Federation Intrusion of the Romulan Neutral Zone (BATREP).

[Drummer]

Federation Intrusion of the Romulan Neutral Zone.

A battle played at The Game Store in Greenfield (a Milwaukee suburb) 09AUG2013.
Romulan Player #1, Justin: FH, KE (unpainted, primed black... or stuck on cloak?)
Romulan Player #2, Eric: WE, 2xSKH (painted)
Federation played by George (Eric’s miniatures): NCC, NCF, NCL, DWD, DW

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Captain Stanley Phillips, formerly of the USS Manta Ray, drinks at a wet bar on Earth. He may have had more than a couple. The crowd around him seems indulgent for more stories. He’s been animated for the last couple of hours.

Glass in hand, he begins another one, “Okay, we drifted into the Romulan Neutral Zone. Big deal! Those ‘hawkheads’ have always been touchy about their border. One little infraction and they’re all over ya. We were drilling along the border when Admiral Wallington, God rest his soul, brought us to red alert and ordered us into the zone. Sure enough, a Romulan fleet was there to greet us. Absolutely we took the fight to ‘em. They were asking for it!”

 

[Drummer]

Phillips continues, “Both sides approached tan-gent-i-ally,” this came out slurred, “staying out of phaser range, eyeball’n each other up. Some ships pop off a couple drones for no effect. Next thing you know… Admiral Wallington, ya know what he says -I kid you not- he says, ‘Charge!’ Isn’t that a stitch! Over the relay I hear him yell ‘Charge!’ Of all the cotton pick’n things to say. No preamble, no explanation, and no clear instructions of any kind.“ The stunned officer pauses, then mutters, “I’m a Captain for crying out loud, I’m supposed to be in the know. Half of us didn’t have a clue what was going on. And sure enough, Wallington’s NCC rushed straight at the enemy. Sure, our ships followed, but a couple confused captains hung back. I mean, who wants to willingly waltz into prime plasma range? I suppose we all didn’t rightly believe it was really happen’n. ‘This cannot be real.’ I remember somebody on my bridge whisper. I guess I don’t blame the DWD for hanging back. Drone ships are supposed to hang back and throw their weight in nuclear tipped death at long range. Well, we all targeted their largest ship… the one the Admiral shot at, the single Firehawk cruiser. Who else were we to shoot at? Likewise, and no surprise here, they all targeted that foolhardy Admiral Wallington. His ship sat there begging to get kicked in the teeth with plasma.”

 

[Drummer]

“It’s no surprise the NCC went down.” Phillips mumbles. “Big kaplowy! Nobody covered him with defensive fire. Were we supposed to? Luckily, the Firehawk falls apart, too. We just keep firing phasers and drones while those ‘hawkheads’ cloaked.”

 

[Drummer]

There’s a pause. Captain Phillips continues slowly, “I now was in command. As the Romulans cloaked, our ships fired spasmodically at the faded warships. I ordered all ships to rearm photons and told the DWD and NCL to move up to help add their phasers. I quickly made the King Eagle a high priority target to eliminate its commander.

 

[Drummer]

“We waited for ‘em to reappear. They maneuvered. We maneuvered. I felt guilty when the ‘hawkheads’ got right behind the DWD and NCL. I was try’n to cover ‘em.”

 

[Drummer]

“They reappeared! We were a mishmash of ships here and ships there. Spooked, the NCL and DWD swung around as best they could. I felt as if I was in the middle of a fry'n pan!”

 

[Drummer]

“Everyone opened fire. The plasma overwhelmed our destroyers. One blew up immediately. The other staggered and exploded later. But we made ‘em pay. Phasers and photons blasted both Eagles. Shock’ngly, they survived! We hit that there King Eagle hard, too.”

