A new GW game between Ted Fay (Coalition) and Gary Quick (Alliance) using Cyberboard.

Full rules, all expansions (including updated rules as they become available). However, Minor Empires is not being used. No optional rules.

By William Jockusch (Verybadcat) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 01:24 pm: Edit

Hi guys

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, September 08, 2021 - 03:53 pm: Edit

Hi!

CT1 Eco: The usual. I also borrow to the max and overbuild a bunch of FF/E4 for pincount goodness.

Raids: BR F5 for WYN sale. BR PT to Red Claw fleet.

Operational: Other than the miscellaneous empire building shuffling (com cons, colonies, etc) all I do is dogpile 803 with everything and dare him to come out and fight.

He does not react Count's fleet. However, he does send both reserves to that battle - and then fights hard over 4 rounds before bugging out and leaving the BATS out to dry.

We each do some directing, though he doesn't direct two rounds (but one of those two rounds was an autokill roll by him). Overall, my dice probably averaged out, but his were very lucky, including one or two Sixes (and a "1/5" split in his favor somewhere I think).

Kzinti KIA: BATS, 3*BC, EFF (all directed)

Kzinti WIA: None

Lyran KIA: DN (direct), DW (autokill), SC (direct)

Lyran WIA: 2*CC, 5*CW, 2*DW, 3*DD.

So, ugly losses for the Lyrans due to good rolling, but the Kzinti pay a heavy price in the form of three cruisers that will never grow up into CVs.

Kzinti retreat to BATS 703 (only choice).

EOT: I mostly stay forward deployed and plop a moderate reserve (new construction) on 404. He could take the SB, FRDs, and drive off the cripples on AT1, but then he wouldn't have that stuff to put on the capital on CT2. We'll see if he's more conservative and defensive, gets aggressive, or something else!

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Wednesday, September 08, 2021 - 04:13 pm: Edit

I assume the DN and SC was on the line (rather than Scout/Form)?

The loss of the 3 BC's isn't good.... but a fair price was extracted?

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, September 08, 2021 - 04:31 pm: Edit

Yes, the DN and SC were on the line instead of in protected boxes. I needed the extra EW. The DN was a bit lucky on his part. I had a -5 to damage and a lower BIR (starting BIR was 5), but he rolled box cars and needed an 11 to get the DN. I thought the risk was worth it, but it didn't pan out that way.

Luck happens.

Overall, he *clearly* won the EP exchange in that battle. However, 4 SEQ, including 3 cruisers is a hefty price. The Kzinti only start with 15 BC in their entire navy (including the unreleased stuff) and likely will never build another (as they are usually turned into tugs, SRs, CVs, CFs, CDs, BCEs, and the like).

So killing 3 BCs takes out 20% of his cruiser fleet!

Still, bagging a DN early and a very hefty load of cripples for a CT1 battle is quite a butcher bill.

I will let the readers judge the efficacy of the exchange.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Thursday, September 09, 2021 - 02:25 am: Edit

Ted

….I am sure the Kzinti Media are announcing 50% of the Lyran DN fleet being killed

But - weirdly more Lyran DN's will get probably built than Kzinti BC's....

….so honours even Sir!

By Gary Quick (Northquick) on Thursday, September 30, 2021 - 11:05 pm: Edit

Hi William & All.

AT1: CVS, 3xFF, FCR, FFK, 4xPDU. paid DDV, BC>BCE, BC>SR, scout pods, paid survey slot

As it's been a while forgot a couple things, but will catch up T2.

Really wanted to go after the Lyran SB, but decided to pull back and protect for T2.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, September 30, 2021 - 11:21 pm: Edit

DDV?!?

By Thomas Mathews (Turtle) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 09:36 am: Edit

The DDV is the Kzinti DDV in which you have to pay 3 Free Fighter Factors or 6 EPs for the Fighter Factors.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 11:06 am: Edit

You cannot activate it before turn one. My puzzlement is in that I was thinking it was a 2nd DDV. Probably not though. Pretty sure it cannot be activated on turn one though.

By Jason E. Schaff (Jschaff297061) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 11:47 am: Edit

525.313 - The Kzinti DDV cannot be activated until after the Baron's fleet is released.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Friday, October 01, 2021 - 03:49 pm: Edit

It's actually AT2 - "AT1" was a typo.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 01:52 pm: Edit

AT2: The Kzinti do not attack, in favor of counter shuffling I can't react to and strategic movement.

