As promised, sort of, I have a report from the first battle for our Starfleet campaign. The mission we rolled up was for 550 points and was based around the Space Superiority Mission.So, we each selected ships from our fleet listing.
Klingons brought the following ships:
Soulblade (D5W), Reaver (D5), Reaper (D5)
Federation brought the following ships:
St. Lo (CA), Intrepid (CF), Opaskie (FFG), Gettysburg (FFB)
After Laying out the board we deployed our ships with the Federation losing the initiative and deploying my ships first and then the Klingons.
First turn the Klingons won the initiative so the Federation moved their first ship and off we went. By the end of movement the board looked like this.
I can not speak for my opponent but my plan initially was to move into the asteroids and dust clouds to make it a more close quarter affair. However, I was using the wolverine fast attack cruiser and wanted to get a good feel for her. Which prompted me to make a rather huge gamble when we did our movement.
Shooting was pretty non-existent. It involved a few disruptor blasts, which dinged the Intrepid. Drones were ineffectual between defensive fire and long range targeting. The one thing of note was the Intrepid took a critical to its impulse drive, which reduced my only fast ship to a movement of 10 inches and would rob it of its all power to the Engines, which I had planned to use. However, luckily the chief engineer was able to get the repairs completed at the end of the turn so the damage to the engines was recovered!
So, second turn started and for the first time the Federation managed to win the initiative. This more then sealed my decision to abandon my original plan of action for a far more dangerous one.
This is the end of turn two movement! That is right, the Federation moved straight ahead. I am not sure what I Was thinking. His first ship movement was pretty cautious and when my Frigate moved out of the cloud he had a good idea what I was going to do. So he adjusted accordingly as well as called for evasive actions. Regardless of the outcome I was committed to a course of action now!
Firing from the Federation saw me pepper each of the ships with various Arcs and weapons. In the end I only felt comfortable firing off one of my destroyer's Torpedoes. I didn't have the range I thought I would so held back on those. His entire fire was focused on the Opaskie and it took a beating. No other ship took any real damage but the frigate's shields were worn thin and it was carrying some hull damage.
*At this time, I unfortunately noticed the camera was almost out of juice so there is only one picture left that I Was able to snag and it was the near to end shot.
Turn three saw the Klingons retake the initiative, but they used it to make a tactical error of his own. While, immediately it did not seem a bad idea, it turned out to have long term implications. Effectively the head long rush of the Federation spooked the Klingon commanding captain and the Klingons broke formation. Each one moving off in their own directions to avoid Torpedo fire. However, in doing so his vessels became separated and could no longer "effectively" support each other. It also had the undesired effect of allowing me some "cross the board" side shots on his ships, thus negating his forward arc heavy shielding.
Unfortunately I did not take notes and the combat at this point was chaotic. Before the dust really settled the Opaskie was destroyed and the Wolverine had taken additional damage. Criticals were dealt to her that her Chief Engineer simply couldn't get under control. However, in the exchange the Klingon D5 Reaver was destroyed. It did managed to assist on the destruction of the Intrepid due to a very very bad tactical move I made. I erroneously allowed it to be within overcharged range for his disruptors. The Reaver's crippled gunnery did little with its over charged weapons, however it was the Soulblade that did the bulk of the damage as it came in behind. The Soulblade blasted with all the secondary weapons it could muster as well as the overcharged disruptors, but even with all that it was the Reaper that managed the kill shot and only JUST knocking it out. However this tipped the battle in the klingon's favor. Down two Federation ships to no lost Klingon ships was a bad spot to be in the captain of the St. Lo did not panic. In a next few moments the St. Lo with aft and starboard phasers destroyed the crippled Reaver. Then, with her main weapons pointed at the Reaper, unleashed her four torpedoes and forward and port phasers. Though the Reaper was pointed straight at the St. Lo, three phasers and two torpedoes managed to penetrate her shields and an relatively unscathed Klingon vessel went to almost crippled.
This is the last shot we took. The Gettysburg which did very little during the game simply avoided taking any damage and slipped away into the dust cloud. The Soulblade was unable to get into a position to support the Reaper who was run down by the St. Lo after it reloaded its torpedoes. The Reaper simply couldn't get away due to the critical damage it had taken. In the end, the field was taken by the Federation as the only remaining Klingon Cruiser, the Soulblade
Also, as mentioned before, in a campaign damage persists. Any hull damage you take during the game, you will have at the end. You have a chance to repair it at the end of the game based on the hull size of the ship and the rules are pretty lenient on this, so unless a ship is near crippled you will more then likely be able to repair it. So having ships that are still damaged from fight to fight is highly unlikely. The other is the matter of crippled ships, which can be repaired back to one above crippled by spending 1/4 of the original cost. The points used are from your Reinforcement Pool which is also established by the intensity level of the engagement just played + your Fleet's Prestige
For us, we each lost two ships completely. Both his Soulblade and my St. Lo were able to roll and repair the lost damage, so that wasnt much of a factor.
The other concept they give you is experience. Suriving ships earn points which represent d6s. This points can be used for various upgrades, re-rolls, or crew improvements. However, Ill go more into this next time. However for now, just know that the Soulblade's crew managed to increase their skill in battle. Instead of trainees they are now Green. Both the Gettysburg and St. Lo failed to get anything, save their continued existence and knowledge of a job well done! Plus they helped with rescuing the crews of the lost federation ships. (neither of them exploded.)
