So. Second game and we decided to "up the antes". 1500 points it is! This ought to give us more toys to play with. I decided to continue my vuldrok experiments while friend switched to one of the fleets he's been eyeballing, namely hazat.
vuldrok:
slatra konungr-class dreadnought 600
langskip class destroyer 180
langskip class destroyer 180
hadruk class frigate 100
hadruk class frigate 100
hadruk class frigate 100
8xmyrkwyrm class explorer 240
I opted to bring the big guy(though three more langskips did tempt. Or try some galleons. But in the end...It's a frigging DREADNOUGHT! Look at the size of that thing! Plus it's packing more guns than I care to count, has bucketload of hit points, armour 3 and since I could afford it and had already tested langskips(and had them here too) I went for the coolness. Albeit trio of destroyers might be better option. Anyway 2 langskips to give me more shooting power, trio of hadruks to deal with any fighters and knock out shields and then 8 myrkwyrm kamikaze ships.
hazat:
Canai class cruiser 400
trafalgar class carrier 320
manticore class destroyer 180
manticore class destroyer 180
manticore class destroyer 180
12xharpy class torpedo bomber 240
So he brought in cruiser and carrier loaded up with harpy's(damn minmaxing
Didn't bring any fighters since they would be totally useless against my fleet!). Trio of destroyers for pretty small fleet.
This time scenario was space superiority. Guess I need to consider boarding action as well as now there's clear bonus for capturing the ship rather than ramming it to destruction!
Deployment:
Vuldruk deployed as far ahead as possible pointing straight toward enemy. With ranges being what they are hanging back is definetely NOT recommended. I kept myrkwyrms intermixed with other ships as I didn't want those torpedo bombers get free chances to nib out of retaliation range. Hazat meanwhile deployed in broadway formation similar to how he deployed last time. Superior range so maintain it! Carrier kept further back to keep it hopefully tad safer than in front line.
Too bad the pictures are bit hard to decipher due to ship graphs being what they are.
Turn 1: Hazat won initiave. I lost initiave roll?-) Hopefully it gets back to what it was last game
As last game I moved explorers first(full speed ahead) with blast doors closed. I might be playing these too simple and should try to manouver from where they can't shoot but let's see if I can get couple against that juicy cruiser! Besides the threat of that ramming ought to keep their guns pointed at the dirt cheap explorers.
Threat certainly made the hazat reshuffle further toward left muttering something nasty about speed 16" kamikaze runners. Torpedo bombers moved between the two fleets(with 3 more being launched at the end phase).
Shooting. Canai fired at one explorer and caused whopping 3 points of damage with the turret weapons. Bless the armour+CBD! (oh and crappy to hit rolls help too! Only 3 3+ out of 6 dices...).
Dreadnought fired toward incoming fighters(only thing it could shoot...). One managed to dodge his way to safety, one managed to be recovered by the carrier and one was blown out of the sky for good.
Manticore 1: 1 damage to damaged explorer. This time what botched it was his rolls vs armour. Langskip knocked another fighter back to carrier while second manticore, with help of THREE criticals, finished off the damaged myrkwyrm. Second langskip knocked yet another fighter back to carrier(sheesh couldn't they just DIE? 4 rolls, 3 success at 5+. Dammit!). One point of damage to myrkwyrm from manticore and carrier failed to damage anything and that was it for the turn(after more fighters were launched).
Turn 2: Vuldrok won the initiave. Yey!
Forces kept approaching though mainly due to vuldroks which prepared for next turn mayhem. One hadruk used moon to slingshot itself bit forward. Torpedo bombers moved to shoot at myrkwyrms that were aiming toward the capital ships. Initiave sink advantage Vuldroks possessed was very telling.
Shooting. I didn't want my precious myrkwyrms being blasted too easily before ramming so I opened up with dreadnought(which was still nicely behind. Stupid speed 8"). This proved particulary effective knocking 3 fighters off which failed carrier save. Clear the sky!
Remaining 2 fighters, working on principle of better to use weapons while still alive, fired at nearest myrkwyrm. ONE damage got through but 3 critical hits(we presume CBD saves damage but critical hits still come in play. Though CBD can save extra damage from criticals right?). These caused weapon and reactor(one damage through) and ignored shield critical. That wasn't that bad. Especially as now they have to reload.
