Fluff Monday: Monsters and Legends

SeerK Here.  Although its not Friday I thought I would post our next installment of the story of Alex Cross.  I have been pretty busy getting ready for our tournament The Second Annual Storm Zone Brawl: The Battle At Omicron Theta at UCON.  It is this coming Saturday the 15th.  our start time is 10 a.m. and there are still spots available.  We have patrol fleets, dreadnought boxes and battle stations up for grabs.  I hope to see you all there!  In the mean time Enjoy the story!

The doors to the hanger bay slowly parted. The force shield holding the environment in the bay flickered slightly as the air momentarily rushed towards the black inky vacuum of space. Alex stood at the center of his officers. They were lined up in two neat rows while an honor guard of the ships Marines stood at attention in parallel lines with their weapons at parade rest. Klaxons sounded as the shuttle entered the bay. The plain steel gray craft slowed as it entered the bay. Its slab sided bulk slowly lowered itself onto the landing pad closest to the arranged rows of officers and Marines.

After it had completed its landing. the Marines turned and quick stepped into two rows flanking the hatch. They stood to attention as the hatch opened. Even covert meetings and secret trips had pomp and traditions to be followed in the Rense System Navy. Alex stood, rather calmly with his hands behind his back, as the hatch opened the the ramp came down. Pioneer troopers came down first, followed by what looked to be a collection of administrators, Fleet Colonels, Fleet Captains and Fleet Marshals. They filed down and joined the other soldiers and Fleet officers in neat rows. Salutes and hand shakes were exchanged. Alex felt all their eyes on him. It was a bit unsettling. It seemed they knew why Fleet Marshal Gronier was here.

As Alex became lost in thought, he awoke form his reverie as one of the higher ranking officers shouted “Attention! Alpha On Deck!” The woman emerging from the blocky shuttle craft looked to be in her early 40's. She was tall with a mane of silver hair flowing down her shoulder. It was arranged in a complex of braids with a heavy looking silver tie at the end of the arrangement. It looked like the “Wings Of Liberty”, The Symbol of the Federation. She was actually quite lovely, with high cheek bones and a slight frame. The look in her eyes could have penetrated a Terran energy shield. They were locked firmly on Alex. It was her, Supreme Fleet Marshal Delphine Rense-Gronier. The “Silver Fox” they called her, well at least not in her presence. Alex knew she was a little over 62 years old, but thanks to Directorate Bio Sciences looked to be in her Early 40's. Her nickname was earned thanks to her silver hair, apparantly it had been that way from a very young age, and her hallmark hit and run tactics when prosecuting campaigns. Her forces were like ghosts and her tactics were reminiscent of the old Earth General Erwin Rommel.

The Fleet Marshal strode confidently down the ramp Saluting the Marines as she went past them. Alex Stepped forward and saluted.

“Welcome the the Leonidas sir! I am..” Marshal Gronier Interrupted as Alex spouted his greeting.

“Do I look like a sir Cross? I hate that protocol Cross. As we have never met that was your one warning”

“Yes ma'am” Her stare seemed to be boring a hole into Alex. He was off to a great start.

“At ease Fleet Marshal, you look like you are going to faint.”

The rumors of her candor did not prepare Alex for the actuality of it. Alex relaxed and lowered his hand from his salute.

“Apologies Fleet Marshal, I am just surprised you are here. Last word was your Task Fleet was in the Omicron Theta System, I take it things did not go well” Alex froze as he realized how frank his statement was.

A wry smile broke the sternness of her face. She seemed almost amused. She glanced back at one of the officers that had arrived with her with a raised eyebrow. He was a middle aged man with close cropped hair and a jagged scar down the right side of his face. He looked as if someone had slapped him. He shook his head in what seemed like an act of contrition.

She gestured for Alex to walk with her. As they walked side by side towards the briefing room the other officers and Marines filed in behind them.

“Marshal Fromer was right about you Cross”

“Right about what ma'am?”

“You are blunt and speak your mind, terrible quality in an officer”The Marshal smiled as she made the statement. Alex was a little taken aback, but she continued.

“Terrible in an Officer, but an excellent quality in a front line Task Fleet Commander and as an adviser.” “ Which is primarily why I am here Cross” Alex tried to contain his confusion.

They continued for a few minutes winding their way through the halls of the ship until they arrived at the briefing room. Fleet Marshal Gronier took the place at the head of the table and gestured fro everybody to sit. The Stewards served scotch and refreshments to the officers as the Fleet Marshal brought maps and fleet dispositions up on the holo projector at the center of the table.

“Lets get down to business, Omicron theta was a disaster and its because that bastard Gravanivitch was feeding us false intel. We have apprehended the spies among us and now our mission has changed.”

Alex was a bit shocked by the Fleet Marshals directness. There were audible groans and sighs at her pronouncements. She continued for several minutes detailing the regroup and reinforcement of the miscellaneous fleet groups still at large from the battle. From the displays and information it looked as if she was planning on hitting the system with about twice as many ships and was dedicating the RNV Dramos to the fight. The Rense Navies sole Leviathan class warship. This was more than an extended campaign to take a planet, this looked to be a plan of vengeance. Marshal Groniers legendary temper seemed to be getting the better of her. A thought occurred to Alex, this looked like a very well orchestrated diversion. The number of assets and the sheer amount of fire power was over kill.

“Ma'am, this looks reckless. Unless you are trying to draw forces off of Schaumberg Prime.....”

Alex trailed off as all eyes looked at him. Several of the men at the table were shaking their heads, a couple had mortified looks.

“Why would I try to do that Marshal Cross?”

Alex felt trapped, but the wry grin on the Fleet Marshals face showed her hand. With as much confidence as he could muster he answered.

“Ma'am, If it were me I would say I would be drawing forces off of Schaumberg prime to make sure my second smaller Battle Fleet had the element of surprise when it shunted in to take the system......And secure a foothold to hit the Fortress.” The pronouncement made Alex sit back in his seat. The eyes moved from him to the smiling Fleet Marshal Gronier.

“You are sharp Cross. I also cannot take full credit for the plan...”

“Panzer......” Alex laughed slightly. That cunning spider.

“As I recall Cross you have dealt with this Relth in the past?”

“Yes ma'am. His name is very hard to say quickly so I just called him Panzer. He might as well be a tank as big as he is. When I was A Fleet Colonel we participated in joint operations with his hive for over a year.”

Alex knew why she was here “So you want me to treat with the Relthoza fleet thats here.” It wasn’t a question Alex made it as a statement of fact.

“Yes Fleet Marshal I do, they should be here within the hour.”

“Actually Ma'am they are already here.”

“They communicated their arrival time Cross, it was to be in about an hour.”

“True, but Panzer always arrives early and being the consummate hunter that he is probably already has the fleet surrounded.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes ma'am. He follows the old ways and his queen does not suffer failure from her 1^st consort.”

As if on cue, the bridge signaled the conference room.

