BatRep: Republic of France vs Russian Coalition

Admiral Dimitry Orlov was calm.  Well, he was TRYING to be calm.

The Review Board actually reviewed his last mission as a success(?) as he had obviously been tricked into a situation that he had no control over (??) and it was actually the fault of the Admiralty for sending him out in the first place against his recommendations(?!?!?!?).

This was NOT the sort of reaction he had been expecting.  The Review Board appeared ready to decommission his command the previous time.  The only reason it changed its attitude towards him must of been because of his Mysterious Benefactor.

In fact, Orlov still didn't know who he was or what his position was.  That worried Orlov.  He hated the unknown.  Worse, it meant he wouldn't be able to know how to manipulate or impress his Benefactor.  Or worse, what would anger him and prevent his wrath.

Shaking his head, Orlov brought his change of thought back to his present mission.  He was leading a Russian Task Force from his ship,  the Battleship Georgy Pobedonosets ("St George the Victorious" in English).  A new Carrier, a squadron of Cruisers and some Escorts and Frigates accompanied the Battleship.  They were to sail down the coast of Norway towards Britannia as the Russian Component in a joint mission against the hated Prussians.  The fleet had already reached the tip of Norway and just had to cross the North Sea to their first port of call.

At least, that WAS the plan...

"Admiral Orlov!  Lookouts report a fleet of ships crossing in front of us to the south!"

"Identify!"

"We've spotted floating cruisers sir - it appears to be a French Fleet. headed towards Denmark"

The FRENCH!  This could be an opportunity he didn't want to miss.  But Orlov had a schedule to keep. Too bad...

"Sir!  Lookouts report the fleet is changing direction.  They're turning towards us now."

"Looks like I won't be able to avoid that fight after all.  Signal all ships to General Quarters!  Turn to meet them head on!  Radio Room; signal Fleet Headquarters and the English Fleet that we have been discovered and engaged by the French.  We may have intercepted the enemy on the way to join up with the Prussians!"

Orlov listened as the sounds of the engine power increased to battle speed, the gun turrets loading and re-aligning.  Across the horizon, he watched as the carrier started launching fighters to meet the French threat.  Together, all the ships started pointing south - towards the Enemy...

It was time, once again, to fight for Mother Russia!

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

My Friend Byron requested I do a "training mission".  He had the French Naval box set and a Carrier because he thought it looked Great!  (As good  a reason as any for a wargamer to buy a model...)

So he added his points up and came up with 825 points.  Adding a Carrier to a Russian Box set made mine a litte over, so I dropped a frigate.  Also, having heard some of the nastiness for the French Fliers, I figured I should get some escorts.

So, the Army Lists:

For the Republic of France (RoF):
1 X Couronne Carrier
1 X Mk II Magenta Battleship with Cloud Generator
3 X Marseille Cruisers (1 Sqdn)
9 X Lyon Frigates (3 Sqdn of 3)
2 X Voltaire Heavy Interceptors (1 Sqdn)
2 Sqdn of 5 Torpedo Bombers
1 Sqdn of 5 Fighters
1 Single Tiny Flyer Recon Squad


For the Russian Coalition (RC):
1 X Kostroma Battle Carrier with 2 X Veliky Escorts
1 X Borodino Battleship with 2 X Veliky Escorts and Torpedo Breaker (3)
3 X Suvorov Cruisers with Rocket Jammers in 1 Sqdn
3 X Novgorod Frigates in 1 Sqdn
2 X Myshkin Bombers in 1 Sqdn
3 Sqdn of 5 Fighters

(Yes, I deliberately dropped 1 frigate and deployed 4 as Escorts for the Battleship & the Carrier.  Having heard what the French had both Missiles and Torpedoes, I figured I needed more AA for the big ships than just letting them get rocketed to death from a distance.  It cost me some activations, but I hoped to make up for it by being more difficult to damage.)

4' X 4' battlefield with 3 quarters containing an island, 2 on his side, 1 on my right flank.

Deployment (Russian Left to right):
RC:  Frigates with Bombers behind.  Next the 3 cruisers, then a Squadron of Fighters with the Battleship with escorts behind, another squadron of fighters, the Carrier with Escorts.  On the far side of the island, the last squadron of fighters.

Deployment (French, from Russian Left to Right):
Behind the island, angling towards the center: the Cruisers, with the 1st Squadron of frigates beside them.  Next was another squadron of frigates with the Battleship & Carrier behind them.  On the other side of the island, 2 Squadrons of Torpedo Bombers (Black "Fuel" dice) and a squadron of Fighters (White "Fuel" dice, the Heavy Interceptors and the last squadron of frigates.

Both sides rolled their missions, but chose instead to go for default 70% captured/destroyed fleet composition.  (Approximately 580 points)

This was Byron's first time using cards.  The French played "Tactical Aid" and drew 2 extra cards.  Russians played "Red Tape", meaning the French had to throw away an extra card to use any cards.

RoF got the 1st Turn Initiative

Turn 1:
The turn was filled with cautious movement and little fighting (Russian weapons being so short-ranged - what did you expect?)  ;)

The French Recon flight flew forward (just to kill an activation).  Russian fighters on the far right moved forward as well (also killing an activation).  the French frigates on the far right advanced and cautiously turned inwards around the tip of the island.  The Russians countered by moving another fighter squadron forward.  The French fighters advanced, followed by more Russian fighters.  French Torpedo Bombers next, followed by Russian Bombers, followed by French Heavy Interceptors.  Ships finally started to move.  The Russian Frigates on the far left advanced and turned towards the center.French Frigates activated, but were out of range of anything.

