Saturday, January 25, 2014

Training Sim 011914 -- an ACTA Battle Report

          So, as readers may have surmised we've been on a bit of a Star Fleet Universe kick around my game room of late.  The last two battle reports have been involved stories.  For those that prefer a simple tactical layout I'll go with a straight forward battle report this time, after all we opted this time for a straight up fight of 2000 pt Klingon and federation fleets.  We did include a couple of homemade units (D6D and D5WD).


First, the fleets.  The Federation fleet opted for a solid gunline task force with a few escorts to cover their tails.  The fleet consisted of:

BB Kali
DNF Concordat
BCF Bismark
BCF Gneisenau
NCC Kearsearge
NCA Lexington
CLE Bosnia
DWA Alert
DWA Buckler


The Klingons brought a mixed fleet of small and large hulls.  It consisted of 
1 C10
2 D6
2 D5W
1 D5WD
1 D5E
2 F6
1 F5W
1 E5

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Hegh maH vaj chaq, qatlh yIn wo'.


 
Hegh maH vaj chaq, qatlh yIn wo'.
      (We Die so the Empire May Live)
“I know that your last space battle was a close one. You’ve survived four months on a very active front line.  Kzinti die stubbornly.  Let’s toast our victories on the front! Grab your glass of blood wine.” He knew the Captain enjoyed blood wine.  “You, Bogotha,” he continued, “…are responsible for so much that we’ve accomplished out here deep in Kzinti space. Your heroic actions held the front line. You expand the Empire, my friend.  A toast then to you and your fine crew aboard the command ship Desecration. Drink heartily!”  

Captain Targ took one long pull, sat motionless, and eyed his Admiral with iciness.  There was no way around making this any easier.  Captain Targ and his crew hadn’t been rotated home in over a year. His wife bore their first child not long after he arrived on the front. Captain Targ was longing to see the little brute himself.   And now he was about to ask his longest surviving captain in his command -order him- to do one more thing for the Empire, before being rotated home. He needed Captain Bogotha Targ for a desperate, dangerous gamble. 

Lord Grafihl sat on the flag bridge of a Kzinti command battlecruiser hidden along the seemingly never-ending edge of the Poldar Asteroid Field. At his age, and size, he eschewed the usual space suits normally authorized on warships.  Social position had its privileges. 

 The Communications Officer turned to the ship’s Captain, and they spoke, then the Captain decided to visit his Lord in person to talk about the matter. He exited the turbo-lift and walked the short hallway past the guards to the Lord’s flag bridge. It’s more like a penthouse chamber, he mused.  The door slid open and he entered.  In the hisses, clicks, and growls of the feline tongue he addressed his lord, “We’ve intercepted a coded source communication from the opposite side of the field.” 

Lord Grafihl glared at him and asked, “Not ours, is it?” 

“No. Definitely not.” The Fat Cat’s Captain answered slowly. The ship was named after its master, he conceded.

“Investigate.  Take us cautiously to its source of origin. Bring our entire squadron. Keep emissions in check and do not use the warp drive.” 

“Yes, my Lord.” And the Captain returned to his bridge.

The five ships of the protecting response squadron extricated themselves carefully from an outer shell of asteroids, following the BCC Fat Cat along the girth of the irregular border of the immense field of free floating rock. Time passed and they found nothing on the other side.  Empty space extended beyond the rolling rocks of the field.

“Hide us in a patch of asteroids near the source,” Lord Grafihl commanded. The five ships snuggled cautiously into a blanket of asteroids, hidden from view for all practical purposes, invisible even to the sensors and scanners of modern starships. Lord Grafihl and his squadron was eventually awestruck when a Klingon fleet of eleven warships broke high warp dangerously close alongside the perimeter of the asteroids, cautiously entering the Poldar Field where the beacon originated. 






Monday, January 20, 2014

Between a Rock and a Hard Place










Bridge Tholian Destroyer Matrix
 
 
"Commander, the intruders are entering our patrol zone now.  They are converging from two different vectors.  Sensors indicate the first group is Romulan.  The second group is coming from the direction of the Federation territories.  The Triax patrol group is trailing them."
 
Commander Tikral of the THS Matrix puzzled over the sudden involvement of the Federation into Tholian affairs.  The Klingons had been a flaw in the matrix ever since the Holdfast had been established.  Likewise the Romulans had proven an occasional menace.  With the exception of a few ships that strayed into Tholian territory though, the Federation had proven to be the safest neighbor so far.   Now though, a Federation squadron had moved into the area patrolled by the Matrix's sister ship, Triax.