This is a scenario from the Stars & Lasers main rule book called Supply Run, this was my opponents second game, so I thought it would be good to try something different rather than just a meeting engagement.
So, I was going to be running the convoy with it’s escorts and my opponent was going to be attacking the convoy, I have obviously run this scenario many times and knew that it was not going to be easy getting my freighters across the table and off the other side.
I went with two small freighters and one large one and I decided for my 450 points of escorts that I would take one Light Cruiser with three engineer teams with three Frigates and two Corvettes.
And for his 800 points of attacking ships my opponent decided to take two Light Cruisers with one Destroyer, two Frigates and four Corvettes.
Well turn one saw my ships fly at full speed towards the opposite side of the table and of course the enemy ships, in reply the enemy ships attacked the convoy by taking a few long shots at my escorts and firing off a load of missiles, this I guessed was to make me turn away from his side of the table, well it worked!!
Turn two saw lots of good shooting by my opponent, my two Corvettes took a pounding but still managed to stay alive, although they were not looking great, I managed to either dodge or destroy most of the enemy’s missiles, but things were already starting to look bad.
Turn two also saw the fist of many critical hits from my opponent, but to be fair most were not that bothersome, I got a few during the game as well, and I think mine did more damage!!
But the first one was on one of my Corvettes, it had a comms failure so could not be given orders this turn and moved forward its full speed and collided with an enemy Corvette!
Turn three was not a great turn either my opponent had managed to push my freighters to the left to get around his ships and missiles, this of course was not what I needed to do, I should have just been flying straight towards the opposite table edge.
My ships were having to weave in and out between all the enemy missiles and ships but were slowly moving towards their objective.
But now my two small freighters were starting to take heavy damage, my opponent was playing the scenario perfectly, he was forcing me to turn away form his ships or missiles which meant he was slowing me crossing the table, which in turn gave him more time to shoot at my freighters… there was nothing I could do but to try and push forward and hope to just keep going long enough to get to the opposite table edge.
Turn four was the turning point in the game for me I think, I had already lost a couple of ships, my freighters were really starting to come under heavy fire from all of the enemy ships, one of the small freighters was on its last point of damage, it was not going to be able to last much longer.
Then my opponent then did something despicable!!
And something that I just hadn’t expected… he managed to ram my Light Cruiser with his Destroyer but then he fired his missiles into the Cruiser as well doing a load more damage, after that my Cruiser was on its last point of damage… this was such a cunning and evil manoeuvre, but it was also a great tactic, and one that I will have to remember for the future.
( I have to point out though that this nearly backfired on him as I got a critical hit with the collision damage and did 4 more hits which nearly destroyed the Destroyer!! )
Turn five and my small Freighter finally died from laser fire, and then my other small Freighter took a critical hit and had its engines damaged, great now my ship was moving at a slower speed! What else could go wrong?
I got my answer very quickly… my Light Cruiser found that it could not get past an enemy Frigate, so the crew strapped in and rammed the damn thing, being the bigger ship, the Cruiser would get minus one to the damage it would take… my opponent had to roll a one… he rolled a two and my Light Cruiser lost its last hull point and spun off into space dead…
I asked again, what else could go wrong?
Ok perhaps I shouldn’t have asked…
My Heavy Freighter took a critical hit as well and lost its comms so was unable to be given orders so just moved forward at full speed, hey it was in the right direction, so I didn’t mind too much.
Now I was down to just two Frigates and two damaged Freighters, things were not looking good for the convoy.
Turn six and the edge was in sight!! could i make it?
Turn seven and the last Freighter on the table is one badly damaged Light Freighter, and it is about three inches from the edge!!! it’s last escort just could not get close enough to be of any help.
One laser shot later and it was all over, the convoy was stopped easily, I didn’t do anything wrong, my opponent just played much better than I did, he also rolled much better than me which helped him a lot.
It was a good fun game, I look forward to getting my revenge the next time our ships meet on the table top…