Vassal campaign

[LaranosTZ]

Tonight saw the first of two fights, of the noble Brakiri consortium vs
the thieflike shadows, and tonight, the league triumphs!! Only through the noble sacrifices of the Banath and the Rafaem were we able to bring forth this victory, along with some nice technoligcal bits and pieces for our people to study. We planned for a response when we tried to take this world, but were not expecting the fury as a dark vessel came out and surrounded the Rafaem, the little ones picked away, then the big one
sliced it apart. The Banath advanced polddingly, gamely withstanding blow after blow as it relentlessly closed the distance and struck when it can to solid effect. It was the carriers Pathos and Caros that are the true champions, as their compliments of pikitos fighters harried the black ship, and eventually struck the final blow that removed it from space. With it's parent ship gone, the scout that guided the big ship beat a hasty retreat, though not before it's guns finished off the Banath before it could escape into hyperspace.

Basically, a very good game. I overextended a bit in the beginning, and my Haltona paid for it by his fighters doing some signifigant damage before the big guy finished it off with his main gun. The turning point of this battle occurred when one of my brokados, with it's two measly beam dice proceeded to roll a 6/5 critical, paralized the big guy and knocked out the ship's self repair for the turn! After that two carrier's worth of pikitos proceeded to swarm all over it and took it apart in short order. A few well placed crits finished off the big guy, and after that point in the battle his scout ran up, finished off my avioki, then escaped. We didn't see any particular rule in the annhilation scenario that prevented jump aways, and mutually decided it was ok since otherwise the battle would have been a stalemate for the rest of the game.

End Result:

Brakiri Victory

Brakiri Losses - 1 Avioki, 1 Haltona

Shadow Losses - 1 Young shadow ship

We have a sort of a rematch next, a skirmish level recon run we will take
care of for the next turn.

 

[Frankvas]

Next meeting this Tuedsay at 2100hrs pst.

Please send me you updated fleet lists before then so I can update the web page. (this only applies to those who haven't yet).

Frank V.

 

[LaranosTZ]

Humbaba and I had the second of our two battles on Sunday, I think we both were really tired, because we both made a few mistakes that were utter brain farts, and as a result the fight ended up as a draw.

In that case I think there is no change of objective, no exp, etc. My fleet did take some minimal damage, but otherwise this was essentially a non-event.

 

[Gunnvaldr]

yeppie-kya tis tuesday! cya guys tonite

 

[Frankvas]

Next meeting Sunday 2nd December, 2100hrs. Please let me know if you can't make it and we will move it.

Frank V.

 

[Humbaba]

So here it is Wednesday and I am done with my battles for turn 6 already.

Earth force elected not to fight - so no experience or anything else there.

Vorlons gave it a go in a Raid level Convoy Duty match despite it being a tough row to hoe. He came up with some clever approaches, but the 5 to 3 points break down left him with only a slim chance. Shadow victory - Vorlons lose one Transport, no Shadow losses.

I attacked the Brakiri and rolled up a skirmish level Ambush scenario - another 5 point to 3 point affair with me at the short end of the stick in a weak Priority level for me. He took a Raid level carrier, skirmish level scout, and wings of heavy fighters, I took a scout and some fighters to fill out the points. Knowing that I could not survive the wrath of all of those heavy fighters, I probed the edges to see if you would take a risk, but he wisely did not, leaving me the decision to take the plunge or not. Having suffered mightily under the wrath of the Pikatos fighter last turn, I chose not to - Brakiri victory, no casualties either side. At least I tied up some ships for the turn - GO DRAZI!!! GO MINBARI!!!!

 

[Gunnvaldr]

Heh, I must be tainted from my last battle with the shadows. My 3rd AMBUSH and in a row too! :shock:

Wow talk about Drazi Single-mindedness :lol:

guess they figure if medium (raid) and low (skirmish) priority level result in total massacre, therefore committing the max amount (war) will equal total successful slaughter!

the sheer irony and determination to always ambush just makes it amusing enough to make me give it a try for it again 8)

 

[LaranosTZ]

For anyone curious, Gunn and I are going to play at 1300 hours, PST on saturday in a War level ambush, drazi vs brakiri.

