Linked Mines...and tokens!

So I posted on the forums quite some time ago about the issues with mines in FSA - they're a rather weak weapon system that (at least in the original ship calculator) cost quite a bit more than the results you'd expect out of a similar weapon system. One idea I had was to allow a squadron of ships to link mines exactly as they can link fire - so 3 Mn4 cruisers could combine to lay a single Mn8 mine. This would be considerable more of a deterrent to larger ships than however many Mn4 mines, and provide ships armed with mines some tactical flexibility.

In order to properly try this out I'd need some appropriate counters, and rather than using dice (d6, d8 or d10), I thought about making some counters to easily distinguish between races and accomodate the values possible with their squadrons linking - for instance Terrans only have ships with mines that don't form squadrons, so they ONLY have Mn4 mines. Aquans, on the other hand, can produce an Mn10 counter from a squadron of cruisers...a real threat!

So, if anyone else fancies trying out linked mines, here are the counters in a PDF document.

Mine Tokens PDF

Happy gaming!

The plans we make...

Well, after my last holding post, another couple of months have gone by. Unfortunately this has been down to heavy workload and some personal stuff - last week ago my wife had a CT scan and ultrasound following a consultation a couple of weeks after a bad GI bleed. Turns out she had a tumour in her colon, which was removed on Monday by keyhole surgery. She's now home and recovering, but this has left little time for FSA and other "fun" activties. A few posts on the SG Community, but little else....

Anyway, things should start getting easier soon, and I should be able to start posting some of the backlog I have! Until then....

Has it really been that long!?!?

Well I started a new job in April, which has been pretty manic - it's very demanding and doesn't give a lot of time to write blog entries. I then had a major family incident in May, which further threw me, and it's our end of financial half year in June, so all in all writing here has not been on my mind!

However, it's coming up to the weekend now, and after a brief foray onto the forums, I thought I'd put fingers to keyboard and give a little holding message about things to come....

So, although life's been as hectic as a caffeine-fuelled cat in a catnip field, FSA hasn't gone completely to the wind. There have been a fair few purchases, for instance - the first one back in March, the last one a few weeks ago. I decided to bring my collection up to a standard of having at least one of everything, and then after my Hostility drone design won the Directorate new small ship category, I decided I should have one of each of the new smalls too (I was holding out to see if SG sent me a free blister for winnning...but no...nothing :-(....ah, well...).

Oscar and I did play a game a couple of weekends ago - a Kurak Alliance vs RSN ensemble, which I'll get a battle report out from soon. I've also restarted my epic project of looking at a better FSA ship design tool based on all sorts of parameters...more on that later in the year I feel...

Well, that's all for now, just wanted to give a quick heads-up and hello to say that the blog's still active, and more will come soon. Bye for now!

FSA Campaign - Batrep 3

Turn 3 of the campaign was a game of cat-and-mouse, and also one of preparation - we'd both managed to manufacture new ships to send to the front;

With no combat, we went straight to Turn 4. I took the Aquan Barracuda I'd captured to pieces, gaining a single resource point from it. Realising I was not going to let up chasing his "Deep Blue" fleet that had annhilated my invading Relthoza at Aquarisum, Oscar decided to hold fast and take his chances - after all, he knew I was chasing him with a 500 point fleet as he'd met my two higher point ones.

Preparation

The battle was in open space, so we used "Deadspace", getting 2 obstacles - a distortion field and a comet, both on the extreme left edge of the board. Oscar got LoB deployment along the bottom edge, I got Flank at the left, which was ideal as (although too close for comfort), at least it gave me some cover.

Forces

Aquan "Deep Blue"

Medusa, -1HP, -4CP, 0AP, 3 escape pods

Manta, -1HP, 0AP, 4 escape pods

Tsunami, -4HP, 0AP

Tsunami, -2HP

Storm, -2HP, -3CP, 0AP

Storm, -2HP, 0AP

Barracuda, -1HP, 2CP (from Tsunami AP)

Captured Brood, -6HP, 1CP

Relthoza

Hive, 6 Bombers, 2 Interceptors

Bane Squadron- 3 x Banes, 3 Assaulters

Drone Squadron 1 - 4 Drones

Drone Squadron 2 - 4 Drones

Deployment

I started with the Carrier and Banes deployed as far back in my zone as possible, all cloaked with the interceptors between them providing PD cover. Drones all deployed in front of them, either in or behind the distortion field.

Oscar deployed his Storms, Manta and Medusa in a line from the left edge of his deployment, uncomfortably close, hoping to repeat the glory of his fleets first encounter. Tsunamis were deployed further right, and the Brood and Barracuda well to the right out of harms way.

