BatRep: Dystopian Wars - 1000pts, Kingdom of Britannia vs Prussian Empire

Admiral Von Shtupp was happy.  Once more, he was at sea, in command of a Prussian Task Force.  The best place for an Admiral to be.  As he looked out the windows of the bridge of SMS Graf von Zeppelin, a Blucher Dreadnought, and he had to wonder what the day would bring.

This patrol was another Search-And-Destroy mission.  Von Shtupp’s mission was to track down and sink a Britannian Dreadnought that had been spotted in the area.  In his last battle, the enemy's Dreadnought had escaped.  Von Shtupp was determined it would not happen again.

Now they just had to find a Britannian task force and hope sink the Dreadnought once and for all.  A Britannian Task Force with something as dangerous as a Dreadnought was something that could not be allowed near the new Prussian Carrabiean Base.

It shouldn't be too difficult. 

Should it?

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First of all - an apology.  Some of the pics turned out terrible this time around.
I need to get a better camera...

The forces of those Imperious Warmongers of the Britannia had once more tried to trespass on to righteously conquered territory of the Peaceful Prussian Peoples!

Nyaaaa!  That sounded wrong even as I was typing it.  The Prussians were out to kick some Britannian Butt!  What else mattered?

I was feeling guilty as I haven’t posted a Dystopian War report in a while.  So Graham and I decided to blow the dust off the figs and, once more, sail the Seven Seas.  We quickly agreed to do a 1000 point battle and I started plotting his demise. 

I quickly realized that I hadn’t put any limitations on the lists.  I could probably expect to see an enemy Dreadnought (he’s predictable that way), so would bring my own.  I wanted some extra Air Support, and had to decide which way to go.  In the end, I decided I wanted the Fleet Carrier.  The problem with these choices, it takes up a LOT of my 1000 points.  I was going to have to be frugal with the rest of my points.

So, rolling the Dice, once more the Prussians had the Strategic Advantage and the Britannians had the Operational Advantage. 

The Battle area was a standard 6’ X 4’ area.  Rolling random terrain we both did horribly.  Only 2 islands.  One the in the North West corner, the other in the South East corner.

Kingdom of Britannia Deployment:
(South West to South East)

L > R = South East to South West

• 4 Attacker Frigates
• 1 Ruler Battleship
• 1 Fighter SAS with 5 tokens
• 1 Majesty Dreadnought with Pulse Generator and 2 Bastion Escorts (Commodore’s Flagship)
• 1 Fighter SAS with 5 tokens
• 2 Agincourt Gunships
• 4 Attacker Frigates

Prussian Empire Deployment:
(North West to North East – mostly hidden in the North West Corner behind a small island)

L > R = North West to North East

• 1 Fighter SAS with 5 Tokens
• 2 Hussar Gunships
• 1 Elbe Fleet Carrier with 2 Dive Bomber SAS (One 5, one 4 tokens)
• 1 Blucher Dreadnought with Tesla & Shield Generators (Commodore’s Flagship)
• 3 Arminius Frigates
• 4 Saxony Corvettes
• 2 Geier Bombers, Obscured (Flanking Force from the West – Arriving Turn 1)

Turn 1:

TAC Phase: The Britannians played “Lost Orders”, but it was quickly cancelled with the same; 20 points for Britannia!

Prussians won the Initiative – not that I wanted it…

(The dice rolls Graham was making already had me concerned – he had been on a really badly “Roll” lately and once more was rolling really low.  Sadly, we had yet to fire a shot!)

I hadn’t used Flankers in a while and decided for this game I wanted to try them again.  My “Plan” was the Bombers would arrive turn 2 or 3 and finish off some damaged targets.  Instead, I rolled arrival for Turn 1 and they had to be deployed close enough to the (undamaged) Britannian fleet that I was probably going to lose the Bombers in the first turn.  Knowing that, I used the Bombers first.

The Bombers dropped from the clouds, moved forward and each fired their Tesla at a separate Frigate, and sank 1, but failed to damage the other.  I then played Break Neck Maneuver and both bombers successfully made the climb back into the safety (???)  of the clouds.  Fist Blood for Prussians, but another 20 Points for the Britannian Forces!

Prussian Bomber Attack Run

The Britannian Battleship activated but with no other targets other than the Bombers, the ship trained two turrets on each.  One Bomber was damaged, the other was Crit (Guns Damaged).

Britannia Strikes Back!

Stalling for time, Prussian Dive Bombers moved forward.  Sadly, as expected, the Britannians were firmly focused on the Geier Bombers.  A flight of Britannian fighters attacked the German Bombers and shot down the damaged Bomber for a loss of 1 token.

As Expected, the Bombers Attract Too Much Attention...

Another Prussian Stall, another Dive Bomber Squadron moved forward.  Britannian Frigates moved forward and fired on the last Bomber from Range Band 2.  The Bomber was Crit (Hard Poundiing – 2 AP lost).  A flight of Prussian Fighters didn’t have the range to attack the Britannian Fighters, so they took position in front of the Dive Bombers.

The Britannian Dreadnought activated and, with no other targets in sight, blew the last Prussian Bomber from the skies with broadsides.  At least the Bombers had misdirected Britannian fire for a while…

Death By Dreadnought

Prussian Fighters moved forward to help screen the Dive Bombers from attack (no, I was killing time and Activations).  The final Britannian Fighter SAS moved forward – well out of attack range of anything.

