Share your Game session reports

By GrandAdmiralCrunch, in Star Wars: Armada

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Session Reports

Game 1:

In my very first game I fully loaded all three ships with every available upgrade.*

* Note: DO NOT DO THIS! I had information overload, and played so many things wrong. I didn't even use my defense tokens.

I flew my ships like a drunken teenager. My Nebulon-B rammed the Victory unintentionally, and somehow managed to end with its aft to the Vic's starboard. One broadside later and all the was left was various chunks of debris. My Corvette tried to make a run for it, but caught a hit from the Vic.

Flawless Imperial Victory

Game 2:

I decided to go back to basics. All I set up was the three Capitol ships and commanders. Didn't even field fighters; I wanted to get down to basics.

Unfortunately, this time the match ended just as it was getting good. I flew my Victory of the board.

Flawless Rebel Victory

Game 3:

Same set up as game 2. This time I reduced the speed of my Victory to 1. This did well to keep it on the field.

My Rebel ships attempted to skirt the battlefield, but my Nebulon strayed to close to the Victory, and was again vaporized.

I thought about calling it there, but I'm glad I didn't. My speed Corvette got behind the mountainous victory, and started hammering it. I landed 4 crits, and 2 other damage. But... I didn't reduce my speed, and after 2 rounds of pummeling the Victory, I had to move, and had to choose between a course that would take me off the board, or one that would put me in front of the Vic at point blank range. I took my chances with the second. I choose poorly. The Vic rolled 6 hits and 2 crits, before it had a chance to use its concentrate fire dial or token.

It really was a cool moment.

What I've learned:

1: Ease into this game. Even if you have experience with similar games, take your time learning the new rules.

2: Playing as the Imperials is easier, as long as you can keep your ship on the board. Playing the rebels is rough.

3: Watch your speed. I know Navigate isn't as sexy as the other commands, but it can make a huge difference. It's still early, but I could see mastering Navigate being the key to mastering this system.

4: don't be afraid to let the mechanics slip aside, and immerse yourself in the theme. Some seriously cool stuff happens if you open your imagination.

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Speaking of sharing session reports, a battle report sub-forum would be useful. Dunno who put in the sub-forum request though.

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Game 1: Ragnarok (I) v. Opponent 1 ®, 3/26/15

Setup: Intro Game

Outcome: Rebel Victory. I engaged with TIEs too soon and out from under my own AA umbrella - the X-Wings and Nebulon tore my fighter screen apart in 2 rounds for the loss of only a single X-Wing squadron. I then proceeded to foolishly mid-maneuver and missed a forward battery shot from the Vic-2 (didn't get a single shot off from that arc all game). With the Vic flanked and severely crippled, but still in action, Rebels won on points from the destroyed TIEs. This game taught me to manage speed more effectively for the SD, and when and how to jump the enemy squadrons, so not a total loss. Afterwards we did the math and discovered how weighted the scenario is towards Rebels, as well.

Game 2: Ragnarok (I) v. Opponent 2 ®, 3/27/15

Setup: Modified Intro Game (+2 TIE Squadrons for point balance)

Outcome: Imperial Victory. A correctly timed Squadron Command ensured fighter superiority for the Empire, followed up by hammering the Rebel corvette out of the sky with forward and starboard batteries. The Victory and Neb-B then proceeded to pound on each other for a while but the engagement was inconclusive, with the Nebulon slipping around behind the Vic's stern but not managing to put in enough shots to bring her down.

Game 3: Ragnarok ® v. Opponent 2 (I), 3/28/15

Setup: 180pt Constructed, Precision Strike objective

Outcome: Rebel Victory. Due to a construction misunderstanding, the match was against 2 Vic-1s with no commander, and only really a token fighter screen. Rebels had 2x Nebs with Luke and 2 other squadrons. The Imps deployed in a denied flank formation, forcing engagement towards the center of the play area. The non-Luke X-wings quickly engaged and destroyed the enemy TIEs, while Luke and the bigger guns engaged one of the Vics to the exclusion of all else. One Neb wandered between the two Destroyers at point-blank range and was quickly dispatched, but the flagship successfully flanked through a debris field and poured critical fire into the enemy until the Vic finally broke up at the very last moment (2nd firing arc on Round 6), saving the game for the Rebellion. Due to a high number of scored critical hits, the Rebel MoV was pretty high.

Takeaways:

1) Discard the L2P scenario and move to constructed ASAP - objectives make the game a lot more fun and balance is better.

2) Minimizing the closure rate is critical for Star Destroyers. They seem best served running at speed 1 with a banked Nav token for emergencies.

3) The squadron command is extremely valuable - properly timed and executed they swing the entire fighter game... engaging on your terms is huge.

4) Rebel play needs to be focused on executing objectives at the 180pt to maybe 250pt level - the firepower just isn't there yet to go for victory via demolition, especially if your opponent can bring multiple ships or win the fighter battle. In Game 3, had I not managed a lucky roll with the Vic's shields down on all but the forward face, I would have lost the game but only because of a single victory token gained by the Imps during the loss of my other Nebulon - had they not scored that, I would have won regardless.

