Last time, we left off with the Ork and Imperial ships starting to tangle, and Captain Aramek aboard the Forlorn Hope taking out an Ork Fighta. That covered the first 5 turns of the scenario.
But the battle is still hotting up, and there is plenty of action still to come as the Forlorn Hope flies into a hornet’s nest of Orks.
So far the 5150: Fighter Command system is holding up and providing a good solo wargaming experience. It is fun to play, there are some nice touches to the game, and the mechanics are relatively simple. They could do with some better explanations, although I am hoping this scenario will to a long way to help that.
I am also pleased with the WH40K conversions I made. They all seem to be reasonably balanced. Nothing has broke yet, anyway. Even the scenario balance is good.
Right then, Let’s return to the action at Research Station Orion on Turn 6.
NOTE: You can also read Part 1 of this battle report if you missed it. Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 have also been updated.
Turn 6:
Activation Dice: Imperial 2 / Ork 3
The start of Turn 6
OK, this time the Orks will get to shoot.
As I scored lower in the Activation I have to move first (yes – I may have done this on a previous move, but it would not have affected the outcome as my guns fire in a 360° arc. And I am brand new to 5150: Fighter Command, so I am allowed to make mistakes).
I sideslip up 2″. That gives me a clear scanner line to the Ork capital ship. That’s important as I want to bring my beam weapons to bear early as I out-range its rail guns (the beam cannon has a range of 20″, while the rail batteries have a range of just 6″. However, the rail batteries pack a punch like a sledgehammer). I also want to get rid of this fighter so that I can then use my AA batteries to deal with any additional fighters from PEFs.
The Forlorn Hope sideslips
The Orks move next. The Savage Gunship rolls for movement [6, 1 - pass 1d6] and will continue at half speed. Good news for me. I don’t want it getting too close yet.
The Ork fighter checks his movement [4,2 - pass 2d6] and will move to engage. After its initial move it is still out of range of the Forlorn Hope. So it will trigger afterburners (something only dedicated fighters can do).
This works by rolling on the Rep of the pilot [2, 3 - pass 2d6] and moving maximum speed (4″ in the case of a Fighta) for each d6 passed. Therefore we can move 8″ forward (2 x 4″ as we passed 2d6) or we can also move while burning afterburners using sideslip manoeuvres.
By carefully manoeuvring with sideslips (which burn an extra 1″ of movement per sideslip” the Ork reaches the Forlorn Hope at the perfect angle to unleash its rockets and missiles. This Ork must be a talented speed freak. Let’s hope our Imperial shields are solid.
A cunning sideslip by the Ork
We now go to the actions. The side that scored the higher result performs their actions first.
So the Ork Fighta, who is the only one with actions, unleashes two rockets and a Swarmer missile.
The Swarmer missile is fired first and on a result 10+ on 2d6 it will down the Forlorn’s Hope shields. The result is a 9, which means the shields stay up.
The rockets come next. Two can be fired at once and so both are released. The Ork Fighta could choose to target the defensive turrets, but it’s a harder shot, and the shot is already difficult enough because of the afterburners. So they are fired at the hull.
The rolls to hit are made needing a total of 9 because the afterburners are engaged, but the result is 2 clear misses [1, 1].
The Ork Fighta would be allowed a repair roll (as small ships are allowed two actions per turn, but by using the afterburners it is not allowed to take reaction tests and a repair roll is a reaction test).
The Forlorn hops swivels its AA turrets and lets loose a storm of death. The dice clatter [5, 3, 5, 2, 3, 6, 2, 5, 2, 5]. Because the Ork Fighta used afterburners, a 9 is required to hit the fast moving ship, giving 5 hits (as AA turrets fire with a Rep of 4). Rolling for damage [3, 6, 1, 3, 3] gives one damage point and the location is determined to be the hull. The ship is not destroyed, but must take a Received Fire check [6, 1 - pass 1d6] and the Fighta will jink to port (left). It is now suffering cockpit and hull damage , with the hull damage unable to be repaired. Also, the only guns it has left, having now fired its rockets, cannot penetrate my capital ship shields. So, unless the Ork goes kamikaze (I suppose in WH40K it would be KAMIKAZEEEEE!) , I am safe from it.
Imperial AA batteries
The Savage Gunship is another thing entirely. The rail batteries mounted on that can tear even a cruiser to pieces.
