Assertive Acquisitions: Centauri Republic versus Vree Conglomerate. A Babylon 5 A Call to Arms Battle Report

Captain Ritan followed the reports coming from Quadrant 8 intently. His small squadron had been left in the Marigol system as a garrison force while the bulk of the fleet had attacked the Narn and driven them back. It had been, by all accounts, a decisive victory. His only regret was that since he was not present, he would receive only a paltry amount of the spoils.

His sensor officer reported a contact, it was faint, and moving towards the site of one of the Narns repulsed attacks, a straggler perhaps? He ordered his formation to move and intercept and as they approached a jump point opened and the unmistakable signatures of Vree ships appeared. The Guild of Salvage, come to loot the dead. Captain Ritan vowed to make sure they joined them.

The Centauri and the Vree are two of the more powerful fleets in A Call to Arms. Both have significant strengths. The Centauri are fast and agile and their weapons are generally concentrated in a single arc giving them an incredible punch, assuming their enemy is in front of them. The Vree are slower but they are super maneuverable allowing them to move in any direction they want to. Their firepower is more limited but is longer ranged than most other fleets by a small margin, and on a per shot basis is the most powerful of any fleet out there. Both fleets have limited numbers of fighters, this is less of a concern to the Vree since their ships have such fearsome anti-fighter ability that enemy fighters will evaporate if they stray near to a Vree ship.

With 2 very strong fleets, what happens when they face each other?

The Fleets.

I picked both fleets with the intention of fielding some of the lesser used ships on both sides. The fleets are 5 Raid points each. We've attempted to fit in some larger games before but usually run out of time before a satisfactory conclusion can be reached, so we played it safe with a smallish game. Additionally we agreed that the Centauri would not be using the 'Hunting Packs' rule from powers and principalities because the rule is just silly. There was a roll off to decide which fleet we would each be using, I ended up with the Vree, and Ginge with the Centauri.

Centauri Marigol Garrison - Ginge

2x Centurion-class Attack Cruiser
2x Vorchan-class Warship
1x Amur-class Fast Carrier
1x Morgrath-class Frigate
1x Maximus-class Frigate
1x Kutai-class Gunboat
2x Haven-class Patrol Boat

The Centurion is one of the less commonly seen of the Centauri Raid ships. Its not bad by any means, and in many other fleets this would be on a par with their best, but the Centauri have better choices than most. To back these up and protect them somewhat are a Maximus with its guardian array and an Amar with a pair of flights each of Sentris and Raziks to provide some fighter cover.  Fighters wont last too long against the Vree but at least the Vree don't have too many fighters of their own. The Morgrath is there as its not often taken. The beam is quite powerful though, being one of the few double damage beams the Centauri have access to and its reasonably survivable. For some initiative sinks as well as some smaller throwaway units I chose the Kutai and a pair of Havens. The Kutai is one of the strongest Patrol level ships and the Havens are very useful. 
Finally, since no Centauri fleet should leave home without them, a pair of Vorchans,

Vree Guild of Salvage - Sam

2x Xill-class Battle Saucer
1x Vaarl-class Scout Saucer
1x Xeel-class War Carrier
2x Xorr-class War Saucer
2x Ximm-class Close Escort
2x Xaar-class Patrol Boat

The Vree don't have much (any) choice when it comes to Raid level ships so the core power of the fleet comes in the form of a pair of Xill Battle Saucers. They are quite fast and very agile and pack quite a lot of firepower. They have to get close to their enemies to make best use of it though since Shredders are quite short ranged. To bring some fighters Vree are limited to the Xeel. Their only other fighter carrying ships are War level priority. It's carrying Zorths since with the limited number of Centauri fighters the Vree are sure to have fighter superiority, and the Tzymm is an excellent strike fighter. So it didn't seem fair on the Centauri, especially because the Vree brought a pair of Ximm Close Escorts. 
The rest of the fleet is somewhat less optimal. The Xorr Class is not a great ship since the Ximm is a choice you can take but it is quite potent, and again, since the Ximm is a Patrol choice, the Xaar is not often taken either so I took a pair of those. 
The final ship was the Vaarl. the Vree have high impact low volume shooting, and much of it not twin linked, so a scout with +1 to CQ checks is a really good force multiplier.

Mission and Deployment

The mission was A Call to Arms. We decided to use terrain and it was generated randomly. This resulted in a large planet with a moon and rings, as well as a few other pieces of terrain to spice things up.

The Vree lost the roll off and deployed first. The small units were inside the rings, with the rest of the Vree fleet masked by them. The only squadron was the Pair of Xill Battle Saucers, the rest of the Vree force was deployed as individual units.
The Centauri Counter deployed with the Centurions in a squadron on one flank, and the Vorchans also in a squadron on the other. The remainder of the Centauri ships were arrayed between them, with the Havens being the only other squadron.

