3 point raid upcoming game

[Morgoth]

I am going to be playing a 3 point raid game against a friend of mine early next week and I am interested in hearing peoples ideas. He is going to be playing Minbari so I am expecting Teshlans and Tigaras to be the ships of choice. however he has asked me to play early EA then Narn against them. So i said sure why not, although I am expecting to get butchered I also don't normally go for standard choices, so here is what I am thinking off using:

Early EA:
Avenger - lots of fighters to swamp him with
Nova - good solid ship which I don't have to rely on doing CAF as all TL
Hyperion RC x 2 - reasonably durable with not too bad weapons.

I was thinking that the above ships all give me plenty of fighters which EA seem to renowned for and reasonably durable ships. Also the fighters can be used for scanners to full as I the think the ealry EA scout is a bit lame and would be an eay target for the Minbari.

Now when we get to playing with Narn, which I have had a lot of experience with I was thinking of the following:

Rongoth - solid hull and no boresight ( i usually take the Rothan) but thought the extra side weapons and 12 dice weapon would actually be useful here as I can send it in to the fray straight away, and all its targets will be hull 5 so it should do ok.
T'Rakk - I haven't used one yet, its relatively manevourable and can soak damage pretty well for a skirmish ship.
G'Karith - small e-mine launcher to knock out those pesky nials!!! plus can bypass stealth
Ka'Toc - decent weapon load out and has a non Boresight Beam too
Ka'Tan - excellent warship, good beams and secondaries

I did think about the Sho'Kar but thought that as a lot of more ships have pretty close range weapons so stealth will be at the stated figure it would be better to bump on firepower instead.

Thoughts

 

[Alexb83]

Okay, against Minbari... early EA fighters aren't going to do much. You will, at best, get in for one attack and then get mini-beamed to death. You may want to go for the Nova/Hyperion mix (he will be focusing on the latter, especially with Teshlans, as he can run circles around Novas).
Hyperions though, and Olympus GS are a good bet (I think the latter is an option?)

With the Narn, I would be tempted to use a swarm of Ka'tocs. Quite simply you can outbeam him, and pretty much guarantee more ships on the table - I doubt very much if he'll be using Torothas. He's gonna be within your range with all his Raid ships, pretty much (he can manage 18-20 inches at best) get in close and brawl with him, at Raid Narn very much have the upper hand over Minbari.

 

[Burger]

Go for multiple small ships, to maximize your chances of beating stealth. Also get ships with multiple fire arcs to bring weapons to bear on more than one target. A scout would also be useful.

Eg:
2x Sag loaded with Flash missiles, everyone's favourite
2x Artemis
1x Oracle
1x Olympus or a Hyperion variant or 2x your favourite Tethys variant

4x Ka'T**
1x Sho'Kar
1x G'Karith (in case he brings a Leshath... e-mines are great against hull 4)

 

[Alexb83]

I would anticipate that he'd either go for 3 Teshlans, or a Tinashi/Teshlan combo - Ashintas are too fragile without big guns alongside them (they'll be in the <20 inch zone of death, with only 4+ stealth to start with). Torothas and Tigaras are not much use vs. an interceptor heavy fleet, or against hull 6. Beams are the only recourse he really has against those two fleets, and Minbari beam range is pretty sub-standard, as are their AD.

Should be an easy win for you in both cases - mob him with ships, beat a stealth roll or two, and he's stuffed.

 

[Morgoth]

thanks for the ideas, but I do wnat to field kinda non standard fleets, something different from norm. I wanted to avoid the Sagg's for EA as they seem to be much abused and I wil go bang very quickly from any beams he uses, hull 4!! instant death from Minbari beams. I also prefer the look of the Hyperion-RC a lot more than the artemis as it can soak a lot more damage and has better P/S weapons. The Olympus is reasonable but against the Minbari weapons I just can't see it lasting long. I know the avenger isn't great but I thought it would be good to try using it as I don't hear it used often.

I am also trying to stay away from the standard Narn idea of swarming iwth Ka'Tocs/Ka'Tans. I really want to try the T'Rakk out to see how it fairs compared to the other skirmish ships.

 

[Alexb83]

Minbari firepower? You'll be facing fusion guns almost exclusively - in 3 raid the best he can field is 6AD of beams (Tinashi+Teshlan or 3 Teshlans - 20 to 25 inch range only). Fusion guns are nice, but your ships are tough, and the only ships where he has better than a 50/50 chance of hurting hull 5 are the Tinashi and Ashinta (thanks to Twin linked).