“Sir this is the bridge, a large hunter fleet just appeared on the scopes with full weapons lock.” The panic in the officers voice was obvious.

“Understood, do not return weapons lock. Roll the ships belly towards the battleship.”

“How did you know there was a battle ship sir?”

“Just roll the ship Lt.”

Alex grinned. That crafty spider was probably shadowing the Fleet Marshals ships the whole time.

“Presenting your belly Cross?”

“Yes ma'am, all the better to lure him in.” Alex grinned. Panzer was probably having a good laugh on his bridge. This was going to be interesting. Hopefully nobody would die when they went to meet with the Relth. The spider was a traditionalist after all.

Until next time Crush the Alliance and as Always...

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!   

Fluff Friday: The Liberation Of Omicron Theta pt 1

SeerK here with another "Fluff Friday" We continue with the tale of Fleet Marshal Alexander Cross. In the wake of a hollow Victory Alex finds himself propelled into the spotlight, but not in the way he had anticipated.

“Sir I have multiple fold signatures with vessels inbound to our position”

“Are they Friend or Foe Mr. Carlson?”

“I.F.F. Signals verified sir....Its Task Fleet Corvus”

Alex slumped in his command chair. Task Fleet Corvus. That was Fleet Marshal Groniers' Task fleet. It was a bulk of the RSN ships in this sector of space. It was part of the 101^st Combined fleet. Judging by the signals lighting up his screens it was a big chunk of the combined fleet. A thought occurred to Alex. Why did she bring so many ships? Wasn't the 101^st currently engaged with the Liberation of Omicron Theta?

“Mr. Carlson are there any troop ships with the fleet?”

“Just a sec Sir.......negative no troop transports or bulk landers Sir.”

That didn't bode well. The 101^st was designated as a Planetfall Division as it contained Legions and ships from the Caros League of systems. Fleet Marshal Groniers' Task Fleet Corvus supplied the intelligence and major offensive punch to the already impressive fire power of the 75^th Caros Assault fleet.

“Sir incoming message from the Agamemnon”.

“Put it through Mr. Ross”

The Agamemnon was the Groniers flagship. It was one of the few Banshee class Dreadnoughts in the RSN fleet.

“Message is text only sir....it reads “briefing on your vessel in one hour”. Its gold level encoded”

A gold level encoded message just telling me to expect company? Something is not right. Alex pondered the information at hand. A feeling of dread suddenly filled him.

“Mr. Carlson do we have a visual of the Task Fleet vessels yet?” His voice was steady despite the fear that was very quickly overtaking him.

“Yes sir, leading vessels coming into visual range now”

“On my screens if you please Mr. Carlson....zoom in on the lead ship and enhance.”

The cruiser on Alexs' screen looked like it had been to hell and back. It looked like it was lucky to be still moving under its own power. How the hell did it make the fold jump to here? Why did they make the jump?

“Mr. Carlson signal the Agamemnon affirmative and tell sick bay to get ready to receive injured.”

“Aye sir!”

Alex sat in his command chair, silent, for a good two minutes. It was clear the Armada that had been sent to Omicron Theta had been hit hard and this was likely a retreating section of the fleet. Given Fleet Marshal Gronier was in over all command of the action, she would not be here to discipline a junior officer with a full scale planetary liberation in process. Alex chastised himself for thinking the Fleet Marshal was here just to dress him down. It was ego and pure vanity on his part.

“ I just have to get over myself.....” Alex trailed off in thought as he muttered out loud.

“What was that sir?”

Alex snapped out of his reverie, “ I will be in the briefing room awaiting our guests Mr. Carlson, you have the Bridge”

“Aye Sir.”

Alex stood and put on his uniform coat. He buttoned it up as he walked out of the bridge and down the hall. He arrived in the Briefing room a few minutes later. He sat down at the long table in the chair at the head of the table. He summoned the steward to bring refreshments to the room and added a bottle of 30 year old single malt scotch from his own private stock to the order.

The steward arrived a few minutes later as Alex was going over the com traffic from the new arrivals.

“Would you like a glass sir?”

Alex looked up and saw the steward had quickly set up the refreshments and was holding the bottle of scotch.

“Yes, make it a double if you would please.”

Alex nursed his drink while listening to the com traffic from the incoming fleet. He became lost in the damage reports, casualty reports and the off hand remarks of the comm officers relaying the traffic. It was very clear the battle to liberate Omicron Theta did not go as planned. In fact it sounded as if it had been a disaster. A coded message from an unknown source to the Agamemnon did catch Alex's attention though. The coding was utterly alien, but very familiar. It was from a Relthoza Barb Fleet. The message was simply a time. Two standard hours. The signature that followed the time brought a smile to Alex's face.

“Panzer you crafty old spider, looks like we will be hunting somebody together again” Alex muttered .

Shvar'ss'kovar'shen, or “Panzer” as Alex Nicknamed him. Relth names were very difficult for non-Relthoza to pronounce, so nicknames abounded. Panzers actually name meant “Implacable hunter with a will of Iron”, or something to that effect. Alex had nicknamed him “Panzer” after the Ancient Terran German legend of Der Panzer Mensch or “Tank Man”. It was a very apt comparison. In his powered exo Armor the Relthoza Warrior was almost literally a tank, both in size, firepower and resiliency.

Time passed quickly as Alex thought about his old hunting companion. A chime awoke him from his reverie. It was the bridge signaling the Fleet Marshals Shuttle was inbound. This was going to be interesting. The “Silver Fox” herself was going to be on board his ship. Honor and fear in equal measure gripped Alex's being. He stood and Straightened his uniform. Gave himself a re assuring smile and girded himself to meet a legend.

Ships Of The Rense Pt 6: The Spectre Battleship

SeerK here with another installment of “The Ships Of The Rense”. We are coming to the end of the series. We have one more tier one vessel after this installment. It seems fitting one of the main command ships of the Rense Navy is named Spectre. A Spectre is a ghost. A silent shadow lurking in the dark. It is also the name of the antagonistic organization from the James Bond series. Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. Also strangely fitting due to the role the Rense Navy plays in the Dindrenzi Federation.

Engineered and built by The Directorate for the Navy as it began to take on the role of spies, secret police and Elite cadre above the normal main line Dindrenzi fleet, the Spectre is a formidable ship. Equipped with Tried and tested Dindrenzi Rail Guns /'and Directorate Plasma weaponry it is more than a match for all but the heaviest vessels. It also is the hub of Intelligence gathering for any Rense fleet.

Lets take a look at the Spectre. We have a good DR of 7 and CR of 11. Eight hull points, good crew and assault points. Excellent point defense and mines. Weaponry with long range in all arcs except the rear. We also have a shield, which is a rarity in the Federation Navy. A wing capacity of 4 gives us some options. I like to go with Interceptors or bombers, it depends on what I am planning on doing with the ship. Fighters are actually a good choice in most situations though as they have the ability to multi task. They can do offense and defense.

