First play of FC - The Navajo Incident
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:36 pm
Hi everyone, I have recently been bitten by the SFB bug (again) and pulled out all my old stuff. I set up a simple duel and several hours later had managed to work my way through it. Boy was it hard work, remembering and reading all that stuff , it had been 20+ years since I last played, only the use of impulse cards kept the game from stalling completely.
So I went online to see what was new for the game (to say there is a lot more is an understatement!) and I stumbled across FC. I was already somewhat aware of FC but with such a back catalogue of SFB stuff, I never really considered it. I downloaded the First Missions pack read through and ran through a simple duel, still undecided I purchased the reference rulebook from e23, which is really quite good value as you get free updates.
On the Commanders Circle site, I found a simple scenario to try, (8CM31) The Navajo Incident. I was going to use SFB SSDs but the required frigates and freighter are available as a download so I grabbed them and set it up.
Initial impressions of FC are very favourable. I was a little vary of the ,on the fly, energy allocation but it works very well. I did miss having a scatterpack for the Klingons but everything else felt right. Everyone seemed to have a little more power, this seemed to favour the Fed frigate as it managed to overload both its photons and still buzz around, something I recall was far more difficult in SFB.
Here is a short report on the battle.
The battle started with the freighter making for its exit zone at speed 16, the Klingon needed to be quick! The Fed moved to cover the freighter and flaunt its weaker rear shields trying to tempt the Klingon into preemptive fire. The Klingon tractored the freighter and dragged it across the board. The Federation frigate followed the Klingon closely with overloaded photons. As the Klingons approached the six hex board edge zone in which the Fed frigate could fire they dropped their tractor and spun off at speed. The Klingons attempted to knife fight the Feds as the freighter swung around and headed back to its exit area, keeping out of overload range. Although the Klingon frigate kept up pressure on the Feds taking down its number two shield and scoring a couple of internals, the Feds kept their overloaded torpedoes ready knowing that at some point the Klingons will have to tractor the freighter again. The Klingons had not done enough to slow down the Fed frigate and as the freighter approached its exit area they had to charge in and tractor it again. A high energy turn and at range one two fully overloaded photons and the Klingon vessel was in tatters. The Feds had taken a fair bit of damage too but as the undamaged freighter serenely exited, the board there was only one winner.
An interesting and tense battle where the Klingons have to make all the running. Very impressed with the rules as during the battle that took about an hour and a half to play I used direct and defensive fire, drones, transporters, hit and run raids, tractoring and tractor auctions, evasive manoeuvres, high energy turns, repairs and control systems. Each rule was quick and easy to implement. Not sure I got the movement of the tractored ship right, the Klingons had it at range one in the hex to their front right, when they turned left I moved the freighter two hexes to maintain this relationship, is that correct?
Might replay this scenario, need to find a way for a Klingon win, any ideas?
Dave
So I went online to see what was new for the game (to say there is a lot more is an understatement!) and I stumbled across FC. I was already somewhat aware of FC but with such a back catalogue of SFB stuff, I never really considered it. I downloaded the First Missions pack read through and ran through a simple duel, still undecided I purchased the reference rulebook from e23, which is really quite good value as you get free updates.
On the Commanders Circle site, I found a simple scenario to try, (8CM31) The Navajo Incident. I was going to use SFB SSDs but the required frigates and freighter are available as a download so I grabbed them and set it up.
Initial impressions of FC are very favourable. I was a little vary of the ,on the fly, energy allocation but it works very well. I did miss having a scatterpack for the Klingons but everything else felt right. Everyone seemed to have a little more power, this seemed to favour the Fed frigate as it managed to overload both its photons and still buzz around, something I recall was far more difficult in SFB.
Here is a short report on the battle.
The battle started with the freighter making for its exit zone at speed 16, the Klingon needed to be quick! The Fed moved to cover the freighter and flaunt its weaker rear shields trying to tempt the Klingon into preemptive fire. The Klingon tractored the freighter and dragged it across the board. The Federation frigate followed the Klingon closely with overloaded photons. As the Klingons approached the six hex board edge zone in which the Fed frigate could fire they dropped their tractor and spun off at speed. The Klingons attempted to knife fight the Feds as the freighter swung around and headed back to its exit area, keeping out of overload range. Although the Klingon frigate kept up pressure on the Feds taking down its number two shield and scoring a couple of internals, the Feds kept their overloaded torpedoes ready knowing that at some point the Klingons will have to tractor the freighter again. The Klingons had not done enough to slow down the Fed frigate and as the freighter approached its exit area they had to charge in and tractor it again. A high energy turn and at range one two fully overloaded photons and the Klingon vessel was in tatters. The Feds had taken a fair bit of damage too but as the undamaged freighter serenely exited, the board there was only one winner.
An interesting and tense battle where the Klingons have to make all the running. Very impressed with the rules as during the battle that took about an hour and a half to play I used direct and defensive fire, drones, transporters, hit and run raids, tractoring and tractor auctions, evasive manoeuvres, high energy turns, repairs and control systems. Each rule was quick and easy to implement. Not sure I got the movement of the tractored ship right, the Klingons had it at range one in the hex to their front right, when they turned left I moved the freighter two hexes to maintain this relationship, is that correct?
Might replay this scenario, need to find a way for a Klingon win, any ideas?
Dave
