MadJack and Himosan are talking -- week of the 23rd, not sure when yet.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Monday, March 16, 2026 - 09:00 pm: Edit

R1 A2

bakija (ZIN) over Kingzilla (ORI HHgbb)

T1: ZIN moves 16 all turn with a bunch of reinforcement and a weasel. ORI doesn't double anything, no AFC, speed 16 all turn. We both sort of go forward and slip out. Impulse 24, ZIN launches a shuttle (ballistic SP incase he cloaks?). We end the turn at about 13 hexes, my #6 facing his #6.

T2: ZIN moves 16/26/17/14 (19 moves) with 3OL disruptors, weasel, point in tractor, point in HET. ORI doubles both warp, moves 31 till the end of the turn, slowing down to 26 late. SP opens on impulse 1, 6xIM (nothing fancy). ZIN slips out a little, ORI turns in, drones seperate a little, ZIN launches 4 fast drones, ORI navigates around the drones, tractors a couple, shoots a bunch, finds a single IVF which it kills, gets to R3, blasts ZIN #6 with 4xP1, 2xOL HB. Rolls hot on P1s, both HB hit, ZIN takes 13 in, losing a disruptor, a couple P3s and a couple warp. ORI HETs away, ZIN turns in behind him. ZIN blasts ORI with 4xP1 and 3xOL. OLs all hit, phasers roll a little low, ORI still takes 14 in through the #4 and 4 reinforcement (battery, he had 8 in tractor and no brick), losing a couple warp, a couple P3, and a drone rack. Drones are shot up more, ORI drones kill tractored drones, one of the fast drones survived a bad P3 shot, which would have been a problem, but there was still an unfired P3, which got it before it became an issue. Next impulse, ZIN gets 4xP3 in the down #4 at R3, but rolls low, doing 2 in, for another P3 and a warp. Smoke clears, ZIN still has 3xIM on the map a few hexes behind the ORI. Ships wheel around, as ZIN slows down and tries to stay on ORI down #4. Ships end at about R5, ZIN #2 off ORI #3.

T3: ZIN moves 24 all turn, recharges phasers (didn't use batteries last turn), keeps weasel for some reason, has a point in tractor and a point in HET. ORI doubles everything, moves 26/25/26. Ships wheel, ZIN aiming for ORI down #4. ORI slows down to 25. ZIN uses batteries to accelerate to 26 for the rest of the turn, which will get the ZIN off the ORI down #4, unless he HETs. ORI sees this and HETs back toward the ZIN. ZIN launches 4 fast drones, ships close. ORI tractors 2 drones, shoots down the free ones (still 3xIM a couple hexes back, but closing), shoots ZIN #2 at R2 with 3xP1, 3xP3 (other phasers shot drones), knocks #2 down to 4 boxes. ZIN crosses path (due to higher speed and move precidence), ends up R2 off the ORI down #4 (ZIN #6/#5 off ORI #5/#4 in the right direction). Fires std disruptor, 3xP1, 2xP3, rolls well enough, does 21 more in. ORI is largely mangled and resigns.

Good, fast game (we were done in about an hour and 40 minutes). I got lucky and hit with 3/3 OLs at R3 when I needed to do that, and then was fortunate that the ORI had a plotted speed change down to 25 when I could accelerate to 26 (giving up my ability to HET, both due to using batteries and having 2 warp hits).

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 09:46 am: Edit

Were you holding batteries for the 4th overload or decided then you would rather have the power next turn?

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 10:03 am: Edit

On T2, I lost the 4th disruptor to damage before firing, so it was moot (I generally arm 3 overloads and assume one will get blown off before I want to shoot, which turned out to be the case here). I was saving batteries for a HET (if needed) or my 4th disruptor (if it worked out), but I didn't need the HET and my disruptor was busted, so I ended up just not using any batteries at all on T2; he shot me first, and I figured 13 in wasn't terrible (ZIN doesn't start losing batteries till 15, and I had an empty disruptor anyway), so I didn't use reinforcement; both his tractors were employed on drones, I didn't think I could tractor him with batteries at R3. So I just ended up saving my batteries for the next turn, which was helpful.

On T3, I didn't arm my disruptors at all, going 24 all turn (which helped facilitate the important speed change) and rearming phasers, and then used 2 batteries for the speed change, so I only could fire 1 disruptor when I got the shot.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 10:10 am: Edit

I'm a bit surprised the ORI went for a r3 shot. It's generally not a good idea to get too close to the Zin. I can see wanting to give the Zin a heavy hit, but the Zin does very well taking that first blast.

