The Four Vassal War Coalition Turn 5

by on May 18, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Four Vassal War

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

As the war drags into its third year, Klingon occupation of Kzinti space earns a VP (actually, 0.1 comes from a province disrupted by the Lyrans). The grand total of 5.6 VP earned for taking enemy territory (including one-time bonuses for capturing a planet at all) is still the smallest component of of the VP totals, showing that this isn’t really a war of conquest.

The Lyrans left a lot of repairs undone, but that was purely because of a lack of facilities. The Klingons had a fairly hefty bill, but managed to get almost everything repaired, and still had money to overbuild a D7 and F5.

Builds:
Klingons: 2xD7, TGB, F5L, F5, F5S, 3xE4, E3, PGB, BS->BATS, D6->D6S, D7->D7C
Lyrans: BCE, CA, CL, CLS, 2xDD, 2xFF

The first truly heavy scouts are introduced with the Klingon D6S and Lyran CLS at this point, which are going to be needed to counter the effect of all the Kzinti drone bombardment platforms.

The Lyrans raided the Hydrans with a new CA and destroyed a called up POL to disrupt the province, while the Klingons went deep into Kzinti space, hoping to pull a ship out of a Reserve. However, they pulled a BC out of a different nearby fleet, and destroyed the raiding D6, retreating back to the capital in process.

The Lyrans drove back across the Kzinti border, and Kzinti forces reacted into them generating a large fight in the neutral zone, and further forces pressed on to BS 0701. Meanwhile, Klingon forces probed into the same area, and after some initial indecision, I made a stab at the planet in 1001 instead of the SB next door.

The Lyrans didn’t do anything on the Hydran border. With both borders in bad shape, they wanted as little overall activity as possible. The Klingons raided the border, going after individual ships, and generated a few small fights.


The Kzinti front.


The Hydran front.

Combat:
0502: SSC: Lyran retreat
0701: Kzinti: dest BS, CC, BC; Lyran: dest CL, crip CA, 2xDD
0703: SSC: both sides retreat
0603: Kzinti: crip CC, CL; Lyran: dest 2xCL, crip DD
1001: Kzinti: crip CL, FF; Klingon: crip D6, F5, F5G
1002: Kzinti: dest CC; Klingon: crip E4
1004: Kzinti: dest FF, SF; Klingon: crip E3
1605: Kzinti: dest BS, FF; Klingon: crip D5, F5
0915: SSC: Hydran: crip CR, 2xCU, retreat
1216: SSC: Hydran: retreat
1217: SSC: Hydran: dest LN, HN
1317: SSC: Hydran: retreat
1217: SSC: Hydran: retreat

0502 was another annoyingly bad roll in SSC (2), which saw a CL retreat from a FF (which is a +2/-3 combat).

The BS at 0701 took three rounds, with the remaining Kzinti forces retreating out on round two after my DDG successfully scored a SIDS to cripple the base. I stayed in the hex, which has turned into a problem as the later retreat out of 0603 closed their retrograde path, and the hex is also out of supply range.

Even with the maneuvering I did, I didn’t have nearly enough to take out planet 1001. My ComPot was slightly lower, and I couldn’t keep up with Kzinti EW (boosted by the defenses) and then I rolled 3 under the Kzinti to take nearly twice as much damage. With good rolls, I was prepared to try and force the issue, but not the other way around.

0915 had a full hellbore-armed squadron against an F5 squadron, but this time the rolls were 10 vs 2 in my favor.

1217 continued good SSC rolls with a ’12’ to wipe out both Hydran ships. Later, the squadron from 1317 retreated into the hex, and both sides rolled average to merely force another retreat.

Despite problems, I still destroyed another two BS this turn. Combined with another eight ship kills and a slowly growing repair bill, my VPs are up to 104.4. Meanwhile, the my repairs have overcome last turn’s cripples to Alliance VPs to 94.6 (and another BS->BATS conversion is underway to reduce that total further). This is a Marginal Victory, down from a Minor Victory as of my previous turn, thanks to how bad Alliance Turn 4 was.

We seem to be solidly in the middle part of the war, with all the easy targets taken out, except for the Klingon border stations, which I have so far managed to protect, and three Hydran Lyran-border bases, which the Lyrans have been in no shape to get to.

