Another match, another Sloane, another win!
As it turned out, Tokra beat Aresius in their quarter final. Tokra was first player and picked Ares' Precision Strike. He started by removing some of Ares' activation padding, helped by an accidental self-ram, a facedown card flipped up (with Precious Strike) to a Structural Damage. The first Rebel flotilla died really fast, and then it went downhill from there.
Like I wrote in my previous post: I really didn't think I had the ability to win vs Tokra. First of all I think his ISD+4 build, using the same squads as my Nordics build, is superior to the ones I've been facing thus far. Vs my fleet, the Gozanti can just stay out of harm's way, while the ISD waits for the squadrons to soften me up. Also, the only squad I can realistically kill is Saber. Yes, in theory I can cause problems for other squads as well, but only kill them if the opponent makes placement mistakes or I get really, really lucky.
Tokra
Vassal World Cup 2018
Points: 391 / 400
[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
- Admiral Sloane ( 24 points)
- Avenger ( 5 points)
- Damage Control Officer ( 5 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
= 157 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Jamming Field ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Jamming Field ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost
1 Maarek Steele ( 21 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Colonel Jendon ( 20 points)
1 ""Howlrunner"" ( 16 points)
1 Ciena Ree ( 17 points)
1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)
1 Saber Squadron ( 12 points)
1 ""Mauler"" Mithel ( 15 points)
= 134 total squadron cost
Despite a good bid, my bid was much bigger, so I selected 1st player. Anything else would be paramount to suicide.
From Tokra's objectives I chose Fire Lanes. The other options were Most Wanted, which would only cause my ISD to be focused down even faster. And Superior Positions, which is pretty much an auto-win in this matchup. With Fire Lanes I have a fighting chance - and more importantly, I know where his ships will need to be.
Fire lanes might seem strange in a fleet without Strategic, but it's actually quite good. There are very few fleets that can use strategic AGAINST this Sloane build. If they try, they lose their strategic/relay squads in the process. And relay Gozanti are really excellent for racking up Fire Lanes tokens.
In this match Tokra opted for max separation of tokens. One in the middle, and the other two as far to each side as possible. I countered by dragging them inwards and forward.
We then deployed. I divided my fleet in 3: ISD + Repair Gozanti in the middle, two Gozanti to the left, and one Gozanti + Demo to the right, where I was fairly certain Tokra would drop his ISD.
Dividing the fleet is usually not a good thing. But here I had to threaten the Fire Lanes tokens, or I'd auto-lose on points. It also has the benefit that the squadrons cannot engage my entire fleet - they must either go for the ISD in the center, or go to either flank, but cannot threaten both flanks.
In the event Tokra did NOT deploy his ISD to the side, but centrally, facing my Devastator. The red ring in the pic is where it was placed, while the blue arrow points to where it MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
In hindsight Tokra felt like this was a bad placement. And I can kind of agree. Facing Devastator with any ship, even and ISD is a bad idea. Especially if that ship has no ECM.
On the other hand it kept the ISD close to the squadron's firepower, where they together could deal with the ISD. He also did not have to have his ISD engaged by Demo early without any squadron cover, then having a by then token-less Devastator crash into Sloane's flagship late game. Plus his ISD could start by controlling two fire lanes tokens, which can be a very important leg up.
So it was not, I think, a bad placement. It was a very understandable placement, and one that could have worked.
What followed was a mistake on his part: he decided to go after my 2 Gozanti down to the left. it would have been a good tactic, to remove my activation padding, IF THE AVENGER HAD BEEN OVER IN THE CORNER. But with Avenger facing Devastator, there was not enough time. But the time he had killed 1 flotilla (his dice didn't help - not a single acc was rolled before Sloane died!) my Demo had one of his flotillas double-arced. By the time he took out the 2nd flotilla it no longer mattered: Devastator got the coveted last-first, end of r3/top of r4, and Sloane's Avenger was no more.
End state, start of r5
The image shows end state. We called it here, because there was no way a win could be achieved for Sloane: my ISD was nearly fresh and could not be killed. The only thing I could lose was 1 flotilla if Maarek-Jendon went for it. I could also kill 1-2 of Tokra's flotillas, plus claim maybe 5 more Fire Lanes tokens. Tokra's remaining Gozanti are marked in yellow, and the squads are obviously his.
After the game we talked some, and yes, the original plan he had was keep his ISD far away initially, take away some of my padding, and then engage Devastator. But in the end he didn't, and that was the start of several decisions and turn of events that snowballed into a loss.
I am of course very happy that I did win, but I am left with the feeling that most days this would be a win for Tokra and his Sloane fleet. He's a very good player with a very good fleet. But sometimes stuff happens and you lose.
In the other semi final JJ beat Roquax. So like last year the final will be between the two of us. I'm not exactly thrilled :D Or I am, but JJ is a very good player! Last year it was his balanced Jerjerrod fleet vs my balanced Vader fleet (what! did I play Vader before wave 7 too!? omg I must be MAD!) and he whipped me good. He had initiative, and with his already great skill AND Jerry's agility, he ran loops around me. The end score wasn't so bad, but I very nearly only killed BLACK SQUADRON. Only at the very last moment I killed his ISD, but it was perhaps more a lucky crit than anything else :-)
This year JJ is playing Raddus. And Raddus is a VERY GOOD commander. If you don't think so, you're going to get a lot of nasty surprises in wave 7! In a sense he's a little like Jerjerrod: he gives an advantage in the maneuvering game. Not by giving extra yaw, but by letting you drop in a ton of firepower where you need it, when you need it.
To prove my point I'm going to show you 2 screenshots from the JJ vs Roquax match:
Here the Profundity comes out of Raddus-space, and the Hammerhead pops right into a close-range double arc on the side of the Yavaris. This was made possible by a lowly flotilla seeming coasting by at safe range. While the profundity cannot activate first - the Hammerhead totally can. Yikes!
Here is the result. HH with Ordnance Experts and Externa Racks, double arc and ram. No more Yavaris, and the game is effectively lost. To add insult to injury, the MC75 now has Gallant Haven boxed in and in a perfect double arc from the MC75!
Very good play by JJ there - and I've seen him do other tricks with Profundity in other games. In this case Roquax seemed a bit unprepared for Raddus. Raddus cannot hyper in ships overlapping squadrons, and Roquax failed to screen with his ships (and his flotillas for that matter). But that is perhaps easy to say after the fact!
At any rate, this is the fleet waiting for me in the finals:
JJs Juggernaut
386 points
MC75 Ordnance Cruiser
- Ordnance Experts
- Electronic Countermeasures
- External Racks
- Assault Concussion Missiles
- Profundity
Total = (128 points)
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette
- Ordnance Experts
- External Racks
Total = (43 points)
MC30c Torpedo Frigate
- Admiral Raddus
- Ordnance Experts
- Assault Concussion Missiles
- H9 Turbolasers
- Admonition
Total = (116)
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
Shara Bey A-wing Squadron (17)
Tycho Celchu A-wing Squadron (16)
VCX-100 Freighter (15)
VCX-100 Freighter (15)
Squadron Total = (63 points)
I have the bid, which is good, but JJ has already taken down a fleet similar to my own (thecactusman17, the original champion of Devastator builds) as 2nd player earlier in the tournament, so it won't be easy.
If you want to watch, the final is tomorrow Thursday 1st of march, 2000 GMT. On Vassal of course.
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