ARMADA 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
ARMADA 300pt TOURNAMENT, Wave 1, 5 GAMES.
After Action Report by Patrick Doyle.
5th Place at the 2015 Armada World Championship.
With the help of Greg Whitaker, we came in First Place at the Armada Team Championship. I hope to have an AAR for that tournament soon. It was great time and highly recommend going.
MY LIST:
AFIIB
• Paragon
• Enhanced Armaments
• Advanced Projectors
• Weapons Liaison
AFIIB
• Enhanced Armaments
• Advanced Projectors
• Weapons Liaison
CR90
• Jaina’s Light
• Garm Bel Iblis
Fighter Support
• 3 A-Wing Squadrons
Here is my battle report from the Armada Tournament at Worlds 2015.
My general plan was to run the Assault Frigates in an offset column while keeping the CR-90A on the non-engaged side of the Assault Frigates. Since Garm gives me a full load of tokens to start off with, I used Navigate as my default command to maneuver myself into the best possible position for the engagement. The weapons liaison gave me the flexibility to give a Concentrate Fire command when needed. I do not think I used a single Squadron command dial the entire tournament. I also tried to estimate which ship would get the brunt of enemy fire and made sure to toss in the occasional Engineering Command.
Using Navigate commands would give me the best chance of attacking a target with 2 arcs, or in the worst case, allow me to maneuver to avoid trouble. When it turned out that I didn’t need a Navigate command, I could spend a token to Concentrate Fire. One of my assault frigates was Paragon, but the ability didn’t activate very often. However, in some cases my opponent consciously tried to avoid Paragon. By affecting their maneuvers, Paragon still had value.
I only brought 3 A-wing squadrons. I grudgingly got rid of Tycho, but against the opponents I fought, it turned out to be the right decision. Against a superior fighter force, my A-wings were simply there to buy my ships a round or maybe 2 without enemy fighter attacks. If my opponent didn’t have fighters, they represented supplemental damage against their ships.
Finally, my point cost was only 291. I had made the conscious decision that I wanted to control the missions that we flew. Shooting first is a big advantage, but I like seeing where my opponent moves to help me set up for the next round and I like the advantages conveyed by being the second player. I chose Most Wanted, Fire Lanes and Dangerous Territory for my missions. I played Dangerous Territory in the first and last games, while the other 3 games used the Most Wanted objective.
I won 4 out of 5 games, but it got off to a rocky start...
Game 1: Josiah Burkhardsmeier, Rebel. Player 1.
Dangerous Territory
AFIIB: General Dadonna, Gunnery Teams, X17 Turbolasers, Electronic Counter Measures
Nebulon-B Escort: Yavaris, Veteran Captain (“Destroyed” during exercise)
Nebulon-B Support: Salvation, Veteran Captain, X17
x3 B-Wing Squadrons
x1 A-Wing Squadrons (“Desroyed” during the exercise)
299 Points
Admiral’s Log, Minntooine:
Before departing Minntooine for strikes against the Imperial controlled system of Dellalt we first engaged in a training exercise against General Dadonna’s task force. This would be my first engagement controlling my task force from a Corellian Corvette. Paragon’s command and control suite has not been working reliably since we took damage a few weeks ago, and the techs can’t seem to find the problem. I’ve known the captain of Jaina’s Light, Captain Vok, for many years and he assures me that fighting from the non-engaged side of the Assault frigates will have advantages. We can maintain more reliable communications if we encounter heavy jamming and that Jaina’s Light is less likely to be targeted by the enemy than an assault frigate. I decided to go with his recommendations.
Admiral Akbar had arrived from Mon Calamari to observe the exercises. As it turns out the engagement went very badly and there were even questions as to whether our force was ready for the mission. Fortunately, I managed to convince Admiral Akbar, against his better judgement, to allow us to proceed with our campaign plans since other elements of the plan had already been set in motion. (Reference, see page 108 of the Star Wars Atlas).