 

[Frankvas]

Next meeting, this Monday, 3 Dec 2100hrs pst.

Frank V.

 

[Gunnvaldr]

The Drazi Freehold's Ambush against the Brakiri Syndicacy in the vicinity of Sago 3 lead to the loss for the

Drazi: 2 Warbird class Cruisers, 3 Jumphawk Command Cruisers, and 1 Guardhawk Battle Escort

Brakiri: decrew and crippled Takata class Mine Cruiser, 2 heavily damaged Kaliva class Lance Cruisers

As the result, the Brakiri manage to maintain their hold on Sago 3.

Due to the losses from the Sago 3 Ambush lead to Admiral Barakar of the Drazi Sago Fleet to launch an offensive against the Minbari Federations hold on the Sago Trade routes. (6pt War 'A Call to Arms')

To this end he ordered the Firehawk class Advance Cruiser Kama to proceed forward and commence on strikes and hit-and-runs upon the Minbari Trade convoy and supply fleets. (Or so i hope when i rolled for 2 duites)

However the Kama came upon something else while en route.

The Kama came upon by chance a hidden Mining outpost orbiting around the Sago 1. It was run by the Pak'ma'ra and was well disguised as a astrode. If it wasn't the detection of power spikes from Raider ships attacking the outpost that lead the Kama to intervene for the Pak'ma'ra.

After which the Pak'ma'ra were converge 'volunteerily' into the Drazi Sago force, allowed to run and live on the outpost as long as most of the resource gather from Sago 1 is delivered to the Shadak as well as conscripting the Ikorta class Armed Merchant Nug into Barakar's fleet.

Things didn't look that dreadful to the Pak'ma'ra, since there will be a promise that there would be a consistent fresh supply of food from the Drazi aggression.

 

[Frankvas]

Minbari vs Brakiri (6 Patrol point, call to arms)

Minbari:
Teshlan (Valiant)
4 Nial fighters

Brakiri:
Ikorta (Balar)
Ikorta (Teleth)
Shakara (Lorar)


The battle took place around a gas giant, with 3 moons and a ring of asteroids (density eight), plus a dust cloud and a couple of other asteroids strung around.

Minbari won initiative, brakiri moved forward, and Valiant moved into dust cloud. Jut got one of the Ikortas in range of its beam weapon. Got one critical hit out of my beam, must have hit the main reactor or something since the ship transformed itself into a fireball before becoming a burned out hulk (managed to roll a catastrophic explosion (6 6 ) on the crit) No return fire as the other Ikorta was out of range.

2nd turn Minbari won initiative again, 2nd Ikorta, seeing its sister destroyed, got a little rash and tried to run through the asteroid field (density eight), couldn't quite avoid every asteroid and a few collisions later it was a wreck as well. After this the Shakara just surrendered. :roll:

Finally, a victory for the Minbari.

Frank V.

 

[Humbaba]

I have finished my battles for the turn.

First came a 5 point Patrol level Carrier Clash vs. the Brakiri in which my Scout faced off with a Borokados loaded with Pikatos heavy fighters. The Brakiri ship almost met its doom when it entered an asteroid field in attempt to gain a bore sight on the Shadow Scout. The first turn saw the carrier fail its CQ check and get smacked by asteroids including a "no special actions" critical. It went on to fail two more CQ checks which, when combined with minor fire from the shadow scout, brought it to within 2 points of being crippled. Alas, the turn limit was reached before it fell and the match ended a draw with no casualties on either side.

Next came the Raid level Ambush scenario with my Shadows attacking the Brakiri Observation Outpost. The Brakiri brought 4 Borokados carriers and a Haltona to the fight and so the mighty Shadows (a Scout and a Stalker) turned tail and ran without a shot being fired. It was our hope that by diverting these forces from the main battle between the Vorlons and the Brakiri that they would have a balance of forces that would lead to grave bloodshed. It was not to be, however, as the Brakiri elected to evacuate the planet rather then face the Vorlon forces at this time.

