Battle Rep. from 5/4/12

We played through the Pirate game again on Friday, but we switched fleets, hoping that would let us see if the game was as unbalanced as it seemed last time.  It was again Auggie and myself, with Auggie as the pirates.

Initial Setup.

Round 1, 1st move.

Round 1, End of turn.

Round 2, 1st move.

Round 2, Reaction move:  A preliminary barrage of turbolaser fire from the ISD Admonitor destroys the Interloper and its' Ion cannons take out the shields and fire controls on the Prowler, leaving it exposed and defenseless.  The Immobilizer earns it's keep by disabling the Prowler's engines, leaving it speeding out of the engagement zone a a good clip.  Long range shots from the pirate's Asteroid Base inflict serious hull damage on the Florian, but only manage to disable it's PDs (Point Defense guns).

Round 2, End of turn.

Round 3, 1st move:  The Prowler (circled in red) failed to repair her engines, and will probably move out of the combat zone next round (which counts as a kill for the Imperials, when using Full Thrust).

Round 3, Reaction move:  You can see here at the bottom of the pic that the TIE Bombers had to make a quick about-face.  Their first move put them within firing range of the Burning Claw (modified Escort Carrier), which would have ended badly.  Their torpedoes proved necessary later on.

Round 3, End of turn:  Laser fire from the Floran inflicts serious damage on the Intruder.  Meanwhile, the Admonitor pounds the Corsair with turbolasers and a well timed Ion barrage disables the Fire Controls and shields on the Raider.  The pirates retaliate with the combination of a massed bombing run and full assault from the Asteroid Base, causing massive hull breaches on the ISD.

Round 4, Reaction move:  Prowler couldn't get her engines repaired in time, and left the mat.  But the Raider does manage to succeed on it's damage control rolls, getting back one of it's fire controls.

Round 4, End of turn:  Raider destroys the Floran with a lucky Torpedo shot.  In answer, the Admonitor pumps Ion shots into both the Corsair and Raider, disabling the targeting systems on both vessels.  The Asteroid Base continues to punish the ISD, causing hull breaches yet again, but this time the Imperial TIE Bombers are the to make the pirates pay.  The Asteroid Base takes heavy damage from the bombers (3/4 make it through the PD fire).  The Burning Claw manages to seriously damage the Bra'al, but is in turn destroyed by the Immobilizer.

Round 5, Reaction move:  Out of fear of not being able to reload their TIE Bombers with torpedoes, the Imperials maneuver the Bra'al out of range of the Asteroid Base, and behind the Immobilizer (relative to the Raider).  The TIE Bombers rendezvous with the Bra'al and eventually dock at the end of the turn.  The Admonitor and Immobilizer close to Ion cannon range with the Asteroid Base.

Round 5, End of turn:  The ISD finally answers the Asteroid Base's continuous fire, causing massive hull breaches, while dumping its Ion shots into the Raider, disabling its targeting systems yet again.  The Asteroid Base switches targets, inflicting heavy damage to the Immobilizer and weakening its shields.  The Corsair finally succumbs to a bombing run by 3 full squadrons of TIE fighters.

Round 6, Reaction move:  The pirate Asteroid Base pounds the ISD, causing another hull breach and severe systems damage.  It then also devastates the Immobilizer, causing further damage to that ship as well.  The pirate frigate Raider falls to another 3x full squadron bombing run.

Round 6, End of Turn.

Round 7: With the TIE Bombers reequipped with torpedoes, the star destroyers move up to close range while all remaining fighters proceed with a massed bombing run.  The pirates win initiative, and in a final gesture of vengeance, the Asteroid Base destroys the Admonitor.  The bombing run that follows destroys not only the base, but the asteroid it was built into.  Imperials win.

End of Game.  Auggie succeed at a ridiculously high number of repair rolls, and drug out the battle quite a bit longer than anyone expected, but that aside, it was a pretty strong victory for the Empire.  So l think the crushing win by the pirates last time was mainly due to the dice, which will happen with all the torpedoes bandied about in this particular scenario.  Now we need to try it with the Rebels. :)