Battle Report 02
Submitted By John
LeBlanc
October, 2006
This battle was played on Friday evening. It was the first time I have played my White Comet fleet, and also the first time we have incorporated Battlecraft and stealth ships. Hope you enjoy it.
October 20th, 2203 - Pluto
In 2203, a powerful fleet from the White Comet Empire arrived at the edge of the solar system. It was a long awaited punitive expedition, bent on seizing glory and avenging past insult.
The armada is met by the Earth Defense Fleet, led by the mighty Musashi class Battleship.
And the battle begins…
White Comet
Empire Fleet
SBB Flagship Medaruusa
SBB Bringer of Victory class
SCG-[AMM] Exterminator class
SBC Relentless class
SACV Vengeful class (6 squadrons of Scorpion fighters)
SDD x6 Storm class
SSS x2 Shadows [AMM] class
Earth Defense
Force Fleet
SBB Musashi class
SBB Borodino class
SACV Shinano class (7 squadrons of Black Tiger fighters)
SBC Hood class
SFFG x5 Airone class
SDD x6 Gearing class
Turn 1:
The opposing fleets make visual contact!
The Comet Empire fleet forms a battle line anchored by the dreaded Exterminator Anti-matter Missile Cruiser and increases speed. The fighters spread out into an attack formation.
Behind the battle line, the flagship Medaruusa comes to a halt to
rapidly charge the Magna Flame gun. The Shadow subs drop into
sub-space disappearing from radar. Unknown to the EDF, the
Shadows increase their speed and advance.
The EDF Fleet forms into a wedge. All fighters receive CAP
orders, prepared to defend against incoming battlecraft or
ordinance. The destroyers and frigates are in tight formation
with the capital ships. The fleet remains stationary while the
Wave Motion Guns accumulate power.
Anchoring the EDF formation is the Shinano class Attack Carrier.
Capable of carrying 7 squadrons of fighters, it is armed with
Shock Cannons and a Wave Motion Gun.
The Radetsky class Battleship guards the left flank. Heavily
armored, it is armed with an experimental and extremely powerful
Type 20 Wave Motion Gun.
Turn 2:
The Comet Empire battle line continues to advance and increase speed. The Medaruusa remains stationary with the Carrier and a single squadron of fighters on CAP.
The EDF begins a slow advance, maintaining formation.
Turns 3-4:
As both fleets continue to advance, the Comet Empire seizes the initiative. Before the EDF can get in range of its main guns, the Exterminator launches two Anti-Matter Missiles at the Battleship Musashi.
Both missiles are destroyed by anti-missile fire, but one detonates! The explosion vaporizes the Hood escort, and causes heavy damage to the Battleship.
Now in range, the nimble Scorpion fighters attack. They maneuver to launch missiles at the EDF escorts.
The EDF Black Tigers move to intercept the Scorpions, and a
dogfight begins. The fighters put up a valiant defense and shoot
down many of the Comet Empire craft. Anti-Battlecraft fire from
the escorts also takes its toll, leaving only 3 shattered
squadrons to attack. Their fire is ineffectual, scoring only
slight damage on the EDF escorts.
The SBB Musashi turns to prepare a withering broadside attack.
In a climactic moment, the Shadow subs appear on radar. Attacking
with surprise, they launch their Anti-Matter Missiles at the
Borodino. The explosions destroy the escorts, and cripple the
Battleship.
Things go from bad to worse for the EDF when the Medaruusa
reaches full power for the Magna Flame gun. It lines up on the
Shinano, and fires on the carrier for terrific damage. The
shielding on the main power generator is breached, and the
Shinano explodes!
Turns 5-6
The situation is grim for the EDF. The fleet attempts to regroup after the destruction of the carrier. The Radetsky continues to press into the center of the Comet Empire formation, in an effort to draw fire away from the other heavily damaged capital ships.
The remains of the Scorpions withdraw to the main battle line, and the Black Tigers are not fast enough to prevent their retreat.
The WCE Exterminator launches a large salvo of missiles at the
Musashi, but they are all destroyed by counter-fire.
The Borodino and Musashi combine fire with their remaining
operational batteries, and destroy the SSS Shadows.
The Bringer of Victory class battleship pounds the Musashi with
energy cannons, causing critical damage, and ultimately
destroying it. The Comet Empire does not let up, and the SBC
lines up the Magna Shock cannon at the Radetsky. The weapon
causes significant damage, and manages to destroy Radetsky's
battle bridge - rendering the ship unable to fire.
With all EDF capital ships either destroyed or crippled, the generous and benevolent White Comet Empire accept their surrender.
Despite the lopsided victory, we both enjoyed the battle and
playing with all the new toys. I was very impressed with the raw
power of the Comet Empire fleet. Unfortunately for the EDF, they
could not seem to get their special weapons charged up, and as
you can see, the WCE did not have any trouble.
The battlecraft were pretty interesting. I vastly underestimated
the ferocity of the EDF counter-battlecraft defense, and
over-estimated the anti-ship capabilities of the Scorpions.
Many tactical lessons were learned (the hard way) from this game:
1: EDF must respect the Anti-Matter Missiles. It is likely the WCE will fire them as soon as they hit 20 hexes out. (They have a range of 60 hexes, but move 20 hexes a turn). Until they have been fired, it would be best not to stack any ships in the same hex. The Hood could have been preserved otherwise. (Stacking ships in the same hex is effective against the Gamilons - so one lesson learned.)
2: In several games now the EDF player has been unable to line up the WMG's against the prime targets. We agree now that it is best to fire them as soon as they are ready, at whatever target presents itself. The Wave Motion Guns "spread" damage randomly into adjacent hexes, and better to destroy some escorts and possibly hit a capital ship, rather than miss the shot opportunity altogether.
3: Fighter strafing attacks should be timed with other attacks. I goofed on this one, and watched my entire battlecraft contingent get cleaned out.
Luck plays a part in it to be sure. A good comparison would be Classic Battletech. A headcap, or gyro crit is the rough equivalent to many of the SBFBS crits. In this game, the luck was played a big part with the power plant hit (1 in 100) and battle bridge hit.
That being said, I had to manipulate movement in a way to place the AMM's in range without suffering brutal return fire. Had the EDF fleet changed speed at all, it would have either kept me out of range, or allowed him to launch a full spread.
IMO the tactical possibilities are fairly deep, or I would have been bored already.
One more I'd like to add..
One ship slipped out of the void after observing the battle. Another enemy for Earth?
(Dark Nebula cruiser - 4th SBFBS "faction".)
The original report can be found at:
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