Democratus
Mongoose
The final battle of our Narn/Centauri campaign (year 2259) took place this weekend. After months of clashing over the vital objectives in this system both sides had nearly reached economic exhaustion. Attrition had left the Narn with a very top-heavy stable of ships (nearly all G'Quans and G'Quanths) having lost countless Dag'Kars, Ka'Tocs, and Sho'Kovs. The Centauri had a more well-rounded fleet but very few spare resource points.
At this point we rolled an Annihilation, 5 points, battle. We knew that this large battle would involve nearly all the fighting strength we had left and, thus, would be the decisive engagement of the campaign.
So, bearing in mind that we had to choose from our surviving ships - here is what came to the party.
Narn:
G'Quan (Sword of the Prophet) w/ G'Sten commanding
G'Quan (Righteous)
G'Quan (Voice of the Kha'Ri)
Dag'Kar (Prophet's Wisdom)
Ka'Toc (Sword of Law)
Ka'Toc (Slitter of Throats)
Centauri:
Primus (Rising Star)
Secundus, Mass Driver (Majesty of Thunder)
Elutarian (Trebuchet)
Elutarian (Carvo)
Sulust (Aurora)
Sulust (Basilisk)
Vorchan (Night Hunter)
Vorchan (Swiftwind)
Maximus (Aide de Camp)
Maximus (Buckler)
Centauri won set-up roll.
Narn set up against far edge of board in the center. G'Quans forming the core of the formation. Ka'Tocs on the right flank, Dag'Kar center and rear.
Centauri set up opposite the Narn as far forward as possible. The center had a single Squadron with both Elutarians and both Sulusts. I figured that these four ships would have enough combined firepower to deal with the Dag'Kar. To the left (opposite the Ka'Tocs) were my Secundus, a Maximus, and two Vorchans. To the right were a Maximus and my Primus. Both the Secundus and Primus were turned away from the center of the board so they would be harder to Boresight despite being Lumbering.
The Narn then used his special G'Sten power to slightly readjust his position.
Turn 1:
Initiative to the Narn. Centauri opened by moving the Maximus first, then the Vorchans, then a single Sulust (leaving the squad), then the Secundus, Primus, and finally the big squadron. Because of this, the Narn was forced to boresight his G'Quans on both my Maximus and one Vorchan. All ships moved forward at maximum speed as I wanted to get into close quarters where Centauri manuverability would make a difference and - more importantly - those Boresight lasers wouldn't be shooting at me.
The shooting phase was a horrible one for the Narn. Out of 19 beam dice (5 from each G'Quan, 2 from each Ka'Toc) only two rolled above a 4. One Vorchan took some minor damage. Centauri fire was much more effective. The large Elutarian/Sulust squadron unloaded into the Dag'Kar, causing it's weapons to fail unless a 4+ roll was made. The Dag'Kar promptly failed both 4+ rolls for its weapons.
Turn 2:
Initiative to the Narn. Centauri continued to close with the Narn, moving ships agressively toward the 2 Ka'Toc and the Dag'Kars - ignoring the G'Quans other than trying to avoid the Boresights. Even though the Narn kept winning initiative the Centauri simply had too many ships for this to be useful. The Narn managed again to boresight the two Maximus and a Vorchan.
Shooting for the Narn was slightly better. The Dag'Kar again failed to roll well enough to shoot. One Vorchan was crippled by a Mag Gun and both Maximus were destroyed by massive laser fire. In exchange, the Dag'Kar was finished off by the Centauri hunting squadron and one Ka'Toc was heavily damaged by a Vorchan and the Secundus.
Turn 3:
Initiative to the Narn. By this time, our ships were dangerously close to each other. The Centauri was down two ships and thus split up the squadron to keep having ititiative sinks. Moving the Primus and Secundus early drew fire on these tough ships while the smaller vessels manuvered to get behind the massive G'Quans. The Narn moved to stay engaged, but this meant that the two Ka'Toc had to give an "All Engines Stop" order.
