BatRep: Kingdom of Britannia vs Prussian Empire (Training Mission - Box Sets)

So, it’s been over a month since I’ve been able to play any games and a new player / old friend wanted to learn Dystopian Wars!  How could I disappoint him?

 

So, both fleets would consist of:

-          1 Battleship
-          1 Squadron of 3 Cruisers
-          1 Squadron of 2 Bombers
-          3 Squadrons of 3 Frigates
-          2 Squadrons of Tiny Fliers

“Commodore Higgins”  (Graham) would command the Kingdom of Britannia (KoB) whereas I would command the Prussian Empire (PE) once again!

 Prussian Deployment (Left to Right):

-          3 Frigates peeking out from behind the island on my left
-          3 Frigates by the island on my right
-          1 flight of Torpedo Bombers
-          2 Bombers with the Battleship (all 3 Turrets) behind the island, the ship pointing to the left of the map, presenting full broadsides
-          1 flight of Fighters
-          3 Frigates and 3 Cruisers peeking out on the far side of the island

My plan was simple – I thought.  The Battleship would act as bait, drawing the British towards it, while the Cruisers and Frigates on the right of the island would run around and catch the British Battleship in the flank.  That was the plan…

Britannia deployment (Left to Right)

-          3 Frigates on the left of the island
-          2 Bombers, a flight of Fighters and a flight of Dive Bombers hidden behind the island
-          3 Cruisers (2 Turrets each), with 3 Frigates behind, with the Battleship (with 3 turrets and an optional Shield Generator) behind the Frigates to the Right of the island!
-          The last 3 Frigates

 

We rolled for missions.  Britannia decided to go for the default 70% of the enemy fleet, whereas the Prussians decided to go for the Kill: Sink all Large and Massive Ships (in this case, just 1 Battleship)!  (I thought I was being a nice guy by taking a harder mission.  Last time I do that!)

 

Turn 1:
Prussians win the Initiative

Not wanting initiative, I had to try stalling.  PE Torpedo Planes moved ½ speed towards the table center.  The British Frigates on the Prussian left moved straight forward.  Sensing an opportunity, the Prussians Frigates in the center moved to attack the vulnerable British Frigates.  Laughing hysterically, we missed our shots…

 

British Cruisers moved forward and turned to the left, forming a Line Of Battle, and proceeded to show the Prussian Frigates how to shoot.  At least, the sole surviving Frigate learned – 2 frigates were sunk in the first British volley!  The surviving Frigate passed its Break Test.

 

Prussian Cruisers advanced next; targeting the last KoB Cruiser in the line around the island, but failed to hit!  Something was seriously wrong with the Prussian Dice!!!

 

British Dive Bombers moved forward at ½ speed.  Prussian Bombers flew over the island and targeted the last Cruiser again.  Failed to damage it, again.  Then failed to climb into the Obscured level.  British bombers, laughing at their Prussian Counterparts, managed to get Critical Hits on 2 Prussian Cruisers (1 Hard Pounding, 1 Chaos & Disarray).

 Prussian fighters moved forward, stalling for time.  British fighters countered.  Prussian frigates on the left moved forward minimum speed.  British Frigates in the center advanced and turned to form another Line of Battle behind their Cruisers. 

 

 

Prussian Frigates on the left advanced slowly around the island.  The British Frigates on the far right side of the island advanced, turned, formed another Line of Battle in front of the Prussian Cruisers, and proceeded to damage 2 Cruisers and sank a 3^rd!  The Prussian Cruiser squadron had enough and failed their Break Test!

 

The final activations had the Prussian Battleship cleared the island but failed to hit anything whereas the British Battleship turned to present its Broadsides to the Prussians, screened by the British Frigates.

 

In the repair phase, Prussians failed to repair any of the Critical damage, but did succeed in rallying!

 

Losses:
PE:          180
KoB:       0

 

Turn 2
Kingdom of Britannia wins Initiative

British Frigates on the far Left turned and fired turrets at the sole surviving Frigate in the center (sinking it), but their torpedoes failed to damage the Prussian Battleship.

 The Prussian Fighter squadron attacked the bombers, causing a Weapons Crit on 1. 

 

 

British Cruisers advanced slowly and fired all Turrets on the Prussian Battleship, causing an Engine Crit.  The Cruiser’s Torpedoes failed to cause any damage. 

 

 

Prussian bombers attacked the Damage British bomber, destroying it with a double-crit, the surviving Bomber failed its Break test!  The British Battleship moved forward and fired their turrets at the enemy Battleship, but failed to hit.  The Prussian Cruisers, staying in Range Band 2, managed to Crit the British Bomber (Engine Damage).