With fighters being neutralised atleast for a while I decided to start dealing with manticores. First langskip fired turret at it and caused 5 damage. 2 of them being criticals! These were reactor and shields. VERY good!
Said manticore fired at damaged myrkwyrm causing 3 damage through. These buggers are tough. Not even crippled yet.
Langskip #2 fired at damaged manticore, passing shields and causing 4 damage including crew critical.
Another manticore fired at the damaged myrkwyrm and BLEW it off. It exploded knocking out one fighter for good and one was rescued to the carrier(darn instant reload too!). One myrkwyrm was slightly damaged in the process too.
Hadruk that had used slingshot tried to take potshot toward unfired manticore but with shields on only one damage was inflicted.
Particulary crappy shooting from manticore resulted in mere 3 damage to one myrkwyrm.
Another hadruk joined in and with lucky double 6 caused both weapon and shield critical. Me being lucky!
Canai fired at two myrkwyrms crippling one(though with the turret weapons at that damaged one should have destroyed it) and few damage points to another.
Final hadruk fired at the manticore that was closest toward planet. Shields failed to work as I passed the 4+ check and caused punishing amount of damage including second level weapon critical and engine critical.
Carrier finished off the crippled myrkwyrm(cripled but still in range to ram one of the manticores next turn...) but only barely which was pretty embarrasing since it only needed 2 damage through. And had I passed one 4+ save out of 2 it would have survived. Still can't really complain
3 more fighters launched(4 left in hangars still). No criticals repaired.
(note. We almost forgot to take picture so part of turn 3 was already in process. Basically the first 2 rams and carrier moving upward)
Turn 3: Critical initiave roll and...Vuldruk won. "Give me ramming speed!"
Myrkwyrm #1 rammed straight toward Canai and hit. After all told(now with corrected ramming critical rules) cruiser was adrift, crippled having suffered total of 31 damage, lacking troop, lacking shield and suffering escalate...Jeesus. I'm definetely in favour of toning these buggers!
Carrier moved toward planet hoping to avoid ram itself. Second myrkwyrm hit straight on toward uppermost manticore knocking it out. However these buggers are FAST! I first considered ramming manticore that had just moved toward my fleet but that HAD managed to move just far that 45 degree turn does not cut it. So instead I tried to ram the carrier but this time carrier managed to dodge the attempt.
Last manticore tried come about but failed the CQ9 test.
At this point I started poundering whether I should try to board them rather than explode them. More vp's!
However that cruiser has lots of marauders so I decided I'll try to destroy that instead. Still 2 myrkwyrms left. One hit it but 1 for damage resulted in more of a whimper. Second hit too and needing just 3+ to take it out rolled...2. Bleh. Guess I need to knock it out the old fashioned way then! With guns!
Rest of the Vuldruk moved in for a kill. Langskips and dreadnought not using CBD to ensure maximum shooting(Well. Dread had yet to CBD in the game after first turn).
Dreadnought opened up the festivalities firing EVERYTHING against the intact manticore. Heavy slug guns fired shield breakers busting them all and causing 6 points of damage and 2 criticals in the process. These were just reactor and engine though. Side weapons caused bucketload of damage crippling the ship and causing crew critical as well.
Still intact manticore fired turret + one broadside toward dreadnought but only caused 1 damage. Armour 3 is tough! Second broadside fired at the hadruk behind carrier causing 6 damage including engine critical. Return fire from hadruk damaged manticore badly causing also weapon critical but still not crippled.
Then came one of the most anticlimatic rolls I have seen so far in this game. Carrier opened up at the dreadnought. Caused 9 hits in total. Then armour stopped all but 2...But they were criticals! Yey! Until opponent rolled double 6...Shields...Ignored...LOL! Well okay he got 2 damage points but that was kinda...Pathetic
At center hadruk fired shield breakers toward almost dead cruiser with just 3 operational and knocked 2 out for now.
Canai, more out of desperation by now, tried miracle shot to do SOMETHING and opened up broadsides toward dreadnought. 7 points of damage got through armour, that's it.
Langskip knocked out the Canai out of it's misery.
Final manticore fired at hadruk but only 1 damage(plus crew critical) got through.
Torpedo bombers at north knocked out final myrkwyrm(that had failed to ram the carrier). Third torpedo bomber caused 3 points of damage to langskip.
Finally langskip fired everything at non-crippled manticore. Only 1 damage got through but that was enough to cripple the ship.
