighters moved forward at full speed and
managed to shoot down 3 CoA Fighter Drone Tokens for a loss of an extra fuel (3
fuel left). The 5 ship CoA Frigate
Squadron made a torpedo run on a Cruiser (1 had its Line Of Sight blocked by other
members in front), causing 1HP of damage, then fired their broadsides out both
sides – and sunk a frigate in both squadrons!
Both PE Frigate Squadrons passed their Break Test!
CoA Frigates doing what they do best!
A PE Frigate Squadron moved forward and damaged a CoA
Frigate with their return fire. The CoA
Dreadnought moved forward and right, sank 1 Cruiser (Double-Crit) and a
Frigate. Both PE Squadrons passed their
Break Tests.
The CoA Dreadnought speaks!
PE Fighters moved at max speed to intercept the last CoA
Bomber, but caused only a single HP of damage.
The CoA Skyfortress launched another flight of Dive Bombers, then turned
towards their own Dreadnought. The
Skyfortress managed to damage a Cruiser and sink a Frigate.
The Skyfortress tries to hide...
PE Dive Bombers hit the gas and moved forward at maximum
speed. CoA Fighters managed to intercept
the Dive Bombers and shot down 1 Bomber Token for no losses. The PE Carrier turned and fired its Bombard
at the Large Skyship, causing a Crit (Hard Pounding – 2AP left). The CoA Frigate Squadron attempted to move
and torpedo the PE Carrier, but found they were just out-of-range. PE Destroyers came out from behind the island,
formed a line between the CoA Frigates and the PE Carrier, successfully screening
the Carrier. That ended the last PE
Activation.
The Final CoA Activations had the remaining Drone Fighter
Wing attack and destroy 1 Dive Bomber Token for a loss of 1 of its own, while
the CoA Recon Token moved on top of a hill.
In the End Phase, the CoA started another fire on the Large
Skyship (1AP left) and failed to repair the damaged Cruiser. The PE Cruiser successfully rallied.
End of Turn 3!
Losses:
PE: 219
CoA: 219
Turn 4:
The CoA Cruisers, out of anger, sank 2 Destroyers forming
the Carrier Screen, then captured a Frigate from another squadron.
CoA Won Initiative!
The first CoA Frigate squadron made a torpedo run on the
destroyers, but caused only a single HP of damage. The PE Dreadnought activated, moved forward, Crit
the CoA Dread (Systems Offline) and left the last CoA Bomber a Derelict (only
2AP left on the PE Dread!)
The Dreads face-off!
The Second CoA Frigate Squadron made a torpedo run on the
last PE Cruiser, and sank it with a Crit.
On a long-shot, they fired a single Frigate’s broadsides at the PE Carrier
but surprisingly managed to cause an HP of damage!
The Last Prussian Cruiser Sinks!
The PE Frigates moved towards and fired on the CoA
Skyfortress, causing an HP of damage, sank a Frigate with their rear-facing
Teslas and in a desperate Boarding Action with only 3AP, left the Large Skyship a Derelict! Though both remaining Frigates now had 0AP left!
The PE Frigates Last Hurrah!
CoA Cruisers smash up the Carrier Screen!
The PE Dive Bombers moved forward and made a successful
bombing run on one of the CoA Cruisers, having sank it with a Double-Crit for
no losses (3 fuel left)!
PE Dive Bombers avenge the Destroyers!
The CoA Dreadnought turned and caused a Crit on the PE
Dreadnought (Hard Pounding – 0AP left!), and sank the last PE Frigate on the
right.
CoA Dread fires back!
The remaining PE Destroyers moved forward just enough to
block as many CoA Frigates as possible from torpedoing the Carrier, then sank
the last CoA Cruiser with a Crit!
PE Destroyers finish off the last Cruiser!
The CoA Skyfortress fired on the PE Pflicht Zep, Critting it
(Fusion Leak – 1 HP left)! The PE
Carrier managed to damage one of the CoA Frigates with its Broadsides, but the
Bombard failed to damage the CoA Dreadnought.
Finally, the CoA Frigate Squadron attempted to avoid the PE Destroyer
screen, but 2 Frigates collided with the Destroyers, 1 CoA suffering an HP damage. The remaining 2 Frigates successfully avoided
the collision and made a torpedo run on the Carrier, but failed to cause any
damage.
Collisions and Torpedoes!
The PE Pflicht moved forward, crit the Skyfortress (Hard
Pounding – 0AP left!), and damaged 1 Frigate.
The CoA Dive Bomber Drones attack the damaged Pflicht and sent it from
the sky in flames with a Double Crit.
No, it's not called Hindenberg!
In the final moves of the turn, one PE Fighter Wing declared
CAP on the Dreadnought and the other landed on the Carrier.
In the End Phase, the fires were put out on the Derelict CoA
Skyship and the CoA Dreadnought was repaired
Losses:
PE: 515
CoA: 566
As it was getting late, we ended the game: A Draw!
End of the game!
Well, Von Shtupp accomplished his mission – that was a
Bloody Battle! We actually checked
points twice as neither of us could believe that we hadn’t both lost the
required 700 points to win the game!
On my side, I had a bunch of Frigates running around, firing
torpedoes everywhere and just being a general nuisance. On the plus side – all my Large Vessels were
still in decent shape (though damaged – nothing was crippled) and all my flight
wings were (more or less) intact.
On the CoA side, he’d lost his large Skyship, the Carrier
was crippled and the Dreadnought was damaged.
He’d lost most of his “free drones” and the Carrier was crippled –
reducing his ability to relaunch his drones.
On the other hand – he still had most of his frigates and their dang
torpedoes…
We both think that whomever would have gotten initiative
next turn would probably have won this game.
Both sides were too close avoid taking fire from the other side and both
had the weapons to win it!
With regards to playing length-wise, I had suggested we play
using the Alternate Deployment rules from the Hurricane Season book, but Graham
wanted to keep it simple. In the end,
the game felt more “realistic” (as much as a fantasy game with giant robots and
lightning weapons can…) as both sides jockeyed for their positions for 2 turns
before really “going for the throat”. It
made the game more suspenseful. I really
enjoyed it.
Now I need to get out my paints and finish a fleet before
the next box sets arrive…
Happy Gaming!
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