Armored Gopher Armada Store Championship this weekend...

Well, the build is almost set…

SC 1   
Author: pchappel

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 398/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory 

[ 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) 

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

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

1 Han Solo ( 26 points) 
3 YT-2400s ( 48 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Though looking at swapping the ECM on the Corvette for Engine Techs on the MC-80…  Getting that extra movement on the normally SLOW Cruiser is pretty huge. Brings me to 399/400 if I do that...

It looks like our interpretation of the rules for the Fire Lanes mission is correct, and I CAN deploy all 3 right on top of each other…  My Opponent can move them range ruler 1-2, so at most 3-4” from their starting position, but even so…  Set up broadsides to bear on them and I am guessing I’ll have at a minimum 2, more likely 4 turns before anything serious can be brought to bear on my ships to try and take me off the Fire Lanes…  and scooping up 15 points/marker and 3/turn…  That gives me 45 points/turn to just sit back and smile as I collect it…  And if they want to do anything but just lose, they HAVE to move quickly to engage me on my terms, which is not a fight I’d be wanting to get into knowing the sheer amount of firepower these ships throw out…  Also, if they go slow or have ships like the Victory Class Star Destroyer with only Speed 2…  Even the ISD has a Speed 3 option, but driving up into my guns like that?  I’m likely to get off at least 2 rounds of shooting, and without Redirects to spread that damage around, even the mighty ISD falls pretty quickly, and likely before it gets to its Black dice range…  Other MC-80’s?  Same thing, though usually limited to Speed 2 and REALLY wanting to present broadsides…  So, if they just come toward the firing line, I think they lose that one even quicker than the ISD.  AF/Gladiator might be tricky, but they tend to die quickly, though I suspect they’ll do damage on the way down…  But my several turn head start should carry the game for me…  The light ships like the Raiders and Corvettes?  With Gunnery Teams giving me at least 3 good broadsides/turn I think that they simply evaporate too quickly…  And even if they DO get in close, I still win the tokens with volume of dice as they evaporate under fire…

Frankly, if I am player 2 and get my own missions, the ONLY one that is closer to a wash is the Dangerous Territory one, and I gain the ability to land on the rocks/debris without effect…  So, likely the one I’ll end up having to play J…

Armada Store Championships next Week,,,

So, sick most of the week…  Still recovering.  Actually missed a few days of work which does not happen often…  But gave me time to think while I was awake of course…

Running into some issues with several Intel wireless cards on Windows 10…  Have my brand new one back with Dell to have them look it over.  Great machine otherwise, but without wireless working correctly, well…  So, we’ll see how this shakes out, but seeing more of them hitting and since I’m typing on a backup machine with the same issue…  Well, maybe a driver update will deal with it…

Got into a discussion about open carry vs concealed carry…  I’m generally OK with either, but honestly if you see me walking down the street with a rifle best perhaps to take cover because if it has not already hit the fan, it is about to.  I’m not one to pull a weapon of make a threat until I am already acting to deal with the threat.  So, were I to carry legally of course I would do so concealed.  Mind, if I am EXPECTING trouble, I load for bear and use a rifle not a pistol…  But I have never understood the desire to carry an AR into a restaurant…   Carried the M-16/203 for years, so I might have burned out on that “carry a rifle” in public thing…

Gearing up for the Store Championship next Saturday at the Gopher...  Have a few tweaks to my list I think...  Tempting to fly something completely different, but this list gets me wins, so...  Nothing special, really just a 3 ship list with fewer upgrades than I like and some YT-2400s to play linebackers for the MC-80 and Assault Frigate to do the heavy hitting...  The Corvette is actually a real threat as well, i have taken down Gladiators and Raiders easily enough with it...  And even the Imperial Star Destroyers ignore it at their own peril...  I'm worried about the mass fighter lists and to a lesser extent the "Christmas Tree " list with only a few really big beefy ships that I cannot take down without losing my own fleet...  My mission selection is pretty good and guarantees that I can get extra points for the margin of victory...  This will be what makes the winner, win/loss record is NOT the way it works. In this system. ...  And the 10-0 win is almost impossible. You can get a 5-5 win and lose the event to someone else who wins bigger, even if they are 2-1 on the day and you are 3-0...  So picking the ones that are either a sucker bet for the other guy to give me like Advanced Gunnery or the ones to give me extra points for doing what I was going to do anyway…  Fire Lanes and Dangerous Territory are good for the extra points here…

