Take The Station AAR

By Ardaedhel, in Star Wars: Armada

Finally got in a game of TTS last night, and I've gotta say, I loved it!

The lists, in clockwise order, starting with the guy who was Player 1 first:

Pedro (150/150)

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Home One: MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 + 36)

+ Navigation Officer (6)

+ Electronic Countermeasures (7)

+ Advanced Projectors (6)

+ Leading Shots (4)

+ Engine Techs (8)

+ XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

Ardaedhel (150/150)

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Home One: MC80 Command Cruiser (106 + 44)

+ Raymus Antilles (7)

+ Quad Laser Turrets (5)

+ Electronic Countermeasures (7)

+ Leading Shots (4)

+ Engine Techs (8)

+ H9 Turbolasers (8)

+ Defiance (5)

Chris (148/150)

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Imperial Raider: Raider I-class Corvette (44 + 12)

+ Veteran Captain (3)

+ Ordnance Experts (4)

+ Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)

Imperial Raider: Raider I-class Corvette (44 + 12)

+ Veteran Captain (3)

+ Ordnance Experts (4)

+ Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)

Squadrons: Firespray-31 (18)

Squadrons: Firespray-31 (18)

Alfredo (150/150)

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CR90 Corvette: CR90 Corvette A (44 + 2)

+ Jaina's Light (2)

CR90 Corvette: CR90 Corvette B (39)

CR90 Corvette: CR90 Corvette B (39)

Squadrons: Han Solo (26)

I forgot to grab a picture of deployment, but essentially, both MC80's were pointed directly at the station at speed 2; Chris' Raiders were pointed directly at ME at speed 2; and Alfredo's corvettes were angled along the long edge of the board at 4, hoping to sprint around the outside edge of the board and still win the race to the station. I should note that Pedro and I had a sophisticated gentlemen's agreement that we would be MC80bros for this game. This will be important later. :)

Pedro's first move took him directly at the station. I turned into the Raider rush at an angle, giving Chris the choice of running into my broadside range or circling around behind me. By forcing him behind me, I hoped to prevent him from beating me to the station and minimize the damage he could do to me by forcing a chase. He chose to slow to 1 and skirt my firing range, hoping to set up for a solid last/first run on turn 2/3. Alfredo pushed ahead along the board edge, similarly skirting range to Pedro.

The Firesprays closed toward Defiance.

Turn 2:

18uFUe4.jpg

Turn 2 I cut back toward the station, giving Chris virtually no choice but to stay behind me or charge into medium range of my sides. He drove toward my rear arc, setting up for his turn as Player 1 the following turn... but was just unable to make black range despite his dial to speed 2. His second Raider popped Veteran Captain to try and get to me at speed 3, but a fortuitous asteroid right in his way, in conjunction with the first Raider blocking his advance, shut down that possibility, leaving Defiance safely out of black range for the single crucial turn that the Raiders got to go before me. On the other side of the board, Alfredo started cutting in toward the station, well-positioned to snag it first... But sailing fast into the developing killing floor of two MC80 broadsides approaching from opposite sides. Pedro FORGOT TO MOVE HIS SHIP this turn until the end of the round, but it fortunately didn't make much difference as he was still out of range of the CR90's, and just plodded straight forward again at 3.

The Firesprays plunked at Defiance. Defiance's QLT's plunked back.

Turn 3:

IpYCGSU.jpg

Turn 3, Chris faced the decision of pushing up a Raider into Defiance's rear arc, or pushing one up into her side arc. Wisely choosing the former, he parked nearly touching my tailpipe. Alfredo dropped his objective CR90 on the station; Pedro took a pot shot at it and forged ahead, landing just barely outside distance 1 of the station. He would later say he wasn't planning to drop his token anyway, opting for the firepower. The Defiance opened up on the Raider out the rear with a CF. Two blacks, two blues, two reds, with a CF token too from Raymus, netted me SIX damage and an accuracy--just enough to smoke Chris' objective Raider. Fantastically lucky roll. After the shot, I dumped a Raymus nav token to ET again, bearing down on the station. Chris' Raider swing wide to stay at long range of me; Alfredo's second corvette dropped in my front arc to block me, and his second swung wide to preserve points.

