Post by Eric Farrington on Apr 23, 2024 18:47:11 GMT
The following is a battle report for my latest game, Hostile Space:
The trading contract for the Freehold of New Arcadia will expire and come up for re-negotiation in the next rotations. Traditionally, these contracts have been held by corporate interests aligned with the New Olympians, and New Arcadia was considered within the New Olympians sphere of interests. However, the free hold is located in the Asteroid Belt, which the Earth Alliance views at its territory.
With the contract set to expire, elements of the Earth Alliance have begun aggressively courting New Arcadia. They have offered lucrative incentives, and coupled them with veiled threats. In fact, some smaller trading and prospecting vessels from New Arcadia have gone missing in the region. The Earth Alliance has cited this as a prime reason to change contracts, as the New Olympians have failed to properly protect and enforce the expiring contract.
The powers that be on NeOlympus have deemed it necessary to reinforce their alliance on New Arcadia. To this end, they have deployed a patrol ship and a compliment of suits to New Arcadia space. A Carrier arrived and dropped off just such a ship before continuing on its route. The New Olympian commander on the scene has pledged to find the cause of the missing prospecting vessels.
Investigating the last know location of one of these New Arcadian Prospecting ships, the New Olympians had unusual activity on their scopes. The New Olympians engaged the hostiles and drove them off. Post-battle analysis allowed the New Olympians to identify that the suits engaged were of Earth Alliance design. However, the Earth Alliance is well known for selling their tech to anyone with the currency to buy it. Identifying their suits would not be enough to link them to the loss of the Prospecting Ships from New Arcadia.
Therefore, the Patrol Craft tracked their potential telemetry to a nearby Asteroid that could house a forward operating base. En route, unknown suits were identified attempting to transit from the area. Again, a vicious dogfight ensued, but the apparent lead suit escaped while the new Olympians lost one of their heavier suits in the fighting.
With their leads running dry, the Captain set course for Liberty Pointe. The Pointe was a well known haven for freebooters, criminals and smugglers, just the type of place where pirates would try to off load their ill-gotten gains. The New Olympians hoped to pick up the trail there.
After travelling through open space for several weeks, the Patrol Ship finally was able to contact Liberty Pointe. Technically, Liberty Pointe was under the protection and aligned with the Outsider Confederation. However, they graciously allowed a single New Olympian transport escorted by a few suits to enter dock at their Free Hold and pursue the investigation.
Members of the New Olympian Diplomatic Corp as well as a criminal investigation team boarded the shuttle with their honor guard of marines. The transport left the dock, and her escort of Ares suits soon joined her on the transit to the Pointe.
As they approached, the traffic from other ships in Docking Orbit and their transports also increased. When they were outside of the protection of the Patrol Ships guns, but before they were in close orbit to the Pointe calamity struck. A Cold-Void Storage Container en route to the Pointe burst open and unknown Suits swarmed out of it and towards the Transport. Someone didn't want this investigation to continue! The New Olympian Escorts scrambled to engage the enemy suits.
Forces:
New Olympians
3 Ares Space Combat Suits
- 1 Upgraded with #1 - Heavy beam Cannon
3 Hephaestus Lander
Red Knights
1 Shepherd Suit
- Upgrade- Combat Shield
4 Bulldog Suits
- 1 Upgrade- Rocket Tube
We will be using Mission 5- Escorts found in the main rule book. In this scenario, the Attacking Unknowns earn extra VP for destroying the transport. Meanwhile, the New Olympians will gain extra VP if the Transport escapes the opposite board edge, or avoids getting destroyed.
Set-up
This time, we are playing on a 72 x 48 MU board. That means 1 MU is 1 inch in today's battle. I have placed large "shadows" on the board that represent other freighters, cargo containers, and other craft. They all cover a single altitude that was randomly determined. Each has a dice next to them for Height. The large frieghters cover all the altitudes for this battle. If a Suit or transport enters the area of a shadow and is at the same altitude, it is considered destroyed.
The New Olympians deploy on a short board edge with the transport in the middle at Beta and speed 4 about 4 MU in. The rest of the suits form a triangle around the Transport at various altitudes all at speed 4.
The Unknowns are on the opposite side of the boards. They are at various altitudes and speed 6 and all deployed 6 MU from their edge.
You can read the full battle report on the Blood and Spectacles blog here:
bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2024/04/battle-report-hostile-space-escort-to.html