What rebel fleet?
After a 2-week pause, during which my focus was on the World Cup, I've finally had time to finish my battle vs. Tokra's Ackbar fleet.
Lord Vader was touring the Aurea system when the alarm went off: multiple unknown hyperspace traces coming in, one of them too massive to be anything else than Home One, Admiral Ackbar's flagship. Vader quickly sent his fleet towards some dense asteroid and debris fields, hoping to catch the enemy unawares...
The Rebel fleet: H1 (lightly upgraded), MC30 (no upgrades), and 2xTRC90. Plus a large number of rogue squadrons, including Corran Horn, Shara and Jan. Vader isn't too afraid of this fleet, as it seems to be lacking a bit in the ship upgrade department. However, H1 has the Strategic Adviser, so both sides are even in terms of activations - and Ackbar is 1st player.
The Imperial fleet: I was able to but the key upgrades for my fleet by leaving the Lambda scarred. If it dies (it did) I can just get another. The ISD has XI7 now, and I opted for Tua/ECM because of H1 and probably H9-equipped MC30s in Mothma's fleet. I really wanted to try with Early Warning instead, but the Rebel builds convinced me otherwise. Raider-2 has DCaps, which is key to this build. Raider-1 has both OE (double rerolls with Vader) and External Racks. My squads plain suck, but I couldn't afford any more for r2. I'll have to fix that before next round (I'll never have the BEST squads, but it can get better than this!).
I had Most Wanted, Contested Outpost, and DANGEROUS TERRITORY in my objective suite. The first two are very standard, but DT is a bit retro by now. Most ppl, myself included tend to run Solar Corona with build like this. But if I have to play SC one more time I'm going to puke! So I took DT instead. It can usually give a few points, and not being bothered by overlaps is a small, but OK advantage.
Tokra selected DT of course, it being the weaker objective to begin with, and with Jaina's Light on his team it's a no-brainer really.
Setup
We set up as shown. Very hard to defend against the fast rebel ships, so I wanted to keep my deployment uncommitted. I also knew that I had to fork as much as possible to keep up the pressure on Tokra - if he was allowed to focus on 1 and 1 ship with TRC and rogue squads, my things would die very quickly indeed!
For my squadron play I decided to just hang back. Try to get him to come to my squads, then hose them with overlapping flak. It's not a GREAT plan, but it was the best I could do with only 1 damaged Lambda, Valen and a heavy bomber :-/
Start round 2
Round 2 starts like this. My DCaps raider is very much alone on the flank, as I turn Demo towards the twin TRC90s. It's a willing sacrifice. And a good one, as it looks like the MC30+H1 will not take much part in the rest of the fight. Oh well, just 24 refit :-)
The MC30 takes a shot, does a little damage and moves on. Later in the round, after h1 moves, I get a HIE shot at long range, and move into the front hull zone. But it is in long range and side arc of the MC30...but I also get a obstructed shot on the central CR90, and set up a killing shot for round 3. Ackbar will have to move this ship first, or lose it. That will mean I can move my raider to relative safety. Rebel squadrons move in, but roll VERY poorly.
Start round 3
The CR90 escapes the ISD's front arc. Raider jumps over H1. JL fails to get any accs, so the Gozatni lives (but no shortage of accs when shooting at the Lambda). ISD and Jonus do some more damage on the CR90, but more importantly the Raider-1 sets up for a killing fork for round 4. I also manage a second fork with Demo, threatening to kill Jaina.
Doing some crazy flak damage, while Tokra continues to roll crap on anti-squad. THE LAMBDA IS STILL ALIVE... and it even started the game with 5 hp. It only dies on the very last YT-2400 activation a the end of round 3. And Valen Rudor is still going strong. Insane.
The not so good: the Raider-2 is at medium range of H1 Ackbar broadside. But this was going to happen, so bygones.
1st activation, round 4
Tokra tries to save Jaina by activating it first. It ends up going over the edge of the table in an attempt to avoid almost certain death. Raider-1 kills the damaged CR90. H1 whiffs utterly and the Raider-2 flies away to safety. Rudor finally bites the dust...
And that's it. We call it after that, as the only thing that can happen is Tokra losing some rogues in return for chasing down a meaningless Gozatni.
Empire wins, Vader triumphant yet again!
Rebs have Corran as a new vet, and 2 scarred CR90s. Not bad, as their refit is 45. So Tokra's fleet will be very strong next round. My Riader-1 becomes a vet, Valen gets scarred (irrelevant) and the brave Lambda dies Final Death. I'll have enough resource to max out at 500 - and then some.
It could have been a fun game, i think, and close, but Tokra's dice were just horrible. Utterly horrible. So while I'm ok with my flying and my forking, the experience was marred by ultra-skewed dice.
Here is the Vassal log file.
Elsewhere in the sector:
Sato has inflicted a semi-crushing defeat on Thrawn near Talus, scarring the ISD flagship, 1 Galdiator, 1 Gozanti, and all 4 squints, with only light losses on the Rebel side (1 HH and Salvation). This was a Show of Force mission, however, and Thrawn bagged both stations for +80 resources for us, while Rebs get +40 for winning.
Sloane repels Mon Mothma's Hyperlane Raid (played using the Show of Force rules) on Truzzdann, with very light losses on the Imperial side and moderate casualties for the Rebs. Rebels got one station for +40 resources, while we get +40 for winning.
In sum Imps get +120 resources this round! So any losses Ghost suffered, he should be able to replace. Rebels get +80 too, so despite Mothma taking some damage, it should be no problem. With the base resource generation in addition, all fleets should be at 500 (or close to it) for round 3. I should even have resources enough to build our last base, if we so desire.
Campaign points are now Imperial 3 - 1 Rebel, so the Reb team has initiative next turn too!
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