Vassal Corellian Conflict: Campaign blog, part 6 (round 2 battle)

What rebel fleet?

After a 2-week pause, during which my focus was on the World Cup, I've finally had time to finish my battle vs. Tokra's Ackbar fleet.

Lord Vader was touring the Aurea system when the alarm went off: multiple unknown hyperspace traces coming in, one of them too massive to be anything else than Home One, Admiral Ackbar's flagship. Vader quickly sent his fleet towards some dense asteroid and debris fields, hoping to catch the enemy unawares...

The Rebel fleet: H1 (lightly upgraded), MC30 (no upgrades), and 2xTRC90. Plus a large number of rogue squadrons, including Corran Horn, Shara and Jan. Vader isn't too afraid of this fleet, as it seems to be lacking a bit in the ship upgrade department. However, H1 has the Strategic Adviser, so both sides are even in terms of activations - and Ackbar is 1st player.

The Imperial fleet: I was able to but the key upgrades for my fleet by leaving the Lambda scarred. If it dies (it did) I can just get another. The ISD has XI7 now, and I opted for Tua/ECM because of H1 and probably H9-equipped MC30s in Mothma's fleet. I really wanted to try with Early Warning instead, but the Rebel builds convinced me otherwise. Raider-2 has DCaps, which is key to this build. Raider-1 has both OE (double rerolls with Vader) and External Racks. My squads plain suck, but I couldn't afford any more for r2. I'll have to fix that before next round (I'll never have the BEST squads, but it can get better than this!).

I had Most Wanted, Contested Outpost, and DANGEROUS TERRITORY in my objective suite. The first two are very standard, but DT is a bit retro by now. Most ppl, myself included tend to run Solar Corona with build like this. But if I have to play SC one more time I'm going to puke! So I took DT instead. It can usually give a few points, and not being bothered by overlaps is a small, but OK advantage.

Tokra selected DT of course, it being the weaker objective to begin with, and with Jaina's Light on his team it's a no-brainer really.

Setup

We set up as shown. Very hard to defend against the fast rebel ships, so I wanted to keep my deployment uncommitted. I also knew that I had to fork as much as possible to keep up the pressure on Tokra - if he was allowed to focus on 1 and 1 ship with TRC and rogue squads, my things would die very quickly indeed! 

For my squadron play I decided to just hang back. Try to get him to come to my squads, then hose them with overlapping flak. It's not a GREAT plan, but it was the best I could do with only 1 damaged Lambda, Valen and a heavy bomber :-/

 Start round 2

Round 2 starts like this. My DCaps raider is very much alone on the flank, as I turn Demo towards the twin TRC90s. It's a willing sacrifice. And a good one, as it looks like the MC30+H1 will not take much part in the rest of the fight. Oh well, just 24 refit :-)

The MC30 takes a shot, does a little damage and moves on. Later in the round, after h1 moves, I get a HIE shot at long range, and move into the front hull zone. But it is in long range and side arc of the MC30...but I also get a obstructed shot on the central CR90, and set up a killing shot for round 3. Ackbar will have to move this ship first, or lose it. That will mean I can move my raider to relative safety. Rebel squadrons move in, but roll VERY poorly.

Start round 3

The CR90 escapes the ISD's front arc. Raider jumps over H1. JL fails to get any accs, so the Gozatni lives (but no shortage of accs when shooting at the Lambda). ISD and Jonus do some more damage on the CR90, but more importantly the Raider-1 sets up for a killing fork for round 4. I also manage a second fork with Demo, threatening to kill Jaina. 

Doing some crazy flak damage, while Tokra continues to roll crap on anti-squad. THE LAMBDA IS STILL ALIVE... and it even started the game with 5 hp. It only dies on the very last YT-2400 activation a the end of round 3. And Valen Rudor is still going strong. Insane.

The not so good: the Raider-2 is at medium range of H1 Ackbar broadside. But this was going to happen, so bygones.

1st activation, round 4

Tokra tries to save Jaina by activating it first. It ends up going over the edge of the table in an attempt to avoid almost certain death. Raider-1 kills the damaged CR90. H1 whiffs utterly and the Raider-2 flies away to safety. Rudor finally bites the dust...

And that's it. We call it after that, as the only thing that can happen is Tokra losing some rogues in return for chasing down a meaningless Gozatni.

Empire wins, Vader triumphant yet again!

Rebs have Corran as a new vet, and 2 scarred CR90s. Not bad, as their refit is 45. So Tokra's fleet will be very strong next round. My Riader-1 becomes a vet, Valen gets scarred (irrelevant) and the brave Lambda dies Final Death. I'll have enough resource to max out at 500 - and then some.

It could have been a fun game, i think, and close, but Tokra's dice were just horrible. Utterly horrible. So while I'm ok with my flying and my forking, the experience was marred by ultra-skewed dice.

Here is the Vassal log file.

Elsewhere in the sector: 

Sato has inflicted a semi-crushing defeat on Thrawn near Talus, scarring the ISD flagship, 1 Galdiator, 1 Gozanti, and all 4 squints, with only light losses on the Rebel side (1 HH and Salvation). This was a Show of Force mission, however, and Thrawn bagged both stations for +80 resources for us, while Rebs get +40 for winning.

