BatRep: Dystopian Wars v2 Kingdom of Britannia vs Russian Coalition (1,000pts)

Admiral Dimitry Orlov was lucky.  No other word for it.

One moment he was on the flying bridge of the Carrier Kiev, the next he was in the water.

Of the Kiev, ther was no sign.

The crew of the Battleship, Georgy Pobedonosets II ("St George the Victorious II" in English) was sailing alongside when it happened.  An observer saw him fall off the bridge when the superstructure was hit by a salvo, moments before the great carrier sank.  Due to his quick warning, rescue crews saved him before he drowned.  There was a reason why he love the Georgy Pobedonosets II!

The Czar’s staff figured he needed a break so he was sailing back to the Atlantic to participate in war games against the Kingdom off Britannia.  Part of this was to improve relations with the British, the other to evaluate whether Orlov was fit to command.

I’ll just have to show them what I can do…

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Due to some mis-communications, Graham and I out-guessed each other.  I had told him my new Prussian Naval Battle Group box had arrived (which he thought I meant to bring) and he laughed about his last win, so I complained I needed a rematch (and thought he was bringing his Empire of the Blazing Sun).  Both of us were surprised and ended up with an “Allied Training Mission”.  Oh well, I can still sink him…

To speed up the game (due to limited time), we decided to play on a 4’ X 4’ rather than the standard 4’ X 6’.  British rolled Strategic Advantage, Russians got Operational Advantage. 

We had 3 islands on the western side of the map, clear open spaces on the east.  Russians setup in the South, British took the North.

Russian Deployment (Left to Right):

• Tunguska Large Skyship with SAS Fighter (5) Support & Glacier Generator (Obscured)
• 2 Suvorov Cruisers
• 2 Saransk Medium Skyships (Obscured)
• SAS Fighter (5)
• 3 Novgorod Frigates
• 4 Rostov Destroyers
• Borodino Battleship with Rocket & Torpedo Jammer (Commodore’s Vessel)
• 3 Novgorod Frigates

British Deployment (Russian Left to Right)

Advance Deployment:

• 2 Hawk Scout Rotor (Obscured)

Main Deployment:

• Eagle War Rotor (Obscured)
• SAS Fighter (5)
• 2 Orion Destroyers
• 2 Vanguard Submarines (Submerged)
• SAS Fighters (5)
• Ruler Battleship w/ Guardian Generator (Commodore’s Vessel)
• 3 Attacker Frigates
• Ruler Battleship (No Options)

Start of Game Deployment!

We selected orders, but the British drew a 6 – allowing Graham to pick any mission (secretly) he wanted.

Turn 1:

British won Initiative.

The Eagle stayed obscured, moved slowly behind the islands, and missed its shots at the Saransk Skyships.  The Tunguska also stayed obscured, moved forward and turned to expose its beam turrets to multiple targets, but failed to damage any of its targets.  British Hawks moved forward and each dropped a mine, then targeted a different Saransk.  The Saransk Skyships moved forward and in another display of bad rolls, did nothing.  Things weren’t happening too quickly.

The British Commodore’s Battleship moved forward and turned to port, and damaged 1 Frigate and 1 Saransk Skyship.  As the turrets are piercing weapons, the Frigate was down to 2AP from Hard Pounding and the Saransk suffered Nav Lock.  Finally, Russian Fighters attacked and shot down one of the British Hawk Scout Rotors with a Triple Crit!  First blood for the Russians!

Russian Fighters Draw 1st Blood!

The British subs surfaced and turned to each fire at a different Cruiser, but failed to damage either.  ! Sub failed its dive roll so was stuck on the surface.  The Russian Cruisers hugged their closest island as they advanced, then managed to Double Crit the Surviving Hawk Rotor (2 Shredded Defences).  British Destroyers advanced and damaged one of the Cruisers.  Finally, a second squadron of Fighters attacked and shot down the last British Hawk Rotor!

Second Hawk Shot Down By Fighters!

The second British Battleship moved forward, turning slightly to present all weapons on the Russian Battleship, and managed to damage it, in spite the range and Ablative Armor.  Russian Frigates went around the left side of an island to hide behind the Russian Cruisers.  British Frigates came out of their deployment zone but were unable to damage anything.  The second Russian Frigate squadron went out at maximum speed towards their British counterparts, but were still out of range.  British Fighters came out and shot down 4 Russian Fighters for no loss, leaving 1 lone fighter token in the squadron!  The Russian Battleship came out from behind the islands and though the turrets failed to cause any damage, the broadsides crit the Vanguard sub still on the surface (Fusion Leak – 3 Counters)!  The final British move of the turn was the second fighter squadron moving towards the British Eagle War Rotor.  The Russians then moved their last Fighter squadron towards the air war on the western table edge while Russian Destroyers finally moved forward.

In the End Phase, the British managed to repair all the Corrosive Counters on the Sub, while the Russians fixed the Nav Lock on the Saransk Skyship.

VPs:
KoB        0
RC           160

Turn 2:

Russians won Initiative.

Almost Start of Turn
Russian and British Battleship on the left already activated in turn 2!

Knowing the British Battleships were going to double-team the Russian, the Commodore moved his Battleship first, getting into RB 2 to the British Commodore’s Battleship!  When all the smoke cleared, the Great Russian ship had caused NO damage anywhere!  Laughing, one of the British Battleships turned to starboard and blasted the Russian, but only the turrets caused a crit (Hard Pounding: 9AP left).  The Russian Saransk Skyships moved forward and turned to starboard, dropped mines and targeted the Eagle Rotor with their turrets, critting the Eagle (Hard Pounding + Concussive = 5AP left).  The Eagle Rotor, moved and turned to port, shot down the lone Fighter with AA and damaged one of the Saransk Skyships.

The Russian Cruisers turned to fire on the surfaced sub before it could dive again, but missed!  The British subs then (both surfaced) turned their prows and torpedoes towards the Russian Battleship, but caused no damage thanks to a combination of the Torpedo Jammer and Concussion Charges.  This time, the other sub was left stuck on the surface while the other submerged successfully.  Russian Fighters moved forward and attacked the Eagle Rotor and crit it (Shredded Defences) for a loss of 1 token.  The British Commodore’s ship then turned to blast the Russian Battleship and Crit it: Sturginium Flair!  The Russian Commander’s ship suddenly teleported forward, between both British Battleships!!!

"How'd I end up HERE?!?!?"

Russian Frigates on the right moved forward and sank 2 British Frigates!  The survivor failed its Disorder Test.

Russian Frigates At Work!

