Sunday 7/31 Game summary

I have discovered some more fellow Ti3 players in Maryland on www.boardgamegeek.com.  After some introductions and planning I met up with them and played a 6 player game.  The game was graciously hosted by James Stewart and he also took pictures and used them to write up a game summary.  So with his permission I have posted it here.

Twilight Imperium

After-Action Report #5:

"Fire and maneuver."

Once again, we met this Sunday to do battle over the fate of the galaxy!  As the Dark Years came to a close, it happened that six races had clawed their way back up to contest the throneworld and the galaxy with it.  They were a mix of the ancient and new, of peaceful and warlike species.  This game we tossed in pretty much everything but the kitchen sink- leaders, shock troops, mercenaries, the latest and greatest strategy cards, and so on.  We even allowed for the elusive space mines (not that anyone took up the offer).  Read on to find how all these options effected the game, and to see who dominated the galaxy... at least,  until we meet again and the throne once more comes up for grabs. 

Clockwise from first player, we had:

->The Lizix Mindnet, claiming to be the Lazax themselves returned- albeit in a sinister and cybernetic form.

->The Ghosts of Creuss, beings of light and energy emerging from the Creuss Gate to further their own incomprehensible ends.

->The Naalu Collective, telepathic masters of deception striking from their recently revealed fighter bases.

->The Yssaril Tribes, the galaxy's long-established spymasters, coordinating myriad plans and plots from their swamp-covered homes.

->The Embers of Muaat, the incandescent former slaves now seeking to be the masters- and backing their claim up with their mighty War Suns.

->The Barony of Letnev, military-industrial tyrants renewing their own ancient claim to the Empire by right of main force.

Part One: Land-grab.

Each race surged out of its home systems, grabbing planets and tripping domain counters.  Two in particular caused problems- the Naalu found devastating bio-hazards on the nearby fighter-production planet of Mirage, and the L1z1x faced stiff local resistance while trying to secure Arinam- a potential artifact world that bordered Mecatol Rex.  Both races had to wait a turn to secure their prizes.  The L1z1x were barely slowed by this, though one could imagine the eventual fate of the reluctant locals was horrible.  The Naalu, on the other hand, barely had a chance to recover and re-organize when the Ghosts of Creuss struck.  The Ghosts, having claimed vital access to the wormhole network at large by taking the nearby planet Quann and its attendant "B' wormhole, decided that the Naalu were a potential threat to said gateway.  The ephemeral creatures either lacked any sense of biological compassion or knew their fleshy enemies all to well and struck first, shoving the Naalu back towards their home system.  The two powers would continue dueling over Mirage and Quann for the rest of the early game, Naalu fighters matching up against hastily-acquired Creuss destroyer barrages.

Meanwhile, the rest of the galaxy was quietly maneuvering against each other, expanding into natural borders without opening fire at the neighbors quite yet.  The Yssaril discovered a Precursor Fossil buried on a planet halfway between them and the Muaat, and over the next several turns reinforced the system to the point of near-invulnerability.  The nearby Muaat contented themselves with their natural borders for a time, maneuvering their starting War Sun this way and that to keep their neighbors guessing.  The Letnev, also sharing a border with the Muaat, expanded quickly in their direction... and then launched a brief raid into Muaat territory to secure their preliminary objective (along with the planet Thibah).  The Muaat, not having been attacked directly and apparently not ready to start a war quite yet, let the Baron's strike force retreat shortly thereafter and moved in to secure the low-value world for themselves.  Finally, the L1z1x put down the rebellion on Arinam with brutal efficiency, discovering the source of the native's heavy weapons- an ancient Imperial Armory.  They promptly assimilated it, and having no border-straddling worlds to grab from either the Ghosts or the Barony, simply parked their growing fleet of Dreadnoughts and built up for the next phase of operations.

The first meeting of the Galactic Council after a thousand-year hiatus turned into a bloodbath, with two assassinations during the discussions over a relatively minor amendment to the laws of warfare involving PDS fire.  The law passed, but two representatives were dead and the L1z1x had stormed out in disgust.  The races of the galaxy were both impressed by their collective audacity and dismayed by the body count- many professional bodyguards were sent to the council from that point forth.

Part Two: Discombobulation.

The mid-game started with a series of bangs, as Bureaucracy finally hit the table and races started grabbing for the victory points.  The Naalu-Creuss war was in full swing, but between Defense Turret-equipped destroyers and serious network of Planetary Defense Stations, the Creuss triumphed soon enough.  The Naalu, practically bankrupt and facing raids from the Yssaril on their far border, collapsed back to their home system and started stockpiling ground defenses- even losing the lessor of their two homeworlds to a swift-moving Yssaril carrier squadron shortly thereafter.  The Ghosts of Creuss consolidated their gains, sliding through the wormhole network to the nexus world of Malice.  Unsurprisingly forewarned about what awaited them, they took some time to clean up the local radiation damage before settling in to inspect the Imperial Datacache they found there.

