Battle on the Rim - Results!

[Triggy]

Had a great tournament and enjoyed it immensely - thanks to all of my opponents for great games. The only shame was that after four wins, I still didn't get to play the overall winner

My fleet:
1 x Omega (4 x Thunderbolt)
1 x Nova (4 x Thunderbolt)
1 x Avenger (4 x Thunderbolt, 4 x Aurora)
1 x Olympus (Flash Missiles)
2 x Hermes (1 x Aurora)

Game 1
vs John Greet (ISA)
Space Superiority
John had a fleet of 3 White Stars, 2 Nolo'Tars, 3 Blue Stars and a wing of Aurora Starfurys. He chose to jump in one White Star and two Blue Stars behind my fleet but this turned out to be a big mistake. These ships promptly got mobbed by fighters, killing two and forcing the other Blue Star to bug out. The Omega took some damage from the other White Stars but fighters took out another White Star. No EA ships were lost and only time prevented a larger win. John was a fun opponent but conceded that he'd made the mistake jumping in due to wanting to take advantage of the one scenario that allowed it.

17-3

Game 2
vs Dave Robotham (Centauri)
Call to Arms
The first of the Demos fleets I faced (thinking pre-tournament there would both be an abundance of them and that they would do well - suffice to say I wasn't disproved on either count). 8 Demoses and 4 wings of Sentris made for a tough fleet but one I felt I could get points out of (even if only from the fighters). Dave (Court Jester)'s report earlier summed up the game pretty well. I hung back early doors to prevent Dave getting round the back of me and although the Omega did some early damage, it suffered early engines destroyed and no repairs criticals so couldn't play a major role. The big fighter battle in the middle saw the EA come out on top netting 14 VPs and attritional firepower elsewhere saw the Demos wing take three losses to general firepower but taking out the Olympus and a Hermes and almost taking out the Avenger to reduce the margin of victory (1 point of Damage left and a Reactor critical but rolled a 1).

17-3

Game 3
vs Ben Allen (Centauri)
Rescue

My old enemy and much as he can beat me in friendly games, I've always beaten him in tournaments (so far). 6 Demoses and 2 Centurions here and I knew what sort of hurt this fleet could put out (it was the one fleet I made sure that whatever I picked could deal with and with hindsight, boy was that a good idea). With a dust cloud covering Ben's advance, all but 2 Demoses came at my left flank with the other two on my right, with my Omega on the left and everything else in the middle. He was very cautious and stayed out of Ion Cannon range on turn 2 to prevent my fighters engaging, and lost a Demos to a big Omega beam in the opening rounds. His Torpedoes generally doing moderate damage to the Nova but crucially wiping out its engines and three fire arcs (Ben failed to roll a crit that wasn't a 6 this turn).

Crunch turn came as he hurled everything at my Omega and tried to keep the Demoses on my right alive after they took some fighter damage the turn before. The Omega nailed a Demos before it could shoot and the fighters virtually took out both of the other Demoses (they were finished off by the Olympus) so it came down to whether two Demoses and one Centurion could take out an Omega in a round of shooting. With slightly below average dice, the Omega survived with over half Damage remaining, I captured the ship to be rescued and the game was won.

20-0

Game 4
vs Neil Hopkins (Centauri)
Planetfall

I always look forward to my games vs Neil as they are always tight, tactical affairs. He too took many (5) Demoses, this time along with a Corvan, a Centurion and a Balvarin. There were asteroids to my left and the planet in the centre. I set up with my fighters behind the planet, coveringing a Demos flank attack, the Olympus, Nova and Avenger in the middle to support and the Omega and Hermes on the right to create a crossfire. Neil didn't want to face my fighters directly so placed the Balvarin opposite, the Centurion in the centre, the Corvan well out of things and all of the Demoses on my right to counter my crossfire.