The surviving British Frigate darted between the British & Russian Battleships, attempting to hide from the Destroyers.  The Russian Destroyers finally pounced, attacking the British Commodore’s Battleship.  Though they failed to crit the Battleship, the guns’ Piercing rule caused the Guns Damaged Crit Effect.  British destroyers moved next, but in attempting to maneuver avoiding mines, 1 Destroyer clipped the stern of the surfaced sub, damaging both.  Afterward resolving the collision, the Destroyers failed to cause and damage.  Another Russian Fighter Squadron attacked and Crit the Eagle War Rotor again (Guns Damaged) for no loss.  British Fighters attacked and crit a Saransk Skyship (Hard Pounding – 5Ap left) for no loss. 

That was the last British Activation for the turn.  Russian Frigates on the left moved forward and damaged the surfaced Sub, then sank the damaged Destroyer.  The surviving Destroyer passed the Disorder Test.  Finally, the Tunguska Skyship moved forward, two turrets failing to damage the Eagle Rotor, but the other Beam Turret, not wanting to waste any opportunity, took a shot at the surfaced sub, and caused a crit.  Magazine Explosion!!!  The blast took out both subs and a Destroyer!  The closest Saransk Skyship was spared any damage only because its Ablative Armor was still intact!

 Magazine Explosion!

In the End Phase, the last British Frigate lost its last AP, then rallied.  The war Eagle repaired its Shredded Defences, but failed to repair its Guns Damaged, as did the Commodore’s Battleship!  By this time, there were no Effects for the Russian to repair (mostly Hard Poundings – unrepairable).

VPs:
KoB:       0!
RC:         420

End of Turn 2

Turn 3:

British won initiative!

The British Strike Back!  The British Battleship mad a minimum move and turn to present full broadsides on its Russian counterpart.  The good news for the Russian ship was it was too close for a torpedo attack and Primary Guns suffered a -1 penalty to hit, but it really didn’t matter.  With 23 dice requiring 5+ to hit, the British inflicted 12 hits, a CRIT!  The Russian’s Battleship sank quickly, the Commodore’s presence was unknown, causing panic among both the Frigate squadrons, the Cruisers and the Saransk Skyship!  Only the Destroyers and Tunkuska managed to keep order!

Death of a Battleship!

The Tunguska, now within 8” of the British Eagle War Rotor, used its Mimic generator to copy the Eagle’s Guardian Generator (Yeah!  The 1^st time EVER I actually got the Mimic to copy am enemy’s generator!).  The Tunguska’s commander thought briefly of trying to prize the Eagle, but only had a 2AP more than the eagle, so instead turned 2 turrets on the Rotor.  Ducking back in the clouds, the War Rotor managed to avoid taking any damage.  The British Commodore’s Battleship then moved forward, firing weapons everywhere.  When the smoke cleared, the Russians had suffered a Destroyer and Frigate damaged and another Frigate sunk.

Russian Fighters attacked the Eagle War Rotor, but failed to damage the large air vessel.  The British Fighters attacked and shot down the most damaged Saransk Skyship for no loss!  The British were finally making up for lost time: 300 points destroyed in 3 ACTIVATIONS!!!

British Fighters Seek Revenge

Another Russian Fighter squadron attacked the Eagle War Rotor, and AGAIN, the wiley British commander avoided taking damage!!!  Surely there was only bubble gum and string holding the hull together now!?!?!  The Eagle finally activated, but was so heavily damaged, was unable to damage the Frigates it fired on.

Back on the other side of the table, the Russian Destroyers, angered by the loss of their Commodore, made their attack run on the British Commodore’s Battleship, critting it (Generators Offline).  As the last British activation, the lone Frigate managed to break through the Russian’s front line, but was unable to damage a Frigate it fired on.

Moving with impunity, the Russian frigates on the right sank the last British Frigate, in spite not being able to link their fire.  The last Saransk Skyship turned to port, attacked the Eagle War Rotor, but its attack was blocked by the War Rotor’s Guardian Generator!  Russian Cruisers made a minimum move and fired their turrets and broadsides at the War Rotor as well, still unable to damage the British Rotor!  All this shooting and no one could damage the War Rotor, to the Russian’s shame!  Finally, the Russian Frigates on the left move towards the table center.

Last British Frigate Sunk After Flanking The Russian Line

In the End Phase, the British failed to repair the guns on both the Commodore’s Battleship and the War Rotor!  On the Russian side, all those disordered squadrons rolled their damages.  After we completed it, the Saransk Skyship lost 3AP, one Cruiser lost 1 AP, and between the 2 squadrons, 3 Frigates lost 1 AP each.

VPs:
KOB:      300
RC:         450

Turn 4:

The Russians won the Initiative.

While the British had made great inroads this last turn, things were still grim.  Only 3 units still existed.  While 1 Battleship was undamaged, the Commodore’s Battleship was badly hurt and the Eagle War Rotor was down to 1HP left!

The Russian Tunguska activated first and turned to port, targeting the War Rotor with 2 turrets.  Once again, the War rotor avoided taking damage!  The British fighters, trying to protect the War Rotor, attacked the Saransk Skyship, hoping to shoot it down before it activated, but only damaged it.  The British Fighters’ effort was in vain as Russian Fighters finally shot down the War Rotor.  Only the 2 British Battleships left!

Death Of The Eagle!

The British Commodore, realizing that 1) he was the closest target and 2) the most damaged and easily sunk, turned his great Battleship around and headed for his deployment zone.  This was a bad idea as it gave the Russian Destroyers the opportunity to do a minimal move forward and still keeping the Battleship in optimum RB 2 range.  The Destroyers managed another Crit on the Commodore’s Battleship, taking out the Guardian Generator!  No more shields for the Commodore!

The last British activation was to have the other Battleship to try and damage those units that hadn’t activated yet, prolonging the life of the British Commodore’s ship.  When the smoke cleared, the Russians had lost the last 2 Frigates from 1 squadron, a Destroyer damaged, and a Cruiser Crit (Generator Offline).  

Trying to protect the Admiral!

It didn’t matter.  The last Russian Frigate Squadron made their maximum move from the left, JUST made it into RB2 and sank the Commodore’s Battleship with linked guns and mortars.

Avenging the Russian Admiral!

The Russians didn’t bother activating anything else – the British only had 1 Battleship left.  The game was over.

VPs:
KoB:       390         50% of the fleet value & all smalls – NEITHER accomplished.
RC:         800         70% of the Fleet value – Mission Accomplished!

Russian Victory!

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Admiral Dimitry Orlov turned to the Referees of the war game, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I assume we all agree that the Russians have won this particular exercise?”

“Most definitely, Admiral Orlov.  I am concerned though that you lost your command once again.”

“Bah!!!  What did you expect when you ruled my ship suffered from that Sturginium Flair and moved out of formation and into Prime Targeting Range of TWO British Battleships???  I think I and my commanders did quite well under those circumstances.”