5) I need to test more with Luke to see if he's really worth the points. His effect triggered precisely once, largely due to bad rolling, but the black dice underwhelmed me - why are there 2 miss faces at close range? I would have got more out of an upgrade card and a normal X-wing than his squadron in that particular game...

Edited by Ragnarok357
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Game 1: Ragnarok (I) v. Opponent 1 ®, 3/26/15

Setup: Intro Game

Outcome: Rebel Victory. I engaged with TIEs too soon and out from under my own AA umbrella - the X-Wings and Nebulon tore my fighter screen apart in 2 rounds for the loss of only a single X-Wing squadron. I then proceeded to foolishly mid-maneuver and missed a forward battery shot from the Vic-2 (didn't get a single shot off from that arc all game). With the Vic flanked and severely crippled, but still in action, Rebels won on points from the destroyed TIEs. This game taught me to manage speed more effectively for the SD, and when and how to jump the enemy squadrons, so not a total loss. Afterwards we did the math and discovered how weighted the scenario is towards Rebels, as well.

Game 2: Ragnarok (I) v. Opponent 2 ®, 3/27/15

Setup: Modified Intro Game (+2 TIE Squadrons for point balance)

Outcome: Imperial Victory. A correctly timed Squadron Command ensured fighter superiority for the Empire, followed up by hammering the Rebel corvette out of the sky with forward and starboard batteries. The Victory and Neb-B then proceeded to pound on each other for a while but the engagement was inconclusive, with the Nebulon slipping around behind the Vic's stern but not managing to put in enough shots to bring her down.

Game 3: Ragnarok ® v. Opponent 2 (I), 3/28/15

Setup: 180pt Constructed, Precision Strike objective

Outcome: Rebel Victory. Due to a construction misunderstanding, the match was against 2 Vic-1s with no commander, and only really a token fighter screen. Rebels had 2x Nebs with Luke and 2 other squadrons. The Imps deployed in a denied flank formation, forcing engagement towards the center of the play area. The non-Luke X-wings quickly engaged and destroyed the enemy TIEs, while Luke and the bigger guns engaged one of the Vics to the exclusion of all else. One Neb wandered between the two Destroyers at point-blank range and was quickly dispatched, but the flagship successfully flanked through a debris field and poured critical fire into the enemy until the Vic finally broke up at the very last moment (2nd firing arc on Round 6), saving the game for the Rebellion. Due to a high number of scored critical hits, the Rebel MoV was pretty high.

Takeaways:

1) Discard the L2P scenario and move to constructed ASAP - objectives make the game a lot more fun and balance is better.

2) Minimizing the closure rate is critical for Star Destroyers. They seem best served running at speed 1 with a banked Nav token for emergencies.

3) The squadron command is extremely valuable - properly timed and executed they swing the entire fighter game... engaging on your terms is huge.

4) Rebel play needs to be focused on executing objectives at the 180pt to maybe 250pt level - the firepower just isn't there yet to go for victory via demolition, especially if your opponent can bring multiple ships or win the fighter battle. In Game 3, had I not managed a lucky roll with the Vic's shields down on all but the forward face, I would have lost the game but only because of a single victory token gained by the Imps during the loss of my other Nebulon - had they not scored that, I would have won regardless.

5) I need to test more with Luke to see if he's really worth the points. His effect triggered precisely once, largely due to bad rolling, but the black dice underwhelmed me - why are there 2 miss faces at close range? I would have got more out of an upgrade card and a normal X-wing than his squadron in that particular game...

Pretty much gospel for me.

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Played my first game yesterday with a guy in my gaming group, and I loved it!

We played the LtP game, with myself in command of the Empire and my friend commanding the Rebel fleet.

1st Turn: I instantly dropped the speed on my Vic-II and moved my fighters into a screen in front of it, whilst the Rebels moved forwards eagerly with everything they had, and not a shot was fired.

2nd Turn: I continued as before, with an Engineering token being generated for later on, whilst the Rebels still came on, activating some of their squadrons in an attempt to move past my fighter screen, which resulted in a nice furball of TIEs and X-Wings in the middle of the table, with the X-Wings taking a pretty big mauling from some lucky rolls. Still no capital ship fire...

3rd Turn: The Nebulon B leaps forwards and fires a broadside at my Vic-II, knocking a shield off my flank. My return broadside strips his shield and deals a damage card, which is followed by fire from my forward arc leaving the Nebulon B on a single hull point, at the cost of 1 defence token removed. The CR90 attempts to drive down the other flank and instead managed to ram my Victory. More X-Wings die in the furball in the middle, taking the odd TIE with them

4th Turn: The Nebulon B limps past, dealing no damage to the Vic-II, and is reduced to atoms in the following broadside, but the CR90 avenges its loss by nipping past and firing at my flank, stripping all the shields and dealing a damage card. The last few X-Wings battle it out valiantly, but weight of numbers finally tells

5th Turn: The CR90 takes potshots at the engines and sweeps around wide whilst the Victory lumbers around with a well timed Navigate command, bringing a broadside to bear and leaving the little frigate with a single hull point remaining

