Østersund SC 2018, part 2 (AAR)

And now the actual battles:

Round 1

First game was against Anders. I've seen him before, but I don't think we have played. He ran 3 VSD-I with 7th Fleet, light on upgrades and a good 100+ pts in squads. I was 1st player and picked his Intel Sweep. 

Since tokens go down before ships, I had a good idea where he would set up. He had 3+3=6 drops to my 2+4=6, so he could put a VSD on my flank, but he didn't. My Quasar is in the middle of the board, almost parallel to the edge. Squads as far forward as possible. Quasar was my objective ship (his is the VSD on the far left). Plan is to pick up 2 tokens, then loop around and into the back. That gives me 2 tokens, and should let me kill his objective ship before he can pick a 3rd token. My ISD point into the table, forward, speed 2, Pryce to 2. 

I got the jump on his squads r1, using Squall. So my squads quickly took care of Morna and began work on another Decimator. My opponent then sped his other squads to the rescue, killing Maarek with Saber and Interceptor, but the damage was done. The squad fight snowballed, and despite lots of damage from squads and flak, I was able to jump to the station to heal.

With Pryce and aggressive navigation I got the ISD around the flank of the VSDs. It took a bunch of shots, but was only lightly damaged at the end of the game. Quasar flew around in a circle as planned, taking only a few long range shots. I was just able to bring down all three VSDs in round 6, for a 10-1 400 MoV.

I'm not a big fan of VSDs to begin with, and 3 VSD-I in one fleet is too much. 7th Fleet is actually good, but when you face fast bombers and get flanked by an ISD the title doesn't help much.

Round 2

Second game was vs Rolf, the owner of Escapade Gaming and Gear and the organizer of many great X-wing, Armada, IA and Destiny events. We've played a number of times before. Rolf is good, but I always seem to gain the upper hand.

He ran dual Motti ISD, Kuat and Cymoon, with a Vader Raider and 2 Comms Net Goz. SAdv for 6 activations, and a moderate bid. He was 1st player and agonized over my objectives, eventually landing on Precision Strike. I set up a lot like in my 1st game, but with the ISD a bit further to the right. I'm not particularly afraid of dual ISD, but with Motti it takes a lot of shot to kill one, so you gotta be careful. So I was confident, but determined to be cautious.

I quickly took out a Gozanti with squads. Then his Vader raider took out my Boosted Comms, which really crippled my Quasar. Most of the game it was only moving a couple of squads each round. And my Gozanti kill left Jendon out of the battle for 2 rounds.

The raider then flew of the table, saving me the need to kill it. This is where I figured that, without Boosted Comms, and two angry ISD coming for me, I would be unlikely to kill either ISD. So I decided to circle and kill the last Gozanti (it was moving speed 1 into the center, so it was always going to end up in front of my ISD), while farming for PS tokens. 

The Kuat has ONE damage card. ONE! I flip it and... COMMS NOISE. Speed down to 1. Next bomber flips it again. Speed 0. Next bomber changes top dial to CF. The Kuat its stuck at speed 0 and can't do anything but die while I get tokens. It must be the luckiest break in all of Armada history. Not just 1 crippling Comms Noise, but THREE in a row. Not fun for Rolf, who had done nothing to deserve such a devastating loss.

Fun fact: When Maarek killed the first Gozanti he pulled two Projector Missaligned...

Cymoon ran down my Quasar in the end, but it was still a 9-2 for me, in what would have been a 6-5 (7-4 with tokens) for me.

If you disregard the lucky crit, Pryce worked really well this game too. She made the ISD + a few bombers into something my opponent didn't want to turn into. That allowed me to jump forward and turn around his flank. Go PRYCE!

I was now at 19 pts after 2 rounds.

Round 3

Was against Mats. FINALLY! We've played in several tournaments together, and he always gets 2nd place, but we never meet! He ran Rieekan MC80, Yavaris, 2 flots and an innovative (but good) squadron ball. I was 1st player and picked his Fighter Ambush and...

No, wait. Stop. That's not right. 

Mats was tabled in r2. He got 461 vs 400 MoV, but as Micke, who had actually read the regs, pointed out, you get a LOSS if you are tabled. So Mats got 5 pts, rather than 7, which meant that my correct opponent was Micke and his Raider swarm! When last I played Micke's raiders it was regionals. He had Maarek+Jendon then, but now he had 1 more Raider and double slicers. It was a 10-1 for me then, with Raddus, but this was completely different.

After reshuffling tables we proceeded. Micke had a 25 pt bid and picked my Sup Positions. Although that let me set up really well, it was the right choice I think. His fast, small ships I have to shoot to the front and then they just zip past and I can't afford to chase them down if I don't kill them in the first pass. So the token farming options is limited. 

On the other hand he was then in no position to win 9-2 over me, which he needed to win the tourney. Maybe Fighter Ambush, high risk, high gain? Chances are it would have backfired on him. Badly. A dead raider is 3-4 tokens. A Gozanti 2-3. Even if he tabled me, I would have so many tokens that 9-2 would be impossible.

My Quasar started on the inside of the ISD, but here we are round 2, it has bombed the hell out of a Gozanti and a Raider, then moved up and to the side. The ISD is now in PRYCE MODE, and covering every approach to the Quasar. Micke can't really rush forward with his nasty little ExRacks...

I blow up a lot of shit... then I get greedy. My ISD repairs 3 shields, is ALMOST full health, and slows to 2 and turns into the table. There is no REAL chance that the remaining ExRack raider and Demo can bring it down. I'm just making sure I win big and spectacular. Maybe I was instinctively craving revenge for my rushing X-wing defeat the day before? lol

So of course my greed backfires: hot dice and the final double ram takes away my last hull. I have also been overconfident/overspending my Thrawn dials, so on the final round my Quasar is sliced, and I can't kill Demo. Great comeback from Micke there.

End r6 he had 1 Gozanti, 1 Raider with 1 Hull, and 1 Demo with 2 Hull and no Brace/Redir. I had the Quasar and 6 squads remaining. 3 tokens for me, 2 to him.

It ended 6-5 to me with just a few pts of MoV. I could have won big. And Micke could have won if he'd not gotten greedy with an ExRack (or maybe he just forgot?), as my Defender was on 1 hull. If he'd flaked that down he'd gotten the win. Or if my Quasar hadn't gotten an acc/hit on the rear of the Gozanti r6 thanks to the PS CF token. There are so many variables in Armada. Gotta love it!

In the end I got 25 pts and won the SC.

Lessons learned

Don't. Get. Greedy. If you have killed half the enemy fleet, and can run away while bombing the rest of it, DO NOT TURN INTO THE FIGHT THINKING U CAN OUTLIVE A LAST/FIRST DEMO. I knew that already. Now I've been reminded.

I REALLY need to color my Thrawn dials. This was the first time I've used Thrawn anywhere but Vassal, and I had not thought about how messy it could get. 

When a ship finished activating, I would again and again remove the wrong dial, only to realize and put it back. Also against Rolf I'm 100% sure my r3 command for the ISD should be a (wasted) squad (Nav/Nav/Squad from start in every game), but it came up a nav, so I offered to just toss it. He said keep it. It didn't matter either way, but still. Against Micke I suddenly saw my ISD had only 2 commands after the command phase, bc I had put a new command at the bottom of my Thrawn stack. That was quickly fixed, but it was embarrassing. 

Writing this I realize I need not/should not keep the Thrawn dials in a stack at all, but looking at them is faster when they are in a stack. But yeah, I'm coloring my Thrawn dials. It would fix all of the above issues, even when fatigue sets in.

Technicalities aside Thrawn is really good if you use him right. He's perfect for this fleet. It may seem strange to use him in a list with just 2 ships, no? Surely the more ships the more extra dial the better, right? That may be true, but in this list, where you pack all 400 points into just 2 activations you need those ships to be the best they can be. And nothing beats having 2 dials.

He's also perfect against slicers. Just don't spend your Thrawn dials like a drunk sailor spends his money. I did that against Micke - and I also went 2 squad, 1 nav when I should have gone 3 squad. Ah, the benefits of hindsight. Other squad lists can be hurt badly by slicers. At the very least they need multiple squad command platforms. My list has only 2, so Thrawn is the only viable option.

Playing Empire squad heavy again was lovely. I've tried to revive Sloane, but she's dead in the current meta. Thrawn makes squads viable again. He could even be Nationals material. Not 100% sure about that yet, but I would not be afraid/ashamed to take this fleet to Nordics. Since I spoiled the list here, I would have to A) improve the list and B) practice a lot :-) But I have some other ideas as well, so we'll see.

Vader (boarding team) is just great. And it belongs on a raider, with or without ex racks. If u have a raider, take Vader.

Thanks to all my great opponents for excellent opposition, Broba/Sam for great list making tips, and Rolf for hosting a great event.

My next event (X-wing and Armada) is Nordics in Stockholm 27-28 October.

Østersund SC 2018, part 1 (the list)

Me on the left, Mickael (r3) on the right

I'm back from lovely Östersund, Sweden and a great weekend of SC for X-wing 2.0 and Armada! There were also SC events for Destiny and Imp Assault, plus some side events, so a really big event.

I was totally going to do more blog posts about my prepping, but truth be told said prepping (and writing about it) got overshadowed by... X-wing 2.0!

For a while now there has been very little IRL Armada action locally, so I was tempted to jump on the 2.0 bandwagon (there is an active X-wing community here). I finally did, ordering a Core, 1 X-wing, 1 Y-wing, and a Rebel conversion kit (for cards - don't own any old ships - yet) from Rolf Hilleberg at Escapade Gaming And Gear (who also hosted the entire event).

Website: http://escapadegaminggear.com/ 

Then I tried some listbuilding, deciding to run Wedge, Luke, and Dutch. Sicne I didn't even know half the rules I installed the X-wing Vassal module and got some test games in. Man was that a steep learning curve. I had a vague notion of not flying too fast, keep in formation and focus fire on the enemy. In reality it was much harder, as them rocks kept getting in my way. Also, not fully knowing the rules, nor any of the cards and combos outside my own list, made it even harder :-D

But I perservered, and rapidly got better, so that actually won a game and didn't feel like a complete looser after getting 8 games in. My list also improved gradually. I stayed with Luke and Wedge, but Dutch got the boot and was replaced by an ARC. I had two versions of that list in my bag: 1 with Garven and 1 with Norra. I took Garven, which I got to regret all 5 games :-P

I got 2 wins, 3 losses. 1 big win, 1 big loss (to Micael, whom I've played Armada against many times), but the last 3 games were close. Could have been wins, could have been losses. End result was way above my pay grade. But I really like it, and will play more. It's fast and furious, with lots of action, and short play time (big plus there). I like Armada way more, but X-wing ain't bad!

But enough X-wing. Sunday was Armada SC, 3 rounds. I took a Thrawn 2-ship list, ISD+Quasar and a crapload of mean squads. I'd like to thank Broba and Sam on the forums/Discord/Vassal for showing me the archetype. As you might remember I took a long break after regionals, and when I wanted to prepp for SC I had no clue where to begin.

I made some tweaks of my own, changing the squad composition a bit, taking Exp hangars on the Quasar and XI7 on the ISD, but otherwise it's very close to Boba's vision. Without further ado:

Name: Thrawn 2-ship Østersund SC18
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions

Imperial II (120)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
• Governor Pryce (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Avenger (5)
= 188 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Squall (3)
= 77 Points

Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• TIE Defender Squadron (16)
• Dengar (20)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• Captain Jonus (16)
• Gamma Squadron (10)
= 131 Points

Total Points: 396

Let's look at some of the list's key features:

It's a list that loves going first - and loves going second. I absolutely will not build any list that relies on first player.

I'm aware that Precision Strike can be very dangerous to me. It's high risk, high gain. A flipped Comms Noise... look at my 2nd game below and u see what I mean. Close-Range Intel Sweep (with Jonus you WILL get points, just not as many) is a great replacement, with less risk, slightly fewer points, and the benefit of Dust Clouds.

Fighter Ambush takes away my deployments, but it's OK. If ur squad heavy, it doesn't matter too much, as I can handle your squads. If you're not squad heavy, your first little ship dies in round 1 and then I get 10+ tokens.

Superior Positions makes the Quasar entirely safe, and my ISD nigh unkillable (but see r3 below). it does not, however, usually provide me with that much net gain in tokens. But that's not the point either

The addition of Pryce is a vital component of the list. Not necessarily to go last/first with the ISD (although that IS of course nice), but because setting Pryce to 2 (or VERY RARELY 3 if the board state is passive at setup) delays the enemy's approach. Opponent WILL NOT fly into your front arc so u can bomb and Gunnery Team their ships. This means it's not until round 3 they can actually start their attack runs, and stuff that needs to get into black to setup runs won't be doing much until r4, rather than maybe r2 or 3. If u don't get how this works u should try it out, as it's essential knowledge if you meet Pryce (or Bail).

XI7 over QBT. Both are strong, but I like to have options. And yes, I know bombers and XI7 don't actually mesh that well. But sometimes the bombers aren't available, and you really need the drilling capability of XI7. Besides, I'm usually flying speed 2 or 3, so QBT would not trigger often (but against my r3 opponent QBT would have been great - speed 4 raiders hate them).

Exp Hangars. Is it a waste of points? With it I can command 9 squadrons, more than I have. But I think it's a very good addition. Often my ISD will be out of command range of main squad blob, but between Squall and Jendon the ISD can always reach THREE squads (Jendon + 2 bombers relayed to). So 5+3=8, so perfect. It also gives the Quasar a better Alpha, with 5 (or even 6 if I do a double squad dial). 5 (or 6 with Jendon) is all my anti-squad capability in one strike. 5 (or 6) bombers drilling a flotilla, CR90 or Raider will often kill it, whereas only 4 won't. If I took it out I would have a better bid, 9 pts, but against the really high bidders it won't help at all. 

The rest of the upgrades are pretty self-explanatory. Squall is pure gold in a Thrawn fleet. Usually u want to have Pursuant as slicer protection or extra flexibility, but with Thrawn u can take Squall. Squall lets Defender+Maarekx2 tap on any ship r1, regardless of how they set up. If u want to. And its great for shifting around unengaged shit, to make sure everything is commandable.

Squads are a nice mix of anti-squad and anti-ship. I had several other versions, one in particular where Defender + Tempest were replaced by Vader and Black Squad (at +1 pt), but in the end it was the bomber keyword that was prioritized (the all-ship meta has reached these parts too). I am sure there are squad balls out there than can take my squads, but if I meet something like that I will be more cautious and play really well, and they will lose anyway ;-)

I got in a few test games with this fleet (Vassal), but not very many, and I felt pretty rusty after my break. But like I said X-wing distracted me. Nevertheless I was pretty confident. I know Empire squads well, the ISD-2 is never a wrong pick, and the Quasar is super hard to kill (and nearly worthless in points) in this fleet. Thrawn was fresh and fun - and says a big FUCK YOU to slicers (I think it's a lame upgrade, that really hurts the game, to the point where I won't play squad hvy wo Thrawn at this point).

Next post will have some AAR.

Squadrons in Armada vs X-wing 2.0

Unfortunately my local Armada scene is pretty dead. We used to be quite a few people, but no one seems to really want to play anymore. There is talk of playing, but no real... play. So my IRL Armada is limited to going to tourneys anywhere but locally. Which involves AT LEAST 3h in a car - or even a plane trip. So I guess I'm going to have to rely on Vassal even more in the future.

But Vassal doesn't satisfy the need to push plastic around. So I've gone ahead and invested in the next best thing: X-wing 2.0! It's only been out a week, so listbuilding and play experience still quite limited. But it's a blast thus far. So quick and fun. Listbuilding is fast (though I'm still learning the cards and ships), setup is fast, play is fast. Although similar to Armada in some regards, the overall experience is very different.

Anyway. This is an Armada blog, so I'm not going to talk too much about X-wing. The point of this blog post is to compare some of the squads from X-wing with how they've turned out in Armada. After all, both games are made by the same company, and Armada is kind of descended from X-wing (or at least it came later).

One of the really weird ones is how they made the X-wing so slow compared to the TIE Fighter. In X-wing a TIE has a slight edge in speed, but the X-wing can boost (I guess it couldn't in the 1.0 version) and effectively achieve the same speed. It also has an arguably better maneuver dial.

So when I fly X-wings and Y-wings, it feels weird, because the X-wing is MUCH faster and more agile than the Y-wing, yet in Armada they are the same speed. And that bugged me BEFORE I ever played X-wing. If they ever make Armada 2.0 the X-wing should be speed 4.

The B-wing is another weird one. In X-wing is does indeed move like slug. It can barely even reach speed 4, and only if it takes stress. That is true for the Y-wing as well, but at least it can bank at speed 3 without stress and hard turn with stress. B-wing is pretty much locked to speed 2, although they do have access to stuff like Advanced Sensors or even Afterburners, which can make them more agile.

So I guess the Speed 2 in Armada is warranted. But I must say it feels incredibly contrived to have a fighter-bomber that's slower and less maneuverable than a dinky YT-1300 (and from Rebels we known that the B-wing prototype is a speed demon lol). Speed 2 for a squad in Armada is just lame btw. Just look at all the crap they made so they could go faster: AFFM and FCT in particular. Sigh. At the very least, if the B-wing MUST go speed 2, give it the amount of hull it deserves. It's even tougher than a Y-wing, because it has more shields and the same amount of hull/shields.

Speaking of squadron hull points: in X-wing TIEs are very fragile, this is true. But they have great agility and access to evade (and focus oc). Y-wings on the other hand are VERY easy to hit, so although they are tough, they get hit a LOT more. I guess Heavy in Armada, and the fact that there is no 1-1 conversion of hull/shields does explain some of it. But the fact is the TIE (and other squads like it) should have either a defensive buff or more hull. On the other hand TIEs get more offense, so maybe the designers figured it evens out. It does, however, make TIEs hopeless vs flak.

Ah well, rant over. Time to start work.

Trials of Konstantine: Test runs

Says on Disney that his name is Kassius - and that he commands the Relentless. That wrong. He commands the SD AVENGER. And he just goes by the name King Konstantine I.

With that bit of lore out of the way, I can get to business. I've made two test runs with King K, which resulted in one 10-1 win (tabling) and one tactical withdrawal (not a win).

First game was vs. Dodonna in an MC80+AF w/FC and nasty rebel bombers. Titus made himself useful by dropping the AF to speed 0, thereby causing issues for the future positioning of the Rebel carrier. The Dictor made itself useful soaking bomber attacks. Between Brunson, Dictor title and Scramblers, it reduced incoming damage quite a bit. Then healed up, including a double move on the station, leaving the rebel with 1 facedown and like 1 or 2 shields down after 2 rounds of bombing and shooting. Fun.

Meanwhile the ISD closed in, with Suppressor boxing in the MC80. At this point the Rebel realized there would be no escape, so he didn't even try to go above speed 1. So basically King K triggered ZERO times, but only bc the enemy was already at the desired speed.

Some double arcs from both combat ships, together with double ET ramming (Dictor still on the station) finished the battle. Rebel tabled, Empire down 1 Mauler.

My opponent was a good deal less experienced than me, so I won't overdo the importance of this battle. But I feel that it shows what the fleet CAN do under the right circumstance: it can close, and it can keep the enemy in place while he's blown apart. It can also tank a surprising amount of squadrons.

(I think I have some shots on the other PC, might add them later)

Second battle was against a stronger opponent. All ship Motti 2 ISD, including Kuat BTA w/Pryce. We ended up playing my Station Assault,since he had a 20+ bid. I contemplated trying to tank on the stations, while tempting him to shoot at them, rather than my ships. But I ended up with trying to see if I could delay and outflank him. And the answer was: yes, I could indeed avoid the ISD and flank them, but I could not also do enough damage to kill even one of them. So he blew up the stations and some careless Gozanti, while I just sailed into hyperspace. Still a good game. Main ships are pretty agile, but if I don't stand and fight, I don't get any points! And Station Assault still SUCKS!

Trials of Konstantine

The other day I was chatting with Paul (PT106) and Broba(Fett) on the Armada Discord chat. A little about listbuilding and a little about the upcoming Vassal tourney. We started disrespecting Konstantine and Tagge. It's hard not to when doing Imp lists. 

One thing led to another and suddenly I had shoehorned Konstantine into my Thrawn list. Do you get the pic reference now, punk? Do you? It wasn't a bad list, even with Konstantine. But it was oc much better with Thrawn, so there was no reason to go with K-man over the big T.

But then Paul (I think it was him, could have been Broba, too lazy to check the chat log) commented I wasn't really using anything that supplemented K-mans ability. And oc this was true, as it wasn't really a K-man kind of list.

So I ended up trying to make a real, W7 Konstantine list. I'm normally not into self-harm, but I guess I was bored or something. I tried various angles, including a 2xISD list that wasn't entirely bad. But a close look revealed it would just be better with Motti or Thrawn or anyone else really.

In the end I settled on this:

Name: VAT18 Konstantine
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Konstantine

Assault: Station Assault
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
• Admiral Konstantine (23)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Grav Shift Reroute (2)
• Targeting Scrambler (5)
• Ion Cannon Batteries (5)
• Interdictor (3)
= 144 Points

Imperial II (120)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Avenger (5)
= 159 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Suppressor (4)
= 34 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Admiral Titus (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 27 Points

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
= 32 Points

Total Points: 396

It has two ships for Konstantine to trigger from (the minimum), but those are fairly agile (ET Dictor & ISD) and can tank sufficiently to be at distance 1-5 and not just die (Brunson/Dictor title on the Dictor and ECM on the ISD, plus Scramblers help a lot). A single Tractor Beam is handy for stripping nav tokens, and the Gozanti is there to slice away those navs (or squads or whatever). Note the Ion batteries on the Dictor. You don't see them often, but in this list they make sense over Heavy Ions (they are Exhaust anyway). Titus + the Dictor can really mess with opponents obstacle, deployment and objective play. Suppressor is normally a movement deterrent, but with K-man you can actually force enemy ships to close the gap and get their token flipped. Not a big deal, but good enough - and fun. Finally there are two squads for screening: Ciena, cuz she's ma bae, and mauler bc of splash and general hate coming his way (he'll be waiting inside a flak zone for the opportune moment).

I have a very modest bid. 5 activations with SAdv (this isn't really a Pryce list, and Brunson was already taken, so it makes sense). Only 4+1 drops, but whatever. SA isn't my fav red objective, but at least I can pull the stations almost to the edge of the board and really make the enemy come to me or lose 7-4. CO doesn't need any explanation. DT is just personal preference. Salvage or Corona would make sense too. I just like the opportunities that DT give, not primarily for the scoring, but for the tactical game.

I would have loved to have Tua/ECM on the Suppressor, but no points. Slicer wisdom also dictates that 1 slicer is meh, while 2 are pretty good. But again no pts, and I wanted a Comms net for my big guys' benefit. Besides I'm not leaning too heavily on slicing, so I think it's ok. ISD & Dictor are where they should be, so there are no points to save. Dropping the ISD-2 to Kuat would be a BAD move. Even with speed control u need at least 1 ship that can really engage at range. GT, ECM, LS, XI7 and Avenger are almost mandatory upgrades for me on my ISD-2s. They just give me so much for the points. In this case I'd like to try QBT on the ISD... but oc Tractor beams are totally OP so they are also Modifications... good call there FFG :P Titus isn't mandatory, but 6 pt bid won't help much. Plus he's kind of fun, and if I'm doing K-man I might as well do T-bro too. 

Squadrons aren't set in stone, but I'd like to have a minimal screen, just to prevent massive bomber rape of my ships. Squall + Maarekdon going to town from r1 is enough to completely wreck any list. Ciena is best at this. She pairs well with Valen the Grin I suppose, but it's hard to keep Valen protected with just the one squad. Often he dies first anyway and it feels wasted. Mauler is a MUCH bigger pain. The only swaps I did consider was a Lambda for Mauler. But I think the Grav Shift and everything is enough for objective shenanigans. Jonus too was considered. He tends to attract attention and draw squads into flak traps, just so they can shoot him dead dead dead. And his flotilla-popping skillz are epic. But in the end it was 1 moving part too many, so I settled on Ciena+Mauler.

Oh, and this is my list for the Vassal Autumn Tourney 2018. So we'll see if it is actually any good, or if I just made a big fool of myself. If so I'll blame it on Konstantine...

The Rules Lawyer: Fire-Control Team & ACM/XX-9

"The Rules Lawyer" is a new feature, where I explain things regarding the rules that isn't 100% clear from the RRG+FAQ+Tourney Regs. It's not official or anything, but since I'm always right it's better to accept my version of the truth, rather than live in ignorance and shame.

This post is about the interaction of F-C Team and ACM/XX-9:

When F-C Team (Not to be confused with FCT or FC Team, which is Fighter Coordination Team) was spoiled some ppl cheered. What's better than 1 crit? Two crits oc. As it turned out there were... not many ships who could actually use this card, beyond the DEFAULT CRIT and say APT or ACM.

(and oc most ships would much rather have Ordnance Experts or something in that weapons slot, but that's another discussion)

Except some ships could actually take APT and XX-9 (MC30 - but now there are more, like Kuat and Armored Cruiser). THREE faceups from 1 attack? One from APT, then 2 XX-9 hull damage? With Dodonna? Yes PLEASE!

So we got a FAQ, essentially nerfing already dubious F-C Team to limit APT spam/Dodonna abuse.

Fire Control Team

If a ship with this card equipped resolves both the XX-9 Turbolasers critical effect and the standard critical effect, only the first 2 damage cards are dealt faceup. If a ship with this card equipped resolves both the Assault Proton Torpeodes critical effect and the standard critical effect, only the damage card dealt by resolving Assault Proton Torpedoes is dealt faceup.

Nowhere does it say explicity how ACM and XX-9 work torgeter, but from the FAQ ruling you can extrapolate:

• If only 1 ACM goes through (bc 1 adjacent zone is shielded), 1 card is dealt faceup, then a second faceup can also be dealt if total damage gets to hull.
• If no ACM damage goes to hull (bc both adjacent zones are shielded), then two cards can still be dealt faceup if totalt damage scores at least 2 hull dmg.
• This would make the ACM/XX-9 interaction far better than the APT/XX-9 combo.

But you can't pretend F-C Team is a good card. If you're shooting black dice, you want OE. You usually want this even with Screed or Vader, although technically either of those two commanders COULD consider F-CT.

Btw: Heavy Ion Emplacements + ACM is a semi-legit, if costly combo that you could theoretically stick on your Screed/Vader Kuat Refit. Not my cup of team, but it CAN be done (so someone will).

Prepping for the SC 2018 season, part 2 (Sloane again)

This is part 2 of my Prepping for SC season.

Last time I talked about brushing dust of something old. 

So I did. With Sloane, using my winning list from Nordics 2017 as a basis. There has only been 1 more wave since then (wave 7) and a teeny tiny FAQ. 

I mean, how different can the meta be?

Turns out it's quite a lot. 

Relay was hit hard by the FAQ. So I can no longer relay on my flotillas to stay safe while commanding squadrons on the other side of the board. I had 4 Gozanti, remember, as they could then push around all 4 squads, freeing the ISD to maneuver and repair. The ISD would only act as a carrier for alpha strikes and such, or if the Gozanti for some reason were destroyed (I think I lost a total of 2 during the course of 4 matches).

And it's the flotilla nerf as well. Max 2. I used to have 4 (there were lists that took FIVE), which gave me both deployments and activations. Very important for good ISD positioning and activation control. But if I swap in Strategic Adviser and a Quasar, I still have 5 activations, and the same squads.

Which leads to this:

It's not a bad list as such, but the Quasar is just as predictable as the ISD was and far less tanky. The Gozanti have to fly close to the action. And the ISD is downgraded to a I, which is exactly the type I moved away from during playtesting last year. No Defensive retro means the ISD can die really fast, and with the relay limitation I may have to plot in squad commands when I'd rather Nav or Repair.

Name: Sloane w7 (8 squads)
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Sloane

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Fire Lanes
Navigation: Superior Positions

Imperial I (110)
• Admiral Sloane (24)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Boarding Troopers (3)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Avenger (5)
= 150 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Pursuant (2)
= 66 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
= 25 Points

Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Dengar (20)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Howlrunner (16)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Saber Squadron (12)
= 134 Points

Total Points: 400

I had to drop some squads if I want to keep the ISD-II. Howl and Saber are the ones to go. With only 6 squads I'm still confident in the squad battle. But the problem is I don't kill fast enough. I need to wipe squads ASAP, then start "bombing" for accs. It takes too long to clear squads, and after I don't have enough squads to do enough damage/strip enough tokens. I have GT + XI7 on the ISD, so that does compensate somewhat. It also has 1 less deployment, down to 7 total, so now I'm the one being outdeployed, which is pretty bad actually.

Name: Sloane w7 (6 squads)
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Sloane

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Superior Positions

Imperial II (120)
• Admiral Sloane (24)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Avenger (5)
= 177 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Pursuant (2)
= 67 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
= 25 Points

Squadrons:
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Dengar (20)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Valen Rudor (13)
= 106 Points

Total Points: 400

So that leaves me with one other option: ditch a Gozanti and go back to 8 squads. But at 3 activations SAdv is pointless, so might as well drop it and put Brunson on the Quasar. No rooms for any XI7, but less need for it. 

Name: Sloane w7 (8 squads, 3 activations)
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Sloane

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Superior Positions

Imperial II (120)
• Admiral Sloane (24)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Avenger (5)
= 168 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Pursuant (2)
= 71 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 27 Points

Squadrons:
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Dengar (20)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Howlrunner (16)
• Saber Squadron (12)
= 134 Points

Total Points: 400

I could win games with this, but I'd get plastered by a squad-heavy Pryce list. And Raddus would probably do a number on me. Generally speaking I'm in real danger of being tabled, or at least be forced to run with the ISD and/or abandon the squad game. Furthermore, the squads can no longer reliably go to work on the enemy before I engage with the ISD.

Overall I'm OK with all 3 lists, but none feel like top tier. Not bad exactly, but not what I'm looking for in listbuilding.

Prepping for the SC 2018 season, part 1

Just to make it clear: by SC "season" I mean the one SC I'm going to. That'll be the one in Østersund, Sweden. Locally we don't have a SC this year, because those who play Armada around here can't be bothered to actually make time to come out and play.

But I still need to prep. After I could not go to Worlds or Euros bc of having like zero money to waste on that, I put all my Armada stuff into a closet and logged off Vassal. It's only for the last week I've actually begun thinking about Armada for real. If it wasn't for the SSD announcement, I don't think I would have bothered breaking out my stuff again.

So after 4 Vassal games, 1 with Vader Arq swarm, 2 with Sloane ISD + Quasars and 1 with Raddus (essentially my Regionals-winning list, but with a TRC90 instead for a flotilla and VCXs), I can verify that I am indeed VERY rusty. When last I played I was at the height of my skill, now I do stupid little things and forget to take into account this and that. My fav blunder thus far is constantly fixing shields, then moving the ship to expose stripped arcs... really should know better!

Anyway. I think I'll be OK if only I practice a little bit more. Maybe not 110%, but good enough not to make a fool out of myself. 

Then there is listbuilding. Stuff has happened in the months since I took a break. Worlds oc. Euros. Many other tournaments. Mata has been evolving. People have worked on their lists. I have not. So what do I do?

Should I take something tried and ture and just tweak it a little? It's not as if there have been many new waves, so there is really nothing new to take into account. 

Should I try for something brand new and inventive? I want to, because I don't really like to play the same fleets over and over. But I'm not sure I'm quite there. I look at my screen, and its the same fleets that get built over and over, with a few variations. 

Maybe I can copy someone? Then adjust it after playtesting? I've had success with that before. I just don't think there is time: the SC in late September, so I better settle on a list and start practicing ASAP.

I think I'll be forced to settle for something I've at least some experience with. Stay tuned as I try to narrow down the search for the perfect SC list!

Wave 8: Executor Arrives

“If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed.”

   –Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

"Something huge is coming to Star Wars™: Armada. Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Super Star Destroyer Expansion Pack!

This expansion pack arrives to swell the forces of the Galactic Empire with the first ship of an entirely new class—huge ships. The pre-painted, beautifully sculpted Super Star Destroyer miniature within this expansion is the largest miniature yet created by Fantasy Flight Games, measuring over 24 inches from tip to tip.

Of course, such a huge miniature serves as a stunning reminder of Imperial might on the battlefield—and it’s also a fully functional warship that you can add to your Imperial fleets. With four unique ship sheets, an assortment of tokens, and twenty-four upgrade cards, including iconic commanders like Admiral Piett and Emperor Palpatine, any rival fleet will tremble to face the might of your onslaught."

The Executor SSD was FINALLY announced at Gencon 2018, which was promptly shared on the forum, and an article was released the day after! The article is full of the usual errors, inconsistencies and weirdness, such as toting that the SSD sports six SHIP TOKENS, when it's clear they mean DEFENSE tokens. Monkeys and typewriters and all that.

Some of us have been waiting for this for a LONG time. Others, the oh so faithless, never expected this day to come at all. Well, what can I say? I was right, and you were wrong. I told you so. And so forth.

It's a big ship, both in size and in upgrade content: There is the actual model of course, which really is huge, two large bases and two double sided ship tokens to go with the 4 ship cards included. There is also 24 upgrades in the pack, plus the usual assortment of dials and tokens (including a SCATTER token) and whatnot. 

As a Huge ship (it's a new size, separate from Small, Medium, and Large), the SSD comes on TWO large bases. The cardboard ship tokens fill both bases, plus a space between then. The actual model is much bigger than that, as shown in the image below. Even on Armada's sliding scale it's going to look... HUGE!

These puny Destroyers do not concern me.

If you try it out, this baby won't fit into the deployment zone without going radically sideways. Since that would be a 100% crippling and lame restriction, my guess is the SSD gets a special deployment rule. The simplest would be to just require it to touch the edge, but I guess we won't know for sure for a while.

Since the SSD is Huge, not Large or Medium or Small, don't expect to be running stuff like Pryce or Strat Adviser on it. Complain/fantasize all you want, but if you search your feelings, you know this to be true.

The SSD also has many other special rules (there may be more, unspoiled):

The SSD can pass like a SAdv each round. 

It can shoot THREE times (instead of the usual TWO).

It moves from the REAR base (supposedly said in the FFG presentation, see form thread above). This makes a LOT of sense, as otherwise the ass would swing so insanely wide.

When it resolves a command dial, it resolves it as a dial+token.

It has SIX arcs, with two new aux right/left (the rear ones) arcs. These arcs have separate batteries and shields. And no, they are NOT side arcs, but aux arcs. So Enhanced Armament and that Ion thing only Aresius uses will only work on the regular side arcs, not the aux arcs.

It has SIX defense tokens too. Two each of Brace, Redir and Contain. Not a special rule as such, but special enough to warrant mention. There is no Defensive Retro, but it CAN take Tua in one of THREE officer slots. Wow. Tua + AP or EWS, Brunson and DCO anyone? Goes well with 22(!) hull and 20 shields total.

It's speed 2, but can't turn without a Nav command. And of course Moff Jerry will make it turn on a dime.

Command 4 is just massive. Thrawn will be really useful, same with the new Admiral Piett. Liaisons with or without Tarkin. Skilled First Officer. Even Support Officer (but a huge "maybe" there).

Squadron 5 is huge, with the option of squad 6. Which will actually always be 6/7 because of the SSD dial+token rule. Sloane alpha with SEVEN squads anyone!?

Engineering 4 is good, but not exceptional.

There are 4 ship cards, two of which can be used in normal 400 pt games (1 has been revealed). The other two are presumably for "epic" place, worth points values greater than 381, so that you can't legally field them. How many points I don't know, but I think I see 5 red/5 blue on the front arc of the ship token and maybe 4 red/3 blue/1 black on the side there.That's just massive. I assume other values like hull, shields, etc. will also be increased. Are we looking at 500 points or more?

The upgrade card lineup is huge, 24 cards, but many of them are not new. The only new ones seem to be commanders (2), officers (6), and titles (4). Of these, only Palpatine (commander) has been fully revealed. Much squinting has also revealed (most) of the text of Piett (commander), but we'll look at that in another article. The rest of the cards you can make out the title of or guess based on the image.

That SCATTER token... it's for me dumb-ass!

Commanders:

• Emperor Palpatine
• Admiral Piett

Officers:

• Admiral Someone (I think it's Piett in the pic, but can't tell for sure)
• Commander Someone (referencing my SWCCG cards I think it might be Brandei or Gherant)
• Darth Vader (says Darth and has him choking someone, so has to be the 4th Vader!)
• Director Krennic (director and White uniform, has to be)
• Emperor Palpatine (says Emperor, so has to be)
• Lira Wessex (says Lira, so has to be)

Misc:

• Boarding Engineers (meh)
• Flight Controllers (so you can by SSD instead of VSD lol!)
• HIE (good)
• Point-Defense Reroute (oh great!)
• Quad Turbos (so so)
• RLB (ok)
• Vet Gunners (sure)
• XI7 (a little too late lol)

Fleet Commands:

• All 4 (ok, I guess)

Titles:

• Ann-something (probably Annihilator)
• E-something (possibly Eclipse)
• Executor (a given really, plus I think it's the rightmost of the 4 in the pic)
• R-something (possibly Ravager)

Thanks to Ironlord for help with those titles. 

What not to like (unless your a pure Rebel player that is) about the Executor? I can't for the life of me find any reason to hate on it. This is 100% pure joy.

And the bad news? This baby isn't being unleashed upon the galaxy before Q1 2019. And knowing FFG that's just an estimate. I just hope there isn't a long delay this time, because it's been a while since wave 7 hit the shelves, and this rate of expansions is just horrendously slow.

Take me to Worlds, A Raddus Fleet

Kylo Ren's sister, Alexis Ren

Bad news: I'm not going to Worlds (can't afford to, simple as that).

Good news: Who the winner will be is no longer a forgone conclusion!

Since I'm not going, I'm free to discuss what lists I might have taken. This Raddus list (which I know is already being netlisted - a high honor indeed) is one list I might have taken.

Looks like most players are expecting a strong Raddus showing at Worlds. I agree with this assessment. Raddus a strong commander, and still new enough that not everyone has their counter-play down.

He's almost like another fish-face admiral: took a while to figure out the counters to masses of red dice being thrown downrange.

So I think that gives Raddus (if you can use him properly that is) an interesting advantage. Not necessarily against every single player, but enoguh that you might score a few points extra during Swiss. Or even get one or more very helpful 10-1s...

On to the actual list:

A while back a wrote about my Regionals-winning Raddus fleet. It was a lot of fun to play, and despite having been thrown together with only minimal playtesting it worked quite well. I would not say surprisingly well, because I was quite sure it had all the bits and pieces needed to perform well. But as always in Armada it helps a LOT to have actually practiced...

Anyway, based on previous playtesting and my Regionals matches, I hade some tweaks to the list. DCO had worked OK, but in general I think Lando would be a stronger option.I also got rid of the Comms Net - it simply wasn't doing much work. Together with the leftover 1 pt bid, I could now afford Endeavor. In every game the BC had proven highly vulnerable to crits (no surprise there), and only luck (and well-timed repairs) had kept it from being blown up/crippled.

Not sure it makes the list much better, because there are definitely matchups where I'd be temped to go back to the original version... but that's always the case with Armada. But based on my limited playtesting v2 should be just a tab bit more versatile.

Name: Raddus Bail BC+OC v2

Faction: Rebel

Commander: Admiral Raddus

Assault: Most Wanted

Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon

Navigation: Intel Sweep

MC80 Battle Cruiser (103)

• Admiral Raddus (26)

• Bail Organa (7)

• Gunnery Team (7)

• Engine Techs (8)

• Leading Shots (4)

• Quad Battery Turrets (5)

• XI7 Turbolasers (6)

• Endeavor (4)

= 170 Points

MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100)

• Lando Carissian (4)

• Ordnance Experts (4)

• Electronic Countermeasures (7)

• External Racks (3)

• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)

• Aspiration (3)

= 126 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

• Bright Hope (2)

= 20 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

• Hondo Ohnaka (2)

• Quantum Storm (1)

= 21 Points

Squadrons:

• Shara Bey (17)

• Tycho Celchu (16)

• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)

= 63 Points

Total Points: 400

So far, so good. Then along came the new FAQ...and it does affect the list. Some. Not a lot, but enough to require either adjustments to the list or adjustment to how it's played. The change to Relay means your flotillas can't stay on the flanks AND be effective squadron pushers. Not a crippling flaw, but it needs thinking about.

But before we get to looking at adjustments to the list: the FAQ makes the list stronger, not weaker. It makes it more difficult to relay-spam with flotillas, which is good for this list. The flotilla hard cap also weakens some of the popular squad-heavy archetypes (but do expect them to adjust and overcome). You're also well equipped to kill all of your opponent's combat ships if he's running only a couple of those. This can now give you a tabling, now that flotillas don't prevent this.

The list is also doesn't give away points easily (important in tournament play): the flotillas and squads are just over 100 points, so as long as no large ship dies you can't do worse than 7-4 (not accounting for objectives). That's not going to happen, so even of you lose you should lose small. Only the Liberty is worth a pretty penny (170 points), but it's also uniquely well equipped to disengage and run late game.

On to the adjustments:

It's tempting to just ditch the current squads and go all Rogue. Then you don't need to command squads at all, which is obviously an advantage. If you do this there are two options: pure YT-2400 (requires you to ditch something, such a Endeavor) or 3xYT + Rogue (1 pt left over).

Squadrons:

• 4x YT-2400 (64)

= 64 Points

or

• 3x YT-2400 (48)
• Rogue Squadron (14)

= 62 Points

The main issue here is the loss of Strategic. The VCXs are there primarily for the Strategic keyword: Intel Sweep and Ion Cannon just won't work without Strategic, so you'd have to come up with less powerful objectives. Also, Rogues is nice, but they lack the staying power and annoyance factor of Tycho/Shara.

Actually, if you go by this Rogue route, I'd actually recommend dropping the Liberty title, and taking 3xYT + Jan Ors. She can free up the YTs to shoot where it hurts the most, and 6 hull with 2 braces is STRONG. Sure, Jan becomes a target, but she's staying a bit further back, and has Counter 2 - and 2 braces. So either way you win.

• 3x YT-2400 (48)
• Jan Ors (19)

= 67 Points

Another option is to mix and match. Take Tycho (for his ability to scatter and move when engaged), only one VCX and 2 YTs. Only 1 source of strategic isn't as good as 2, but it let's you manipulate Intel Sweep sufficiently if you're clever. Probably Ion Cannon too. It's a viable combination I think, but I haven't tested it yet, so not 100% sure.

Squadrons:
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• VCX-100 Freighter (15)
• 2 x YT-2400 (32)
= 63 Points

The final option is to...keep as is. Sure, relay has a range-nerf, but you can keep Bright Hope close to the squads and just accept that you won't always be able to command all your squads. The VCXs are typically fine with going in the squad phase, and once the A-wing aces are engaged, they've done their job. Sure, being able to command them makes them a bit better, can let them shoot before dying, for example, or shoot and get away, or whatever.

But compared to many other lists the drop in efficiency really is minuscule: you squads are there for the drops, for strategic, and for dying as slowly as possible. Back in the day we did this with just Tycho and 3 A-wings. The kids these days are spoiled rotten: Tycho, Shara, and 8-hull generics...

So those are your options in terms of squadron adjustments. I can't say which is better, because that will depend on A) how you play and B) what you meet. All are viable options, although dropping 1 or both VCXs will have more far-reaching consequences (in terms of objectives).

Other things that can be tweaked without making this an entirely different list:

• Endeavor is nice, but optional
• Bright Hope can take Comms Net, if desired
• DCO (instead of Lando) is an OK choice on the MC75, but very matchup dependent
• APT can be turned into ACM, but I still think APT is the better (and cheaper) choice
• Hondo isn't 100% essential, but he's SUPER useful for giving out a token to the Lib and Aspiration on that key round
• Some people might prefer Spinals over QBT, but I would contend the Liberty is uniquely suited to use QBT bc of Engine Techs.
• Aspriation is situationally VERY good, especially with DCO/Lando, but there will matchups where it's completely irrelevant
• EWS can be btter than ECM in some scenarios, but most of the time ECM is the stronger option.
• Intel Officer over Bail IS a possibility. But IMO you miss out on possibly the best officer in the game ATM (if used correctly). He works so well with the MC75 Raddus drop and the great speed options on the MC80.
• Strat Adv over Bail. Sure, it's possible. but but you're now moved into the realm of mediocre lists, where you have failed to grasp the core concepts of what you're trying to replicate...

If you think this looks like a good list: feel free to bring it to Worlds (or any other tourney). Preferably to win, but top 4 is also acceptable :-P