My beam cannon has a long range (20″) so I intend to slow down and let the ship approach through a storm of laser fire.
Let’s see if that works, or if the Orks get more reinforcements while I dally about.
Turn 7:
Activation Dice: Imperial 4 / Ork 2
The start of Turn 7
The Orks will move first as they scored lowest. The Savage Gunship rolls for actions and gets [6, 3 - pass 1d6] the result of approaching at half speed again.
The Ork Fighta also checks its movement [5, 1 - pass 1d6] and will continue to dog the Forlorn Hope. It therefore executes a sweeping turn to come up behind the Imperial capital ship.
The Orks move
The Imperial ship drops its speed to 2, and moves forward. The range out to the Savage Gunship is 23″, so next turn we’ll open fire on that beast. However, that poor Ork fighter is just at the edge of our AA batteries and gets another 10d6 attack [3, 3, 3, 2, 5, 2, 5, 5, 5, 6] and is hit 5 times. Rolling for damage [5, 6, 5, 2, 1] two hits get through the shields and damage the engine and the guns. The ship drops to half speed and cannot fire until the guns are brought back on line.
Imperial AA fire strikes again
As the ship has now suffered damage in every location except the comms, another hit is quite likely to destroy it.
The Ork ship can attempt a repair roll [3, 6 - pass 1d6] and will automatically repair the engine damage next turn.
It must now take a received fire test, and passes to carry on.
Turn 8:
Activation Dice: Imperial 5 / Ork 4
Turn 8 begins
The Orks move first. The Savage Gunship Increases speed and moves at full rate towards my Forlorn Hope. I won’t roll on the movement chart again for this ship. The only tactics that make sense are for it to close as fast as possible. So that’s what it will do.
The Ork Fighta will also move out of range of the AA batteries. To do otherwise is certain death. Give its speed is 2 at the minute, it sideslips 1″.
The Forlorn Hope, cuts speed to 1 and moves a single hex forward.
Actions, and we go first. Unfortunately, the Ork Fighta is just out of range, but the Savage Gunship is within range of the beam cannons. So let’s open fire. We need an 8 to hit and do so! However, we roll a 4 for impact, which is above the Beam Cannon’s 3.
However, the ship must make a received fire test at the end of the turn.
The Orks now have their actions and the Fighta repairs its engine.
Finally, the Savage Gunship makes a received fire test [6, 3 - pass 1d6] and continues on course.
The ships’ moves
Turn 9:
Activation Dice: Imperial 1 / Ork 4
The start of Turn 9
Well this turn I will move first. I maintain a speed of 1 and move a single hex forwards.
The Savage Gunship continues its approach. It is now 15″ away. That gives me about 3 turns before it can bring those rail batteries to bear.
The Ork Fighta also slides around, tracking the Forlorn Hope, but staying clear of the AA batteries.
The ships maneouvre
Ork actions come next. The Ork Fighta attempts another repair [3, 4 - pass 2d6] and repairs the guns. That leaves the damaged cockpit and hull.
The forlorn Hope again fires at the Ork Savage Gunship [4] and hits. This time it scores damage [1] and sends high powered laser beams right into the bridge of the Savage Gunship. The captain is stunned and the Ork will move straight ahead in the next turn and may not take any actions. Also the ship is reduced to Rep 2 for the mission as the loss of the bridge severely hampers its ability to fight.
Also, bridge damage cannot be repaired, so another hit on the bridge will go directly to the hull.
The Savage Gunship must now take a Phase Shields Test as its shields have been penetrated by capital ship guns. Unfortunately, the bridge damage means the ship now has a Rep of 2 and the dice are not helpful [6, 6 - pass 0d6] and the shields go down for 1 turn. If the ship is hit while the shields are down, it is an automatic damage roll.
The Ork Gunship’s bridge takes a laser cannon hit
Turn 10:
Activation Dice: Imperial 5 / Ork 4
The Ork Savage Gunship is forced to move in a straight line. While the Ork Fighta, after dicing to see if it continues the fight, slows down and just moves 1″. If it moved more than that, and the Forlorn Hope came to a stop, it would have moved in range of those AA guns.
The Forlorn Hope increases speed to 2 and performs a sideslip.
The combat continues
We then move to actions and the Forlorn Hope lets loose another Beam Cannon shot. However, it misses.
