2019 Bathurst Armada Regionals

The only Regional I will make it to this year was in Bathurst on Saturday February 2nd.

I did well, winning the three rounds against 17 players - my first Regional win in Australia, if not Australasia.

My list:

I went back and forth on my list, looking at many different things - but in the end I went with what has been my list for most of 2018, including Nationals. It is a variant on my Auckland Regionals list, with the same basic fighter package, and slightly different ships. It is identical to my Nationals 2018 list. Why? Because I have little imagination. AND I don't get to play that much in real life, so better to play something I know quite well and have thought out thoroughly. Armada is a game that requires a lot of practice to play well, and this list I know pretty well.

Also, I like MSU (it is NOT dead! MSU lives! etc).

The Rieekan six of one and half-a-dozen of the other

The list is General Rieekan on a CR90A with Engine Techs and Turbolaser Reroute Circuits.
Then three CR90s equipped the same, one with Jaina's Light.
Two GR75 Transports, one with Quantum Storm and Slicer Tools.
Squadrons are 3 X-Wings, Jan Ors, and 2 VCX100s.
 Objectives are Most Wanted, Fire lanes, and Sensor Net.
It has no bid, forcing opponents to choose their own destruction - awkward and difficult objectives if they make me second, and 6 vicious activations if they make me first.


Round One was against Rory, a chap who has been in the game since wave one, but is coming back after some years off. Rory lives in Melbourne, but works up in this part of the world blowing things up and looking for gold (he is some kind of Pirate).

Rory, the well known Pirate.

(with Theo and Hamish in the background, cursing me for losing Theo's Shara Bey card. It is at home somewhere I promise)

 Rory's List - Kuat with SA, Demolisher, Arquitens with Tagge (yes! Tagge!), Goz, Whisper, Ciena Ree

Rory had a bid, and elected to go second. His missions were Station Assault, Contested Outpost, and Minefields.

I chose Station Assault, because I have had good results from it in the past. Destroy one station to even it out, or both to gain an 80 point swing. MSUs are good for this, since they either get behind the enemy to the stations late in the game, OR if they spread the stations out and defend one, the isolated one can be destroyed by a single unit which still has time to make it to the main battle.

 End of Deployment

My fleet has 9 deployments to Rory's five, so I was able to put my four corvettes down AFTER he had deployed his entire fleet. This allowed me to line up a nice echelon to my left, and bring all my guns to bear on one target at a time. I also deployed as far from Demolisher as possible. Rule of thumb - if Demolisher goes left, you go right. And vice-versa. 

 Start of Round Two

I made a small mistake in round one, forgetting part way through that I was first player - as a result I did not set up a nice start of round 2 shot with a Corvette. Instead I sent fighters forwards to plink shields from the Kuat. Everything else maneuvered.

Start of Round Three

 Three corvettes have nice shots lined up on the flagship Arquitens, and the fourth lies in wait for when it moves forward (if it survives). This round I was able to destroy the Arq and ram the Gozanti to bits.

 Start of Round Four

My four Corvettes have made it to the back of the Kuat, and start chopping it to bits. Kuats are not much of a worry to Corvettes at medium range in side and rear, so the goal is just to activate ships in the right order so nothing ends in black range before it activates.

 A closer view of Round Four Start

Start of Round Five

 Corvettes finish off the Kuat and start blowing up the stations. Some of squads have succumbed to Cienna Ree and Gladiator Flak.

 Start of Turn Six

I started to think in Round five I might lose Rieekan to the Gladiator, so I moved a GR in to block the attack - then I remembered I was first player and could just scoot away. 

End of Game

I did not put many shots into the Gladiator at all, and it survived the game happily. As did all my ships. I lost all my squads except for one VCX. Rory still had Whisper. My squads had given their lives to damage the ISD, while the VCXs endured Ciena Ree's counter to whittle her down to nothing.

Final score was Rory 75, me on 365, a difference of 290, or a 9/2.

Rory is a good player with a lot of potential. In this game I had deployment and activation advantage, and was able to turn the objective to help me.

There were a couple of 10/1s in the crowd, and some other 9/2s. Felix and Nick both got 10s and faced each other at table 1, Theo and I faced off at table 2.