A Hermes was lost early on to Demos torpedoes and they gratefully took the pounding. The Omega took a pounding from the Demoses and lost its engines just as fighter support was arriving but still managed to take out a Demos as they drifted through one another on a direct boresight line but survived as the Demoses came about and lost another from fighter fire. With the Nova and Avenger holding the planet and no other significant damage, chalk up another victory to the EA.

17-3


In summary - fighters really kick ass when backed by a Fleet Carrier and larger ships really can work well in tournaments - they're good for objectives, can dish the damage and in this format, there often wasn't enough time to finish the job of killing them. I really enjoyed fighting with this fleet (having never used it before) and just wish I could have faced a couple of different fleets. Oh well, I'm just getting used to it and I'll be moving on to a different race next time...

 

[Triggy]

I used raid queen ship, 2 skirmish queen ships, 2 assault ships, 1 war carrier.
both gaim players won 1st 3 games 20-0 and we had only lost one ship in the 6 games. game 4 was between the Gaim and the luck went to scott making lots of CA checks and a 9 beam hit (with 2AD beam) on my queen (which effectively won him the game) but was a good game. seems no one but Gaim could beat the Gaim.

Well, I only lost two ships (Patrol and Skirmish PL) before my final game (where I lost one more Patrol PL ship) so it wasn't just a Gaim trick for not losing ships.

Hat's off to Triggy for taking the second place spot for our new club. Next time we'll have first... :twisted:

Cheers, always a pleasure

Hat's off to Triggy for taking the second place spot for our new club. Next time we'll have first... :twisted:

he was just lucky to not get pulled against the Gaim plus some how pull a win against his mate Ben who seemed to be in a commanding position.

I still maintain my fleet had a real chance against the Gaim, particularly with fighters to screen for a couple of turns and the Omega as firepower. I can't see a way the Gaim would get more than a couple of fighters in by turn 4 and with the short games, it's very unlikely you'd fit a turn 5 in. A couple of snipes with my Omega on a Queen and the game would have been interesting.

See above for the Ben game (he was never in a commanding position, people just underestimate EA and forget their strengths).

 

[katadder]

fighters would be lucky to screen for a turn, if you wait until we up close then the most you can launch is 12 fighters to stop most of 54 fighters and 42 breaching pods. I faced more beams from the narn than your omega had and at least they had AF on ships plus e-mines. the only ship in your fleet to have AF was the omega and AF6 isnt going to stop many breaching pods (2 on average out of the 8-9 i can get in). take into effect that most your other ships wont be taking part and you are relying on one omega to stop everything. ok the nova might do some good once it gets close and broadsides but to do that it has to pass the fighter swarm and 2 assault ships.
i can guarantee that saturday against either of the Gaim fleets you would lose 20-0 unless your omega pulls off some super human effort every turn with its beam as thats the only ship you had capable of doing anything.
btw on turns with 6 ships should get enough in. think i got upto turn 6 against the narns. the vree had far more firepower, far more anti fighter and in fact almost as many fighters and still lost by turn 3 although they did kill one ship.

 

[Triggy]

fighters would be lucky to screen for a turn, if you wait until we up close then the most you can launch is 12 fighters to stop most of 54 fighters and 42 breaching pods. I faced more beams from the narn than your omega had and at least they had AF on ships plus e-mines. the only ship in your fleet to have AF was the omega and AF6 isnt going to stop many breaching pods (2 on average out of the 8-9 i can get in). take into effect that most your other ships wont be taking part and you are relying on one omega to stop everything. ok the nova might do some good once it gets close and broadsides but to do that it has to pass the fighter swarm and 2 assault ships.
i can guarantee that saturday against either of the Gaim fleets you would lose 20-0 unless your omega pulls off some super human effort every turn with its beam as thats the only ship you had capable of doing anything.
btw on turns with 6 ships should get enough in. think i got upto turn 6 against the narns. the vree had far more firepower, far more anti fighter and in fact almost as many fighters and still lost by turn 3 although they did kill one ship.

