Vassal WC 2021, POD game vs Goerrit

 

My 3rdWorld Cup POD game, vs Goerrit's "Jerry Quasar Rhymer-Rogue stay-away while I bomb" list.

Since we were both already qualified for Swiss (for all practical purposes) I decided not to castle when he chose 1st and Asteroids. Instead, I wanted to see if I could catch him. I didn't, but it was way less boring than castling!

Ended with a 4-7 loss for me.

Ended the Clone War has!

Lord Sidious, the Sith Lord that orchestrated the entire war has been exposed and cast down. The same goes for his Jedi allies and the corrupt government of the Republic.

The grand Confederacy of Independent Systems rises to take its place. Headed by former Jedi Count Dooku and protected by relentless droid legions, the new galactic realm will reign for a thousand generations.

The CW final is over and Beanicus has defeated JJs Juggernaut.

Wave 10 Article: Heart of the Swarm (Separatists)

 

This article looks at the two teased Separatist expansions: Invivisble Hand (Providence-class) and Recusant-class. Both are meaty large-base ships with the Providences being the bigger of the two classes.

We have one FFG article plus some additional info "leaked" on Asmodee's product pages:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2021/1/25/heart-of-the-swarm/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-invisible-hand_3370/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-recusant-class-destroyer_3371/

Both miniatures look great. The Recusant is a bit weird-looking but in a cool way. I'm going to need 2 of each, I think. Yeah, 3 Venators and 2 of each of these babies.

Wave 10 Article: Republic Reinforcements (Republic)

 

Yesterday we got some news about wave 10. Not just one teaser article but two!

Please note that this is the 2nd version of this article. Just minutes after posting another player over at the Discord pointed out that Asmodee had some additional spoilers for us on their product pages. A lot of my predictions were spot on but who cares when we have more accurate info? 😅

I'm going to take a look at each faction in turn. First up is the GAR - the Grand Army (no Navy in there?) of the Republic.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2021/1/25/republic-reinforcements/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-venator-class-star-destroyer_3369/

https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-pelta-class-frigate_3368/

Two new ships. The large-base Venator and the small-base Pelta. Both are good-looking models but let us be honest: we're here for the Venator. That's a ship that is going to sell really well. Expect it to be out of stock a lot 😛 It's worth mentioning that the Pelta is a new sculpt. Looks like the "wings" are closed.

Corellian conflict, All-out assault, pt. 3 (The Battle)

 

I've got some images from the battle that I'll add for flavor, but to better give an overview of events, I've recreated the battle using Vassal. Showing, in broad strokes, what happened. I think that's a more educational approach. Keep in mind that this report is done from memory. Ship positions etc. are approximations. Same with speeds. I've made no attempt to track damage in detail or show commands. Squadron positions are just an indication of where stuff happened when, and individual squads may have died prior to actually being removed from the simulation.

Imperial battle plan: Since our Motti player wouldn't be attending, we would put his fleet in the middle and share control of it. Since I'm the more experienced player, that pretty much meant I ran it for the better part of the game, or poor Romodi would be completely overwhelmed.

Sloane would set up on one flank, using the Onager and squads to clear the opposition, quickly going to speed 3 and hitting the enemy center from the flank mid-game, hopefully around the time they crushed into Motti and their squads were already tied up.

Romodi would go on the other flank, but not too far away. Indeed, using the whole table was out of the question, as it would make us unable to support one another. Thus, Romodi's Sovereign Cymoon plopped down next to Motti's Chimaera, and between them, they'd keep us fed with IF! and whatever other Fleet Command we might need (we ran ET! turn 2, maybe also 3, then went to STM!). The rest of Romdoi's ships set up to form a screen against the approaching flankers.

TL;DR: Motti would be the Anvil. Sloane the Hammer. And Romodi the sacrificial lamb.

Sloane's ISD-2 started in Hyperspace with Maarek-Jendon, planning to drop out of hyper r2 to herd the rebel ships into squads and Onager ignition arc. Motti put Harrow and Demo into hyper. The VSD would be perfect to launch mid-game where it could bring its offense to bear without being the no. 1 punching bag early on. Demo was the perfect counter to rebel ships dropping in behind our lines (a big worry). Romodi kept the Kuat in hyper, planning to drop it behind Sato's lines as soon as he was heavily engaged.

You know what? We actually stuck to the plan...

Corellian Conflict, All-out assault, pt 2 (Rebel Fleets)

 

Our opponents for the final battle were these three rebel fleets, all of them just shy of 500. Keep in mind it's only round 5! Agate has about 20 pts less than the other two, due to a lucky long-range shot with my Onager against a scarred flotilla.

The rebels have had a clear advantage in squads since round 1 - with the exception of my Sloane fleet once I had points for actual squads - and mercilessly used it to kill an astonishingly large number of ISDs. I think every battle Motti and Romodi were in, they lost an ISD, plus lesser stuff.

In large hulls, however, the Imperial side greatly outweighed the rebels. The final battle is 7 rounds long, but burning down FOUR ISD, one Onager, one Vic, and more seemed an impossible task with the threat of Sloane's squads swooping in the dismember bombers trying to clear Motti and Romodi's TIE Int screen.

