The following is a battle report for my latest game, Hostile Space:
The trading contract for the Freehold of New Arcadia will expire and come up for re-negotiation in the next rotations. Traditionally, these contracts have been held by corporate interests aligned with the New Olympians, and New Arcadia was considered within the New Olympians sphere of interests. However, the free hold is located in the Asteroid Belt, which the Earth Alliance views at its territory.
With the contract set to expire, elements of the Earth Alliance have begun aggressively courting New Arcadia. They have offered lucrative incentives, and coupled them with veiled threats. In fact, some smaller trading and prospecting vessels from New Arcadia have gone missing in the region. The Earth Alliance has cited this as a prime reason to change contracts, as the New Olympians have failed to properly protect and enforce the expiring contract.
The powers that be on NeOlympus have deemed it necessary to reinforce their alliance on New Arcadia. To this end, they have deployed a patrol ship and a compliment of suits to New Arcadia space. A Carrier arrived and dropped off just such a ship before continuing on its route. The New Olympian commander on the scene has pledged to find the cause of the missing prospecting vessels.
Investigating the last know location of one of these New Arcadian Prospecting ships, the New Olympians had unusual activity on their scopes. The New Olympians engaged the hostiles and drove them off. Post-battle analysis allowed the New Olympians to identify that the suits engaged were of Earth Alliance design. However, the Earth Alliance is well known for selling their tech to anyone with the currency to buy it. Identifying their suits would not be enough to link them to the loss of the Prospecting Ships from New Arcadia.
Therefore, the Patrol Craft tracked their potential telemetry to a nearby Asteroid that could house a forward operating base. En route, unknown suits were identified attempting to transit from the area. Again, a vicious dogfight ensued, but the apparent lead suit escaped while the new Olympians lost one of their heavier suits in the fighting.
With their leads running dry, the Captain set course for Liberty Pointe. The Pointe was a well known haven for freebooters, criminals and smugglers, just the type of place where pirates would try to off load their ill-gotten gains. The New Olympians hoped to pick up the trail there.
After travelling through open space for several weeks, the Patrol Ship finally was able to contact Liberty Pointe. Technically, Liberty Pointe was under the protection and aligned with the Outsider Confederation. However, they graciously allowed a single New Olympian transport escorted by a few suits to enter dock at their Free Hold and pursue the investigation.
Members of the New OIympian Diplomatic Corp as well as a criminal investigation team boarded the shuttle with their honor guard of marines. The transport left the dock, and her escort of Ares suits soon joined her on the transit to the Pointe.
As they approached, the traffic from other ships in Docking Orbit and their transports also increased. When they were outside of the protection of the Patrol Ships guns, but before they were in close orbit to the Pointe calamity struck. A Cold-Void Storage Container en route to the Pointe burst open and unknown Suits swarmed out of it and towards the Transport. Someone didn't want this investigation to continue! The New Olympian Escorts scrambled to engage the enemy suits.
Forces:
New Olympians
3 Ares Space Combat Suits
- 1 Upgraded with #1 - Heavy beam Cannon
1 Hephaestus Lander
Red Knights
1 Shepherd Suit
- Upgrade- Combat Shield
4 Bulldog Suits
- 1 Upgrade- Rocket Tube
We will be using Mission 5- Escorts found in the main rule book. In this scenario, the Attacking Unknowns earn extra VP for destroying the transport. Meanwhile, the New Olympians will gain extra VP if the Transport escapes the opposite board edge, or avoids getting destroyed.
Set-up
This time, we are playing on a 72 x 48 MU board. That means 1 MU is 1 inch in today's battle. I have placed large "shadows" on the board that represent other freighters, cargo containers, and other craft. They all cover a single altitude that was randomly determined. Each has a dice next to them for Height. The large frieghters cover all the altitudes for this battle. If a Suit or transport enters the area of a shadow and is at the same altitude, it is considered destroyed.
The New Olympians deploy on a short board edge with the transport in the middle at Beta and speed 4 about 4 MU in. The rest of the suits form a triangle around the Transport at various altitudes all at speed 4.