We have two hard points with several good options. I almost always choose the -1 turn limit option as one of them. This is mainly because of the fixed fore main kinetic weapon. I know this is also a default choice for Dindrenzi Fleet Marshals as well. Any opportunity to make our ships more maneuverable should be taken. You need to be able to get your weapons to bear as quickly as you can.

Adding AP is nice but the options I usually have a hard time choosing between is the additional 2” of movement, which takes the ship up to a move of 9,” and the Ops Center MAR.

I choose based on what I am purposing the ship for. If it is my primary tier one ship I usually go for movement. People do not expect fast moving Tier one vessels from the Dindrenzi. Our upgrades are Special Forces, which I also always take and Precision strike for the Kinetics. As I typically do not bother with precision strikes I don't take this option.

We do have quite a few options for Escorts. We can take up to three Sirens, a single Cerberus and up to three escorts from Zenian League members. With the Marauders rules out this also opens up options as the fleet building section specifies that you can take OSO or STL escorts if it states the ship can take Zenian league or Kurak escorts. I am kinda sad that it states OSO and STL as I would love to take the Grief escorts from the oroshan. Its like Having Dindrenzi bucklers that you can either have AP or PD on albeit 5 points more expensive. Which is ok as it has more guns and a better CR than the Buckler. But I digress....

The Escort options are varied and this is where you have to make some tough choices. Sirens are good as they add a point defense screen few can penetrate and you can use Target Resolution on 3 systems if you have three Sirens, or a much easier command role at long range. If I run sirens this is usually when I run Bombers or Fighters if I am running wings. I run Sirens if I am sitting back and trying to hit targets at range. Ships that rely on close range shooting find themselves in the danger zone quick as they close. Target Resolution can really increase your damage output at close range.

I take the Cerberus if I am going to be getting into the thick quick. Especially if I think I am going to have to square off with a Dreadnought. The Cerberus adds a lot of fire power for engaging big ships and it can deal with cruisers and escorts with gusto. For instance, I do not combine fire when dealing with carriers. The Spectre can deal with a carrier pretty well on its own. If the Carrier has Cruiser escorts or Gunship escorts the Cerberus is well equipped to deal with them on its own. This way I can inflict a maximum amount of damage on a squadron made up of medium and larger ships. You can also do a nice one two with your torpedoes if you give the Cerberus the Torpedo Spook MAR.

If you are willing to sacrifice your fleet tactics bonus, this opens up some other interesting options. Dindrenzi Buckler Escorts add some additional fire power with some mid to short range gun racks which can be nice for taking out frigates and smaller vessels. I find the power of frigates oft underestimated. Having a gun escort gives your larger vessels some better protection in the form of offensive power vs small vessels, that is when fired separately they hit easier.

Relthoza escorts are nice if you are planning on hitting a target with a massive assault. Having 6 additional AP can be nice. Granted you don't get the benefit of Special Forces on these guys though. Directorate Escorts are actually pretty nice They give you the PD of a Siren and they are unmanned so they do not suffer penalties from having 0 crew. You can also give them assault points. The Marauders give you access to one escort, the STL Trader Penitentiary class, which gives you access to Grav weapons. They are restricted by the Tractor Beam rule, but if you want to be that guy and push things into planets this is the escort for you.

All of these Escorts are nice, but may not add anything as good as your standard ones. It really depends on what you are trying to do. I personally don’t like using allies that take my Fleet Tactics bonus to 1. You kind of get used to having the first activation when you have a fleet tactics of 3.

The Spectre is a nice ship, but it does have some weaknesses. Compared to other Zenian League Battleships it is a little under most on hull points. The Directorate battleship also has 8 hull points, but it can have 2 shields. When you compare it to a Terran Battleship it is a little lacking in a point for point comparison. The Apollo/Razorthorn is 20 points cheaper with 2 shields base. It is a point less on DR and CR, but you have a lot of options to really kit it out and three hard points. It comes down to out maneuvering the Terran commander and trying to stay out of his optimal firing arcs and ranges. The Terrans benefit from Weapon shielding as well so in a slug fest the Spectre is on the loosing end as it takes damage.

You have a vulnerable rear arc as well. You must drop your mines to cover your rear. You must not forget to drop the mines. Drop them in a good staggered pattern to cover your rear area as to discourage ships from shunting in close or making it difficult to get a good firing position for ships maneuvering to get your rear arc. This especially gets very important as you make your way into the battle field.

The Rense have Expensive ships so you have to build smart and play smarter. Well thats all for now. We bring “Ships Of The Rense” to a close in our next installment. We cover our last vessel. Occupying the top of the current food chain we have the Banshee Dreadnought.

Until then, crush the Alliance and as always...

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!!!

Ships Of The Rense pt5: The Argus Carrier

SeerK here once again with the "Ships of the Rense".  In this installment we break into the tier one vessels of the Rense System Navy. Argus in Greek mythology was a giant with 100 eyes.  He was a watchman of sorts.  The Argus is such a vessel in the Rense navy.  With is multitude of wings it can act as a fleets lookout and fearsome guard.  The Argus class carrier is what I like to call a "True Carrier".  There are very few true carriers in the game.  What is a "True Carrier"?  Its a ship with the capability of carrying 12 wings.  Not many of the games carriers can carry two full SRS tokens.  Although this can be deadly it is not as hardy as a Battle carrier or battle ship.  It must have support.  This generally means like modern aircraft carriers it is almost completely dependent on its strike craft and escorts for defense and a bulk of its attack power.  I feel the Argus falls into this category.


I feel as though the Argus got slightly nerfed in transition from 1.5 to 2nd edition.  The nerf was needed though as it would have made the Argus way better than any other carrier in the game.  I speak of course about how the Deck Crews and Quick Launch MARS changed between editions.  Essentially to have both MAR's you have to go all in.  Since you only have 2 hard point spots on a carrier you cannot take both Deck Crews and Quick Launch as well as having +1 shield or +4 wings.  You could have your cake and eat it to in the previous incarnation of the ship, but that would have made it pretty over powered in 2.0.

So that begs the question, How should I outfit my Argus?  Well its honestly completely situational.  There is no end all beat all combo.  I do tend to run my Argus the same way though.  This is because of the roll I usually have it fill on the table.  The real questions you have to ask yourself is, What Do I want?  What do I want the Argus to do in the game?  What is its roll?  This helps you for a base.  You are not going to equip a Fleet Marshals vessel in the same way as a Carrier supporting another tier 1 vessel.

