DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

. . . at least until I roll a “1” on mass driver defense and three of Arashi’s Ki-45 torpedoes slam into my fantail.  That’s all she wrote.  This came really close, actually, the Arashi by now had been hammered by close-range Russian 7 GW rail guns and 40 KG plasma projectors for two turns, she is definitely worse for wear.

But with the Kortik now crippled, the Arashi remains the only operational warship in the area and technically this is a Japanese win.

The hapless Volkhov, having been hit between the eyes by three Ki-45s.  The orange damage was inflicted the previous turn by Japanese gunnery during the initial approach.  The cavitation of Class V torpedoes is clearly visible.  The 25,000-ton ship was damned near cored like an apple.

Even worse is the light cruiser Nagara.  You can see where the Russian torpedoes slammed into her centerline and starboard side engines, exploding forward through the aft gun turrets, hangars, and finally into the med bay.  But once she lost power, this was all a moot point, as she was moving at 30 km per second with asteroids 3 hexes away (540 kilometers).  This meant that the crew had about 18 seconds to abandon ship.  After that, there are no survivors.

The final situation, with the Kortik crippled and the Arashi standing tall to land troops and take possession of those UN orbital platforms.  The results are a little uncertain, however.  Viewed as a standalone game, Rasmus and his Japanese clearly won, with an operational 48-point destroyer still active in the area.  Suffice it to say the Japanese definitely own those two orbital platforms.

But in any kind of campaign setting, this might actually be a Russian win.  The frigate Volkhov fails her recovery check, and is considered lost (scuttled by the crew, probably before being boarded by Japanese marines).  But the Kortik succeeds, and will thus return to the battle.  So the Russians traded a 20-point frigate for the IJN Nagara, an expensive 84-point light cruiser.   Yes, the Russians lost the chance to grab those stations, but there’s nothing to say (in a campaign setting) the Lazarev and Kortik won’t be back to take them from the lone Arashi.

In a word, the Japanese won the game.  The Russians won the battle.       

We have another game scheduled for Sunday, where Damon tries out his new Trafalgar class heavy cruiser against the rival Leopold class, a rail gun beast sailing under the flag of the Imperial Prussian Kriegsmarine!