So then, I popped in ID and one of the players was ready to offload his Centauri fleet. However I felt guilty at buying it at the knockdown fee he offered so asked him why he was selling. Apparently he hadn't got into 2nd ed. So instead we arranged a game to see if we could rekindle interest.
He would take 5 battle points of Centauri, I would take 5 battle points of Minbari (I know it sounds harsh playing Minbari against someone who has lost interest, but bear with me).
So two days later we arrived, straight up fight across the table, no terrain, just a slugfest…
Fleets.
Minbari Centauri
2 Troligans Primus
1 Morshin Balvarin
2 Ashinta 2 Centurion
2 Leshath. 3 Suluust
4 Demos
As you see therefore, I went for a slightly unusual approach for the Minbari, two real brawlers, then support ships. Indeed I had one beam, and 2 dice at that in the entire fleet!
Winning initiative, the Minbari asked the centauri to set up first.
As I the minbari player looked at them, they set up left to right…
1 squadron of 4 demos (EEK!), 2 centurions, Balvarin, Primus, squadron of 3 Suluust. They pretty much spread across 4 feet..
In response the Minbari set the trolligans up facing the balvarin and primus, outside the trollis were the ashintas to give covering AA fire and the leshaths holding the flanks. At the back sat the morshin. And we were ready.
Turn 1.
centauri win initiative. Both sides make slow moves with carriers, the balvarin manages a scramble, the minbari don't bother, 4 nials lanched will do me
The demos squadron charges forward, the lesath facing them looks worried, and inches forward, no way to get out of ark of those darn torpedoes. The opposite flank sees the suluust do the same to the other leshath. The ashintas move forward, turning slightly to get multiple arcs firing, whilst the primus and balvarin head towards the trolligans. Finally the centurions angle in on the trolligans. I hope hull 6 is better than stealth!! Scouts attempt a lockon, and the left one gets a fine targeting solution on the primus for those juicy trolligan secondaries.
However the demos squadron fires, only one can see the leshath… and the leshath is no more, ouch. Their goes my firing solution! The left hand trolligan opens up, targeting the primus with primary and secondary batteries, for minimal damage, but 2 handy -1 ad crits. The demos in the rear takes a bit of a pounding but hands on. And a centurion gets blatted by side guns. The sullusts fail miserably to even see their lesath, and the second trolligan again tries to damage a primus.. and scratches the paint, bugger! However more fire on a centurion leaves it close to dead. The Minbari concentrate on the Centurion for the remainder of the turn, finally killing it off with the dying shots, also in the mix, an Ashinta takes out a random arc on a sulust, heh heh heh. The Centauri do some harm to those trolligans though but failto get and criticals of note. Those minus 2 ad on the primus were a blessing!
End of turn death count. Centurion, Leshath. Equal pegging!
Turn 2
So then, the minbari win initiative, and the Balvarin inches forward, in response again, the morshin moves a bit, now surrounded by wall of fighters. The demos squadron begins it's move, with 2 making come about checks, they swing round to get in the rear of the Trolligans. The other two fail, and instead line up the morshin. The remaining leshath all powers to engines to get behind the suluusts, who then promptly come about to get in the flanks of the trolligans. The right ashinta moves to the right to get in amongst the suluusts and fill it's arcs with targets. The remaining centurion moves past the trolligans and targets the Morshin… I fear for my morshin, I really do! With a centurion only 2 " away, a trolligan allstops. Tertiary weapons fire? Yes please. This also gives it targets in forward and starboard. The Primus edges forward, slightly surprisingly swinging towards the leshath and ashinta. The other trolligan again all stops, with arcs full for firing, why move! Finally the ashinta swings into the fray, between the morshin and the trolligans, it too has all arcs full.
Fighters move, and naturally, 8 nials swamp 2 demos, whilst across the table, sentries take on flyers and try to get at the trolligan. The Nials hit the demos hard, but not enough to destroy them, poot! The sentries meanwhile fare dismally at the opposite end, those not dogfighting get gunned down by ashinta escorts.
