First Contact; A Call to Arms Battle Report

Officer Kchalla reared up on her hind legs in shock as she viewed the information on her display. There were massive objects in high orbit moving in irregular ways. She double checked her equipment since what she was seeing was unbelievable. Everything was working as it should. She put a call through to her superior. 'Apologies superior mother, my equipment has detected several large objects moving erratically in high orbit...' her speech trailed off as the night sky was lit up in bright multi coloured displays. She gazed up in awe, but was swiftly brought back to her senses as alarms blared throughout the control station.

We've been getting in a lot of practice with the fleets we all intend to use in our campaign (starting soonish) but this week we elected to use different forces. I will be taking Vree, and Ginge, who will be playing Pak'ma'ra in the campaign, is using Gaim. These forces are somewhat unfamiliar to us, so it will be a massive learning experience.

We are playing a 5 point Raid game, and using the A Call To Arms mission which is just a straight up 'kill all' affair.

Vree Fleet

My choice of fleet is constrained somewhat by the small number of ships I have for the Vree, I've been concentrating on Brakiri so I've not had the opportunity to round out the fleet. Everything is 3D printed so I am also constrained somewhat by what STL's are available. Looking after the fact though, there are plenty of 'UFO' and 'Flying Saucer' STL's available, so I will have to have a detailed look at what is available at a later point.
The core of the fleet is a Pair of Xill Battle saucers, these are very solid ships but have a somewhat limited range on their main weapons, and at raid level represent perhaps the best option available for volume of fire. Volume of fire and range are traits that are weaknesses of the Vree. their shots are powerful, but they don't have many of them.
Backing these ships up I have 4 Ximms. these are to act as initiative sinks and also contribute to anti-fighter. Vree have a lot of anti-fighter, but Gaim have lots of fighters, so every little helps, and they have a lot of damage and crew for Patrol level ships. They are very poor offensively though. to round out the fleet i have a pair of Xirr for some longer range firepower, and a Xixx for the same reason. the Xixx has slightly more alpha potential with its torpedoes, but they are slow loading. Finally, a Xeel class carrier rounds out the fleet. Gaim are adept at taking out scores of fighters, but they do provide a very very useful opportunity to react to enemy fighters and make maximum use of the Escort ability of the Ximms. I don't expect them to last long, but they do provide a useful ability to extend my anti-fighter screen a little further.

Fresh construction, ready for battle

4x Ximm-class Close Escort: Oa'Pi, Ne'Ra, Na'Xi, An'Ka
2x Xirr-class Bombardment Saucer: Di'Hu, Xa'Be
1x Xixx-class Torpedo Saucer: An'Ua
1x Xeel-class War Carrier: Hu'Xa
2x Xill-class Battle Saucer: Hu'Gi, Te'Ai
4x Tzymm Heavy fighter

Gaim Swarm

Gaim have a very small fleet roster, and a very unusual way of fighting that on first appearances is downright terrifying. They also have some restrictions on the ships they can take. they have to take a queen, and they can only take 1 queen of the largest type in the fleet. They have a ridiculous number of fighters, energy mines on almost everything. scores of breaching pods. very tough defenses. legions of troops, and high crew quality. They hard counter a lot of abilities other fleets have and can cut straight through most defenses, Oh, and their ships have ridiculous range on their weapons. on the downside, offensively their ships are quite limited and they only really shine if their opponent bunches up. Queen ships award double Victory points, and the Gaims superior initiative and Crew Quality is absolutely demolished if they lose all their queens.

Leading the fleet is a Queen Battleship. This is a Battle level ship and is being taken due to the Fleet carrier ability. with the number of fighters Gaim can bring, being able to recycle them is a massive bonus, and the Battleship is the lowest priority ship that has the ability. backing this up is a War carrier, with a horde more fighters, a Gunship with its breaching pods and lasers, and to round out a couple of gunships. More fighters could have been brought, but the Gaim will be rocking up with potent energy mines, and 50 flights of fighters and breaching pods if they manage to launch them all.

Mostly OPR ships, they will be getting painted

2x Sataaka-class gunship
1x Skrunnka-class assault ship
1x Stuteeka-class War Carrier
1x Shrutaa-class Queen Battleship
36x Klikkita fighter
14x Breaching pod

Deployment

The Vree Spread out to avoid energy mines hitting multiple ships

The Vree fleet unsurprisingly lost the roll to deploy and elected to adopt a dispersed formation that would avoid the worst of the Gaim energy mines, with each ship being spaced to only allow a single ship to be caught by each mine and at the same time allow the Ximms to cover the whole fleet with their escort trait.

It did leave the bulk of the fleet out of cover of any celestial features but with the Gaim able to counter deploy I felt it best not to give them too many options to damage multiple ships, and instead risk losing individuals early on. those energy mines are quite lethal!

The Gaim Carrier, Assault ship (top) and Gunships (bottom) 

The Gaim counter deployed and rather than bunch their ships up and allow me the option of quickly outmaneuvering the whole fleet, they were fairly spread out, the Queen battleship on my right, and the carrier and assault ship on my left, with the gunships centrally. there were a few fighters deployed but the queen was the only ship with fleet carrier. the swarm would be deployed later. This put the gaim in a position to lob energy mines at me wherever i maneuvered since they have a staggering range and allow whichever force was not attacked to support the other.

