Our restrictions have lifted slightly in Arizona, which finally gave us a chance to get an in-person game in with our physical plastic starships. Which was perfect timing, because I really wanted to try out my GR-75 Combat Retrofit list on a table other than Vassal (due to my spatial issues with the program). Anyways, my regular opponent in town came over and wanted to play "that Cymoon Arquitens list I was always talking about." We managed to maintain social distance during our game and got to finally push some starships around and roll some dice. Here are the lists:
Name: Grand Moff Tarquitens
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin
Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Solar Corona
ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
• Grand Moff Tarkin (38)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 156 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 61 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 61 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 61 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 61 Points
Squadrons:
= 0 Points
Total Points: 400
He was willing to try it, but this was the lightest ISD that he had ever seen. He is use to running his Cymoons with Gunnery Teams, Spinals, and H9s, so this was definitely something different.
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Name: Sato's GR-75 Combat Retrofits v2
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Commander Sato
Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions
Pelta Assault Ship (56)
• Commander Sato (32)
• Ray Antilles (7)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Phoenix Home (3)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
= 114 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Task Force Organa (1)
= 45 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Task Force Organa (1)
= 45 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Task Force Organa (1)
= 45 Points
GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Quantum Storm (1)
= 28 Points
GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 29 Points
Squadrons:
• Hera Syndulla (28)
• Malee Hurra (26)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• YT-2400 (16)
= 86 Points
Total Points: 392
I wanted to at least try out the GR-75 Combat Retrofits and Sato seemed like the best commander to go with them. Based on several suggestions on the forum (Thanks, @TheRedScourge , @Bertie Wooster , and @Ginkapo !), this is what I came up with to try out first. The goal was to not only overwhelm the defense tokens on a large/medium ship, but to also put several face-up damage cards on a ship at long range with DCaps and APTs. Malee Hurra was there to provide dice modification to get the crits I wanted for APT, while the Pelta and IF allowed me some forgiveness if I blanked out on my rerolls with TF Organa.
I had initiative and chose to be second player. My opponent chose Most Wanted as the objective.
Deployment: First off, my opponent has had previous ramming issues with placing his Arquitens in conga lines, so he deployed with that in mind. After he placed his initial Arquitens, I placed Quantum Storm in the center, then waited him out by placing my other squadrons. After I placed Bright Hope on the far left of my deployment zone going Speed 3, he placed his Cymoon, which allowed me to then deploy my gunline directly in front of it. I then chose the Cymoon and Quantum Storm as the objective ships. And aside from the station and a single Asteroid Field, none of the obstacles came into play, as they were on the far side of the board.
Round 1: All of our ships crept forward at Speed 1 or 2, except for Quantum Storm that took a hard left turn to go behind my gunline towards cover and Bright Hope that was going Speed 3 towards the right flank of the Cymoon. Squadrons got in position to be able to attack ships the next turn and for Sato's ability in Round 3.
Round 2: While his Arquitens sped up to flank, my gunline was in position to unleash on the Cymoon in Round 3 (I should have had my Pelta at Speed 2 though to swing around to be in a better position to face the oncoming Arquitens in later rounds). Hera and the other squadrons pounced on the Cymoon and the closest Arquitens. Note: Quantum Storm did damage out of its rear arc against an Arquitens; this will be important in my analysis at the end.
Round 3: We both started the round by activating Intensify Firepower! He activated the closest Arquitens to his Cymoon, which brought the far right Hammerhead down to two hull. I then activated that Hammerhead revealing a squadron command, which brought Malee over to bomb the Cymoon (and to give me use of her ability). I am not sure exactly what I rolled, but every Hammerhead and the Pelta put at least one face-up damage card onto the Cymoon with APTs on their way to destroying it, the objective ship (I believe the center one had it in double arc); I lost one Hammerhead in return. His Arquitens started going after Quantum Storm and the next Hammerhead in range. While my squads got a little divided due to some being used with squadron commands, Hera and the YT-2400 starting attacking the wounded Arquitens that was running away.
Round 4: My opponent activated his left-most Arquitens first, immediately destroying Quantum Storm , my objective ship. I then activated a Hammerhead (with a squadron command), allowing Malee to hop over to attack the wounded Arquitens and grant the Hammerhead her ability for its shot; the Hammerhead was then destroyed by concentrated fire from three ships. While I could have easily ran away with Bright Hope , I had already comfortably won, so I turned in to get some use out of the Combat Retrofit and to try to take out the other damaged Arquitens. I also used a squadron command on my other Hammerhead to push Tycho to attack the same Arquitens. Hera and the YT-2400 brought the wounded Arquitens down to one hull remaining, getting pelted with black die flak the entire time.
Round 5: After he moved his wounded Arquitens away from Hera and the YT-2400 (unsuccessfully), I attacked with Bright Hope against his other damaged Arquitens for one damage. In return, he took Bright Hope down to one hull, then rammed it. Everyone else ran away and was out of range by the end of the round. Space Mom chased down the Arquitens and destroyed it. I ended up winning this one 329-171 (8-3; 158 MoV).
Thoughts: To be fair, my opponent was unfamiliar with this list, and if he could do it again, the Cymoon would have had Minister Tua (and ECMs, which would not have helped this game, as I don't believe I rolled an accuracy the entire game), Gunnery Teams, Spinals, H9s, and a title at the expense of an Arquitens, a deployment, and an activation. So there's that. But a lot came out of this game regarding my list and my attempt to get some use out of GR-75 Combat Retrofits. First, they did three damage the entire game, meaning that I paid 12 points for three damage. Given the availability of upgrade cards that can probably provide more reliable damage than this for cheaper, I didn't feel that they were particularly worth it (especially since their DCaps were never used). At least each of them got a shot off and each provided some damage. Malee was just amazing though and helped me get several important hit/crits to trigger APTs (Thanks to @TheRedScourge for suggesting her). While everything else more or less worked as intended, the Pelta provided exactly zero direct benefits to the game. The reason I brought the Pelta was for IF, but even that only provided an ind i rect benefit to my fleet. Having IF activated, along with Malee, allowed me to reroll black single hits and blanks with TF Organa, knowing that I would either spend one die to get a hit/crit with her ability or get at least one hit/crit and then IF the other; but I never actually flipped one die to a hit the entire game with IF. So while it allowed me to swing for the fences (I mean, I did have multiple double hit/crits in the game), it never gave me a tangible benefit that you usually get from IF (the closest I can think of is Rieekan, in that, even if you don't zombie anything, it may have still affected how your opponent played against you). Anyways, I found that interesting, so I probably should try something different in the Pelta's place next time to see if I get different results.
Hope you enjoyed the BATREP!