Vorlon Tips

[Fugitive Unknown]

So I just ordered my first feet - one of the old Vorlon fleet boxes, which I plan on using for the campaign game at the FLGS.

Any advice on playing/painting these guys would be apreciated.

 

[Delthos]

It's a really great deal, money wise, that old Vorlon boxed set. In my opinion it has too few destroyers. You may want to pick up some more destroyers. You could buy some of the smaller transport models and use the larger sized transports as destroyers. I'm planning on using the larger transports as the new class of ship they are releasing. In the mean time they are filling duty as destroyers. I've got 8 of the small transports assembled so I don't need more.

They are tough ships but they are poor at maneuvering. The transport isn't too bad, but it isn't really a beast either. You will never win a planetary assault with them (you should just reroll if you get it) and they will have a hard time in any scenario where they have to be fast as they cannot use the APTE rule. Until they get the new ship, which I suspect will be a skirmish level ship, they are hard to get a good points break down in ships that is comparable to other fleets. Without a skirmish level ship it's either too few bigger tougher ships, or a bunch of less potent smaller ships. The destroyer is a really nice ship and is probably what you will use the most. It's well worth giving it at least two Vorlon fighters to use as interceptors, as they reductions in hits greatly amplifies the usefulness of adaptive armor. Just realize the fighters will give VPs when they get shot down, so hope you don't roll ones on their first attempt at intercepting.

They really take some practice and carefully played battles if you are going to be highly successful. They are no where as easily played as fleets like the Centauri and Narn. As they have beam weapons, in this edition, you have to make sure every shot counts. Other fleets can afford to shoot at the wrong ship from time to time, Vorlons can't.

 

[Fugitive Unknown]

Since I'm a lunatic, for the campaign I'm planning on fielding a single heavy cruiser with an admiral. (Yes, I'm nuts!)

The destroyers seem like a great deal though - much more durable then the transports.

 

[Delthos]

Since I'm a lunatic, for the campaign I'm planning on fielding a single heavy cruiser with an admiral. (Yes, I'm nuts!)

That's gonna be tough! Oh it will blow up ships left and right, but with it being lumbering I think you are going to have a hard time of it once they get around it's flanks. Which if you are playing someone like the Centauri, is going to happen very fast. They will then try to stay behind you and let you have it with all they've got. Yeap, definitely a lunatic! :wink:

The destroyers seem like a great deal though - much more durable then the transports.

Definitely; tougher, higher self-repair, longer range weapon and more AD. The transports have their uses though, mainly in bringing your numbers up.

 

[Ripple]

Heavy cruiser in a campaign is fine, go in kill a ship, jump out. Build up a few xp and keep going. No necessarily a way to win, but a hell of a lot of fun for the Vorlon. Any money you manage to make you squirrel away waiting for the turn you suddenly buy a fleet and drop it on someone.

Ripple

 

[Greg Smith]

The Vorlon lack of maneuverability is a myth. The transport and destroyer have 90 degree turns. The Light Cruiser has 2 45 degree turns - and there are very few war level ships that get two turns.

Transports are essential in a Vorlon fleet. Lots of transports work as initiative sinks, stopping the enemy concentrating fire on your cruisers, and allowing the cruisers to manuever to their advantage.

The Vorlons' best tactic is the slow advance with big guns - keep the enemy from passing your for as long as possible, keep them in your beam arcs and blast their biggest ships from the sky.

 

[Burger]

The Vorlon lack of maneuverability is a myth. The transport and destroyer have 90 degree turns. The Light Cruiser has 2 45 degree turns - and there are very few war level ships that get two turns.

Yeah, I never really get why people think Vorlons are unmanouverable. They have better turns than most ships of their level. 2/45 at War and 1/90 at Battle is great!

 

[H]

I'm glad you two have said this, i thought I was going crazy not understanding what people were on about

 

[CheesyRobMan]

I'm looking forward to finding out for myself, got a big* Vorlon fleet on order...

*where by 'big' I mean lots of them, they're all FA-scale so miniature Vorlons!

 

[Alexb83]

Vorlons are a funny fleet to play - though admittedly I still haven't bought/played 2e so I don't know how much they've changed - but a quick look at the stats shows that they've ironed out a few of the old 'problem' areas.

Vorlons always used to suffer heavily on the basis of weapon range, and the fact that their ships were nowhere near as tough in fact as they seemed on paper. That and the fact that the smallest ship you had was raid level, and you had no carriers. All sorts of wacky situations come to mind where you would automatically lose any patrol level game due to having no ships on the table! And how do your fighters get on the table? Anyways...

