Tonights outing at STAW saw a variation on the Scenario in the Starter Set Rulebook “A New Source of Dilithium”.
Rumors of a new planet harboring dilithium crystals reach the ears of the Federation, as well as the Klingon and Romulan Empires. So rich is the new source that it threatens to provoke open war from the Romulan Empire, and even threatens the Khitomer Accords between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
Three Player Scenario, standard three player set up. Recommended: Federation/Klingon/Romulan.
Each Player recieves 40 Squad Points and must includ at least one CREW Uprgade.
Be the first player to obtain three Mission Tokens and warp out by returning to your starting point OR eliminate all opposing ships.
The scenario is intended for 3 players with one ship each (from the starter box) but we had decided to run it with 4, increase the points limit from the scenario standard 40pts per fleet/ship to 80pt fleets with no ship more that 50pts ( as per the WK Suggested Tournament Format) and make it Ship Pure.
There were some special actions available to ships to enable them to drop Away Teams to gather the Dilithium resources from the Scenario:-
When a ship is within Range 1 of the Planet, it gains the following Actions
ACTION: If your ship is not cloaked, disable all shields and disable your captain and one crew upgrade.. They are now considered your Away Team on the Planet and cannot be re-enable except by using the Action below.
ACTION: If your ship is not cloaked, disable all shields and re-enable your Away Team. They are now consider back on board your ship. Any Mission Tokens on your captain are transferred to your ship.
While on the Planet, members of your Away Team cannot be targetted by any other cards or effects. Your ship is considered to have a Captain skill of 1.
During any end phase that you have an Away Team on the Planet, take one Mission Token from the Planet and place it on your Captain.
With the scenario set we set about building fleets. Derek chose a triple Keldon Dominion build, I had a Reman Warbird flanked by two Romulan Science Vessels, Daniel had a pimped out Enterprise-E and a Galaxy Class Starship, Josh flew an Enterprise-NX class and a Intrepid Class. My exact fleet is as below:-
80pts Rom Pure List v3
Romulan Science Vessel (12)
Romulan Captain (0)
Bochra (2)
Cloaked Mines (2)
Ship SP: 15
Romulan Science Vessel (12)
Romulan Captain (0)
Romulan Pilot (2)
Cloaked Mines (2)
Ship SP: 16
Reman Warbird (36)
Mirok (2)
Indy/Dom FleetCaptain (5)
Adm. Hiren (1)
Parem (1)
Cloaked Mines (2)
Cloaked Mines (2)
Ship SP: 44
Total Build SP: 80
The plan was to advance quickly with my ships and drop mines at range 1 of the planet making it prohibitively difficult for ships to come in drop off crews and orbit without taking damage. Then all of my ships could dump away teams and mission tokens could be gather quickly. The nippy Science Vessels made dropping mines easy and the fast strong Reman Warbird made dealing with ships once they’d deposited Away Teams easy because I’d have a firing advantage after my away team went planetside as Admiral Hiren would take over captaincy and have Initiative in the Attack Phase. With a plan in place we set-up.
Each fleet had a corner to deploy in the deployment area was range 2 from the corner in both directions and range 1 deep so an L shape on each corner.
The fleets assemble to race to the planet and gather Dilithium.
Turn one was posturing and guesswork as all fleets began their plans. Dereks Dominion fleet (bottom left) arced towards Joshs Federation fleet (top left). Joshs Federation fleet arced towards Daniels Federation fleet (top right). Daniels Federation and my Romulan Fleets (bottom right) raced directly towards the planet forwards. I had forgotten just how small a 3×3 gaming mat was as before I knew it the ships were in close around the planet making deploying mines a tad difficult.
Both Science Vessels deployed mines at the start of turn 2 from cloak in front of Dereks Dominion and Daniels Federation before J-turning and leaving. The Reman Warbird dumped its Away Team and flew over the planet. Derek had managed to put his only Away Team down too.
Derek began using his superior 180 arcs to damage Joshs NX Class. The two Federation fleets went at it with shots being traded. Both the Intrepid and Galaxy Class ships taking heavy damage.
Elsewhere some very accurate torpedo fire from Daniels Enterprise-E caused a Warp Core Breach on the Romulan Science Vessel. Which began to limp away hoping to evade the Federation ship.
So in the End Phase both Derek and I began acquiring Mission tokens.
