TIE Fighters everywhere :-)

So MANY TIEs....  Holy crap, I have never seen so many TIE fighters...  :-)  We played out the Escalation tournament today, wound up 5th of the 14 in a VERY long day.  When my list worked, it worked REALLY well.  The parts of it that did not work failed hard.  I played my Rebel list with Poe, Jake, Horton, Tala and a Grey Squadron.  The biggest fail was the Tala Squadron Z-95.  Got to fire off the Assault Missile twice and missed both times.  Had the Z-95 been LT Blount it would have been 2 instances of massed damage...  One TIE swarm with 7 (!) ships at R1 of the bloody target that would have stripped all of the Shields and put through a few damage to the old style TIEs in there...  Next game not nearly so bad, but 4 Z-95's in the blast area...  So, next time, that is a definite "bring". 

The Bombs...  I had a few of them on my Y-Wings that I just kind of threw on there to hopefully cover up the R1 hole in the TLT...  It worked, and quite well with SO many ships out there.  Really looking forward to Sabine Wren out there for me...  Thinking that there will be a LOT more bombs for my Squadrons when she hits the field...  Hoping that Wave 8 is fully out before the Store Championships hit in the next few Months...  So far the Gophers is set, and the Titan in Springfield...  Hoping for the Champaign Titan is on a day I can attend as well... 

Like I said, I was surprised there were SO many Tie Swarms...  Got smacked around by Allan's swarm which used a lot of the TIE/fo with Weapons Guidance...  Would have been different had the Assault Missile hit I think :-)  But it was a good build and there are SO many TIEs out there now...  I think they are going to become a very real thing during the Store Championships.  Crack Shot is rough, but I found Juke on the A-Wing to be hugely powerful...  Especially with a Stress Hog out there...  If they can't Focus, they lose one dodge result...  Even on a 2 Attack Fighter, I pushed through several Damage chasing down TIEs and Z-95's...

So, something to think about building for the next few Tournaments...

X-Wing Escalation Tournament this weekend...

Something very different...  The Escalation tournament is going to be a 4 round event, starting at 60 points and increasing 30 points each round.  I've never played anything over 100 points, so the 120 and 150 point rounds are going to be interesting...  Bouncing two ideas around...

First is the Rebel list:

150 Poe Jake Horton Z Gr… (150)

Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	31
Predator	3
R5-P9	3
Autothrusters	2
Ship Total: 39
Jake Farrell — A-Wing	24
Push the Limit	3
Chardaan Refit	-2
Juke	2
Autothrusters	2
A-Wing Test Pilot	0
Ship Total: 29
Horton Salm — Y-Wing	25
Twin Laser Turret	6
Bomb Loadout	0
R5-D8	3
Seismic Charges	2
Ship Total: 36
Tala Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter	13
Assault Missiles	5
Ship Total: 18
Gray Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing	20
Twin Laser Turret	6
R3-A2	2
BTL-A4 Y-Wing	0
Ship Total: 28

I REALLY wanted to get in a YT-2400 piloted by Eaden Vril in there, but it just doesn't seem like it fits.  2 Damage primary is just not enough to justify the point sink there at this level.  Poe's T-70 and Jake's A-Wing are both solid Aces and good choices I think.  I have had excellent luck with Horton's Y-Wing as an Ace hunter, but that is JUST over 30 points.  So, I fly short in Round 1 to fit it in to Round 2.  Round 3 I just bring in a cheap missile boat to fill in points on the other 3 ships...  Not sure how well it will work, but the Z-95 with an Assault Missile should at least make people flying swarms think about it a bit...  Last round is just bringing in a "Stress Hog" Y-Wing to fill out the points...  Aces who rely on actions who get shot at by this have to scramble for a few turns to clear those Stress and hopefully I can line up a few shots...  Seems solid, but...

Other choice is something very different from the Scum and Villainy (S&V) faction...

