as part of our campaign, the ISA decided to attack the Drakh for control of the Jump Gate. The ISA took 4 whitestars all with crew quality 6, the defending drakh took 2 Light cruisers, and 2 of each raider type. The 4 raid point anhialation game should have had scenery, but we just wanted to get the game out of the way, so didn't roll it.
Drakh won initiative and ISA set up all 4 whitestars in a line in the centry of the board.
the drakh set up 3 squadrons, 2 sets of raiders facing the whitestars, while the Light cruisers set up at a 45 degree angle towards a corner. Turn one, the drakh again won initiative, forcing the ISA to act, the rightmost whitestar (all sides will be based on MY left and right as the drakh) charged accross the table, and in reply, 2 light raiders moved into ramge to face it CAFing as they went, the next whitestar moved in at an angle to those two, the Light cruisers coming in from the flank, again CAFing. the two remaining whitestars and the heavy raiders moved into flanking positions, on the left, but heavy raiders not having the speed to target anything. Firing began in earnest, the Drakh planning to take down the first whitestar with the antifighter guns on the light raider, what a roll..... 2 damage 2 crew, yup, from 4 cafed AP beams, sigh.... the drakh flinched atad, as the whitestart they expected dead or crippled opened up, removing one light raider with ease. the Cruisers went next, almost destrotying a sendond whitestar, taking it to 2 damage and a few crew, and adding a speed zero NSA crit to boot, unfortunately, it could still fire, and removed the other light raider without so much as raising a sweat (he was a crit rolling monster) The drakh were worried, 2 whitestars remained to fire, one targeted a heavy raider and merely scratched the paintwork, whole the other targeted a light cruiser, but failed to beat it's geg, at last some poor ISA rolling.
Turn 2 again the Drakh won initiative, so the ISA player sportingly activated his speed zero whitestar, however due to it's crippled state, it had lost dodge, and jump engines. the drakh moved a heavy raider into it's flank, breaking the squadron. Another Whitestar tried to come round behind the cruisers, the other heavy raider swung round to get them. The drakh cruisers were in a good position, and held it, the remaining whitesra closing on them, getting right behind them. the Nials now came into action after holding back, swarming the heavy raider that had moved to kill the crippled whitestar. A flurry oif fighter fire left this raider dead in space, speed zero, no special actions, no firing. It still however had half its crew and damage points.... firing commenced, the other heavy raider hitting the encircling whitestar giving it a 4+ to fire, and putting in some serious damage, the crippled whitestar had a go at taking this raider out, causing some pain, and more offline systems, -4 speed, and yup, 4+ to fire! things were looking less than peachy for both sides. the raider however did roll 4+ and took a whitestar to the brink of death, With it's arcs full of targets, the squadron of Light cruisers opened up, plenty of damage all round, and the whitestar that just took a raider in th face, then went pop, the other near dead one somhow from 6 beam dice did not explode hideaoulsy, ggrrrr. the last whitestar, at point blank range, caffed on a light cruiser did about 4 points of damage, the drakh breathed a sigh of relief. the cripled no speed whitestar repaired, and was back in the game.
Turn 3
the ISA actually won initiative, and in a fine show of reciprocation, the drakh activated the ship that could not move! the isa moved their once crippled whitestar down the board attempting to skin dance the other heavy raider.... it suceeded, rats. the two drakh light cruisers continued to bear round on the other whitestar, and only suceeded in filling side and aft arcs, the ramaining whitestar, suddenly shot down the board, just falling in ramge of a front arc, the fool! the fighters continued to pound the dead in space raider, but still couldn't kill it until the last shot, damn them! the skin dancing whitestar suceeded, doing as much damage as if they had thrown sharpened fruit! the cruisers oppened up, causing more damage, pushing the once not to badly damaged whitestar into a much sorrier state, and again, fire on the drakh cruisers was fairly poor. the last drakh raider wandered into a whitestar arc, and paid the price. some more self repairs from the ISA, and despite poor crew numbers, the whitestars carried on.