Battle

I won initiative and moved the bare minimum 3" forward with my carrier, letting off a torpedo salvo at the damaged Storms (no effect) and deploying my bombers. Oscar powered up his Medusa and Manta using a Dual Maneouvre card, first destroying a lone Drone, then ripping into the rest of the squadron, completely destroying my first Drone squadron before it even moved, as well as dropping his bombers out of the Manta for further damage potential this turn (due to quick launch). This wasn't looking good!

The came my Banes...dropping their assaulters before short-shunting forward towards the Medusa, two arrived perfectly and one way overshot, arriving next to the Tsunamis. Link firing on the most damaged Tsunami with the two near the Medusa, my torpedoes ripped the ship apart. I then boarded the other Tsunami with my lone Bane, and the Medusa with the other two. The dice gods are fickle, and wanted blood - almost all my spiders arrived on the Medusa, and even halving their AP, they tore the Medusa's defenders apart for the loss of only two - the Dreadnought was mine! Not only that, but the Tsunami fell to me too - suddenly the balance had swung!

The Storms attempted to strike back but had no luck. Using "Punch the Boosters" and rolling a 6, my bombers surged forward and attacked the Manta, losing a single wing to PD, they landed a nice critical on it, setting it on fire.The Brood and Barracuda both turned away from the battle and started powering up FSDs, whilst my second Drone Squadron moved forward nicely into RB2 of the Manta and blasted it again for a Hard Pounding, my interceptors providing PD cover again. His bombers attacked the captured Manta, but the excellent automatic defences cut down 60% of his attack, making the resultant torpedo run ineffective. The assaulter moved in, barely avoiding the comet's movement at the end of the turn (oops!).

It seemed incredible that this was only the end of turn 1! Turn two saw Oscar win initative and use a damage repair party, but fortunately I had a counter card that prevented the Manta regaining potency. Nevertheless, the battlecarrier performed a 180 turn and blasted one of the Banes with a critical (hard pounding -2CP) and damaged another, before powering up its FSD. The Banes short shunted as far as possible away and into the path of the Brood & Barracuda, reforming their squadron perfectly...these guys were in for medals for sure! I managed to pick off the Barracuda before it jumped, but the captured Brood was shunted out...damn! The Storms had an ineffective round of firing at their former comrade Tsunami, and activated their FSDs as well.

As for wings, my assaulters attempted to board the striken Manta, but even with damage it's PD shot all but one of them down, this being repelled by the intensive barrage. My bombers went off to refuel at my carrier, also flying directly into the comets path and escaping death by about 1cm! What is it with these flyboys? My interceptors came in to mop up his bombers, and the two flights wiped each other out.

Turn 3 saw my Banes swing back into action, short-shunting in front of the Storms perfectly, blasting them to smithereens before they could escape. The Manta then shunted out, bringing the game to a close.

Verdict

It was a gamble, but it paid off! I didn't rescue my Battleship, but I got a Dreadnought and a Heavy Cruiser in exchange, plus I rescued some of the crew from the first disasterous battle - not a bad result. That Battlecarrier is a marked ship, and even though it escaped I can't allow it to survive! Unfortunately trying to assault it in an Aquan-held system with a facility and its defences is probably more than I'd want to try and risk, so I think consolidation is the best course of action for me right now. The Banes were definately the lynch-pin upon which my strategy won the day - it could have easilt gone the other way, especially with Oscar's pinpoint accuracy in the first round of blasting Drones out of a distortion field! I think he timed his exits well, and only lucky dice meant I got away with denying him the Barracuda and Storms. His firing dice wer good, but his torpedoes sucked in that game - mine were pretty good, and his PD and shields were really bad.

FSA now free to Download - Thank You SG!

Spartan Games have decided to release the core v2 rules online in a free download directly from their website;

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/firestorm-armada-rulebook-download

This is a great move - for anyone that doesn't already know and play FSA but has an interest in 40K, BFG, SF, space-faring or wargames in general, get the rules now and get playing!

There's plenty of meaterial that isn't in the hardback book, so once you've tried it out there's still reason to buy the book, which is a smart and a commendable route for a games company to go down. Let's hope this move encourages others to join what is a friendly and fun community, and boost sales of their excellent miniatures.

Thank you Spartan!

FSA Campaign - Battle Report 2

Turn two of our campaign saw my backup fleet chasing Oscars primary fleet back into Aquan space, hoping to catch it while still depleted and either recover or destroy my captured Brood. Elsewhere it was a game of cat and mouse, with fleets warily moving around the borders. My secondary (750 point) fleet was on patrol when an Aquan fleet moved into an adjacent hex, so I moved to intercept. Fortunately (for me), it turned out to be a minor (500 point) fleet.