More fighters launched but game was pretty much over by now.
Turn 4: Hazat won initiave(yey...)
One manticore moved forward a bit but being crippled not much it could do. One hadruk then opted to board the non-moved manticore doing so succesfully. Another joined in the fun. Dreadnought moved toward planet turning toward it and then slingshotted itself getting the pesky carrier into right arc view. Rest of the Vuldruk ships turned as fast as they could. One langskip managed to use come about order for extra moving goodyness. Without hadruk in way it could even have tried boarding the manticore.
Shooting. Carrier opened up toward dreadnought causing 6 damage points including 3 criticals. Engine, weapon(that's annoying) and shield(yey!).
Dreadnought caused punishing damage in return but didn't cripple it. Weapon, crew and 2 engine criticals were caused though. One fighter was blown out too. Remaining 4 fired torpedo's at the monstorous ship but only got 4 damage in. Critical being shields...
One fighter had moved toward south(unable to catch with dreadnought) and fired at hadrak that had boarded manticore. 3 damage points + crew critical and was then knocked out by langskip. One boarding hadruk fired at the lone crippled manticore causing yet another shield critical and bunch of damage but return fire caused another point of damage + weapon critical. Boarded manticore fired turret at same target causing yet another weapon critical. Good thing I'm not doing that much shooting anymore eh?
Another hadruk fired at the unengaged manticore bringing it further down. Those shield crits are handy! However I then opted not to shoot with langskip. I might board it instead too!
So straight to boarding! I obviously sent everything since risk of counter charge was...Well nill! Casualties were 7 to 4 in Vuldruk's favour. Next turn finishes that bugger off.
Only ship succeeding in critical repairs(these had sucked for both of us all game) was dreadnought but it fixed both of the crits!
turn 5: Hazat won the initiave.
Not much to do. Run like hell! Vuldruk unengaged ships turned around. One hadruk and dreadnought even passing come about tests! Torpedo bombers headed toward hangars though how long hangar was alive was another thing entirely!
Shooting. Boarded manticore fired toward lone hadruk on it's left. Every shot hit but armour rolls sucked and only 5 damage and 2 criticals, one which was shield and other causing level 2 crew critical, was caused.
I didn't want to blow my prize ships and dreadnought had the carrier in front arc. So much for side guns! They fired at the carrier and somehow managed to cause just enough damage and just 2 criticals which promptly hit the parts which hadn't suffered critical yet that the bloody ship was still alive! Just one damage point not taken out...However this is actually blessing in disguise as I think I can board and capture that ship before game is over!
Boarding. I killed remaining crew, left one there, ensured that the hadruk pointing toward second manticore has full complement of crew and we were done for the turn.
3 fighters managed to reload. Carrier repaired reactor critical realising speed is of importance here(and wanting the shields back up just in case).
turn 6: hazat won initiave
Carrier ran ahead fast as it could! Which was just 3" though as he wanted to launch the fighters.
langskip grabbled manticore. Hadruk joined in fun with 2nd coming to help next turn if somehow in need of it...
Rest of ships moved around. Captured manticore used close blast doors. Reason for this came when that manticore that was about to be boarded fired at the former comrade to prevent extra victory points! However shooting was totally inefficient. Carrier missed as well and I refused to shoot.
Boarding. With 15 vs 9 it was not going to be fair fight. Casualties 6 vs 3 in Vuldruk favour.
3 torpedo bombers launched, last ones rearmed.
Turn 7: Vuldruk won initiave
Dreadnought grabbled the carrier. Hadruk
Dreadnought passed another come about so now was heading straight TOWARD it. No avoiding boarding now!
I remembered victory conditions so started to spread around my ships to grab more sections.
Carrier and fighters concentrated toward the dreadnought but only caused little damage + weapon critical. Yet another critical hit was nullified by being shield critical.
Boarding. Manticore was unsurprisingly captured. Yey! Dreadnought only managed to kill half the crew and lost 3 in process. Could I kill the crew in time?
2 more fighters launched(or can it launch while being boarded?) emptying the hangars.
turn 8:
Vuldruk fleet manouvered in position to grab more stuff. One hadruk moved at full speed and lost point of armour(as if that matters anymore).
Shooting: Carrier fired turret at one hadruk and crippled it! Whoops! Forgot it could still shoot...In return I killed one of them for good(vp's). Final torpedo run from fighters resulted in just one damage to dreadnought.