22 SEQ of defenders are on Count's SB (902).

18 SEQ of defenders are on Duke's SB (1304).

60 SEQ of defenders are on 1401.

2 good reserves (12 SEQ each) are located offmap.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 01:58 pm: Edit

CT3 Eco is done.

Anyone can use this link to go to my Dropbox game folder and, with Excel, review the Eco forms for any of the empires in this game:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/td1acm0ohgt64yu/AADo74dhx25s_rdk0S_LIk2wa?dl=0

Highlights:
-More substantial deficit spending to build, repair, and convert everything and also do some stuff like...
-Klingons convert MB in 1402 to BATS (no FTR).
-Lyrans convert MB in 1506 to BATS (6 FTR).
-Lyrans build a CL and then use CDC to turn it into a second BC (a bit expensive, but I forgot to leave a good major conversion unit (CL,CA) in the capital).
-During high risk survey, BOTH the Klingon and Lyran SRs found monsters and were crippled.
-Diplomacy was a triumph: Sherman's planet (1910) went black and Denebola (3415) went red despite the whimpering mewlings of a Federation diplomat.
-First roll for B10#1 "Invincible" - "6".
-Klingons and Lyrans each build a convoy for colony creation duty.

Raids to follow later.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 05:46 pm: Edit

I assume this is a Hex misprint?

-Klingons convert MB in 1402 to BATS (no FTR).

I can't see the Klingons easily getting a MB into 1402 on turn 2....

By Mike Erickson (Mike_Erickson) on Monday, October 04, 2021 - 10:16 pm: Edit

>> I can't see the Klingons easily getting a MB into 1402 on turn 2....

He's that good.

--Mike

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, October 05, 2021 - 12:09 pm: Edit

Yes to typo. It's actually hex 1403 where the Klingon MB was setup on CT2 and is being converted to BATS (no ftr) on CT3.

I got overexcited, I guess!

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, October 06, 2021 - 12:03 pm: Edit

CT3 operational is over. I ignore Count's SB. I dogpile enough ships onto Duke's SB so that it would take both reserves to have a chance of saving it. All remaining available Coalition units (that I'm not holding back for reserves) dogpile onto the Kzinti capital for another capital raid.

The Kzintis have two strong reserves. One goes to the capital, the other to 1304. So, I can expect to lose a pound of flesh over both combats.

Combat begins with the capital assault; will update later.

[EDIT] Expectations: Duke's SB will go down absent a mircale, though the Kzinti have some 30 SEQ (to my 60), so they can definitely make it painful. I do not have enough units to take 1401 this turn (I have some 90 SEQ to his some 62 SEQ), but my ship superiority means that I will likely devastate all the outer planets and (if I choose) strip many of the PDUs off of Kzintai.

By Gary Quick (Northquick) on Monday, October 11, 2021 - 02:59 pm: Edit

With a small retrospective following the commercial break...

CT2 The Coalition smashed everything in sight, other than anything with a Starbase and the Fed Border areas. There are two, now known to be obsolete) BATS on the Kzinti/Fed border in the entire Kzinti area. Hydrans are looking nervous, but it's too late to upgrade BATS now The Federation is busy arguing over neutral planets and Orion (as usual).

AT2
Built TGC, 2xMEC, FF, FCR, 2xFKE, FFK, 4xPDU, Mon, Setup MB(Kzintai)
Convert BC>CVS
Kept a very clean turn, with no significant attacks. My raiding is doing more at this point than my fleet.

Kzinti compot is an issue. Standup fights are clearly in Coalition favor for now. My apporach for this is 1) build out Kzinti escort groups, and 2) expand Kzinti heavy carrier line.


Back to discussions on CT3.
Coalition does have a Klingon MB>BATS going in 1403. And has 82 SE currently in 1402 protecting it. I imagine getting a SB there and killing Duke's SB for open coverage south of 1401 is the Coalition plan.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 10:09 am: Edit

CT3 is done.

Raids saw 4 disrupted Kzinti provinces.

Operational and combat: very straightforward. I did a solid capital raid (some 90 SEQ). I also sent 60 SEQ against 18 defenders at Duke's SB (1304).