FINALLY, the Prussian Ships activated!  The Gunships powered up their Tesla Generators and boosted a hard turn to starboard around the tip of the North West Island.  Checking range, they fired all guns at the Battleship and successfully damaged it (Missed a Crit by 1 or 2 hits).  Britannian Gunships sallied out and turned into a Line Of Battle so that both Torpedoes and Turrets could return fire.  The Gunships managed to successfully damage one of their Prussian Counterparts.

The Prussian Carrier also boosted its speed with a Tesla Generator and sailed forward far enough that she was able to sink a Frigate with the Speerschleuder in spite of the range and needing 5’s to hit!

Prussian Carrier Sinks a Frigate!

The Britannnians then activated their last squadron, the other Frigate unit moved forward – not too far as they feared being attacked and/or boarded by the Prussian Smalls.

With no further enemy reactions possible, the Prussian Dreadnought activated its Tesla and just made enough speed to clear Line-Of-Sight around the island for all turrets to target the Britannian Battleship AND screen the Carrier from any direct attacks.  With a Deafening roar, the Dread managed to crit the Battleship from Range Band 3, which caused a Fusion Leak (3 Corrosive Counters Worth)!

Britannian Battleship Sufferes Fusion Leaks!

Prussian Frigates and Corvettes advanced forward at max speed, but only the Corvettes were able to damage a single Frigate from the Britannian squadron.

End Phase:

The Prussians had nothing to repair (the bombers had been obliterated).  The Britannian Battleship was only able to stop one Corrosive Marker, so suffered 2 extra Hull Points!

End of Turn 1

VPs:

KOB       160
PE:          60

Turn 2:

TAC Phase: Britannia played Battlefield Repair but it was stopped with Prepare My Personal Transport.  Another 60pts for Britannia.

Prussians won Initiative (Graham rolled Snake Eyes).

A flight of Prussian Fighters attacked Britannian Fighters and blew their attack, only shot down 1 token for the cost of 2 in spite of having Acrobatic Pilots (3DR instead of 2 in an Interception).

The Britannian Battleship, worried it was doomed, activated first and moved forward and to port.  Broadsides and torpedoes failed to do any damage, but the turrets sank the damaged Prussian Gunship with a Double-Crit!  Ouch!

Prussians Lose A Gunship!

The second Prussian Fighter SAS attacked the previously damaged Fighter SAS and shot down 2 tokens for no loss, leaving the Britannian Squadron with only 2 tokens left.  The Fighters attacked one of the Dive Bombers but due to their reduced numbers, neither side suffered a casualty.

The Prussian Gunship, trying to be brave, sailed forward to maximize their guns before being destroyed.  Broadsides damaged a Frigate while the turrets crit the Battleship (Guns Damaged)!

Charge Of The Gunship!

The Britannian Dreadnought moved forward and to port, sank a Corvette with torpedoes and vaporized the last Gunship with something ridiculous like 3 or 4 Crits while the Dreadnought’s AA shot down the rest of the damaged Prussian Fighter SAS.  OWwwwww…

Can You Say "OVERKILL"?

The Prussian Corvettes made hard turn to port and split their fire on the Dreadnought’s Escorts.  The Dread’s Guardian Generator worked overtime and saved both from taking damage in an inspired series of dice rolls.  NOW Graham starts to roll well again!  Grrrrrrr!

The Second Britannian Fighter SAS attacked a Dive Bomber SAS and shot down 2 for no loss.  Prussian Fighters move between the Carrier and the larger Britannian Fighter SAS, then successfully shot down 2 for the loss of 1.

Britannian Frigates on the East side move forward and attacked the Prussian Corvettes, damaged one and sank another.  Prussia was starting to struggle!

Britannian Frigates Engage Prussian Corvettes

The damaged Dive Bomber Squadron moved back to the Carrier, waiting for replacements.  Britannian Gunships advanced and sank the last two Corvettes!

Death Of The Prussian Corvettes

The Prussian Carrier replenished both the Fighter and Dive Bomber Squadrons nearby, then re-purposed the Fighters as Dive Bombers, giving me 3 SAS to attack with.  The Carrier moved forward its maximum speed, turning slightly to starboard (to avoid the table edge) and sank another Frigate with the Speerschleuder. 

In a fit of . .  Bravery?  Stupidity?  Anyway, the last Frigate from the Squadron turned and charged the Prussian Carrier.  Unsurprisingly, it caused no damage to the Great Ship.  Sadly, this was the last Britannian Activation of the turn!

"I Think I Can.  I Think I Can..."

Unopposed once more, the Prussian Dreadnought moved forward maximum speed with a slight turn to starboard and screened the Carrier once more.  Firing its guns, the Dreadnought sank the last Frigate of the squadron and then played Devastating Barrage on the Turret attack on the Britannian Dreadnought, which was cancelled with Espionage (gaining the Prussians a desperately needed 40 points).  Sadly, the turrets failed to damage the Dreadnought (dang Guardian Generators)!

Prussian Dive Bombers moved forward and the Frigates turned to Port and FINALLY sank one of the Dreadnought’s Escorts.

End Phase:

Once again, the Prussians had nothing to repair.  The Britannian Battleship stopped one Corrosive marker, but in spite of a re-roll, failed to stop the last Corrosive marker from removing its last hull point, sinking the Battleship!

Death By Failed Repair Rolls!

End Of Turn 2

VPs:

KoB:       480
PE:          380

Turn 3:

TAC Phase: The Britannians played Radio Intercept (which gave the Prussians another 20VP).

Prussians won Initiative again, anyway!  :-P

Well, at this point, it was probably all over but the Crying.  Graham had let slip after sinking the last Gunship that he had completed half his objective and now only needed 20 points to complete his Victory Conditions.  I decided I may as well go for broke and see what happened.

