Rindis.com

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

With the collapse of Klingon supply into NW Federation space, I had some serious problems to face. Overall, Income was just slightly down over the previous turn, but that was partially from a shift from Lyran and Klingon income to Romulan. The major planet in 2306 generated two EP in a partial grid, and I used one of them to supply six ships in 2708, as I knew I needed them to go a full six hexes.

Survey rolls were very poor this turn, with only the Romulans getting near average (3 on 1d), while the Klingons rolled 3 on 2d and Lyrans got 4 on 3d, for a total of a 3, two 2s, and three 1s across everyone.

Builds:
Klingon: B10, D7C, D7V, D6M, 5xD5, 2xAD5, MD5, D5S, F5L, 6xF5, 2xF5E, E4R, PDU, D6V->D6U, D6->D6S, B10->B10A
Romulan: CON, FHF, SP, SPB, SPC, SPF, SK, 2xSKE, SEH, WE, SNB, 2xWB->KE, BH->BHF
Lyran: BC, STT, CW, CWE, CWS, STJ, 2xDW, DWE, 2xFF, FCR, FRD, FTM, CP, MB->BS(F), CW->CVM, 2xFF->DW, FFE, CWE

However, the B10 rolls continue to do well, and B10-1 Invulnerable completed this turn, and was immediately fitted with an SFG kit to become a B10A. Paying for the Invulnerable’s fighters caused me to cancel a second Klingon PDU. Well after the fact, it came to my attention that the Romulans can only convert one WE into a KE per turn, so there was some post-turn adjustments to the Romulan fleet.

For raids, the Lyrans sent the DNL after the Kzinti CONV in 1801, but was forced to retreat before it could make a real try at it, while a BC disrupted a Fed province. A Klingon C5 tried to restore supply to the South Fleet, but naturally was only able to eliminate one of the blocking POLs. But both raiding D5s were eliminated by Federation reactions (an F-14 squadron, and a CA that reacted out from 7th Fleet to rescue a blocking FF). A DNL responded to a Romulan raid, and luckly the SP got out intact, while the other two disrupted Federation provinces.

With a fair number of ships out of supply, my offensive options were limited. Hydran space saw the usual after-party cleanup as the Klingons reclaimed all the Hydran planets they’d been booted off of last turn. The Romulans split their attacks, and didn’t hit anything with major force, but concentrated on trying to get deeper into Federation space, more to try and force reserves to move towards them instead of shutting down Klingon operations.

On the Klingon side of Federation space, two main targets emerged. C8V Vindicator struck at BATS 2609, hoping to retreat onto Federation planet 2610 afterward, while other Klingon forces struck at the adjacent defended Federation planet, so that the defense couldn’t concentrate on one. The other was a major attack on the 4th Fleet SB. This happened after the Kzinti Marquis Fleet reacted off of it to an attack on planet 2106.

The Lyrans were overstretched in Kzinti space, but struck at all the major targets outside the capital, including the convoy in 1801.

Confusion all along the Kzinti-Federation front.

Driving past the former 6th Fleet SB.

Counterattack on the Gorn border.

Battles:
1701: SSC: Kzinti: dest POL
1704: Kzinti: dest FF
1706: SSC: Federation: dest FF
2705: SSC: Federation: crip FF; planet captured
2804: SSC: Klingon: crip F5
3807: SSC: Federation: dest cripFF
0801: SSC: Kzinti: dest POL
2407: SSC: Federation: dest POL
2109: SSC: Federation: dest POL; both sides retreat
3113: SSC: Federation: dest POL
1801: Kzinti: dest FKE, CONV, crip FF, EFF; Lyran: crip STT, DW, DDG
1802: Kzinti: dest EFF; Lyran: crip DW, planet captured
1001: Retreat after refused approach
2204: Federation: 1xSIDS, dest CA, SC, 3xFF, FFE, SWAC, crip CA, 3xNCL, 2xDD, 4xFF; Klingon: dest D7C, 3xD7, D7A, D6D, D5A, 2xAD5, MD5, F5, crip C8, D7V, 5xD5, D5S, F5
2106: Federation: dest 2xDE, SC, crip 2xNCL, FF; Kzinti: dest MSC, crip MEC, EFF; Klingon: dest D6D, F5L, crip C8, D6, 2xF5L, 5xF5
2006: Klingon: FF captured
2509: Federation: dest PDU; Klingon crip D5
2609: Federation: 2xSIDS, crip 2xNCL, 3xFF; Klingon: dest F5, crip D7C, 2xD5
3509: Federation: crip 3xFF; Romulan: dest SPF, crip KE
3210: Federation: crip 2xFFE; Romulan: crip FH, SP, WE
3206: Federation: dest BATS; Romulan: dest SP, SK, K5
5008: Gorn: dest BATS; Romulan: crip WE
4808: Gorn: dest BATS; Romulan: crip KR, SK, 2xK5
4008: Gorn: crip 4xBD, DD; Romulan: dest SUP, crip 3xSN