SC 1   
Author: pchappel

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 400/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory 

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

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Jainas Light  ( 2  points) 
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

1 Han Solo ( 26 points) 
3 YT-2400s ( 48 points) 
1 X-Wing Squadron ( 13 points) 
1 Y-Wing Squadron ( 10 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Or something like that J…  It is next Saturday so…

Work, Armada SC prep and...

  

LONG week at work.  Waiting on the paperwork to catch up, but looking like my promotion will be happening.  It IS a lot more work, but it appears that I have the whole Department’s IT now, so we’ll see.  With the complete lack of a State budget, no raise associated with what is actually quite a large jump, so someday maybe…  But at least we’re in a MUCH better position than Eastern Illinois University…  30 day notices for Layoffs go out this week, and looking like Furlough days are coming for the survivors…  Civil Service looks like they got their contracts along with raises and back pay, so things are really not so bad here I think. 

Gaming wise, the Armada league is wrapping up…  I got my 5 games in and am the current leader of the league…  But that is really just a function of having gotten in the 5 games.  I lost only one, but most of the rest were close games, so given the Margin of Victory rules (https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/24/cf/24cf453e-70a0-431f-8611-be47d52eb07b/armada_tournament_rules_v202_high_res.pdf) that would require getting 130 or more points above the opponent to get the 8-2 victory…  Since it is a 400 point game this puts you in the position of having to kill off a LOT more than you lose for a clear victory…  Not impossible strictly speaking of course, but if one plays cautiously…  Well, my “Broadsides Gun Line” fleet is one that I can kill a ship or two while minimizing my own losses….  Need a better defense against an overload of Fighters, but so far I’ve been mostly able to simply outrun them while focusing on their Capitol Ships…

SC 1 

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 399/400   

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory 

[ 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) 

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 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 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 
3 YT-2400s ( 48 points) 

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

So, a 3 ship list is what I am looking at bringing…  The Assault Frigate being the Flagship rather than the MC-80 Assault Cruiser…  The MC-80 simply draws too much fire and it too slow…  Mind, it does a LOT of damage, and so it IS my heaviest hitter…  Just keep the AF a bit back and let it snipe away the Defense Tokens to open things up for the main shot…  The Corvette is the fast flanker, and to be honest with Ackbar she puts out more firepower than a Gladiator certainly, and at long range as much as a Victory Class Star Destroyer…  Surprises a LOT of people, and as I ignore terrain AND blocking while shooting, I can tuck it in behind things and keep myself alive while pumping out the damage…  TLC for the dice fixing is HUGE.  Honestly, the Corvette is the ship that usually gets at least my first kill…  And has kept me alive in the League…

Other stuff?  Busy, need to get back to cleaning the Basement of Doom ™, getting the Magna out of here and likely a bunch of other game stuff and firearms…  The Silverwing is still a great bike, but better for in town and awesome for folks getting into (or back into) biking…  I need something a bit larger to stretch my legs and get out on the highway…  So, anyone wanting some neat old gaming stuff including Forgeworld stuff like say a Spartan Class tank…  A Lugar, bunch of ammo and other firearms…  LMK…

SC setup for Armada and X-Wing... Testing builds...

Looking ahead at the upcoming schedule I have an Armada Store Championship (SC) coming up at the Gopher on the 20th of February followed by the first of the X-Wing SC at Titan the following weekend on the 28th.  The Gopher is running their X-Wing SC on the 19th of March with Titan Springfield on the 26th.  Will definitely be going to the first ones of that, only the Springfield trip being one I am unsure of.  We'll see I guess how burned out I am with an almost weekly pace.  Ideally, I'll have a better motorcycle by then, but I have far less hope there...  With it looking like the rest of Wave 8 arriving as early as next week, it promises to be another interesting season.  Last year there was a Wave released just before and it shook things up greatly.  From the looks of the things coming, I suspect it will be the same.  Not at all sure what I'll be flying honestly, I have a few builds with my current stuff, but the news that there will be more out there might make it a VERY different build for me. 