Jack, curious as to why you didn't fire at 8 with OL HB and p1 and then escape with probably only a scraped shield? Were you cornered?

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 11:27 am: Edit

That's a question for Seth - I was just watchin', not playin'.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 01:18 pm: Edit

Nah, we were in the middle of the map when he shot. I hadn't shown any guns yet, and didn't arm any disruptors on T1, so it wasn't all impossible that I had a brick up, and if he shoots at 8 against a modest brick, the HBs just spread out and don't do all that much. I mean, it's better than getting killed and all, but at the time, it seemed reasonable that he took the shot he did--he got to R3, avoided getting pasted by drones (that ship has 10xP3, 2 tractors, and 2 drone racks for anti-drone work), and escaped. If my dice had been a little more terrible, he probably would have been fine.

By Timothy Linden (Timlinden) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 04:26 pm: Edit

I generally just keep circling the Kzinti at R4-5. Once you run out the 14 drone wave (or just their drones total if the Kzinti does not try to build the 14 drone wave) you can finish it off. Or if you get a real opportunity you can close and blast them. ("real" meaning where you really won't get anchored and killed, and get to do oodles to some flank shield). I found the Kzinti mostly does not have enough firepower outside R2 to be a threat to the Orion. Compared to the Klingon or Shark. The Orion can also often get away with putting up a 'fake' brick on the approach shield (4-5pts) and the rest on the escape shield when doing a close/retreat plan. That has won me games in the past where that sort of shot on the rear ends up with a shield still holding.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 05:32 pm: Edit

Looking at Seth's allocation he doubled both warp engines, allocated a het, and had 8 in tractor. He needed 2 in it at least just for drone defense. It seems like the Orion can have a big brick but overloading 2 hellbores mostly means there isn't a big brick out there. Really the most it could have been was 10 and that's with the batteries.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 07:16 pm: Edit

Hellbores: They are expensive.

It's like they have some incredibly vague downside!

By Seth Shimansky (Kingzila) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 - 08:36 pm: Edit

I had fun playing the game & treated the Orion like it was the HULK and wanted to smash the Kzinti. The plan worked great in my head but did not on paper.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 - 10:48 am: Edit

Peter, makes sense.

Like Peter, I've played the Kzinti A LOT. I did pretty well against the ORI generally, but my experience reflects Jack's observations about the Zin's firepower as well as Peter's observations about dice at mid-range and lucky guess on the game of Where's the Brick.

It's best to corner the Orion, which is hard to do and nearly impossible if the Orion is an ace.

Overall, I found the Orion the most irritating to fight, mostly because the battle is unpredictable from the Zin's perspective, and often boils down to a starcastle on at least one turn.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 - 04:41 pm: Edit

MadJack (Shark) versus Spartan (Klingon) set for 5p eastern on Saturday 3/21.

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Friday, March 20, 2026 - 12:09 am: Edit

Stimpy over Gregg in Tree B. Tight game, really came down to the right dice at the right time.

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Friday, March 20, 2026 - 07:18 pm: Edit

here's the write up:

T1 LDR has a 21/31 split. Gorn 17/24. Both ships head up the map, slipping occasionally for style points. Eventually (imp 24) we hit range 8, with our #6 shields lined up on the hex row. LDR fires 2xstd DR & 4xph-1 doing 11 pts. Gorn shows 9 reinforcement & takes 2 to the #6. Gorn turns in, LDR announces ESGs & continues down the map. Gorn launches torp B before it goes out of arc, keeping another 50 in arc. The single 30pts from B are enough for LDR to abort the fake ram & cancel ESGs. Imp 29 LDR fires the FX disruptors (standards) at range 7, doing 3 more to Gorn #6.


T2 LDR goes 17-31-28 to run out the torp. Gorn goes 17-31-26 to chase. LDR outruns the S torp without finding out ppt status. Imp 25 Gorn turns to get a range 4 centerline shot on LDR as he announces ESGs again. Gorn fires 6xph-1 & bolts the F's, hits with 1 F & rolls not great on the phasers doing only 30 pts total to the LDR #3, but gets good internals - DR, Ph-1, Lwarp, Rwarp. LDR turns out (worried about S-bolts on the newly downed shield), but doesn't cancel ESGs. LDR hets back towards Gorn & ESGs come up at radius 3. Gorn launches torp B again, then HETs away & launches torp A (both 30 pointers). Imp 32 torp B is 1 hex off the LDR down #3, and torp A a couple hexes back. Ships are at range 5 & LDR fires the FX disruptors (std), missing with both, and shoots torp B with a ph-1 & ph-g for 18 pts.

