Operation Blind Strike Part 1

So, we have no idea how may of them there are, who exactly they are, where they came from and what their objectives are. What do we know about them?
-Rachel Wrenlock, Dindrenzi Commander for Sector 024

The Aquan and Terran raids on the patrol fleets in Sector 024 met with great success due to the untrained and unprepared nature of their targets the Aquans and Terrans were able to spring  their ambushes, inflict severe damage and then retreat to fold space before the first Arcbolt Railgun had even been fired up. With morale falling fast sector command needed a win, and more importantly they needed intel. And so Operation Blind Strike was born, it was a operation that needed to give the Dindrenzi a win in the sector and gather as much intel as possible on the invading forces. 

The Location of Operation Blind Strike's Naval battle

Sector 024

What with my Firestorm Narrative reports getting such a good reception i thought it was about time i do brief post on the setting of these reports. They all take place in one specific sector of the Dindrenzi Federation which helps to link them all together and helps provide context. Enjoy.

Name: Sector 024
Location: To the galactic north west of Ravens Citadel, boarding Directorate space

The Red circle indicates the location of Sector 024

Welcome to Firestorm: The Sorylian Collective

Welcome to the 3rd post in my Welcome to Firestorm Lore series, in this post we will be looking at the story of the reptilian Sorylians and how they came to be the power they are now. So sit back and enjoy.

The Sorylian Collective Symbol

Before starting on the lore of the Sorylian Collective it’s important to put a few words in about the Sorylians themselves. Sorylians are bipedal Humanoids that are divided into 3 sub species:

Skvarr: The Skvarr are slightly larger than a man and more heavily built, they are also the most numerous sub species in the collective.

Kon Avarr: The Kon Avarr are much large than an average man, around 10 feet tall and built for strength and endurance They are the most simple minded of the sub species and often used for manual labour, when a Kon Avarr sets his/her mind to a task they set about it with impressive single minded determination.

Slivarr: The Slivarr are man sized and wiry. They have a curious and inquisitive nature and were the first of the Sorylians to encounter the Terrans (who named them the Saurains).

Welcome to Firestorm: The Terran Alliance

Continuing on with the Welcome to Firestorm series it’s time to take a look at the 6 main races of firestorm, starting with the Terran Alliance. This post will focus on their background, military strength and how they are currently positioned in the Firestorm lore, Enjoy. 

The Terran Empire Symbol

In the Firestorm universe humanity had colonised all the planets in earth’s home system (referred to as the Sol system) by the end of the 22nd century and the governments of earth had united into one, mainly in order to pool each countries resources which were rapidly dwindling. With the stars open to them humanity’s innate drive to explore kicked back into life and many thousands of human colonists flocked to sign up for these expeditions, which were referred to as extra solar expeditions. It took 3 centuries for the first wave of colony ships to settle and another 2 for these newly founded colonies to thrive.

For Dramos

Last night i was able to get in a 1000 point game of Firestorm against my friends Terran fleet, and i decided to write up the report in a narrative style as i enjoy doing narrative battle reports more than the more kind. So sit back and enjoy.
 
Fleet Admiral Randa Yount stood gazing out upon the vast expanse of space before her and tried to quell her nerves. Around her the crew of the “Hitchens” went about their jobs with a slight air of excitement, for many this was their first voyage aboard a warship as the crew of the warship and the same went for all of the other ships in the fleet, and for Yount herself. The fleet, called the Voice of Dramos, was a newly founded patrol fleet on its maiden voyage before it headed into the Storm Zone to assist the Dindrenzi war effort. Yount herself had recently graduated from the naval academy and through a bizarre series of events had found herself as the fleet admiral for the Voice of Dramos, she still periodically pinched herself to ensure wasn’t dreaming.

“This sector is clear Admiral” called out one of the command bridge crew, “Shall I signal the fleet to move the next sector?” Yount answered with a simple nod, and watched as her fleet prepared to enter Fold Space. As the Hitchen’s own Fold Space drive powered up Yount found herself absentmindedly wondering if they would find anything in the next sector, so far all they had found as empty space, which was what they were expecting. 

The Voice of Dramos patrol fleet

Welcome to Firestorm: The Story so Far

Welcome to the first of the "Welcome to Firestorm" posts. The aim of this post, and the ones that follow, is to introduce new players who are unfamiliar with the Firestorm universe to Firestorm lore and perhaps inspire a few people to start a Firestorm fleet. First up is the overall story of the Firestorm universe.

