Overall, an excellent weekend... I had fun in just about every game, and fortunately enough didn't face the bane of enjoyment fleet (Gaim) even once... which I am extremely thankful for!
I played on the Centauri side, and managed four wins out of six, and reinforced Centauri prime twice to make sure we managed to hold it in the final stages of the campaign.
My fleet was comprised of:-
2 Liatis
1 Secundus (Mass Driver)
2 Elutarians
1 Balvarin (2xRasik, 6xSentri)
2 Corvans
Game 1:- Team battle... Narn and EA vs Drakh and Centauri (LOST)
Drakh Fleet:
1 Heavy Cruiser
1 Strike Cruiser
1 Scout
4 Light Destroyers
EA Fleet:
2 Apollos
1 Omega
1 Marathon
4 Chronii
Narn Fleet:
1 G'Vrahn
2 Dag'Kars
2 Var'Nics
2 G'Kariths
This one went right down to the wire, we only managed two turns, as this was effectively a 10pt Battle game, which meant time was at a premium. The EA and Narn concentrated their fire on the left flank of our fleets, which was unfortunately occupied by most of my ships :? after trading hits for a while, we destroyed a Marathon at the cost of a Secundus and an Elutarian. The G'Vrahn jumped in, only to be confronted by the Drakh heavy Cruiser, 2 Light Cruisers and a pair of Liatis.
Everything opened up, and the Narn floating fortress took a heavy pounding, leaving it with only one crew member left on board. Unfortunately for the Republic, the second Liati was unable to get the G'Vrahn into it's front arc, so could only fire it's Ion cannon, which scored one hit with the final shot of the game, but hit a bulkhead, so the Narn vessel lived to fight another day!
Second Game:- Team battle, 3rd Age Ea (x2) vs Centauri (x2) (WON)
EA fleets (combined):
2 Warlocks
3 Omegas
2 Novas
1 Avenger
1 Oracle
2 Olympus
Centauri Fleet (combined):
4 Liatis
1 Secondus
2 Dargans
2 Elutarians
1 Balvarin
1 Demos
2 Morgraths
2 Corvans
Another game short on turns, I think we managed two again. Most of the opening exchanges were fairly even on turn one, but the fireworks started to fly in turn two when the two EA warlocks jumped in behind the Centauri fleet. Unfortunately for them, a squadron comprised of 2 Liatis and 2 Morgraths turned up directly behind one of the mighty warships (which had an 8 dice front beam :shock: ) and promptly melted it to slag with one volley. We lost a Dargan and an Elutarian while managing to destroy a Nova and cripple another without any further losses to either side.
Overall, a fun game, but I did feel a bit bad for Low Roller... it's never good to see your War ship torn in half without getting to fire it.
Third Game: 3rd Age EA vs Centauri (LOST)
EA Fleet:
1 Warlock
1 Omega
1 Avenger
2 Olympus
1 Oracle
(Could have been a Nova here, too... can't remember)
From turn 2: 1 Victory
This game started well for me, but ended up very badly... I won deployment and initiative in the first turn, and managed to advance my Liatis around the planet in the centre of the table, and avoid most of my fleet being boresighted (apart from one unfortunate Elutarian which was blown apart with one beam shot from the 'lock) and managed to cripple the Omega in reply with the combined fire from my Liatis, blowing out it's engines as well.
I was feeling good about the game at this point, as I now had my main punch in behind my opponent's fleet, and could safely out init sink the Warlock's boresight, so my fleet should have been able to avoid most of the EA's punch and strike with impunity.
However, a jump point ominously opened on my left flank, and a Victory emerged to change the course of the game beyond recognition. Triggy's huge ISA craft opened up it's front Neutron cannon upon the unfortunate Secundus and blew it to bits... this was followed by the surviving Elutarian being crippled, while my Liatis finished off the crippled Omega. At this point, I could have tried to run (in fact, I opened a jump gate with the Balvarin, but it became crippled before it could escape, and lost it's jump engines) but I decided to try to tie the Victory up for a couple of turns, so the EA and Triggy couldn't reinforce another table.
The Liati's sped past the planet again, and managed to get the 'lock lined up with their beams, seriously damaging it without managing to cripple it. The Victory then used the planet's gravity well to slingshot itself around to fire on one of the Liati's, destroying it with the one beam hit I didn't manage to dodge (Triggy rolled a 6/5 crit, then 10 on the 2d6 damage, trippled to 30... ouch) The Balvarin stood down and was boarded by the Avenger, and the crippled Elutarian was finished off, leaving me with only one Liati and a pair of Corvans... both of the scouts ran away, while the Liati took cover from the EA fleet behind a dust cloud, tying the rest of the fleet up as the seconds ran out.
