DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
500-Point Game: Climactic Clash of Duchess Annabel’s War
Eisenwolf Colony (Gliese 580)
October 2519
I decided to go for broke here. Somewhat weary of the nearly unbroken British winning streak, and of trying to hobble the Duchess Annabel’s War campaign and storylines top some kid of conclusion, this weekend we set up a large 500+ point game to settle this issue once and for all.
This was a team game, with @gladesrunner and @damon each bringing in two ships (two of them very experienced and heavily upgraded, two of them more moderately experienced) up against a Prussian battlegroup built around a Norwegian Hipper class light cruiser, an Emden class frigate, and the KMS Scheer, a gigantic Tirpitz class battleship, quadruple-upgraded with ECM Shielding, Electronic Warfare, Thrust, and Gunnery Accuracy. At this point the Prussian flagship costs 400 points, and the rest of their fleet costs 99, plus three additional scouts. In all, the game is thus balanced at an even 502 points, making this game a possible war-ender, IF one side can win it be a large enough margin (40% of starting scenario points, per Rule 5.2.1.c.iii).
So we’re letting the British take the offensive, given as they’ve won all but one game since October against Prussian, Black Dragon, and Japanese foes. We’re envisioning the joint Kraken-Bellerophon task force heading straight into the heart of Prussian colonial power in this sector, the Eisenwolf Colony at Gliese 580. The Scheer is an absolute monster, though, weighing just short of 400,000 tons, her guns large enough to break a corvette in half with a single hit anywhere on the table. With a solid broadside she can cripple a cruiser at 1,000 kilometers, and positively bristles with 66 mass driver point-defense guns, electronic warfare and ECM arrays, gravitic shielding, and tens of thousands of tons of armor. Her targeting system draws as much power as a frigate’e entire reactor array.
This is gonna be one for the record books, folks. A big enough British win here will break the back of Prussian (and allied) naval power in the Libra / Sagittarius strategic command sector, causing a second Iron Wolf power to sign a separate peace with the British. A big enough Prussian win will smash enough heavy British naval power to leave the Scheer Task Force more or less unchallenged for at least 15-20 light-years, giving Berlin a commanding position of strength at the negotiating table back on Earth.
Let’s see what happens!
Initial approach. The Prussians are coming down from the top, the British are coming up from the bottom. The two fleets are more or less 3250 kilometers apart (a smidge over 2000 miles). The only ship without a complete line of sight on all enemy vessels is the destroyer HMS Essex, actually tucked beneath the curvature of Eisenwolf. Everyone else opens fire, though, the light cruiser HMS Inflictor and frigate KMS Jenna taking the worst of it. Normally at this range, opening volleys aren’t that big of a deal. But there is a LOT of firepower on this board, made all the more dangerous by upgrades to CIC / Targeting, Gunnery Accuracy, Gunnery Impact, or all of the above. 
The British largely win initiative on Turn 02. Jenn and Damon do a great job avoiding Prussian broadsides, but one ship, HMS Essex, is JUST left in the arc where aft Prussian guns can come to bear. End result, all frontal guns of the Prussians unload on the light cruiser HMS Inflictor (again), while all aft guns, including the 15-GW rail guns of the Admiral Scheer, unload on the hapless HMS Essex. The little destroyer doesn’t stand a chance, and is instantly crippled. Accurate British gunfire, though, especially from the Indomitable (Gunnery Accuracy and Gunnery Impact) smash open the light cruiser Skjoldmo (Shield Maiden), and a shell through the bridge leaves her crippled and adrift. The Jenna, meanwhile, fails a breakoff check, and is forced to flee the table. 
The last surviving Prussian ship, the mighty Admiral Scheer, is almost never going to win initiative against the three remaining British cruisers. It’s almost a recreation of the Battle of River Plate, pitting the historical pocket battleship Graf Spee against the cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles. The Inflictor is actually struck in the bridge, not enough to knock her out, but enough to cause an initiative penalty. However, she’s been upgraded with the “Resolute Crew” battle upgrade, and so can roll 3d6 each Resolution Phase, each 5+ result allows one box to be repaired mid-battle. Jenn scores a success and selects the bridge, where fires are put out and intraship comms systems put back in order. It’ll take more than that to scare off the Inflictor, Prussian! 
Using the speed of the British ships against them, I manage to force them to overshoot, at least putting my forward guns against the Inflictor’s fantail (hello, engines and reactors). Now this part of the ship is undamaged, and has tougher shielding than other parts, but I have eight 6-GW and four 15-GW rail guns that easily open her up. Resolute Crew or not, this time Inflictor is going down. In fact, she stands a damned good chance of EXPLODING here … until her resolute crew puts out the fires in two engine and reactor boxes. She’s still crippled, but will at least fight another day. 
By now I’ve lost maneuvering thrusters as well, not good for a 400,000 ton battleship that only starts with 2 thrust points anyway (upgraded to 3, but still …) Long story short, the two remaining heavy cruisers are able to cut broadsides across my stern. But the Admiral Scheer is a BATTLESHIP, with 6-rated shields and four belts of armor on her stern. Even taking punishment like this, she’s not going down quickly.
Okay, things go so hectic on the last turn of the game I had to actually zoom in a little. I rolled my ship, protecting my ravaged starboard bow. I also managed to point my stern away from the cruisers, leaving them with the unenviable choice of not crossing my stern again, OR doing so at point blank range (the geometry in Darkstar can at times be very unforgiving). Damon makes the call and dives in, ordering flank speed and all guns to starboard for a point-blank broadside straight into my stern. A but leery, Jennifer nevertheless follows suit in HMS Kraken. The Prussian battlewagon positively MAULS the valiant HMS Bellerophon (“Billy Ruffian”) – this is basically the WW2 battleship Bismarck hitting the Norfolk at 1000 yards … the only thing that saves him is (a) I can only hit with aft weapons, and (b) I don’t get the best hit locations. Once again, Billy Ruffian get a little lucky here and escapes with her reactors, and her life … damaged and afire … but functional. Meanwhile, the Admiral Scheer is finally crippled, ending the battle. 