150 Escalation Kavil Black x 2 Y x 2 (150)

Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Twin Laser Turret	6
Bomb Loadout	0
Unhinged Astromech	1
Seismic Charges	2
Ship Total: 33
Black Sun Ace — Kihraxz Fighter	23
Predator	3
Cluster Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Ship Total: 32
Black Sun Ace — Kihraxz Fighter	23
Predator	3
Cluster Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Ship Total: 32
Hired Gun — Y-Wing	20
Twin Laser Turret	6
Bomb Loadout	0
Unhinged Astromech	1
Seismic Charges	2
Ship Total: 29
Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing	18
Twin Laser Turret	6
Ship Total: 24

Start simple with Kavil and a TLT backed up by the Black Sun Ace in the Kihraxz with Cluster Missiles and Predator...  Round 2 adds the second Kihraxz same as the first...  The Y-Wing circles and shoots a 4 dice attack, hopefully doing the 2 Damage/turn while the K's are threats with the Cluster Missiles having the potential to do 6 Damage in one burst...  Things go well, I can erase a B/Y-Wing in a single turn with the Y and K shooting...  Gets easier when I add another Y-Wing for round 3 (120 points) and I fill in the Glitterstem on the K's...  That makes their burst damage MUCH more reliable allowing them re-rolls and conversion of all Focus to Hits (and Focus to Evades on Defense)...  Against the PS 2 things I get full conversions and the ability to re-roll 2 Dice/Attack for each Attack...  Odds are excellent that I get the full 6 Hits/Critical Hits in there.  So, this is my defense against the big, slow ships that I expect to see a few of, but more importantly they can quickly erase the expected Y-Wings with TLT that will undoubtedly be a heavy presence here...  I say as I field 3 of them in this build :-)...  Good ships, this build however lacks the staying power I like for my Rebel builds with their annoying Regenerate abilities...

Guess I am leaning toward the S&V build a bit just as something different...  The Store Championships are coming up in the next few Months and I have a few Rebel builds that I like for that...  Should be interesting at least :-)

Armada League play and an Escalation X-Wing tournament coming up...

Trying something new this week most likely...  I was REALLY impressed with the Wave 2 Fighters on the field...  Joel's Firesprays were rough to face, and my own YT-2400's were almost equally brutal against David's TIEs....  My own X-Wings and Y-Wings took too long to get into position, the Rouge keyword was simply too good at allowing the rapid engagement of the fighter screens or actual Capitol ships...

Ackbar was REALLY good.  The Raider was unimpressive I think, but then it did end up at Medium Range of the MC-80's Broadsides...  And evaporated in a single volley.  The ISD took 2 volleys, but it died as well...  My Assault Frigates are I think slightly better than the Victory Class Star Destroyers normally, Ackbar pushes them up to be almost the equals of the Imperial class in terms of outgoing firepower at least...  NOT nearly so durable of course, but...

Chappell week 2 mk2 

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 399/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush 
Navigation Objective: Minefields 

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
-  Salvation  ( 7  points) 
-  Slaved Turrets  ( 6  points) 

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Jainas Light  ( 2  points) 
-  Leia Organa  ( 3  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

[ flagship ] Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 
3 YT-2400s ( 48 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Or something with fewer ships and more Fighters...  

Chappell Week 2 Mk 3 

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 400/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault 
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions 

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Gallant Haven  ( 8  points) 
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 
-  Defiance  ( 5  points) 
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 
3 YT-2400s ( 48 points) 
1 Nym ( 21 points) 
1 X-Wing Squadron ( 13 points) 
1 Y-Wing Squadron ( 10 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Or the one from game 2 last week...  Pretty happy with that one's performance honestly.  List one here gives me a load of ships (4) and at least a fighter screen that requires no Squadron commands to perform...  The Escort Nebulon-B's for the better Anti Fighter attacks if needed, and I suspect they will be...  Too many people are figuring out that the new Fighters are REALLY good...

Other than this, gearing up for the Escalation Tournament over at Titan next weekend...  Have a few lists I am kicking around, and REALLY liking the YT-2400 and Poe's T-70 as a basis...  Beyond this, it gets fuzzy...  Jake Farrel's A-Wing is a great, cheap Ace for this I think...  Not unbeatable by any means, but for 24 points?  Not bad by any stretch of the imagination.  Ello Antsy's T-70 is amusing as well...  The standard Stresshog Y-Wing is always a solid choice of course, but...

Guessing I will face at least one or two TIE swarms with Crack Shots...  Not a lot I can field will do well against that, but some of my Regenerating things can at least go the distance, coming down to a matter of luck...  I'll take those odds :-)...

Armada League starting next week...

Armada league coming up...