Turn 4
normal service resumed as the drakh win initiative.
the ISA whitestar decides to continue skindancing, and fails horribly, both whitestar and raider explode in a ball of flame, the ship count is now 2 whitestars and 4 nbials, versus 2 light cruisers, the balance was clearly with the ISA in ships, but damage was on the drakhs side. isa sent on whitestar back up the board, causing the Drakh cruisers to break squardon, a succesful come about JUST got the whitestar in front arc. the other whitestar by now was sat comfortably in the cruisers rear and side arcs, lined up on the cruiser that had come about, the last cruiser all stopped to try rear guns at the rear whitestar, it also got swamped by nials. The nials did little damage past the geg, and the cruiser, with 2 whitestars able to blast it, fired everything it could, left arc at one WS, rear arc at the other, all dodged! rats. the rearmost whitestar decided to take ou the other cruiser, hoping to criple or destroy it before it could fire. It came oh so close, almost everything hit, including yet another speed zero NSA, and on the very brink of crippled and skeletoned. A solid beam shot, including a handiy timed 6-5 crit removed the whitestar from drakh space. both players looked concerned, but with drakh cruisers potentially able to cover much of the board in beams, and with only 2 crewmen on the whitestar, it bugged out in the movement phase, straight off the table. I think he forgot that one cruiser had speed zero, I wasn't reminding him.
A very close fun fight, this is one of the closest fights I have had for some time, costly for both, but with both sides also involved in an 8 war point game, AND an 8 battlepoint game, this was just a starter!
as a note we played the 8 battle points, I may try to write it up, we had to end at turn 3, as the shop was shutting, at that point, the ISA/minbari fleet was well on top, but the next turn brought 8 more raiders into range, and with only 4 ISA/Minbari ships on the table (sorry 5, but one was one shot from death) it could easily have swung. for campaign purposes, we agreed a mutual withdrawal, no-one getting victory XP, but the drakh needing to replace 8 ships!! (including 2 cruisers and 2 light cruisers, lots of RR) and the Minbari needing to replace2 ships, and a huge amount of repairs. the lone ISA gunship in this killed 4 ships (5 if you include the ashinta caught in an explosion it casued) that ship, despite whines that it was poor, was a monster!!
Drakh won initiative and ISA set up all 4 whitestars in a line in the centry of the board.
the drakh set up 3 squadrons, 2 sets of raiders facing the whitestars, while the Light cruisers set up at a 45 degree angle towards a corner. Turn one, the drakh again won initiative, forcing the ISA to act, the rightmost whitestar (all sides will be based on MY left and right as the drakh) charged accross the table, and in reply, 2 light raiders moved into ramge to face it CAFing as they went, the next whitestar moved in at an angle to those two, the Light cruisers coming in from the flank, again CAFing. the two remaining whitestars and the heavy raiders moved into flanking positions, on the left, but heavy raiders not having the speed to target anything. Firing began in earnest, the Drakh planning to take down the first whitestar with the antifighter guns on the light raider, what a roll..... 2 damage 2 crew, yup, from 4 cafed AP beams, sigh.... the drakh flinched atad, as the whitestart they expected dead or crippled opened up, removing one light raider with ease. the Cruisers went next, almost destrotying a sendond whitestar, taking it to 2 damage and a few crew, and adding a speed zero NSA crit to boot, unfortunately, it could still fire, and removed the other light raider without so much as raising a sweat (he was a crit rolling monster) The drakh were worried, 2 whitestars remained to fire, one targeted a heavy raider and merely scratched the paintwork, whole the other targeted a light cruiser, but failed to beat it's geg, at last some poor ISA rolling.