The story of the Firestorm universe starts as many sci-fi universes do. Humanity experiences a golden age of technological advancement  and colonises much of the galaxy. As they explore humanity came into contact with alien races, namely the Aquans, the Relthoza and Sorylians,and fought a war with these races that became to be known as the Wars of First Contact.

A map of the known Firestorm galaxy

A Lesson in Soildering

I recently played a game of Planetfall during one of the local clubs wargaming nights, Planetfall is ground based wargame of Firestorm Armada (and it looks like Spartan Games will be making a rules system to link the two games together). I wanted to do a write up of this battle but this issue is that i don't fully grasp the ruleset yet to be able to do a standard issue battle report on the game, however i do know enough about the lore of the Firestorm universe to do a narrative report on the battle, so thats what i have chosen to do. In addition this post will be the first in series aimed at explaining the basics of the Firestorm universe, whose lore is well written and interesting, much more so than 40k's lore in my view. So sit back and enjoy.

Colonel Valentin Zeigler sat back in seat and focused on the tactical readout displayed before him as the Works Raptor LR-6 Recon tank he was riding in moved into position. The readout displayed the real time locations of the units in the Directorate Armoured Recon force he was attached to, all the better for him to learn the tactics of Directorate. As the final units moved into position Zeigler, himself a Colonel in the Dindrenzi Federation and the freshly promoted CO of a Dindrenzi ground regiment, watched intently taking in as much of the Directorate's tactics as he could, after all he was here to learn from people that were considered to be well versed in ground warfare.

The contested military complex

For The Federation: Firestorm Armada Battle Report

Last evening's gaming club session heralded my third ever game of Firestorm Armada and to celebrate this i have decided to do a battle report on the game. The real reason behind doing this report is that it helps to promote the game (which i believe deserves promotion) and i know the rules well enough to be able to write a battle report for a Firestorm game.

For this battle i was playing the Dindrenzi Federation (whose ships are slow, heavily armoured and have powerful rail guns that only have a very limited arc of fire) and my opponents were playing the Directorate (similar to the Dindrenzi but with less powerful guns with better arcs of fire) and the Relthoza ( a stealth and ambush orientated faction). We decided to plan a basic Battleline type mission where the only goal would be to wipeout more enemy squadrons than the other side. The Deployment zone was 12 inches in from the board edge and while i did win the roll off for deploying first i let my opponent place the first squadron. They deployed a Battleship and a squadron of Cruisers behind a debris field on the right side of the board and deployed a Battleship and a second Cruiser Squadron as well as a Corvette Squadron on the right hand side of the board.

My Opponents right side Deployment

Lets Talk About Firestorm

By now I have played 2.5 games of Firestorm Armada, and I think I know enough about the game, its rules and the company who makes/maintains it to write a decent post about the game and various side issues surrounding it, and this is that post. Let’s start with the rules

The Rules

The rules for Firestorm are fairly simple and easy to learn. For instance generally speaking every shot fired by a model in the game will hit on a 4,5 or 6 with a roll of 6 counting as 2 hits and allowing you to roll another dice, if a 6 is rolled off that dice then it also counts as 2 hits and gives you another roll. This mechanic is referred to as the “Exploding Dice Mechanic” and means that even the smallest ship has a chance to inflict severe damage if the dice give the right results. Shield mechanic work in a very similar way to the shooting mechanics, for every point you have in a ships shield stat you can roll that many dice when being shot at, for every 4,5 or 6 rolled you can discount a successful shot from the enemy, this mechanic also uses the Exploding dice rule so a lucky player may be able to completely nullify a round of shooting from the enemy if he rolls right.

An Other Productive Weekend

This weekend it was time for a break from GW related models for paining, this time i planned to finish off my Firestorm Armada Fleet and continue my Flames of War Polish army, and i was able to achieve both goals. So here is my finished Firestorm Fleet:

Branching Out

Whilst Listening the the Jaded Gamer Cast i became interested in a game the host kept mentioning called Firestorm Armada. Now i was a fan if the idea of Battle Fleet Gothic (having never actually played a game), the idea of fleet based space conflict in a wargame has always appealed to me and i have always been on the lookout for a (affordable) sci-fi fleet combat wargame. Well Firestorm Armada from Spartan Games looks like it will be the game.

Time for a change, and a customer friendly wargames company