Happy Sunday!
Yesterday I was able to play in a tournament at Dark Sphere in London, UK.
I usually play Rebels but decided to build a bomber heavy Imperial list more for fun than anything else. I have little experience running squadrons so it was a learning experience. As it turned out we only had 4 players due to summer holidays and we had all brought Imperial Fleets.
Imperial Bombers - 299 points
I decided upon a toolbox build to accompany my swathes of squadrons. The XI7's were my mirror match meta...
- VSD 1 (Stripes) - Tarkin, Expanded Hangars, XI7 Turbo Lasers
- VSD 1 - Admiral Chiraneau, Expanded Hangars, Corruptor, XI7 Turbo Lasers
- 6 x TIE Bombers
- 2 x TIE Advance
- Objectives - Advanced Gunnery, Contested Outpost, Superior Positions
The plan was to keep both VSD's tight together using Bombers to weaken enemy defences and then use turbo lasers at range 3 to take the weakened ship out.
Game 1
Sam is usually an X-wing Player and this was his first real foray into Armada, he is a very sharp, thoughtful player, making for a great game! His list was designed to establish squadron superiority and then use a three ship advantage to take down the enemy. It was essentially a hard counter to my bomber list.
His List - 300 points
- VSD1 - Screed, Expanded Hangars, Flight Controllers
- Gladiator 2 - ACM
- Gladiator 1 - ACM, Demolisher
- 1 x Howlrunner
- 4 x TIE fighter
He was running at 300 points so I chose 2nd player and we ended up playing Contested Outpost.
I completely mismanaged my squadrons and managed to get half of them mobbed by Howlrunner's TIES on turn 2.
The critical point of the game saw me establish position on the Outpost and scoring points against the objective on all 6 turns. Additionally I was able to launch a bomber strike against his VSD and then follow it up with dual front arcs from my own VSD's taking Screed out of the game.
However the Gladiators were now behind me, but traveling at speed three so struggling to come about fast enough.
Sam still managed to take out Tarkin and his VSD who got caught by a Gladiator in 2 arcs at close range!
The game ended with my one VSD dropping to speed 0 to avoid moving into short range of a waiting Gladiator (who wasn't Demolisher).
After totalling points I came out ahead due to the score from my six Outpost tokens.
Sam was on point all game and really kept the pressure on, it was only the fact that I gained control of the outpost that I was able to edge the game, I made so many mistakes with my squadrons.
WIN 7-3
Game 2
Game two was against Stu, and another Imperial Fleet, this time run naked with the only upgrade card being Motti, but also running plenty of bombers with a little support. Like the chump that I am totally I failed to get my opponents name.
His List - 300 points
- VSD2 - Admiral Motti
- VSD1
- Gladiator 1
- 1 x Major Rhymer
- 3 x TIE Bomber
- 1 x TIE Fighter
- 1 x TIE Interceptor
This time I chose to be first player (lesson learnt from game 1) and we played Precision Strike.
Deployment was fairly standard but I was able to lay my second VSD last and thus gain a slight flank advantage.
I drove straight towards the closest VSD and this time kept my bombers close until I was ready to unleash them. The VSD went down hard but I had over extended my entire fleet and although I was able to get Motti's VSD onto 6 damage I wasn't able to finish it off before losing Chiraneau's VSD.
During this game I used the TIE Advanced to try and hold up the TIE Fighters and Interceptors but with swarm they didn't last long at all. Their offensive firepower just didn't dent the enemy fighters capable of tying up my bombers, so by the end of the game my bombers had been whittled down and negated.
My opponent out played me in the fighter game here and I paid for it, on the plus side I was able to better use my own bombers than in game 1.
LOSS 4-6
Game 3
Yet again I've failed to remember my opponent's name. He was running a heavily upgraded VSD/GLAD list with Rhymer and Interceptor support.
His List - 300 points
- VSD 1 - Screed, Expanded Hangers, Flight Controllers (and possibly more there were lots of upgrades).
- Gladiator 1 - Wulf, Demolisher, Engine Techs, ACM (and again possibly something else...)
- Major Rhymer
- 2 x TIE Bombers
- 3 x TIE Interceptors
I really liked the look of this fleet, it had a very retro pale grey colour scheme with some red detailing!
I decided upon Most Wanted and my opponent chose Chiraneau's VSD along with his Screed VSD as the objective ships.
The gladiator made a wild dash to try and take out my objective ship but need up running afoul of my bombers and a close range VSD front arc. it went down.
However at this point my opponent had played a very clever fighter game. He had positioned Rhymer and his bombers in a debris field, almost unkillable if they stayed there. His Interceptors had surrounded his own VSD hindering my own bomber wing.
My plan at this point was to disengage and take whatever victory I could scrounge as my losses would be too high if I engaged.
Instead Rhymer's bombers moved forward out of protection and the Interceptors moved out to engage my bombers. So I went for it!
Chiraneau went down first, massive VP's to my opponent but on the last roll of the game I was able to score a double hit on a red dice re-roll and take down Screed's VSD.
WIN - 9-1
I ended up in second place, Sam was able to go onto score 10-0 and 9-1 taking first place. Well deserved on his part too!