My third battle of the turn was a Battle level Convoy Duty scenario in which my Shadows defended a group of Civilian Freighters. These freighters came under attack by an Earth Force task force of and Omega, an Avenger, two Artemis and two Olympus gun ships, along with several wings of Starfurys and a single wing of Thunder Bolts. The main ships held back with the Omega forming a Jump Point for escape while the fighters swarmed the freighters, but a 13 hit beam attack from a shadow ship cleaved the Omega in two (along with 4 critical hits) closing the Jump Point. Meanwhile two Shadow Scouts descended on the fighter flights laying waste to many of there number. Seeing that the battle had devolved into a no win situation, the Earth Force Admiral called for a retreat, and all remaining ships headed for the edge of the encounter area. The Avenger was caught in the Shadow's deadly molecular slicer beam and did not return with the remnants of the fleet. The battle ended in a Shadow victory with Earth Force losing an Omega, and Avenger, and nine fighter flights.

 

[Frankvas]

Next meeting, tomorrow night, (Sunday Dec 08) 2100hrs, pst.

Frank V.

 

[Gunnvaldr]

1st of 2 battle results: Turn 7 Battle for Sago trade routes...

Both the Drazi Freehold and the Minbari Federation committed limited ships to the battle for the trade route (3war instead of 6)

Barakar participated in his flagship, the Sparta, a Nightfalcon class Heavy Carrier, escorted by 2 Stormfalcon Heavy Cruisers, 2 Firehawk Advance Cruisers, 2 Darkhawk Missile Cruisers, 2 Eyehawk Scout Cruisers and 2 Guardhawk Battle Escorts.

Facing them was bunch of fish like ships that all look the same to Barakar (meaning I forgot what Frank fielded lol).

As Barakar order his fleet forward the minbari launch a rear attack, initiated by an attempt to disrupt the advance by opening several jump points amoungst the Drazi fleet.

Besides scratching the paintjob on one Drazi ship, the attempt failed and the Drazi surge forward, hoping to deal enough damage before they were force to turn around to deal with the rear attackers.

But after the initial clash at the front, losing a Firehawk and both Guardhawks for taking out a Minbari escort ship, Barakar was disgusted with all the numbers and signals invovle for even detecting the Minbari ships and order a retreat before being fully committed.

When returning to Sago 1, Barakar order some ships to drydock for repairs while ordering some warbirds to be dispatch to him.

 

[Gunnvaldr]

the 2nd battle: turn 8 battle for Sago 1 Mining Outpost Drazi vs. Brakiri 6pt Battle A Call to Arms

Word got out that the Drazi discover a Mining Outpost at Sago 1. The Brakiri must have heard about it sooner through varies trades and observing paperwork trails from the Shadak. To that extend the Brakiri Syndicacy Sago fleet launch a all out effort for the outpost, giving ground to both Minbari and Shadow bids.

Barakar, again, lead his fleet inside the Sparta. Escorting him was 2 Stormfalcon Heavy Crusiers, 1 Firehawk Advance Cruiser, 3 'new car' smelling Warbird Cruisers that has yet to be christian(hrm?) names, the pak'ma'ra Ikorta Armed Merchant, 2 Guardhawk Battle Escorts, and 2 Sunhawk Cruisers.

Arrayed against Barakar was the massive monsterous Brivoki class Advance Warship, the Huron, who enjoy dinning on little Drazi ships like children and has grown fat and hungry for them. It was escorted by 3 Brokados class Carriers, a Ikorta and a scout ship.

Barakar arrange his fleet near Sago 1 itself, as the Brakiri apporach a narrow corridor between 2 astrode fields. To avoid being dusted off by the liong range arsenal of the Brikiri, The Drazi zipped hard to one side of the astrode out of weapons arc and closed all blast doors for extra precaustion.

the Huron pressed forward like a giant troll coming out of a mouth of a cave. It started to smack the fleet, starting with the weakest, the Battle Escorts and the Warbirds. The Brokados did alot of shaking and vomitted out waves of fighters.