One of the objectives revealed early in the mid-game was one that required taking three planets in a single turn- not an easy feat this late in the game, as most planets were already claimed and no few were well-fortified indeed.  The Letnev decided to take advantage of the L1z1x's decision not to fortify a three-planet system between them and Mecatol Rex, and struck out quickly.  The un-garrisoned worlds fell without a fight, but a returning L1z1x fleet managed to wrest two of them back shortly thereafter.  The L1z1x were seriously distracted by their own push for glory- Mecatol Rex itself.  The throneworld fell with barely a fight on the cyborg's part, securing it for those that claimed descent from the ancient Lazax themselves.  They swiftly moved more and more troops in and cobbled together a basic space dock, attaining the status of Usurper and the Victory Points (and risks) that came with it.

As all this was going on, the benighted Naalu (now working under a new administration) reinforced their homeworld to the gills with tanks and troops.  A pair of scientist-supported PDS installations began reaching out to the enemy ships in the skies above- and in the nearby Mirage system- finally breaking the blockade.  The Ghosts of Creuss were a little too far away to keep a deathgrip on the system... and perhaps too busy licking their own wounds from the costly war.  The Yssaril occupiers of the system's second planet were perhaps dismayed to see their ride blown out of the sky above them, but found the swampy climate of the world most congenial, and settled in for a long wait.

Part Three: Military Prestige.

The last stages of the second galactic civil war began, with each of the remaining great powers hammering each other in search of those last few victory points.  This was helped along by a militaristic objective- to win two battles against three or more ships in a single turn.  It seemed the people of the galaxy respected strength, and strength is what the races gave them.  The Yssaril nipped off one of the Muaat's border-planets, retreating to their fortified base on the border shortly thereafter.  The Muaat could hardly do anything about this, as they were completely distracted with hammering the Barony of Letnev's impressive border guard.  The Letnev put up quite a fight, but the War Sun would not be denied, and the Muaat began making up for their lack of Victory Point so far.  A simultaneous strike by the Muaat at Mecatol Rex went less well, despite the L1z1x Dreadnought fleet apparently having lost interest and wandered off back towards their threatened core worlds.  The lone remaining L1z1x cruiser managed (via an action card) to peg the Muaat's carrier full of ground troops, leaving only a rogue Naalu mercenary company in Muaat service hovering over the cyborgian defenders below.  They elected not to risk an invasion- one could imagine that such escaped veterans of the Creuss-Naalu war would know what they're on about.

Meanwhile, the Ghosts of Creuss managed to get enough ships back together to start throwing their weight around again, and moved quickly to scuttle the L1z1x's imperial ambitions.  Taking advantage of an unsecured flank left empty since the Ghosts had moved against the Naalu instead of the L1z1x, the ephemeral wormhole dwellers packed up some of their expansive defense grid.  They moved into an undefended planet immediately bordering the L1z1x's home system and started taking potshots at the ships therein.  Also moving against the cyborgs were the Letnev- they launched a last-ditch attack on Mecatol Rex.  The Muaat mercenary group was brushed aside with relative ease, and even the L1z1's troops fell quickly to the Barony's commanding General and expansive forces.  The throneworld now (nominally) belonged to the group that had (also nominally) kicked off the Dark Years in the first place.  The galaxy wasn't sure how to take that- better feudal overlords than techno-organic ones, perhaps, but could the Letnev maintain their grip?  The other frontrunners, the Ghosts and Yssaril, gave the equally enticing choice between incorporeal horrors from beyond and a familiar conniving gollum-people.

The L1z1x, though, had seen their chance.  With their homeworld declared a neutral zone and a diplomat ensconced on top of their vital Ancient Armory, both backed up by legions of infantry, tanks, and  hardened PDS bunkers, they attempted to prove their might to the galaxy.  The first attacked the Ghosts of Creuss outpost sitting on their border, responding to PDS sniping with a Dreadnought, some cruisers, and their own PDS fire in support.  The Ghosts were quickly swept from space, though they held on to the planet itself with grim tenacity.  In the same round, the L1z1x main battle fleet- four as-yet unengaged Dreadnoughts, with Cruiser and Destroyer support- returned to Mecatol Rex.  They lacked the ground forces to take the throneworld itself back- the Letnev were numerous, dug-in, and possessed of a superb General commanding the defense.  The L1z1x needed their own troops defending their artifact and homeworld, anyway.  Instead they opted for simply blowing the Letnev fleet above the planet out of space in a single volley of Dreadnought Assault Cannons, accomplishing one last objective and proving to the galaxy that they were indeed the inheritors of the Lazax- or else!

