Friday 25 January 2013

"You say you want a revolution." Part Two

Part One

As the Rebel convoy is intercepted a small Hishen Task Force has a rude awakening. The Hishen commanders go into action!


 Sir! Star Navy blinking in at close range!

What? That's impossible! Sound the alarm. All ships engage! Launch fighters!


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This is a companion battle in the Rebellion Campaign where the first part was a Convoy Mission. This is an Attack Mission where Star Navy forces intercept Hishen forces. Or should I say bumped into Hishen forces. The results of the Long Range Scan, the mechanic used to deploy ships in battle, resulted in the forces starting 24" apart. This is fighter range and close to 12" missile range.

The Hishen force had one Class 6 Planetary Conquest Ship, one Class 5 Mother Ship (Fast Attack Carrier),  two Class 4 Overseer Heavy Cruisers and three Class 3 Monitor Missile Boats.

Facing them was one Class 6 Dreadnought, one Class 5 Fast Attack Carrier, two Class 4 Heavy Cruisers, one Class 4 Light Cruiser, two Class 3 Destroyers and four Class 3 PDF Destroyers.

Being at such a close range to the Class 6 ships was a death sentence for the carriers. If they were lucky they could launch one or two flights of fighters before being incapacitated or worse. Here's a high picture, low words AAR.
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Hishen forces react swiftly, launching fighters as the bigger ships open fire with their guns.

 The fighters attack the destroyers but the AA batteries from the larger ships shoot down three of the four squadrons. But one PDF destroyer is destroyed by the bombing runs of the last squadron. On the other end of the line a Star Navy destroyer explodes, hit by gunfire.
Aboard the Star Navy carrier the damage is massive as the Hishen Class 6 scores numerous direct hits. 

Realizing that this may his only chance, the carrier commander launches three fighter squadrons, as the dreadnought and heavy cruisers begin to lock in their gunfire.

 Gunfire from the heavy cruisers take out two of the Hishen small ships while the dreadnought slams the carrier with gunfire. The subsequent explosions rock the Hishen fleet, one heavy cruiser breaking off, its commander signing his own death warrant. 

 The Hishen admiral has a decision to make. Flee while it is still possible or continue the fight.
Fight on! he shouts as he directs fire onto the now crippled Star Navy Carrier. The forces are now at missile range and the last Hishen Monitor fires two missiles and  another PDF destroyer explodes.


 Down goes the second Star Navy destroyer their crew unable to jettison before it explodes. The Star Navy carrier, it's crew abandoning as fast as possible, finally explodes. Undaunted the remaining ships continue their fire.

Meanwhile the three fighter squadrons go into their attack run on the Hishen Flagship. Two are driven away but the last delivers a 5 hull hit, rocking the ship. More Hishen ships explode but they continue to fire.



Casualties and damage on the Star Navy fleet is mounting but the tide is turning.

The Hishen admiral gives the order, Retire immediately! and the remaining two ships break off.


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Casualties are as follows:
1 Hishen Class 5
3 Hishen Class 3

In addition 1 Hishen Class 4 broke off before the end of the battle.

1 Star Navy Class 5
2 Star Navy Class 3
2 PDF Class 3
In addition 1 PDF Class 3 broke off before the end of the battle.

Although the Hishen force broke off and left the sector, they gave as good as they got.  Being outnumbered 11 to 7 they gave a good accounting of themselves.

Thursday 24 January 2013

Star Navy AAR

"You say you want a revolution. Well you know, we all want to change the world."

"What'cha whistling Lt?" he asked.
"It's a Beatle's song," Lt. replied as he looked at the Long Range Scanner. "We got company."
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It had been three months since the "revolution" had begun in earnest and Palos V had declared independence. This was quickly followed by two other smaller Gaea Prime colonies. As the colonies were three Rings away from the GP Home World there would be little interference. Being in Xeog and Zhuh-Zhuh controlled space, meant that the worse case scenario, would be a visit from Gaea Prime Planetary Defense Forces. But that would be a stretch as the local PDF were actively participating in the revolution. Lt. Jihnsin, formerly of the PDF and now in the Palos V Liberty Fleet, felt comfortable in the fact that the Fleet could handle anything the PDF could throw at them.

At the start it had been rough going as the GP merchants stopped coming by but once the Hishen Freedom Ships had arrived, with much needed supplies, things were beginning to look up. Lt. Jihnsin was now concerned with convoying local supply ships between the colonies.

