CAT FIGHT! BatRep

[Drummer]

A Battle During the War of Return

This engagement represents a possible battle during the Kzinti War of Return. The civil war pitted the Usurper forces from the Wyn, white ships, trying to overturn the Crown Prince, traditional red ships. The fleets for this battle are identical.

Forces of the Usurper (white) Painted by kyrolon.
DN Mangonel
BCH Trebuchet
CM Longbow
CL Shortbow
DW Ballista

Forces of the Crown Prince (red) Painted by Drummer.
DN Tribal
BCH Conquest
CM Frenzy
CL Shadow Dancer
DW Brilliance

 

[Drummer]

Both fleets approach cautiously, boosting shields or looking to intensify defensive fire to assist other ships. Long range fire, both from drones and disruptors, focus primarily on one ship on each side, the CM Longbow and the CL Shadow Dancer.

 

[Drummer]

As the fleets approach, the Crown’s Shadow Dancer disintegrates, overtaken by constant barrages of fire, and the Usurper Longbow eventually falls back crippled.

 

[Drummer]

The fleets get closer, and the Usurper DW Ballista, finds itself the focal point of closure as it leaps to the forefront. Overextended, the Ballista gets pounced upon by the Crown’s DN Tribal, which centerlines it at point blank range. The Usurper dreadnought, Mangonel, positions itself as best it can for a leisurely overloaded disrupter shot at the exposed Tribal.

 

[Drummer]

Fortunately, the Crown’s Tribal goes first, putting enough firepower into DW Ballista to gut and destroy it without exploding (the picture is misleading). The Usurper’s Mangonel's gunner, a young ensign called Kitten-Who-Trembles-In-Combat, shoots badly at the Tribal, reprieving it of a terrible pounding.

 

[Drummer]

However, the Usurper’s BCH Trebuchet shoots incredibly well, putting six close-range phaser-1’s (including at least one disrupter) right through the boosted shields of the Crown’s DW Brilliance to cripple her! The Brilliance’s luck goes from bad to worse as it losses most traits including its anti-drone system. Subsequent large drone volleys, following the Trebuchet’s excellent direct weapons fire, destroys the Brilliance next to the Crown’s BCH Conquest.

 

[Drummer]

Somewhere in the melee, the Mangonel takes a fluke weapons critical hit by an errant phaser through the dreadnought’s thick shields. As the tide of the battle shifts, the Usurper’s light cruiser, Shortbow, gets overwhelmed with drone waves, which first strip its shields and eventually starts to damage her. This will force her to fall back with the CM Longbow.

 

[Drummer]

The Crown ships move back. As the Tribal falls back, the bold Mangonel leaps upon her to destroy her. The dreadnoughts engage in a close range firefight. Unwittingly, the Kitten-Who-Trembles-In-Combat plays yet another unfortunate role in this dreadnought duel. The Mangonel’s fire on the Tribal is shaky, leaving the Tribal in good shape, and the combined fire of the Crown’s surviving ships badly wounds the Mangonel. Also, the damaged and crippled ships of the Usurper have fallen too far back to assist their failing flagship. The BCH Trebuchet’s poor turn mode didn’t allow it to follow the Mangonel directly either, and it stays at range, pivoting to support with all the firepower it could muster toward the enemy.

 

[Drummer]

At this point, the battle is won. All that the Crown ships have to do is send a few drone waves at the crippled and relatively defenseless Usurper ships to take them down. The crippled Mangonel succumbs to mostly direct fire weapons, while the crippled CM Longbow and CL Shortbow both get systematically targeted with overwhelming drone waves to obliterate them before escaping. Only the BCH Trebuchet escapes while its comrades collapse and perish in the following chase (artistic license with the picture).

The Crown Prince's navy continues to successfully defend the realm. It helps to win initiative rolls throughout the game.

 

[Da Boss]

Most impressive report - some very nicely painted ships as well

 

[billclo]

Very nice report, thank you.

