Admiral Von Shtupp was
happy. Once more, he was at sea, in
command of a Prussian Task Force. The
best place for an Admiral to be. As he looked
out the windows of the bridge of SMS
Graf von Zeppelin, a Blucher Dreadnought, and he had to wonder what the day
would bring.
This patrol was
another Search-And-Destroy mission. Von
Shtupp’s mission was to track down and sink a Britannian Dreadnought that had
been spotted in the area. In his last
battle, the enemy's Dreadnought had escaped.
Von Shtupp was determined it would not happen again.
Now they just had to
find a Britannian task force and hope sink the Dreadnought once and for
all. A Britannian Task Force with
something as dangerous as a Dreadnought was something that could not be allowed
near the new Prussian Carrabiean Base.
It shouldn't be too
difficult.
Should it?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
First of all - an apology. Some of the pics turned out terrible this time around.
I need to get a better camera...
First of all - an apology. Some of the pics turned out terrible this time around.
I need to get a better camera...
The forces of those Imperious Warmongers of the Britannia
had once more tried to trespass on to righteously conquered territory of the
Peaceful Prussian Peoples!
Nyaaaa! That sounded
wrong even as I was typing it. The
Prussians were out to kick some Britannian Butt! What else mattered?
I was feeling guilty as I haven’t posted a Dystopian War
report in a while. So Graham and I
decided to blow the dust off the figs and, once more, sail the Seven Seas. We quickly agreed to do a 1000 point battle
and I started plotting his demise.
I quickly realized that I hadn’t put any limitations on the
lists. I could probably expect to see an
enemy Dreadnought (he’s predictable that way), so would bring my own. I wanted some extra Air Support, and had to
decide which way to go. In the end, I
decided I wanted the Fleet Carrier. The
problem with these choices, it takes up a LOT of my 1000 points. I was going to have to be frugal with the
rest of my points.
So, rolling the Dice, once more the Prussians had the
Strategic Advantage and the Britannians had the Operational Advantage.
The Battle area was a standard 6’ X 4’ area. Rolling random terrain we both did
horribly. Only 2 islands. One the in the North West corner, the other
in the South East corner.
Kingdom of
Britannia Deployment:
(South West to South East)
(South West to South East)
L > R = South East to South West
- 4 Attacker Frigates
- 1 Ruler Battleship
- 1 Fighter SAS with 5 tokens
- 1 Majesty Dreadnought with Pulse Generator and 2 Bastion Escorts (Commodore’s Flagship)
- 1 Fighter SAS with 5 tokens
- 2 Agincourt Gunships
- 4 Attacker Frigates
Prussian Empire
Deployment:
(North West to North East – mostly hidden in the North West Corner behind a small island)
(North West to North East – mostly hidden in the North West Corner behind a small island)
L > R = North West to North East
- 1 Fighter SAS with 5 Tokens
- 2 Hussar Gunships
- 1 Elbe Fleet Carrier with 2 Dive Bomber SAS (One 5, one 4 tokens)
- 1 Blucher Dreadnought with Tesla & Shield Generators (Commodore’s Flagship)
- 3 Arminius Frigates
- 4 Saxony Corvettes
- 2 Geier Bombers, Obscured (Flanking Force from the West – Arriving Turn 1)
Turn 1:
TAC Phase: The
Britannians played “Lost Orders”, but it was quickly cancelled with the same;
20 points for Britannia!
Prussians won the Initiative – not that I wanted it…
(The dice rolls Graham was making already had me concerned –
he had been on a really badly “Roll” lately and once more was rolling really
low. Sadly, we had yet to fire a shot!)
I hadn’t used Flankers in a while and decided for this game
I wanted to try them again. My “Plan”
was the Bombers would arrive turn 2 or 3 and finish off some damaged
targets. Instead, I rolled arrival for
Turn 1 and they had to be deployed close enough to the (undamaged) Britannian fleet
that I was probably going to lose the Bombers in the first turn. Knowing that, I used the Bombers first.