Chappell League 1 

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 400/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault 
Navigation Objective: Minefields 

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points) 
-  Redundant Shields  ( 8  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Jainas Light  ( 2  points) 
-  Leia Organa  ( 3  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

1 Han Solo ( 26 points) 
1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Looking at playing this to start off...  Not a lot of folks playing the large numbers of fighters yet, so the almost complete lack of fighter cover is not as big a deal...  The Assault Cruiser is the heavy hitter of course.  I have the 400 points exactly kind of assuming I'll be Player 2.  With this list, I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to give me "Advanced Gunnery" as a mission..  So, that is mostly there as a "Molon Labe" sort of challenge...  "Hyperspace Assault" would have my  Assault Frigate and the Fighters trying for the quick close up hit, HOPEFULLY from an arc that is not going to be really bad for me...  Han can of course shoot first per usual, and I can have him move and fire at a different target if needed or just try to open up a hole in the shield facing...  So far it has been Minefields that gets chosen, probably wisely, but it's been quite a good list for me locally at least.  Jaina's Light is a good "safety" (yeah, I played a bit of football in my younger days, not well, but...) so she allows me to change dials and hits shockingly hard when push comes to shove.  

Solid list, just saw Mike's "fighter heavy" list, and with that he was doing fairly well...  Mind, it had only Nebulons and CR-90s as the ships...  I'm fairly convinced that they will not be able to kill off ships quickly and keep moving fast enough not to get bogged down too badly...  Well, that's the plan...  Seeing Hero's blog posting (http://lkhero.blogspot.com/2015/11/armada-imperial-squadron-dream-team.html) about the Imperial one...  So if I see that I guess I start fielding something like this:

Chappell League Mk 6 

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 400/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 
Navigation Objective: Minefields 

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points) 
-  Redundant Shields  ( 8  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points) 

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Gallant Haven  ( 8  points) 
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points) 
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points) 
1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points) 
2 X-Wing Squadrons ( 26 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Essentially, keep a mass of Fighters near the Gallant Haven to screen and stay alive annoyingly long (hopefully) while the main ships present broadsides and hit hard...  The MC-80 behind the AF to bat cleanup...  Have not flown this yet, honestly have not seen the need for much of a defensive screen here yet...  Will I am sure though eventually, so best to be prepared...  Only the 2 ships means I'll be activating WAY too quickly I think, but it is simple...

The League starts Monday it looks like, looking forward to getting in some more games...  We'll see how many folks actually get out and play.  5 games, The Gopher has a few of the kits, so at least everyone should bet some nice alt art cards...  

Armada night Monday and upcoming X-Wing...

Armada Monday…  Have a few builds set up, but It mostly comes down to either a 2 or 3 ship build.  With the 2 ships, it is 2 big heavy ships outfitted with pretty much everything possible to do what they have to.  3 ships, I have the Heavy Cruiser, a Frigate and a Corvette…  More ships to activate, more maneuver and probably a better chance to do most of the missions…  The Heavy Cruiser/Assault Frigate build is very unsubtle…  Move up, shoot like you are voting in Chicago, early, often and hopefully for the same targets… 

So, here’s the 2 ship build:

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 400/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault 
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep 

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points) 
-  Redundant Shields  ( 8  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  Enhanced Armament  ( 10  points) 

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Gallant Haven  ( 8  points) 
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points) 
2 X-Wing Squadrons ( 26 points) 
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points) 
1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

And here’s the 3 ship build:

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 400/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep 

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points) 
-  Redundant Shields  ( 8  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  Enhanced Armament  ( 10  points) 

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Jainas Light  ( 2  points) 
-  Leia Organa  ( 3  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points) 
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points) 
1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 
1 YT-2400 ( 16 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

The 3 ships does provide some more flexability with Jaina’s Light and Leia being a flanker to hide in behind the Heavy Cruiser or terrain and take pot shots…  Though with Ackbar, the side shooting it almost as good as an Assault Frigate…  And being able to set Dice to either the 2 Hits or Critical face at the cost of an Evade…  Might be a gamble, or she might well not be getting shot at in any case…  Guess I’ll choose when I get there per usual…

Otherwise, looking like an Escalation tournament coming up at Titan in Jan…  Format is odd, 4 games, but different point values in each game: 60, 90, 120 and 150.  And it is a build up, so you keep everything through the games and cannot swap out cards, etc…  Guessing I’ll run a variant of what I ran in the last event with Vrill’s YT-2400, Poe’s T70, a few Y-Wings and likely a Z-95 to fill in points…  A few weeks out and then that…  Store Championships will be coming up as well…  Supposed to be in the 1 January to 31 March range, no clue when they’ll hit here…    Thinking my current build will get modified when Wave 8 hits…  Wound up with some credit at Titan, so the Ghost will be coming home from there.  NOT playing Imperials, winning the Imperial Raider was about how my luck goes  Get the big prize, but it is not really what I was expecting/wanting J…  But I’m patient and so that win translates to the Rebel ship for me, albeit a few months later…

All in all, the FFG games are looking like they’re here for a longer run and are still quite fun…  Getting in a small bit of painting on my Warmachine stuff, but overall not a lot happening there.