Our fleets were as follows;

Relthoza
Brood Battleship (with Star Admiral and 1 interceptor)
Hive Carrier (6 Bombers)
Hive Carrier (6 Bombers)
3 Banes (3 Assaulters)
1 Squadron of 4 Drones

Aquans
Poseidon Battleship (Star Admiral)
Cruiser Squadron (1 Tsunami, 3 Storms)
1 Squadrons of 2 Piranhas

Setup
Green Zone with 6 obstacles - a 12" asteroid field, a planet in one corner, a distortion field, two minefields (3 & 7 mines) and a couple of deadfall salvos. Oscar chose the free short end of the table with a line of battle deployment, whereas I got a waypoint deployemnt right in the middle of the board, near the asteroids, mines and distortion field - just where I didn't want to be!

Deployment
Oscar deployed in a short line, I used the asteroid field to hide my Drones to preserve them from early fire )not easy as the mines made it single file only!) - the carriers and Brood deployed as far right and rear of their deployment area and the banes on the other side by the Drones to form a narrow pincer. Again, all ships that could cloak were deployed cloaked.

Play
Turn one was a gentle nudging forward of fleets, with Oscar's early fire defeated by stealth and cloaks. Hives, Brood and Banes moved forward, torpedoes finding no targets, except the Banes, who smashed a Piranha. The Drones carefully negotiated their way on out of the asteroid field, and flights were all disgorged - the bombers moving a modest 12" forward to avoid possible PD attacks next turn but be in strike distance.

Next turn showed the dice gods had indeed switched their allegiances. I won initiative and shot one of the bomber squadrons forward to attack the Poseidon. Playing a "Jinking" card to skip the PD, the 18AD attack critted the Poseidon despite a healthy shield reduction, and the Aquan battleship blazed inside with a raging fire. The Aquans tried to strike back with the cruisers and the battleship, and critted the Brood with an Engine failure, I played a running repairs and got it down to 1HP damage, then started applying the big hitting stick. A double crit on the Tsunami, another crit on the Battleship (decompression), more bombers attacking the Poseidon (engine failure) one Storm critted (systems offline...or no effect!). It was pretty brutal - but then I really needed to pull back something since the loss of my main fleet.

I swatted the remaining Piranha and the Aquans tried in vain to toast a Hive, putting just a single point on it.The assaulters from the Banes attempted to board the Poseidon, which I knew was suicide but I wanted them to take down the crew a bt more before I planned to board with the Banes and capture her - she was now down to 2CP and 2AP...Unfortunately that plan went bang when a crit from the Drones redused her to an expanding debris field and some escape pods...the remaining fire from my big ships vapourised the remaining ships, but not before I tried to board the same Storm twice - once from a single Bane and once from my Brood - the Storms crew earning great respect after annihilating all opposition for no loss! After a fold-space containment rupture I then vapourised this ship too, meaning I won in record time, but with little to show in terms of spoils - just 7 escape pods of fish to interrogate...

Verdict
Unlike the disaster of Aquarisum, the clash here was even more one-sided to the spiders - which was a huge relief, especially as I had a larger force - a failure would have bode very badly indeed! The Carriers really carried the day - their Bombers struck a (probably vital) early crit on the Poseidon, and I just kept pounding it, whereas the 10AD broadsides are more than capable of crushing cruisers. Banes were a slight letdown compared to the epic and valiant performance they gave last game, but they did most of what I asked of them. Brood hardly even got warmed up, which was kind of a good thing really. Anyway, the final stats were;

Aquans:
Entire fleet lost

Relthoza:
Brood: -1HP, 0AP
Hive 1: -1HP, -1 Bomber
Hive 2: -1 Bomber
Bane Squadron: One Bane 0AP, all Banes -1 Assaulter wing

Map at the end of Turn 2

Onto Turn 3!

FSA Campaign - Battle Report 1

Oscar has been asking to start an FSA campaign for a while now, so at the weekend (through our collective illnesses!) we started to construct one. Using part of a star map from an old MegaTraveller boxed set, using Brian Schumacher's (DX42 for those of you who don't know) FSA Campaign rules, we crafted just that. Putting it on the PC, renaming worlds and creating bases and fleets, and we were off.

I decided to field my relthoza, and Oscar kept to his Aquan home fleets. We kicked off deploying our fleets, with written orders to introduce "fog of war", which turned out well, with a single clash in the first turn as both our 1000 point fleets met in the Aquarisum system, in which Oscar had set up a listening station and I had jumped into (meaning I wouldn't be able to use FSDs to leave the battle).

