The Battle for Volk’s Star: League vs Minbari

Turn/Time: Turn 4/February, 2261

Scenario: Space Superiority

Terrain: One minor planet in the center of the table, surrounded by a dust ring.

Situation: The League fleet tasked with capturing Volk’s Star jumps in to discover not a defensive minefield, as expected, but a large ring of stellar dust surrounding the planet and obscuring sensor sweeps. Within the dust, the Minbari defenders prepare to counterattack.

League of Non-Aligned Worlds:

• 1x Takata
• 1x Ikorta
• 1x Varl

Minbari Federation:

• 1x Shar’lin
• 1x Tigaara
• 1x Tinashi
• 1x Leshath

Setup: Both sides set up along the diagonal edges of their deployment zone, on either side of the dust ring.

Turn 1: Both sides manuevered for position under cover of the swirling dust. The Takata fired off some e-mines in hopes of catching a Minbari ship in their area of effect, but inflicted minimal damage. 

Turn 2: An enterprising Minbari gunnery officer aboard the Sharlin managed to cut through the electronic “noise” from the dust cloud and gain a positive lock on the Takata. The Minbari flagship’s beam weapon tore into the luckless Brakiri ship, knocking her weapons offline, severely damaging her engines, and killing many of her crew (Gary rolled 8 crits on that shot). The League ships directed their fire at the smaller Tinashi, but again failed to do any kind of serious damage. Meanwhile, the Leshath began to launch Flyers into the dust.

Turn 3: Still blinded by the dust and unable to gain reliable sensor data on their opponents , the panicked League fleet began to scatter with the Minbari in hot pursuit. The Sharlin led them, firing volley after volley into the retreating League ships and causing tremendous damage. The Tinashi struck the killing blow on the limping Takata, crippling her and killing the last of her crew, leaving her a drifting tomb in space. The Leshath finished off the fleeing Varl, its volley smashing into the Vree ship and sending it spinning lifelessly into the dust. The last remaining League ship, the Ikorta, was crippled by Flyers from the Leshath as she tried to lose her pursuers in the dust ring. 

Turn 4: The crippled Ikorta did her best to escape, but to no avail. The Tinashi locked onto her and blew her apart with a single salvo.

Analysis: The dust ring was a major factor in this battle, screening both sides from their enemies in the early turns of the battle and preventing effective weapons fire until the last two turns.     

  

The Battle for Kellogg: League vs Narn

Turn/Time: Turn 4/February, 2261

Scenario: A Call to Arms

Terrain: None

Situation: A small League battlegroup enters the Narn-controlled Kellogg system as a probing attack for the Great League Offensive. Fortunately, a G’Quan class cruiser is present in the system and it quickly rallies local fleet elements to face the League raiders.

ToE:

League of Non-Aligned Worlds:

• 1x Ikorta
• 1x Varl
• 1x Takata

Narn Regime:

• 1x G’Quonth
• 1x Sho’kar

Setup: The fleets deployed along opposite long table edges.

Turn 1:The League moved forward on All Power to Engines, hoping to bring maximum firepower to bear on the sturdily-built Narn ships as quickly as possible. The Narn were quicker, however, and the G’qonth laid down a spread of e-mines before the advancing League ships before firing its main lasers at the Ikorta. The League returned fire and was able to damage the Sho’kar, but the G’quonth’s heavy armor-plated hull simply shrugged off the blasts. Amid the hail of enemy fire, the Narn launched their Frazi fighters.

Turn 2: Heavily damaged by the first exchange of fire, the Sho’kar veered left of the Narn advance with the Varl in close pursuit. As the Vree captain bore down on the fleeing Narn scout, he failed to notice the flight of Frazis closing in on him from behind. The Narn fighters ripped into his ship, crippling it and killing most of her crew in a single attack run. In the meantime, the remainder of the League fleet concentrated its fire on the lumbering G’quonth. A salvo from the Ikorta damaged the Narn cruiser’s targeting computers, but her gunnery chief compensated by instinct and sent a carefully aimed main laser shot straight through the Ikorta’s bridge, killing the Brakiri command crew instantly and tearing the ship in half. The G’quonth’s secondary guns tore away at the Takata, which responded with a salvo of e-mines. Meanwhile, the Sho’kar continued to head for the periphery of the battle, its stealth defeating all attempts to lock on.

Turn 3: The Narn captain, following the primal instincts of his kind to come to grips with the enemy, brought his ship nose to nose with the advancing Takata and both ships prepared for a close-range exchange of fire. The Frazi flight made a second attack run on the crippled Varl, hammering the crippled Vree until only a burning hulk remained. The two capital ships tore into each other, but neither scored any decisive hits. The Takata did, however, succed in scattering the Frazi flight with pulse laser fire as it passed over the lifeless Varl. As the battle raged outside their ship, the G’quonth’s engineers succeeded in repairing the damaged targeting systems.