“Perhaps, Admiral.  Perhaps…”

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Well, that was quit a nasty fight!  While the Russians and the British are “supposed to be” allies, it’s always fun to see what could happen when neither opponent’s weapons are “optimized” for that particular foe.

So, the Tunguska.  What can I say?  While it did get that incredible Magazine Explosion on the British sub, it was an incredibly lucky shot – I had no expectations of doing any damage that time.  Beyond that, the most useful thing I got from the Tunguska was the extra Fighter SAS!  I did hold it back, but probably too long.  I got so fixated on “stealing” the Guardian Generator from the Eagle War Rotor that when I did, it didn’t do me any good!  The Tunguska was too far out of position to do anything but shoot at the War Rotor which kept hidden in the clouds all game.  (Actually, ALL the fliers stayed obscured the entire game!).  While the Saransk had Air Hunter, the Tunguska did not, so it was always rolling 5+ to hit and when it DID hit, the War Rotor’s Guardian Generator kept saving it from damage!  I should have started moving the Tunguska to help / avenge the Borodino.

Speaking of the Borodno Battleship, it was well supported with a squadron of Frigates and Destroyers, Cruisers not far behind, but I couldn’t have anticipated that Sturginium Flare moving me so close to the enemy Battleships and away from the support I had provided!  I only had 1 really good salvo from the Main Turrets and I bombed the roll!  I never got a second chance after that.  I think I played the Battleship correctly, I just had bad luck this time around.

The Saransk Skyships performed well as anti-aircraft platforms, but the real workload against enemy fliers were the Russian Fighter SAS!  WOW!  They rocked this game!  Usually, I’m lucky if they can damage another SAS, but they are responsible for taking out all the British War Rotors!  Don’t leave home without them!  As I didn’t have a carrier in this force, there wasn’t any real reason to take anything other than Fighters as I couldn’t rearm Dive or Torpedo Bombers.

The other heavy hitters this game were once more, the Novgorod Frigates!  Once more, they were hitting well above their weight class.  The Destroyers are nice and fast, but expensive and I had to hide the Destroyers until they had a chance to run out and do something.  The Frigates, while slower, were shooting and damaging almost every time they fired.

On the British side, well, he had some pretty bad luck!

We never did get to see what the Vanguard subs were capable of, both being taken out with a magazine explosion.  I think Graham took a chance coming to the surface to get better odds firing his torpedoes.  I think he may have been better off staying submerged and firing submerged.  Yes, it would require 5+ to hit, but I think it would have been a good trade-off to keep the subs safe(er) as they made an approach to ram.  We really didn’t have a chance to see what else they could do.

Again, with his Airships, the British had bad luck.  By both sides deploying their aircraft in the clouds, which made all To Hit rolls base 5+.  While he had better range (in theory), he couldn’t’ capitalize on it before the Russian Fighters drove them from the skies.  I think they were good choices, I just think the sequence of activation and pure bad dice rolls rendered them more ineffective than they have should been.

While having 3 Large choices made it tough to get my 70% of the fleet value, it also hampered the British fleet, restricting the size and numbers of his Medium & Small choices.  He had 2 Medium and 2 Small squadrons, but all were undersized and he was outnumbered by activations simply by my having an extra Small choice and the extra SAS from the Tunguska.  Those lack of activations really hurt the British fleet, letting the Russians play the waiting game more effectively.  On the other hand, he was able to overwhelm the Russian Borodino Battleship very quickly with 2 Battleships ganging up on the Russian 1!  The Russians made a few activation sequence errors as well, but the British weren’t really able to capitalize on it.

Over all, a very good game!  Good thing it was a training mission or I don’t know how I would justify saving Orlov again! 

Hope you enjoyed the battle report!  Hopefully I can get another report sometime soon!

BatRep: Dystopian Wars 2 – 1000pt Empire of the Blazing Sun vs Russian Coalition

Admiral Dimitry Orlov was leaning over the railing of the Russian Fleet Carrier Russian Kiev.  His Battleship, Georgy Pobedonosets II ("St George the Victorious II" in English) was sailing alongside.  Why he was on a carrier instead of his beloved Georgy Pobedonosets II was an interesting story, probably.  Orlov had been ordered to.  Why?  No one thought to tell him why…

Oh well, just for this mission, Orlov hoped.

The sun was rising and in the distance he could see a squadron of Saransk Skyships peeping through the clouds.  It was always a welcome sight to see the skyships, but worrysome that they were short 1 ship.  Hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue.

In the meantime, Orlov had been ordered to look for the remnants of an Empire of the Blazing Sun’s task force.  It was supposed to have a Battleship in need of urgent repair and a couple of escorts, so Orlov felt at ease.  He had a small task force, but it was still more than a match for a bruised Battleship.

“Admiral to the Bridge!  Admiral to the Bridge!  All hands to Battlestations!”

With a heavy sigh, Orlov headed for the bridge, casting one last glance at Georgy Pobedonosets II.

“Well, Captain, have we spotted the enemy task force yet?”

Orlov grew concerned as the ship’s Captain turned to him, pale as a ghost, voice trembling.  “Sir!  Our reconnaissance flight just spotted the enemy task force!  We were misinformed as to the nature of the task force.  Not only is the fleet roughly the same size as our own…”

“Well?  Out with it man!”

“They don’t seem to be escorting a damaged Battleship!  They have what appears to be a fully functional Dreadnought!”

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So off we went!  Another game!  This time only 1000 points and Graham made sure he had a legal Naval list before we even started!  ;)

We were lazy.  The table was still set up from our last game, so we went with it.  Empire of the Blazing Sun won Strategic Advantage and Russians won the Operational Advantage.  So from the Russian’s point of view, We were on the south edge (again) with 2 islands in the North East corner and the South West corner.  Technically, the table size was 4’ X 6’, but in reality, we played the mission mostly in 4’ X 4’!

Neither side used Advance, Flanking or Reserve forces (the game’s too small for that).

Russian Coalition (RC) deployment – Left to Right:

• 3 Suvorov Cruisers on the far side of the islands
• 3 Novgorod Frigates
• A Kostroma Fleet Carrier with Torpedo & Rocket Jammers, 5 SAS Fighters and 4 SAS Dive Bombers and the Commodore
• A Borodino Battleship with Stoic Crew and Torpedo & Rocket Jammers
• 5 SAS fighters
• 3 Novgorod Frigates
• 2 Saransk Skyships (Obscured)
• 4 Suyetka Interceptors (Obscured)
• 5 SAS Fighters

Empire of the Blazing Sun (EotBS) (also known as the “Japanese”) deployment – Russian Left to Right:

• 3 Tetsubo Small Interceptors (Obscured)
• 3 Tanuki Armored Cruisers
• A Hachiman Dreadnought with Shield & Tesla Generators and the Commodore
• 4 Yurgi Destroyers
• 2 SAS of 5 Fighter Tokens, each
• 2 Inari Scout Gyros (Obscured)

We both drew our orders, but the Japanese decided to drop his secret mission (50% + the Commodore) to do just the 70% of the forces.  I kept the Russian Orders.

