Wrong kind of Empire...
My round 2 game with PodRacer wrapped up yesterday. We started Monday, took a wifey break, resumed on Tuesday, had another family-related break, then managed to finally finish this thing. It's a good thing you can save a vassal game, because even with the both of us playing rather quickly, it takes time to move 9 ships and 30 squadron stands!
That's right. 30 squadrons. I had 12 squadrons. Pod had an astounding 18: Zertik Strom, 2 Advanced, 3 Jumpmasters, 3 Lambdas, Howl, and no less than 8 plain TIEs. With Sloane as his admiral he had 15 squadrons that could shoot blue dice at my ships. 3 Jumps AND Chiraneau meant he could pretty much be where he wanted to be and shoot right through my squads. With Expanded hangars on the ISD-1 and both of his Dictors, he could command 5+4+3+3=15 squadrons without using any tokens. And the combination of Flight Controllers on both ISDs + Howlrunner and 11 swarm buddies mean a lot of blue dice vs my aces if he chose to shoot at squadrons.
So going into the game I knew I had to deal with his squadrons before anything else. Fortunately I was 2nd player and had 1 more activation, so I could have both my Quasars go AFTER all his ships, meaning I would get a good start on the squadron game. Unless he decided to hold back all his squads until late game, which would also be kind of a victory.
The other thing I knew was that I should try to keep my fleet better organized. You know, keep stuff together, so it could maneuver like a fleet, and get all the various synergies that were range limited. I would also try to focus down 1 and 1 of his ships, rather than spread my fire around. In essence the complete opposite of my 1st game!
Pod had a 20 pt bid, and chose to go 1st, picking my Contested Outpost. In Moster Truck all MoV brackets are double, but CO also has its VP value double to 40. So If I hugged the station all game, I'd potentially get 240 points!
We set up like this. Pod had 4+9=13 deployments to my 5+6=11, so he had the ability to put down his ISDs last. I therefore set up rather closely packed, with the Quasars holding the station and the ISDs as my maneuver element. Sovereign at the center of the fleet, to avoid losing Tarkin early (as in my previous game) and to keep everything in range of the Sovereign effect.
Note Pod's 2 Grav Wells in my deployment area. Forced me to deploy speed 0, which was actually rather nice for me. Between Tarkin and Entrapment Formation! starting at speed 0 is NOT a disadvantage, but can actually be an ADVANTAGE. Also not that Pod's Grav Shift is in the center, focusing on rock-shifting. I've kept mine closer to the station, to push it closer to my side.
Post-Grav Shift. He's dragged rocks in front of my Chimaera and my Dictor. I've dragged the station close to me and pushed some debris in front of his Chimaera. If I use Navigate commands, EF! and maybe a Nav token, I should be able to clear those rocks. In the event my Chimaera and the Dictor lands on 1 rock each, but only because it's the lesser of evils. Fortunately I get no crippling crits, and is able to repair the damage.
Start of round 2 and already I'm regretting some of my decisions. That being the decision to speed up the Quasars to speed 1 and turn them into the board. The plan was to KEEP THEM AT SPEED ZERO FOR 1 ROUND. To prevent what's clearly going to become the roadblock of the century: my overreaching plan is to turn my fleet hard to the left, take out the Dictors and his ISD-1, while leaving his flagship (yellow box) hanging out on the flank (Sloane has already been forced to turn outside the rocks and debris, to avoid being boxed in by my fleet). So instead of having room to maneuver, this could turn into self-bump hell for me.
So why did I speed up? Simple: Quasar crews panicked when they saw an ISD charging their position. They lit their engines in direct contravention to Tarkin's orders, thereby jeopardizing the entire battle plan. All officers aboard have been court-martialed and found guilty, and are now enjoying time on Kessel.
On round 2 squadrons engaged. I held mine back, so Pod started by taking some shots at my Chimaera as it jumped forward (landing on said rock to at least make SOME room for the rest of the fleet). Then my Quasar activated, and Vader alone (with Jendon backup) promptly 1-shotted 2 Jumpmasters. The remaining 4 squads took out 3 unactivated TIEs. Suddenly I had 12 squads, mostly aces and Defenders vs Pod's 13, mostly generics with low hp.
In short that was the start of a snowball that eventually resulted in the destruction of Darth Vader vs all of Pod's squads. In Pod's defense my ability to potentially activate 12 high-quality squads with 2 Flight Controller Quasars AFTER his ships had gone were a HUGE advantage to me. Plus my mix of aces, Defenders and Lambdas were the absolute worst matchup for his generics. Even a plan Lambda gets 1 blue, 2 black with FC, which is excellent for cleaning up TIEs.
In short that was the start of a snowball that eventually resulted in the destruction of Darth Vader vs all of Pod's squads. In Pod's defense my ability to potentially activate 12 high-quality squads with 2 Flight Controller Quasars AFTER his ships had gone were a HUGE advantage to me. Plus my mix of aces, Defenders and Lambdas were the absolute worst matchup for his generics. Even a plan Lambda gets 1 blue, 2 black with FC, which is excellent for cleaning up TIEs.
Top of round 3. I'm down Vader, Pod is down 5 TIEs, Howl, 2 Jumps, and an Advanced. His Avenger is pretty much out of the fight, so that part of my plan is working quite well. Quasar crews are now regretting their disobedience: if they had stayed put, they would be FURTHER from the ISD, and thus SAFER. And NOT in danger of mass collisions!
Start of round 4 the situation is rather hopeless for Pod. I've cleaned out all but 2 of his squads, and his Targeting Scrambler Dictor went down to fire from Chimaera (front), Sovereign (side), a couple of squads, Squall (front), and my Dictor (double arc). Despite this massed fire it only just barely died - tough buggers!
Avenger has a nasty double arc on my Chimaera's ass, but Pod HAS to activate his other ISD first, or it will be lost before getting to shoot. Then his dice go super-cold, with 3 blank blacks... and for some reason the ISD-1 has Overload Pules, not Leading Shots, and my wounded Quasars live...
I kill his ISD, remaining Dictor and last 2 squads, then hug the station until game's end, while Sloane sails away into the sunset, contemplating what she'll put into her report. Something about insubordination and a a catastrophic experimental retrofit failure.
This game is a good example of snowballing. It started with the squads, where I got the upper hand and it spiralled out of control. Then I was able to avoid fire from 1 of his ISDs, while concentrating my own forces. And since he has a shorter-ranged ISD-1 and no DCaps on the Dictors, he was forced to spread his fire. But nothing of mine actually died, whereas 1 of his Dictors got focused down. Then I was able to repair (good use of Tarkin tokens and Projection Experts too), while he was slowly worn down.
I'm definitely pleased with the end result: 10-1, MoV 800.
Most Valued Player this game was, like last time, Entrapment Formation! In combo with Tarkin and Sovereign I have TOTAL speed control. I'm hooked!
I'm not so terribly pleased with my Quasars abandoning all hope and speeding up on round 1. It very nearly choked up what little maneuver space I had. If my ships had been just a little bit off, this could had ended with mass self-bumps and the death of my entire fleet.
To quote the Bene Gesserit:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