The Prussian Dread turned and closed with the Britannian Dread before turning to expose her broadsides and all turrets at the Dread.  The Guns Thundered and the Dread took a Crit Hit (Generators Offline)!  (Missed a Double-Crit by 1HP – MAN I hate that Guardian Generator!!!).  The Britannian Dread turned to starboard and sank a Frigate, shot down 1 Dive Bomber Token then missed damaging the Prussian Dread by 1 hit!

The Dreadnoughts Confront Each Other

The Prussian Dive Bombers attacked and sank the last Escort, depriving the Dreadnought of her protection (not that it needed it).

Grabbing Points and stripping AA from Dread

One Britannian Fighter squadron attacked Prussian Dive Bombers and shot down 2 for the loss of 1 token.  A Prussian Dive Bomber squadron moved towards the Enemy Dreadnought, then the Britannian fighter squadron attacked and shot down 3 Dive Bombers for the loss of 1 token on another squadron. 

The Prussian Carrier replenished one of the Dive Bomber squadrons back to full strength, then made a hard Port Turn to aim its forward Tesla Gun at the Britannian Dreadnought (missing the Prussian Dreadnought by about ½”).  The Tesla Gun succeeded in damaging the Dread while the lightning removed an extra AP.

Britannian Gunships turned hard to port, fired at and damaged the Prussian Dreadnought.  The Final Prussian Dreadnought moved between the Carrier and the Britannian Dreadnought.  The last Britannian Frigate squadron shot down the remains of one Dive Bomber Squadron, shot down 2 tokens of another squadron and damaged 2 Prussian Frigates!

In a fit of cowardice, the last 2 Prussian Frigates made a hard turn to port and tried to hide behind the west most corner of the North West Island…

End Phase:

The Prussians still had no damage to repair.  The Britannian Dreadnought failed to repair it’s Generators.  Not that it needed to…

End of Turn 3 & Game!

VPs:

KoB:       510 – Destroy all Mediums & 50% of the fleet – Both Completed
PE:          425 – Sink the Commodore’s Ship & 50% of the fleet – Neither Completed

Kingdom of Britannia is Victorious!!!

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Well, Graham can quit complaining about his dice rolls now.  :-P

I think I had a decent force, I just drew the worst mission I could have.  I *could* have chosen to go with the Default 70%, but I didn’t want to give away my mission.  Besides, knowing he had a Dreadnought worth over 300 points in a 1000 point list, I knew I would have to sink or capture the Dreadnought on a 70% mission objective anyway.  It was a no-win scenario.  I maybe could have ignored the Battleship but it was blocking my flank attack on the Dreadnought AND a threat, so I really couldn’t ignore it. 

Hiding my most powerful ships behind the island didn’t help.  While it prolonged their fighting abilities and I was able to quickly get rid of the Battleship relatively quickly and easily, I was out of position to deal with the Dreadnought.  The combined close ranged firepower of both the Dread and the Fleet Carrier really would have dealt with the enemy Dread a hard time, IF I could have prolonged the battle.

Which was the main weakness of this list.  The two Massive ships limited my Medium and Small choices to 2 understrength units, each.  I probably would have been better served with a Single Massive and increased the number of Medium and Small choices, but that’s always the risk and trade-off with a battle of this size.  Same issue with the flanking forces.  In a larger battle, coming in on turn 2, flanking may have worked better.  This time, I gave away 120 points to my opponent.

Not that my choice of Manoeuvring helped.  I "COULD" have steered the last Gunship to safety behind the Carrier and Dreadnought instead of putting the pedal to the metal and doing that insainly suicidal charge.  I had pretty much guessed Graham's objectives at that point, but thought if I could have sunk the Battleship before activating the Dreadnought and Carrier, I would have a better chance

of damaging and sinking the Commodore's Dreadnought.  Only it didn't work and I had to wait for the Corrosion to sink it in the End Phase.  If I had backed off, I could have stalled possibly 2 or 3 more turns and had a decent chance of capturing or sinking the Britannian Dreadnought.  I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have.  C'est la Vie!  (Pardon my French - assuming it is spelt correctly!)

Anyway, raham broke his losing streak and we got a good game that actually finished for a change!

Hope you enjoyed the report.  See you next time!

BatRep: Infinity N3 200pt – Nomands vs Yu Jing

Recently, Corvus Belli released the initial 2015 Tournament and Escalation League rules  for Infinity (you can Download them from the ITS page or Here).

http://www.infinitythegame.com/archivo/en_ITS2015.pdf

The nice thing is that there are 3 levels of Tournament this year: 200 points, 300 points and 400 points.  With the scenarios and special rules listed, a player now has an idea what to expect and can plan their forces to maximize their play style and army choices.

The Escalation rules in the PDF show an 8 round campaign that starts with 120 points and works each player’s forces up to 300 Points.  Good way to start people off with a smaller army and working their way up to a regular 300 Point Force.  You could also, conceivably, use the Escalation Rules to do an Escalation Tournament. 

Hopefully, I can get people here interested in at least an un-official Escalation League…

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Anyway, Graham’s Yu Jing decided to go against my Nomads.  I had 2 lists, one with a TAG (the Iguana) and one without.  I let Graham decide which list to fight and we agreed to go TAG-less; Graham didn’t feel ready to handle a TAG and I didn’t think it was fair to drop it on him without warning.

So, using the Tournament Scenario lists, we started with Annihilation (Low Tier) mission. Basically, this is a standard “Kill-or-be-Killed” mission.  Players received Objective Points based on the value of enemy models KILLED – not wounded. To increase the pressure – the game ends after 3 turns!