On to the actual lists:

Corellian Conflict, All-out Assault, pt. 1 (Imperial Fleets)

 

Tomorrow I'll play the final Corellian conflict battle for the first time IRL. I've started the CC several times, both locally and online, but the campaign always fizzles...but NOT this time. We're only in round 5, but Imps (my team) have 10 CP (Rebels just 3) so we have to declare now, or we're sure to reach 12 and the campaign will be over without a mega-battle! 

The reason we have so many points: Rebel outposts on good systems. So the rebels grabbed a few hi-value systems early on, and we took them back, earning 2-3 CP each. Not optimal, but it's the first time playing the CC for most of us, so we need to play to learn.

In case you wonder: Rebels are in decent shape (they'll be featured in more detail in the next post). They are not maxed out at 500 like we are, but they are only a couple points short, except Agate which perma-lost a scarred GR-75 so she's 20 or so points behind.

On the Imperial side: GA Sloane (me), Romodi, and Motti.

On the Rebel side: GA Leia, Agate, Sato.

Note: Since we started before 1.5 landed, we've decided to finish using old rules and card costs. So old intel is in effect, same with evades, and everything else.

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - FINALS

 

The day has finally come. The Clone Wars will be decided, one way or the other.

Deadline: Sunday 31th January (the sooner, the better)

JJs Juggernaut

1

Beanicus

Vassal WC 2021, POD game vs b2w

 

My 2nd World Cup POD game, vs b2w's Agate Assault Cruiser 'n Friends.

Ended with an 8-3 win for me.

Vassal WC 2021, POD game vs Callum

A review vid of my POD game vs Callum (7-4 to me). I'll try to remember to log or record my next game so I don't have to recreate it from memory!

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - ROUND TOP 4 DRAW

JJs Juggernaut	1	CaribbeanNinja
Beanicus	2	MandalorianMoose

Vassal Armada 4.2.5 update

Module version 4.2.5 "This is Vassal WC 2021" is available! 

Download: http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Star_Wars:_Armada

Direct download link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmLOw84tw_3YhO8ApmKE2NT7f2oPpQ?e=FKoQ0V

Checksum: 66ec389a

OVERVIEW

Official VASSAL WORLD CUP 2021 version!

Fixed the chat delay bug!

COMPATIBILITY

Armada 4.2.5 was built using Vassal 3.4.12. It should be compatible with module versions 4.0.0+ and Vassal 3.4.11+ but ALWAYS update to the most recent versions of both!

CRITICAL BUGFIXES

Fixed the SUPER-ANNOYING bug which caused every other line of text in the chat to be delayed.

OTHER BUGFIXES

None

MAJOR NEW FEATURES

None

OTHER NEW FEATURES

Bail, Pryce, and Sadv and now available under Pieces --> Upgrades --> Banned Cards (no idea why anyone would want that, but there you go). Not supported by Shrimpbot or Quick-spawn. Manual drag-and-drop only.

TO-DO

Explore new features added in Vassal 3.4 and 3.5.

Vassal WC 2021, POD review

 

In this video, I look at the lists of my 3 POD opponents.

Vassal WC 2021, Listbuilding

 

I've got issues with my shoulder so I'm not allowed to type and click too much. 

So instead of a massive blog post, I'm going vlog.

You were warned.

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - ROUND TOP 8 DRAW

We're nearing the end of the Clone Wars. Who will crush their opponents and claim control of the galaxy?

There can be only 1!

Roald    1    JJs Juggernaut

RealVeers    2    CaribbeanNinja

cadetvw    3    Beanicus

Darth Veggie    4    MandalorianMoose

Deadline: Sunday 17th January 2021

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - TOP 16 DRAW

The following players have qualified for the top cut from the EURO sector:

Top 5:

Player	Rank	W/L	TPs	MOV/SOS
RealVeers	1	3/0	25	557/5.56
cadetvw	2	2/1	22	523/5.33
Louis-André	3	3/0	21	259/5.11
ginkapo	4	2/1	20	378/4.67
Roald	5	1/2	20	300/4.89

Win big or go home:

Irishmadcat

18

1/2

13

290/5.00

Han's dice:

Darth Veggie

9

2/1

18

243/6.33

The following players have qualified for the top cut from the US sector:

Top 7:

Player	Rank	W/L	TPs	MOV/SOS
MandalorianMoose	1	3/0	27	840/5.00
JJs Juggernaut	2	3/0	26	641/5.89
Explosive Tooka	3	2/1	22	694/6.67
PT106	4	2/1	22	420/5.56
Mala	5	3/0	22	329/5.44
CaribbeanNinja	6	2/1	20	547/6.00
Beanicus	7	2/1	20	437/4.78

Win big or go home:

Tokra

8

2/1

20

431/5.44

Han's dice:

emfrank72

24

1/2

15

400/4.78

Here are the pairings for the first elimination round.

