When Imagination Fails

ACTA - Narn vs. Shadow game

Two of us met and gamed a Narn-Shadow meeting engagement. 

Pictures up on flickr or you can view them as a slide show turn by turn.

Here is the description:

Setup

The Shadows on the right had:

2 young cruisers
2 scouts

The Narn on the left had:

1 Bin'Tak Dreadnought
1 G'Lan cruiser
2 T'Loth Assault Cruisers
1 Dag'Kar Missile Frigate
1 Ka'Toc Battle Destroyer
1 Sho'Kar Light Scout Cruiser

Shadows won initiative and the Narns started setting up first.

Turn 1

The Shadows won initiative and had the Narns move first.

The G'Lan cruiser, Dag'Kar Missile Frigate, Ka'Toc Battle Destroyer held back while the T'Loths, Bin'Tak and the scout advanced.

The Shadows advanced at max on all fronts. However, the two scouts were out of range and saw no action this turn. One Shadow cruiser concentrated its fire on the vanguard T'Loth, while the other attacked the Bin'Tak. Both Narn ships took significant damage. The Bin'Tak remained in the battle, but the T'Loth was immobilized and one crew point shy of having a skeleton crew.

The vanguard T'Loth attacked the closest Shadow scout, but wasn't able to destroy the scout. The Bin'Tak and Dag'Kar loosed the energy mines and other long range armament, but aside from damaging the scout closest to the vanguard T'Loth, the Shadows took little damage.

The Narn scout reduced the stealth on a scout, but didn't much damage.

Turn 2

The Narn won initiative and had the Shadows move first.

One Shadow cruiser attempted to move into a flanking position on the Bin'Tak, while the other moved to engage the undamaged T'Loth and G'Lan. The damaged scout flanked the immobile T'Loth. The other scout played chicken with the Narn scout and ended up getting hit in the rear, but no damage result owing to the Shadow scout's shields.

The G'Lan cruiser, and the mobile T'Loth moved up next to the ailing T'Loth as did the Ka'Toc Battle Destroyer. The Dag'Kar Missile Frigate held back while the Bin'Tak rotated in place to engage the Shadow cruiser. Both traded blows with one another, with the Shadow cruiser received scratches while the Bin'Tak took it on the chin, but still focused it fire.

The damaged Shadow scout finally dispatched the immobile T'Loth while the other Shadow cruiser concentrated on the G'Lan and gave it quite a bruising including critical hits that left it immobilized.

The Dag'Kar and Ka'Toc attacked the Shadow scouts, but did not take either down.

The Narn fighters did engage the Shadow fighters, but with the local advantage in numbers, the Shadows prevailed in the two dogfights. Amazingly, a Shadow scout was able to avoid significant damage from a cloud of Narn fighters.

Turn 3

The Shadows won initiative and had the Narns move first.

One Shadow cruiser continued its attempt to flank the Bin'Tak, and positioned itself just to the side of the Bin'Tak and out of range. The other Shadow cruiser continued to engage the G'Lan.

The Shadow damaged scout turned its attention on the Ka'Toc and was able to reduce it to a skeleton crew in the first shot. The other scout focused its attentions on the G'Lan.

The Dag'Kar Missile Frigate, its energy mines fully loaded, attacked the Shadow scout attacking the G'Lan. The Narn scout sailed behind the Shadow ships. The remaining T'Loth contemplated opening a jump gate next turn.

Over all, while the scenario was balanced points wise, the Shadows were able to out maneuver the Narns and were well on their way to winning the day. Both players felt that the Narns needed more ships to balance the game out better.

Torvalus Dark Knives Complete

I completed the Torvalus Dark Knives a week or more ago, but I finally got around to photographing them. 

You can find a larger version on Flickr.

How I made them:

1. primed them with a black spray primer
2. painted them with two coats of Floquil NATO Black
3. painted the three engines with Floquil USSR Underside Blue and a small sharp brush.  I used the Floquil NATO Black where ever I painted beyond the lines.
4. painted the lights with Floquil's Railroad Signal Red and a small sharp brush.
5. finally, I sprayed them with Testors dullcote and then mounted them.

The Torvalus are:

A race of Gamblers and tricksters, roughly resembling a meter tall transparent protozoan covered in scillia. They, and the Kirishiac, are the only First Ones not to ascend into energy beings, mostly because of philosophy.

The bet on everything, what race will exterminate which species, whether this star will blow up in so many years, stuff like that. They maintained fairly good relations with their inferior middle-borns, but often as not posing as someone else.

Therefore, they invested enormous amounts of research into stealth. Their ships can hide from any of the First One's advanced sensors, even from the Walkers and the Triad, using what is called the "Shading Field". It works as damage prevention, as well. They can create sensor ghosts, fully realistic projections, they have a microjump system called a Transverse Drive that bypasses intervening space by means other than hyperspace.

Their weaponry is rather straightforward, using a variety of highly advanced lasers. Their drone fighters are among the best the First Ones make, capable of inflicting more damage than any but the Triad Order aspect Sereph super-heavies. Fighting the Torvalus is like fighting ghosts, even among the first ones.

[From Agammemnon at http://forum.spacebattles.com/showthread.php?t=78015 ]