I thought I’d write up a quick report about the game I played on Thursday night. It was...
5 point raid, ISA vs Vree.
ISA list:
3 x White Star
1 x White Star gunship (with its two baby white stars)
Vree list:
3 x Xill Battle Saucer
3 x Xixx Torpedo Saucer
1 x Vaarl Scout Saucer
I was playing the Vree, and all directions are from my point of view. I wasn’t sacred of the White Star fighters, ‘cos all my ships have anti-fighter and the WSF only has a 2” range. I was scared of the TD beams the White Stars pack, so I resolved to not let them shoot at me very much. Having more ships would help that, letting me out init-sink the ISA. I would like to say that this was my opponents first time using the ISA – he normally plays EA third age, which is a very different fleet!
We generated scenario and terrain randomly, ending up with Annihilation, two dust clouds and an asteroid field (density 7). All the terrain was on my side of the table – great for blocking site lines for his 18” beams, until I could get into my 10” kill zone.
I set up first (damn his +2 init and WS scouts!), clustering around the terrain. The Xills went together on the right, ready to make a run to the right hand dust cloud. The Xixx went together in the middle, aiming for the cover of the asteroid field. The Vaarl hid behind the back dust cloud, ready to init-sink.
His White Stars clustered together on the right, facing the Xills. The gunship went on the left, with one baby White Star in the air.
Turn 1:
I lost initiative on turn one (no supprise), and Ran Silent with the Vaarl (6+ stealth – yey!). The front WS swept forward (those things are fast), which let me know the range limit on this beams. I moved the Xixxs, one by one, Concentrating all Fire on the lead WS (two managed, one failed; love the +1 CQ for the Vree). I knew I had to kill them outright, or they could hide and let the hull heal, leaving me hoping for crew kills. The other WS and the gunship came forward, and my Xills stayed out of harms way.
The Vaarl redirected fire to the front WS, letting the Xixx which had failed CAF re-roll half his AD. My opponent had nothing in range or arc, letting my Xixxs fire unopposed. 12 dice of SAP, precise triple-damage later (10 with re-rolls to hit), and the target WS was dead, let down by his dodge (failing a good three quarters of them). Even adaptive armour can’t help much against TD.
Turn 2:
ISA win initiative again, and the Vaarl init-sinks again. The remaining WSs came forward, one of them managing to line up with a Xill. This didn’t work out too well for it, because the Xill had two friends. Two passed Concentrate all Fire checks later, and things looked bad for the star. The second star and the gunship failed to pin down the nippy Xixxs, who hid and waited to reload. All the ISA ships closed blast doors. The two baby White Stars (number two being launched in turn one) ganged up on a Xixx, one getting shot down by AF4, the other doing minimal damage.
The lead Xill shot up the WS that could shoot this turn, hoping to knock out its guns, or blow it up (a man can hope). Most of the hits were dodged, leaving the WS scratched but little else. The return fire (beam, TD) almost cut the Xill in half, doing about 18 hull and 25 crew – nasty! The other two Xills blew the WS apart. With 18AD of double damage each, these saucers pack a punch. With the gunship targetless and the Xixxs reloading (the Vaarl Ran Silent again), shooting was over.
Turn 3:
Loose initiative again. Oh well, guess I’ll Run Silent the Vaarl again. Then came a surprise – All Power to Engines takes the remaining White Star far away from my Xill Death Squad, and into the dust cloud that the Vaarl was hiding behind; things looked bad for the scout. The WS then used its Scout trait to lower my stealth, taking it from 6+ to 4+ (from range and scout).
The Xixxs tried to line up on the gunship, which came forward between the asteroids and the second dust cloud, attempting to engage the Xills. The tricky saucers flew round the dust cloud, out of sight of the gunship, but unable to fire themselves. The baby WS continued to annoy a Xixx, and got killed for its efforts.
The beam blast from the WS cut the poor Vaarl in half with little effort, the round ships 10 hull not lasting long at all. Two Xixx could see the gunship, and fired at it to little effect. The third could see nothing, so didn’t get to shoot – same for the Xills and the gunship.
Turn 4:
I won initiative, which came as something of a shock. The WS came out of the dust cloud, executing a tight turn and trying to line up on the Xixxs. The gunship chased after the Xills, but the ISA found itself out-manoeuvred again, as the Xills came round to the side of the gunship, one Xixx (the one with torps loaded) fled out of the WSs range, and the other two Xixxs (frantically re-loading) went SM and slipped out of the WSs front arc. The torps from the first Xixx, and all three Xill blasted the gunship, killing about half the crew, and knocking out its beam weapon with a nice crit. The ISA, unable to fire back, weren’t happy.
Turn 5:
Not sure who won initiative. The WS continued to chase the Xixx, while to gunship came about (no, not the special order, just with its 2/90 turns). The Xills slipped behind it. The re-loading Xixx was very happy the gunships beam was out, because it was in range of it, but out of the other guns.
No shooting for the ISA (again), but the Xills and Xixxs killed the remaining crew on the gunship, leaving it dead in the water (or vacuum, I suppose). This left the remaining White Star in its own.
Turns 6&7:
Bad for the ISA, the WS still couldn’t bring its guns to bear, and got badly shot up, leaving it crippled and without jump engines to get away. In turn 7, it died to the last volley of anti-matter.
Conclusion:
A black day for the ISA, but a good one for the short grey ones. I’m getting the hang of Vree now, and my opponent hadn’t used ISA before. They strike me as not very forgiving – low hull and crew scores, relying on defensive traits and manoeuvrability to win. Against the DD of the Vree (cancelling out the adaptive armour), they only had dodge. And the Vree can out-manoeuvre the White Stars, making it a tough match up.
