Nashcon 2012 has come and gone. We spent 8+ hours on Friday blowing things up.
The massive, 60+ ship scenario "The Battle for Khr'tis Rock" was a blast.
not that it went off without a hitch, but we learned a lot about running large (I mean really large) scenarios at conventions.
Next year, we're going to tweak the set-up, tweak the rules, and introduce a couple of record keeping adjustments and try it again.
The after action report begins below:
The Battle for Khr'tis Rock - AAR
Moderators: mjwest, Albiegamer, Scoutdad
The Battle for Khr'tis Rock - AAR
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
The Battle for Kh'rtis Rock:
In early Y172, the Klingon forces rolled across the Federation border outposts as the Coalition advanced towards Sol and certain victory. As a part of this campaign, the Klingons built several hastily organized repair depots to support the drive to Sol. As the Alliance war effort built, these depots were prime targets as one could often catch them with several partially repaired ships which were easier to destroy than fully functional vessels.
One such repair depot was located in the vicinity of a Class T world with several lifeless moons and moonlets scattered about. The Klingons built a battle station in orbit around the 3rd moon of the planet and this was the hub of the repair depot. The moon was named Kh'rtis Rock, after ESS Lt. Commander Kh'rtis. (It seems that so much territory was occupied in such a short time that that the intelligence officers took to naming locations after active duty ESS agents...)
This scenario reenacts the epic battle to destroy the Klingon forward supply base near Kh'rtis Rock during the Alliance counter-offensive. [Players are warned that this is the largest tactical scenario in Star Fleet Universe published to date, with a total of sixty ships in the order of battle. It is designed to be played using the A Call to Arms: Star Fleet rules, but players are welcome to try it in Federation Commander or even in Star Fleet Battles, if they so desire.]
Federation:
The Federation forces consist of three separate task forces, totaling 29 ships:
Task Force One (TF-1): Dreadnought, 3xHeavy Cruiser, 2xLight Cruiser , 2xDestroyer, 3xFrigate
Task Force Two (TF-2): Command Cruiser, 2xHeavy Cruiser, 2xLight Cruiser, 2xDestroyers, 3xFrigate
Task Force Three (TF-3): Heavy Cruiser, 2xLight Cruiser, 2xDestroyer, 3xFrigate
Klingon:
The Klingon forces consist of four separate battle squadrons, totaling 31 warships, several non-combatant ships, and a battle station; as well as several secretly located ground based defense platforms
Squadron Alpha: D7C, D7, 3x D6, 3x F5, 2x E4
Squadron Beta: 3x D7, 3x F5
Squadron Charlie:3x D6, 4x E4
Squadron Delta: 3x D7, 3x D6, 3x F5 (the ships in Delta have pre-existing battle damage and are docked to either the battle station or the repair ships and are undergoing repair.)
Turn One:
The Federation forces deployed along the SW edge of the map and slowly advanced towards the repair depot.
The Klingons moved into the gap between the BATS and the nearby Asteroid field to create a bottle neck.
Long range drone fire was mostly ineffective although a lucky hit on a repair vessel gave the Klingons a moments panic.
Turn Two:
The first of the Federation reinforces deployed along the SE edge of the map and went APE to close the gap.
TF-1 continued to advance and fired more long range drones at the now retreating Klingon repair ships.
The Klingons undocked the vessels at the repair ships and moved out to engage the advancing forces.
One more repair ship and a damages F5 were lost.
Turn Three:
he first of the Klingon reinforcements arrived. These entered the southern edge of the map and went APE as they attempted to swing through the gravity well of a conveniently placed planetoid to get in position to intercept the advancing Federation forces.
The Phaser IVs of the BATS came into play and several ate into the shields of a couple of Federation units.
Meanwhile, more F5s and E4s died or were crippled by the withering amount of fire they were subjected to.
The Federation player did fire long-range photons at the BATS for the first time... and all 4 missed.
Turn Four:
Turn 4 was more of the same. The Federation continued advancing, the Klingons pretty much remained in their defensive pattern and boosted shields.
