Battle for Khilsiek: Earth Alliance task force.
Battle for Khilsiek Earth Alliance Fleet
By David Clegg
Earthforce task group “Force Z”
General Officer Commanding (GOC)
General William Stark
Gen. Stark is a veteran of both the Dilgar War, where he served as a junior officer at just 18 years of age, and the Earth-Minbari War, where he served as executive officer, and then commanding officer, on smaller Earthforce units. Stark missed the Battle of the Line due to recovering in hospital from injuries sustained when his ship, EAS Cromwell, was lost in combat. The court of inquiry convened after the war exonerated Stark, citing the Minbari's superior technology and stealth systems as an overwhelming factor in the brief action against the Minbari cruiser.
Following the war, Stark was promoted to captain and commanded the Hyperion-class cruiser EAS Nyx, then took command of one of the new Omega-class destroyers, EAS Furious, in which post he remained throughout the peacetime years before the Clark regime came to power. Stark had always tried to remain as apolitical as possible in his military career and maintained this policy into the Clark regime's time in power. His experiences in the Dilgar and Minbari wars had given him a deep-seated distrust and aversion to aliens of all kinds, and he had to work hard to suppress this in the post-war years. The Clark regime promoted this attitude heavily, and Stark was an early recruit to Night Watch. He avoided discussing the issue, though, and avoided publicity wherever possible. Furious fought in several engagements of the Earth Civil War, being damaged several times but escaping destruction at the hands of Sheridan's rebel faction and was in space dock under repair when the final battle was fought in Earth's orbit.
Following the civil war, Stark remained in command of the Furious during the reconstruction and reconciliation period, and his generally apolitical stance kept the worst of the pro-Sheridan faction's ire at bay. He was promoted to general in 2263, to fill one of the vacancies resulting from the civil war. Considered a competent and reliable commander, Stark has been in a staff position at Earth Dome until the Khilsiek crisis came to a head, when he was selected to take command of the task force put together to enforce the Earth Alliance's claim on the newly-discovered system. Stark isn't looking forward to potential engagements with a Minbari force, but hopes the modern technology available will prevent a repeat of the earlier disasters.
Fleet List
Warlock-class Advanced Destroyer, Thunderchild.
2x Omega-class Destroyers, Furious. Valkyrie.
Avenger-class Heavy Carrier Invincible.
Tantalus-class Assault Cruiser, Overlord.
2x Nova-class Dreadnought, Iron Duke. Nelson.
2x Hyperion-class Cruiser. Anubis. Taranis.
2x Oracle-class Scout Cruiser. Cassandra. Pythia.
4x Artemis-class Frigates. Dido. Aeneas. Apollo. Diana.
4x Olympus-class Corvette. Tartarus. Styx. Asgard. Valhalla.
4x Hermes-class Transport. Ben-My-Chree. Vagabond. Gypsy Moth. Wayfarer.
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| EAS Thunderchild |
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| EAS Furious & EAS Valkyrie. |
Two Omega-class destroyers round out the heavy firepower, with dangerous Double Damage beams on fore and aft boresights, backed by reasonable secondary firepower in all arcs and 4 fighter flights each. The Omega is a solid battle-level ship, which will hopefully perform better than it has in practice games.
Raid-level ships are heavily represented, with two Nova-class dreadnoughts, regarded by some as the best raid-level ship available to Earth Alliance fleets, two Hyperion-class cruisers, the yardstick by which ever other ship in the game is measured, along with an Avenger-class carrier and Tantalus-class assault cruiser.
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| EAS Iron Duke & EAS Nelson. |
The Nova has Twin-Linked heavy pulse cannons in all arcs, giving it solid firepower that can excel when surrounded by enemies and firing at multiple targets. It generally wants to punch down, attacking smaller ships that are more susceptible to damage without the flashy traits needed to destroy larger ships, but it's a threat to everyone and it never needs a Scout to give it rerolls. Its fighter complement is as good as many races' battle-level and higher ships.
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| EAS Anubis & EAS Taranis. |
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| EAS Invincible |
The Avenger brings a solid eight fighter flights and a Command +1 bonus for games it features in, and its Carrier trait allows it to send its fighters to games while staying away, a useful ability that can boost my fighter numbers in smaller games while keeping the carrier itself safe from damage. It's also a Fleet Carrier, meaning it generates 4 free fighter flights a turn, to replace its own losses or refill the complement of other ships in the fleet.
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| EAS Overlord |
The Tantalus is a new ship from Powers and Principalities, and one of the best assault ships out there. A very solid 12 troops and Shuttles 4 makes it a very capable unit in planetary assault situations and the threat of boarding actions will prevent enemy ships moving slowly whenever this beast appears. Its firepower is solid and 2 fighter flights, plus 2 breaching pods, is a decent complement.
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| EAS Cassandra. Pythia. |
I've taken all the Skirmish-level ships I own, two Oracle-class scout cruisers for EW capabilities, and four each of the excellent Artemis-class and solid Olympus-class ships.
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| EAS Dido, Aeneas, Apollo & Diana. |
The Artemis is among the premier skirmish-level ships in the game, with decent all-round firepower at 12” range, with AP and Double Damage traits. With decent dice rolls – something I often lack, lamentably – it can deliver significant damage and seriously threaten ships larger than itself.
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| EAS Tartarus, Styx, Asgard & Valhalla. |
The Olympus features these weapons as well, on a turret-arc mount, along with turreted missile racks and decent single-damage guns in all arcs. It's a solid ship that's unspectacular, but never a bad choice.
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| EAS Ben-My-Chree, Vagabond, Gypsy Moth & Wayfarer. |
Four Hermes transports round out the fleet at Patrol-level, giving me initiative sinks, a fighter flight each and a little long-range firepower from their missile racks. I've a tendency to throw these into combat and get them destroyed, which I must work to curb in the campaign. The Earth Alliance Dawn of the Third Age fleet list hasn't got anything else at Patrol-level, making these essential for small games and initiative sinking. I'll doubtless envy both the other EA lists, with their additional Patrol-level choices, before this is over.
Assuming I do well enough to earn much in the way of RR points, I plan to add a Poseidon-class Fleet Carrier, which will become the flagship, with its Command +3 bonus. The 24 flights of fighters brought by this ship will be a vast upgrade on the numbers of fighters in the fleet, and it will be another Fleet Carrier to generate free replacement flights after each campaign turn. I also have another Omega and three more Hyperions I can add to the fleet, if I have the points to spend.
The sharp-eyed among you will have noted the task force name, Force Z. This is a reference to the ill-fated deployment of two capital ships and minimal escorts to the Far East during the Second World War. Force Z sailed without the planned aircraft carrier, which was delayed, and was infamously attacked by Japanese land-based aircraft and sunk before reaching its destination. A little black humour, given my track record in games of Babylon 5: A Call to Arms so far.
Thanks to David for writing this. David is a science fiction Author, please visit his website at http://davidclegg.uk/
Miniature STLs by Tyrel Lohr
Painted by me
Photographs and (Slight) editing by me
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