My forces for 5150: Fighter Command

Introduction

I've spent a large part of today cleaning out my garage, so this is just going to be a short post - sorry!

A long. long time ago, when it was first released, I tried the PC game "Wing Commander" and flew space fighters in dogfights against the cat-like Kilrathi enemy.  For a while, this was my favourite game and I enjoyed it so much that I also bought and played the first sequel.  I've experienced many computer games in my life, but few were as memorable as this.

Also many years ago, I became aware of the plastic spaceship models from EM-4 miniatures.  I thought these were really neat, but since I couldn't think of any game I'd play with them, I managed to resist such a purchase on many occasions.  Even if it had occurred to me to use the EM-4 fighters to revisit the world of Wing Commander, there were no suitable rules, I thought (although Silent Death always seems to have been very popular).

What finally cracked my resolve was the recent release of 5150: Fighter Command by 2HourWargames.  It took only a few days for my determination not to start a new project to crumble and so I ordered both the rules and some plastic spacecraft.  This, I believe, is in no way unusual - many others have done exactly the same thing.

I'm slowly painting my way through the craft I bought; here are the first groups.  I haven't yet come up with a lot of background fluff for these, so you'll have to make do with the pictures:

The Good Guys (Star Navy?)

Here's some interceptors - Blue Flight from the 34th Pursuit Squadron.

A flight of heavy fighters from the "Lucky 15th" Attack Squadron.

Torpedo bombers from the 218th Assault Squadron.  I've added the under-wing anti-ship missiles myself; these were made very simply from lengths of plastic rod with the tip sharpened into a point.

The Bad Guys (Kilrathi?  Hishen?)

"Fandango"-class interceptors.  These are very common and often seen in large wings, but individually not very capable.

A little-known type of single-seat heavy fighter, codename "Firewall".  Such craft are very new and there is no accurate data on their performance.

Conclusion

So far, so good.  However, I've many more fighters yet to paint up; these will make up at least 1 (maybe 2 or 3) other factions.  I'm also looking for inspiration: what to use for capital ships and how many different types of these I might need.  Finally, I'll need to go through all my gaming boxes to see if I have some large, black hex mats.  Fighter Command can be played free-form, but reading the rules suggests that hexes might make things easier.

I really didn't need this distraction from my other projects.  I've just not got enough willpower to resist all the shiny things!

ATZ Game 11 (part 2): Camp Medomak

Introduction

Last week, in our club game of All Things Zombie, some of the survivors reached Camp Medomak - an old military base currently being used for refugees.  The civilians and their remaining National Guard escorts had barely entered the camp before it was attacked, initially by crazed gangsters and then by zombies, attracted by the noise.  However, our 2 hours at the venue were up before the scenario was concluded.

Normally, I run a different game each week at the club, just for variety.  However, this week I decided that we had to find out what happened next, so we set up the same table and proceeded to play out the remainder of the interrupted game.

The Situation

For those who cannot remember, or who haven't already read part 1, here's how it stands.  In the wrecked gate to the camp is the burning remains of the gangsters' truck.  Corporal Van Damme has taken an armoured personnel carrier from the vehicle park and is trying to turn it towards the wreck.  Other soldiers are running about all around the base (and outside it!).  Since Major Brosnan was shot dead in the previous game and since Sergeant Costner and Corporal Van Damme haven't stepped up to the mark, the troops are effectively leaderless.  Of the newly arrived civilians, John, Darcy and Lizzie are doing what they can to help, first by fighting a fire in the furthest hut, then by moving to the fence line.  Finally, Edna is still looking for a nice cup of tea in the administration block.

What Happened Next

Almost immediately, a large group of zombies arrived at the north part of the fence.  This fence was already slightly damaged from attacks in the previous episode, so the arrival of such a large number of attackers didn't bode well!

The mob of zombies at the north end of the fence looked very intimidating!  However, poor activation rolls meant that they didn't move very much.  Between Norris's enthusiastic firing of his minigun and John and Darcy's careful, aimed pistol shots, the numbers were quickly reduced and the pile of bodies against the fence grew and grew.  Darcy, at REP 5 and with the marksman ability seemed like he just couldn't miss.  Lizzie, on the other hand, was having a very bad day and barely hit any of the attackers with her pistol.

