BatRep: CY6! - Jet Age: Red Target: Skyhawk

Sorry for the lack of activity!  It seems after years of contract work, I finally landed a Permanent Position!  With my Professional Life stabilizing, hopefully I can post more frequently than of late!

So Graham wanted to do some “Check Your 6! Jet Age” and this was the next mission in the campaign book: “Star And Pyramid”.  So, away we go!

Date:  25 July, 1970, 1000hrs.

Location:  West of the Suez Canal (Egypt)

CAB:  Low & Surface Low (Ground level to ~ 9000ft)

Situation:  The Soviets had started deploying their own troops and pilots to Egypt.  Israel restricted missions to within 25 miles of the Suez to prevent engaging the Soviet pilots.  It didn’t always work…

A flight of Israeli A4’s is on their way to attack an artillery position when they are intercepted by Soviet Fighters in the area.

Mission:
3 Artillery Guns, with 2 Light AA Weapons and 2 Man-Portable SA-7 IR Missiles protecting the guns.
AA and SA-7 must roll a D6 and roll 3+ to target an enemy fighter within 6 hexes of a friendly.  If failed, they MUST target the friendly aircraft.

Israeli:
4 X A4H’s must try to destroy the 3 guns.  Each Gun is a Point Target and takes 2 Damage Points to destroy.  The A4’s have a Medium Bomb Load and count as Fully Loaded. 

Soviet:
MiG 21MFs have 4 X AA2 IR Missiles each.  Shoot down the Israeli Aircraft before they complete their missions.

Optional Rules:
Soviets: One SA-7 Battery has Skilled Crew instead of Green
Israeli: Half the A4’s (1 Skilled and 1 Green) are delayed and don’t arrive until turn 3

Deployment:

Guns were deployed as far away from the Israeli Table edge as the rules permitted.  Light AA was deployed in between Israeli and Guns.  The SA-7 missiles were deployed hidden – to be revealed when (if) they fired their missiles.

Deployment Before the Optional Rules were rolled...

Israeli Deployment AFTER Optional Rules were rolled!

Turns 1-3:

The Israelis, forced to fly as two separate flights, moved forward at max speed (5 with full loads), and climbed to TAL 5.  MiG–21’s maneuvered to get rear aspect shots with AA-2 IR Missiles.  The Green MiG managed to get a Missile shot, but then we realized he couldn’t fire as he had performed an Immelman.

Turn 4:

AA and SA-7 Fire missed the A4’s.  The Green MiG launched an AA-2 missile, but missed.  The Black A4 made an attack on one of the Guns, but failed to hit it!

Missile Away . . And MISSED!

Turn 5:

The Black A4 made a Steep Immelman, but realized too late he reduced his air speed to Zero!

AA guns failed to hit either A4, and the Yellow A4 made a successful Dive Bomb Run on one of the guns, but only damaged it (Single hit).  Both MiGs fired AA-2 Missiles at the Yellow A4, but both missiles missed their targets.

A4 makes successful hit while the other STALLS!

Turn 6:

The Black A4 managed to recover without stalling the aircraft!  The Yellow A4 made an Extreme Turn to port.  The Yellow MiG made another Missile Attack on the Black A4, but missed AGAIN!!!  By ONE!

Another Missile Attack Fails To Hit!

Turns 7-8:

Lots of maneuvering, but no one was hit or damaged.  The “late A4s continued to fly straight forward, 1 behind the other. 

End of Turn 8

Turn 9:

As the 2^nd Flight of A4’s flew by one of the AA Guns, the Gun managed to get a direct hit on the Blue A4, which caused the bombs to detonate and destroyed the A4!  The explosion killed the crew before they could eject!  The SA-7’s fired their last missiles, but both missed their targets.

AA Gun Shot Down An A4!

The Green MiG fired another A2 Missile and FINALLY, it homed in and destroyed Yellow A4!  No parachutes were seen as the A4 fell from the skies.  Two Kills in 1 turn!

MiG FINALLY Gets a Missile Kill!

Turn 10:

The Green A4 managed to make a successful bombing run and destroyed one of the Guns with a Direct Hit!  All other shooting missed!