Deadline: Sunday, 10 January

VASSAL CW TOP 16 ELIMINATION ROUNDS - TOP 16 DRAW

emfrank72	8	Roald
ginkapo	6	JJs Juggernaut
Explosive Tooka	5	RealVeers
CaribbeanNinja	3	Irishmadcat
cadetvw	2	PT106
Beanicus	7	Louis-André
Mala	1	Darth Veggie
Tokra	4	MandalorianMoose

Link to the top cut (separate event): https://tabletop.to/vassal-cw-swiss-euro

Link to the Euro Swiss: https://tabletop.to/vassal-cw-swiss-euro

Link to the US Swiss: https://tabletop.to/vassal-cw-swiss-us

Vassal update 4.2.0 "Hello there Vassal WC 2021"

Module version 4.2.0 "Hello there Vassal WC 2021" is available! 

Download: http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Star_Wars:_Armada

Checksum: d4b1771d

OVERVIEW

Official VASSAL WORLD CUP 2021 version!

Contains various bug fixes and convenience tweaks.

COMPATIBILITY

Armada 4.2.0 was built using Vassal 3.4.12. It should be compatible with module versions 4.0.0+ and Vassal 3.4.11+ but ALWAYS update to the most recent versions of both!

CRITICAL BUGFIXES

Alternate paint schemes for Consular & Hardcell now have plastic rails and shield dials.

Likewise, faded Arq & Raider side rails have been restored.

OTHER BUGFIXES

SAdv, Bail, and Pryce subjected to Order 66. They will not be missed.

Ordnance Experts now has the errataed version of the card.

Starhawk ship token name no longer disappears.

TIE Phantom typos fixed.

Phlac-Arphocc typos fixed.

MAJOR NEW FEATURES

The maneuver tool is now capped at 2 yaw for any given joint (which incidentally fixes a known man tool bug).

Some reports are color-coded (WIP).

OTHER NEW FEATURES

Cloning/spending Pass tokens generate a report.

Some new button icons added.

Cleaned up the references section.

Updated the Help menu.

TO-DO

Explore new features added in Vassal 3.4 and 3.5.

The death of TRC is grossly exaggerated

 

All the TRCs

TRC isn't dead. I touched upon it in my 1.5 turbolaser evaluation earlier this week, but then came across more than 1 person who thought TRC was gone for good. So I figured I'd take a second, in-depth look at one of the staples of Armada (esp Rebels).

Let's look at the facts:

TRC has a new contender in Linked Turbolaser Towers (LTT). LTT has "unlimited" rerolls, whereas TRC is a recurring exhaust. That's a significant difference there, and not in TRCs favor. LTT doesn't offer any guarantees of double hits. TRC does. If you roll enough red dice, there is likely to be a blank. When rerolled, it'll come up with 0.75 damage on average, with a 1/8 chance of an acc. TRC gives you full control over your dice - turn a blank into a double (or a crit, which can sometimes be better) 100% of the time. When double arcing, LTT gets your two rerolls, but TRC only triggers once. Sometimes that will be a problem for TRC, sometimes you only need the double on one shot. It's hard to quantify exactly when LTT is better and vice versa, but a lot of TRC's appeal is that you KNOW the result of the dice mod. With red flak LTT becomes better still, so on a Muni there is no competition at all. But Munis don't have any evades, thus irrelevant. I'm still of the opinion that TRC is superior on any small base ship with 2 evades. Unless you expect to do a lot of flak, in which case the "super attack" ability of LTT shifts the balance. Caveat: if you're running rebels with a lot of blue flak and Toryn Farr, the ball shifts to TRC again.

Evade got better, which means it's defensively more valuable - and can also reroll that sweet double you set. But come on. All (or almost all) the TRC ships will now be smalls with 2 evades. So there won't be any ships who can discard evade to affect an extra die. And how often will one of your small TRCs be shooting another ship with evade at close range? It will happen, surely, but how often? It's only close range that's been changed: medium and long range evades are EXACTLY as before. And TRC was doing great then, so tell me, what's the big change? Oh, and in case you didn't realize: evade works the same on dice that's been rerolled into doubles with LTT...

On anything with only 1 evade or anything bigger than small, I think the equation changes quite a bit in favor of LTT, though I wouldn't rule out TRC on Arq and Neb gunlines.

Summary: CR90A and MC30 Scout are both very solid platforms for TRC. Some fleets with Arqs (Needa and Reeva work well) and Nebs (gunlines) also. For all other ships, LTT is a serious contender indeed.

 

Vassal Organized Play 2021 update 1

 

To maintain a sense of community and continuity in the face of the forum closedown, I've decided to come up with some incentives for sticking around and playing in multiple tournaments, leagues, or whatever else we're playing.

I haven't figured out all the details yet, but something along these lines:

• 1 point for joining a tournament
• 1 more for playing all your games
• 1 for qualifying for the cut (if any), or making it to the top X (if no cut)
• 1 for winning a tournament

Players start collecting points starting with the Vassal CW Tournament (since it runs into 2021).

I'll have to get back to you on prize support. Might be able to scrounge up some loose change. We'll see.

Sound interesting?

Check the current status here.