Brightest Day - Narrative Play Mission 7

Mission 7: Brightest Day

The Romulan fleet has reached its destination, Betazed.  Luckily, the Horizon has managed to assemble a fleet to oppose them...

The Horizon is joined by the Bajoran Interceptor from "Changing Tides", the USS Essex from "The Great Beyond", the IKS Kahless from "Articles of War", an additional Klingon Bird of Prey and the USS Madison.

Each of the named ships has its own ability, the Essex can use an action to place 3 time tokens on itself, when the tokens run out, it regains all lost shields.

The Kahless can re-roll all blank results when attacking.

The USS Madison gains +1 defence die for each other Federation ship in the fleet.

In addition, the USS Essex is commanded by Captain Rixx, a skill 7 Captain with the following ablity: When attacking, if your target has a friendly ship in its front arc, you gain +2 attack dice.

It also has a secondary weapon that allows it to target up to two ships within range 2 in a 360 degree arc.

This should make the two Galaxy class ships something they normally are not in Attack Wing: Dangerous.

All damage sustained by the Romulan fleet in the first part of this mission is carried over, so as it stands only two of the ships are able to cloak, the Reman Warbird and D'Deridex 3 (signified by Tomalak).

Anyway, onto the game!

The Federation combined fleet sets up as so:

 The two fleets close and exchange fire:

  One of the D'Deridex Warbirds falls to fire from the USS Madison:

 The Warbirds concentrate fire on the Bird of Prey, reducing it to space dust.  The Bajoran Interceptor manages to land 5 damage onto the Reman Warbird over two turns, leaving it in an exellent position for the Horizon to finish it off.

 Both fleets had now taken heavy damage, the Valdores and D'Deridex's had damaged the Kahless and the Essex and were now setting up for an attack run on the Madison:

 The next turn would prove telling for the Federation and its allies:

 The Essex managed to finish off both one of the Valdores and one of the D'Deridex's.  The Kahless destroyed the last Valdore and Tomalak's Warbird destroyed the plucky Bajoran Interceptor:

 Tomalak cloaked his ship and attempted to manouver into position to attack the Madison, unluckily for Tomalak the Horizon rolled an exceptional 3 hits and the D'Deridex could only roll 1 evade on 6 dice...

 The last shot of the game was fired by the Horizon, eliminating the last of the Romulan fleet:

A victory for the Federation and its allies, Betazed had been successfully defended!

EPILOGUE:

The Romulan invasion has begun, Bolarus IX and Tellar have been invaded and Romulan ground troops have begun to dig in.

Thanks to the heroic actions of the Captain of the U.S.S. Horizon, Betazed has been successfully defended.

The most curious event however happened at the Trill homeworld, where the Romulan fleet entered the system and set up a defensive cordon around the planet.  The Trill symbiosis commission could not be reached via subspace communications and the system has been turned into an impregnable fortress.  Whatever the cause, it seems that the greatest mystery of all lies in wait on Trill...

CONCLUSION:

This brings to an end the first "Season" of the Federation campaign and I think it went quite well.  The Federation player enjoyed and even though it was quite a long day (all seven missions were completed in one session) I think it was well worth the effort of creating the missions, the unique ships etc.  I had a very good time GM'ing as well, far more entertaining than I would have first thought - I've already begun writing the Klingon and Romulan campaigns to tie-in with this one.

So, until next time, I hope you enjoyed reading through this and the previous missions, I'll hopefully be getting the next series done in the next few weeks so I'll update as soon as they've been played!

Thanks for sticking with it!

Blackest Night - Narrative Play Mission 6

Mission 6: Blackest Night

No longer content to sit back and manipulate things from the shadows, the Romulans have begun an invasion of the Federation.  Not yet able to attack Earth, the Romulans have sent fleets to strike at the heart of the Federation - Bolarus IX, Betazed, Trill and Tellar have all been targeted.

The fleet heading for Betazed has been intercepted by a small Federation task force who are hoping to slow it down long enough for reinforcements to arrive...

4 Generic Federation starships attempt to slow down the Romulan fleet, any damage they can inflict here will be carried on to the second part of this mission.

The fleets face off against each other:

 3 D'Deridex Warbirds, 2 Valdore Warbirds and 1 Reman Warbird form the Romulan fleet:

 An Intrepid and Akira form one prong of the Federation task force:

 A Prometheus and Excelsior form the other:

 Two of the D'Deridex and one of the Valdores trade fire with the Prometheus and Excelsior:

 The remaining Warbirds engage the Intrepid and Akira:

 Wide shot:

 The next turn, the Prometheus managed to score a critical hit on a cloaked Valdore, causing a warp core breach.  In return, the Excelsior was destroyed by one of the D'Deridex:

 The Valdore then finished off the Prometheus:

 At the other end of the table, the Intrepid and Akira were faring a little better, then the two prongs of the Romulan fleet closed in:

 Amazingly, both ships managed to survive and pummelled the Romulans in return, eliminating shields on many of them:

 Shortly afterwards the Intrepid finally fell to fire from the Reman Warbird:

 Lastly, after a valiant effort, the Akira went down as well:

The first line of defence had fallen but had they done enough damage to the Romulan fleet?

