The Narn Strike: Battle of XL-387-G. Turn 5
'Na'Tor watched in frustration as the Centauri and Dilgar fleets slipped away. the solar flare had disrupted what was certain to have been a glorious intervention. instead all that had been achieved was to use up fuel and stress the Jump engines on the Narn ships. His instructions were to shadow the Centauri fleet, and await further orders. His bones were aching to take the fight to the damned peacocks! but he resigned himself to a few more monotonous days. Their chance would come soon enough, and they would make the Centauri pay!'
Overview so far.
The first large engagement of the campaign had seen the Dilgar and Centauri fight for control of the 4th planet in the system. this had ended with the Dilgar emerging victorious, but arguably only due to running out of time. Both sides had suffered heavy casualties, and had withdrawn ships for full repairs and this leaves the Narn in a strong position. They have a short time to leverage their advantage before ships return fully repaired. The questions are, who will they strike, and where?
Turn 5
With the failure to seize control of the planet, the Centauri force detaches some of their damaged ships and sends them back for full repairs at a fully equipped facility. The remainder, the undamaged ships, and those with only minor damage that can be repaired in situ make their way back to the relative shelter of the dense radiation belts surrounding the larger of the systems gas giants. The loss of the Corvan leaves them without any dedicated scouting ships, and they have suffered most of their losses so far in their lighter units leaving the core of their battle line untouched.
The Dilgar in comparison suffered most of their damage in their heavier units, and with them being sent back to Omelos for repairs, they only have light units to protect their strategic assets. They had been extremely fortunate that only a handful of their ships had been a total loss, but the time required to repair their damaged ships left them unable to seriously oppose the Narn's if the decided to force an engagement.
With these factors in mind, Both the Centauri and the Dilgar decided to avoid any action. The Dilgar opted to move their scout ships in to the Asteroid belt, with an aim for possibly moving on the inner most planet when their Capital Units returned, while the Centauri received a small number of reinforcements, as well as a much needed re-supply.
The Dilgar in comparison suffered most of their damage in their heavier units, and with them being sent back to Omelos for repairs, they only have light units to protect their strategic assets. They had been extremely fortunate that only a handful of their ships had been a total loss, but the time required to repair their damaged ships left them unable to seriously oppose the Narn's if the decided to force an engagement.
With these factors in mind, Both the Centauri and the Dilgar decided to avoid any action. The Dilgar opted to move their scout ships in to the Asteroid belt, with an aim for possibly moving on the inner most planet when their Capital Units returned, while the Centauri received a small number of reinforcements, as well as a much needed re-supply.
The Initiative was left with the Narn Regime, and they opted to engage the Centauri Battle line. A fleet would jump to the 5th Planet, a gas giant, and hunt down their capital ships. At this point in the campaign, factoring in the casualties each force had sustained, they had numerical parity with the Centauri and Dilgar combined. The Narn could afford a loss, in a way neither the Centauri or Dilgar could., providing of course they could cause attrition losses to whichever force they engaged. (note: I was going to attack Ptarlack and try to take it from the Dilgar, however my opponent was unable to play that day, so I switched to attacking the Centauri instead)
The Centauri moved into the Radiation cloud under close observation from the Shor'Li-Kar and provided the Narn with the initiative, meaning the were able to position their ships in an advantageous position to keep the Centauri capital ships at range for a turn or two.
Clash at the Gas Giant.
The mission rolled was A Call to Arms, Battle Priority, and 5 points. The gas Giant had the Dust Clouds feature meaning that everyone would have either stealth 2+ or +1 to their stealth. this could prove pivotal, and we opted to include terrain on the board to make it a bit more interesting.
The Centauri brought an Octurion, Primus, 2x Elutarians, a Maximus, and 3x Demos. The Octurian and Primus had both caused significant damage to the Dilgar and had received a number of upgrades since the last battle.
