Race to the Jump Gate. Grome V Drazi. An A Call to Arms Battle Report
Captain Torla's elation at fending off the Drazi had been short lived. While it was true they had been forced to withdraw under the withering barrage of fire his small task force had been able to throw at them, losing half their ships in the process, his own ships, while not destroyed were seriously damaged.
The task forces carrier, the Trokans pride, had lost all power less than an hour after the engagement. The cause had been traced to faulty reactor parts, and the spares had been lost when the side of the ship had been torn to pieces. Worse, his quartermaster had informed him that despite the Trokans pride and the Grohmak's fury, his own ship, being based on the same design, they had been manufactured by 2 separate contractors who used ever so slightly different measurements so the spares on his own ship were not compatible. Even worse still, the Grohmaks Fury had lost its jump engine to a direct hit that had totally destroyed it. The only way out of the system was therefore the Jump Gate, and that was helpfully at the extreme periphery of the system, It would take several days to reach it.
Finally, the worst news was that the Tachyon receiver on the Jump gate had been disabled so there was no way to call for assistance....
In the last game the Grome soundly defeated the Drazi forcing them to disengage or suffer total defeat. The Grome fleet was in bad condition though and through the luck of the dice, the mission we rolled for this battle was 'Flee to the Jump Gate' and as fortune would have it the Drazi are the attackers.
Mission: Race to the Jump Gate. Raid priority, Drazi Attackers, Grome Defenders
Drazi Freehold.
2x Warbird
2x Sleekbird
1x Strikehawk
1x Strikebird
2x War Talon
2x Sunhawk
1x Jumphawk
1x Eyehawk
1x Guardhawk
1x Darkhawk
As you may be aware, the Drazi are one of the weaker races in ACTA and I've been working on updating them to make them more playable, both in terms of relative power but also in terms of them not being a complete nightmare to pilot on the tabletop. You can find my rules for the Warbirds and Sunhawks in previous articles.
Since I'm still working on the rules for ships of Raid priority and up, I was limited to Patrol and skirmish choices only and so elected to take a little bit of everything. I was initially expecting to be playing a straight up battle, but the mission selection (we rolled randomly) meant i had to make a small change. I was going to take a Solarhawk but swapped it for an Eyehawk as a scout ship is pretty much a necessity for this game if I want any of my ships to do anything the turn they enter the board.
I was still quite limited on fighters, the Drazi do not have a dedicated fighter carrier, instead bringing theirs on smaller hulls, sacrificing some firepower for the ability to actually bring fighters. They will still probably be outnumbered if the Grome bring a carrier but I have some escort capacity in the form of the War Talons and the Guardhawk.
Grome Autocracy.
1x Groth Gunship: Grohmak's Fury
3x Morgat Heavy Frigate
2x Telgar Defense Frigate
With only 3 points to the Drazi's 5 the Grome are definitely going to be outnumbered and outgunned. They have a simple mission which is to get tto the Jump Gate, get it open, and then withdraw. This is not as easy as you would think. The fastest ship the Grome have is the Telgar so a pair of them are going to race straight to the gate ready to try to open it. Meanwhile the bulk of the force is some very heavy gunships in the form of the Groth Gunship, the Grohmak's Fury and 3 Morgat Heavy Frigates. These ships all have great all round firepower and with the Drazi having numerical superiority the ability to engage multiple targets with each ship every turn is going to be very useful.
Deployment.
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| The Grome need to reach the Jump Gate at the bottom center of the board |
The stellar features were generated randomly and the asteroid belts really wouldn't be useful to either side. The board was essentially wide open. The Grome Fleet was deployed as close to the jump gate as possible.with the Telgars ready to dash straight to it. The Morgats and Grohmaks Fury were positioned as close as possible to the Jump point where the bulk of the Drazi would be entering the field.
