Battle in the Poldar Asteroid Belt - Complete History/Pics

[Drummer]

The Poldar Asteroid Belt
A Klingon Raid into Kzinti Space
A game played by David, Dan, and Eric
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Thursday, June 6, 2013

Background: The Klingons had pushed deep into Kzinti space during the General War. The Poldar Asteroid Belt in the interior of Kzinti space was suspected of having a logistics base hidden in the double shell of expansive belts of rock and debris. The base was originally a ramshackle mining facility pressed into military service by the Kzintis as the front line pushed farther into their territory.

It is rumored the interior belt has unusual properties. More than one merchant mariner claims the belt is haunted. Others suspect the Orions.
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The Klingons organized a raid to destroy the logistics base. It was a small, soft target, but a valuable one, and Kzinti fleet elements on patrol supplied there frequently. Problem was, the Poldar Belt proved excellent cover for the poorly armed facility, and scouts could never find it. Until...

A clandestine operation secured a beacon to a freighter headed to the Poldar Mining Station. It activated when the freighter arrived and the Kzintis frantically deactivated the beacon. Knowing even a short burst might disclose their general location, the Kzinti commander faced some unsavory choices: Stay put and hope nothing happened or evacuate the facility and all the space traffic in the area. It just so happened there was a lot of traffic that day.

 

[Drummer]

The Kzinti commander decided to evacuate the base. A small repair freighter and a large freighter escorted by a pair of frigates immediately fled the station in one direction, while another small freighter and a frigate left in another. A Kzinti light cruiser covered the base while the crews moved essential personnel and equipment onto a large and small freighter docked there. A skeleton crew manned the base for as long as possible, and a debate ensued as to whether or not to scuttle it. It soon became clear the transfer was going to take much longer than anticipated. It turned out the base had little time. A Klingon attack force was indeed loitering in the sector waiting for the signal beacon.

 

[Drummer]

The Klingon raiding force had the initiative, deciding to drop out of warp and approach the base in the inner core of the Poldar Belt from only one of four main directions. He could have picked any direction and divided his force in any way he liked. He couldn’t believe his luck as his entire fleet maneuvered right into the path of a Kzinti convoy. The base must be close at hand! The Klingon commander took this as a promising omen, a gift from the “happy hunter.” The Kzinti convoy immediately dived into the asteroids to take cover.

 

[Drummer]

The Klingon didn’t like the idea of splitting up initially, but soon discovered his sensors failed to penetrate the unusual banks of asteroids of the inner core. He needed line-of-sight to see anything, and if something was hidden within the asteroids themselves, he was going to need to rake those strange rocks with science lab scans, probes, and probe drones to find anything within those fields. With any luck, he’d find the base soon enough. The gods of good fortune already smiled upon him.

 

[Drummer]

The hapless large freighter of the Kzinti convoy slammed into a wall of asteroids exploding upon entering the asteroid field. The frigate and repair freighter passed their doomed friend under the withering fire of the Klingon force. The other Kzinti frigate took cover in the flanking belt opposite them while also taking heavy fire. The asteroids shielded the scattered convoy from the heavy pounding the Klingons dished out, and it remained hopeful that the repair freighter might just maneuver out of the area. Especially since the Klingon war cruisers (three D-5s) split up and hurriedly advanced deeper into the inner core, leaving the smaller F-5 frigates to tend to the ill-fated convoy. The larger ships moved on to hunt for the base.[ATTACH type="full" alt="Map 7 ("FS" repair freighter runs).jpg"]478._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[Drummer]

The other Kzinti convoy, a frigate and small freighter, made haste. The approach of a Klingon cruiser seemed imminent and the third brave Kzinti escort decided to enter the asteroids to bravely waylay any larger foe if it spotted the freighter and made for it. It waited, hidden in an asteroid field.

 

[Drummer]

The repair freighter of the first convoy eventually collapsed under the suppressive fire of the Klingon F-5s surrounding it, and the Kzinti frigates dueling the F-5s were surviving an incredible beating.[ATTACH type="full" alt="Map 7b ("FS" Repair Freighter destroyed).JPG"]482._xfImport[/ATTACH]

 

[Drummer]

Back at the base, a large freighter disobeyed orders, undocked, and got underway, frantically heading for its exit. Making the bend around the base’s asteroid field, it was spotted at long range by a D-5. A lucky drone hit rattled the large freighter’s shields. Things looked bleak, as the Klingon D-5s systematically scanned and probed their way towards the base. The Kzinti light cruiser -still hidden- held still and prepared to meet the enemy.

 

[Drummer]

While Klingon sensors could not penetrate the walls of the asteroid belts around them, the Kzintis had the full advantage of a network of sensor mines scattered throughout the immediate area. The Klingons missed the arrival of a powerful Kzinti Fleet, on patrol ironically because of these particular Klingons lingering in the area. This newly arrived Kzinti fleet took full advantage of the sensor system, yet had randomly arrived at one entrance of the Poldar Belt. They quickly saw, reacted, and set a trap for the closest wandering Klingon war cruiser.

 

[Drummer]

Amazingly, as luck may have it, the wily Klingon D-5 had both the initiative -and turning ability- to both spot the Kziniti formation and react to it. The entire Klingon force implemented a hasty about-face, never spotting the base, but scampering right back the way they came. The two battered Kzinti frigates from the catastrophic convey, still tossing it up with the F-5s, soon faced the ill natured retreat of the entire Klingon force, hardly amounting to much of a speed bump as they were obliterated for good when the Klingons bid adieu. The gods of fortune did indeed smile widely on the Klingons. Smiled on them indeed.

 

[bluebirds40]

great battle report.

 

[billclo]

Mighty interesting use of asteroids.

I made "asteroid fields or dust fields" out of grey felt, cut into various shapes. Got it from Walmart...

Easier to work with than taping up areas.

Next time, try a Battle Station in the asteroids. Awfully tough to kill, with Stealth 5, and make sure to use Close Blast doors. :shock:

 

[Pete]

Sounds a lot of fun, that!

 

[Requete]

Really nice. Bravo!

 

[revan266]

Great battle report. I also live in Milwaukee, where do you guys play? If your interested, there will be a couple of people getting together to play on the 25th, at the game store on 92nd and Howard.

 

[Drummer]

Mighty interesting use of asteroids.

I made "asteroid fields or dust fields" out of grey felt, cut into various shapes. Got it from Walmart...

Easier to work with than taping up areas.

Next time, try a Battle Station in the asteroids. Awfully tough to kill, with Stealth 5, and make sure to use Close Blast doors. :shock:

Yes, I agree. Felt would have been better. I didn't have much felt on hand when I concocted this scenario, so tape had to do. I also wanted to make asteroids on posts, the ones you see are my friend Dan's, but couldn't find the time. Instead, I raided my children's play "rock collection" and dumped it onto the board for added "rockage."

A Battle Station in the rocks would have been pretty tough to kill, indeed. But finding the target was going to be tough enough for the Klingon. I wanted a soft target. Just because he "scanned" an area didn't mean he automatically found anything. Also, I rolled a die at the beginning of the game, which was the turn the Kzinti killer fleet arrived, randomly assigned to one of the four entrances.

 

[trynda1701]

Very cool AAR and pics set! 8) 8) 8) 8)

And nice job on the paint schemes on the minis. The Klingons look very cool, and that look of the lighter panels on the Kzinti hulls really makes the minis pop, while being a subtle variation on the mainl hull colour at the same time, if you see what I mean?

Mark