Starfighters! Mission 1

 

Starfighters!: Mission 1

The mission is an Escort mission, two flights of fighters have been sent to escort three unarmed freighters Rubber Duck, Sod Buster, and Pig Pen, to their jump point.
A squadron of Raven light fighters, and a squadron of Falling Star medium fighters, are escorting the freighters.
The pilots and fighters are;

Raven 1 -Jazzly “Riot” Oxton (d12/d12 Killer, Ace, 9-Lives, Leader)
Raven 2 – Brizzy Joyce (d10/d10 Lightning Fast, Determined)
Raven 3 – Giovanni Swisshelm (d10/d10 Unstoppable)
Raven 4 – Aliyaan Lamb (d10/d10 Damage Control Expert)

Falling Star 1 – Bridget “BoomBoom” Sokul (d10/d10 Killer, Deadeye, Lucky, Leader)
Falling Star 2 – Wavid Scanilsworth (d10/d10 Loyal)
Falling Star 3 – Piloha Granite (d10/d10 Nerves of Steel)

    The convoy has almost reached the jump point, it’s just the other side of this asteroid and nebula choked area.  This is an excellent place for an ambush, and several pilots have commented on that.  They were, of course, right.  Two squadrons of enemy fighters were now showing on sensors, and are closing in fast.

Oxton: “Raven 1 to all fighters. Raven squadron, hold back, stay with the freighters. Falling Stars, move in and engage the enemy!”

    The Falling Stars accelerate into the approaching enemy, getting to just within long weapons range. FS2 (Falling Star 2) Piloha, accelerates and fires her guns at Scarab 4 while her co-pilot launches a missile The laser cannons strike home, and Scarab 4 erupts in a ball of flame.  As the fighters continue to close, Piloha launches another missile at Scarab 3, he co-pilot fires the guns at Scarab 2.  The lasers score lines in the fighters plating.
Falling Star 1, Sokul, and Falling Star 2, Scanilsworth, each launch a missile toward the enemy fighters.  The purple clad fighters shoot down every missile and spare a few shots toward the Falling Stars, but no hits are scored.

            Scarab 2 banks wide to flank the fighters and transports. Piloha rolls to engage him, scoring damage with her cannon shots.  “BoomBoom” Sokul launches a pair of torpedoes at the Horus fighters while her co-polit lights one up with the laser cannons.  The guns do damage, but the Scarab fighters are able to easily shoot down the torpedoes at range.

            Horus 1 then jinks through the enemy fire and launches two torpedoes of its own at the transport Sod Buster.

            The torpedoes slam into the freighter, dealing massive damage (6 Damage!), while the defensive drones on the Horus lash out at the nearest Falling Stars.  High on his torpedo victory, Horus one engages BoomBoom in a rolling dogfight! 

    Horus 1 gets the worst of that exchange and exits the furball slightly shaken.  BoomBoom can’t let go, so re-engages Horus 1.  This time the fight goes worse for the purple fighter, and it exits the clash with damage, his life saved only by his ships heavy shielding.

            Fighters clash in short dogfights and exchange laser fire across space, but no results are had.  Horus 2 fires a torpedo at Pig Pen, but it’s shot down immediately by Raven 4, Aliyaan, after a hard banking turn.

            Both flight leaders take a moment to shake off their stress while their squadrons fight on.  Scarab1 and 3 roll to starboard and strafe the hull of Rubber Duck. Her shields hold, but damage is still done.

    Horus 1 rolls hard to the left and puts 2 rockets into the side of Sod Buster, he’s too close for anyone to react to stop it.  The rockets punch through the ship, explosions ripple along the hull, and in a flash the ship erupts and vanishes!

            The exploding freighter ramped up the intensity on both sides. Horus 2 4 chases down Raven 4, Aliyaan, shredding her fighter with laser bolts until it explodes.

    “Riot” closes in and blasts Scarab 2 into and expanding ball of gas.  Scarab 1 and 3 chase after Giovanni, their cannons damaging his fighter. 

Raven 3, Giovanni: “I’ve got two on my tail, I need help here!”

Raven 2, Brizzy: “I’m here, jink right!.” Brizzy streaks in from the side and blows one of the Scarab fighters to hell.

    Horus 1 pours laser fire into the transport, Pig Pen, causing some damage.  Piloha launches torpedoes at point blank range into Horus 1.  He takes damage, blowing out systems across his ship, but he’s still in the fight, and won’t be dissuaded. He continues to fire on Pig Pen. The freighter is in bad shape.
    Horus 2 opens fire on Raven 1, Jazzly, riddling the fighter with holes, but not destroying it.

Jazzly: “Damn it, someone get that fighter off the freighter!”

    Falling Stars 1 and 3 respond and gang up on Horus 1, blasting away at the heavily damaged fighter and forcing the pilot to break off from the fight.

    “BoomBoom” launches a missile at Horus 2, and scores a hit, but the fighters shields hold and there’s no damage.

    Horus 2 sails through the fading missile explosion, laser cannons flashing, and Pig Pen explodes in a blinding flash!

    Falling Star 2, Wavid, fires 2 torpedoes at Horus 2. Only one is on target, the other spins off harmlessly into the void.
    Brizzy roars in, lasers flashing, and Scarab 1 erupts in a ball of fire. That’s all the light fighters down.
    Finally, Rubber Duck reaches the jump point and vanishes into hyperspace. The last freighter escapes!

Mission success!
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I rolled through Turn 10 even though it was irrelevant to the game, just to see.
Horus 1 failed to return to the fight, and the in-flight torpedo completely destroyed Horus 2.
The purple force was eliminated.
 
After Action
Blue earns 7 RP. (1 freighter made it, and 4 fighters shot down)
 
Jazzly “Riot” Oxton -1 confirmed Kill
Brizzy Joyce  - 2 Confirmed Kills
Piloha Granite – 1 Confirmed Kill
Raven 4 – Aliyaan Lamb - “Shot full of holes” She misses the next game and now has the Rookie Trait. D8 for all rolls. Raven 4 starts missing a damage point, and its coolant system.
 

I really like this game! I spent some time flipping through to find specific rules, and played a few turns wrong, but that's normal for a first game.  The subsequent games went better.  I'll try to have those up as soon as I can.

Lesson learned:(which is also a lesson I learned years ago in my own space game) I need explosion markers!  I have to get around to doing that!