Both players were also required to deploy a “High Value Target” (HVT) – basically a “non-combatant” model that would cost us the game if we killed one in error. I used a Tau Fire Warrior and a Pan Oceana model (acting as Military Observers, I guess). Then both sides rolled for 2 random Objectives from a table (This is to be replaced in the future by an “Objective Deck” from Corvus Belli in the future). Some missions require interaction with the HVTs, others require special actions by a “Specialist” (a Doctor, Hacker or Engineer) and some require the player perform a specific action or condition.

My Nomads were:

• 1 Grenzer with a Multii Sniper Rifle
• 1 Reverend Healer
• 1 Mobile Brigada
• 1 Spektr
• 2 Alguaciles with MediKit
• 1 Alguacile with Light Grenade Launcher
• 1 Interventor Lieutenant with a Fast Panda

Graham’s Yu Jing were:

• 3 Tiger Soldiers
• 1 Celestial Guard
• 1 Raiden with Heavy Rocket Launcher
• 1 Raiden with Spitfire
• 1 Guilang
• 1 Zhanshi with Heavy Machine Gun

(Didn’t catch who was the Lieutenant)

We then spent a while setting up the table (4’ X 4’). Took quite a while with all those Cargo Containers!  Neither of us wanted too many long fire lanes.  We made the Store Buildings rear wall the edge of the 4’ play area.

We made our WIP rolls and Nomads won the right to determine initiative.  Of course, Graham made the Nomads deploy first…

Nomads deployed the Brigada, the Healer and the Grenzer on the left half of the table with the 3 Alguaciles covering the right, two of them watching the street between in between the buildings. I put the Interventor roughly in the center of the Container Maze and my HVT near the center of the maze.  The Spektre was deployed (hidden) about center of the table, behind the corner of the containers and just over 8” away from the HVT. 

Nomad Deployment

I took a picture of the Yu Jing’s deployment, but forgot to note who was where and I can’t tell which was which, other than 2 Camo Markers were on the Nomad’s Left.  Grahams HVT was also near table center, but closer to the apartment buildings.

Yu Jing Deployment

Turn 1:

I decided to give the Yu Jing the First turn for 2 reasons:

I would get last chance to shoot and kill any opponents with minimal risk to my own crew.
I got to play a Command Token for the Strategic Use: I made the Yu Jing lose 2 Order Tokens for the first turn! Bwa-hahahahahah!

Things started off for the Yu Jing:

Used a Command Token and Order to move the 3 Tiger in a Coordinated Order to move along the side of the Container Maze. The two Camo Markers moved forward a couple times on the Nomad’s Left.  The loss of the two Lost Orders really impacted what the Yu Jing could do…

Yu Jing Turn 1 (Tau Fire Warrior Is HVT)

Nomads:

The Interventor started things off: first, spent an entire Order to use “Cybermask” to change himself into an Imposter-2 Counter – rendering him safe from enemy fire. The spent 2 orders to run forward and get within hacking range to one of the HVTs to attempt a “Hack” (which I promptly failed)! The Hacking attempt made me lose my “Imposter” status, but I was safely behind a Cargo Container by then. It took me 3 tries (and orders) before I finally successfully hacked the HVT and completed one of my Random Objectives – HVT: Espionage – worth 2 Objective Points!

First I disguise myself..

Sneak up and successfully hack MY HVT!

I then attempted to drop a grenade from the Alguacile Grenade launcher using Speculative Fire, but sadly, the distance and Speculative Modifier made the penalty -12 – with only a Ballistic Skill of 11, this was an Auto-miss.

Turn 2:

Yu Jing:

More movement all around the table. The two Camo Markers moved way down into the Nomad’s table side, very near the HVT on my side. No casualties on the Nomad’s or Yu Jing’s teams.  Graham was getting worried at this point – he only had one more turn to gain any Points!

Nomads:

The Mobile Brigada used 3 Orders to move forward and use the flamer to make an Intuitive Attack on one Camo Marker, then moved forward and performed a Coup de Grace on the wounded model whose camo was Burnt away, and killed the Raiden with the Spitfire, which gained the first Kill for the Nomads.

(Checking the rules later, I discovered I missed making a Willpower Roll which I needed to pass before I could have flamed the Marker.)

The Genzer then was able to use his Visor to discover the 2^nd Camo Marker – the Guilang Skirmisher.  As Genzer had a Sniper Rifle and the range was too close and the Guilang would have cover, the Reverend Healer moved forward and sprayed the Guilang with her Nanopulser.  However, the Guilang used his ARO to shoot back and in the end – BOTH the Reverend and the Guilang were wounded and rendered unconscious!

Genzer Discovers the Guilang...

Rev. Healer and Guilang knock each other out!

Finally, the Interventor took a shot at the Celestial Guard, but missed as the Guard ducked out of sight and into cover.  With no one able to spot him, the Interventor took a risk and used the Lieutenant’s Order, exposing his rank, to once more turn into Imposter-2!

End of Turn 2!

Turn 3:

Yu Jing:

Graham was desperate to score now – this was the last turn and he still hadn’t gotten any points!

From the back of the Deployment Zone, the Raiden with the Rocket Launcher revealed himself on top of some Cargo Containers and drew Line-of-Sight to the Mobile Brigada.  The Brigada dove for cover just in time as the missile passed harmlessly over his head (both of us failed our Face-to-Face rolls). The Raiden used a second Order to take a shot at the unconscious Reverend Healer, this time successfully hit the target and killed the Reverend Healer!

Raiden makes Brigada duck for cover & Kills the Rev. Healer!