Sloane repels Mon Mothma's Hyperlane Raid (played using the Show of Force rules) on Truzzdann, with very light losses on the Imperial side and moderate casualties for the Rebs. Rebels got one station for +40 resources, while we get +40 for winning.

In sum Imps get +120 resources this round! So any losses Ghost suffered, he should be able to replace. Rebels get +80 too, so despite Mothma taking some damage, it should be no problem. With the base resource generation in addition, all fleets should be at 500 (or close to it) for round 3. I should even have resources enough to build our last base, if we so desire.

Campaign points are now Imperial 3 - 1 Rebel, so the Reb team has initiative next turn too!

I'll Have You Know (Vader All-Ship Fleet), part 3: the final battle

I'll see you over Scarif, fish-face!

The Vassal World Cup 2018 is over, and Lord Vader was narrowly defeated (6-5, MoV 12, 194-182) by Admiral Raddus. Or maybe I should say that I, Green Knight (aka Greenie Pie), lost to the reigning Vassal Champ, JJ's Juggernaut.

We've been here before. Last year, with different (wave 5) fleets (I had Vader, but JJ had Jerjerrod), but with the same end result. I lost, he won. But next year... we'll reenact the battle of Scarif in the final, and everything will be all right. You hear that Josiah? I'm coming for you in the grudge match of the year, 2019 edition :-D

Ginkapo was nice enough to stream/record the thing on YouTube, so you can watch (there is no sound, we did everything by text chat - on Vassal, and a private channel on Discord) all of it if you want. It's about 2 1/2 hours (mostly JJ's fault - he thinks too much, but maybe that's why he wins?). If not you can read about it here in less time.

THE BATTLE

I'm very pleased with my final game. I would have liked to win - because winning is much more fun than losing - but in this case I can't be salty. First of all it was a very close game indeed, one that I might have won, had I lost ONE GOZANTI LESS. Secondly it actually went FAR BETTER than my simulations: I did a few quick games vs myself in preparation, and I totally whipped my own ass every fucking time. Thirdly you just can't be let down by having such a close, intense game with such a skilled player in the final. Just not possible.

Last year was a bit different: then it was more a slow roll towards a loss. I did what I could, but it was clear that only a miracle could save me. That was much less fun.

Anyway. I had the bid so I took 1st player (obviously). Playing his Fire lanes with him having VCXs and no squads on my part? Not doable, unfortunately. Intel Sweep IS doable, but it's very tricky: you must preferably kill the rebel objective ship top of round 3 to prevent the points skew. This is possible, but not guaranteed. Against any other fleet I would have done this, but against Raddus, no. To get to the objective ship you become very exposed, and then I'd have three combat ships boxing me in. 

So that left me with Most Wanted. MW isn't an ideal choice either, but the 2nd player gets the least from this of the 3 options I had.

We set up like this. JJ exactly as predicted (bc why would he not). I dropped my ISD front and center, aiming for his flagship. He picked Demo as my MW ship and the right side flot for his. That told me he was probably not going to go all-in for the ISD. So I could afford to be more aggressive. It also meant that unless Demo ran like crazy, it WOULD DIE. Running away was not an option, so the key was to get max damage before it died.

So the idea here was to play a fun, offensive game. Show spectators what a game of Armada, even an elimination game, should look like!

Start game

Round 1 I rev the ISD up to speed 3, pointing it at Admo. I do not expect to kill Raddus outright. JJ has kept too far back for blue range. So I will get 6+1 (CF) red dice only, then 1 blue (devastator) for using Intel Officer on my own Contain token.

Against Admonition, this is like 99% not enough. Admo can discard 2 double reds, 1 with evade, the other with the Admo ability. So even with a super-good red dice, it's very unlikely, as I will be left with say 5 red hit and 1 blue hit (remember I have Vader rerolls and Intensify Firepower!).

I need 8 damage to kill Admo. 3 to clear shields, 1 more than can be redirected (XI7), then 4 for the hull. I only need 7 dmg if I full a Structural Damage, but an 8 in 52 chance isn't reliable enough. So to kill Admo at long range, I need FOUR double reds. Or THREE doubles AND a Structural. Sure, I've had even more amazing shots happen, but it's not something you can COUNT ON.

With BLUE range it's entirely doable, even vs Admonition. You get 6+1 (CF) red dice and 2+1 (Devastator) blue dice, with rerolls and IF!. After Evade/Admonition you are left with 8 dice. As long as all of those are hit/crits/doubles Admo dies. Not guaranteed, but a fair chance.

So my aggressive opening move is to try to A) force Raddus to drop early (JJ contemplated for a LONG time, but finally decided not to) and B) put as much damage into Admo as possible, make it NOT want to be part of a MC75/HH/Admo gangbang on my ISD!

Rest of the fleet moves in to support the ISD. Note Demo holding back to avoid a sudden drop from the left GR-75. And my 2 stalwart Gozanti to the lower right making it difficult to place a Hammerhead on my side.

Start r2

I open up with Devastator, a decent volley after rerolls and IF!, but only 1 hull damage and Crew Injured crit. A little under what I hoped for, but good enough to severely weaken Admo. I then slow and turn my ISD to the right. I think maybe in hindsight I should have gone more directly towards Admo - but I was still hoping to kill it, and didn't want to scare it away (speed 4 would put it far way towards the top right). MC30 doesn't have a full double side arc on ISD, but more importantly I cannot target it's shield-less side.