Elsewhere

Meanwhile, in the south, various soldiers took potshots at a little girl zombie in a blue dress (marked with a '*' on the large picture above).  She unsettled them by just standing there, as if waiting for something.  3 times she was hit by bullets and knocked down, but each time she just stood up again.  Creepy!

The pair of soldiers stationed at the southern corner of the base finally managed to destroy the girl zombie.
By that time, other shamblers had reached the fence and were tearing at it with their bare hands, trying to break through.  The fence was holding, for now, but these were ordinary troopers and not hero survivors; they weren't hitting many targets and the number of zombies was increasing slowly.

As if this wasn't bad enough, a large group of refugees now burst out of the trees to the east.  Presumably they were looking for a safe haven, but their mood was ugly and their anger was directed against the government forces.

In response, Corporal Van Damme drove his APC at the burning pickup truck; the big army vehicle shunted the wreckage out of the gateway without much trouble.

Trooper Dalton was still outside the camp at this point.  He saw the flaming wreck coming towards him and ran in the other direction.  This attracted the attention of some of the zombies on the main road; Dalton then fled into the woods with these creatures trailing some distance behind.

The soldiers at the gate fired on the rioters to dissuade them from approaching any closer.  Although their aim was appalling, the mob hesitated as one of their number fell, wounded.  However, it was the sight of the large armoured vehicle approaching that caused them to break and scatter.

"Run, little people, run!  Run all you like" whispered Van Damme to himself as he drove the APC into the midst of the fleeing crowd.  A few of the panicking civilians were able to dodge out of the way, but others were not so lucky and were crushed remorselessly under the huge wheels!

Finale

Reinforcements, in the shape of Darcy and more soldiers, raced to the threatened southern corner.  There, the pendulum swung as careful, placed shots wiped out most of the attackers.

...while back at the north end, John and Lizzie were left to finish up.

Finally, after running about from one part of the base to another all game, Sergeant Costner had found another trooper to drive the GPV for him.  They parked it in the ruined gateway and the sergeant used the vehicle's .50 calibre machine gun to wipe out zombies at long range.

Conclusion

Technically, the ATZ Haven: Safe Zone game isn't finished (because we haven't seen some of the '*'-marked encounters).  However, it's a very busy scenario and we've already spent 2 sessions on this game; I decided to call it.

So, let's see.  The rioting mob is well and truly dispersed and running for their lives.  There are still zombies on the board, but some of them are chasing Dalton through the woods and others are attracted to the fleeing refugees.  Of the few that are actively attacking the base, none really have any chance of breaking in.  The fence is sagging a bit at 2 points, but still has some way to go before being breached.

I'd say that overall there are no credible threats remaining on the board.  Most of the troops and all of the civilians have survived (I don't know if we'll see Dalton again and Van Damme apparently plans to just keep on driving), so I'm ruling this a successful defence of the camp!

We didn't roll for REP advancement on the day, since time was too short and we had to pack up.  That'll have to wait for another occasion.

Miguel and Ann - Zombie Survivors

Just a quick update today, showing some of the models I've completed over the last month.  It's taken a while to get back into the swing of things after a long winter/spring where I didn't feel much like doing any painting.  But, I'm getting there...

Miguel

This model is from Studio Miniatures, where he's called "Miguel".  I decided that the name given by the manufacturer fitted very well, so I've kept that for my version.  He's armed with a strange weapon that looks like a spear gun to me, so I've added a small arrow head to the end of the barrel.  No doubt he's modeled after a character from some zombie film or game, but I don't recognise him.  I expect someone will tell me who he is, though :-) .

The original model had a very strange pose, as if peering into the ground.  I suppose this would make sense if he was leaning over a body of water to get a shot with his spear gun, but it didn't really work for me.  Instead, I've straightened him up and rested the left foot on a broken-down wall.

