THE BATTLE FOR NEITH
BACKGROUND
June 2077: Neith is a Stanford Torus orbiting Venus, named after the planet's fictional moon. Although it declared its neutrality at the start of the Solar System War, the colony has been plagued by race riots and small-scale terrorist acts. A squadron a Chinese spacecraft has been sent to take over the colony and protect the Chinese citizens there. US intelligence learned about the attempt, and an American squadron has been dispatched to intercept the Chinese force.
NOTES
The system used in the game is the Starmada: Compendium edition. I am trying out the optional vector movement in the game, which I have to date ignored. Since my playing mat is small, movement units will be in centimeters.
The scale used in the game is 1 cm = 300,000 km. So while the miniatures may be positioned nose-to-nose during the game, the spacecraft would be hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of miles apart.
One house rule I am implementing is random die rolls for weapon hits. The official rules allow the defender to choose which of his weapons are damaged. This being a solo game, randomly rolling for weapon damage would eliminate choosing the weakest and shortest range weapons automatically.
Last time I played this game, I forgot some of the rules, such as railguns (aka mass drivers) doing extra hull damage and decoys lasting only one turn. Also, rereading the rules for drones, I realized drones come in sets of six, and attacks should be rolled for each one. These rules will come into play this session. Shields equal armor in this setting, with the armor plating trait representing extra reinforcement. Drones and missiles can be shot down by point defense systems (PDS).
The Armstrong comes from the Star Blazers line of miniatures. All other miniatures come from the Cold Navy line.
SPACECRAFT ROSTER
US SQUADRON
Hydra (Orion Mk 2 Class) Commander: Col. Dan Blevins, USAF
San Antonio (Northampton Class) Commander: Lt. Col. Ed Suarez, USAF
Philadelphia (Northampton Class) Commander: Lt. Col. Sandra Milton, USAF
Armstrong (Swift Class*) Commander: Lt. Col. Alan Graham, USAF
NOTE: For game purposes, the Swift Class is identical to the Northampton Class.
CHINESE SQUADRON
Ye Jianyng (Dongfanghong Class) Commander: Col. Pang Loo, PLAAF
Linyi (Buran Class) Commander: Lt. Col. Hao Baio, PLAAF
Yulin (Buran Class) Commander: Lt. Col. Zhi Shangkun, PLAAF
Huangshan (Buran Class) Commander: Lt. Col. Bao Yiquan, PLAAF
SET UP
The forces are positioned on opposite edges of the mat. Neith (only included for visual purposes) is on a third edge. This positioning is "illegal" by the book; I did it in order to maximize the playing surface.
TURN 1
All spacecraft advance. Hydra launches a set of drones.
TURN 2
Hydra and San Antonio maintain their speed and heading. Armstrong and Philadelphia split off to begin flanking maneuvers. The Chinese spacecraft stay together and accelerate toward the US squadron.
TURN 3
All spacecraft close in but are still out of range.
TURN 4
Almost within firing range, all spacecraft except Hydra reduce thrust. The commanders size up their enemies.
TURN 5
Linyi launches a decoy to divert Hydra's drones. Hydra's long-range sensors allow it to launch its missiles at Linyi, but all miss their targets. Armstrong and Philadelphia come within missile range of Huangshan. Their missiles either miss or are stopped by Huangshan's armor. Return fire from Huangshan does some structural damage to Armstrong and knocks out one of its autocannons.
TURN 6
Linyi, Huangshan, and Armstrong maintain their distance as the other spacecraft close in. Ye Jianying comes to the aid of Huangshan. Linyi's decoy fails to divert Hydra's drones, but the drones all miss their target anyway. However, missile strikes from Hydra and San Antonio damage some of Linyi's weapon systems. Linyi's missiles fail to hit the San Antonio. Armstrong's missiles likewise miss the Huangshan, but its armor stops the latter's return fire. Ye Jianying and Philadelphia trade missile fire; all warheads are stopped by point defenses and armor.
TURN 7
Linyi reverses its course. Moving to protect its sister spacecraft, Yulin forges ahead, coming dangerously close to Hydra. San Antonio switches targets to Yulin. Its missiles do some structural damage, but its railgun shells bounce off the hull. Hydra, now close enough to fire its railguns and autocannons, splits its fire, targeting Yulin, Huangshan, and Ye Jianying. Most of its attacks fail, but it manages to weaken Huangshan's armor. Yulin concentrates its attacks on Hydra and does minor damage. Armstrong and Philadelphia sideslip in an attempt to evade Ye Jianying and Huangshan, which press their attacks. Armstrong's missile does minor damage to Ye Jianying. Ye Jianying and Huangshan fire on the Armstrong and damage it badly.