Finally big one. Could I capture the carrier or not? YES! 17 crew, exactly 5 kills. Ship is mine!
I had scored 4 extra sectors(one barely thanks to the full speed ahead order). So overall convincing victory.
Casualties:
Vuldrok:
8 myrkwyrm
crippled hadruk
=145
hazat:
cruiser
captured carrier
2 captured destroyers
destroyer
8 torpedo bombers
=1130+100(hold the ground)+200(scenario objectives)=1430
So yeah. I think that's massacre victory...
Ships of the match:
Myrkwyrms. Influenced his game by forcing him to deal with them, surprisingly resilient taking annoyingly lots of damage to take out and caused nice amount of damage including of course the spectacular ram against the cruiser basically knocking that out of the contest...
Dissapointment of the match:
Canai. Didn't do much even before getting crippled and just kept failing to hit anything seriously.
Definitely feel that ram 2 for the myrkwyrms is justifiable. Ram 3 makes them real nasty buggers giving average of 10.5 damage. Especially seeing it has 50-50 chance of causing enough damage to get that d6 critical which is just BRUTAL!
My initial fear against fighters was reduced a bit. With weak weapons not affecting Vuldrok ships and heavy fighters generally having lower dodge scores I should be able to knock those that can hurt me at decent rate. Then when they attacked these were kinda...Wimpy! I think he suffered from 2 factors: a) they were heavy fighters designed against shielded targets. Decados heavy fighters might have been more up to the task due to swapping slow(ignore shields) to devastating+1(beefier critical hits). Though even less of a dodge and less accuracy. b) he sent them forward straight ahead. We both agreed this was _bad move_. He wanted them to start dealing with the myrkwyrms(which he already knew for nasty thing) but this gave me them to shoot at when I didn't have range vs his capital ships anyway...Tough proposition. Do you let myrkwyrms reach you without using fighters or do you give meaningful targets to shoot?
Next time I take Vuldrok I'll take less myrkwyrms! Time to try something different and see how it goes. Or I might try the Decados next up.
And pretty sure my dice roll is bound to take a hit sooner or later Or maybe it should be that HIS dice roll is going to go up. Christ he rolled crappily again.
vuldrok:
slatra konungr-class dreadnought 600
langskip class destroyer 180
langskip class destroyer 180
hadruk class frigate 100
hadruk class frigate 100
hadruk class frigate 100
8xmyrkwyrm class explorer 240
I opted to bring the big guy(though three more langskips did tempt. Or try some galleons. But in the end...It's a frigging DREADNOUGHT! Look at the size of that thing! Plus it's packing more guns than I care to count, has bucketload of hit points, armour 3 and since I could afford it and had already tested langskips(and had them here too) I went for the coolness. Albeit trio of destroyers might be better option. Anyway 2 langskips to give me more shooting power, trio of hadruks to deal with any fighters and knock out shields and then 8 myrkwyrm kamikaze ships.
hazat:
Canai class cruiser 400
trafalgar class carrier 320
manticore class destroyer 180
manticore class destroyer 180
manticore class destroyer 180
12xharpy class torpedo bomber 240
So he brought in cruiser and carrier loaded up with harpy's(damn minmaxing
Didn't bring any fighters since they would be totally useless against my fleet!). Trio of destroyers for pretty small fleet.This time scenario was space superiority. Guess I need to consider boarding action as well as now there's clear bonus for capturing the ship rather than ramming it to destruction!
Deployment:
Vuldruk deployed as far ahead as possible pointing straight toward enemy. With ranges being what they are hanging back is definetely NOT recommended. I kept myrkwyrms intermixed with other ships as I didn't want those torpedo bombers get free chances to nib out of retaliation range. Hazat meanwhile deployed in broadway formation similar to how he deployed last time. Superior range so maintain it! Carrier kept further back to keep it hopefully tad safer than in front line.
Too bad the pictures are bit hard to decipher due to ship graphs being what they are.
Turn 1: Hazat won initiave. I lost initiave roll?-) Hopefully it gets back to what it was last game
As last game I moved explorers first(full speed ahead) with blast doors closed. I might be playing these too simple and should try to manouver from where they can't shoot but let's see if I can get couple against that juicy cruiser! Besides the threat of that ramming ought to keep their guns pointed at the dirt cheap explorers.
