Rindis.com

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Sorry for the delay here, but Bel got a new job that promptly ate a few months of his life. He seems to be back, and hopefully we’ll have semi-regular reporting again.

The Alliance economy continues to do well, with income up 3.4 EP from the previous turn (this is mostly from the Kzintis, though the Hydrans had a couple of disrupted provinces to offset a small loss in the Federation economy).

The Kzintis finished setting up a new PDU on 1504 and built their full schedule, including their third CVA, and converted their Z-D5 to a D5S. The Federation canceled all but five FFs in an effort to start catching up on cripples, while building a CVA and CVS. Y175 sees the introduction of the NAC, the best escort the Federation gets (still not as good as the D5A or MEC), and I produced four while converting two others to start getting heavier Federation carrier groups.

The Kzinti concentrated on reclaiming their last planet in 1105, and sweeping the Lyrans out of their territory. This also involved strikes at 0404 and 0707 to pin reserves, hitting border BATS 0504 on the way.

Meanwhile, the Federation did not do much of anything near Kzinti space, preferring to strike at southern Klingon space, and cut off the Tholian Border Squadron SB from the main grid. Operations against the Romulans were confined to the eastern end of the border, where the Romulans were upgrading a new mobile base to a BATS.

Kzinti offensives.

Operation “Mortain”.

Operation “Onion”.

What passes for activity in Hydran space.

Battles:
2015: Klingon: crip F5S
2214: Klingon: dest F5E, crip D5, D5V, AD5; Federation: dest CC, DE, crip CL, capture planet
2216: SSC: Klingon: dest D7; Federation: crip FF, capture planet
1918: Klingon: dest BATS
2518: Klingon: dest F5, planet captured
2318: Klingon: 4xSIDS, crip D6M, 2xD5; Federation: dest DN+, FF
0519: Lyran: dest cripFF, planet captured
0702: SSC: Lyran: retreat
0404: Lyran: dest DW, FRD, crip 2xCW; Kzinti: dest BC
0504: Lyran: dest BATS
1106: SSC: Lyran retreat after no damage
1105: Lyran: dest 2xDW, FF crip CL, 2xFF; Kzinti: crip CM, MEC, capture planet
1004: Lyran: crip CWE
0904: Lyran: dest 2xCL, FF, cripFF; Kzinti: crip CM
2716: Klingon: crip D6, 2xD5, F5L; Federation: crip NCL, 2xFF
2815: Cloaked evasion
2914: SSC: Romulan: dest K5
3113: SSC: Romulan: dest SN
3812: Romulan: crip SN; Federation: dest CA, FF, crip FF
3912: Romulan: dest SP, WE, SK, crip 3SK, K5L, 2xK5; Federation: dest CL, 2xFF
4010: Romulan: dest BATS; Federation: dest FF, crip FF
1808: SSC: Klingon: dest cripD5
1609: Klingon: crip D6, D5; Kzinti: dest FF, crip FF
0707: Retreat after refused approach

NZ planet 2214 changed hands again as USS Napoleon showed up with a slightly larger fleet than was with C8V Vindicator. While I won, and did more damage, Bel is getting aggressive with mauling valuable ships.

I was a little surprised that Bel took 4 SIDS on the SB in 2318 in one round, but it is probably the best choice. Most of his available fleet was cruisers, and if I can keep interrupting the supply grid in the region, the SB will fall given some effort anyway. I had two DN+s, so he mauled the one on the line.

Bel has had a crippled Lyran SC garrisoning the edge of Kzinti space (after it got away from a BC last turn), and a poor roll (2) allowed it to get away from the DD I sent to kill it.

The Lyrans had to suffer another 6/1 split in die rolls at 0404, allowing the Kzinti to do more damage while fighting at a defended SB. The Kzinti fleet retreated on top of neighboring BATS 0504 and blew it up, leaving only one Kzinti border BATS left.

There were three small combats near the 7th Fleet SB, and the Romulans blew their cloaked evasion rolls on two of them, and then had poor SSC rolls to lose two out of five ships without even forcing a retreat from the Federation ships.

The MB upgrade in 3912 was a primary target, but after passing approach on the first try, minimal rolls left me unable to direct on the MB. I pulled out after three rounds before I dug too deep into the ships that are needed to defend my SB and planet 3711.

Turn 14 scoring:
Coalition: 369.8 EP (x2) + 555 (bases) + 569 ships (/5) + 100 (Hydran Capital) = 1508.4
Alliance: 336.8 EP (x2) + 475 (bases) + 550 ships (/5) = 1258.6

Difference = 249.8 Major Coalition Victory

Regaining the Hydran capital puts the score back to being comfortably in the major victory category. However, the situation isn’t as good as it was even a year ago when the Romulans joined (291).

Amazingly, the Federation overall lost seven ships this turn, though the Kzintis made up for that with an eight-ship increase. Meanwhile, all three Coalition empires lost shipcount. The loss of three Coalition bases also did much to erode the score.

Much more importantly, a decent chunk of Klingon space is cut off from the main grid. He should be able to restore it, but since the best base-to-base distance in the area is now 5 hexes, it should be easy to keep cutting it off each turn.