A4 Destroys a Gun!

Turn 11:

The Game would end in turn 12 and Graham conceded the game at this point.

Final Score:
Israel:                   3 Points (1 Gun Destroyed)
Soviets:               10 Points (2 Planes – 5 points each)

Soviet Victory

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This was a tough mission and the fact that the Israelis were forced to come in as 2 waves instead of 1 really hurt their chances!  Graham really was at a huge disadvantage in this mission as a result.

It also didn’t help in missions like this that your opponent knows EXACTLY what your mission is.  We’ve been spoiled by Dystopian Wars where you draw Secret Random Missions.  Knowing the Israeli Mission meant I could place the Guns, the AA guns and the SA-7’s to make it as difficult as possible.  While in reality, it makes sense in a war-setting to make a defense in depth like I did, it makes it that much easier when you know exactly which direction they’re coming from.  I think it might have been more interesting if the Israelis could roll randomly which table edge they came in on or how deep into the table they could deploy.

Also of note; I believe this is the first time EVER that we had ground fire actually take out a plane in Jet Age!  I needed to roll 11 or 12 on 2D6 to get a hit, so I really wasn’t expecting anything from the AA guns.  The SA-7’s on the other hand only needed 7+ to hit and they all missed!  I had placed the SA-7’s so that they would get at least 1 god missile shot as the A4’s approached the Guns, but it didn’t work!

Which brings up an interesting point.  I kept missing my “To-Hit” rolls all game by 1!  It was so bad that Graham broke out into a laughing fit somewhere around turn 7 or 8 and couldn’t regain control for a couple of minutes.  Ironically, after this fit, I shot down 2 planes in one turn.  The dice must have felt sorry for me…

Good game for me, but again, I think the Israelis (and Graham) really drew the short straw on this one.  Sorry Graham!

Product Review: Fantasy Flights' Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the Force be with you!

Real Life has been keeping me busy with a new job hunt as has a number of family issues.  So, I’ve been bad and haven’t been playing many games.  Sorry!

Instead, I’ll leave you a Product Review of Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars X-Wing Miniature game.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . .

I was a Kid when the “First” Star Wars movie was released.  You “Young Ones” know it as Episode IV – A New Hope.  And yes, Han Shot First!!!

Zooming around in an X Wing Fighter, blasting away Imperial Tie Fighters was a past time we all did at some time or another.  At least, in our minds we did.

THIS was the game I wanted as a kid!  WHY, oh WHY did you take so long?!?!?

So What Is It?

If you haven’t heard of this game – what rock have you been hiding under?

X-Wing is a Ship-to-Ship combat game, specifically designed for Fighters in the Star Wars Universe.  Battles tend to be Fighters vs Fighters, but Fantasy Flight have added larger ships to the game.  Presently, there are “Normal” ships such as fighters, “Large” Ships which include the Millennium Falcon, Slave 1, etc, and finally the Huge Ships such as the Rebel Blockade Runner and the Rebel Transport (which aren’t normally legal in most games). 

In a “Standard” or Tournament game, players have 100 points to spend on various vessels and their Pilots, with options and upgrades available for most every ship.  Larger games are possible, but 100pts is standard.  Each Vessel selected has a card that shows the ship and pilot’s stats, including:

• Pilot Skill or Initiative
• Firepower
• Evasiveness (Dodging)
• Hull Points
• Shields 
• List of Actions available
• Description of Pilot & Ship or Special Rules
• Options Bar
• Points Value

Players will also need a miniature of the vessel with the appropriate faceplate on the base.  Players receive option cards when they buy their ships.  Most cards can be used with any appropriate ship but some do have restrictions (actually printed on the cards, such as “Rebel Only”).  These cards generally give added capabilities to the ships, such as a secondary weapon or special skills or crew.  Each card has a value as well which will affect the total point cost of the ship.

Once players have their ships, their cards and their options figured out, the game (usually) plays on a 3’ X 3’ surface, though extra space will be required to lay out the cards to track damage, etc.  A standard 4’ X 4’ card table would be an ideal surface.  Unlike many Fighter Games, X-Wing is played on a “plain” surface – No Hexes!  Debris and asteroids can be (and should be) placed on the table to break up lines of fire and maneuvering.

