Sunday 8/7 Game 1 Summary

Twilight Imperium
After Action Report #6-
"Sailing on an even keel."

Another Sunday, another struggle for the fate of the Galaxy.  The goal this time around was the minimization of random chance's effect on the game setup- no Distant Suns, no Artifacts, and an even distribution of the best planets.  The idea was that pure strategy and tactical know-how would take the day- to learn if it did, and which race went home with the Crown of the Galactic Empire this time around, read on!

Five races struggled out of the Dark Years in a position to influence galactic affairs.  Clockwise from first player, they were:

->The Arborec, an entire semi-sentient biosphere that decided that one planet wasn't enough- and that everyone would certainly get along better if they had fungus in their heads.
->The Emirates of Hacan, re-laying the ancient routes of their trade empire, with clawed hands firmly on the galaxy's purse-strings.
->The Universities of Jol-Nar, applying their technical wizardry both ancient and modern, and firmly deciding that this time the biggest brains would take the lead.
->The Embers of Muaat, once slaves to the Jol-Nar, smiling at the rest of the galaxy over the guns of their War Sun-lead armada.
->The Barony of Letnev, revamping their titanic industrial base for conquest and power once more.


Part One: Not quite so even as could be expected.

     The game opened with the usual early expansion.  Of note was the Barony of Letnev, squeezed tightly between the Arborec and the Muaat, and lacking as many high-income systems as the other races, striking out towards the Muaat border and the precious resources therein.  The Muaat, quickly taking umbrage (and likely having had a role in the Letnev's lack of nearby planets in the first place- queries about precisely where that War Sun had been at the time went unanswered) launched an immediate invasion.  The Letnev border fleet collapsed, and with few other ships that early on there was no recourse left.  Within three turns, the Letnev had lost the lesser of their two homeworlds and were gazing in shock at the War Sun orbiting over their heads.  The Muaat had both effectively destroyed the Letnev battle fleet but accomplished a number of objectives in the course of the conquest and blockade.
     The rest of the galaxy was more peaceful, at least on the surface, as the Jol-Nar, Hacan, and Arborec grabbed nearby planets.  From the first, the Arborec grabbed the hellworld of Hope's End, immediately bordering Mecatol Rex.  The nightmarish planet had always served as a training ground for the galaxy's finest armies, and the Arborec quickly took advantage, bolstering their already large military with both 'recruited' natives and the tremendously dangerous local flora and fauna.  What's more, a pair of Arborec cruisers, having dropped their cargo of combat bioforms on Hope's End, zipped across nearby space to attack a Hacan scout fleet!
     The Hacan had a more deliberative expansion, utilizing their vast financial clout to build up an atypical (but no less threatening) fleet of Dreadnoughts.  These Dreadnoughts quickly responded to the Arborec attack, crushing the lone remaining cruiser, but the galaxy had already taken note of the Arborec's willingness to fight so close to the Hacan homeworld- their preliminary objectives, at least, had been achieved.
     The Jol-Nar, having taken virtually every nearby planet and feeling the need for more, slid a Dreadnought and a Carrier across their notional borders with the Muaat.  Muaat long-range PDS fire holed the carrier and struck the Dreadnought a serious blow, but the Jol-Nar had attained the planet they needed for vital scientific research.... and moved one step closer to Mecatol Rex in the process, charting every inch of space and planning every future stratagem.


Part Two: Politics.  Why'd it have to be Politics?

     As the game moved into the next stage, deals started being made.  The Muaat, apparently having made their point, withdrew the War Sun from its orbit over the Letnev's Arc Prime- thankfully without bombarding the planet.  The War Sun returned to Muaat Space to join its newly constructed sister ship, and poised itself for the next phase of the Ember's galactic coming-out party.  An abortive Letnev reprisal raid on the Muaat home system was quickly repulsed, but amply demonstrated the Letnev willingness to resist- as did the gigantic and well-equipped ground army being assembled on Arc Prime.
     The Arborec and the Hacan quicky became involved in a bifurcated struggle.  The Hacan Grand Dreadnought Fleet, backed by a large mercenary contingent, was virtually unassailable in space, but the Arborec had amassed such an army of conventional and 'enhanced' combat forms that any landing would quickly prove futile for the feline merchants.  The two sides danced around each other- the Hacan secured their secret goals by taking and holding Mecatol Rex, while the Arborec nipped in behind the departing Hacan fleet to take their launch site of Garbozia to secure their own objective.
     The political side of things showed an equal measure of contention and confusion.  The Letnev, disgusted with the galaxy's unwillingness to do anything about the Muaat invasion and occupation of Wren Terra, stormed out to concentrate their efforts on liberating their home system.  Their representatives would continue to participate, but they had effectively removed themselves from the council.  Soon after, a vote came up for the appointment of a Minister of Internal Security.  The Muaat representative died under unusual circumstances, and the Arborec representative vanished... but when the Jol-Nar representative voted, he inexplicably voted for the Arborec.  The faint odor of mold and fresh-cut grass around the Jol-Nar's fishtank may have provided a clue... but by the time this was realized, the Arborec had secured the position, threatening to crack down on the occupying Hacan and induce their local mercenaries to seek employment elsewhere.


Part Three: A New Age.

     The final stages of the Galactic dance for power began with a backroom deal.  The Letnev were already a Hacan favorite due to being on the Arborec's far flank, despite the border being quiet for the entire game.  The Barony agreed, for a signifigant sum of trade goods, to publicly denounce the Arborec to the rest of the galaxy.  The Letnev, still possessing surprising political capital in the wake of Muaat aggression, succeeded in making the Arborec shift strategy from bureaucratic manipulation to outright military conquest.  The Hacan quickly filled the gap, seizing influence on the galactic scene.
     The Hacan Dreadnought Fleet, seeing the Arborec massing for battle over Hope's End, moved first.  Four Dreadnoughts and an accompanying mercenary devastated the Arborec fleet, sending the fungoid admiral fleeting in an escape pod and blockading the hellworld.  The planet itself was crawling with lethal bioforms, and the Hacan marines waiting above firmly prayed to their mercantile gods for a solution that didn't involve a ground invasion.
    Soon enough, their prayers were answered- the Hacan had convinced the Imperial Bureaucracy to support their claim for the throne.  They were proclaimed the true inheritors of the Lazax.  (Chronicles of the succeeding Mercantile Age are suspect, but it can be assumed that the remainder of the races prospered well enough with the Hacan running things... though of the Arborec, neither they nor the most heavily infested planets they controlled were ever heard from again.  Questions to the Muaat as to where their War Suns were at the time, and where that titanic pile of credits came from, went unanswered...)


Comments:

     This game went amazingly fast!  We got things done in less than four hours- closer to three.  The lack of Domain Counters, plus the experience of each of the players, made things a breeze.  The fifth player, though, got stuck with a horrible board position despite the even planet distribution and the extra trade goods.  This was on top of placing planets last (he got a supernova directly between him and Mecatol and empty space between him and the Nova) and selecting Strat Cards last.  We're going to have to do something about that...
     Other than that, good game.  Lots of warfare on the Letnav-Muaat front, and lots of tension between the Arborec and Hacan.  Ended suddenly when Imperium Rex ended up as the top Stage II Public Objective, but that's the chance one takes in letting the leader have Bureaucracy.  Well-played on all sides, too- even the benighted Letnev managed to more or less keep up with the VP race.


See you all Out There,

-James