The Zhanshi poked his head around the corner of the Apartment Building on his side of the table and fired an HMG burst at the Alguacile on opposite Apartment building, knocking her unconscious before she could duck behind cover! 

Zhanshi Knocks out an Alguacile!

Nomads:

The Brigada spent two Orders to move around the crates and perform another Coup de Grace on the wounded Guilang Skirmisher.  I then was greedy and did something stupid.  Taking a chance, the Genzer stepped out from cover and took 2 shots at the Raiden with the Rocket Launcher.  The Raiden reacted by shooting back.  When the smoke cleared, the Genzer was wounded and unconscious while the Raiden was untouched.  Sadly, for Graham, he knocked two figures unconscious but didn’t Kill them, so they earned him no points!

End Of Game:

Nomad’s Objectives:

HVT: Espionage – a Hacker with the Enemy HVT in his Zone Of Control must make a successful Short Skill WIP-3 roll.  FAILED!  I had misread the order and hacked MY HVT – it didn’t count!

Data Scan – Hacker must make a successful Short Skill WIP-3 roll with an Enemy Model within the Hacker’s Zone of Control.  FAILED!  The Interventor never got close enough to do a second hack on an Enemy Trooper.

Killing Enemy Troops – Per Graham’s evaluation, I managed to kill just over 50 Points of models: 1 Objective Point

Between 101 & 150 Points Surviving – 2 Objective Points

Total: 3 Objective Points

Yu Jing’s Objectives:

Extreme Prejudice – Perform a Coup de Grace against an unconscious model – FAILED!  While he killed the unconscious Reverend Healer, it was a ranged attack, not base-to-base.

Kill All Enemy??? – this objective doesn’t actually exist – not sure what he meant but it’s what was written down.

Killing Enemy Troops – While he killed the Reverend Healer, she wasn’t worth enough to gain any Objective Points.  However, I forgot my Spektre had never been exposed and was using hidden deployment the entire game.  Per the rules, Hidden Deployment counts as not being ON the table and as the Spektre he was NOT on the table – thus, he was not Deployed!  The way the scenario was written, troops not deployed count as casualties!  That bumped the “Kill” value to over 50 points and counted as 1 Objective Point!

Between 101 & 150 Points Surviving – 2 Objective Points

Total: 3 Objective Points

A Draw!

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Ah well, so much for my strategy of hacking the High Value Target – I picked the wrong HVT! READ THE MISSION!!!

After drawing the missions I received, I decided to play a defensive game, counting on the Interventor to gain all the Objective Points I would need to win. Unfortunately, this meant playing a stagnant defensive game and in the end, I almost lost because I wasn’t out to cause casualties.  I kept the Spektre in Hiding because I didn’t “need” him and basically forgot about him.  As a result, Graham got his 2^nd “Kill” and enough points to get the Draw.

The Limited Game turns really did affect the game play as it forced Graham to race forward and be too aggressive with his Camo Markers.  That put me in position to hit them with template weapons which he couldn’t avoid.  Sadly, it cost me my Reverend Healer when he decided to “tough it out” and shoot back.  The rest of his army was moved too slowly forward (with the exception of the Machine Gunner) to make a difference in the game.

Next time – we’ll both have to be more aggressive!

BatRep: DW2 - 800pt Empire of the Blazing Sun vs Russian Coalition

Admiral Dimitry Orlov was enjoying a hot cup of tea on the flag bridge of the Borodino Battleship, Georgy Pobedonosets II ("St George the Victorious II").  It was good to be home once again, back at sea.

It was just a patrol mission.  A short trip around the outer defense zone of Vladivostok.  Things had been quiet for the last month and nothing was expected to be seen this time about either.  The Empire of the Blazing Sun and Chinese Federation had been busy elsewhere, probably doing the same as the Russians – repairing, reinforcing and replenishing their forces.

It was so quiet, Orlov was taking a “joy ride”.  Rather than staying in port (doing dreadful paperwork), the Admiral was taking the opportunity to take another mission on probably his favorite ship.  He had started his command on the predecessor Borodino Battleship of the same name and had continued to hone his skills and reputation on this particular ship.  He had many fond memories of this ship and the class.  It wasn’t fast, but it was reliable…

“Admiral!  Lookouts report another fleet spotted on the other side of the island!  We’re supposed to be the only Force in the area!”

“Don’t panic.  Send the command to all the fleet to prepare for combat.  Get me more information about the other fleet.  I don’t want us sinking an ally or worse, a surprise visit from the Tsar’s Personal Yacht.  Radio Vladivostok and let them know we’ve made contact with an unknown force.”

As the Aid rushed off to complete the Admiral’s tasks. Admiral Orlov thought back to his first time in a similar position.  He probably was just as frightened as the young junior officer that had just run away.

He’ll mature and become a good officer one day.  If he lives long enough…

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First of all – Great Thanks goes to Watchdog on the Spartan Forums.  Watchdog spotted an error that we’ve been making with regards to the TAC deck Victory Points that none of the people I’ve played had caught!  The error: TACs that are cancelled are NOT put in the “Scrap Pile” (where their point’s value is added to the enemy’s VPs) but are DISPOSED.  One of those minor wordings that everyone missed in our neck of the Frozen North that someone elsewhere in the world caught.  Thanks Watchdog!

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So, I was doing demos for Legiocon this last weekend, but no one was there at 9:00am (other than my traditional Victim, Graham who was silly enough to volunteer with me).  So, we started a small 800pt game, just to kill some time and (hopefully) draw some interest.

