Raid on Quadrant 7. Narn v Drazi. An A Call to Arms Battle report.
The Drazi had never forgiven the Narn for their betrayal during the Dilgar war. The event had been conveniently put to one side in the years that followed but the Drazi had by no means forgotten.
With the Narn military in a weak state and the ISA forces diverted elsewhere since the Drakh attack on Earth the Drazi saw their chance. They would strike at their enemies, and shift any blame to the Hunters, the Drazi name for their state supported Raiders.
The Drazi 'Hunters' gathered in the Hilak system, one of the sources of their ire. The Narn had handed the system over to the Dilgar during the Dilgar war, despite the system being a Drazi possession, and this had been the official casus belli that had justified the first Dilgar campaign. Now they would use the system to strike back at the Narn. It was only a short jump to Quadrant 7, and with the white star fleet gone, little could stand in the way of the Drazi.
With my Drazi Redux part 3 finished, a classic fleet clash was in order to test out the Firehawk, Stormfalcon and the new Narn Na'Rok. The Na'Rok is based on a design by Paul Brown and was in the Great machine B5W fanzine, issue 3.
For this game we will be playing the A Call to Arms scenario at Battle Level with 5 points apiece. Terrain is optional in this scenario but we did decide to generate random terrain. it wasn't very plentiful or useful to either party though.
Narn Regime - Ginge
2x G'Karith-class patrol cruiser
2x Dag'Kar-class missile frigate
The Narn are one of the weaker races but they do have a great selection of ships and they have some very useful tools for taking on the likes of the upstart Drazi. Drazi ships are likely to be numerous and not particularly tough. they are very limited by their most effective weapons being bore-sighted and relatively short ranged. As they close they will have to bunch up to get multiple ships into position, and that makes them an ideal target for Energy mines, a Narn speciality.
I had to take the Na'Rok as we are testing it out, and backing this up is a pair of Dag'Kars. these are amazing ships that can lob multiple Energy mines a game being slow loading, and have some great long range missiles to back this up. The G'Karith has a weaker Pulsar mine but it too is an area of effect weapon that has the added bonus that it can shoot each turn. Assuming the Drazi bunch up they will make great targets for all the mines. The G'Karith also has good all round firepower so it can engage multiple targets each turn.
To back them up I picked a pair of Thentor torpedo frigates. this is a variant of the Thentus and has a very respectable 4 ion torpedoes they can use each turn, and 8 Sho'Kov torpedo cutters. The cutters will have to be in squadrons, but that brings 8 more Ion torpedo shots as well as some initiative sinks.
The T'Kash is a T'Rakk variant and as such is a very very tough hull at skirmish level, It brings a long range Mag Gun to the fight in exchange for its plasma cannons. It is bore-sighted though but it hits hard.
Finally to round out the fleet is the T'Rann. This is the Narn solution to not having any carriers, and as the rest of my fleet is light on Frazi's, i'm bringing it to bulk out the number of Frazis I have. Narn ships lack interceptors so having them support ships will reduce the damage they take. I can also use them to attack the Drazi ships once all my energy-mines have cleared out their fighters. With 4 shots apiece they should make quick work of the Drazi.
The plan is simple. use my Ion torpedoes to engage at long range and force the Drazi to close and bunch up, and then hit them with Energy mines.
Drazi Freehold - Sam
1x Stormfalcon-class heavy cruiser
4x Firehawk--class advanced cruiser
2x Darkhawk-class missile cruiser
1x Jumphawk-class command cruiser
1x Eyehawk-class scout cruiser
2x War Talon-class escort carrier
1x Strikehawk-class battle carrier
1x Strikebird-class light carrier
2x Sleekbird-class assault cruiser
2x Warbird-class cruiser
The Drazi fleet selection is heavily skewed towards the smaller hull sizes with their selection of Raid and higher ships being incredibly lacking. This meant that unless I wanted to penalize myself I was going to be including Firehawks. I only have 4 so I took them together with a Stormfalcon. These 5 ships provided the bulk of my offensive firepower with a very respectable number of solar cannons between them.
The ships aren't particularly tough, but their 5+ dodge can take the edge off any incoming fire unless you are hit by Narn and their energy mines. with 3 of the 5 battle level points picked, the rest of the fleet was there to support the larger ships. A pair of Darkhawks would provide some long range firepower with an eyehawk to support them. To give me a slight bonus in command, I picked a Jumphawk just for that ability.
The rest of the force brought some utility to the fight. A pair of War Talons and a Strikebird to bring some fighters and escorts, a Strikehawk for the heavy Sky serpent, and filling out the force, a pair of Sleekbirds and Warbirds.
The plan is quite simple. the support ships will hang back out of range of energy mines since they can be destroyed by a good hit, and be spaced out accordingly. my main offense I will split and place on each flank, and as soon as the Narn Turn into one force, I can pounce with the other. Hopefully i Have trhe ships to retain the initiative.
Deployment
The Narn Intercept the Drazi in mostly open space. There are very few features on the board and those are on the periphery. Approaching the Drazi the Narn adopt a concentrated formation with their Dag'Kar's at the rear and their forces arranged around them to protect them. The Sho'Kovs were deployed in 2 squadrons of 4 and the G'Kariths were also deployed as a squadron.
Spotting this in advance, thanks to the presence of the Eyehawk, the Drazi spread out to reduce the chance of multiple ships being hit by a single energy mine. 2 main forces are deployed, one on each flank. The Drazi Elected to not deploy any squadrons to try to retain the initiative for their larger ships
Turn 1
Approaching the Narn formation the Drazi Darkhawks slowed slightly while the rest of their ships on their flanks surged forwards piling on velocity intent on outflanking the Narn formation and being careful to keep out of range. One Drazi ship broke formation though as the Narn force maneuvered to counter the Drazi move and charged straight at the Narn fleet. |
| The Drazi sweep round the flanks while the Narn maintain their close formation |
The Narn countered the Drazi maneuvers by turning some of their ships to face the Drazi, with the core ships, the Dag'Kars, G'Kariths and T'Rann slowed, ready to turn to face whichever force the Narn commander determined would be the focus.
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| Narn Commanders view |
With the attack concluded, the Firehawk jinked as it came under fire from one of the Thentors avoiding most of the Ion Torpedoes.
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| The Firehawk breaks formation and destroys a T'Kash in a single volley |
The Na'Rok fired its energy mine. The small warhead detonated near to the Stormfalcon, catching it and a warbird in the blast and additionally destroying some Star snakes and the pair of Shallana breaching pods. The Na'Rok was now the focus of the Drazi fire as the Darkhawks fired their missiles into the ship but caused only minor damage
Drazi 3-0 Narn
Turn 2
The bulk of the Narn fleet turned towards what they perceived as the biggest threat, the Drazi on their right flank, leaving only a relatively small number of ships to counter the Drazi ships on their left. The intention was clear, destroy one half of the Drazi fleet, and then turn and deal with the other half.
Perhaps coming to his senses after scoring the first kill, the captain of the firehawk ordered his crew to brace for what was certain to be imminent enemy fire. unable to avoid enemy fire, he turned towards the Thentor hiding behind the Narn line getting the ships particle cannons in range while the Firehawk that had accelerated performed a very aggressive turn and lined up a perfect shot.
The Firehawk captains belated coming to his senses was just in time as a pair of energy mines detonated in close proximity and a torrent of missiles poured into the ship. Miraculously the Firehawk survived the experience but atmosphere was spilling out of the ship and armour plating tumbled away.
The G'Kariths concentrated their fire on a Strikehawk causing significant damage to the ship and also poured weapons fire into a Darkbird, which, while the missile auto loaders cycled new rounds into the launchers, decided to bring its Particle cannon into action. the ship was hit multiple times and all power to the ships propulsion was cut. the T'Rann added to the fire leaving the ship crippled.
With the Narn now committing to the attack, the Drazi ships on the other flank turned in aggressively to attack. The Strikebird was clipped by a hit from a Mag Cannon and took only minor damage. and then the Drazi proceeded to pour a massive amount of fire into the Narn's second Thentor, smashing the ship to pieces as fire from multiple ships all concentrated on a single objective.
The Thentor on the Narn main flank also found itself the target of fire. It was more fortunate as the Firehawks combined fire largely failed to connect and the ship was left having taken only moderate damage
Turn 3
The Drazi now fully committed to their attack as a significant number of their ships had managed to outflank the Narn, on both sides. |
| The Drazi Sweep in to attack the Narn rear echelon |
As they rushed in the T'Kash's managed to line up some shots with their mag cannons. First one, and then the second Sleekbird were hammered by hyper-velocity projectiles disabling both of the ships.
The Striken Darkhawk came under concentrated fire and managed to endure an absolutely staggering amount of fire before it was reduced to a drifting mass of glowing scrap metal. The Firehawk too was dispatched by the Narn fleet but not before its Solar cannon hit one of the Dag'Kars.
The Strikebird was crippled as it closed and then passed the Narn ships and the remaining Darkhawk suffered extensive damage.
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| CQB Commences |
And with that, having braved the gauntlet of fire, the Drazi were through and in amongst the Narn ships. Only the comparatively slow Stormfalcon was trailing the Drazi formation. Solar cannons opened fire and they were supplemented by the miriad Particle weapons on the Drazi ships. The Na'Rok came uder a sustained barrage leaving it crippled with horrific casualties. the damaged Thentor was blasted to pieces by multiple ships, and one of the Dag'Kars was destroyed while its companion was heavily damaged by fire from numerous Drazi ships.
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| Losses accumulate on both sides |
The situation had become desperate for the Narn, and the elected to withdraw at this point, conceding the field.
Drazi 16 - 13 Narn
Drazi Victory
Casualties and Losses
Narn Regime
1x T'kash Destroyed
1x Dag'Kar Destroyed
2x Thentor Destroyed
1x Na'Rok crippled
1x Dag'Kar heavy damage
Drazi
1x Firehawk Destroyed
1x Darkhawk Destroyed
2x Sleekbird Destroyed
1x Strikebird crippled
1x Darkhawk: Heavy Damage
Conclusion
The evening was getting on and we were both Hungry so elected to end for dinner rather than continue an additional turn. The Narn were in a very bad situation standing to easily lose at least 2 more. The biggest threat to the Drazi was the pair of Dag'Kars and I had kept my distance with the smaller ships, and spaced them out to avoid the worst effects of the energy mines. once they had fired I did my best to kill both of them. getting three quarters of the way there, but by that point the Drazi fleet was behind the worst of the Narn firepowwer and had a lot more freedom to maneuver. The Narn ships were also fairly agile, but by this point the Drazi had the positional advantage. The Drazi would have lost more ships for certain as well. A Darkhawk was almost crippled, the Strikebird need to take only a couple more hits an the Narn still had the firepower to dispatch both of them and do considerable damage to other ships as well.I'm reasonably happy with how things went, I stuck to my plan and fed in a few bait ships to try to disctate the Narn movement, and largely kept my more fragile ships out of the way. Which is good because both sleekbirds were quickly dispatched once they came into range.
On the Narn side, while initially it seemed that the lack of terrain was an advantage, it providing unrestriked line of sight for the Ion Torpedoes, it did mean there were no choke points from asteroid belts giving almost unrestricted movement for the Drazi and meaning they could avoid bunching up and presenting a good target for the Dag'Kars. Once the Area of effect of energy mines is taken out of the picture, they aren't all that threatening to larger ships. they don't cause criticals after all, but they could still certainly threaten to one shot the smaller Drazi ships. I think the Narn would have benefited from a scout ship, they have lots of weapons that aren't twin-linked, and they really need to have re-rolls to leverage their firepower given they lack much in the way of AP.
Overall though, the Drazi were fast and agile, the Narn were annoyingly tough and the Na'Rok performed quite well.
Next time we will be playing some One Page Rules Firefight.
Thanks to Ginge being a great opponent and helping with playtesting.
STLs by Tyrel Lohr.
Painted by me
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Thanks for reading, and I will see you next time.
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