Warlords of Walsall 2009 Battle reports

Da Boss

Mongoose
In short – Da Boyz dun uz proud 8) - a great event and much fun

My tournament

Game one – Vs Chandler (Minbari)

5 pt raid – I took Liati, Balvarin (4 Razik, 4 Sentri), 2 Demos, 1 Amar (4 Rutarian), 1 Kutai
against 1 Tinashi, 2 Ashinta, 1 Tigara

Both fleets rushed toawards the dust could at the end of table which screened the scoring zone, the Centauri taking pot shots at range but failing to do little more than scratch the Tinashi’s armour.
The Minbari regrouped at the other side of the dust cloud, but this meant that the perusing Centauri could form up on the their side. The next turn saw them charge into the Minbari ships, hammering the Tinashi but losing one Demos in the process. The Tinashi limped into the dust cloud again but found no shelter and several Rutarian dispatched it. The Liati saw one Ashinta and hammered it – although damage was dealt in return to the remaining Demos, the Balvarin and Amar. The last turn was quickly upon us and as the Centauri finished off the damaged Ashinta, the Liati dashed into the scoring zone. Simon only made one error in the game but it was a game loosing one.
Final result 20 –0

Game two vs Clanger (Vorlon)
Dargan, Liati, Primus , Balvarin, Elutarin, Demos (x2), Corvan, Maximus
Against Light Cruiser, 2 Destroyers, 2 Frigates

Having played this game a number of times I was well aware of the asteroid danger but also conscious that there was a massive range disparity. Early exchanges of fire saw one Demos quickly chopped fpr minor damage to the light Cruiser. Several Rutarians began to harry it – and indeed caused the most damage in the whole game due to crits (including taking the gun off line for 2 turns). Long range firing proved ineffective so I threw caution to the wind and charged with my battle level ships – taking minor damage to the Dargan from asteroids. This initially paid off and I exchanged a Primus for a Destroyer but luck then shifted. I just could not win initiative and the shots against me hit hard whilst my return fire seemed to resemble that from Narn weapons. I do confess I became a little frustrated and my language became somewhat intemperate. The Liati was lost to carelessness, the Elutarin perished and the game began to slip away as Paul pressed his advantage. The balancing point was as my Dargan lined up to fire at the Light Cruiser with its full front arc firepower – with it remaining on 9 damage. Once again I had lost initiative and the Vorlons made their stealth roll and an well above average beam rolled mixed with plenty of criticals killed it one shot. Paul was always going to win by this point but killing the light cruiser would have been good! I conceded at this point with no real way of dealing damage. On reflection the stealth of a 2nd Dargan would have been much more effective than the Primus but Paul as usual played well – kudos to him (and his bloody beam dice)

0 –20 loss

Game three vs Centarui Admiral (Vorlon)
Adira, Primus, Dargan (x2), Liati, Balvarin (x2), Demos (x2), Elutarin,
Vs Heavy Cruiser, Light Cruiser, 2 Destroyers, 4 Transports, fighters

Still in a bit of Shock to see that Richard had forsaken the Great Republic I resolved to show him the true path away from the squiddy ones. With no cover or anywhere to manoeuvre we advanced towards each other swiftly, tearing into each other ships (cool). Long range torps slammed into the Light Cruiser, taking its adaptive armour off line. In return a Demos and Balvarin were cut in half and Richard declared that he was not having any Liati racing up behind him and chopped it in half as well – Scary!. The Dargans charged right upto the Vorlon gun line and pounded both Vorlon Captial ships and a Destroyer before losing one of their number in return. But they had managed to take the Hv Cruisers guns off line and the Adira lined up a shot on the wounded Light Cruiser and sliced it in twain. The Elutarin and Primus was pounded as well. The final turn we played saw the Adira close to 12” and unleash hell on the Hv Cruiser, mortally wounding it and taking its guns away again as well as vaporising a transport. Richard had to go and we called it – considering that I would probably win but at a heavy cost – we thought a 13-7 score was appropriate.