Ann

Ann is a converted Wargames Factory Zombie Vixen.  She's dressed only in her night clothes, though I've added a large kitchen knife to her hand.  I imagine that Ann has woken up to find the apocalypse has started without her and has run out of the house in terror, stopping only to grab the nearest weapon!

For comparison, here's Ann beside a zombie I made some time ago from the same kit.  There's nothing much you can do to change the basic body pose, but different arms, head and colour make them quite distinct.

Zombies

As well as these survivors, a couple of fresh (?!) zombies made it to the end of the production line in the last week or so:

Look out, this one's armed!  He's dragging a cricket bat from one hand, though I'd say it wasn't certain that the zombie knows how to use it.  Still, you never know.   This is a limited edition model from Studio Miniatures; I received it as part of their plastic zombie kickstarter deal.

Finally, here's another Studio figure.  She's obviously dressed up in her party clothes and even though there's no blood and no bite marks on her, I find this model quite sinister.  There's something about child zombies that makes me shudder.  Even though a "representative" population should certainly have young victims, I don't plan on collecting more than a token few.

ATZ Game 11: Camp Medomak

Introduction

We last saw John the photographer and his comrades in Game 8: Breakdown.  Games 7, 9 and 10 have been following the exploits of the other group, led by Bomber and separated from John during a zombie attack during game 6.  That's all clear, isn't it?

In "Breakdown", the military convoy which was evacuating John and his comrades was attacked by rioters whilst halted to change a punctured tyre.  The party barely escaped, crammed into a single General Purpose Vehicle (GPV) and with wounded soldiers on board.  Indeed, they fled so precipitously that they left the wounded Lieutenant Costner for dead, as well as the obviously dead Abe and his mobility chair.

The Scenario

Camp Medomak is an old, low security National Guard base.  The facility is located out in the woods, though not far from the city.  It's from there that teams of soldiers have been sent out to evacuate civilians from threatened areas, with mixed success.

I'm using the Safe Zone scenario from the ATZ: Haven book, slightly adapted to suit my needs.  The first change I've made is to the terrain & setup, since I have fences and quonset huts in my collection rather than a 10' wall with firesteps.  Next, I need to have the survivors' GPV approach the camp, looking for refuge.  Finally, I'll just use whatever soldiers I have in my collection rather than sticking to the letter of the setup from the scenario book.  I'll leave out the guys with the rocket launcher, auto-cannon and other inappropriately heavy weapons, though.

The Characters

In the GPV are crammed the following people:

• John: REP 6 survivalist with pistol and camera.  Also with Laddie, REP 2 collie dog.
• Darcy and Lizzie: REP 5 married survivalists, each with a pistol.
• Edna, the crazy cat lady: REP 2 elderly citizen.  She is always surrounded by cats, though these act as a special distraction rule in melee rather than being represented by independent models.
• Corporal Van Damme: REP 4 soldier, assault rifle
• Connery: REP 4 soldier, badly injured and unconscious
• Dalton: REP 3 soldier, assault rifle
• Eastwood: REP 3 soldier, assault rifle, lightly injured

 At the base, these soldiers are on guard at the gate:

• Weaver: REP 4 soldier, assault rifle
• Hackman: REP 4 soldier, assault rifle
• Mitchum: REP 4 soldier, BAP

Patrolling the fence line are:

• Moore: REP 4 soldier, BAP
• Norris: REP 4 soldier, minigun (targets: 4, impact: 4)

While in the office building are:

• Major Brosnan: REP 4 soldier, BAP
• Sergeant Costner: REP 4 soldier, BAP (no relation to Lieutenant Costner who was left for dead in game 8)

The Game

As the GPV approached slowly, all the sentries clustered around the gates to the camp.  Major Brosnan came out of the office to see what was going on.  "Open up!" he ordered.  "It's one of ours."  But where was the rest of the convoy, he wondered?

The instant the GPV was inside, the soldiers shut the gate.  This was not a moment too soon, as a beat-up pickup truck and a black sedan approached along the same dirt track.  Even at a distance, the camp's inhabitants could see that there were rough-looking armed men in the back of the truck.  "Now, what do they want?" mused Brosnan.  "Look sharp, guys!  I don't want trouble, but be prepared just in case."

