FIRESTORM GAME

 

(Pic: Firestorm Armada Battle)  Massive explosions, torpedo runs, and main gun salvos amid the stars were the norm in last nights “Firestorm Armada” game. Also Battle Fatigue. Greg & I were hard at it from 6:30 to 10:30, and were exhausted after 4 hours of very intense gaming!

   Greg brought over his 2 Firestorm Armada Fleets, Terran (which I used) and The Directorate (which Greg played). The Terran fleet is realistically painted up in tones of grey with all the beautiful detail of these models highlighted. The Directorate models are even more nicely painted with yellow/gold and much fine detail displayed in other colours. Go to Greg’s site http://pfe100.blogspot.com/ for photos of both last nights game and scroll down for earlier pics of the Directorate ships. We played on a black star map cloth that Greg had made with several small planets and a few asteroid fields, both mounted on stands.

   As this was our first game,  we left out the fighters, bombers, carriers, assaulters and other small craft and just concentrated on the ‘big boys’ of the fleet. As I recall, we both had 2 Battleships, 3 Heavy Cruisers, 6 Light Cruisers, and 12 Frigates. A big battle by anyone’s standards. We formed opposing battle lines; my BB’s being centre & right flank. Greg did the same, which might explain why we both broke the others left flank. The rules were very similar to Uncharted Seas since we didn’t use Carrier-born craft, so things flowed quickly. Greg sent his Frigates forward to act as a screen while I kept mine in closer to my fleet. Point Defence destroyed a lot of the incoming torpedoes but nothing could stop the massive broadsides of the Battleships & heavy Cruisers. Ships began to disappear to form expanding clouds of incandescent light all over the table.

   In the centre, concentrated fire from my BB’s & Cruisers badly crippled a Directorate Battleship. I sent in a Cruisers squadron to finish it off, but the @!**#!! thing exploded, taking 2 of my Cruisers with it and damaging the third. That hurt. Much the same thing happened on my left, contributing to my loss of that flank. We suffered a massive explosion on one of my Heavy Cruisers that also took out the rest of the squadron! Still, Greg’s left flank was reduced to a lone Frigate ordered to ‘hold the flank’.

   Still, the war went on. By about 10:30 both fleets had suffered grievous losses and withdrew to fight another day. The Directorate & the Terrans both still had a Battleship and a Cruiser, but the Terrans also had 7 Frigates as well thus gaining them a marginal and Pyrrhic victory. An excellent and very intense game. The beautifully painted models and atmospheric terrain didn’t hurt things either! Thanks Greg.

Hotts Game

 

Well as always Britt Did the report, i took the pictures

Greg came over about 6:30PM and we had a Super “Hordes of the Things” game of 72 points per side. Greg fielded a “Haradrin” army of LotR miniatures, all beautifully painted. I fielded a Bretonnian Army, with the addition of 3 units of “Beasts”, ie trained Cougars. The terrain had 2 steep hills & woods on the eastern edge, a central diagonal road, and 4 low small hills on the western side. See Greg’s blog for the details as well as some nice shots of the battle: http://pfe100.blogspot.com/

   On to the battle. My Eastern flank was made of Shooters, 2 units of Cougars, and a Hero. My Centre was Knights backed by an Aerial Hero on a Griffon & 2 Pegasus. My Western flank held Hordes (surprisingly good troops!), more pussycats, a Mage, and Blades. Facing my Shooters were some of the same plus a Haradrin Hero in a Chariot. The Haradrin Centre had a Behemoth, Spear, and Shooters, Riders, and a Mage in the woods while his Western wing had another Behemoth and lots of Riders & Shooters.

   I got in trouble right away. Greg’s Riders in the Centre got stuck into my Knights, and were surprisingly hard to drive off. Ah, I have a cunning plan! I’ll fly my Pegasus behind them preventing their retreat when my Shooters blast them. Not only did my Shooters fail to drive the riders back, my poor Pegasus were lucky to escape with their lives! My Hero on the Eastern flank was less fortunate. Attacking the Haradrin Hero in a Chariot proved unwise, and he came to a sticky end. To make matters worse, he was also a sub-General, so now all commands on this flank would take double the PIPs. Still, we more or less gave as well as we got. The Western Behemoth was killed, and my Hordes were chasing his Mage (oh the indignity!).

   Then I got in trouble again. Not learning from my last mistake, this time I put my C-in-C on the Griffon behind enemy lines to prevent retreats. Same result as last time. I kill nothing and barely escape with my life! Flying is highly overrated!  While my Eastern flank was being crushed by that %@!!&*  Hero Chariot, and my pussycats Meowing their last, I was having better luck in the West. Hero, Blades, & Mage finally got the upper hand. The points lost by both sides were now still about equal and getting close to the critical break point. While my Eastern flank was obviously lost, many enemy units were left behind and not able to join in the fray. My sole (soul?) surviving religious Horde now took out the Haradrin Mage and helped to turn the flank in the centre. Still, the battle losses mounted rapidly for both sides.

   At the end, The Haradrin lost the 36 points needed to break them. The Bretonnians were little better with 31 points lost. Pyrrhic victory. A fun, fast, and very enjoyable time was had by all and I would recommend Hordes of the Things to anyone interested in a good Fantasy Battle. Magic was there, but not overpowering. Your tactics on the field were far more important than your army selection.

Hope your dice roll high