When I run the Argus as my main command vessel it is loaded for defense.  I give it the +1 shield and Deck Crews MAR.  I load up on interceptors and support shuttles.  I give it the torpedo spook MAR and a pair of Spooks to escort her.  In this way my command vessel can attack at range and protect the vessels around it.  A 6 pack of interceptors is pretty nice for protecting your flotilla against torpedo and SRS attacks. As long as one survives you can replenish the token thanks to the deck crews MAR.
If I am on the attack I still give it the spooks as escorts, but I give the carrier +4 wings and the Quick Launch.  I then load up on fighters and bombers.  I usually shunt deploy this set up as the quick launch gives me a few extra inches so I can get early attack runs from my SRS.  Now you have be be careful with the shunt deploy.  As you can only launch one token at a time you will have to choose wisely for your initial strike, both with positioning of the squadron and which target you are hitting with the SRS token.


So the real key to using the carrier successfully is making sure you are clear as to its role in the list.  if its geared for attack it makes no sense to have it sit back and plug away with torpedoes.  You might as well have taken a whole squadron of cruisers. I know its hard sometimes as you need a relatively inexpensive tier one vessel to act as your Fleet Marshal.  A carrier all by itself is a sitting duck though.  I am firm believer that you must have escorts with it.  Those escorts being Spook cruisers.  By the time you figure in theses guys, flights and upgrades you might as well use a Spectre as your tier one vessel.  In very small games you can kinda get away with a lone carrier, but you have to be very sure and very cautious with it.

Carriers have a very niche roll in the game.  They are specialty vessels.  The only ones that can really go toe to toe with other tier one vessels, besides other carriers, are Battle Carriers.  Sadly the Kurak Alliance has a lock down on the good Battle Carriers.  The Ryushi in particular.  Never try and go toe to toe with a battle carrier with a regular carrier.  You are going to have a bad time.

When you build a list with a carrier as your primary tier one vessel, you must build the list around the carrier.  This is kinda like how most modern navies are built.  The U.S. Navy is basically divided up into carrier groups.  You have a large fleet built around the carrier.  It acts as the main HQ as well as the eyes and ears. It also provides the long range striking power in the form of its aircraft.  Fire and movement is the basis of any modern military tactic.  Avoiding detection and striking enemy positions without giving away position is key in navel warfare.  So we want swift ships that can "avoid detection" as it were, when we are building a fleet around a carrier.

We also want to establish a battlespace around the fleet, that is an area where you are confident in your ability to detect, defend, attack and neutralize threats before they can cause harm to the group.  This would generally mean in game terms using ships that can hit hard and avoid getting hit.  It also means operating in a formation and maintaining the formation with the Admiral at its heart.  This means you need room to maneuver.  Open space gives you lots of room.  Avoid giving your opponents cover in the form of debris and asteroid fields.  Get them into open space to fight them.  Running a successful carrier list relies on making sure you engage the enemy fleet on your terms.   No plan survives combat so have some contingencies.  


Well that's my two cents on the Argus and carriers in general.  Next time in "Ships Of The Rense" we get down to our final two vessels.  Up first is the backbone of any RSN fleet.  The usual choice of most Fleet Marshals.  The Spectre Battleship.


Until then, Crush the Alliance and as always....


REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!!

The Clash At Epsilon Indy: Sunday Tournament Results

This past Sunday at Evolution games The Clash At Epsilon Indy went down.  Spellduckwrong once again was our T.O. and Uber Vanguard. We had 10 players this time around and again we had a decent mix of Kurak Alliance and Zenian League fleets. If you are curious as to how the battle log went and any trends popping up I am pretty sure Spellduckwrong has the full statistical work up over at the Spartan Games Community, or will be putting it up soon if he has not posted it.  I am sure you are a bit curious as to who our top finishers are though.

So this time around the winners were....

1st. Dave Wangen aka "SMD_Vogrin", Directorate
2nd.  Austin  Proux aka "Demomaster", Sorylians
3rd Josh Linde aka "SeerK" , Rense System Navy

That is right I placed this time round.  Booya!  I played Demomaster in round three and it was rough.  We had hold the Waygate for a mission and he had almost maxed out his tier three choices.  I had so many small ships to deal with it was borderline ridiculous.  I ran two different lists, as is customary when tournaments take place in this particular area.  I ran the same list in round one and round three, both times against Sorylians.  I am still confused with why many on the interwebs hate on the Sorylians.  They are a solid faction with a lot of variety and killing power.  In fact, the frigates have earned my number 2 spot in most hated ship in the Kurak Alliance.  Right behind the Hawker light cruiser....I mean Frigate.

Those of you curious about what I ran , here you go.  The tournament, and me thinks our future ones, was 900 points.  you can bring two lists.  Both lists must use the same primary Fleet.  I, of course, ran RSN.

List 1

Spectre Battleship x1
-1 turn
Special Forces
+2AP


Cerberus Heavy Cruisers x3

Cerberus Heavy Cruisers x3

Bulwark Frigates x3

Bulwark Frigates x3

List 2

Banshee Dreadnought x1
-1 turn
+1 shield
Special Forces

Spook Cruisers x3

Spook Cruisers x3

Bulwark Frigates x3

Bulwark Frigates x3


I was trying to go for a balance between number of activation's and fire power.  This can prove difficult for RSN fleets.  Many Kurak Factions outnumber and our gun you .  The real weak points in both lists were the three ship squadrons of Bulwarks.  In groups of three they loose effectiveness for some reason.  I think I may do two minimal squadrons and use the tac card that allows you to combine like ships to make one uni then have a squadron of Works Raptor corvettes to add some scout to the list.

I am finding it is very handy to have scout to redeploy units.  You can use a valuable unit to bait your opponent into bringing his big guns into whatever location you want basically.  The real trick is not to make it to obvious that is what you are doing.

I am also finding it very annoying that Sorylian frigate squadrons can contain 5 frigates and have pack hunter as an option.  This seems a little unnecessary to me.  The dice pool is pretty big and not duplicated by any small ships in the Zenian League that I am aware of.  Makes the Frigate squadrons very deadly to cruiser sized vessels, in fact it makes them kind of deadly to larger vessels as well.

The one game I used the list two in was actually against another RSN player.  It was very informative match though.  I think from now on my spooks will be traveling in packs of 6.  Operating in concert, my two squadrons manged to inflict quite a bit of damage despite my lackluster rolls in the first two turns with the torpedoes.  I hammered a squadron of Cerberus Cruisers with the torpedoes until I reached beam range and then dropped the cloaks and went full bore.  One heavy did manage to survive until the bitter end though.  I always for get what its like to be on the receiving end of a Cerberus squadron.  Spooks on their own are not bad but lack the one two punch when you have just one squadron.  The two squadrons ganging up on one target really was effective, especially once I reached beam range.

I have to say I am never running my big ships without escorts of some kind ever again.  It really never occurred to me how much fire they actually draw.  The Siren is also pretty robust for an escort so that helps.  My big ships took a fair bit of fire being all by themselves.