Initial Deployment!

Turn 1:

Russians won Initiative!

Russian Frigates on the left started to move around the leftmost island – staying under cover from everything it could hide from.  The Japanese Gyros climbed to the Stratosphere, but found they were out of weapons ranges and unable to spot the Russian Battleship for the rest of the fleet.  Russian Dive Bombers moved forward, over the islands, killing an activation.

The Japanese Destroyers moved forward maximum speed and fired on both the Skyships, damaging 1 and Crit the other (Nav Lock)!  Russian Frigates retaliated, coming around the right side of the southern islands and sank 2 Destroyers and damaged a 3^rd!  First blood to the Russians!  The Destroyer passed its Disorder test.

Russian Frigates get 1st Kills!

Japanese Cruisers advanced next, sank a Frigate, but the survivors passed their Disorder test.

Russian Skyships, already damaged, moved forward.  Though they failed to cause any damage, they DID spot a Cruiser for the rest of the fleet.  The Japanese Dreadnought moved next, roughly a 45 degree angle towards table center from the left (gaining 2” movement from the Tesla Generator).  Rockets crit 1 Skyship (Nav Lock + 1 fire due to Incendiary Weapons) while the turrets damaged the Russian Battleship (placing 1 Fire token there as well).

Russian Interceptors climbed to the Stratosphere and moved forward maximum speed.  Japanese Interceptors moved forward and shot down 1 damaged Skyship with a Crit.  The other Skyship failed its Disorder test!

Woe for the Russian Skyships!

The Russian Battleship turned and advanced between the two Southern islands, and failed to hit the “Spotted” Cruiser.  (Turned out that was a good thing!  The Russian Primary Guns can only do Indirect Fire at Range Band 3 & 4 – I forgot and was in Range Band 2!)

Japanese fighters moved to protect the Dreadnought and the Cruisers while the Russian Cruisers advanced beside the islands and failed to damage an Interceptor, the Carrier moved between the islands – right beside the Battleship and the Russian Fighters advanced forwards.

End Phase: The Japanese had nothing to repair.  Russians repaired all damage and put out all fires EXCEPT on the Skyship!  It lost 1 AP to the fire and another AP to the Disorder – leaving it with 4AP left!

Victory Points:

EotBS:   105

RC:         80

Turn 2:

EotBS won Initiative!

Note: For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of the 2nd turn.  I think this was because we were too caught up in the game.

Japanese Fighters attacked Russian Dive Bombers, shooting down 3 for the loss of 2 tokens!  The Russian Dive Bombers fled back to the Carrier (and out of range from a 2^nd attack).  Japanese Interceptors attacked the Skyship, but failed to damage it.  Russian Fighters attack an interceptor, damaging it for no loss to themselves!  The Japanese Destroyer made its Minimum move forward, sank 1 Frigate and damaged another!  The Frigates passed their Disorder Test.

Russian Fighters attacked the under-strength Fighter SAS, downing 2 (1 left) for the loss of 2 tokens.  Japanese Fighters attack the Russian Skyship and crit it (Guns) for no loss!  Things were looking bad for the Russian Skyship!  Finally, a Russian SAS fighter squadron attacked another Japanese Fighter Squadron – both squadrons destroying each other!

Japanese Gyros moved forward, forming a Line Of battle, their rockets finally destroying the Russian Skyship with another Crit while the Gyros’ guns shot down a Russian Interceptor!

Russian Cruisers passed their Sturginium Boost, gaining an extra 2” speed, successfully came around the southern islands and damaged 1 Cruiser from long range.  The Japanese Cruisers, simply moved forward, sank a Frigate with Torpedoes and damaged 2 Interceptors!

The Carrier Activated, replenished the missing Dive Bombers back to 4 tokens, passed its Sturginium Boost and managed to peak around the island enough to crit a Cruiser (Hard Pounding, -2AP).  The Japanes Dreadnought made a turn to Port with a minimal move where its turrets and rockets each caused a Crit on a Cruiser (Sturginium Flair – Cruiser teleported 11” to the upper Left – JUST in squadron Coherency!) and a Crit on the Carrier (Generator Offline).  Both ships gained a Fire Token as well!

That was the last activation for the Japanese.  Russian Interceptors dove down to Obscured, but failed to damage a Gyro.  The Russian battleship moved forward between the islands and using 2 turrets and broadsides, shot down 2 Interceptors and damaged the 3^rd!  The last Russian Fighter SAS moved to the left of the islands – within 4” of the Carrier.

End Phase: Once more the Japanese had nothing to repair.  For the Russians, the Generator was repaired on the Carrier and the Cruiser put out the fire, but both the Carrier and 1 interceptor still had a Raging Fire Token and lost an AP.

Victory Points:

EotBS:   260

RC:         140

End of Turn 2, Begining of Turn 3!

Turn 3:

EotBS won Initiative!

At this point, I must apologize.  My computer notes for the next turn were LOST!

(As an IT guy, I’m embarrassed and can only use this as an object lesson: SAVE & SAVE OFTEN!!!)

So, working from memory and pictures:

• A Japanese (SINGLE) fighter attacked my Dive Bombers (AGAIN?!?!?) and shot one or two down for their complete destruction.
• Russian Cruisers turn to present broadsides and turrets to a Cruiser – sinking it!
• Japanese Cruisers do a hard turn to Starboard and torpedo 1 Cruiser, turrets on another and rockets on a 3^rd, sinking 2 and damaging 1 (which passed its Disorder test).
• The Russian Carrier activated, replenished the Dive Bombers back to full strength, REPURPOSED a Fighter Squadron as Dive Bombers, advanced forward and crit a cruiser (Nav Lock) with its broadsides!
• I THINK the Japanese Dreadnought attacked the Carrier and Crit it twice with guns and rockets (Lotsa Fire and an Engine Damage).  Carrier was sitting with 1HP left around this point.
• Russian Dive Bombers fly over the island to the south, ready for next turn.
• Japanese Destroyers move and do something (can’t remember what).
• Russian Frigates race to front of Carrier and sink damaged Cruiser!  Survivor passed its Disorder test.
• The Japanese Gyros sink the Carrier with long ranged rocket fire (BARELY got the DR point they required)!  Whole fleet takes Disorder Tests – Frigates and Battleship FAIL!!!
• Battleship comes around island, but cannot Link its weapons so fires a turret at each Gyro, an undamaged Destroyer and broadsides at the Cruiser.  Damaged both Gyros and the Cruiser, but failed to damage the Destroyer.
• At some point, the Japanese Interceptor moved within 4" of a fighter squadron and declared AA against the fighters and rockets against a Cruiser.  As they were in Counter Attack range, the Fighters shot down the Interceptor before it could launch rockets at the Cruiser!
• Lots more of minor moves but nothing to note.

