Starmada BatRep: ONESS vs CDSU

[zorg]

Rules: Starmada X Brigade
Fleets: CDSU Battle Squadron (Mission: Conserve Forces) vs ONESS Patrouillenflotte (Mission: Hit and Run), both at about 1000 points
Models: GZG

The Chinese Star Union is holding the planet Afternoonia, but recent attacks - and redeployments of a significant part of their local forces to other systems - have left them somewhat understrength. The standing orders emphasize the need to minimize losses to the Battle Squadron now in orbit.

This current weakness has been noticed by the ONESS (Germans in Space), who have authorized a Hit and Run strike. Destruction of enemy ships is great, but severe damage is just as good.

Turn 1


Both forces advance slowly, keeping the screen of lighter units close in. The Chinese drone flights (Cruise Missiles in Space - the two red d10) keep their relative positions, the slower ONESS BattleSats (black and white Go chips) have few options anyway.
The ONESS has put the two Osnabrück cruisers on the flanks - the heavy broadsides are useless in a center position.

Turn 2


The slower Chinese try to concentrate on their left flank, keeping escorts positioned to keep any ONESS flankers from breaking through. The ONESS advance in a broader line, moving the two missile-armed Elbe destroyers a bit further out. This proves fatal. The longer-ranged, and far more accurate Chinese blow them both up (red d6 are explosion markers) without taking more than superficial damage from return fire.

Turn 3


The ONESS screen moves aheads at full speed. The inaccurate ONESS weapons have no chance of hitting the Chinese at anything else than point-blank range. While this is likely suicidal, the German commander hopes his destroyers will draw some fire, and maybe get a shot off.
The Chinese still mass on their left flank.

This turn sees some more action: the drone flights slam into two of the light Reikard destroyers, taking them out (quite a waste, really, and huge overkill --> the two red dice on the far right and far left are the glowing wreckage left). The BattleSats concentrate on one of the Wuxi Escort Cruisers, since the Aegis array of these ships is somewhat intimidating, blowing it up (the farthest red d6).

Meanwhile, the center Reikard has two Kaifeng Heavy Destroyers at point blank range. It combines its fire with the guns from the Magdeburg (the right big grey ship) and Dortmund (the left one) heavies, with predictable results (the two remaining red d6). The return fire of the Kaifengs is inconsequential, failing to penetrate the Magdeburg's shields. The right-flank Osnabrück sustains minor damage, the left-flank Reikard has severe engine damage.

The center Kaifeng and Reikard aren't shot at - they share the same hex, and if one blows up, the other has a good chance of not making it.

Turn 4


Both fleets advance carefully. The center Reikard dashes forward, planning to steer to the Chinese blind spots. Both Osnabrücks swing around to bring their broadsides into play. The remainig Kaifeng ends up in the relatively secure hex of the Magdeburg.

The BattleSats take out the Haitun Light Cruiser on the left flank with surprisingly good hits. This takes out the only possible target of the left-flank Osnabrück.
 
The right-flank Osnabrück pours a whole broadside in one of the other two Haituns. While the ONESS guns hit depressingly rarely, they make impressive holes when they do, and the Haitun is reduced to a little brown d6.
Magdeburg and Dortmund shoot all they have at the huge Chinese Jiangzi Dreadnought. While it doesn't die yet, it's sufficiently damaged for the ONESS mission parameters. Again, the heavy damage potential shows.
The Chinese return fire is no less impressive - while the Dreadnought inflicts only moderate damage on the Magdeburg, the surviving Wuxi is at point-blank range for its Aegis array - which achieves 15 hits on the Magdeburg, crippling the Magdeburg's engines, most of its weapons, and all but a single Hull point.

At this point, we had to end the game. It was 488:349 in favour of the ONESS attackers. If we had continued, both the Jiangzi and the Magdeburg would have blown up, and the two Osnabrücks would probably have dominated the game.
The Chinese player had made a mistake in wasting the drones on two very minor ships; and the ONESS attempt to bring at least one Osnabrück in a optimum broadside position worked well.

Both fleets with their ship designs are taken from the Starmada X Brigade rules. The Chinese ships are damn scary - though very slow, they have very accurate, reasonably hard-hitting lasers, and all are well defended with ECM.
The ONESS, otoh, have faster, relatively tough ships with Armor plating (I think the Magdeburg avoided about 10 or 12 hull damage with its Armor Plating, compared to 7 Hull Points!). And while the ONESS guns are very inaccurate, they inflict huge damage.

A fun game! I'll probably write ship type and numbers on the bases in the future, and I need some nice models for BattleSats, drones and explosion markers.

[The_Beast]

Thanks so much for that!

I'm not a big Starmada fan, though, with so many versions, one could always say I've not tried the right one. 

And you'd be right with S:X.

The battle report was sterling,and I really very much enjoyed the comparisons and contrasts of the fleets. A bit of descriptions of the mechanics of some parts of the battle would show how the rules play, though, and might even talk me into giving same a look. I may already have a copy from one of several orders to Tony et. al.

Does seem a bit weird to see GZG ships played here, but Jon would be the first to say enjoy how you will. And, they ARE handsome beasts, no? 

Doug

[zorg]

Thank you! The GZG ships (GZG in general) gives very good value for money, imo. The Brigade models these fleets are designed for aren't to my taste at all.

The rules are very simple (as you probably know) - the ships basically move as many hexes as their engine strength, with a turn of one hex side costing one move, and you can't string two turns together. The Chinese have moves of about 3 - 5, the Germans have 4 at the low end, with up to 8 for the lighter units.

Guns have three range bands and a to-hit-number, which gets a bonus at short range and a malus at long range. You get 1 die for each weapon shooting (more with a higher RoF). The Chinese usually hit at 3+ (on a d6), the Germans at 5+. The Chinese ECM gives a further -1, which means that the Germans can't really hit at long range (-1 for long range, -1 for ECM). The Chinese have max ranges of 12 - 15 hexes, the Germans mostly top out at 9, so the ONESS needs to move well into Chinese range. In theory, the Germans can try to move into the Chinese blind spots (of which there are many), but in practice, few German ships tend to survive such a breakthrough.

When you hit, you need to penetrate shields, and then you do damage (both of which the German guns do very well).

As far as I know, the various versions of Starmada don't differ much. One of the main criticisms I read at BGG is that maneuvering isn't that important, which is true to a certain degree. Personally, I like the way the rules are simple, but allow for complex interactions; but I understand why people don't like the system.

It's difficult to give more details when you type up the action a day later. I also didn't really take that many pictures to illustrate what was happening. Well, I intend to get another play soon, so I'll aim to improve on these points I freely admit that mostly bothered to post this is the fact that there are very few starship battles on LAF, and no Starmada BatReps I could find

 i hate to say it, but I think Starmada works better with counters instead of figs. I still prefer the figs, as they're much prettier, but with stacking or close maneuvers, things can get fiddly.

[The_Beast]

I freely admit that mostly bothered to post this is the fact that there are very few starship battles on LAF, and no Starmada BatReps I could find

And, now you are preaching to the choir, brother. I'd even respond favorably to a post about Star Fleet Battles. 

Doug