Threat certainly made the hazat reshuffle further toward left muttering something nasty about speed 16" kamikaze runners. Torpedo bombers moved between the two fleets(with 3 more being launched at the end phase).
Shooting. Canai fired at one explorer and caused whopping 3 points of damage with the turret weapons. Bless the armour+CBD! (oh and crappy to hit rolls help too! Only 3 3+ out of 6 dices...).
Dreadnought fired toward incoming fighters(only thing it could shoot...). One managed to dodge his way to safety, one managed to be recovered by the carrier and one was blown out of the sky for good.
Manticore 1: 1 damage to damaged explorer. This time what botched it was his rolls vs armour. Langskip knocked another fighter back to carrier while second manticore, with help of THREE criticals, finished off the damaged myrkwyrm. Second langskip knocked yet another fighter back to carrier(sheesh couldn't they just DIE? 4 rolls, 3 success at 5+. Dammit!). One point of damage to myrkwyrm from manticore and carrier failed to damage anything and that was it for the turn(after more fighters were launched).
Turn 2: Vuldrok won the initiave. Yey!
Forces kept approaching though mainly due to vuldroks which prepared for next turn mayhem. One hadruk used moon to slingshot itself bit forward. Torpedo bombers moved to shoot at myrkwyrms that were aiming toward the capital ships. Initiave sink advantage Vuldroks possessed was very telling.
Shooting. I didn't want my precious myrkwyrms being blasted too easily before ramming so I opened up with dreadnought(which was still nicely behind. Stupid speed 8"
). This proved particulary effective knocking 3 fighters off which failed carrier save. Clear the sky!Remaining 2 fighters, working on principle of better to use weapons while still alive, fired at nearest myrkwyrm. ONE damage got through but 3 critical hits(we presume CBD saves damage but critical hits still come in play. Though CBD can save extra damage from criticals right?). These caused weapon and reactor(one damage through) and ignored shield critical. That wasn't that bad. Especially as now they have to reload.
With fighters being neutralised atleast for a while I decided to start dealing with manticores. First langskip fired turret at it and caused 5 damage. 2 of them being criticals! These were reactor and shields. VERY good!
Said manticore fired at damaged myrkwyrm causing 3 damage through. These buggers are tough. Not even crippled yet.
Langskip #2 fired at damaged manticore, passing shields and causing 4 damage including crew critical.
Another manticore fired at the damaged myrkwyrm and BLEW it off. It exploded knocking out one fighter for good and one was rescued to the carrier(darn instant reload too!). One myrkwyrm was slightly damaged in the process too.
Hadruk that had used slingshot tried to take potshot toward unfired manticore but with shields on only one damage was inflicted.
Particulary crappy shooting from manticore resulted in mere 3 damage to one myrkwyrm.
Another hadruk joined in and with lucky double 6 caused both weapon and shield critical. Me being lucky!
Canai fired at two myrkwyrms crippling one(though with the turret weapons at that damaged one should have destroyed it) and few damage points to another.
Final hadruk fired at the manticore that was closest toward planet. Shields failed to work as I passed the 4+ check and caused punishing amount of damage including second level weapon critical and engine critical.
Carrier finished off the crippled myrkwyrm(cripled but still in range to ram one of the manticores next turn...) but only barely which was pretty embarrasing since it only needed 2 damage through. And had I passed one 4+ save out of 2 it would have survived. Still can't really complain
3 more fighters launched(4 left in hangars still). No criticals repaired.
(note. We almost forgot to take picture so part of turn 3 was already in process. Basically the first 2 rams and carrier moving upward)
Turn 3: Critical initiave roll and...Vuldruk won. "Give me ramming speed!"
Myrkwyrm #1 rammed straight toward Canai and hit. After all told(now with corrected ramming critical rules) cruiser was adrift, crippled having suffered total of 31 damage, lacking troop, lacking shield and suffering escalate...Jeesus. I'm definetely in favour of toning these buggers!
Carrier moved toward planet hoping to avoid ram itself. Second myrkwyrm hit straight on toward uppermost manticore knocking it out. However these buggers are FAST! I first considered ramming manticore that had just moved toward my fleet but that HAD managed to move just far that 45 degree turn does not cut it. So instead I tried to ram the carrier but this time carrier managed to dodge the attempt.