So the sudden appearance of a Delta Squadron of a Star Navy Patrol Fleet was startling.
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This is an AAR on a Convoy Mission. The objective was to drive of the attackers. Merchant ships are not allowed to "Break Off" from the fight but can surrender, which is not a very good option.
So this meant the Rebel Forces would have to fight. Their Fleet consisted on two Merchants escorted by four destroyers.
The Star Navy force was one Light Cruiser and two Frigates. 
The Star Navy had the advantage in guns and training but the Rebels had loads of missiles, and maybe, just maybe, that would be enough.
Long Range Scan revealed the ships starting 36" apart. Missile range is 12" so Jihnsin ordered the fleet to kick up their speed to 4", their max. Their only hope was to close as fast as possible into missile range.
While the Rebel strategy was to close as fast as possible the Star Navy would be content to fire their guns at maximum ranges.
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The Rebels increase their speed to close the gap as fast as possible. Incoming fire from the Star Navy causes some damage, one of the Rebel ships explodes.
After three turns of taking damage the Rebel destroyers get within missile range. Six missiles are launched!



Only one hits home causing hull damage to one of the Frigates. The Light Cruiser fires it's two AA batteries, shooting down the two heading towards it. The second Frigate evades the other missiles.
The Star Navy continues to fire their guns but suffer bad marksmanship, especially the Light Cruiser.


As the ships close almost to contact the Rebels veer starboard and launch another salvo of missiles. These cause more damage and even a bridge hit. But damage control kicks in and the Star Navy ships continue to fire, and begin to lock in.



Finally the gunfire of the Light Cruiser scores a direct it and the Rebel Flagship explodes. One of the Rebel destroyers breaks off and the Merchant ships surrender.


As the last Rebel destroyer warps out the Merchants prepare to be boarded.


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The two Star Navy Frigates took minor damage but the Light Cruiser was undamaged. Two Rebel destroyers were destroyed, including the Flagship and the two destroyers that escaped would be out for a month while repairs are done.
The two Merchant ships were captured, their crews set adrift on Life Pods set for the two smaller colonies to spread the news of the supplies that would not come.
Upon the news of Gaea Prime naval forces operating in the 4th Ring Zhuh-Zhuh and Xeog diplomats were sent to Gaea Prime to file their protests in person.

5150 Star Navy releases tomorrow!




"Without the Star Navy there is no Star Army!"

"The Star Army motto is “We take the war to the enemy; one planet at a time.” They do a fine job of it but we take them to those planets and we get them back. And unless we do our job they can’t do their job. So listen up Cadet and I’ll tell you how we do it…”

In 5150-Star Navy you can command a squadron of ships or a fleet if you like. Your job is simple; sweep the stars of the enemy. For you it’s not who the enemies are but where they are.  Your missions will range from hunting pirates to flying the flag and in between you’ll be fighting other Factions and Races, all intent on seeing your ships turned into debris. In 5150 - Star Navy you’ll find:

·       Rules for fleet scale spaceship combat.
·       Pre-generated scenarios covering a variety of missions.
·       A variety of Factions and Races including those found in 5150: Star Army.
·       Rules to BYOS - Build your own ships.
·       Complete campaign rules that are easy on the book keeping.

5150 - Star Navy can be played solo, same side with everyone against the game, and of course head-to head against your friends. Playable with any ship models, in any scale, this easy to learn yet tough to master game, is perfect for the casual or battle hardened space gamer.

No matter how many times you’ve done it before you still feel the rush when you “blink in”. Scanners confirm what you’ve suspected, the enemy is at hand. As the individual crews rush to battle stations your ships advance in formation. The order to engage is given and the battle is on. Everyone must do their jobs and remember …

"Without the Star Navy there is no Star Army!"

Sunday 13 January 2013

Chariots Back in Stock

The 15mm resin chariots for use with Charioteer are back in stock. Four chariots go for $8 plus postage.
We have 18 sets  and each set comes in the four racing colors of white, green, red and blue. They also paint up quite nicely if you want to use them in your ancients armies.

Contact me directly as twohourwargames@yahoo.com.

Put Chariots in the tag line.





Monday 7 January 2013

Normans versus Saxons AAR

This is an AAR played with Rally Round the Kings  using historical lists found in the RRtK Historical Army  supplement. RRtK originally was the fantasy version of Warrior Kings, an historical big battles rules set, and when you drop the magic it provides a very good historical game.

This would be the first battle in the Campaign. Norman Morale is 3 with a War Rating of 4 and Saxon Morale is 3 with a War Rating of 4.













Saxon Morale dropped to 1 while their wounded leader was captured and held by Robert.


Saturday 5 January 2013

The Adventures of Sir Tenley Dewmed

The story so far...

Sir Tenley Dewmed is a veteran of many battles . Recently he was drafted into service by the Eskelin General Pereira  who currently leads the Mirish Army. Tenley was present at the victories over North Tropilium , The Dark Elves , and others, serving with glory in the Mirish Cataphract units, the closest thing to knights that the eastern thinking Mirish have.

Sir Tenley has served with Pereira in previous wars all over Talomir from Eskelin to Stygustan. His bravery, and being one of the few real knights in Mirish, was rewarded with entry into the Winter Carnival held in Treyine. Having fought in the lists bravely Sir Tenley reached the semi-finals of the Jousting Tournament only to lose to the eventual champion, Sir Robin.

