This is the first game played with the updated campaign management system, and I wrote the battle report in the campaign format as an example of how encounters work.
CHALLENGE: Commodore K- and I played our first game last night. I challenged him to a recon encounter so we drew up 400 point lists and didn't make any bids since we had no campaign points to start. My Blazing Sun Moutain Spirit Fury Force had 1 squadron of 3 cruisers, 1 squadron of 3 frigates, and 1 squadron of 2 scout gyros with a total of 395 composition points. My opponent's Majestic Britannic force had 2 squadrons each of 1 destroyer and 3 frigates, and then a medium class squadron of 1 gunship and 2 cruisers. No large models are allowed in recon size encounters. We each had 3 squadrons so we also fielded 3 pair of tiny flyers; I had 2x3 torpedo bombers and the British had 2x3 dive bombers.
LOCATION: I rolled 2d6 with a result of 2 & 1 for a difference of 1, so I placed just 1 small island in the center of the board.
OBJECTIVES: We each selected 1 secret objective and wrote that down to reveal at the end of the game.
DEPLOYMENT: I started by placing a tiny flyer squadron and spread out my ships to overlap by taking advantage of the 6" command distance. My opponent consolidated his squadrons, putting the medium on one flank and the then 2 small in the center.
COMMENCE: I started with initiative since I was the challenger, and I moved up my cruiser squadron to unleash a rocket salvo against his HMS Bayonet gunship. I rolled handfulls of dice and only scored 1 hit, no effect. Starting turn 2 my opponent scored initiative and moved his medium squadron into RB2 and began tearing up my lead cruiser. My scout gyros kept their distance to maximize the firepower of the rocket batteries, but what few rockets made it through the AA screen of the medium squadron had no effect. The British small squadrons moved up around the island in the center and engaged my frigates which had moved too far forward and were vulnerable. By turn 3 I had lost a cruiser with the other two making a circling-back maneuver to keep their distance and use rockets while my frigates were destroyed one at a time. I made a torpedo run with a squadron of tiny flyers, but most of them were shot down by the AA, and then the British dive bombers, which fight like fighters, tore into my tiny flyer squadron before they could turn around and attempt to re-arm. By turn 4 I had managed to severely damage at least 2 ships in his medium squadron, reducing their effectiveness, but he still had 2 full small squadrons of ships and 2 squadrons of tiny flyers. I conceeded defeat to conserve the forces I still had.
RESOLUTION: I had chosen "Air Superiority" as my secret objective which was an absolute failure since his dive bombers clearly doubled as fighters, and his AA screen was too strong. He had chosen "Destroy Frigates," so he scored 110 VP for destroying my 3 frigates, and then 60 for my destroyed cruiser. I only scored half points for the 2 damaged medium ships, so he clearly won with 30% more VP than I had scored. His Crushing Triumph awarded him 4 Campaign Points while I only received the nominal 1 XP as a "thanks for playing." I could have used my new Campaign Point to challenge him to a 600 point game, but with 135 points of my fleet destroyed it made better sense to buy 200 Refit points and restore those ships to my Mountain Fury Spirit Fleet and have a reserve of 65 Refit Points. I'll take a turn at playing at defense and let him challenge me to the next game.
OBJECTIVES: We each selected 1 secret objective and wrote that down to reveal at the end of the game.
DEPLOYMENT: I started by placing a tiny flyer squadron and spread out my ships to overlap by taking advantage of the 6" command distance. My opponent consolidated his squadrons, putting the medium on one flank and the then 2 small in the center.
COMMENCE: I started with initiative since I was the challenger, and I moved up my cruiser squadron to unleash a rocket salvo against his HMS Bayonet gunship. I rolled handfulls of dice and only scored 1 hit, no effect. Starting turn 2 my opponent scored initiative and moved his medium squadron into RB2 and began tearing up my lead cruiser. My scout gyros kept their distance to maximize the firepower of the rocket batteries, but what few rockets made it through the AA screen of the medium squadron had no effect. The British small squadrons moved up around the island in the center and engaged my frigates which had moved too far forward and were vulnerable. By turn 3 I had lost a cruiser with the other two making a circling-back maneuver to keep their distance and use rockets while my frigates were destroyed one at a time. I made a torpedo run with a squadron of tiny flyers, but most of them were shot down by the AA, and then the British dive bombers, which fight like fighters, tore into my tiny flyer squadron before they could turn around and attempt to re-arm. By turn 4 I had managed to severely damage at least 2 ships in his medium squadron, reducing their effectiveness, but he still had 2 full small squadrons of ships and 2 squadrons of tiny flyers. I conceeded defeat to conserve the forces I still had.
RESOLUTION: I had chosen "Air Superiority" as my secret objective which was an absolute failure since his dive bombers clearly doubled as fighters, and his AA screen was too strong. He had chosen "Destroy Frigates," so he scored 110 VP for destroying my 3 frigates, and then 60 for my destroyed cruiser. I only scored half points for the 2 damaged medium ships, so he clearly won with 30% more VP than I had scored. His Crushing Triumph awarded him 4 Campaign Points while I only received the nominal 1 XP as a "thanks for playing." I could have used my new Campaign Point to challenge him to a 600 point game, but with 135 points of my fleet destroyed it made better sense to buy 200 Refit points and restore those ships to my Mountain Fury Spirit Fleet and have a reserve of 65 Refit Points. I'll take a turn at playing at defense and let him challenge me to the next game.