To contrast, you can match his range, and with 6 Ka'tocs you can double his AD in beams, even if you're only in boresight. You have 2-3 times as many ships, and so should be reliably boresighting with multiple ships every turn. You'll be within 20 inches, (and should be trying to get closer) so his stealth wont count for much with all those rolls against it.

 

[Locutus9956]

Still at 3 Point raid a Tinashi is a very very scary ship.... I doubt hed take Tigara's vs EA theyre a bit too succeptible to interceptors when compared to some other choices. Still the pack a hell of a punch if used right...

 

[Burger]

How about 3x Olympus Gunships then? Beat a stealth roll and you'll probably pop a ship with that Evil Beam Of Doom. He won't be able to kill *all* of them in turn 1

 

[Davesaint]

I agree with Burger about buying down to gain numbers to beat his stealth. The missle armed Tethys is a real evil ship as I have seen many players overlook it only to receive 4AD of SAP Precise crit causing death from them. :mrgreen:


Dave

 

[pwrserge]

For the record. Tethys-class Missile Boats only have AP missiles not SAP.

From my recent experience against boneheads, try the Olympus and Hermes. Load those puppies up with heavy missiles, then watch the minbari ships explode. 8)

In a recent 3 point raid game I brought,

1x Nova (Twin linked goodness also a great fire magnet)
1x Oracle (Deal with that stealth nicely, don't forget about it's beam and missile launcher)
2x Olympus (Combo of heavy missiles and rail guns does wonders against hull 5)
2x Hermes (Load with Flash, or Long Range missiles for sniping from outside his range.)

That gives you 6 capital ships to his probable 3, 6 fighter flights to keep his nials off you, and sufficient missiles to make baby valen cry.

I have played around with dropping the Nova for miscelaneous ships, but for me, the combo of a lot of fighters and high damage makes it too good to ignore.

SERGE

 

[Davesaint]

For the record. Tethys-class Missile Boats only have AP missiles not SAP.

From my recent experience against boneheads, try the Olympus and Hermes. Load those puppies up with heavy missiles, then watch the minbari ships explode. 8)

In a recent 3 point raid game I brought,

1x Nova (Twin linked goodness also a great fire magnet)
1x Oracle (Deal with that stealth nicely, don't forget about it's beam and missile launcher)
2x Olympus (Combo of heavy missiles and rail guns does wonders against hull 5)
2x Hermes (Load with Flash, or Long Range missiles for sniping from outside his range.)

That gives you 6 capital ships to his probable 3, 6 fighter flights to keep his nials off you, and sufficient missiles to make baby valen cry.

I have played around with dropping the Nova for miscelaneous ships, but for me, the combo of a lot of fighters and high damage makes it too good to ignore.

SERGE

Ooops, my bad, you are correct, AP. Still for a patrol level hull it's not bad.

The Hermes is a great ship as well, and to be honest, I likely would go with something like this:

Nova, 2 Olympus, 4 Hermes. The battle is just a little too small to justify the oracle. Load up with flash missles and make try to make the life of the Bonehead miserable.


Dave

 

[Shadow Queen]

id go for an Omega and a Nova

 

[Locutus9956]

id go for an Omega and a Nova

Against Minbari?!?! That gives you a grand total of two chances to beat stealth (asuming the bonehead player isnt stupid enough to park his ships in multiple arcs of the Nova) and a whole 1 initiative sink for your omegas boresights....

 

[Shadow Queen]

Dont forget 8 fighter flights

 

[Davesaint]

Dont forget 8 fighter flights

8 Dead fighter flights. The Mini-Beams on the Minbari are Anti-Fighter at range 4.

Dave

 

[Shadow Queen]

Not beaing Bated .....

 

[Iain McGhee]

You're usually better off using your fighters to reduce stealth rather than directly engage the Minbari (unless you get lucky and knock out a weapon arc). Only one needs to be within mini-beam range, the others can be up to 6" away.

I'd go for either a Nova and two Hyperion Pulse cruisers (you can split the pulse cannon among several targets and you won't likely get many laser shots with a standard Hyperion anyway) or replace the Nova with an Avenger if you want plenty of fighters. If you want something a little more unusual try an Orestes (can survive several Neutron Beam hits but is VERY slow and easy to immobilise) and a pair of Olympus frigates.