Running out of options, the Russian Carrier moved out and turned to show her broadsides to the Heavy Interceptors and frigates on the far right, but were just out of range!  (I also forgot to use the Glacier Generator - Oops!!!)  The French central Frigates moved out, but found they were just out of torpedo range of the Carrier.  The Russian Battleship then advanced, but was also out of range.  The second squadron of Torpedo Bombers moved out, followed by the (Reluctant) Russian Cruisers.

This was the end of the Russian activations for the turn and the French finally pounced!  Sorta...

The French Cruisers played "Stoke the Engines" on their Cruisers, advanced forward and prepared to fire on all the Russian Cruisers.  I decided I should be "nice" and explained that the Russian Capital Ships all have Ablative Armour and how it worked.  After hearing the gory details, the French concentrated fire on a single cruiser and stripped the Ablative Armour and caused a single Hull Point (HP) of damage.  The French Battleship moved next and tried to fire at the same cruiser, but failed to damage it.  Finally the French Carrier moved forward, ending turn 1.

End of Turn 1

Turn 2:
Russians played "Tactical Aid" which the French cancelled
French won Initiative again.

The French started things off by moving their Fighter squadron forward.  Bad choice.  The Russians activated their Cruisers, moved forward and turned to the left.  The Russians then returned fire on the French Cruisers - double teaming 1 French Cruiser and the damaged Russian Cruiser fired at it's own target (hoping just to cause some damage) while the Cruisers Broadsides targeted two Frigates.  When the smoke cleared, both French cruisers had been destroyed by Double-Crits!  One suffered a Magazine Explosion and took out one of the French (targeted) Frigates while the Russian Broadsides took out another!  Both the Cruiser and Frigate squadron FAILED their Break Tests.

"Weren't there some cruisers over there before?"

The French moved their center Frigate Squadron to make a torpedo run on the Carrier, but the Russian Battleship was close enough that it's Torpedo Breaker diverted 3 torpedoes into the previously damaged Cruiser (which suffered a Systems Crit), saving the Carrier from damage.  The damaged Russian Cruiser was not so lucky as the Frigates then fired Broadsides at the crippled ship, causing another Double-Crit, sinking the hapless Cruiser.  The remaining Russian Cruisers then failed their Break Test!  :O

French start their PAYBACK!

Needless to say, Turn 2 was starting with a BANG!

The Russian Battleship advanced, then fired only 1 turret (the only one in range of anything) and caused a Crit (Nav Lock) on the remaining French Cruiser while it's broadsides sank another Frigate.  The first squadron of French Torpedo Bombers then launched an attack on a single Russian Cruiser, but the but the Battleship deviate 3 torpedoes onto the other to reduce the damage.  The one cruiser still lost its Ablative Armour and suffered a single HP loss.  In retaliation, A Russian Fighter squadron "bounced" the French torpedo bombers, shooting down 3 for a loss of 1 of their own.  The second French Torpedo Squadron attacked the Russian Battleship and successfully damaged it, removing the Battleships Ablative Armour in the process.  Russian fighters shot down 2 of the Torpedo Bombers for no loss of their own, but the damage was already done...

Sensing blood, the French threw everything they could at the Russian Battleship.  The French Heavy Interceptors  attacked next, targeting both the Battleship and the Cruisers.  They succeeded in taking  another HP from the Battleship, but failed to damage the Cruisers.  Russian Frigates fired on and sank the last French Cruiser while the French Frigates fired torpedoes at the Russian Battleship.  The Russian Admiral chuckled as the Torpedo Breaker diverted 3 torpedoes back onto another French Frigate, damaging it, while sparing the Russian Battleship further damage.  Russian Bombers advanced up the left and turned towards the French Battleship, hoping to make a bombing run next turn.  The last  French Frigate squadron (1 frigate) attacked the Russian Cruiser with Torpedoes but once again, the Russian Battleship diverted 3 to another French Frigate (causing no damage to either ship).  The Russian Battleship was proving that taking  the Torpedo Breaker was a GREAT option for the fleet!

Finally, due to some poor maneuvering on their part, the Russian Carrier collided with the Russian Battleship - the Battleship had failed to get out of the way when they moved.  No damage to the Carrier, but the Battleship took another HP damage!  Ouch!

"No, I'm SURE I had the Right-Of-Way!  Who's your Insurance Broker?"

That ended all the Russian activations so the French had Carte Blanche the rest of the turn.  The Recon flight flew around like an angry gnat.  The French Battleship moved and turned to show her Broadsides.  Firing everything, the Russian Battleship took another HP damage and a Cruiser suffered a Crit (Guns Damaged).  Finally, the French Carrier moved into range to fire the Heat Lance at the Russian Battleship, causing a Crit (Fire - 10 AP left) while rockets targeting the Battleship were diverted to a French Frigate while AA took care of the rest.  Finally, the Carrier's Broadsides broke through the Ablative Armour on the last Cruiser, causing an HP damage, ending the activations.

The French Battleship turns to engage...

In the maintenance phase, the Russian Battleship put out the fire, but failed to repair or rally the Russian Cruisers.  The solo French Frigate managed to Rally, but the French also failed to repair any damage.

Points Lost

French: 270

Russian 190

(Things looked good points-wise for the Russians, but all the Ablative Armour was gone from their ships except the Carrier - not a good sign!)

End of Turn 2!

Turn 3:
No turn cards this time.
French win the Initiative AGAIN!  :(

The French started off with their Battleship; 1 turret caused a Crit on the Russian Battleship (Nav Lock - 1 HP Left on the Battleship!), The Broadsides missed, the forward turret caused a crit to a Cruiser (Nav Lock) and the torpedoes failed to damage (3 diverted by the Russian Battleship's Torpedo Breaker).  The Russian Frigates attacked the French Battleship, but caused only a single HP of damage.  The French Carrier activated and sank the Russian Battleship (FINALLY) with its Heat Lance, then fired it's rockets at a Cruiser.  Though some of the rockets were diverted, there was still another Crit on a Cruiser, sinking it.  After the Russian Battleship sank, the Battleship's Escorts found themselves already in range and joined the Carrier's Escorts, bringing the Escort squadron up to 4 ships.

