David's SpaceCon - Episode Two: The Empire are a bunch of cheesy gits

Battle two at SpaceCon was right in the middle of the pack - it's a tricky place to be, because you're either fighting average players who came close to a draw (like me), or you're facing quite capable players who were beaten in their first game.

That was my opponent, Luke K from Parramatta Attack Wing.

This time I won the bid, elected to go second, and Luke chose "Fleet Ambush" - ie, his force would be the one getting ambushed. As it turned out, however, I was the one getting the rude shock...

Ambush requires the odd-number deployments to start in the centre of the board, and Luke started by putting down his Star Destroyer. I responded by putting down a NEB-B just out of the Destroyer's long range, and planning on having his ISD approach me. He put down a little ship in his normal zone, and I added another NEB-B. Then he put down a Gladiator - Demolisher - right in front of my NEBs, and I panicked. Demolisher is a pain, but I should be used to it by now. Instead of ignoring it and placing my Frigates along my plans of "hit 'em on the ends" I decided to go "box of death" and deployed my Frigates to protect the NEBs. The problem with "box of death" is that it is not clear who is doing the dying. The photo above shows the start of turn 1, with me putting everything right in the path of the Star Destroyer and his friends.

I said to Luke at this point: "One way or another this battle is not going to last long." Truer words hath ne'er been spaked.

Our fighters began the game already engaged, which was a new experience for me. All of my ships spammed "Concentrate Fire" and I did my best to smash that Gladiator to bits on turn 1. Sadly, it endured all of my fire and arrived to shoot up the Paragon with a few hits remaining.

Start of turn 2: My lovely long range Frigates are in a bar-room brawl with a Gladiator and a Star Destroyer. Whoops!
In turn 2 the Paragon was destroyed by Demolisher, before I finally destroyed it with a few well aimed shots from the Corvette.
The other ships remained to do battle with the ISD, as the Imperial Raiders came roaring in.

This is the start of turn 3. My Frigate is copping a pounding from the ISD, and being rammed by the raiders. Tycho Celchu has decided to run away, and the Corvette is gearing up to run as far as possible.

It doesn't look much better at close range...

 Start of turn 4, and the full horror of the situation is revealed. One of the Raiders is gone, but so is a NEB and the last assault frigate. Leia and Garm are running way in the Corvette, while the last NEB is left to buy them some time in a futile confrontation with destiny.

 Start of turn 5, and the Corvette is running, taking occasional pot-shots at distant targets.

The start of turn six is a re-enactment of the first scene of that fairly popular movie franchise - Corvette running a full speed from ISD - fortunately there are no tractor beams here...


The outcome was 8/2 in Luke's favour. I lost everything but the Corvette, Admiral Garm, and Leia.
Luke lost Demolosher and a raider.

Deployment was the killer here. I thought (wrongly) that I could smash the Gladiator in turn 1, then concentrate on the ISD before the raiders arrived.

The Empire aren't really that cheesy - Luke had some things that let him reroll black dice and that kind of thing. I just let myself get suckered into playing his game, rather than playing my game

David's SpaceCon - Episode One - a Close Run Thing...

SpaceCon 2016 was held over the Australia Day Weekend at "Three D6" a great games shop on the south side of Canberra.

I took a fairly plain fleet, with all wave one ships and upgrades. Two AF2Bs with ECM, one with Paragon, the other with enhanced armaments and gunnery teams; two Neb-Bs with no upgrades; and a corvette CR90A as the flagship with Garm El Iblis, and Leia Organa to help with command and control. I fielded 3 fighters only, with Tycho Celchu, a generic X-Wing, and an A-Wing.

Before going away, I set myself some 'rules of thumb' to help me make good choices. 

Rule 1: 

"Don't sacrifice strategic objectives for tactical advantage."

This comes from my earlier games where I often ram things or move foolishly to gain a temporary advantage that ends up losing me the game.

Rule 2:

"Hit 'em on the ends."

Nathan Bedford Forrest's famous restating of simple  military maxim is meant to be my gaming approach - stack a flank, charge in, blast things to bits - and then run away.