In order to shoot anyone you used to have to close well in to munchy crunchy DD weapon territory. Thankfully now even the Transport has a reasonably decent range, which is nice. Concentrate your fire, and blast away. And if you do get the chance, use the heavy cruiser. I did, and it was fun - the ability to blast a Tertius to pieces in one round is amusing. Worked until it ran into a big mob of Drazi and was already half dead from fighting a Victory in the previous game.

 

[Clanger]

Vorlons are a nice starter fleet to use.

Stay as far back as you can and beam away until the enemy gets within range. They have good range and good damage for beams. I found them surviable and maneuverable. Having self repair and no need for crippled and skeleton crew makes them tough.

Also do not discount those lovely Vorlon Fighters 3" range beam, stay out of Anti Fighter range and beam away (good on crits as well being precise).

 

[Delthos]

You are correct, I mis-spoke. What I actually intended to say was that they are unmaneuverable as a fleet when fielding the large ships as the large ships are so slow. While having maneuverability with the smaller ships, they need to stay with the big ships like the heavy cruiser and light cruiser which are much slower. Therefor, the fleet is unmaneuverable if you want to support the larger ships, which you must as they are very vulnerable to a wolf pack individually. This also makes them inflexible and predictable. It makes them a tough fleet to play.

I'll have to disagree that they are a good starter fleet, I love them but they aren't a good starter fleet for someone who doesn't have a good head for tactics or good understanding of the rules. Their weapons aren't consistent do them all being beam weapons, their lack of a skirmish level ship means they can't buy down effectively, and they are predictable.

If you like a challenge, if you have good grasp of the rules, or you really just like the Vorlons they are a good choice. As I said there are some subtleties of the rules that the Vorlons need to take advantage of to be successful, unlike many of the other fleets.

 

[eldiablito]

I have found them to be VERY good. Although I thought that the transports are skirmish ships, so if Mongoose is building anything new, the Vorlons could get a nifty Raid level (It's the Shadow fleet that has no Skirmish ships).

Anyhoo, a single Battle (At the Raid level) or War (at the Battle level) ship can cut down a ship every turn; well, at least that is what our local Vorlon player seems to be able to do. My first encounter was able to destroy a Minbari Tinashi with close blast doors in the very first shot of the game!

Also, to add some fuel to this maneuverable cheers/geers I find them to be as maneuverable, if not moreso than any other fleet. The 90 degree turns on those transports are plenty. The only thing they truly lack is port/starboard/aft guns, so they will take it in the teeth when encountering Vree or some other close-quarters fleet.

Finally, those fighters just rock. They have AAF and a 3 inch range beam! What is NOT to love about these things!

So, with great, long distance guns, very cool fighters, descent turn radii, this is one solid fleet.

 

[No. 1 Bear]

Their fighters rock.

 

[thehod]

Heres my tip when playing Vorlons:

 

[Delthos]

I have found them to be VERY good. Although I thought that the transports are skirmish ships, so if Mongoose is building anything new, the Vorlons could get a nifty Raid level (It's the Shadow fleet that has no Skirmish ships).

That'll teach me to reply when I'm tired and taking medication for a cold. That is correct they don't have a raid level choice, it is the shadows that don't have the skirmish level. It's still a valid point as they can't split down well like other fleets.

 

[Ripple]

Maneuverability - the old list had some issues due to speed and didn't think the light cruiser had earned its second turn until arm. Maneuver is not just turns, its how big is your area of options for final placement. Everything from all stop to all power needs to be considered, not just what an extra turn gets you. Also with only one arc, it was easy to lead them around by the nose, no real lee way for tricky maneuvers.

Weapons - great beams but very few total dice, so variance is horrible. Often feels like a pure luck game do how big a deal a few dodges, misses, can be.

Fighters - great in house fighters, still somewhat vulnerable to stacks of enemy fighters, especially as formations can rarely support each other due to lack of secondary weapons.

Ripple

 

[Delthos]

Well said! That's exactly what I was trying to say, but said much more clearly.

 

[akenatum]

A mate of mine was thinking of a vorlon heavy cruiser backed up by 4 vorlon transport which basically sit right at the back behind it going slow as day while the cruiser blows the hecxk out of the enemy, and when they start to flank the transports pounce with thier discharge guns and tear em a new one.

 

[Karhedron]

A mate of mine was thinking of a vorlon heavy cruiser backed up by 4 vorlon transport which basically sit right at the back behind it going slow as day while the cruiser blows the hecxk out of the enemy, and when they start to flank the transports pounce with thier discharge guns and tear em a new one.

What level would that be? 5 points of battle?

Could be interesting to see. Let me know how your mate gets on with it. There isn't much that can survive the full attention of a heavy cruiser but a smart opponent will quickly try and get aroudn to deal with those Transports.

I guess it would come down to whether the heavy cruiser could do enough damage fast enough.