And then there were none...

Just got back from games night, where we squeezed in another practice game of Firestorm Armada before the big day on Sunday (more about that later).


All in all, I received an absolute drubbing at the hands of the Dindrenzi. I would write up a full report, but there's nothing much to tell. To cut a long story short-ish, it was almost a repeat of the game I had on Tuesday (against the same Dindrenzi I might add).

• Absolutely brutal first turn fire put paid to my squadron of Heavy Cruisers (one depressurised and blew up, the other managed a single ineffective broadside before suffering a Critical and exploding, causing 3 damage on my Battleship in the process) and took each of my Light Cruisers down to half strength. I managed a few scattered damage points in return.
• The following turn saw my Light Cruisers destroyed and one Frigate squadron crippled. Turns 3 and 4, I managed to get my Battleship and Manta Battle Carrier in amongst the Dindrenzi and caused heavy damage, before being boarded. My Battleship fought off the boarders but lost all it's crew in the process (thus becoming derelict). I lost the remainder of my Frigates, for one Dindrenzi Heavy Cruiser and one Light Cruiser in return.
• In the final turn, the Manta moved away from the boarding Heavy Cruisers and let loose with all batteries (it was surrounded, so I had targets in every arc). Of course, it was at this point that the dice abandoned me (as if they hadn't already) and I caused only a single point of damage on another Heavy Cruiser. With a heavy damaged Manta as my only remaining ship, we decided to call it a night. 

After two almost identical games, I can see a pattern emerging. Once my Aquans get in amongst the Dindrenzi ships, they can really dish out some pain. The problem is actually getting in amongst the Dindrenzi with enough ships left intact - weathering the storm of the Dindrenzi fore batteries during the first couple of turns is proving next to impossible; in both games, I've lost my Heavy Cruisers, Light Cruisers and half my Frigates before engaging. That's left my Battleship and Manta with insurmountable odds facing them, and even though they chuck out a very tasty amount of dice, they aren't tough enough to survive the fire of a whole Dindrenzi fleet.


Still, we live and learn. I've got my mitts on two more Heavy Cruisers to bulk that squadron up to four in an attempt to give them a bit of survivability (they've formed the vanguard of my attack so far, and thus have been the prime target for enemy fire - hence why they've not survived much beyond turn 3....). Plus a squadron of four can chuck out a very respectable 20 Attack Dice at Medium Range (or 4x8 firing seperately) which should help thin the enemy a bit before the main bulk of the fleet engages.



Anyway, I've just got details to paint on the rest of the fleet (plus the two new Heavy Cruisers) before Sunday. I'll get cracking on those tomorrow, so will try and post some finished pics then. In the meantime, here's a few shots of how they look at the moment (top to bottom: Storm class Light Cruisers, Tsunami class Heavy Cruisers, Manta Battle Carrier, Poseidon class Battleship, Piranha class Frigates)