Scenario Background
Merchant shipping in Sector 235 has been experiencing heightened pirate activity for several weeks now. Starfleet has placed several ships within the sector to hunt for the culprit. Earth Starfleet ship
Enterprise (NX-01) is on patrol when it picks up a distress signal from the freighter
Jervis Bay. Proceeding to the last reported location of the
Jervis Bay,
Enterprise finds her adrift but surprisingly in good condition.
Set-up
Open space non-floating map. The
Jervis Bay is located within a 12 inch circle in the middle of the table.
Enterprise enters from its deployment zone on the right side of the table. Expecting pirates, it has polarised its hull plating and armed its phase cannons but not its photonic torpedoes.
Special Rules
The
Jervis Bay player must do everything they can to prevent their shields being destroyed and so revealing who they are. The
Jervis Bay uses special stats due to the nature of the ship (keep an eye out for a future post for ship stat's).
House Rule
Trawling through other blog sites, I have noticed that one thing that comes up in discussions regarding ACTA Star Fleet is the problem with the
Reload special action rule.
The best suggestion I have seen to overcome this issue is to redefine the
Reload rule as meaning that a weapon takes one turn to reload (re-energise etc) rather than requiring a Special Action. So in effect, the weapon becomes a Slow Reloading type of weapon rather than requiring a Special Action to load up the weapon. So in this scenario, the
Reload rule indicates slow reloading. Slow Reloading means that the weapon can only be fired every other turn. So if you fire the weapon on Turn 2, you can't fire it again until Turn 4.
TURN 1
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Enterprise moves in to rescue the crew of the Jervis Bay.
The
Jervis Bay's engines are not active, but it rotates 45 degrees to face the
Enterprise.
Attack Phase
No action at this time.
End Phase
No action at this time.
TURN 2
Enterprise gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
The freighter remains motionless, while the
Enterprise closes in on the
Jervis Bay.
Attack Phase
No action at this time.
End Phase
No action at this time.
TURN 3
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
The freighter remains motionless, while the
Enterprise closes in on the
Jervis Bay.
Attack Phase
The
Jervis opens fire on the
Enterprise, which is at long range, scoring 3 hits on its shields. Due to the Multihit 2 nature of the
Jervis' disruptors,
Enterprise takes a total of six shields hits.
Enterprise returns fire with its forward phase cannons doing 1 point of shield damage.
End Phase
The
Jervis uses its special ability to repair the point of damage to its shield.
TURN 4
Enterprise gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
The freighter's engine burst's in to life and the vessel moves past the
Enterprise and turns into position to attack them from behind. However the
Enterprise outmanoeuvres the
Jervis to get behind it instead.
Attack Phase
The
Enterprise opens fire with a pulse cannon and a photonic torpedo. But both miss the
Jervis. The
Enterprise is outside of the
Jervis fire arc and so doesn't return fire.
End Phase
Enterprise begins reload of its F/S photonic torpedo.
TURN 5
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
The freighter's agility and turn rate means that it manoeuvres into the
Enterprise aft.
Attack Phase
The
Jervis opens fire causing 4 hits on the
Enterprise energised hull plating (i.e. shields).
Enterprise returns fire with its aft pulse cannon and torpedo. The photonic torpedo misses, but the cannon manages to score a shield hit.
End Phase
Enterprise begins reload of its AH photonic torpedo. The
Jervis repairs the lost shield point.
TURN 6
Enterprise gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Again the
Jervis agility and turn rate comes in to play as it manoeuvres in a circle to come almost back to where they were before behind the
Enterprise aft. However, the
Enterprise manages to manoeuvre round also to put the
Jervis in their forward arc.
Attack Phase
The
Enterprise fires its forward pulse cannons and torpedoes. One torp and cannon miss, but the other cannon hits the
Jervis shields (doing one point of damage) and the other torp passes through the shield. The hit causes two hull damage (due to the Multihit 2 nature of the torp) and a level 2 critical hit to the Dilithium Chamber (due to the torp's Devastating +1 nature).
The critical hit means that a total of 10 points of shields are lost on the
Jervis, leaving it with only 3 shields. The critical also sees another point of damage lost, leaving the
Jervis with only 3 damage points (one more damage and it will be crippled!). The critical hit on the
Jervis also means that it is restricted to a total of 10 movement and it looses its Armoured trait after checking for a random trait loss. In addition, the damage Escalates next turn.
The
Jervis retaliates with 3 hits on the
Enterprise, one of which bypass the shields to do 2 points of damage due to the Multihit 2 nature of its disruptors. Enterprise has only one shield point left and a number of solid hits have been taken.
End Phase
Enterprise begins reload of its F,P,S photonic torpedos. The
Jervis however must maintain its secrets at all costs, taking them to the grave if need be. So it repairs a lost shield point, giving it a total of 4 shields. Checking for repair to its critical hit with its "crew quality" of 4, the
Jervis gets a 9 for its repair score. The
Jervis manages to reduce its critical damage to the Dilithium Chamber to level 1, regaining its Armoured trait that it lost and preventing any escalation next turn.