1 Reserve went to 1401, the other to 1304 both were strong reserves.

All statics went to the Kzntai system. Because he only sent 1 reserve to 1401, he didn't have enough mobile units to defend two or more outer systems. So, I sent lines to multiple systems and got the desired response - only a good defense at one of them (beginning with Keevarsh where the lone outer PDU remained).

I stripped the last PDU off of Keevarsh and then proceed to devastate all outer planets. Each time I only had 1 defending battle, and eventually he stopped defending altogether as, I presume, he didn't want to lose too many more fighters (and/or more ships, as I directed every combat round).

He only had 3 empty bays and plenty of defenders at Kzintai itself (not to mention 16 PDUs). So, I decided to bug out.

The really big news of the capital assault is that he managed to capture a mauler, despite the fact that I self-killed an F5 to reduce the odds of that even further.

Kzinti KIA: 3*CL.

Kzinti WIA: TGC+BS, EFF, FFK.

Klingon KIA: D6M (captured), D6G, F5 (made depot).

Klingon WIA: D5

Lyran WIA: 3*DD


At 1304 with an SEQ advantage of 60 to 30 at first I thought I was going to slug it out, take the beating, and destroy the SB. However, I realized quickly that I lacked many heavy ships, meaning my *best* compot was like 90 versus a consistent 135 or so. Rather than take a schellacking over 8 rounds or so, I decided to bug out and come back when I had more firepower. So, Duke's SB lives another turn.

EoT is in progress. Lots of junk to the south to get ready for the Hydrans, and some to the north just to keep him honest.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 04:54 pm: Edit

Ohh - a nice ship to capture.

Alas, 'size of stack' can sometimes create confidence which isn't there.

Although 90 v 135 with 2:1 odds isn't too bad - I bet the SB would have died with say 20 Kzinti ships crippled and 40 Coalition ships crippled?

Too expensive for your taste's I guess??

By Gary Quick (Northquick) on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 11:24 pm: Edit

I don't have much to add to what Ted already said, other than it looks like the Coalition is continuing to smash everything in sight. The Duke's SB exit was a bit of a surprise, but he got the most important target of devastating all of 1401 less Kzintai.

As far as the upcoming Alliance turn -
Lots of Coalition units in southern Lyran/Klingon space. I am looking to see where there might be options to attack and slow the smashing.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - 10:30 am: Edit

@Paul: Exactly, too expensive. Especially when I can come back on CT4 and bag it much more cheaply because I can put heavies on the line.

By Gary Quick (Northquick) on Saturday, October 23, 2021 - 11:10 pm: Edit

AT3 is done.

Coalition defense highlights:
North: placed strong reserves positioned to cover front, and very light defenses on BATS (together with primary strongpoints at 1403 & 1506).
South: placed full battle lines on on Lyran Bats, strong forces on key BATS, and backups including Klingon Eastern fleet positioned at the point in 1714, and fleets at Lyran SB, 1113, and 1413).

Kzinti:
Built: CVS, 3xMEC, FFK, FKE, 2xFF, FCR, 2xPDU
Convert: D6M, FKE
Repair: TGC, D6M, 2xFFK, EFF

Given disposition, I decided to remain focused on defense. Continue working on compot with MEC & FKE additions

Hydran:
Built: TG, 2xDE, TR, FCR, 3xCU, 4xPDU, Mon, Sc-P

With Heavy Coalition forces on valuable points, all routes blocked (incl. Lyran northern reserve strategically placed), Hydrans turtled T3.

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Sunday, October 24, 2021 - 03:51 am: Edit

Weird as it may seem - I would put MEC's above pretty much everything except CVS's (to use up Free Fighters).

Kzinti Carrier groups are so anaemic without them.


Hydrans - they don't seem to have built much

4 x PDU's takes a large slice of the Hydran meager budget!

I am guessing the FCR was only build to use up some free fighters?

I am in two minds* on whether Hydran PDU's are actually worth it - if the Coalition will capture 617 anyway.

* - 28 Ep's of PDU's might do say 10 extra damage over 3-4 rounds (and yes, buy 1 or 2 extra rounds of combat) - but that might just be say 10 Ep's of extra crippled damage. 1:3 return isn't good.

BUT, a good roll might convert that 10 extra damage from crippling 2 extra ships...to self killing 2 or 3 extra ships for a round 1 or 2!

Choices choices choices