This topic contains 198 replies, has 16 voices, and was last updated by 
elessar2590 5 years, 5 months ago.
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All right, it’s that time, everyone … Yesterday I had a great game of Darkstar with @damon and @rasmus. Damon had his Bellerophon task force with one of my American ships in support (Valcour-class destroyer USS Princeton) and Rasmus had his Japanese task force with one of my Russian ships in support (Sovnya class destroyer CPK Syekyra).
Just for fun, and just because we were playing this on the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, I put Earth’s moon on the table, along with three orbiting cities named for the Apollo 11 astronauts. Of course, in Darkstar canon this would be absolutely prohibited, anyone who so much as uses harsh language in what is called “the Lunar Sphere” – a sphere described by the orbit of the moon – is dealt with (i.e., exterminated) by UN and their fleet Jerusalem class super-battleships. Trust me, ONE of those can sink a fleet, four or five of them can crush a navy. This was written into the lore just so nations of Earth have to engage in interplanetary or interstellar combat, and not settle their grudges on the battlefields of Earth (it’s a SPACE game, after all).
Anyway, the Japanese have the Katana class heavy cruiser Kama, a real beast. Sleek, fast, high-tech and fragile, the Sendai-Byo (the original Sendai lost in the Xi Scorpio War of 2516-18). Two Akashi class strike frigates round out the Japanese force, along with the aforementioned Russian allies.
The British have the high-tech “raider” Trafalgar-class heavy cruiser HMS Bellerophon – fast, nimble (for a heavy cruiser) but less punchy than the Kama. The venerable Indomitable class light cruiser HMS Indefatigable runs alongside (old and creaky, but her crew are some of the best gunners in the fleet), along with the high-tech Falklands class destroyer HMS Terpsichore. Hoping to help out are the Americans in the aforementioned USS Princeton.
Simple smash-em-up game, with “assault” victory conditions (points left ON the table at the end Turn 8).
So here’s the initial approach. In the “age of sail” they had the weather gauge or the wind gauge … here in Darkstar you have the “gravity gauge” … which Damon seems to have seized right off the bat by cutting a course toward the moon (which is to scale with the hex grid, 180 km per hex – the ships are of course oversized, but they are moving at 3 kilometers per second per hex per turn). Note that as Rasmus turns to engage, he will have to point his ships TOWARD the moon, never a good thing in this game (bad time to be hit and lose power). Damon will also be able to pull up away from the moon, using the planet’s gravity to help decelerate to acceptable attack speeds once he’s made a higher-speed closing approach.
Damon doesn’t get lucky with initiative, however. Even as he turns away from the moon, the Japanese are able to avoid the worst of his broadsides. Rasmus divides his force into two battle groups, the cruisers handing back to provide long-range gunfire support (Japanese warships are ridiculously accurate with high-grade CIC / targeting systems), while the smaller, plasma-accelerator heavy Russian destroyer and Akashi strike frigates dive in close for shorter-range fire. HMS Terpsichore takes the worst of it at first, while the Akashi class strike frigate IJN Sakito is hammered in turn. Both sides have also launched formidable torpedo spreads, although the Japanese and Russian torpedoes are far scarier than the handful launched by the Princeton (none of the British ship carry torpedoes).
Things get crazy. Whereas many Darkstar games are borderline Napoleonic with linear fleet tactics and well-ordered task forces keeping tight formation … this one devolves into a dogfight, a brawl, a knife-fight across 5400 kilometers of open space. The only attempt at order is by Damon, with Bellerophon, Princeton, and Indefatigable managing to cross the stern of IJN Kama and Sendai (white arrows). This is the fire phase that should have won the British the game, but Damon’s dive roll for the broadside of the Bellerophon was literally all misses. We calculated the odds on camera, we figured a roll THAT bad was at least 60-1 against (10 dice, 60% chance to hit, ALL MISSES). Indefatigable did a little better but note these hits are hitting the Kama’s starboard QUARTER, not the STERN. Meanwhile, the Sakito has been hammered (forward shields down) and is trying to stay out of harms way, but is being chased down by American and British scout planes. Princeton’s torpedoes are headed for the Urakaze, the Terpsichore is now trying to limp off the board, and the Indefatigable is hammered by the aft batteries of the Kama and Sendai (forward guns broadsiding the Terpsichore).
