Tales From The Table (TFTT): Playing out the small fleet battle of Nkllon

I printed out the Operation Order earlier and check it out for a snapshot on what this 'operation' is supposed to look like . . . I'm not going to repeat the Op Ord here so if I'm saying things and making assumptions that you can't quite follow, check out the Op Order.

This is one of the most ambitious RPG story arcs that I've planned out. And on top of that, I'm testing out some new rules for Space Combat! (As indicated elsewhere).

Part of the reason I want to write this out is to just record what's happening and to discuss decisions and how this battle is being handled narratively.

AS for rules alterations, I'm using my optional shields rules & the Weapon Track Ship Weapon's Quality (I couldn't find the Author, citation pending). I'm abbreviating that to WTS.

Jumping off with the battle, the Lucinda departed as planned, but the PC making the Navigation check (vs Two Purple) actually failed . . . but had one advantages. The Lucinda showed up at the Nkllon system but clearly NOT at the intended target location. A quick check from the Sensor Op and she find's intended target, only 12 minute out from their current location. Course laid in . . .

The Lucinda established positive communications with the Lacerator and welcomed back to the system. Four TIE in's circle in to escort the returning freighter, two astern and two to fore. Everything went okay until the Lacerator requested (again) a copy of the cargo manifest . . .

PC's scramble to put together a fake manifest and deliver it (Failure with 1 adv) . . .

Minor oversights to be sure but enough to pass the casual examination of a bored comms op.

Pa Pooga (Cpt of the Lucinda and Strike Force Commander) orders that the Lucinda close to 'close' range before the Y-Wings are launched . . .

At short range, the Lacerator (now suspicious) orders the Lucinda to break off of it's intercept course and to vector toward the Wedge " alter course by 30 degrees to port." Meanwhile the Lucinda begins opening it's camshell front cargo door BUT does alter course.

Note on initiative. The PC's have defacto established surprise on the enemy, but I also decided to simplify initiative. All alliance forces are going first and then I cycle through the Imperial forces. There are a lot of units on the board, and as GM I'm going to have trouble keeping track of a RAW initiative tracking tree as units are introduced and removed from the board. So I skip that for this battle.

The Lucinda turns back hoping to launch it's Y-Wings to attack the port side of the Lacerator . The first Y-Wing launches, the pilot exclaiming that he's never been this close! and snap launches his first Protons. One hits, damaging the Port Side Shields. The other torpedo sails off into space. The Gunners on the Lucinda open fire on the escorting fighters. (Fighters got chewed up quickly and weren't a factor in this opening action.

Next round . . .

The Lucinda continues its turn back toward the Lacerator and maneuvers to pass the Star Destroyer on a Port side to Port side pass (at close range). The engineer pulls off a double launch, releasing the next two Y-Wings (Triumph rolled on the Engineering skill check). Both Y-Wing pilots bank to port, lining up on the Lacerator and both spend their round achieving a target lock (Guided quality for Protorps). The first Y-Wing slows and reloads it's torpedo launchers and the pilot establishes a targeting lock (Guided quality) while his gunner shoots at TIE Fighters.

The Lucinda had two gunners to the port side (there's a temporary crew shortage) and the starboard guns are unmanned. However, these port side gunners unload on the Lacerator and short out the rest of the shield and inflict minor damage. However, when "Shiny" fires her Ventral Mounted Quad Gun at the Star Destroyer, her weapons cease to function. "Ghost" reports the weapon failure to the Chief Engineer . . . (Weapon Hit, but with 4 threats, I [as the GM] kill the guns. They're 'damaged' but not destroyed).

Lacerator launches a new wave of Interceptors (launching forward and placed in front of the Lacerator . Bad for them because the battle is going on BEHIND them.

"Ghost" (manning Comms & Sensors) reports a team of TIE Fighters (in's) being vectored into sensor range aft of the Lucinda .