End of turn – the burning Russian Interceptor failed to put out the fire and crashed.

Russian Cruisers Sink a Japanese Cruiser

The Carrier in Flames!  The Cruisers all gone but 1!

Another Japanese Cruiser is sunk!

Thar She Blows!  The Russian Carrier slips beneath the waves!

The End of the Game!

Victory Points:

EotBS:   Close enough to 70% I conceded the match (<50 points)

RC: Nowhere near enough: Mission was to destroy all Mediums and 50% of the fleet value.

We rolled for the next turn and Japanese would have had initiative.  First activation, the Dread would either sink the Cruiser (giving him the required points) or damaged the Battleship enough that it would have been useless for the rest of the game.

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NASTY game!  I lost that one quite badly!

So what happened?

First, I need to remember that Graham loves his Dreadnoughts.  I prefer to have more activations (and I did have more than he had throughout the game) but in this game, the Japanese Dread had good mix of weapons and range.  The Dreadnought used its weapons to near maximum effect the entire game.  That scared me and I hid my Battleship AND Carrier behind the islands as a result – cutting down my own firepower significantly.  I may have been better off with my own Dreadnought in this case, though I would probably have hid behind the island still, waiting to jump out at Range Band 2 (Maximum Effect Range).

Second, I broke my own rule about ALWAYS taking the Saransk Skyships in squadrons of 3!  As usual (and expected), the Skyships drew an incredible amount of fire until they were destroyed.  By taking the 3^rd Skyship, I could have either kept the enemy fire distracted a bit longer or kept enough flying longer so they could have done something useful in turn 2 (at least dropping mines and being a nuisance).  By not taking 3, I would have been better off picking something else.

I tried to use the Russian Suyetka Interceptors as Anti-Air and they are NOT!  Though they have Pack Hunter, Suyetka do not have Air Hunter so there’s no bonus for attacking other aircraft.  Though fast for a Russian Small, they’re really pretty slow compared to other nations (only a 12” move per turn).  Suyetka really are best used to drop from the clouds and strafe surface targets, then head back into the clouds again. 

The Fleet Carrier was doing ok until I forgot it was my Commodore’s ship and I acted like it was a Battleship.  My intent was to move the Carrier first, firing its secondary broadsides, then screen the Carrier with the Battleship in the next activation.  The problem with that was the Carrier got its Sturginium Boosts and the Battleship didn’t, so the Battleship got left behind!  The Carrier DID restock and repurpose Fighters and Dive Bombers which was a constant threat to the Japanese, but I held them back too long.

You will note I haven’t been bemoaning the changes to Ablative Armour.  I won’t, either.  As good as they were in Ver 1.1, I felt “dirty” using Ablative in its previous incarnation.  My opponents always complained about it and I didn’t like using Russians against rookies as a result.  It really was too powerful and needed to be downgraded somehow.  The fact that we now have SOME Range Band 3 capability I think helps make up for the downgrade and makes it more important for Russian Players to plan ahead.

Looking at the Empire of the Blazing Sun, it’s hard to find fault.  The Dreadnought was a nasty surprise (though it shouldn’t have been) and very effective.  It was never under any real threat throughout the game.  The Scout Gyros are a pain to deal with, firing rockets and turrets every turn, especially targeting my own Skyships.  If I had any complaint about the Japanese forces, it was the very limited number of activations he had, simply because of the points cost tied up in the Dreadnought.  Not something I like, but it worked for Graham.

The other pain to me was the number of Incendiary Weapons the Japanese had.  The Rockets are especially bad due to their high numbers of attacks and superior range to the Russian’s weapons.  Though there were a large number of fires burning each turn, most were caused by Turrets, not Rockets.  Having Jammers on just about everything really seemed to hamper the Japanese dependency on rockets, especially when you followed up with AA as well!  I find having Jammers as a preferred generator really does help the Russians survive longer against most opponents, especially if they are notoriously dependent on either Torpedoes or Rockets.

Anyway, it was a good game, in spite of the thrashing my poor Russians received!  I’ll have to come up with something new for the Russians, soon!

Good Luck!

BatRep: Dystopian Wars 2 – 1500pt Kingdom of Britannia vs Prussian Empire

Admiral Von Shtupp paced the deck.  He was still not comfortable on the Pride of the Prussian Fleet, the Sturmbringer Submarine U-102.  He missed his Battleship, but it was still out for refit and repairs.

Meanwhile, Von Shtupp had orders to probe the northern Scottish Coast.  Naval Intelligence said that the British Grand Fleet was away - where was not clear but High Command wanted to do a quick reconnaissance and possibly a raid while the fleet was away.

That's IF they could trust Naval Intelligence...

Suddenly, the sub's warning klaxon sounded!  "Enemy Fleet spotted!  Battle Stations!  Battle Stations!"

Well, thought Von Shtupp, that answered THAT question...

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Playing our first “Posted” game of Dystopian Wars Version 2, it was Graham & his Kingdom of Britannia vs my Prussian Empire.  This would be fun as I haven’t posted a Dystopian Wars battle here since I started Beta Testing!  Hope I remember how!!!

First thing required in DW2, we rolled for Strategic and Operational Advantages.  Prussians won Strategic Advantage, British Operational Advantage.  What’s the Difference?  Well, Strategic Advantage chooses which table side they want (the “Main Deployment” zone) and determines who deploys first in the Advance Deployment Zone.  Operational Advantage gets to choose who deploys in the Main Deployment Zone first and which side they want as their Flanking zone.

All units on both sides need to be assigned to one of the following forces: Flanking, Advance, Reserve or Main forces.  This is done as part of the fleet-building.  You cannot change your mind dependent on missions, opponents, etc.

In DW2, the table is divided into “Zones”.  “No Man’s Land” is 8” from the Center Line – nothing can be deployed here.  The Next 8” is your Advance Deployment zone for any Advance forces (may not include any Large or Massive units other than Fortifications – no time for mobile units to get there).  Next is your Main Deployment zone (the rest of the table) for your Main Force; anything not identified as being Advance, Reserve or Flanking forces.  The Main force MUST contain at least 1 Massive/Large choice, 1 Medium choice and 1 Small choice – all from your core force (Naval in our mission), as well as the Commodore’s unit.  Flanking forces come in on the sides of the table in the 16” of No Man’s Land on a random turn.  Reserve forces come onto the Main Deployment zone’s table edge, also on a randomly determined turn. 