The shooting phase saw the Secundus able to use its Mass Driver against a station keeping Ka'Toc. The remaining Vorchan along with the Secundus secondary weaponry killed the other Ka'Toc. The Primus managed to score a critical on one G'Quan, destroying the Jump Engine. In exchange, the Narn did a great deal of damage to the Primus and Secundus but did not cripple either. They also managed to finish the crippled Vorchan and destroy the pristine Vorchan with a vital critical.
Turn 4:
At this point, the Narn was down to just his 3 G'Quan and I still had six ships on the board.
To add insult to injury, the Centauri won initiative.
The Narn was now in a position where the Centauri had several ships behind the G'Quans which were more manuverable and, therefore, able to stay outside of the sad 8" weapons range of their secondary weapons. His two G'Quan that were able opened Jump Points. The last turned to the closest edge and began to run for it.
The Centauri fleet poured fire into the enemy ships, but failed to score a critical that would stop the two escaping G'Quans.
Turns 5+
As the two G'Quan left the field, the Centauri fleet hounded the remaining heavy cruiser until it was destroyed well before nearing the edge.
Conclusion:
Centauri victory! The Narn fleet withdrew from the system, deciding that it was no longer worth the economic cost.
Notes:
The low number of ships brought by the Narn meant that even with G'Sten's initiative boost the tempo of the battle was decided by the Centauri. Bad luck with beam dice in the first turn denied the Narn their only real chance of evening the numbers. After that it was just a matter of manuver and firepower - and the Centauri had more of both.
Throughout this campaign (my first in ACTA) I have been very impressed with the Centauri fleet. Their ships are fast and manuverable with strong firepower. Their primary weakness is a lack of all-around firepower, leaving ships such as the Vorchan vulnerable to fighter attack.
The Narn are good in the long-range approach battle, but suffer in a knife fight because their secondary weapons have very short range and are generaly poor in quality. Their e-mines serve as an effective counter to Centauri fighters, which is a nice thing. And they have some excellent smaller ships - particularly the Ka'Toc, Dag'Kar, and Sho'Kov.
I don't think the G'Quan is a very good ship. This is a sad realization as it is such a nice looking model. But it sufferes from too many flaws to be an effective cornerstone of the Narn fleet. There really seems to be nothing worth using between the Dag'Kar and the Bin'Tak.
I also don't think Admirals are worth it. They come at the cost of firepower and it seems that more guns is usually better than a few neat tricks. If the Narn had showed up with one more Battle point worth of ships it might have gone quite differently.
At this point we rolled an Annihilation, 5 points, battle. We knew that this large battle would involve nearly all the fighting strength we had left and, thus, would be the decisive engagement of the campaign.
So, bearing in mind that we had to choose from our surviving ships - here is what came to the party.
Narn:
G'Quan (Sword of the Prophet) w/ G'Sten commanding
G'Quan (Righteous)
G'Quan (Voice of the Kha'Ri)
Dag'Kar (Prophet's Wisdom)
Ka'Toc (Sword of Law)
Ka'Toc (Slitter of Throats)
Centauri:
Primus (Rising Star)
Secundus, Mass Driver (Majesty of Thunder)
Elutarian (Trebuchet)
Elutarian (Carvo)
Sulust (Aurora)
Sulust (Basilisk)
Vorchan (Night Hunter)
Vorchan (Swiftwind)
Maximus (Aide de Camp)
Maximus (Buckler)
Centauri won set-up roll.
Narn set up against far edge of board in the center. G'Quans forming the core of the formation. Ka'Tocs on the right flank, Dag'Kar center and rear.
Centauri set up opposite the Narn as far forward as possible. The center had a single Squadron with both Elutarians and both Sulusts. I figured that these four ships would have enough combined firepower to deal with the Dag'Kar. To the left (opposite the Ka'Tocs) were my Secundus, a Maximus, and two Vorchans. To the right were a Maximus and my Primus. Both the Secundus and Primus were turned away from the center of the board so they would be harder to Boresight despite being Lumbering.
The Narn then used his special G'Sten power to slightly readjust his position.
Turn 1:
Initiative to the Narn. Centauri opened by moving the Maximus first, then the Vorchans, then a single Sulust (leaving the squad), then the Secundus, Primus, and finally the big squadron. Because of this, the Narn was forced to boresight his G'Quans on both my Maximus and one Vorchan. All ships moved forward at maximum speed as I wanted to get into close quarters where Centauri manuverability would make a difference and - more importantly - those Boresight lasers wouldn't be shooting at me.
