Trials of Konstantine

The other day I was chatting with Paul (PT106) and Broba(Fett) on the Armada Discord chat. A little about listbuilding and a little about the upcoming Vassal tourney. We started disrespecting Konstantine and Tagge. It's hard not to when doing Imp lists. 

One thing led to another and suddenly I had shoehorned Konstantine into my Thrawn list. Do you get the pic reference now, punk? Do you? It wasn't a bad list, even with Konstantine. But it was oc much better with Thrawn, so there was no reason to go with K-man over the big T.

But then Paul (I think it was him, could have been Broba, too lazy to check the chat log) commented I wasn't really using anything that supplemented K-mans ability. And oc this was true, as it wasn't really a K-man kind of list.

So I ended up trying to make a real, W7 Konstantine list. I'm normally not into self-harm, but I guess I was bored or something. I tried various angles, including a 2xISD list that wasn't entirely bad. But a close look revealed it would just be better with Motti or Thrawn or anyone else really.

In the end I settled on this:

Name: VAT18 Konstantine
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Konstantine

Assault: Station Assault
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
• Admiral Konstantine (23)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Grav Shift Reroute (2)
• Targeting Scrambler (5)
• Ion Cannon Batteries (5)
• Interdictor (3)
= 144 Points

Imperial II (120)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Avenger (5)
= 159 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Suppressor (4)
= 34 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Admiral Titus (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 27 Points

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
= 32 Points

Total Points: 396

It has two ships for Konstantine to trigger from (the minimum), but those are fairly agile (ET Dictor & ISD) and can tank sufficiently to be at distance 1-5 and not just die (Brunson/Dictor title on the Dictor and ECM on the ISD, plus Scramblers help a lot). A single Tractor Beam is handy for stripping nav tokens, and the Gozanti is there to slice away those navs (or squads or whatever). Note the Ion batteries on the Dictor. You don't see them often, but in this list they make sense over Heavy Ions (they are Exhaust anyway). Titus + the Dictor can really mess with opponents obstacle, deployment and objective play. Suppressor is normally a movement deterrent, but with K-man you can actually force enemy ships to close the gap and get their token flipped. Not a big deal, but good enough - and fun. Finally there are two squads for screening: Ciena, cuz she's ma bae, and mauler bc of splash and general hate coming his way (he'll be waiting inside a flak zone for the opportune moment).

I have a very modest bid. 5 activations with SAdv (this isn't really a Pryce list, and Brunson was already taken, so it makes sense). Only 4+1 drops, but whatever. SA isn't my fav red objective, but at least I can pull the stations almost to the edge of the board and really make the enemy come to me or lose 7-4. CO doesn't need any explanation. DT is just personal preference. Salvage or Corona would make sense too. I just like the opportunities that DT give, not primarily for the scoring, but for the tactical game.

I would have loved to have Tua/ECM on the Suppressor, but no points. Slicer wisdom also dictates that 1 slicer is meh, while 2 are pretty good. But again no pts, and I wanted a Comms net for my big guys' benefit. Besides I'm not leaning too heavily on slicing, so I think it's ok. ISD & Dictor are where they should be, so there are no points to save. Dropping the ISD-2 to Kuat would be a BAD move. Even with speed control u need at least 1 ship that can really engage at range. GT, ECM, LS, XI7 and Avenger are almost mandatory upgrades for me on my ISD-2s. They just give me so much for the points. In this case I'd like to try QBT on the ISD... but oc Tractor beams are totally OP so they are also Modifications... good call there FFG :P Titus isn't mandatory, but 6 pt bid won't help much. Plus he's kind of fun, and if I'm doing K-man I might as well do T-bro too. 

Squadrons aren't set in stone, but I'd like to have a minimal screen, just to prevent massive bomber rape of my ships. Squall + Maarekdon going to town from r1 is enough to completely wreck any list. Ciena is best at this. She pairs well with Valen the Grin I suppose, but it's hard to keep Valen protected with just the one squad. Often he dies first anyway and it feels wasted. Mauler is a MUCH bigger pain. The only swaps I did consider was a Lambda for Mauler. But I think the Grav Shift and everything is enough for objective shenanigans. Jonus too was considered. He tends to attract attention and draw squads into flak traps, just so they can shoot him dead dead dead. And his flotilla-popping skillz are epic. But in the end it was 1 moving part too many, so I settled on Ciena+Mauler.

Oh, and this is my list for the Vassal Autumn Tourney 2018. So we'll see if it is actually any good, or if I just made a big fool of myself. If so I'll blame it on Konstantine...