League final AAR

So, had the last part of the League at Titan today…  Did fairly well, went 2-1 and apparently the loss was not so bad of one and I wound up in the top 4 somehow…  Weird, I had my stuff all packed up because I assumed that lacking a 3-0 I would have missed the cut, but apparently Poe living during my one loss kept the MOV low enough to pull a 3^rd place…  The list did really well, flew:

VrillPoeGrey (100)

Eaden Vrill — YT-2400	32
Intelligence Agent	1
Anti-Pursuit Lasers	2
Ship Total: 35
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
R5-P9	3
Autothrusters	2
Ship Total: 37
Gray Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing	20
Twin Laser Turret	6
R3-A2	2
BTL-A4 Y-Wing	0
Ship Total: 28

Eaden Vrill was REALLY good…  I forgot how annoyingly maneuverable the YT-2400 really is…  The 1 hard turn and barrel roll or the bumps to put that big base in the way for the APLs to do a bit of damage here and there, especially to the TIE Interceptors I faced…  So, thinking this will likely be the Store Championship list for the next go around…

First game was against 2 B-wings and Poe...  Shot down the B's first then chased down Poe...  

Game two was Joel who played  a Shuttle with Emperor, Vader in TIE advanced and a TIE Phantom...  Killed the shuttle early, he got my 2400 and Y...  I had his ships damaged, but not quite dead...  Loss, but not a complete one...

Game 3 was against 4 TIE Interceptors...  Fel, another Ace and a pair of PS 1 ships... This one is the list mine was the best against...  The 2400 was a rock star and Poe of course was good... Lost the Y, so not a complete victory...  But enough to get me in...

Great tournament, 18 players and fun...  Very laid back.

Armada post game thoughts...

Well, got in a good game of Armada…  Tested a build of the MC-80, MC-30, Assault Frigate and Han Solo in the Falcon…  The MC-80 Assault Cruiser is REALLY good, though I skirted too far to the outside of the field with it.  With Admiral Ackbar and the +2 Red Dice for just shooting broadsides it is pretty easy to get up to an 8 Red attack with re-rolls…  So need to just walk up to the other fleet and dare them to come at me.

Looking at the Assault version of the MC-80 which surprisingly seems to fit my play style quite well…  Raymus Antilles, Engine Techs, Redundant Shields, ECM and Enhanced Armament…  154 points though…  But With Ackbar and firing broadsides?  8 Red Dice WITH a reroll assuming you used the Gunnery command of course…  So, that is just counting the long ranged shots, there are 2 Blues in there on the off chance they get close enough to fire…  Probably round out the Fleet with a Nebulon and Corvette…  Both of which can fire broadsides at 3 Red Dice to a lot of peoples surprise, so not bad for support ships meant to keep fast movers off the Cruiser.  Leaves me up to 6 Squadrons, but with the named ones being expensive and REALLY good…  Looks like there will not be so many…

One thing I noticed in the last game I played, I had essentially NO fighters, and Joe had 6-7 I think…  His lack of the Bomber key word meant that for the most part my ships had nothing to fear from them…  Yes, he did the one critical damage to the MC-30, but frankly it would have died to the second arc firing from the Victory in any case, I should have turned away on turn 6, even if it landed me on a rock…  Would have lived, so lesson learned.  Though the Turbolaser Reroute Circuits were AWESOME changing 2 blank Reds to both with the 2 hit facing…  ALMOST killing the Victory Class…  Certainly something to be WELL aware of…

End of the Titan League Sunday…  My list is set, would like a bit more practice, but time being short…  Have yet to set up Vassal on the new laptop, so even virtual playtesting is out…  Ah well J  I think I have it mostly down, the list is made of things I have been playing since I started playing X-Wing, so just need to remember what each is supposed to do in the list and not just charge in firing away…