British Fighters attempted to shoot down the Prussian Bombers, but the Bombers shot down 3 tokens of Fighters for no damage in return! 

Forced to move at ½ speed due to the Engine Crit, the Prussian Battleship failed to damage either the Cruisers or Frigates it targeted.

British Bombers attacked the enemy Cruisers, sinking 1, but failed to do anything to the Prussian Fighters nearby.  The last Cruiser passed its Break Test.  Prussian Torpedo Bombers move forward, towards the enemy Battleship.  British Dive Bombers moved full speed across the center of the map. 

Prussian Frigates maneuvered around the left island, sinking 1 British Frigate, damaging another and capturing the third!

 

British Frigates on the other side of the map re-align their tubes and finally sink the last Prussian Cruiser with another Crit!

 

For the final moves, the Prussian Frigates on the left sped through the debris of their Cruisers, then sank 1 enemy Frigate and captured another as a Prize!  The British Frigates in the center turned and fired on the Prussian Bombers, but failed to damage them.

In the repair phase, the British failed to repair their critical damage on the bomber but did succeed in rallying.  The Prussians failed to repair the engines of the Battleship.

 

Losses:
KoB:       215
PE:          270

 

Turn 3:
British wins Initiative

British Bomber attacked and damaged a Frigate.  Prussian Torpedo Bombers approached the British Battleship at full speed and launched their Devastating Torpedo Attack, causing . . 1 hit – and lost one token to AA fire...

The remaining British Frigate on the left collided with the captured ship of his squadron, causing no damage to either ship, but also failed to board and recapture the lost ship.

 Prussian bombers manage to cause an HP of damage to the British Battleship from Range Band 2.

British Cruisers continued to shell and torpedo the Prussian Battleship, causing 2 more hits (bringing the total damage to 4).

Prussian Fighters attack and shot down 1 Dive Bomber and force them to use an extra fuel for the cost of 1 fighter.  The remaining Dive Bombers move towards the Prussian Battleship.  The Prussian Battleship continued its slow cruise across the table from Right to Left, failing to hit anything…

British Fighters jumped the Prussian Fighters, shooting down 2 for the loss of 1 fuel.

Prussian Frigates on the right boarded and captured the last British Frigate on the right, but didn’t have enough boarding parties left to keep it, so it was left a derelict.  British Frigates in the center managed to cause a Crit on a Prussian Bomber (Hard Pounding – 1 AP left). 

 

Prussian Frigates on the left had 2 collisions with British Frigates, 1 Prussian Frigate taking an HP of damage.  The Prussians sink the last British Frigate of the squadron.

Final move of the turn was the British Battleship, which failed to hit the enemy with either turrets or torpedoes.

The Prussian Battleship managed to repair its engines in the final phase.

Losses:
KoB:       290
PE:          407

 

Turn 4
British win Initiative (AGAIN!!!)

British start off by having their Dive Bombers go full speed and bomb the Prussian Battleship, causing another HP damage (5 HP damage total).

 

In an effort to save some Victory Points, Prussian Battleship moved at full speed, getting half behind the island on the left side of the table.  Unable to draw Line of Sight to the Battleship, the British Cruisers turned and boarded all 3 Prussian Frigates on the left! 

 

Prussian Bombers attacked the British Battleship, but the Battleship’s AA shot down the damaged Bomber.  The Survivor managed to climb back to the Obscured level, failing to have damaged the Battleship.  Fortunately, the Bomber passed the Break Test.

The British Battleship turned, and trained both forward guns and torpedoes on the Enemy Battleship, but missed with everything.

Trying to gain what honor was left, the Prussian Frigates on the right moved passed the British Bombers, firing their Teslas as the passed it and caused a crit that destroyed the British plane.  However, the forward turrets failed to do any damage to the closest British Frigate moving toward them.

British Fighters attempt to attack Prussian Fighters, but lost a token and an extra fuel.  Prussian Torpedo Bombers counterattack the British Fighters.  Though they didn’t get shot down, the British Fighters ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean.  No Victory Points, but a Moral Victory, none the less.

British Frigates in the Center turn to attack the remaining Prussian Frigates, but failed to damage anything.  The Prussian Fighters moved towards the British Dive Bombers (hopelessly out of range…).

 

In the End Phase, the drifting Derelicts and Prize ships resulted in 2 British Frigates colliding with Islands and sinking (1 a Prized ship – costing the Prussians an extra 25 Victory Points).

Losses:
KoB:       295
PE:          610!