SETUP: My obstacle set up was all wrong in this fight and I flew it even worse. Later, I repeated the set up mistakes in my final game. I had a decent formation planned before worlds and for some reason I chose not to use the formation as planned. As the second player, I got the first obstacle placement and put the Space station near the center of his edge of the map without thinking about how bad of an idea that was. The flawed thinking started with the notion that I could get my enemy to fly through obstacles to inflict damage on himself, thereby making it easier for me to destroy his force. About all that happens when a ship intensionally runs over an obstacle early in the game is that it costs him a command dial using the engineering command. It’s not significant and you allow the enemy to gain additional points. This mistake cost me quite a few points.
His Nebulon-Bs were set up in the center near the obstacles with his AFIIB set up a little to the left of his Nebulon-B Frigates. My ships were set across from his force, angled a little to my right, on an intercept angle with the Dadonna’s flagship.
THE FIGHT and LESSONS LEARNED: His Nebulon-Bs came straight in while his AFIIB set up to attack my corvette flagship which I stupidly allowed to get ahead of the assault frigates. I put several broadsides into the front of the approaching Nebulon-Bs. Furthermore, I allowed my corvette and assault frigates to get too close to the B-Wings and he took advantage of the opportunity to get double attacks on the Paragon by using Yavaris.
The fighter battle went poorly as well. His A-wing squadron intercepted and engaged 2 of my A-wings and managed to take out both squadrons, though it died in the process. My remaining A-wing engaged his B-wings as they were making their attack runs on the Paragon. With the tactical support of Yavaris, his B-wings made quick work of my A-wing squadron, flagship and the Paragon. My other Assault Frigate was able to finish off Yavaris, but it was too little too late.
Late in the game, I had 1 remaining assault frigate. I had the choice of trying to disengage or turning hard left to get a broadside shot on Salvation, and to possible get an objective token. The hard left turn was a bad idea and my last ship was killed. The final lesson from this is that you should look at your situation realistically, and if necessary, make the decision to save what you can from destruction. The ship was worth 91 points, and while there was no guarantee that it would have survived had I ran, it had to be a better bet than doubling down on an already bad situation.
Next, my opponent had 2 ships equipped with X17 turbolasers. They proved very good on an assault frigate or a Nebulon-B. I have decide that the way to deal with X17s is to use engineering commands to transfer shields back to the damaged shields. Any remaining engineering points can be used to add additional shields, but the focus should be to move shield points to the engaged side. Furthermore, you can maneuver to present a difference shield to the opponent. The trouble comes when there is more than 1 ship firing X17s at the same shield.
Finally, I had entered the tournament with a plan for a formation, and at the last minute, I decided to scrap the plan during the set-up. If you have a decent plan, stick with it until you have good reason to change it.
Result: 1-9 Loss
Game 2: Troy Perry, Imperial. Player 1.
Most Wanted
Victory II (Destroyed)
• Grand Moff Tarkin Commanding
• Weapons Liaison
• Gunnery Team
Victory II (Destroyed)
• Weapons Liaison
• Gunnery Team
X4 TIE Advanced (3 Destroyed)
Major Rymer
292 Points
Admiral’s Log:
The training exercise exposed many flaws. We used the travel time to run many combat simulations and to conduct as much training as possible and I felt confident that we would do better. We have reports of 2 of the new Victory II-class Star Destroyers conducting terror operations in the Dellalt system. We intend to go in to put an end to their depredations against the people of that star system.
SETUP and Battle: The picture shows the setup I had intended at the start of the tournament. The CR-90A would generally move first while the assault frigates fly roughly in a column formation but offset so that either assault frigate could move. The frigate on the right moves at speed 3 to get ahead of the left frigate, while also acting as a screen for the corvette. Since the corvette is Jaina’s Light, she can make unobstructed attacks from behind Paragon. If the enemy does fire at Jaina’s Light, it at least cost the enemy a die from being obstructed, and the shot will most likely be from long range, allowing her to use an evade to remove another die. If she does take damage, she can always pour on the speed and disengage. The fact that Garm gives free command tokens allows me to focus on maneuvering into formation. My ships continued on course until reaching the edge of the map. They proceeded to hook sharply to the right while the VSDs and their fighters tried to pin me in the corner.
My A-Wings pinned his fighters while my ships focussed on one VSD at a time. In the confines of the corner I made sure to use as Navigate as the primary command to prevent leaving the map.
