First week , first game, some upcoming stuff
Well, the Friday old guys managed a game of Galactic Knights on the third. Roger , Greg and I had 2000 points worth of ships, Roger opting for a most balanced 10 ship force running from Battle Cruiser to Star Bombers; I brought an Aquarian force with nine ships-a battle cruiser, four cruisers and five star bombers; Greg arrived in Terran style with a star bomber, a destroyer, an armored pursuit ship, another destroyer ...and a Super Galactic Dreadnaught.
Obviously even a three way battle has its flaws, and the game quickly devolved into a "shoot at the big 'un " with me taking the lead. It really had to, explanations follow.
A really big class of ship.
Over 4 hexes long on the table, dwarfing the other ships which are in 1 or at most two hexes.
So big, here is a second photo. That ship is really big.
Roger's Carnivores do not look as scary as last time. Mostly because of that SGDN on the table.
My fleet. The soft skins in space- Aquarians.
The three commanders quickly became embroiled as Aquarian and Carnivores traded potshots at each other while concentrating on the Super Galactic Dreadnought of the Terrans. Rather than letting you take me at my word, let me explain. A Super Galactic Dreadnought is just that, or put it another way........it is a space station that can displace at the speed of light.
The work horse of most of the fleets in this Galactic realm is a 'cruiser ' with two belts of armor, each of 8 or 9 armor points. The armor, and shields if the ship class carries them, protect the crew, engines and 3 to 3 long range weapons, 4 to 6 medium range weapons and 4 to 6vlight weapons. Takes two cruisers a few turns to take out an equivalent cruiser. In game terms, cruisers run 250 to 350 points.
SGDN armor is three or 4 belts of 10 points. Most weapons will not get through to create any damage internally for several ships firing the same turn . This does not count the protection from the shields which are three deep, more than other ships. Often they do not allow any damage through. They do run at least 1520 points in most fleets. Five to six times the cost of a cruiser!
I started my fleet in a line with the Battlecruiser and four cruisers on the left, the five Star Bombers on the right. Greg moved the SGDN a mighty one hex forward, sending a lone Star Bomber out to my five. I moved up my right wing, all 5 Star Bombers, keeping out of medium range for the SGDN Geg had first fire, his Star Bomber unloaded his plasma torpedoes into one of mine. Star Bombers are constructed to shoot plasma torpedoes, not get hit by them--and live.
Roger moved the Carnivores up, out of range to the SGDN, he took a shot at my cruiser nearest him.
Near the end of turn 2, my left flank is being turned, the crafty Carnivore admiral will swallow the cruiser from my "Screaming Yellow Zonker" squadron.
I have skipped to the end of turn 2, my left hand cruiser is no more ,its last position marked by the Carnivore fighters closest to camera on the left of frame. The green ship is my battlecruiser which has fired on the SGDN , off camera to the right at long range.
Turn two saw the Star Bomber from Terra go down, but I can set up the Aquarian Star Bombers to make their deadly attack runs. Loads of my missile salvoes, Carnivore missiles and fighters swarm the escort ships, allowing my jamming missiles to make gunnery on the SGDN a frustrating attempt to roll ones on ten sided dice.
Last picture of the show. Fighters from both Terran and Carnivorer fleets and Aquarian cruisers in a furball near the Terran capital ship.
The payoff- two cruisers get in close enough to be in medium range to the SGDN, one even close enough to use the short range plasma torps in the bay. the two star bombers carrying torps also release into the SGDN's starboard side. I lose a second cruiser to the combined SGDN and Carnivorre fire. At the end of turn 4, the SGDN has all its armor on the starboard side stripped. Roger is down one destroyer. Greg is down all but the SGDN, which has little damage except for the stripped armor on the starboard.
Time and situation led us to calling the game at turn 4's end. Despite being out numbered two to one in points on the table, the SGDN could return to Terran bases. The Carnivores played it close to the vest, losing only fighters and one small ship. The Aquarians uncharacteristically got stuck in at close range and lost half of the fleet. Two Star Bombers and two Cruisers were a stiff price to pay for damage to a SGDN's armor belts.
Reflections: The number of armor boxes on the table was truly disturbing. The Carnivoran anti shield missiles and Aquarian anti gunnery missiles work well in ambush situations.
Rumor of an upcoming arms race has been circulated. Can any one say Dreadnaught, or Aquarian SGDN?
Then again on Saturday I received a group of Austrians staff. These are prints from the stl files by Piano. Absolutely stunning.
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