OUR FIRST GAME EVER!

So we purchased some models and, made some asteroids, pulled out the ole trusty foamcore space mat, and threw down for our first game of Firestorm Armada!

A lot of dice are about to be rolled!

For our first game, we decided to just use one ship apiece to get the hang of the rules.  This was probably a good idea.  It's not that the rules are difficult, it just takes a few turns to get into the swing of a new game.  I took my Conqueror and Randy used the Swordbreaker.  Table setup was simple.  No terrain whatsoever and the board itself was fairly small.  We set up our ships and rolled initiative.

Turn 1:

Randy won the initiative.  He moved up into range band 2, brought his port weapons to bear, and rolled a ridiculous amount of dice (my favorite part of this game)!  His powerful broadsides only managed to inflict one hit against me, though.  Now it's my turn.

I moved up the bare minimum and turned to put him into my fore fixed.  I rolled practically all the dice I had and BOOM goes the dynamite!  I managed to take away three HP from him in the first turn.  Nice.  So far, the two fleets seem to be playing just as I imagined.  Randy was a little put off at this point due to losing so many HP in one turn.  However, he was about to close in.

Turn 2:

I won the initiative this time.  Again, I moved the minimum distance to maximize time in my forward arc at range band 2, turned into him, and fired.  Another crit!  I managed to drop him down two more HP this turn but I knew that this was pretty much all I was going to be able to do with my fore fixed for the rest of the game.  

Randy moves around to my port side and chews me up with another broadside, getting a crit.  We finish off the turn with me still winning but knowing that I'm in a bad position.

Yes.  His face always looks like that.

Turn 3:

I won the initiative and turned in behind Randy in order to get my gun racks on him.  I managed to get a hit on him so that was good!  Thank you exploding dice mechanic!

Randy essentially does the same thing to me by executing a port turn and bringing his broadsides to bear right up my aft, getting a hit.

Turn 4:

Randy won the initiative, moved ahead at his minimum move, and scored another hit with his broadside, whittling me down.

I moved as fast as I could straight ahead in order to put some distance between us so I could set up a fore fixed shot.  I think I remembered to drop a mine this turn, also.

Turn 5:

I won the initiative again, dropped a mine, moved out and started my turn back into Randy to set up my shot for next turn.

Randy began chasing me down at this point, trying to avoid my mines and getting me back in his side arc.  Pretty uneventful turn.

Turn 6:

I won initiative and continued my turn.  My gun racks did nothing at this point.  It was only a matter of time before he beat me if I couldn't get my fore fixed on him.

Randy moved up to get me back in his side arc.  He scored a crit but I can't remember what the effect was.  

I don't think those tokens are for mines but that's what we used them as.

Turn 7:

I won the initiative and turned into Randy to line up my fixed fore.  Now, bear in mind that we were still learning the rules, because we had it in our heads that any ship could set off a mine.  I was getting beat down so I had to risk the minefields in order to finish Randy off so my turn took me right into two mines.  Because we assumed that they would pop on me, we rolled.  The first mine managed to do enough to cause a hit.  I was down to one hull point.  The second mine... finished me off.  I don't know the odds of that but it was depressing.  Now we know that it's only enemy ships that set them off so it wouldn't have went down that way but, at the time, we thought Randy had won it.  Just for fun, we rolled to see if my fore fixed would have burned him down (why do this to yourself?) and, of course, it would have blown him sky high.

Conclusion:

So we got a pretty good grasp on the rules (except for the mines, of course) and we had a lot of fun playing. I'm definitely a fan of the game so far and can't wait to play again!