Our fleets were as follows;

Relthoza
Apex Dreadnought (6 Bombers)
Brood Battleship (with Star Admiral and 3 interceptors)
Hive Carrier (6 Bombers, 2 Interceptors)
3 Banes (3 Assaulters)
2 Squadrons of 4 Drones

Aquans
Medusa Dreadnought (Star Admiral)
Manta Battlecarrier (5 & 4 Bombers)
2 Tsunamis
3 Storms
2Squadrons of 3 Barracudas

We played with retro MARs and used Ravager's scenario generator to create the play area - we got a Blue Zone with 3 obstacles - a central asteroid field, a planet in one corner and a distortion field near the diametrically opposing one. Oscar got a flank deployment by the planet, I got line of battle, which made perfect sense for me fleet shunting in to attack the outer planet of his system. we also used my recently designed ship stat cards (which worked pretty well, we both agreed!)

Deployment
Oscar deployed in a line diagonally across the board in front of the planet, I used the asteroid field to divide my force  - the carrier and Drones screened by it to perform a flanking move around it, my Dreadnought and Battleship (with their deployed wings) taking a direct line into battle against the Aquans. The Banes deployed further back than the Carrier, ready to short-shunt in where needed and (theoretically) to board damaged ships when the opportunity arose. All ships that could cloak were deployed cloaked.

Play
The first turn saw my carrier and drones skirting the asteroid field, the Banes cruising along beside them. The DN and BB plunged straight in, blasting away but poor dice rolls and good Aquan shield rolls prevented damage. Oscars ships met this force head-on, similarly blasting back and getting a point of damage on the DN - first blood to the Aquans.

Next turn was one of the busiest and dramatic I've seen in FSA, and it didn't go well for me - the early poor dice rolls were something of an omen, whereas Oscars dice gods were definately satisfied with him - I had criticals reduced to lowly single points, solid hits shrugged off and in return had lucky torpedoes snag me, Storms put damage on my DN and other similar bad luck. Aquan energy weapons and torpedoes were finding their marks all too often, despite my cloaks. Nevertheless I still got the first kill of the game with a Barracuda falling to my asteroid-skirting force.

The battle near the planet turned really nasty, and my DN was stacking points of damage, making it less and less effective. Oscar's Medusa, on the other hand, repelled my fire, my bombers (a critical again reduced to 1HP) and my torpedoes. His Manta was similarly fierce, and my BB was also soon looking very ropey. The Banes and the Carrier were having more success, and even the Drones were pulling their weight - a Tsunami was soon 4HP down and shields out, Barracudas taking hits. I switched to pulling down his mediums and smalls, taking out a Storm and damaging the others before my offensive potential was ruined.

I was then down to the desparation of boarding actions, and managed to eventually capture a Barracuda and derelict another, plus significantly reduce the Medusas crew complement - 4CP and 0AP (after failed counter-boardings on my Apex and Brood). This pulled its teeth a little, but with STAR cards it managed to summon enough power to finally destroy my Apex, and I had nothing left to board with. My Brood was down to 1CP 0AP, and was boarded by the Manta, and lost. Things went downhill rapidly thereafter, my cloaked Carrier trying to run away was cut down by the damaged Tsunamis after a containment leak, and my remaining bombers (after managing second torpedo runs) had nowhere to go. The only ship I managed to save was the captured Barracuda, which I shunted out.

Verdict
The Relthoza invasion of the Aquarisum system was an unmitigated disaster - the loss of an entire fleet is a huge blow early on in the campaign. The capture of a Brood and the Star Admiral aboard it, as well as many escape pods, will also allow the Aquans to gain vital intelligence and resources. Fortunately the Aquan fleet was mauled, and a follow-up offensive could be mounted. Final stats were;

Relthoza:
Entire fleet lost
1 Enemy Frigate captured

Aquans:
Medusa: -1HP, -4CP, 0AP
Manta: -1HP, -4 Bombers, 0AP
Storm Squadron: 1 lost, One -2HP, -2CP, 0AP, One -2HP, 0AP
Barracuda Squadron One: All lost
Barracuda Squadron Two: Two lost, one -1HP, 2CP (from Manta AP)
Tsunami Squadron: One -4HP, 0AP, one -2HP, no shields, 0AP
Relthoza Battleship with 3CP (from Aquan ship AP)

Kudos to Oscar for completely tabling me - not what I expected! I think my main mistake was rushing my big ships into the fight - I should have hung back and used my big torpedo batteries on his smaller ships - as it was, the big hitters of his fleet (Medusa and Manta) were able to go virtually unchallened as I struggled to survive - even the Storms performed really well, and I didn't have room to fight my way out - I cut my options down to early. Silly mistake, and Oscar pounced on it and cut me to ribbons! Having said that, we both acknoledged that the dice were not favouring me, and he was rolling really well - thats just how it goes sometimes...the worst was a 21-hit on a Bane...a triple critical when it was on 1 HP....there were no survivors...

Well, the Aquans carried the day at Aquarisum, but that's one battle, not the war!