Armada Tournament at Game Nite (December 2021)

 

Armada Tournament at Game Nite (December 2021)

This won't be your typical sort of tournament report because I'm not writing specifically about how I did (spoiler alert: not particularly well! Again again!), but rather talking about the tournament and the fleets we saw as a whole. We had a casual Armada tournament at our Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS), Game Nite, this past Sunday. We had a total of 11 people show up (including myself). I considered sitting out so we had an even number and we'd simply run a 3 round tournament in which all 10 players played every round. I ultimately decided I'd brought a silly fleet for our alternate format (which I'll get to in a minute), so I was going to play, darn it!

On the suggestion of our good STL Armada friend, Jacob, this tournament format was a Christmas Tree tournament! Armada players often refer to a ship loaded down with upgrades as being a Christmas Tree - it's lit up like a target because its worth so many points and is loaded down with upgrade cards. Such a great idea and one I couldn't resist running, even though I hadn't planned on running a tournament in December! So basically, it's a standard format and rules event, but every fleet must feature either a large or huge flagship (that is, it must be equipped with the fleet's commander), and that flagship must fill every upgrade slot, including the title. Just a little holiday fun for December.

I'm basically going to tell you where each player placed, as well as what they were flying. Then I'll talk a little about my matches, but not go into too much detail. I say that because I don't approach local, casual tournaments the same way I approach sanctioned events, like Prime tournaments or Nationals. In looking at the fleet lists other people brought, I know I'm not the only one. People really came to play several Armada matches, test out new ideas, and test them in a tournament setting. For the record, I'm choosing not to share anyone's objectives but my own. I think a lot of people prefer not to share objectives simply because if they have a favorite (such as how one of my default choices when I field squadrons is Infested Fields), they'd prefer that not necessarily be public knowledge, and I can respect that.

First place went to Chris N. with 26 tournament points!

How The General Stole Christmas (102/399/400)

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Providence-class Carrier (105 + 56: 161)

· General Grievous (20)

· Tikkes (2)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· Flak Guns (3)

· Thermal Shields (5)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· External Racks (4)

· DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)

· Invincible (5)

· Reactive Gunnery (4)

Comms Frigate (70 + 11: 81)

· Boosted Comms (4)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Transport (47 + 8: 55)

· Bomber Command Center (8)

Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)

DIS-T81 (17)

2 x Tri-Fighter Squadron (2 x 11)

4 x Hyena-class Droid Bomber Squadron (4 x 11)

Second place went to Kyle H. with 22 tournament points!

Grand Admiral Santa's Little Helpers (133/399/400)

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Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (120 + 62: 182)

· Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)

· Emperor Palpatine (3)

· Flight Controllers (6)

· Boosted Comms (4)

· Early Warning System (7)

· MS-1 Ion Cannons (2)

· Dual Turbolaser Turrets (5)

· Relentless (3)

Raider II-class Corvette (48 + 3: 51)

· Disposable Capacitors (3)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 10: 33)

· Bomber Command Center (8)

· Vector (2)

Maarek Stele (21)

Soontir Fel (18)

Captain Jonus (16)

Zertik Strom (15)

Tempest Squadron (13)

2 x Tie Interceptor Squadron (2 x 11)

Gamma Squadron (10)

2 x Tie Bomber Squadron (2 x 9)

Third place went to John F. with 20 tournament points! Congrats to our top players for the day, Chris, Kyle, and John!

Bastard Brought An SSD (40/400/400)

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Assault Prototype (250 + 84: 334)

· Moff Jerjerrod (23)

· Admiral Ozzel (2)

· Director Krennic (8)

· Tactical Expert (6)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Boosted Comms (4)

· Quad Laser Turrets (5)

· SW-7 Ion Batteries (5)

· Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)

· Quad Battery Turrets (5)

· XI7 Turbolasers (6)

· Ravager (4)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 3: 26)

· Darth Vader (1)

· Comms Net (2)

Bossk (23)

Ciena Ree (17)

Fourth place went to Greg with 19 tournament points.

Star Tank (64/397/400)

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Starhawk-class Mk.I (140 + 68: 208)

· Kyrsta Agate (20)

· Major Derlin (7)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Caitken and Shollan (6)

· Hardened Bulkheads (5)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· Quad Battery Turrets (5)

· Magnite Crystal Tractor Beam Array (10)

· Amity (6)

Modified Pelta-class Assault Ship (56 + 18: 74)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· External Racks (4)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 9: 27)

· Toryn Farr (7)

· Jamming Field (2)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 6: 24)

· Lando Calrissian (4)

· Comms Net (2)

Jan Ors (19)

Biggs Darklighter (19)

2 x YT-1300 (2 x 13)

Fifth place went to Daniel B. with 16 tournament points.

