Round 2.
My second opponent was Gil, from Denmark, who I (narrowly) beat at last Nordics. He's a very solid player I must say.
In 2017 he ran an all-ship list of ISD, Dictor, Demo, and Goz. At the time this was an unusual list at the competitive level, but it was nevertheless quite potent. Between projection experts, repair commands - and a tractor beam - he actually managed to take out my ISD (really feeling the lack on gunnery teams last year). So he actually came the closes to beating me!
Motti dual ISD. Well, you can't really expect to take out both with a list like mine, not without unacceptable risk anyway. So you pick on the ISD that's the most exposed, which is probably the Kuat bc of its shorter range and boarding troopers.
Picking on a Kuat with BTA requires speed control. It can only flip 2 tokens, but its the brace that its after, so its bad enough, especially if the Cymoon is pouring fire at you from long range. Speaking of the Cymoon: Motti Cymoon wo ECM is not ideal, but with Spinal/XI7 AND Intel Officer, mixed with maybe Cf dial and definitely CF tokens, it WILL do good damage. Ideally the Kuar uses BTA, deads a ton of damage, then the Cymoon shoots and forces your to ditch the brace to save a few points. You really don't want this.
Fortunately I had the bid, so I could last/first with Pryce. The Sation is the obvious objective choice, as killing 1 Kuat, his squads, a Goz or two, and grabbing some late game tokens will give a 8-3, which is about as good as it gets vs this kind of fleet.
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Motti
Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Solar Corona
ISD Kuat Refit (112)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Boarding Troopers (3)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Avenger (5)
= 140 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points
ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
• Admiral Motti (24)
• Intel Officer (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Spinal Armament (9)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 165 Points
Squadrons:
• 4 x TIE Interceptor Squadron (44)
= 44 Points
Total Points: 399
I set my Quasar opposite the station, parallell to the edge and going towards the center, squads clustered for an early Squall/Defender strike. My ISD further to the right, where it could shift to avoid being pinned by 2x ISD, but without being too fare from the station.
Top of r1 my Squall throws Maarek, Defender and Jendon forward, activate them, and kill 3 of 4 Interceptors. Maarek double taps and takes a bit of counter, but I feel i have to do this. Can't have 4 Interceptors lurking in the back mid-game!
Quasar turns into the board to keep command range on Jendon so he can relay the Defenders to safety next round. The gamble pays off. Maareks braces keeps him alive at 1 hp after flak and TIE shots. I can then activate him and the Defender and get them to safety, while Valen takes care of the final interceptor.
The Quasar takes some Cymoon fire bc of this bold move, and despite obstruction and Brunson takes some real damage. Curse you red dice! :-D
But it turns out Gil has mostly set repair commands on the Cymoon (the one on the left in the image), so it only gets 1 more shot at the Quasar, which it survives. The lack on early navs also keeps it down in speed and pointing the wrong direction so to speak.
Instead my ISD unloads bombers and red dice at the Kuat, moves forward, activates again, bombs and double arcs before going speed 3 around the outside. It does eat the boarding trooeprs from the side arc, and the dice are really, really hot, but damage is still nothing compared to a full front arc - or a double arc.
The Kuat crumples to bombers right after. I wipe out both Gozanti and claim the final two round tokens for the station, so we go 4-2 in tokens. Score 8-3 to me, so I climb a bit on the ranking.
Gil wasn't 100% happy with his play, and I can understand this. He quickly discovered his errors during the game as I punished every little mistake. The reach of Squall + Defenders WILL catch you by surprise the first time you meet it. And a Thrawn 2-ship fleet is so incredibly agile you should set nothing but nav until you are sure it won't outflank you.
Next time Gil, next time you'll get me!
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