I am still working with good ways of taking down point defense to really make my torpedo attacks count.  Since there is a lot of cloaking shield equipped ships out there.  I have not been using a lot of SRS craft for the same reason, at least when on the attack.  That will be the experiment for the coming weeks until the next tournament.  Well that does it for my current thoughts post tournament

Next time I will be continuing with the Ships Of The Rense.  The Argus is up as our first Tier 1 vessel.  I also plan on doing an unboxing of Rivet Wars.  Evolution games gave me their demo copy to open up and read up on so Farseer Re-rolls and I can give the game a whirl.  More on that next week.


Until then crush the alliance and as always



REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!!

Ships Of The Rense pt 4: Cerberus The Guardian Of Hades

SeerK here after a little break to let people catch their breath. Its been a furious pace the past month in regards to posts. I thought I would continue our coverage of the Rense System Navy. We are almost done. We are now breaking into the big boys. Tier one vessels are the biggest and the most deadly. The Rense Navy, and other Zenian League alliance fleets, have a bridge between tier one and tier two. I speak of course of the heavy cruiser. Specifically I am talking about the Cerberus / Hellhound heavy cruiser.

The Cerberus is quite a beast. Although it has the typical damage and critical rating of a heavy cruiser is packs some above standard weaponry that has a very long range. It can reach out with its kinetic and torpedo weapons to 48 inches. This is pretty impressive. Whats more impressive is what a full squadron can put out in its optimal range band. Range band two is lethal distance for a squadron. 18 dice from its kinetic weapons makes it dangerous for even dreadnoughts to get this close.

As with all RSN vessels you benefit from the Elite Crew MAR. You also have the option of giving the Squadron the Special Forces and Torpedo Spook MARs. Although these later two MAR's are there to allow the Cerberus to mix with Spook squadrons and act as a capital accompaniment for the Spectre Battleship, these make Squadrons rather resistant to boarding actions and makes their torpedoes much more lethal. Although you can also give the squadron Precision Strike, I have not made much use of this particular MAR. I plan on trying it out more in the future though, especially after SMD_Vogrin showed me the potential of it with his Directorate. I found my point defense systems off line way more than they should have been.

The Cerberus is though and can stand toe to toe with larger vessels when you have more than one in a squadron. In a patrol fleet its also a tier one choice. In larger fleets it gets bumped down to a tier two. I like to use the Cerberus as my tier one choice in a patrol fleet, mainly because of the fire power a squadron of 3 brings and how hard it is to kill all three ships. This does put your admiral on a ship that is less resilient than a Spectre Battleship, but for the points, 270 for a squadron of three with no upgrades, you get more firepower and more hull points spread out over three vessels. It is harder to gain battle log for your opponent in this situation.

In larger fleets I always take at least one squadron of Cerberus and send them out to hit priority targets. I will go one to one versus cruiser sized vessels and I will concentrate fire on heavy cruisers and battleships. They are a hunting pack and gain target priority rather quickly. This can be beneficial as this brings ships into lethal range and keeps the heat off of your larger ships. They are ideal for hunting admirals and hitting problem squadrons. I really like using them to pick off Gunships as that class of vessel usually cannot play the range game with the Cerberus. You are able to soften up a Gunship squadron pretty well before you get into optimal range. If do it right you are dealing a killing blow by the time you reach 24 inches away. Using your Bulwarks in support can really enhance your ability to pick off larger targets. I am all about synergy, maybe its from years of playing Eldar.

The Rense Navy is similar. Points wise you tend to be outnumbered against many different fleets and builds. So you have to use your squadrons in support of one another. The Cerberus is a hub of sorts. They are tough and heavy hitting, but must be used in conjunction with your smaller vessels to really get the one two punch. I have noticed that the Rense Navy as a whole lacks a major punch. The larger vessels can deal damage, but you really have to hit targets with more than one squadron. This usually takes the form of a capital ship squadron hitting a target then a frigate squadron finishing it off. Once again an example of the Rense Playing at being a core fleet but really should be mixed with other Zenian League ships to get the one two punch or fill a gap the Rense are lacking for the given scenario.

This is why people should really design their fleet after determining what kind of game you are playing the rule book says to do. This would also be why when doing tournaments we like using a format where you make 2 premade lists that you can use over the course of the tournament. Given the missions before hand you can plan your two fleet lists accordingly.

Well thats all for now. I hope everybody had a good 4^th of July. The Liberation of Omicron Theta went well until our Terran Grand Admiral was summoned by home command IE the Wife. We did manage to make it through 3 turns though. I will go over it some more later. Spellduckwrong may have some musings on games of that size as well. It was a good first try as experiments go.

Next time in “Ships Of The Rense” we will delve into the first of the tier one vessels. The basis of modern American Naval groups and the home to my 89^th Pioneer Bomber Group also know as “The Angry Angels”, The Argus carrier.

Until then crush the Alliance and as always,

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fluff Friday: Fleet Marshals Doubt

SeerK here with a short story.  Please be forgiving I am an amateur.  Hope you enjoy, "The Fleet Marshals Doubt"

The air tasted stale in the chapel. The smell of incense and unwashed bodies filled Alex's nostrils. It had been a scant hour since the engagement with the Sorylians. The Bishop had insisted on having a service and giving thanks for the victory. Alex fidgeted with the collar of his uniform and let out a slow sigh. Victory. It didn't feel like a Victory. The second engagement in three weeks of deployment and Alex lost two heavy cruisers and almost all of the Frigates in the battle group. His second engagement as a Fleet Marshal and it felt like an abysmal failure. The Sorylians had laid a trap and Alex had advanced to quickly. Two Cerberus and eight Bulwarks and fallen in the ensuing close range engagement. The engagement against the Terrans a week before had gone well. Minimal losses and he had blooded the nose of the Infamous “Rad Hounds”.

The Sorylians had boarded a third Cerberus and folded away with it before Alex' flagship, The RNV Leonidas, could destroy it. Despite having destroyed the entire Sorylian flotilla he had lost most of his battle group in the process. It was a disaster. Fleet command was sending reinforcements, but Fleet Marshal Alpha Gronier was also coming. That meant a command review. His appointment to the Rense Navy was a great milestone only surpassed by his Promotion to Fleet Marshal Gamma.

Alex sat in contemplation as the command staff and bridge crew filed out of the small chapel. They looked tired. Alex could feel the doubt they had in his abilities as they saluted halfheartedly walking past him. He needed to rally them. Morale would be low given the losses. It would be an uphill battle to regain the trust of the crew. Make that crews. Alex was still adjusting to being in command of a fleet rather than a single vessel. Another long sigh escaped his lips. He sat weary, his head in his hands as the Bishop approached.

“I know how you must be feeling Fleet Marshal” Bishop Kelly sat on the bench beside Alex. He was a man of advanced years. His gray hair was close cropped and his clean shaven face was craggy and dusky in color. He unbuttoned the top buttons of his white service uniform and produced a flask from its inside pocket. He took a long draw on the flask and offered it to Alex. The Fleet Marshal looked up and held up his hand refusing the drink.

