A friend of mine managed to get in a game of Stars & Lasers and has very kindly allowed me to share his battle report (this is a straight copy from his Facebook page)
Hopefully you will enjoy reading it as much as I did. Thank you Vic for allowing me to share this.
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Holy Hish! What’s going on, Sirrah?
Today I managed yet another (admittedly small) game… and all before 11.30 too!
Morning gaming … whatever next? 
… I feel all faint n floaty like …
This time I opted to play the most excellent Stars & Lasers by Mac Cross of Little Wargaming Worlds fame (or is it infamy? … infamy, infamy … they’ve all got it infamy … 
)
The scenario was the simplest kind – a starship duel, a small action in which two starships – usually heavy cruisers – go head to head, winner takes all …
THE DUEL
FORCE A: 1 x Zeta Colony Heavy Cruier w/turreted Plasma Cannon
FORCE B: 1 x Epsilon Colony Heavy Cruiser w/turreted Rail Gun
TABLE: 4’x3′, covered in asteroids
VICTORY: Destroy or force to retreat the enemy ship
So, how did it go?
Turn 1 saw both ships closing on each other through (and carefully round) the asteroids- no firing was possible due to the ships being out range to one another.
Turn 2 saw both ships continuing go close the range, with some ineffectual long range laser fire that scored no hits, and with the Zetan ship launching a (very) speculative salvo of missiles (that would miss by miles before hitting a distant asteroid) & the Epsilon ship launching a single missile that the Zetan ships PDS would stop dead.
Turn 3 ended in a short range pass that saw the Epsilon ship raked by close range laser & plasma cannon fire that knocked down all of its shields & also taking 1 missile hit that ablated all its armour (the 2 other missiles in the spread were shot down by the Epsilons PDS). But 3 of the Zetans lasers AND the plasma cannon missed… in return, the Epsilon hit with all 5 lasers AND the railgun, knocking down the Zetan ships shields, ablating all its armour AND destroying 1 of the Zetan ships lasers with a critical hit… the lone Epsilon missile was again stopped by the Zetans PDS…
Turn 4 both sides separate & restoring their shields – with a big asteroid blocking LOS between them there was no exchange of fire… 
Turn 5 saw both sides closing in once more, and another brutal exchange of fire took place at close range – the Zetan ship was again riddled with laser fire and took a second rail gun hit that caused another (life support) critical hit… the Epsilon was equalled mauled by the Zetans return laser and plasma cannon fire, but crucially took less hull damage (the railguns a hard hitter!) and no critical damage. And again the single Epsilon missile was stopped by the Zetan PDS…
Turn 6+… the Zetan was by now effectively crippled & so – discretion being the better part of valour – chose to break-off and escape, so after successfully restoring its shields it took to its toes & fled. The Epsilon ship – unable to restore its own shields – hid behind an asteroid to buy time to do so… and so was unable to take even a long range parting shot at the escaping Zetan…
Huzzah! Epsilon, the victorious!
HUZZAH! Zetan, the cowardly! …
In my opinion, on paper, the Zetan ship was the better ship and – with the majority of its armament front mounted – simpler & more aggressive to play … simply point n shoot!
The Epsilon ship, with its broadside launching missiles and its slightly lighter broadside laser armament, was trickier to play – requiring more nuanced manoeuvering & careful planning – to play. The power of the railgun was its ‘ace up the sleave’ …
And the ‘Man of the Match’? The railgunner, who else? Fired 2 shots, got 2 hits, max damage each hit, 1 critical per hit … 
performance!
Stars & Lasers rules written by Mac Cross of Little Wargaming Worlds & available on Wargames Vault (along with several very useful expansions for S&L) & other games by Mac.
Both miniatures are Traveller miniatures, and are available from Ad Astra Games in the USA.
nuqDaq yuch Dapol’jay!?
