Rindis.com

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

The Coalition turn left Kzinti space in a real mess. There were plenty of lightly-defended targets, but at the same time, the Hegemony Navy was not in the best of shape itself. I resolved to limit myself to a few important goals and concentrate on them.

Sadly, I didn’t take proper stock of the situation on the Hydran border. I ended up wasting any opportunities by spreading the fleet out too much, and not concentrating enough to actually achieve anything. Complicating matters was the fact that the reserves were almost universally in range of the Hydran border.

One error that thankfully only had minor consequences: Belirahc has been towing around some unassembled Mobile Bases for the past couple turns. He asked me about the timing of setting them up late in his turn. It was pretty obvious he wanted to set something up, but then nothing happened, but I forgot to double-check with him until a decent chunk of my movement was done. It turned out the Klingons were setting up a MB in 1304.

My goals on the Kzinti Front were clear: Keep the MB from setting up, kick the Coalition off of as many planets as possible, evacuate my cripples off the map, and hunker down to defend the remaining SB and the homeworlds. The Hydran front never got a clear goal, other than trying to raid a few BATS, and good maneuvering kept me from getting any freebies.

Activity on the Kzinti front.

Activity on the Hydran front.

All this led to a few fights where I’d had to pin him away from the real action, but neither of us really wanted to take casualties.

Combats:
1503: Klingon unopposed withdrawal to 1504
1203: Klingon unopposed withdrawal to 1303
1304: Klingon: crip D5, F5, 5xE4; dest D6D, MB abandoned
1004: Lyran unopposed withdrawal to 0905
1202: Kzinti: capture planet; Klingon: dest E4
1001: Kzinti: capture planet; Lyran: dest 2xCW
0413: Hydran: dest 2xCU; Lyran: crip 2xCA, FF
1112: Hydran: retreat to 1012
1013: Hydran: dest LM; Klingon: crip D6M, D6
1214: Klingon: crip D7
1014: Hydran: crip HN, Klingon: crip D5, F5

Things went well on the Kzinti front. After a couple rounds, he was forced to abandon the MB, though I was unable to generate enough damage to actually Direct Damage kill the tug responsible. I also forced him off of 1001 and 1202, pushing the Coalition further away from the capital.

The Hydran front did not go as well. Again, I was too spread out, keeping the Hydrans from getting good lines up, and not allowing any fighter reserves. Worse, I got forgetful, and forgot to put the command ship in formation in 1013, allowing the Klingons to kill a Lord Marshal command cruiser.

Everything retrograded back to defensive positions after combat. I used field repair on a couple of Kzinti escorts that had been damaged during the Coalition half of the turn and stranded away from repair facilities. This was part of the plan, but the Kzinti budget is stretched really thin right now. I’m likely to be canceling builds as it is, and this will make it harder. But I wanted the extra operational carrier group. Meanwhile, the Hydrans are setting up a MB in the capital, and have hauled one FRD to safety in the off-map area.