It has been a long time since I have played a game of
this. I decided to break it out again
for two major reasons. First, the death
of Dystopian Wars as Spartan Games and their re-birth as Warcradle Games gave
me a bit of a hankering for make believe Naval warfare. The second was reading some of my old battle
and looking at some of my old homemade models made me feel a bit
nostalgic. Therefore, I decided to bust
out some of the old templates and give it a go again.
As I go back into the archives, I think I started making
this game in 2007. That means this game
is 10 years old, give or take. I haven’t
personally played it since 2012 or so.
Therefore, I will be a bit rusty on the rules and probably make a
mistake or two. I find this funny since
I wrote the game! No one should know it
better than me right?
To get started I decided to use two relatively basic
fleets. I decided to use the Ammoriss
Naval PDF versus a Pirate force. It
seemed somewhat thematic. Before the
rebellion of South Ammoriss, much of the Naval PDFs job was to hunt down and
eliminate Pirates that preyed on the convoys that criss-crossed Greater
Ammoriss. Even though I have ships made
for the Ammoriss PDF but I decided to just use the templates for this game
since I do not have any Pirate ships made up.
Let’s see what happens.
You can find all the rules and stuff to try it for yourself
here.
The Forces:
Ammoriss Naval PDF
AN Saint Invictus
Dependable Class Cruiser- 250 points
Spear Group 46Delta
2 Assured Escorts- 100 Points
Total= 350 Points
Ammoriss Pirate Fleet
Jolly Roberts- LD 8
Pirate class frigate- 250 points
Sally (LD 8) and Bess (LD 6)
2 Monitors- 150 points
Jackie Tarrow (LD
8) and Sparrow Hawk (LD 6)
2 Pillager class escort- 200 points
Swift Roe (LD 7) and Sea Nixie (LD 7)
Skiff Escort- 100 points
Total= 700 Points
Scenario:
The Ammoriss Naval PDF is raiding the Pirate Fleet. In a Raiders mission, the attacker can only
use half the points of the defender.
Both sides are trying to inflict Damage Points on the enemy fleet, while
limiting damage to their own. If the
Attackers inflict more damage than the Defenders, they win.
We are using a 4 by 4 board. The Pirates are placed on the board edge
closest to shore 12 inches away. The
Ammoriss Naval PDF is deployed moving across the table from the Pirate fleet
from North to South.
**************
The sunrise was
beautiful. The sea danced under the
delicate touch of the sun, and an array of yellow, orange, and red danced and
shimmered. The glow of daylight cut
through the sea mist, and a purple haze surrounded the bright ball as it
crested the waves.
Captain
Smythe-Browne sipped his tea and savored the bitter tang. This was why he had signed up for the Naval
PDF. Few people got to see the sunrise
like this.
“Augurs have
detected unidentified readings at bearing Delta- 456,” one of the crew
chirped.
The Captain placed
his tea cup back in its saucer. The XO
had taken charge and began issue the agreed upon orders. Smythe-Browne handed the tea cup back to his
steward, who quickly tidied it away and scampered to his battle station. The alert klaxon began to sound.
NavComm had been
right. Captain Smythe-Browne didn’t know
how they knew and he didn’t care. That
pirate scum was right where they were supposed to be when his force got
here. Now, he was going to smash
them.
****************
Turn 1:
The Raiders automatically start with the initiative.
Move:
The Assureds raced around the back side of the small
island. Meanwhile, the Pirate fleet
moved out. The Skiffs and Pillagers
stayed in formation and approached the lighthouse. The Dependable had to turn towards the
Pirates to bypass the island as well.
The Jolly Roberts turned to meet the Ammoriss navy ship while the
Monitors tucked in behind the other Pirate escorts.
Battle:
The Dependable opens fire. The front turret fires on the Pirate escorts
but misses due to range and size. The
Las-batteries arc out at the Pirate Frigate, but a Brace by the Jolly Roberts
keeps them from serious damage.
The Pirate frigate returns fire with her port batteries
and manage to knock a DP off the Dependable!
The other ships are out of range.
End:
None
Turn 2:
AN wins initiative.
Move:
The Saint Invictus moves to cut-off the escape of the
Pirate escorts and cross their T.
However, they are speedy, and one manages to get in front of her. The
Assureds turn in to finish them off. The
rest break to the Saint Invictus’ port side.
The Pirate Frigate moves to get behind the AN cruiser.
