Wormhole - Session Report

Scenario : Both fleets are responding to a distress beacon eminating from a stella dust cloud, neither force is aware of of the others presence. A sudden solar pulse from a nearby sun temporarily washes away the dust cloud revealing the fleets to each other.

Royalist Faction : 1 Hammerhead Cruiser, 1 Missile Fighter
Separatist Faction : 1 Fleet Carrier, 1 Control Corvette, 2 Particle Bow Frigates.

Set up :
Royalists ,Line Ahead, Fighter followed by Cruiser ,heading "north".
Separatists , Line Ahead Carrier, Particle Bows, Corvette, heading "North by North West".

First Phase of Battle.

The Fighters sped North then turned South East aiming to take on the Frigates. The Cruiser Launched a missile at the Carrier and started turning towards. The Carrier started to turn towards, the Frigates simply started charging, the Corvette turned sharply west and started heading for the Cruiser.

Second Phase of Battle.

The Cruiser launched a second missile aiming for the northern most Frigate. The Fighter dodged South East passing safely South of the Frigates as they turned towards the Cruiser. The Corvette nominated the Fighters as a target as it headed further West towards the Cruiser, the Carrier continued its turn.

Third Phase of the Battle.

The ruiser launched a third missile ready to take any target of opportunity. The Fighters passed between the Frigates and Corvette turning in towards the southern Frigates rear. The Corvette closed on the Cruiser nominating it as a target and Firing causing 1 point of damage. The Frigates had an opportunity to fire at the Missiles but choose to hold fire and save it for the Cruiser.

Fourth Phase of the Battle.

The Cruiser launched another missile. One of the missiles launched earlier reached the northernmost Frigate and caused 3 points of damage. The Carrier continued its turn and fired on the incoming missile which exploded only an inch from it causing minor damage to the Carrier itself. The Frigates opened fire together, the massive firepower of the two Fusion Cannons ripped into the Cruiser causing massive damage. The Corvette poured in its own Laser fire and this tipped the balance causing the Cruiser to distintergrate.

Fifth Phase of the Battle.

The Fighters attacked the rear of the undamaged Frigate but failed to cause any damage. One of the missiles homed in on the damaged Frigate and caused a single point of damage.

At the point the Royalists decided to withdraw from the battlefield and disapeared into the surrounding dust.

After game thoughts :

This was a fast playing game, all of the rules are simple and straightforward and I only had to look things up once or twice.

The ability of Fighters to move behind an enemy is thier strength. I suggest they should always be used in this capacity. This suggests that Frigates, Cruisers and Capital ships can easily be worn down from rear end attacks and thus require Fighter support of thier own to defend thier rear quarters.

The Frigates are tremendously powerful if left alone to do thier own thing. Once charged they need to be avoided.

Missiles are tremendously useful, cheap to buy and intelligent, I think in future games I would launch a few of these , running the early ones slowly so the later ones can catch up and then have them all hit at the same time.

Due to the poor turning ability of the Cruisers I suspect that they are really only good at taking on other Capital ships, but I never actually got to try that.

The weakness of the Carrier in aggressive capability suggests to me that like modern carriers these need to be protected and kept out of harms way. I'm thinking that each Carrier should only ever launch three of its fighters, keeping one is reserve. Then as soon as a Fighter gets damaged it returns to the Carrier and the reserve leaves.

Good game, really enjoyed it, will be playing again.