So what to fire first? I take a gamble that the morshin will live, and fireoff the Trolligan. Its weapon systems rip into demos, centurion, primus and balvarin, doing damage to all, one demos dies, maybe I'll save my morshin! But all other ships still live, the balvarin and primus both have negatives to speed. The centurion takes a bit of a pasting, but is still in the mix, tough buggers aren't they?! And hereit comes, demos fire, surely they can't miss a trolligan with stealth 2…. Well, 2 1's later and I'm feeling a bit smug, but the other demos sees the morshin, oh yes it does.. that’s one blated morshin there, crippled, lost most of it’s traits, it still has it's flight computer though, yay!. Thankfully it only has one flyer on board, and I have pretty much already won the fighter battle!. Ineffective firing ensues then from both sides, although one trolligan is finally seen by a sulust.. and BAM! It's adrift, and not looking too healthy. The Centurion finishes off the Morshin, damnit, my opponent cant see stealth 3 trolligans, but seems ok at seeing that morshin! And so I loose a carrier, and have a battleship adrift, in response an Ashinta almost finshes off a centurion but it's left on a few damage points
End of turn death count
1 leshath and 1 morshin for Minbari,1 Centurions for Centauri. Still pretty even. 1 raid point in it
Turn 3
And centauri win initiative, loosing the morshin has levelled the initiative odds!. And so the leshath moves swinging round into battle in the flanks of those sulusts, and trying to get behind the balvarin. The balvarin all stops, so the moveing trolligan bears down in it, nuzzling up to get those tertiaries in range. The centauri see the Trolligans as their bigthreat, and edge the suluusts forward keeping both trolligans in forward arc. The right ashinta tries to loop around behind them, while the demos edge forward in the rear arcs of the fully functioning trolligan. The Minbari decide an all hands on deck is in order to get the other trolli working again. The remaining ashinta bears down on a primus, which in turn again decides that the leshath must die! It's all become a hairball, the trilloigans are in their element in amongst the enemy, and the ashintas are in it too. The Centauri have managed to swing behind to get their forward arc monsters firing. It's still anybodies battle. The fighters again swarm the demos, and some break off for that centurion… and kill it, whoo!
The centauri fire first, and would you belive.. the okish trolligan is made adrift!! Nooo…. Taken t about half damage, it's days must be numbered. Panicing the Minbari decide to fir it, and several seconds later a Balvarin shaped pile of dust drifts into space. A Demos also gives up the ghost, and suddenly the initiative is with the Minbari assuming they can fix those trolligans! One Asginta hits the suluust but merely scratches it. And the primus finally sees the leshath, oh dear… but some bad rolling keeps the scout going,even though it has failed averey scouting attempt to date!
End of turn, I use my all hands on dec trolligan and… roll a 1
End of turn deqth count]
Minbari. Leshath and morshin. centauri. 2 centurions, 1 balvarin, 2 demos
Turn 4
Centauri win initiative.
They allstop the primus, it's arcs are full, why not both trolligans drift forward, next turn one may drift off the table!! The suluusts edge forward agains keeping both trolligans in the front arc. The ashinta arcs round behind them, and sees a Demos power in behind him. The leshath decides to run for it, and bombs across the board the remaining demos closes on the trolligans, and the other ashinta all stops, arcs full, hull intact, it's possibly my best hope right now! Fighters swarm the demos in the middle of the melee, and it goes down, other nails plink ineffectually against the suluusts. The suluusts fire, and blam, scratch one Trolligan, that will teach it's inept crew a lesson! However I'm a bit scared, 1 drifting trolligan, 1 leshath, and 2 ashintas against a demos and 3 suluusts and a primus, unless I can repair my trolligan, I think I'm in trouble! But with potentially it’s last shots of the game, the trolligan batters the primus, and a quick turn is pretty much over, but that leshath gets hit again and is crippled
End of turn death count
Minbari: trolligan, morshin, Leshath, centauri: Balvarin, 2 centurions, 3 demos
And what happened to the drifting trolligan…. It drifted off the table, so add another trolligan to the above.
Turn 5
Minbari win initiative, whew.
Not much left now, the sulusst squadron breaks. With the Trolligans gone, only the ashintas can trouble them really, and they move across the board. The Leshath tries ramming speed, and fails by one! And as such ends up alongside one suluust. It ends up with the primus really being the only ship with a shot as the ashintas move outside of suluust arc, no, wait, that darn leshath looks in trouble…. The ashinta on the right fires first, scratch one primus, and some more minor damage to the suluusts. At this point, I offer my opponent terms, but he refuses and will fight to the end, fair play I say, we are actually pretty tied, in terms of ships, but unless he can get a forward arc, I have the upper hand. The rest of the turn sees the demos die in flames, although it did a good amount of damage to my right flank ashinta before it went.