Game Two: Calvin v. Hobbes

Theo: Deep in Contemplation

Theo was flying a Dodonna on Jaina's Light TRC, MC30c with OE, APT, H9s (no title!), 2 comms net GRs, and a Liberty with Spinals, Dual Turbolasers, Sensor Teams, Strategic Adviser, and something something. Hawk, 2 VCXs, Green, and Shara Bey.

We both had no bid, so rolled for it. Theo won, and after some ums and ahs decided to go first. He chose my Most Wanted. I wonder whether Fire Lanes would have been a better choice for him, since his VCXs would have allowed him to pinch (or at least compete) for two the tokens in round 1.

 Round One: After deployment

Most of the obstacles were put on the left, and we then deployed there as well. I chose Theo's Liberty as my objective ship, and my naked GR as well.

Round Two - Action Stations!

Theo jumped Shara forwards to tie up my Squadron ball, but I was happy to take that - My squad plan was to eliminate Theo's smaller wing, and leave the ships to my Corvettes. 

It has been a while since Theo has played against my Engine Teching corvettes, so he was caught a bit unprepared for my deliberate ramming of his MC30. Because we both had six activations, I lost a corvette during the ramming - perhaps I should have rammed it in the front. Jaina's light was also heavily damaged finishing off the MC30. Theo's flagship shot in front of his Liberty to go GR hunting, while my flagship (off screen right) came roaring in to threaten the Liberty's rear.

Start of Round Three 

My Jaina's Light was left stranded in close range of the front and side of the Liberty, and did not live long - but Rieekan meant it got some shots in never the less.

I now had two corvettes to hunt down the liberty, while my GRs spent the rest of the game trying to avoid being rammed to death and shot by Dodonna's flagship.

 Start of Round Four

My corvettes pursue the MC80L towards the corner. Of my X-Wings escapes the squadron fight to put some torpedoes into its side.

Start of Round Five

The corvettes manage to finish off the Liberty, but Rieekan nearly gets the chop in the process. Relay certainly helped as an X-Wing put in a vital hit, and Rieekan's flag rammed for one, before the final corvette (with one hull remaining) rolled just right to finish it off. If that last corvette had to ram, it would have done it - Most Wanted made that thing worth a lot of points. 

Start of Turn Six

Theo still had his flagship and a VCX surviving. I did my best to finish it off, but did not succeed. Theo rammed my most wanted transport to put the final nail in that specific coffin.

End of Game

In the end I scored 395 to Theo's 223 (I lost 2 corvettes, GR (MW), GR slicer tools, 2 X-Wings and I think a VCX?).

That was a difference of 172, enough for a 8/3 to me. I went into third round on 17 points, in second place.

THE END GAME

Nick W: Master of the Fleet

Nick was on top of the table and we met again in the third round - we have played a number of times, and Nick is clearly one of (if not the) best players in NSW. He is tactical, practical, and efficient. 

We had met at this table in Bathurst last year, and I had lost to Nick (and we both lost to Dan whose opponent doesn't read, just looks at colours).

To make matters more interesting, Nick's list was almost the same as the Australian Nationals Winner list that had bested my in Round One of Day Two of Nationals - the only change: ISD2 instead of Kuat, and a smaller bid. The ISD2 makes the list even scarier for my list. But I should have won that game at Nationals, and I was determined not to lose this one.

  

Round One: After Deployment

Nick had the bid and chose to go first - he already knew my objectives before I revealed them, and he chose Fire Lanes. I was surprised, since I expected Most Wanted. But I was happy not to argue. We spread out the terrain (I put the station in my left corner, which is my traditional placement). I put one Fire Lanes token on my left, and two on my right. Nick moved the left one onto the Station, and one of the rights onto an asteroid. 

I had a deployment advantage (9 to 5, plus second player) so my corvettes went down after all of the enemy. My squads went on the right with two GRs and Jaina's Light, while my Corvettes went on the left.

Nick deployed his ISD2 first, smack bang in the middle of the table. When I saw the Gladiator on my right, I deployed my corvettes to the left. My plan was to destroy the Raider (my left), avoid the Gladiator, and move the tokens under the Imperial ships as they went into the corner.

The Right Board State

 Start of Turn 2

I was surprised when Nick's ISD went to my left, and my last activation (the central Corvette) had a choice to make - go left and fight it out with the ISD and the Raider, or break right and try to bring down the Gladiator. In the end I went right, or at least middle of the board. The remaining two corvettes on the left pulled off a miracle and took out the Vader Raider with a wonderful combination of shooting and ramming from the Rieekan flagship. My second corvette ended turn in blue of the ISD, but Rieekan rammed in such a way as to only be in long range (by a few millimetres).

