First Game Played...

[Maxwell Luther]

I finally got to play the game and we had a blast.

There were five players: three playing the Feds with a CA, FFG and POL, versus a Lyran CA (me) and a Klingon D7. It was a 3x2 battle-zone with a planet right in the middle and we all started out spread out with each ship starting on the edge of a separate map-board. As this was the first game for everyone, we used only the rules found in the First Missions pdf with the single addition of High Energy Turns from the main rules.

In Turn one , the ships closed, but instead of grouping together with the other Feds for safety, the POL, the USS Phil, zoomed into conflict with the Lyran CA, the LMS Intimidator. So in a single turn Captain Phil learned just how quickly a Heavy Cruiser can destroy a Police Cutter: one impulse of firing. I hit almost everything in his ship and tore apart the tiny frame, reducing it to so much floating scrap. The Intimidator's Captain, Shere Khan, cried out in victory 'Eat void, monkey-boy!'

The D7 moved to take on the FFG and the Cruiser and got into a furball just the other side of the planet from my conflict. He managed to seriously damage the FFG, who was barreling along at 24+1 the whole game, with minimal damage in return. In doing so, however, he allowed the Fed CA to sneak into his aft and hammer him from behind with everything it had before I could make my way back to him. Scratch one D7.

Now I was on the tail of the Fed CA, having skirted the planet, stalker style from behind, while he was gloating over the ruins of the Klingon ship. A merry chase ensued as he jinked and dodged, but my High Energy turn eventually allowed me to score some decent hits on him. The FFG had jetted off to avoid me and make some repairs, and, with our weapons spent, I allowed the CA to move off as well and switched my pursuit to the miniscule Frigate.

Now it was time for a reversal of tactics, as the CA tried to come up on my tail before I could finish off the FFG. The player of the Frigate made a critical error, however, turning back towards me to present a fresh shield arc, but misjudging our movement and presenting a totally downed one instead. There was nothing left for the Fed CA to save.

Now it was a duel to the Death between my relatively unscratched CA (one PH-3, which had been repaired) and the lightly damaged Fed. We chased each other for two whole turns before I got a god rear shot, ripping chunks out of the ship, but failing to hit any weapons. In a desperate last measure in the first impulse of turn 4, the Fed risked a second HET, in order to face me down at point blank range with all his weapons charged and his remaining Photon loaded. He rolled the die.

A 4! He swung around and both ships let loose with everything they had. He ripped through my forward shield and raked my Port hull with a vengeance, but in the end, my double disrupter, triple PH-1 barrage (with a PH-3 thrown in for good measure) reduced his frame to molten slag.

In all, everyone that played really loved the game and thought it played extremely quickly. We finished in roughly 3 hours, but the time flew for everyone. It didn't drag at all, even with all of is being novices. Towards the end, with only two ships remaining, we were zipping through an impulse in about a minute.

Mind you we skipped the Def Fire and Other Systems phases the whole game (no drones, no ESG's, no marines, etc.) but we plan to introduce more of that as we go along and get used to the flow of the game. I'm thinking that, now that we have movement and basic weapons in hand, we'll introduce everything that has to do with the Defensive Fire Phase (including seeking weapons, and such) next. After that, We'll start adding in Other Systems phase and all those wrinkles. We should be fully up to speed in another couple of games.

I love this game and I plan to play it all summer. I'm even planning a campaign for sometime in July. And considering the number of people who played the first game and all the curious spectators we had (many of whom uttered the word 'cool' numerous times), it looks as though we might have enough players for a full roster of races. I'm stoked...

[bluebirds38]

great battle report.

[Darkwing]

Sounds awesome. I hope the others do join your group and you have plenty of battles to report.

[Kang]

Nice one. Looks as if you've had the best possible introduction to this fine game! Well done

[Maxwell Luther]

Thanks, all! It was a great learning run, but I think it only scratched the surface of the tactical possibilities and our tactical approach will change significantly as the game progresses.

For instance, we all pretty much held our weapons fire until we were within 3-4 hexes of range and then let loose with everything in our arsenal. No one tried a long range shot the whole game and it was very much a battle between wooden ships in space: pull up close and release the broadsides. As I've read more of the rules, including those concerning Marines, suicide shuttles and the like, I'm thinking there will be a lot more distant engagement in the future to whittle the enemy down before plunging in for the kill. Especially with my Lyran ESG in play.

I think the addition of Drones and Fighters in the next game is also going to change things considerably. I read somewhere that in empty space, Drones create a type of 'terrain' that must be maneuvered around and they will make it harder just to swoop in on the enemy and let loose with everything, as you'll need to divert resources to picking those little beggars off. In all, I am looking forward to seeing how the game evolves as we learn more of the rules and their subtleties...

[Magnum357]

Ugh! Oh the days on GameSpy. Great Report!