The Hydran-Klingon Front

 The Hydrans mass everything they have to assault one of the Klingon Battle Stations at "The Elbow" as it is affectionately known, the odd bend on the border that marks the narrowest point of Klingon territory. The reason for choosing this one as a prime target is because it is the only Klingon base within normal striking distance of the Hydran capital; if they can take it out, the Hydrans reason, they will put a serious crimp in the Klingons' plans for their offensive. The Klingons are well aware of its usefulness to them, so they react in with loads of ships of their own. Even if the Hydrans don't blow the station, they will hope to trade fighters for ships:

The Klingons spend all of their time wiping fighters in this approach battle, and an impressive number it is too: 39  Stingers bite the space dust. However, the cost to the Klingons is considerable: they lose all of their fighters; a D5 War Cruiser; D5C War Cruiser Leader; F5 Frigate and E4E Escort Frigate go to the Black Feet; and another D5 is heavily damaged. This forces them to retire on the station itself.

The Klingons simply replace like for like, and the Hydrans move fighters from their FCR and other supply or reserve ships into the front line. The assault on the station will therefore comprise exactly the same load out for both sides, except that this time the Klingons also have the station and its fighters.

It isn't enough. The Hydran carrier proves its worth because of the sheer number of fighters it adds to an already impressive full fleet total. The Klingons fight bravely, scoring a new record for fighters destroyed in one battle (52!) but they just keep coming. The first two waves of attack craft shatter on the stalwart Klingon cruisers, but then the Hydran ships go in hard. Most of the Klingon fighters are wiped out, the D5C and D7C are both crippled, and the Mauler has to leave hastily with heavy damage. The third wave of Stingers, from the Paladin, does for the station.

This is a classic attrition battle, with the Hydrans purely trading replaceable fighters for Klingon ships. It is also one of the shortest mini-campaigns of the war so far. It just goes to show how events link together: the +1 Admiral leading the Klingons does his best, but he is severely hampered by the lack of a Dreadnought-class flagship in the face of a full Hydran fleet. The earlier destruction of the C8 and crippling of the C5 on this front means he has to lead from a D7C, and it just doesn't cut it, despite undoubted Klingon bravery; the Klingon commander dies when his ship is crippled, and the replacements on the other two D7Cs on this front are not of the highest quality. It also has to be said that this battle proves the value of full carriers to the Hydrans, since they simply overwhelm the defences.

Strangely enough, because it is all over so quickly, the Klingons don't lose many ships - but the fall of the Battle Station is a blow to their logistical build-up to a full offensive on this front.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jupiter IV SFB decals

Image
 I bought some of these. They took well over a month to arrive from Canada:  For the Kzinti: ship insignia to the left as you look at them, and ships' names in suitably off-looking script to the right. I've tried them out now on the model I put together as a Kzinti Starbase, and they are rather disappointing. The sheet of Kzinti names comes out very dark, too dark for use, in fact, even though I tried them on a painted stripe of white. The ship insignia are also dark, but those ones are usable. I'll probably paint a little white rectangle on the ships themselves to make the decals 'pop' a bit more. One thing to look out for is that the entire sheet is covered with transfer film, so you need to cut around the individual decals to make sure there isn't too much extra - that can become a bit awkward when you are trying to put them onto a ship panel. This reminds me of older transfer sets like the old Revo medieval ones. Overall verdict: worth getting the insignia s...
Read more

The Lyrans are coming!

Image
 Well, not quite - this is my attempt at a Battle Station. It would actually do for pretty much any of the major powers, but I gave it a base sandy color and stuck some Lyran Homeworld Clan markings on it: The Lyran decals have come out much more sharply than the Kzinti ones did, possibly because of the lighter background tones. And for some reason my stations always look manky rather than Star Trek pristine, but I like the well used look. The second photo shows more of the detail, of which there is a great deal indeed. The model is six inches across by two inches high. It came with a flight stand, but being made of resin the station was far too heavy to balance safely so I simply glued it straight onto its base. In any case its relative height means it will still fit nicely with my spaceship models. I'm getting quite a lot of painting done at the moment. Teaching has finished for this academic year, although admin and my own writing will keep me busy. Doing a colour every so often...
Read more

Fly me to the moon

Image
 And other places. These are resin pieces, 6" diameter, sold by Combat Zone Scenery in the UK, and very nice they are too. Part of their Armada scenery range, they are useful hemispherical planets of various kinds. Here's my attempt at the moon/planetoid/large asteroid one: In any tabletop space combat game the miniatures are going to be wildly out of scale when compared with model planets, but often we need something visual to do the job well. These fit the bill nicely. Jungle planet: I used gloss acrylics for the sea effect. You'll notice a couple of metallic building son the surface - the moon of Endor? In fact, the other two definitely show the Star Wars Armada theme:  Ice planet - aka Hoth. And yes, that is a representation of a dead Tonton at middle right. You can also see a destroyed At-At walker at the top of the photo. The details are fun, but they have to impressionistic. I think this one turned out well, to my surprise. Someone once told me a long time ago not ...
Read more