The port side main battery of the Lacerator unleash a salvo at the Lucinda and reduce shields to 25% . . . The rest of the guns on the Lacerator remain ominously silent.

Last round for the night:

Lucinda drifts to port turning to bring it's guns to the aft quarter of the Lacerator and launches the last Y-Wing. This fourth Y-Wing Pilot begins turning toward the Lacerator as it's facing away from the Star Destroyer. It also establishes a target lock.

The Y-Wings split their Ion Turret attacks against the TIE Fighters, finishing off the original flight of four, destroying one of the newly launched Interceptors, and discomforting another Interceptor. (Missed attack but with a large number of advantages: All attacks on this Interceptor will have an added blue dice and that pilot will be flying straight next turn).

Of note, the Y-Wings: Y-Wing one is flying past the Lacerator and established a target lock. Y-Wing 2 & 3 attack but only hit with one torpedo but did extensive damage with that one torpedo. An unknown critical hit is resulted against the Lacerator . (no spoilers). Y-Wing 4 is still out of arc, but has a lock. It should be able to make it's first run against the aft of Lacerator next turn. Note that with the Guided weapon quality three of those torpedoes will get a second chance to hit on Turn 15.

We ended here because it was our regular time to wrap up AND the next turn (technically turn 15) is the turn that the Diving Shrike and the Razza are scheduled to arrive. This will also add 4 X-Wings to this battle as well (being carried by the ' Shrike ).

We did get a later start on this battle but I like that we got this opening move started. I'm testing rules and forms and so far so good. I get a week to see if I need to make arrangements or adjustments, but I think we're good. I am thinking about adding Targeting computers to the Alliance Fighters because the stock pilot & gunnery skills make it REALLY hard to score hits. I also need to put together some ship cards for the PLayers with the details about the X-Wings and Y-Wings

Otherwise, everyone is engaged and this fight seems really intense.

The WTS doesn't change the weapons rules too much and we're getting results similar to what we expect, BUT, I like how the Proton Torpedoes are selected for bigger ships and will have a very hard time hitting smaller ships. That seems to make sense.

I wish I could upload the pictures, but I've hit my max allotment for this forum, but the Mini's help a LOT.

Phase II -- Presented a unique opportunity with astronomical 'terrain.'

On Paper this mission involved capturing the Guardian ship intact so that they could rescue Wookiee slaves located on the surface of Nkllon.

The assault group prepared their VCX-100 the Razza for boarding and loaded up their assault forces (25 Rebel commandos) onto this ship with each soldier donning respirators so as to keep the passengers from overwhelming the life support systems.

The other two ships stayed behind and away from the hard radiation band from the Primary, but the Razza was escorted in by the 4 Y-Wings (which were planning to use their Ion Cannons to disable the Guardian if necessary) plus two very eager X-Wings. All of the fighters were armed with Proton Torpedoes.

Cakewalk right?

On approach, the Lucinda reports that there was a broadcast to the Guardian warning them of the impending attack! (One of the support ships in system had ghosted them as they took their trip down the well and issued a timely response to the Imperials).

The assault group continued their assault and thing's weren't too bad. The solar radiation damage was only 4 per turn and with shields that wasn't a problem for the ray shielded ships . . . yet . . . . But for an unshielded ship like a TIE Fighter with limited armor, even the most gentle solar flare would start to incinerate the ship.

The commander was on the Razza and orders that the 'Shrike jam all communications! There was a delay as the tech (call sign Ghost) requested clarification. She knows that the Guardian has received the warning and want's to make sure that the Commander want's to shut down all comms locally. Order confirmed . . .

And then the Commander wanted to talk to his fighter pilots . . .

The CO hot swaps seats with Boomer (his engineer) and She sets up a tight beam laser comm with Talon 1 (X-Wing Co). (The much smaller Razza has two control consoles and the Pilot is using the other one to fly the ship).