The Ork Fighta then attempts to repair its damaged cockpit, and passes 1d6. That means the ship will automatically repair the cockpit damage next active action phase.
Turn 11:
Activation Dice: Imperial 2 / Ork 5
Turn 11 begins
Well it had to happen. Another chance for Ork reinforcements. The Ork Investment Level is 3 so I make a 2d6 check against that and pass 0d6. No Orks come on the table, but the Investment Level is now 4. That means the Orks are getting stirred up. Seeing as there is now a capital ship battle on their doorstep I am not surprised.
So much for Imperial ships in ambush. Geez, they must be well hidden. Maybe Admiral Ariosto wants to get rid of Captain Aramek?
The Imperials move first. I increase speed to 3 and sideslip out 2″. It won’t be long before that gunship can reach me, and if it gets within 5″ it will hit me on a 5 or a 6 – even with the reduced Rep.
The Savage Gunship turns to intercept me, while the Ork Fighta lurks at the back, increasing its speed to 3. Damned manoeuvrable these Fightas (which is just how they are described in WH40K).
The ships twist and turn
The Orks have no actions though, as their activation dice was too high. I let loose another Beam Cannon blast at the Savage Gunship. It is a hit and it penetrates the shields! I roll another 6 for damage location, but as the bridge is destroyed, it becomes a Hull hit. The Rep of the ship is reduced by 1 to 1.
The capital ship combat rages
That gunship is in real difficulty now. Because the shields have been penetrated again, they test for disruption. Again they collapse (mostly because the crew is trying to hold the ship together and discipline on board has fallen apart), so the ship will have no shields for 2 turns.
Turn 12:
Activation Dice: Imperial 4 / Ork 6
Turn 12 begins
I will move first and begin heading for the end zone to scout my last PEF and end this mission before the Orks turn into a hornet’s nest.
The Savage Gunship checks for movement and will continue to engage. That is a miracle, as I was expecting it to almost certainly retire (Non-player ships in 5150: Fighter Command dice for their actions each turn against their Rep. This means that better trained ships will generally be more aggressive, while poorly trained ones will run for the hills quicker).
It moves 1″ and an In Sight check is triggered as 2 ships of the same class are within visual range (5″). In Sight checks allow reactive fire in 5150: Fighter Command. When ships get really close (within 5″) they make a test to see what they do and who acts first. This allows higher Rep pilots and crew to get in shots before poorly trained ones. It also breaks up the IGO/UGO formula nicely.
First the Ork, which triggered the In Sight as it moved, is allowed to move an additional 1″ and does so. Now each ship rolls its current Rep in d6. The Forlorn Hope gets +1d6 as its opponent stumbled upon it, while the Savage Gunship gets -1d6 as it is not active (the Ork Activation Dice shows a result higher than the ship’s Rep).
The Ork moves in to In Sight range…
…And takes a 1″ “step”
The Ork thus gets 0 successes (as it has no dice), while the Forlorn Hope gets 4 successes (a dice showing 1, 2, or 3 counts as a success).
The Forlorn Hope thus reacts first and can fire. He rolls and hits the Savage Gunship, which has no shields. Therefore it is an automatic damage roll. This time the engine is hit and the Savage gunship is reduced to speed 2.
The Savage Gunship fires back, rolling 6d6 for 3 rail gun batteries. It requires a 6 to hit because of the close range (if it was less than 5″, the Savage gunship now has such a low rep that it would only be able to hit using the Pitiful Shot rule).
It rolls for impact, but the shot does not penetrate the Forlorn Hope’s shields. There is no received fire tests as both parties have fired.
Shells fly back and forth
The Ork Fighta will trail the Forlorn Hope still, but won’t be active so still cannot complete that cockpit repair.
It is now time for actions and the Ork forces are not active so cannot shoot (the In Sight check is a reaction shot that represents two forces stumbling on each other and is outside the normal turn sequence).
The Forlorn Hope thus activates and shoots at the Savage Gunship. It hits, there are no shields and the hull takes a second point of damage.
The Savage Gunship explodes in a ball of plasma. I roll the radius of the explosion in inches on 1d6 and get a 1. Had I rolled a 4 or above, the Forlorn Hope would have been caught in the explosion and could have been destroyed.
It is too much for the Ork Savage Gunship
I hope you are enjoying the scenario and the start of the Battle for Ogden’s Rock. More is coming soon.