BatRep: Chinese Federation vs Russian Coalition (760pts – unfinished)

Admiral Dimitry Orlov was frustrated. 

His last encounter with the Italians had been undecisive.  If only the light had lasted a little longer!

Now he was stuck on the east coast while his command underwent repairs at the ship yard.  The Tzar himself had sent Orlov out to inspect fleet readiness and training at Vladivostok.  It wasn’t Murmansk, but maybe if he did well, Orlov could get a transfer of command to St Petersburg and the Baltic Fleet…

Meanwhile, Orlov wasn’t impressed with the fleet commodore he was with now.  He seemed hesitant.  Sure he made the fleet go through its drills in an efficient manner, but seemed unsure whenever Orlov asked a technical or theoretical question…

“Commodore!  A fleet spotted to the south!  It seems to be a Battleship with support ships and fliers, heading our way.  They refuse to acknowledge our hails!”

Boy this sounds familiar, thought Orlov.  The Russian Fleet Command had been concerned that the Japanese might attempt an attack at the base.  Perhaps the balloon has gone up. 

“Commodore!  What are your Orders?”

The Commodore went white, started trembling and stuttered uncontrollably.

“Commodore!  Your Orders???”  This didn’t look good to Orlov…

“As Admiral, I’m taking command of the task force!  Sailor, escort the Commodore from the bridge to the Sick Bay!  Helm – turn us towards the unknown contacts.  Communications – tell the fleet go to Battle Stations and prepare to engage!”

The relief on the bridge was evident on everyone’s face.  Orlov took over the Captain’s seat and settled in for the violent actions of war.

“Admiral, Observers from the Skyships have identified the fleet is NOT Japanese.  They appear to be a Chinese Federation Fleet!”

“My orders stand.  It doesn’t matter who they are!  We must defend Mother Russia!  Let me know as we approach gunnery range!”

“Yes Sir!”

Well, Orlov thought, I never thought the Chinese would be ready to fight so quickly.  This could be very interesting…

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Graham was a “Bad Boy” – he picked up the Chinese Federation Box Set before anyone had a chance to look at it (he happened to be in the store when the latest shipment arrived).  Of course, we HAD to test them…

Chinese Federation (CF) consisted of:
1 Jian Battleship with BOTH Rocket Battery & Sonic Generator

A Reinforced Cruiser Squadron with 2 Dao Cruisers and 1 Wodao Gunship

9 Nu Frigates in 3 squadrons of 3

2 Liuxing Bombers

2 squadrons of Tiny Fliers

Needing a few “extra” points, the Russian Coalition (RC) consisted of:

1 Borodino Battleship with Torpedo Breaker

A Reinforced Cruiser Squadron with 2 Suvorov Cruisers (with Rocket Jammers) and a Tambov Gunship

2 Medium Saransk Skyships in a single squadron

9 Novgorod Frigates in 3 squadrons of 3

Deployment:

Chinese Deployment (Top to Bottom)

• Frigates
• Fighter Squadron
• Another Squadron of Frigates, surrounding the Battleship
• Reinforced Cruiser Squadron pointing slightly to the Right (trying to go around an iceberg in their way)
• A squadron of Frigates with a squadron of Fighters slightly behind
• The Bombers

Russian Deployment (Left to Right):

• A squadron of Frigates,
• Reinforced Cruiser Squadron, pointed slightly to the right
• A squadron of Frigates with the Skyships and a squadron of Dive Bombers behind
• The Battleship
• A squadron of Fighters
• A squadron of Frigates

After rolling for the missions, we both chose the default 70% Captured or Destroyed.

The games begin...

Turn 1:
Chinese played the “Lost Orders” game card.  I wasn’t able to counter it so I was made to throw my hand away and draw 2 more cards.

Chinese won the Initiative

The Hulking Chinese Battleship activated first, firing a Range Band (RB) 4 Rocket attack as it moved forward.  The Rocket Jammers from the Cruisers diverted some of the warheads onto themselves, sparing everyone damage.  The Central Russian Frigates moved forward maximum speed, hoping to draw out some Chinese Targets for the Cruisers and Battleship.  The Chinese Frigates moved forward, working their way around the iceberg in front of them, but had no targets in range.