From the Prussian view, the “Southern Edge” was their Deployment Zone.  Terrain consisted of 2 Massive Islands in the North-East corner and another 2 Massive Islands in the South West corner.  Prussian Flanking zone was the Western Board edge (Prussian Left), the British got the Eastern edge (Prussian Right).

Neither side had Advance or Reserve forces.  Prussians had a Flanking force (just to be different), though the British did not. 

The Prussian Deployment was in two parts:

The Main Force was (Left to Right)

• 3 Riever Light Cruisers
• 2 Pflicht Scout Airships (obscured)
• an Imperium Skyfortress with a flight of 5 Dive Bombers and a Recon Flight
• a flight of 5 Fighters beside the Skyfortress
• 3 Donnerfaust Support Cruisers & 4 Stolz Destroyers
• a Sturmbringer Submarine (submerged) & its Recon Flight with the Commodore
• 2 Pflicht Scout Airships (obscured)
• a flight of 5 Fighters
• 5 Saxony Corvettes

Prussian Flanking Force (deployed on the Prussian Left):

• 5 Zerstorer Strike Bombers – arriving turn 1

(I had chosen the Bombers as a Flanking force because of their speed and the fact they could overfly any obstructions or terrain on the table.  Not knowing what the table was going to be like before the forces are chosen, things like that can make a HUGE difference in what you want in Flanking or Reserves.  It also helped that if they didn’t show up in time, my strategy didn’t need them – the Strike Bombers were completely expendable!)

The British fleet started to deploy and part way through deployment, we realized he forgot to include a Medium Naval choice to his Core Fleet (in fact, he didn’t have any Mediums at all!).  So a quick re-write was done and we ended up with the following list.

The Kingdom of Britannia only had their Main Force (From the Prussian’s Left to Right):

• a flight of 5 Fighters
• 4 Attacker Frigates and a flight of 5 Fighters
• 4 Attacker Frigates & 2 Agincourt Gunships
• 3 Orion Destroyers
• a Ruler Battleship with Guardian Generator
• 4 Attacker Frigates
• 4 Attacker Frigates
• a Majesty Dreadnought with a Pulse Generator
• a Regent Battle Carrier with 5 Fighters and a Recon Flight with the Commodore

Final Deployment

After deployment, we drew cards to determine what our missions were.  We didn’t have the official TAC or Mission Cards (they hadn’t arrived yet), so I just used a deck of normal playing cards to determine what missions we would get. Picking the Ace through 6 cards on 2 separate suites and shuffling the suites independently, we drew our mission number.  Both of us chose to keep what we drew.  (If we hadn’t liked the mission, we could voluntarily opt for 70% of the enemy force, but it would then be public knowledge.)  We could have each rolled a dice, but that leads to confusion if the dice gets knocked around, etc…

As stated, I didn’t have TAC yet, so we went without.  Sorry!

Turn 1

Prussians won Initiative!  (Too bad I didn’t want it yet!)

Things started slowly.  Prussians moved the Sub’s Recon flight to kill an activation.  British retaliated by doing the same thing with their Carrier’s Recon, but then the Prussians had an extra Recon because of their Carrier and moved it next!

Forced to activate something useful, the British Battleship moved slowly around the edge of the islands and fired their guns and torpedoes at the Prussian Sub.  Because it was submerged, the guns lost ½ their Attack Dice (AD) and required 5+ to hit, so caused no damage.  Torpedoes are not hampered by this, but the Sub’s Concussion Charges (CC) stopped enough so that no damage.

The Prussian SAS (Support Aircraft Squadron) Dive Bombers moved forward over an island, not wanting to go too far forward as there were 2 SAS Fighter Squadrons across the table, waiting.

The British Dreadnought slowly moved between the 2 islands on the North East.  With limited visibility, it opened fire with their forward turrets at the Prussian Corvettes, damaging 1 and sinking another.  First Blood to the British!  The Corvettes passed their Disorder test.

First Blood!

Stalling for time (gee, those British have a lot of Frigates over there…), a Prussian SAS Fighter squadron moved forward, pacing the Dive Bombers and stalling for time.

British Destroyers advanced towards the Prussian Support Cruisers, firing guns and torpedoes, but discovered the Cruisers were out of gun range.  The torpedoes were once again stopped by CCs, no damage to the Cruisers.  Unfortunately, the Destroyers were going to block Line-Of-Sight to the British Gunships which I had planned to target with the Donnerfaust.  Activating the Prussian Frigates, they charged the British Destroyers and managed to sink 1!  Prussians are on the board!  The British Destroyers passed their Disorder test.

First British Loss!

The British, angered by the attack, sent their Gunships forward, firing guns and torpedoes at the Prussian Frigates, but only managed to damage 1.  This freed up the Line-Of-Sight issues for the Donnerfaust Support Cruisers and they turned to Starboard, firing all their Speerschleuders at 1 Gunship, critting it!  Besides the Critical Hit (Chaos & Disarray), the ship took a Lightning Rod token (all Tesla-Based weapons count as Devastating weapons until removed) AND lost 1 Assault Point (AP) due to the properties of the Speerschleuders!  In retaliation, one of the MANY Frigate squadrons on the left moved to starboard and made a torpedo attack on one of the Donnerfaust and got a Crit (NavLock)!

Donnerfaust Demonstrate Speerschleuders!

Wanting to protect my smalls but needing to use up an Activation, the Prussian Destroyers moved forward slowly, hiding behind the wall of Donnerfaust.  On the right of the table, another British Frigate squadron snaked between the Battleship and the island, turned to port and managed to sink one of the Prussian Frigates!  The Frigates passed their Disorder test.

A Prussian Frigate Burns!

With the Dread and Battleship having already activated, the Prussian Sub surfaced, turned to starboard and fired everything at the British Battleship, damaging it.  Once again, the Speerschleuders added a Lightning Rod and removed an AP as well!  The Sub tried to dive again (using Swift Manoeuvres), but failed the required roll.  British Frigates snaked out between the two North Eastern islands and the Dreadnought, managing to sink another Frigate.  The Frigates passed their Disorder test.

A 2nd Prussian Frigate Sinks!

The Prussian Pflicht Scoutships on the right, stayed obscured in the clouds and turned to port, pointing their Teslas at the Gunship with the Lightning Rod and fired their broadsides at some Frigates.  As the energy arced towards the Gunship, it damaged the hull and killed another AP while the broadsides sank one of the British Frigates.  The Frigates passed their Disorder test.

