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Hello all, I’m trying not to let exile down to the Dakka basement get me down, so here is a little something we worked on over the weekend. Enjoy.



Attempting to take advantage of the current war between the Federation and the Klingons, the Tholian Assembly has decided to annex the Penthara system. Penthara is currently uninhabited, however it contains vast deposits of a rare variety of Dilithium used by the Tholians to power their weapon systems. The Assembly has dispatched a small fleet to secure the planet and establish a defensive perimeter.

The USS Grissom, under the command of Captain JT Esteban, had recently finished a survey mission of the Galen system and was on its way back to Starbase 11 for resupply. On its return the Grissom observed a small Tholian fleet cross into Federation space. Being a by the book man, Captain Esteban immediately alerted Starfleet Command and awaited further instructions. Starfleet ordered the Grissom to observe the Tholians and await reinforcements.

At the moment Starfleet’s main concern is the current war with the Klingons over the Archanis system. However they cannot allow other galactic powers to pick off pieces while they are preoccupied. For a swift resolution to the problem, Starfleet has dispatched Captain James Kirk and the USS Enterprise to Penthara. Kirk is reluctant to take such and assignment with the Klingons poised to enhance their foot hold on Archanis. However as Sector Commander, Starfleet Command has given him little choice and made the issue a priority one order. Eager to resolve the situation and return to the Klingon conflict, Kirk convinces Starfleet to give him every available ship in the area to thwart the Tholians. Kirk orders the USS Nautilus, the patrol vessel assigned to nearby Starbass 11, and the USS Grisson to accompany him to Penthara. Captain Estaban advises that his vessel is not optimal for a combat situation, Kirk’s response is that “the first duty of every Starfleet vessel is the defense of the Federation”.

The three ships meet just outside of the Penthara system. Upon entering the system Esteban alerts the other ships that Grissom’s advanced sensors have detected that the Tholians are attempting to surround the planet in some sort of energy web. Captain Kirk looks to his first officer only to hear the ever calm Vulcan respond, “Fascinating”.



Ok, there is the narrative. The Tholians can win the game in one of two ways, 1) Destroy all Federation ships, 2) Completely surround the planet in an energy web. The only victory condition for the Feds is to destroy all of the Tholian ships, thus pushing them out of Federation space. So with that here are the lists:


Tholians




Federation





Set Up




Turn 1
Tholians begin to lay the web.



Turn 2



Enterprise takes a shield off of the nearest Tholian ship. In return fire the Tholians take out two of Enterprise’s shields. Nautilus destroys one of the Tholians at close range.




Turn 3
Nautilus loses a shield to an asteroid. Captain Moore manages to alert the crew to Battle Stations, but is disabled by the collision. Loskene takes another shield off of the Nautilus. Grissom strips Tholia 1 of its shields. Tholia 1 has Kirk in their sites and takes out Enterprises last shield.




Turn 4
Coming about on the Nautilus, a Tholian ship loses a shield to the asteroid.



Enterprise destroys Tholia 1, thus slowing down the web. Sulu whiffs as the Tholian deals 2 damage to Enterprise. Around the planet Nautilus takes a shield off of Loskene’s ship with a rear torpedo. Nautilus takes a damage from the other Tholian ship.



Turn 5
Grissom barely misses the energy web.







Nautilus deals 1 crit to the Tholian ship behind her, Stunned Helmsman. Grissom destroys the Tholian on the other side of the planet, but not before the Tholian deals a crippling blow to Enterprise (simultaneous fire). With weapons and shields gone, Kirk is forced to order Enterprise out of the fray. It’s not a good day for Sulu.





Turn 6
Loskene narrowly misses the planet as he adjusts to complete the web.






Grissom deals a fatal blow to Losken’s ship and the Tholian commander is forced to flee the system. The remaining Tholian ship deals 1 damage to Nautilus.




Turn 7
The remaining Tholian ship refuses to surrender the system back to the Federation and continues to fight on.




Nautilus destroys the last of the aggressors. However, not before the Tholian manages to disable Nautilus’ main power relay leaving her adrift in space (simultaneous fire).






Tholia 1 regains power and joins Loskene as the two ships fleet the system out of Federation space. Losing half his force, Loskene resolves to advise the Assembly that Dilithium should be sought elsewhere as conflict with the Federation is not advisable, at this time.

Scotty is able to restore warp drive, however the phaser coils are fused and Enterprise is operating on reserve power. However the old miracle worker reassures his captain that he can have Enterprise ready for the Klingons in 8 days. Captain Esteban volunteers to give Nautilus a tow back to Starbase 11. Kirk advises Esteban that Grissom will have to take over patrol duty until Nautilus can repair her battle damage and captain Moore recovers, as all other ships are needed at Archanis. Feeling that chasing Tholians is a safer alternative to staring down Klingons, Esteban reluctantly accepts. Kirk orders Sulu to make best possible speed back to station K-7 and bids farewell and speedy recovery to Esteban and Moore.


So there you have it. This one was fun. The Tholian ships held up better than I had expected. I think they could have done even better with something like Type 8 Phasers, but we wanted to keep things faction pure and close to era specific. Though we pushed that a little with the High Energy Sensor Sweep, but given the roll of the ship I think it fit well. As for the Tholians they aren’t taking on the Tac Cubes and Sovereign classes anytime soon, but in era specific play they have a shot.

This was a blast to read. Keep it up!

as soon as I can get enough players, I will be launching a storyline campaign again. Can't Wait!

I often think your era-specific play show the way to Wizkids on how to make so many of the ships viable again. The current fruit salad of all ships from all ages leaves so many out of the game due to being underpowered.

Very themeatic battle report. Greatly enjoyed it.

Thanks guys. I do find these era pure games more fun. We have some more Romulan vs Fed action coming up next time but after that I'm not sure. I am thinking Breen vs ???


Meangreenstampa, I wish WK would put era specific limits on the OPs. For instance Wrath of Khan should be ships with a Hull of 4 or less. It would help WK out because they could sell more of the smaller ships.