Once more, the Galant Russian Coalition (me!) would face off against those dastardly Empire of the Blazing Suns!  This would be a short game (HA!) so we were limited to 800 points, just in case someone else wanted to do a game.

We rolled random terrain on a 4’ X 4’ table and placed an island in opposite corners – North West and South East.  The Russians won Strategic Advantage and the Empire won Operational Advantage.

Russian Coalition Fleet were on the Southern side, around the island (Left to Right):

• 1 Presets Sub with Primary Gun Target Painter (Submerged)
• 1 Fighter SAS with 5 tokens
• 1 Borodino Battleship with Rocket / Torpedo Jammer & 1 Veliky Escort
• 1 Dive Bomber SAS with 5 tokens
• 3 Saransk Skyships (Obscured)
• 4 Novgorvod Frigates
• 4 Rostov Destroyers

Empire of the Blazing Sun Fleet were on the Northern side (From Russian Left to Right):

• 1 Inari Scout Gyro (Obscured)
• 4 Yurgi Destroyers
• 1 Kiyohime Assault Carrier with 3 Kitsune Escorts, 1 Dive Bomber SAS (5 tokens) and a Recon SAW
• 1 Ika Mechanical Squid
• 2 Armoured Tanuki Cruisers
• 2 Fighter SAS with 5 tokens each
• 3 Tetsubo Interceptors (Obscured)

Start of Game!

Turn 1

No TAC cards were played in the TAC phase.

Russians won Initiative for the First Turn due to the number of spotters in the fleet.

(Not that I wanted initiative!  The Blazing Suns had more activations to begin with and would end up with multiple unopposed activations where all I can do is watch, helplessly.)

Trying to buy time, the Russian Dive bombers flew forward a short ways. It didn’t do any good as the Suns just sent their Recon SAW buzzing around the western battle zone. Russian Fighters moved beside the Dive Bombers, in hope of providing a deterrent. The Sun’s next Fighter wing moved forward, to waste an activation and force the Russians to activate a Naval Squadron first.

If the Russian Frigates moved forward full speed, they would have no range to any foe but would be vulnerable to attack.  I had to protect my Smalls as they would be vulnerable to long ranged missile attacks, so I just moved forward a minimal amount, trying to stay out of sight behind the island.

The Sun’s Scout Gyro climbed into the Stratosphere and moved forward, then turned to port. 

(Actually, it had been deployed in the Stratosphere, but the rules say you can’t start in Deep Dive or Stratosphere.  I just said they moved up for narrative purposes and to cover an error we made.)  The Gyro had no targets in range.  The Russian Preset Submarine stayed submerged and moved forward.  The Ika also stayed submerged and moved forward and turned slightly to starboard.

I didn’t like it, but I had to chance it.  The Russian Battleship activated, and failed its Sturginium Boost (I rolled a ‘1’!).  The Battleship moved forward at maximum speed around the left side of the island and fired its main guns at the Ika.  The barrage failed to damage the Ika. (I really didn’t expect to damage the Ika. Submerged, it was 5’s to hit and partially obscured, cutting the number of dice in half.  However, there weren’t any other targets in range.)

The Sun’s Dive Bombers move forward toward the battle zone center.  The Saransk Skyships stayed in cloud cover and moved over the south-east island in a left echelon formation.  Once again, the guns failed to damage the Ika, but again, there was nothing else in range.  The Sun’s Interceptors also stayed obscured and flew forward and targeted a Saransk.  Rocket Fire managed to damage one Russian Skyship and set it on fire.

EotBS Interceptors set a Sarask on fire!

The Russian Destroyers activated and moved forward ~8”  -again, trying to stay in the cover of the island.  This was the last Russian Activation for the turn.  Now the Russians (and I) had to sit back and watch helplessly as the Suns completed their activations…

Now the Sun’s Attack began in earnest.  First, the Cruisers moved forward at maximum speed and made a slight turn to get the Russian Battleship in their torpedo arcs.  The Cruisers then unloaded everything they had at the Battleship.  The Cruisers’ rockets were stopped by the Battleship’s Rocket Jammers and AA.  The Main Guns were unable to pierce the Ablative Armour of the Russian Battleship.

Next the Suns’ Destroyers made their attack run and successfully damaged the Russian Battleship, but only caused 1 HP of damage and set a fire on the ship’s deck. More Sun Fighters flew forward. Finally, the Assault Carrier and her Escorts activated and moved forward, all guns once more targeted the Battleship.  Once more, the Ablative Armour prevented more damage to the Great Russian Ship.

In the End Phase, The Russians were able to put out all the fires.

The Borodino Catches Fire

VPs:

RC:         0
EotBS:    0

Start of Turn 2

Turn 2

Once again, no TACs were played.

This turn, the Empire of the Blazing Sun won the Initiative.

The Empire started things off by having a Fighter Squadron attack the damaged Saransk Skyship. Fortunately for the Russians, the Fighters only caused 1 more lost HP while the fighters lost 4 of 5 tokens. 

The Sun's Fighters are Decimated!

Russian Fighters attacked the Interceptors and successfully shot down one Interceptor for the loss of 1 token.  Russians are first on the board!

Russian Fighters Down An Intercptor!

The remaining 2 Interceptors dropped from the clouds and made a rocket attack on the Russian Destroyers, but none of the rockets made in through the AA barrage.

The Russian Battleship activated and played “Stoke the Engines”, but it was cancelled with “Espionage”, giving the Russians another 40VP.  Once again, I rolled a ‘1’ for the Sturginium Boost, but the Battleship made its turn to starboard anyway.  Broadsides damaged an Interceptor on one side and damaged a Destroyer on the other while the Main Turrets double-crit one of the Armoured Cruisers (Hard Pounding; a loss of 3 AP with Concussive effects and Guns Damaged).

