DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Task Force Oriskany vs. Black Dragons (P2)
The conclusion of the battle between Task Force Oriskany and the Black Dragons of Task Force Tzarakin.
So far, the Americans are doing well. Yes, this game is balanced in points (365-366) but honestly I’ve played some of these ships upwards of 100 times, so I know them very well. This is @gladesrunner’s first time playing with these classes. So I admittedly do have an “unofficial” edge.
I put that edge to good use, angling my approach partially behind a planet to screen myself from some of what should have been a devastating initial Black Dragon volley.
Then I jack-knife turned away from her, outpacing her slower Panasian torpedoes, fatally breaking her ordinance strike into two waves (aerospace wave I have already largely defeated, and an incoming capital warship torpedo wave in Turn 3).
The heaviest Black Dragon warship, the Russian-built Slava class heavy cruiser Tzarakin is already down, almost exploded, in fact … so hopefully the Americans can now lean on this early lead and eventually win the game.
But now the Oriskany’s rival ship, the hated Xhia class light missile cruiser Zhang Jia, leads the rest of the Black Dragons to closer gunnery range (where my advantages in accuracy and tech and speed mean much less), and of course that massive Black Dragon torpedo wave is finally about to hit …
As the Black Dragon torpedoes are coming in against USS Oriskany, Princeton, and Daggerfish, American Mark 48 torpedoes are coming in against the Black Dragons. Last turn, however, I was unable to launch anything close to a full spread because that jack-knife turn had many of my tubes pointing the wrong way. The end result is that the Black Dragons, especially the Zhang Jia with her electronic warfare battle upgrade, have more than enough mass driver fire to destroy my torpedoes before they hit anything.
Black Dragon torpedoes have also been largely suppressed, although a few "Tsing Tao" Class II Panasian torpedoes have struck the fantail of the USS Princeton, Engines are hit and Jenn will have a chance to roll to see if she's crippled during the Resolution Phase. Meanwhile, the little USS Daggerfish has been hit by Black Dragon guns, not easy given the Daggerfish's tiny size and advance ECM / gravitic shielding. Nevertheless, she's taken more than enough damage to leave her crippled and adrift in space. The first American ship is down! It might seem strange to pick on such a small ship this early in the game, but in fact knocking out enemy torpedo corvettes is usually not a bad idea early in the battle. They don't take too many hits to destroy, and knocking them out means far less torpedoes harassing you every turn. Meanwhile, the Marines of fighter/strike squadron VMF/A-319 (“Tigersharks”) are winning the fighter battle near the moon.
End of movement on Turn 4. Because our ships are smaller, faster, and ALL have the "Starship Tactics" battle upgrade (+20% scenario cost), the Americans will almost always win initiative. This means the Black Dragons have to guess where they will be when taking their movement. This is starting to disorganize the Black dragon fleet a little, as Jenn tries to have guns pointing where she thinks the Americans might be. Also, I'm leaning on Darkstar table experience a little more here as well. Note how my ships are closer to the moon, stern toward the moon. This means that in order to turn toward me, Jenn has to aim her ships toward the moon, desperately dangerous since any ship that loses power on such a trajectory is gone forever. Things aren't all great for the Americans, the corvette Daggerfish (CV1) is now careening out of the battle area, on fire and out of control. And as the bombers of VMF/A-319 try to re-arm aboard the Marine assault carrier USS Tarawa, the Tarawa is about to be hit by still more Black Dragon torpedoes. 
Death of the Black Dragon fighter wing. They try to swing in to help shoot up the Tarawa's tail, but the Marines scouts and fighters of the "Tigershark" squadron have issue with the assault on their mother ship. The Black dragon fighters are massacred, only one survives from the entire Zharanyeva fighter group. But ... those torpedoes do the job after all (beneath the green "3" behind American DD4)! Enough of them hit Tarawa's fantail to wreck her engines and reactors. She will fail her cripple check during Resolution Phase, and the Tarawa is knocked out of the battle! Worse still, those four bombers were still in her hangar bays, so they are considered "destroyed units" as well. And while I've been bragging about how awesome these Marine pilots and aerospace craft are, the flip side is that this makes them very expensive. So I've just lost a lot of scenario points here. Good shooting Jenn! 
Fortunately for the Americans, the destroyers USS Oriskany and USS Valley Forge were broadsided across the fantail of the light missile cruiser Xin Tian (see US DD1 and DD3 across the tail of Black Dragon CL2 two pictures above). Two of my torpedoes hit, and then the gunnery of these two destroyers tears into what's left. This is especially true for USS Oriskany, upgraded +2 gunnery accuracy and +1 gunnery impact (all hits acre considered one range bracket closer). The bridge is hit, four boxes of core damage inflicted (60% chance the ship will have to flee) but eight boxes of red critical structure hit as well. A light cruiser is crippled on a 10+, -8 critical hits, = 2+ to cripple on a d6. I make the roll, and Xin Tian is now dead in space. 