The British Carrier’s SAS Fighter squadron moved over the islands towards table center (and the battle).  The Prussian Skyfortress stayed obscured and fired its Tesla at the same Lightning Rodded (is that a word?) Gunship, damaging the vessel and removing another AP.  The poor Gunship was in really bad shape at this point, thanks in large part to the Lightning Rod.

The British Carrier activated, but was faced with a conundrum.  There wasn’t enough room to fit between the Islands (thanks to the Massive Dreadnought “corking” the passage).  It was forced to do a hard turn to starboard, but couldn’t move very far for fear of ramming its own Dreadnought!  It moved and turned just enough to avoid colliding with the island next turn and then declared “Slow Manoeuvres" (the old “All Stop”).  The Prussian Corvettes then sailed forward at full speed and blasted away at a Frigate squadron, sinking 1.  The survivors passed their Disorder test.

Prussian Corvettes Strike Back!

The last squadron of British Frigates activated and turned to starboard.  While their torpedoes failed to damage a Donnerfaust, the Frigates sank another Prussian Frigate, leaving a single ship in the squadron.  Unable to take the strain of constant shelling, the last Frigate failed its Disorder test!

The Prussian Riever Light Cruisers finally activated, moving at full speed around the far side of the islands on the South West.  In spite of the long range, the Rievers were able to sink 2 British Frigates from 2 separate squadrons.  Both squadrons passed their Disorder tests.

British and Prussian Fighters jostled for position for the next 3 activations.  This completed all the British Activations, leaving a couple of unchallenged Prussian Activations.  The Prussian Pflicht Scoutships on the left activated, turned to Starboard and fired their Teslas at long range, but failed to damage the Gunboat with the Lightning Rod.  Finally, the flanking force, the Strike Bombers, moved at Maximum speed from the flank and managed to sink another British Frigate!  The Squadron passed their Disorder test.

In the End Phase, the British were unable to repair ANY of their Critical Effects OR knock off any of the Lightning Rods!  The Prussians repaired the NavLock on the Donnerfaust and the Prussian Frigate rallied after losing all its AP!

Victory Points:

KoB:   110

PE:      190

End of Turn 1 - Start of Turn 2

Turn 3:

Prussians won Initiative once more!

Stuck with a problem, the Prussian commander decided to risk the Sub on the Surface and attack with the Strike Bombers first!  (There were 2 Squadrons of British SAS Fighters in striking distance – I figured they were lost anyway.)  Dropping out of the clouds, the Strike Bombers inundated the damaged Gunship with bombs, causing a double-crit and sinking the crippled ship.  After dropping their bombs, 3 of the 5 Bombers successfully climbed back into the clouds, leaving 2 below.

Strike Bombers . . Strike!

The British Battleship turned to port around the island, firing torpedoes and secondary guns at 2 Donnerfaust.  While the Secondary Guns missed the damaged ship, the undamaged Donnerfaust suffered 3 Raging Fires and a lost AP from the torpedo attack!  The Battleships Turrets all fired on the surfaced Sub, and Crit it (Generators Offline).  Angered (and not thinking clearly), the Sub stayed on the surface and fired everything at the Battleship once more.  The shots caused a Crit (Guns Damaged), added another Lightning Rod and cost the Battleship another AP, but kept the Sub on the surface instead of safely diving.  British Frigates formed a Line-Of-Battle beside the Corvettes and blasted the end ship to oblivion!  The rest of the Corvettes passed their Disorder test.

Another Corvette Bites The Dust!

The Lone Prussian Frigate, embarrassed at their cowardice, launched a suicidal attack on the British Destroyers, accidentally sinking 1!  The Surviving Destroyer passed its Disorder test.

Suicidal Attack Not So Suicidal!

The British Dread sailed out from between the islands.  Her Primary Guns were 1 point short of a Double Crit on the Sub (Guns) while the secondary weapons failed to damage the Donnerfaust.  Prussian Corvettes moved forward and engaged the lead Frigate beside the British Battleship at point-blank range – and FAILED to DAMAGE it!  Laughing, the British Destroyer moved forward and failed its Torpedo attack on the Donnerfaust!  Sadly, its guns did damage the last Prussian Frigate.  Prussian Rievers moved forward at full speed, each targeting a different British Frigate.  When the smoke cleared, 2 Frigates were damaged and another sunk!  The Frigate squadron passed its Disorder test.

A British SAS Fighter attacked the Strike Bombers, but only succeeded in damaging 1 bomber for a loss of 2 tokens.  The Donnerfaust did a hard turn to port, formed a rough Line-Of-Battle and fired all weapons but 1 on the last British Gunship, causing a Double-Crit (NavLock & 3 Raging Fires) as well as landing a Lightning Rod and shaving off an extra AP!  The last weapon was blocked by the British Destroyer, so the Speerschleuder was shot at the Destroyer.  Surprisingly, the Speerschleuder managed to Crit the Destroyer, sinking it!

Donnerfaust Damage The Last Gunship & Sink the Last Destroyer!

In a show of Seamanship (and insanity), a squadron of British Frigates snaked their way between the island, the British Battleship and the Prussian Corvettes, shooting their weapons at the Prussain Sub as they sailed out.  Though the torpedoes failed to damage the Sub, guns managed to shave another Hull Point off the surfaced Sub.  Pflicht Scoutships on the right targeted the Battleship and the Frigates and though they damaged the Battleship (and shaved off an extra AP), the Pflichts were unable to damage any of the Frigates.  Seeking revenge, a flight of British SAS Fighters attacked the Pflichts, causing a crit (Chaos & Disarray) for the loss of 3 tokens.  Prussian Fighters attacked the weakened fighter squadron and destroyed it completely for the loss of 1 token. 

Note: This was important as Carriers cannot replenish SAS that are completely destroyed.

The British Carrier, on Slow Manoeuvres, pivoted enough to avoid colliding with the islands, then announced it was dropping the “Slow Manoeuvres” token, This would enable the carrier to move normally in the following turn.  Prussian Pflichts on the left dropped to flying level, but failed to damage anything and both failed to go back into the clouds after their failed attacks.  The British Gunship did a minimum move forward due to NavLock and failed to damage any of the Donnerfaust, though its torpedo turret did manage to damage one of the Riever Light Cruisers.Prussian Dive Bombers started moving towards the table center, waiting for an opportunity to do something.  British SAS Fighers attacked the Pflicht Scoutships on the left, critting one (1 Raging Fire & 1 lost AP) for the cost of 2 tokens.  Finally, the Prussian Skyfortress, still obscured in the clouds, moved forward and turned its forward Tesla towards the last British Gunship and sank it.

The Skyfortress Sinks The last Gunship!

