DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Royal Navy vs. Black Dragons
We’re back to the stars, folks, with a return to Darkstar with my friend @damon .
The last year or so of Darkstar play has been a wild ride for the British. For at least nine months, from @dignity ’s game on camera, to games with @gladesrunner , @davehawes , @damon , and @rasmus , the British just couldn’t seem to lose. My Japanese lost to them twice. My Russians barely survived. Imperial Prussian battleships were broken. The renegade Black Dragons couldn’t catch a break. My French were beaten so badly I actually lost one of my commanders … Even when things started going badly for them, the British would rally back for at least a draw if not a narrow win, as we saw with @elessar2590 against a powerful force of Prussians.
Then about three months ago, the British started losing. A lot. @rasmus scored a win with his Japanese. My French finally rallied enough to steal a draw. The Panasian battleship Honghu (Red Tiger) crushed a British cruiser force. Worst of all were the Russians, who came back against the British … hard. And not just with Damon’s British, but Gladesrunner and as well. The British were smashed over and again, to the point where in a recent game, quite by accident, Damon lost his whole fleet. As in the ships weren’t just beaten, but destroyed (actually somewhat of a rarity in Darkstar). The whole task force, the cruiser Bellerophon (“Billy Ruffian), the light cruiser Indefatigable, and the destroyer Terpsichore, all were gone in a single disastrous afternoon. Although all of Damon’s commanders survived, the task force itself had to be rebuilt from scratch with all new ships.
Yesterday, that new task force saw combat for the first time. The new flagship was the recently-completed Trafalgar class “fast cruiser” Agamemnon, with an upgraded engine plant making this 145,000-ton heavy cruiser as fast in sublight as most destroyers. Sleek, modern, and also fast for her type, the Relentless class light cruiser Retribution replaced the venerable Indefatigable. She carried most of “Indy’s” expert gunnery crews now aboard, and so added the Indefatigable’s years of experience to far more advanced targeting systems. Finally, the new Falklands class fleet destroyer Sheffield filled the role of her late sistership, Terpsichore – fast, advanced, and bristling with aerospace defense mass drivers.
Meanwhile, “Duchess Annabel’s War” continued in the Second Band of Libra, Ara, Scorpio, and Sagittarius constellations. Having started out as a trade and tariff dispute between shipping lanes through the British-controlled “Annabel’s Star” (41 Arae) system, the issue had ignited into a local war against the nearby Prussian Eisenwolf Colony (Gleise 570). But now that war has dragged in other powers, with the New Roman Alliance and Japanese joining the Prussians. Outnumbered three-to-one, the British courted allies with other major powers in the sector, namely the Panasian Union (Chinese) and Holy Russian Empire. These nations had huge industrial colonies closer to Sol along these trading routes, and in exchange for support the British promised favorable shipping treaties through the “Annabel’s Star” system, which the Panasians and Russians desperately needed in their ongoing war against the renegade “Black Dragons” of the self-proclaimed Khitan-Tunguska Free State.
Which, in a very roundabout way, brings us to today’s battle. With the Black Dragons now an enemy of the British as well in the Libra-Sagittarius sector, the newly-refurbished Agamemnon cruiser squadron is given orders to preempt a possible threat building up in the Prussian star system of New Bremerhaven (Gleise 581). Black Dragon cruisers have been detected there by snooping British “Q-Class” gunboats and “Superb” class torpedo corvettes. The Agamemnon cruiser squadron is ordered to set a high-speed Darkstar Wave into the enemy star system, engage and damage the Black Dragon rebels as badly as possible, and then get home.
Make no mistake, this is a raid, not an assault. Although the British are in no position to invade New Bremerhaven at the moment, the British need this win not only to counter the growing Prussian-Black Dragon threat against Annabel’s Star, but also to steady their Panasian allies and smooth things over with the Holy Russian Empire.
So can Damon use his new fleet to get a comeback going for the British, and end this recent British losing streak?
September 14, 2519 – New Bremerhaven (Gleise 581 - M3V Red Dwarf - 20 LY from Sol)
The Agamemnon and her escorts drop out of their Darkstar wave and begin hard deceleration to attack speed. With their advanced powerplants, especially aboard the Agamemnon herself (seriously, the fastest heavy cruiser ANYWHERE in Darkstar at the moment), they were able to shave their Darkstar exits relatively close to the outer moons of a Gleise 581 gas giant. However, with such large ships setting such fast Darkstar waves, the gravimetric disruption was significant and enemy detection was inevitable. Sure enough, the Black Dragons have a sizable force already on a hard intercept course, including two former Slava class heavy cruiser and a former Gagarin class light fleet carrier.
I really enjoy reading about events in the DARKSTAR Universe.
I’ll be printing all these accounts and adding them to my DARKSTAR rulebook. (affectionately known as the book of Jim). ??
Thanks very much, @templar007 . I think the main background for the Xi Scorpio, Scorpiom’s Tail, and Duchess Annabel’s Wars are all on PDF and posted. If you like this stuff I can send them over. 😀
That would be fantastic! Thanks very much. ?
No worries, @templar007 – e-mail sent to the gmail addresses I have on file. 😀
Down to the wire… And a lucky six… I really thought my losing streak was continuing when both cruisers went down, but the scrappy little destroyer saved the day, the little ship that could! After the game I diced out the other option for the manoeuvre on the last turn with firing the full broadside but further away; it didn’t work, only did six points of damage total and the Vahlkhin would have escaped. Another close and enjoyable game. The timing of the Alpha strike with torpedoes, missiles and a stern rake was perfect and should have been a game… Read more »
Thanks, @damon , and glad you liked it! Indeed at the end of Turn 3 I was sure we were looking at another British defeat. And again, it’s not just you. It’s been the BRITISH in general. Other players have been getting hammered with the British as well. I would have suspected something was wrong with the math of the faction except they just came off a WINNING streak just as long and unbroken. Anyway, glad the Agamemnon task force is off to a good start. Re: carriers … well, yeah. Admittedly my two favorite factions are the Americans and… Read more »
Haven’t been able to read up on darkstar stuff in an age. It’s good to see it’s still going strong.
Thanks @muakhah – it speeds up and slows down, but never really stops. 🙂 Good to hear from you again! 🙂
I hate to miss a good fight – and this does seem like one of those
This was definitely a knuckle-buster. 😀 At the end of Turn 3 I was so sure I was winning so heavily I actually felt bad. A big cruiser-size carrier strike hits so hard … ONCE. But @Damon was able to turn it around. 😀