Battle for Quadrant 32. Narn v Centauri. An ACTA Battle Report.

In June 2259 the Narn Colony in Quadrant 14 was attacked and destroyed in an unprovoked attack by the Centauri Republic. The Narn Regime responded rapidly and  on the 17th June 2259 declared that a state of war now existed between the two states before swiftly launching attacks into Centauri space. The two Initial attacks into Centauri space in Quadrants 1 and 27 met very little resistance and the systems quickly fell. Concurrent with these attacks the Narn Regime also attacked Quadrant 32. If the system is secured swiftly, then the Narn Regime will be only a single jump away from Centauri Prime, the home world of their hated enemy.

We are busy painting reinforcments for our campaign so this week instead of a campaign game we are playing a one off battle. Narn versus Centauri, a classic pairing.

Mission: Space Superiority 5 Battle Points

Narn Expeditionary fleet

A lot of the Narn ships were at the battle of XL-387-G where they engaged and destroyed a large portion of the Dilgar fleet arrayed against them. Many also have an impressive record against the Centauri that they gained in the same campaign.

2x G'Quan Na'Tor, K'Tan'Ri
2x G'Karith Ni'Drath, Tol'Drath
2x Var'Nic Cho'Ven, Sho'Tan
2x T'Rakk Sor'Li'Ka, Sor'Vi
1x Dag'Kar Neth'Kar
10x Gorith

The core of the force is a pair of G'Quan class heavy cruisers. They have a long ranged punch and a solid single use energy mine while being very survivable. Backing these up are a pair of G'Kariths. These ships are somewhat under gunned on first glance but come with a pulsar mine launcher. This is great for clearing out enemy fighters and dealing with smaller ships. Adding even more energy mines is the Dag'Kar missile frigate. This ship has a slow loading energy mine launcher combined with a long range missile battery to make it quite a deadly threat. it suffers from a lack of speed and being very lightly armoured. 
One of the better Narn ships is the Var'Nic and the Narn are bringing a pair. An average speed combined with good maneuverability and an impressive forward armament make this a very good choice in any match up. the only real weaknesses are the main weapon is bore sighted, and it has no side weapons, the majority of the firepower being forwards.
Finally to complete the fleet is a pair of T'Rakks. This is a tough but somewhat under gunned ship. Its as survivable as many raid ships but is a skirmish choice. the weapons leave a lot to be desired though. It is fairly agile though so it can outlast a lot of enemies at its priority level.
Narn don't have much in the way of dedicated fighter carriers instead most of their ships have one or two fighter flights. Normally the fighters are Frazi heavy fighters but these have been replaced with Gorith Interceptors for this game

Centauri Defence Fleet

The centauri were quite roughly handled by the Narn in the last campaign and this is an opprtunity for them to get some payback.

2x Primus Varga, Kodiro
1x Elutarian, Kite
1x Sullust Coutari
3x Vorchan Midge, Mosquito, Hornet
2x Maximus, Bastion, Fortress
1x Amur, Blazer
4x Kutai Spectre, Banshee, Deathbringer, Reaper
6x Sentri
2x Razik

A pair of Primus class battlecruisers form the core of the force. They are fairly unspectacular as a ship, their most notable feature being their quite impressive (for a Battle level choice) speed. Damage dealing is about average, their battle laser has a good arc and is precise so it can rack up lots of criticals, but is single damage, and their secondary armament  lacks a significant punch but has twin linked so it will shred lightly armoured ships but will struggle against highter hull valuesThey also lack interceptors, but these canbe provided by the Maximus with its Guardian array. this allows it to lend interceptors to ships within escort range. A pair of these are in the fleet.
To take advantage the Hunting pack rule are 3 Vorchans who will be in a squadron with a Sullust. the Long range battle laser gives the whole squadron an effective 50% increase to their weapons range and makes up for the speed difference between It and the VOrchans.
Rounding out the fleeet are a single Amur for some extra fighters and 4 Kutai. The Kutai is one of the best patrol ships with its impressive armament and decent durability 

