The lists came to 910/915 points
Behold, the assembled fleets!
DFN Trident Class Destroyer (70) x4 = 280
DFN Hammer Class Frigates (25) x4 = 100
DFN Fury Class Cruisers (60) x4 =240
RSN Banshee Class Dreadnought = 230
RSN Phoenix Class Destroyer =65 for a total of 915 pts
I know you can't field a single Phoenix class destroyer, we were pretty much trying to throw an equal number of points, and this was the most effective way to do it. Cut us some slack, lol. We were also playing a little fast and loose with the allied point percentages, but the Dreadnought was my only large ship for this side, etc. etc. We're still trying to get a good handle on the rules, so just, y'know. Let it happen.
Sentinel Cruiser (65) x6 = 390
Pilgrim Frigate (20) x6 =120
Razorthorn Battleship = 180
Veydreth Gunship= 90
Veydreth Destroyer (65) x2 =130 910 pts
Again, an almost entirely legit list... except that the Veydreth gunship was supposed to be 2 to a squadron. Moving right along. TO BATTLE!
The Dindrenzi show their TRUE colours! heh heh, I'm just trolling, you guys. Couldn't help it.
Our intrepid Dindrenzi fleet commanders
The Dindrenzi positioned the majority of their medium ships on their right flank.
The Dreadnought and both Frigate squadrons were in the center, near the
craters we used as impassible, line of sight blocking terrain, while the final
squadron of Tridents and the singular Phoenix class Destroyer were on the
Dindrenzi left.
An enthusiastic Terran admiral shows his.... um, Enthusiasm, I guess,
and you can see our deployment, with the Veydreth and a Pilgrim squadron
on our right, a battleship in the center, supported by two of the veydreth, with
cut engines and hidden killer, while our six cruisers and remaining three Pilgrims
amassed on our left flank to challenge the might of the Dindrenzi squadrons facing
them there.
A mighty Terran battleship turns its turrets on the distant foe
The fearful RSN Dreadnought powers up its engine and blazes forwards
to meet the only foe worthy of its attentions.
Sidenote, I'm pretty happy with how my Dindrenzi paint scheme turned out.
With their engines powered down, the Dindrenzi Tridents are a major threat to the Terran
cruiser squadrons, so the stalwart squadron of Pilgrims races forwards, trying to close the range
enough for the Terran targeting computers to acquire a target lock.
Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Veydreth Gunship takes a brutal pounding as it makes an
almost parabolic course through the narrow confines of the whatever-the-heck-the-space-terrain-
that-blocks-movement-and-LOS-would-be...
But the plan becomes clear as a series of formidable mines now choke the access points
that would allow the Dindrenzi forces to outflank the vulnerable Veydreth destroyers and come in
behind the Razorthorn.
This shot is from the very end of the game, but you can see the danger-zone of the mines, marked
with those neon orange/yellow dice, brilliantly deployed to keep the Tridents/Phoenix outside of RB2,
and therefore unable to target those Veydreth destroyers who kept pouring fire onto the enemy
Dreadnought for the entire game.
As the Dreadnought closes in, the Razorthorn brings its fearsome broadside to bear.
That orange, ornate die is there to signify sector shields to the starboard side.
Six dice thrown turns into a fearsome 20 hits!
Overcome with emotions, the thrower of said dice takes a moment to celebrate.
The massed Cruiser action heats up as the lines close up. The scatter dice you see
represent mines, which the Dindrenzi players only noticed at this later stage of the game...
And promptly begin dropping them right in the face of the Terrans, willing
to risk destruction so long as they drag a few more Terran naval officers
into the crushing oblivion of the void along with them. Sadly, these mines
were quite ineffective.
With the Dindrenzi Cruiser task force crippled, the 5 remaining Terran Cruisers
make their way towards the enemy Dreadnought. With the two Veydreth destroyers,
5 Sentinels, and a wounded Razorthorn pounding away at it...
... and the damage mounting, the dreadnought's effectiveness is degraded
until it is little more than a floating hulk, venting atmosphere into space, it's engines
failing and multiple containment breaches across all levels.
At this point, we called the game in favor of the Terrans. Another turn or two might have seen the Tridents/Phoenix move into range of the surviving terrans, perhaps destroying another Cruiser squadron or even taking out the badly wounded battleship. Sam's brilliant minelaying tactics seriously hampered Dindrenzi movement along that entire flank, rendering almost 20% of their fleet impotent for most of the battle.
MVP for the Terrans is split between the Razorthorn, who negated FOUR critical hits with shields, heh heh, and those dinky, sneaky little Veydreth Destroyers, sneaking along the back field, throwing tons of dice at range while entirely untouched themselves.
The RSN's Dreadnought did a hell of a lot of work, being the only ship to target the Terran Razorthorn, and do tons of damage on it, too, DESPITE having almost all of the critical hits they inflicted negated by the shields. Even though it faltered in the end, it took a tremendous pounding and still wasn't destroyed.
As always, we had a complete and total blast playing, and I really hope that y'all enjoyed reading this battle report. It's the first one I've written up for this site, so I'm hoping I did an okay sort of job with it.
Comments, feedback, etc. welcome.
Victory:
