Babylon 5 A Call To Arms 2nd Edition Earth Alliance Crusade Era Fleet Review

 

The Earth Alliance is spoilt for choice when it comes to fleets they can pick from with no fewer than 4 options. I've previously ranked the ships of the Early Earth and 3rd Age fleets and this time I will look at the Crusade fleet.
This represents the EA fleet from 2267 onwards. The Drakh attacked Earth at the very end of 2266 and this was the instigating event for the Crusade TV series. The fleet is largely composed of ships that did not appear in the TV show but still includes some Stalwarts with which you will be familiar.

The priority system used by A Call to Arms for fleet selection is intended to make each ship of a given priority level be of equivalent strength. In practice this is not the case and some ships will be obviously more capable than others. This leads to be being able to rank ships against each other within a list, and against similar ships in other lists. Here is the ranking system I am using. Note I am only comparing ships in the Earth Alliance: Crusade fleet against each other, please consider my rankings in that context. I am also only considering ships from the official mongoose publications from second edition, those being the Fleets book and Powers and Principalities.

Tier Rankings

S Tier: Reserved for ships that either significantly under-costed or have a combination of rules that perform well above ships in similar roles. These ships are often called “auto includes” as any list stands to be made better with their inclusion. 

A Tier: These units are some of the best the fleet has to offer. They excel in their specific roles and commonly help form the core of most lists. While not auto include, they are great in almost any list  they are taken in and will be seen frequently.

B Tier: These ships have a mix of strengths and weaknesses that make them very playable but balanced. These ships work great with specific roles in mind; however, their weaknesses mean they do not help every list. In a perfect world, all ships would fit into this category.

C Tier: C tier ships may still shine in niche lists and roles; however, they will feel under-powered when compared to similar units in the fleet. Decidedly sub optimal, you could make them work but frequently will see other things that are just better. 

D Tier: Ships that need some considerable love and attention. You will struggle to find any role for this ship that another ship couldn’t do better. Very often you will see these ships labeled as “unplayable”.

S-Tier

Aurora Starfury - Fighters are one of the signature units of the Earth Alliance, and the Aurora is one of the better ones in the game. They will be present in almost any force you field, and they will be present in large numbers. Out of the 4 options available to the Crusade era fleet, the Aurora is the one you will probably take in the largest numbers. Fast, well protected, well armed and with a high dogfight value, this is what you will be bringing and you will bring lots of them. The high dogfight is especially important since crusade era fleets do not have the volume of fighters that earlier eras do and the only fleet carrier they do get is the Poseidon which is a War level choice

Chronos-class Attack Frigate - The Chronos is the best of the new wave of crusade era ships. It is a replacement for the Artemis and Olympus classes but not a direct one. The main feature of the ship is its Hull of 6. This is amazing for a skirmish level ship and is supplemented by both interceptors and anti-fighter making it a very durable platform. Armament wise it has some all round firepower in the form of Heavy pulse cannons. They don't have a great number of shots but they are twin-linked. The main armament is a turret mounted railgun with a decent range of 15 inches that gives it some reach. It has average speed and agility for a ship of its class to round out.

In comparison to the Artemis it isn't nearly as well armed, the Artemis has much much better all round firepower, and the Olympus class has more utility thanks to  its missiles. Despite its flaws, its tough and does pack a punch for a ship of its size, and there are several variants to fill different roles.

Chronos-class Escort Frigate - Based on the Chronos, the Escort Frigate was introduced in Powers and Principalities and has many of the same characteristics but trades the Heavy pulse cannons for improved anti-fighter capability, bumping to 6 dice, and Escort.This is a massive advantage as the crusade era fleet will lack the heavy fighter presence of earlier Earth Alliance fleets. The ship also retains its primary weapon in the railgun but as it has sacrificed all other armament it does leave it vulnerable to weapon criticals.

Hermes-class Transport - At first glance the Hermes doesn't look to be too impressive. It isn't particularly tough, although it does have Interceptors, nor is it particularly well armed compared to comparable ships in other fleets. Look beyond your first impression and you have a ship that is one of the best Patrol level choices in the game. The ship brings a flight of fighters in addition to itself, and it has a respectable range on its missiles allowing it to stay out of trouble and act as a very effective initiative sink. What pushes the Hermes to being amazing is the Jump Drive. One of only 2 Patrol level ships in the game with a jump drive, it allows you to open jump points to and from the battlefield without having to sacrifice the firepower of higher tier ships. In a fleet of Skirmish level or above, you will want to take at least 2 of them every time.

A-Tier

Hyperion-class Assault Cruiser - The Assault Hyperion is an outstanding little ship. In the Early Years list I think it is inferior to the Rail gun armed variant but that ship is not a part of the crusade Age fleet. they were withdrawn from service through attrition....

Naturally the ship is a solid choice in missions requiring capturing a particular objective with troops but it also boasts quite an impressive, if short ranged, arsenal of weapons. The defining feature though is this is a Raid level hull at Skirmish level which provides exceptional value for the cost.

Hyperion-class Heavy Cruiser - The Hyperion is a reasonably tough, reasonably fast and agile and has a respectable amount of firepower. It carries a single flight of fighters as part of the whole package. With 2 turns you can fairly easily get the Medium Laser cannon into action and the secondaries can add to the damage. As a package though it looks like it will be better than it is, it's just missing 'something'. I'm inclined to think that the Beam weapon is valued more highly than perhaps it should be. The Medium laser cannon is the ships standout capability though. Beams can ignore interceptors which are the most common defensive feature and start hitting the hull straight away, and the ship has the speed and agility to be where you want it.
As the only dedicated combat ship at Raid level, with the Tantalus being more intended for planetary assaults, this is by default the best raid ship the crusade fleet has, temper your expectations with the ship though.

Marathon-class Advanced Cruiser - The Marathon is an outstanding ship. The standout capability is the speed and maneuverability which would not be out of place on a skirmish level ship, on a Battle level ship which allows the Marathon to get where it wants on the battle field, and get there quickly. This is backed up by an impressive armament of  firepower, Triple Damage beams fore and aft, Heavy pulse batteries and some forward firing missiles. Its a very punchy ship that is roughly the equal of an Omega in firepower, with the caveat that the Neutron cannon has a slightly shorter range. Its not all good though, the Marathon while having hull 6 and a very generous complement of Anti-fighter and Interceptors can take less damage than the Omega, and the Omega is a ship whose ability to take damage is already on the lower end of Battle level ships. Combine this with much worse Crippled and skeleton crewed thresholds and you have a ship that can dish out the damage, but not take it in return. The final point is that the ship carries a pair of fighter flights compared to the Omegas 4. A very strong ship

Omega-class Destroyer - The Omega-class destroyer is the most recognizable ship in Earthforce and is a very solid choice in the game. It boasts very credible secondary weapons, almost on a par with the Nova dreadnought but has a very good forward firing heavy laser cannon. The range and hitting power of this means you can close slowly with your opponent and deal serious damage as you close, and then be able to deal damage in multiple directions like the Nova, once the distance has closed sufficiently. The ship has the best Hull value of 6 and decent Interceptors and can swat away annoying fighters easily. Its not all good though. The Heavy laser, whilst long ranged is a, bore sighted weapon and the omega is lumbering so getting shots on target might be more difficult than you would like, and the Omega has a comparatively low damage threshold. Beam weapons will be particularly painful since interceptors do nothing to stop them. Overall though, a very strong choice.

B-Tier

Badger Starfury - This heavy fighter sits between the Aurora and the Thunderbolt in capabilities. It can act as both a space superiority platform with its superior dog-fighting score, and as a strike fighter with some standoff capability with its missile rack. Compared to the Aurora though it is slower and has a worse dodge trait, and compared to the Thunderbolt it is again, slower, and also has half the missile armament. It is a very solid fighter though when compared to those of other races

Chronos-class Missile Frigate - Another Chronos variant added in Powers and Principalities the Missile frigate trades the Railgun and side port and starboard pulse cannons for a pair of missile launchers, one on each side with 2 shots apiece. Impressively they can fire each turn unless the ship is crippled and this combined with the flexibility that missiles offer in picking a role each game gives them a lot of utility. 2 shots a turn isn't great though, and that is likely all you will be getting with the fire arcs on the missiles, and this leaves the ship very vulnerable to being chased down by faster ships. It can bring a lot to a fleet though it you pick the correct missiles, there are better choices though.

Delphi-class Advanced Scout. The Delphi is one of 2 ships with scout available to a crusade fleet, the other being the Explorer. Scouts are always useful as they allow you to degrade stealth or improve the accuracy of weapons in your own fleet. The Delphi is particularly adept at this as it has unlimited range on the Scout ability. The ship also has superior stealth at a score of 5+ and unlike the Oracle in the Early Years and 3rd Age fleets it does have a respectable armament so it's not defenceless, It can quite easily deal with patrol level ships and give skirmish ships a run for their money. All of this comes at a cost though, The Delphi is a Raid choice which severely limits its usefulness. 

Myrmidon-class Light Combat Vessel The Myrmidon is a patrol ship with a very impressive armament. It can throw 14 shots into a target, and this will usually be a ship of similar size so it can quite easily overwhelm other races patrol ships. Its also quite well defended having hull 5 and interceptors and anti-fighter, but the amount of damage it can take is not as high as you would like. Likewise the speed is fairly slow meaning you will struggle to go hunting smaller enemy ships. In most situations a Hermes will be a better pick, the Myrmidon isn't 'bad' its just its not particularly outstanding either.

Tantalus-class Assault Ship - Introduced in Powers and Principalities, the Tantalus is a dedicated assault ship for use in scenarios where delivering troops to a target is required. As a Raid level choice it is surprisingly well armed but falls behind the Nova Dreadnought of the 3rd age which is sadly missing from the crusade era. The fighter complement is also somewhat sub optimal as you are forced to take at least 2 breaching pods. While you can exchange fighters for breaching pods, you cannot swap breaching pods for fighters. This is a very well rounded ship.

Thunderbolt Starfury- This is the fleets premier strike fighter with a very solid armament of 2 AP missile shots. Its fairly fast but falls short of the Aurora, and is worse in dogfights and is generally less surviveable. Compared to fighters of other races though it is still superior to what most factions can bring, so while the Aurora is an amazing fighter, you could take all thunderbolts supported by an Avenger and still be able to stay competitive with most enemy fighters.

Warlock-class Heavy Destroyer - One of he most technologically advanced ships in the crusade fleet, and also the ship with the most impressive armament this is a ship that can take a pounding and also dish out a lot of damage in return. With the longest ranged weapon in the fleet (outside of specialised missiles) this is a very intimidating ship. Triple damage beam shots are not to be ignored, and if the dice don't go your way the ship mounts more secondary weapons in its forward arc than a lot of ships have weapons. The icing on the cake is the fact it has command +2. 

C-Tier

Apollo-class bombardment Cruiser The Apollo is an all missile armed ship and carries an impressive total of 26 launchers giving it the ability to fire missiles in all directions. It can also do this every turn unless crippled. The multiple launchers give it the ability to carry a variety of different missiles to cover a variety of situations and really turn the ship into a toolbox in every game. This comes with some downsides, severe ones. The Apollo is incredibly fragile, despite hull 6 and interceptors, it cannot take any punches with its very low damage thresholds. It is also not particularly fast so while not lumbering like an Omega, it cannot really maintain its range advantage against enemy ships for long as they will run it down. It also does not have a great volume of fire as compared to other ships so while long ranged you will need to coordinate with other ships effectively to get the most out of it. The ship is totally under powered compared to the Omega and Marathon so you will have to really consider your options when you want to take this ship. It would probably have been better to have the Apollo simply be an upgraded Sagittarius and fit into Raid level (suitably adjusted of course). 

Apollo-class Strike Cruiser This is a variant of the Apollo Bombardment Cruiser and shares the same relatively fragile hull and speed with that ship. The armament is where there is a significant difference. Unlike the Bombardment version this ship forgoes the side firing missiles and trades them for some quite potent long range rail guns and a very generous number of shorter ranged Pulse weapons that put its broadside firepower well in excess of the Nova Dreadnought. It also retains some forward and rear firing missiles so it can have an impact on the battle from the outset. Unfortunately the longer ranged rail guns do not have the volume of fire one would want to seriously threaten an enemy ship, and in order to bring the Pulse cannons into action you are going to be dangerously close to the enemy where it will be unlikely to survive for long. There is also the added factor that unlike the Nova Dreadnought the firepower is concentrated on the broadsides so you cannot engage multiple targets very easily The saving grace for this ship though is the unusually high Initiative of the Crusade fleet, particularly at higher priority games when you can bring a ship with a bonus to command. If you can get this ship into an appropriate position it will do a lot of damage before the enemy can respond. It could really have done with being able to take a few more points of damage.

Explorer - The Explorer is an incredibly unusual Raid level ship. It has a ludicrously high damage threshold, a much lower but still very high crew. It carries lots of fighters, Its a scout, has a jump engine and command +1 and, unlike the Early Earth version the weapons have a respectable, if not outstanding range, with the main weapons being Double Damage. These are all features that are desirable in a ship since it combines a lot of things other ships do into a single package. On the negative side the ship is slow and lumbering, lacks the carrier trait so it will take a while to launch all its fighters, and has a weak hull. The lack of speed in particular means that you will struggle to bring this ships weapons into range unless your opponent wants you to.

It can come as a shock to people though as it is quite an unusual pick and it will at least ensure that your scout ability will persist.