 End r2

Raddus pops in the MC75. He does not try to block my ISD. JJ is being careful and just wants to score points off my Demolisher, then probably run for it. He's being overly cautious though, and doesn't even pop in his Hammerhead (that nearly costs him the game, but in the end he pulls through).

I knew that he could drop in there, and that Demo was exposed. But with Raddus it's just too difficult to predict every permutation and possibility. He also has so many options to deploy differently, so if I had done this and that, he could have done this and that to counter it. Overall this was an OK situation - Demo will get to shoot at short range before dying, and ISD won't take many shots.

Downside is I probably won't ever kill Admonition. It can with great certainty get out alive. That means it will be a very tight MoV.

As you can see my Demolisher is double arced. It WILL DIE. The MC75 Ordnance cruiser will just do too much damage. Fortunately for me, JJ has misplaced it slightly, so I get the front arc shot, then do and inner turn with bump to give me a side arc shot as well, then finally a Engine Tech ram (I don't like intentional ramming bc it often comes bac to haunt you, but Demo is 100% dead next activation anyway). I roll very well indeed, putting 2 APT crits into the MC, 2 ram damage, and a total of 8 damage (after a brace). About as good as could be hoped for.

Start r3

MC75 reps some front shields, kills Demolisher, then does a little damage on the ISD with the front arc, but without External Racks and full defense tokens, it's not too bad. JJ then bumps the ISD, bringing the MC75 down to 4 hull and in a double arc at the ISD rear.

ISD shoots 1 red + 3 blue out the side, then 2 red + 2 blue out the back (spinals), bringing the bastard down to ONE FRIKKIN HULL. And to add insult to injury, all of my Gozanti are JUST OUT of blue range, so the Profundity will like to r4 and spew out the Hammerhead. Grrr.

I saw someone comment about why I hadn't more aggressively rerolled with Vader. That's  because at the time I had GOOD TO EXCELLENT rolls - and you don't reroll on those, because only the Emperor's foresight will let you know what will happen a few activations from now...

So I regret nothing regarding my dice manipulation. I just wish 1 or more Gozatni had been in attack range... but wishes and fishes and all that.

Note how JJ sets up Admo to hunt some Gozatni points. Unfortunately my Comms Net Gozanti has a Rep command, not a Nav, so it can't jump over Admo! Meanwhile I use my own flotillas to "slow" my ISD, to prevent it from getting out of range.

  End r3

Round 4 is simple. I start kill killing the MC75 with a rear shot from ISD, but it has already disgorged the HH (next to the station, dbl arcing my Gozanti). Now I regret bringing Gozanti "Nobody" into the fight. At the time I turned it into the fight, I was still sure the HH would pop out earlier. In hindsight I wished it was elsewhere. But the board state is what it is, and I must deal with it.

I then kill JJs MW flotilla, which is stripped of scatter already, then bump another of my flots to keep the ISD in place.

Meanwhile JJ pops a Goz with Admo (H9). Again, if that Gozanti had a nav... it could be relatively safe in Admo's rear arc (but then it would guaranteed have faced the HH instead, so it was always going to die). 

I try to jump over the HH/GR-75 with my Goz, but fail. I was almost sure it would not work. So why did I not turn towards the station? BC of front arc of HH, plus ram from HH, plus 3 full rounds of squads. If I could not jump over it was like 99% sure to die. So a fiddled for a while, then tried anyway.

 Start r4

Final board state. JJs last flotilla drifts into too-many-blue-dice range of my ISD, and is blown up (not shown). And JJ retaliates by taking out my leftmost Goz (not shown). I hear I might have saved that Goz by going first with it. I do not think so. It was already scatter-less and wounded, with 2 more rounds of squadron attacks. And even had it gotten away, it would also mean JJs final GR-75 had dodged away (bc of activation order). So the net result would be the same: win JJ.

 Right before the end 

What a match! It was tense from start to finish, and I really felt I had the ability to win, all the way to the end. That's the kind of games that makes Armada so great.

So could I have won? That is the big question. Sure I could. For example: Had I kept "Nobody" completely ut of the fight, by not turning it into the fight at all, I would have won. In theory, and only if all other things are equal.

But it's irrelevant: I made the decisions I made because they seemed right at the time. At no point during the game did I feel I made the wrong calls or that I was being outsmarted. I did my very best, and it was very nearly enough.

That said, I think JJ has a list of things HE might have done differently, starting with the later Hammerhead drop. And failing to block Demolisher's inner turn. And being double-arced twice by the ISD (from the rear/side, but still), and so forth. I've this feeling if we played this again... it might go WORSE for me, not better ;-)

META STUFF

I'd also like to mention that MY FLEET HAS NO SQUADS. And that it has blown apart both B-wing swarms and no less than FOUR Sloane fleets. It's been balancing on a knife's edge all the way tho... I'm not sure I would recommend trying this at home kids :-P

Current meta: No Squad beats Heavy Squad. Light Squad beats No Squad. And Medium Squad rulez?

I think someone has to rethink the incredible stupid "truth" of the so called rock-paper-scissor thing. Maybe replace it with rock-paper-scissor-lizard-Spock!

Relatedly: I missed having squads the most WHEN FACING RADDUS. I used my Gozanti to screen one flank, but a handful of squads could have kept Raddus out of my most vulnerable areas (which is where JJ's A-wings come in handy, to counter such nonsense).

