Ship boarding actions

[Captain Kremmen]

Whilst reading the rules I took a look at boarding actions. They look very feasable with a Narn T'Loth.

Enemy ship is stationery.
T'Loth moves within 4 inches.
No one can shoot at the enemy ship that turn
Take say 10 of T'Loths 12 troops over.
Say enemy ship has 3 troops. Rolls 5,6 with each and kills 1 narn
Then remaining 9 Narn retaliate and kill 3 troops
Shortly thereafter Narn capture the target ship.

Did I get it right??

Cpt Kremmen

 

[Greg Smith]

Pretty much. The tricky part is getting the enemy ship to stand still.

The Narn need to reduce the enemy's crew to 0 to capture it. In each end phase roll a d6 for each narn troop:

1 valiant crew kills troop
2-6 kill that many crew
6 do a critical hit.

Once the crew is reduced to zero, the ship is all yours.

 

[Silvereye]

Enemy ship is stationery.

Yep, it needs to be, see page 9 of SFoS.

T'Loth moves within 4 inches.

You will also need to be able to perform the Launch Breaching Pods and Shuttles! special action during the T'Loth's movement Phase.

No one can shoot at the enemy ship that turn

No Narn ship may shoot at the Enemy ship that turn (of course the opponent cannot shoot their own ships either).

Take say 10 of T'Loths 12 troops over.

The troops are dispatched when the T'Loth activates during the Attack Phase. If it is destroyed/looses special actions before it activates the enemy gets lucky and escapes the boarding action. If the T'Loth is crippled then the number of Troops on board are halved. Lets assume that the Narn marines get to their shuttles and launch for the enemy ship without incident.

The following takes place in the End Phase.

Say enemy ship has 3 troops. Rolls 5,6 with each and kills 1 narn

You roll 1 die for each defending troop. So with your brave defenders would kill three attacking Narns....

Then remaining 7 (corrected from 9 - Silvereye) Narn retaliate and kill 3 troops

A quick and bloody affair this one.
If the Narn only manage to kill one defender, then the two remaining defending troops would roll to hit again, then the surviving Narn roll to hit.... It continues alternating until there are no more troops on one side.

Shortly thereafter Narn capture the target ship.

Not quite. Once you have killed all the defending troops your marines get to rampage through the ship for a while (roll on the Sabotage and Capture table on page 21 of SFoS each end phase). Once you have eliminated the enemy ships crew, then the ship is finally yours.

There was a question about boarding actions raised in The Rulesmasters part of the forum. A handy link to it.

 

[Voronesh]

Yaeeah its is a very viable tacticfor Narns ^^.

Got myself a Victory that way. Maybe sometime Ill just buy one for just that reason, paint it up in Narn colors, and play with it.......

 

[CZuschlag]

Depending on the scenario, it can also be a consideration against bases, which start the game parked(!!). T'Loths, Ikortas, and Assault Hyperions become ships of choice for this tactic.

 

[Greg Smith]

It is a valid tactic against spacestations but getting through those dozens of troops and hundreds of damage points takes a long time )and a lot of dice rolling!)

 

[Lord David the Denied]

It seems to me that shooting an enemy ship, hoping for a speed 0 critical is more likely to result in blowing the thing apart. Mind you, with the new fighter firing sequence, might be you could use fighter bases to hunt for that critical while your assault ship stands off, ready to move in when the enemy's engines go down...

 

[Captain Kremmen]

The following takes place in the End Phase.

Say enemy ship has 3 troops. Rolls 5,6 with each and kills 1 narn

You roll 1 die for each defending troop. So with your brave defenders would kill three attacking Narns....

Silvereye, thanks for the clarification, there is only one area I disagree with you, possibly I misunderstood??

When the 10 narns go over to the enemy ship with 3 marines of their own, you roll one D6 per enemy marine but only kill an attacking Narn on a roll of 5,6. Which is why I statistically said they kill one narn not three.

Am I correct, or have I got that bit all wrong.

