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.