Finally got around to writing the thoughts, experiences, and reports for the GenCon Armada Championship. Hope you enjoy the longer read.

Link: You have failed me for the last time, Admiral...

That was pretty cool. I couldn't read your posting of the results. Was there much variety in the lists? That always keeps me from tournament play.

Why are scores listed as "10-1" and "8-3" etc?

Great write up.

Can you ask Carlo to spot me a buck for Tims?

Thanks for posting that, excellent write up. Congratulations on your win!

Why are scores listed as "10-1" and "8-3" etc?

Probably using the latest updated rules.. it's 11 point system now, no more 5-5

@Norm... hey, thanks for some love in your write-up! You seem like a really good guy but maybe that's the Canada in you! :-)

1 - How the heck did you have time to take pictures?

2 - Can I borrow money from Carlo and phone a friend in Yik if we battle?

Congrats again!

That was pretty cool. I couldn't read your posting of the results. Was there much variety in the lists? That always keeps me from tournament play.

Significant variety in the lists. First three lists were Akbar however each was a different take on the theme. Looking around during swiss I saw every Wave 2 archetype out there. Everything was represented.

Why are scores listed as "10-1" and "8-3" etc?

New tournament scoring rules kicked in beginning of August. Matches are now award 11 points between the two players, with the maximum of 10 to a single player. Made it harder to score 10-1 and 9-2 as well, tightening up the spread of scores.

Great write up.

Can you ask Carlo to spot me a buck for Tims?

I wish Tims was a buck. It's a Toonie for a double double and four bucks for a large ice cap. We also haven't tested multiple loans from Carlo.

That's so good to hear. I love Armada for this fact.

@Norm... hey, thanks for some love in your write-up! You seem like a really good guy but maybe that's the Canada in you! :-)

1 - How the heck did you have time to take pictures?

2 - Can I borrow money from Carlo and phone a friend in Yik if we battle?

Congrats again!

Hello Quyhn! You were a topic of much discussion in our group leading up to GenCon because you opened up a new angle of list building. There was much experimentation with objectives and lists to capitalize on them. Thank you very, very much from the Toronto community.

The pictures were all taken by the 2015 Canadian Nationals Armada Champion, Travis.

Absolutely! I do caution, the Bank of Carlo has very steep interest rates compounded daily. However, the Bank also accepts official tournament prizes as forms of payment. The Bank does offer customer loyalty programs and sometimes makes team uniforms. I couldn't pick mine up in time for GenCon.

Great read! So many ideas and concepts packed into this article. Great win and great job!

The Bank does accept multiple loans. However, if multiple competitors in the same tournament have outstanding loans, the Bank wins.

Superb write-up. I love it when our winners write-up their thoughts in such a detailed fashion. I always step away having learned something significant about the game. I enjoyed watching the final game in-person at GenCon and you have my fullest respect. Cheers!

Excellent writeup. Was disappointed I couldn't play you, I think it would have been a very interesting match.

I also would like to give props to ice qube for that article... reading it blew my mind and heavily influenced my list building... after that I was able to take down 2 tourneys... one of them I actually tied for first in tourney points, but then won out on mov, thanks to building around and playing to objectives....

I like your list a lot, I think it's quite powerful... it also reminds me of a post someone made in the shmitty regional post about how the data was showing that it wasn't necessarily about the quantity of activations That were winning, but the quality...and your list definitely packs some high quality activations..

On avenger... this title can make waves alongside bombers, that's for sure... but the opponent doesn't necessarily have to brace the hit/crit and my opponents often redirected or contained instead... in that way, avenger became a better, cheaper xi7 that sometimes would get to lockout a brace but not often enough imo to make it worth it for me... I dropped the title, all upgrades, put a fireball in and a raider... loved having the third activation, along with the ability to forego squadron commands to focus on navs...

Great write up! It made me realize how much I have yet to learn about this game!

I like your list a lot, I think it's quite powerful... it also reminds me of a post someone made in the shmitty regional post about how the data was showing that it wasn't necessarily about the quantity of activations That were winning, but the quality...

That's been one of my running refrains. Thanks!

Imo, not so much the quality of the activations, but the quality of the threats. it presents 3, of which the rhymer is most flexible and hardest to counter due to how powerful the squadrons are. Neither ships nor squadrons want to go near it.

I'd actually like to see someone talk about how they would/or-have beat this list.

Imo, not so much the quality of the activations, but the quality of the threats. it presents 3, of which the rhymer is most flexible and hardest to counter due to how powerful the squadrons are. Neither ships nor squadrons want to go near it.

I'd actually like to see someone talk about how they would/or-have beat this list.

Sure.

I played a similar list against another player the day before. He had traded Demolisher for a VSD 2 with overload pulse, to make Avenger a very dangerous threat.

To recap, I had a heavily kitted out Devastator ISD2 with Intel Officers, SW7 Ion Cannons and XI7 Turbolasers. That was backed up by a fully upgraded

APT Demolisher, a Raider with APTs and OEs, and a Motti-caddy Raider.

Against this list I would have gone for a 0 MOV 6-5 win with a goal of removing Norm's first deployment early, and depending on deployment may have skipped it to bring the full firepower of Devastator on the ISD and left Demolisher and the two Raiders to hit Demolisher and the cloud of squadrons, respectively.

I don't like to talk in depth about the strategy of my list for tournament purposes, but I will say that Devastator is basically a gigantic cruise missile. Whether all the tokens have been stripped off or it's sitting untouched, a Star Destroyer rushing your lines is generally a poor situation to find yourself in, especially without Motti giving extra hull or some similar defensive buff. Also, It's a surprisingly potent defense against squadrons, as it tends to attract their immediate attention and also has no restriction against getting it's firing benefit against them.

I've beaten plenty of Rhymerball fleets, this wouldn't necessarily be the toughest I've ever played against for pure threat potential.

Great article Norboats! Thanks for the writeup.

What a well written and cogently thought out article. Thanks Norboats, and congratulations!

I find it amazing that people have this level of recall after a tourney - I am usually exhausted enough just thinking about my own choices. I guess I need to step up my mental game!