FINAL THANKS

I'd like to finish by thanking BiggsIRL for managing the Vassal World Cup. Great work, as always. Maybe there be many more!

WAVE 7TH HEAVEN FINALLY HITS ARMADA WARLORDS!

Because Angry Space Triangles!

Nevetz has given me ftp and dbase access to Warlords, so that I might aid his good work with this builder.

I freely admit to using 4 other builders (Fab's, Kingston, Battlescribe and Android Fleet Builder app), so I'm not a "Warlords or bust" kind of guy... they each have their pros and cons, but I feel Warlords has a good save and share functionality, the best of all the builders. It's easy to use... and it is also a widely known and widely used builder, so it deserves to keep going.

I have started by adding missing images and dbase entries for wave 7: everything from wave 7 should now be usable. Plz report ASAP if you see anything missing/buggy.

For the future all new content will be added ASAP!

I have also listed some known bugs and/or feature requests for Warlords. These require some changes to php files and/or changes to dbase structure. I will look at it, and discuss with Nevetz if anything can be done. But this will take some more time, so please be patient (but now is a GOOD TIME to report bugs/feature requests). 

Fixes:

• added missing cards from wave 7

Bugs that could use some fixing:

• dual upgrades: on edit/clone it happens that the 2nd upgrade disappears (example: Boosted Comms/Exp Hangar)
• upgrades that grant another slot: on edit/clone it happens that say ECM gets deleted if TUA is the one granting the Defensive slot
• Chimaera is even worse: as soon as you save, the Fleet Command disappears, both from text export and public view (it is oc also gone on edit/clone).

Feature request:

• make the editor stop randomly shuffling the order of ship/squads on edit/clone; not a big, but very annoying.
• made dual-slot upgrades eat both slots

http://armadawarlords.hivelabs.solutions/

I'll Have You Know (Vader All-Ship Fleet), part 2: the road to the Vassal World Cup final

Another match, another Sloane, another win!

As it turned out, Tokra beat Aresius in their quarter final. Tokra was first player and picked Ares' Precision Strike. He started by removing some of Ares' activation padding, helped by an accidental self-ram, a facedown card flipped up (with Precious Strike) to a Structural Damage. The first Rebel flotilla died really fast, and then it went downhill from there.

Like I wrote in my previous post: I really didn't think I had the ability to win vs Tokra. First of all I think his ISD+4 build, using the same squads as my Nordics build, is superior to the ones I've been facing thus far. Vs my fleet, the Gozanti can just stay out of harm's way, while the ISD waits for the squadrons to soften me up. Also, the only squad I can realistically kill is Saber. Yes, in theory I can cause problems for other squads as well, but only kill them if the opponent makes placement mistakes or I get really, really lucky.

Tokra

Vassal World Cup 2018

Points: 391 / 400

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)

-  Admiral Sloane  ( 24  points)

-  Avenger  ( 5  points)

-  Damage Control Officer  ( 5  points)

-  Flight Controllers  ( 6  points)

-  Expanded Hangar Bay  ( 5  points)

= 157 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)

-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)

= 25 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)

-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)

= 25 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)

-  Jamming Field  ( 2  points)

= 25 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)

-  Jamming Field  ( 2  points)

= 25 total ship cost

1 Maarek Steele ( 21 points)

1 Dengar ( 20 points)

1 Colonel Jendon ( 20 points)

1 ""Howlrunner"" ( 16 points)

1 Ciena Ree ( 17 points)

1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)

1 Saber Squadron ( 12 points)

1 ""Mauler"" Mithel ( 15 points)

= 134 total squadron cost

Despite a good bid, my bid was much bigger, so I selected 1st player. Anything else would be paramount to suicide.

From Tokra's objectives I chose Fire Lanes. The other options were Most Wanted, which would only cause my ISD to be focused down even faster. And Superior Positions, which is pretty much an auto-win in this matchup. With Fire Lanes I have a fighting chance - and more importantly, I know where his ships will need to be.

Fire lanes might seem strange in a fleet without Strategic, but it's actually quite good. There are very few fleets that can use strategic AGAINST this Sloane build. If they try, they lose their strategic/relay squads in the process. And relay Gozanti are really excellent for racking up Fire Lanes tokens.

In this match Tokra opted for max separation of tokens. One in the middle, and the other two as far to each side as possible. I countered by dragging them inwards and forward.

We then deployed. I divided my fleet in 3: ISD + Repair Gozanti in the middle, two Gozanti to the left, and one Gozanti + Demo to the right, where I was fairly certain Tokra would drop his ISD.

Dividing the fleet is usually not a good thing. But here I had to threaten the Fire Lanes tokens, or I'd auto-lose on points. It also has the benefit that the squadrons cannot engage my entire fleet - they must either go for the ISD in the center, or go to either flank, but cannot threaten both flanks.

In the event Tokra did NOT deploy his ISD to the side, but centrally, facing my Devastator. The red ring in the pic is where it was placed, while the blue arrow points to where it MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

In hindsight Tokra felt like this was a bad placement. And I can kind of agree. Facing Devastator with any ship, even and ISD is a bad idea. Especially if that ship has no ECM.