The Reman Warbird dropped a set of mines to the left of the planet, I had now dropped 3 of my 4 sets in roughly where I wanted getting decent coverage around the planet. Sadly the Dominion had already managed to place an Away Team the turn before. Turn three saw the destruction of the Intrepid and Galaxy Classes as the two Federation fleets engaged one another and the Dominion fleet of Gul Dukat, Sar and an uncaptained Keldon arced around the planet and engaged them.
The Reman warbird appeared from behind the planet and began to reign down phaser fire into the rear of Gul Dukats Keldon whilst Luaran and Boheeka hid on the planet. Choosing Admiral Hiren, who later became Captain Hiren in Miroks absence proved to be an advantage allowing me to destroy the rear Keldon very quickly before it could reply. Gul Dukat had clearly forgotten his Dorsal Phaser Arrays. In closing down the Dominion fleet I opened myself up to an attack from the superior firing arcs of the Keldons. With no sheilds and cloak engaged the resultant phaser fire tore into the unprotected hull of the Reman Warbird. Had my captain been aboard I would have been able to repair some damage but he was gathering Dilithium and fighting Dominion on the planet.
The Reman Warbird targets the Keldon of Sar as they pursue the NX Class. The Enterprise-E pushes through the minefield past the critically damaged Science Vessel to attack its sister ship.
The Romulan Science Vessel was restricted due to some earlier torpedo fire from the Enterprise-E. It was limping on maneuvering thrusters as the big Federation ship passed through its minefield. Unable to evade the big ship its only hope was to get in close from the side or rear and try to remove as many shields and hull as possible. Without arc on the damaged Science Vessel the Enterprise-E turned her phasers on the sister ship which was dead ahead. Some great firing later and it was blasted to pieces.
The start of turn four saw two away teams on the planet gathering Dilithium and most fleets having lost one ship each, the Science Vessel on without warp being under serious threat from Picards Enterprise-E. The planet had been mined making it difficult for further Away Teams to be placed. The Dominion fleet followed the now wounded NX-Class round towards the far side of the planet, where the limping Science Vessel was harrying and harassing the Enterprise-E. The loss of its Warp Core made out maneuvering the Federation ship difficult and it crashed into the side of the Enteprise. Once the Enterprise moved away it had range and arc on the little minelayer.
The NX Class attempted to evade the two remaining Dominion ships which were in fast pursuit. The Reman Warbird was badly placed to attack unless it could turn around quickly so it pulled a J-turn to flip it around and leave it facing the planet and its escape route once it picked up its Away Team.
The Enterprise-E unleashed a devastating salvo of torpedos at the limping Romulan Science Vessel tearing it in two. Its Romulan crew left floating in the black of space slowly dying.
Concentrated phaser fire with Target Locks and Battlestations from the Dominion ships destroyed the NX-Class whilst the Reman Warbird managed a long range shot at the Keldon closest to the planet in an attempt to destroy it and make it more difficult to retrieve the Dominion Away Team. Even a long range the Reman ship was able to destroy all the shields of the Keldon and damage its hull.
Turn five saw a tough decision for me, do I lower shields and retrieve my Away Team then race for home under cloak or do I keep shields up and move back over the planet but risk giving the Dominion fleet two turns of firing at me? I chose the former and collected my Away Team. The two Dominion ships arced back towards the planet which given their firing arcs gave the damaged Keldon a shot at the now uncloaked, unshielded and damaged Reman Warbird.
The Reman warbird was unable to attack as its 90 degree arc couldn’t be brought to bear on the Keldon. Had it had arc it could have finished off the Dominion beast before it could reply but sadly the Keldon shot to its side and applied just enough damage to leave the Reman Warbird a floating hulk.
The lone Enterprise-E was now being pursued by the two Keldons. They closed quickly whilst she navigated around the multiple minefields. Each field causing minimal damage to the Enteprise but slowly stripping shields away one by one.
The Dominion collected their Away Team and Dilithium and raced for home with only the Federations Enteprise-E to stop them.
Some concentrated torpedo fire by the Enterprise saw Sars support Keldon destroyed as Luaran and Boheeka managed to scrape home.
In the end the winning ship, Luaran and Boheekas Keldon had 1 hull points and no shields remaining whilst Daniels Enterprise-E had 2 hull points and no shields but also no Dilithium.
Great game, great scenario and I shall definitely be looking back through some of the scenarios from the ship expansions to tweak and alter them and make them fit our regular STAW crowd.
Thanks to Derek Maynard, Daniel Ryan and Josh Pemberton.
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