The Drazi brought 2 ships. The first was the Eyehawk so that the ships entering the battlefield via a Jump point provided by the Jumphawk would be able to maneuver and shoot when they entered the field. The second was the Darkhawk with its missiles. The Drazi wanted to put a tiny amount of pressure onto the Grome before the bulk of the fleet arrived and there was a small chance they would be able to get in a crippling hit with the Precise missiles at the very start of the encounter.
Captain Torlas heart was racing although you would not have been able to tell from looking at him. The formation, what was left of it, was nearing the Jump Gate shadowed by a pair of Drazi Cruisers that would dart away any time he directed some of his escorts to engage them.
He watched the distance to the target tick down minute by minute. The ship was at Condition 1, the highest state of readiness and he could see nervous faces every so often.
'Energy spike bearing 34 mark 6!' came a report from his sensor operator. 'Its massive... confirmed, Jump point opening....'
Turn 1.
With the Jump point now opening the Grome fleet accelerated. The Telgars, being the fastest ships directed all their power to their engines and surged ahead. The Morgats and the Grohmak's Fury decided to close in on the Jump point. They were shadowed by the Drazi Darkhawk and Eyehawk who were themselves accelerating to close the distance.
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| 'Missile Launch! Multiple incoming' |
The Darkhawk launched a volley of missiles at the Grohmak's Fury at the rear of the formation and scored several hits. fragments of the hull plating spinning away from the huge warship.
Turn 2.
The pair of Telgars reached the jump gate but were unable to send the commands to activate it. not only was the Tachyon receiver disabled, but the Drazi must also have locked out the Jump Gate from receiving commands, it would take time to hack the system and force it to open.
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| Warbirds and Sunhawks swarm into normal space... |
A Swarm of ships exited the Jump point slashing through the Grome formation. fighters were in close formation with the numerous Warbirds and Sunhawks as railguns began to fire. A Target flashed past the bow of the Grohmak's Fury and the Main armament opened fire. A Sleekbird was instantly disabled as heavy aluminium slugs punched clean through the length of the ship wrecking everything in their path. The Grohmak's Fury also opened fire with its rear batteries as the Darkhawk that had been shadowing them closed into weapons range. The heavy slugs impacting the Darkhawks bridge just as the ship opened fire with its particle cutter. The escorting Morgats were firing with everything they had as well as the Drazi cruisers pounded them at close range with their particle weapons. One of the Morgats was quickly overwhelmed by the Drazi and pounded into scrap but they were giving as good as they were getting. atmosphere and debris spinning away from multiple Drazi ships.
Captain Torlas was powerless to do anything as he watched several of the Drazi ships racing towards the Telgars at the Jump Gate
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| ...and start eliminating targets |
Receiving order the Morgats turned to bring as many of their weapons into action as possible, Railguns spat out at the ships bearing down on the Telgars attempting to get through the Drazi block on the Jump gate. several serious hits were scored on the Guardhawk killing or injuring most of the crew but the Grome crews could only look on as the Drazi opened fire. The Telgar they were targeting was crippled quickly and then completely disabled with its weapons wrecked and having lost all power
Turn 3.
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| The attack continues as the Drazi attack the Telgar at the gate |
The Drazi attack continued, the remaining Sleekbird had launched its Shallana breaching pods and they streaked towards one of the remaining Morgats only to be hit with a barrage of flak from the ships defensive batteries... they didn't survive the experience, their tumbling wreckage impacting on the armoured flanks of the Grome Frigate. Fighters swarmed over the Grohmak's Fury as it once again opened fire with its weapons, the second Sleekbird was disabled by the Grome flagship and they even scored a devastating hit on a Strikebird, reactor coolant spilled from the ships aft section as its reactor began to overload.
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| The fight around the Grohmak's Fury is fierce and confused |
For its trouble, the Morgat that had dispatched the breaching pods was hammered at point blank range by a Sunhawk and its quickly dwindling swarm of escorts with 3 of the 6 ships being destroyed, and one about to explode. The Morgat did not stand up well to the barrage and it too suffered a critical reactor hit. It would meet the same fate as the Strikebird shortly. Its sister ship in the formation received several hits to its engines.