Turn 2 again the Drakh won initiative, so the ISA player sportingly activated his speed zero whitestar, however due to it's crippled state, it had lost dodge, and jump engines. the drakh moved a heavy raider into it's flank, breaking the squadron. Another Whitestar tried to come round behind the cruisers, the other heavy raider swung round to get them. The drakh cruisers were in a good position, and held it, the remaining whitesra closing on them, getting right behind them. the Nials now came into action after holding back, swarming the heavy raider that had moved to kill the crippled whitestar. A flurry oif fighter fire left this raider dead in space, speed zero, no special actions, no firing. It still however had half its crew and damage points.... firing commenced, the other heavy raider hitting the encircling whitestar giving it a 4+ to fire, and putting in some serious damage, the crippled whitestar had a go at taking this raider out, causing some pain, and more offline systems, -4 speed, and yup, 4+ to fire! things were looking less than peachy for both sides. the raider however did roll 4+ and took a whitestar to the brink of death, With it's arcs full of targets, the squadron of Light cruisers opened up, plenty of damage all round, and the whitestar that just took a raider in th face, then went pop, the other near dead one somhow from 6 beam dice did not explode hideaoulsy, ggrrrr. the last whitestar, at point blank range, caffed on a light cruiser did about 4 points of damage, the drakh breathed a sigh of relief. the cripled no speed whitestar repaired, and was back in the game.
Turn 3
the ISA actually won initiative, and in a fine show of reciprocation, the drakh activated the ship that could not move! the isa moved their once crippled whitestar down the board attempting to skin dance the other heavy raider.... it suceeded, rats. the two drakh light cruisers continued to bear round on the other whitestar, and only suceeded in filling side and aft arcs, the ramaining whitestar, suddenly shot down the board, just falling in ramge of a front arc, the fool! the fighters continued to pound the dead in space raider, but still couldn't kill it until the last shot, damn them! the skin dancing whitestar suceeded, doing as much damage as if they had thrown sharpened fruit! the cruisers oppened up, causing more damage, pushing the once not to badly damaged whitestar into a much sorrier state, and again, fire on the drakh cruisers was fairly poor. the last drakh raider wandered into a whitestar arc, and paid the price. some more self repairs from the ISA, and despite poor crew numbers, the whitestars carried on.
Turn 4
normal service resumed as the drakh win initiative.
the ISA whitestar decides to continue skindancing, and fails horribly, both whitestar and raider explode in a ball of flame, the ship count is now 2 whitestars and 4 nbials, versus 2 light cruisers, the balance was clearly with the ISA in ships, but damage was on the drakhs side. isa sent on whitestar back up the board, causing the Drakh cruisers to break squardon, a succesful come about JUST got the whitestar in front arc. the other whitestar by now was sat comfortably in the cruisers rear and side arcs, lined up on the cruiser that had come about, the last cruiser all stopped to try rear guns at the rear whitestar, it also got swamped by nials. The nials did little damage past the geg, and the cruiser, with 2 whitestars able to blast it, fired everything it could, left arc at one WS, rear arc at the other, all dodged! rats. the rearmost whitestar decided to take ou the other cruiser, hoping to criple or destroy it before it could fire. It came oh so close, almost everything hit, including yet another speed zero NSA, and on the very brink of crippled and skeletoned. A solid beam shot, including a handiy timed 6-5 crit removed the whitestar from drakh space. both players looked concerned, but with drakh cruisers potentially able to cover much of the board in beams, and with only 2 crewmen on the whitestar, it bugged out in the movement phase, straight off the table. I think he forgot that one cruiser had speed zero, I wasn't reminding him.
A very close fun fight, this is one of the closest fights I have had for some time, costly for both, but with both sides also involved in an 8 war point game, AND an 8 battlepoint game, this was just a starter!
as a note we played the 8 battle points, I may try to write it up, we had to end at turn 3, as the shop was shutting, at that point, the ISA/minbari fleet was well on top, but the next turn brought 8 more raiders into range, and with only 4 ISA/Minbari ships on the table (sorry 5, but one was one shot from death) it could easily have swung. for campaign purposes, we agreed a mutual withdrawal, no-one getting victory XP, but the drakh needing to replace 8 ships!! (including 2 cruisers and 2 light cruisers, lots of RR) and the Minbari needing to replace2 ships, and a huge amount of repairs. the lone ISA gunship in this killed 4 ships (5 if you include the ashinta caught in an explosion it casued) that ship, despite whines that it was poor, was a monster!!