End of turn death count
Minbari: 2 trolligan, morshin, Leshath, centauri: Primus Balvarin, 2 centurions, 4 demos
Turn 6
Centauri win initiative, one suluust powers across the board, it has no guns working and decides it will try to repair. The other two try to get in the mis, and lo, bot ashintas are outmanoeuvred and end up in forward arc… the leshath tries ramming speed again,. But it's crew just seem too cowardly! The fighters swarm a sulust and take it down, its now 2 sullusts versus 2 ashintas and a leshath. The sulsust fires, it hits one, missies the other ashinta. The one it hits gets crippled, but manages to hand on. In response, the sulust is taken to. . . 1 damage point, noo. However it's buddy repairs it's guns!!
Minbari: 2 trolligan, morshin, Leshath, centauri: Primus Balvarin, 1 sullust2 centurions, 4 demos
Turn 7, Minbari win intiative.
The now repaired suluust in the distance all stops, no doubt preparing to pvot with his newly repaired guns, the ashintas all stop too, as their arcs are full, and that one damage point suluust edges forward, only to go down to nial fire. The minbari fire first against the last suluust… it has almost a full hull, it's guns work, and it's all stopped ready to pivot… and promptly receives a no special actions crit! And of turn it's still alive, but what can it do!
Turn 8, and really it’s all over bar the drinking. Tha last suluust dies without too much fuss. And three very mangled minbari limp back to minbar to um, probably prey and stuff.
Personally, I think this is one of the most fun battles I have had, it swung back and forth, with each of us fearing defeat at several junctures. In a campaign this would have benefited only other players really. Yes I changed the spelling of suluust throughout, I can never remember how its spelt!
Would I have done better with more traditional ships? Tinashi's instead of trolligans? Yes I probably would, would I have had as much fun, I very much doubt it. This was one of those battles where even in defeat you've had a great time, and I hope I did enough to convince the centauri player to carry on playing, as he too said it was his best ever game.
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He would take 5 battle points of Centauri, I would take 5 battle points of Minbari (I know it sounds harsh playing Minbari against someone who has lost interest, but bear with me).
So two days later we arrived, straight up fight across the table, no terrain, just a slugfest…
Fleets.
Minbari Centauri
2 Troligans Primus
1 Morshin Balvarin
2 Ashinta 2 Centurion
2 Leshath. 3 Suluust
4 Demos
As you see therefore, I went for a slightly unusual approach for the Minbari, two real brawlers, then support ships. Indeed I had one beam, and 2 dice at that in the entire fleet!
Winning initiative, the Minbari asked the centauri to set up first.
As I the minbari player looked at them, they set up left to right…
1 squadron of 4 demos (EEK!), 2 centurions, Balvarin, Primus, squadron of 3 Suluust. They pretty much spread across 4 feet..
In response the Minbari set the trolligans up facing the balvarin and primus, outside the trollis were the ashintas to give covering AA fire and the leshaths holding the flanks. At the back sat the morshin. And we were ready.
Turn 1.
centauri win initiative. Both sides make slow moves with carriers, the balvarin manages a scramble, the minbari don't bother, 4 nials lanched will do me
The demos squadron charges forward, the lesath facing them looks worried, and inches forward, no way to get out of ark of those darn torpedoes. The opposite flank sees the suluust do the same to the other leshath. The ashintas move forward, turning slightly to get multiple arcs firing, whilst the primus and balvarin head towards the trolligans. Finally the centurions angle in on the trolligans. I hope hull 6 is better than stealth!! Scouts attempt a lockon, and the left one gets a fine targeting solution on the primus for those juicy trolligan secondaries.