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| The Drazi Gain the upper hand |
As the maelstrom around the Grohmak's Fury intensified, fighters strafing the ship at point blank range and missiles from the Darkhawk finding their mark, the Second Telgar was brutally torn to pieces as the 5 strong formation of ships opened fire. The gate was not open, and the Grome had only a pair of ships left.
Turn 4.
With both the Telgars destroyed and with very little prospect of the Grome escaping, the Drazi ships that had secured the Jump gate began to circle towards the Groth, it would take some time, but that would be enough. There was no prospect of the Grome reaching the gate before they had completed their turns, regardless of how the rest of the Drazi ships in close contact fared.
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| The Drazi ships start to mop up... |
The fight was once again furious. the surviving Morgat and the Grohmak's Fury were both showered by debris as two ships exploded. Drazi fighters scattered and then darted back in to attack the Groth gunship. They caused a surprisingly large amount of damage to the ship as they focused their attention on the ships engines knocking half of them offline and slowing the ships acceleration.
Railgun rounds from the Morgat and Groth Gunship slammed into the War Talon causing massive damage and wrecking the ships engines almost completely leaving it with only its maneuvering thrusters. It was the last defiant act of the Grome formation as the Morgat was quickly disabled by the the Drazi and put out of action...
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| The last Grome ship, the Grohmak's Fury, surrenders |
The only ship that remained was the Grohmak's Fury. Barely mobile and seriously damaged, the ship surrendered rather than continue the fight.
Losses and Damage.
Drazi
2x Sleekbird - Destroyed
1x Strikebird - Destroyed
1x Guardhawk - Crippled
1x War Talon - Crippled
1x Darkhawk - Heavy Damage
1x Warbird - Heavy Damage
1x Sunhawk - Light Damage
Grome
Groth Gunship - Surrendered
3x Morgat Heavy Frigate - Destroyed
2x Telgar Defence Frigate - Destroyed
Conclusion.
The Grome were heavily outnumbered and had an exceptionally hard mission to achieve. They were ultimately defeated but did a very surprising amount of damage to the Drazi. 5 of the 14 Drazi ships were either destroyed or crippled, another 2 were very close to being crippled which accounts for half the Drazi force almost being destroyed. Drazi ships are not particularly tough to kill, but there are lots of them.
Ginge did a sterling job trying to take this game, positioning his ships right by the Jump point meant he could dictate the terms of the initial engagement. This only failed because he was fielding 3 points against 5, otherwise, being able to engage multiple targets with each of his ships meant got extra use out of them. He should perhaps have taken a carrier, the Grome fighters aren't the best and they wouldn't have been able to open the Jump gate but the Drazi are very vulnerable to fighters and don't have many of their own.
The Drazi learned from their mistake last time and concentrated on quickly whittling down the Grome lighter units to keep the initiative. I probably over-committed to some of the attacks, particularly with the Telgars, but I wanted to be absolutely certain the ships were taken down. I also did not use any squadrons which, given my numerical superiority was probably a major error. being able to activate several ships at a time for shooting is a really big advantage and one I should try to take advantage of more with the Drazi. I did make a few errors which probably didn't affect the outcome, I was rolling beams rather than mini-beams for the warbirds, my rolling was below average for most of the shots however, and I did 'all stop' the Darkhawk after it had been hit in the bridge, which was naughty of me.
On the mission though, this seems like it is an exceptionally hard one for the defender to win. The defender is outnumbered, quite far from his objective, the objective is enemy controlled, and the enemy fleet will be between Defender and the Gate. This strikes me as being similar to Ambush. Its possible for the defender to win, but the Attacker has all the cards.
Thanks to Ginge for being a great opponent as always.
STL's by Tyrel Lohr
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Thanks for reading, and I will see you next time.
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