Origins 98
After Action Report

By Vince Weibert

    Thought I'd give you all an Origins "after action report". Probably goes without saying that Beth and I both had a great time. For those of you who didn't make it, all I can say is "start saving now. The weekend is worth every penny" ;)

    I played 13 games and made it to the final round of Fleet Captains where I lost to Tom Carrol in this AT ( more on that in a second ). Beth made Patrol finals, but lost to a Hydran when her Fed TCC rolled 4,5,5,6 for four overloads at range 5 on the initial battle pass ( ouch!! ). I qualified for the patrol finals in my AT but didn't play in it because I was in the fleet captains finals.

    In Captains I flew the Klingon. My first round was against an LDR. He was a nice guy, but somewhat of a novice. As we approached, he raised both ESGs at radius 0, then fired one of his gats at my drones. I preempted with my overloads at range 4 and downed his #1 knocking out an ESG. He fired next pulse downing my shield and I hit him with the waist P-2s for more internals. As he came to range 1 for the overrun, I put him in the beam to keep the ESGs away and beat him up next turn.

    Second round I drew a Fed. I approached behind my drones and near the end of the turn, he turned away from them, ending the turn at range 12. Turn 2 he went 4 and weaseled the pack as I came to range 8. I dropped tracking for the drones and waited at range 8 for him to void the weasel. Sure enough, he accelled to 14 and voided it at which point I alphad at range 8 with 4OLs and phasers, downing his #5 and knocking out a photon. I then hopped to range 9 and ran away. Turn 3 I ran to the far map corner and reloaded kicking out drones near the end of the turn. On turn 4, he came in at moderate speed and I turned into him with 4 OLs ready. He dealt with my first 3 drones, so I gave him 3 more to suck up his phasers. At range 4, I hit him scoring with 3 disruptors and doing about 20 internals. He didn't shoot, I gave him range 3 next pulse and he still didn't shoot, apparently holding out for range 2, which he couldn't get this turn. I was able to get behind him and ended the turn on top of him at range 0 off his #3. I alphad on 1, he backed off me on 9 and hit me with the phots at range 1. We then circled each other and I finished him two turns later with range 6 overloads taking out his phasers so I could send my drones in do the job.

    Third round was an AT. Nothing fancy here. I rammed his web at speed 31 and anchored him, beating him up by the end of turn 2. This put me into the round of 16 for captains finals.

    For fourth round, I drew another AT. He webbed my SP after it broke, leaving me clear to come up to range 4 deliver an alpha of four OLs on his #1 near the end of the turn. He waited till range 3 on the next pulse to fire for a few internals of his own. Next turn he went slow and I circled around him. My SP drones came back to haunt him and he had to snare them. I fired OLs on him mid turn, then put him in the beam near the end of the turn. He had to use most all his weapons on my drones and he conceded when he realized he was going to get smashed on imp 1.

    Fifth round captains was against Paul Scotts andromedan. We don't get much practice against andies, but I figured I'd just try to stay behind him and wait for the good disruptor shot. I put 2xF, 2xM and 1xIVM drone in the SP to make him think. It worked well since he turned away from the drones at rage 11 from me without firing a shot. On turn 2 I chased him onto the upper left corner and fired near end turn with phasers and a couple standard disruptors. For turn 3, I armed 1 OL plotted an. HET and put 5 reinforcement on the #1. He crossed my bow and then HETd back for his shot. He did 40 to the #1and disdev'd behind me. I HETd and trailed him filling his rear panels and doing a few minor internals and ending the turn at range 4. Turn 4 I armed the OLs and miziad him through the full rear panels knocking out one TRH and a rear PA panel. More importantly, I killed 5 of his 6 batteries. On imp 32, I was still going to end at range 6 off his full rear panels so he made a second HET to turn the front panels towards me.

    On imp 1, I thought I had given him my #2 ( we were on the hex spine ) but according to errata I was unfamiliar with he instead had my #1 ( I was pissed ) but fortunately, he rolled a 6 for his TRH and only scored 15 internals. In exchange, I missed with 2 of 4 OLs at range 4, not even raising his front PAs to reinforced and he disdeved out. I followed meekly and chased him back to the upper left corner and he repaired 2 batts by turns end allowing him to clear his panels.

