The following is a battle report for my latest game, Hostile Space:
The New Olympians were putting all the pieces together and closing the noose on the Red Knight operation to de-stabilize New Arcadia. The trading contract of the New Arcadia Freehold was coming up for negotiation. Their current patrons were the New Olympians, and the Red Knights had been contracted to disrupt trade and prospecting efforts to highlight that the New Olympians could not guarantee the Freehold's security and prosperity. Once a new contract had been met, the Red Knight contract would also come to an end.
However, the New Olympians were not so wiling to just let the Red Knight Mercenaries disrupt things around New Arcadia. They had dispatched their own Patrol Ship with a squadron of Combat Suits to find the source of the disruptions and put a stop to them. The New Olympians were not going to let the Freehold slide from their sphere of influence without a fight.
The New Olympians had managed to disrupt the Red Knight attacks and drive them into hiding. However, the New Olympians managed to track them down and eliminate the Red Knights main base of operations in New Arcadia. In order to fulfill their contract, the Red Knights had a small window of opportunity. Their last chance was a desperate attack on New Arcadia itself to force a regime change. It was a huge and overt gamble, but their was a small window of opportunity before the New Olympian Patrol Craft could return to the Freehold.
In desperation, Red Knight agents managed to disable the long-range defense guns of the New Arcadia main docking array. That would be the infiltration point for the Red Knights, they just had to battle their way to the landing site and make the attack stick!
Forces:
New Olympians
3 Hecate Fighters
1 Hecate Fighter - Missile Pods
3 Hera Defense Satellites
Red Knights
4 Bulldogs
1 Bulldog- Rocket Tube
1 Shephard - Swarm Missiles
1 Shephard - Swarm Missiles, Combat Axe, Shield
3 Watchdog Landers
We are using Mission 11- Assault the Base. The New Olympians are trying to stop the Red Knights from landing their transports at the base. The New Olympians gain bonus VPs for killing Transports, and the Red Knights score for landing them.
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. If a Suit or transport enters the area of a shadow and is at the same altitude, it is considered destroyed.
In addition, we have set-up a short board edge to be the Freehold with a landing platform. The platform is at altitude 3 and can be landed on. The rest of the Freehold covers all altitudes and any craft that comes in contact will be destroyed.
The Red Knights were coming in on the opposite board edge and spoiling for a fight.
Maneuver Phase:
The Hecate fighters use their considerable speed to blast through the oncoming suit swarm and target the Transports. However, that gave the Red Knight Suits a clear path to the Hangar, with only the defense guns to protect them. The quick attack leaves one Transport badly damaged!
However, the Mastiff escort does get a very close range hit on Hecate 2, and takes it out of the fight. A Zero G-capsule breaks free, indicating that the pilot of the Hecate managed to bail-out before his craft went out of control. First Blood to the Red Knights!
Battle Phase
The Red Knight Combat Suits can not outmaneuver the interceptors, so they try to focus on getting to the Hangar and dealing with the defense satellites. The heavily damaged Red Knight Transport tries to break away to avoid destruction. The others, continue on the attack.
As the Mercs close in on New Arcadia, the Hecates take their toll on the Transports and blow one up, killing the marines on-board. However, it doesn't go all the New Olympians way as a Defense satellite is smoked by a Rocket Tube.
End Game
The last remaining but heavily damaged Transports set-up for their landing runs. The Hecates easily closed in on them, and used the last of their ammo to open fire. One of the Transports was smoked, while the second was heavily damaged, but its armor held!
With the Hecates and Hera's all out of ammo, we decided to play the Disengagement round and see what happened! Would the Transport make it to land?
Ultimtaely, the Hecates were able to use their speed and maneuver to easily escape, despite a parting shot from a Mastiff suit. The Transports and Mastiff suit going to land ended up being a bit too far, but in the end we decided that they would have been able to land unopposed before the defense cannons came back online.
Conclusion:
Per the rules of the scenario, the Attacker and Defender roll off on a d6, the Attacker gets a +1 for each Assault unit that landed. We had said that a Transport and a Combat Suit would have been able to land, giving the Red Knights a +2 to the roll.
The New Olympian defenders rolled and got a 3. Not great. The Red Knights would need to roll a 1 to fumble the assault. The dice were rolled and..... 5 +2 = 7. An easy victory (even without the +2) for the Red Knights as they manage to storm the Free Hold!
As the New Olympian Patrol Ship returns from Liberty Pointe, they are shocked when they come under fire from New Arcadia's defenses! They were supposed to be allies! Quick thinking and skilled navigation manages to get the New Olympian vessel far enough away to avoid serious damage.
Communication from New Arcadia makes things clearer. While the ship was away, chasing mercenaries, the Free Hold had a change of governance. The treaty with New Olympia had been ripped up! They were now negotiating with the Earth Alliance instead.
Handed such a Fait Accompli, the Patrol Ship could do little else. This was now a political problem more than a military problem. The New Olympians could not simple storm the Free Hold and re-take it. If they did so, they would face serious condemnation from the Concert of the Great Powers.
The New Olympian Patrol Ship was soon order to return to their Carrier and await re-assignment. In the Concert of the Solar System chambers, the New Olympians were able to bring strong evidence that the piratical activities in the region had been at the behest of the Earth Alliance via the Red Knight Mercenaries. However, the New Arcadia government insisted that it no longer wanted to be in the New Olympian orbit. The Concert and the New Olympians hands were tied.... at least here in New Arcadia.
That pretty much wraps up our slow burn, Hostile Space campaign. I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse at how to play the game, and some nuances of the setting.
Until next time!
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