I am not planning on using it as a deliberate tactic, but it would be nice to keep a T'loth in the background potting away at the odd centauri until a primus gets unlucky and loses it's speed. There are quite a lot of chances in the criticals for an enemy to lose the speed, something like 1,6 2,6 and 3,6 as I remember


Ta

Kremmen.

 

[Greg Smith]

Mind you, with the new fighter firing sequence, might be you could use fighter bases to hunt for that critical while your assault ship stands off, ready to move in when the enemy's engines go down...

'cos fighters couldn't hunt for criticals before. :roll:

 

[Silvereye]

When the 10 narns go over to the enemy ship with 3 marines of their own, you roll one D6 per enemy marine but only kill an attacking Narn on a roll of 5,6. Which is why I statistically said they kill one narn not three.

Yes, that is correct, any dice that come up 5 or 6 kill an enemy troop. However I think the following was the confusing bit (bold).

Say enemy ship has 3 troops. Rolls 5,6 with each and kills 1 narn

Your example seemed to say the dice rolled for the three defenders each came up a 5 or 6. Which is why things might have got a bit fuzy.

I am not planning on using it as a deliberate tactic, but it would be nice to keep a T'loth in the background potting away at the odd centauri until a primus gets unlucky and loses it's speed. There are quite a lot of chances in the criticals for an enemy to lose the speed, something like 1,6 2,6 and 3,6 as I remember.

There is always the All Stop! and All Stop and Pivot! special actions to consider too, and Breaching Pod wings.

 

[Captain Kremmen]

Thanks Silvereye, I should have been clearer.

Yes breaching pods, if I understand correctly you have to buy these as a patrol choice. no ship comes with them?

I saw a battle report and seem to remember the breaching pods were all just shot down before they got anywhere, plus they only carry one troops so don't seem worth the money?

What do you reckon??

Kremmen

 

[CZuschlag]

The only ships I know that comes with them are the Drakh Mothership and the Drakh Carrier. They come with 6 and 3 flights, respectively. Considering the likelihood of having individual ships come charging at the Motherships to get the VPs for the kill, I say, use 'em!

Lord David,

Yes, that speed zero crit is hard to get on demand, espeically at fresh ships that formerly needed to be taken down. I'm certain both of our Mass Driver systems lament that fact.

 

[Silvereye]

Yes breaching pods, if I understand correctly you have to buy these as a patrol choice. no ship comes with them?

Most races get the option to swap out auxillary craft for breaching pods. However the ship carried pods use a Troop from the ship.

I saw a battle report and seem to remember the breaching pods were all just shot down before they got anywhere, plus they only carry one troops so don't seem worth the money?

What do you reckon??

Difficult qustion really. They only carry one troop, but you can land moe then 1 pod at a time. You can also combine it with a Launch Breaching Pods & Assault Shuttles! special action.

Also you can keep Pods in hyperspace if the scenario allows and use a jump ship to open a point for them....

 

[Greg Smith]

Breaching pods are difficult to get in contact because they are slow and vulnerable to being shot down. They have the advantage of being able to board a moving ship and the troops on them fire first. Most races can swap fighters for pods but make sure you don't take more pods than the ship has troops.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Lord David,

Yes, that speed zero crit is hard to get on demand, espeically at fresh ships that formerly needed to be taken down. I'm certain both of our Mass Driver systems lament that fact.

Actually, I've never really considered taking mass drivers on a Primus, the loss of AD to the twin arrays doesn't seem worth it for a weapon than can only fire on stationary targets. Now, if it was a planetary assault or a game involving a space station, then I'd do it...

 

[CZuschlag]

You're right, I'd never do it on a Primus. It's an opportunity-only weapon that really doesn't do justice to your excellent long-range Battle Laser system. The two weapons just don't make sense together. It could be an interesting selection for a Secundus, which wants to assault things anyways with all those Troops, but I don't think that build is allowed; and all those Heavy Arrays are a lot of fun already.