The shooting phase was a horrible one for the Narn. Out of 19 beam dice (5 from each G'Quan, 2 from each Ka'Toc) only two rolled above a 4. One Vorchan took some minor damage. Centauri fire was much more effective. The large Elutarian/Sulust squadron unloaded into the Dag'Kar, causing it's weapons to fail unless a 4+ roll was made. The Dag'Kar promptly failed both 4+ rolls for its weapons.
Turn 2:
Initiative to the Narn. Centauri continued to close with the Narn, moving ships agressively toward the 2 Ka'Toc and the Dag'Kars - ignoring the G'Quans other than trying to avoid the Boresights. Even though the Narn kept winning initiative the Centauri simply had too many ships for this to be useful. The Narn managed again to boresight the two Maximus and a Vorchan.
Shooting for the Narn was slightly better. The Dag'Kar again failed to roll well enough to shoot. One Vorchan was crippled by a Mag Gun and both Maximus were destroyed by massive laser fire. In exchange, the Dag'Kar was finished off by the Centauri hunting squadron and one Ka'Toc was heavily damaged by a Vorchan and the Secundus.
Turn 3:
Initiative to the Narn. By this time, our ships were dangerously close to each other. The Centauri was down two ships and thus split up the squadron to keep having ititiative sinks. Moving the Primus and Secundus early drew fire on these tough ships while the smaller vessels manuvered to get behind the massive G'Quans. The Narn moved to stay engaged, but this meant that the two Ka'Toc had to give an "All Engines Stop" order.
The shooting phase saw the Secundus able to use its Mass Driver against a station keeping Ka'Toc. The remaining Vorchan along with the Secundus secondary weaponry killed the other Ka'Toc. The Primus managed to score a critical on one G'Quan, destroying the Jump Engine. In exchange, the Narn did a great deal of damage to the Primus and Secundus but did not cripple either. They also managed to finish the crippled Vorchan and destroy the pristine Vorchan with a vital critical.
Turn 4:
At this point, the Narn was down to just his 3 G'Quan and I still had six ships on the board.
To add insult to injury, the Centauri won initiative.
The Narn was now in a position where the Centauri had several ships behind the G'Quans which were more manuverable and, therefore, able to stay outside of the sad 8" weapons range of their secondary weapons. His two G'Quan that were able opened Jump Points. The last turned to the closest edge and began to run for it.
The Centauri fleet poured fire into the enemy ships, but failed to score a critical that would stop the two escaping G'Quans.
Turns 5+
As the two G'Quan left the field, the Centauri fleet hounded the remaining heavy cruiser until it was destroyed well before nearing the edge.
Conclusion:
Centauri victory! The Narn fleet withdrew from the system, deciding that it was no longer worth the economic cost.
Notes:
The low number of ships brought by the Narn meant that even with G'Sten's initiative boost the tempo of the battle was decided by the Centauri. Bad luck with beam dice in the first turn denied the Narn their only real chance of evening the numbers. After that it was just a matter of manuver and firepower - and the Centauri had more of both.
Throughout this campaign (my first in ACTA) I have been very impressed with the Centauri fleet. Their ships are fast and manuverable with strong firepower. Their primary weakness is a lack of all-around firepower, leaving ships such as the Vorchan vulnerable to fighter attack.
The Narn are good in the long-range approach battle, but suffer in a knife fight because their secondary weapons have very short range and are generaly poor in quality. Their e-mines serve as an effective counter to Centauri fighters, which is a nice thing. And they have some excellent smaller ships - particularly the Ka'Toc, Dag'Kar, and Sho'Kov.
I don't think the G'Quan is a very good ship. This is a sad realization as it is such a nice looking model. But it sufferes from too many flaws to be an effective cornerstone of the Narn fleet. There really seems to be nothing worth using between the Dag'Kar and the Bin'Tak.
I also don't think Admirals are worth it. They come at the cost of firepower and it seems that more guns is usually better than a few neat tricks. If the Narn had showed up with one more Battle point worth of ships it might have gone quite differently.