Last manticore tried come about but failed the CQ9 test.
At this point I started poundering whether I should try to board them rather than explode them. More vp's!
However that cruiser has lots of marauders so I decided I'll try to destroy that instead. Still 2 myrkwyrms left. One hit it but 1 for damage resulted in more of a whimper. Second hit too and needing just 3+ to take it out rolled...2. Bleh. Guess I need to knock it out the old fashioned way then! With guns!
Rest of the Vuldruk moved in for a kill. Langskips and dreadnought not using CBD to ensure maximum shooting(Well. Dread had yet to CBD in the game after first turn).
Dreadnought opened up the festivalities firing EVERYTHING against the intact manticore. Heavy slug guns fired shield breakers busting them all and causing 6 points of damage and 2 criticals in the process. These were just reactor and engine though. Side weapons caused bucketload of damage crippling the ship and causing crew critical as well.
Still intact manticore fired turret + one broadside toward dreadnought but only caused 1 damage. Armour 3 is tough! Second broadside fired at the hadruk behind carrier causing 6 damage including engine critical. Return fire from hadruk damaged manticore badly causing also weapon critical but still not crippled.
Then came one of the most anticlimatic rolls I have seen so far in this game. Carrier opened up at the dreadnought. Caused 9 hits in total. Then armour stopped all but 2...But they were criticals! Yey! Until opponent rolled double 6...Shields...Ignored...LOL! Well okay he got 2 damage points but that was kinda...Pathetic
At center hadruk fired shield breakers toward almost dead cruiser with just 3 operational and knocked 2 out for now.
Canai, more out of desperation by now, tried miracle shot to do SOMETHING and opened up broadsides toward dreadnought. 7 points of damage got through armour, that's it.
Langskip knocked out the Canai out of it's misery.
Final manticore fired at hadruk but only 1 damage(plus crew critical) got through.
Torpedo bombers at north knocked out final myrkwyrm(that had failed to ram the carrier). Third torpedo bomber caused 3 points of damage to langskip.
Finally langskip fired everything at non-crippled manticore. Only 1 damage got through but that was enough to cripple the ship.
More fighters launched but game was pretty much over by now.
Turn 4: Hazat won initiave(yey...)
One manticore moved forward a bit but being crippled not much it could do. One hadruk then opted to board the non-moved manticore doing so succesfully. Another joined in the fun. Dreadnought moved toward planet turning toward it and then slingshotted itself getting the pesky carrier into right arc view. Rest of the Vuldruk ships turned as fast as they could. One langskip managed to use come about order for extra moving goodyness. Without hadruk in way it could even have tried boarding the manticore.
Shooting. Carrier opened up toward dreadnought causing 6 damage points including 3 criticals. Engine, weapon(that's annoying) and shield(yey!).
Dreadnought caused punishing damage in return but didn't cripple it. Weapon, crew and 2 engine criticals were caused though. One fighter was blown out too. Remaining 4 fired torpedo's at the monstorous ship but only got 4 damage in. Critical being shields...
One fighter had moved toward south(unable to catch with dreadnought) and fired at hadrak that had boarded manticore. 3 damage points + crew critical and was then knocked out by langskip. One boarding hadruk fired at the lone crippled manticore causing yet another shield critical and bunch of damage but return fire caused another point of damage + weapon critical. Boarded manticore fired turret at same target causing yet another weapon critical. Good thing I'm not doing that much shooting anymore eh?
Another hadruk fired at the unengaged manticore bringing it further down. Those shield crits are handy! However I then opted not to shoot with langskip. I might board it instead too!
So straight to boarding! I obviously sent everything since risk of counter charge was...Well nill! Casualties were 7 to 4 in Vuldruk's favour. Next turn finishes that bugger off.
Only ship succeeding in critical repairs(these had sucked for both of us all game) was dreadnought but it fixed both of the crits!
turn 5: Hazat won the initiave.
Not much to do. Run like hell! Vuldruk unengaged ships turned around. One hadruk and dreadnought even passing come about tests! Torpedo bombers headed toward hangars though how long hangar was alive was another thing entirely!
Shooting. Boarded manticore fired toward lone hadruk on it's left. Every shot hit but armour rolls sucked and only 5 damage and 2 criticals, one which was shield and other causing level 2 crew critical, was caused.