On the other hand it kept the ISD close to the squadron's firepower, where they together could deal with the ISD. He also did not have to have his ISD engaged by Demo early without any squadron cover, then having a by then token-less Devastator crash into Sloane's flagship late game. Plus his ISD could start by controlling two fire lanes tokens, which can be a very important leg up.

So it was not, I think, a bad placement. It was a very understandable placement, and one that could have worked.

What followed was a mistake on his part: he decided to go after my 2 Gozanti down to the left. it would have been a good tactic, to remove my activation padding, IF THE AVENGER HAD BEEN OVER IN THE CORNER. But with Avenger facing Devastator, there was not enough time. But the time he had killed 1 flotilla (his dice didn't help - not a single acc was rolled before Sloane died!) my Demo had one of his flotillas double-arced. By the time he took out the 2nd flotilla it no longer mattered: Devastator got the coveted last-first, end of r3/top of r4, and Sloane's Avenger was no more.

End state, start of r5

The image shows end state. We called it here, because there was no way a win could be achieved for Sloane: my ISD was nearly fresh and could not be killed. The only thing I could lose was 1 flotilla if Maarek-Jendon went for it. I could also kill 1-2 of Tokra's flotillas, plus claim maybe 5 more Fire Lanes tokens. Tokra's remaining Gozanti are marked in yellow, and the squads are obviously his. 

After the game we talked some, and yes, the original plan he had was keep his ISD far away initially, take away some of my padding, and then engage Devastator. But in the end he didn't, and that was the start of several decisions and turn of events that snowballed into a loss.

I am of course very happy that I did win, but I am left with the feeling that most days this would be a win for Tokra and his Sloane fleet. He's a very good player with a very good fleet. But sometimes stuff happens and you lose.

In the other semi final JJ beat Roquax. So like last year the final will be between the two of us. I'm not exactly thrilled :D Or I am, but JJ is a very good player! Last year it was his balanced Jerjerrod fleet vs my balanced Vader fleet (what! did I play Vader before wave 7 too!? omg I must be MAD!) and he whipped me good. He had initiative, and with his already great skill AND Jerry's agility, he ran loops around me. The end score wasn't so bad, but I very nearly only killed BLACK SQUADRON. Only at the very last moment I killed his ISD, but it was perhaps more a lucky crit than anything else :-)

This year JJ is playing Raddus. And Raddus is a VERY GOOD commander. If you don't think so, you're going to get a lot of nasty surprises in wave 7! In a sense he's a little like Jerjerrod: he gives an advantage in the maneuvering game. Not by giving extra yaw, but by letting you drop in a ton of firepower where you need it, when you need it.

To prove my point I'm going to show you 2 screenshots from the JJ vs Roquax match:

Here the Profundity comes out of Raddus-space, and the Hammerhead pops right into a close-range double arc on the side of the Yavaris. This was made possible by a lowly flotilla seeming coasting by at safe range. While the profundity cannot activate first - the Hammerhead totally can. Yikes!

Here is the result. HH with Ordnance Experts and Externa Racks, double arc and ram. No more Yavaris, and the game is effectively lost. To add insult to injury, the MC75 now has Gallant Haven boxed in and in a perfect double arc from the MC75!

Very good play by JJ there - and I've seen him do other tricks with Profundity in other games. In this case Roquax seemed a bit unprepared for Raddus. Raddus cannot hyper in ships overlapping squadrons, and Roquax failed to screen with his ships (and his flotillas for that matter). But that is perhaps easy to say after the fact!

At any rate, this is the fleet waiting for me in the finals:

JJs Juggernaut 

386 points

 MC75 Ordnance Cruiser

- Ordnance Experts

- Electronic Countermeasures

- External Racks

- Assault Concussion Missiles

- Profundity

Total = (128 points)

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette

 - Ordnance Experts

 - External Racks 

Total = (43 points)

MC30c Torpedo Frigate

 - Admiral Raddus

 - Ordnance Experts

 - Assault Concussion Missiles

 - H9 Turbolasers

 - Admonition 

Total = (116)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

Shara Bey A-wing Squadron (17)

Tycho Celchu A-wing Squadron (16)

VCX-100 Freighter (15)

VCX-100 Freighter (15)

Squadron Total = (63 points)

I have the bid, which is good, but JJ has already taken down a fleet similar to my own (thecactusman17, the original champion of Devastator builds) as 2nd player earlier in the tournament, so it won't be easy.

If you want to watch, the final is tomorrow Thursday 1st of march, 2000 GMT. On Vassal of course.

Regionals Dataset v2.0

Big data

Baltanok and Truthiness over at the FFG forums are collaborating on a new and improved Regionals dataset for wave 7. They have restructured the input fields, but the output is similar to the old one, so it should be possible to compare results between datasets.

You can find the data here: Regionals Dataset v2.0

If you're at a regionals event you can help with the data collection. Gather any and all lists and forward them to Baltanok and/or Truthiness!

