Persei-Aries War Resumes
New Player's First Game in Darkstar!
It’s happened again, folks. The cruel, fickle mistress that is Darkstar (Starship Tactical Combat in the 26th Century) has claimed another wargamer into her capricious claws. Yesterday my friend @Yavasa played his first game, taking out his new Prussian battlegroup in a maiden voyage to square off against a Russian cruiser group.
It was furious, fun, and fast … a straight-up gun fight with beginning rules, leaving out carriers, aerospace groups, planetary assaults, orbital installations, and so on. Old school Darkstar at it best.
The location for the game was Theta Ursae Majoris, just short of 44 light-years from Sol, deep in the Second Band of Known Space (where most Darkstar games take place). Throughout the Ursae Majoris SCS (Strategic Command Sector), smoldering tensions have sparked into open conflict between the Federated States of Russia and the Holy Russian Empire, leading to an escalating series of skirmishes through half a dozen star systems over the past few months. Finally, the first big battle erupted at the Prussian “Zedlitz” colonies at Theta Ursae Majoris, a binary star system, where a Russian offensive has just been stalemated by determined Prussian resistance.
A set-piece engagement of startling size … has just ended. A Russian invasion fleet built around two Slava-class heavy cruisers and three Zhukov-class planetary assault destroyers (assault transports each carrying a battalion of elite Russian naval infantry) has hit the Prussian “Zedlitz” colonies. They were met by a Prussian task force centered on the battleship KMS Moltke, the resulting battle all but crippling both sides in equal measure. Now, just hours later, both sides are frantically deploying emergency reserves, not only to tip the precarious (and blood-soaked) balance in the Zedlitz colonies to their favor, but also secure the battlespace for what will be one hell of a rescue and recovery effort. 
Here are the “reserve battlegroups” of both sides, as they will appear in today’s game. The Russian force is centered on the heavy cruiser CPK Irina Mikhailovna (named for one of the daughters of Mikhail Romanov), a Slava-class heavy cruiser. She is escorted by the smaller, faster Kutuzov-class light cruiser Admiral Ushakov and the Sovnya-class destroyer Kopya (Javelin). Yavasa’s battlegroup is built around his flagship KMS Lutzow, a powerful and advanced Leopold class heavy cruiser. We haven’t seen much of the Prussians in Darkstar lately, which is why I was especially excited to see them in action here. The Prussian Kriegsmarine in general focuses almost exclusively on rail guns, and few ships exhibit this doctrine better than the Leopold class. She’s escorted by two Maas-class destroyers (KMS Order and Persante) and finally the frigate KMS Arktischwind, an Ostwind-class escort frigate. Originally designed by friend Alex in the opening days of Darkstar, this frigate carries virtually no weapons … outside of mass drivers. She’s an “anti-aerospace frigate,” her specialized purpose to shoot down enemy torpedoes, missiles, fighters, and bombers threatening the Prussian battlegroup.
The two battlegroups make their approach. The Russians come on rather fast, clocking in at 42 kilometers per second, their course slewed slightly to starboard by Zedlitz’s gravity. Their retros are naturally on full, decelerating as they vector so close to Zedlitz that their hulls are just starting to glow red from the planet’s atmosphere. The Russian plan is plain, seize the “gravity gauge” and force the Prussians to turn dangerously toward the planet to engage them. Meanwhile, Yavasa brings on his Prussians, starting out a little dispersed (certain ships of his lost initiative) but quickly consolidating. Also note that while he’s angled generally toward the planet, he won’t HIT the planet if any of his ships are disabled this early. Not that such extensive damage is likely at this point. Most weapons remain out of range, only the main armament of the two heavy cruisers can reach any targets. The Lutzow and Irina Mikhailovna open fire at 4850 kilometers, the distance between Warsaw and Karachi, Pakistan … resulting in only the lightest of hits so far. 
The Russians lean hard on their brakes and their grav rudders, peeling away from Zedlitz and using the planet’s gravity as auxiliary brakes. The Prussians, meanwhile, set a very bold, very risky course (some would say suicidal), straight toward the Russians and looming planet right behind them. The Lutzow’s bridge crew correctly plots where the Mikhailovna will be (at this speed and this close to a planet, her helmsman doesn’t have too many options), setting her own course JUST out of Mikhailovna’s broadside. The Arktischwind follows suit, providing close escort to the Lutzow while the destroyers Oder and Persante cut a safer stand-off course, setting up a longer-range broadside against the incoming Russians.
Both sides open fire. A veritable swarm of Russian torpedoes (P-500 “Plamya” Class IIIs) are first, one of them shot down by Lutzow’s scouts, the rest engaged by the aerospace defense frigate Arktishwind. The result is startling, virtually all the Russian torpedoes are swept from the sky by the specialized frigate, the Lutzow easily cleaning up the rest. Sadly, it's the last thing the Arktischwind does, struck an instant later by the forward guns of the Irina Mikhailovna. The heavy rail guns and plasma projectors of smash and burn their way clear through the forward hangar, cargo bays, shields, forward mass drivers, torpedo bays, detonating the magazine, and finally imploding the bridge. Lt. Commander Helga Kunkel will survive the attack, but her ship will not, still streaking at 30 kps directly for the Zedlitz atmosphere. The Lutzow opens fire a moment later, her forward 11-gigawatt rail guns and 6-gigawatt secondaries positively smashing into the port bow of the Admiral Ushakov. It’s pinpoint Prussian gunnery at its best, but only landing a stunning series of hits, but also in JUST the right place on the Ushakov. In moments, the bridge is struck twice, badly wounding Commander Natalya M. Khorzhako and leaving Ushakov crippled and adrift. It’s just not a great day for the ladies here at Theta Usrae Majoris. 
Finally slowing to a manageable maneuver speed, the Irina Mikhailovna cuts to port and sets up a broadside on the Prussians. But again Lutzow has outguessed the Russians, cutting to a fast portside turn herself and setting up a point-blank broadside right across Mikhailovna’s stern. The destroyer Kopya responds, slicing behind the Lutzow in turn, while the two Prussian destroyers S-turn to set up 350-kilometer broadsides on both remaining Russian ships. The Oder opens fire on the Kopya, smashing open her port quarter, just before catching a devastating broadside from the doomed Mikhailovna (there’s no way my aft batteries alone can cripple the Lutzow). The tough little Prussian destroyer reels but stays in the fight for now, at least until she takes a broadside from the Kopya as well … just before the Kopya is crippled in turn by the Persante (a single hit in Kopya’s portside reactor room is enough to knock her out with a lucky “6” on the power-down check at the end of the turn). But the real killing blow comes when Lutzow opens fire at 180 kilometers with every gun she has into the stern of the Mikhailovna. Russian ships are nothing if not tough, and it takes every gun Lutzow has, but finally the big Russian cruiser is crippled, decisively ending the battle. 
Clearly, this battle is a DECISIVE win for the Prussians, the first they’ve enjoyed in nearly four years. Since these are all “new” fleets without “Commander’s Luck” upgrades, the Warship Recovery Table is a little ruthless when it comes to the fate of ships crippled and set adrift. The frigate Arktischwind doesn’t even MAKE IT to the Warship Recovery Table, her 23,000 ton bulk crashes headlong into the planet at 30 kps (roughly Mach 150), melting into slag and exploding in the Zedlitz atmosphere. Fortunately, her surviving crew had long escaped by then. The fate of the destroyer KMS Oder is perhaps even worse, simply vanishing into the abyss of space. Commander Sigmund Haas, having survived the plasma strikes on his bridge and leaves the derelict ship with his surviving crew, but when they return with tugs … the destroyer just isn’t at the predicted vector and coordinates. Simply put, the “ghost ship” is never seen again. Meanwhile, both the Irina Mikhailovna and the Kopya will be abandoned and scuttled. The Mikhailovna is forced to blow herself up when approached by a Prussian Valkyrie-class assault cruiser loaded with Prussian “stosstruppen,” while the Kopya must put herself out of her misery when approached by a wolfpack of Prussian “umfangangriffboote” (perimeter attack boats), or “U-boat” torpedo corvettes. 
The stunning win by the Prussians in the Second Battle of Zedlitz resolutely secures their hold on the Zedlitz Colonies and Theta Usrae Majoris in general, and decisively shutting down Russian ambitions in the system for the foreseeable future. In game terms, I feel this result was the combination of three factors: partly me “showing a new player the ropes” … no small amount of killer Prussian dice (that round two crippling of the Ushakov was insane) … and especially good play on Yavasa’s part. He read the rules, understood them for the most part before the game began, and had a pretty solid plan even for his first game. The loss of the Arktishwind was regrettable, but ship crashes often happen early in a new player’s journey in Darkstar. In conclusion, GREAT GAME and CONGRATS on the solid win. Also, it’s just damned good to see the Prussians back in action and better yet, to WIN a game for a change. I was beginning to feel like this faction was “cursed …” a stigma that seems to be lifted for now! 
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