 

[Drummer]

“After the second war destroyer exploded, those slippery Romulans cloaked yet again! But, not before overwhelming fire broke ‘em hulls of both that War Eagle and King Eagle. Heh! We nailed ‘em birds! What a hoot!“

 

[Drummer]

“The Skyhawk destroyers made a break for it, and that overzealous NCL captain, Roy Opono, aggressively followed those tail turned birds. I banked the Manta Ray hard to follow, but it skids like a pig on ice. As the Skyhawks reappeared, Opono’s damaged NCL exchanged fire to gun down one of its opponents, only to get flanked by the other and overwhelmed with plasma. I thought ol’ Roy was smarter than that… he shoulda boosted shields and shot down that plasma to preserve his command and save his life. All their lives.” He paused. “Roy musta been fixated on not letting those Skyhawks get away; forgot they could still getcha.”

 

[Drummer]

“The last Romulan warship warmed up those engines and skedaddled at high warp. Supposed he knew he was outgunned, huh? Hot dog, I was the last one at the dance!” Captain Phillips suddenly looked sullen. He remained quiet and motionless for a moment. Then, someone slapped him on the shoulder and bought him another drink.

 

[OrneryRooster]

Great game, Eric and Justin.

I completely forgot about being able to uncloak within 6 inches and 45 degrees of a miniature's beginning location when I moved my DWD during that FATEFUL TURN when everything went downhill. :lol:

I liked not having initiative the whole damn game too except during initial deployment..Feds sure are dumb sometimes.

All I can say is that my plan would have worked if it hadn't been for you meddling kids. hee hee

 

[revan266]

It was a great game, I'm glad my tactics for Romulans worked on my first game playing them. It might have been an easier win if you hadn't kept the NCF back on the turn we uncloaked. I'll have everyone know that both the King Eagle and the Fire Hawk are painted now.

 

[Nerroth]

Nice work on the paint jobs.


One thing I might suggest (and to be clear, I'm not sure how "offcial" this is in SFU terms) might be to consider painting the nacelle caps on the Fast ships (such as the NCF) blue, instead of red. Much of the recent artwork for Fed fast ships shows blue nacelle caps, to help indicate how these engines are distinct from those on non-fast hulls.

One example is the Two Moons-class fast destroyer, as shown on the front cover for Federation Commander: Reinforcements Attack. (That ship class has yet to be ported into ACtA:SF, but its lone nacelle is the same type as each of those seen on the 2500-series Fed CF.)

(I'm not sure if other empires, like the Romulans, would also have the nacelle caps on their fast ships painted a distinct colour.)

 

[billclo]

Good account of the battle.

 

[Drummer]

Nice work on the paint jobs.


One thing I might suggest (and to be clear, I'm not sure how "offcial" this is in SFU terms) might be to consider painting the nacelle caps on the Fast ships (such as the NCF) blue, instead of red. Much of the recent artwork for Fed fast ships shows blue nacelle caps, to help indicate how these engines are distinct from those on non-fast hulls.

One example is the Two Moons-class fast destroyer, as shown on the front cover for Federation Commander: Reinforcements Attack. (That ship class has yet to be ported into ACtA:SF, but its lone nacelle is the same type as each of those seen on the 2500-series Fed CF.)

(I'm not sure if other empires, like the Romulans, would also have the nacelle caps on their fast ships painted a distinct colour.)

And the streamlined shape doesn't give it away as a fast cruiser? :wink: Not sure if I'll ever change the nacelle caps to blue. I like the orange and how it gives the Fed ships a little color, special engines or not. I figured these ships still used standard engine technology of the race at hand, but just bigger or more engines and on a specialized ship hull. Why would the nacelle caps be blue? Not like there's any actual science here. It's all artistic license. Thanks for the info though. I didn't like the Romulan Condor's yellow nacelle caps, so I went blue with that. I quite like it.

 

[Nerroth]

And the streamlined shape doesn't give it away as a fast cruiser? :wink: Not sure if I'll ever change the nacelle caps to blue. I like the orange and how it gives the Fed ships a little color, special engines or not. I figured these ships still used standard engine technology of the race at hand, but just bigger or more engines and on a specialized ship hull. Why would the nacelle caps be blue? Not like there's any actual science here. It's all artistic license. Thanks for the info though. I didn't like the Romulan Condor's yellow nacelle caps, so I went blue with that. I quite like it.