T3 LDR is speed 21 to start, Gorn speed 31, with decel down to 17. LDR braces for impact to find that torp B is fake & he is saved from 20 ints, he had run out the real on T2. LDR then turned towards the other S & took it on the #1, showing a 10pt brick & keeping the shield at 10. Gorn fires the rear phasers at range 5 on the same shield doing 7 more. LDR gets turned & accelerates to 31, chasing Gorn across the map with the ESGs. Gorn realizes he's going to get caught & gets shuttles out, losing all 4, but only taking 6 pts to the ship from ESGs (#6 again). LDR slows to 16, but continues to close. LDR gets range 1, launches a couple shuttles & fires 3xph-1 & 6xph-3 at Gorn #6 for 41 pts, doing 22 ints in a very tame volley -- getting only lwarp, rwarp, ph-3, ph-1, tractor & fluff. Gorn labs the shuttles & finds 1 is a SS. Gorn is able to slip away from the shuttles & still get on the LDR weak #1 and fires 3xph-1 at range 1 for 15 (12 ints), getting a disruptor, lwarp & fluff. Imp 32, Gorn turns again & gets 3 more ph-1s on the down shield for 16 ints (disruptor, some engines, the batts) -- both ESGs still intact, btw. LDR returns fire with a ph-G doing 14 to Gorn #3.

T4 LDR parks, Gorn goes 16 with a quick decel to 8. Imp 1 LDR fires 2 x OL disruptors (other stuff doesn't cycle until next impulse), hits with 1 and has it bricked away. Gorn fires back with ph-1, ph-3, and bolts torp B (S-torp), rolling 1,1,1 for 27 ints. Gorn moves to range 2, with a new shield bearing. LDR takes a last shot at the Gorn #4 at range 2 (2xph-1, ph-G) doing 17 pts of shield damage & calls it.

GG Gregg!

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, March 21, 2026 - 08:07 am: Edit

Game B4 (Madman ORI vs bakija GRN) is scheduled for the week of +/-April 1 some time.

By Stefan Lenfest (Himosan) on Saturday, March 21, 2026 - 09:46 pm: Edit

Seth over me as he gets his Kzinti Revenge Tour started with a bang. Turns out sometimes that 60 pt launch is real kids!

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Saturday, March 21, 2026 - 10:19 pm: Edit

MadJack and Spartan got 2 turns in. It was a bloody affair. Both ships beat up, this one is going the distance.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Sunday, March 22, 2026 - 08:00 am: Edit

>>Seth over me as he gets his Kzinti Revenge Tour started with a bang. Turns out sometimes that 60 pt launch is real kids!>>

Yeah, that happens once in a while, and when you just run into it, it's rough :-)

Seth totally demolished my Kzinti a few SS's ago with his TKR. I was expecting an enveloper. I did not see an enveloper. And then I was dead.

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 - 11:25 am: Edit

Stimpy over Spartan in tree A. Will post writeup later.

GG Geof!

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 - 02:14 pm: Edit

RFH (Spartan) v Hydran (Stimpy)

T1 - RFH has 16/26 split, holding torp A as a G, holding B as an S, 11 pt brick on the #2. Hydran is 17/26, rolling both Hellbores, Fusions C & D armed, couple WW held & 2 pts in tractor. Early in the turn Hydran launches the fighters & drags them along with tractors. RFH Turns in around imp 10, impulse 16 Hydran follows suit. Imp 22, RFH turns dir D, Imp 23, Hydran turns back dir A (both ships at speed 26 now), and RFH launches 2xS torp. Imp 24 we get into phaser range & Hydran drops tractors on fighters. Imp 26 Hydran announces ED & fires 5xph-1 & a std HB at range 5 on RFH #1 shield. Phasers do 18 and HB takes shield down to 5pts. Imp 28, Hydran stops & WW the torps, torp A is fake, torp B real, fire control raised. RFH bolts an F (hits) & fires 4xph-1 to kill fighters. Fighters fire back with Fusions for 6 damage, 5 blocked with batts to keep the #1 shield at 4 pts.