More ships fell on both sides, but the Klingons were steadily gaining the upper hand.
Turn Five:
The last of the Klingon reinforcements arrived and as luck would have it, they entered the map almost directly on the flanks of the initial Federation forces.
Since it was getting late and the Klingons would decimate the Federation forces on the map before the final reinforcements would arrive - the game was called in favor of the Klingons.
Through the game, ten to twelve non-ACTA players came to observe and ask about a demo. They were all given some of the ships and allowed to take part in the battle. Much fun was had by all and we will do the same thing next year - with a few tweaks learned from this event.
In early Y172, the Klingon forces rolled across the Federation border outposts as the Coalition advanced towards Sol and certain victory. As a part of this campaign, the Klingons built several hastily organized repair depots to support the drive to Sol. As the Alliance war effort built, these depots were prime targets as one could often catch them with several partially repaired ships which were easier to destroy than fully functional vessels.
One such repair depot was located in the vicinity of a Class T world with several lifeless moons and moonlets scattered about. The Klingons built a battle station in orbit around the 3rd moon of the planet and this was the hub of the repair depot. The moon was named Kh'rtis Rock, after ESS Lt. Commander Kh'rtis. (It seems that so much territory was occupied in such a short time that that the intelligence officers took to naming locations after active duty ESS agents...)
This scenario reenacts the epic battle to destroy the Klingon forward supply base near Kh'rtis Rock during the Alliance counter-offensive. [Players are warned that this is the largest tactical scenario in Star Fleet Universe published to date, with a total of sixty ships in the order of battle. It is designed to be played using the A Call to Arms: Star Fleet rules, but players are welcome to try it in Federation Commander or even in Star Fleet Battles, if they so desire.]
Federation:
The Federation forces consist of three separate task forces, totaling 29 ships:
Task Force One (TF-1): Dreadnought, 3xHeavy Cruiser, 2xLight Cruiser , 2xDestroyer, 3xFrigate
Task Force Two (TF-2): Command Cruiser, 2xHeavy Cruiser, 2xLight Cruiser, 2xDestroyers, 3xFrigate
Task Force Three (TF-3): Heavy Cruiser, 2xLight Cruiser, 2xDestroyer, 3xFrigate
Klingon:
The Klingon forces consist of four separate battle squadrons, totaling 31 warships, several non-combatant ships, and a battle station; as well as several secretly located ground based defense platforms
Squadron Alpha: D7C, D7, 3x D6, 3x F5, 2x E4
Squadron Beta: 3x D7, 3x F5
Squadron Charlie:3x D6, 4x E4
Squadron Delta: 3x D7, 3x D6, 3x F5 (the ships in Delta have pre-existing battle damage and are docked to either the battle station or the repair ships and are undergoing repair.)
Turn One:
The Federation forces deployed along the SW edge of the map and slowly advanced towards the repair depot.
The Klingons moved into the gap between the BATS and the nearby Asteroid field to create a bottle neck.
Long range drone fire was mostly ineffective although a lucky hit on a repair vessel gave the Klingons a moments panic.
Turn Two:
The first of the Federation reinforces deployed along the SE edge of the map and went APE to close the gap.
TF-1 continued to advance and fired more long range drones at the now retreating Klingon repair ships.
The Klingons undocked the vessels at the repair ships and moved out to engage the advancing forces.
One more repair ship and a damages F5 were lost.
Turn Three:
he first of the Klingon reinforcements arrived. These entered the southern edge of the map and went APE as they attempted to swing through the gravity well of a conveniently placed planetoid to get in position to intercept the advancing Federation forces.
The Phaser IVs of the BATS came into play and several ate into the shields of a couple of Federation units.
Meanwhile, more F5s and E4s died or were crippled by the withering amount of fire they were subjected to.
The Federation player did fire long-range photons at the BATS for the first time... and all 4 missed.
Turn Four:
Turn 4 was more of the same. The Federation continued advancing, the Klingons pretty much remained in their defensive pattern and boosted shields.
More ships fell on both sides, but the Klingons were steadily gaining the upper hand.
