Seems to be the fleets of choice right now 
So this was my first foray into the ACTA, SFB, or FC universe. I've played many mini events at Cons before but they are usually Full Thurst or Action Stations. My opponent is a veteran of SFB and FC as well as playing the same Con events as me.
We played two campaign games "Towering Inferno" and "Rescue". I'm playing the Feds and my friend is playing Klinks. The board had a dust cloud smack in the middle of the board, which we stayed around/inside the whole time. Most of the game I lost initiative. In "Towering Inferno" I had a point total of 1100 started off with the BJC - New Jersey and the Klinks had a point total of 900 and started off with their Dreadnaught (C8?). At the beginning of each turn you have to roll a die for each ship to come onto the board (on a 6 that ship comes in), then you also have to roll and the ship will come in randomly from one of 6 positions circling the map. My opponent got his fast cruiser out on turn 2, and it took me until turn 3 to get another ship out (my throw away Texas class). The Klinks kept their DN on the outside of the cloud, and my main strat was to stay on the other side of the cloud to keep out of LOS from the DN, which worked out. The Klink was using his fast cruiser to stay out of the photon arcs of both my ships, and because I was loosing initiative he was always able to keep his fast cruiser in an advantageous position. We danced around the cloud and I did some light damage to his fast cruiser, and he did moderate damage to my BCJ. I got a CA on the board (my side of the map behind me), and the next turn he got a D5, unfortunately his D5 started out right behind my ships. I was able to do some damage to cripple his fast cruiser, but he ended up destroying my BJC. I ended up retreating and he won the scenario.
Second game, "Rescue" I had 400 pts and brought a BCJ and CA... Klink player had 360 pts and brought a D5D (I think) plus another ship that I can't remember now, I think his 240pt battlecruiser. This one had a planet on the Klink left corner (giant planet with a dust ring), a dust cloud in the middle of the board, and a dust cloud on the right of the Feds. I realized one of my mistakes from the last game, aside from rolling very crappy, was that I did not take advantage of the 30 shields that my BCJ had in regards to the Recharge Shields SA (I didn't think the power drain was worth it). With 30 shields I get 3 dice for the Recharge Shields SA, which makes a huge difference in the battle. I was able to rechage almost all of the damage he was doing to my BCJ and was left with only a few points of hull damage to take (think I was down to 33 or something). My CA was able to recharge shields as well with 2 dice, but had more bleed through to hull (down to 17 I think). I blew up his battlecruiser while it was trying to retreat, and he escaped with the D5. The dust clouds in the game really helped me stay away from initial Drone waves from the Klinks.
Overall I learned some lessons.
1) If you have a ship that has a good shield score, it is worth the 6inch movement to recharge shields, even if it means you aren't getting your heavies to bear.
2) Even though Klink ships are more maneuverable and have the disruptors that fire every turn, the Feds ships are more durable (see #1).
3) Feds have a phaser advantage at 12-18 inch range due to Klinks P-2's.
4) It is absolutely necessary, when possible, to have an initiative sink while playing against Klinks to try to mitigate thier agility.
5) The smaller the fleet size, the more important initiative is!
So this was my first foray into the ACTA, SFB, or FC universe. I've played many mini events at Cons before but they are usually Full Thurst or Action Stations. My opponent is a veteran of SFB and FC as well as playing the same Con events as me.
We played two campaign games "Towering Inferno" and "Rescue". I'm playing the Feds and my friend is playing Klinks. The board had a dust cloud smack in the middle of the board, which we stayed around/inside the whole time. Most of the game I lost initiative. In "Towering Inferno" I had a point total of 1100 started off with the BJC - New Jersey and the Klinks had a point total of 900 and started off with their Dreadnaught (C8?). At the beginning of each turn you have to roll a die for each ship to come onto the board (on a 6 that ship comes in), then you also have to roll and the ship will come in randomly from one of 6 positions circling the map. My opponent got his fast cruiser out on turn 2, and it took me until turn 3 to get another ship out (my throw away Texas class). The Klinks kept their DN on the outside of the cloud, and my main strat was to stay on the other side of the cloud to keep out of LOS from the DN, which worked out. The Klink was using his fast cruiser to stay out of the photon arcs of both my ships, and because I was loosing initiative he was always able to keep his fast cruiser in an advantageous position. We danced around the cloud and I did some light damage to his fast cruiser, and he did moderate damage to my BCJ. I got a CA on the board (my side of the map behind me), and the next turn he got a D5, unfortunately his D5 started out right behind my ships. I was able to do some damage to cripple his fast cruiser, but he ended up destroying my BJC. I ended up retreating and he won the scenario.
Second game, "Rescue" I had 400 pts and brought a BCJ and CA... Klink player had 360 pts and brought a D5D (I think) plus another ship that I can't remember now, I think his 240pt battlecruiser. This one had a planet on the Klink left corner (giant planet with a dust ring), a dust cloud in the middle of the board, and a dust cloud on the right of the Feds. I realized one of my mistakes from the last game, aside from rolling very crappy, was that I did not take advantage of the 30 shields that my BCJ had in regards to the Recharge Shields SA (I didn't think the power drain was worth it). With 30 shields I get 3 dice for the Recharge Shields SA, which makes a huge difference in the battle. I was able to rechage almost all of the damage he was doing to my BCJ and was left with only a few points of hull damage to take (think I was down to 33 or something). My CA was able to recharge shields as well with 2 dice, but had more bleed through to hull (down to 17 I think). I blew up his battlecruiser while it was trying to retreat, and he escaped with the D5. The dust clouds in the game really helped me stay away from initial Drone waves from the Klinks.
Overall I learned some lessons.
1) If you have a ship that has a good shield score, it is worth the 6inch movement to recharge shields, even if it means you aren't getting your heavies to bear.
2) Even though Klink ships are more maneuverable and have the disruptors that fire every turn, the Feds ships are more durable (see #1).
3) Feds have a phaser advantage at 12-18 inch range due to Klinks P-2's.
4) It is absolutely necessary, when possible, to have an initiative sink while playing against Klinks to try to mitigate thier agility.
5) The smaller the fleet size, the more important initiative is!