Another British Frigate Squadron moved forward and attacked the Donnerfaust Support Cruisers, but failed to cause any damage.  Prussian Destroyers finally came out from the shadows of the Donnerfaust, but failed to damage any of the British Frigates!  Another British Frigate Squadron turned and formed Line-Of-Battle, but also failed to damage anything!!!  Finally, a Prussian Fighter SAS attacked and destroyed another under-strength British Fighter SAS for the loss of 1 token.  Both sides then buzzed their Recon Flights around, ending the turn.

In the End Phase, the British managed to repair all the Critical Effects AND knocked off all the Lightning Rods!  The Prussians managed to repair all their Critical Effects and put out the multiple fires burning around the table.

VPs:

KoB:   130

PE:      480

End Of Turn 2 - Start Of Turn 3

Turn 3:

British won the Initiative!

As the Prussian Commander, I was sweating bullets!  My Commodore’s Sub was surfaced and the Dreadnought only needed to crit the Sub once to sink it!

Fortunately, the British activated a Fighter SAS and moved it towards the British Carrier.  With a sigh of relief, The Prussian Sub went beneath the waves and made a 180 degree turn – heading back towards the rest of the Prussian Fleet and safety!  Realizing his error, the British Battleship moved at full speed towards the sub and in a series of the most horrendous rolling of the game, failed to damage the sub!  (I think he rolled only 1 hit!)  The Pflicht on the right took the opportunity to come out of the clouds and attack the British Frigates with Teslas and bombs.  AA crit one of the Pflicht, but they were still able to sink 1 Frigate, then boarded and prized the British Battleship!

Capturing the British Battleship

British Frigates raced towards the submerged Prussian Sub, but only 1 made it into CC range.  Needless to say the Frigates failed to damage the sub, but they did manage to sink a Destroyer.  The Destroyers passed their Disorder test.

Prussian Destroyers Under Fire!

Prussian Rievers continued their high-speed dash forward, forming a Line-Of-Battle and turning broadsides and turrets on the British Frigates.  When the smoke cleared, 3 Frigates were sunk – 1 squadron completely destroyed, though a second squadron managed to pass their Disorder test.

Rievers Unleashed!

At this point, my opponent said he conceded the match.  He just wanted to make 1 last activation – just to see if he could win a moral victory.  He activated his Dreadnought and moved at full speed towards the Prussian Sub.  Turning 5 turrets on the beast towards the Prussain, he fired.  Now a submerged sub requires 5+ to hit AND as he was using guns (no sub-killer rule), all his weapons were at ½ dice!  Also, the Prussan Sub had Rugged Construction which made him loose 1 extra dice from his attack pool.  Holding his breath, he rolled the dice – and rolled EXACTLY what he needed to get a Crit!  The Prussian Submarine was sunk, along with the fleet Commodore!

VPs:

KoB:   430      Mission: 50% of the Fleet Value + Sink the Commodore’s Vessel  (1/2 Completed)

PE:      1010    Mission: 50% of the Fleet Value + ALL Mediums (Fully Completed)

Prussian Victory!

=======================================================================

Well, that was an interesting battle!

Looking at the Prussian Forces, everything worked the way I had planned.  I had specifically chosen the Donnerfaust and the Sturmbringer Submarine for the use of their Speerschleuder.  I wanted to optimise the use of my Tesla Weapons and the Speerschleuder just made them that much more effective.  By planning when and where to use them, the Donnerfaust and Sturmbringer were able to stick the Lightning Rods where and when I needed them.

The Strike Bombers are a fun choice.  I had other options (such as the Jager or the Speerwurf) but someone told me the Zerstoer Strike Bombers were useless and should be avoided.  Like another player I know, I just had to try and prove it wrong.  In the end, the Zerstoer were quite useful.

Taking the Skyfortress and 2 Squadrons of Pflichts seemed to be a good choice to team up with the Donnerfaust & Sturmbringer.  Their forward Teslas really were boosted by the effects of the Lightning Rods.

A lot of people complained about the Riever Cruisers, but with their downgrade to Light Cruiser status and their new rules, the Rievers are very effective "Small" hunters.  At 150 points for 3, they're very cost effective, too.  A squadron of 4 Destroyers is 160pts and 4 Frigates is 120pts so Rievers are right in the middle.

My Small choices were all decent choices, but I did keep the Stolz Destroyers back too long.  That was my fault, not the Destroyers.  The Frigates and Corvettes performed well (as I expected they would).

Sadly, I was hoping to demonstrate the SAS and Carrier rules a bit more, but I never did need the Dive Bombers and the Fighters never made it back fast enough to be replenished and/or repurposed.  Maybe next time.

On the British side, WOW!  He REALLY had some bad luck with dice!  I can't emphasize it enough!  I didn't win the game so much as his dice rolls lost him his game!  The score shows how badly he was rolling.

The other issue, was his forgetting the requirement for Mediums choices.  He dropped a 2nd Battleship (for which I am grateful) to free up the required points to take the 2 Gunships and a few upgrades throughout the rest of the fleet.  He really should have dropped some Frigates and gotten a 2nd Medium Squad of almost any type.  There was a 1 in 5 chance I would draw the mission I did and it was the worst possible mission for him I could have drawn.  Having only 1 Squadron of Mediums (and an under-sized one at that) really made it too easy to accomplish 1/2 my mission objectives.

The only other thing I'll comment on was the British Deployment.  We discussed it afterwards, but I think he made a mistake putting both the Dreadnought and Carrier behind the islands.  Though the Dreadnought headed out immediately, it's angles for Line Of Sight were severely limited until Turn 3 so it was never able to use all its weapons to full effect, crippling the Dreadnought's efforts.

========================================================================

Admiral Von Shtupp was furious!  Not only had Naval Intelligence gotten their facts wrong, it almost cost Von Shtupp his life!  As it was, it did cost him his Command Ship!

Von Shtupp wasn't sure how he got out alive.  One moment, he was in the conning tower of U-102, submerged and running away from the British Frigates, the next thing he remembered was bobbing on the water, being towed by some crewmen amidst the wreckage of the U-102 and bodies of the crew.  In fact, by some miracle, some 7 people survived the sinking of the sub, in spite of the odds.  From what Von Shtupp learned from the other survivors, the ship split in half in a large explosion, ejecting some of the crew in the process.

In Spite of the humiliation of losing his command, Von Shtupp was pleased to learn that his fleet did drive back the British with relatively light losses.  Already High Command was reportedly congratulating themselves for such a successful mission and The Emperor was asking some very pointed questions to the command of Naval Intelligence.  Rumour had it that a medal and a promotion would soon be coming...

Oh well, thought Von Shtupp, calming himself a bit.  At least I'll be getting a new command.  Hopefully something more appropriate for my proven ability!