Cruisers take it on the chin while the Bombers close...

The remaining Russian Cruiser played Thunderous Volley (bringing it's Attack Dice up to the full Turret value +1) and fired both Turrets and Broadsides at the French Battleship but failed to damage it.  The French Interceptors attacked the Russian Carrier; guns failed to hit and Concussion Charges stopped 4 torpedoes, but the Carrier still suffered an HP and loss of their Ablative Armour.  The Russian Carrier moved , deployed an iceberg on its rear quarter as the Escorts all moved in front of the Carrier and targetted the French Carrier.  The Russian Carrier then played "Veteran Gunners" and Crit the French Carrier (forgot to record the effect) but the escorts failed to damage the enemy ship.

The Carriers trade shots!

 



French Frigates then "threaded the needle" between the Carrier's Escorts and the iceberg, to get the stern of the Russian Carrier in their Broadside Arc, fired and caused another HP to the doomed ship.

French Frigates rake the Carrier's Stern!

Russian Bombers meanwhile managed to over-fly the French Battleship and though the AA caused a Crit on one Bomber (Nav Lock - what is it with Nav Locks today???), both bombers dropped their payload and caused a Crit (Eng Damage) on the Battleship.

The French Frigates attempt to fire broadsides at the remaining Russian Cruiser but fail to damage it.  Russian Fighters shoot down the remainder of 1 Torpedo Bomber squadron for a loss of 1 fighter.  French Frigates manage to sink a single Escort.  Russian Fighters engaged the French Torpedo Bombers and shoot down 3 for no loss.  The French retaliate and their fighters attack back, but French lost 4 fighters shot down for 1 Russian lost!Another Russian fighter squadron shot down the remaining French fighter for a loss of one of their own.  The Freench recon flight buzzed around the far left side - because he could!

Russians failed to repair the Gun Crit on the Cruiser and Nav Lock on the bomber, but rallied the Cruiser.  French failed all their repair rolls.

Points Lost:

French: 270

Russians: 395

Turn 4
French played "Pass the Tools" and successfully repaired their Battleship to Full HP!  ):-(
Russians FINALLY win initiative - too bad there's not much left of the fleet...


So, looking at what was available, the Russians activated the Frigate squadron first; they were at full strength and had a better chance of damaging something than the Cruiser did.  I wanted the Carrier to "Mop up".  Of course, the Frigates failed to do anything...

French Frigates activated next, failed to damage the Cruiser or the Frigates, but did succeed in sinking an Escort.  Then they played "Tally Ho!", giving the French a Second activation!

The French Battleship moved forward, Crit and finally sank the helpless Cruiser with torpedoes, then turned its turrets on the Carrier, causing another Crit (Nav Lock - AGAIN?!?!?), and damaged an Escort with the Battleship's broadsides.

Russian Bombers moved forward and as they couldn't go far enough to bomb the French carrier, the Bombers used their "Hard Shell" suicide attack.  The Carrier's AA wasn't enough to shoot down the damaged bomber so they each made a successfull attack, causing a Crit (Weapons) and an extra HP damage between the two.  This also gave the French another "free" 100 points, but I thought it was worth the chance as I expected to loose the Russian Carrier this turn anyway.

Regardless, the attack worked as the French Carrier activated next but was unable to damage any of its targets with their weapons cut in half!

The Russian Carrier then activated, moved forward its minimum move, laid another Iceberg in its rear quarter to hamper the French Frigates and then played "Thunderous Volley" as they fired their broadsides at the French Carrier.  Success!  The French carrier suffered a Crit and Sank!  The Russian's Escorts did no damage.

The Russian Carrier - VICTORIOUS!!!

French Frigates snaked around and circled the Russian Carrier, caused another Crit (Shredded Defenses: uh-oh!) and damaged a Frigate.

Seeing as there were no more French Tiny Fliers, a Squadron of Russian Fighters attacked the Heavy Interceptors - bad idea!  4 fighters destroyed for no damage to the French!  (I knew it was a bad idea to begin with, but it cost me no points to make the attack and I COULD have gotten lucky...)

The French Interceptors made their attack runs, sinking 1 Escort and adding another hull point damage to the (Crippled) Russian Carrier.  This left the Russian Carrier with only 1 Hull Point Left!  :-O

"Out of Duct Tape - do you have any GUM???"

All the Russians had left were their fighters but I knew the battle was lost so ignored their moves.  The French had 1 Frigate that hadn't moved - it collided with the Russian Carrier and the Frigate sank - scratching the Carrier's Paint and leaving the Carrier with 1 lonely HP to keep it afloat!

Final Score:

French Losses: 420

Russian Losses: 655

The Republic of France Wins!

End of Battle!

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

So what did I think about the battle?

It was a great game!  :-D

From the Russian point of view:
I had heard how terrible the French Fliers were, so I decided my Large and Massive ships needed Escorts more than I needed Frigates.  This meant that I would have fewer activations as a result and that was an issue for a while.  It let the French fleet hold off committing their "Big Toys" until after I couldn't react to them.  In spite of this penalty, I think the Escorts were a good choice and did do quite well stopping rockets and torpedoes, just not as well as I would have hoped.  By keeping them behind their "masters", they were too far away to shoot down the Torpedo Bombers before they could attack, but it kept the Escorts alive from attack from the French Capital Ships.  The Carrier definitely needed the escorts.  The Battleship, maybe not so much.