Deployment

The Centauri won the initiative an forced the Narn to deploy first. the terrain was Randomly generated and the Narn had the choice of where to deploy. they selected the corner with the Gas cloud mainly to deny it to the Centauri. The Narn formation deployed very compactly giving numerous movement options. Of particular note was the Dag'Kar being in the dust cloud with very good fields of view for it's energy mines

The Narn Deploy in a concentrated formation

Counter Deploying, the Centauri elected for a dispersed formation. With Centauri ships being faster than the Narn they would still be able to concentrate forces rapidly while manevering in such a way that should the Narn commit to a particular avenue of attack, they would be outflanked easily. The presence of the Dag'Kar dictated that the Vorchans, being very fragile ships, were deployed somewhat more conservatively than would perhaps have been liked

With the Centauri countering

Turn 1

The Centauri had only just received the report of the Narn Declaration of war when picket ships in Quadrant 32 had detected an energy spike consistent with a jump point opening and mustered as many ships as were available to respond immediately. 

The Narn Advance Cautiously

Thanks to light lag the Narn force had a much clearer idea of the Centauri dispositions than vice versa, and adopted a concentrated formation. As the Centauri ships started to approach the engagement envelope the Narn ships slowed, and the Centauri did likewise. 

Centauri 0-0 Narn

Turn 2

An Asteroid belt dominated the area that the encounter would take place and both sides wanted to wait for their opposition to commit to a course of action before they themselves acted. The Narn Regime ships advanced cautiosuly. 

The Centauri fire first at the Narn Incursion

The Centauri Advanced the Elutarian-class ship, the Kite into extreme missile range of the Sor'Li'Ka and opened fire on the T'Rakk, missiles streaked through space before impacting on the ships hull but only minor damage was inflicted. The Narn were unable to respond with any weapons fire due to the range and intervening features but the remainder of theCentauri were likewise constrained and would have to brave a barrage of energy mines if they wanted to close at this juncture.

Centauri 0-0 Narn

Turn 3

The Centauri hunting pack slowed to a crawl as the Centauri tried to entice the Narn to commit their forces. Both of the Primus Battlecruisers, the Varga, and Kodiro maneuvered so they would be in the weapons range of the G'Quan Class ship, the Na'Tor. The Amur class light carrier Blazer and a Kutai, the Spectre advanced towards the Narn formation They were just ouside of the weapons range of the Narn ships whichg forced the Narns to advance. The Dag'Kar was still hovering obstinately out of range of the majority of the Centauri ships but there were too many intervening ships for the Centauri to launch a strike.

The two fleets maneuver around the asteroid belt

The G'Quan  class ship Na'Tor opened fire with its heavy laser cannon but scored only a small amount of damage on the Centauri Battlecruiser Varga. The G'Kariths Ni'Drath, and Tol'Drath fired their Proton mines and caught both the Amur class Blazer and the Kutai Spectre in their blasts. the Centauri ships absorbed the worst of the fire. The Varnics Cho'Ven and Sho'Tan concentrated their fire onto the Spectre, the ship was a remarkably hard target an escaped destruction but the ships forward weapons were smashed by the incoming fire. There was only a small amount of return fire from the Centauri that did almost nothing to the tough Narn ships.

Centauri 0-1 Narn

Turn 4

The Amur class Blazer accelerated towards the Narn fleet with its damage control teams at the ready close on the heels of the Kutai, Spectre. the Two Centauri ships putting themselves in obvious harms way. This prompted a response from the Narn and the second G'Quan, K'Tan'Ri, turned to bring its weapons to bear. Fire poured into the Spectre and the ship shuddered and began to tumble with most of the crew incapacitated. The Centauri Elutarian class Kite opened fire on the Var'Nic Cho'ven, with additional fire from the Sullust class Coutari slicing into the ship. power cables and capacitors were severed and one of the Ion torpedo tubes was wrecked. The CiC also took a hit with many of the weapons teams killed or wounded. The Cho'ven had lined up a shot onto the Maximus class ship trailing the Blazer, the Fortress, and together with the other Var'Nic, Sho'Tan, opened fire. Twin beams and a barrage of torpedoes smashed the ships engines and wrecked its interceptors.