The troopers barely had time to think before the pickup truck accelerated and rammed the gate.  Truly, these gangers must have been completely desperate!

Curly, the gang's leader, fired his shotgun at the nearest figure (Major Brosnan) and cut him down.  In retaliation, the remaining soldiers fired liberally at the vehicle and its occupants.  Several of the passengers were hit, then the minigunner opened up.  His shots tore the vehicle apart like tissue paper and set it ablaze!  There were no survivors.

A lot of dice were thrown that turn to see if any zombies were attracted by noise.  Since it's a rural area, only a '6' would have this effect, so a lone figure was placed on the road between the woods.  He stood there, swaying gently, for several turns thereafter without moving (many failed activations).

The black car realised that it couldn't get through the camp gate, so it turned sharply to avoid piling into the burning wreckage of the pickup.  As it passed along the fence line, the leaderless soldiers abandoned all attempt at fire discipline and riddled it with bullets.  The driver was wounded, but a passenger managed to take control and the remaining gangers fled, empty-handed.

This time, the dice gods went the other way!  As the dust settled and the noise of the fleeing vehicle receded into the distance, silence fell for a moment.  Then, one of the soldiers shouted "Look!" and pointed to the forest.  Out of the trees, figures were stumbling forwards, arms hanging limply at their sides.  They weren't moving fast, but the blank expressions on their faces was unsettling even for the experienced survivors.

The sergeant barked out orders, trying to impose a semblance of order.  Some of the troopers obeyed: Dalton helped John to carry the wounded Connery from the GPV into the first aid station, while Moore ran for the keys to the armoured personnel vehicle.  The plan was to use the APV to push the burning wreckage out of the gate and block the entrance.

Meanwhile, Eastwood was trying to turn the GPV round and move it into a position where he could use its roof-mounted machine gun.  However, in the tight space and with people running around all over, this wasn't easy!

Further off, Norris (the minigunner) had discovered more zombies.  These were trying to break through the fence, having been attracted by the noise and the smoke.  Smoke?  "A little help here!" shouted Norris over his shoulder.  The building beside him was rippling with heat; flames could be seen inside it.  Perhaps a stray bullet had hit something flammable, or maybe one of the occupants had dropped a cigarette or left a camp stove running in their haste?  Whatever the reason, the hut was definitely on fire!

Darcy and Lizzie ran over to the burning building to see what they could do.  After a while, John joined them and with all 3 civilians fighting the fire, they eventually managed to put it out.  It was obvious that the hut was gutted, though; very little of its contents could have survived.

Several of the troopers at the gate moved outside of the camp, past the burning pickup truck.  This gave them a good line of sight and they started to pick off the zombies which were now approaching from left, right and centre.

Norris thinned out the group that was trying to break through the fence.  They could see him now and their moans and snarls were growing more insistent, but so far the fence was holding.  However, it didn't seem to matter how many he killed - more zombies just kept coming out of the woods!

Finale

At this point, we ran out of time and had to pack up.  We haven't yet seen most of the encounters that are described in the Safe Zone scenario and the game doesn't feel finished.  The current situation is that the soldiers are holding their own, but the number of zombies is slowly increasing.  John, Darcy and Lizzie are wondering what to do next, whilst Edna is rummaging through the administration block looking for a nice cup of tea.

Will the soldiers try to question or even disarm the newcomers?  Will they be too busy fighting off the undead?  Can the sergeant come up with a plan, or is it just every man for himself?  Too many questions...

I feel sure we'll need to revisit this in a future session and pick up from where we left off!

[Update: Part 2 is now available]

Security Fencing in 28mm

Introduction

Exactly a month ago, I asked on The Miniatures Page if anyone knew how to make cranked fence posts out of MDF or any other cheap material.  I had a desire to build a fenced army camp (see also my Quonset huts) for an upcoming game of All Things Zombie.  Now, many gamers build chain-link fences from simple uprights such as bamboo skewers and these look fine from a distance.  However, I wanted to go a step further than this and model something that would bear a closer inspection.