Having the Battleship use Torpedo Breaker instead of the Mimic Generator was a tough call.  I knew to expect both Rockets and Torpedoes from a French Fleet.  The Russian Cruisers with their Rocket Jammers provided Rocket Defense, so I figured I needed the Torpedo Breaker for Torpedo Defense.  By keeping the Cruiser, Battleship and Carrier all close together, they were able to provide the perfect defence umbrella, protecting each other.  It actually seemed to work as the French Torpedoes were not a huge issue until a) the Torpedo Bombers released their torpedoes en mass and b) the Battleship was sunk!  If I had faced a fleet with few / no torpedo options, the choice would have been the Mimic.  That way I would have copied the Glacier Generator from the Carrier and deployed 2 Icebergs per turn.  As it was, I enjoyed frustrating the French by reducing their torpedo salvos and even managed to damage a Frigate in the process!  Overall, I have to say the Battleship was the Hero of the Match for the Russians just because of all the torpedoes it redirected for the rest of the fleet!

The Carrier, amazingly, survived the battle with a single Hull Point left and successfully sank the enemy Carrier.  With GUNS, no less!  :-O 

However, I still didn't play the Carrier correctly.  First, I forgot to use the Glacier Generator for 2 turns (me bad) so that was a waste as I didn't build up a large enough ice flow to protect the carier from the sniping French Frigates.  So I didn't really learn to use the Icebergs properly.  Second, I tried to keep the broadsides to the French the entire game, but the Broadsides really didn't do a lot until I played "Thunderous Volley" against the French Carrier in the last turn.  Finally - I had hoped to "reload" some of the Fighter Squadrons and redeploy them as Dive Bombers later in the game, but because the Carrier was engaged constantly from Turn 2 on - I was unable to land, let alone re-arm and launch a strike.  On the other hand, by having 3 Squadrons of Fighters, I was able to shoot down all the French Bombers and Fighters, preventing the French from landing, reloading and attacking a second time!  They just weren't useful against the French Heavy Interceptors (OUCH!  That still hurts!).  I could have launched the "spare" token (Carrier comes with 6) as a Recon Flight as the French did, but none of my Primary Weapons have a range farther than Range Band 2 - Indirect fire wouldn't be allowed at that range band.  Keeping it on board would have let me reinforce a damaged squadron (if any had had a chance to land...).

Cruisers did Great on Turn 2!  Unfortunately, when Morale broke, they were doomed as seperately, they didn't have the firepower to damage the French Battleship.  Failing to rally really hurt the Cruisers (and the rest of the fleet).  Such is the standard problem with all cruisers...

Russian Bombers are depressing.  Compared to the French Interceptors, the Russian Bombers are good for only two things: overfly and bomb a target or the "Hard Shell Suicide Attack" (which automatically grants your foe their points cost).  In this case, the 100 points for the 2 could have made a difference between loosing the game or going on 1 more turn (though not really - store was closing just after we ended our game.  Thanks Pedro!).  I've used the Medium Skyships in other games and I think I'll be "upgrading" my fleet in that direction as they do more and last longer (for me, anyway)!



Looking at the French:
Not a whole bunch I can criticize about the French fleet.  The Battleship used regular turrets rather than the Heat Lance.  While it might have been a good choie normally because of the short range of the Lance would put the Battleship into Russian Primary Weapons Range, Byron confessed that he couldn't model the Heat Lance on correctly, so he stayed with the turrets!  It just LOOKED better!  In this case, I think it was to his advantage as regular turrets allowed the Battleship to damage the Russians before they could bring their full guns to bear on him at Range Band 2!

After the French Carrier's Heat Lance perforated my Russian Carrier, I realized how lucky I was that he only had 1 Heat Lance!  I quickly made the French Carrier a primary target so that I wouldn't face a 2nd full power shot from that beast.  Luckily I inflicted the Weapons Crit I needed, otherwise the Russian Carrier would have sunk to the bottom of the sea.  The rockets didn't perform well, but I think that was mostly because of the combined defense of the Rocket Jammers and Escort's AA added to the Russian Capital Ships.

French Frigates were annoying and wearing but they weren't too bad until the Battleship sank (with the Torpedo Breaker).  Once the Battleship was unable to affect their torpedoes, they became much more dangerous.

The Heavy Interceptors are an interesting concept.  No bombs but enough AA to take down most of a squadron of Tiny Fliers and still the firepower to threaten capital ships.  It took them a turn or two to engage, but they were used well and made their presence known.

The choice of 2 squadrons of Torpedo Bombers and 1 squadron of Fighters I think was a good choice.  The Fighters gave the French the flexibility, but being on one far end of the table limited their usefulness as the Bombers they should have gone after were on the other side.  Even against the Russian fighters, they should have been much more useful; I think Byron just had a really bad roll and I had a great one which neutered the fighters.  On the other hand, the Torpedo Bombers went in and did what they were supposed to do; they just couldn't land and reload as a) Russian Fighters shot most of them down before they had a chance and b) the French Carrier was already engaged and shooting from turn 2 on wards - making it impossible to land and reload.  Both Russians and French suffered in this condition.

All in all - a Great Game with the balance swaying either direction until the end of Turn 3!  Thanks Byron

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

"Have you found him yet?"

"No Sir!  We're still recovering survivors from the Georgy Pobedonosets, but Admiral Orlov hasn't been found yet."

"He MUST be found!"

"There are survivors from the Bridge of Georgy Pobedonoset.  The last anyone remembers seeing the Admiral was shortly after he ordered everyone to abandon ship.  He was last seen operating the Torpedo Breaker controls as the ship was going down.  Sir..."