Britannia Rules the Waves Once More!!!

---

 

Well, that was UGLY!

As I said earlier, my “plan” was to flank the British around the Island   However that, obviously, didn’t happen.  I forgot how devastating the British Doncaster Bombers with their long ranged torpedoes.  The fact that the entire British fleet turned AWAY from the islands just made matters worse.  Prussians are fast but not THAT fast!  I ended up not having a “backup plan”, I lost a major portion of my strike before it could do anything, and ended up letting the British dictate the battle for the entire game.

Advancing with the Cruisers first left them vulnerable to attack from the Frigates as well, so the Cruisers were rendered useless way too soon.  The Battleship was then left to fight a long-distance duel but couldn’t hit anything!  That left the Frigates and Bombers to win the battle.  Though 1 squadron of Frigates died WAY too quickly for no gain, the other 2 squadrons did quite well.  In the end, the Frigates just couldn’t pull it off.  The only saving grace was that the Battleship survived my stupidity!

Looking at the British side of things, they didn’t really do anything wrong – which meant they had no mistakes to overcome!  By forming Lines of Battles right away, Graham was able to maximize his ships' firepower from turn 1 throughout the rest of the game.  The only "Mistake" that came up was that Graham had thought to place that central Squadron of Frigates to act as escorts for the British Battleship, to provide extra AA against air attacks.  Unfortunately, I thought he was just trying to screen the Battleship from other surface attacks.  Once that was dealt with mid game, he was more aggressive with the Frigates. 

The only other issue that came up was the traffic jam that occurred when all those ships started milling around each other in boarding range.  There were no collisions until we had uncontrolled drifting.  Then Frigates were running into each other everywhere in the last 2 turns!

 

Overall, it was a fun game.  It's nice to play a British Player that knows how to use the fleet (I know I wasn't using them correctly)!  Now that he's played a whole game, I worry about future battles!  Time to brush up on my Prussian Tactics!!!

 

Good Game Graham!

BatRep: Infinity Mission: FRONTLINE! (PanO vs PanO)

So Mike and I decided we wanted to play Infinity again – this time using 300 point forces.  Coincidentally, we realized that the Tournament scenarios go posted so we decided to try one out!

 

 

So another PanOceana training mission begins!

Mike’s Forces:

-          Joan D’Arc 2.0
-          Teutonic Knight with Combi-Rifle
-          Teutonic Knight with Spitfire
-          3 X Order Sergeants with Combi-Rifles
-          Specialist Sergeant with Multi-Sniper Rifle
-          Fusilier Hacker
-          Fusilier Heavy Machine Gunner
-          Magister Knight with Explosive CCW

 

My Forces:

-          Fusilier Lieutenant
-          Fusilier Hacker
-          2 X Fusilier
-          Orc with Multi-Rifle
-          Orc with Heavy Machine Gunner
-          Auxilia with Auxbot
-          Knight Hospitaller Doctor
-          Knight Santiago with Spitfire
-          Croc Sniper with Sniper Multi-Rifle

 ========================

 

Mission: Frontline

4’ X 4’ table, 12” deployment zones.

The area between the Deployment Zones are divided into 3 bands, each 8” wide.  1 Objective Point is awarded for controlling the band closest to your deployment zone, 2 OPs for the Center band and 3 OPs for controlling the band farthest away.  To control the band, the player must have the most points-worth of troops in the band.  Each player rolled for a “Secret Objective”, worth 1 OP.  Mike’s special mission was to gain “Telemetry”, succeed a Forward Observer Marking Roll against an enemy model.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have anything with FO ability, so it was a wasted mission.  My special mission was to do a “Data Scan” – do a successful hacking roll against an enemy hacker, HI, REM or TAG. 

 Game ends in 3 turns…

 Turn 1:

I won initiative, so I took 1^st activation.  My Knights, the Orc, the Auxilia and the Hacker all advanced up the left side behind the church, the two Knights and the Orc hiding behind a hedge row, the Auxilia and Hacker up against the Church.  The Orc with the HMG tried to provide covering fire.  The only other movement was the Croc Sniper climbing to the 2^nd floor on the building on my right.  No shots fired.