Turn 4: The G’quonth and Takata hurtled past each other at close visual range, barely avoiding a collision. The Narn captain desperately tried to bring his ship about in order to get its front and side weapons to bear, but the inexperienced crew failed to react quickly enough. The Takata, being equipped with rear-arc weapons, was able to fire unopposed, but only scored minor damage.

 

Turns 5, 6, and 7: The Takata ran for the table edge and safety, while the Narn tried to bring their lumbering ship about to pursue. The Narn crew continued to demonstrate poor shiphandling skills (in fact they failed their Come About CQ check three turns in a row), and so neither side was able to bring weapons to bear. The Takata did, however, close to e-mine range with the Sho’kar, which until then had stayed out of the battle entirely. A single salvo finished off the Narn scout, leaving it adrift in space.

Turns 8 and 9: The G’qonth finally managed to bring ion torpedoes to bear on the fleeing Takata and sent a well-aimed shot into the League ship’s engines, shutting them down. The Brakiri worked feverishly to repair them as the Narn closed in.

Turn 10: The Narn sent a full salvo into the helpless Takata, causing major damage and killing many of her crew. Nevertheless, the Brakiri did manage to repair their engines just in time, and the Takata jumped away into the safety of hyperspace as the Narn captain watched, trembling with rage. 

Analysis: This scenario amply demonstrated the ups and downs of Narn ships…they can take incredible amounts of damage, but maneuver like bricks. If the G’quonth had made a few more of its Come About checks, the battle would have ended in a decisive Narn victory on Turn 6. As it was, the 10-turn limit ran out, and the Takata survived to fight another day.    

   

The Second Battle for Saguntum III: Centauri vs Earth Alliance

Turn/Time: Turn 4/February 2261

Scenario: Space Superiority

Terrain: One asteroid field at center table.

Situation: A re-enforced Centauri task force enters Saguntum III hoping to drive the Earth Alliance’s similarly re-enforcedTask Group Acheron out of the system. Admiral Carriere, detecting the presence of the incoming fleet, positions TG Acheron to meet the enemy in open space away from the populated Agricultural world.

ToE:

Centauri Republic: 

• 1x Octurion (HMS Shiva)
• 3x Sulust (HMS Tullianum, Titus, and Merula)
• 2x Magnus (HMS Lupae and Tabellarii)
• 1x Tertius (HMS Cincinnatus)
• 2x Elutarian (HMS Brindisi and Tiberius) 
• 1x Balvarin (HMS Tibirim)
• 1x Balvarix (HMS Tisiphone)
• 2x Corvan (HMS Fulgur and Eirene)
• 3x Razik Wing

Earth Alliance:

• 1x Omega (EAS Acheron)
• 2x Oracle (EAS Pythia and Delphi)
• 1x Nova (EAS Temujin)
• 5x Hyperion (EAS Aeneas, Clio, Euterpe, Badajoz, and Fontenoy)
• 4x Artemis (EAS Chimaera, Artemis, Manticore, and Scylla)
• 1x Olympus (EAS Beaujeu)
• 2x Starfury Wing
• 2x Thunderbolt Wing

Setup: The two fleets set up in opposing diagonal corners, with the Centauri on the left and the Earth Alliance on the right.

Turn 1: The opposing fleets maneuvered towards each other, slowly beginning to circle with the asteroid field as their axis of maneuver. The Earth ships did their best to boresight their main lasers on the oncoming Centauri ships, but were outmaneuvered and outranged by their opponents, whose massed battle laser and missile fire destroyed EAS Clio within seconds of contact being made.

Turn 2: Calling on all his tactical skill, Admiral Carriere swung his ships into position and brought their boresight heavy lasers to bear on the Centauri fleet, which was momentarily caught off-guard. Sadly, Carriere’s tactical coup bore small fruit as the laser fire skittered off the armored hulls of Shiva and Cincinnatus. The weaker hulls of the Earth ships, conversely, buckled like tinfoil under the Centauris’  return fire. Temujin and Acheron both took severe damage while Euterpe and Scylla disappeared in the same massive fireball. Meanwhile, Centauri Raziks easily mopped up the disorganized and demoralized Starfuries.

Turn 3: Realizing that further combat would mean the total destruction of TF Acheron, Admiral Carriere gave the order to break contact with the enemy and scatter. Immediately, the Earth ships began to run for deep space as the Centauri broke formation to hunt them down. EAS Beaujeu, the last of Temujin’s escorts, took a hit to her engines that rendered her dead in space in front of the oncoming Centauri warships while Temujin herself made for the board edge and safety. The surving Artemises formed a line in front of the heavily damaged Acheron in order to cover her retreat into hyperspace. EAS Badajoz, the last survivor of her squadron and hopelessly cut off both from the main body of the EA fleet and any hope of escape, fought a heroic but doomed battle against the Centauri Magnuses.