"Yes?"

"He . . may have . . ."

"Don't even consider it, Ensign!  Admiral Orlov MUST be found!"



What do you think?  Orlov is 3 losses for 3 games.  Should I "Find" Orlov or start a NEW Russian Admiral?

BatRep: 1000pts Russian Coalition vs Covenant of Antarctica

Admiral Dimitry Orlov was fuming.  He barely survived the review of his performance with the Czar’s Naval Review after the last disastrous engagement with the Covenant of Antarctica.  Though the Board ruled that he had not failed in his duties, they were not pleased with the outcome of the battle.

Orlov needed to prove himself.  Now he was out for revenge.  Rumor indicated a small force from the CoA was in this area.  Orlov managed to push through a request to go after the interlopers with a superior force.  His Family connections managed to keep him his command aboard the Battleship Georgy Pobedonosets ("St George the Victorious" in English).  He replaced all his losses of his previous fleet and was able to “borrow” some Saransk Skyships and two of the new Pesets Submarines.  This was a force that would crush a fleet similar to what he had faced before.  The new target was reported to be a much a smaller fleet.  It was doomed!

“Admiral!  Communications from the Skyships scouting ahead of us!  They have spotted the Enemy fleet!”

“Excellent!  What is the composition of their forces?”

“Sir, it appears the previous reports were not correct.  They report a CoA Battleship and Carrier with a few support ships.”

“WHAT???  A BATTLESHIP AND A CARRIER!?!  There’s no way they would operate with 2 large assets in place like that with so little support!  Confirm sighting!”

“Sir, the Scouts repeat, A Carrier, A Battleship, 8 Frigates and a circular object in the water nearby.  SIR!  Scouts report multiple air-born Contacts hiding in the clouds!  At least 5 more Capital Class Skyships!  They are closing quickly, Sir!”

The Captain of the Georgy Pobedonosets turned to Orlov.  “Sir, shall we turn back?”

“No Captain.  We are sturdy ships, but not fast.  We could never outrun those Skyships.  Ensign!  Call the fleet to Battle Stations!  Radio report to Fleet Headquarters we have been engaged by the CoA.  Tell them we have sailed into a trap!”

---

So, Geoff and I played 1000 pt fleets on a 6’ X 4’ table. For a change of pace, the Russians chose one of the short edges. 

The Covenant of Antarctica (CoA) fleet consisted of:

-          1 Pericles Fleet Carrier

-          1 Aristotle Battleship with Target Painter (Command Ship)

-          2 X squadrons of 4 Plutarch Frigates

-          1 Callimachus Time Dilation Orb

-          1 Daedalus Large Flyer

-          2 X squadrons of 2 Icarus Medium Fliers

-          2 X squadrons of 5 Fighter Drones

-          1 X squadron of 5 Dive Bomber Drones

(I realize the list doesn’t have any medium ships, so I either missed something or we didn’t notice (or care) at the time.)

The Russian Coalition (RC) fleet consisted of:

-          1 Borodino Battleship

-          1 X squadron of 3 Suvorov Cruisers

-          3 X squadrons of 3 Novgorod Frigates

-          1 X squadron of 2 Saransk Medium Skyships

-          1 X squadron of 2 Myshkin Bombers

-          1 X Squadron of Pesets Attack Submarines (got the blister the day before – HAD to try them out)

-          2 X squadrons of 5 Fighters

The Russians rolled table edge and chose one of the short sides, just to see how it would play.  Using the deployment rules from Hurricane Season, Russians deployed most of the fleet in the main deployment zone, with the Bombers, Skyships & Submarines in the Advanced Force zone – Obscured and Submerged.  Due to some poor communications, Geoff didn’t realize we were using the advance deployment rules (or I didn’t realize he didn’t realize that.. never mind) and deployed the entire fleet in the Main Deployment zone.

Missions:
Russians rolled 50% & all small ships.  I chickened out and selected the default 70% of enemy fleet sunk or captured instead.

Antarctica rolled 50% of the fleet and all Medium sized ships.  Counting 9 mediums, he opted to also go for the 70% default as well.

Turn 1:

CoA got initiative – no one played any turn cards.

The CoA carrier was the first to activate.  After he completed his activation, Geoff realized he should have activated it last as it “could” have had range after one of my ships had moved closer to the middle of the table.  Fortunately for CoA, I didn’t have any way of really taking advantage of this error.  The rest of the moves were without incident as no one had range to any other ships.  The only other thing to note was that the Subs stayed submerged and the Echo separated so that instead of 2 submarines Geoff saw 4 “Echoes”.  This caused a little concern on the CoA Admiral’s part as Geoff didn’t know how the rules worked.  I explained that I would choose one echo to be “real” if he shot at the subs (my choice of which echo was “Real”).

With no shooting/damage, turn 1 ended quite quickly.

Turn 2:

RC Won Initiative.  No turn cards played.

RC Cruisers advanced towards the center.  As soon as I was done, I realized it was probably a mistake, but was too late to worry about it.  The CoA Medium Skyships on the left moved forward still obscured.  RC Frigates advanced on the left.  The CoA Time Dilation Orb activated and used its generator to allow the Carrier to gain an extra 2” movement.  Chuckling sinisterly, I played the Generator Offline card on the Orb, disabling it!

The RC Central Frigate Squadron advanced up the center.  The CoA carrier now activated and fired its weapons at the Center Cruiser in the middle of the map (told you it was a bad idea to move the cruisers first).  The Carrier successfully blew passed the Ablative Armor on the Cruiser, causing 1HP.  The damage was done – the Ablative Armor was gone.