Lessons Learned: What I did right in this battle was to keep my fighters spread out so that only one at a time could be engaged by the TIE-Advanced fighters. I was able to engage first with my fighters and prevented them from making attacks against my ships while destroying 3 TIE-Advanced squadrons to the loss of only 1. No rebel ships or fighters were destroyed.
Overall this battle went well.
Result: 10-0 Win
Game 3: Pablo Gamboa, Imperial. Player 1. Most Wanted.
Victory II
• Grand Moff Tarkin Commanding
• Defense Liaison
Victory II (Objective ship, Destroyed)
Victory II
296 Points
Admiral’s Log:
We remained in the Dellalt system to provide humanitarian aid while we awaited replacement fighters and repaired battle damage. We are nearly ready to move on to our next target. I remain concerned about the the Imperial shuttles that made it into hyperspace after the destruction of the Victory II in the last battle. Sensors had identified the Victory II as Grand Moff Tarkin’s flagship. While I am hopeful that we put an end to that criminal, something tells me that he is the sort that would have gotten away.
Admiral’s Log, Supplemental: Three additional Victory II-class Star Destroyers have jumped into this system and have made a direct course for us. Just as I feared, that shuttle must have warned a nearby garrison. They are are probably expecting us to run, however, if we do, the civilian population in this system will suffer. This will be a tough fight. They are launching fighters, but they are on course to attack other targets in the system. Probably a ploy to get us to split our forces. Unfortunately, the local defenses will have to deal with the fighters while we attack the Star Destroyers.
Admiral’s Log, Supplemental: They approached in a line-abreast formation. We cut across their longitudinal axis from their port to starboard side. I gave orders to focus fire at the Star Destroyer on the starboard side of their formation. They had clearly identified the corvette as the ship that I was on, so the little corvette would have to keep its distance. We engaged and after the destruction of the target Star Destroyer, the Imperials retreated, leaving their fighters behind, alone and out of fuel.
I am happy to report that we took no losses despite some damage to one of the assault frigates. Additionally, communications intercepted radio traffic indicating that Grand Moff Tarkin was in fact commanding this force. There must be a base nearby if he was able to rally a second force in such a short time.
Lessons Learned: I was able to destroy the objective ship without losing any ships of my own. One of the assault frigates sustained 3 damage points. Despite those positive items I made 2 big mistakes: (1) I forgot to fire one of my ships from point blank range. I allowed myself to rush without thoughtfully going through my checklist. (2) I forgot to collect command tokens on round 5 for Garm Bel Iblis’ ability. This was the third game of the first day of the tournament. I had also played all 8 rounds of the X-Wing Tournament the day before, so I’m going with “brain fried” as my excuse, but that is why having a fleet specific checklist is useful…as long as you use it.
The Most Wanted scenario worked well with my force. When firing at the objective ship, I could get as many as three additional dice, 1 from Enhanced Armaments, 1 from firing at the objective ship and the other from the Concentrate fire token.
Result: 9-1 Win
Game 4: Nate Collins, Imperial. Player 1. Most Wanted (he came in 14th)
Victory I
• Admiral Screed
Victory I
Gladiator I (Objective Ship, Destroyed)
• Demolisher
Gladiator I (Destroyed)
294 Points
Admiral's Log:
After repairing battle damage to one of our assault frigates, we set out to scout the Refnar system. Based on the fact that Grand Moff Tarkin was able to counter attack so quickly, intelligence believes that the Imperials are using it as a base since it is off the normal hyperspace routes.
Once we arrived in Refnar, we detected a small base and what appeared to be a larger battle station under construction. As we approach a force of 4 ships came at us from the other side of the planet. They approached slowly at first…
After setting up the obstacles, I set the objective ships as the Demolisher and Jaina’s Light. If he kept Demolisher safely out of the fight, I’d consider that a good thing, if not, my chances of killing it were higher. Either was good with me. I knew my assault frigates could survive at least 1 pass from Demolisher since they had advanced projectors but it starts getting dicey after the second volley.