The Narn brought a pair of G'Quan Heavy Cruisers, The K'Tan'Ri and Vin'Tak-Var, the G'Tel Command Cruiser, the K'Tel'Var, a G'karith the T'Koth, a T'Loth, the Na'Taran, 2x Rothan, the G'Stron and V'Tehn, The Sho'kar Sor-Vi and the Sho'Kov cutters, Ta'Rakas, G'Koran, Na'Kor-Na-Toc and T'Koran. All the Narn ships were untested in battle bt crucially, on of the G'Quans had CQ 6 which would give me a few options for orders, so It was squadroned with the other 2 G'Quan class hulls, together with Ta'Rakas which I was hoping to use to shield my G'Quans for at least a turn. The G'Koran would act in the same way for the Na'Taran, the T'Loth.
The Narn brought a pair of G'Quan Heavy Cruisers, The K'Tan'Ri and Vin'Tak-Var, the G'Tel Command Cruiser, the K'Tel'Var, a G'karith the T'Koth, a T'Loth, the Na'Taran, 2x Rothan, the G'Stron and V'Tehn, The Sho'kar Sor-Vi and the Sho'Kov cutters, Ta'Rakas, G'Koran, Na'Kor-Na-Toc and T'Koran. All the Narn ships were untested in battle bt crucially, on of the G'Quans had CQ 6 which would give me a few options for orders, so It was squadroned with the other 2 G'Quan class hulls, together with Ta'Rakas which I was hoping to use to shield my G'Quans for at least a turn. The G'Koran would act in the same way for the Na'Taran, the T'Loth.
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| Beauty hides intense radiation around this giant |
Intense Radiation meant that for the initial stages of the encounter both sides were largely masked by EM interference, but the sensors of the Sor'vi were able to help the trio of G'Quans triangulate the position of 3 fast moving targets. the Rothans moved towards these contacts to act as a screen, while the Sor'Vi accelerated at full speed down the flank. The Na'Taran moved ahead of the G'Quans to correctly identify the other potential contacts. A Pair of energy mines were duly sent towards the smaller and faster contacts, and the blast cleared the radiation sufficiently for follow up shots from the main squadron, one of the fast moving targets was destroyed, another damaged. The twin blasts had a significant effect, the blast wave expanding away from the pair of energy mines had an immediate effect on the EM interference, clearing it sufficiently for the two fleets to get their fitst good looks at each other.
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| As sensor disruptions clear, the Narn find themselves closing with the main Centauri force, the T'Loth as the vanguard braces itself for a barrage of fire |
Positioned ahead of the Main Squadron, the T'Loth found itself in range, and full view of the bulk of the Centauri battle force, with only a squadron of fighters and a small cutter to act as a screen. Behind her, the 3 G'Quans all aligned themselves to bring their beam weapons to bear on the Octurion. On the Narn Right flank, the Sor'Vi passed the Demos' who veered away from the source of the energy mines to target a pair of cutters, and inadvertantly allowed a Rothan, the G'Stron, to launch boarding parties. this attempt almost came undone as the G'Stron was just in range of the Octurians port matter cannons, and was pelted with fire, the second Demos, the one not being boarded, added to the fire and the ship was severely damaged, but not crippled, the boarding action would proceed.
The T'Loth found itself under heavy fire from the Octurion as well, but the small cutter interposed itself and took the full brunt of the fire (draw their fire is amazing) after the debris field cleared, the Primus' battle laser carved a deep gouge into the T'Loth, Damaging it's engines and taking some weapons offline.
In Response, a Trio of Heavy Laser batteries punched into the Octurion, Extensive damage was caused to primary systems, but backups took up the slack. venting atmosphere, the Octurion continued it's advance seemingly unfazed.
The T'Loth found itself under heavy fire from the Octurion as well, but the small cutter interposed itself and took the full brunt of the fire (draw their fire is amazing) after the debris field cleared, the Primus' battle laser carved a deep gouge into the T'Loth, Damaging it's engines and taking some weapons offline.