The RC Battleship moved forward, but was unable to range in on any targets.  CoA Medium Skyships advanced on the right.  RC Fighters on the left moved forward ½ speed.  The middle squadron of CoA Frigates charged up the center and managed to sink 1 frigate with torpedoes – 1^st blood to the CoA!  RC Second fighter squadron advanced forward at ½ speed – trying to use up an activation.   The CoA Large Skyship activated, turning to present broadsides to the center.  Long range fire successfully sank a frigate in the center frigate squadron.  The RC frigates on the right move forward only 3” to kill another activation.  CoA Fighters advance to kill more time.  The RC Bombers move forward in the Center, but the CoA fighters activated next and attacked the RC bombers.  The Bombers successfully shot down 2 fighters, but 1 bomber suffered an Engine Crit!

The RC activated their Medium Skyships in the Obscured level.  Advancing towards the left side Frigates and Skyships, the RC Skyships dropped mines as they travelled; hoping to slow down the Frigates.  The Skyships main guns targeted one of the enemy Medium Skyships, caused a Crit (Hard Pounding: -3AP total).

CoA Dive Bombers moved slowly up the center.  The RC Subs (and their Echoes) maneuvered towards the center of the board.  Finally, the CoA Battleship surfaces, turns to expose her rear turrets and fired, successfully damaging 1 bomber.

End of turn, the RC failed to repair the engine damaged bomber while the CoA successfully repaired the Time Dilation Orb!  Drat!!!

Turn 3:

CoA Won Initiative.

CoA Played “Pass the Tools” and repaired all the damage to the Medium Skyship.

RC Played “Tactical Aid” and picked up 2 more cards for the turn.

CoA started the turn with one Frigate squadron attacking another RC Frigate squadron; sinking 1 ship and damaging another.  The RC squadron passed their Break Test.  The RC Skyships advanced on the Left CoA Skyships, causing a Crit (Nav Lock) and reducing the AP to 0, then attempted to board the other playing the Stormtrooper card– but FAILED!!!  :-O

The CoA Carrier played “All Stop”, moving forward the minimum 2”.  It then fired at the Bombers (failing to cause any damage) and at the Skyships (causing a Crit (Engine Damage) on one)!  The RC Frigates on the right advanced and managed to damage 1 frigate.  The Medium Skyships on the left dropped from the Obscured level, and did a Crit to the damaged Cruiser (Hard Pounding; 4AP left), broadsides did a crit to a Bomber (Hard Pounding; 0AP left) and AA damaged a Skyship!

RC Frigates on the right slid forward and managed to damage 1 Frigate.  CoA Skyships on the left dropped from Obscured to gain better firing solutions.  It worked because the shooting caused a Crit (Hard Pounding – 4AP left) on the damaged Cruiser, their broadsides caused a Crit on a Bomber (Hard Pounding – 0AP left) and AA damaged another Medium Skyship!

The RC Cruisers started by playing “Running Repairs”; completely repairing the damaged Cruiser (though not the Ablative Armor; too bad).  Main guns crit 1 Skyship, but shields saved all the hits of the other!  The broadsides sink 1 Frigate and damaged another on the right side of the map.

The CoA Battleship decided that couldn’t be left unanswered.  Moving forward, the shot down 1 Skyship with AA, missed the Bombers with their broadsides but did a Double-Crit (1 point shy of a Triple-Crit) to the Cruiser that had lost its Ablative Armor earlier – immediately sinking the unfortunate Cruiser. 

RC Fighters attacked and successfully brought down the damaged Medium Skyship on the left.  CoA Fighters attack the damaged bomber, successfully bring it down with the loss of 1 drone token.  The RC Frigates in the center moved forward and successfully destroyed 2 Frigates, then captured the Medium Skyship that had lost all its AP, keeping it as a Prize! 

The Large CoA Skyship moved to turn its broadsides towards the RC, shot down the last Bomber and successfully penetrated the Ablative Armor on another Cruiser.  The RC Subs surfaced and launched an attack on the Battleship, one failing to draw line of sight (bad maneuvering on my part) and failed to damage the enemy ship.  The CoA Dive Bombers pounced on one sub, sinking it with a double crit, then were abandoned in the end turn so the Carrier could launch a fresh set in the next turn.  The RC fighters on the right advanced at ½ speed.  The CoA Medium Skyship damaged the RC Skyship, sunk a damaged Frigate to the right and sunk the damaged Cruiser on the Left, then shot down 1 Fighter token with AA!  Busy Ship!  The RC Battleship moved forward, but was only able to get the front turret into range of the exposed Skyship and managed to damage it.

Then the trickery of the CoA was revealed!  The Time Dilation Orb activated next; standing still, it teleported the CoA Carrier forward – almost parallel and beside the RC Battleship!  As their last activation, the RC moved Frigates from the left to behind the RC Battleship, but unfortunately were too far away to attack this new threat.  CoA Fighters attacked some RC fighters, killing 2, losing 1 in the process.  The RC fighters would have lost enough fuel to Aborts had they not played a card that ignored all Abort results.  The CoA Frigates on the left activated, but the first frigate was forced to move forward and triggered a mine, sinking 1 and damaging 2 others.

So much had happened this turn, we figured we should check our progress.  The VP Count So Far:

RC = 333

CoA = 460

Turn 4:

CoA Won Initiative. 

Both sides played turn cards, then cancelled the effects with other cards.

The CoA Carrier activated first, damaged a frigate on one side with a broadside, then damaged a Cruiser on the other side with the other broadside, then damaged the Battleship with its turrets, removing the Battleships Ablative Armor.