Stalling for time, the Russian Dive Bombers moved forward at ½ speed, followed by a squadron of Chinese Fighters moving forward, also at ½ speed.  To tempt the Chinese, the Russian Frigates on the far right moved forward maximum speed, hiding behind an ice island.  The Chinese Central Frigates made their move; fired their Somic Cannons at the Frigates in front of them (sinking 1) and broadsides at the other squadron of Frigates.  The Central Frigates passed their Break Test.

First Blood to the Chinese Federation!

Stalling for more time, the Russian Fighters moved forward at ½ speed.  Finally, the Chinese moved their last Frigates forward on the right side of the map; played “Let ‘Em Have It” and sank 1 frigate from the Russian Right-Side squadron.  The Russians passed their Break Test.

This is what the Russians were waiting for.  With all the Chinese squadrons activated on the right, the Russian Skyships moved forward in the center, towards the right, confident that none of the Chinese could retaliate from that side.  The Skyships Main Turret sank 1 Frigate from the center Chinese squadron, but the unit passed their Break Test.

Russian Skyships sink their 1st target!

Sadly, neither the Battleship nor the Cruiser Squadron could move forward enough to get range on any Chinese targets.  Chinese bombers and Frigates on the left of the table also were unable to move close enough to get in range to the Russians.  The last activation of the turn was the Russian Frigates on the far left, who moved forward and caught the Chinese Frigates after they moved around the Chinese Cruisers, and the Russians successfully sank 2 Frigates.

Russians Continue To Strike Back!

Neither side had any Crits to repair this turn, which left adding up the points:

End of Turn 1

Losses:
CF:          75
RC:         50

Turn 2:
Chinese won the Initiative.

No Turn Cards were played

Chinese bombers on the left moved forward and then fired their Sonic Barrage using Sheaf Fire (1 Blast template per bomber) at the Russian Frigates on the left, catching all 3 in the blast markers!  One Frigate sunk and the other two damaged.  The Survivors failed their Break Test!  OUCH!!!

What Sheaf  Fire looks like...

The Russian Frigates in the center rushed over to help out their stricken fellows and opened fire on the bombers from RB2 and successfully damaged 1.  I then played “Tally Ho”, activating a second Russian Squadron – the Cruisers!  The Cruiser Squadron moved forward and fired their turrets on the Chinese Battleship, damaging it, while the broadsides Critted the undamaged Chinese Bomber, but Graham played “Hard as Nails”, reducing the hit to a single Hull Point of damage.  The Chinese Frigate squadron on the left moved to point blank range to the Russian Frigates in the Center, sank 1 and damaged the other.  Fortunately, the Russian Survivor passed his Break Test.

Frigates Mixing It Up!

The Russian Battleship advanced, played “Thunderous Volley” and got a Crit on the Chinese Battleship (Gun Damage).  Chinese Frigates moved to point blank range, played “Bullseye” and fired on the Russian Battleship but failed to damage it, while their broadsides damaged a Russian Frigate on the far right.

Chinese Frigates on their Attack Run

Russian Skyships moved forward and also damaged the Chinese Battleship (4HP Damage Total – crippling it).  The Chinese Battleship moved forward but it’s AA and broadsides failed to damage anything.  Russian Frigates on the right advanced and sank 1 Chinese Frigate on the right, but failed to damage the Battleship.  Chinese Fighters on the right attacked and did a Crit to a Skyship (Shredded Defences) at the cost of 2 Fighter Tokens.  Russian Dive Bombers advanced at ½ speed towards the Chinese Battleship.  The last Chinese Fighter Squadron attacked the undamaged Russian Skyship and did a Double Crit (Weapon Damage and Hard Pounding – 2 AP left), leaving it with a single HP remaining. 

Russian Skyships harass the Chinese Battleship

Russian Fighters attempted to do the same by attacking the Chinese Bombers but suffered 2 lost tokens for no damage to the Bombers.  Chinese Cruisers rounded the iceberg and stripped the Ablative Armor (17 HITS!!!) off 1 Russian Cruiser.  The Broken Russian Frigate Squadron on the left stayed still and fired individually and successfully sank the last Chinese Frigate on the far left.  In the final Activation of the turn, the Chines Frigates in the center activated – 1 ran into the Chinese Battleship and sank itself, the other sank 1 Russian Frigate and damaged another.  The Russians passed their Break Test.