That's all for now! Stay tuned!
Klingons brought the following ships:
Soulblade (D5W), Reaver (D5), Reaper (D5)
Federation brought the following ships:
St. Lo (CA), Intrepid (CF), Opaskie (FFG), Gettysburg (FFB)
After Laying out the board we deployed our ships with the Federation losing the initiative and deploying my ships first and then the Klingons.
-Board prior to first turn moves
-Close up of Federation setup
-Close up of the Klingon vessels. DW5 is in the center D5s on the wings
First turn the Klingons won the initiative so the Federation moved their first ship and off we went. By the end of movement the board looked like this.
I can not speak for my opponent but my plan initially was to move into the asteroids and dust clouds to make it a more close quarter affair. However, I was using the wolverine fast attack cruiser and wanted to get a good feel for her. Which prompted me to make a rather huge gamble when we did our movement.
Shooting was pretty non-existent. It involved a few disruptor blasts, which dinged the Intrepid. Drones were ineffectual between defensive fire and long range targeting. The one thing of note was the Intrepid took a critical to its impulse drive, which reduced my only fast ship to a movement of 10 inches and would rob it of its all power to the Engines, which I had planned to use. However, luckily the chief engineer was able to get the repairs completed at the end of the turn so the damage to the engines was recovered!
So, second turn started and for the first time the Federation managed to win the initiative. This more then sealed my decision to abandon my original plan of action for a far more dangerous one.
Firing from the Federation saw me pepper each of the ships with various Arcs and weapons. In the end I only felt comfortable firing off one of my destroyer's Torpedoes. I didn't have the range I thought I would so held back on those. His entire fire was focused on the Opaskie and it took a beating. No other ship took any real damage but the frigate's shields were worn thin and it was carrying some hull damage.
*At this time, I unfortunately noticed the camera was almost out of juice so there is only one picture left that I Was able to snag and it was the near to end shot.
Turn three saw the Klingons retake the initiative, but they used it to make a tactical error of his own. While, immediately it did not seem a bad idea, it turned out to have long term implications. Effectively the head long rush of the Federation spooked the Klingon commanding captain and the Klingons broke formation. Each one moving off in their own directions to avoid Torpedo fire. However, in doing so his vessels became separated and could no longer "effectively" support each other. It also had the undesired effect of allowing me some "cross the board" side shots on his ships, thus negating his forward arc heavy shielding.
Unfortunately I did not take notes and the combat at this point was chaotic. Before the dust really settled the Opaskie was destroyed and the Wolverine had taken additional damage. Criticals were dealt to her that her Chief Engineer simply couldn't get under control. However, in the exchange the Klingon D5 Reaver was destroyed. It did managed to assist on the destruction of the Intrepid due to a very very bad tactical move I made. I erroneously allowed it to be within overcharged range for his disruptors. The Reaver's crippled gunnery did little with its over charged weapons, however it was the Soulblade that did the bulk of the damage as it came in behind. The Soulblade blasted with all the secondary weapons it could muster as well as the overcharged disruptors, but even with all that it was the Reaper that managed the kill shot and only JUST knocking it out. However this tipped the battle in the klingon's favor. Down two Federation ships to no lost Klingon ships was a bad spot to be in the captain of the St. Lo did not panic. In a next few moments the St. Lo with aft and starboard phasers destroyed the crippled Reaver. Then, with her main weapons pointed at the Reaper, unleashed her four torpedoes and forward and port phasers. Though the Reaper was pointed straight at the St. Lo, three phasers and two torpedoes managed to penetrate her shields and an relatively unscathed Klingon vessel went to almost crippled.
This is the last shot we took. The Gettysburg which did very little during the game simply avoided taking any damage and slipped away into the dust cloud. The Soulblade was unable to get into a position to support the Reaper who was run down by the St. Lo after it reloaded its torpedoes. The Reaper simply couldn't get away due to the critical damage it had taken. In the end, the field was taken by the Federation as the only remaining Klingon Cruiser, the Soulblade
-----------------------------------------------
Also, as mentioned before, in a campaign damage persists. Any hull damage you take during the game, you will have at the end. You have a chance to repair it at the end of the game based on the hull size of the ship and the rules are pretty lenient on this, so unless a ship is near crippled you will more then likely be able to repair it. So having ships that are still damaged from fight to fight is highly unlikely. The other is the matter of crippled ships, which can be repaired back to one above crippled by spending 1/4 of the original cost. The points used are from your Reinforcement Pool which is also established by the intensity level of the engagement just played + your Fleet's Prestige
For us, we each lost two ships completely. Both his Soulblade and my St. Lo were able to roll and repair the lost damage, so that wasnt much of a factor.
The other concept they give you is experience. Suriving ships earn points which represent d6s. This points can be used for various upgrades, re-rolls, or crew improvements. However, Ill go more into this next time. However for now, just know that the Soulblade's crew managed to increase their skill in battle. Instead of trainees they are now Green. Both the Gettysburg and St. Lo failed to get anything, save their continued existence and knowledge of a job well done! Plus they helped with rescuing the crews of the lost federation ships. (neither of them exploded.)
That's all for now! Stay tuned!