Rule 3: 

"Always go second (if you can)."

I like the advantages of going second - you get an advantage in setting the terrain, the opponent has to react to one of your three chosen scenarios, and the opponent has to deploy the first ship. Yes, they get a tactical advantage going first, but remember rule 1.

Rule 4:

"Deploy with the plan in mind."

I think deployment is very important in most wargames - deploy well, and you've got a fighting chance. Deploy poorly, and you're mostly fighting against your own first decisions.

I played three games with quite mixed results.

The first was against Jaren from Canberra. He had a three ship rebel list with two AF2s (Guppies) and a torpedo frigate (Shrimp). He also had six fighters, with three X-Wings, 2 B-Wings, and Jan Ors. His Admiral was Akhbar. He had an initiative bid of 8 to my 6. He had the choice of first or second, and chose second. 

I chose the 'bad thing that happens to me' and picked "Superior Positions." 

This picture shows positions a few moves into turn 1 - there was no opening picture. My ships are those in the foreground, Jaren's on the other side.

I deployed for a clockwise turn, and Jaren deployed for the same. Superior positions means I had to put down all my ships before Jaren put down any of his.

This photo shows the start of turn 2. My Neb-Bs have made a 90 degree turn thanks to speed 3 and a NAV command. My whole fleet is moving at speed 3.
Jaren's flagship is the Guppy at top left of the photo - that's where I'm headed with everything I can - kill Akhbar, and the rest of the fleet loses a lot of potency.

This is part way through turn 3. The fighter battle has been joined in the middle of the board. The B-Wings jumped on my AF2B, and then my fighters jumped back. Jan Ors has also jumped in, allowing the B-Wings to escape to harry more ships.

You can see my forces heading straight for Akhbar, while Jaren's fleet rounds on my right-most Neb-B.

Start of turn 4. One of my Neb-Bs has been destroyed, the other is quite damaged. My AF2b in front (centre top) has lost lots of shields, and is vulnerable. But Akhbar's flagship is also heavily damaged, has lost most shields, and has very few defence tokens left. So far, things are going okay for me - and here's where I make a silly choice.

My AF2B with the white nose is Paragon - she has two arcs on Akhbar, and a concentrate fire order. And I get to choose which ship to activate - so naturally, I activate the Neb-B, thinking to let it shoot before it ceases to exist under the withering fire of Jaren's other ships. Paragon has a good chance of destroying Akhbar, but instead I go for the Neb-B, choosing a slight tactical advantage (I get to shoot before dying) over a strategic objective (destroying Akhbar).

The Neb-B fires, doesn't do enough damage, and Akhbar activates, destroying the Neb-B and again damaging my other AF2B, before running away. Paragon no longer has two arcs, and may even be out of range altogether. SIGH.

Start of turn 5, and the only ship in range of Akhbar (now the Guppy at the centre bottom of this photo) is my flagship - the lowly corvette A. I get the first activation, and fire with two red dice (thanks to Concentrated Fire order). I need two hits, and roll a blank - and a double hit! Akhbar has no shields, and no defence tokens left. Akhbar goes up in space-smoke, and the Corvette runs as fast as possible to get out of the side arc of the other AF2.

The rest of the game is some long range sniping, as the Shrimp frigate chases my AF2Bs across space, while Leia Organa and Garm Bel Imblis shake their heads and grin at some very lucky firing.

Start of turn 6. The Corvette runs away, the fighters dance around each other, and Jaren launches some attacks from his X-Wings and Jan Ors into the rear arc of the AF2Bs. For each successful hit on a rear arc, he gets 15 points thanks to the objective card.

The game ends without much more activity, although the shrimp frigate does take a number of hits and comes close to being destroyed, except for a fancy title that allows him to evade dice at close range by sacrificing defence tokens.

The margin of victory is 65 points - my two Neb-Bs and Tycho Celchu cost about the same as Akbar's ship, but Jaren has 9 victory tokens to my 2.

65 points means a 6/4 points split, putting me in the middle of the pack for the next draw. Jaren goes on to battle Ken, the ultimate victor on the day.