Turn 1

The Centauri fleet accelerated towards the Guild of Salvage ships. there were only a handful of them and when they detected the onrushing Centauri ships they quickly tried to use the planets rings, really a very extensive debris field, most of the debris being Narn ships, in order to obscure themselves. they were somewhat successful for now, but they wouldn't be able to hide for long. The Vorchans tasting blood surged ahead.

The Centauri waste no time closing the distance

Captain Ritans smile turned into ashes as a pair of Xill-class Battle Saucers were detected. They had previously been obscured by what had been a G'Quan, their energy signatures being mistaken for radiation from reactors that had gone critical.

A Vorchan is ambushed and explodes

They opened fire and the lead Vorchan had no time to react. One moment the ship had been there surging after its quarry, the next it was an expanding ball of debris. The Amar and the second Vorchan were both struck suffering minor damage.

Turn 2

The Vorchan plunged through the debris field still intent on hunting down the escaping Vree ships. It passed between the pair of Xill Battle Saucers as they used the gravity of the planet to accelerate, reaching a speed that almost seemed impossible. The Xills found themselves to the rear of the Centauri formation and had their pick of targets.

The Vree Xill Battle Saucers outflank the Centauri fleet....

The bulk of the Vree ships remained, to the irritation of the Centauri, hidden by the debris field, but there were targets. The Centurions were able to bring the Xills under fire with their side batteries and caused a surprising amount of damage to one of them. They were the exception though as the Xills and the Xaar patrol boats on the opposite side of the planet had used their agility to avoid being targeted by the Centauri. 

...and destroy the Maximus Frigate

The Xill's unleashed a torrent of fire on the Centauri Maximus with one of them splitting some of its fire into the Amar. The intent was to try to get the Maximus to use its Guardian Array and diminish the effectiveness. The Vree Vaarl had used its advanced sensors and the Xills used this to pour highly accurate fire into the Maximus. The ships interceptors stopped some of the fire but the deluge was unstoppable. The Maximus' hull was torn to shreds and the ship quickly began to lose altitude its engines were wrecked. It quickly began to tumble as it plunged into the atmosphere before erupting into a massive fireball. The Amar on the other hand managed to escape much damage as despite the closerange the Shredder fire it faced was surprisingly inaccurate.

The only other fire was some speculative fire from the Xaars at the Centauri Havens which only managed to cause some minor damage.

Turn 3

Centauri ships engage the Vree at point blank range

The Centauri attempted to leave the Vree behind as they maneuvered into the debris field. They were intent on reaching the smaller ships where they could reap a massive harvest.The Vorchan joined them, as did the Morgrath and a hail of Ion bolts and fire from matter cannons tore the Xeel and one of the Xorrs to pieces. The War saucer detonated as its anti-matter storage was breached the resulting blast caused more damage to the surviving Vorchan. 

The Xorr is destroyed and explodes

The Centauri Triumph was short lived, while they concentrated on the smaller ships, the Vree Xill class Battle Saucers were quickly able to change their course and come up on the flank of the Centauri Centurions. The Centurions caused horrendous damage to one of the Xills even as they pounded the now destroyed Xorr. It wasn't enough. The Xills sensors managed to pick out one of the Centurions thanks to the telemetary from the Vaarl, and they opened fire disabling the ship and leaving it drifting.

The Vree respond and gut the Centauri fleet

The smaller Vree ships added to the carnage and in short order the Kutai was disabled, with the Vorchan joining it shortly afterwards as it succumbed to lots of small injuries.

Turn 4

With the Centauri fleet much reduced in strength and now out of position, Captain Ritan gave the order to disengage, The Morgrath and surviving Centurion managed to escape easily, using the same debris that had hidden the Vree force, but the Amar was not so fortunate.

The Centauri move to escape with their remaining ships, the Amar isn't going to make it

It was quickly finished off by the Xills as they again drastically changed course. The Battle was over, and there was a lot more valuable salvage to be found.

Centauri 10 - 33 Vree

Vree Victory

Conclusions

The Vree got off much more lightly than they might otherwise have done thanks to the planetary rings that were generated. This allowed them to keep relatively safe from the Centauri. This was crucial as even with being able to shield a lot of ships from fire, and outmaneuver the enemy the Centauri have extreme levels of firepower and both Xills were heavily damaged. This was an obvious case of the field suiting the Vree more as they were able to use their super maneuverability in conjunction with the rings and planet to easily dominate the movement phase, even with them losing the initiative each turn. The Xills really carried the battle and were quickly able to get into a commanding position and stay there. They were surprisingly fragile though.
I think the main mistake the Centauri made was to launch a single attack rather than a pincer. The Vree are maneuverable, but they aren't fast and it is very hard to avoid an attack coming from 2 directions when your enemy is faster than you are. They Centauri were also hampered somewhat by us not using the Hunting Packs rule, but it is a silly rule and probably shouldn't exist.

Next Time: 

The Earth Alliance Apollo gets a Redux

Thanks to Ginge being a great opponent as always
STLs by Tyrel Lohr.
Painted by me

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