Vassal Armada v3.9.0

The new Dev team, headed by JJs Juggernaut, is proud to present their first major release: v 3.9.0

MAJOR FEATURES:

• Raid tokens can be assigned directly to each ship using the ' key in conjunction with already established hotkeys (they are but on the rear of each ship due top space limitations)
• CTRL + ' toggles concentrate fire raid token
• ALT + ' toggles navigate raid token
• SHIFT + ' toggles repair raid token
• SHIFT + CTRL + ' toggles squadron raid token
• Chaff tokens can now be assigned directly to each ship using the CTRL + SHIFT + shield side (ie. CTRL + SHIFT + W toggles chaff on the front). They are placed under the associated shield dial and are automatically removed at the update of the turn counter. You can also use the same hotkey to remove them.
• Updated MC-75 graphics!!
• Updated the wave 7 cards to better match other cards
• The graphics pack now included updated cards for those which have been Errata'd
• All non-exhaust, non-discard upgrades have a new hotkey to trigger a report. (SHIFT + R). This function has also been extended to all Ace squadrons (the squad itself, no it's card).
• All squadrons can use SHIFT + T to send a generic report that it's "keyword" has been used. It would be far too hard to setup reports for each keyword in the game (not to mention use a bunch more hotkeys), but this should allow for at least some sort of notification.
• IMPORTANT: The refresh defense tokens button has been removed. It is now tied directly into the turn counter. Whenever you change the turn counter you will refresh defense tokens, and cycle command stacks!!

CHANGELOG:

• Added Report functionality to most passive non-exhaust, non-discard upgrades
• Added Report functionality to most active non-exhaust, non-discard upgrades
• Added Report functionality to Ace squads
• Added Exhaust functionality to Sovereign
• Added Report for armed and unarmed station hull changes
• Fixed TIE Panthoms....
• Fixed Dodanna...
• Fixed Quickspawn for the Grav Well and Grav Shift tokens
• Added Report functionalty for squadron keywords
• Cleaned up spawn locations
• Added updated graphics for MC75
• Added updated graphics for wave 7 cards
• Added fixed Range Ruler
• Added rotate feature to range ruler
• Added Range bands to Objective tokens
• Added Command stack 2 spawn from Relentless
• Added Errata'd version of cards
• Fixed Quad Turbolaser "Cannons"
• Fixed Armed Station and Unarmed Station Hull values
• Fixed Range bands on Armed station not being removed from remove tools button
• Fixed Armed Station range bands comming up when the movement tool is deployed
• Fixed Leading Shots not being flippable or triggering reports
• Changed shading on ambush zone
• Added Option to draw multiple cards from the damage deck at once
• Fixed Armed Station Range Band
• Added Raid Reference
• Updated "help" dropdown
• Damage Decks now Shuffle turn 1
• Migrated refresh button into turn counter
• Removed Restriction on Ctrl+ArrowKey rotation from turn 0 only
• Name plates moved slightly down on all ships to allow better visibility of chaff
• Added hull zone specific Chaff spawning to all ships
• Added Shipside locations for Raid tokens and associated spawning for all ships
• Added Reports for both Chaff and Raid token shipside spawning
• Fixed Quickspawn for TIE Phantoms
• Fixed Quickspawn for General Dodonna
• Updated Hotkey References

Get the new version here: http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Star_Wars:_Armada

Corellian Conflict Manager

Someone redid the entire CC map in digital format

Thraug over at the FFG forums has made/maintains a spreadsheet that's useful for tracking the progress of a CC campaign. You can read about it here and get the 3.5 version here.

This first sheet tracks team and members, assaults, campaign points and more. This is very handy.

The second sheet handles bases, outposts and presences. As stuff is built and lost you update this, and the sheet spews out refit, resources and specials. Also very handy

There are also sheets for each player, where they can track their fleets (including veteran/scarred status) and expenses. This is not so very interesting IMO. Most player will just want to use their regular builder - this feels rather clunky. Also, version 3.5 lacks wave 6+7 content, so pretty pointless ATM. But Thraug is working on an update.

Custom Armada: alternate rules, cards and models

XG-1 Star Wing, coming to Armada REAL soon!

Kuat Drive Yards

Kuat Drive Yards lets you create your own cards. Ships, including the ship cards and the ship (cardboard) tokens can be created and printed. Same for squadrons, upgrades, objectives and more.

Judging by the steady stream of new content, I'm probably not the only one who likes to dream up new cards - and "what if" versions of existing cards. It's easy to use, so it doesn't take a lot of effort to learn it and spew out new content. 

You can also look at what other users have made - the site has some filtering options - and get inspired. Just be warned: there is some gold there, but a LOT of rubbish, including stuff with no relation to Star Wars or Armada.

Arvel Crynyd - right before he slams into the bridge of the Executor

So what can this custom stuff be used for? Typically to have a good time with your mates :-D For example you could make a pack of extra unique squadrons and titles for use with the Corellian Conflict. Because you're tired of the same old squadrons being taken over and over - and becasue you want to do 600 point fleets.

Or you could redo some existing upgrades, because they are either too good/bad or because you find them to be not very thematic. Here is one such example:

Perfect for the Nebulon-B

Finally it could be because you want to use some custom miniatures. Stuff from the Clone Wars, for example. Or the XG-1 Star Wing. Or the Braha'tok-class gunship, also known as the Dornean gunship. Or the Assault Frigate mk 1. Or the Dreadnaught class cruiser. 

Which brings us to...

Mel's Miniatures

Assault Frigate Mk 1 vs Mk 2

To get ACTUAL custom miniatures in Armada, I would recommend Mel Miniatures. He has a wide range of stuff, from the Clone Wars era and into the TFA era. He does capital ships in all sizes (Executor included), as well as squadrons. There are even some small-scale fighters and smaller ships (like corvettes) for people who want to accentuate the size difference more.