The Imperial ships approached cautiously in a line abreast formation at speed one. I set up in my standard formation and cut across their front accelerating to speed 3 and passing from their starboard to port side. This allowed me time to get to the far side of his formation. I sent my fighters at Demolisher to soften it up before it sped up to come around behind my ships.
The port side Gladiator approached my lead assault frigate, Paragon, allowing it to fire from 2 arcs and utilize black dice. The other 2 ships were in position to add fire and destroy it. Demolisher fell to my guns after that. On round 6 there was no chance of the Victory Star Destroyers turning around so the game ended.
Fighter were useful in softening up Demolisher, though I did lose a squadron.
Result: 9-1 Win
Game 5: Ryan Voigt, Imperial. Player 1. Dangerous Territory, Table #3. (he came in 10th)
Victory II
• Admiral Motti
• Gunnery Teams
Victory II
• Gunnery Teams
Victory II (Destroyed)
• Gunnery Teams
Admiral’s Log: After the 2 remaining VSDs jumped out of the system, the base surrendered without a shot fired. They were local people pressed into service by the Empire so they were more than happy to resupply and repair our ships. We were able to gather valuable information on Imperial plans in this system. Apparently, Admiral Screed had not been kind to the locals and they were more than happy to help us. They also indicated that another squadron of Star Destroyers led by Admiral Motti were already enroute. Clearly, with so many prominent Imperial leaders in the area, we had stumbled upon a major Imperial operation. Time to set a trap for their reinforcements.
I have to admit to being a bit worried when I saw this fleet. At this point, 3 Victory-class star destroyers without fighter protection doesn’t worry me too much, but I had not seen this particular combination before. I did not know how I was going to survive against 3 of them with gunnery teams.
I normally pride myself on my ability to learn from my mistakes, but once again, I placed obstacles on his side of the map, giving him free points. He was able to take 5 of the 6 objective tokens, while I managed to get only 1, giving him a 60 point advantage. What I don’t know, is whether the placement of the obstacles meant that he spent more time maneuvering for the objective tokens rather than focusing on outmaneuvering me. You would have to ask Ryan how that affected his thinking.
He set his ships in the usual line abreast formation that seems so popular with the Imperials. He made his initial maneuvers to capture some of the objectives while generally taking engineering commands to repair damage. I moved to approach his starboard side. Since I was up against Motti, I would be fortunate to take out 1, maybe 2 of his star destroyers.
His flagship on the port side, accelerated to speed 2 to make the wide turn to the left, while the starboard star destroyer did something you don’t very often, it stopped and acted as a pivot point for the other 2 star destroyers. Additionally, by carefully timing his orders and changing his speed, he was able to avoid flying into my weapon range for a turn, depriving me firing opportunities.
By stopping his starboard VSD,, he allowed more of his ships to get into firing range at the same time. I pressed my attack against the starboard ship and was able to destroy it, but chewing through 10 hull points really took a lot of effort. I was fortunate that fire was spread out among my ships. Each of my ships were badly damaged and each only had 2 hull remaining. A few dice rolling differently is all it would have taken for this to have ended differently. It was a good thing the battle ended when it did. This was a tough fight and a close battle. Ryan was the most skilled at maneuvering Victory Star Destroyers of anyone I have played against.
RESULT: The final score was 107 to 75. A 32-point difference gave me a 6-4 win.
TOURNAMENT CONCLUSION:
While I was tabled by my fellow Rebel player in the first game, my force did much better against Imperials. Against the Imperials, my task force only lost 2 A-Wing fighter squadrons while destroying x4 Victory II-class Star Destroyers, x2 Gladiator I-class Star Destroyers and 3 squadrons of advanced TIE Fighters.
On Saturday, my friend Greg and I played in the 600 point team tournament and took first place. We played Imperials and brought 2 Victory-IIs and 3 Gladiators (including Demolisher and Insidious). We fought 2 Rebel fleets, and 1 Imperial force of Rebel sympathizers.
I think I doubled my number of Armada games this week and learned a lot. I had a great time and enjoyed playing with all my talented opponents. I think we have a good community of players based on what I saw at Worlds and I hope everyone continues to make the games fun and entertaining. Thank you Fantasy Flight for putting on such a great event and for making such a fine game. Thanks to everyone for making it great week!