I only got to turn 3/4 in each of my games so turns really can be an issue (particularly where you're making fiddly fighter moves every turn).

Suffice to say I disagree on fighting Gaim - typically the Omega would take out a Skirmish PL Queen every turn or two and that's 20-30 VPs by turn 4 for a start. I think you completely underestimate how I'd use my fighters - they're a stalling force. With correct tactics you can prevent almost any enemy fighters from engaging successfully in about 4 turns. Sure by turn 6 they all hit home (well, minus about ten) but that's not the point. Played well, the Gaim could suffer (well you don't believe this I know but you're not going to change my mind either).

 

[katadder]

stalling how? if they are out of the ships they all die in a turn to the numerous 2AD photon bombs, which means you can bring them out early and die, or bring them out in not enough numbers.
on average rolls for an omega it can take down a skirmish queen every 2 turns (which in that time with e-mines alone i can down both hermes and the olympus and thats not taking into account my own beams or fighter attacks so i am up 11vps to 10), which after turn 1 your probably wont get a boresight on a queen again due to losing both hermes 1st turn (if your fighters are hiding and not letting me shoot them that is) or another turn if you let me nuke all your fighters 1st turn. and its not the queens you need to worry about, its those 2 assault ships that outgun your omega and then boarding it, probably capturing it in 2 turns after boarding in turn 2 or 3 at the most as you have to keep moving forwards and earning me 40pts (did this to a dargan). basically your omega is your one and only threat, nothing else has the firepower to even bother with apart from killing init sinks.
every fleet i faced had more firepower (probably by 3 times in some cases) than your EA fleet, and as a rule at least as many fighters. like i said with the fleet you had they didnt have a chance saturday, it was the Gaims day this time.

if you only got 3-4 turns in each of your games you obviously spend too much time messing around, which i guess is why you beat ben fighter movement dont take long, especially when the EA probably wont launch until last minute, and wont take long after 1st turn you launch either as there wont be any left.


you need beams to overcome hull 6, and they have to be long range, preferably on hul 6 ships to withstand multiple photon bombs.

 

[boom_huh]

I came 18th with ISA.

I took 3 white star's, 2 Nolo Tar's and 3 Blue Star's

First Game Lost against Tristan Lomas. New motto just because you can use Jump point doesn't mean you should. 3/17

Second Game Lost against Andrew Gardner. O.k must remember why I set up my force so far apart against Narn and don't move into one big group on first turn. Doh. 0/20

Third Game Won against Simon Hall. I just got very lucky when I exploded a Tigara and that took out half of a Leshath. Also my fleet remembered what dodge. For the whole game the dice gods smiled on me 20/0

Forth Game Lost against Peter Perry. It would have been interesting to played a couple of more turns. 3/17

If I sound like I'm complaining but I'm not it was a great day against 4 great opponents. I lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

[Romu]

Looks like you guys had a great deal of fun. I hope the special 2 day tournament will be announced very early cos i'd like to come and it takes time to book a flight and everything.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Looks like you guys had a great deal of fun. I hope the special 2 day tournament will be announced very early cos i'd like to come and it takes time to book a flight and everything.

We are just working out the final details!

 

[Romu]

Good to hear
I'm most interested.

 

[lastbesthope]

Forth Game Lost against Peter Perry. It would have been interesting to played a couple of more turns. 3/17

If I sound like I'm complaining but I'm not it was a great day against 4 great opponents. I lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I was quietly confident, I had the advantage of numbers, most of my WS were in good condition, and had it not been the last turn, IAS Nathan would have been dropping in behind your WS rather than scarpering off to land 1 troop on the planet, unless he felt like taking potshots at that distant Blue Star of yours.

But it was a good game.

LBH

 

[Locutus9956]

Well it was alot of fun although it was a slight shame that two of my games ended up being against my regular opponent from our local club!