    Turn 7 saw me trying to get inside and knock out this last TRH. I couldn't penetrate his panels, but 1 lucky leak point got in and hit the TRH (!). He then had to HET again ( a third time ) to avoid my drones and still ended up being hit with one. I trailed him to turn 8 where I dealt the death blow, but he wanted to play it out to the last excess damage box on turn 9. Tough battle and I was very fortunate to win.

    My round 6 captains opponent was Tim Linden in an Orion with 2 drones, 2 Hellbores, and a Photon. I figured this would be a very power hungry package so he wouldn't have much reinforcement and planned to use this to my advantage. Turn 1 I armed 2 OLs and 2 standards and got behind my pack. He doubled, got range 8, fired everything, and missed with the photon causing all damage to wash on my rear shields. He HETd to nine on the next pulse leaving me with overloads unfired. I ended up shooting them at his drones. Turn 2 he doubled again, I chased him getting range 8 near end of turn and firing, then turning off to give the impression I would run on turn 3. Instead I went 5 then dropped to 4 and OL'd everything. He went 31 with all engines doubled and came in at me. He mistimed a shot on a range 2 break and I ended up hitting him with a heavy drone on his #1. He turned his #6 to me and came in. At 4, I fired, knocking down the shield and scoring respectable internals. At range 2 I weaseled. He came in to 0 and fired the photon against the weasel and hit. He tried to fire the HBs overloaded but when I reminded him he had HETd and used 15pts of reinforcement this turn, he realized he couldn't fire them at 0 so he sailed over the top of me and trying to turn around. I acceled in 10 reverse near end turn and ended just outside his FA. However, he kicked out 4 shuttles which were swarming me.

    Turn 4 he fired both HBs overloaded at me hitting for about 25 internals. I had to use most of my firepower on his shuttles but was able to blow through his #3 and finish hulling him and drop him to about 13 power ( still a dangerous 26 doubled ). I tractored him as he came to range 1 trying to keep him off my strong #6. On turn 5 he fired the OL and downed the shield. Near mid turn, I backed off of him getting his down #3 and gutting him with 2OLs and a drone before he could bring the HBs to bear on turn 6.

    My final battle for hat was against was against Tom Carroll in an AT. I felt pretty good about this one since the Klingon has the fire advantage with the UIM. By using this, I felt I could handily beat him. For turn 1 I armed 2 OLs and 2stds and put some reinforcement on my #1. He approached at high speed and cast web on imp 28 that would snag me because of a late turn I had made. This didn't bother me since the only way to catch me in it was to make it to weak to cause a breakdown. On imp 30 he alphad me with 3 OL's and 7 P-1s. He rolled incredibly hitting with all disruptors and scoring 21pts of damage with the P-1s. This went through the reinforcement and scored 2 internals ( phaser and disruptor!! ). I responded next pulse with my remaining disruptors and phasers for 27pts on his #2.

    He turned and ran on turn 2 and I broke free of the web repairing my disruptor and 2 boxes on the #1. For turn 3 I went 15, 28, 21 and he swung around to engage me. I crossed his bow and we swapped at range 4. I hit with 4 OL's, but he with with all his overloads AND a 10 point fist AND scored above average on the phasers. He ended up doing about 15 more interals. So much for the Klingons UIM advantage. I ended up hitting only 2 of his phasers with my 20 or so internals but did manage to hit a disruptor.

    I had now lost both my #1 and #2 ( same as him, but he was running ) and had trouble trying to follow him for the rest of the turn. On turn 4 I put reinforcement into the #1 so I could try to cut him off and gain some ground on him. At one point he fired with 3 P-1 on my #1 at range 13 rolling 1,1,2 for 8 points!!. This scored 2 internals ( Drone, P-1 ). I was thoroughly discouraged and was able to only finish out the turn at range 12-13. On the next turn, he again got the down shield ( I didn't pay close enough attention ) and fired 3 P-1s again rolling 1,1,2. I knew this would wipe my 2 remaining P-1s so I conceded at this point. I had lost my Batts and would end up being webbed up when he got turned around for a battle pass on the next turn since I couldn't control my speed effectively w/o batts.

    Losing was a real bummer, especially since I felt positive going in that my ship had distinct advantages over his. Unfortunately, his consistantly excellent dice work more than made up for the advantage and he played very well, not making any mistakes for me to monopolize on. I really don't think I would have changed my game play any if I had it to do over other than maybe trying to take that first volley on a side shield so that I could give pursuit better. I just didn't expect him to get through it on that first shot. Ah well, theres always next year.