Full Thrust AAR
This battle was another "training" game between two of our newest players. The fleets were the Federation (Star Trek) and the Kharadorn Empire by Ravenstar Studios. The Kharadorn models are fantastic and extremely well done.
The fleets:
Federation task force:
The Fed fleet was led by an advanced battle cruiser mounting advanced fire control for its phasers. This enables the phaser to be used as an Advanced Point Defense System making the ship brutal in point defense mode. The accompanying carrier is actually and old civilian freighter converted for use as an auxiliary carrier.
Kharadorn fleet
The Kharadorn fleet loaded assault shuttles in their hanging bays. The two gunboat squadrons were FTL equipped and carried a mix of PDS and Beam weapons. The plan was to have the shuttles, missiles and gunboats all attack at the same time, overwhelming the Feds point defense.
Set up and turn one:
The fleets deployed diagonally across from each other with the gas giant in between. Both fleets started at three times their initial thrust. The feds split into two groups while Kharadorn launched their shuttles which sheltered behind the gas giant.
Next turn:
The feds swung around the gas giant and fired on one of the gunboats, forceing them to expend a point of fuel to evade the fire. After all was said and done the squadron had expended half of its fuel.
The kharadorn fleet applied emergency thrust and turned hard to engage the feds on the other side of the planet. Unfortunately all the ships suffered engine damage even though they managed to complete the maneuver. The smaller heavy destroyer suffered damage as well and was unable to complete the maneuver and got separated from the rest of the fleet making her easy pickings for the federation fighters. The ship managed to shoot down four of the fighters but the rest tore into her wrecking the ship and destroying her engines completely.
Next turn
The feds found themselves stuck between the enemy fleet and a small horde of assault shuttles and gunboats. Unfortunately for the khradorns the maneuvers required to get around the planet left them unable to get a good firing solution for their missiles.
The assault shuttles make their run on the battle cruiser. Over half are shot down but seven of them manage to clamp on and deliver their Marines.
The green chips represent the marines.
Unable to repair its engines the crew of the Kharadorn heavy destroyer jump ship before they slam into a nearby asteroid field.
Next turn
The fed fleet scatters leaving the kharadorns unsure who to pursue. The feds unfortunately were not in a position to offer much fire. The destroyer took the brunt of the kharadorn fire and lost all but one hull box. Miraculously it only lost its torpedoes, the rest of the ship was intact. The fed shields were proving very resistant to karadorn plasma fire.
The gunboat squadron found themselves jumped by all the remaining fed fighters. They wiped each other out.
Meanwhile the other gunboat squadron chased the battlecruiser doing only one or two points of damage. They would chase her for another turn until they finally ran out of fuel and had to jump away.
(Just a cool picture)
A fire fight with the marines and redshirts raged thru the secondary hull of the battlecruiser. Two boarders were killed in the process.
Next turn
The feds tried to regroup for a counter attack.
The kharadorn decided to open the distance and reform to bring their ships around for another firing run.
Next turn
The fed destroyer picks up speed and swings around the planet only to be finally destroyed by the two Khradorn cruisers.
The fed battlecruiser had managed to wipe out all but one the enemy boarders but found itself wrecked in the process. With only one hull box left and fearing capture, the captain rammed his ship into the asteroid field.
The remaining fed fleet found themselves completely out gunned. The war destroyer lost both of its fire controls and the frigate was destroyed by only a single volley of fire. The return fire managed to damage the Kharadorn heavy cruiser but it was too little too late.
The carrier warped away.
The feds put themselves at a disadvantage early in the game by trying to chase the kharadorns around the planet and were never able to bring their photons to bear. Another mistake was not launching their fighters early on and using them to screen the fleet against the shuttles.
The Kharadorn, on the other hand, were never able to get their missiles into play and had a tough time scoring any damage with their plasma cannons. If not for most of their secondary beam weapons having all around fire arcs the game may have gone differently.
Any and all comments welcome!!!!