Day 2:-
Game Four, Crusade EA vs Centauri (WON)
EA fleet:
1 Marathon
2 Apollos
1 Omega
4 Chronii
This was the best and most enjoyable game of the weekend for me... it went right down to the wire and each fleet had it's moments in the acendency. My opponant was extremely sporting, and we both used our fleets to their best advantage.
I was initially down one Raid point, as our forces were a bit skint, and katadder couldn't afford to fully reinforce my heavy losses from the previous game. I did offer to take fewer reinforcement points, and leave the Secundus out, but he insisted that I take the extra money, which in hindsight I am extremely grateful for!
As the fleets closed, the EA managed to destroy one of my Elutarians, while the Liatis screamed forward on my left flank, firing upon the Omega and blowing out it's engines. The game then became a bit of a furball, with everything swarming around the centre of the table with the Liatis dancing through the centre of the EA fleet, destroying the Marathon on their way past, before finishing off the Omega.
The Secundus launched it's breaching pods, one of which latched onto a Chronos, and after heavy fighting, the Centauri marines finished off the defending EA troops while back in space, a heavy exchange of fire was taking place between the entangled fleets. I lost a Liati and my other Elutarian, but managed to destroy an Apollo in return. The Chronii surrounded the Secundus and let fire with their rail guns and heavy pulse cannon, crippling it without destroying it, at which point the battle drew to a close, with me just coming out ahead on victory points and feeling rather elated!
Game 5: Crusade EA vs Centauri (WON)
This was a rematch between the same two fleets, but some extremely lucky dice rolling on my part saw that the game was really decided in my favour in the first turn of firing, when I managed to destroy the Marathon with one beam shot from a Liati (6/6 crit... ouch) and blow the engines out on the Omega with the other Liati... twice... with one shot :shock: After destroying an Apollo shortly afterwards, I accepted my opponent's offer to withdraw, as I'd still lost nothing at this point and wanted to help out on my homeworld.
I jumped my Liatis over to Centauri prime, where the Drakh were enmeshed in a brawl with the ISA. Again, lucky dice rolling on my part saw first one Whitestar go up in smoke as the Ion cannon from one Liati opened fire, while the plasma accelerator severely damaged another 'star.
The luckiest shot of the day for me was yet to come, though, as my second Liati managed to destroy the almost undamaged Tara'Lin (i think it'd only taken 5 points of damage at this point...) with one beam shot (11 hits + another 6/6 crit=dead Sharlin :shock: ) at this point, the game was called, and Centauri prime stayed in our hands as the final game arrived.
Game 6 Narn vs Centauri (WON)
Narn Fleet
G'Vrahn
G'Lan
Var'Nic
Dag'Kar
G'Karith
Thentus
Ka'Toc
This game was decided for us before it really got going... and to be honest, my brain was flagging at this point (2 hours sleep + a full day gaming really messed me up a bit... ended up stopping to sleep in my car on the way home, and only got in at 10:45, which is why I'm posting this so late!) and I kept trying to do things I couldn't (2 special actions at once, firing more than one weapon system on closed blast doors) fortunately, my opponent stopped me each time before I made a complete idiot out of myself, and I didn't actually do anything illegal during the game.
This was very quick, anyway... it only lasted one turn as katadder's Adira was about to jump in behind the G'Vrahn on turn 2, and rather th seeing his fleet destroyed by it for the third time, my opponent withdrew, leaving me to jump onto C. Prime again to help Hiff's Drakh out against Triggy's EA.
Again, my brain was a bit frazzled, and this game was extremely hectic, so I can't really recall much other than we had both Admirals (Greg & katadder), a big Drakh fleet, a Crusade EA fleet and my Liatis on the table all at once. Lots of stuff blew up, and we emerged with the game in hand, but only just... maybe one of the other players remembers it better than me
Final thoughts:
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable time, I thought we had no chance after day one, but we managed to turn things round quite well, just failing to clinch victory from the EA scum :wink: I will say though, that nobody that I talked to over the course of the weekend enjoyed playing against the EA's pet Gaim fleet (that also apparently bankrolled the EA's recovery after they'd taken *extremely* heavy losses across the board in the penultimate game... doesn't really seem to be in the spirit of a mercenary fleet to me, but I suppose everyone has their own interpretation of how hired guns should act)
Roll on the next event... can't wait to see the details of the mongoose doubles tournament!
Jim