The RC battleship needed to turn to bring all its turrets to bear on the Carrier but the Cruiser was in the way.  So the RC Cruiser activated first, moved forward and out of the way of the Battleship, firing broadsides and turret at the Carrier as it moved.  The Carrier’s shields prevented any damage from being inflicted.  The CoA Skyship stayed out of the clouds, destroyed the Prized Skyship (not sure if we should have allowed this – we have a habit of doing it all the time), damaged the Battleship with both Fore Guns and Turrets, destroyed another 3 Fighter tokens with AA and finally boarded and captured the last RC Cruiser!

The CoA had effectively won at this point – all the RC could do was go down fighting the rest of the turn.  The RC Battleship turned towards the Carrier, fired broadsides at the Prized Cruiser (again – probably not supposed to) and turrets at the Carrier.  The Carrier’s shields stopped the Crit, but still allowed damage through, but the Carrier had Flash Fire played on it as a result.

The CoA then activated the Time Dilation Orb and teleported the Battleship within Range Band 1 of the RC Battleship!  The RC Frigates behind the Battleship moved out to gain clear line of fire on the CoA Battleship and managed to Crit the Battleship (Systems off-line).  The CoA Trap closed as the Battleship fired on the RC Battleship; causing only 1 more HP damage with its broadsides, failing to damage with the turrets, then sank another Frigate with the Battleships other broadside.

In desperation, the last RC Skyship dropped out of the clouds and fired everything it had at the Large Skyship, but the Shields blocked all hits!  The Large CoA Skyship turned and fired back on the enemy Skyship, destroying it.  Panicking, the last RC Sub turned to fire at the threats behind it and collided with one of its own Frigates!  No damage to either ship but the Sub’s firing was haphazard and ineffective, causing no damage.  The CoA activated their Frigates on the left, but the first frigate triggered another mine, sinking 1 Frigate and causing another mine to cascade explode, but failed to cause any further damage.  The remaining Frigate torpedoed the Battleship (forgot I had Torpedo Breakers, should have re-directed them to the CoA Battleship in spite), causing another HP damage to the despairing Russian Battleship.

The last RC Frigate on the right sank 1 Frigate before the rest of the CoA frigates put it out of its misery, leaving the right firmly under the control of the CoA.  One flight of RC fighters attempted to attack a Skyship but 1 was destroyed and the rest driven off and out of fuel by the AA.  The CoA Fighters then destroyed the remaining RC Fighters.

As the last possible move, the RC frigate moved away from the sub that collided Sub.

Victory Points:
RC = 289

CoA = 855 –> Antarctic Victory!

Well, that was a mess...

Looking critically at the Russian Performance – I gave up in the last two turns, and it showed in their performance.  That Carrier showing up near my deployment zone threw my mindset and all my strategy afterwards.  Yes, the Russians were hampered playing “lengthwise” on the table – but I didn’t really suffer serious damage until we were entering Range Band 2 anyway!  It just gave us an extra turn or two to maneuver.  So ultimately – it was my fault!  Great Game Geoff!

So what did I like?

To me, the Heros of the match for the Russian were the Saransk Medium Skyships.  Dropping mines at the right locations hampered the CoA Frigates on my left.  The Skyships were tough enough to stand some punishment, fast enough to get into range and be a threat.  Finally the range of their turret made them more effective than the Bombers I would normally use.  The Skyships’ added bonus was that their Concussive Barrage reduced AP on their targets.  HOWEVER, checking the card afterwards, I realized I Cheated!  For some reason, I converted the “Water Hunter” MAR to “Air Hunter” during the game.  (I hate getting old!)  I probably wouldn’t have caused as much damage as I had if I caught the error during the game.  (Note to Spartan: Printing Black ink on dark backgrounds is a Terrible Idea!)  Sorry Geoff!  (:-}  Regardless, I will probably consider replacing the Bombers in the future with a 2^nd pair of Skyships!

The Pesets Submarines were fun.  I had issues with the way I maneuvered them, but that was my fault, not theirs.  What’s nice is they are the faster Medium choice for the fleet.  I would consider having another unit of two as linking the Torpedo Turret is a nice feature.  The other option is to run the subs as single choices and it’s a valid option.  Using them as single units would give more turn activations.  However, I think using pairs gives them more potential.     I’ll continue to test both options

.

The Cruisers did decently, providing a distraction and drawing fire from the Battleship as long as possible.  Their firepower is a threat to everyone and though they went down quickly, they acted well as a Fire-Magnet.  I would maybe consider changing the squadron composition to use a Gunship as a Reinforced Cruiser squadron.  It would maybe add a little more firepower to the unit without increasing the points cost too much.  The other option is to drop them completely in favor of Subs (also a Medium choice and fulfilling the required Medium Naval Slot).

Bombers – well nothing much we can say about them.  The fact that the Skyships were Faster doesn’t help their cause.  Short ranged weapons are poor and it’s hard enough getting close enough to drop bombs on anything, let alone the Impact Attack.  Past experience shows they’re a good threat and do cause damage when they work.  It just didn’t work in this game against a “large” Air Force.

The Battleship.  It’s Slow.  It’s a Large and it doesn’t cost too much.  It fulfilled the minimum 1 Large Choice a list is required.  But it was too slow to get in and engage as it should have.  If I had drawn a “Stoke The Engines” card, it would have been much more useful.  As it was, it didn’t really have an impact on the game, though it did survive the match.  The question is – What would have helped it?

