I managed to get in a couple of Babylon 5 games at the club last night, so as promised here is a report of the first. I will annotate the report with a few in-depth looks at some of the game's main mechanics to make things a little clearer.
This week I received a large Minbari fleet which I'd won on ebay, so I thought I'd put part of it through its paces. The only other fleet that could match their strength was my Earth fleet, so with the participants chosen we opted for a simple Annihilation mission. My brother chose the Minbari so I took command of the Earth fleet.
The Minbari fleet consisted of a Sharlin warcruiser and a Tinashi frigate. Earth had two Omega-class destroyers (the Agrippa and the Alexander) and two Hyperion heavy cruisers (the Midway and the Trafalgar). Deployment was as follows:
Turn Sequence - In this game, players alternate moving one ship at a time. At the start of the turn, both players roll for Initiative (similar to LotR and Epic), whoever scores the highest chooses the order of movement. After all movement has concluded, ships may then fire their weapons, again alternating between players. The final phase of the turn is the End Phase, used to move drifting ships, carry out Damage Control and other miscellaneous actions.Turn 1 saw earth gain the Initiative, and I elected to have the Minbari move first. The Sharlin glided forwards before turning to bring its front weaponry to wear against the Alexander. I responed my moving the Agrippa forwards and lining it up for my boresighted laser cannon.
Firing Arcs - Each ship has four 90 degree arcs: Fore (front), Aft (back), Port (left) and Starboard (right). In addition, there are fixed Boresights in the Fore and Aft arcs, which require the attacker to be directly lined up with the target ship. Most weapons are limited to firing in a single arc, although a few turret mounted weapons have full 360 degree coverage.
The Tinashi also moved aggressively, closing on the two Hyperions, to the remaining three earth ships lined up their weapons and prepared to target it.
The Agrippa was the first to fire in the Attack Phase, but the Minbari's Stealth technology prevented them from getting a lock. In return, the Sharlin opened fire on the Alexander, dealing significant damage to the hull and crew. Its side weapon arrays also opened up on the Midway, again dealing it a massive blow as the beam tore across the hull. Fortunately, the Alexander managed to lock on to the Sharlin and return the favour with its heavy laser cannon. The Tinashi finished off the crippled Midway, leaving it a drifting, flaming wreckage. This left only the Trafalgar to fire, and its ageing tracking systems again failed to lock on to the enemy ships.
Stealth - The Minbari fleet (and some others) use Stealth technology to disrupt the targeting sensors of hostile ships. In game terms, this means an attacking ship must beat the target's Stealth score in order to be able to fire at it. These two Minbari ships have Stealth 5, so the Earth ships have to roll a 5+ to even be able to fire at them! Some special abilities can negate Stealth, and ships within 8" get a +1 bonus to the roll, as do any ships firing after one has already locked on in the same turn.
In the end phase, each remaining Earth ship launched a flight of Starfury fighters, and the Sharlin launched a flight of Nials.
The Minbari gained Initiative in turn 2, and the earth fleet was forced to go first. The Alexander called the All Stop! special action, bringing his ship to a standstill. As the Tinashi was in full sight of its front weapon arrays, the frigate moved away and used its superior maneuverability to bring its weapons to bear on the Alexander while avoiding the boresight weapons. As the Agrippa powered forwards to avoid exposing its flank, the Sharlin also bore down on the damaged Alexander. The Trafalgar maneuvered to bring its boresight laser cannon to bear on the Sharlin, and also have its broadside weapons target the Tinashi.
The Starfury fighters swarmed around the lone flight of Nials, initiating a Dogfight.
Special Actions - A capital ship may attempt to call one of a number of Special Actions instead of moving. If the Crew Quality Check is passed, they will be able to carry it out. These range from bringing the ship to a halt, launching extra fighters, or even making the supreme sacrifice and ramming an enemy ship - an action which can only be carried out by an already crippled ship.
The Sharlin's beams tore great holes in the hull of the Alexander, with Critical Hits causing additional damage to the ship and its systems. Once again the Minbari's Stealth proved troublesome, but the Trafalgar managed to score a few hits on the Sharlin. However, the Tinashi finished off the crippled Alexander, rendering her a stationary burning hulk.
Surrounded by enemy ships, the Minbari Nials stood no chance and were completely wiped out by the Starfuries.
Critical Hits - When a hit is scored on an enemy ship, the player rolls on the Damage Table. On a 1 there is no effect, 2-5 deals one point of damage to both the hull and the crew, and a 6 results in a Critical Hit, damaging one of the ship's systems. In addition to the point of damage and crew, this can have additional effects such as reducing the speed (Engine critical), reducing weapon effectiveness (Weapon critical), or even severely hitting one of the Vital Systems such as the Bridge or Reactor. With most weapons having multiple Attack Dice and so being able to score many hits, Crits are fairly common when larger ships bring their heavier weapon arrays to bear.
In the end phase, the Agrippa launched another flight of fighters as the wreckage of the Midway drifted past.
Turn 3, and once again the Minbari gain the upper hand. The Agrippa began to turn to bring itself back into the action, but such a slow lumbering ship would take time to get into an optimal position. The Tinashi powered forwards, and the Trafalgar reacted by bringing its broadside into view of the rear of the frigate. The Sharlin also continued moving forwards. The Starfury fighters decided to get clear of the larger ships, lest they become targets.
Movement - Ships must move at least half their speed in a straight line, representing the momentum they have gathered. Only after this can they turn. Ships are limited in how fast they can turn, some can make multiple turns in a movement, others only one, and all are limited in the angle of each turn. In addition, after turning there is a minimum of 2" movement before making the next.
Both fleets traded fire once more. neither side could cause more than a small amount of damage and a couple of minor engine and weapon criticals.
The Minbari took Initiative in turn 4 again, and the Agrippa continued its slow, curving path, with the drifting hulk of the Miday now in front of it. The Sharlin brought itself to a halt in order to make a tighter turn later, and the captain of the Trafalgar took advantage and closed in on its flank - avoiding the deadly weapon arrays on the front of the warcruiser but still exposed to the broadside. The Tinashi, like the Agrippa, swung out of the main fight in order to line itself up for another attack run.
The Tinashi opened fire and again caused minor damage to both Earth ships. The Trafalgar managed to get a lock on and its laser cannon tore into the Sharlin's flank. As the beam tore across its hull, it damaged the engines and crippled the mighty flagship, but didn't destroy it. Even as the Trafalgar was firing, the warcruiser responded in kind and tore it apart, leaving its burning, lifeless wreckage to drift through space.
Turn 5 saw the end of the game as the Tinashi and Sharlin finally brought down the Agrippa. The Starfury pilots surrendered, having no hope of getting past the Minbari's advanced anti-fighter arrays.
The Minbari won, but at a heavy cost. The mighty Sharlin warcruiser would likely have been destroyed had the Agrippa been able to target it, and the Tinashi suffered more than 50% damage. In the end, though, their Stealth proved to be too troublesome, and prevented much of the enemy fire from having an effect. The earth ships, on the other hand, had nothing to counter the Minbari's deadly beam weapons.
I hope you've enjoyed this battle report, and stay tuned for future reports, pictures of painted fleets, and in the distant future, a campaign for the control of an entire system.
Tomorrow, I'll give you an update on the main project.
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