http://www.outpostzero.net/2015/07/star-wars-armada-battle-report-400_27.html

Mon Mothma paced the bridge of her command ship. She smiled at some of the crew, trying to calm their nerves as reports from probes were coming in, indicating an Imperial defense fleet was on its way. Mon Mothma was confident in the starships in her task force- three stout Assault Frigates, and two recently defected Nebulon Bs. The crews, however, were mostly green and untested. She did not know that the Imperial task force en route was led by Admiral Screed himself- a veteran of many wars and a man with a vile reputation.

That link again: http://www.outpostzero.net/2015/07/star-wars-armada-battle-report-400_27.html

Those are some wierd looking lists. No fighter cover at all for the rhymer ball? Two nebulons but no salvation? No rebel fighter screen whatsoever? I mean, not even a few awings? And how in gods name did Superior Positions get picked? The rebel player let that get played when he had 0 fighters? I'm full of questions!

As always though, a very entertaining batrep.

Because my game room is the lab! We try things to see what happens, particularly with an eye towards bucking conventional wisdom. Sometimes it works... in this case it didn't work so well for the Rebs!

Ouch, that seemed very 1 sided. Rebels did not focus fire?

Yeah it was pretty ugly. Rebels spread out but then couldn't get focused quickly enough. Lessons learned!

Yeah it was pretty ugly. Rebels spread out but then couldn't get focused quickly enough. Lessons learned!

It's like Tabletop games like Pathfinder. Never split the party

ahh but "you guys" does not include my opponent Sean who ran the Rebels, and this batrep has been "in the can" for a while

Well I guess Prime opponent Sean needs to listen to your episodes

And learn all my secrets?!?! NEVER!

So my hypothesis here was Dan's belief that Superior Positions is a great mission, whether or not you actually get the rear shots. Particularly as an Imperial, it lets me setup after knowing where you're going to be, and roughly predict a trajectory. He was very much right in that regard!

Well honestly, Imperial fighters are worth their points usually. It's Rebel fighters I have issues with. Rebel fighters require guidance to do things and they really only can take down a VSD because the small base GSD can escape them.

Imperial fights have Rhymer which means they shoot like a CR90 B when near him. That is 2 distances more than rebel fighters.

Sean lost this one on deployment in my opinion. I was able to bring a whole lot to bear on his most expensive stuff.

I think the basic plan was flawed, seems to me the idea was to trap all your ships in a cauldron formed between the AF’s at each end. Without squadrons much of the Rebel deployment was blind, most of his fleet was on board before the Imperial player committed his second ship. So I think some of the problem came even before the deployment began.

After that the first turn, which if I got the plan about right, was supposed to herd the Imperials back into the cauldron or reform the cauldron around the Imperials just caused the whole thing to get worse. As it left an exploitable gap between the 2 AF’s and their support and hence isolated the AF’s.

You may also be right in the missions caused some predictability. That first turn may also have been a rush to get to the rear of the VSDs as much as anything. Which is odd as it gave the VSD’s a great target to rush and get rear shots at the same time.

Perhaps the post deployment plan should have changed to run to the lower left of the photo and avoid the VSD’s. Targeting the GSD’s as you can, if you are ahead you fly off if not you loop back for some rear shots on the VSD’s.

400 points has a different layer of tactical play, at 400 points you should not expect to have your entire fleet survive. The game now takes on a more chess like exchange of ships, where you are trying to make each exchange more costly for your opponent.

In terms of this exchange think about the very thing you talk to with the squadrons. “I would rather have a ship than 3-4 squadrons” well doesn’t that predict the order of attack? I would rather kill a ship than have to attack one over 3-4 turns? Wouldn’t that make the GSD’s priority targets?

The Squadrons used by the Imperial player also countered many of the Rebels deployments, the Imperials had deployed just two ships as the Rebels had deployed their fleet. Perhaps not a reason to have squadrons but all the same, something else to consider.

I get the lab idea, I do. My only thing is, in superior postions, if your opponent has no fighters, you are getting 15 points x (however many fighters you have) at least once. So if you are running a list with no squadrons, you really shouldn't be going anywhere near that thing.

ITS A TRAP!

The emphasis on experimentation does however explain a great deal of the unorthodoxy regarding the rest of the list composition.

Everyone is fixating on the fighters, and while I did do some real damage with them, you can't ignore that they collectively ate up 63 of my points. They were worth it since Sean had no fighter support, but another cheap ship would've been nice too.

Sean lost this one on deployment in my opinion. I was able to bring a whole lot to bear on his most expensive stuff. The AF MKII can take a beating, but it can't take that beating forever.

rhymer ball (43 points, all the other support was basically ancillary) against no squadrons will do far more damage than any ship you can buy

63 points gets you, at best, a GSD-1 w/ACM. 43 points (the actual bombers) get you jack **** until the Raider comes out.

Rhymer ball throws the same number of black dice as the side arc of a GSD, only split into four attacks (much better against defense tokens) and at some ludicrously larger range that makes it possible to keep throwing said black dice every round from 2 through 6.

corruptor and cheri are unnecessary. Corruptor is fun, but Rhymer's range is so bonkers already that it's overkill (just wait till speed 3 firesprays). Cheri did absolutely nothing in the batrep, and against squadrons he won't save bombers from getting chewed up and spat out.

@Amanal- The Rebels had to deploy everything they had per the mission, so I was able to completely react- which is HUGE for big, slow Imperial VSDs.

@Mudaghmire- yeah, Superior Positions is a no-go if you have no fighters and your opponent does! Those 15 point pops add up. Now Sean knows

@Fickle- I dunno if it does far more damage than any ship you can buy. No reason not to count up those extra 20 points- after all they're also risky. If I lose the ship they're hosted on it gives up more points. Plus you're comparing only to one side arc- the GSDs are pretty good at getting two arcs in with some maneuvering. PLUS those points net you many more shield and hull points to keep your fleet alive. Your point is taken though, but I don't think Rhymer is ridiculously better than a GSD 1 w/ ACMs. However, I've also said elsewhere that I find a diminishing return on GSD Is, so 2 is feeling like the sweet spot. The Rhymer ball is definitely the best bang for the buck in fighters though- no doubt about that.

Corruptor and Cher' are GREAT... when your opponent has fighters. In this batrep they were useless. And I disagree- Cheri DOES help your bombers from getting chewed up.... or at least he forces your opponent to use his ships to drive his squadrons, or they're never getting in there! If I can keep an AF MkII from driving ships and not repairing, I'm usually happy. Cheri can move a few times and get some black dice off before going down to fighters.

STAH WAHS!