Diplomatic Mission Brings Surprise Victory I played my first game of Full Thrust, using the Cross Dimensions rules.

I greatly enjoyed the game and finally experienced an Epic Space Battle. Our attempts to do this as kids, using Starfleet Battles rules, resulted in 2-day long games with a metric ton of paperwork. Using Full Thrust, we were able to finish a multi-ship game in 3 hours, with minimal bookkeeping. Our host had a cool starfield mat for our game, and Pat and Ryan had impressive ship collections, so I was able to borrow a New Anglican Confederation fleet. Together Ryan and I would have a total of 6 capital ships and 6 gunships; Pat would have 2 battleships, a number of missile destroyers and smaller capital ships, and at least 6 gunships. However, his force would be split; some waiting in-system, the rest forced to wait at least 5 turns before coming on to the board. After a quick description of the scenario and some initial setup, we went over the rules. Pat is good at explaining rules and we were ready to go after an overview and some quick questions. I'm going to continue in narrative form, because the game really fired my imagination. Constant border tensions had been taking their toll; our many attempts at peaceful resolution had been rebuffed by our unpleasant Gothic neighbors, the Neu Swabian Legue. One more attempt at a peaceful diplomatic mission would be attempted, but this time we would have some insurance in place--no more "deep space accidents" as our Germanic friends called them. In conjunction with our allies from the Eurasian Solar Union and a task force from L'Astromarine des FSE, we prepared a mix of capital ships, escorts, and gunships. With great care and stealth, we infiltrated a gunship squadron of three ships and and one small escort into a gas cloud near the flagship of the Neu Swabian League. Running on minimal life support, they waited patiently for the arrival of our diplomatic mission. We approached in 2 groups and made good speed towards the planet of New Alsace-Lorraine. The stance of the NSL fleet changed in a manner that seemed rude and hostile. We sent out communications assuring them that we were on a diplomatic mission while putting our crews on battle-alert. After a short while it became obvious that the NSL fleet was moving to attack, and we decided to activate our insurance. The gunships exploded out of the gas cloud and massed around the sides and stern of the NSL battleship. Attempts at communicating with the battleship were pointless, as it immediately opened fire on our ambassadors of peace. The gunship Kukri was crippled almost immediately, and was soon lost with all hands. However the ESU ship scored many hits on the battleship, and my gunships Dagger and Raj fired all they had. It was obvious that the NSL wanted a fight. Our capital ships were still too far to assist, so the gunships were all on their own for a while. They continued to inflict heavy damage on the battleship, but before long gunship Raj was obliterated. The Dagger finally pulled away and made towards the planet. About that time the capital ships came into contact, and the darkness of space was filled with missiles, torpedoes, and beams. To be honest, my gunners did only slight damage to the NSL fleet, but my allies scored hit after hit; many of them well-placed shots to power cores, life support, and fire control systems. Our right flank advanced steadily, while I held the middle, and sent the CL Victory to

meet gunship Dagger at the planet. Victory had a full complement of elite and heavily armed diplomats that planned to land at the planets capital city. The NSLs reinforcements had arrived and entered the fray by now, scoring many hits on the Dagger but failing to destroy her. She would shortly take up orbit around New Alsace-Lorraine and begin to disrupt planetary communications. My allies continued to disable or destroy NSL ships; the first of the NSL battleships drifted, without bridge control and a failing life support system, directly into the path of BC Vengeance. Vengeances boarding parties, wearing vacc suits, were soon swarming over the crippled hulk. The CL Victory took heavy damage on its way to the planet but took out a gunship in return and was well on its way to landing troops, I mean diplomats, on the planet, when the NSL fleet retreated and engaged their FTL drives. Our colonists could rest a little easier, knowing the border had been pushed back...at least for a little while.