Turn 4: The battle entered its most desperate phase as TG Acheron fought to survive and escape. Though struck by salvo after salvo of Centauri fire, Acheron successfully opened a jump point and escaped as her escorting Artemises broke through the Centauri line. The inexperienced squadron commander of the Centauri Flotilla Secundus Gladius ordered the crippled Beaujeu to surrender, but was met with fierce defiance by her captain. Enraged, he concentrated all his squadron’s firepower on her, destroying the valiant Olympus and leaving no survivors, which allowed the badly damaged Temujin to limp off-board. Meanwhile, Badajoz sold her life dearly, knowing that every volley directed at her gave Acheron and Temujin that much more of a chance to escape. Eventually, the Hyperion was overwhelmed and destroyed, but the commander of Flotilla Primus Pilum accorded the survivors of her crew the full honors of war.

Turn 5: With Acheron and Temujin safely away the Centauri admiral, impressed by the bravery and discipline of Earthforce, stood his fleet down and allowed Artemis, Chimaera, and Manticore to retreat from the area without further opposition.

Analysis: This was a tough battle…tough to play and tough to write about. Again, my dice failed me at every turn while my opponent’s did not (I knew it was time to leave when he scored 24 damage and six crits from a beam shot). Centauri beam lasers are tough…especially in the open.          

The Battle for Fager: Centauri vs Narn

Turn/Time: Turn 4/February, 2261

Scenario: Ambush

Terrain: 2 Asteroid Fields.  Entire area affected by electromagnetic distortion from Fager Prime.

Situation:  A sudden raid by an unknown force draws a single G’Quonth back to Fager Secundus and away from the Narn fleet.  However, the Narn hoping to catch the Centauri at Fager unaware suddenly go from being the hunter to the hunted as the Centauri Task Force there springs a well timed ambush.

ToE:

Centauri Republic:

• 1x Tertius
• 2x Sulust
• 1x Magnus
• 2x Darkner
• 1x Corvan

Narn Regime:

• 2x DarkHawk
• 2x Sho’kar
• 2x G’sten
• 2x Ka’toc
• 2x G’qonth

Setup: The Narn deployed within the cover of the asteroids, while the Centauri approached in two wings from the left and right of their table edge.

 

Turn 0:   While the Narn Fleet stopped and hoped that the interference on their sensors cleared so they could fine the Centauri Fleet, Centauri in-turn sprung an ambush of their own.  With in moments Flotilla Primus Gladius had accounts to 1 Ka’Toc destroyed and adrift and 1 G’Sten that blew up damaging all but the 2 G’Quonths and the other Ka’Toc on the side.  However that Ka’Toc suffered the same fate as Flotilla Secundus Gladius swept in from the opposite side and let loose on it.

Turn 1:   The Narn Admiral, thanks to his 2 scouts, was quick on his feet, and ordered his fleet to move at best speed while the Centauri fleet continued to slice through the darkness of space towards their foe.  However the fleet was not fast enough as Flotilla Primus Gladius claimed another ship by destroying a Sho’Kar which in turn set a drift a DarkHawk that was damaged from the earlier explosion of  the G’Sten.

Turn 2:   The Narn continue to get the jump on their Centauri foe as all ships begin the process of coming around to face to face Flotilla Primus Gladius.  Even as they turned to face their foe it became apparent that it was too late as additional fire tore into and destroyed the other G’Sten while fire from Flotilla Primus Gladius crippled and reduced the crew of 1 G’Quonth to a mere skeleton of what this proud ship once held.  Minor damage is dealt out in-turn by the Narn.  In a series of quick yet deadly dogfights the last of the Centauri fighters were destroyed leaving the 2 remaining Frazi flights to spring on the Centauri.

Turn 3:  The Narn admiral, in an attempt to keep some of his command alive, orders his fleet to scatter.  The DarkHawk and surviving Sho’Kar head for deep space while to 2 G’Quonths continue to limp ahead.  So far all repair attempts to get their engines working back at full strength have failed.  Fire from both flotillas destroyed the remaining Sho’Kar and also the cripple G’Quonth.

Turn 4: The Centauri gain the up hand and begin driving the remaining G’Quonth into the false safety of the asteroid field where it again attempts and fails to repair its’ engines.  The remaining Frazi flight in a display of unparalleled flying manages to score a critical hit on the Corvan forcing it to begin retreating from the battle.

Turn 5:  The remaining G’Quonth decides to leave the asteroid field with a debris field in its wake.  The combined firepower of both flotillas was needed to lay waste to this ship.  Later examinations of the field and the hulk reveal that the Narn Admiral, in a fit of rage, ejected his entire engineering staff into space due to their failure to effect the simplest of repairs.

Aftermath:  It was a sad state when the Narn flagship was unable to roll higher then a 1 on a repair roll 4 turns in a row.  Even with Narn winning all but 1 initiative roll their fleet was not able to get out from under the Centauri guns. A rare find did occur after the battle though.  A section of space within the electromagnetic distortion revealed a gas giant rich in raw materials.  This was immediately claimed by the Centauri.

Thanks to Rich for the pics and battle report!