I took no notes

My list was

(390 points)
1 • Imperial II-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Motti - Wulff Yularen - Gunnery Team - Electronic Countermeasures - SW-7 Ion Batteries - XI7 Turbolasers (176)
2 • Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Skilled First Officer - Ordnance Experts - Engine Techs - Assault Proton Torpedoes - Demolisher (84)
3 • Gozanti-class Cruisers - Minister Tua - Comms Net - Electronic Countermeasures - Suppressor (38)
4 • Valen Rudor TIE Fighter Squadron (13)
5 • Ciena Ree TIE Interceptor Squadron (17)
6 • IG-88 IG-2000 (21)
7 • Maarek Stele TIE Defender Squadron (21)
8 • Colonel Jendon Lambda-class Shuttle (20)

Had a great time meeting a bunch of folks in and around the games, my first Armada tournament bigger than a small southwest regional.

Rd 1 I faced the eventual world champ Norm Weir and if he didn't need any help beating my *** 1-10 I somehow managed to pick first player and his fire lanes with no strategic on my side. With a (I believe) 15-1 split on tokens was a brutal 1-10, but a great player. I made a few small mistakes in game that someone his level you don't get to recover from as well as the bonehead setup. Fortunately for me was my only humbling game of the event Had fun with it anyway as I knew it was over rd 1 even without any premonitions that I was playing the eventual world champ.

Rd 2 I faced Carribeanninja's kid whose name escapes me as I suck at names. He had an mc80 with I think 3 cr90's a flotilla, and 2 a wings plus tycho/shara. Very bad match up for him fleetwise and he brought his 90s in a bit slow and I trapped his 80, IG and Valen burned down shara with 0 counters. 10-1 to me was a reasonably fun game but it was over early with a few rounds of cleanup for a tabling. Good guy to play against, just a real bad matchup.

Rd 3 I faced Jaren Voss with a similar list to mine, but replaced squadrons with an arqitens. Another fun opponent and fun game. He kept his demo out of the main fight a turn too long and I ended up with a 10-1 by a narrow margin (311 mov with lots of damage on my ISD).

So at the end of day 1 I had bounced back and should have been listed 16th but in my 3rd game our names were basically blank (printer fade) and we wrote the score wrong, realized it and noted the paper, and explained it to the judges who understood and said it would be entered properly but it wasn't. Had to wait till the morning and catch them to fix it, which they did. Day 2 I had my 2 best games if not results.

Rd 4 I faced Typo and his reikan ramsquad. Took 2nd and he picked capture the vip. FANTASTIC game and while I hate the build he was fun to play against and the game was very tight. He ET'd to grab the VIP and run behind my ISD, but sw-7 ions and Steele/Jendon still killed his corvette, but the vip was parked behind me (very bottom of mat) and I had no way to get it back, but did take out another 2 90's.. he killed my goz and demo also.. and he realized I would win kills but he could run away and grab the VIP to win and he did.. BUT I still had IG, Steele, Jendon and a far-away ISD spamming squadron commands and was just able to take out another cr90 with my fighters alone on turn 6 to swing it my way 6-5.

Rd 5 I completely forget the name of whom I played (sadly) but it was a Dodonna list with biggs/jan, an assult frigate, yavaris and some 75s. Another player 2 game with capture the vip. He kept his assault frigate alive by speeding past my ISD but failed to nav enough to stay on the board.. in the end all we had on the table was his lifeboat and nora wexley... all I had on the table was my gozanti, ciena, valen and jendon. But he grabbed the vip on turn 6 and it ended up a close 5-6 for him.

I ended up 19th overall, which I'm quite happy about given the start. Definitely want to rematch Norm someday

Hung out with Brobafett, moodswing and others around the games, had a blast. Definitely making soft plans to attend again next year, and hope for a similar time at Gencon this summer.

"If for some reason I'm not at the top tables"..... pfffft

That aside, seriously glad we got to meet, was exciting to hear about your great set of games. Someday we have to play since our tournaments ended so close, 4 wins and getting tabled to each of our credits haha.

I was shooting for dice, which I got. Had no idea how I'd stack up vs world competition, but feel pretty confident to hold my own now. Norm whupped me but a lot of that 10-1 score was tokens. I do feel I could put up a competitive game if I'd taken second player. Brain farts are part of big tournaments, consistent play is as important as good play.

In a field that big there is a lot of luck needed irregardless of skill to make the top tables. Probably the entire top 20 could have been in the final 4 with 1 or 2 games going a little different, or getting different draws rd1.

If Gencon doesn't have a side event then I will have to make the top cut for reals next time..

True words bud, i think that applies to most if the field and top 32 for dice too. There were a lot of really good players that didnt make it because a lot of other really good players got a little luck or had a better game.

I loved that every game felt like a competition, no easy matches.