“Suit yourself sir” The bishop took another swig before putting the flask back in its pocket. “I have been in space for longer than you have been alive to be frank Sir”, “and I have seen my fair share of battles”. “You cannot blame yourself..... “

“Can't I?” “I ordered the Fleet forward to quickly and we paid for it in lives and ships”. Alex stood and turned to face the wall of the chapel and let out a long sigh. “The crew doubts me and I doubt myself, how can I lead now?”

Bishop Kelly leaned back and looked up at the dull drab gray ceiling of the ships chapel. “Well sir you suck it up and carry on” Fleet Marshal Gamma Alexander Kraft turned to face the Bishop. “Excuse me?” “ You heard me.......Sir.”

Alex was about to say something when the Bishop Continued. “Did you know I was at the battle of Cygnus 4?” Alex paused as he let the statement sink in. His anger at the Bishops familiarity suddenly ebbed away. “Really? What Ship?”

“The Ignatius Rex.........”There was a long pause. “Fleet Marshal Alpha Renses Flagship!?!?”

“Yes sir I was there when the Terrans destroyed it.” “Barely made it out”

“My God, I didn’t know Bishop Kelly.”

“The battle didn't go well, we were ambushed by 3 dreadnoughts with a host of battleships and cruisers” “The fleet was lead by none other that Admiral Vladimir Gravanivitch of the  Rad Hounds”

Bishop Kelly began to drift off as he spoke. His thoughts elsewhere as he described the desperate battle. “The Admiral Stayed true and strong the whole time, even with the ship burning around him” “His first officer had to knock him out to get him off the ship, bastard was lucky I didn’t bring him up on charges”

Alex looked confused for a second before speaking “ That was a terrible day Bishop, We lost a lot of good men and woman as well as ships. We also lost a great man. Fleet Marshal Rense was a great man.”” What is your point though?”

“Well Sir, my point is this. No matter the odds or the situation you have to give the appearance of being strong.”” Even if you are about to douse your pants in fear you have to hold strong and inspire”

“Easier said than done Bishop”

Alex turned and started to walk out of the chapel. The bishop stood and paused in the aisle as the Fleet Marshal left.” The real trick sir, is to not blame yourself”

“ I thank you for your council bishop, I will try”

Bishop Kelly turned and took out his flask once again. He chuckled to himself. “ I don't blame my self for failing, I blame the Terrans. They got the drop on me , those crafty bastards.

Bishop Kelly Ignatius Rense thought to himself a moment. This kid should do fine if he can get over himself.

More next Friday

Crush The Alliance and as always..........

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!

Ships Of The Rense pt4: Silent Hunters, The Phoenix Destroyer

SeerK here once again with “The Ships Of The Rense”. In this segment we talk about the stealthy killer of

the Rense Navy. The Phoenix/Firebird is built around an impressive Plasma weapon and built to order in directorate ship yards. They make up the bulk of the system sentries in Federation space. They are also the lethal assassins that deal with problem vessels.

Being a Destroyer class vessel you are severely limited in the number of squadrons you can take in any list with the exception of Grand Fleet size lists. In the case of the Phoenix this is good for your opponent as the ship is rather lethal. Although it is not as robust as a Spook, it has a critical rating of 6 rather than 7, it does have a higher point defense and a much longer range with all of its weapons. It has the Stealth Systems MAR , Maneuverable MAR and the Ambush (2) MAR. You can add Torpedo Spook to your torpedoes and Precision Strike to the Beam weapon. Fully upgrading the squadron makes them rather expensive though. They start out at 80 points and at 90 when fully upgraded.

This generally is not a problem as you can deliver punishing fire from both weapon systems from 40 inches and closer. With the Precision Strike MAR this lets you really do a number on ships. You can attempt to disable point defense systems with the beam weapons to deliver a torpedo salvo that is the same size as one from a spook squadron. You can also hit 2 targets and rely on the Torpedo Spook MAR to give you some decent hits when targeting two different ships in a squadron. Hitting squadrons that number 4 in this way really allows you to soften them up for your Spook squadrons to finish them off.

The Phoenix is fast. With a movement of 10 inches it can outpace even some frigates. Its real strength lays in being completely still though. Having the Maneuverable MAR lets it cut engines and not move, but still turn. The squadron becomes a firebase in the rear of the fleet. The real key is placing the squadron in your deployment zone with a largely unobstructed line of sight to the rest of the board. This does two things. It gives you fire support everywhere and it could force your opponent to place essential squadrons in the areas that are obstructed. This means you can plan your placement and set up your other squadrons to deal with your opponents ships with overwhelming firepower. You can place heavier ships to cover the Phoenix. Placement in the corners usually gives you a good view of the battlefield and covers your port, starboard and aft from shunting squadrons in reserve.

Although this is a bit predictable in terms of set up tactics, there is not a lot your opponent can do to deal with the ships unless he or she is really crafty or they Honey Badger that stuff and just brave the fire and dive in.

I have not really used the Ambush feature. Given the ship can out range most ships I have not felt the need to use it. I honestly don't see where it would be useful, unless you wanted to place the squadron, but wanted to make your opponent guess as to where it actually is. This gains you some advantage in set up and further forces your opponent to place his squadrons in the places you want them. Using the false marker, the second marker thats not the actual squadron, as an actual decoy lures enemy ships into ideal fire positions if placed correctly. This requires some good command checks and theatrics on your part.

The Phoenix is a sniper and although it is still lethal in all its range bands, long range is its happy place. The ships can defend themselves pretty well but can be destroyed easier than your average Rense Medium Capital ship when your enemy is within 20 inches. I am not a fan of the Stealth Systems. I like the Cloaking Shields better. Making your Phoenixs harder to hit gives you more mileage with the Stealth Systems. Trying to set up the squadron within a gas cloud is ideal. Although you have to make disorder checks, you are at an advantage because of your Elite Crew MAR. If you manage to roll a gas cloud when setting up terrain make sure you place it where you can set up your Phoenixs in it or they can reach it in one turn. Hitting on 5's with active Stealth Systems can really frustrate your opponent and keep your ships alive.

Well there you have it. The Phoenix/Firebird. Next time we bridge the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 as our next ship can occupy both slots depending on the fleet size. I am, of course, speaking about the deadly Cerberus Heavy Cruiser.

Until next time.....Crush The Alliance and

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!

Ships Of The Rense pt 3: Lets get Spooky!

SeerK here. Today we break into the Tier 2 ships of the Rense System Navy. The Spook/Shrike is the

backbone of the Rense Navy. It is a compact and lethal cruiser with a dual role in the Rense Navy. Sleek, silent and well armed this ship carries out a variety of missions when deployed. On the table the Spook is lethal at short and long range. Protected by a cloaking shield it can dish out a lot of punishment while avoiding major damage.

Ships Of The Rense pt 2: The Siren / Harpy Escort

SeerK here to kick off the new look for the blog. The Waygate is official and will be bringing you coverage of Firestorm Armada, Planetfall, War Machine and Hordes and any of the other war games the authors currently play. We will be continuing with hobby and strategy articles as well and a little something new I like to call “Fluff Fridays”, where I begin to expand the Firestorm Armada universe for some narrative play and give a little background to our impending Firestorm Armada campaign.