The Kama and Sendai finally turn straight toward the British (now that the Japanese have more or less passed BENEATH the moon), only to find that the British are my and large BEHIND them. The Bellerophon is admittedly faster and more nimble than her rival. However, now “Billy Ruffian” and the Kama are exchanging broadsides, a matchup the Kama will win every time (bigger bun battery, more EPCs, bigger gauge, and better shielding on the aft quarters than the Trafalgar class).
Exchanging broadsides with a Japanese Katana-class heavy cruiser is never a good idea, as the Bellopheron has learned to her cost. With her starboard quarter ripped open, she’s trying to maneuver clear, but with no starboard quarter shields and maneuvering thruster damage, she has a hard time making the required turns at her present velocity. Indefatigable has been drilled straight through the core, and with significant crew losses has been forces to break off the action. The Princeton tries to cover the British withdrawal, and parks right alongside the Kama. I’m gambling that Rasmus will want to put most of his big guns against the British as poor little Princeton is hardly a threat, but JUST MAYBE a point-blank broadside will cause some core damage or knock out and engine. Well, I wasn’t wrong … Rasmus saves all his big guns for the British. Only two 12-megakelvin lasers (the temperatures at which the lasers burn) hit the Princeton, BUT RIGHT ON THE BRIDGE. I swear I think this is one of the most surgical ship-kills I’ve seen in Darkstar. Full long-range broadsides unload on the Belleropheron, which is crippled. The Russian destroyer Syrkeyra has been forced to break off the action while the frigates Urakaze and Sakito have also been crippled. But two Japanese cruisers remain, and only lightly damaged … so clearly this game is going to the Japanese.
Here are some of the ship sheets after the battle. The Terpsichore is to the left. Good God, what a mess. Struck fight on the bow by no less than FIVE Ki-45 Toryu class (Dragon Slayer) torpedoes, plus all kinds of gunfire. The frigate Urakaze is at right.
The heavy cruiser Bellopheron is at at left, the Russian destroyer Syekyra at right. One magazine hit wasn’t enough to cripple her, but the crew had decided they’d had enough as I failed the breakoff check. Just as well, I’d lost my port bow torpedoes, and torpedoes are arguably some of the most powerful weapons any destroyer has. Meanwhile, the “Billy Ruffian” is in worse shape. You can see that devastating barrage that hit the starboard quarter.
Great game on both sides! The dice were definitely against the British and Americans on this one, but they put up a good show and left three of the enemy ships as wrecks or fleeing. Better luck next time!
I am all behind, like a cows tail and still one page behind…not a good start for my triumphant return!
@tuffyears – Awesome pic! I am a bit of a cat person too. We have six. Seven if you include ‘Harry’. He is a neighbours cat, but our Felix is his grandmother. 50pts. See, told you I was smiling.
Rosie. Always covered in mysterious wounds!
@sundancer – I was more ‘inspired’ by the lyrics and video imagery. I guess “Nu-Germany” is not exactly what I would have expected it to be. Maybe I was thinking the New York from ‘The Man in the High Castle’. 10pts.
My knowlegde of spoken German is limited, but I am pretty good with 16-17th century written stuff. I had a mis-spent youth studying the theological. Told you I was a geek. With no Internet to distract me with it’s beautiful pornography I used to design instrument panels, do isometric projections for anything I could find, and read anythinhg I could find. You couldn’t even walk into a bookshop and ask them to order X because they couldn’t be sure it existed. I am pretty good at Hebrew too.
@elessar2590 – I hope those berets are the right colour? 10pts. Those are awesome! 20pts more. The Bren gun team is amazing. Nasty thing to fire, but to better to be firing it that getting hit by it. Heavy too. What are these going to be used for? Do you have some scenario(s) in mind? We are going to do some Soviet-German tank battles using the amazing Battlegroup rules. However, my progress is super slow!
Nice webbing on the big Russsians. 20pts. Looks like you are teachers pet today…
@cpauls1 – those robot drone/remotes are fantastic. 50pts. Remotes rule! They are bastards in Infinity. Jamie has some really evil ones. I also see someone with an ammo belt over him. Yes! Support weapons rule. I have never been an infantry soldier, but I undersatand ‘force multiplication’.
I wouldn’t mind some indicidual shots…hint, hint. I found some stowage for your vehicle so i’ll get it packed up and posted on monday. How’s that for service?
Traveller was the first real RPG I played. I had sort of played Laserburn, but that is not the same. I loved it. The guy who introduced me to gaming played it. He also introduced me to Runequest! I remember my first ‘misjump’ as if it were yesterday. 20pts.