Gaim Queen and Fighter swarm

Turn 1

The Vree fleet had taken up position behind the only inhabitted planet in the system. there was intelligent life that had reached a level where they could manipulate the atom and put rudimentary craft into orbit of their planet. All that was at risk of being ended as a Gaim Queen and her massive battleship packed with soldier drones approached the planet. It had, it would seem, been selected as a viable target for a colony, and the Vree aimed to prevent that from happening.
Seeing the Gaim coming in from multiple vectors, the Vree decided as one to attack the Gaim Stuteeka to eliminate its deadly fighters, before working towards the Queen Battleship. It would allow them to use the planet to shield their fleet from view of the battleship and hopefully defeat the Gaim in detail.

Both fleets maneuver and launch fighters

As their ships maneuvered, the Gaim Queens ship launched a barrage of photon bombs at An'Ka. The Ximm was prepared to receive incoming fire, but the ships weak hull was no match for the concentrated waves of energy that blanketted the ship. the hull was scorched and melted and only the main weapon turret, more armoured than the defensive weapons remained operational. The ship slowed considerably as half the Gravitic thrusters were turned into useless lumps of scrap.

The Stuteeka too unleashed its own barrage of fire catching the Carrier Hu'Xa and Battle Saucer Hu'Gi in a blast. the weapon was of a similar nature to that of the Queens ship but far less powerful, and both ships shrugged off the blast and continued to advance. They were out of their own weapons range, but the Gaim weapons took time to recharge, so they had a window to close the distance before they would again come under fire from the Queen. 

Vree 0-1 Gaim

Turn 2

The Vree Fleet attacks the Gaim flank

An'Ka, heavily damaged, veered off and attempted to disengage from the developing battle, but the Pair of Gaim gunships fired their own small energy blasts into the ship. It barely survived as it continued its slow crawl to safety, the Anti-matter cannon blasted at the closing Gaim fighters but they dodged out of the way effortlessly.

The main Vree force was closing on the Stuteeka and its fighter screen, a barrage of fire from Te'Ai smashed into the fighter screen, and this was added too by all the ships that didn't yet have the range on the Gaim Carrier, the majority of the shots were either wide or the fighters dodged them, but a few flights were destroyed, the volume of fire simply too intense to be able to avoid everything.

Those ships that could get shots into the Stuteeka did so, and the fragile hull was quickly rent in several places. Only the ships bulk saved it from destruction as the immense structure of the ship stood up to the pounding.

Vree 0-1 Gaim

Turn 3

With the Bulk of the Vree fleet now in range of the Stuteeka, the Gaim Assault ship maneuvered to bring its weapons into the battle. They had drawn the Vree into the open, and a volley of fire crossed the space between the fleets and caught Hu'Gi and An'Ua in its blast. 

The Vree pound the Gaim Carrier into scrap....

Minor damage was caused to the Hu'Gi, but the An'Ua was crippled, its outer hull suffering the same fate as An'Ka. Surprisingly, the Gaim fighters moved towards the swarm of fighters the Queen had launched which allowed the Vree Tzymm fighters to launch attack runs on the Stuteeka. their fire overwhelming the ships defensive fire and leaving a massive opening for the rest of the vree to take advantage of. Vree ships had manevered to catch the ship in a crossfire, and the Stuteeka diverted power to its main weapon and launched it to catch the Hu'Xa and a Te'Ai in the blast, causing minor damage to both. This was added to by the Gaim assault ship. Its starboard laser cannon tearing through the Vree carrier and leaving it heavily damaged and trailing debris. the forward cannon ripped into Na'Xi causing significant, but not crippling damage. then finding itself in the midst of the Vree fleet, the ship spewed breaching pods which directed themselves towards the closest ships.

Just as the Gaim fighters prepare to swarm

The Gaim did not survive unscathed though, A deluge of fire smashed into the Stuteeka, fighters were shattered as they attempted to launch, and the gaim drones on board perished in the hundreds as the ship was pounded into a drifting wreck. The Gaim assault ship also suffered as fire was redirected onto it, but the Stuteeka had borned the brunt of the Vree fire and it was relatively intact.

An'Ka suffered a similar fate. As the crippled ship attempted to disengage, a score of the Gaim fighters attacked and disabled the ship before breaking off and moving to rejoin the bulk of the fighters no w about to launch themselves at the Vree.

Vree 10 - 5 Gaim

Turn 4

With the weapons of the queens ship recharging again, the Vree ships used their gravitic engines to reverse their course and engage the Gaim Assault ship. The score of breaching pods were effortlessly destroyed by a combination of defensive fire from the Vree ships, and their own fighters. Scores of gaim fighters were destroyed as they swarmed towards the Vree ships, only a handful successfully entered effective weapons range, and then did only minor damage. Seeing the attrition rate, the Queen sent a mental command to the pilot drones, and they overloaded their engines ready to ram anything they could reach once they had dealt with the Tzymm heavy fighters they had engaged. They couldn't reach all the Vree fighters though, but they were still in range of the Gaim gunships, and they launched their energy blasts towards them and destroyed an entire squadron.