It turns out that it's not hard for someone with a laser cutter to process a small, custom job - as long as you provide them with the source file for your design.  In this case, the parts that I wanted were very simple shapes and both Corsec Engineering (USA) and Minibits (UK) offered to cut them for me.  I went with the UK company, solely on the basis that the postage costs should be lower.  A couple of weeks later, after a few exchanges of e-mails with Leon at Minibits to determine exactly what would be done and how much it would cost, I received a bag of parts in the post.

The Build

Now I was excited; I had all the parts to make my fences - or did I?  It was immediately apparent that I hadn't thought about how I would base the fence posts.  OK, this was easily sorted: I cut out a series of 1" wide strips of MDF for basing.  These were of varying lengths: some were 6" and some 12".  I am nervous about warping in the longer lengths; so far so good - but only time will tell for sure.  I also cut out a pair of 'L'-shaped 90 degree corner bases.  The edges of the bases were chamfered roughly to remove the obvious 3mm step.

Next, I wondered how to fix the posts.  Initially I had thought of pinning them, but a quick experiment showed that the thin MDF posts were far to fragile to drill holes in.  Instead, I sank holes at 1.5" intervals along the centreline of the bases to act as sockets.  This does, of course, reduce the height of the posts by a couple of mm, but the joint is then quite secure.

OK, the uprights were now glued in (taking a lot of care to make sure that they were vertical!) and supports were fixed to every 3rd post.  Then it struck me: how do (authorised) people or vehicles get from one side of the fence to the other?  I'd completely overlooked the need for a gate!

So, a quick improvisation here: the gate section needed a larger gap than normal between the posts.  Also, the gates needed to hinge.  To that end, I added a couple of short pieces of tubing to each of the inner supports.  The gate pieces themselves would have some bent wire sticking out of the side; this would rest in these tubes and allow the gates to swing freely.  The 2 parts to the gate itself had to be scratch-built and this took quite a lot of effort.  It would have been much simpler had these also been laser-cut MDF, but that hadn't occurred to me at the time!

Adding the Chainlink

While I was considering what to use for the chain link mesh, my wife handed me a piece of fine plastic net that had blown into our garden from somewhere.  It's the sort of material that is used for veils at weddings, or perhaps for advanced flower arrangements - I'm not really sure.  "Would this be any use?" she asked.  "Perfect", I thought.

I'd already found some thin brass wire from which I intended to make the barbed wire runs.  This brass wire had been woven around a wine bottle originally, but I'd saved it just in case it was ever needed.  I used an old technique for modelling barbed wire: wind the wire into a tight coil, flatten the coil and pull it straight (but leaving in the kinks).

So, here's my first completed piece.  This is OK, so far as it goes, but there are some issues with it:

1. The home-made barbed wire strands are a bit crude.  I'm not happy with them.
2. The plastic mesh has been sprayed grey.  However, that was difficult to do because the small piece of netting was very lightweight and would try to float away when I sprayed it!
3. The thin netting was hard to attach evenly to the posts, so as to eliminate any sagging.
4. The completed structure is rather flimsy and probably won't stand up well to the rigours of tabletop use.  If I were making static scenery for model railways then this wouldn't be a consideration!

The Final Version

 It's hard to reverse course in the middle of a model-making project.  By this time, I'd attached plastic mesh to most of the fence pieces.  However, I decided that the thin net just wasn't working the way I wanted, so I removed all of it.

Instead, I replaced it with the traditional aluminium mesh, though sprayed and dry-brushed to soften the colour a bit.  For the wire strands, I remembered that I had a roll of model barbed wire from Gale Force 9, bought for some occasion just like this.  Once the decision was made, finishing off the fencing was very quick.

There is more vegetation on the inside of the compound than on the outside, on the basis that there may be grazing animals on one side but not the other.  I also modeled one section of fence as broken down, though curiously the way the wire has been wrecked suggests that something from inside the base has broken through.  I wonder what it was that escaped!