So, some fatherless shit-swallower took your minis? For what? Just like the twats that wrecked Derek’s minis (and my petrol tank) when we were going to do a game for the BoW ‘Bridge to Far’ thing. Remember that? Well, let us all hope that he has so many friends that they call him so much his clackers fall off.
Those remotes are called Anvil gun tractors – nice! 20pts. Where do they come from?
@limburger – the band XTC are great! Never taken it. Why would I want to be in love with everyone? Horrible idea. 50pts. How about this for getting under the radar…it made No1 in the charts here. Jerry is also in the video. He was just wandering to his shop while they were filming and they asked him to join in.
‘Love Hearts’ are very tasty. Acidic, but tasty. The little slogans certainly have changes since I was a boy. 20pts. You might not be infected, but if you eat a whole packet your teeth have probably disolved by now.
That UFO building is stunning!
@oriskany – YES! Might this be one of your battle reports? They were always something to remember. In fact, I have the AWI battle report printed out and I still read through it on a rainy day. In Scotland that is often. 20pts.
We have had no Internet all day. There was a storm here last night and the electricity went off. We played some silly word games and sat out in the garden until 0300hrs and it stared to get light.
Eve rescued us for lunch! She rules.
It is just one of those things. Gothy girls do that sort of thing. I could tell you a few stories, but not here. Copies of the movies are still available. We went to see a band, years ago, and after the band had finished this really pretty and elegant woman walked up to us and just said to Heather, “I have been looking at you all night. Would you mind if I kissed you?”
I will be checking out the battle stuff. Awesome. 50pts.
@robert – Dave uses this spray to dry superglue faster. I don’t see the point. Just wet the other side of what you are glueing with your tongue and you are sorted. Is this a good thing or just a fad? My first girlfriend bought me some Tamiya glue-pens for xmas when they first came out. They were great.
@rasmus – so sorry to see that you got ransacked! 100pts.
@crazyredcoat – I always liked working during the night. It does suck when it comes to doing everything else! 50pts. Electric Six. 30pts.
@horati0nosebl0wer – new meat! 50pts. At least you read the rules. Good one.
Anytime to get things done is good. Especially if you don’t get disturbed. I have never lived with ‘housemates’ before, but I don’t think I would be very good at it. I don’t like mess and people who leave the dunny seat up make me want to kill!
So, who are you?
I did try ‘Stranger Things’ after Dave told he it was amazing. It isn’t and I don’t want to be watching hours of rubbish before “it gets going”. Just not my scene, man. Hope you are enjoting it. I watched the first episode of ‘Breaking Bad’ yesterday after Jamie, my son, said it was really good. I enjoyed it very much.
I need my eyes testing. Overdue a retest. I break lots of pairs of glasses by falling over. Last pair I snapped the arms off when I stumbled down the last two stairs and as I grabbed for the wall I pulled the off and my hand pushed them flat!
Basements rule. 100pts. I had one when I lived in Sheffield. Great for training and making a sex dungeon. Lovely and cool too.
If you were young then you must have made an arse of yourself a few times! 20pts. Maybe she didn’t notice either. One of my classics was when I summoned the courage to tell her that I thought she was very beautiful. However, I tried to dress it up a bit. She was making a brew and standing about 10 feet away. I said, “You look so beautiful when you are far away from me!” What I meant was that I can see all of your details better. She thought it was funny after I stuttered out a better explaination.
Well, I was just 16.
So, you have done a bit of adventuring. Good for you. I should have done more, but I was stupid and joined the army.
You should give Infinity a try. Way better than any Wacoshop game. Blood Bowl is a fantastic game. I still love playing it. What team(s) do you play? Skaven rule.
Are you also a Gary Larson fan? 50pts. Just pure class. If you have a brain!
Synthwave? Do you like synth/new wave? How about Numan? Numan rules. 20pts.
“…this isn’t a synth!”
@warzan – you get let off some of the rules as you are always busy doing BoW stuff. However, just this once! 20pts. I remember the first time I did this and you posted on it. I nearly pappered my dacks!
Big! I am not sure the Apocalypse every worked in the way it was supposed it. Too much going on and it takes too long to play just a single turn. I always liked having huge waves of troops and vehicles clashing…who doesn’t. Keep up the hard work. 50pts.
I like the front of your small building (the WiP).
See, got caught-up just in time. Heather wants to come in here and watch something with me. She is a little bit tipsy too.