Turn Five:
The last of the Klingon reinforcements arrived and as luck would have it, they entered the map almost directly on the flanks of the initial Federation forces.
Since it was getting late and the Klingons would decimate the Federation forces on the map before the final reinforcements would arrive - the game was called in favor of the Klingons.
Through the game, ten to twelve non-ACTA players came to observe and ask about a demo. They were all given some of the ships and allowed to take part in the battle. Much fun was had by all and we will do the same thing next year - with a few tweaks learned from this event.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
-
bluebirds38
- Lieutenant Commander
- Posts: 236
- Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:15 am
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Very cool, Tony. I look forward to reading what changes you want to suggest.
You said on Turn One the Klingons moved to create a bottleneck. One of the things I had in the special rules was an activation dice-roll for ships parked in orbit to prevent just that. I knew that they needed enough ships to protect the BATS but not so many as to be able to pin the Feds to the edge of the map too soon.
When did Task Force Three (CA + 2xCL + 2xDD + 3xFF) enter the map?
You said that Squadron Charlie (3xD6 + 4xE4) entered on Turn Five right into the flank of the Feds. Do we need to re-look at the deployment zones?
You said on Turn One the Klingons moved to create a bottleneck. One of the things I had in the special rules was an activation dice-roll for ships parked in orbit to prevent just that. I knew that they needed enough ships to protect the BATS but not so many as to be able to pin the Feds to the edge of the map too soon.
When did Task Force Three (CA + 2xCL + 2xDD + 3xFF) enter the map?
You said that Squadron Charlie (3xD6 + 4xE4) entered on Turn Five right into the flank of the Feds. Do we need to re-look at the deployment zones?
Garth L. Getgen
Master Sgt, US Air Force, Retired -- 1981-2007 -- 1W091A
Master Sgt, US Air Force, Retired -- 1981-2007 -- 1W091A
Garth, working on a detailed write-up for you.
1) The bottleneck wasn't formed on Turn 1... it was only begun. Between activations and reinforcements, he had enough ships to form it by about turn 3.
2) TF-3 would have entered on Turn 6, had the game continued... but we called it after turn 5.
3) Yes. Deployment zones are one of hte things that need to be examined.
1) The bottleneck wasn't formed on Turn 1... it was only begun. Between activations and reinforcements, he had enough ships to form it by about turn 3.
2) TF-3 would have entered on Turn 6, had the game continued... but we called it after turn 5.
3) Yes. Deployment zones are one of hte things that need to be examined.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
[quote}bottle-neck:Mike wrote:What, praytell, is a "bottleneck"?
noun
1. a narrow entrance or passageway.
2. a place or stage in a process at which progress is impeded.
[/quote]
In this case, the bottleneck was the narrowed area between the edge of the map and the asteroid field.
Last edited by Scoutdad on Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
The forces totaled 4000 points of Fed ships versus 4500 points of Klingons.Sgt_G wrote:The other question I have, something I was worried about, was bringing the ships on the table in waves, rather than all at once. What were the players' feeling about that?
No one could understand why the Federation would have attacked a fortified position with less than half the number of points during turn 1 rather than waiting til they could gather more forces.
Deployment options are one of the things covered in the report I'm preparing for you.
Last edited by Scoutdad on Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF
Yes. Ships can pas through each other, but they can not end their movement "on top" of another ship.
But, with the narrowed approach (i.e., bottleneck) created between the asteroids and the edge of the map, the Klingons were able to create enough depth in their lines that hte Federation forces could not simply "jump" over them without being exposed to a whithering hail of short-range fire before they could attack the base.
And the Federation forces entered the board piecemeal in three successive waves of approximately 10 ships each which left them way outgunned by the Klingons.
But, with the narrowed approach (i.e., bottleneck) created between the asteroids and the edge of the map, the Klingons were able to create enough depth in their lines that hte Federation forces could not simply "jump" over them without being exposed to a whithering hail of short-range fire before they could attack the base.
And the Federation forces entered the board piecemeal in three successive waves of approximately 10 ships each which left them way outgunned by the Klingons.
Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF
Department Head, ACTASF