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SL254 Catching Hell

by on April 18, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: SFB

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Patch and I recently finished off this Captain’s Log scenario from the early Four Powers War that also serves as a bit of a sequel to the “Where Wisdom Fails” mini-campaign we played a year and a half ago.

It’s still early in the 4PW (Y159) and wild reports have been circulating about the new Hydran weapon (the hellbore torpedo), and the high command wants one captured so that it can be studied.

“It was several weeks before a target of opportunity emerged. An F5 squadron was in position to intercept an inferior Hydran force that was believed to contain at least one ship armed with the new weapon. Fearing Hydran reinforcements if they waited for a battlecruiser (with copious transporters and marines) to join the fray, the F5 squadron commander decided to risk an attempt at capture.”

The Klingons get an F5C and two F5s, while the Hydrans get a destroyer and a frigate/police ship with a random reinforcement a random number of turns later (1d6 per turn, shows up when the total reaches 13). An interesting twist is that while one of the ships will have a hellbore, the Hydran player gets to decide if the DD or the FF is the hellbore-armed ship, and the Klingon player doesn’t find out what he’s facing until after setup is done. The map is fixed until the Hydran reinforcement arrives, after which it goes to a floating map.

The Klingons need to capture the hellbore-armed ship for a victory, though they can still get a minor one by wiping out the Hydran force. The Hydrans treat this as a normal battle and just use normal points-based Modified Victory Conditions.

I went with the “historical” force of a Lancer DD (for the four Stinger-1s) and Cuirassier FF. Patch set up his force at the center top of the board, about as close as he could get to my setup area in the center. The LN was slightly forward and went speed 19 while the CU went speed 22. As the goal of the scenario, the CU was going to avoid direct contact as best as possible; besides, the hellbore is a good moderate range weapon compared to the point-blank fusions. The entire Klingon squadron went speed 17.

Maneuvering stayed fairly simple with me going straight and slipping out to maintain distance, while the Klingons maneuvered to my shield three and tried a volley of disruptors (one per ship) at range 12-14 on impulse 15 at the LN, with one hit. Shortly after that, I turned off for an eventual loop around to a pass on the opposite side from the starting position.

For turn 2, the LN slowed down to 13 to overload a fusion beam, while the Klingons boosted speed to 21, and the initial reinforcement roll was a ‘5’. On impulse 2, the LN launched all four of its Stinger-1s. I was wondering if Patch would try to get at the CU, but on Impulse 10, he turned in for a direct pass at the LN. On Impulse 13, the Klingons launched (what turned out to be Type-V) drones at range 3/4 from the LN. They then sideslipped out, and with ships going out of FA arc both sides opened fire.

I fired a fusion at the second F5, doing 1 damage at range 4, and the CU’s hellbore hit to sandpaper it’s shields as well as nearly bringing the #4 down. Meanwhile the F5C and F5-1 each fired two phasers and a disruptor at the LN at range 3, doing 27 damage on really good rolls (all but one phaser rolled a 1) and doing 8 internals through the #6 shield, getting all three bearing phasers.


Turn 2, impulses 1-13.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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The Four Vassal War Alliance Turn 4

by on March 31, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Four Vassal War

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Despite the Hydran pull-out last turn, and my attempts to pick off the garrisons, they still held a bit of Lyran territory to generate another 0.3 VP.

Construction was fairly normal, though even with the reduced economies of this era, the budgets are far exceeding his spending. However, the Hydrans did a lot of conversions (6 in all, plus using a couple FTS to form the basis of a SAF), mostly turning Rangers into tougher Lord Marshals. I generally avoid that conversion as it reduces the number of fighters, but Belirahc pointed out that the LM is a Hellbore-armed ship, which can do extra damage to Klingons…. So here, it’s certainly a good deal.

Builds:
Kzinti: DNE, CD, 2xCL, DD, 3xFF, FF->SDF, CS->CC
Hydrans: TEM, RN, 2xLN, SA, 2xHN, 2xLC->LM, 3xRN->LM, HN->SC, 2xFTS->SAF

Both raids picked on the Lyrans again, off in areas where the only choice was calling up POLs. Both POLs were lost against the CL and LN with Prime Teams sent raiding, but the CL was forced to retreat, so only one province was disrupted.