The Unknowns are on the opposite side of the boards. They are at various altitudes and speed 6 and all deployed 6 MU from their edge.
Maneuver Phase:
Generally, the first few turns are the Maneuver phase and cover the to sides coming to grips. I won't detail every action but lump them all together an touch on key points.
The two sides closed in on each other quickly. They converged in the center of the board, while the Transport tried to slip around the New Olympian right in the shadow of a large freighter. By Turn 2 the furball had started. The initial exchange one Bulldog suit was smoking.
Battle Phase:
Now that both sides are stuck in, the bulk of the rest of the game will be fighting. This is the Battle phase, and I won't detail every move, just the highlights.
As the Earth Alliance Suits try to close in on the New Olympian transport, an Ares manages to get a solid lock with his Heavy Beam Cannon and obliterates the attacker with a single shot! Scratch one Earthling! The New Olympian Transport's move to the right flank has caused a few Earth Alliance suits to be out of position.
The Rocket Tube equipped Bulldog dutifully chased the New Olympian Transport, sending rockets after it, but failing to find the mark. However, Bulldog #1 managed to scratch-up and damage Ares #4 in a close-up firefight.
End Phase:
Bulldog #1 managed to get into a Tailing Position on Ares #4 and blow him away with his MAS Rifle. No escape pod was detected.
Despite the loss, the New Olympian Transport is very close to the defensive umbrella of New Liberties port guns. It is now or never for the attacking Combat Suits. Ares #3 manages to damage the Rocket Tube equipped Bulldog as it stays with the Transport and tries to line up a last shot.
The Shepherd gets the drop on the Ares with the Heavy Beam Cannon, and blasts it with a Swarm of Missiles. However, some deft flying and defensive fire manage to keep the Suit alive but in rough shape. Return fire from the Heavy Beam Cannon cuts through the missile swarm and burns the Shepherd out of space.
The Earth Alliance lines up its last shot with the Rocket Tube, tries to wait for a solid lock, but time runs out and he fires wildly. The rocket goes wide of the mark. The Bulldog's rocket tube is dry.
Disengagement Turn:
The Transport manages to get to safety, escorted by the damaged Heavy Beam Ares. After some swirling and shooting, both sides break-off the attack.
Conclusion:
Victory for the New Olympians as they blasted their way through the ambush on their transport and managed to land their diplomats and investigators on Liberty Pointe. The New Olympians had the better of it, by scrubbing two enemy suits and damaging two others, to the loss of 1 of their own and 1 damaged. A clear Victory.
It is tough to tell in this report, but this battle had a lot of strafing, rotating, flying backwards, and maneuvering in space that you don't see in most airplane games. The Erath Alliance were hindered in this mission by their shorter range weapons. Once the Transport broke past, they were stuck chasing and had a tough time closing the distance on the fast New Olympian shuttle craft. However, the Rocket Tube kept it interesting! The Lower Pilot ratings moving first, and better ones shooting first also hampered the Earth Alliance a bit. However, that didn't stop a Bulldog from getting the drop on a Ares and being able to use Tailing Fire to wax it. Maneuver was key in this one.
The mysterious attackers blasted a EMP detonation to cover their escape. A few days later, the Earth Alliance Combat Suits were discovered by Liberty Pointe authorities magnetized to the side of a cargo container. Their pilots were no where to be found. It could only be surmised that they abandoned their suits and were later picked up by confederates at the station. The suits had been careful scrubbed of identifying markers or data. It could only be assumed that their Mercenary pilots were still somewhere on the station.
New Olympian investigators on Liberty Pointe eventually were able to root these Mercenaries and their collaborators out. However, diplomatic red tape meant that they could not take them into custody. Liberty Pointe was neutral territory. However, simply identifying them as part of the Red Knights Mercenary Company was useful. The Red Knights had known ties to official Earth Alliance personnel. The case against the Earth Alliance meddling in the negotiations with New Arcadia was stronger than ever before.
New Olympian intelligence used this new bits of information, along with their other details to piece together the potential staging point of the Red Knights in the New Arcadia region. The New Olympians priority was to get back and disrupt that base! New Olympian personnel scrambled back to their Patrol Ship and set course for their new target.
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