After the tournament his reward was a summons before the Mirish Emperor whom he represented. An anonymous tip  showed Sir Tenley the wisdom of ignoring the summons and leaving as fast as possible. Altengard was suggested  as a good place to go to as it was in the opposite direction of Mirish. Sir Tenley's Squire, "Flash"Guido, has suggested going farther east to his homeland of Capalan.

And that's where this story begins, somewhere on the Treyine and Altengard border.
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I set the table up with a river along sections 7,8 and 9. Three PEFs were placed, 2 in section 6 and 1 in section 4. This was done after Tenley and Guido entered the table through section 8. The first move saw the duo move down into section 5 while the PEFs didn't move. The PEFs are always placed with terrain blocking LOS if possible. Although all PEFs were in an adjacent section they were inside woods so could not be seen.

As recommended in Warrior Heroes - Legends (page 75) loaded up my PEFs. This saves time during the game and can help to guide the story in the direction you want. I decided that Tenley wouldn't go back to Mirish to be beheaded by the Mad Emperor and also decided that General Pereria, the general in the employ of Mirish wouldn't stand by while Tenley was executed. So to drive this forward I loaded up one PEF with some Black Company soldiers. The other two would be common brigands hired by the agents of Mirish to capture and return Tenley home. As a twist I used one figure with a horn. If he was on the table he could blow his horn summoning the second gang of brigands to the spot. Any additonal PEFs generated if "doubles" are rolled for activation would be resolved as more brigands.  I
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The PEF's moved. The closest one moving first exited the woods and came into sight. It was resolved as brigands. In Sights were taken, using the Rep of Sir Tenley and the brigands leader. Tenley scored better so could act first. Guido fired his bow and OD'ed the closest brigand, a brute with a two hand axe, but, alas, no shield. Sir Tenley charged.
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In the melee Sir Tenley killed the brigand leader outright allowing him to continue his charge into another enemy of the same group. He attacked the closest brigand and actually lost by 1. But his armor, AC 6, reduced that Impact to "0", and an evenly matched result. The brigands could now move and the remaining sod attacked Tenley while he was occupied.
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Again a brigand scores a hit but the AC6 saves Tenley from harm. Returning to the original fight Tenley skewers the brigand. Being a swordsman he rolls twice for damage, keeping the best result, Obviously Dead. This ends the In Sight actions so Reaction Tests are taken. The remaining brignad loses heart and runs away.
Back to PEF movement. The next one only raises the Encounter Rating by 1 to a current ER of 4.
The next PEF moves and exits the woods into LOS of Guido and Tenley. There's a 50/50 chance of brigands as I had loaded the PEFs. but luck is with Tenley and it's the Black Company soldiers.
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As the Black Company moves into contact with Sir Tenley Guido loots the bodies gaining 3 Gold Talos and 2 units of Food. All the PEFs have been resolved but double "2"s are rolled for activation and another PEF is generated, placed randomly in section 3. Activation is rolled and Tenely moves first. I decide to head for the river, after all that's the goal of my Encounter. The PEF moves as well and comes into sight. It's resolved as 8 Brigands. This was done by rolling 1/2d6 and adjusting the score based on the party. They are too far to cause an In Sight but the next turn will tell.
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Sir Tenley activates first the next two turns, reaches the ferry and starts across the river. Luckily none of the brigands are armed with missile weapons.
So ends the first adventure of Sir Tenley and Guido. It's nice that I can use various THW rules with the same characters.  Tenley started as a knight in Rally Round the King (fought in three big battles), then appeared in Joust and is now moving into Warrior Heroes - Legends. For me that's perfect as it's all about the story in my games.








Wednesday 2 January 2013

Warrior Heroes - Legends, now shipping!


 

LEGENDS AREN’T BORN, THEY’RE MADE.


And in Warrior Heroes – Legends here’s your chance to become one. You start life as an independent sell sword or perhaps an inexperienced caster of magic. But whichever you choose there’s nothing special about you as you start your story. But as the saying goes…

IT’S NOT HOW YOU START BUT HOW YOU FINISH!

In Warrior Heroes – Legends the goal is simple. Gain Fame through your exploits and Fortune through your deeds. Start as a Warrior but finish as a King? It can happen and it’s all up to you. But before you can be King let’s start a little smaller. Like leading a small band of adventurers.

Warrior Heroes - Legends includes:

  • Multiple character classes and races.
  • Over sixty Signatures and Skills to personalize your character.
  • An easy to use Economics System with little book keeping.
  • Quick and easy Magic rules.
  • Complete environment to adventure in.
  • A variety of scenarios and a how to for making more.

    And much, much more!

    Warrior Heroes - Legends, play the game!