This has not been a bloodless, victory, however. As we continue to track movement of crippled ships, we find that HMS Essex was on course for an asteroid mining debris field when she was crippled. The order is given to abandon ship, and HMS Essex is lost forever in a blinding fusion explosion. Despite the British victory here, HMS Essex is the only permanently lost ship of the day. 
Here’s the HMS Inflictor, ridiculously mauled. On the left, we see an earlier fire phase, where yellow boxes show the structure boxes “repaired” by the Resolute Crew upgrade. On the her final state, ridiculously mauled and crippled, yet she’ll eventually be recovered and put back into service – after 57 days in drydock.
The final damage sheet on KMS Admiral Scheer. Now she has rolled her warship recovery check (battleships almost always do, they have damage control crews larger than most ship’s entire complement, many more redundant systems and extensive compartmentalization, plus their navies always invest whatever it takes in their recovery). Nevertheless, she’s taken 102 internal structure boxes of damage. And she’s crippled (+50% repair time added to normal rate of 1 day per structure box hit). This means she’s gonna be in dry dock for 153 days, almost 22 WEEKS.So the British have won by 315 points, easily more than the 201 they needed for a Major Victory here. If I could have knocked out the Bellerophon, I would have shaved this down to 191, enough to keep in a Minor Victory and keep the Prussians in the war. But they’ve lost, and lost HARD, so at last Duchess Annabel’s War is OVER.
The question for the community now is … WHO IS INTERESTED IN ANOTHER WAR? If so, WHAT FACTIONS? We seem to have some votes of the British, Prussians, and Americans. Anyone else interested in trying this wargame? Any other factions? We have New Romans (Spanish, Italians, French), Panasian Union (Chinese), Arab League, Indian Republic, Corporate Consortium / Pirates, Black Dragons, Russians, and Japanese.
Let me know in the comments below!
And CONGRATS TO DAMON and JENN for the great war-winning victory!
duplicate posting deserves duplicate comment “Excellent edge of the seat stuff. Congratulations to all on a great game.”
Thanks, @gremlin – duplicate post deserves duplicate reply: Apologies, I duplicated this post late last night (site was running extre-e-e-e-e-e-emely slow 0500-0600 GMT) and I think I was removing the duplicate when you were leaving your recommendations and comment. Glad you liked the game! I just really wish I had bought Battle Upgrade: Tactical Initiative for the Scheer rather than Electronic Warfare. With her ridiculously powerful shielding, mass driver defenses, and +1 CIC (making her mass drivers more accurate and effective), she never even needed her EW upgrade, as in not once. And it cost her 40 points. That’s a… Read more »
Awesome battle. Definetly shows why even a monster of a ship like the Scheer needs a strong screening force.
Oh, absolutely, and well spotted @sigmundr – we don’t play battleships very often, because they have to be in only the very largest games (not only 200-400 just for the battleship, but also God-knows how much for the screen). But when we do, we have definitely noticed a “turtle in an ant pile” kind of dynamic that happens. It’s happened to the British, when my Prussian frigate and torpedo corvette wound up taking down Bellerophon. I’ll say this much, @damon has definitely learned. Look at how the he and @gladesrunner knock down the Prussian frigate and light cruiser first, before… Read more »
Great game @oriskany ! I love the mechanics of this. As I’ve said before, the ship rosters remind of the old Star Fleet Battles, but appear to lean far more toward realism.
Hey, @cpauls1 – it’s been a while! Great to “see” you again! Yeah, this game was influenced by a whole range of games, Renegade Legions Centurion, Leviathan, Interceptor, FASA Starship Tactical Combat Simulator, Battletech, StarBlazers, Starfleet Battle was definitely in the mix.
What a battle! Love seeing the big ships duke it out.
Yep, @templar007 , this was definitely a big one! Although I admittedly wish the Prussians had done a little better, I’m very pleased in a more “meta” sense in that our on-line wargaming format has now been proven capable of handling larger-point games.
Next – to test the Cross class battlecruiser! 😀
Excellent battle report as always. Looking forward to seeing another war start up soon! I vote for Panasian, Indian Republic, and Arab League ships duking it out. That also might get me motivated to get off my backside and try some online play.
Sounds great, @muakhah – it’s just that cranking up three new factions for publication is a lot of work. So I guess my question is, HOW interested are you? And I wonder if we could get others interested as well?
Of these, Panasians are the most developed and playtested.
Arab League are probably the most INTERESTING of ships (hybrid warship / carrier classes, enhanced Darkstar drives, etc).
Well for ease of getting something started I would be happy with panasians. However Arab league would be my preferred and the more you say about them the more interested I am in them!
Let me know what needs to be done and I’ll try and make it work this end. I may need some help on the Internet technology side of things. But I finally downloaded and read the rules through a vpn so that side of things is clear now.
Anyone else interested in some far flung tussle for some hot new space real estate?
@muakhah – a long weekend coming up here, my next video for SitRep is now in the can. If people are interested I might use the time to get started on Panasians, New Romans, and Arab League.
Hope you can balance a relaxing weekend with satiating our demand for ever more spaceship designs!
Another great scrap.
Co-op play was cool and finally giving the Prussian fleet a good seeing to was the icing on the cake.
Awesome, @damon ! Glad you liked it! 😀