The Empire’s Fighters attacked the Russian Dive Bombers and shot all of them down for the loss of 1 token.  Russian Destroyers turned to port around the corner of the island and fired their guns at the undamaged Cruiser and caused a Crit (Engine Damage) while their AA shot down a Second Interceptor.  The last Interceptor failed its Disorder test!

Russian Destroyers Strike!

The Sun’s Ika played “Stoke the Engine” and rolled an additiona 4” movement (while the Russians gained another 40VP).  The Ika stayed submerged and moved forward, then to port, lining up for an attack next turn!

In an attempt to stop the attack on the Battleship next turn, the Russian Sub first successfully target painted the Ika with its generator.  This would allow the rest of the fleet to target the Ika with a +1 Modifier!  The Presets then surfaced and fired its guns at the Scout Gyro and successfully damaged the Gyro.  With its Piercing Ammo, the Gyro suffered Generator Offline.  The Sub also dropped Concussion Charges on the submerged Ika, but failed to damage the mechanical Squid.  I then played “Breakneck Maneuver”, but it was cancelled with “Radio Intercept” (and gave the Russians another 20VP).  Sadly the Sub failed its dive maneuver.  The Sun’s Dive Bombers punished the Preset for its failure and sank the sub with a Double Crit, which sunk the ship AND removed the Target Painter effect off the Ika – all in one attack!

Dive Bombers Sink the Presets!

The Russian Saransk Skyships moved forward and blasted one of the Cruisers and sank it with a Double-Crit, while the AA failed to damage the Interceptor.

A Cruiser is Sunk by the Saransk!

The Last Sun Cruiser moved forward at maximum speed towards the Russian Battleship.  The Brave Cruiser Crew failed to damage the Russian Battleship, a Destroyer or a Saransk.

The Russian Frigates moved at maximum speed from the right to the left of the island, but were unable to move far enough to gain line of sight to damage the Ika.  Once again, this was the last Russian Activation and the Russians were forced to watch helplessly, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It didn’t take long.  The Blazing Suns’ Destroyers were first to move, but they were unable to damage the Saransk Skyships that they targeted. The Gyro dropped from the Stratosphere to the Obscured level, but once more failed to damage the Saransk. Finally, the Carrier activated.  The Escorts managed to sink 1 Destroyer while the Carrier’s AA fire shot down the last of the Russian Fighters.  Sadly for the Empire, none of the other Carrier’s weapons were able to cause any damage.

The Carrier's Escorts Engage the Russian Destroyers!

Finally, for spite, the Recon SAW buzzed around the battle zone.

In the End Phase, The Suns were able to repair the Gyro’s Generator (though Graham realized he hadn’t chosen one when he designed the fleet, so didn’t use one for the rest of the game).  Unfortunately, the Guns on the Cruiser were still damaged.  Finally, the Cruiser lost its last AP as they rallied and the Interceptor lost 1 AP & 1 HP as they rallied.

The Russians had nothing to repair or rally.

VPs: EotBS:    115
RC:         245

Start of Turn 3

Turn 3

The Empire of the Blazing Sun tried to play “Battlefield Repair” on the last Cruiser.  With a heavy heart, I cancelled it with the same and gave up 40VP to the Blazing Suns.

Russians won the Initiative!

Knowing I was going to get attacked anyway, I activated the Russian Battleship.  Once more, I rolled a 1 – for the 3^rd time for Sturginium Boost in this game! Regardless, the Battleship raced forward at full speed and rammed the Cruiser and sunk the Cruiser with a crit!

Death of a Brave Cruiser!

Having suffered no damage in the Ram, the Battleship raced forward and fired its weapons in each direction. The Battleship missed a collision with a Sun’s Destroyer by ~ ¼”!  Dang!  The Turrets fired at the Gyro and Crit the Airship (Shredded Defences), while the Broadsides damaged the Ika and the last Interceptor was shot down!

The Battleship Fires!

Then the moment of horrid anticipation was over – the Ika surfaced and attacked the Battleship.  This was a monumental occasion as, so far, we’d never actually had a Robot Boarding action successfully happen!  I’d always managed to destroy it before it had gotten into base contact.

After both of us scampering for our rule books (we wanted to make sure we did it right), the Ika damaged the Battleship on the way in with its guns, then managed to cause another crit during Boarding (Hard Pounding – lost 3 AP) and then lost another HP due to the Hull Breaker ability of the Ika.  This brought the Battleship below half its hull points, stripping it of its priceless Ablative Armour! OUCH!!!

"Release the Kraken . . er . . IKA!"

Russian Frigates moved to the left of the Battleship and successfully shot down the Gyro!

Scout Gyro Brought Down By Frigates!

Blazing Sun’s Fighters attacked the damaged Saransk Skyship, but were driven off – no losses on either side.

The Russian Saransk Skyships turned to port, but in spite of the short range, the Skyships failed to damage a single Destroyer! The Sun’s Destroyers snaked around to broadside the aft quarter of the Russian Destroyers.  The rockets successfully damaged one of the Russians.  Then, in a really bad move, 2 destroyers tried to board another destroyer.  The Russians AA fire successfully killed all the boarders from both ships – which left them defenseless!

Destroyers vs Destroyers..

..and a failed Boarding Attack!!!

In the last Russian Activation, the Destroyers made a minimal move and attacked the Carrier’s Escorts and successfully damaged 2.

Once more, the Russians grit their teeth and waited while the Blazing Sun finished their activations.