Movement started with a sweep of province raiders in Kzinti territory, but then moved to assaults on the Lyran border stations. I had set things up so that I could shift forces from one threatened base to another, but I ended up not suitably concentrated at any one base. I was expecting a push at the captured planets in 1105 and 1504, but instead everything went into Lyran space.

The Hydrans similarly started by sweeping Coalition pickets in their space, and then moved a couple of moderate-sized forces against a pair of Klingon bases before moving a very large force against the Lyran SB in 0409.


The Kzinti front.


The Hydran front.

Combat:
1217: SSC: Klingon retreat
0815: SSC: Klingon: dest E3
0915: SSC: Klingon: retreat; Hydran: dest HN, crip SA, HN, retreat
0714: SSC: Lyran: dest FF
0615: SSC: Lyran: dest FF; Hydran: retreat
1214: Klingon: crip D6, 2xF5; Hydran: dest KN
1415: Klingon: crip D6; Hydran: crip LN, PGZ
0312: Lyran: CL
0411: Lyran: 6xSIDS, dest BCE, CA, 2xCL, 4xDD, 2xFF, POL, crip CC, 2xCA, TCB, 3xCL, 4xDD, SC; Hydran: dest TEM, 4xLN, 4xKN, 3xCR, 2xSA, 4xCU, 2xHN, crip RN, LN, KN
0705: Lyran: dest BATS, crip 2xCL; Klingon: crip D6; Kzinti: dest 3xFF, FFG
0504: Lyran: dest BS, FTS, crip DD; Kzinti: crip 2xCS
0502: Lyran: dest BATS, crip CA, 2xDD; Kzinti: dest CL, BC, crip FFG
1204: Kzinti: dest FF
0703: SSC: Kzinti retreat
0904: SSC: Coalition retreat
1103: SSC: Lyran: dest DD, FF; Kzinti retreat
1004: Klingon: crip D6, E3; Kzinti: dest FF; crip 2xFF

Three ships to two, and Bel couldn’t roll high enough to generate casualties in 1217 (neither of us rolled over 5), and I retreated out before the odds caught up to me.

Bel sent a lackluster squadron to fight a fairly good one of mine in 0915 (SA, 2xHN vs F5L, F5, E4; I suppose he just wanted to pin them), and we both rolled high, which nearly wiped his force out, while the mods kept me down to needing to retreat out of the hex.

The SB battle in 0411 wrecked both fleets in seven rounds as Bel tried to force a kill of the base. I had a good reserve of smaller ships, and started using them from the start to take damage. It wasn’t enough I also had an EW advantage, though it took me a few rounds to realize that I’d gain ComPot by putting a second SC on the line so I could dial down the SB’s EW. And it was a very good thing I had the EW, as Bel generally outrolled me and the -2 shift dragged him back down to my rolls, leaving me to do more damage by virtue of the SB’s extra ComPot.

A problem that came up in playtesting the scenario is that the Alliance is supposed to be unaware of the utility of heavy scouts at the start of the General War, but the Kzintis can build a number of them now. The eventual solution was to limit scout production in this scenario, but it’s not helping a lot. Bel was able to put up 9 EW in 0705. It was otherwise a fairly even fight, but with that disadvantage, and not wanting to wreck the Lyran fleet on both borders, I was ready to pull out. However, I crippled the BATS, and a successful troop assault finished it off, and Bel pulled out after that.

The SSC in 0904 went two rounds with no damage when I retreated out before my -4 vs his -3 mod finally caught up to me.

1004 was a pinning battle from my planet 1105 garrison moving to block his fleet going the Lyran border. I had a tougher line, but only had five uncrippled ships after the first round and failed pursuit on a ‘5’.

Three destroyed bases gives Bel 8 VP (plus another 4 for bases I need to replace), and the destroyed ships and repairs (I note with annoyance that my overall repairs are exactly where they were a turn ago) drive his total up to 100.7 VP. On the other hand, the fantastic number of Alliance ships lost has driven my VPs up to 93.7. This is a Marginal Victory for him, but I think he’s going to regret losing those ships….

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The Four Vassal War Coalition Turn 4

by on February 24, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Four Vassal War

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

The beginning of Y159 is when the terms of the Treaty of Smarba kick in, requiring me to start delivering D6s and F5s to the Romulans. Since these are activated out of mothball stores for minimal expense, and then shipped free, this is not a large burden (though delivering a pair of TGBs is a little more problematic).