6th Turn: The CR90 fires once more at my vulnerable rear and deals another damage card before pulling off an impressive manoeuvre to once again stay behind me. Not that it does any good, as my rear weapons open fire with a Concentrated Fire command and blow the plucky little ship into dust

This game is just as much fun as I've spent the last 6 months or so thinking it would be! I think in the core they've struck a decent balance between the 2 forces, maybe a bit Engineering heavy like has been said in other forums, but overall I think it works great, with just the odd things not being obvious right away. I definitely got lucky in this game, being able to ignore the X-Wings with my Vic whilst it played Hunt the Frigate, and in that my friend decided to expose the flank of his Nebulon B to my firepower, but I have a feeling that our next game will be very different

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A friend and I had our first 300 point game last night. We decided just to have a 6 turn fire fight to see how things worked and add objectives next time. The fleets were:

Victory-2 (Tarkin, enhanced armament, weapons liaison, overload pulse)

Victory-1 (enhanced armament, defence liaison, concussion missiles)

7 TIE’s including Howlrunner

Neb-B support (Dodona)

Neb-B escort

CR90a (enhanced armament)

CR90a (enhanced armament)

5 x-wings

The rebels deployed off-centre to the right with the CR90’s in close proximity and a bit of space between the neb-B’s. The squadrons hung back a bit…..I wanted to use the weak broadsides of the Neb’s to weaken the TIE’s so the x-wings could hammer them in one go and then assault the star destroyers in earnest.

The imperials deployed almost diagonally opposite the rebels with the vic-1 diagonally in front of the vic-2. The TIE’s deployed in a big blob around them.

The first couple of turns was just positioning. The central Neb spead up a bit and began weaving to the right and up field to try and avoid being caught in the front arc of both star destroyers once battle is joined. The other Neb slowly cruised up to sit on the opposite flank of the rebel cresent into which the imperials are heading. The CR90’s were at max speed heading for the far table edge.

The mid game saw the CR90’s make a high speed pass on the vic-1. They were so close to the table edge the vic couldn’t even try to turn its front arc onto them or it would end up flying straight off the table. These two did really well. The relatively even split of their arcs makes it really easy to get multiple hull zone attacks of on the same target (in one turn they launched 8 red dice, and 4 blue dice into the flank and rear of the vic-1).

In the centre the Neb added some fire power to the vic-1 (unfortunately I was attacking it on three sides here, so while its shields took an absolute beating I didn’t actually land any hull damage). The imperials got the jump up in the fighter war with two simultaneous squadron commands propelling most of the TIE’s into the leading x-wings and wiping them out before they did anything.

On the left flank the vic-2 and single neb-b trade a few token shots as the vic contemptuously turns past it.

Disaster struck for the rebels in the late game as Dodonas neb-b just failed to clear the front arc of the vic-1 (he needed to jump up to speed 3)…….this left his pitiful squishy flank within close range of the vic’s front and flank attacks…..he was vaporised in one volley, but not before he launched an epic attack on the TIE’s (managed to shoot all of them, and combined with multiple squadron commands all the TIE’s were destroyed). After this the CR90’s continue to scream past the vic-1 giving it a less optimal volley now and inflict some token hull damage (along with the remaining x-wings)before flying out of range in the final turn. The vics are left to ping a hull point or two of the x-wings, and trade some shields with the last neb-b.

Thoughts:

- Speed management is absolutely key. The CR90’s inflicted the most damage, but I was too preoccupied repairing their shields to slow down and actually get good attack angles on the victory-1 after that magical first pass. Equally the only hull damage the imperials actually inflicted was the monstrous volley on Dodonna….which only occurred because he couldn’t reach speed 3 (at that speed it would have been a single broadside attack before he was away to safety). As such I think I will bank a navigation token on any ship with a command rating greater than 1 in the future.

- Having more activations is fantastic. Not a single black dice was fired during the entire game. The rebels would just wait to see where the vic-1 went and then move to be just outside its close range. If a player can have initiative and more activations this will be even more powerful again!

- Consecutive squadron commands really keep the momentum going. The imperials used a simultaneous command to launch all the TIES forward in an alpha strike, but the rebels countered with two turns of squadron commands (the second turn was all from banked squadron tokens) to get almost two entire turns of unopposed dogfighting and just mopped them all up….unfortunately this was too little too late and the x-wings couldn’t go on to inflict any meaningful damage on the victories.

- victories take an absolute beating! (18 damage in total, and they kept on healing three shields per turn with Tarkin handing out engineering tokens.) Neither of them was even close to death at the end of the game (the vic-1 might have been in trouble in another turn or two had the CR90’s slowed down enough to keep it in range). I will be interested to see if better speed management will be enough to pummel them down with consecutive volleys, or if tricks are the way to go (CR90b’s with overload pulse and/or Dodonnas pride might be worth a go – I like the idea of three capitals ganging up on one victory, and the Pride sitting behind another one messing it up with Dodonna powered crits each turn to stop it supporting the main fight properly).

Edited by Boothy