Still:

My fleet consisted of:
1 Dargan
4 Demos
1 Corvan
1 Wing of Rutarians
1 Wing of Sentris

Game 1:
I fought Kattaders Gaim and lets just say I dont like Gaim any more In all fairness I made some mistakes but in the long run the fighters were just too much. I also made the mistake of going 'oooh I can use hyperspace in this scneario!!!' and Promtly jumped 2 Demos in far too close to the the 'swarms'. Relating to the Gaim I must say that as far as Katadder and Triggy's exchange is going, I think Katadder IS understimating the Omegas potential to snipe queen ships but that if Triggy thinks his fighters could 'delay' for even a turn rather than just being emined to death instantly hes kidding himself too (still would be interestin to see....)
In any case I got utterly raped 0-20

Game 2:
Was vs LBH's ISA and I feel I was frankly robbed here At the end of play 3 Whitestars were dead and a 4th was heavily damaged. My Demos and Corvans were more or less unscathed (I think I lost one Demos though) and most of my fighters were still on the table, but my Dargan JUST blew up on the final turn and cost me the game. 3-17 (actually thinking about it now we might have got the VPs wrong on this one.... edit: actually.... hang on a cotton picking minute LBH you cheating git (just kidding I suspect it was an honest mistake and one I made too)... I think we totalled my VPs treating WS as skirmish for some reason! I think I may actually have won that game.... Oh well my own fault if so for not working it out myself

Game 3:
Was vs Rob Soutars Minbari, Rob's a friend of mine and we've fought numerous times but this time victory was not to be mine. Still at least it was my own miniatures blowing me up so that was some small consolation ) Simply put this game was not mine from the first roll . The game started off more or less with a single Nial flight scoring a 6-6 crit on my Dargan and promptly nearly destroying it and knocking out its stealth trait.... I did manage to take the majority of the boneheads with me though with the game finishing up with 2 ships a piece left on the table but the Minbari in control of the rescue objective by virtue of their Leshath being the highest PL ship nearby (there was only 2 Demos and a Torotha left elsewhere). 7-13

Game 4:
Was another one vs a local friend of mine, Joe Osbourne with his third age EA, and another chance for me to face my own models though this time I was the one doing the maiming
The game began with my corvan rushing forwards and subesequently landing its single troop on the planet. The Centauri and EA clashed brutally at close range on the EA side of the table and much hurt was inflicted without much death (though the superior centauri fighters rapidly cleared the skies of thuderbolts and starfuries). After suriviving a brutal hammering for several turns the Olympus' and Nova went down but the Assault Hyperion landed some troops, but they were promptly slaughtered by Rutarian strafing runs in the end leaving the Centauri in control of the planet by a hair. The Omega which had apparenty been fairly uneventful most of the day redeemed itself with a horrific beam volley scoring 24 hits on one poor Demos (which needless to say exploded, hell even if every single hit had been a bulkhead it would STILL have died :shock: ) Ouch.... In any case the game ended as a narrow victory for the glorious Centauri republic: 13-7.

Overall it was a highly enjoyable day (for all 4 of us who came up from Yeovilgames) and for my part I shall definitely be coming to the campaign day/weekend thing whenever it runs

(and I'll get you next time LBH, and I'll learn to count too! )

 

[tneva82]

Relating to the Gaim I must say that as far as Katadder and Triggy's exchange is going, I think Katadder IS understimating the Omegas potential to snipe queen ships but that if Triggy thinks his fighters could 'delay' for even a turn rather than just being emined to death instantly hes kidding himself too (still would be interestin to see....)

Howabout those 2 play it out on Vassal?-) Make sure game is arranged so that I could watch! ;-)

 

[katadder]

vassal is too untrustworthy to go with. it either gets crazy strings of beam hits or misses entirely. plus it takes far too long for the accuracy needed on measurements between these. i dont underestimate the omega but like i said hes relying on one ship, i took more beam AD from the narn than it puts out.