Well, since you asked...

(Before I go on, yes I'm aware that it's all made up, but I would like to think that the underlying mechanics set in place for this universe had at least some relevance when trying to talk about it...)


By and large, there are two different ways to turn a non-fast ship into a fast ship. Both have a common reduction in weapons (usually in terms of heavy weapons loadouts), but each has a different dynamic when it comes to the actual ship itself.

Cruisers and smaller non-fast ships need to have distinct "fast warp" engines installed, in order to allow them to gain the Fast Trait. This is why the nacelles on a Fed CF are longer than those on a CA. (The real benefit of fast ships is seen in the strategic-level game Federation and Empire, where fast hulls have operational movement advantages on the campaign map that are not immediately evident on a tactical scale... but where the ability of a given empire to construct and maintain these more delicate engines is a logistical issue that needs to be addressed.)

Dreadnoughts and battleships, on the other hand, are able to gain the Fast Trait with the same engines as their non-fast counterparts, but by cutting back on the size of the base hull instead. (So, for example, the Fed Star Tiger-class light dreadnought has the Fast Trait, but is noticeably less sturdy internally than the Federation-class dreadnought.)


And then you have the subsequent advancement in starship technology, the first-generation X-ships. Those are not in this game (or in FC) just yet; but if/when they do appear, they will have even more powerful warp engines, and won't have to cut back on their weapons loadouts to use them. (In fact, their weapons are more powerful than those on a "modern" non-fast CA.)

Not only are first-generation X-ships more powerful than the current crop of starships per size class, they are even more capable on a strategic map than a "modern" fast ship. But they have their own heavy logistical demands to account for, when the time comes for each Alpha Octant empire to go about operating them.

An example of this is the Federation Vincennes-class advanced cruiser, which is usually shown to have blue nacelle caps.


Again, none of this has to have any relevance at your gaming table. But it is a factor in play, in terms of the "source code" underlying the universe which the Starline 2500s help to represent.

 

[Drummer]

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[Nerroth]

If it helps, the ships currently in A Call to Arms: Star Fleet are based on various Ship Cards from Federation Commander, most of the Ship Cards for the units in book 1 are available in low-toner form for free on ADB's Commander's Circle.

(ACtA:SF does not work off of SFB directly, but rather goes through the filter of FC. So, for example, photons in FC do not have the proximity option they have in SFB, thus ACtA:SF does not have that option either.)


I may have gone a little overboard in my reaction, but it read as if you were being a little quick to dismiss the in-universe reasons behind the nacelle cap suggestion. And yes, I'm perfectly aware that no-one has any obligation to care one bit about that when it comes to painting their own miniatures. But I felt that it was worth explaining where the idea was coming from.


In terms of where this game goes from here, I do wish that the current logjam can be resolved sooner rather than later, so that things can move forward properly again. But, I am still hopeful that once the impasse is breached, the game can secure a long-term future for itself.

(ADB's licence with Paramount/CBS does not run out so long as due diligence is maintained, and the joint venture between Mongoose and ADB has no end date. So long as both sides remain committed to the deal, ACtA:SF should avoid going the way of ACtA:B5.)

And given the kind of threads I link to in my signature, I might not be the best person to ask about exactly where, location-wise (or when, timeline-wise) ACtA:SF should call it quits; even if I don't expect to see any of those topics officially raised for several more years, at best.

 

[Drummer]

Yes, I am very aware that ACTA-Star Fleet is based on Federation Commander rather than Star Fleet Battles proper. However, anybody who has played SFB likely knows the mechanics better than the "streamlined" version FC offers. Which means anything left out or edited or changed may have, by degrees, fallen into ACTA in a bad way. That's my opinion anyway.

 

[bluebirds40]

great battle report, great pics and minis.