However, I realized I’d made a terrible mistake. I’d been assuming I also got the normal General War mothball activations of 2xD6, 2xF5, 1xE4, but the scenario uses its own OoB, and this does not include any mothball activations for the Klingons unless the capital is attacked.

Oddly, I seem to have caught this on turn 2 (I paid for activations, but didn’t pull the ships), but then missed it and did the activations on turn 3. Thankfully, there’s enough money available to pay for them as overbuilds, though D6s and E4s is not what I’d choose to overbuild….

Straightening that out ended with me skipping some Klingon repairs this time, but the Lyrans are in good shape.

Builds:
Klingons: C6, D7, D6, 2xF5, 3xE4, E3, BS->BATS
Lyrans: DNE, CA, 2xCL, 2xDD, 2xFF

This is also the turn where repair ships and repair pods start becoming available, but I’m not planning on repairing at the expensive rate when the normal repairs have been a major part of the budget.

I sent both raids into Kzinti space this turn. Bel reacted a CS out of a reserve to fight the Lyran CA, and the CA crippled while doing nothing to the CS. The Klingon D6 had no trouble defeating the called up POL and disrupted a province.

With much of the outer defenses out of the way, I targeted a couple of starbases for this turn’s thrusts, sending combined fleets to 1304 and 0716. This did not work out so well.

I had actually meant to re-work some of my last move to 1304 if Bel reacted to protect planet 1202, which he did, but I ended up not bothering. I should have stuck with the plan.


Invasion of Kzinti space.


Invasion of Hydran space.

Combat:
1701: Kzinti: crip CS, CLD, 2xFF; Lyran: crip CA, CL, SC, 2xFF
1202: Retreat after refused approach
1304: Kzinti: crip 2xCL; Klingon: dest 3xE4, E3, crip D7, F5L, F5S
1204: Kzinti: dest FF
1405: Kzinti: dest BATS; Klingon: crip F5
1506: SSC: Kzinti: retreat; Klingon: capture planet
1605: Retreat after refused approach
1504: Kzinti: dest 2xPGB, crip 3xCL, CLG, FF; Klingon: dest E4, crip F5L, 2xF5, E4, capture planet
0714: Hydran: dest BS; Lyran: crip FF
0512: SSC: Hydran: dest CU; Lyran: crip CL
0511: SSC: Hydran: retreat
0211: SSC: Hydran: dest CU
0210: SSC: Hydran: retreat
1116: Hydran: dest BS, LN; Klingon: crip F5L, E4S
0716: Hydran: RN captured; Klingon: crip F5, 2xE4, E3

The first few battles showed how unprepared I was for a general assault. 1701 featured a Kzinti EW advantage thanks to a CD, CLD and SF. SB 1304 had a large Kzinti fleet at it, and generated far more ComPot than I could, and then there was 1-6 die roll split just to make it that much more painful.

My petty revenge was retreating on top of a lone Kzinti FF in 1204 (direct path to nearest supply), which didn’t have a chance.

The flip side of that was that the squadron I sent to take the NZ planet in 1506 caused no damage, and the defending Kzinti squadron was able to retreat onto 1605 next door making the combined defending force+base tougher than the assigned squadron could handle. So they retreated onto 1506.

I had an advantage at 1504, but a bad roll could have reversed things. As it was, the first round was 6-4 my favor, and Bel ended up retreating out with most of his force crippled, but with an intact monitor.

I refused to assault the Hydran SB, but they came out to engage me in an approach battle. I had a heavier line, and got a 6-1 roll to allow me to direct on a RN, which I then captured. I was halfway through typing the normal response when it hit me what had happened. I handed the hull to the Lyrans who will presumably convert it next turn.

Another three bases down means another seven points; capturing 1504 is another two points, and holding 1105 and disrupting two provinces is another 0.6 VP. Along with destroyed ships and enemy repairs (the Kzintis have a lot of crippled ships piling up) gets me up to 82.3 VP. Meanwhile, I’ve upgraded a rear-area BS to BATS and made good on many of my cripples to reduce the Alliance VPs to 72.3. This gives me a Minor Victory, and things will only get better if I can hang onto Kzinti territory.