The Bombers dropped from the clouds, moved forward and each
fired their Tesla at a separate Frigate, and sank 1, but failed to damage the
other. I then played Break Neck Maneuver and both bombers
successfully made the climb back into the safety (???) of the clouds. Fist Blood for Prussians, but another 20
Points for the Britannian Forces!
Prussian Bomber Attack Run
The Britannian Battleship activated but with no other
targets other than the Bombers, the ship trained two turrets on each. One Bomber was damaged, the other was Crit
(Guns Damaged).
Britannia Strikes Back!
Stalling for time, Prussian Dive Bombers moved forward. Sadly, as expected, the Britannians were
firmly focused on the Geier Bombers. A
flight of Britannian fighters attacked the German Bombers and shot down the
damaged Bomber for a loss of 1 token.
As Expected, the Bombers Attract Too Much Attention...
Another Prussian Stall, another Dive Bomber Squadron moved
forward. Britannian Frigates moved
forward and fired on the last Bomber from Range Band 2. The Bomber was Crit (Hard Poundiing – 2 AP
lost). A flight of Prussian Fighters
didn’t have the range to attack the Britannian Fighters, so they took position
in front of the Dive Bombers.
The Britannian Dreadnought activated and, with no other
targets in sight, blew the last Prussian Bomber from the skies with
broadsides. At least the Bombers had
misdirected Britannian fire for a while…
Death By Dreadnought
Prussian Fighters moved forward to help screen the Dive
Bombers from attack (no, I was killing time and Activations). The final Britannian Fighter SAS moved forward
– well out of attack range of anything.
FINALLY, the Prussian Ships activated! The Gunships powered up their Tesla
Generators and boosted a hard turn to starboard around the tip of the North
West Island. Checking range, they fired
all guns at the Battleship and successfully damaged it (Missed a Crit by 1 or 2
hits). Britannian Gunships sallied out
and turned into a Line Of Battle so that both Torpedoes and Turrets could
return fire. The Gunships managed to
successfully damage one of their Prussian Counterparts.
The Prussian Carrier also boosted its speed with a Tesla
Generator and sailed forward far enough that she was able to sink a Frigate
with the Speerschleuder in spite of the range and needing 5’s to hit!
Prussian Carrier Sinks a Frigate!
The Britannnians then activated their last squadron, the
other Frigate unit moved forward – not too far as they feared being attacked
and/or boarded by the Prussian Smalls.
With no further enemy reactions possible, the Prussian
Dreadnought activated its Tesla and just made enough speed to clear
Line-Of-Sight around the island for all turrets to target the Britannian
Battleship AND screen the Carrier from any direct attacks. With a Deafening roar, the Dread managed to
crit the Battleship from Range Band 3, which caused a Fusion Leak (3 Corrosive
Counters Worth)!
Britannian Battleship Sufferes Fusion Leaks!
Prussian Frigates and Corvettes advanced forward at max
speed, but only the Corvettes were able to damage a single Frigate from the
Britannian squadron.
End Phase:
The Prussians had nothing to repair (the bombers had been obliterated). The Britannian Battleship was only able to stop one Corrosive Marker, so suffered 2 extra Hull Points!
End of Turn 1
VPs:
KOB 160PE: 60
Turn 2:
TAC Phase:
Britannia played Battlefield Repair
but it was stopped with Prepare My
Personal Transport. Another 60pts
for Britannia.
Prussians won Initiative (Graham rolled Snake Eyes).
A flight of Prussian Fighters attacked Britannian Fighters
and blew their attack, only shot down 1 token for the cost of 2 in spite of having
Acrobatic Pilots (3DR instead of 2
in an Interception).
The Britannian Battleship, worried it was doomed, activated
first and moved forward and to port.
Broadsides and torpedoes failed to do any damage, but the turrets sank
the damaged Prussian Gunship with a Double-Crit! Ouch!
Prussians Lose A Gunship!