Battle:
The Assureds open fire on the Pillager in front of the
Cruiser. Their combined fire is enough
to turn her into a lifeless hulk, despite Bracing. The second Pillager (Sparrow Hawk) fires on
the Saint Invictus, and another shell finds a weak spot and reduces her another
DP. Captain Smythe-Browne may want to
try Bracing one of these days?
Instead, the Amoriss Naval PDF Captain orders his crew to
Lock-on, but they are unable to. Instead,
the Las-batteris fire on the Pillager, the front turret at the Skiff, and the
rear at the Pirate Frigate. The skiff
avoids the heavy shells. The Pillager is
hit once and takes damage. The Jolly
Roberts also braces, but still takes a hit!
The shell manages to strike and destroy the ship’s screw, which is now
fouled!
The Monitors also fire on the Dependable, but the shells
ring off the Cruiser’s armored belt. The
Jolly Roberts has reduced firepower from Bracing, and only pings a shell off
the AN Cruiser’s armor.
End:
The Jackie Tarrow continues to drift on its last course
even after being struck lifeless by the Assured attacks.
The Jolly Roberts engineers manage to repair the Fouled
Screw on their ship.
Turn 3:
AN Wins
Battle:
The Saint Invictus sets course for the lighthouse eager
to try and keep the pirates in his broadside arc. However, the Pirates are fast and most manage
to scatter past. The Sparrow Hawk and a
Skiff move towards the small atoll island.
The Assureds try to move to pursue, but they are set-up by one of the
Skiffs! It crashes into the lead escort
and both sink to the bottom. The Jolly
Roberts moves up to pursue the damaged AN Cruiser.
Battle:
Captain Smythe-Brown has the crew lock-on to the Jolly
Roberts that is closing and opens fire.
When the smoke clears, all the batteries hit. The Jolly Roberts braces. However, it is not enough and the ship takes
two hits bringing it down to 2 DP left and crippling her. In addition, the shells caused massive crew
casualties! The remaining Assured joins
in and hits the Jolly Roberts for another point of damage.
The rest of the Pirate shooting is ineffective.
End:
The Jackie Tarrow continues to drift.
Both wake markers are removed.
Turn 4:
Pirates with the Initiative.
Move:
The desperate Jolly Roberts manages to All Ahead Full and
ram the Saint Invictus, who braces for Impact!
Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Ram causes enough damage to reduce
them to 0, and the AN Cruiser is unharmed due to bracing and armor! However, they are now entangled.
The Monitors split to go around the entangled ships. The Assured moves after the Pillager and
Skiff. The Skiff rockets off the board
and to safety. Meanwhile, the Pillager
comes around to fire on the Saint Invictus.
Battle:
The Saint Invictus fires on the Monitors with his bow and
stern weapons. They both Brace. However, the Las-batteries cut the front
Monitor into shreds. The rear Monitor
fires on the Assured and misses. The
Sparrow Hawk fires on the Saint Invictus and manages to take one more DP off
despite him bracing.
End:
The hulks of the Pillager and Monitor drift as does the
tangled Saint Invictus and Jolly Roberts.
Turn 5:
Pirates win Initiative
Move:
The Pirates scatter to escape, but the PDF pursues where
possible.
Battle:
The last fleeing Monitor fires a point blank shot into
the pursuing Assured and reduces him to a lifeless hulk. Long range stern fire from the Saint Invictus
overkills the last Monitor and sinks it.
Trailing fire on the Sparrowhawk misses as well.
The parting stern shot from the Sparrow Hawk pings loudly
off the Saint Invictus’ armor.
End:
The other Monitor explodes and sinks. The Jackie Tarrow drifts, as does the Saint
Invictus and the Jolly Roberts.
Turn 6:
Initiative:
Pirates
Move:
The last pirate ship escapes the board.
Battle:
None
End:
The Assured sinks.
The Jolly Roberts also slips from the entangled wreckage
and sinks beneath the waves.
Conclusion:
The Pirates inflicted 5 Damage Points, and the Ammoriss
Naval PDF inflicted 10 DP. The Amoriss
Naval PDF wins the Raid scenario.
**************
The XO finished briefing
him on the repairs underway on his ship.
He sipped at his tea and savored the bitter flavor. Then set his cup back into the saucer.
“Has NavComm been
informed?”
His XO nodded
curtly, “They send their regards for a job well done.”
It was indeed a
fine time to be in the Navy.
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