Quickdraw and I met this morning to give Halo: Fleet Battles a run-through. We played the first four (of seven) scenarios in the Fall of Reach campaign guide.
I played the fanatical Covenant, while Quickdraw took the stalwart UNSC.
Much like the campaign guide in the Operation Shadowhunter boxed set for Dystopian Wars, the guide in the Fall of Reach boxed set is a good way to learn how the ships move, shoot, etc.
Scenario 1 basically involved the Covenant chasing down a small UNSC force. The UNSC's objective was to escape off the flank edge of the board, while the Covenant player needed to kill at least 6 BR (build rating) worth of ships. The end result was a little lop-sided; the Covenant dispatched the UNSC ships with relative ease (plasma weapons are BRUTAL), sustaining only minor damage to one heavy corvette element.
Scenario 2 required the Covenant forces to get past the UNSC to the other edge of the table.
The battlegroups became a little larger in this scenario:
The UNSC
Marathon cruiser and
Paris frigates combined to kill the Covenant CCS battlecruiser pretty quickly. There were a LOT of frigates...
It wasn't pretty. The UNSC won Scenario 2.
Scenario 3 required the Covenant to get close to a debris field on the other side of the board--in the UNSC's deployment zone. Quickdraw positioned one battlegroup to keep my Covenant ships at bay, while the other defended the debris field.
I was able to dispatch the first group with relative ease, but long-range MAC fire took it's toll and decimated my ships before they could get near enough to the debris field to start scoring VP.
Those MACs are
nasty. The UNSC took Scenario 3.
Scenario 4 was a run-down mission. The UNSC and Covenant forces started on the same board edge, but opposite sides. The UNSC player had to get his flagship--a supported
Marathon cruiser--off the other board edge; the Covenant player could only win by boarding and destroying the flagship.
Quickdraw wisely positioned a battlegroup to intercept and slow my forces down, providing covering fire as his flagship moved toward the extraction point.
I was able to dispatch the blocking force with relative ease, but their lives were not spent in vain...they allowed the UNSC flagship to escape!
The Zealot in command of the lead CCS battlecruiser was so enraged he personally boarded the final remaining
Paris frigate and executed its captain with his bare hands.
Some observations:
-massed MAC fire sucks.
-massed plasma fire sucks.
-combined fire, in general, is brutal.
-elements are dangerous until they're completely destroyed. Firepower isn't affected by damage in this game the way it is in Dystopian Wars or Firestorm Armada; in Halo, you remove a number of successes equal to the number of damage tokens on your ship ship AFTER you've rolled your attack dice, and any re-rolls. So, you have to kill elements quickly in order to reduce the incoming damage to your own ships.
-the factions are well-balanced if you play to your strengths. UNSC ships, when they can mass their MAC fire, can really put the hurt on the Covenant, even at long range. Covenant plasma weapons at short range can vaporize entire UNSC elements in short order.
Verdict: it's a fun game! It does play fairly quickly, and there is very little book-keeping involved compared to Firestorm Armada and Dystopian Wars. Combat is quick and nasty, and the combined fire mechanic ensures that most ships don't stick around too long (although we didn't get the big ships out in these scenarios). The fleet commanders add an interesting element; Quickdraw and I both used ours frequently to gain a tactical edge over each other. It will be very interesting to see how this part of the game develops--as we get new commanders and heroic characters.
Quickdraw and I may try to finish up the last three scenarios next weekend. Will post more notes when we do. Thanks for reading!