T2 - RFH starts at speed 0 with a sc to 9 on imp 3, Hydran is speed zero through decel period, then up to speed 9. RFH tacs to B, then starts moving forward. On imp 3 we exchange phaser fire, 5xph-1 from Hydran do 15 to RFH #5, 4xph-1 from RFH do 17 to Hydran #6. Hydran tacs dir B. RFH turns A, then F moving away as Hydran finally gets moving again (speed 9). Imp 12, RFH launches torps A (30) & C (20). Hydran emer decels again, fires an overloaded HB at RFH at range 8 before going under, but whiffs (RFH had a 10 pt brick on #1 anyway). RFH turns back dir B as turn finishes out.

T3 - Both ships start at speed 10, RFH has PFC. RFH quickly speeds up to 19 & runs away to re-arm. Slow Hydran tries to keep up. We both repaired a couple shields.

T4 - Both ships start at speed 20, RFH raises FC. Imp 3 RFH jumps to speed 30. Imp 7 RFH launches B (30) & C (20) to thwart the Hydran pursuit. Hydran EDs again, 3rd time in 4 turns! Hydran still gets to range 4 & we exchange fire. 5xph-1 from RFH does 22 to Hydran #6. Hydran fires 5xph-1, 2x fusion, OL HB & std HB on RFH #2 - phasers do 19, Fusions do 4, and both HBs hit. Only 1 pt gets through (hull), but RFH now has down #1,#2, & #5, with other shields weakened. Hydran weasels torps (Real). RFH downshifts to 14 and moves away for more rearming.

T5 - RFH comes out at 19, slows to 9 later, PFC again. Hydran is 10/9 split. Hydran tries to stay close as possible for when HBs cycle & tries to keep in position to be on the down #2 should RFH turn in to launch. Imp 23, RFH slows to speed 4. Imp 24 RFH does turn to get the torp in arc & launches an EPT from A, with down shield facing, but we are at range 9 & he also launches a WW. Hydran fires 2x fusion at the weasel range 9 for 1 pt of damage. Next impulse Hydran fires 2xph-1 to barely kill the WW. RFH does not raise FC. Imp 30, we're out of post explosion period & Hydran is range 7 from the down shield. Hydran fires 2xph-G at the EPT, and 2xph-1 at the RFH, for 6 internals (2xph-3, hull, aux-con). Hydran eats EPT for 46, putting 2 pts reinf. on the #6 to avoid internals. Next imp Hydran fires the last ph-1 at RFH for 1 more internal (hull of course).

T6 - RFH parks, Hydran is speed 19. I thought he might cloak & weasel, so I'm rolling the HBs. He does cloak, but without using a WW. I overload 1 HB with batts as he is at +1 (range 8 effective) and hit for 19, giving 10 internals (ph-3, ph-1, F-torp, Lwarp, fluff). RFH starts moving -9, and Hydran tries to maneuver for phaser shot on a down shield. I do manage to get range 1 in FA on a down shield, but decline the shot because I thought I might be able to get range 0 later (never came close), and I thought it was still too early in the turn to allow him a chance to surface. If I had lost, I might have some more regret at not taking this shot.

T7 - RFH comes out at -10, Hydran is speed 20. RFH decloaks. RFH speeds up to -19 and flees backwards towards the center of the map. Hydran chases obliquely, trying to protect the 1 box #6 shield (though it does have a 6 pt mini-brick on it). I make the obligatory bitch & whine about the retrograde, but it was pretty much the only option for the Rom at this point. Once I get to range 11, I turn my weak shield towards the FH to get him in FA. RFH slows to -14, and I see an opportunity to get range 8 with a speed change & still have power left to OL my HB. I make the speed change, but he immediately launches another EPT. I do some more bitching & whining about the retrograde & take the standard shot instead of continuing to overload range, so that I can turn away from the Big torp. Std hits for 10, doing 6 ints (Rwarp, Lwarp, ph-3, battery, hull). Near end of turn, RFH turns a down shield to Hydran at range 11 & I take the shot with 3xph-1, doing 2 ints (impulse, hull). I'm in position to run out the EPT substantially. Geoff concedes here, citing death by 1,000 cuts.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 - 04:37 pm: Edit

A lot of games getting wrapped up -- not many left. Good job everyone!

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Thursday, March 26, 2026 - 07:21 am: Edit

MadJack vs Spartan will wrap up Saturday 5p eastern.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Saturday, March 28, 2026 - 09:43 am: Edit

MadJack and Himosan planning 6:30 est on Tuesday 3/31.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Saturday, March 28, 2026 - 09:24 pm: Edit

MadJack over Spartan in 4 turns. It was rough.