However the demos squadron fires, only one can see the leshath… and the leshath is no more, ouch. Their goes my firing solution! The left hand trolligan opens up, targeting the primus with primary and secondary batteries, for minimal damage, but 2 handy -1 ad crits. The demos in the rear takes a bit of a pounding but hands on. And a centurion gets blatted by side guns. The sullusts fail miserably to even see their lesath, and the second trolligan again tries to damage a primus.. and scratches the paint, bugger! However more fire on a centurion leaves it close to dead. The Minbari concentrate on the Centurion for the remainder of the turn, finally killing it off with the dying shots, also in the mix, an Ashinta takes out a random arc on a sulust, heh heh heh. The Centauri do some harm to those trolligans though but failto get and criticals of note. Those minus 2 ad on the primus were a blessing!
End of turn death count. Centurion, Leshath. Equal pegging!
Turn 2
So then, the minbari win initiative, and the Balvarin inches forward, in response again, the morshin moves a bit, now surrounded by wall of fighters. The demos squadron begins it's move, with 2 making come about checks, they swing round to get in the rear of the Trolligans. The other two fail, and instead line up the morshin. The remaining leshath all powers to engines to get behind the suluusts, who then promptly come about to get in the flanks of the trolligans. The right ashinta moves to the right to get in amongst the suluusts and fill it's arcs with targets. The remaining centurion moves past the trolligans and targets the Morshin… I fear for my morshin, I really do! With a centurion only 2 " away, a trolligan allstops. Tertiary weapons fire? Yes please. This also gives it targets in forward and starboard. The Primus edges forward, slightly surprisingly swinging towards the leshath and ashinta. The other trolligan again all stops, with arcs full for firing, why move! Finally the ashinta swings into the fray, between the morshin and the trolligans, it too has all arcs full.
Fighters move, and naturally, 8 nials swamp 2 demos, whilst across the table, sentries take on flyers and try to get at the trolligan. The Nials hit the demos hard, but not enough to destroy them, poot! The sentries meanwhile fare dismally at the opposite end, those not dogfighting get gunned down by ashinta escorts.
So what to fire first? I take a gamble that the morshin will live, and fireoff the Trolligan. Its weapon systems rip into demos, centurion, primus and balvarin, doing damage to all, one demos dies, maybe I'll save my morshin! But all other ships still live, the balvarin and primus both have negatives to speed. The centurion takes a bit of a pasting, but is still in the mix, tough buggers aren't they?! And hereit comes, demos fire, surely they can't miss a trolligan with stealth 2…. Well, 2 1's later and I'm feeling a bit smug, but the other demos sees the morshin, oh yes it does.. that’s one blated morshin there, crippled, lost most of it’s traits, it still has it's flight computer though, yay!. Thankfully it only has one flyer on board, and I have pretty much already won the fighter battle!. Ineffective firing ensues then from both sides, although one trolligan is finally seen by a sulust.. and BAM! It's adrift, and not looking too healthy. The Centurion finishes off the Morshin, damnit, my opponent cant see stealth 3 trolligans, but seems ok at seeing that morshin! And so I loose a carrier, and have a battleship adrift, in response an Ashinta almost finshes off a centurion but it's left on a few damage points
End of turn death count
1 leshath and 1 morshin for Minbari,1 Centurions for Centauri. Still pretty even. 1 raid point in it
Turn 3
And centauri win initiative, loosing the morshin has levelled the initiative odds!. And so the leshath moves swinging round into battle in the flanks of those sulusts, and trying to get behind the balvarin. The balvarin all stops, so the moveing trolligan bears down in it, nuzzling up to get those tertiaries in range. The centauri see the Trolligans as their bigthreat, and edge the suluusts forward keeping both trolligans in forward arc. The right ashinta tries to loop around behind them, while the demos edge forward in the rear arcs of the fully functioning trolligan. The Minbari decide an all hands on deck is in order to get the other trolli working again. The remaining ashinta bears down on a primus, which in turn again decides that the leshath must die! It's all become a hairball, the trilloigans are in their element in amongst the enemy, and the ashintas are in it too. The Centauri have managed to swing behind to get their forward arc monsters firing. It's still anybodies battle. The fighters again swarm the demos, and some break off for that centurion… and kill it, whoo!
The centauri fire first, and would you belive.. the okish trolligan is made adrift!! Nooo…. Taken t about half damage, it's days must be numbered. Panicing the Minbari decide to fir it, and several seconds later a Balvarin shaped pile of dust drifts into space. A Demos also gives up the ghost, and suddenly the initiative is with the Minbari assuming they can fix those trolligans! One Asginta hits the suluust but merely scratches it. And the primus finally sees the leshath, oh dear… but some bad rolling keeps the scout going,even though it has failed averey scouting attempt to date!