In Response, a Trio of Heavy Laser batteries punched into the Octurion, Extensive damage was caused to primary systems, but backups took up the slack. venting atmosphere, the Octurion continued it's advance seemingly unfazed.
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| A small melee erupts |
On the flank, the Demos unable to bring it's weapons to bear on the Rothans instead targeted the Na'Kor-Na-Tok. the agile ship avoided a lot of the fire but several hits were received. The Narn responded with fire of their own, both Rothans targeting the Demos on the left. The Ships interceptors did an excellent job of saving the ship, despite the heavy fire, but it was left crippled and barely holding together. The boarding action went somewhat better for the Narn, the Centauri troop detachment being swiftly overwhelmed and the Narn troops now in position to move throughout the ship.
The Narn main battle line advanced as slowly as possible while keeping their weapons concentrated on the Octurion and the T'Loth found itself at close quarters with the Centauri battle line. being somewhat poorly armed, and a tough ship to kill, the Centauri instead focused their fire on the G'Karith. the ship had positioned itself poorly and paid the price. The Octurion split its fire between the lead G'Quan and the G'Karith, but the Sho'Kov was able to draw the bigger ships fire, amazingly it survived the experience with only light damage. The G'Karith was not so fortunate and was pounded by matter cannons and ion cannons untilo it started tumbling away, its reactor dead. The T'Loth came under fire as well, Ion cannons from the Elutarians hammering into the ship. The escorting Frazi's shot down a fair number of the shots, but the ship also came under fire from the Octurion. the ship had positioned itself to shoot in 3 of its arcs. The T'loth endured this fire admirably. The Rothan on the other hand, to the left of the Octurian was as poorly positied as the G'Karith had been, and suffered accordingly. Finally, the Primus' battle laser shot at the lead G'Quan, but the shot failed to connect. The missiles from the Elutarians were on target though, and combined with ion fire from the Primus, a few shots snuck through and impacted the hull. Damage was minimal though, and the three G'Quans kept their fire concentrated on the Octurion. it again endured the fire admirably, but the damage was starting to mount up.
The fight between the Demos' and the Narn flanking force concluded, with the heavily damaged Demos being finished by a flight of Frazi's and the last remaining Demos' crew was desperately fighting against the boarding party. they scored a few successes, but casualties quickly mounted and swiftly the ship was reduced to a skeleton crew as the Narn troops started to take control of the ship.
The battle would deteriorate for the Centauri from here. The Octurion had weathered the fire from the G'Quans admirably, but they kept their Heavy Lasers pointed at the huge ship, and the effect was telling. The hull plating and internal compartmentalization couldn't withstand the fire, as one by one internal bulkheads were breached, power lines were cut and the ships sytems were slagged. the ship's death was more of a whimper as the reactors all went into shutdown, coolant spilling from wrecked pipes. The 6 Laser beams punched through the rear of the ship, and then the fire ceased. The Octurion had been stopped. Not a moment too soon as it was about to bring the G'Quans under fire, and had it not been for an excellent highly improbable 15 hits from one G'Quan, the Octurion would have probably done crippling damage. Fire from the remaining Centauri ships was adversely affected by the loss of their command ship, and the confusion meant that the fire from the remaining Centauri ships was largely ineffective. A Sho'Kov, the Na'Kor-Na-Toc having earlier sustained damage was crippled by an Elutarians side batteries, and the T'Loth was again pounded from several directions, but managed to weather the fire admirably.
The last Demos on the field was also neutralized. the crew fighting to the last, and any wounded survivors were escorted to the nearest airlock and kindly asked to leave the ship.
In addition the Maximus was, at the time currently hosting 12 units of troops from the T'Loth
39-8 Narn Victory.
Narn Secure the Gas Giant
The Narn had held the range open as long as they could at this point, and now the two forces were converging. Both the Centauri capital ships were about to get into range with all their weapons, and it was likely that they would be able to damage the Narn Fleet significantly. The Narn for their own part, had effectively defeated the Demos force on their flank, one of the remaining ships was crippled, and probably soon to be shot to pieces, and the second had a sizeable force of Narn troops about to cause mayhem.
