On a Saturday where I played three games of Armada (and got to watch a fourth), the first was against @Commodore Gardner from Cochise Squadron, who finally joined the forums this week, so "Welcome!." We played a 200-point game to prepare for our upcoming Rebellion in the Rim campaign, as he is still trying to test out different Imperial lists to start with. Below are the lists:
Name: Task Force Insidious
Assault: Surprise Attack
Defense: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation: Solar Corona
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
• Insidious (3)
= 66 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
= 63 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points
Squadrons:
• 2 x VT-49 Decimator (44)
= 44 Points
Total Points: 196
The plan for this list was to see if I could effectively use Gladiators without the Demolisher title, using the high hull Decimators as protection against a squad-heavy list (but they are heavy, so obviously that was a dumb idea). Full disclosure: @Commodore Gardner built his list in accordance with the RitR rules... and I kind of forgot. While he was cool to just play, I was starting off at a little bit of an advantage by having a second upgrade on both ships and a unique title on one.
----------
Name: Task Force Maarek
Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions
Quasar Fire II (61)
• Boosted Comms (4)
= 65 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
= 60 Points
Squadrons:
• Maarek Stele (21)
• 3 x TIE Defender Squadron (48)
= 69 Points
Total Points: 194
My opponent really wants to test out all the Imperial ships in the RitR format, so this week he got both a Quasar and a Gladiator in a list. His goal was to soften up ships with the Defenders before finishing them off with the Gladiator, while trying to keep the Quasar from getting engaged at close range.
My opponent had initiative and chose to be first player. I chose Precision Strike as the objective.
Deployment: Nothing noteworthy about the obstacle setup except that the station going to be well out of the engagement area. He deployed in his right corner while I deployed in the center to right portion of my deployment zone.
Round 1: We both moved at Speed 2 towards the center of the mat with our squadrons getting into position to strike ships or each other the next round.
Round 2: While I found out that my Decimators were heavy (I think this is the first time I've ever used the generics), his Defenders pounced on my unnamed Gladiator, with Maarek thankfully being the only one dealing damage (the rest all rolled accuracies); my flak against them was very ineffective as well. His Gladiator was able take down some of my unnamed Gladiator's shields at long range as we got in close range to one another.
Round 3: Activating my unnamed Gladiator first, it destroyed his Gladiator with a double arc at close range, earning two Victory tokens in the process. It was in turn immediately attacked by the Defenders (earning a Victory token) and finished off by an attack and ram from the Quasar. After taking down some shields with Insidious and a Decimator, I maneuvered so that I started off the next round with the wounded Quasar in double arc.
Round 4: Insidious activated and immediately destroyed the Quasar with a front-to-front shot to end the game and earning another Victor token. Using our proposed Task Force Tournament scoring system (because in RitR, which would have been a one-point win, my fleet would have been illegal at the start of the campaign), it was 445 - 141 (10-1, 304 MoV).
Thoughts: Neither of us expected this outcome from the game, but unfortunately, his Defenders rolled very poorly at the start and he was unable to strip off the shields on my unnamed Gladiator early. And even though I didn't have Demolisher , being first player still allowed me to last-first him with a Gladiator, which hurt. He enjoyed playing with the Quasar and Defenders, but has expressed trouble with keeping that thing alive (same issue in his later 400-point game).
Hope you enjoyed the BATREP!