Trials of Konstantine: Round 2

King K brings home another win!

This time a win by tabling, but losing my Dictor flagship in the process, for a 8-3 MoV 147.

My opponent was NairoD, who ran Motti VSD, Quasar, 2xGoz, and a horrible ball of 11 bombers and Dengar!

He was at 400 vs my 396, so I opted for first, potentially giving me last-first with my Strat Adv. I chose his Contested Outpost (other picks were Precicison Strike and Sup Positions). Sure, I'd give away 3-4 tokens, but that's  nothing compared to what PS and SP could give him. Plus CO means I know where he'll be, improving the chances of tabling dramatically.

His fleet is rather unusual: a Vic and a Quasar, both built around Ruthless, and a Rhymerball like u haven't seen in ages. Between Dengar AND Chirraneau tying down those bombers just isn't happening. And there is nothing in Armada that can survive 12 black dice, 11 of them bomber dice with BCC rerolls. 

That doesn't mean his fleet is perfect. Anyone who has played a bit of squads in Armada knows that obstruction kills any flak a 1 die ship might have. So both the Vic and the Quasar are foiled by a single intervening obstacle or ship. Or Ciena, who creates her own obstruction. Also, flak, combined with damage from enemy squads, plus self-harm through RS quickly mounts up in my experience.

Anyway, its not the ship-bombing or anti-squad capabilities that are the problem. The problem is the complete lack of ship-based firepower. Unless someone parks in front of the VSD and you get lucky with the dice, the VSD isn't going to be doing all that mush damage. Not even H9 and Warlord will help all that much. Plus, without ECM, Brunson or whatever, the VSD&Quasar are both pretty soft targets. Lots of hull with Motti to be sure, but ultimately soft.

And with only 2 activations, the enemy has one way to handle this fleet: table it before it eats too many ships.

NairoD

[ flagship ] Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points) -  Admiral Motti ( 24 points)  -  Warlord ( 8 points)  -  Agent Kallus ( 3 points)  -  Ruthless Strategists ( 4 points)  -  Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)  -  H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)  -  Ordnance Pods ( 3 points)  = 128 total ship cost   

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points) -  Boosted Comms ( 4 points)  -  Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)  = 35 total ship cost   

Quasar Fire II-class Cruiser-Carrier (61 points) -  Pursuant ( 2 points)  -  Admiral Chiraneau ( 10 points)  -  Ruthless Strategists ( 4 points)  -  Boosted Comms ( 4 points)  = 81 total ship cost   

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points) -  Comms Net ( 2 points)  = 25 total ship cost   

8 TIE Bomber Squadrons ( 72 points)  

1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)  

1 Dengar ( 20 points)  

1 Tempest Squadron ( 13 points)  

1 Gamma Squadron ( 10 points)  = 131 total squadron cost

NairoD spread out his obstacles, like any sane man would vs Grav Shift. It's usually NOT good to castle behind rocks when facing Grav Shift! So the station ended up in a corner, with only 2 obstacles within shift range. 

The rest of the setup was pretty straightforward. I set up with the Dictor as bait/blocker, as it tanks bombers better than the ISD with Brunson. Also, it has way less firepower, so if it dies it doesn't subtract that much from my offensive power. I made sure no massive bomber attacks could hit me r1, so no rushing the station!

Start of round 2 had both fleets closing, with NairoD easily controlling the station.

Round 2 I opened up with Suppressor and a squad command, doing some good damage and slicing the Vic (with the added benefit of acting as a speed bump for my ISD). My other ships started forward. Nairo started bombing the Dictor, doing little damage, as his BCC flotilla was out of range for the most part.

Round 3 started with the Dictor mostly OK, and with repairs and Brunson and Scramblers etc I was expecting it to weather the storm. But round 3 saw my Dictor eat a lot of bomber dice. There were so many HIT/CRITS rolled I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. It's too tough to die ouright, but it took way more damage than expected. Still, it was keeping the enemy from moving away, triggering Konstantine at the end of the round, speeding up the Gozanti to 3 and slowing down the rest. That's the most important part.

Round 4 was intense. I had to do the Dictor first to repair and make sure it got to shoot. But then the black dice madness continued, and it finally crumpled. Goodbye little Dictor (Konstantine boarded a shuttle before this unfortunate incident).

My ISD then activated, blowing away the Quasar who was unable to escape blue range due to speed 1 and reducing the VSD from 10 to 2 hull. Had it not been for a lousy 2 damage over 7 red dice round 2 and 3, the VSD would have died here. But the end result would not have been much different, except for poor Mithel, who got blown away by Warlord/H9/Kallus/RS :-D

Round 5 was the last round. ISD activated, blew away the Vic and the BCC flotilla, leaving him with 1 Gozanti and a bunch of squads tied up by Ciena. Game.

I lost Dictor, which was my flagship, and Suppressor. Plus poor Mithel. NairoD got tabled. Four tokens for him, 1 for me. Mov 147, 8-3.

Stuff that actually worked for me this game: Slicer Tools, Grav Shift, Tractor Beams, Ion Cannons, DCaps, Titus, and ADMIRAL KONSTANTINE. Honorable mention to my two squads that did pretty great vs TWELVE enemy squads lol!

I'm now at 16 points after 2 games, which is pretty good. There is one match still unplayed that could give one player 16 pts with a 10-1, but most likely I'm in the top 4.

Also most likely is I'll play vs Broba and his Thrawn 2-ship. It's an opponent and I fleet I know well, so I guess that's a plus. Unfortunately it's a very good fleet (better than mine) and Broba is a good player. 

I guess I'll just have to table him :-)