Before all that though, I am continuing a series I started almost 2 months ago. The Ships of the Rense Navy. We continue by finishing off the Rense System Navy Tier 3 ships and starting with our Tier 2 ships. Last time we went over the Bulwark/Hellion Frigate. The workhorse of the fleet and vigilant guardians of Dramos. Today we are going to talk about the the all seeing eyes of the Federation. The watchers of watchers. The Siren/Harpy Escort. We then move into Tier two with the backbone of the Rense Navy, the Spook/Shrike Cruiser.

ALL HANDS ON DECK! Ships Of the Rense pt1

“Upon acceptance into the Rense System Navy, Dindrenzi main fleet officers are assigned to one of the many Frigate squadrons that make up the outer echelons of a Rense Navy task force. Would be Captains and aspiring admirals have all had their first commands and baptisms of fire among the Bulwark Frigate squadrons.”

-Admiral Markus Stole,

“A History Of The Federation Fleets”

SeerK here to start my series on the ships of the Rense System Navy. Its been a couple weeks. I have just started a new job and the 65 hour work week is kind of killer. I am planning on posting every Sunday from here on out though, and I hope the other writers start filling in the rest of the week. Some of us will also be at Adepticon this weekend. Sadly we cant go for the full week like normal. As long as all goes to plan the Craftworld crew will be there Friday night. As I stated last time we are going to start from the bottom up. We are going to talk about the Rense Navies Tier 3 ship today. The Bulwark Frigate.

The Bulwark is the main frigate of the Rense Navy and besides the Siren class Escort is the only Tier 3 choice for your fleet. It is fielded in squadrons of 2 to 4. I usually do full squadrons of 4 as it is an even 100 points and the combined fire of a 4 ship strong squadron is pretty decent. Each ship is 25 points and has no upgrade options. The Bulwark has the Elite Crew and Difficult target MAR. The Elite Crew MAR lets you pass command checks on a 3+. The whole Rense Navy has this MAR. The Bulwark also can move 10 inches so it is very quick. With a DR,(damage rating) or 3 and a CR(critical rating) of 6 it can be quite hard for an equal sized vessel to destroy the Bulwark in one go.

Weaponry

The Bulwark is a very close range ship. It has a fore beam weapon ad beam weapons to port and starboard. Its beam weaponry has two range bands. Beam weaponry has 10 inch range bands for those of you unfamiliar with the game so 2 range bands gives the Bulwark a threat range of 20 inches.

Range band 2 , 10 to 20 inches, is your most effective range band. You get 5 dice in the fore arc and 4 in the port and starboard arcs. With a squadron of 4 this gives you 12 dice. Pretty respectable, especially when attacking cruiser sized vessels. In my experience you can usually get a critical hit on most vessels with a critical rating of 6. Of course this is utterly dependent on how well the dice are treating you.

The Bulwark is very well suited to supporting your Spook or Cerberus squadrons. While the cruisers use their range advantage the Bulwark can work in the mid to short range. They have the firepower to finish off crippled ships the heavier vessels have damaged. You can use the Bulwarks speed to get in behind vessels to give it an even better chance of scoring a critical hit.

Tactics

I have been seeing a lot of mixed reviews of the Bulwark on the Firestorm forums. It would seem a lot of people have not been having the same experience I have when it comes to fielding them. It is true they can be a bit tricky to use. They are out ranged by a lot of ships and can get picked off before they can close to lethal distance.

You have a couple of different options for deployment and thanks to they way game setup is done you can really plan out your fleet and how it is going to be deployed. I like to keep my Bulwarks in reserve, unless the mission being played allows for hidden set up. Either way it allows you to delay your Bulwarks appearance on the table and allows you to keep them alive longer. Shunting your Bulwarks, deep striking for you 40kers, into the battle can be a risky gambit. I like to use shunt deployment, but only if there is a good target. To get a good shunt deployment you have to really set it up. The intended target has to be lead into a decent spot so you can get a good one two punch. Shunt deployment backfires quite often. You can't shunt into the middle of a fleet and expect the squadron to survive after trying to deliver a death blow to a stricken ship.

I prefer to actually bring in the Bulwarks on the board edge if there is a decent target that is reachable. Flanking the enemy fleet has its advantages, especially if their attention is elsewhere.

How you deploy your reserve squadrons is entirely situational. As obvious as that sounds many players do that same things over and over again and then get frustrated when it does not work all the time. Firestorm Armada is very much a situational game. This is reflected in the way you set up and play the game. Many 40K players are use to the concept of the “all comers” list. In Firestorm you determine the mission and such before you make your fleet list. All you really know when going up against your opponent is what race they are using.

Well there you have the Bulwark. Next time I will be covering the Siren Escort as well as starting into our tier 2 vessels. I will also Hopefully be reporting form Adepticon later this week.

Until next time....

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!

and always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!

The Storm Begins: The Rense System Navy

SeerK Here. Well February has been a busy month for everybody. Sorry for the lack of updates. Job

hunting and gaming malaise has left me doing a lot of stuff other than writing. Although we will still be covering 40K on occasion, we are kind of changing gears on Craftworld Lansing. The writers and many at our FLGS do not like the direction things are taking with 40K.

IN fact my Eldar have been sitting on the back burner for quite a while now. I have been playing quite a bit of Firestorm Armada and I am eagerly awaiting the release of Spartan Games ground based combat game Planetfall, which is set in the Firestorm Armada Universe. With the 40K malaise in full force I decided I am going to start talking about the Fleet I run in Firestorm Armada. In fact there is going to be a lot of Firestorm Armada coverage from now on. I have talked about it a bit in the past, but the other writers and I are going to be delving in deep with it. This means tactics, battle reports and our general musings on the game. That said, Lets dive into Firestorm Armada.

In The game you take command of a fleet of warships from one of the many factions available. Ultimately the faction belongs to either the Terran led Kurak Alliance or the Dindrenzi Federation Led Zenian League. As with most war games, you build a fleet using a point system. The game also uses a force org of sorts. It is a Tier system made up of three levels.

Each Tier contains different types and sizes of vessels. Tier One Vessels are the largest ships in the fleet. These range from Dreadnoughts, currently the largest vessel you can field, to Squadrons of Heavy Cruisers and Battleships. Tier two vessels are generally mid sized capital ships. Typically your fleets Cruisers and destroyers occupy this slot. Tier three vessels are the smallest. Frigates, Corvettes and Escort vessels occupy this tier. Each tier has a minimum number of vessels that must be taken and a maximum number that can be taken. This minimum and maximum can change based on the point level of the game.

