Australian Nationals 2019 - Day One

Australian Nationals 2019 happened in the town of Gawler, on the outskirts of Adelaide, SA. An unusual location, but such is the nature of our continent sized Island of 25 millions, only one in five of whom can trace ancestry to convicts.

This was my fourth Nationals, and I traveled with Theo, my compatriot from Task Force Orange. We drove to Sydney, flew to Adelaide, hired a car, stayed in an Air B'n'B. Many of these experiences were novel for us both, so we both took our "old faithful" lists. For me that means the Task Force Orange standard - Rieekan, Four CR90As with TRC and ETs (one Jaina's Light), two medium GRs (one with slicers and Quantum storm), and a medium fighter wing of Jan Ors, 3 X-Wings, and 2 VCXs for strategic shenanigans. 400 points, no bid.

I had a regionals bye from my Bathurst victory earlier in the year, and I handed it to the TO and took it back about three times. I had indicated that I would take my bye only to avoid there being an odd number of players in the first round, and as each new regional winner stepped up to the table and handed theirs in, I took mine back or added it in as required. In all I think five players took their regional byes (Mariano, JASON PERKINS (whose name I try to say with all the passion and venom of Brian Blessed from Blackadder saying "Henry Tudor!" for reasons that are beyond explication), Felix, Luke, and Simon). These five byes gave us an even number of players, so I did not use my Bye (even though I had talked myself into doing it regardless the night before). There were 27 players total - probably half locals and half from interstate.

Game One

Trek yourself before your wreck yourself indeed!

Tabletop TO chucked a wobbly as the tournament began, and our opponents were determined by the handing out of Magic cards with numbers on them. I gained card 14, which was the lowest table but upstairs. The games shop was quite an interesting setup - a normal-ish store downstairs, with an upstairs that was just a bunch of rooms (like an old house above a shop). There were 7 tables upstairs: 1 to 6 and then 14 so that the guy running the stream in room 1 could play at 14 and always be in reach if something went wrong. It was an interesting setup - most games upstairs happened in a room with one or two tables (three at most), while the lower tables were downstairs in Stowage with the 3rd class passengers like on the Titanic.

My opponent was Jessie, who was flying a dual ISD with Thrawn list.

Name: Thrawn Grand Pair
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Imperial II (120)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Quad Laser Turrets (5)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer (5)
= 190 Points

ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
• Director Krennic (8)
• Shields to Maximum! (6)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Quad Laser Turrets (5)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer (5)
= 157 Points

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

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

Squadrons:
= 0 Points

Total Points: 397

Jessie had the bid and chose to go first - he looked at my missions and picked Most Wanted saying "at least I know what that one does." He had only been playing a few weeks having taken a crash course in Armada. I promised to beat the tar out of him very politely, and give him a few tips along the way. Apparently the Magic Cards had been kind to me, and my decision not to take the Bye had turned out alright - I had been handed that most wondrous of gifts - the baby seal.

 I don't have photos of the setup or the first two turns as my camera was busy taking photos of the other tables. Jessie has his ISDs at speed 1 and moving very cautiously. I'm setting up to encircle and destroy. I've chosen the flagship ISD2 (left of screen) as the Most Wanted (and the non-slicer GR). My plan is just to take out that one, avoid the front of the Cymoon, and take a solid win.

 Start of turn 4 and I have a CR ready to Rieekan when killed after double-ramming the ISD2 as the last activation of turn 3. Instead, Jessie activated something else, and the CR decided to shoot and scoot. It turned hard to the left, and put a few more shots into the ISD2 (I think it did the death blow in round 5?).

Start of Round 5 and I'm now starting to wonder if I can get both ISDs and the table. My squads were fiddling round trying to knock out the Gozanti - I think I got it it in the end, but the squads should have been in the fight a bit more.

Start of round 6, and the ISD2 is gone - the Cymoon has 3 CRs in its side who are ready to double ram and TRC it to bits. I have some uncertain memories about the end of the game - I activated something in a strange way to avoid the slicer tool ship dying, but it didn't work and I lost the Slicer and a CR. I managed to take out the Cymoon handily, which gave me the table plus the Most Wanted for a 520 to 85 (MoV 400 10/1).

As I said to my gathered admirers "That's why you don't take a first round bye."

Jessie knows that I speak with humourous exaggerated hubris - we had a good game, and I tried hard not to be an insufferable ass the whole way through. I explained a couple of things he had misunderstood about Thrawn (you don't have to take his order dials in a particular order), and pointed out a couple of alternative actions he could have taken (I waited until he had made a decision before pointing out alternatives - I'm helpful, not insane - it's a National Tournament). Jessie took the lessons I handed him and went and did good work in the bowels of the shop - he went 10/1 in the next two rounds and came into the fourth round in contention to make the top 8 - I was certainly cheering for my "young Padawan apprentice". He was actually ahead of me in round four, playing on table 3 against Ian's MSU. He ended up 10th on day one, so not really a "baby seal". 10/10, would play again.