 Start of Round Three

Although I lost the Corvette first activation of turn 3, I had maintained activation parity, meaning that Nick could not First / Last me. I did not get all three tokens turn 2, but I had 3 from turn one, and got 2 every turn after that. Nick got four tokens overall. The left one on turn 2 was not claimed by either of us (obstructed and in rear arc of a CR). 

On the right, I had to make a decision with Jaina's Light - slow down and go mano a mano with the Gladiator, or use discretion and fly away. 

Discretion won. Jaina Jumped to four plus ETs, and went far, far away. But I was still able to move the tokens to maintain control - Jaina is fabulous for this, as obstructions do not interfere.

Start of Round Four: Right

On the right I made some efforts to bring down Gozantis with determined fighter attacks - I managed to do some damage on one. My GRs moved about, trying not to get caught. Nick sent in his slicer tools here and there upsetting my orders somewhat.

Start of Round Four: Left

My surviving corvettes on the left start the rapid redeployment to the right. Unlike messing around with Kuats and even ISD1s, the sides and rear of an ISD2 is not safe for a Corvette for the length of time it takes to bring one down. So they just ran away.

 Start of Round Five: Right

Corvettes arrive in time to threaten the gladiator and friends, while my Quantum Storm escapes without a scatter token from repeated attacks.

Start of turn 6: Right

I was able to end one of the Gozantis with ramming (it was already damaged by the squadrons from earlier) but I decided it was best not to try for the Gladiator - Brunsen, five hull, etc. I would have lost a Corvette for sure, and could not guarantee the kill. So again, discretion.

End of Game: Right

End of Game: Left

Nick's ISD was left dominating the left token and station. A number of observers asked if it was dead. "No."

"Then why is it over here?"

"That's where most of his fleet was."

Nick destroyed one of my Corvettes, and an X-Wing to concentrated flak. He gained four tokens from the left objective in turns 3 to 6. 

I destroyed a Vader Raider and the Suppressor Gozanti with Minister Tua. I also won 13 tokens.

Final score of 285 to 132, difference of 150, which is an 8/3.

Overall I ended up on 25 tournament points, with the next chap on 24. He had been on 15 going in to Round 3, and managed a 9/2. There had been some folks on 15 going in to Round Four, but none of them managed the 10/1 to catch up.

My Spock shirt thought it most logical that I win, and can I stop wearing it now, it is getting old and worn.

Thanks for everyone who made for a great Regionals. Great to see folks from Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney make the trek to Bathurst for the greatest Regionals West of the Blue Mountains.

(As always, the Bathurst shop is fantastic - lots of space, air conditioned, food on site, great staff. A terrific venue).

I will do up a post shortly-ish with all the lists and players.

Ken tries, and fails, to give me the finger. Sad.

Australian Armada National Championships - Day Two

I had been in 6th place on day one, made the Top 8 (I was two TP clear of 8th, so could have lost a lot worse to Ken and still made it).

The points reset to 0 on day two, so there was a level playing field. No scrubs in the top 8 (whatever a "scrub" is) so just solid and great games of Armada.


My first game was an absolute disaster - I brain my old blame.

LTD against Dan (the eventual winner of the comp).

Some photos I took of other games while I grat my teeth.

Luke (Captain Weather) vs. Kia - Luke won narrowly - he could have slow played to win by a lot, but Luke is all class.

This is the board state of that game - the Glad in the middle is Demolisher, getting eaten by Y-Wings. The other Glad will finish the MC75 off at the top of the next turn.

Ken (IroKenics) vs Mars (Marazaums). Ken was second player, and Mars chose not to fall into his trap and avoided the full on confrontation. There were attempts at last turn squadron killing, but Ken won 6/5, with 0 MOV.

Scott vs. Kia. Scott is last year's Australian Champion. Scott is flying Rieekan aces, Kia is flying double gladiator, Raider, 2 Goz, Squads. Scott won this game.



Round Two:

LTD vs Ben

Round Two Photos:

Dan vs. Scott - Dan managed to table Scott but only by saving his Demolisher in the last round with some nice Gozanti positioning, stopping the B-Wings taking down the Demo (with help from Brunson, of course!)

