Monday night is wargames club night, which means Armada for me for the time being.

I took my favourite list (ISD, Kuat, Screed, Strategic Advisor, Darth Vader Boarding Troopers, ECM, Leading Shots, APTs // GSD1, Brunson, Ord Experts, Engine Techs, APTs, Demolisher // GSD1, Intel Officer, OE, ET, APT, Insidious // Gozanti, Comms Net // Gozanti, Comms Net).

Against this I faced MC80 Assault Cruiser, Adm Ackbar, Engineering Team, ECM, Intel Officer, Defiance, XI7s, EWS // Pelta Assault Ship, Shields to Max, Ex Racks // CR90A Engine Techs, TRC // Nebulon B support, Redemption, TRC // GR75, Comms Net.

I had the bid, opted for first player and selected his Precision Strike.

My capital ships deployed as usual going Speed 3, Gozantis, speed 2.

He had all his ships going speed 1 or 2, except the CR90, which was speed 3, and opposite my Insidous.

His deployment was MC80 / GR75 / Pelta / Nebulon / CR90.

Mine Demo / Goz / ISD / Goz / Insidious

Turn 1

While Insidious rushed forward, I must admit I dithered with both Demo and the ISD. Should I double team the MC80, or turn away. I knew it was a tanky build and the firepower from the flanks would be nasty. I honestly wasn’t sure I could stand up to it. I was also worried that the ISD would be focused by the Pelta and Nebulon. So, I turned away, heading towards the neb and Pelta.

(I’d be interested to get your views on that situation – What would you have done?)

Turn 2

After Engine teching Turn 1, Insidious had a front/flank double arc on the CR90. The inevitable happened and Insidous moved on.

I was able to move Demo and the ISD to face the Neb in Turn 3 (the neb did take a point or two of shield damage this turn, I think)

I had taken some shield damage on Demo from the Pelta, but stayed out of range of the MC80.

Turn 3

I had front arc from the Kuat, and a Front / side double arc from Demo on the nebulon. Which to take?

I chose Demo. Hoping to get lucky and kill the Neb with one shot, then potentially getting a second shot after moving.

I think I got the choice of arcs wrong. I think I did front arc first. This left him on 1 hull. I therefore had to use the side arc even though it was overkill. (If I’d done side arc first, I might have still had the front arc free).

Having killed the Neb, the ISD only had a long range shot at the Pelta. Did a little shield damage I think.

Demo got hit by Pelta shots.

I think a combination of MC80 and Pelta killed one of my Gozantis.

Turn 4

I now had the ISD and two GSDs chasing his Pelta and GR75, but heading towards the side arc of the MC80 which had been circling round, trying to get its side arcs closer to the action.

Demo damaged to the Pelta leaving it on a 2 or 3 of hull, but moved close to the MC80 and was now in medium range.

I was a bit nervous, but hoped that Demo would survive.

However my oppos dice rolls were great and he got exactly what he needed to kill Demo. Anything different, and Demo would have survived. Alas, it was not to be.

Turn 5

Insidious was now in medium range of the Pelta’s rear arc, and could therefore use its black dice. Only two though as it was front arc only.

I rolled the dice, and even after rerolls and Screed, it wasn’t great, leaving it on 1 hull. Having worked that out (and before any defence tokens were spent) I decided to spend a hit to flip one of the face down damage cards. Having suffered at the hands of luck the previous turn, it came up trumps for me this one. I selected one of the two face down. It was structural damage, so Pelta was gone also.

Turn 6

Insidious was at long range of the MC80, but had limited defence tokens left and few shields. The luck pendulum swung back to my oppo, with him again getting exactly what he needed to destroy Insidious.

That was the last of the action, but throughout the game we had both been gaining tokens, although I had one more than my oppo.

Having lost both GSDs I was expecting a narrow loss. However when we totalled the points, I had scrapped a win by 9 points, for a 6-5 win – All due to that extra token!

Second only to a 7 point win against my son, this was my closest win.

Played 9, won 7, lost 2.

I’m not used to this, my usual gaming record in other systems would be the other way around!

I’d really be interested to hear from more experienced players regarding my decision to turn the ISD away from the MC80. If I’d been more opposite it in deployment I would have sought a head to head confrontation that I’d have been reasonably confident of winning. But as I’d have been facing the side arc…. Yes I could have double teamed it with Demo, but then Insidious would have had to deal with the rest of the fleet. Could it?

Great story.

I think it's hard to know how that would have gone for you if you'd shoved the ISD in to the face of the MC80. In the past I've done exactly that and it has worked well for me. The MC80 is only speed 2 and if you position yourself right it's stuck in front of you and unable to maneuver. You take ram damage each turn but the ISD can handle it.

You could do the same trick with demolisher although it explodes much more quickly than the ISD when you play that game.

I'm surprised your opponent brought a Neb with Ackbar. They don't mesh very well because the last thing the Neb wants to do is expose its feeble side shields to anyone.

2 hours ago, flatpackhamster said:

Great story.

I think it's hard to know how that would have gone for you if you'd shoved the ISD in to the face of the MC80. In the past I've done exactly that and it has worked well for me. The MC80 is only speed 2 and if you position yourself right it's stuck in front of you and unable to maneuver. You take ram damage each turn but the ISD can handle it.

You could do the same trick with demolisher although it explodes much more quickly than the ISD when you play that game.

I'm surprised your opponent brought a Neb with Ackbar. They don't mesh very well because the last thing the Neb wants to do is expose its feeble side shields to anyone.

thanks for the comment.

If I had been more opposite him, I would have gone for the head to head, but being more to one side, he would have had the ability to get that nasty flank shooting at me.

I did consider Demo going into his front, but wouldn't have been able to guarantee that almost fabled double side arc shot! Still, I suppose 6 black dice and 2 reds would have hurt. But I'd have been down a demolisher and he would still have had the MC80, with a lot of engineering capability to get repaired.

Re the Neb - My oppo is relatively new and is trying things out, with what ships he has. In a previous game he had against another member of our club, he had two.