CITW January 14th, Peoria Meet: Yet Another Border Scrap

Into the starlit void

We're riding the storm

No sign of JuTunheim our longboats perform

We're all alone

Red  stars in the sky

Into the vast forever

Adapted from "Odin's Prayer";  by Bloodbound

Greetings captains, engineers, pilots, gunners, and other 23rd Sigurd Heavy Flotilla oarsmen. Today we send word to Parliament and the High Council of the deeds of our Viking brothers of the 201st. Before ascending to Vahalla, these warriors sent many lizard-loving Colosian pilots to dine in the cold, deep halls of Hel, licking the boots of Loki. Will this display of might convince these border intruders that Odin's Will is unwavering, or will they continue to linger in the dark,  hiding from Odin's Wisdom? These are the signs of the coming of Ragnarok. I leave you with The Orð: its observational record data the keys to learning what we can from the mistakes of our enemies.

Heill in Alföðr Óðinn!

Huginn Hjalti

Forces:
House Colos

• Deathwind II  (x2)
  
• Thunder Bird  (x3)
  
• Strella           (x4)
  

Sigurd Archdiocese

• Glaive III     (x1)
  
• Hound       (x2)
  
• Pit Viper II  (x4)
  

Turn 1 mid-movement phase with torpedo tracking projection maps turned on. Deathwind and 2x Thunderbird HCR yet. Glaive III pilot breaks right to eject a decoy. [TOC follow up: "Investigate possible new Colos homing technologies or faulty decoy manufacture, as the results of the countermeasures deviated significantly from the expected results ranges"].  Colos Deathwind decoys performed within the expected performance range. [Correction: The two torpedo spreads in the middle board that are marked as heading towards the Deathwinds in the upper right are incorrectly keyed. Those were fired by the Deathwinds, and are also targeting the Glaive III.]



 


Turn 2 - the start of the Torpedo Results Phase. Realizing they can not outrun the smaller incoming munitions of the T-Birds, the Glaive crew turn the ship and break just in front of the Deathwind II's eight Mk 20 torps-- all bunched up in a single hex, 1 hex off the nose. The line of Mk. 10's and 20's incoming to Glaive III are separated for sequential torpedo resolution but are in the Glaive III's hex.

• The point-defense system of the Glaive, clearly overwhelmed, manages to remove an Mk. 20, but the remaining proceeds to devastate the armor of the ship in a procession of hull impacts the ending of which leaves the shellshocked crew bloodied and dazed, staring at error screens informing them that all weapons on board are knocked out, soon to be followed by eruptive sparks as the weapon consoles themselves suffer critical failures. With no Gungnir mount to remove the 8 incoming Mk 20's, the Glaive III is doomed. [TOC follow up: "No ship can repel firepower of that magnitude!"]
  
• Pit Viper II's Mk. 30 torps reach their Deathwind targets and soften them up a fair amount, taking out Missile Launchers and rear Splattergun mounts. The Deathwind pilots relied on their 1-4 [2] PD systems instead of dodging as the odds were similar, but were not effective in this instance.
  
• Two double-spreads of Mk. 20 torpedos fired from each ship of the Hound squadron paired up with their Thunderbird targets and reduced them to debris clouds.
  

Turn 2 Close-Up. Many shots were either out of arc, outright missed, or bounced off of armor. The Deathwind II's in particular, with naught but an Ion Ram still functional were at a steep disadvantage to hit the nimble Pit Viper II's in their field of fire.






Turn 3 - Final:

• A Deathwind pilot, frustrated with his attempts to hit the jinking maneuvers of the Pit Vipers [2d8+6 (-3 speed restriction penalty); 15DV = 14.6% range S, only 9.1% range M] attempted a ram, was successful and cleaved the annoying attrition fighter in half while taking the small mass of the ship as damage in return. The Viper pilot's ejection system was executed without fault.
  

• Although the Pit Vipers had eliminated a couple of the Strella IIs at this point, they were finding it difficult to hit their tiny (and fast) silhouettes, and if the Vipers in turn were hit and slowed even slightly, the Deathwind's Ion Ram could come to bear on them much more easily. [TOC Follow-up: statistical breakdown for dual pulse laser mount fired by "regular" (d6 ADB) experienced pilot...  21.6% hit at range L, 30.2% hit at range M, and 39.8% at range S]. Radio chatter discussing breaking away coincided with a command from the monitoring Longboat Yggdrasil to return. They had intercepted a similar command from a nearby Totenkomph II to do the same. Both sides were either satisfied with the skirmish outcome or neither side wanted to commit any further is up for debate, but one certain thing is that both sides claimed a minor victory this day.
  

Optional Rules in effect:

1. Most of the standard stuff that should be the default rule- easing speed restrictions, decoys, point defense, firing multiple mounts, Life pods, etc.
   
2. Variable speed, Super Manuverable Torpedos - this was the standard that my excellent guest player Bob most often used so we went with it. Extremely deadly. I remember saying "If it gets them off the board quicker, yeah- let's do it."
   
3. No drift. Two of our guests were first-time players and normally black powder historical gamers, so I drew the line there. The sentiment was that drift is fun and will be included in future games.
   
4. Crew Experience die rather than purchased skills. For simplicity, everyone was Regulars d6 ADB. 5.5 points per gunner, 11 pts. per pilot added to the ships for TPV for 'per-side point estimation'. I only attempted to get the numbers close. Forces TPV ended up being Colos: 353; Sigurd: 292
   
5. As a result of everyone having the same GNR skill, we rolled a d10 once at the start of the game for a firing turn order (for all turns) and recorded it on a firing order chart. The Missile Lock-on target number = 10. The crew was to roll 2d6 + ADB & roll equal to or higher. However, every launcher mount on the board was removed via torp impacts, so not a single missile was launched!
   

I want to thank all of the players that showed up and participated in the event, one of my old-time gaming friends I hadn't seen for some time took the day off to make it (thank you Chris), while my newest Silent Death acquaintance is a true dyed in the wool Old-Guard Silent Death Master. He arrived in full vintage Silent Death regalia: shirt, hat, and a keen knowledge and deep love of the game that was immediately recognizable within moments of meeting him. I struck the SD gaming group gold in meeting him and having him travel the two hours to show up and play in the game I hosted. We all shared contacts and vow to keep this going. I had four players when I thought maybe one or two would attend (I ran out of my modified metal-post ship stands!).  I was also notified of yet another interested player who couldn't attend but had their contact info passed to me. Awesome!


I know I have been playing a lot of Sigurd vs. Colos up until now, but it is mainly because I have most of that stuff painted and ready to go. I have the most options with these two factions. I do plan on painting more of my ships if I will actively be playing more often with this newly forming group. I am eager to get large flotillas of Luches Utopia, Data Sphere, and ASP Technocracy, on the table next followed by Sunrunners and Yoka Shan Warworlders, then in the distance Tokugawa***. Sorry, Unkulunkulu & Hibernia fans.
***But first a good number of asteroids stands completed.


I will report on our exploits for this coming year as we plan to make more games happen every couple of months or three at the least. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed our battle report.



~Karpav

I just saw this on visiting Joseph A. McCullough's** blog for the first time.  It's about him starting The Ptolemean Wars campaign. How cool is that? I thought I would link to it here if anyone is interested. 

**(Author of some of my favorite Osprey games like Frostgrave, Oathmark,  Rangers of Shadowdeep, and The Silver Bayonet)

The Renaissance Troll.blogspot.com 12/2022 Silent Death - The Ptolemean Wars Begin

Cool stuff. Now to crank up the rules abit hahaha