B5 Initiative Question

[TimoftheC2]

Hi all,

Not posted any questions in a while as, like the shadows, I've been sitting on me Z'ha'dum and quitly buiding some new flleets up (EA and Narn).

I have a query in relation to how intiative works when the side that wins the intitaive is out numbered. In particular I plan to run a scenerio where a number of EA ships are chasing down a lone Shadow ship.

As the rules read, if the lone ship wins the initiave they can force the other side to move one ship and then the lone ship has to move, followed by the bulk of the opposing forces.

Is this how others have played and if not, what other system have you used.

My thoughts on this are really from playing games like Battletech where, if you win the initiave role you will always move one of your models last, even if it means the other side having to move multiple models first.

All input greatly appreciated

Thanks

Tim

 

[AdrianH]

As the rules read, if the lone ship wins the initiave they can force the other side to move one ship and then the lone ship has to move, followed by the bulk of the opposing forces.

That is certainly how I've always played it.

ACTA doesn't really work all that well for single ships. However, with the Shadows you at least have the benefit of super manoeuvrability. Either find somewhere to lurk, move just far enough to the side that you can only see or be seen by one or two of them, and try to kill some enemy ships before they get to your position; or dash in, get to their sides, and hope they don't get lucky on their "Come About" rolls. Earth ships aren't all that fast and the EA has never heard of the word "Agile", so your lone Shadow ship has a better chance than if it's making a similar stand against Centauri, Minbari or ISA. On the other hand, the EA has heard of fighter swarms and they're going to make life difficult for you regardless of initiative rolls.

There have been various attempts to invent new initiative systems and they always came up against one obstacle, namely the Drazi. If Side A has a few large ships and Side B has a lot of small ships, a system which forces side B to move multiple ships when side A moves one tends to put the Drazi at a disadvantage compared to original rules.

 

[TimoftheC2]

Hi Adrian,

Many thanks for the reply mate and that all makes sense.

The lone ship will just have to be willey I suppose :mrgreen:

Ta

Tim

 

[Da Boss]

Thats how the rules work - however

If you are writing a scenario then adjust the rules to fit your scenario so perhaps the Shadow ship always moves last - but before the fighter's.

Be aware that this will likely make the Shadow ship even more powerful especially if you are playing with terrain and it could become very frustrating for the EA player?

 

[AdrianH]

The only way the EA will do serious harm to a Shadow ship, other than nibbling it to death with fighters, is with boresight weapons. The only way they'll do that is if they get to move after the Shadow ship. If you change the rules so that the Shadow ship moves last, EA are stuffed. They're stuffed anyway once the Shadow Ship closes in and uses its super maneouvrability to get out of the biggest ship's forward arc, but at least they get a few shots off first.

 

[Da Boss]

When he says Shadow Ship is that a Shadow Ship or a Shadow ship

Pursuing a scout might be quite interesting given the interceptor defences of the EA? Especially if the stealth ability was malfunctioning

 

[AdrianH]

One Scout will be facing 1 Raid of EA. If that's an Avenger then the Scout may as well give up because it can't defend itself against the fighter swarm.

Otherwise, stealth aside, the EA gets either one Raid ship or two Skirmish ships which won't be able to do much against the Scout's shields once it gets behind them. Meanwhile the Scout won't be doing much damage against the interceptors. This, to me, is not interesting.

Two Scouts against 2 Raid of EA is much more fun - they can eat fighters, they can overwhelm interceptors, meanwhile EA ought to be able to put together enough firepower to get through the shields and do some damage. (I've played 5 Skirmish, Shadows against EA Crusade once and it was interesting - certainly not one-sided!)

 

[Da Boss]

I was thinking if its a scenario the points don't have to be the same - depends on the win conditions, details, terrain etc.

 

[TimoftheC2]

Adrian and Daboss - many thanks for you posts on this - makes interesting reading for a noob like me.

Just to clarify my plan is to have a lone Shadow ship, either an Ancient one or a Young one depending on how many players I have, against the corresponding points of EA ships.

I will leave the intiative as it is but plan to let the EA forces have an Admiral and let them even pick his traits. If they're clever that will give them a +4 on their initiave so will counter the +6 that the Shadows get.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Da Boss]

no worries - we are just old warriors talking about our games

terrain will be very important to the Shadow player and the Admiral's ship may be the first target.

Of course I once fired a Shadow ship and missed And it was not at the White Star.

 

[TimoftheC2]

no worries - we are just old warriors talking about our games

terrain will be very important to the Shadow player and the Admiral's ship may be the first target.

Of course I once fired a Shadow ship and missed And it was not at the White Star.

Thats fine Da Boss - its useful to hear people that know the game discuss it - helps to get a better insight into it and I enjoy it.

oh, and I guarantee that I will miss with the shadow ship - I will be rolling dice :shock:

Tim