Its worth noting that I had to remind Richard that his Light Cruiser in fact had a quad damage beam rather than a double damage beam which he had played the previous game!!!!

The final scores were announced and I was pleased to find that I had made 4th place and indeed the Great Republic had been awarded best sportsmen – nice.

Kennyboy confirmed his place as self proclaimed King of Walsall, Clanger matched his core and was only just forced to second place and Chandler finished off the hat trick for Gregs Crew!

– had an excellent day, good games and good company - a great credit to the boys in Walsall – they KNOW how to organise a tournament!
 
1st game vs. Ben (Diesel)
My fleet = 2 Tigara, 2 Teshlan, 1 Leshath
Ben's fleet = Shadow Stalker, 3 Shadow Scouts

I started with the Tigaras and Teshlans in 2x2 squadrons, Ben had all his ships as individuals.
For the 1st 2 turns, we both sped towards the large Dust Cloud that spanned the virtual width of the table, and no firing took place. Turn 3 saw my Leshath take cover behind the cloud and Ben - obviously reading my intention to remain in and around the cloud - sped one of his Scouts through the cloud to take up a flanking position.
Seeing an opportunity to thin the opposition, I moved my Teshlan squadron into the cloud, putting the Scout within 18"
Ben moved another Scout through the cloud, but couldn't get to within 8" of my Teshlans. My Tigara squadron took up protective positions near the Teshlans, so if Ben did move his last Scout near enough to fire, then the Tigs would fire back.
This was sufficient to keep the third Scout at bay, but the Stalker moved up to firing position, within range of my side Mini-Beams. However, Ben knew that they wouldn't trouble the Battle ships shields!
My Leshath removed the Stealth on the Scout, and Ben reduced Stealth on one of my Teshlans.
Ben was firing 1st, but even with the Teshlan being scouted and the Shadows inherent Stealth breaking ability, he still failed to see it with the Stalker...
The Teshlans opened up on the Scout and pinned it...good times :twisted:
The rest of the game saw much of the same, with Ben failing to see the elusive boneheads - even when right on top of the Leshath - and every Scout roll that I wanted to make resulted in success!
In the end, I managed to destroy all of the Ancient ones - getting double for the initial Scout that was killed in the "Gold Zone" - and I got 4 of my five ships into the same zone, which resulted in a VP total of 140 for me, and 0 for Ben :oops:
It was one of those games that I seem to be blessed with at least once a tourney, where everything I do comes off without a hitch, and my opponent suffers appalling dice rolls at just the wrong time. :?

Game 2 vs. Darren (Grunvald)
My fleet = Sharlin, Morshin, 2 Ashinta, 2 Leshath
Darren's fleet = White Star Enforcer, 2 White Star, 2 White Star II, 2 Ashinta, 4 Nolo'Tar (Yes, I know that's 11 ships, but what the heck :? )

Having played this scenario at the club, I knew what a big problem the asteroids could be. This affected my strategy a bit, and meant that I was being even more annoying with the Minbari than usual - and that's saying something!
I had my entire fleet, minus the Sharlin, smack in the middle of the table, opposite the central clear zone. Darren had a much more spread out deployment, keeping his Ashintas, WSII's, WS's in 3 x 2 squadrons, and his four Nolo'Tars in 2 x 2 squadrons. His Enforcer was opposite the zone on my left, my Sharlin was between the central and left clear zones.
For the 1st turn, both of my Leshaths and Ashintas "All Stopped" The Morshin and Sharlin having to move so that they could get more Nials onto the table - fortunately, they both passed their CQ checks and avoided asteroid damage.
Darren moved his entire fleet forward, but the +1 crew quality of the ISA meant that only one of the White Stars failed it's roll and took some minor damage.
However, the Sharlin was in range of the wounded WS, and I made the only successful - Steath reducing - Scout roll of my entire game, the wounded White Star was finished off by the Sharlin's Beam.
The rest of the game was a bit of a hide and seek affair, with very few ships managing to spot their opponents. The turning points were near the end when I had managed to thin out the White Stars in the middle clear zone and then "All Powered" my Morshin in to claim it. Darren failed a CQ check that killed off his Nolo'Tar, just before it claimed the right hand score zone, and the final attack by the Enforcer failed to kill the Sharlin, that had just inched into the left hand score zone to claim that one.
With the biggest PL ships in two of the three zones, it was a 20-0 result for the Minbari, but the game was a bit closer than the result reflected.
As Darren pointed out after the engagement, "we just couldn't see each other" :roll:

Game 3 vs. Shane (Star-Lynx)
My Fleet = 2 Sharlin, Morshin, 2 Tinashi, Shantavi, 2 Leshath, 2 Ashinta
Shane's fleet = 2 G'vrahn, G'Quon, G'Tal, 3 Dag'Kar, 2 Var'Nic, G'Karith

Seeing so many E-Mine laden ships in the opposition, I was heard to say "I hate you Shane" :lol:
I had a plan to keep the Sharlins and Tinashis together in an almighty "Beam Team" to take care of big ships, but squadrons are never a good idea when faced with E-Mines. However, throwing caution to the wind, I kept to the squadron plan!!!
There were no subtleties to this scenario, it was a straight shooting match!
Shane had his Dag'Kars in a squadron, as well as his 2 G'Vrahn... not good for me :(
Shane moved everything up and I saw that, If I "All Powered" my squadron forward, I could get the Mini-Beams on my squadron on target as well as the beams. So, as I was firing first, that's what I did...
With a 16 AD Beam (I decided to fire one Sharlin at the middle Dag'Kar, which would have forced the squadron apart) followed by 32 AD of mini-beams (half of which would be re-rolled) fired at the lead G'Vrahn, I had hoped that the War ship would be put out of action, or at least severely hurt. However, poor rolling and terrible crit results meant that the mighty Narn ship was not even crippled! To add insult to injury, the 8 AD Beam from the Sharlin resulted in only a few scratches on the middle Dag'Kar...bad times!
The barrage of return fire (which was 29 AD of TD E-mine) saw both Sharlins with over half their damage gone and a Tinashi destroyed!
The rest of Shane's firing killed off one of the Sharlin's and I managed to destroy one of the Var'Nics with my Shantavi.
The end of the turn saw an asteroid appear on the table, but it passed harmlessly by all ships in the "Danger Zone".
Right, I thought, with all of the E-Mines reloading, I had to get rid of some more Narn ships. Unfortunately, the G'Vrahn's were too big of a distraction, when I should have been concentrating on the Dag'Kars.
I did manage to kill off the wounded G'Vrahn, and the Shantavi saw off the other Var'Nic. The Narn ships that managed to see any Minbari did little damage... but the E-Mines were back next turn :(
Sure enough, things were going badly, as Shane won initiative and fired first... many more E-mine hits left one of the Sharlins floating forward, due to explode!
The surviving sqaudron members blasted away at the 2nd G'Vrahn and the G'Karith stated getting worked over by fighters. The real plus point for me this round was, as I had lost initiative, I could roll for asteroids... and sure enough two more chunks of rock appeared on the board and sped 15" down the Danger Zone... powing rigjht through the G'Vrahn :twisted: I cant recall the number of hits, but it was sufficient to atomise the 2nd Narn war cruiser!
With the pendulum swinging my way, the rest of the battle was a race to kill off as much as possible before time was called...
It ended up a 37 vs 25 VP win for me, and this was enough to give me a 17-3 win on the tourney table.
Paul (Clanger) and I were on equal tourney points at the end (57) but the huge amount of VP's that i'd gained in the first game meant that i'd just pipped him to the number one spot :D

Two Walsall tourneys, two victories to me! I may have to change my signature...
 
Learn Youngster not to use swear words in earshot of your betters, or they will censor you.

Either that or we gag you everytime we take you anywhere.
 
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