 

[Locutus9956]

vassal is too untrustworthy to go with. it either gets crazy strings of beam hits or misses entirely. plus it takes far too long for the accuracy needed on measurements between these. i dont underestimate the omega but like i said hes relying on one ship, i took more beam AD from the narn than it puts out.

What? Vassal is no more 'untrustworthy' than dice! Its a randomly generated number, just because youve had some bad luck doesnt make it 'untrustworthy'. And the issue with the omega is not an issue with how many beam AD you took overall its a case of how much damage it packs into that big volley. And the Omgega is longer ranged and harder to remove than smaller narn ships too (unless your talking about the Narn fleet that used the G'Vrahn of course....). I do think the Omega would have caused some serious hurt but I dont think it would have won the game still. I DO however think it might have held you to a 17-3 victory....

Fair play to you for doing well in the tourney Katadder but your starting to get a tad bigheaded about it in alot of threads (and thats being polite....) the only thing worse than a poor loser is a poor winner

 

[katadder]

not being bigheaded, i said i could have beat triggys fleet (after all i came 3rd behind triggy so cant be bigheaded) and i said either Gaim fleet could have done for him. I am trying to come up with ways to beat the gaim is all but relying on one outranged omega wouldnt do the job.

 

[Locutus9956]

not being bigheaded, i said i could have beat triggys fleet (after all i came 3rd behind triggy so cant be bigheaded) and i said either Gaim fleet could have done for him. I am trying to come up with ways to beat the gaim is all but relying on one outranged omega wouldnt do the job.

Fair enough, and for the record I do agree that I dont think Triggys fleet would have beaten either of the Gaim forces but I DO think that big beam would have made enough of a difference to deny a 20-0 victory (it would almost be tempting to snipe a queen ship, and try and jump out....)

 

[Triggy]

Good to hear everyone had a good time and plans for big events are all something I'd look forward to

not being bigheaded, i said i could have beat triggys fleet (after all i came 3rd behind triggy so cant be bigheaded) and i said either Gaim fleet could have done for him. I am trying to come up with ways to beat the gaim is all but relying on one outranged omega wouldnt do the job.

Fair enough, and for the record I do agree that I dont think Triggys fleet would have beaten either of the Gaim forces but I DO think that big beam would have made enough of a difference to deny a 20-0 victory (it would almost be tempting to snipe a queen ship, and try and jump out....)

Indeed, all I was really asking for (as I stated in my original post) was a chance to play the game and let the dice do the talking! I'm perfectly willing to accept that I may lose but to not even have the chance was a little frustrating.

For the record, I trust Vassal's dice more than most people's real rolls for randomness.

 

[Shadow Queen]

what were the prizes??

 

[katadder]

not being bigheaded, i said i could have beat triggys fleet (after all i came 3rd behind triggy so cant be bigheaded) and i said either Gaim fleet could have done for him. I am trying to come up with ways to beat the gaim is all but relying on one outranged omega wouldnt do the job.

Fair enough, and for the record I do agree that I dont think Triggys fleet would have beaten either of the Gaim forces but I DO think that big beam would have made enough of a difference to deny a 20-0 victory (it would almost be tempting to snipe a queen ship, and try and jump out....)

i also think that if i were using the EA against triggy I would lose 20-0. basically you are relying on one ship as the rest of his fleet in one arc only amounts about as much firepower as one of the many Demos people ran. its like adding one superstar to a football team and expecting your team to win big.

 

[Davesaint]

vassal is too untrustworthy to go with. it either gets crazy strings of beam hits or misses entirely. plus it takes far too long for the accuracy needed on measurements between these. i dont underestimate the omega but like i said hes relying on one ship, i took more beam AD from the narn than it puts out.

This cracks me up. When I questioned the RNG on vassal, I was told that I was imagining things..............


Dave