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The Four Vassal War Alliance Turn 3

by on January 31, 2016 at 12:16 pm
Posted In: Four Vassal War

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

While the Kzinti are having a hard time, with the Klingons having occupied the planet in 1105, they still hold the neutral zone planet in 1506, and the Hydrans were still disrupting three Lyran provinces and holding another at the start of their turn (worth 0.5 permanent VP) while only one of their provinces are held by he Klingons.

Both economies are in good shape and could absorb the modest number of cripples to repair with no trouble. I was surprised that Bel had no conversions this turn, but both empires paid to activate an extra Prime Team.

Builds:
Kzintis: BC, CL, CLD, CLG, 3xFF, MB, PT
Hydrans: DG, 2xKN, CR, 2xCU, Convoy, MB, PT

Both raids were against Lyran territory. The Hydran one easily fought off the called up POL that responded, and disrupted a province, while the raiding Kzinti CS fought a CA that responded from the adjacent SB and was crippled, while the CA merely retreated.

I had done my best to set up so as to be able to respond to most attempts to assault my border bases, and especially the more valuable BATS, but Bel quickly defeated all of that by sending a Hydran force around the edge of the Klingon border, and hitting 1011. Late in the turn, all the major forces in Lyran space headed east, I assume towards the relatively unprotected depot in 0810. I reacted off the Enemy’s Blood SB, and didn’t have enough to completely pin either move, but Bel stopped and fought there.

The Kzintis meanwhile struck near the Lyran-Klingon border, and finally sent a force beyond the border to hit 0707. Everything else was well enough in hand that I sent a reserve there, though I’d had to send a Klingon reserve to make a fight of the BATS at 1013, instead of trying to save 1011.


The Kzinti offensive


Hydran moves in Lyran space


Hydran offensive into Klingon space

Combat:
0209: SSC: Lyran: dest POL
0410: Lyran: dest FF
0502: Retreat on refused approach battle
0511: Lyran: crip 4xFF; Hydran: crip RN
1219: SSC: Klingon retreat
0512: Lyran: dest DD
0915: SSC: Hydran retreat
1013: Klingon: crip F5; Hydran: dest LN
1011: Klingon: dest BS
0707: Lyran: crip CA, DD; Kzinti: crip BC, 2xFF
0504: Lyran: crip CL, DD; Kzinti: dest CL, 2xFF
0906: Retreat on refused approach battle
0705: Retreat on refused approach battle
1105: Klingon: crip F5L; Kzinti: dest 3xFF
0803: Lyran: crip DD; Kzinti: crip FF

0511 was the large pinning battle. I went in for a round with my heaviest line with a TGC+BP, DNE, BCE, 2xCA, and then a battle group, and was still fighting 9 ComPot down thanks to how scary Hydran cruisers are. Low rolls kept anything meaningful from happening, especially as I was just short of killing a LN. He didn’t bother to pursue the heavy line when I retreated, and the cripples are now at the Enemy’s Blood SB for repairs.

Bel wanted no part of 1013 after my reserve showed up, but I challenged him to the initial approach battle. This is one of a few times lately where he’s tried to preserve his forces with a minimal line where it doesn’t make a lot of sense. He still had to put up about five ships, which is more than my force can destroy in a round, so he might as well put up a full line and do as much damage as possible in return.

0504 was a second case of this, and I ended up killing his cripples in pursuit. With a full line, I might have needed a much lighter line for pursuit (CLs to FFs) after taking the extra damage.

1105 was third time he did this. I don’t blame him for wanting out, as most of his force was FFs. I didn’t think to increase my BIR to 4, and let him off a bit easy.

Much to my surprise, Bel retrograded all but a handful of ships, leaving the Lyrans free to pick off Hydran province raiders for the first time in the game. They’ve been having to maneuver around large, aggressive Hydran fleets in their space all this time. Like me, he used almost all his forces in offensive operations this turn, and the Hydrans only have five ships in reserve, but the Kzinti Barony fleet just arrived from off-map, and formed the basis of two healthy Kzinti reserves on their capital.

The Alliance is up to 79.6 VPs, with 3.8 permanent VPs this turn, while my repairs also continue to pile up. Meanwhile, my VPs are also up slightly, to 64.75, thanks to all the ships I managed to kill. Overall, this is a Minor Alliance Victory, but that’s still eroding.

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