 Mars vs. Kia - Mars was flying the only Interdictor I saw all weekend. I think he managed a 6/5 over Kia.

Luke vs Ken - Cool. Cool cool. Cool cool cool. Ken kept the Y-Wings pinned down by sending in the A-Wings one by one. Ken won this game 8/3 I think.

Round Three:

Going into Round Three there was no way for me to win the Tournament - Dan was on 18 points, I was on 9. I had to get 10 points to match the 1 point he was guaranteed by not conceding, and if he ended up getting one point, then Ken would have beaten him by 9 and end up winning. So, there was no conceivable path to victory here - mostly due to my losing to Dan 9/2 in the first round.

LTD vs Scott

I did not take any photos of the other games during round 3 - my game went quite long.

But here is the greatest photo of all! Task Force Orange in second place.

Dan - I demand a rematch!

Thanks all for a great weekend - I had a good time - I need to work on my resilience though - the stupid errors late on the Saturday and foolishness early on the Sunday cost me dearly in the end.

I look forward to 2019 Nationals!

If anyone wants to sponsor me to Worlds in Chicago in March, I will not say no!

2018 Australian Armada National Championships - Day One

Australian Armada National Championships were held in Brisbane on 17/18 November 2018. I always enjoy Nationals, and spent my annual gaming budget on the plane tickets (there is a turbo-prop service from Orange to Brisbane direct).

My list went through several developments before this tournament - but always focusing on MSU, with either six or seven activations.

Eventually I settled on:

4 CR90As with TRCs and Engine Techs (one with Jaina's Light, one with Rieekan)
2 GR75 transports, one with Slicer Tools and Quantum Storm.
3 X-Wings
2 VCXs (for strategic)
and Jan Ors for the Braces and Intel to keep the VCXs doing their thing.

My missions were Most Wanted, Fire Lanes, and Sensor Net.

No-one chose Sensor Net. Fire Lanes and Most Wanted were chosen fairly equally - of seven games I was first player twice (I chose my opponents Station Assault and Planetary Ion Cannons). My Fire Lanes was chosen three times, and Most Wanted Twice.

The "naked" transport is for Most Wanted purposes.

I had a bid of 0.


Here are some video clips of the games - they are short, the sound gets progressively better, but the narration is inherently flawed, but I am not going to re-say all the things I said wrong. I've added captions here and there to make it clearer what I ought to have said, or was trying to say.


Game One against Steve

Game Two against Jeremy

Game Three against Chris

Game Four against Ken

I ended day one in 6th position - so I made the cut of top 8 and got to play again the next day for ULTIMATE GLORY.

2018 Spring Tournament Final Swiss Round

I'm playing in the Vassal Spring Tournament (also known as the "Autumn" tournament. Phhhbt. Whatever).

There are three separate pools, for Europe, North America West, and North America East. The top players from each pool after four rounds go into the finals, along with a fourth player - the one with the next highest tournament points values.

The match-ups for round four were just announced, and here is my hot take the top lists:

NA West

Top of NAW with 29 TPs and 1002 MOV is PT106, who is flying a 5/6 Motti with ISD and Demo, Ciena Ree (17 squadron points).

PT aka Paul has been flying squadronless (or almost in this case) for as long as I have followed him on Vassal. He knows what he is doing, and managed to wipe a 2 ship Thrawn list in round 2 of this tournament, sending the Mandalorian Moose flying.

Second of NAW with 22 TPS, is Clontroper5, back from darkest Africa after a two year hiatus. Clon is flying a 4/5 Moff JJ with ISD, Demo, 4 squads (91).
This list of Clon's is the only one under consideration here with a "medium" fighter complement. The rest are at 129+ or 33 or less.
Clon is lined up against PT106 in round 4, and I think that means PT is coming out on top.

Third of NAW is Rikash, also with 22 TPs, flying a 6 Rieekan with MC80A, Tycho and Shara (33).
Rikash needs to thump his opponent solidly and for Clon to overcome PT to break out of the pools.

Fourth of NAW is thecactusman17 with 20 TPs, flying a 5/6 Raddus with MC75, no squads.



No full / heavy squad lists made it to the top of NA West. East is a different story.