The second Prussian Fighter SAS attacked the previously
damaged Fighter SAS and shot down 2 tokens for no loss, leaving the Britannian
Squadron with only 2 tokens left. The
Fighters attacked one of the Dive Bombers but due to their reduced numbers,
neither side suffered a casualty.
The Prussian Gunship, trying to be brave, sailed forward to
maximize their guns before being destroyed.
Broadsides damaged a Frigate while the turrets crit the Battleship (Guns
Damaged)!
The Britannian Dreadnought moved forward and to port, sank a Corvette with torpedoes and vaporized the last Gunship with something ridiculous like 3 or 4 Crits while the Dreadnought’s AA shot down the rest of the damaged Prussian Fighter SAS. OWwwwww…
Charge Of The Gunship!
The Britannian Dreadnought moved forward and to port, sank a Corvette with torpedoes and vaporized the last Gunship with something ridiculous like 3 or 4 Crits while the Dreadnought’s AA shot down the rest of the damaged Prussian Fighter SAS. OWwwwww…
Can You Say "OVERKILL"?
The Prussian Corvettes made hard turn to port and split
their fire on the Dreadnought’s Escorts.
The Dread’s Guardian Generator worked overtime and saved both from
taking damage in an inspired series of dice rolls. NOW Graham starts to roll well again! Grrrrrrr!
The Second Britannian Fighter SAS attacked a Dive Bomber SAS
and shot down 2 for no loss. Prussian
Fighters move between the Carrier and the larger Britannian Fighter SAS, then
successfully shot down 2 for the loss of 1.
Britannian Frigates on the East side move forward and
attacked the Prussian Corvettes, damaged one and sank another. Prussia was starting to struggle!
Britannian Frigates Engage Prussian Corvettes
The damaged Dive Bomber Squadron moved back to the Carrier,
waiting for replacements. Britannian
Gunships advanced and sank the last two Corvettes!
Death Of The Prussian Corvettes
The Prussian Carrier replenished both the Fighter and Dive
Bomber Squadrons nearby, then re-purposed the Fighters as Dive Bombers, giving
me 3 SAS to attack with. The Carrier
moved forward its maximum speed, turning slightly to starboard (to avoid the
table edge) and sank another Frigate with the Speerschleuder.
In a fit of . .
Bravery? Stupidity? Anyway, the last Frigate from the Squadron turned
and charged the Prussian Carrier.
Unsurprisingly, it caused no damage to the Great Ship. Sadly, this was the last Britannian
Activation of the turn!
"I Think I Can. I Think I Can..."
Unopposed once more, the Prussian Dreadnought moved forward
maximum speed with a slight turn to starboard and screened the Carrier once
more. Firing its guns, the Dreadnought
sank the last Frigate of the squadron and then played Devastating Barrage on the Turret attack on the Britannian
Dreadnought, which was cancelled with Espionage
(gaining the Prussians a desperately needed 40 points). Sadly, the turrets failed to damage the
Dreadnought (dang Guardian Generators)!
Prussian Dive Bombers moved forward and the Frigates turned
to Port and FINALLY sank one of the Dreadnought’s Escorts.
End Phase:
Once again, the Prussians had nothing to repair. The Britannian Battleship stopped one Corrosive marker, but in spite of a re-roll, failed to stop the last Corrosive marker from removing its last hull point, sinking the Battleship!
Death By Failed Repair Rolls!
End Of Turn 2
VPs:
KoB: 480PE: 380
Turn 3:
TAC Phase: The
Britannians played Radio Intercept
(which gave the Prussians another 20VP).
Prussians won Initiative again, anyway! :-P
Well, at this point,
it was probably all over but the Crying.
Graham had let slip after sinking the last Gunship that he had completed
half his objective and now only needed 20 points to complete his Victory
Conditions. I decided I may as well go
for broke and see what happened.