You know, I like the paintjob on the Crown Prince forces better than what I have come up with on my few Kzinti. How'd you do it? I am considering switching to something more resembling what you did instead of the purple and gold I did on my first batch of Kzinti ships.

And those decals, where did you get them?

 

[kyrolon]

Since I am here and Drummer isn't I will tell you that there are NO DECALS on his Crown Prince's ships. :shock:

He is just an excellent free hand painter. Wait until he finishes the batrep from the second game of the weekend and you see his Romulans.

I'll let him give you details, but for the most part the base colors of his fleet are mixed using Valejo colors and then primed and drybrushed like normal.

 

[billclo]

No decals?! Wow, excellent free hand painter indeed.

 

[Jean]

I'd love to use some of those pictures on ADB's page on FB. May I? If so, would you mind PMing me with real names so I can give credit where credit is due.

 

[Nerroth]

Good to see the "civil war" aspect of the Kzintis played up in paint!


For those who are unfamiliar with the War of Return, the Kzinti ships which fought on the side of the Usurper belonged mostly to the Count, the Pentarchal noble responsible for the portion of the Hegemony facing the Lyran border. The Usurper didn't have enough forces to take on the Crown Prince by himself, and relied on the support of the Count to push things as far as he did historically. For his own part, the Crown Prince had the support of the home fleet and the "off-map" Barony, but the Duke (Klingon border) and Marquis (Federation border) fleets sat out the conflict (waiting to see who was going to win).

The Usurper's own forces were mostly made up of WYN "fish ships" which have yet to be shown for the Starline 2500 series, along with a number of WYN-Orion hulls that served for a time in his task force. WYN-Orion ships look more or less like Orion Pirate ones, except for a few restrictions (such as not being able to double their engines).

 

[Drummer]

Very nice report, thank you.

You know, I like the paintjob on the Crown Prince forces better than what I have come up with on my few Kzinti. How'd you do it? I am considering switching to something more resembling what you did instead of the purple and gold I did on my first batch of Kzinti ships.

And those decals, where did you get them?

Basically, I carefully dry brushed a red/scarlet/gold (1:1:1) mix over a red/brown (2:1) base coat. Then the panels are a lighter yellow/scarlet (2:1) mix with a drop of light grey added to the larger mix to tone it slightly. I use drops of paint in a dimpled mixing palette, but likewise just mix colors on disposable pieces of cardboard, too. You can experiment with variations of mixtures. Write down exactly the mixes you use so you don't forget if you paint your mini's over any length of time. You don't want to forget your ratios from one batch to the next!!! I tend to do mine in batches of same class in case there's a variation.

As my friend said, I hand painted everything. There are no decals. Good luck with everything

 

[Drummer]

Good to see the "civil war" aspect of the Kzintis played up in paint!


For those who are unfamiliar with the War of Return, the Kzinti ships which fought on the side of the Usurper belonged mostly to the Count, the Pentarchal noble responsible for the portion of the Hegemony facing the Lyran border. The Usurper didn't have enough forces to take on the Crown Prince by himself, and relied on the support of the Count to push things as far as he did historically. For his own part, the Crown Prince had the support of the home fleet and the "off-map" Barony, but the Duke (Klingon border) and Marquis (Federation border) fleets sat out the conflict (waiting to see who was going to win).

The Usurper's own forces were mostly made up of WYN "fish ships" which have yet to be shown for the Starline 2500 series, along with a number of WYN-Orion hulls that served for a time in his task force. WYN-Orion ships look more or less like Orion Pirate ones, except for a few restrictions (such as not being able to double their engines).

We were just having fun and needed a reason to put the white ships against the red ships really. We figured The War of Return fit the bill.

 

[Jean]

Guys, thanks for letting me use the pictures. I really appreciate it.

 

[kyrolon]

No problem. We're gamers. Who wouldn't like it when people want to look at their pretty toy spaceships? :lol: