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Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 01:16:32 -0400
From: Jim Emerick <jemerick@fuse.net>
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To: "babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU" <babylon5-wars@vex.cs.colorado.edu>
Subject: [B5W] Narn-Centauri Battle Report-(Long)
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OK...was finally able to get one of the guys over tonite to try out some
of the proposed 2nd Edition changes...as well as the higher damage for
the heavy weapons.  Here's the report...

Rules Used:

Miniatures Rules from War of Retribution

New Initiative System:  We used increments of 0/+6/+12/+18

+1 to crit roll per point of damage to system

Twin Arrays at -2/hex range penalty and -2 Intercept.  Also TA Fire
Control +6 vs. Fighters

Drop Outs used 1d10...roll greater than remaining structure and fighter
drops out

Accel/Decel done at beginning of each ships move

Fighters announce jink after moving

Quick Charge Plasma Accelerators

40/20 Flash Damage E-mines...For the mini rules we treated 1 1/2" as one
hex and 1 1/2 to 3" as two.  Also...if a flight of fighters was struck
by an emine using the flash rules, we rolled a d6...That fighter was
struck as if the primary target of the flash damage and the others in
the flight were treated as if they were in the same hex according to the
flash damage rules.  

The other rule we tried tonite was to up the damage of the Heavy
Weapons.  What we did was this...any weapon that did more than 2d10
damage was adjusted this way.  The number of dice was dropped to 2d10
and the addend was raised to bring the damage potential to its
maximum...ie...Heavy Lasers did 2d10+30, Med Lasers did 2d10+18, Battle
Lasers did 2d10+22.

The Forces...Fleets were just a little above 5K...with the Centauri
outpointing the Narn by 25 points or so...

Centauri Republic:

Octurion
Dargan
2xVorchan
2xAltarian
2 Flights of Rutarian Strike Fighters
2 Flights of Sentri Medium Fighters

Narn Regime:

Bin'Tak
Rongoth
2xThentus
Dag'Kar Missile Frigate
4 Flights of Frazi Heavy Fighters

Setup:  Note, all references for turns and directions are from the Narn
side of the table with "uptable" being toward the Centauri side.

The game was played on an 8x4 table.  Forces set up on the long sides,
one ship or flight at a time, up to six inches onto the table.  Starting
speeds were announced as each unit was placed.

The Narn were placed as follows...all were six inches on...and the Narn
left flank was about 18" in from the left table edge...The Dag'Kar was
the Narn extreme left, the Bin'Tak 4" to the right...the Rongoth 10"
farther right with the Thentii about 2" apart and 10" right of the
Rongoth.  All ships were facing uptable and angled slightly to
starboard.  Two Frazi flights...1 & 4 were 3" right of the Rongoth,
facing uptable.  Flights 2 & 3 were the extreme right of the Narn fleet,
4" right of the Thentii, facing uptable.  All fighters, speed 9.  The
Rongoth and Thentii were speed 12. Dag'Kar speed 6 and the Bin'Tak speed
4.

The Centauri were placed as follows...looking from downtable...All were
about six inches onboard...The Altarians were placed about 24" in and 4"
apart facing downtable.  The Vorchans were 6" farther right and about 5"
apart facing downtable.  Then came a gap of about 30" and the Dargan was
placed there.  6" further was the Octurion at the extreme right of the
Centauri line.  The Rutarians were in hangar on the Dargan and the
Sentris were hangared in the Octurion.  The Vorchans, Dargan and
Altarians were moving speed 6 and the Octurion was speed 5.

Turn 1:

No fighters lost initiative to ships.

The Narns launched 8 Energy Mines. (The way we do this for minis is to
get 8 different colored dice.  The opposing player walks away for a
couple of minutes and the Narn uses a tape to mark the firing
line...marking the distance on a pad and corresponding it to a die which
is placed on the far table edge.  Then when the mines go off, the tape
is laid from the launch point to the die and the die moved back to the
proper distance.  It is sufficiently sneaky and secretive for our
needs.)

The Bin'Tak launched two Ion Torps at Vorchan 1 and the Dag'Kar launched
three at Altarian 1.

Ships closed range with the Vorchans and Altarians performing some
turns.  The Dag'Kar turned right and began to move along behind the Narn
battle line.  The Thentii and the Rongoth were closing on the Dargan and
Octurion while two flights of Frazis moved toward the Altarians and
Vorchans and the other two flights flew in front of the Thentii.  All
Frazis had increased speeds to 12 this turn.

The E-mines had all been targeted in a cluster near the Vorchans and
Altarians.  Several landed right on target.  Vorchan 1 had its entire
rear structure removed and Altarian 1 lost most of its front.  The front
structure of Vorchan 2 was hanging on by only two boxes.  Only three of
the E-mines landed completely out of effective radius and most of the
others damaged more than one ship.  The Ion Torps slammed in next.  One
of the two targeted from the Bin'Tak hit Vorchan 1, tearing into its
front structure.  All three from the Dag'Kar hit Altarian 1, taking out
a retro, a matter cannon, and taking the forward structure to two boxes.

The only other fire was from the Bin'Tak, which opened up on Vorchan 1
with two Battle Lasers from range 27, needing 6s to hit.  One hit the
Plasma Accelerator for 40 points (OUCH!).

The Dargan launched a flight of Rutarians and the Octurion launched two
flights of Sentris.

Critical hits were rolled and using the new +1 per box system, LOTS were
caused!!!!  Too many to keep note of although most were thruster and
weapons.

Turn 2:

One Frazi flight tied a Thentus for initiative with 32s.

The Thentus with the 32 beat all three flights of Centauri fighters due
to their -10 penalty for just launching.

No E-mines were launched.  The Dag'Kar fired three Ion Torps at the
Dargan.

During Movement, the Bin'Tak turned right to bring one side and one rear
Battle Laser to bear on the approaching Vorchans and Altarians.  Vorchan
1, unable to turn due to having no rear end, continued in a straight
line while beginning to slow.  The two Altarians and Vorchan 2 ended up
clustered together tightly...good thing there were no E-mines.  The
Dag'Kar continued moving along behind the Narn battle line.  The Rongoth
close up the distance on the Dargan and the Thentii turned right and
moved straight to maintain the distance from the Octurion while trying
to work around it's flank.  The Dargan closed toward the Rongoth and the
Octurion turned left, swinging toward the middle of the table. Frazi
flights 1 and 4 closed on the Vorchan and Altarians and flights 2 and 3
attempted to close on the Dargan.  The Centauri fighters positioned
themselves to strike next turn, having lost initiative to the Frazis.

The Dargan used its Twins to intercept the Ion Torps, causing all three
of them to miss.  The Dargan then fired at the Rongoth and missed
gloriously with 19s and 20s for a matter cannon and a Battle Laser.  The
Octurion hit Thentus 2 with 3 Battle Lasers for 25, 26, and 39 points. 
These took most of a Twin, destroyed a Medium Laser, did massive damage
to the retro, and took about 60% of the forward structure.  Vorchan 2
fired on Frazi flight 4 with Twins, hitting 3 fighters, destroying none
but all three would drop at the end of the turn.  Altarian 1 and 2 hit
the Bin'Tak with one matter cannon each, killing a Twin and a Lt pulse
cannon.  The Rongoth hit the Dargan with both Hvy Pulse Cannons for 8
pulses, ripping into its front for heavy damage.  The Bin'Tak fired two
Battle Lasers at Altarian 2, hitting with one for 44 points, taking it's
remaining forward structure and part of its primary and hangar. Frazi
flights 1 and 4 managed to strip the front from Vorchan 2 with some
heavy damage rolls...Over half the hits did 20+ points!

The Dargan launched its last flight of Rutarians.

Again this turn, crits were just plain NASTY!!!

Turn 3:

Narns launched 8 E-Mines.  5 Ion Torps were fired at the Octurion.

A Thentus tied a Frazi again, this time with an initiative of 24.  Just
a plain bad roll for the Frazi.  No other ships beat fighters.

During Movement, the Bin'Tak turned back uptable, closing the range on
the Altarians and  Vorchan 2.  The Altarians lined up on the Bin'Tak and
Vorchan 2 turned right and tried to close on the Rongoth.  Vorchan 1 was
still slowing down and Frazi flights 1 and 4 zipped up to his rear at
range 0.  The Dag'Kar continued moving straight crosstable.  The Dargan
moved straight with a slight turn to the left.  The Octurion turned left
toward tablecenter.  Rongoth moved straight ahead, ending four inches
behind the Dargan and four inches left of the Octurion.  A flight of
Sentris ended on top of the Rongoth.  Frazi flight 3 ended up in front
of Vorchan 2 at range 0.  The Thentii swung around to the left side of
the Octurion and pivoted to face it, range to both about 6 inches.  The
Rutarian flights ended up three inches from the Thentii, in between them
and the Octurion.  Frazi flight 2 was right on top of the Rutarians and
Sentri flight 2 was right on top of Frazi flight 2.

The E-mines worked perfectly.  Six E mines exploded an inch off of the
Octurions port side.  These E-mines took out the flight of Sentris,
Frazi flight 2 and BOTH flights of Rutarians, as well as taking the port
structure of the Octurion to 12 boxes.  The Octurion was only hit by one
of the ion torps, having used its Twins to intercept them.  It fired a
starboard Battle Laser and Matter Cannon at the Rongoth, taking out a
Hvy Pulse, the retro and some structure and damaging a second Hvy
Pulse.  The Matter cannon hit Primary and rolled structure, taking out
10 points.  The Dargans rear weapons unloaded into the rear of the
Rongoth, along with the sentri flight (which took some big hits from a
Twin and a Lt Pulse.), damaging a twin, both thrusters, and some
structure.  The Thentii fired on the Octurion with Medium Lasers,
finishing off the port structure and getting some lucky primary
rolls...ALL STRUCTURE!!!  The Bin'Tak fired at Vorchan 2 with it's
Battle Lasers, removing its rear and damaging the primary structure. 
Frazi Flights 2 and 3 pumped shots into the toothless Vorchan from the
front, ripping into it's primaries and destroying it.  In a glorious
display of Centauri firing ineptitude, the Altarian managed to almost
completely miss the Bin'Tak...(and the Narns remarked over an open
channel about some Earth building known as a barn....)...the only damage
delivered was a Matter Cannon to the forward structure for 18 points and
a waste of an 18 point matter cannon hit to a Lt. Pulse.  The Bin'Tak
responded by taking the front off of Altarian 1 with the Mag Gun and
doing some severe Primary damage.  Frazi flights 1 and 4 fired into the
rear of Vorchan 1, destroying it.

The Centauri conceded the game at this point.

Results:

The Centauri lost two Vorchans, two flights of Rutarians and a flight of
Sentris completely.  The other ships were damaged as follows:

Octurion:  Port side GONE. Front Matter Cannon destroyed. One Starboard
twin destroyed.  28 boxes left in Primary Structure.

Dargan:  Front:  Two TAs left, front structure down to seven.  
         Port:   Minor damage to MC and BL.  Port Structure took 15
boxes.
         Starboard:  MC destroyed, 50% of Starboard Structure gone.
	 Aft:  Five points of aft Structure damage.
	 Primary:  Seven boxes of Primary Structure Damage.

Altarian 1:  Front:    Destroyed
	     Aft:      No Damage
	     Primary:  20 boxes of Primary Structure damage.  3 boxes of
Sensors gone.

Altarian 2:  Front:    Destroyed
	     Aft:      One or two points to all systems (E-mine).  Aft
structure took 16
             Primary:  9 points to structure.  Hangar at 50%.  Engine
took 5 points.

Sentri Flight 1:  One fighter lost.

The Narns lost one flight of Frazis completely.  The other ships were
damaged as follows:

Bin'Tak:  Lost one Twin Array, two Lt. Pulse, and 18 boxes of Forward
Structure.

Rongoth:  Front:  One HPC destroyed, second took 1 point.  Retro gone. 
Front structure took 15.
	  Aft:    One TA took 6.  One thruster took 10, the other took 3.  Aft
Structure took 11.
	  Primary:  Primary Structure took 12.

Thentus 1:  No damage.

Thentus 2:  Front:  One Twin gone, the other took 5 boxes.  One ML
gone.  Retro took 11 points.  Front Structure down to 2 boxes.

Dag'Kar:  Untouched.

Frazis:  Flight 1: Gone.

	 Flight 2: No damage

	 Flight 3: No damage

	 Flight 4: Two fighters gone.  One damaged.

Substantial Narn Victory.

Conclusions:

New Initiative System:  This did not seem to have a drastic effect on
the game.  Most of the time, ships still moved in size order, with
occasional exceptions.  One thing it did do was speed play as each
player just set his sheets in initiative order after rolling and we
started counting up from one, stopping to move units in turn.

Crit System:  This is NASTY!!!  No other word for it.  Crits happen
easily twice as often, maybe more.  And the high end crits happen
probably 75% as often as they did.

Twin Arrays:  These become far more effective defensively.  But...it did
certainly seem to lower the offensive punch of the Centauri.  Perhaps a
bit too much.

Drop Outs:  The d10 works much better than the d20...Heavy fighters can
actually take some damage and hang in there without getting a freaky die
roll and dropping after one point...makes them much more worth their
points.

Accel/Decel:  The biggest effect this has seems to be in making the
Initiative Roll a little more important as you get a chance to see what
slower ships are doing.  Another factor here when playing vs. narns is
that the E-mines no longer are anti-fighter weapons as they can just
change speed too much to be effectively targeted.  Instead the E-mines
become ship killers.  

Fighters announce Jink after moving and Plasma Accelerator Quick
Charge:  Neither of these had any effect on the battle.

40/20 Emines:  These were just plain NASTY as area effect weapons.  I'm
going to test them as Robert Glass suggested...fired at one target and
treated like an Ion Torp.  I still think they're going to be very, very
wicked tho...I think 30/10 would work better...

The biggest problem is they seem to strip structure off too fast.  A
couple of them can take a side right off of a ship without doing
anything to the systems there.  Not Good!!!

Heavy Weapon Damage:  This worked REALLY well and we were very pleased
with the results!  The Heavy Weapons actually do some damage now...the
Centauri player was remarking that next time he is going to add in some
more Battle Lasers and try and lose some Matter Cannons...probably try a
Centurion and bring in some Primae....

Damage was heavier this way...but not drastically so...we didn't even
max one roll...but hit the mid-range a lot more often, which was nice. 
The raking hits are great with this modification, and piercing might
even get used more.  The Narns didn't sustain anything...but next time I
might try it.  And I think the EA might just be plain scary!!!  We're
going to try another game Friday nite using the same rules (except for
E-mines, we're going to try a suggestion from Bruce on those) only with
Narn vs. the EA...should be interesting.

Comments?  Questions?


-- End --