Of my four rules, I couldn't keep number 3 - Jaren chose to go second, forcing me to go first. I kept to my plan, deployed to match the plan, and apart from using the Neb-B before the Paragon, I kept the strategy. There is a small chance that I could have killed Akhbar and kept the Nebulon alive, but that was always going to be a long-shot. Neb-Bs exist to shoot, and then die.

A fun game, and a good way to warm up for the rest of the day... except that things went pear-shaped very quickly in the next episode...

December Bathurst Take Three

This, the third of my Bathurst Battles, was very much a case study in how things occasionally go right for me...

The opponent was Nick, from Parramatta Attack Wing. He played Rebels, and deployed a fleet with two Assault Frigates and one of the new MC80 Big Scary Battleship Things (Naturally, with Admiral Akbar). Nick also made the brave decision not to take any fighters. Six of my eight fighters have the "Bomber" special, and the A-Wings are rolling a black die against ships, so that's pretty one-way traffic.

With only three ships, Nick's whole fleet was deployed after I had only put out 2 Corvette's. I chose to go heavy on my left, as there were fewer obstacles.
Again, I won the initiative bid, and chose to go second. Nick chose the bad thing to happen to him: most wanted. I chose his battleship (top centre), and my Corvette (bottom right) as the target ships.

This is the start of turn 3. Nick has moved his ships into the centre, and my left has swung around. The fighters have not yet engaged the battleship very hard, and my far right Corvette (the Target ship) is off exploring the Death Star.

 

I was able to get both Neb B's, the Corvette, and the Assault Frigate to fire on Nick's single assault Frigate (with some A-Wings as well), and blew it to bits in a single turn of shooting.

At the start of turn 4, I am now in a position to concentrate fire on the Battleship with everything, including a whole heap of fighters. One of my Neb Bs has succumbed to the fire from the Battleship and the Assault Frigate. The other Assault Frigate is just dancing around the edges.

Start of turn 5, and the Battleship is gone. My fighters are redeploying to engage the last Frigate, but to no effect. The Neb B in the centre has a critical damage card forcing it to take a hit every time it moves faster than 1. I have no orders to slow it down, so it explodes in the final turn.

 

The game is a 10-0 to me, with my losses as two Neb B (51 points each), and The Target Battleship counting as double points as destroyed.

 

 

Quote of the Game: Nick: "Fighters are the bane of my existence."

 

 

Lessons learnt: Apart from a small mistake with the movement of my target Corvette in turn one and the orders on my Assault Frigate in turn 2 or 3, everything went pretty much like clockwork. Losses were acceptable, and the devastation was delightful.

 

I'm quite happy with Garm's Alphabet Soup, and apart from buying a Shrimp Frigate, I think it will do me nicely well into the future. Multiple activations, buckets of flexibility with deployment, and a nice mix of fighters and bombers means I can react to almost any circumstance.

 

As usual, the only problem is with the operator, when I confuse Tactical Advantage for Strategic Outcomes.

 

Thanks to all the players - I had lots of fun.

 

I am yet to face an Imperial Star Destroyer, however.

 

Cheers!

 



The December of all our Decembers in Bathurst

Or, how I learnt to stop worrying and love the B-Wing...


This was my second battle at Bathurst on Saturday 12 December.

This time I was against my primary opponent, Theo, the reigning champion of Task Force Orange.



Theo was playing Rebels as well (I played three rebel fleets - though very different in composition).

There was no photo of the start of the battle - we were so keen to get to fisticuffs... This must be the start of turn 2.

Theo had four ships - an Assault Frigate, a Corvette B, and two of the new "Shrimp" frigates, with powerful broadsides. He had some A-Wings and some kind of bounty hunter chap.

My fleet was the same as the last battle (though I should mention I have two As, Bs, Xs, and Ys as the fighters, including Tycho Celchu - hence: Alphabet Soup).


Again I chose to go second, and Theo chose the bad thing to happen to him: Most Wanted. This allows double points for killing a unit chosen by the second player, and bonuses for shooting at the target. I chose to make Theo's target unit the Assault Frigate (a mistake? perhaps?), and for my target unit to be a Corvette A, which you might notice floating out over the death star on the far right.