Cost for this project was £5 for the custom-made MDF posts, £4 for aluminium mesh, £4 (ish) for GF9 barbed wire, plus small amounts of paint, glue, static grass and MDF bases that I had lying around.  So maybe £14 in total, for which I have over 6 feet of fencing.  Was it worth it?  I think so, but you'll have to decide for yourself!

Full Thrust: Arachnophobia!

Introduction

At the weekend, I finally received the finished version of my Full Thrust event cards from the printers.  That being so, there was only one choice of game for this week's club meeting!  [For my ATZ fans, I know it's been a long wait, but good things are coming.  Soon...]

Sa'Vasku bioships entering human space

So, I thought it was high time to bring out my Sa'Vasku alien fleet.  Normally, I don't use these at the games club because they're tricky to control.  In Full Thrust, these space-dwelling creatures have their own energy allocation rules and this makes them much more complicated to manage than any of the other fleets.  Still, I thought I'd give my older son the chance to learn how to use them.

The Scenario

Right, I'm not a great fan of "line 'em up and shoot until everyone bar me is dead" games, so I needed to come up with a scenario for the game.  Here's how this one goes:

The setting is near the Federation planet 'Caledon'.  This is a fertile, M-class planet, sparsely populated with a total of about 10 million humans, mostly farmers.

In distant orbit around Caledon there is a large space station, home to a zero-G manufacturing facility and owned by the M.D.B. corporation.

Further off, the bulk freighter Pride of the Orient is in trouble.  She's supposed to be delivering raw materials to the M.D.B. factory, but one of her holds has ruptured and she's shed 8,000 of ore into space.

So far, this is just a regular day in the Caledon system, but sensors have picked up the rapid approach of some alien vessels.  The good news is that the Federation have a significant squadron of assorted light cruisers and heavy destroyers present; these were due to take part in the "Solar Freedom XXVI" exercises next week.

The bad news is that the Federation have no idea what the alien creatures want.  Are they just passing through (migrating)?  Are they trying to make contact?  Or are they planning to attack?

Special Rules

• Federation forces may not fire on the Sa'Vasku until either they approach within 12" or until the aliens make a hostile action.  To compensate for this, the Federation have a larger force than the biofleet [by a ratio of about 5:4 in points].
• Sa'Vasku have 3 possible objectives; they must secretly choose just 1 before the game and that will set their victory conditions.  The Federation win if the Sa'Vasku fail to meet their chosen objective.  Note that the Federation player(s) don't even know what the possible objectives are, let alone which one has been picked by the Sa'Vasku.
• Objective A: It's spawning time!  To win, at least 3 out of the 4 alien ships must release spores into the planet's atmosphere.  They may accomplish this by entering planetary orbit; the ship may then spawn [release spores] in place of firing on any subsequent turn.  Note that this will probably render the planet unsuitable for human habitation thereafter, though it might make a good scenario for a ground-based battle.
• Objective B: Curious!  The space factory has been emitting some strange radiations; the Sa'Vasku wish to find out more.  To win, they must board and capture the facility, then take away at least some of the crew as prisoners.  Captive human factory workers may be moved to a nearby Sa'Vasku ship at the same rate as boarders, so if the ship has 4 boarding parties then it may transport 4 "items" per turn, either boarding parties, groups of captives or a mixture.  Bonus points for capturing all the workers from the factory!
• Objective C: Hungry!  The Pride of the Orient has spilled some of its cargo; the Sa'Vasku can consume this to win.  Initially, the spillage is clumped into 2 x size-4 "asteroids" or chunks.  These may be fired upon; 4 points of damage will split a size-4 into 2 x size-2 asteroids, each placed 3" in a random direction from the "parent".  Similarly, 2 points of damage will split a size-2 into 2 x size-1.  A size-1 chunk may be consumed by a Sa'Vasku ship that flies over it; the ship may repair 1 lost biomass box when it does this.  If either a Sa'Vasku hits a size-2 or larger chunk, or a Federation ship hits any chunk then the ship must dodge or take damage as normal for an asteroid field.  To win, the aliens must consume at least 4 x size-1 chunk.