As usual, there were a number of small battles scattered about that were weighted in the moving player’s favor, but a couple of out of supply Klingon ships ended up tackling a Federation fighter squadron in 2804, which rolled an 11 in SSC to force a cripple on a ship a long way from home….

The Lyrans had a much tougher force for the convoy fight in 1801, though they made up a lot of damage in fighters and during pursuit. The real annoying thing is the convoy (like several I have scattered around) are part of the opening setup, and really exist to support colony creation, which we’re not using. So I doubt he’ll try this again with a convoy he has to pay for, and this battle only happened because of a SO rule.

I had a pretty good force for the SB battle in 2204, though I forgot to use a CP, while Byron used one, so I was a ship down for the battle. I was originally thinking of just burning one SIDS per round (and did that the first round), but the EW differential was killer, and things were already getting out of hand two rounds later after I’d killed a SC and SWAC, forcing him to abandon EW superiority. I then sent in the stasis ships to try and bag things for cheap (or force him to dial EW up on the SB, which would have been fine), and they worked better than I feared, with the D7A freezing a CA and missing completely, and the D5A getting a FFE on the CVA group for cheap on a Defender Selects. The good news out of all this is the D6M present is fine, and I arranged to leave another one in the area.

The fight for 2106 was another large one, this time with Kzinti supplying about half the forces. If I’d really wanted to take it, I think I could, but it’d have meant crippling the entire fleet, and I want effective forces in the area more than to make supply easier… until he takes everything out as there’s nothing left. In both this and the SB fight, I took out some heavy scouts, which I hope sticks long enough to make everything easier later.

2006 had two purposes: 1) Make sure supply moved through the hex, which was occupied by the FF+CA survivors of a raid. 2) Provide a fight for all the out-of-supply cripples from 2306 to retrograde from, getting them much further than they could move. As luck would have it, I also captured the FF put up to let the CA get away. I may just cash that one in, even if I am losing 5-point F5s too fast.

The twin battles of 2509 and 2609 did not work out as I hoped. I had hoped to either kill the BATS or devastate the planet, but didn’t really have what it took in either place. But I had held part of a reserve in place, which was part of the point. I also had hoped to retreat onto empty planet 2610 and take it. I should have just been less fancy and taken it during movement. Byron retreated onto it, so if I went there, it’d have been a fighting retreat. But, it did keep him from doing a pursuit round he wanted.

Going after BATS 3206 meant going out on a limb, but it drew an extra reserve away from other targets. I had not expected to get get cut off completely, which was accomplished by a Federation retreat from 3210 into 3310. If I’d realized that beforehand, I’d probably have accepted wrecking a force to take one of the two planets in-between.

My worries about having hit my high-water mark are being justified, as I didn’t make any real goals this turn, other than perhaps pulling a lot of crippled ships out of Federation space. That said, 2509/2609 is much weaker, having lost one of two PDUs and the BATS being on the verge of crippling. There’s a number of ships in range of Earth, though they’d have to go out of supply to get there (but putting them into supply for the beginning of the next turn shouldn’t be too hard). Raiding the Federation capital is definitely on the ‘to do’ list (as part of reducing the Federation economy), so I imagine that area will be getting attention.