ISD-I conversion kit

To bring these beautiful models into your games, you can either use them as stand ins for existing stuff: the AF mk 1 can replace a mk 2, for example. Or you can add completely new ships and squadrons to the game by using custom cards, such as those created with kdyards.com

Pair of Republic Venators, painter unknown

Diablo Azul's Shipyard

Finally a special shout out to Armada Shipyards. It's a site with lots of custom content, meant for use with Mel's minis (and others). It's a site that's been around for years, since the early days of Armada. Some of the stuff on there is pretty dated, but it's such great quality nontheless. It's also very fun to see the old imagined versions of ships we now have in Armada.

A medium-base ship, with command 4!

Vassal Corellian Conflict: Campaign blog, part 5 (round 2)

Imperial flags reign across the galaxy

Round 1 has been completed and all the bookkeeping done. Rebels have gained a presence on Raider's Point, earning them a 2nd spynet token. If it's an outpost Rebel resources are at 157 for round 2, or 182 if it's a base. Assuming no bases are lost oc!

The Empire has built 2 bases, bringing us up to six bases total, just 1 shy of our maximum! Even with Forvand being such a crappy place in terms of resources, we're still at 231. That's a massive 77 resources per player. Again assuming no lost bases.

This is the first round special assaults can be declared, so I'm guessing we'll see at least 1. Note that we're using (house rule) the Show of Force scenario for BOTH factions. Also, no bases/outposts can be built after special assault.

Imperial Fleets r2

Broba

Sloane lost too many unique squads last round. So as to be able to grow the fleet, Broba has opted NOT to refit the scarred Raider, wasting some refit pts in the process (they don't carry over). He's picked up a generic Phantom, bringing his squads to 8, an even number. Two squads have become vets; Whisper and Mauler. He's also added some key upgrades to his ships. The Quasar in particular should be much more efficient as a carrier now.

CC Sloane 

Author: Brobafett

Faction: Galactic Empire 

Points: 442/442

Credits: 11  

Commander: Admiral Sloane

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Kuat Refit (112 points)

-  Admiral Sloane  ( 24  points) 

-  Avenger  ( 5  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points) 

-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

= 157 total ship cost

Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier (54 points)

-  Squall  ( 3  points) 

-  Flight Controllers  ( 6  points) 

-  Expanded Hangar Bay  ( 5  points) 

-  Boosted Comms  ( 4  points) 

= 72 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points) SCARRED

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  External Racks  ( 3  points) 

= 51 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)

-  Comms Net  ( 2  points) 

= 25 total ship cost

1 Whisper ( 20 points) WHISPER

1 Colonel Jendon ( 20 points) 

1 Maarek Steele ( 21 points) 

1 Soontir Fel ( 18 points) 

1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points) VETERAN

1 Black Squadron ( 9 points) 

1 Dengar ( 20 points) 

1 TIE Phantom Squadron ( 14 points) 

Ghost

Ghost had only light losses. He's added some gunnery upgrades to the flagship and APTs to the glads, plus a 4th squint. He also build a 15 pt base. No vets - his 1 ship kill was a ram :-(

Vassal CC 2 Thrawn Final Fleet - 440 points 

Author: ForceGhostofNobodyInParticular

Faction: Galactic Empire 

Points: 440/440

Credits: 0  

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)

-  Grand Admiral Thrawn  ( 32  points) 

-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points) 

= 176 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

= 65 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

= 65 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

= 65 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)

-  Comms Net  ( 2  points) 

= 25 total ship cost

4 TIE Interceptor Squadrons ( 44 points) 

Greenie

The loss of 2 Raiders cost me 46 refit. Since I was also building a base I skipped refitting the scarred Lambda, leaving me with 39 resources to buy stuff with. Enough to get Tua + ECM (I wanted to try EWS, but with MC30s and H1 running around...) for the Cymoon, bling for Demo, DCaps and OE. 

I'm a little light on the squads, but you can't have everything! Assuming I get to grow some for round 3 I'm definitely taking more squads. There is also room for more stuff on the flagship, so I'll have to balance those two needs.

Name: VCC New Vader r2

Faction: Imperial

Commander: Darth Vader

Total Points: 439

Credits: 0

ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112) VETERAN

• Darth Vader (36)

• Minister Tua (2)

• Gunnery Team (7)

• XI7 Turbolasers (6)

• Electronic Countermeasures (7)

= 170 Points

Gladiator II (62) VETERAN

• Ordnance Experts (4)

• Engine Techs (8)

• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)

• Demolisher (10)

= 89 Points

Raider II (48)

• Disposable Capacitors (3)

• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)

= 60 Points

Raider I (44)

• Ordnance Experts (4)

• External Racks (3)

= 51 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)

• Comms Net (2)

= 25 Points

Squadrons:

• Lambda Shuttle (15) SCARRED

• Captain Jonus (16) VETERAN

• Valen Rudor (13) VETERAN

= 44 Points

Rebel Fleets r2

Tokra

Ackbar picks up another CR90, which isn't surprising. He picks up Strat Adviser. Entirely reasonable, as 4 activations is a bit light. But this probably forces Sloane to do the same next round. Oh well. He's short on points, maybe having built a base at Raider's Point, so a TRC moved from MC30 to CR90. This fleets makes me want to take Early Warning System...except stupid Jaina...and Home One :-D