First, the Sun’s Dive Bombers flew back to the Carrier.  Then the Carrier rearmed the Dive Bombers.  The Escorts and Carrier made minimal moves.  The Escorts successfully sank the damaged Destroyer while the Carrier sank all the remaining Destroyers!  OUCH!!!

The Russian Destroyers Are Lost!

Finally, the last Fighter SAS moved towards the Carrier.

In the End Phase, the Russians repaired Engine Damage on the Saransk.

VPs:

EotBS:    295pts   50% of the Fleet Value + All Smalls – Both Incomplete

RC:         440pts   50% of the Fleet Value + All Mediums – Both Complete

The Russians Win!

End Of Game!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Technically, the game ended here.  However, for some reason, I thought that the game was 1000pts at this point and we started to play the next turn.  Graham asked after we had rolled for initiative what the VPs were and when I told him, he pointed out I was over 50% for an 800 point game.

After I had confirmed that yes, the game was over, Graham wanted one more turn.  He had greatly damaged the Battleship and it was like a dog with a bone – he didn’t want to let go until he had finished it off. 

Besides, we both wanted to see if the Borodino could survive another attack from the Ika!

So we rolled and Russians got the initiative. Knowing she was gonna go down, the Battleship activated and turned hard to port, collided with an Escort (and sank it), with the Russian’s undamaged Escort finally coming out from behind the Battleship’s wake.  The Battleship made a Crit on the Carrier (Hard Pounding) and broadsides sank an Escort while the Russian Escort sank the last Blazing Sun Escort.  I then held my breath…

Ramming Speed!

The Guns Open Fire!

The Ika turned and attacked the Borodino while on the surface, firing as it started its boarding action. While the Gunnery Attack did damage the Battleship, Graham bombed on the Boarding Roll and caused a single hull point’s damage – leaving the Battleship afloat with 2HP left.

I skipped the Russian Activation as there was no need (I had already won).  Graham finished off the Battleship with the Dive Bomber Attack from the Carrier.  (Though I won’t count it as part of the Admiral’s Story line.)

The Battleship Is Finally Sunk by Dive Bombers!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wow!  NASTY Battle!

First of all, I was very worried about this one from the start.  Without a Carrier, I had to “predetermine” what my SAS were going to be when I first made the list – not knowing what my opponent would be (part of your standard list building rules).  That meant that I couldn’t re-arm my Dive Bombers and I couldn’t replenish any SAS.  But that was something I wanted to check out for myself.  I hadn’t played without a Carrier in a while using anything BUT Fighters.

When I saw my opponent had a Carrier, that meant he would have more activations than me AND the ability to replenish, rearm and repurpose all his SAS.  While the SAS advantages were nasty, it was the fact that he had more activations that was a bigger concern.  Each turn, he was able to activate multiple units and I had nothing to react with – they were basically free, unopposed activations.  

Always a risky issue.

The One thing that worked well for Graham and the Empire was the Ika finally getting in close enough to do a Boarding Action.  It being the first time one of those Robot Combats happened in ANY of my games, it was an interesting experience, to say the least!  The first attack proved the potential of these Ikas in my mind – I want to make sure I do everything I can to sink then as far away as possible!

So what worked for me?

Sadly, my opponent’s dice.

Throughout the game, Graham kept complaining that I had cursed his dice and even though I kept telling him he was trying to hide behind bad luck, I was starting to agree with him by the end of the game.  His Dice rolling has gotten atrocious!  I cannot convey that strongly enough.  He concentrated fire and was rolling handfuls of dice, only to Juuuust miss the DR or CR by one or two hits – or worse!  One attack he had over 12 dice and hit only once!!!  There should be a 50% chance to hit with each dice!  The one really good roll he had all game was when he rolled all those 6’s, just to wipe out a SAS!  It was horrible!

When we finished this game, we had people show up, interested to play a demo, so we played another game @ 500pts, with me coaching the newbie and the Newbie was just cleaning Graham’s clock again!  And again, it was pitiful Dice rolling for the most part (I had thought that Graham was trying to take it easy at first, but no one could do that badly twice in one day on purpose!)

The other big advantage for me this time was the island in the South-East corner.  Facing off against the Blazing Sun, I was paranoid about rocket attacks.  While I had Jammers and such on the larger vessels, previous experience had shown me that Small class vessels are vulnerable to rockets.  While I couldn’t do anything to block Line Of Sight from the Interceptors and Scout Gyro, I could block LOS from surface combatants (and DID) with the island!  I didn’t bring them out of cover until I thought that the Smalls had a chance to do something useful.  Unfortunately for Graham, he had to kill my Smalls to win.  To be honest, I had no idea what his Mission Objectives were until he revealed them – I was too busy trying to kill his Mediums!  Sometimes, Ignorance is Bliss!

Finally, my ace in the hole was the Fire-Magnet Extraordinaire; the Borodino!  While the Smalls and Mediums all had the speed to maneuver and hide, there wasn’t any such option for the Borodino.  It needed to get in close to the enemy as quickly as possible and the fastest way to do that was to drive straight up the middle.  At 6” speed, that’s still going to take a couple of turns, normally.  Of course, the guns on the Borodino and the position on the table made the Borodino a threat and the Empire had to deal with it.  While normally I would have expected more damage sooner, I knew the Borodino could divert the enemy’s attention (for the most part) and survive at LEAST 1 full turn of firing (though how useful it would be later was questionable), giving the rest of the fleet the chance to jockey for position to attack.

Anyway, I think that’s all for this round.  I hope you enjoyed this battle report.  Hopefully I can post something new soon!  Meanwhile, Good Luck!