Fight for the Probe: 1v1v1 Firestorm Armada Battle report

Firestorm Battle ReportWe take to the stars to fight in an intersteller conflict this week in our first real Firestorm Armada 600 point fleet engagement. Two of us only have the tiniest portion of fleets, so we relied on the kindness of our buddy John to supply reinforcements. This does mean that both of us go over the 25% limit for allies in both the Directorate and Aquan fleets as we wanted to try out the Dindrenzi and Terran ships that we just painted- but it's a friendly game! No harm, no foul.

We'll have full fleets soon enough! Now, the lists-

Fleet #1: Directorate w/ Dindrenzi Allies-

Mixed Cruiser Squadron: -Decurion Escort Carrier, 2 wings, 55pts -Velites Cruiser, Scatter Weapon Upgrade 60pts

Dindrenzi Frigate Squadron: - x3 Pugio Light Frigates 60pts

Directorate Battleship Squadron: -Anarchist Battleship, 3 wings, Special Forces (+2 AP), Second Assault (+2 AP), Stealth Systems 235pts -x1Liquidator Frigate Escorts 20pts

R&D Cruiser Squadron: -x2 Turmoil Cruisers, Cyberwarfare MAR 170pts

Fleet #2: Aquan w/ Terran Allies-

Terran Mixed Cruiser Squadron: -Harpoon Cruiser, Turret Weapons 60pts -Perseus Light Cruiser, Turret Weapons 40pts

Terran Frigate Squadron: - x6 Wayfarer Light Frigates 120pts

Aquan Heavy Carrier Squadron: -Oannes Heavy Carriers, 8 wings, +1 Shield/+1 HP upgrade 200pts -x2 Sulla Heavy Cruisers Escorts 100pts

Aquan Frigate Squadron: -x4 Chimaera Frigates 80pts

Fleet #3: Sorylian-
Battleship Squadron- x1 Falx Battleship w/ Weapon Shielding MAR

Battlecruiser Squadron- x1 Hasta Battlecruiser w/ Weapon Shielding and additional Shield

Cruiser Squadron- x2 Falcata Cruisers w/ Weapon Shielding

Frigate Squadron- x3 Scythe Frigates w/ Pack Hunter

Frigate Squadron- x3 Scythe Frigates w/ Pack Hunter
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The area of space that we're all fighting over. The dark planet 'Coke' seperating
the Directorate and Aquan fleets and the ancient probe in the center.

The shiny artifact in the center is sending out a close-range beam of data. Any
ships within 4 inches by the end of the game are able to 'secure' the data and
control the probe. King of the Hill baby.~

My Directorate forces with Dindrenzi allies all ready to race
to the objective.

The Aquan's and their Terran allies in a much more orderly line.

Finally the homogeneous Sorylian Fleet across the table all arrayed
to engage the enemy.

First few activations on the Aquan side, with the frigates darting up. Terran's
keeping their eye on the ball, and Aquan frigates defending the flank. The
Aquan frigates are wiped out by Directorate fire in fairly short order.

One of the Sorylian squadrons of frigates is wiped out by long ranged
Terran torpedoes, the rest of the fleet (including a stealthed battlecruiser ;D)
slowly grinding forwards.

Despite my wish to keep my eye on the ball, the Aquan's respond to the
death's of their frigates by turning their Heavy Carrier and escorts to
engage my fleet.

Trying to ignore them as best as possible I send my two
R&D Cruisers to intercept with some support with my
Battleship still pointed forwards towards the Probe.

The R&D cruisers combine their fire on one of the Aquan cruisers and
score enough damage with their gravity weapons to cause a critical. Double
1's, Reactor Overload! I like to think they actually just pushed it into
Planet Coke or some huge asteroid.

The Terran Frigates and Cruisers, as well as the majority of the Directorate
Fleet push forwards to the objective...

... but the Sorylians are fairly unharmed, and moving in strength.

The three fleets engage. One R&D Cruiser eats up an unreasonable amount of
fire from both Aquans and Sorylian Torpedos before being destroyed. A Sorylian
Cruiser is destroyed even as frigate reinforcements move up. Sorylian fire reduces
the Terran frigates to half strength, disordering them.

Taking some cover behind the little blue planetoid, the Sorylians
take their time, shooting long range torpedos down the board
and waiting for the enemy to close in for maximum effect.

The Terran cruisers show how deadly they are, even as the Aquan ships finally
finish off the other R&D cruiser.

The Directorate Battleship commits, making itself known and racing
forwards to claim the objective, firing out crippling amounts of fire
while supported by the Dindrenzi ships behind.

The Battleship focused on her Sorylian counterpart. The damage caused was
fairly minimal, but the successful cyberwarfare attack was a stroke of good
planning. A critical effect had the Sorylian Battleships engines malfunctiong
(keeping it out of broadside or objective range) and disengaging the forward
weapon's systems.

With fire from behind, and the Directorate frigate showing some
teeth, one of the remaining Sorylian frigates is killed and the other
damaged.

The return fire, of course, silenced the Directorate escort.

With enemy ships on all sides, the Directorate Battleship remained undamaged
as the final turn approached.

The Dindrenzi throw themselves at the probe even as the enemy battleships
throw everything they have at the Directorate forces claiming the objective.

At full health, my victory was assured... until the Aquan
carriers' beam weapons struck the Battleship's Reactor,
causing it to erupt in nuclear fire- taking both the Velites
Cruiser and Harpoon Cruiser with it!

In that astounding upset the Sorylian player managed to move his 'stealth' Hasta Battlecruiser into within four inches, thereby getting more points than my Decurion Carrier near the objective and winning in spectacular fashion.

What a game! We did... many things wrong, but three player games are never exactly 'smooth' and we're all still learning the game. Point defense and weapons firing were all casualties of our inexperience in some ways, but live and learn. It was fun for all involved, and was climactic right to the very end. Hopefully we'll get to play again very soon, and continue to grow the local community.~