NA East
Top of NA East is JJs Juggernaut with 28 TPs, flying a 4 Dodonna with Bail MC75 and Yavaris, and 10 Y-wing squads of various kinds (129). The MC75 is set up with Ruthless strategists, so the Ys take a lot of friendly fire in order to win any squadron war. A fascinating list from one of the great players. If he comes up against a squadless list, the Ys just go to town. If he comes up against a squadron ball, presumably they fight it out at black range of the MC75.

NA East is lot more crowded at the top levels, with 2 players only one point behind JJ.

CommanderDave has a very interesting 3 Screed with Interdictor and Demo, 6 squads (Rogues, 127).
This round 4 face off with JJs Juggernaut will be interesting, but I think JJ has the edge here, although the Ys won't hold the Rogues in place. I don't know, but surely JJ is the safe bet at this point?


Roquax has a 6 Dodonna with Yavaris and HammerHeads, 8 squads (Aces, 133).

Fourth player with 22 TPs is Viktor Tanek with a 4/5 Moff JJ with ISD and Kuat, no squads.



Europe

Zamalekite tops Europe with 26 points, 3 clear of the next player. He is flying a 5 Dodonna with Yavaris and Pelta, 8 Squads (VCXs, 131).

He is up against Bobafetts on 23 TPs, flying his eponymous 2 Thrawn with Pryce ISD and Quasar, 8 squads (Maarket/Jendon/Friends 133).

I think Broba has the advantage here - the Fighting Thrawn Two Step with Pryce is vicious and will likely eat the Dodonna fighters leaving a Pelta and Nebulon to take down a very angry ISD.

Number three is Darth Veggie on 22 points, who needs a big win to top over Zam and Broba. He is flying a 6/7 Raddus with MC75 and Admonition, no squads.

Number four (well, there are a whole bunch of other people on 20 TPs) RapidReload is flying a 6 Rieekan list with Yavaris and Pelta, 8 squads (114). RapidReload was my round 2 opponent (I lost 7/4). I don't see how Darth Veggie gets a good Raddus drop on this list and survives the Rieekan Zombies chopping down his MC75 - unless he drops early, goes for the 7 acitvations, and tries to dart in and out with Admonition - but even then I don't really see it.

There are four Europe players on 20 points, and 3 more (including me) on 19. RikkiP, the UK National Champ and World's finalist 2018 is one point behind on 18.
The Four on 20 need to score 10/1s, and have Broba vs. Zam end 7/4 Broba's way, and then end up with a higher MOV (seems unlikely), and only if Darth Veggie scores an 8 or less.

Bondi Junction Store Champs - August 18 2018

Store Champs at Bondi Junction was a slightly smaller affair than the one in Bathurst - there were 8 players total - five locals, two from Parramatta, and myself. Interestingly none of the "big names" of Sydney Armada made the trip - no Nick, no Luke, no Irokenics, no that-other-guy-who-always-wins-things-but-whose-name-must-never-be-spoken-nor-typed.

It was an interesting sub-meta (or perhaps it is the new meta? I'm not sure), where most players had three or four activations - my six activations was regarded as peculiar, which it is I guess. No player that I saw had more than four, which strikes me as very strange - but then two activation lists are making a come back as well...

My list was Cracken on MC30 Torpedo with Admonition, OE, APT, H9s, and Lando, 3 CR90s with TRCs (one with Jaina's), 2 naked GR754s, 3 X-wings, 2 VCX, 1 Jan Ors, 3 point bid. My missions were Most Wanted, Fire Lanes, and Sensor Net.

I was planning on taking something else - Dodonna maybe? or an Ackbar list? But in the end I plumped for what I knew. The following videos report what happened...

Battle One: Cracken vs. Konstantine

Battle Two: Cracken vs. Motti

Battle Three: Cracken vs. Rieekan

In the end I came third overall - Felix and Jason (my round 2 and 3 opponents) came first and second.

It was a very fun and relaxed tournament - I will certainly try to attend again in the future.

Task Force Orange on Manoeuvres

On Manoeuvres... Ackbar vs. Leia

David vs. Theo

We talk for a few minutes, then the whole thing is at 16x speed, then we talk a bit at the end.

On Manoeuvres... Ackbar vs. Screed

David vs. Theo

We talk for a few minutes, then 16x speed, with occasional 1x speed to explain what is going on.



