A Worlds Story.
The list:
[ EMPIRE FLEET (386 points)
1 • Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Intel Officer - Ordnance Experts - Engine Techs - Assault Proton Torpedoes - Demolisher (90)
2 • Raider I-class corvette - Agent Kallus - Ordnance Experts - Flechette Torpedoes - Instigator (58)
3 • Arquitens-class Light Cruiser - Intel Officer - Dual Turbolaser Turrets (66)
4 • Arquitens-class Light Cruiser - Intel Officer - Dual Turbolaser Turrets (66)
5 • Gozanti-class Cruisers - Slicer Tools (30)
6 • Gozanti-class Cruisers - Moff Jerjerrod (46)
7 • Ciena Ree TIE Interceptor Squadron (17)
8 • Valen Rudor TIE Fighter Squadron (13)
This was a risk. Bringing two squadrons nowadays is inviting trouble. However, in my own experiences, a lot of folks (non Rieekan squads) were bringing just a token force. Tycho and Shara plus A-Wings was everywhere. I decided to take the gamble.
Round 1 - Played against Ron, who was new to the game. He was running a tricked out Motti ISD with Demo, a Raider and Gozanti, and an unusual squad layout of TIE fighter, TIE bomber, and Rhymer. If memory serves, we played Intel Sweep. His fleet was definitely in trouble. I ignored the big boy while gathering more Intel tokens and popping his three other ships. I won 9-2. “I have a bad feeling about this.” I was really worried that the Matchup Karma Monster was going to get me…
Round 2 - And there it was. The Matchup Karma Monster set me up against Jonathan, who was running my worst nightmare (A dream compared to my 5th match...but we'll get there soon...). A Cracken TRC90 spam with 7 YT-2400s. I knew getting any points was going to be tough. We played his Most Wanted. Luckily, I think Jonathan played conservative and flanked the TRC90s from one side to the other, never really engaging, always worried about a Demo strike. That forced me to switch to total anti-squad. I probably made a mistake in sending in my Raider as bait. Jonathan took it and popped the Riader with 6/7 Black die hits from the ROGUE YTs. Eventually I was able to AS 4 of them to death, even with subpar rolls. I lost 5-6. I was thrilled. Taking 5 points from a tough fleet seemed great.
Round 3 - I face @Caldias . Craig is such a nice guy and we had a blast. It was brain busting for sure. His Mothma list is tight and really puts out the pain. I was able to pop an MC-30 and just ignored the other two decked out ones. One CF token reroll into an Accuracy caused Jerjerrod’s death and let Craig beat me. I lost 5-6 again. I was still happy. I had played a good match against a great opponent with a great fleet. What more could I want?
I was sitting in decent shape at 19 points after three rounds.
I never thought I would win, but I definitely wanted the Empire to inflict pain
Round 4 - I face @pt106 - Paul had come to breakfast that morning a little late, and I had sat with him while he finished. We talked a ton about the games and what was going on. It was such a great feeling when we saw our names together in the pairings. I play against him regularly on VASSAL and he actually helped me practice this fleet. It was our first RL match. Paul was running his Motti Christmas tree complete with Needa and TRCs. What a beast. He also had a two raiders and a Projection NON-DEMO Glad2. We played his Con outpost. This was an incredible Chess match. Paul protected the station with Suppressor and Avenger while i slowly came in threatening. I got some good rolls and was able to eventually pop Suppressor. That allowed me to come in a little faster and I ended up also getting his plain Raider and the Station points for the last two rounds. This battle was extremely close, and I came up on top 6-5. Little did I know… I should have let PT win…:)
Round 5 - Because in this round, OMG I faced the scourge of Armada, the CR90B Rieekan Ram list.
It is a great, but really frustrating list to play against.
Jon
@ardneh42
was gracious in whipping my @$$ with it.
He apologized profusely (and still owes me a Surly Coffee Blender
)
He had 6
count them
6 CR90Bs.
5 with Blast Doors and Engine Techs.
One with ET and Jaina’s.
He had Rieekan on a GR-75 along with two others.
9 activations
.
OMG.
I did my best, and I think I was able to pop two of the damned things.
It wasn’t a tabling, as I got my raider out to threaten the lifeboat.
I lost 3-8 #RMb
These were by far the toughest combined games I had ever played in a tourney. I wish I had done better, but what happened after my last loss was magical to me.
My son, Kevin, had gotten rocked the first two games. 1-10, 1-10. He was handling it very well, but I was worried that he wouldn’t have any fun the last three rounds. He got the BYE in the third round and @Naboobo2000 was nice enough to play a practice game against him (Naboobo’s opponent quit). Kevin was able to 10-1 his last two opponents to end at 30 total and get dice! I was so happy for him. A true story about how you should always play all of your games!
I had such a blast!
Among my World's achievements:
I played 5 games of GREAT Armada!
I ate breakfast with friends and people that became friends!
I screamed all day for three days because **** the FFG Center is loud!
I helped change a tire!
I learned about the issues involved with and surrounding RMb!
I got the explanation (I still do not understand it) about RLBs!
I got to hang out for days with:
@miferr @moodswing5537 @JJs Juggernaut @Ardaedhel @Naboobo2000 @BrobaFett @Brikhause @Daht
and so many others (I don’t know their forum handles!)
@brikhause taught me RuneWars so that FFG can have more of my money!
If you are ever on the fence about whether it is worth it to travel to these kind of things, do it .
The friends you make along the way are worth every sore throat or hangover.
Edited by CaribbeanNinja