One disadvantage (?) is that each player must buy the Starter Box set which contains 2 Tie Fighters, 1 X-Wing Fighter, Appropriate Flight Stands, Card Stock Turn/Maneuver templates, Upgrade cards, special X-Wing dice and, most Important – the Damage Cards.  In theory, you can purchase everything else singularly (there are a couple of 3^rd party Maneuver templates, Range Rulers and various Tokens), but to the best of my knowledge, you can only get the Damage Cards in the Starter Box Set.  This isn’t actually a disadvantage as the box set pays for itself by virtual of having 3 Plastic Fighters (all pre-painted and assembled, BTW) that everyone usually wants.  In fact, most people will end up buying at least 2 box sets to start their fleets.

To expand your Fleets, individual fighters and ships (and their appropriate cards and flight stands) are available in blister packs so that you can pick and choose which and how many of each ship you want in your collection.  If you want to do Rebels Only fleet, you can (except for the 2 Ties you got stuck with when you bought the Starter Box)!  You could probably find an Imperial Player to trade your Ties with…

A standard game is 100 Points.  That will be 2-4 X-Wings vs 4-8 Tie Fighters – dependent on the pilots that are taken and special upgrades on either side.  Y-Wings, A-Wings, Tie Advance, Tie Interceptors and many more fighters are available.  Large ships, such as the Imperial Shuttle, The Millennium Falcon and Slave 1 are typically in the 35 – 60pts, depending on pilots and options.  So some fleets are seeing 1 or 2 large ships with a couple of fighters as escorts.  A recent addition has been “Scum and Villainy” – a 3^rd “Fleet Choice” so that you are not limited to just the Rebels and Imperials.

Game Play:

Players deploy their ships within Rang Band 1 of their opposite table edges.

Typical Deployment

Range Ruler Verifying Correct Setup

Each turn, Movement is pre-plotted.  Each ship has a Maneuver Dial that has all the available maneuvers permitted for that ship.  

Maneuver Dials for Tie & X-Wing Fighters

The player first sets the Maneuver Dial to the maneuver that he wants to perform.  Once every one has placed all their dials beside all the ships, the maneuvers are revealed and performed, Lowest Pilot Skill first to highest.  Ships are moved using Special Templates that fit into notches placed into the front and rear of the flight stands.  Holding the Template still, you move the ship base along the template and place it at the other end.  If at the end of the move, there would be over-lap on another ship’s base – you stop just as the moving ship’s base makes contact with other base.  In this case, the moving ship loses its Action.  If you can move the entire distance and place the base without overlapping, then the pilot has a number of choices for an action.  Not all ships have access to all the actions (in fact, I don’t think ANY ship has ALL available actions available to it).  These actions could be an extra maneuver, enhanced targeting, evasive maneuvering, etc…

Maneuvering Templates

Movement Revealed - Template In Use

Shooting is done after all the ships have completed their maneuvers and are resolved in Reverse Order!  Best Pilot Skill shoot first!  Ranges are measured using Range Rulers which provide bonuses for shooting or evading (or NOT!) based on the distances.  Special CUSTOM Red Dice are rolled to determine whether the shooter hits (number of dice dependent on the ship and weapons) and the defender rolls CUSTOM Green Dice (again, number dependent on the ship and bonuses) to try to evade.  If hits “hit”, you remove shield markers until they’re gone and then you draw damage cards from the Damage deck and place it by the ship’s stat card (off Table).  There are two types of Hits – standard and Crits!  Standard Hits, the card is placed face down by the Stat card and counts as 1 hit and removes 1 Hull Point.  When a ship has no more hull, it is destroyed.  If you rolled a crit and all shields are down, the Damage Card is placed Face-Up beside the stat card and extra effects are placed on the damaged ship.

A Wing is shot at and takes damage...
Green Dice failed to evade hits
Shields absorb 2 hits and the hull takes 1 Hit & 1 Crit!

Repeat Ad Nausea…

The winner is the one that completes the mission (usually who killed the most points though escort mission and cargo retrieval are other options).  Players can make up their own objectives if you want.

