DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER
Live 495-Point Game! Elessar2590 v. Oriskany!
This Saturday, @elessar2590 and I got together on the web for a massive 495-point throw-down in Darkstar. Apparently Elessar has been playing this game pretty heavily with his club in Australia, and his fleet has the upgrades to prove it. Furthermore, his game play is very solid and except for some very “corner case” rules questions (things that don’t come up more often than once in every ten games or so), he showed that he actually has a very good grasp on not only the basics of Darkstar, but also more complex operations like carrier operations, aerospace coordination with warship torpedo spreads, landing aerospace groups to re-arm for second (or third) strikes, electronic warfare, and so on.
So I guess this is the long way of saying he wanted to play his fleet … his whole fleet … his whole upgraded fleet. In all, he’s packing 495 points *(the only thing he’s missing is the required “Task Force Commander” rating for his flagship, a minor campaign rule required for a force this size).
And since he’s a bonafide Darkstar veteran, I put him up against portions of my heavily-upgraded (been playing on-and-off for seven years) Japanese fleet. No punches pulled. Very little “helpful advice” for new players. It’s time to see if Elessar can really hold his own against one of Oriskany’s best forces, the bulk of the elite Japanese “Storm Dragon” fleet under Commodore Hiromi Ozawa.
It bears noting that not all Japanese ships in this fleet existed in the former Darkstar “canon timeline” at the same time, this is strictly a hypothetical pick-up game to see if one our Darkstar students has truly ready to take on the designer …
So here’s the matchup. The Japanese fleet is “small” (only three ships) but incredibly upgraded and, not to brag or anything, pretty friggin’ ferocious. Ozawa’s flagship is the Katana-class heavy cruiser IJN Naginata, upgraded with elite gunnery crews, an advanced CIC targeting suite, enhanced shielding, an expert commander (veteran of five wars, +2 on all initiative), upgraded sublight engines ... she’s a beast ... let’s just say that. She’s also 202 points, making her the equal of a Prussian pocket battleship or an older dreadnought. IJN Nagashima is a Kagoshima-class light fleet carriers, carrying dozens of double-elite naval aerospace strike group fighters, bombers, and scouts, plus the dreaded Ki-45 “Toryu” (Dragon Slayer) torpedo. The IJN Sendai is a hyper-advanced Taiho (Great Phoenix) class light cruiser, upgraded almost as much as the Naginata. All that said, the British fleet are no slouches. They aren’t quite as upgraded as the Japanese fleet, but pretty heavily upgraded nonetheless, and of course they have the advantages of numbers. Elessar has been fighting with these ships for quite some time in his own campaign with friends at his club, but now his skills are being put to a test. 
The initial approaches on Turn 1. With more experienced officers on most of the Japanese warships, we more or less win initiative and manage to start off crossing the British T at 2,350 kilometers. Even at this long range, the broadside of the Naginata and Sendai blow the fo’c’sle clean off the frigate HMS Burnaby, which technically survives the punishment, but immediately must fleet the battle area with horrific internal damage and admittedly, grievous crew casualties. Meanwhile, two of the new Maecenas-class expedition ships (the very first time I’ve seen these ships in action) HMS Pellew and HMS June (these cruisers were designed when Darkstar was published – originally named for people who supported the project on Paypal), launch fighters and torpedoes, along with more torpedoes from the British flagship (Iron Duke class heavy cruiser HMS Swedish Knight) and “hero-ship” Falklands-class destroyer HMS Burke. 
Turn 2, and things get horrific ... fast. First, HMS Burnaby, or what’s left of her, realizes this battle is way out of her weight class and speeds out of the battle area, a heroic engineering crew somehow maintaining power and control. The Swedish Knight and the June make a turn to port, trying to broadside the Japanese heavyweights. But Commodore Ozawa saw this move coming (won initiative) and instead the Naginata and Sendai (already heavy damaged by the forward batteries last turn) cuts into a broadside right across their stern at point-blank range. The Swedish Knight and the June’s broadsides smash open the starboard bow of the carrier Nagashima. A massive Japanese aerospace strike ... A9M "Kataka" (Fire Hawk) fighters, B7N "Tenrai" (Heavenly Thunder) bombers, and Ki-202 "Hien" (Flying Swallow) scouts send a hail or torpedoes and aerospace missiles into the stern of the Swedish Knight, tearing apart her engineering section and leaving her crippled and adrift. The Sendai’s broadside and the Naginata’s forward guns cripple the HMS June. But the Nebula “Star Typhoon” bombers and Supermarine “Starfire” fighters return the favor on the Sendai’s stern a moment later, even as British scouts and mass drivers shoot down four Japanese scouts. The Naginata’s aft guns blow a whole clean through the port bow of the expedition cruiser HMS Pellew. Including knocking down her port bow shields. Just that fast, three ships are crippled, a fourth running off the board. This fight has already dropped from eight warships to four. 
The hero ship HMS Burke (seriously, this scrappy little destroyer is quickly becoming the Royal Navy’s equivalent to the US Navy’s Valcour-class destroyer USS Oriskany) cuts behind the Japanese carrier Nagashima. Together with a mass strafing attack by June’s and Pellew’s fighters, they rip into the stern on the Nagashima and do so much damage that not only is she crippled, but she now has a 75% chance of exploding! (25% per critical hit BEYOND the threshold of automatic cripple). The problem if, IF Nagashima explodes, she’ll kick off a thermonuclear shockwave that will likewise wipe out most of those British fighters right behind her. But when I roll percentile dice (blue = 10s) I literally roll ON CAMERA a 76!! By one point, not only is the Nagashima spared to be recovered and fight another day, but sixteen British fighters (including eight that are double-elite) are also spaced destruction. The eight Japanese bombers that just landed aboard the Nagashima are not so lucky, they are considered lost as they are aboard a crippled carrier. Meanwhile, Japanese fighters likewise go after the Pellew, whipping around her port bow where she ... again ... HAS NO SHIELDS. They target the bridge, and yeah ... these guys don’t miss. I do lose one fighter, but HMS Pellew is likewise crippled, along with eight British bombers that were likewise trying to land and rearm. The Naginata, meanwhile, comes hard about, and REALLY angry, unleashes forward guns on the Burke, already the last British warship on the table. But would you believe almost everything misses? 
The game ends on Turn 4 with shocking speed. The Naginata loses initiative against the Burke (despite Ozawa’s experience, her ship is also almost four times the mass of the Burke, destroyers are just more maneuverable than heavy cruisers). She tries to keep her vulnerable stern away from the Burke, but the Burke comes hard about and makes a suicidal dive right at the Naginata, winding up in the same hex as the Japanese behemoth, cutting across her stern at less than 50 kilometers (ridiculously close in Darkstar). Burke puts a hail of fire point-blank into Naginata’s stern, and all guns hit DESPITE Naginata’s upgraded shielding. The two syglex emitters do the worse damage (x-ray “lasers”), enough to shut down Naginata’s engines and leave her adrift. Naginata’s last aft barrage doesn’t do enough damage to knock out the Burke, believe it or not (I’ve never hit Burke on her starboard bow yet) .... but the fighters of the Nagashima finish the job with a strafing attack intro the Burke’s engines that leave her adrift as well. Incredibly, this game is a draw. Technically I have the edge in remaining fighter craft, but not enough to win by the required 5% of the starting build-point cost to actually claim a “campaign victory.” (495 point battle, I have to win by at least 25, right now I’m “winning” by just 9). 
We call the game as a hard-fought draw. Indeed, Elessar has passed “Darkstar Command School” – having fought to a draw against an “Oriskany Tier One” force. Yes, he lost his whole fleet, but so did I, and even though I wound up with a pitiful handful of extra points, it is NOT enough to count as a win by the rules of the game (you have to win by at least 5% of the starting point cost of your fleet). So here are the two flagships. 
HMS Pellew, with her caved-in port bow. You can see where my fighters deliberately targeted the forward magazines and the bridge. This is one of the fastest ways to take out a warship ... but it’s a small target you have to hit precisely. The Nagashima, meanwhile, was turn asunder from both the port bow and the stern. Again, it is only that 76/75 percentile dice miracle that saved her from outright exploding all over the stars. 
But the real hero of the day was the HMS Burke. She took four powerful hits, but as you can see, they hit her on four different sides thanks to swift maneuvering, so the damage never really had a chance to “pile up” on a particular facing. It was only the fighters that machine-gunned her portside engine that finally managed to knock her out. 
So here’s a zoom out as the battle ends. Crippled ships aren’t just taken off the table, they continue to drift at their last facing and speed, subject to collision with astrophysical objects and gravity. This is what happens with the HMS Swedish Knight and HMS June. Not only do they drift at 8 hexes a turn, but once they end each turn’s movement within 10 hexes of the planet, the drift one hex toward the planet as well. The blue arrows show their positions at the end of each turn, where they are pulled steadily toward the planet. Fortunately, they are also moving fast enough to where they get off the left side of the map before they hit the planet. It’s a near miss, but they’re safe. The same cannot be said of the Naginata, which I didn’t notice was pointing right toward the planet as she was crippled. A few turns later (she was moving at 5), she will collide. Luckily the crew has enough time to abandon ship, taking the flag, log book, and ship’s bell with them. GREAT GAME! Another great thing about this webgame was the fact that we had @bloodstrike from Canada and @damon from the UK on the call with us – so we were live on three continents (North America, Europe, Australia) and four countries. Darkstar has now CLEARLY developed a cadre of experienced players (Damon, Elessar, Rasmus, Gladesrunner, Aras, others) who have played dozens of games and now gave the system down (at least for the ships they currently enjoy).
Next step … FULL ON CAMPAIGN!
Entertaining but brutal game.
Upgraded and elite ships really get the job done quick but have an element of ‘glass hammer’ when facing an equal foe.
I would agree with that, @damon (upgraded ships seem like glass cannons) – adding two points for additional context: 1) It depends on what the player decides to upgrade. I would point to HMS Burke as a very “defensive” ship, with x1 upgraded ECM / Shielding and x2 Electronic Warfare. This ship now has a 7 effective shielding on all sides from enemy aerospace attacks, missiles, torpedoes, or capital ship torpedoes. But yes, if you buy all gunnery accuracy, speed, tactics, elite aerospace, etc … (all the “fun flashy” stuff), yeah, your ship is INCREDIBLY vulnerable when you come up… Read more »
Thanks for the great game @oriskany it was extremely close. HMS Burke has saved me so many times before so it was great to have it happen again. In Turn 3 I was pretty much done, most of my fleet was crippled or running away but some crazy luck (a 76! and dodging that shot at the Burke) saved the day. I’d be keen for a Campaign although I’d probably play someone other than the British. Just for fun HMS Swedish Knight – Named after Sir Sidney Smith RN who had a Swedish Knighthood prior to his proper British Knighthood.… Read more »
Very glad you liked the game, @elessar – and thanks to @damon and @bloodstrike for watching from the UK and Canada! That made this a three-continent live game! A true global event! 😀 😀 😀 Yeah, I thought I had that game smashed into ruin on a couple of turns. Poor Barnaby … (evil chuckle). ONE THING WE DID FORGET TO DO … the HMS Swedish Knight had a RESOLUTE CREW upgrade. Turn 2’s Resolution Phase should have started with you rolling 3d6. Any 5s or 6s would have meant you could “repair” one box of internal component damage. That… Read more »
Gotta love that resolute crew! Though not all of my ships are worthy. It seems someone is trying to have a cooler British fleet than me…I have to work on that. The only problem is, EVERYONE seems to be playing the British. I have no one to beat up but Jim. 😉
No one is at the level of HMS Kraken yet. @gladesrunner . Although to be honest, if HMS Burke is on her way to becoming the “British Oriskany” – @damon ‘s HMS Bellerophon may soon rival the Kraken! 😀
Fascinating! One day when I’m not working 16 hours I’ll have to give this a go @oriskany ! Well played, both of you! Naturally, a Canadian fleet would consist of one destroyer and a rented supply ship, along with a crew of apologetic Liberals bickering over whether we need a second destroyer, and whether or not we should turn the other into an emergency shelter for immigrants. It will have 16 different bathrooms, thus limiting how much fuel and ammo it can carry, and half the crew space will be dedicated to comfort animals. There will be sit-ins on the… Read more »
Man, @cpauls1 , sounds like you’re working too hard! We’d like to have you in one of these games, any time you might have half an afternoon free, ping me a PM or email and we’ll try to set something up. All it really requires is an internet connection (much less bandwidth required than that Twitch stream).