I didn't want to blow my prize ships and dreadnought had the carrier in front arc. So much for side guns! They fired at the carrier and somehow managed to cause just enough damage and just 2 criticals which promptly hit the parts which hadn't suffered critical yet that the bloody ship was still alive! Just one damage point not taken out...However this is actually blessing in disguise as I think I can board and capture that ship before game is over!
Boarding. I killed remaining crew, left one there, ensured that the hadruk pointing toward second manticore has full complement of crew and we were done for the turn.
3 fighters managed to reload. Carrier repaired reactor critical realising speed is of importance here(and wanting the shields back up just in case).
turn 6: hazat won initiave
Carrier ran ahead fast as it could! Which was just 3" though as he wanted to launch the fighters.
langskip grabbled manticore. Hadruk joined in fun with 2nd coming to help next turn if somehow in need of it...
Rest of ships moved around. Captured manticore used close blast doors. Reason for this came when that manticore that was about to be boarded fired at the former comrade to prevent extra victory points! However shooting was totally inefficient. Carrier missed as well and I refused to shoot.
Boarding. With 15 vs 9 it was not going to be fair fight. Casualties 6 vs 3 in Vuldruk favour.
3 torpedo bombers launched, last ones rearmed.
Turn 7: Vuldruk won initiave
Dreadnought grabbled the carrier. Hadruk
Dreadnought passed another come about so now was heading straight TOWARD it. No avoiding boarding now!
I remembered victory conditions so started to spread around my ships to grab more sections.
Carrier and fighters concentrated toward the dreadnought but only caused little damage + weapon critical. Yet another critical hit was nullified by being shield critical.
Boarding. Manticore was unsurprisingly captured. Yey! Dreadnought only managed to kill half the crew and lost 3 in process. Could I kill the crew in time?
2 more fighters launched(or can it launch while being boarded?) emptying the hangars.
turn 8:
Vuldruk fleet manouvered in position to grab more stuff. One hadruk moved at full speed and lost point of armour(as if that matters anymore).
Shooting: Carrier fired turret at one hadruk and crippled it! Whoops! Forgot it could still shoot...In return I killed one of them for good(vp's). Final torpedo run from fighters resulted in just one damage to dreadnought.
Finally big one. Could I capture the carrier or not? YES! 17 crew, exactly 5 kills. Ship is mine!
I had scored 4 extra sectors(one barely thanks to the full speed ahead order). So overall convincing victory.
Casualties:
Vuldrok:
8 myrkwyrm
crippled hadruk
=145
hazat:
cruiser
captured carrier
2 captured destroyers
destroyer
8 torpedo bombers
=1130+100(hold the ground)+200(scenario objectives)=1430
So yeah. I think that's massacre victory...
Ships of the match:
Myrkwyrms. Influenced his game by forcing him to deal with them, surprisingly resilient taking annoyingly lots of damage to take out and caused nice amount of damage including of course the spectacular ram against the cruiser basically knocking that out of the contest...
Dissapointment of the match:
Canai. Didn't do much even before getting crippled and just kept failing to hit anything seriously.
Definitely feel that ram 2 for the myrkwyrms is justifiable. Ram 3 makes them real nasty buggers giving average of 10.5 damage. Especially seeing it has 50-50 chance of causing enough damage to get that d6 critical which is just BRUTAL!
My initial fear against fighters was reduced a bit. With weak weapons not affecting Vuldrok ships and heavy fighters generally having lower dodge scores I should be able to knock those that can hurt me at decent rate. Then when they attacked these were kinda...Wimpy! I think he suffered from 2 factors: a) they were heavy fighters designed against shielded targets. Decados heavy fighters might have been more up to the task due to swapping slow(ignore shields) to devastating+1(beefier critical hits). Though even less of a dodge and less accuracy. b) he sent them forward straight ahead. We both agreed this was _bad move_. He wanted them to start dealing with the myrkwyrms(which he already knew for nasty thing) but this gave me them to shoot at when I didn't have range vs his capital ships anyway...Tough proposition. Do you let myrkwyrms reach you without using fighters or do you give meaningful targets to shoot?
Next time I take Vuldrok I'll take less myrkwyrms! Time to try something different and see how it goes. Or I might try the Decados next up.
And pretty sure my dice roll is bound to take a hit sooner or later
Or maybe it should be that HIS dice roll is going to go up. Christ he rolled crappily again.