In the End Phase, both the Russians and Chinese repaired all their Critical Damages, and the Russian Frigates rallied.

End of Turn 2

Losses:
CF:          250
RC:         207

Turn 3:
Russians played “Red Tape” – Chinese must play an extra Star card to play any card.

Chinese won the Initiative.

The Chinese Battleship played “Running Repairs” and managed to get the damage down to a single Hull Point!  It then turned towards the table center.  The Battleship’s rockets failed to damage anything as the Cruisers redirected 3 rockets from the salvo, but the Battleship’s broadsides managed to double-crit the damaged Russian Cruiser and sank it.  The remaining Cruisers passed their Break Test.

Loss of a Russian Cruiser

The Russian Cruiser Squadron moved forward in a staggered formation, bringing all turrets and broadsides to bear on the Chinese Battleship, played “Thunderous Volley” and critted the Chinese Ship (Engine Damage).  Chinese Bombers turned towards and attacked the Cruiser squadron, but failed to damage them.  Russian Dive Bombers attacked and caused another Hull Point of damage to the Chinese Battleship (Crippling it AGAIN) for the loss of 1 token.

Chinese Battleship continues to have a bad day...

Chinese Cruisers move 2 ships around both sides of the Chinese Battleship, each picking a separate target while 1 Cruiser was blocked by the Battleship.  The two ships managed to strip the Ablative Armor off the Cruiser but failed to damage either the Gunship or a nearby Frigate.  The Russain Battleship played “Stoke the Engines”, but clipped a Chinese Frigate as it turned to bring its turrets to bear on the Chinese Cruisers and/or Battleship, sinking the Frigate.  Gunfire managed to Crit a Chinese Cruiser (Hard Pounding – 5AP left) and broadsides sank another Frigate.

The Chinese Frigate on the far right manage to turn, narrowly avoiding a collision, then sank the last Russian Frigate on the right.  Russian Skyships, climbed to the Obscured Level, and dropped mines in front of the Chinese Cruisers.  One was dropped close enough to go off right away, allowing the Chinese to shoot down 1 Skyship with AA.  The mine explosion failed to damage any Chinese ships.  Chinese Fighters attacked the remaining Skyship, causing a Crit (Engine Damage).  Desperate Russian Fighters attacked and managed to damage another Chinese Bomber, and the final Chinese Fighter Squadron attacked and shot down the last Russian Skyship.  In the final Activation, the Russian Frigates on the left failed to damage anything.

In the End Phase, the Russians had no repair rolls to make (it was sunk or shot down) while the Chinese failed to repair the Engine Damage on their Battleship.

End of Turn 3 & Game

Sadly, the store was closing at this point – a 2^nd game in a row interrupted as things were getting interesting!

Losses:
CF:          362
RC:         387

Another Draw!

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That was entertaining!

The Chinese ships have a number of MARS that apply to their entire fleet, unless stated otherwise.  The most frustrating was that all ships have Rugged Construction – causing me to lose an attack dice after calculating the total dice that were possible.  This seemed to make low-dice attacks more useless (especially mines at strength 5).  The shooting resulted in lots of “miss by 1s” (DRs and Crits).  I found I had to do overwhelming fire to do damage – especially to the Cruisers and Battleships.

Interestingly, both the Russians and the Chinese suffer from slower fleets (only the Chinese Frigate was significantly faster) and while the Chinese have long range rockets, they really seem to be more of a Range Band 1-2 fleet.  The real difference is that the Russians are a “go forward - straight for the throat” force whereas the Chinese really do want to use their Broadside arcs to get all weapons to bear.  Should be interesting in the future as we become more familiar with both fleets.

From the Russian Side, I liked using the Reinforced Cruiser squadron – the Gunboat added just a little more “omph” to the squadron.  The only other change to the basic box set was the Medium Saransk Skyships.  While they didn’t last as long as I hoped, I think I like them more than the Russian Myshkin Bombers.  While the Bomber's Hard Shell attack is interesting, I end up giving away points.  The Skyships are faster, have longer range and better guns and more hull points for only 15 points more.  The Bombers do have a larger bombload than the Skyship's mines, but it's harder to get to drop bombs than to drop mines.  My other option was to take the Large Tunguska Skyship.  It did really well last game and the Ablative Armor made it a nightmare to damage. 

What to take in the future?  Decisions, decisions, decisions…