Gaim fighters Swarm as the Assault ship takes the brunt of the Vree firepower

The Gaim Assault ship was subjected to a concentrated barrage from the numerous vree ships around it, but not before it was able to fire its weapons one last time, the main weapon doing more damage to Hu'Gi. The Gaim ship somehow survived everything that was thrown at it (note: we mistakenly thought the  Gaim assault ship had Hull 6, not hull 5, which is why it survived so much fire)

Vree 10 - 5 Gaim

Turn 5

Vree Ships desperately maneuver to avoid the Gaim suicide attacks

Swarms of Klikkitaks threw themselves at the Vree, the saucers maneuvered desperately to avoid the incoming Fighters and their anti fighter weapons downed scores of the small craft. There were too many of them though, and dozens slammed into the vree ships despite their best efforts. The An'Ua, seriously damaged earlier succumbed to the suicide attacks as a dozen of the small craft slammed into it. They punched through the thin and already damaged hull before detonating. the blasts from their reactors killed what remained of the crew. Di'Hu was also hit by several of the craft, but the ship avoided a similar fate as the Gaim fighters scored only glancing blows on the ships outer hull.

The Vree fleet pounds the Gaim Assault ship...

The Queen unleashed another blast centered on Na'Xi and the small ship was totally annihilated by the blast, being reduced to a cloud of rapidly cooling droplets of metal. 

..before Na'Xi is destroyed by the Queen

The Vree continued to pound the Gaim assault ship, and the beast was finally disabled, the Shredders of a Te'Ai tearing the outer hull of the ship to pieces, leaving the ship a drifting wreck of twisted metal and dying drones. 

As Te'Ai disables the Assault ship, Hu'Gi targets a Gaim Gunship...

Lasers from the Gaim gunships did little, and in response the second  Battle Saucer Hu'Gi overwhelmed the defences of the small ship and destroyed it. the ship exploding spectacularly and catching some of the few remaining Klikkitaks in its blast as well as damaging the second gunship as debris crashed into it.

...And destroys it spectacularly

Vree 25 - Gaim 13

Turn 6

The few remaining Klikittaks threw themselves at the Vree ships as they moved quickly towards the Gaim Queen ship, the defences of the Vree effortlessly swatted them aside. almost contemptuously the remaining Gaim gunship was destroyed by the Vree before it could cause any damage.

The Vree Close on the Queen and destroy the last Gunship

Vree 30 - Gaim 13

Turns 7-9

The battle had been decided, but the Gaim Queen remained, so the Vree closed with it as quickly as possible. It would be impossible to avoid the incoming fire as they closed to weapons range, so the Vree accepted that they would suffer more casualties.

The Queen Battleship is destroyed, but takes more Vree with it

The Vree surrounded the battleship and unleashed a torrent of fire at the ship. In the midst of this, having drawn the Vree in, the ship launched its breaching pods, they directed themselves towards Te'Ai, and despite the incoming defensive fire, several managed to latch on to the ship and warrior drones poured in to the ship, they swept aside the pathetic attempts of the Vree to contain the boarding action.

The Gaim Battleship was able to absorb a punishing amount of firepower before it succumbed to the fire. Its last act of deficance was to destroy a Ne'Ra and Xa'Be.

As the Queen battleship exploded in low orbit, the Gaim drones onboard Te'Ai became disoriented, and the Vree were able to deal with them

The battle was over.

Vree 75 - 21 Gaim

Conclusion

Gaim are nasty. So are Vree. This game took a lot longer than expected. With energy mines galore you have to really watch where you move your ships so you don't inadvertently give an excellent shot to an opponent. combined with the fighters being able to swarm this is a different fight entirely to a meeting engagement you usually find with other races. The Vree were very good. I really liked how agile they were. Their firepower is a bit lacking though, it taking multiple turns to destroy individual ships with many of my own shooting at them. 

I think we will both be learning lessons from this game. The Gaim fleet was probably not an ideal one. Despite having the initiative the Vree had a lot more initiative sinks, and they weren't able to capitalise on their fighter swarms due to the prevalence of high anti-fighter and escorts. It was a lot closer than it may seem as well. Both surviving Xill's were at half health, and my other ships, the carrier was crippled and chilling at the board edge, and the last Ximm and Xirr between them would have been easy pickings. It was surely the pair of Xills that won me the battle.

The forest was aflame, the object had fallen to the ground in hundreds of flaming pieces. the shock of the impacts had been felt hundreds of miles away, and now the entire horizon was lit by the dull red of fire. Whatever it was, its entry into the atmosphere had been uncontrolled and violent. Emergency services raced towards the area, and the settlements in the area were being evacuated. 

Agent Skoole looked at her partner, Melda, her grin had the tell tale 'I told you so' she always wore when fantastical things happened. 

They can't hide the truth forever....

Hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time