So far I have a variant of the one I flew last 100 point tournament with the YT-2400, Stress Hog and Poe...  Solid build.  Did quite well for me against a LOT of things, but it has a really hard time against anything that can bring 3 Green Dice en masse...    Like, say, a TIE swarm.  Or even a build that has more than 3 of the TIE variants in it...  SO MANY TIE fighters now, and even the TIE Advanced is really good with the new "oops" class upgrade with essentially a negative point value and additional slot.  Many of the new TIE Aces are actually quite good and make for a much more interesting meta, at least locally...  I have no clue how people are playing elsewhere, guessing that the FFG Forums are very limited in their audience providing a somewhat distorted view of the state of things...  In any case, I have a few other builds based around the "Regen" aspect that the Rebels have, so a pair of T-70 X-Wings with R2-D2 and R5-P9 along with a Y-Wing and R5-P8 to discard Damage cards on the TLT platform...  IF they survive the initial joust or just fly to the flanks, it seems like an annoyingly long lived build where at the very least, you are less likely to die without any of your ships left on the board.

With the rest of Wave 8 though, there are some VERY interesting builds...  The Guidance Chips, new Crew and Cloaking for S&V?  Looking VERY interesting.  I am less likely to risk a cloaked ship here, while I fly them a LOT in STAW, the mechanics are so different that it is nothing alike.  Guidance Chips though...  0 points and it guarantees a hit for Ordinance...  Liking my odds with some of the Missiles and Torpedoes now.  The Z-95's are an obvious choice, and some of the K-Wings might work out well...  Liking the new Ships as well,  I suspect the Ghost will be too expensive for this, but...  Geared up with the right stuff like Anti Pursuit Lasers and Hera at the helm?  Oh, and one combo that I think might be interesting...

What happens with Accuracy Correctors AND the Auto Blaster Turrets?  The way I am reading it, 2 Hits that CANNOT be cancelled by any means with a 360⁰ arc.  Yes, R1, so they have to get close...  But with a 5 K-Turn?  That large base is going to be MOVING and I suspect that there will be some Aces not expecting to be hit…  Combined with the APL for additional hilarity if they bump into you…  Not sure if the Zeb crew card will be worth it, but the additional ability to shoot in BtB?  Of course they can shoot as well, assuming they are in arc…  The Phantom Attack Shuttle OTOH…  With the title and docked you get an additional attack with your Turret at the end of the turn…  So, unless I am reading it incorrectly, then I can attack with the Turret, then in the end phase attack again for essentially 4 unavoidable Damage…  That should take down almost any TIE I catch at R1…  The Advanced has I think 2 shields and 3 Hull, so it will live for a bit…  Maybe J…  But those annoying Interceptors?  Nope. 

With Armada…  Currently leading the League which ends next week…  But that is a function more of I have more games played, need only one more, and so I’ll be trying to schedule with Tom as he is the one player I have not played so far.  Looking like the SC are coming up as well, and my list is fairly well tweaked and I have most of the “gotchas” worked out….  One thing I could have sworn that was in the rules was a limit on the Squadrons. I was under the impression that you could not bring more stands than you had “Squadron” numbers on your Ship cards in total.  Not apparently the case.  So, a few of my other builds will be getting reworked slightly to allow for a larger Squadron presence…  The 4 YT-2400’s I have are good and make excellent “Linebackers” for me, but against a dedicated Squadron list like Mike brought last time, they simply get overwhelmed.  But lacking more Rogue stands, I am not sure I will fly them as well…  Points are pretty tight and I’ve even been running stripped down Cruisers (MC-80) and Corvettes (CR-90) just to have actual firepower out there…  So looking like at least one more game before the SC hits next month….

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 :-)...