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| The Battle Intensifies as the T'Koth is overwhelmed by fire |
The Narn main battle line advanced as slowly as possible while keeping their weapons concentrated on the Octurion and the T'Loth found itself at close quarters with the Centauri battle line. being somewhat poorly armed, and a tough ship to kill, the Centauri instead focused their fire on the G'Karith. the ship had positioned itself poorly and paid the price. The Octurion split its fire between the lead G'Quan and the G'Karith, but the Sho'Kov was able to draw the bigger ships fire, amazingly it survived the experience with only light damage. The G'Karith was not so fortunate and was pounded by matter cannons and ion cannons untilo it started tumbling away, its reactor dead. The T'Loth came under fire as well, Ion cannons from the Elutarians hammering into the ship. The escorting Frazi's shot down a fair number of the shots, but the ship also came under fire from the Octurion. the ship had positioned itself to shoot in 3 of its arcs. The T'loth endured this fire admirably. The Rothan on the other hand, to the left of the Octurian was as poorly positied as the G'Karith had been, and suffered accordingly. Finally, the Primus' battle laser shot at the lead G'Quan, but the shot failed to connect. The missiles from the Elutarians were on target though, and combined with ion fire from the Primus, a few shots snuck through and impacted the hull. Damage was minimal though, and the three G'Quans kept their fire concentrated on the Octurion. it again endured the fire admirably, but the damage was starting to mount up.
The fight between the Demos' and the Narn flanking force concluded, with the heavily damaged Demos being finished by a flight of Frazi's and the last remaining Demos' crew was desperately fighting against the boarding party. they scored a few successes, but casualties quickly mounted and swiftly the ship was reduced to a skeleton crew as the Narn troops started to take control of the ship.
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| The Octurion Is finally brought down. |
The battle would deteriorate for the Centauri from here. The Octurion had weathered the fire from the G'Quans admirably, but they kept their Heavy Lasers pointed at the huge ship, and the effect was telling. The hull plating and internal compartmentalization couldn't withstand the fire, as one by one internal bulkheads were breached, power lines were cut and the ships sytems were slagged. the ship's death was more of a whimper as the reactors all went into shutdown, coolant spilling from wrecked pipes. The 6 Laser beams punched through the rear of the ship, and then the fire ceased. The Octurion had been stopped. Not a moment too soon as it was about to bring the G'Quans under fire, and had it not been for an excellent highly improbable 15 hits from one G'Quan, the Octurion would have probably done crippling damage. Fire from the remaining Centauri ships was adversely affected by the loss of their command ship, and the confusion meant that the fire from the remaining Centauri ships was largely ineffective. A Sho'Kov, the Na'Kor-Na-Toc having earlier sustained damage was crippled by an Elutarians side batteries, and the T'Loth was again pounded from several directions, but managed to weather the fire admirably.
The last Demos on the field was also neutralized. the crew fighting to the last, and any wounded survivors were escorted to the nearest airlock and kindly asked to leave the ship.
The Battle was effectively over. What would have followed would have been a slaughter. Turn 5 saw an Elutarian open a jump point, with the rest of the ships maneuvering to use it next turn. but this proved to be costly, the Maximus was boarded by the T'Loth, and, well, it was a short fight. The Elutarian that had opened the jump point was targeted by all 3 G'Quans and almost destroyed, the jump engines being one of the engineering casualties.
We called the game there, as it would inevitably would have ended with the Primus as the sole survivor on the Centauri side.
Casualties:
Centauri: 1x Octurion destroyed, 2x Demos Destroyed, and 1 Captured, 1x Elutarian Crippled.
Narn: 1x G'Karith Destroyed, 1x Sho'Kov Destroyed and 1 Crippled.
We called the game there, as it would inevitably would have ended with the Primus as the sole survivor on the Centauri side.