The Prussian Dread turned and closed with the Britannian
Dread before turning to expose her broadsides and all turrets at the
Dread. The Guns Thundered and the Dread
took a Crit Hit (Generators Offline)! (Missed
a Double-Crit by 1HP – MAN I hate that Guardian Generator!!!). The Britannian Dread turned to starboard and
sank a Frigate, shot down 1 Dive Bomber Token then missed damaging the Prussian
Dread by 1 hit!
The Dreadnoughts Confront Each Other
The Prussian Dive Bombers attacked and sank the last Escort,
depriving the Dreadnought of her protection (not that it needed it).
Grabbing Points and stripping AA from Dread
One Britannian Fighter squadron attacked Prussian Dive
Bombers and shot down 2 for the loss of 1 token. A Prussian Dive Bomber squadron moved towards
the Enemy Dreadnought, then the Britannian fighter squadron attacked and shot
down 3 Dive Bombers for the loss of 1 token on another squadron.
The Prussian Carrier replenished one of the Dive Bomber
squadrons back to full strength, then made a hard Port Turn to aim its forward
Tesla Gun at the Britannian Dreadnought (missing the Prussian Dreadnought by
about ½”). The Tesla Gun succeeded in
damaging the Dread while the lightning removed an extra AP.
Britannian Gunships turned hard to port, fired at and
damaged the Prussian Dreadnought. The
Final Prussian Dreadnought moved between the Carrier and the Britannian
Dreadnought. The last Britannian Frigate
squadron shot down the remains of one Dive Bomber Squadron, shot down 2 tokens
of another squadron and damaged 2 Prussian Frigates!
In a fit of cowardice, the last 2 Prussian Frigates made a
hard turn to port and tried to hide behind the west most corner of the North
West Island…
End Phase:
The Prussians still had no damage to repair. The Britannian Dreadnought failed to repair it’s Generators. Not that it needed to…
End of Turn 3 & Game!
VPs:
KoB: 510 – Destroy all Mediums & 50% of the fleet – Both CompletedPE: 425 – Sink the Commodore’s Ship & 50% of the fleet – Neither Completed
Kingdom of Britannia is Victorious!!!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Well, Graham can quit complaining about his dice rolls
now. :-P
I think I had a decent force, I just drew the worst mission
I could have. I *could* have chosen to
go with the Default 70%, but I didn’t want to give away my mission. Besides, knowing he had a Dreadnought worth
over 300 points in a 1000 point list, I knew I would have to sink or capture the
Dreadnought on a 70% mission objective anyway.
It was a no-win scenario. I maybe
could have ignored the Battleship but it was blocking my flank attack on the
Dreadnought AND a threat, so I really couldn’t ignore it.
Hiding my most powerful ships behind the island didn’t
help. While it prolonged their fighting
abilities and I was able to quickly get rid of the Battleship relatively
quickly and easily, I was out of position to deal with the Dreadnought. The combined close ranged firepower of both
the Dread and the Fleet Carrier really would have dealt with the enemy Dread a
hard time, IF I could have prolonged the battle.
Which was the main weakness of this list. The two Massive ships limited my Medium and
Small choices to 2 understrength units, each.
I probably would have been better served with a Single Massive and
increased the number of Medium and Small choices, but that’s always the risk
and trade-off with a battle of this size.
Same issue with the flanking forces.
In a larger battle, coming in on turn 2, flanking may have worked better. This time, I gave away 120 points to my
opponent.
of damaging and sinking the Commodore's Dreadnought. Only it didn't work and I had to wait for the Corrosion to sink it in the End Phase. If I had backed off, I could have stalled possibly 2 or 3 more turns and had a decent chance of capturing or sinking the Britannian Dreadnought. I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have. C'est la Vie! (Pardon my French - assuming it is spelt correctly!)
Anyway, raham broke his losing streak and we got a good game that actually finished for a change!
Hope you enjoyed the report. See you next time!
Anyway, raham broke his losing streak and we got a good game that actually finished for a change!
Hope you enjoyed the report. See you next time!