On Manoeuvres.... Raddus vs. Thrawn

David vs. Josh

7 minutes long, this time with commentary - if poor audio quality offends you, press the mute.

I was trying a Rogue One style battle list - and Josh did the right thing and brought 2 ISDs!




On Manoeuvres - Dodonna vs. Sloane

8 minutes long, with some conversation, the rest with commentary.

Glorified Torpedo list vs Many Tie Fighters









On Manoeuvres - Rieekan vs. Raddus

One of the earlier videos of ours... 85 minutes, talking all the way through.

Close range intel sweep - Ackbar vs. Dodonna

Bathurst Store Champs - 7 July 2018

Store Championship Season is upon us once more, and Task Force Orange traveled to Bathurst for one of the FOUR store champs that will be held in NSW.

I flew a modified version of my previous Regionals' List - the Cracken Seven.

In this version one of the flotillas is replaced by a Corvette B, which serves as lifeboat and token mine, safely on a flank. It also has a five point bid, and 3 X-wings instead of the normal 5.

We had twelve players present, with 3 from Orange and I think 2 from Bathurst, the rest part of the Parramatta Flying Circus (attack wing).

Game One - Steve

Steve was flying Mon Mothma with 3 Torpedo Frigates and two transports, Tycho, Shara, a Generic A-Wing and a VCX. I outbid him and chose to go second (or did he outbid me? I don't recall - eitherway, second).

Steve perused the objectives and chose Fire Lanes.

 I placed two tokens on the right, and one on the left. I outdeployed Steve, and left Cracken to guard the left most token (hoping to draw Admonition out of the fight).

 Turn 2, and I'm able to wait with my seven activations to see what is what before committing myself too much. Admonition turned into the fight, so Cracken was safe. I probably sent my Squadrons too far forward, but against A-Wings there is no such thing as safe.

 Cracken spent the game claiming his token - a safe 90 points right there.

Many of the middle turn pictures are missing, so use your imagination. Mothma was on foresight on my far right, so there was no way I could kill her with TRC90s (they can do many things, but not that). Admonition was coming in from my left - Admo is also very hard to kill with TRC90s. So I focused on killing the non-title MC30. It flew into my many overlapping arcs and rammed Jaina's Light to threaten the tokens. One of my corvettes was forced to sail forward into Admo and the middle MC30's side arc, and survived the open abrrage with one hull or so left - I think I had forgotten Cracken as well but by the time I realized it was far too late - we had gone on to a number of other activations. I put it down to "too bad, so sad" and resolved not to forget it again. One of my flotillas died as a result of Wide Area Barrage (it had already taken a hit from a ram).
Jaina's light survived the MC30 front arc, and the MC30 jumped past and started to run away, stripped of tokens and low on shields and hull (it had been shot at by 3 Corvettes and some fighters).

In my turn I was able to give Jan Ors an order to jump back and knock off the last shield - then Jaina's Light was able to put in the final hit thanks to TRCs. If Jan Ors had missed the shield, the frigate would have gotten away.

One the far right one of Corvettes gave Foresight the slip by ending move just outside of black range and just on the table. It didn't do much except escape.

 I think this photo comes shortly after Jaina's Light finished off the MC30 and ran away. One of my corvettes has flown through the enemy line and swung back (I think it was planning to finish off the MC30 if it had lived). It was now in a difficult place with Foresight and Admonition.

My sacrifical corvette rammed one of Steve's Flotillas to keep at speed 3 (for Cracken) and only take a single MC30 side arc - but it was enough and the Corvette evaporated.

 The game ended with me having lost a Corvette and a Transport, and Steve losing an MC30 and a transport. His squads had done the business on mine - I think I only had one VCX alive at the end.

But the tokens made the difference - I came out almost 140 points ahead - but not quite - This was a 7/4.


Game 2 - Christian

Christian was a new-ish Armada player who has made the switch from X-Wing in recent weeks. He had defeated another Bathurst player to come into the second round on six points (I think?).

He was flying a ISD 2, Demo, Raider, Gozanti, some fighters. The exact specifics are lost on me.

 I had the bid and chose second. Christian decided the yellow and blue were traps, and chose the red Most Wanted. I decided to pick the Demolisher and one of the Transports. I generally prefer to knock out a Demo or Quasar quickly with MW, knowing that I might be able to kill the ISD later on - and never sure if I actually can get it either way.

