STARSHIP!- Battle of the Belt





Here are a series of  shots of the two Starship! games I ran at Kublacon this past weekend. I was originally scheduled to run the game once, but thanks to the enthusiasm, the over full signup sheet (and a special shout out to Roderick of the Kublacon staff for securing me another table) I was able to run the scenario twice.   Thanks again to everyone that came to play, looked on, and for all the nice comments!

The first battle in action, yours truly powered by coffee

EMC fortress Rowell defends the rocks!



Brilliant asteroid station! A suprise piece made for me by the talented Peter Grose.
 The planet can be seen below



S'Tang invasion fleet!

The EMC Fleet move to stop them.

The first battle started with the EMC line breaking class 5 pulling a "Leroy Jenkins" and charging right into a well deployed CAP of EMC fighters, leaving his two class 3 support ships in his wake.   All I can say is that it reminded me of a nature show I once saw, where a capybara runs though a piranha infested pond. The Line breaker was destroyed in a turn!

 

EMC Carriers Lilith and Medra launch fighters, while S'Tang Energy Torps race in.

With the S'Tang Line breaker destroyed, the EMC fighters race towards
their next victim.

 

 

After the Line breaker went down, The S'Tang retaliated by destroying the Fortress , which lasted almost 4 turns much to the amazement to all of us (due to godlike repair rolls by her captain).  Unfortunately for the S'Tang, they could keep decent fleet cohesion, and the EMC fighters took down two more of their ships  despite attempts to counter with Mecha.  This battle ran to a conclusion in about 4 hours with only one S'Tang ship remaining. I think the EMC lost only the Fortress.  Kudos to Dylan, who brilliantly stepped in as CAG for the EMC. 



Second Battle of the Belt- S'Tang keep formation, and protect my coffee!

 


S'Tang Battle ship caught 3 tactical and one anti matter torp from the EMC flagship,Empress Eulalie. that equates to 7d6 of damage.. or in simpler terms, that big boom you see.

 

EMC fighters take heavy losses from S'Tang class 4 missile ship as they come in, only to then be
jumped by Mecha! Out of 27 squadrons, only 7 made it in to hit ships, and only 3 of them got out.

 The Second battle of the Belt went much differently. The S'Tang, learning from the last battle, kept tight formation and covered each other, holding back while the EMC fighters came screaming in. When they did, they were met with 36 salvos of missiles which ripped through them before they could get close to any ship. Once close, the S'Tang they counter launched their Mecha ( which although slow, are well armored and perfect for ship defense) who surrounded the fighters and destroyed all but 7. After the furball was over, only 3 squadrons of EMC fighters lived to tell the tale, but not for long.

Without fighter cover and having closed within Plasma inferno (think plasma carronades) and Mecha range, the EMC valiantly went toe to toe with the S'Tang. Captain Farin of the EMC battle ship Yarmouth is to be commended for taking multiple heaving beatings, yet managed to keep his ship up and firing  broadsideafter broadside into the enemy, while protecting the flagship. Unfortunately, no one was protecting the carriers which quickly went down to a flanking action from the S'Tang class 3 ships, and Mecha. Soon the fat lady was singing and the Yarmouth, the Hussar, and the Empress Eulalie went code Omega. Only the S'Tang Carrier , who pulled back after launching, was undamaged; the other ships were venting badly, and probably would not have made it another turn or two.

This battle lasted about 3 hours with a totally different conclusion than the first. As a designer, this gave me great joy ( and assuaged my fears that I poorly designed the S'Tang fleet)!

Sorry this was a bit long, but I had many requests to give a blow by blow. Enjoy!