We both moved forward quite aggressively, and I focused fire on the closest Shrimp Frigate, which had all kinds of special dodging abilities, and took a fair bit to kill.

The fighter battle was much more balanced in this game than the last, with Theo's typical flight command skill limiting my capacities to inflict damage. We both had fighters left at the end of the game.

I think this is the start of turn 4. My right hand frigate has made its flanking maneuver and is heading back into the fray. My left hand frigate is also turning back in from the top left. Theo's frigate has gone through the asteroid belt and is heading in from the bottom left.

In the centre, my Neb-B's have succeeded in wiping out the Shrimp Frigate with a little bit of damage in reply, and are gently brushing off Theo's A-Wings and bounty hunter.

In the centre right, my Assault Frigate is trading broadsides with Theo's frigate, which is taking the worst of it, being the target ships. My bombers are also shooting as often as possible. Things are looking so good at this point that I start to get excited, and ram the second Shrimp Frigate with my Assault Frigate, not once, but twice!

And that's when it all goes wrong.

But fortunately there are no more photos of my disaster.

Theo's Assault frigate escapes with a few more scratches, and manages to finish off one of the Neb B's with some long ranged shooting.

The remaining Shrimp Frigate lets off a devastating broadside (Thanks, Akbar!) which gets through my otherwise intact shields and does exactly enough damage to destroy My Assault frigate. Had I not rammed the blasted thing so often, it would have survived (and I probably won the battle, using it to send bombers against Theo's assault Frigate).

Hubris, thy name is David!


Theo won this game convincingly, but up until turn 4 I was pretty sure I was going to come out on top. Such is the nature of the game.


Lessons learnt:

Same as the last one, really. Concentrate fire on one target. Don't go for the slaughter - work on winning.

On this occasion, I probably went towards the enemy too quickly, as he came towards me very fast. I should have started slower, tried to win the fighter war, and then gone for the kill.

Also, I think I should have chosen a different target ship - that Shrimp Frigate could have died a lot quicker, and then I could have turned on to the other ships.


[William Shatner] THEEEEEOOOOOO!!!!! [/William Shatner]

December Armada at Bathurst

Some photos from the Star Wars: Armada tournament held at Bathurst on the 12th of December. These are all from my games - there were twelve players participating, including four from the newly dubbed Task Force Orange.

Game One: My Rebels vs Ken from Parramatta Attack Wing's Rebels.

Ken took 3 Assault Frigates and 5 A-Wings including Tycho. My list is "Garm's Alphabet Soup", and consists of one Assault Frigate, 2 Neb-B Support, and 2 Corvette As.

I choose to go second, and Ken chose the bad thing that happened to him: Superior positions. He deployed first, swinging to his right, and I deployed to counter him, swinging to my right.

This is the start of turn 2 - my force is moving rapidly, and turning towards Ken's frigates. He has Akbar, and is looking forward to many red dice...

 

This is the start of turn 3. I cannot work out for the life of me why this photo refuses to rotate to the left. I blame those blasted Imperials. Anyway, I deployed Tucho Celchu to the front of my fighters, and Ken's A-Wings jumped all over him - but from FIVE squadrons of shooting, Tycho lived. My X-Wings then jumped in, and rapidly shot the A-Wings to bits.

 

This must be the start of turn 4. My flankers are rapidly closing on that Assault frigate, and my fighters are victorious against the A-Wings. My bombers are forming up near the frigate, ready to engage Ken's aggressive ship...


*** MISSING PHOTO - START OF TURN 5 - BLASTED IMPERIAL HACKERS ***

This is the start of turn 6. My bombers have not been particularly effective against the Assault Frigate, especially with my own Frigate moving away from the engagement to hide behind some rocks. One of Ken's beasts has been blown to bits, and I have lost a corvette and a Neb-B. Sigh.

This game was concluded with a 70 point margin in my favour, thanks to destroying the A-Wings, and gaining 2 victory tokens.

A good game.

Thanks to Ken!

(Two more battles to come - in time!)