The Drazi swoop at the Huron by 2 waves, the first by the Warbirds and the Firehawk, the 2nd wave by the Stormfalcons. But the Huron smashed enough of the waves to reduce their potential threat to itself, and took acceptable amount of damage to its hull.

Barakar's trained Star Snakes from the Sparta lead their comrading squadrons into the tides of brakiri fgihters like a wall. Outnumbered and lacking in carrier support, the Starsnakes still gave a good show till the very last.

After the pass-by, the Drazi had only the Sparta, 1 heavy dmg Stormfalcon, 1 dmg Warbird, and 1 dmg Ikorta. Much to Barakar's
frustration, he order a retreat to Sago 1, leaving the Huron and it's Brakiri masters to gorge o nthe spoils.

Returning to Sago, Barakar bark strict orders to the engineers to arm the Sparta with more guns. By taking out some showers and crew quarters, Sparta's Engineering succed to add more Heavy Particle cannons on the front hull. Barakar was somewhat comfort by the increase smell of unwashed body as it assured him next time, the Sparta will make up for the loss of numbers by weight of fire.

 

[LaranosTZ]

I think this was a really good fight for the brakiri, I did not lose any ships, though the Huron is going home for refits and repairs, (quite a lot of those actually.)

The big thing is, that I think this battle showed that a large ship can hold its ground vs. swarms of smaller vessels. After the first turn, when my ships had no range, the Huron killed at least one ship every turn thereafter, if not two, and usually it would cripple one or two others as well. Overall the Huron got 5 kills during this battle, 3 skirmish, 1 battle, and a patrol level. The battle level died when I concentrated all my beamy goodness on it for one round, when I decided I really needed it dead. In return the Huron took about 40/40 damage/crew losses, and ended the battle with no critical effects. At only 1/3 of the ships' damage/crew, that was definitely an acceptable result, even if it meant it was too expensive to repair via RRs.

Gunn is a very good opponent, and played tenaciously and well, but he just couldn't get good firing positions enough to really overwhelm the huron's defenses, especially when I assigned a few flights of falkosi to run interceptor duty. His star snakes were also infuriatingly persistant, and made me lose quite a few more fights then I thought I really would, that admiral that helps with fighter's DF scores was very usefull in that regard this battle.

In a campaign, I think an armageddon level ship becomes more viable due to it's survivability and the idea that your losses become more important. The ship doesn't have to survive a situation like a tournament where your opponent is willing to sacrifice every ship to get the win, they have to judge whether the losses they are taking are worth what they are inflicting. The way the xp system works is also a benefit, since the Huron was popping ships like popcorn it was earning a significant amount of exp every battle, which can be converted to enhancements and alternate duties to make it even tougher. For example, the Huron now has 5 additional refits to make it even deadlier.

 

[Gunnvaldr]

The way the xp system works is also a benefit, since the Huron was popping ships like popcorn it was earning a significant amount of exp every battle, which can be converted to enhancements and alternate duties to make it even tougher. For example, the Huron now has 5 additional refits to make it even deadlier.

Yh big ships tend to last long enough to play with their new toys from refits I notice. Only thing is crits + dmg cost good amount of RR and u tend to send them back home instead of paying for the cost. Way I see it if you do need battle level ships and up consistantly for a campaign turn, you going have to invest alot of resource in obtaining them and then make out a rotation for them.

Skirmish ships, at least for my Centauri and for this campaign, the Drazi, are dime a dozen and rarely need to be repair and or sent home.

 

[Frankvas]

Next meeting, Sunday 23rd Dec, 2100hrs, pst. Please let me know if you can't make it. We will reschedule.

Frank V.

 

[Gunnvaldr]

Well nothing happening for the Drazi in turn nine, decicded to sit this one off and let my set home's tick a turn away.

 

[Frankvas]

Next meeting, Wednesday 26th Dec, 2100hrs pst.

Happy holidays to all, Merry Christmas, Happy winter solstice celebration, fun mid winter fest.....


Frank V.