Well, I could get a 2^nd Battleship – help 1 survive by having a spare.  That could work.  Escorts could have helped with AA, but most of the fliers targeting it were outside 8” anyway.  Add a Carrier and I get another full Tiny Flier squadron or two, plus the Carrier’s Broadsides are actually decent at Range Band 3.  Use the Mimic Generator on the Battleship and copy the Glacier Generator and it would have more effective shielding than just Ablative Armor.  The other choice is to drop it for the Dreadnought.  Technically slower, the Dreadnought does have the “Boost” which (in theory) could make it faster than the Battleship.  Problem is the Boost is random and the Dread is a points hog…

Dimitry Orlov looked around the shattered bridge of the Georgy Pobedonosets.  He had just been called back to the Radio Cabin when the shell had hit.  The Senior Staff and Bridge Crew had been killed instantly.  The enemy fleet had broken off their attack and headed away as news of a relief force was coming over the horizon to rescue the battered Russian Fleet.  Still, Orlov’s pride and ship had been badly mauled.  It would take some time in the ship yards to restore Georgy Pobedonosets to her former glory.  Meanwhile, the crew was making repairs and rescuing sailors from the water with the Battleship’s launches.

“That’s twice the Cursed CoA have caught me off guard!  It will NOT happen again!  They have cost Mother Russia too much in Men and Material and I will extract revenge for all those brave Sailors who died today…”

“I’m glad to hear that, Admiral Orlov.  We’ve been interviewing your crewand they seem to respect you.  I can use that.”

“Who are you, Sir?”

“My name is not important.  What is important is the Czar wants to know if your career is worth salvaging, and I have been assigned the task of evaluating you.  I’m sure we can do great things together for Mother Russia…”

Flames of War @ Legiocon XII!

First of all, thanks to everyone who showed up!  Especially for Chris Allen for helping run the tournament and finding Prize Support.  Everyone who attended went home with something!

Thanks to Derrick Young for taking photos of the Awards. (I was busy handing them out!)

We had 10 People registered for the event, though one did not show, making it necessary for me to become involved so there would be no "Buys" or "Byes" or whatever.

The "Rogue's Gallery" or Tournament PLAYERS!

Tournament was 3 rounds using the "Free-For-All", the "Pincer" and the "Hasty Attack" missions from the rule book.  Players were awarded up to 6 points per mission using the standard victory conditions.

Sportsmanship was awarded using a new system Chris introduced (I'm probably gonna steal it for all my tournaments): each player awarded his opponents a 1 or 0 depending on whether he was a good player or a "bad player".  Each player was then allowed to vote for his "Favorite Opponent" that he played against.  Potentially, this allowed everyone a maximum of 6 points (equal to another game) whereas, in reality, it was  impossible for EVERYONE to get maximum scores.  Only 2 people got perfect scores in this tournament.

Painting was also a simple 6-point score (again, equivalent to an extra game):
1 - No Paint - Glad you showed up!
2 - Primed but no colours
3 - Base coated
4 - Models are properly Based, more than 1 colour
5 - Models are Highlighted, have Decals, etc
6 - A Themed and Cohesive Force - everything appears completed

Possible extra point for "Favorite Army" (Selected by the Players) if it was required.

Scores and prizes were awarded as follows:

(Note:  Proving he deserved "Bes Sportsmanship", Hugh informed me of an error - Duncan Irwin won a battle against Hugh and moved up in the listings to 6th overall!  Thanks Hugh!  Sorry Duncan!)

Names	Army List	VP Score	Wins	Sportsmanship	Paint	Grand Total!
Chris Allen	Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie (German)	18	3	3	5	26	Best Overall - "Field Marshall"
Alaric Wiens	Jaakaikomppania (Finnish)	13	2	6	5	24	Best General
Curtis Smits	Fallschimjagerkompanies (German)	13	2	4	2	19
Hugh O'Donnell	Canadian Rifle Company - Dieppe (UK Commonwealth)	8	1	6	3	17	Best Sportsmanship
Derrick Young	Canadian Armor (Italy)	8	1	3	5	16
Duncan Irwin	Commando (UK Commonwealth - Italy)	8	0	5	3	16
Chris Howe	Red Army - Strelkovy	9	1	3	2	14
Bruce Vidler	Canadian Armor (Italy)	5	0	4	4	13
Mike Major	US Armoured Rifle Company (USA)	4	0	3	6	13	Best Painted Army
Laird Jones	Fallschimjagerkompanies (German)	3	0	3	5	11	Rookie - 1st Time Attendee

Names	Army List	VP Score	Sportsmanship	Paint	Grand Total!
Chris Allen	Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie (German)	18	3	5	26	Best Overall - "Field Marshall"
Alaric Wiens	Jaakaikomppania (Finnish)	13	6	5	24	Best General
Hugh O'Donnell	Canadian Rifle Company - Dieppe (UK Commonwealth)	13	6	3	22	Best Sportsmanship
Curtis Smits	Fallschimjagerkompanies (German)	13	4	2	19
Derrick Young	Canadian Armor (Italy)	8	3	5	16
Chris Howe	Red Army - Strelkovy	9	3	2	14
Bruce Vidler	Canadian Armor (Italy)	5	4	4	13
Mike Major	US Armoured Rifle Company (USA)	4	3	6	13	Best Painted Army
Laird Jones	Fallschimjagerkompanies (German)	3	3	5	11	Rookie - 1st Time Attendee
Duncan Irwin	Commando (UK Commonwealth - Italy)	3	5	3	11

Thanks all who came and played!

The Tables before the Carnage begins...

Lucky Kill Shot of a Tiger's Turret by my Sherman!

Canadians about to be swarmed by the Fins...

Another Canadian Armored Co getting ambushed...

Mike & Chris discussing the serious nature of wargaming...

The Award Winners:

Hugh O'Donnell - Best Sportsman

Mike Major - Best Painted Army

Alaric Wiens - Best General

Chris Allen (Guy with hat) - Co-Host and Best Overall
"Field Marshall"

Laird Jones - Rookie of the Year