Game Two - Shaun

Round Two was against Shaun from Broken Hill / ex Parramatta. Fervent readers of this blog will have heard tales of Shaun and and his double ISDs that somehow manage to thwart me every other tournament. I was determined not to fall foul of his plastic madness this time round...

Name: Shaun Vance Fleet
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Solar Corona

Imperial II (120)
• Admiral Motti (24)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Chimaera (4)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 183 Points

Imperial II (120)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 148 Points

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

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

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
= 17 Points

Total Points: 398

Shaun had the bid and elected to go second. I chose his Planetary Ion Cannons, knowing I could move them as needed and ignore them entirely. I massively outdeployed him, so chose to put my corvettes on a far flank to destroy one ISD. It's a strange setup from Shaun, but it works for him.

Start of Round 2, and Jaina's Light has jumped fowards at speed 4 + ET to line up an opening shot on the targeted ISD (not flag). I somehow managed to screw up the navigation after the fact and ended up with a Jaina's Light in a stupid place at the start of turn 3. My flanking corvettes adjusted speed as necessary to come in one at a time - the plan was that they would each get a "first activation" shot after taking a "last activation" shot the previous turn, like a series of hammer blows.

Start of turn 3, and you can see the problem with Jaina's Light - point right at the edge of the board at speed 4, and no token since I used the dial in turns 1 and 2 (or did I CF in turn 2? I don't remember). The other CR has to go first, and Jaina just shoots and rams.

The same turn from a closer angle. I cannot for the life of me work out how I screwed up Jaina's move so badly in turn 2 - shoot, scoot, run. Don't go toe to toe with an ISD that close to the edge of the board! 

My squads are lining up to take out that pesky Tie interceptor ace...

 Start of turn 4 - the Flag ISD is coming back in to threaten the various survivors of my raid - the other ISD is about to go down. I think I've rammed or shot one of the Goz to bits on the right in turn 3? Everything shoots and moves and tries to avoid the front arc of the swinging Motti ISD 2.

 

  Start of round 5 - Unlike round 1 I don't have any chance of taking out another ISD - not with Motti and one of my CRs gone. Everything just moves to avoid being shot, and we try to avoid losing anything else.
But it's not to be - one of my CRs has taken enough incidental hits along the way that it can be destroyed by the Goz and some lucky rolling.

 

Start of turn 6 and everything is just bugging out.

This was a good game, and closer than it needed to be - but Shaun knows what he is about with those ISDs and Motti - and it's a not a super easy win for my MSU.

I lost Jaina and a CR, giving Shaun 120. He lost an ISD, a GOz, and the Interceptor Ace, giving me 190. (70 MoV, 7/4).

10/10 would play again.

Now to the top table! Now to the stream!

Game Three - James
With a solid 10 and a 7 I was in second place heading into round 3, behind James (the eventual winner) who had gone 10 and 10. I guess I could have been third, equal with Simon who had gone 8 (Bye) and 9. Eitherway, I got James, who went on to get three 10/1s on day one, and a few more on day two.

This game was filmed and put out via the Stream of the Melbourne crew "Fly Casual."
It can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfGa3I5k8zc and jump ahead to about 5 hours 32 minutes.

I didn't take photos, and perhaps one day I will screen grab some pictures and put them here, but suffice it to say: I did not lose to James 10/1, which makes me best on field day one.

Name: Thrawn Nationals - James Stead
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

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

Imperial I (110)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Boarding Troopers (3)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Avenger (5)
= 162 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Darth Vader (1)
• Comms Net (2)
= 26 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Bomber Command Center (8)
= 31 Points

Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Captain Needa (2)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 63 Points

Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Dengar (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Major Rhymer (16)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• 2 x TIE Bomber Squadron (18)
= 110 Points

Total Points: 392

James had initiative, chose to go second, and forced me to pick between his objectives. I decided to go for the red - Precision Strike. We deployed in opposite corners, and I proceeded to think deeply about running away and just taking the 6/5 loss, knowing I was in a good position for top 8 and day 2. I certainly did not want to rush into his fleet and risk it all and come out with a 10/1 loss.

James was also hesitant about fully engaging me - he only had two combat ships and was (in theory) liable to be tabled. He deployed with a lot of ships heading away from me, trying to goad me into engaging him.

In the end I was overcome by the influence of the camera watching, and rushed in at him on turn one when I should have moved more cautiously. I then chickened out and tried to goad his squads into attacking my squads in range of my flak so I could overcome the ball and win 6/5. Instead I made some mistakes and it ended up being a 7/4 against.

Not a super brilliant game on my part, but I was happy enough. The goal of day one is to make the top 8, and hope someone else can take out the fleet that your fleet has problems with. This was to prove a vain hope.

In the end James had 136, I had 15, and that's a 7/4 (MoV 121).

I should have just buggered off and taken the 6/5 loss. But that's dull!

I encourage people to watch the video, if only to hear James use offensive language and therefore technically forfeit Nationals to me, the non-F-bomb dropping player!



Game Four - Mariano

Round four brings me up against Mariano - he of Fly Casual fame, and the only other of last year's top 8 to come to this year's tournament.