@elessar2590 – I saw a ‘stolen valour’ video where this big, fat bastard had 3 CIB’s. One of them was from “actions outside of a normal military campaign”. He was supposed to be a Ranger and when asked for his MOS he replied, “…my MOS is that I just go out on missions!” Where to, fatso? Burger King? 30pts.
They should just sign-up for real. Basic training seem like it is designed to pass people whatever their ability. Just like everything else where things matter…the standards are dropping low that Whale shit.
The British Army allowed woman to join the Infanry. However, none of them can complete basic training. So, rather than just saying, “women can’t pass Infantry selection and therefore cannot be front line soldiers”, they are considering changing the standard for passing selection. Just like Sassy says, “Take a teaspoon of cement and harden the fuck-up.”
I was a bit “destroyed” one night and saw these two amazing ‘downed helicopter pilots’ for sale on Ebay. Just £1.50 so I snapped them up. When they arrived they were just 20mm where I thought they were 28mm. I looked on the website and just started buying 20mm stuff. They were Elhiem miniatures too. I have a few of thier Aussie SAS!
1. Really? I saw a fight sequence from it and the vehicles looked good. Jamie, my son, bought me the book when he was ordering something and I thought I would give it a watch. Guess not. 20pts.
3. TBLS is awesome. The ‘Mike Nolan Show’ also has some brilliant stuff. When I first heard about a “rip start” I almost pissed myself laughing. I have met a few Aussie soldiers so I know exactly how accurate it is. Bloody sook.
Is it just me or is Sassy just a black fella?
5. I’ll give anything a try. You should try everything three time – first time you can never be sure and it can take time to develop a ‘taste’ for some things. Like a rip-start! 50pts. I’ll leave a comment so you know it’s me.
6. Lucky you. That man is legendary for his gaming. His models are totally awesome too. He constructs things in almost no time! He got me to write a things about Force-on-Force!
What is Twitch? I’ll make a stupid guess…is it like Twitter? Hoe come they have a park named after your grandfather? Very cool. 30pts. Glad you had a great time. Is your family “religious” or was the baptism for tradition? Sorry to be a nosey pommy, but I am interested in these things. Feel free not to answer any question I ask.
@robert – you are going to burn in the fames for that. However, I knew these two girls and one of them used to like putting on red lipstick and…Ze Germans are looking outstanding. 50pts. Do you have any armour?
When you say, “Fancied some bush this morning as well”, what exactly did you mean? I will have to reveal my secret identity to save you. You need a girlfriend! (or an oven-ready chicken)
Bolt Thrower! 20pts. Wacoshop backed music. No, they are definatly not a cult.
That is a fantastic song. Not very long though. I saw marillion play ‘Misplaced Childhood’ as one song. It is 47 minutes long. They played 4-5 songs first (most of them are 7-10 minutes), then MC, then three more. That was a great tour.
Do you like the poem?
The bases just get better 20pts.
@limburger – why? Spill. Don’t make me get the hot sand. They killed Dr. Who when they made him a woman. It was just to please all there fu**wits and SJW fruitcakes. Pertwee and Baker were my heroes as a child.
To punish me for ‘something’ my mother wouldn’t have to lash me – just tell me I couldn’t watch the next episode! Genius. The treat was enough to stop me breathing. Not that I was a naughty child, I was the opposite and can only remember once she actually did it. Last episode of ‘The Brain of Morbius’. See, if she had just belted me a few times I would never have remembered that. I don’t remember why, but I remember the episode.
Are you a fan?
@cpauls1 – who are you kidding…you can easily hit someone a mile away! A quick spoiler to get the range right. Nobody would even hear it.
You should check out a site Jamie and I have been interested it. We have thought about buying ‘something’. It is called ‘MortarInvestments’.
Are those guys ready for a boarding party? 20pts. Nice poses.
I have seen that look, but in the eyes of a Pug it is a touch less urgent. Are you sure that isn’t a Werewolf? Beautiful looking fur. mollie would love it…she loves big dogs.
Lola at Whitby.
This was next to that picture…Eve just before she went to Buckingham palace for dinner. Well, one gets about.
If Aran eats you i’ll see you on the other side. It’s in the eyes!
@oriskany – I love the Mig’s. 20pts.
@rasmus – nice minis! The fireteam rules now are perfect. You can do some devestating moves. Anytime is the perfect time to get into Infintiy…you know that. 50pts.
Inspection, that room, 0730hrs. Have you ever heard of a “show parade”? 100pts.
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