TURN 7
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Again the
Jervis agility and turn rate out manoeuvres the
Enterprise with the
Jervis moving in behind the
Enterprise.
Attack Phase
The
Jervis unleashes another brutal attack with 3 of its disruptors hitting
Enterprise, two of which bypass her shields. The
Enterprises shields go down as there was only one point left on her shields. Mercifully for the
Enterprises crew, the remaining hits slam into the bulkhead doing no further damage.
The
Enterprise returns fire with its aft phase cannon and torpedo. The cannon missing. But the photonic torpedo slams past the
Jervis shielding doing a Solid Hit for 2 points (being a Multihit 2 weapon).
The
Jervis Bay has now been crippled and only has 1 damage point left. Checking for the effects of being crippled, the
Jervis looses its Agile and Armoured traits but thankfully not its other two traits.
End Phase
The stress is too much on the
Jervis' automatic repair system on the
Jervis Bay as the Dylithium Chamber critical hit repair roll fails, leaving it at a Level 1 Critical Hit.
Enterprise meanwhile begins reloading of the aft torpedo, and reloading for the forward torpedos is finished.
TURN 8
Enterprise gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Having suffered serious damage, the
Jervis now wants to begin an escape plan. Ordering a "Close Blast Doors" Special Action, it makes a turn away from
Enterprise. Being crippled though,
Jervis is limited to six inches movement. Fortunately it still manages to retain its Agile trait making a hard turn to put some distance between it and the
Enterprise.
Enterprise is having non of this and the captain orders the crew to get hot on the heels of the
Jervis. Making a turn every chance they can,
Enterprise gets the
Jervis back in its forward sights.
Attack Phase
The
Enterprise opens up with 2 phase cannons and 2 torpedoes, but only one cannot hits its mark, impacting on the
Jervis shields. The
Jervis has to forgo using its weapons due to its Close Blast Doors Special Action. However
Enterprise is out of its weapons arc anyway.
Jervis is getting close to the loss of its shields but still has a few points left.
End Phase
Enterprise begins reload of its forward torpedoes and completes reload of its aft torpedo.
TURN 9
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Enterprise moves across the
Jervis port to starboard side so as to move its aft weapons into range.
But the
Jervis surprises the
Enterprise by making a hard turn and breaking for its baseline to escape.
"So long suckers!"
Attack Phase
Jervis Bay's weapons are out of arc and so cannot fire at this time.
Enterprise fires their aft pulse cannon and torpedo but both miss.
End Phase
Enterprise begins reload of its aft torpedo and finishes loading its two forward torpedoes.
Jervis Bay manages to repair the critical hit to its Dilithium Chamber, but being crippled can no longer repair shields or damage during the scenario.
TURN 10
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Enterprise comes about to get the
Jervis in their forward arc.
The crippled
Jervis hobbles towards its table edge and escape and orders Close Blast Doors again as a special order.
Attack Phase
Jervis Bay's weapons are offline again, a sacrifice for Closing Blast Doors.
Enterprise again opens up with both forward cannons and torpedoes but once again only hits with one cannon. Clearly
Jervis agility is causing problems for the torpedoes guidance systems.
End Phase
Enterprise begins reload of forward torps and completes reload of aft torp.
TURN 11
Jervis Bay gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Enterprise moves into prime position to hit
Jervis.
Jervis still heads for its table edge and escape, again ordering Close Blast Doors.
Attack Phase
Jervis Bay's weapons again are offline due to Close Blast Doors.
Enterprise fires with both cannons doing 2 more points on the
Jervis shields.
Jervis shields are not desperately low.
End Phase
Enterprise finishes loading of its forward torpedoes.
TURN 12
Enterprise gains the initiative.
Movement Phase
Jervis moves again to its table edge in a desperate attempt to escape. Enterprise closes to within 2 inches of Jervis gaining Killzone range for its cannons.
Attack Phase
Jervis Bay's weapons are again offline.
Enterprise unleashes its two forward cannons and both forward torpedoes. Closing Blast Doors is not enough to save the
Jervis Bay. Suffering another critical hit to its Dylithium Chamber,
Jervis shields fail and the ship's multispectral emitters fail revealing the true nature of the "
Jervis Bay."
The revelation that the
Jervis Bay is in fact a Romulan Drone Ship comes as a surprise to
Enterprise. However, the
Enterprise weapons have inflicted enough damage to reduce
Jervis to 0 damage.
End Phase
Checking the results for the stricken nature of the
Jervis Bay, the ship is destroyed as it breaks apart from the damage it received from
Enterprise.
Concluding Thoughts
This was the first time that I have had a chance to play ACTA Star Fleet and I was surprise by how easy and enjoyable it is to play. With the changing of the Reload rule, the game played very well and the Enterprise wasn't crippled every time it needed to reload its torpedoes.
Its a very quick turn around game, especially with just two ships. One of the first wargames I ever played was Star Fleet Battles and you needed a degree in accounting and mathematics just to play the game. Also the rule books just kept getting larger and larger till they are now about the size of a standard phone book. ACTA Star Fleet however is so much simpler, quicker and far more enjoyable.
The plan is to return to this era of Star Trek in future for more ACTA Star Fleet.
