For the 3rd and final game of the day, @ArmadaMatt and I finished a game on Vassal that we started earlier in the week. He wanted to try the Onager and ignition attacks while I tested out Admiral Piett in the commander's chair. We decided to take a much needed break from our string of Task Force games and it was much appreciated (if you haven't figured it out yet from my BATREPs, @ArmadaMatt is just amazing at Task Force games, as I'm pretty sure I have yet to best him in that format). Here are the lists:
Name: Screed's Onager and Demolisher
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Screed
Onager Star Destroyer (110)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Superheavy Composite Beam Turbolasers (7)
• Rakehell (4)
= 162 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 84 Points
Raider II (48)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 60 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points
Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• Valen Rudor (13)
= 58 Points
Total Points: 389
We never really talked about his plan for this fleet (as I never saw his objectives), but it seemed that he was going to use the Onager and Raider to soften up a target before Demolisher came in to finish the job. All the while the squadrons would provide a screen to any heavy squadron list.
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Name: Piett's SSD Bombers
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Piett
Assault: Surprise Attack
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Solar Corona
SSD Command Prototype (220)
• Admiral Piett (22)
• Wulff Yularen (7)
• Damage Control Officer (5)
• Emperor Palpatine (3)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Eclipse (3)
= 280 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 27 Points
Squadrons:
• Major Rhymer (16)
• Captain Jonus (16)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• 4 x TIE Bomber Squadron (36)
= 81 Points
Total Points: 388
My plan was to overwhelm my opponent's ships with bombers and hope that they didn't show up with Ciena to make them useless all game (I waivered on taking Dengar or not just for this reason, but @ArmadaMatt seemed to just play Rebels, so why should I be worried?). Piett was my third to last commander to try (when we started this game on Thursday), and I'll be honest, I was still looking up how he works up until about an hour before our game started (Thanks, @Karneck , as always, for your excellent video on how he works and what you can and can't do with him). Combined with the Comms Net Gozanti, I was planning to use full squadron commands on the SSD while pushing a Navigate, Concentrate Fire, and Repair token to the SSD so I could use any I want at will for Piett (and getting it back with Wulff).
I had initiative and chose to be second player. My opponent chose Solar Corona as the objective.
Deployment: I placed the station in the center, but other than him placing a debris field directly in front of the station, there as no importance to how the obstacles were laid out. He had to deploy all his ships and squadrons first, placing Rakehell in the center his deployment zone, with Demolisher to its right by about a ruler's length. He placed the Raider the furthest to the left he could in the deployment zone, with the Gozanti and squadrons being between his flagship and the Raider. Trying to keep my Bombers as far away from his squadrons as possible, I deployed my SSD closer to the left part of my deployment zone, with a clear path to move towards the station (after some Navigate commands); I wanted to make sure I had both Rakehell and Demolisher in my front arc, which meant that I could bomb Demolisher without fear of his squadrons locking me down if it chose to skirt around my left side. The left side of the board (from my perspective) was the Solar Corona (the side where the card is on the playmat).
Round 1: Rakehell dropped to Speed 0 and turned towards my SSD. Demolisher came around the left side of the SSD, staying out of long range until I moved forward. The Comms Net Gozanti gave a Navigate token to the SSD, which then revealed a wasted Squadron command (in hopes that Demolisher got too close), which I came out of with just a token. His Gonzanti gave a Navigate token to his flagship while the Raider tried to get into the fight from the opposite edge of the board.
Round 2: In a long range double arc of the SSD, Demolisher activated first, which allowed it to get completely out of the SSD's range. After the obligatory Pass token / Strategic Advisor back and forth, I activated the Gozanti and passed a Repair token to the SSD. The SSD activated and sent six TIE Bombers over to Demolisher to, aided by Major Rhymer, attack at close range. I then exhausted Piett and spent a Navigate token to maneuver to the right (Wulff got the token back). Rakehell then activated and fired an ignition shot at the SSD, who braced it and redirected a damage to the left side. His squadrons moved to the right of his flagship while I threw Tempest Squadron on a debris field to keep it from getting locked down too early.
Round 3: After a pass and the other activations, Demolisher activated to try to get away from my bombers. When I activated the SSD, the Bombers severely damaged Demolisher before the SSD was able to destroy it out the rear firing arc (Thank you, Captain Jonus, for the much-needed accuracy on his Evade). The SSD did significant shield damage to the Onager out the front arc, including one hull damage, and then rammed it for another damage card. I then exhausted Piett and spent a Navigate token to drop down to Speed 1. He activated Rakehell to get it out of the SSD's front arc, but was unable to do significant damage to its shields. Unfortunately for Rakehell , the SSD was just out of its ignition arc after the maneuver. Tempest Squadron got placed due to being bumped by Rakehell , allowing Mauler to jump on him for damage and engagement. Tempest retaliated for one damage.
Round 4: His Gozanti activated to try to get out of the SSD's front arc, to no avail. The SSD activated, destroyed the Gozanti, and further damaged Rakehell's shields. I used Piett again to maneuver to the left. The Raider used Disposable Capacitors to attack the Gozanti at long range, giving it a single damage card to the hull (which it immediately discarded after landing on the station). While he moved his squadrons forward to protect his Onager's front hull zone, this allowed me to move all my bombers to the rear of the SSD and out of Ciena's range.
Round 5: He activated Rakehell (which was able to flak and destroy Tempest Squadron), which was then immediately destroyed by my Bombers and the SSD's left auxiliary and rear arcs. After that, we decided to call the game, with the results being 271-13 (9-2, 258 MoV).
Thoughts: Talking to my opponent after the game, he immediately regretted placing his Raider and his squadrons so far away from the middle of his deployment zone, with them both taking most of the game getting into position. He also had not realized that, other than Major Rhymer and Tempest Squadron, Ciena alone could have locked down my entire TIE Bomber wing without me being able to do anything about it except to take damage from her attacks. I thought he did an excellent job of maneuvering with the Onager, as I just could not get him in double arc until the final round. I really enjoyed playing with Admiral Piett, which was not what I was expecting. Being just perfect for the SSD (I mean, he did come with it after all), it was great being able to execute two command dials a turn so long as I had the requisite token (Thank you, Comms Net Gozanti and Colonel Yularen!). The SSD doesn't necessarily suit my playstyle (I prefer MSUs), but if I run one again, Piett with most likely be my commander of choice.
Hope you enjoyed the BATREP!