Pictures:

Right, some pics!  Captions below each, explaining what's going on.

1) First we have the setup.  Naalu in yellow at the upper left, and we have Yssaril->Muaat->Letnev->L1z1x->Ghosts clockwise from there.

2) Early expansion.  The Yssaril, starting with two carriers and XRD Transporters (lucky guys), have stolen a march on the Muaat in the upper right.  Upper left shows the offending Bio-hazard marker, crushing the Naalu's dreams.  Note the Ghost's home system- it stays entirely empty aside from the space dock for the rest of the game.  Apparently it was too far away both to build from and to bother having to defend.

3) More expansion.  The Ghosts are shown moving in on the Naalu, poising to strike; the Letnev on the far right are getting in the Muaat's face for a VP.  L1z1x and Letnev forces stare off at the very bottom of the map, but nothing came of it for a while.

4) Final stages of expansion.  The Naalu have found an inconvenient Gravity Rift (it ate that carrier on the way out) and the Ghosts have taken Mirage away from them; an ill-fated task force is about to set out to reclaim it.  Many of the larger fleets are using stylish new plastic fleet support bases- keeping the warships and mobile forces up and off the planets themselves where the ground-pounders and PDS units hang out.

5) State of the Galaxy before all hell breaks loose.  The Naalu have reclaimed the space around Mirage, but you'll note the Creuss control marker.  Meanwhile, the L1z1x have parked themselves on Mecatol Rex in a serious way.  Letnev and Muaat space is starting to groan with the weight of all the hardware piling up on it.

6) The Naalu fleet is pretty much gone, though the Ghosts lost everything in that sector of the Galaxy to do it.  To add insult to near-fatal injury, the Yssaril have pulled a fast one on the Naalu by stealing Everra (in the Nebula at the top of the map).  Between this photo and the last, a Letnev task force grabbed the three-planet system at the very middle of L1z1x space, earned their VP, and paid for it with their lives.  A lone Letnev trooper is all that's left after the L1z1x responded.

7) Hard to see at places, but a lot's happened since last turn.  The Naalu have lost a home planet to the Yssaril, but forted up on their last one.  The Yssaril have also grabbed Mirage, ironically enough for the two that were fighting over it for the previous five turns, and pulled a fast one on the Muaat by sneaking in behind them while the Embers were busy with the Letnev.  The Ghosts have, meanwhile, turned their attention south, setting up shop next to the L1z1x homeworld.  The L1z1x themselves have pulled back from Mecatol, though the Muaat attempt to take it resulted in that lone mercenary hovering over it.  Also note the right side of the map- those huge Letnev and Muaat fleets?  Gone.  Well, the War Sun's still there... but there was a lot of bloodshed before thing stabilized.  (Another War Sun on the way!)

8) Final state of the game.  The Muaat and Yssaril have massed their fleets and are glaring at each other; the Naalu have kinda secured their home system and dealt with at least the enemy carriers, though both one home planet and Mirage remains under Yssaril control.  The Ghosts' PDS outpost (practically invisible in the lower left, under the L1z1x fleet) holds on, but their covering fleet is gone.  Similarly, the remainder of the Letnev fleet- three cruisers and a carrier- have been exterminated by the L1z1x over Mecatol.  With these last two VPs, the L1z1x took the prize... at least until next time.

Comments:

Long, brutal game.  Lots of warfare, maneuvering, and a series of interesting political cards I didn't touch on much above because no one of them had much impact on the game.  Overall, though, the political intrigue option allows so much more to come out of otherwise unprepossessing political cards, as each player jockeys for the use of representative's special abilities- or attempts to assassinate same, if the target is an enemy or even if he simply has an ability that he's getting too much use out of.

The Naalu got dealt a bum deal, with sparse nearby planets and the Ghosts of Creuss deciding on an early-game Jihad.  That war may have also set the Ghosts back some, too, though they were still frontrunners up until the L1z1x's last push.  The Muaat, Yssaril, and Letnev didn't do much early on, building up and waiting for Bureaucracy to reveal their goals to them, though the Muaat quickly fell behind as both their neighbors pressed in on them and their War Sun was hard-pressed to be everywhere at once.  The Yssaril made a few, typically sneaky, raids into Naalu space, hunting VPs for the most part.  The L1z1x just build up and up and up until stopping them became impossible for their neighbors (the exhausted Ghosts and the Barony, which lost two serious battles with the Muaat on the same turn and thus was in much the same situation).

Anyway, good game, and we managed to finish before 5:30- amazing in itself, given how many advanced rules we were playing with.  I look forward to next Sunday, or whenever we meet next- the galaxy needs conquering, after all.

Finally, does anyone else who played in this one have any thoughts about it, anything we should have done differently or we did particularly right?  Sound off!

See you all Out There,

-James