So first, thanks to everyone who has helped me sort through my questions in the past few days! Great community here, glad to be a part of it.
My most dedicated Armada partner came by this afternoon, and we played a 200 point Alliance v. Empire X-Wing 2.0 Extended game. We’re veteran Armada guys, so we (correctly, as it turns out) figured we could safely skip the Core Set game.
The lists we designed were dictated partly by what we had access to, partly by a desire to try a variety of ships and upgrades, and partly by fun factor. The Rebels list had a bit of a “Survivors of Yavin” theme (sadly, Wedge reported that he was hit, and couldn’t stay with us).
Survivors of Yavin IV
(62) Luke Skywalker [T-65 X-wing]
(8) R2-D2
(0) Servomotor S-foils
Points: 70
(80) Han Solo [Modified YT-1300 Light Freighter]
(4) Chewbacca
(3) Millennium Falcon
Points: 87
(35) Evaan Verlaine [BTL-A4 Y-wing]
(2) Expert Handling
(6) Adv. Proton Torpedoes
Points: 43
Total points: 200
//
Vader commanded the Imperials in pursuit of the Rebel terrorists...
Vader’s Revenge
(67) Darth Vader [TIE Advanced x1]
(6) Afterburners
(3) Passive Sensors
Points: 76
(44) "Pure Sabacc" [TIE/sk Striker]
Points: 44
(31) "Mauler" Mithel [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 32
(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22
(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22
Total points: 196
//
My opponent chose the Rebels, and I took first player. We placed the obstacles into a fairly close cluster in the center. After deployment, I ended up with a very loose forward-facing line abreast stretching most of the way across my deployment zone; from left to right: Academy TIE, Mauler, Academy TIE, Vader, Pure Sabacc. He deployed Lule on my left flank, roughly across from Mauler, Evaan in the center, heading roughly toward my far left corner, and the Falcon to just right of center, following the Y-Wing.
We flew cautiously, trying not to rush engagement, but were sort of taken by surprise at how quickly the shooting erupted. After the first turn of shots, most of my TIEs and all of his ships had brought their guns to bear, but I’d gotten the worst of it; my central Academy Pilot had taken two damage, as had Pure Sabacc, and the Falcon Had lost only one shield.
Round three tipped my way a bit; some good dice from Vader, Mauler, and the injured TIE put Evaan on the ropes, and my TIEs escaped the worst of his attacks (I think Vader lost a shield). I also had managed to use the TIE swarm on the left to confound Luke and Han’s movements, causing him to lose some actions.
The next round saw Pure Sabacc deleted before he managed to contribute much; Han took him out with a timely turret rotation and some bad luck on the Striker’s part, as Pure Sabacc rolled pure blanks. But Verlaine fared no better, as Mauler unleashed a nasty close-range barrage and blew her away. Against all odds, I jumped the heavily damaged Academy TIE past Luke with a speedy Koiogran Turn, and some dodgy greens saved him for another turn of shooting, but Verlaine had unloaded a torpedo on the other Academy TIE, and given him a nasty hit as well.
The next round sealed it. Mauler blanked out on defense just as Han went hot with four hits, and what had promised to be an excellent attack into a shieldless Falcon at close range never happened. Both of the Academy TIEs also bit it, and while Vader smashed a few more damage into the Falcon, his defenses were also failing. Over the next turn or two, Vader struggled to get behind the freighter while its turrets picked him apart, and eventually the two-on-one from the Heroes of Yavin was too much for him.
The good news was that there really weren’t a whole lot of questions, though we did have a couple:
First, obstacles. It says to place six, and for this game, we used the basic six obstacles from the Core Set. However, I also had picked up several other expansions like Fully Loaded and Never Tell Me The Odds. Am I correct in assuming that any of the many alternate debris fields, asteroid fields, and dust clouds from these expansions can be substituted for the Core obstacles? Is this legal in tournament play? And is the set of six to be chosen from selected before the game by one of the players, or can we just reach into the bag and grab our favorite one at will during setup?
Second, I cannot remember the name of the critical damage card that I hit at the end which killed Vader, but it went like this: with 3 hull left, Han hit Vader with 2 unanswered crits. I drew the first, and it read, “When you suffer a critical damage, take 1 face-down damage, then turn this card face-down,” or something very close to that. As we interpreted it, that meant that the second critical card ALSO dealt me a face-down card, which killed Vader on the spot. Did we play that correctly?
Third (and final) question: The rule about partially completing maneuvers was pretty easy to get, and it ended up being a much more common occurrence than we’d predicted, once quarters got tight. It was easy enough to back a ship up from 2-straights and whatnot, but backing up speed-3 Tallon Rolls and the like felt really imprecise. Is there a trick to this? Or do you just do your best, and hope you end up with your arcs hitting the right spots?
Thanks!