The Asteroid belt divides the field of battle into 2 separate engagements

On the other side of the Asteroid belt, the Primus class Battlecruisers Varga and Kodiro faced off against the,Na'Tor and were engulfed in the blast of the G'Quans high yield energy mine together with their escorting Maximus class ship, the Bastion. Minor damage was inflicted on all the ships as the Na'Tor followed this by opening fire with its main armament, this time at the Kodiro. There must have been an issue with the targeting computer as the shots went completely wide and the Kodiro escaped any damage. In return, the Varga and Kodiro concentrated their fire on the Narn heavy cruiser, their battle lasers slicing through the ships hull. Power was severed to all the systems on the ships starboard side. In addition the ships primary targeting computer was hit, the main capacitors were overloaded causing damage to numerous systems and multiple fires were started all over the ship. Ion cannon fire only added to the damage. G'Quan's were built tough though, and despite a truly staggering number of critical systems being hit, the ship was still operational.

Centauri 0-2 Narn

Turn 5

The Elutarian class ship, Kite, continued to advance and the Narn ships responded by bringing their weapons to bear on the ship. The Amur class ship, Blazer, maneuvered around the Narn formation in an attempt to rush past them but this proved to be impossible. The Narn ships closed in on the Kite and the escorting Maximus class ship Fortress and left an opening...

The Centauri Hunting pack surges forwards

The Centauri hunting pack surged forwards clear across the bows of the surprised Narn ships. They did manage to get a few shots off as the three Vorchans moved rapidly. Mosquito and Hornet avoided any fire but the Midge was hit and its engines were disabled. This Vorchans together with a battle laser shot from the Sullust Coutari obliterated the Neth'Kar, destroying the Dag'Kar, in a single volley. The Coutari also fired on the already damaged Cho'ven alongside the Kutai Banshee and the Var'Nic was disabled by the combined fire.

A Vicious fight erupts with casualties on both sides but the hunting pack destroy their target

The Narn response was fierce, the G'Quan K'Tan'Ri fired its main weapons into the Kite scoring a solid hit on the Elutarian. Damage control teams were able to contain the worst of the damage, however, while the ships energy mines finished off the Fortress, the Maximus class ship having been barely able to maneuver. The Coutari also attracted attention from the G'Kariths Ni'Drath and Tol'Drath with the interceptors stopping a significant amount of the fire. The Two ships also combined their fire into the Amun class Blazer disabling the ship.

The Narn are overwhelmed as ships close in from all sides.

The G'Quan Na'Tor again faced a barrage of fire, the Primus Kadiro firing its weapons at close range. they were less effective than previously as they were impacting in already damaged areas, but a hit was scored into the ships citadel wounding a large number of the crew leaving the ship both crippled and with a skeleton crew but still not destroyed. The second Primus, Varga, having passed the Na'tor opened fire on the Sor'Li'Ka and together with fire from the Kutais, Deathbringer and Reaper were able to destroy the T'Rakk. Starboard weapons batteries were also able to inflict serious damage on the second T'Rakk, the Sor'Vi.

Centauri 16 - 8 Narn

Dispositions at the close of play

Seeing that the engagement had not progressed as anticipated and being in a weak position with the Centauri now able to easily outmaneuver them, the remaining Narn ships withdraw.

Centauri Victory

Conclusion

For the early part of the game the Narn were really in control of the tempo and held the initiative. While its not often you can attribute victory or defeat to dice rolls, the Narn had terrible luck, and the Centauri balanced this out by having fantastic luck. The Primus' combined scored about 20 hits with battle lasers on turn 4, and of those half were critical hits. this immediately took the Na'Tor out of the fight even with it having taken only a moderate amount of damage. In contrast, the Narn consistently failed to score more than a handful of hits with their medium and heavy lasers leaving the Centauri relatively unscathed. This totally undermined how dominating the threat of energy mines had been, Vorchans are relatively fragile and would have fallen prey to the mines had they connected. fortunately for the Centauri they didn't.

What mistakes do you think the two sides made? what would you change in the fleets, is there anything you would do differently? let me know.

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thanks for reading, and I will see you next time.

Miniature STL's by Tyrel Lohr
Miniatures painted by me 
Photography by me.
Thanks to Ginge for being a great opponent as always