Talon 1 asks for clarification on the target aspect change and Razza crew missed the change. The task force follows the Talon team into the target and a second target is detected! Talon Team gets approval to 'take care of' the second target and they lock S-Foils into attack position and dive into an aggressive attack! (Speed 5 WOOT. Lets ditch these slow poke Y-Wings)!

The new ship is a YT-1300 and she's making a desperate run to distract the rebels while the Guardian beats plasma back down the well. The Razza figures out that the Guardian is flipping over and shielding itself with it's environmental shield facing which is impervious to the rebels weapons. (The sensitive side has regular ray shielding which can protect it temporarily from hard radiation, but at about the point those shields start failing it should be able to flip back around.

Wrasp, (the Razza CO) requests comms with the '1300 (the Rocky Road ) and comms are established. Wrasp tries to negotiate a surrender of the freighter . . . and fails. Meanwhile Talon Team realize that weapons sensors are being aimed at them by the Rocky Road and they open fire, moments before the Rocky Road gunners open up with their weapons.

It's a valiant attempt by the Rocky Road and they do succeed at drawing the attention of the Rebel attackers, but they are swarmed by the six fighters and the Razza's guns also find purchase too. To add insult to injury, the 'Shrike opens up on the tumbling wreckage with it's long range cannons. (Can you say overkill)?

Rocky Road finds a hard end to its existence under the withering battery of Torpedoes and Laser Cannons.

But a solar flair is arriving and damage has increased to 6 per turn . . . and is increasing . . .

The Talon fighters bug out, heading off to the 'Shrike but the Y-Wings and the Razza pursue the Guardian .

The Rebel strike force (somewhat familiar with the Nkllon navy) use the Guardian's shield to protect them from the hard radiation until they close into range and then fly around the shield. Wrasp establishes comms with the Guardian and successfully negotiates a surrender.

The Guardian flips back over and the attack force is shielded from the worst of the inbound solar flare . . . (avoiding a fight in a very hazardous environment as the Y-Wings try to Ionize a ship that needs to stay intact which is being slowly vaporized AND then the need to fight their way to engineering to restore power to the Guardian . . . [Blasted 'Convincing Demeanor' talents . . .]).

The PC's and Rebel commandos stormed the Guardian and after token resistance, the crew surrenders. (In concert with the crew surrendering over the PA, the guards they were attacking were screaming 'They have GRENADES!*').

On to Phase 3 . . .

* Yes, Grenades In My Star Wars Universe (IMSWU) are more powerful than the RAW indicate.

I turned Phase III into a whole session!

(Woot)!

I was pretty sure we could wrap up Phase III quickly because there shouldn't have been any combat but there were enough obstacles to overcome.

Though the crew of the Guardian surrendered, they didn't exactly turn over control of the ship, including an overly zealous engineer who had set up a dead man's switch (with the potential to destroy the whole ship).

Taking over "The Crawler" was easy enough with a brilliant bluff, but . . . not without it's own complications.

The crew was there to rescue approximately 35 Wookiees (easy enough, right)? But when the 40 Wookiees (on rest) asked about the other 40 Wookiees out on 'deployment' that set up a logistics problem . . . And one that turned into a time consuming issue! (12+ hours in game to locate and rescue all of the Wookiees. about 15 minutes IRL IIRC).

But that was resolved successfully and what do you do after 12+ hours of gruelling piloting and coordinating the transport of 25 Prisoners and aproximately 80 Wookiees?

You get VETTED by the Wookiees in a no holds barred celebration!

I think the funniest line from the game last night was when one of the players asked, "Where did the Wookiees get a PIG ?!?!?!?!" I (the GM) had to shrug in response.

But after a bit of Cat and Mouse with three TIE teams and an ISD, the group successfully evaded the Empire and were able to exfil the Nkllon system, leaving little more than wreckage and destruction in their wake. It's a crying shame that the Empire won't have enough support struts needed to finish a completely spherical second Death Star in time for the Emperor's plans . . .

But that should wrap up Mission 024 "Depending Basin" successfully enough. The Battle of Nkllon is OVER.