FSA: Patrol Fleet

I added a few more models to my Terran Alliance fleet so now it is aroundish 800pts (Patrol Fleet) strong. :-) New in this picture in addition to the starterbox:

• 1 Ares Class Carrier (yellow)
• 3 Artemis Class Destroyers (the ships with the most green)

Here we have a close-up of the carrier and the three destroyers.

And a close-up of the carrier and the battleship. I decided to do black and green for my fleet except the large and massive ships that are supposed to be black and yellow. So any other large ship I may still get will be black and yellow, too. For the carrier I decided to invert the colors, though, because it's such a unique model both in terms of looks and game mechanics.

Since I am always looking for the right bag and foams for my armies, I also post here my bag's layout just in case it may help someone else with the same questions.

I can easily still fit in eight more frigates here.

Plenty of room for still one more large ship. :-)

As I needed a larger bag for my DW fleet my Feldherr Mini Plus temporarily got empty and now stores my Terran Alliance fleet. I am continuing to be amazed how one can store an entire army in such a small bag - and this isn't just a starterbox getting boring after three games plus I still have plenty of room for further additions.

Absolute decompression

My finished Terran Alliance fleet prior to its first game. :-)

My opponent was sporting a nice fleet from Hawker Industries. :-)

So tonight was the first night my Terran Alliance fleet saw some action versus +Francesco Tornimbeni's Hawker Industries. While Francesco was a perfect gentleman, his models also natural allies to mine as defined by the rules, so playing against him gave me also an impression of what amy be in for me in the future. :-)

This is how we set up.

When we finished setting up, Francesco moved his battleship from its original place on his left edge to the place where you can see it in the picture.
I felt pretty good about setting up and had the intention to cram everything between the asteroid field in the center and the planets on my right, effectively playing a refused flank. Using the grey planet's gravitation field I also expected to speed up my yellow battleship quite a bit.

End of turn 1.

Well, everything happened differently than planned. At the end of turn 1, three of my four frigates were already blasted into oblivion as I moved them last. Prior to them the cruisers and the battleship fired through the asteroid field, but at half dice with little to no effect.

End of turn 2.

In the second turn I committed my battleship to swing left and and block Francesco's battleship which was still approaching at enormous speed. In the meantime, his remaining fleet started grinding its way through my remaining frigate and the cruisers which were at this point heavily damaged or gone already.

End of turn 3.

Turn 3 saw the death of my remaining frigate and the two remaining cruisers. Our battleships passed and threw everything their broadsides had to offer at each other.

End of turn 4.

Turn 4 was again about the two battleships firing at each other while Francesco's remaining fleet moved in for the kill. Because of the damage on my battleship it became increasingly impossible to do any damage at all, so basically we could have called it a game here because it was evident I am going to lose it.

Turn 5 saw my battleship with three hazard markers on her...

...but for a change I was lucky with my dice and was able to take all three of them off again.

End of turn 6.

In turn 6 my battleship was finally shot into pieces. The game ended with 18 victory points for Francesco whereas I had -8 victory points. (which I feel is kinda silly for a wargame to have negative victory points, but I guess in the end it's just a matter of scale and taste) In other words, he won with a difference of 26 victory points. He lost one frigate while I lost my entire fleet. :-/

So what were my major mistakes to learn from in the future?

1. I underestimated his speed. That alone was fatal.
2. Rather than trying to outrun him around the asteroid field and do non-effective shots through it, I should have met him head on with my full fleet.
3. I need to protect my frigates better. In the two games I played so far they were canon fodder, but preserving them is essential for them to be effective.
4. Target priority is essential. I should have either thrown everything at his battleship or everything at everything but his battleship.

So all in all it was a very unpleasant yet instructive experience which I still hope not to repeat in the future too many times. At this point, Dystopian Wars feels easier for me because in that game I usually envision a general strategy for a game which always works more or less as I put it into action. In Firestorm Armada, however, it feels to me as if I run into tons of obstacles before I can even put my strategy in place. Now I don't know why that would be, be it the character of Terran Alliance fleet, the different players than those I play DW with,or the different rule set. Oh well, we'll see better after a couple more games. :-)

FSA: Terran Alliance up and ready

Well, I am done painting my Terran Alliance starterbox for Firestorm Armada. :-) It was a blast to paint these models and big thanks to +Tudor Stanescu for letting me have them and encouraging me to go on when I was thinking about the color scheme. :-)

Enjoy. :-)

The Tyrant Class battleship, my pride. :-)

Also painted the lower half just in case they ever get belly up. ;-)

Here some WIP shots for those who may care. :-)

In contrast to the previous picture, I have touched up my mistakes with black paint again. ;-)

FSA Introduction Game

Duh, spaceships? I take a nap.

Tonight was my first introduction game to Firestorm Armada (FSA). I knew it plays very similarly to Dystopian Wars, but like with a new car it takes a while to adjust.

Looking back I don't even know where the major differences are. For me it's that you can defend your ship against torpedoes only once per turn and, oh yes, flying through other models is quite nice, too. Movement can still be tricky because of asteroid fields, however.

Tonight I played the Terran Alliance, +Andre Suwanda the Sorylian Collective, +Tudor Stanescu the Dindrenzi Federation, and +Sven Emmert The Relthoza.

This is how we set up: Sorylian Collective (lower left), Terran Alliance (lower right), Relthoza (upper left), and the Dindrenzi Federation.

The Sorylian Collective.

The Dindrenzi Federation.

The Relthoza.

The Terran Alliance moves forward, but one Cruiser is being shot away by the Dindrenzi and one Frigate is already lost in the asteroid field. o.O

On the left side of the table, the Sorylian Collective moves out...

... and starts to target the Relthoza. (look 'ma, real lasers!)

Unfortunately, the Relthoza make a statement with a counterattack causing a magazine explosion.

On the other half of the table, the Terran Alliance desperately tries to pull the Dindrenzi into close combat so their long range weaponery can't use its full potential.

In the meantime, the Sorylian Collective seems to enter a stalemate with the Relthoza...

...while the Dindrenzi move up their ships on the Terrans and start boarding actions that can still be momentarily fought off.

The Sorylian Collective continues to suffer casualties while boarding the Relthoza in return...

...as the Terrans and the Dindrenzi fly past each other and are forced to do turn maneuvers.

On the other side, the remaining Sorylian have to turn as well...

...but two Relthoza ships escape their grip and fire at the last remaining Terran Cruiser to win the game. Voilà.

All in all this was a very enjoyable evening with the only downside that there were certain waiting times. However, I assume once we're more familiar with the ships and the rules, this will be much better. Also, I still believe this system is better where players alternate in moving units rather than players on one side move their entire army in one turn while the others wait and then they get to move their entire army. I am looking forward to the next game!

As a really nice surprise, +Tudor Stanescu gave me his leftover Terran Alliance starships, so I'll soon build my own fleet. :-)