Lessons to learn:

I should have sent all the bombers, etc, at the Assault Frigates in front of me, rather than leaving them behind. Once I had fighter superiority, I should have pressed the advantage.

Russian Military Doctrine: Reinforce Success!

Hold the Line!

Played at Gunnedah on Saturday the 11th of May 2013.


This game was conceived by Adam, and played in my Garage. Andrew was there as well. And me.

Adam is new to the hobby, so thought a fortress would be fun. I said, yeah, maybe, as long as I get the fortress. So that's what happened.

A continental force is surprised by the British, and unable to escape, occupy a small town and the Star Fort (which is a Rectangle) and decide to fight to the bitter end.

I play the Continentals (Liberty! Justice! Convoluted System of Checks and Balances that Rewards Inaction!), while Adam and Andrew play the British.

The Continental Army deploys in the town and rectangular star fort. The British deploy by Brigades to the left, centre, and right.

The right of the field - a lovely open space, ideal for heavy guns and light cavalry...

 

The British cross the river, slowly, cautiously.

 

 

And on the right, not at all. "It's cold, sarge."

"Quiet you fool! We must sneak up on the rules summary page!"

 

The British attack the Continentals in the town, who immediately run away - but never fear, there are reserves!

 

The British finally cross the river on the Continental right. Every step brings them closer to the heavy guns...

Continental field guns open fire on the left.

Steady advance in the centre and on the right.

Plenty of reserves in... uh... reserve.

 

The hand of Andrew sends more brave boys into harm's way...

The ponderous advance on the right continues - oh wait! puffs of smoke in the centre! The continental light troops have broken cover and engaged a British line regiment in the flank.

Considering his options, Andrew decides to attack!

Closer, ever closer!

 

Assault the town! Give them the cold steel!

"Hold the line, Yankees!"

The long arm of Adam sends the flanking force home...

And the Redcoats charge the Militia on the hill, who deal a crippling volley, disrupting the attack.

We decided Mel Gibson must have been leading them.

The afternoon sun brings light relief.

 

The militia stopped the attack, and now the Continental regulars stick it to the lackeys of the Royal Tyrant!

The assault on the town heats up - the Continentals are winning and advancing on the far left, but are one battery down in the centre.

The British strike back at the hill. They have no reserves on this flank, this is it, and the whole attack relies on a Regiment of Redcoats charging a fresh HEAVY battery, UPHILL, and the Continentals have a GENERAL. A roll of anything but a "one", and this final British attack fails and the battle is over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I rolled a "one".

 

 

 

 

I got a bit emotional, so the photos got blurred by my tears. The Heavy Artillery were wiped out, which started a chain reaction, and long story short, the whole flank was gone. All that was now left were three units of Light Cavalry and a suicide charge.

 

Yeah, that didn't work.

 

 

The cavalry gone, and the redcoats swarming forwards, it was time for a final last last stand in the rectangular star fort.

 

 

 

 

But those fights are boring, so we called it a day.

Continental casualties - all four Generals, all four Artillery Batteries, all bar one Cavalry Squadron, and the vast majority of the Infantry.

 

 

I was absolutely convinced I had this one in the bag, I was even planning my consolation lecture.

 

Uphill! Heavy Artillery! General Present!

 

a One!

 

 

 

Oh, do Doth Fortune play the huswife with me now?

Chimes AT MIDNIGHT!

 

 

 

A good game, but a frustrating conclusion for the Continentals.

 

 

 

 

Adding some links to other things I have and do

I have some other pages, many of which are just for storing stuff I use in forum games, or for past forum games.

https://sites.google.com/site/erfworldempires/
Is my main site for artwork relating to the various erfworld games I run. Visit erfworld.com/forums for the site where they happen.


https://sites.google.com/site/drvontemplin/
the site for "Drachen Regiment von Templin" my on-again almost-entirely-off-again webcomic. Maybe. Maybe. One day. Probably not.


https://sites.google.com/site/daveswargames/
A page that I really should delete, but who cares?



https://sites.google.com/site/davergrounds/
An older page that holds some things I've tinkered with.