Very pretty models, though...
Discuss!
5 point raid, ISA vs Vree.
ISA list:
3 x White Star
1 x White Star gunship (with its two baby white stars)
Vree list:
3 x Xill Battle Saucer
3 x Xixx Torpedo Saucer
1 x Vaarl Scout Saucer
I was playing the Vree, and all directions are from my point of view. I wasn’t sacred of the White Star fighters, ‘cos all my ships have anti-fighter and the WSF only has a 2” range. I was scared of the TD beams the White Stars pack, so I resolved to not let them shoot at me very much. Having more ships would help that, letting me out init-sink the ISA. I would like to say that this was my opponents first time using the ISA – he normally plays EA third age, which is a very different fleet!
We generated scenario and terrain randomly, ending up with Annihilation, two dust clouds and an asteroid field (density 7). All the terrain was on my side of the table – great for blocking site lines for his 18” beams, until I could get into my 10” kill zone.
I set up first (damn his +2 init and WS scouts!), clustering around the terrain. The Xills went together on the right, ready to make a run to the right hand dust cloud. The Xixx went together in the middle, aiming for the cover of the asteroid field. The Vaarl hid behind the back dust cloud, ready to init-sink.
His White Stars clustered together on the right, facing the Xills. The gunship went on the left, with one baby White Star in the air.
Turn 1:
I lost initiative on turn one (no supprise), and Ran Silent with the Vaarl (6+ stealth – yey!). The front WS swept forward (those things are fast), which let me know the range limit on this beams. I moved the Xixxs, one by one, Concentrating all Fire on the lead WS (two managed, one failed; love the +1 CQ for the Vree). I knew I had to kill them outright, or they could hide and let the hull heal, leaving me hoping for crew kills. The other WS and the gunship came forward, and my Xills stayed out of harms way.
The Vaarl redirected fire to the front WS, letting the Xixx which had failed CAF re-roll half his AD. My opponent had nothing in range or arc, letting my Xixxs fire unopposed. 12 dice of SAP, precise triple-damage later (10 with re-rolls to hit), and the target WS was dead, let down by his dodge (failing a good three quarters of them). Even adaptive armour can’t help much against TD.
Turn 2:
ISA win initiative again, and the Vaarl init-sinks again. The remaining WSs came forward, one of them managing to line up with a Xill. This didn’t work out too well for it, because the Xill had two friends. Two passed Concentrate all Fire checks later, and things looked bad for the star. The second star and the gunship failed to pin down the nippy Xixxs, who hid and waited to reload. All the ISA ships closed blast doors. The two baby White Stars (number two being launched in turn one) ganged up on a Xixx, one getting shot down by AF4, the other doing minimal damage.
The lead Xill shot up the WS that could shoot this turn, hoping to knock out its guns, or blow it up (a man can hope). Most of the hits were dodged, leaving the WS scratched but little else. The return fire (beam, TD) almost cut the Xill in half, doing about 18 hull and 25 crew – nasty! The other two Xills blew the WS apart. With 18AD of double damage each, these saucers pack a punch. With the gunship targetless and the Xixxs reloading (the Vaarl Ran Silent again), shooting was over.
Turn 3:
Loose initiative again. Oh well, guess I’ll Run Silent the Vaarl again. Then came a surprise – All Power to Engines takes the remaining White Star far away from my Xill Death Squad, and into the dust cloud that the Vaarl was hiding behind; things looked bad for the scout. The WS then used its Scout trait to lower my stealth, taking it from 6+ to 4+ (from range and scout).
The Xixxs tried to line up on the gunship, which came forward between the asteroids and the second dust cloud, attempting to engage the Xills. The tricky saucers flew round the dust cloud, out of sight of the gunship, but unable to fire themselves. The baby WS continued to annoy a Xixx, and got killed for its efforts.
The beam blast from the WS cut the poor Vaarl in half with little effort, the round ships 10 hull not lasting long at all. Two Xixx could see the gunship, and fired at it to little effect. The third could see nothing, so didn’t get to shoot – same for the Xills and the gunship.
Turn 4:
I won initiative, which came as something of a shock. The WS came out of the dust cloud, executing a tight turn and trying to line up on the Xixxs. The gunship chased after the Xills, but the ISA found itself out-manoeuvred again, as the Xills came round to the side of the gunship, one Xixx (the one with torps loaded) fled out of the WSs range, and the other two Xixxs (frantically re-loading) went SM and slipped out of the WSs front arc. The torps from the first Xixx, and all three Xill blasted the gunship, killing about half the crew, and knocking out its beam weapon with a nice crit. The ISA, unable to fire back, weren’t happy.
Turn 5:
Not sure who won initiative. The WS continued to chase the Xixx, while to gunship came about (no, not the special order, just with its 2/90 turns). The Xills slipped behind it. The re-loading Xixx was very happy the gunships beam was out, because it was in range of it, but out of the other guns.
No shooting for the ISA (again), but the Xills and Xixxs killed the remaining crew on the gunship, leaving it dead in the water (or vacuum, I suppose). This left the remaining White Star in its own.
Turns 6&7:
Bad for the ISA, the WS still couldn’t bring its guns to bear, and got badly shot up, leaving it crippled and without jump engines to get away. In turn 7, it died to the last volley of anti-matter.
Conclusion:
A black day for the ISA, but a good one for the short grey ones. I’m getting the hang of Vree now, and my opponent hadn’t used ISA before. They strike me as not very forgiving – low hull and crew scores, relying on defensive traits and manoeuvrability to win. Against the DD of the Vree (cancelling out the adaptive armour), they only had dodge. And the Vree can out-manoeuvre the White Stars, making it a tough match up.
Very pretty models, though...
Discuss!