The Firesprays plunked at Defiance. Defiance's QLT's plunked back.

Turn 4. Right around this time, I took stock of the situation. Alfredo had initiative; next turn it would pass to Pedro, then me. I was out of Pedro's side arcs, and the blocking CR90 had conveniently guaranteed that I would remain so for two more turns. I had weakened shields from the Firesprays, and Han was closing on my shielded flank. Chris' Raider was doomed to fly into a broadside, either mine or Pedro's. So I offered him a deal: his Raider's life in exchange for a fighter screen and help toppling Pedro, who looked to be my closest competition. He agreed, dropping his Firesprays on top of Han and sliding smarmily into my side arc/Pedro's front. Pedro pushed his MC80 forward, blasting the objective CR90 and not dropping his token on the station. Then, turning on my too-trusting erstwhile ally, I opened up on Pedro, dropping his shields and ramming the blocking CR90 to stay out of Pedro's side arc. Raymus'd engineering restored some of my failing shields.

Han Gritted his way out of the Firespray screen (doh!!), and plunked at Defiance. Defiance's QLT's plunked back.

Turn 5, and Pedro went first. He CF'd out his front arc at Defiance with a vengeance, stripping away most of my remaining shields. He ate 4 reds, 3 blues, and a black in return, reducing him to no shields before I navigated onto the station, engine teching to repair of a pair of cards. Chris opened up on Pedro with a CF before ramming his front arc to avoid an asteroid, and Alfredo did his CR90 thing and ran the blockade. By the end of the turn, it was clear Pedro was in flames and going down, with 2 or 3 hull left, so the alliance of convenience between Chris and I crumbled.

The Firesprays plunked at Defiance. Defiance's QLT's plunked back. One managed to force a crit through, though, Comm Noising my Engineering to a Squadron command. This left me in a much worse position than I had anticipated.

Bottom of Turn 5:

CfRGTiK.jpg

Turn 6, I had initiative, but Han shot first, leaving me with two hull remaining and one shield on the rear. I dropped my objective token to claim 40 points, finished off Pedro's MC80, and took a Squadron shot to try to take out a Firespray. One was at 2 hull, and one was at 3--I got one damage on the first, and 2 on the second, leaving both at 1 hull. I spent my last nav token to drop to speed 1 and activate ET, hitting the station twice more to heal off two more hull.

The Firesprays plunked at Defiance. Defiance's QLT's plunked back, killing one. Hit/crit, hit/crit, contained one and redirected the other to make it out with one hull remaining, for the win.

Takeaways:

*Alliances of convenience are key to winning this one.

*I haven't tried it on Vassal, but I feel like it will be much better IRL, since there's such a strong social component to it (as opposed to vanilla Armada).

*QLT was an unconventional choice, but I think it worked out pretty well for me. It didn't do what I'd hoped it would--deter squadrons from attacking me at all--but it did put me in a position that I could have killed the Firesprays if I'd focused on them.

*The rotating initiative is very good. First and second get to go first twice, but third and fourth get it on turns three and four, when it's really important. Being player 3 or 4 can easily be the difference between 50 and 20 points for the station, in the right game. That also tends to be the turns when battle is joined, giving you an early edge.

*I think fortressing points and defensive play will be very rewarding in this game mode, but there's definitely something to be said for the leverage a kingmaker fleet gives you in forging alliances.

Sorry this got so long-winded. I get verbose describing games sometimes. :)

Edited by Ardaedhel

That's awesome. I'm gonna try to get this going at my FLGS next week.

That's awesome. I'm gonna try to get this going at my FLGS next week.

I definitely recommend giving it a shot. Particularly if you're in a situation where you get a lot of games in, this is a really nice way to mix it up once in a while. It went really quick, too. We showed up a little after 6, and were done and out of there well before 8. That includes setup, figuring out rules, and cleanup.