The Game

For the first couple of turns, the Sa'Vasku approached slowly, not making any use of their advanced drives and potentially incredible maneuverability.  Indeed, they did possibly the worst possible thing at this time: the outnumbered bioships opened fire on the central group of cruisers!  This clearly signaled their hostile intent and the Federation commodore immediately ordered all his ships to return fire.

Damage was taken by both sides over a couple of turns of shooting.  In particular, one of the 2 Sa'Vasku "cruisers" was badly hurt and the smaller Sa'Vasku "destroyer" lost all maneuvering and shooting ability.  On the other size, the Federation cruiser Callisto was damaged significantly.  Indeed, Callisto and her sister ship Phoebe, along with the destroyer Sable all took hits from leech pods - a particularly pernicious bio-weapon that clings to the hull of its target and continues to gnaw its way through in further turns unless it is killed.

 

On turn 3, the 2 damaged small Sa'Vasku vessels drifted forward, but the other pair of bioships suddenly accelerated.  Their battlecruiser turned towards the planet at high speed and ended up face-to-face with the small (and trembling!) scout cruiser Endeavour.  Endeavour gave her best shot and certainly hurt the beast that was bearing down on her, before she took 11 points of damage in return out of a possible 12.  With life support failing and the command bridge in disarray, the gallant ship was abandoned and left to drift.

Despite being troubled by a leech pod, the destroyer Sable and her undamaged sister Oryx threw down some massive salvos on the monster and caused it a lot of injury in return.

As the other undamaged Sa'Vasku ship accelerated, the ship's counselor on the Phoebe had a premonition.  "Captain, it's going to fly right past us!" she exclaimed.

The captain immediately ordered "Hard a port!  Full stop!" - but even then the Federation cruiser couldn't turn tightly enough to bring most of its weapons to bear on the enemy.

The leech pod attached to the Callisto chewed its way into the engineering section and accidentally caused a warp core breech.  Panic ensued, though in the end the ship's structural integrity was compromised by the leech: she fell apart before she blew up!

At the same time, the leech attached to the Sable also ate its way through the hull and destroyed the smaller ship.

Meanwhile, the leech that was attached to the Phoebe was running rampant!  For 3 turns in a row, mixed teams of security and engineering tried to contain the thing and flush it out into space, but it just kept on dissolving its way through deck after deck.  It even managed to destroy the navigator's manga collection!

Now, here's the good part: the Federation commander was holding a "Makeshift Repairs" event card and could have used it to stop the leech pod at the cost of one of his ship's systems (a point defence, say - not needed in this scenario).  For 3 turns he agonised over whether to play the card for a guaranteed success (minus a ship's system) or whether to roll the dice for a 50% chance of success, but keeping all systems.  Each time, he chose to roll and lost!

With only 1 cruiser fully operational, the Sa'Vasku gave up their plan of capturing humans from the space station.  Instead, that ship made a screaming high-speed turn past the M.D.B. facility and fled into outer space.  The other Sa'Vasku cruiser was hurt, but was still able to out-accelerate the defending ships quite easily and escape.  Of the 7 initial Federation vessels, 3 were now lost; the remaining 4 took out their anger on the heavily damaged Sa'Vasku battlecruiser and destroyer.  Neither of these bioships survived.

Result

Federation:

• Los Angeles: survived
• Toronto: survived
• Phoebe: moderate damage
• Callisto: destroyed
• Endeavour: drifting hulk
• Sable: destroyed
• Oryx: survived

Sa'Vasku:

• Battlecruiser Cisplantin: destroyed
• Cruiser Zoloft: badly damaged
• Cruiser Carboplatin: survived
• Destroyer Zofran: destroyed

Mission: capture subjects for experimentation - failed

Overall: Federation Victory!  The Sa'Vasku player was not familiar with their special rules; had he understood their capabilities better then this could have been a very different game!

[Update: a second game using (almost) the same scenario is available here: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2013/07/full-thrust-return-of-spider.html]