The number of squadrons available increase as you play higher point level games. There are basically 3 different “Force Org” charts based on the point level of the game. The first is for games up to 800 points. This is known as a “Patrol Fleet”. 801 points to 1200 points is a “Battle Fleet”. 1201 points and above is known as a “Grand Fleet” Sometimes ships can move to different tiers at higher point levels. For example, when you are playing an 800 point game Heavy Cruisers may be in Tier 1. If you play a 1000 point game they may be now Tier 2. Each fleets ships are generally in the same Tier, but there are some differences. For example, I play the Rense System Navy which is part of the Zenian League. In 800 Point games and below I can take a Battle Carrier as my Tier 1 choice. If I was using the Ryushi Fleet, part of the Kurak Alliance, at the same level I could not take a Battle Carrier as a Tier 1 choice. I could only take a Battle Carrier as a Tier 1 choice in games above 800 points. I know it sounds a bit confusing, but there is a chart that is specific to each fleet in their Fleet manual. I wanted to do a brief overview before I dived into my fleet and the ships it contains. Over the next few weeks I will be going in depth on the Ships of the Rense System Navy, the leader and enforcer of the Zenian League.

The Rense System Navy is a sub faction within the Dindrenzi Federation. Originally formed to guard the new Capital world of Ravens Citadel after the destruction of the original Capital world of Dramos at the hands of the Terran Alliance. As time went on the Rense Navy became the personal strong arm of the Federation Chairman. The crews and commanders of the Rense Navy are the best and the brightest. Drawn from all across the Federation, they patrol the federation and strike deep into alliance territory on missions of subterfuge and intelligence gathering. The Rense Navy has the best ships in the Federation, as they are a joint venture between the Dindrenzi Federation and the Mega Corporations of the Directorate.

Many of the members of the Rense System Navy are also devout members of the Church Of The Dramos Angels. This religious organization formed after the destruction of the world of Dramos. Dramos is a major center point for the Federation. With their forces being driven back during the second succession war the Terrain Alliance unleashed a nuclear holocaust upon the world of Dramos. The Dindrenzi Federation had won its independence from Terra, but at a very high price. The Rense Navy has the honor of guarding the millions of Pilgrims that flock to the blasted world of Dramos.

Basically the Rense Navy are the Zealots of the Dindrenzi Federation and its members are the ones really driving the current hostilities against the Terran Alliance and their Kurak Alliance allies. Although it is a Zenian League fleet it has at least 2 ships in each tier and can act as a fleet by itself. From what I have seen most of your Kurak Alliance and Zenian League member fleets have to work with other members to work as a cohesive fleet. The Rense System Navy can stand on its own.

Their Ships are as follows

Tier 1

Banshee Class Dreadnought

Spectre Class Battleship

Argus Class Carrier

Tier 2

Spook Class Cruiser

Cerberus Class Heavy Cruiser ( can be Tier one depending on point level)

Phoenix Class Destroyer

Tier 3

Bulwark Class Frigate

Siren Class Escort

I am going to start from the bottom and work my way up. Next time I am going to be talking about the workhorse of my fleet. The Bulwark Frigate. Despite its class and size it packs a punch and when used properly it can knock out vessels well above its weight class. So next time the Bulwark, doin work!

Until then...

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!

And Always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!

Breaking The Malaise: Firestorm Armada 2.0

SeerK here.  I know its been kind of silent around here with the start of the new year.  I am sad to say that GW reorganizing and having a 24% drop in its stock value has not made things better.  As it stands I am the only person playing in 40K events at Adepticon from our local group.  Everybody is still going of course to participate in open events and the comradery the convention encourages in all of us.
the 40K malaise has hit the shop hard and the news about

I am still deciding what to run in the GT.  I guess I am kind of holding back waiting for the FAQ to drop so I can build to suit the rules and the missions.  I know I am running a strait Eldar list possibly with some Dark Kin allies.  I am kind of hoping Adepticon kind of takes the bull by the horns and does some drastic tweeks with the FAQ.  That's a whole other post though.  I digress.


So what are we doing to try and break the malaise?  Hammering our a campaign and forging a rock hard narrative that's how!  We are not doing it with 40K though.  No sir.  We have a fever and the only cure is spaceships.  Firestorm Armada 2.0 has taken hold in the FLGS, Evolution Games in Lansing, and the regular "40K nights" are now filled with the sounds of kinetic, beam and torpedo weapons.  Also the curses that go with them.

The new rules set for Firestorm Armada is very tight.  it is simple to pick up and has a lot of tactical depth.  I almost forgot what tactical depth was.  I have been to busy trying to figure out how things work and arguing over rules interpretations with my "primary game".  Yeah I used sarcastic quotations.

The 2.0 rules are very clear and concise.  We have not had any major arguments at all.  Well other than my war game diva kicking in and bitching about Directorate cyber warfare and bio hazard torpedoes.  I think this has been why its been so popular at the shop.  Its a nice rule set and we can just have fun and immerse ourselves in the game.  Spartan Games has really outdone themselves with the new models as well.  The new Patrol Fleet boxes come with more stuff and got cheaper than the old ones.

I spoke about tactical depth.  I have to say I have lost my tactical edge.  I have to much going on in real life it would seem.  Firestorm has really made it clear I need my tactical edge back.  Being a reactive style game, by reactive I mean you have alternating activations.  This may not be a concept you are familiar with if you have done nothing but 40K in your war gaming career.  Basically the player who goes first does not move and shoot with all of his or her units all at once.  You move and shoot with one squadron and then your opponent goes with one.  You move back and forth until all the units have activated.

This style of game tends to be more tactical by nature.  This is mainly because you cannot alpha strike your opponent like you can in 40K or War Machine.  It makes it more of a game of chess.  In fact Dreadbeard and Spellduckwrong surmise that Firestorm Armada 2.0 really is won in the movement phase.  Position, facing, range and firing arc all have to be taken into consideration as well as the position and disposition of the enemy fleet.

I will be doing some articles about the different phases of the game to try and introduce it to you a little at a time.  I will also be taking about my Rense System Navy fleet quite a bit.  Spellduckworng  and Dreadbeard will also be chiming in covering different topics, including their Dindrezi Federations and Terran Alliance fleets respectively.

They have both conspired to start a store campaign to test out some campaign rules.  It is running 4 weeks and is mostly to get us all in the mood for a bigger campaign this summer and to get to know the new rules.  We have been playing so far with mostly patrol fleet sized games.  That is 800 points or less.  The big campaign, which I am composing a narrative for, will include Spartan games new land based war game when it comes out as well.  Planetfall is set in the Firestorm universe and is in bascially an epic scale.  It pits tanks, mechs and other engines of destruction against each other in a future battlefield.  I am really looking forward to it.


Thats all for now.  I am thinking about topics for 40K.  I am toying with list ideas.  I am really trying not to just vent in a big spazzy post complaining about the stat of the game.  Lets face it things don't look good right now. My resolve may fade...




Until Then.............



Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes War Calls!!!!!!!!!


and always

REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!