In 2018 you needed 26 tournament points over four rounds to make the top 8. I was on 21, so I need a 5 or better to match the previous year's result. Mariano had gone 8 (bye), 4/7 (losing to Felix's Raddus), and 9/2 (beating Andrew B), putting him on 21, so a 5 or better would pretty much put him up to last year's number.


Mariano was flying Piett:

Name: Mariano Banchero 
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Piett

Assault: Surprise Attack
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Doomed Station

Imperial II (120)
• Emperor Palpatine (3)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Sovereign (4)
= 145 Points

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
• Admiral Piett (22)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Grav Shift Reroute (2)
• Targeting Scrambler (5)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Interdictor (3)
= 142 Points

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

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points

Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Saber Squadron (12)
• TIE Advanced Squadron (12)
= 65 Points

Total Points: 400

We both had 400 point fleets, so rolled for initiative. I won the roll and chose to go second. Looking a Mariano's list, I have no idea what I would have picked had I lost the roll. They are all bad choices as far as I am concerned. The game really came down to a die roll.

Marz looked chose Fire Lanes. I said (half joking): "Game over. I win."

Hubris, thy name is David.
Marz had also started a thread on FFG forums for Nationals asking "who will win?" I answered "me."

I deployed two fire lanes tokens on the right, one on the left. Marz moved the terrain. We deployed. I put Rieekan on his own on the left to control the one token, and the rest of the fleet on the right to control the other two and shoot at things.
Marz put his squads on my left, and I thought - ok, cool, he's not going to try to kill my VCXs. No, instead, he was gunning for my General.

Start of turn 2 and I make a mistake on my left, slowing Rieekan. I thought maybe those Imperial squads would head into the center of the map and Rieekan could drop to 0 and hold the token the whole game. Dumb. I should have sped up and away. Next time!

 Start of turn 3 and it's now clear to me that Maarek and Jendon are coming for the General. I can survive if he rolls badly (yeah, right - when does Maarek and his life partner ever roll badly?) The rest of the fleet is just controlling tokens and avoiding long range of the ships, waiting for them to come into range. I get some good shots on the Flagship Interdictor, but it's really a bad idea to even try to kill it. Stupid amounts of engineering, DCaps, etc.

Start of turn 4 - the Interdictor has turned away and is on the run. I stupidly think I can chase it down. I ought not have bothered. Disengage, take the victory the tokens are handing me. Maarek has range and kills Rieekan this turn.

 Start of turn 5, and you can see that Jaina's Light (the corvette nearest the Interdictor) has turned back towards it thinking to chop it to pieces. It might have worked if Rieekan had survived, but instead Jaina just gets chopped up and I go into full survival mode. Avoid long range at all costs!
I've also lost my Slicer tool ship in a stupid attempt to ram a Goz to death. What a pointless exercise. I can only blame a long day and fourth game dullness for that one.

These tables are also quite high, coming in at almost nipple height for me, so I'm climbing up on a stool to take these photos. Not ideal.

End of turn 6 and the tokens tell the story. Apart from turns 4 and 5 I got three tokens every turn. My VCXs did stellar work moving the tokens out of range of the ISD for as long as possible, and then dumping them under the ISD after it had moved for the technical points.

I lost Jan Ors and an X-Wing taking out a squad (I think? I don't really recall). I lost 2 corvettes and my slicer GR, but had 14 tokens to 0 (one of my CRs dove in at full speed to put 2 red die on the left token to just edge out the Goz's one blue. Marz was not very impressed.

The score was 289 to 226, MoV 63, which is 7/4 to me. I made the cut. Marz did not.

If Marz had won the roll, or even had a one point bid, he would have won handily. Had I flown a bit more cleverly I could have done 9/2 without firing a shot. Such is the nature of fire lanes.

Had he picked Most Wanted I think I would still have won, but the margin would have likely been even closer.

Sorry Marz. He ended up 13th on day one with 25 victory points. I ended up 4th on 28.

James was in the lead on 37 (and who took those 3 points from him? That's right - me! No perfect score for you, James!).

The cut for top 8 was the same as last year - 26. We had two players on 26 - Chris and Theo. Theo ended up 9th because of MoV (he was 300 MoV behind Chris). Theo won all 4 games day one. Chris won 2. But the 2 Chris won were both 10/1s, and Theo had had solid 6s and 7s all day.

To make matters worse, Theo had just beaten Chris 6/5 in the fourth round of the day, and then missed out on the cut to Chris in round 4. Nevermind Theo! Revenge is a dish best served the following day by a close compatriot!

Theo was also quite unwell heading into the tournament and really should have stayed home. Don't worry Theo - what happens in Adelaide airport stays in Adelaide airport. Your secret is safe with me.

We went out to dinner with the various folks from the tournament. The top 8 lists were all available on TTO, so we knew everything (including objectives, which is really not great, but such is life).

Two rebel MSU had made the top 8. Guess who paired up in round 5?

I had played four Imperial fleets day one (a total of 6 ISDs (but no Gladiators? What is up with you people?)).

Day two I would play 3 Rebels.

(TO BE CONTINUED)