Four of us met at Collectormania last Sunday, braving the hordes of Magic players to fight out a Kurak-Zenian engagement:
Since we had four fleets and only one table, we decided Stephan (Aquans) and Dale (Dindrenzi) would deploy their full forces on opposite corners of the table, while Chris (Terrans) and myself (RSN) would come on the board as reinforcements starting in turn 2, deploying in our allies' deployment zones or flanking areas. This battle report is written from my best recollection, and I didn't write any notes down during the game, so if I've missed anything I apologize.
Most of the violence in turn 1 was directed at the Aquan cruisers. Even though they are cruisers, they carry the Difficult Target MAR, and can run in a squadron up to 4-strong (which they were doing), so the Dindrenzi commander made them his priority target. He was able to kill one in turn 1.
Chris and I started rolling to deploy our ships in turn 2. Chris's Terrans didn't make it on, and only my destroyers were able to deploy.
I attempted to engage the Terquai cruisers that were deployed with the Aquan fleet, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, the Dindrenzi and Aquans were having a good old fashioned slugging match right in the middle of the engagement zone:
Turn 3 saw the RSN Spectre (battleship) and Spook-class cruisers come on. The Terran Tyrant-class battleship and the Terran carrier also came on. Space was soon filled with wreckage, burning hulks, and escape pods.
I lined up the Spooks head-on with the Terquai cruisers; I've been raked by those ships before, so I figured I'd hit them hard early. Thanks to the Torpedo Spook MAR (defender has to re-roll any PD successes against incoming torpedoes), my cruisers killed one of the Terquai ships in one volley.
The Spectre killed the other Terquai ship later in the turn with long-range gunnery and torpedo fire.
Meanwhile, the Dindrenzi continued to hammer away at the Aquan cruisers in the middle of the board, eventually killing them off:
The Dindrenzi paid for it with one lost cruiser, however.
While this was going on, the Aquan battleship and corvettes were swinging around the asteroid cluster, hoping to pin the Dindrenzi between their guns and the Terrans'.
The battle swung wildly in the Kurak forces' favor in turn 4. My RSN frigates shunted in successfully right in perfect range to deal with the Aquan corvettes, which had savaged a Dindrenzi ship in turn 3.
The Terran cruisers shunted in right behind the Dindrenzi carrier and battleship, taking shots on the carrier.
Then the Tyrant made it's presence known, scoring a reactor overload critical hit on the Dindrenzi carrier--which destroyed the carrier outright, and caused a critical hit on the Dindrenzi battleship next to it. Suddenly the battle log swung 8 points in favor of the Kurak forces.
Working together, the Dindrenzi ships and my destroyers killed one of the Terran cruisers. In the middle of the engagement zone, the Aquan and Dindrenzi frigates all met their deaths. The Aquan corvettes made a run on the Spectre, to no avail.
In the final turn, the Zenians were up against the wall. The Dindrenzi battleship went down, but not before softening up the Aquan battleship.
My frigates were obliterated by his cruisers, as usually happens to frigates.
The Dindrenzi had fought to the point of combat ineffectiveness, dealing massive damage to the Aquan fleet but taking massive damage themselves. With the Terrans not close enough (or vulnerable enough) to bother attacking, my RSN ships focused all fire on the Aquan battleship:
The destroyers led the way, scoring 21 hits on the Aquan ship, before shields and PD reduced it to 16.
The RSN cruisers and battleship were able to finish off the Aquan ship at the end of the turn, swinging the battle log back in the Zenian League's favor.
We called the game at this point, due to time. The battle log stood at 10-9 in favor of the Zenian League, which is considered a draw. And what a bloody draw it was: 8 capital ships lost on both sides, including two battleships and a carrier, 3 reactor overload critical hits, and I think EVERYBODY'S frigates were destroyed.
A few other notes:
-the only Terran ship lost was one cruiser.
-the Aquan battleship weathered several potentially crippling salvoes from my RSN before my gunners finally locked her in turn 5
-the Aquan corvettes were NASTY--punched far above their weight
-most of the action occurred right in the middle between the Dindrenzi and Aquan (and later the Terran) ships...the RSN mostly stood off to the side and engaged targets at long range, which I am learning is the strength of this fleet.
It was a VERY enjoyable game, and was a bit of a nail-biter at the end. The staggered deployment of allied forces was roundly agreed to be an interesting scenario, although it meant that Stephan and Dale had to monopolize the first several activations of each turn as their ships were so close together. But this was OK, because it meant my RSN could play clean-up hitter for Dale's Dindrenzi.
Dale, Stephan, and Chris, if I've left anything out or gotten any details wrong, please feel free to add your comments below.
Thanks to Dale for providing a beautiful mat for us to play on.
And as always, thanks for reading!
