Federation Commander

[yockbo]

(8CM40) Four Hawks 1: The Ophiunia Raid

After Action Report

My opponent (Joe, or YJ) and I are fairly new to FC, and very new to the Hydrans. I had recently bought up all the Hydran ship modules and boosters and was eager to try them out. Between us we have probably 20 FTF games of FC in and none of them to this point have involved the Hydrans. Thus when we saw that the scenario in the Communiqué (#52) featured Hydrans, we were both very excited. Not only were we excited to try out the Hydrans, but they were fighting a Romulan squadron, another added bonus as I like seeing races face opponents that they usually do not encounter.

Now, the scenario. It features a squadron of Romulan ships serving on the Hydran Boarder with the Klingons. These are 3rd generation Romulans, so we have an Escort Cruiser (SP-M) to play with as well. Here is what the squadron looks like:

NovaHawk 192 (CC) [2xS, 2xF]
SparrowHawk-M 150 (NCL-E) [S]
SparrowHawk 135 (NCL) [S, 2xF]
SkyHawk 102 (DD) [2xF]

Total BPV: 579

The Hydran force looks like this:

Tartar 125 (CM) [3xHB]
Rhino Hunter 95 (DW) [2xHB]
Lancer 77+40 (DD) [3xFB + 4xSTGR FTR]
Knight 90 (DD) [2xHB]
Mobile Base 100 (Base) [2x F or H]

Reinforcements Turn 4:
Hydran Mongol Cruiser 100+60 (CM) [3xFB + 6xSTGR FTR]
Total BPV 527 +160


The Romulans objective is to destroy the MB. The scenario uses the standard point based victory conditions (in the RB). The Romulans CAN NOT lose a single ship, or they lose the scenario. Also, the scenario features an excellent special rule (given the situation) in that if a ROM ship takes >= 50% damage to power or weapons, it has to withdraw immediately. The map is fixed (3x2) with the base on the far side and the Romulans setting up 25 hexes away from it in directions B/C.

As YJ and I had not played the Hydrans before, we diced for sides with him getting the three legged green people, I got the ROMs and their fancy 3rd gen ships. One thing I failed to mention was that by SSR the ROMs start with all their torps loaded, having just uncloaked. I set up with the NH, SP & SP-M in one hex and the SK in the trailing hex. YJ stacked up too (two ships in two hexes) and we started the turn closing with each other. My initial plan was to try and take out the Hydran ships with my torps on turn one, cloak if needed and be ready to finish them off on turn 3. Then deal with the MB and the reinforcing Cruiser.

However, we all know that a plan rarely survives contact with the enemy. Joe pooped out his Stingers early, something like 8-12 hexes range. I believe he then turned his ships off, leaving the Stingers on their own, between me and the MB. This caught me off guard. Also, it occurred to me, for the first time facing Stingers on the map in front of me and my objective, that I had no interest in letting them getting close (<= 2 hexes) to me. I fired P1’s at the Stingers at a range of 4-6, destroying them. Also around this time YJ fired on my SP with all of his Hellbores. He severely damaged one shield, reducing the rest. He might have (this was a couple weeks ago that we played this) done 10-20 Internals as well. Importantly though, the downed shield was in the rear, this will come into play later.

So at this point, I changed my plan. He had lost his Stingers and had turned away from me. I also quickly realized that the SK was a big liability, if he can destroy this ship, I lose no matter what. The new plan was this: I go straight for the MB and nuke it with my still loaded Plasma’s. The SK turns off and runs for the nearest board edge (away from my main fleet). I felt that I could take out the MB and then run off the board without losing a ship.

Going into turn two, I stayed at Baseline 24 and shot plasma at the MB early in the turn (impulse two or three). It took all of my plasma, but the base went up. The SK was being ignored by Joe as he kept his ships in the center of the map until he saw which way I was going to run. I ran along the top of the map along the edge, I had the NH and SP-M in one hex and the SP was 3-4 hexes in front of them. I was at 24 and accelerating as much as my power allowed. He was re-charging his HB’s for the now climactic turn 3. I would be able to exit the board on turn 3, so we knew that this would be it.

Joe wisely focused on the already wounded SP. I EM’d at the top of the turn and did not start loading my torps on any of my ships. Joe was closing the range to the SP and his alpha on it destroyed it. It was close though, he just barely got enough damage to take it out. The actual range was I think 2-3 hexes, plus I was EMing…so he had to destroy me (he couldn’t have TRAC’d me). I thought about cloaking, but he would have been able to alpha me BEFORE my fade in kicked in, so I elected to stay with EM.

So Joe got the win and both of us had a great time. I can’t wait to see what the next scenario is in this line, as this is the first in a set of linked scenarios. I think this one is very balanced and each side has several options in what approach they want to do. I think the special rules are very nice, convening the perfect atmosphere to each squadron commander.

So, has anyone else had a chance to play this one yet?