Federation Commander

Posted: **Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:28 am**

wow, great pictures.

thanks!

Posted: **Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:35 pm**

well the battle is completed, last night the Kzinti patriarchial 2nd fleet and the Hydran royal 2nd defense fleet engaged for the second hydran-kzinti battle.

the following forces were present.

Kzinti 2nd battle fleet
Admiral J'kahn

1xLDN 1xBCH 1xCF 1xCDM 1xCM 1xDW

Hydran 2nd Defence Fleet
Lord Commander Aratar

1xLDN 1xLBCC 1xDRG 2xKN 2x orion LR

the opening stages of the battle showed the planets Mirix, and Dirihjil, Mirix is a Hydran ore processing world and very valuable, the latter world is a beautiful terran world used by the Hydrans for target practice (lol)
The Hydran fleet was drawn up into 3 separate squadrons with the Dragoon Collosus and the Lr Stormbringer on the left flank, the LDN Triumph and the Knights Illustrious and Invulnerable in the center (between both planets) and the Lorc Bishop cc Vengeance and the LR Vampyr on the right flank. The kzinti formation was drawn to the back left of the star table in a line resembling a British regiment of foot in Wellingtons army (lol) the battle commenced with the hydrans attempting to outflank the Kzinti battle line, the first turn the hydrans closed on the Kzinti fleet , with the left squadron of the Hydran fleet, being the collosus and the Stormbringer maintining distance from the rest of the Hydran ships. while the Vengeance and the vampyr closed on the center hydran formation though still separate enough to be able to operate independenlty of the LDN and her escorts. the Hydran fleet and the kzinti fleet will be shown in pictures later today so keep looking at the forum today!

the Kzinti fleet held thier line watching the Hydran advance and sending out a wave of suicide shuttles and a large payout of thier available drones targetting the two Hydran cruisers and the Hydran flagship.

there was some small fire at the end of turn 1 as the hydran fleet went into EM on impulse 7 and the kzinti firing on impulse 8 on the Lead Hydran knight the HMS illustrious.

Next turn the Kzinti formation advanded in line towards the Hydran fleet, the Hydran fleet was forced into massive erratice maneuvers by the Kzinti Drone wave and suicide shuttles as they began to close on the Hydran fleet, the Hydrans launched fighters and then the battle got ugly. (you will see progressive pictures of this today!)

the Kzinti concentrated thier fire on the lead Knight the HMS illustrious and managed to cripple it and then target drones on it that destroyed it!!!

the Kzinti then HET'D and moved away with the Hydrans in hot pursuit, the drone wave was decimated by gats and fighter support and the Orions LR screen as the hydran fleet closed on the re-positioning Kzinti fleet. the kzinit Admiral decided at last to withdraw but one ship could not get off the board quick enough the Kzinti CM Ascalon was caught by the Hydran fleet and in one impulse destroyed by concentrated fire and fighter support.

Overall a GREAT battle with a worthy opponent.

the Hydrans lost 1 Knight DD and took internals on the other Knight DD

thew Kzinti lost the CM Ascalon and took about 20 internal on the DW Strongbow.

Hydran victory the system was held.

here is the VP breakdown:

Kzinti:
99( 9 for internals and 90 for destroyed ships) /10=10/5 ships = 2+3 for roleplay and good flying total vp per kzinti ship = 5

Hydran :
333 (9 for internals on the DW, 202 for disengaged ships 25% of each ship total, and 122 for the destroyed CM) so 333 / 10= 33 / by 7 ships = 5 each and then 5 for scenario victory and 3 for roleplay = 13 for the hydrans.

PALLIDA

Posted: **Sat Sep 20, 2008 11:20 pm**

This sounds like it was a great battle, i like the description. very cool, when do we get to see the pictures?

Posted: **Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:35 am**

Posted: **Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:37 pm**

thanks again. it is nice to see the pictures as the battle plays out.

nice paint jobs also.

so when does the next battle happen?

Posted: **Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:44 pm**

asguard101 wrote:Palli how long has it taken to complete turn 13?

well turn 13 started on July 25th and we have almost finished as of September 19th,

almost 2 months for this turn, probably our longest, due to some vacations and minor interruptions.

but we are on schedule to launch turn 14 on October 4th. and that turn shall be a very interesting turn indeed.....

Much will happen!

Posted: **Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:44 am**

You know, I've never actually seen anyone use a non Hexed map to play before, how do you control spacing on a ship that would stick out into what would a hex to the sides or front? And what about side in the same Hex?

Posted: **Mon Sep 22, 2008 1:25 am**

The rules for tabletop play are in the rulebook, you use turn gauges and inches i believe

Posted: **Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:50 am**

As far as using hexless rules we use the basic guildlines from the front of the rules, but all mesurements are from base edge to base edge of the mini's. We find that it is the easyest way to get consistent mesurements. one player has made turning guages and shield/weapon arc templates, and I have made ESG and a turn gauge for turning when you have canceled movement. We have used this now for around six battles and we all like it. I find it adds a flow and elegance that you will never get in hex play, plus you never have to worry or track side slips again! It takes some thought and a little getting used to but worth a try I think. hope that this helps with your question.