CC Ackbar R2

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points)
-  Home One  ( 7  points)
-  Strategic Adviser  ( 4  points)

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points) (Veteran)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Jainas Light  ( 2  points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)

Corran Horn
Jan Ors
4 YT-2400s
Shara Bey (Veteran)

Dr Alex

Mothma refits all her scarred ships, then adds titles to 2 MC30s. At this point this fleet looks a little weak. Dr Alex should probably be a little careful this round. But not sure that's in character for him :-)

CC Mon Mothma R2

[ flagship ] MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
-  Mon Mothma  ( 30  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)


MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
-  Admonition  ( 8  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
-  Foresight  ( 8  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Expanded Hangar Bay  ( 5  points)

VCX-100 Freighter
VCX-100 Freighter (Scarred)
2 Z-95 Headhunter Squadrons (Scarred)

Darth Veggie

Veggie didn't take much damage in r1, and didn't build any bases, so his fleet has grown quite a bit. He's gone the WAB route, so with them backing up his beefy squads (Ketsu added too) he has a credible means to defend against Sloane. DCO on the MC75 could save a TON of APT crits! Good call there Veggie!

CC Sato R2

[ flagship ] MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100 points)
-  Commander Sato  ( 32  points)
-  Damage Control Officer  ( 5  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
- Aspiration ( 3 points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)
-  External Racks  ( 3  points)

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 points)
-  Salvation  ( 7  points)

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
-  Task Force Organa  ( 1  points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
-  Task Force Organa  ( 1  points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)

Han Solo (Veteran)
Tycho Celchu (Veteran)
2 YT-2400s
3 VCX-100 Freighters
Ketsu Onyo

The Road to Regionals: Östersund (Sweden)

 Star Destroyer over Jedha Östersund

The only Regional this year within a reasonable driving distance for me is in Östersund, Sweden. It's 3 1/2 - 4 hours away by car. A bit far, but if we car pool it's OK. Maybe we'll sleep over one night, engage in some social activities (read: dink beer the night before, be hungover at the tourney).

I still have a month to get ready - the tourney was supposed to be in February, but stuff... so it got moved to 24 March. That's quite OK with me - gives me more time to plot and playtest wave 7! 

Oh, and I'm NOT using my Store Champ bye. I'm not driving that far to sit around watching other people play! Got to say I find the whole concept of byes... totally stupid. Sure, I can get paired with a really strong player round 1, but I'd rather that happen than sit om my ass. Do as you please with your byes, but I've never used one, and I never will.

Anyway. 

What to play, what to play...

I have narrowed the field down a bit, but not that much... I haven't even settled on a faction!

EMPIRE

I could take my Nordics Sloane list of course. It's a strong list, even in wave 7, and I know it very well. I have some wave 7 ideas that could make it even stronger. On the other hand I'm bored with this list, and wave 7 has some stuff that can help counter it. Having Raddus suddenly dump a big ship in the face of my carefully placed ISD? Not fun. Or just some nasty dual ISD stomping me too fast to compensate? Also no fun. But mostly... I think I need to move on. I already won what I could with ISD+4, so no I feel the need to evolve.

Or maybe my Vassal World Cup Vader list can be used? It's certainly effective, but it's not fully wave 7, just quasi wave 6/7. I could probably tweak it some and make it even more effective. On the other hand it might water down the concept. Plus it's a very unforgiving list to play, so unless I want to balance on the edge all the time it's not ideal for this sort of IRL tourney. Vassal, sure, IRL not so much. I see some data from Regionals coming in where dual ISDs are apparently plenty and doing quite well for themselves. 

I have a couple of other Imperial ideas as well. If I have time I will playtest the more promising ones... unless I defect and go over to the other side...

REBEL

But the more I think about it, the more I lean towards Rebels. Haven't really done much Rebel since wave 2 or so. A little bit here, a little bit there, but all my main builds have been Imperial. I've been wanting to get back to the Light Side, and wave 7 seems as good a time as any.

With Rebels there are 3 commanders that are appealing to me: Sato, Raddus, and Ackbar.

Dodonna also isn't entirely off the table, but he's... just a bit bland is all. So probably just leave him out of the equation, rather than try to build aroudn something I don't really wanna play.

All of those admirals can be made to work with the MC75. That seems perfect - another shiny wave 7 toy!

I'm thinking Ackbar gets the Armored Cruiser, but Raddus and Sato would need to ride the Ordnance Cruiser.

A classic Acbkar conga line, but led by a Aspiration titled MC75 Armored Cruiser could be very potent. Maybe Caitken & Shollan on an Assault Frigate? Or on the MC75 itself. Need to test this out. I has potential, I think.

Raddus would be using a MC75, possibly bidding for 1st and packing Profundity, or going for 2nd player with Aspiration. Both choices have their set of strengths and weaknesses. Going 2nd has more room for other combat ships, but how fun isn't Profundity?

And Sato... can I finally get him to work? MC75 Armored Cruiser, rocking Wide-Area Barrage maybe. But what other ships and squadrons? Hammerheads? Very vague ATM.

You want a piece of me? Come and get it...

Ok, that's how far I've come. Anyone have any tips or suggestions: just hit the comment section!