Mike then moved his troops forward, behind the church and the Cargo Containers.  This triggered a couple of Automatic Reaction Orders (AROs) from my troops, but caused no casualties.  Finally, Mike’s Sniper finally popped out on the 2^nd floor balcony on the building in his deployment zone, to shoot at my Hacker.  Fortunately, the Hacker’s armor deflected the shot.  Unfortunately for Mike, my Croc Sniper ARO’d his sniper and got a Critical hit, killing Mike’s sniper.  First blood to me!  My Orc HMG suffered a wound and ducked out-of-sight behind the wall she was hiding behind.  I promptly forgot all about her until after my 3^rd turn…

 

 

Turn 2:

My Sniper and Fusilier on the 2^nd floor on the right-side building did a Combined Order and fired at 2 targets (An oops of 2 parts – I realized later I was supposed to fire both at the same target and cut the Burst Rate in ½!).  Giving them each a second order, I killed a Teutonic Knight and the Magister Knight.  Moved the hacker forward to the Church and then moved the Auxilia and Auxbot last.  The Auxilia stayed out-of-sight behind the church while the Auxbot flamed an Order Sergeant, though Sergeant managed to kill the Auxbot with his ARO.

 

Mike then started his activations.  Joan moved forward and killed my hacker inside the church.  The Teutonic Knight peaked around the corner and shot at the Knight Doc, wounding it, but he suffered a wound from AROs from the Croc Sniper.

Turn 3:
My knights and Orc moved forward to get into the center section.  The Orc got into a dugout but was shot by an ARO, took a wound and ducked down for the rest of the game.  The knights managed to make it into the center band and took cover. 

Mike moved someone (Think it was an Order Sergeant) out to shoot at the Orc in the dugout.  The Croc managed to ARO and kill the shooter, but the damage was already done.  Mike then charged Joan and another figure into the Church, managing to kill the Knight Hospitaller and the Auxilia!

 

Thus ended Turn 3 – and the Game!!!

When we measured the zones, we both got 1 OP for claiming the Zones closest to our deployment zones.  Mike actually has Joan 2.0 and two other models in the Center Zone, whereas I only had the Knight Santiago – Mike got to claim 2 OP for the Center zone – winning the game 3 : 1!

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

So, Army choices: I don’t really have a lot of complaints with my force composition.  It was doing what I expected, I just didn’t win because I did some dumb moves and Mike was able to capture the center in the last turn.  Any issues I had were rules issues.  This is not to imply that Mike and I couldn’t agree – it’s just we were both re-learning the rules and we both had questions and issues.

 

Things I know we screwed up:

-          The previously mentioned “Combined Orders” Boo-Boo!  We were supposed to target the same figure and reduce their burst size.  This was a “Heat of the Moment” error – neither of us caught it until much, much later.

-          Declaring Automatic Reaction Orders – I was bad for not remembering to declare all of it at once before the dice started rolling. I missed a few possible reactions as well.  This is something that will be fixed with more practice on my part.

-          Somewhere around Turn 3, Mike realized that if you got the cover bonus against the “to hit roll”, you also got +3 Armor.  We forgot this, so we continued not granting the extra 3 ARM as it could have thrown the scores way off.

-          It is a 28mm skirmish game.  I screwed up some basic “Line Of Sight” calls as I mixed up rules between game systems more than once…  (Sorry Mike – rediscovered you were right after I reviewed notes when I got home.

-          Some confusion with the special rules for the individual models.  It’s the same issue 40K has – too many special rules for each and every model type and weapon.  Again, it’s a familiarity thing.  The more we play, the more the rules will make sense.

 

Terrain deserves special mention.  I got to the FLGS before Mike and setup a 4’ X 4’ area for the mission.  Mike reviewed the table and made a couple of minor changes, BUT there was a huge fire-lane that extended 30+” in front of the Church that neither of us noted before the game.  As a result, I had Mike trapped for a good length of the time in the one corner. 

The unintentional LOOOONG Fire Lane!

We knew we needed more terrain, I just need to get down to it!  We both agreed the large church needs to go.  Not that we’re anti-Religious (Mike was playing Holy Orders!).  The church just took up too much space and made for a huge killing zone inside.  We would have been better off with 2-3 smaller buildings or (a LOT) more cargo containers.

 As to the Tournament Mission itself, Mike and I really enjoyed it!  Making 300 point lists (the OFFICIAL points limit for an Official tournament) and forcing a game to be done in 3 turns forces both sides to move and act.  Both sides have to take chances and this resulted in lots of shootings, AROs and casualties.  Mike was just about at his army’s Break Point at the end of turn 3.  Yet for this mission, casualties had no effect on the outcome.  Fortune favors the Brave (and the SMART!)!!  The random objective gives each side a chance for a bonus point or two, but if you don’t include the required troop choices or options required in your list, you could end up with a mission that you couldn’t complete – a wasted opportunity!  Well done!  I look forward to trying some of the other official tournament missions!

All and all, a very enjoyable game.  Thanks Mike!

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!

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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?