Only time would tell...

Blood Feud - Narrative Play Mission 5

The fifth in a seven part series, Blood Feud sees the Horizon face off against a rogue Klingon.

Mission 5: Blood Feud

A contact in the Klingon High Council has informed Starfleet intelligence of a rogue element in the Empire that is trying to start a war with the Federation - Kurga of House Kell.  Kurga is entering Federation territory with the intent of attacking a Federation outpost.  Starfleet intelligence has tasked you with hunting down Kurga and his last location placed him in the Cauldron, a dangerous region of space which Kurga knows very well.

The Cauldron, each objectve token has hidden under it either a battlestations token, a critical token, a mission token or an auxiliary token.  One token is revealed at random each turn and any Federation ship within range 3 suffers the following effects:

Critical token = Federation ships within ranges 1-3 take one unavoidable damage. Remove the objective token.

Auxiliary token = Federation ships within ranges 1-3 receive an auxiliary token.  Remove the objective token.

Mission token = Federation ships within ranges 1-3 must disable a crewmember.  Remove the objective token.

Battlestations token = Federation ships within Ranges 1-3 may make an immediate move of speed 3 or less.  Then remove any auxiliary tokens from the ship.  Remove the objective token.

The setup is as below:

 As the ships closed, the IKS neH made a rather unfortunate error, luckily for Kurga his ships ability to take an auxiliary token to force the Federation player to re-roll his attack dice kept him safe for now:

 Shots were traded all along the game area, the Horizon not managing to finish off the neH:

 A few more turns of manouvering, the Horizon pulls out the right move at the right time:

 Down to 1 hull point remaining, the neH, still cloaked evades destruction:

 Until a few turns later, the 180 degree arc of the Horizon and perfect placement manages to get the final shot in:

With Kurga stopped, the Federation and Klingon Empire have finally revealed that there was a traitor feeding information to the Romulans all along, Kurga was the reason they knew about the meeting in the previous mission "Articles of War".

In addition to raising the Captain Skill by +1, the Federation commander chooses another ability:

"When attacking or defending, you may re-roll one blank result".

Next time, the gloves come off...

Articles of War - Narrative Play Mission 4

The fouth in a seven part series, Articles of War sees a representative from the Federation and Klingon Empire meet to discuss increasing incursions by the Romulans...

No more additions to the Horizon this time around but the Federation may take an Admiral to be its representative.  Shanthi was selected.

Mission 4: Articles of War

The Federation has sent an Admiral to discuss recent Romulan activity with the Klingon Chancellor, Gowron.  The Horizon is to make its way to a secret rendezvous and await the return of the Admiral from the meeting.

Upon entering the area, the Horizon beamed Admiral Shanthi down to the surface of the planet, where Gowron was already waiting.  In orbit of the planet was the IKS Kahless, under the comand of Kurn.

As soon as the Admiral beamed down, two Romulan Warbirds entered the system, with the intent of disrupting the discussions:

 At this point, the player took control of both the Horizon and the Kahless. Each of the Warbirds selected a target and headed to engage:

 The Warbird chasing the Kahless was taking potshots at it as it headed for the one going after the Horizon:

 The Warbird at the top of this picture had taken a hammering from both the Kahless and the Horizon, it was now down to one hull point (as soon as the Warbirds were at two hull points remaining, they were to retreat from the battle):

 The first Warbird had managed to get off the board, leaving its comrade to face both ships alone:

 Shortly after, the Kahless hammered the Warbird, leaving it on 2 hull points:

 The Horizon fired its Photon Torpedos at the Warbird, rolling exceptionally well:

This did enough damage to destroy the Warbird.  All in all, an excellent showing for the combined Federation and Klingon fleet.  Kurn and Gowron were so impressed that they promised to render assistance in the future should it be required.  The Horizon's Captain Skill raises by +1 and gains an Elite Talent of no more than 5 points.

Tensions are rising...

The Great Beyond - Narrative Play Mission 3

The third in a seven part series, The Great Beyond sees the Horizon sent on a mission to recover a lost Federation starship from Cardassian space...

The Federation player may select another crew of up to 3 points and either a weapon or tech upgrade of up to 5 points (if they have a weapon they must select o tech and vice versa).

Harry Kim joins the crew of the Horizon.

Mission 3: The Great Beyond

The Argus Array has spotted the USS Essex, once believed lost, just over the border in Cardassian space.  The Horizon has been tasked with recovering or destroying the Essex.

As the game begins, all is clear.  The Horizon movse into transporter range of the Essex and beams over Garak to see if he can power up the ship.

A Cardassian Galor class ship enters the area, blocking off the escape vector:

 As the Cardassian ship moves into range, Garak manages to power up the Essex:

 The tables now turned, the Cardassian ship attempts to disable the Essex but the Horizon is flying interference:

 Finally, the Galor succumbs to a point blank attack from the Horizon:

The Essex has been recovered and Starfleet is exceptionally happy with the outcome.

Not only is the Essex now available to assist in a future mission, but the Horizon's Captain Skill is +1 and he has chosen the following ability:

"During the end phase you may place an auxiliary token next to your ship to obtain a free Target Lock.  If you already have an auxiliary token next to your ship you may not use this ability."

Until next time!

Changing Tides - Narrative Play Mission 2

The second in a seven-part series, Changing Tides sees our Federation player racing to rescue a stranded Bajoran Freighter...

For this mission, the Federation player takes an extra crewmember with a cost of 3 or less.

Elim Garak joins the crew of the Horizon.

So, here we go:

Mission 2: Changing Tides

Outline: The Horizon has received a distress call from a stranded Bajoran transport.  It is to make its way through an asteroid field and assist the transport by beaming over a crewmember for two turns.  After rendering aid, the Horizon is to leave the board via its entry point.

Before beginning the scenario, I had the Federation player roll one attack die, this would determine the actual branch of scenario to be played (one of four possibilities so each time it's played there could be a different outcome).  A miss was rolled...

A quick shot of the transport:

 The Horizon moves into transporter range and beams Garak over to the transport.

Two turns later, Garak has repaired the damage to the engine and reported back to the Horizon, informing the captain of the open hostility he received whilst aboard the transport.  Putting it down to no more than Bajoran hatred of Cardassians, the Horizon turned to leave.

 During the return, the Horizon was contacted by a Bajoran Interceptor, who informed the Horizon that they were attempting to apprehend Kohn'ma sect members - the Horizon was asked to assist in the hunt, which they agreed to.

 Upon encountering the Kohn'ma Transport again, it immediately began to attack the Horizon and the Interceptor, and in an act of desperation, rammed an asteroid igniting a trilithium explosive on board! (the actual effect of this was a 3 dice attack against all ships in range 1 with no defence dice).  Luckily, both the Horizon and the Interceptor survived the explosion:

As a result of this, the Bajoran Interceptor agreed to assist the Horizon should they be needed and the Captain Skill of the Horizon was at +1 (now at 3).

Until next time!

A New Dawn - Narrative Play Mission 1

As our OP events have ended for the time being, I've written a few solo missions for some of the usual suspects to run through with myself acting as a GM of sorts.  I'd have to desccribe it as an RPG-Lite version of Attack Wing, with each mission and the choices you make having an effect on both your ship and further missions.

One of my comrades-in-arms agreed to be the guinea pig for my Federation campaign, so last weekend we met up and played the full seven missions straight through.  The idea of this is to be a challenge for the player and enjoy playing the game, it's not all about winning but how you win/lose will also have an effect in the game - if you stay true to the spirit of your chosen faction, good things will happen, if you don't, then you'll end up in trouble!

One thing to mention, as the GM, until the last 2 missions I will not be using any actions such as target locks/battlestations etc.  This is intended to give the player as positive experience as possible.

To start with, I asked the Fed player to select a generic ship type with a cost of no greater than 20 points.  Upgrade slots would not be used as usual so this was to play no part in the selection of the ship.  In addition, for the first mission, one Federation crew upgrade of no more than 3 points and either a weapon or tech upgrade of no more than 5 points.

A Constellation class ship with Dorian Collins and Photon Torpedos was chosen.  The USS Horizon was good to go!

Mission 1: A New Dawn

Outline: A training mission, the objective is to approach a planet and perform a deep scan in preperation for first contact.  In order to complete the mission, the player must move to within range 2 of the planet, the perform 3 scan actions on consecutive turns, then leave the play area via the starting side.

Without further ado:

The Horizon approaches the planet and performs its first scan action - two anomalies are detected close to the planet:

 The next turn a second scan action pinpoints the location of the distortion, the other was an echo...

 The third scan action reveals a Romulan Warbird!  At this point the Federation player is given a choice - to attack, scan or hail the Warbird.

 The Federation player chooses to hail the Warbird, the hail is ignored and the Warbird powers its weapons and raises its shields - the race is on to escape the system! The Warbird moves to intercept the Horizon:

 A few shots are exchanged, with the Horizon losing its shields and the Warbird taking a hit in return:

 Its primary mission complete, the Horizon departs the system having discovered the Romulan interloper:

So, mission 1 complete, and an increase in Captain Skill for the Federation player - now at CS2!

Mission 2 writeup coming very soon!