TURN 8
Huangshan, Linyi, and Yulin launch decoys. Armstrong begins to withdraw, and the Philadelphia moves to protect it from the pursuing Huangshan. Armstrong fires its aft railgun at Huangshan but misses. Philadelphia's missile is stopped by Huangshan's decoy, but its railguns damage the latter's structure and one of its railguns. Huangshan's missiles damage one of Philadelphia's railguns. Hydra launches another set of drones at Yulin and faces of with Ye Jianying. The two large spacecraft trade shots, but most prove ineffective; one of Ye Jianying's missile launchers is rendered inoperable. San Antonio maneuvers to stay within range of Yulin and out of range of Linyi, which has reentered the fray. Its missile is able to knock out one of Yulin's autocannons, but its railguns target the decoy instead. Yulin is able to knock out San Antonio's missile launcher, leaving San Antonio with only close range weapons.
TURN 9
Armstrong continues to withdraw while keeping its aft railguns aimed at Huangshan; however, it fails to score a hit. Philadelphia's missiles and railguns cause significant damage to Huangshan, whose counterattacks all fail. Linyi accelerates in order to get in firing range of San Antonio, but its missiles are all knocked out by the latter's point defenses. San Antonio and Yulin trade shots, resulting in structural and weapon damage to both spacecraft. Hydra and Ye Jianying continue their exchange with Ye Jianying getting badly damaged. Hydra's armor protects it from Ye Jianying's assault.
TURN 10
Reprimanding Linyi's commander for his earlier cowardice, Col. Pang Loo, Ye Jianying's commander, rallies his troops with the cry "Death before dishonor!" Death does indeed come before dishonor to the crews of Yulin and Huangshan as the vessels are torn apart by the railguns of San Antonio and Philadelphia respectively. Huangshan was able to get one last missile strike at Armstrong, hoping to take out at least one enemy, but the Armstrong just barely survived the assault.
TURN 11
Refusing to surrender, Ye Jianying accelerates in an attempt to ram Hydra. The maneuver fails, and Hydra's railguns further damage Ye Jianying. Linyi's railguns damage San Antonio; the latter's return fire is ineffective. Having disposed of its opponent, Philadelphia turns to support Hydra.
TURN 12
Knowing escape is impossible, the Chinese make their last stand against the advancing American forces. Linyi ignores San Antonio and launches its missiles against Hydra, but Hydra's armor proves too resilient. San Antonio fires upon Linyi, damaging it. Ye Jianying fails to damage Hydra but succeeds in damaging Philadelphia. Hydra's railguns cause a great deal of damage to Ye Jianying but fail to destroy it. It is the return fire of the Philadelphia that takes out the Ye Jianying. The commander of the Linyi, seeing the battle is lost, surrenders.
SPACECRAFT STATUS AT THE END OF THE BATTLE
US SQUADRON
CHINESE SQUADRON
CREW CASUALTIES
I roll for crew casualties when a spacecraft has taken a lost more than half its hull points. The key personnel are Commander, XO, Engineer, Electronics Warfare Officer, Pilot, Navigator, Doctor, Chief Gunner, Operations Officer, and Tactical Officer.
Hydra, Philadelphia, and Linyi had more than half their hull points; all key personnel for those vessels are okay.
Ye Jianying, Yulin, and Huangshan were destroyed; all hands were lost.
Half of San Antonio's key personnel came out unscathed. The Operations Officer was slightly injured. The Engineer, Electronics Warfare Officer, Pilot, and Tactical Officer suffered moderate wounds.
Armstrong's key personnel were mostly uninjured. The Operations Officer was slightly injured. The XO suffered moderate wounds.
AFTERMATH
The American squadron reached Neith with the captured Linyi in tow. Col. Dan Blevins, the American task force commander, negotiated with the colony's administrators, promising to return Neith's independent status once order has been restored.
For her valor in battle, Lt. Col. Sandra Milton, commander of the Philadelphia, was decorated and promoted to full colonel. After all, it was her spacecraft that dealt the killing blow to two of the enemy spacecraft.
POST-GAME THOUGHTS
The whole "death before dishonor" trope was probably unrealistic, but it was an excuse to go past the normal ten-turn limit of the game. It seemed anticlimactic to end the game just as things got interesting. And since I haven't played in a while, it was fun to play the extra turns.
Vector movement may have gone more smoothly if I had used inches instead of centimeters, but I may have run out of space. I had planned to do a lot more maneuvering with my miniatures to avoid the whole "nose-to-nose" scenario, but it turns out that using centimeters made closing in necessary anyway. Vector movement also made for more bookkeeping, so I ignored it when necessary.
When used as written, the rules for mass drivers (railguns) and drones can make for a very deadly game.
This would have been the aftermath if the Chinese force had won the game, which was possible until the last few turns. The Chinese squadron under Col. Pang Loo would have taken over Neith, by force, if necessary. Col. Pang's first action would have been to court martial Linyi's commander, Lt. Col. Hao Baio, for retreating in battle while his spacecraft was not significantly damaged. Small wonder Lt. Col. Hoa surrendered; he probably figured being a POW was better than being court-martialled.