Poseidon-class Super Carrier - The Poseidon is the only dedicated carrier in the Earth Alliance crusade list and can carry one of the largest number of fighter flights of any ship in the game. With the quality of the Earth Alliance fighters this is no small feat. The ship has Fleet carrier and carrier traits meaning you can launch huge numbers of flights and recycle losses and also brings command +3 to the table. It also has a very respectable damage and crew pool. This can quickly be eaten through though and the Poseidon doesn't have much to reply with except its fighters. In one recent battle a Poseidon was quickly destroyed in only a handful of turns. With the rest of the crusade list generally lacking much in the way of fighters, this ship will allow you to return to fighter heavy strategies employed by the earlier Earth Alliance lists but is a marked point of failure as you are relying solely on this ship to support your strategy.

D-Tier

Breaching Pods - Breaching pods are, interesting. They are slow, lose dogfights automatically, are fairly easy to kill, but on the other hand, boarding actions, when they occur, can be devastating. Ordinarily, when you launch a boarding action the criteria are fairly hard to meet. Breaching pods skip every step you would otherwise have to take and you just have to contact an enemy ship with them. On the downside, If you take them they are either cost you a patrol point, and in most fleets almost anything else will be a better choice, or else you have to use carriers to carry them and they replace fighters. they also take up troops from your own ships when deployed in this way.

Excalibur Destroyer: The Excalibur is a very good looking ship and the hero ship of the Crusade TV series. The abilities of the ship in that show have not translated very well. The ship is very well protected with Hull 6, 100 damage and Adaptive Armour which effectively doubles its damage pool except against criticals. Its fast for a ship of its size, isn't lumbering which is a handy bonus. To round it out it carries 6 flights of fighters and adds command +3 to the Crusade fleets +2 for a whopping +5. Unfortunately the good points are undone by the bad. The ship is woefully under gunned, and the Lightning cannon is an ability you will likely never use. The Excalibur should have been treated much better, the ship is just awful. In a custom scenario it would have some utility, otherwise, avoid.

Firebolt Starfury- This is an outstanding fighter and the best the Earth Alliance has to offer. Fast, effective in a dogfight, well armed with great stand off capability, the firebolt has almost everything you need in a fighter. The single point that relegates this fighter to D tier rather than supplanting the aurora in S tier is the cost. You either have to buy them separately or pay a patrol point to upgrade 4 flights. Its not really worth it.

Command Omega - I was tempted to add an E tier for this ship alone. There is no way to sugar coat it. This is an awful choice. If you want a combat ship a Warlock or pair of omegas are better choices in almost any conceivable situation. The ship has very poor surviveability and only one redeeming feature in the form of command +3. The additional command over the warlock is not any justification to take this ship. If you are absolutely set on command +3, take the Poseidon instead. The only reason you would ever take this ship is if you have suffered a severe blow to the head. This is a Turd.

Notable absences

There are some notable absences from this fleet list. These 2 ships were definitely in the 'A Call to Arms' TV movie which served as the pilot for the Crusade TV series, you can see them in the climactic battle of the film. both ships are older designs that participated in the Dilgar War and the Earth-Minbari war but the newest Novas and Olympus' are less than 20 years old and probably newer than the oldest Omega-class ships. Their absence from the Crusade Era fleet list is probably deliberate and not an oversight but I think they should have been included.

Nova - (S-Tier) The Crusade Era Nova Dreadnought is a much diminished ship when compared to the version you can take in an Early years fleet. The Heavy Plasma Cannons are gone, replaced by Heavy Pulse cannons. The Pulse cannons have more shots and are twin linked, but lose the AP and double damage in exchange. The ship has noticeably less firepower than the earlier version but the greater number of shots can burn through interceptors and ships of lower tiers will find themselves rapidly taking damage. Differences in armament aside, the ship carries 4 flights of starfuries. The fighters are what makes this an excellent ship to take. Crusade Era fleets have comparatively poor access to fighters which are one of the main strengths of the Earth Alliance and they have lost easy access to fleet carriers with the Avenger being absent. 

One other thing to note with the Nova dreadnought, with its damage thresholds as they are, the ship will only lose weapons efficiency when it is shockingly close to being destroyed.

Olympus -  (A-Tier)The Olympus is a very solid all round skirmish choice. It can engage enemies at all ranges since it has a mixed armament of missiles, rail guns and pulse cannons. The ship has more firepower than the Chronos though the railgun is shorter ranged. The Chronos is much better protected though and it will therefore be a tough choice between  the two of them. It is an excellent choice in any fleet as it can fill a variety of roles. You can enhance this multi role capability by using the variant missile types it has access to.

Next time:

The official pak'ma'ra fleet is terrible and doesn't have many actual pak'ma'ra ships. With some help from a few friends I will be presenting some experimental rules for the carrion eaters so their fleet is a little more unique and distinctive.

Do you agree with my tier rankings? what would you change. let me know

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

Miniature STL's by Tyrel Lohr and Badqueen creations
Miniatures painted by me
Photography by me.