Sir Drake

Posted: **Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:54 am**

Sir Drake wrote:As far as using hexless rules we use the basic guildlines from the front of the rules, but all mesurements are from base edge to base edge of the mini's. We find that it is the easyest way to get consistent mesurements. one player has made turning guages and shield/weapon arc templates, and I have made ESG and a turn gauge for turning when you have canceled movement. We have used this now for around six battles and we all like it. I find it adds a flow and elegance that you will never get in hex play, plus you never have to worry or track side slips again! It takes some thought and a little getting used to but worth a try I think. hope that this helps with your question. Sir Drake

Yes and no. I wa asking more physically. How would you use the modles to show ships in the same "hex" or in the "hex" next to the model where part of it miniture is sticking in to, just because of its model size?

Posted: **Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:42 pm**

asguard101 wrote:
Sir Drake wrote:As far as using hexless rules we use the basic guidelines from the front of the rules, but all measurements are from base edge to base edge of the mini's. We find that it is the easiest way to get consistent measurements. one player has made turning gauges and shield/weapon arc templates, and I have made ESG and a turn gauge for turning when you have canceled movement. We have used this now for around six battles and we all like it. I find it adds a flow and elegance that you will never get in hex play, plus you never have to worry or track side slips again! It takes some thought and a little getting used to but worth a try I think. hope that this helps with your question. Sir Drake
Yes and no. I was asking more physically. How would you use the models to show ships in the same "hex" or in the "hex" next to the model where part of the miniature is sticking in to, just because of its model size?

If we come into a situation where 2 ships end up in the same spot, we usually move one ship WAY off to the side facing the direction it was facing and the player(s) just keep track of where it is when movement occurs again.

As there are no hex spaces in the hex-less movement system there is no "hex next to" or "same hex". There is only distance. I'm guessing that your main point of concern is determining distances from one ship to another (for firing purposes) at ranges of zero or one.

Hex-less distance is always measured from the closest point on the BASE of the firing ship to the closest point on the BASE of the target ship, so the size of the miniature itself is irrelevant. A distance of zero to anything less than 1 from base to base is considered zero for firing purposes, so you don't ever need to put ships in the same spot to have zero firing range. Range 1 is from 1 to anything less that 2...and so on.

example below shows distance range zero.

|-----|-----|-----|-----|
0--->1

Anything less than the next whole number is still considered the lower range...again, always measured from miniature base to miniature base.

Figuring out weapon firing arcs and shield facings is handled in a similar way to the hex system as the bases of all ships are a hex shape. A ship correctly mounted on its base will be perpendicular to one hex side (which becomes shield #1). All other shields and firing arcs can be extrapolated from there.

When it comes to seeking weapons, the hex-less rules state that when a seeking weapon reaches a range less than 1 it has struck its target (We have modified that rule to 1/2).

As Drake has pointed out, our unit of measurement is the width of our miniatures' bases, which is also the width of the large hex scale system and is less than an inch. You can use whatever unit of measure is convenient for you which usually depends on the size of the playing area you have.

I hope this MORE than answers your questions. We Klingons like overkill.

Posted: **Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:24 am**

What Darc' tangent said in his explanation of measurement of the ships from base to base and assigning the value of distance by taking the corresponding number or less to determine, is critical to understanding of using the table top rules for play. also what you will find in playing this way is that the ships truly take on the qualities that they are known for in thier weapons arcs, in table top play there are no lines, just measurements and true arcs. the Klingon ships for example trully move into thier own with this system thie oblique atack style and the use of the wing phasers in table top mode clearly stand out, and you can imagine the way the ship moves like a wolf in battle with those arcs. not that the arcs were not apparent in hex play, but suffice it to say they are much watered down due to the restrictive nature of hexes. also there exists true turning and gradual postitioning in battle, there are 360 different trajectories not just six and no sidelips! or need to record how many hexes moved from the last 60 degree turn to satisfy turn mode!!

it is pure bliss to play this way.

PM

Posted: **Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:48 am**

Darc was correct with my concern, related to determining Zero, and ship minitures bumping into each another. Thanks you two for fill me me in on it.

Posted: **Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:25 am**

asguard101 wrote:Darc was correct with my concern, related to determining Zero, and ship minitures bumping into each another. Thanks you two for fill me me in on it.

You're welcome.

Posted: **Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:26 pm**

Hi there Pallida and associated Yankee campaign heads! London calling to the faraway towns/ Now war is declared and battle come down:

T15 now finished after some further Klingon probes into Lyran space, all firmly rebuffed by superior forces. There was also a sort of fight between 2xGorn HDN, 2xKzinti BCH and a DW and about 16 tiny Hydrans (Hunters, 3xCurassiers(sp???) and a Knight or two. Nothing much happened. A Curassier took 3 internals and the Gorns and Kzin stepped off the map before several crazed Hydrans crashed into them.

I'll try to do better with details of exactly what ships etc in future. There are signs that my "semi-automatic" GM-ing will work (phew!). Will know better next turn.

However, since all the players have now engaged the enemy more closely the General War has clearly begun....

Federation Commander

federation commander campaign

Hex-less