Critical Engagement 2014 – The Results

'We were so close, and it could have been so different.'

Charles Fenn, Admiral of the UCMS Retribution, sat in his large, leather console chair, leaning forward on his desk with his elbows. Two fingers from each hand were massaging his temples, as he sought to find clarity and a route forward from the mess Orofino had turned out to be. The plans had been sound, and the Generals sent efficient and talented, but the alien turned out to be stronger than anticipated. Fenn remained motionless as his clerk, Randall, sought to gain his attention by clearing his throat. He closed his eyes momentarily, before leaning back into his chair, which creaked with age.

“Bring the star maps here.” Fenn beckoned, and reached for his glass of neat Scotch. The clerk did as told, and placed four small, white rectangular datasticks on the desk. Charles reached for the sticks, and slotted them into four holes on the side of the desk. The Admiral watched the centre of the desk intently, as the dark mahogany finish faded to a true black. A map of Celustro's solar system began to appear, and quickly became a bright perfect image on the screen. In his peripheral vision, the grey of Randall's trousers moved slightly as the Clerk shifted weight.

“Leave.” Fenn derisively ordered his clerk, who silently did as told. Charles waited as he heard the door to his chambers slide open, and then back shut again. Alone in the room now, he took a sip from his drink and used his spare hand to rotate the map on the desk. His fingers ran along the map to the left, causing it to spin in the same direction. With an outward flick of his index finger and thumb, the map shrunk and focussed vision on Celustro. By now the Shaltari would have gained access to the planetary defence system, making planetfall impossible. Orofino had been important due to its ability to restock Naval vessels, and it's close proximity to the Tauras and Panchate star-sectors. On top of this, some of the buildings below could have housed important strategical information to aid the re-conquest.

'We'll never know now. God damn spiney bastards will have extracted everything hours ago.' Fenn thought to himself. There was a a plan B in place, as there always should be, but he had hoped they wouldn't have to take it. It would take the fleet to the other side of the star-sector, and to a planet named Pathour. This world wasn't dissimilar to Celustro for all intensive purposes; it was a military planet, with one large city named Old Olympia capable of Naval docking. This world had been plan B due to it being two weeks foldspace distance further from Tauras and Panchate, and also the forward scouts had reported not only a larger Scourge presence, but that of human life too. Fenn had encountered Humans who had been 'left behind' before, and found interactions with them to go one of two ways: alliance, or death. Finding and bringing lost citizens into the UCM was of course a very high priority, but Fenn had decided that the wars in the local star-sectors more important at this time. Old Olympia was also more geared towards military equipment and production, rather than intelligence. The Admiral sighed, and placed his empty glass on the table. He pressed at the screen and the map began to expand. In a few seconds Fenn was looking at the whole solar system once more, and with the press of a few more buttons the whole star-sector. His finger hovered over the map briefly while he made up his mind, and then jabbed at the map. Stars and solar systems flashed by in a matter of seconds, before Fenn found himself staring at his fleets new target: Pathos. Charles pressed a button on the intercom, and told Randall to come in. The door slid open moments later, and his clerk stood obediently to attention in the doorway.

“Tell the fleet we leave for Pathos on my order. It's time to leave this fallen planet to die, once and for all.”

For those of you unawares, the Orbital Bombardment team hosted their first tournament yesterday: Critical Engagement 2014! (If the above short makes little sense to you, I suggest you have a read of the second page of the rules pack) Now that the dust and hubris has settled, we are glad to report it as a great success. Although there were only 10 of us in the end, we had a great time, and the standard of gaming was as competitive as I thought and hoped it would be. It was also nice to see a very even spread of armies, and I even got to play against Shaltari for the first time!

This post is a summary of the results, and you can be sure that a few of the OB team will be uploading battle reports and pictures in the very near future.

Standings:

Dan Cates - Shaltari

Mike Burch - Scourge

Edward Neale-Scullion - UCM

Peter Corps - PHR

Dan Folly - UCM

James Barry - Shaltari

Nicolas Gaillat - Scourge

Rob Jones - Scourge

Alex Randall - PHR

Steven Downes - UCM

Best of Faction:

PHR – Peter Corps

Scourge – Mega Mike

Shaltari – Dan Cates

UCM – Ed Neale-Scullion

Best Sport:

Nicolas Gaillat

Best Painted

Alex Randall