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

If I were to compare it to other games, it would play and feel be similar to both “Wings of War/Glory” and “Check Your 6!”.  Maneuvers are planned in advance, shooting is opportunistic and the excitement level is about the same.  The real difference between these systems is how the ships are moved.  Wings of Glory uses a card system with lines drawn on the cards as their movement template and Check Your 6! uses a hex-map and movement charts.  The X-Wing Maneuver Templates is different, but perform the same function. 

The Maneuver Templates are based on Speeds labeled 1 through 5.  There are “Banks” that change the ship’s facing ~ 45 degrees and “Turns” that change the ship’s facing 90 degrees.  Banks and Turns are only available for speeds 1-3.  As you can probably figure out, that makes 11 Templates that you need to play the game!  It’s kind of awkward when you first start playing, but after a while, players develop an “organization” skill to help them keep track of them.  Every once in a while, someone will still misplace a particular template and game play stops as players try to find it…   ;-)

The good news is that Ship “Classes” tend to be to scale to each other.  While the Fighters are to scale to other fighters and larger ships are in proportion to other large ships, the scale is kinda skewed to make the larger ships playable on the same sized battle zone as with fighters.  There is a 3^rd ship size class: “Huge” Ships.  So far, there are 3: The Rebel Transport, the Rebel Blockade Runner and an Imperial Gunship (just being released about now).  Again, they are not proportional to fighters but are “supposed” to be proportional to each other.  Huge ships are not for standard games and don’t belong on a 3’ X 3’ table, so I won’t discuss them here.  Maybe some other time…

Pros:

• This is the game every kid wanted when the movies were first released!  COOL Factor = 10+ (out of 10)
• The Ships are well detailed and painted (Though many seem to like repainting them)
• “Regular” 100 Point game can be played on a smaller table! (3’ X 3’)
• Rules are available for Free Download
• Starter box contains everything you need to start playing
• Very Popular – should be no problem finding opponents
• Simple Rules with Many Ships & Multiple Options for ships = many unique engagements!
• Each Ship blister has everything you need to use that ship PLUS SOME optional (and sometimes unique) Upgrades
• Lots of web support from both Fantasy Flight & 3^rd Party Programmers

Cons:

• Players need to buy the Starter Box just to get a Damage Deck – everything else available separately through Fantasy Flight or 3^rd party vendors
• Specific Upgrade Cards are available only when purchasing specific models.  For many tournaments – you MUST have original card!  This means you May need to buy ships (or more of them) than you want to, just to get the cards you want for other ships!
• Uses Custom Dice – if you lose them, you’ll need to buy Fantasy Flight’s Dice Packs or another Starter Set
• Each Blister, while complete with cards, etc, is costly -  Imperial Fleets making “Swarms” of 8 ships will be more costly ($$$) than Rebels (typically)
• Unless you’re just collecting 1 of each, you NEVER want just 1 of each model, meaning more $$$
• Some Models are very fragile (X-Wing’s Laser Cannons for example)
• “Codex Creep”: Ships have been released in “Waves”.  Some newer ”wave” ships make older wave ships less useful or appear over-priced or less desirable
• A lot of “Rock – Paper – Scissors” in competitive play.  Many Internet lists abound
• Collecting models will take up a Lot of space

Overall: Costly but Fun – Recommended ONLY if you can afford it!

Like most miniature games, X-Wing can become very expensive, very fast if you don’t limit yourself.  While you can probably get started and have a viable 100 point force for less than $150 (Canadian), it won’t stay that cheap for long.  Fighters range from $12 - $17 (cdn) depending on where you go.  Large Ships are typically in the $40 - $60 range (though you don't need as many of these).

This is one of those games that really is a collector’s game as you’ll never have all or enough of all the ships to please yourself.  Once you're caught up, fantasy Flight is sure to release another wave!

Still, it’s cheaper starting out than something like 40k or Warhammer Fantasy and their typical 1500 - 2500 point tournament lists…

Any way, a fun game that I would recommend unless one of the cons is an absolute no-go for you.

Have fun.  May The Force Be With You!

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?

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

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!!!

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

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!