Turn 5, the last "dogfight." USS Daggerfish, USS Tarawa, KTS Tzarakin, KTS Xin Tian are all down. USS Oriskany, USS Princeton, USS Valley Forge, KTS Zhang Jia, and KTS Zharanyeva remain. At the extreme top of the picture, you can see where the Zharanyeva has re-launched her bombers, which are now set up for a second torpedo run on American warships, engaged in turn by my Navy and Marine Corps scouts. 
So here's a closeup of the last desperate brawl. DD1 = Oriskany. DD2 = Princeton. DD3 = Valley Forge. CL1 = Zhang Jia. CL3 = Zharanyeva (light cruiser-sized carrier)
Okay, here's the Turn 5 smackdown. USS Princeton shoots down one Black Dragon bomber (despite sensor damage and range penalties), that two less aerospace torpedoes coming at me this turn. The rest launch. These are far more dangerous than the slower Chinese and Russian-built warship torpedoes, so Oriskany and Valley Forge engage them with point-defense mass drivers first. Almost all are shot down, but several hit, along with some of the warship torpedoes (there are just too many of them, and USS Valley Forge doesn't have the same electronic warfare bonus as the Oriskany does). That, and elite or not, these are still JUST destroyers, and it doesn't take that much damage to knock one down. The Valley Forge is crippled! She's already fired into the stern of the Zhang Jia, however, along with the Oriskany, in a point-blank broadside. My Marine fighters went in for a gunnery run, followed by by torpedoes, most of which were shot down by mass drivers from the Zhang Jia (supported from the nearby carrier Zharanyeva) and also the remaining Black dragon scout planes. Meanwhile, my scouts butcher the rest of the Black Dragon bombers (after they released ordinance and helped cripple the Valley Forge, unfortunately).
The damage sheet on the Zhang Jia. Marine fighters went in first, followed by torpedoes, then gunnery (per turn sequence). The bridge is hit, along with six boxes of critical components. Thus I need a 4+ to cripple, and happily I roll it. The Zhang Jia will be back, though, she has Commander's Luck and will eventually make her survival roll on the Warship Recovery Table. Villains this badass never go quietly into that good night!
So now the only ships left are the USS Oriskany, and VERY badly damaged USS Princeton, and the empty carrier Zharanyeva. The Zharanyeva is powering off to the other side of the board to run out the clock for partial victory points, but the scouts are heading in for one last kamikaze effort to hit the unshielded side of the damaged Princeton. Jenn comes close here, she really does, but the one point of damage that actually gets in just doesn't hit in the right place, and of course all the scouts are massacred by mass driver point-defense and Marine fighters. The battle, finally, is over.So that’s the end of a 366-point Darkstar game. We did this in about 3 hours, but of course Jenn and I have been playing Darkstar for years and we buzz through the turns pretty quickly. The final score is a solid American victory.
Again, these are my “special baby” warships I have played at least several dozen times, some of them over 100 times. This was Jenn’s first try with these ships, classes, and designs. Trust me, these same Americans have lost their share of battles against the Black Dragons, especially the Zhang Jia and her consorts.
The Zharanyeva is still on the table = 35 points.
The Oriskany (104 points), Princeton (horrifically damaged but operational, half points = 37 points), plus 8 double-elite fighters = 32 points, 2 double-elite scouts = 4 points, 6 standard scouts = 6 points = 183 points total.
Americans win by 183 – 35 = 148 point margin.
146 margin required for “major” victory (40% of larger side’s 366 points)
So yeah, just barely, this counts as a MAJOR American victory in the Xi Scorpio War of 2516-18.
Thanks for reading!
Now, things got exciting when Tarawa’s engines went down 🙂 Solid game by Jenn 🙂
This is true, @yavasa . Not only did I lose 20 victory points there, but also four bombers (still in the hangar bays – 16 more victory points), plus four less Mark 48 torpedoes to throw at the Black dragons every turn.
@gladesrunner indeed played pretty well, especially considering she’d never used these ship classes in combat before. 😀
I need to print out some ships of my own 🙂 Would it be a problem for you to share the templates @oriskany?
@yavasa – Are you asking for the warship record sheets? Or for the actual playing pieces?
Warship records sheets (30 initial classes, plus a portfolio of blanks for all seven ship types) are in the back of the book. I can link you to the book if you don’t have it already.
The playing pieces are just cardboard.
I can also PM you a link to a Google folder for the fighters / torpedo markers, etc. if that’s what you mean.
I meant the ships and counters, thanks for the PM 🙂