Casualties:
Centauri: 1x Octurion destroyed, 2x Demos Destroyed, and 1 Captured, 1x Elutarian Crippled.
Narn: 1x G'Karith Destroyed, 1x Sho'Kov Destroyed and 1 Crippled.
39-8 Narn Victory.
Narn Secure the Gas Giant
Centauri secure trade route
Dilgar secure asteroid belt
Conclusions
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| The K'Tan'Ri and Vin'Tak-Var |
The G'Quans Turned out to be key. only one took minor damage, and their concentrated beam fire against the Octurion was the deciding factor It took them 3 turns, which wasn't ideal though. Their toughness is impressive, but this was never tested, and they didn't bring their secondaries into the game until the very end.
More impressive than anything was how much the Sho'Kov's using 'Draw their fire' and the Frazi's supporting the larger ships were able to blunt a lot of the damage that the larger ships would have had to endure. I would much rather lose a Sho'Kov to an Octurion than let it pour its fire into a T'Loth or G'Quan.
On the Centauri side, they were quite unfortunate to lose a few dice rolls against the Sho'Kov's and whiffed a few rolls at vital points in the game. They also were able to quickly dispatch the G'Karith which was poorly positioned, and punish my mistake. The Octurion was also devastating to watch, it effortlessly stacked up the damage on my ships, despite Frazi's acting as interceptors and closing blast doors on a lot of ships.
Both of us also, at times forgot about the Stealth granted by the unusual phenomenon present on the battlefield, and I also forgot that one of my ships had advanced sensors. Very few rolls to penetrate stealth were failed. just a reminder to not forget any unusual features on the field.
More impressive than anything was how much the Sho'Kov's using 'Draw their fire' and the Frazi's supporting the larger ships were able to blunt a lot of the damage that the larger ships would have had to endure. I would much rather lose a Sho'Kov to an Octurion than let it pour its fire into a T'Loth or G'Quan.
On the Centauri side, they were quite unfortunate to lose a few dice rolls against the Sho'Kov's and whiffed a few rolls at vital points in the game. They also were able to quickly dispatch the G'Karith which was poorly positioned, and punish my mistake. The Octurion was also devastating to watch, it effortlessly stacked up the damage on my ships, despite Frazi's acting as interceptors and closing blast doors on a lot of ships.
Both of us also, at times forgot about the Stealth granted by the unusual phenomenon present on the battlefield, and I also forgot that one of my ships had advanced sensors. Very few rolls to penetrate stealth were failed. just a reminder to not forget any unusual features on the field.
This loss leaves the Centauri in a bad position in the campaign with only about 10 of their ships remaining, several in bad shape, the Dilgar with at least 24 ships, and the Narn with 36, with several of them probably being withdrawn for full repairs.
Dilgar and Narn have 4 of the 8 objectives each, with the Centauri losing their only objective this turn. Even a Centauri Victory would not have majorly affected the Narn as they currently have ships to lose, and the Dilgar and Centauri do not. For the campaign, the Narn are now in the stronger position. I will definitely try to push this to the full next turn.
'The Octurion hung in space. its huge hull torn in numerous places and the purple and gold that marked its hull almost completely seared away by weapons fire. A few crew had survived the death of the ship and escaped in shuttles, and J'Kon had ordered they be let go. He reminded himself to reprimand the crew of the G'Stron for their treatment of prisoners, but not too severely. The Centauri were savage animals, the Narn were not, and it was undignified to sink to their level of depravity. He had sent boarding parties over to the ship, and found it to be in a terrible condition. there was a slight chance it could be saved, perhaps it could even be brought back in to service given enough time, but.... he mused a little. The Centauri were a prideful people, they would not quickly let this wound to their pride pass, particularly if they thought the ship in better condition than it is. T'Neth, he said softly to his communications officer, contact homeworld, request they despatch a T'Sorn with all haste, inform them we have captured a Centauri capital ship, tell them the engines are intact but the reactor is damaged and will need to be repaired. Send the message over an open channel....'
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