FSA Report

Last night Brian and I finally got in a game. It was a 500 point test for a possible new mission for our Firestorm Armada Campaign. He took a stanadard Battle Box of ships. I mixed it up with 2 units of 3 Cruisers, 1 unit of 3 Frigates, and 2 units of 2 frigates. The Board was set up so that His Ships Deployed in a single Corner and I was set up in small boxes centered on the opposite table edges.



We then Deployed 9 Escape Pods on the Board. Brian's Goal was to collect them for Bonus VP's. My goal was to kill him dead. We both began to move towards the Center of the Board. Maneuvering around the Nebula the Aqueans were using to Cover their advance. As I saw the Terrain laid out I was very Glad I had forgone the Battleship Since my speed would be crucial in this battle. I also Drew a Local Support Card which I turned into 5 Assault Boats.




I was able to first Strike and Kill off an entire squad of Frigates. My brand New assault boats got an extra boost when brian forgot he had a Bingo Fuel Card to play. They were able to take over one of his Frigates before being sent away to re-fuel.

My Cruisers went to work and did a number on Brians Ships, but thanks to repair cards and 2 reinforced armors His Battle Ship went back up to full life. It then moved into the middle of my fleet, which was split up due to the nebula and Fired out of every arc. As Mike and Brian both commented, it was an Aquan player's wet dream. He even shot his Aft guns at the Frigate I took over to prevent me from getting the bonus vp's. His cruisers followed up in the Tetris Formation and continued the Barrage of shots into my fleet. I lost 2 cruisers, another was damaged, as well as losing a Frigate, and My trophy Frigate.


My return fire was pretty effective. I was able to kill off 1 cruiser and Crit another. Wounded the Cruiser grabbed a pair of Pods and hit the FTL. I poured several shot into him but the tough Aquean ships held up to the Barrage and 2 escape pods were rescued. The battleship began to take more shots from the Remaining Sorylian Cruisers and it was starting to wear down. The remaining squad of Aquean Frigates were killed off by 2 cruisers and a little help from a pair of Frigates.



Not yet showing how much Damage it had taken the Battle ship unleashed another barrage and blew away two more Sorylian Cruisers. Leaving me with 1. In a last ditch Effort to destroy the Battleship my final Cruiser flew up along side and unleased 4 squads of Marines. Surviving the Point Defense they boarded the Aquean ship, but were no match for the number of Soldiers they faced. Still I was able to reduce his ship to 2cp and 2 ap.



His Battleship had been hit hard on the previous turn lost the ability to turn. His cruiser, limping away from the Frigates who were hounding him grabbed another pair of Escape pods and hit the FTL. I won the roll for the next turn and knew right away where I would begin my activations.



I moved into RB2 and played a Blistering fire power. But even with 11 dice I was unable to score even a single hit. The Cruiser then busted out of there cargo safely in tow. The Battleship moved forward fired guns and grabbed a pod. My frigates followed up and managed to score a hit reducing it to its final wound.

Brian sensing it was time to get the big boy out of there grabbed a pod, coasted into an asteroid field and hit the FTL. My cruiser followed up and took a haily mary shot with only 3 dice. with no luck. not out of it yet, I sent my frigates right up to the Ship and Assaulted it. My first wave went poorly, losing a unit and causing no casualties. My Last two frigates played engine overburn and flew right up into range, dropping off two assault boats I was pleasently surprised when they Won the fight. brians 4 dice yielded 0 successes, and my 2 got me 1. Mike then pointed out that since it was the first turn of that boarding action my marines could sabotage the ship, causing it to suffer a Critical hit. Deciding their sacrifice was worthwhile the Brave marines planted their explosives in the engine bays and blew the Aquean battleship to pieces.

We sat down after the game and chatted for a bit about the mission. As were talking I mentioned Brian had killed 300 points of cruisers... then we realized He may have won. So he had to go back and Count out our VP totals. As it ended up I had recieved 190 vps he had 170. Had his battleship been able to make it out he would have won soundly, 190-90.

Thanks to mike for photgraphing our game for us.