End of turn, I use my all hands on dec trolligan and… roll a 1
End of turn deqth count]
Minbari. Leshath and morshin. centauri. 2 centurions, 1 balvarin, 2 demos
Turn 4
Centauri win initiative.
They allstop the primus, it's arcs are full, why not both trolligans drift forward, next turn one may drift off the table!! The suluusts edge forward agains keeping both trolligans in the front arc. The ashinta arcs round behind them, and sees a Demos power in behind him. The leshath decides to run for it, and bombs across the board the remaining demos closes on the trolligans, and the other ashinta all stops, arcs full, hull intact, it's possibly my best hope right now! Fighters swarm the demos in the middle of the melee, and it goes down, other nails plink ineffectually against the suluusts. The suluusts fire, and blam, scratch one Trolligan, that will teach it's inept crew a lesson! However I'm a bit scared, 1 drifting trolligan, 1 leshath, and 2 ashintas against a demos and 3 suluusts and a primus, unless I can repair my trolligan, I think I'm in trouble! But with potentially it’s last shots of the game, the trolligan batters the primus, and a quick turn is pretty much over, but that leshath gets hit again and is crippled
End of turn death count
Minbari: trolligan, morshin, Leshath, centauri: Balvarin, 2 centurions, 3 demos
And what happened to the drifting trolligan…. It drifted off the table, so add another trolligan to the above.
Turn 5
Minbari win initiative, whew.
Not much left now, the sulusst squadron breaks. With the Trolligans gone, only the ashintas can trouble them really, and they move across the board. The Leshath tries ramming speed, and fails by one! And as such ends up alongside one suluust. It ends up with the primus really being the only ship with a shot as the ashintas move outside of suluust arc, no, wait, that darn leshath looks in trouble…. The ashinta on the right fires first, scratch one primus, and some more minor damage to the suluusts. At this point, I offer my opponent terms, but he refuses and will fight to the end, fair play I say, we are actually pretty tied, in terms of ships, but unless he can get a forward arc, I have the upper hand. The rest of the turn sees the demos die in flames, although it did a good amount of damage to my right flank ashinta before it went.
End of turn death count
Minbari: 2 trolligan, morshin, Leshath, centauri: Primus Balvarin, 2 centurions, 4 demos
Turn 6
Centauri win initiative, one suluust powers across the board, it has no guns working and decides it will try to repair. The other two try to get in the mis, and lo, bot ashintas are outmanoeuvred and end up in forward arc… the leshath tries ramming speed again,. But it's crew just seem too cowardly! The fighters swarm a sulust and take it down, its now 2 sullusts versus 2 ashintas and a leshath. The sulsust fires, it hits one, missies the other ashinta. The one it hits gets crippled, but manages to hand on. In response, the sulust is taken to. . . 1 damage point, noo. However it's buddy repairs it's guns!!
Minbari: 2 trolligan, morshin, Leshath, centauri: Primus Balvarin, 1 sullust2 centurions, 4 demos
Turn 7, Minbari win intiative.
The now repaired suluust in the distance all stops, no doubt preparing to pvot with his newly repaired guns, the ashintas all stop too, as their arcs are full, and that one damage point suluust edges forward, only to go down to nial fire. The minbari fire first against the last suluust… it has almost a full hull, it's guns work, and it's all stopped ready to pivot… and promptly receives a no special actions crit! And of turn it's still alive, but what can it do!
Turn 8, and really it’s all over bar the drinking. Tha last suluust dies without too much fuss. And three very mangled minbari limp back to minbar to um, probably prey and stuff.
Personally, I think this is one of the most fun battles I have had, it swung back and forth, with each of us fearing defeat at several junctures. In a campaign this would have benefited only other players really. Yes I changed the spelling of suluust throughout, I can never remember how its spelt!
Would I have done better with more traditional ships? Tinashi's instead of trolligans? Yes I probably would, would I have had as much fun, I very much doubt it. This was one of those battles where even in defeat you've had a great time, and I hope I did enough to convince the centauri player to carry on playing, as he too said it was his best ever game.
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Seriously though - v. nice battle report...where are the pics?! 