I had a deployment advantage, and ganged my Corvettes up on the flank - Christian turned in towards me and I was able to put lots of front arcs on the Demolisher.

Start of turn 3, and Demolisher is dead. One of my Corvettes has taken a bash from Demo and is about to die from the Raider. The other three TRC90s are gearing up to focus down the ISD - my MW transport is running away, while the other staying near by to help the fighter battle, which is not going well for me.

Cracken is off on the far left minding his own business and avoiding the fight.

Turn 4 and the Corvettes have made the swing around the ISD after stripping shields. Jaina's Light is pursuing the Raider (thanks to Cracken it can't hit anything in its rear arc). The Raider is chasing Cracken, but can't catch it - but Cracken is riding on a B, so can't do enough damage to threaten the Raider - 12 points! 12 points! My Kingdom for 12 points!

 Turn 5 and Jaina's Light has had to choose between Raider and finishing the ISD - and turned to make that clear.

Turn 6 and the ISD with Thrawn is gone - Cracken is safe from the remorseless Raider, and my Squadron ball is down to Jan Ors and a solitary VCX. I didn't get the tabling, but did get a solid 9/2.

Christian is a great chap, and I look forward to facing him again - he will get the hang of this game pretty quickly I think.



Game 3 - Nick

My 16 points had me second on the table, behind Nick, also on 16 (he'd gone 10/1, then 6/5). Nick was flying Thrawn with ISD Kuat, Interdictor, 2 Gozantis, four aces. He had a bid of 7 points and chose to go second. I decided to go with Salvage Run, since my VCXs could manipulate the tokens. I had played a similar thing on Vassal recently, and been able to get most of the tokens - but I've never played it on a real table (I also lost that Vassal match).

I had a couple of brain snaps in this game, firstly not really getting that the Interdictor had the grav well thing that moves the terrain, so I did not spread out my placements enough - I think only one obstacle was outside the range.
My second snap was putting the VCXs not as far forwards as possible - as a result they fell short of some tokens by a matter of millimetres - very annoying.
My third (potential) snap was deploying my Corvettes to gun down the Interdictor. I thought three TRC90s and one B with Cracken would be enough to take it down - and was very nearly right. The ISD had Brunson (and was in all the obstacles) so I thought it would be too much.

At the start of round 2, my left Transport will activate, take a token, move the VCXs, get a token to Jaina's Light and another to range 1 of my blue transports. If I had deployed the squads properly I might have been able to get all four tokens - but I only got three.

This must be Round four. My squads are getting butchered by the enemy and flak, while the Corvettes are working hard on the Interdictor.

Round 5 and the Interdictor is hurting bad - but some of my corvettes are pretty bad as well. Maarek Steele has done his thing and will finish off one of them this round.

Start of round 6, and I've made a tactical error. Cracken has flown in front of the Interdictor to double arc it and cause a ram, but I have to activate the other TRC90 (in front of the ISD) first or it is DEAD. With Cracken in place the Interdictor can ram and then avoid long range of another TRC90 on the far right (not pictured). I outsmarted myself here - Cracken could have slowed last turn to avoid blue range on the ISD and just kept out of the way - as it was the Interdictor survived on (I think) one or two hull.

End of turn 6 - I have lost a Corvette, most Squadrons, and only gained 3 tokens. If I'd taken the Interdictor I would have been up (maybe) 7/4 - but as it was I had lost 5/6 (48 points the difference).

Nick had won (the first game against me he has won) the Tournament!

Except wait, no he hadn't. On table three? Table four? Damien had briefly perused Dan's objectives and assumed (making an Ass out of himself and everyone else) the nature of the blue objective - thinking it was Dangerous Territory when it was actually Navigational Hazards. He did realize his mistake until the end of turn 1 when the Terrain started moving in front of him... he lost badly.

Dan got 10 points and ended up taking the tournament on 23 points. I came third on 21.

So even if I had killed the Interdictor and gotten a 7/4, I would still have lost the tournament.

It's a funny old game!



Bathurst is the best shop for Armada - tons of space, food on site, great parking nearby. It is my reccommendation for Australian Nationals (not that anyone asks me). It is also on a trainline, so easy to get to from Melbourne, and not too far from Sydney for interstate flights - and accommodation is cheap! Go Bathurst!