Double Starhawk Trouble (28/393/400)

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Starhawk-class Mk.I (140 + 52: 192)

· Kyrsta Agate (20)

· Walex Blissex (5)

· Hondo Ohnaka (2)

· Boarding Engineers (2)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)

· Magnite Crystal Tractor Beam Array (10)

· Amity (6)

Starhawk-class Mk.I (140 + 33: 173)

· Intel Officer (7)

· Local Fire Control (4)

· Flak Guns (3)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)

· Concord (12)

4 x Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (4 x 7)

Sixth place went to Andy B. with 14 tournament points.

Dodonna Wombo Combo (63/389/400)

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MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 + 58: 161)

· General Dodonna (20)

· Raymus Antilles (7)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

· XI7 Turbolasers (6)

· Mon Karren (6)

MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 + 32: 135)

· Intel Officer (7)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

· XI7 Turbolasers (6)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 12: 30)

· Bomber Command Center (8)

· Boosted Comms (4)

Dash Rendar (24)

Luke Skywalker (20)

Wedge Antilles (19)

Seventh place went to me with 14 tournament points. *You'll note that I did include my own objectives*

Hippocampus agatus (46/393/400)

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MC75 Armored Cruiser (104 + 66: 170)

· Kyrsta Agate (20)

· Raymus Antilles (7)

· Boarding Troopers (3)

· Reactive Gunnery (4)

· Leading Shots (6)

· Expanded Launchers (13)

· XI7 Turbolasers (6)

· Profundity (7)

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 + 14: 65)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Salvation (7)

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 + 10: 46)

· Shriv Suurgav (6)

· Garel's Honor (4)

CR90 Corvette B (39 + 6: 45)

· Dodonna's Pride (6)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 3: 21)

· Leia Organa (3)

Wedge Antilles (19)

X-wing Squadron (13)

2 x Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (2 x 7)

Advanced Gunnery

Jamming Barrier

Dangerous Territory

Eighth place went to Mike W. with 13 tournament points.

Biggie Smalls (92/391/400)

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Venator I-class Star Destroyer (90 + 47: 137)

· Luminara Unduli (25)

· Clone Gunners (4)

· SPHA-T (7)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Acclamator I-class (66 + 15: 81)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· External Racks (4)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Acclamator I-class (66 + 15: 81)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· External Racks (4)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Odd Ball (23)

Anakin Skywalker (19)

2 x ARC-170 Starfighter Squadron (2 x 15)

2 x BTL-B Y-wing Squadron (2 x 10)

Ninth place went to Nathan F. with 10 tournament points.

Nathan (0/398/400)

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Cymoon 1 Refit (112 + 88: 200)

· Darth Vader (36)

· Wulff Yularen (7)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· Quad Laser Turrets (5)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Quad Turbolaser Cannons (10)

· Devastator (10)

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 + 16: 70)

· Captain Needa (2)

· Enhanced Armament (10)

· Hand of Justice (4)

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 + 10: 64)

· Enhanced Armament (10)

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 + 10: 64)

· Enhanced Armament (10)

Tenth place went to Scott H. with 10 tournament points.

Deconstructive Crit-icism (98/399/400)

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Venator I-class Star Destroyer (90 + 60: 150)

· Admiral Tarkin (30)

· Hondo Ohnaka (2)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Tranquility (3)

Acclamator I-class (66 + 30: 96)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Boosted Comms (4)

· Expanded Hangar Bay (5)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Nevoota Bee (5)

Pelta-class Medical Frigate (49 + 6: 55)

· Comms Net (2)

· Boosted Comms (4)

Luminara Unduli (23)

Anakin Skywalker (19)

3 x V-19 Torrent Squadron (3 x 12)

2 x BTL-B Y-wing Squadron (2 x 10)

Unfortunately, Rob T. had to leave before the final round, so he finished in eleventh place with 7 tournament points.

Just Why? (46/379/400)

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Assault Prototype (250 + 83: 333)

· Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)

· Emperor Palpatine (3)

· Tactical Expert (6)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Proximity Mines (4)

· Point Defense Reroute (5)

· Overload Pulse (8)

· SW-7 Ion Batteries (5)

· XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

· Quad Battery Turrets (5)

· Eclipse (3)

Boba Fett (26)

Mandalorian Gauntlet Fighter (20)

Just sharing a couple of pictures from the beginning of the tournament, since I played in all 3 rounds and so only snapped pictures of my own matches from here on out. Thanks to Scott for snapping some of these for me!

This is what I'm talking about! Andy exuding that holiday spirit!!

For my first match, I was paired with Daniel B. and his double Starhawk list. I felt pretty good going into this match-up knowing that our squadron games were nearly identical. Wedge and the generic X-Wing gave me the edge, so I could win the squadron battle, but also just ignore the Z-95s if I really wanted to. But it made sense to kill them and take the 28 points if it was convenient, since my generic X-Wing and Zs were unlikely to impact the Starhawks much. I chose to go first because I definitely didn't need him punching first with either of his Starhawks.

Those objective tokens you see are there because I chose the Minefields objective, confident that I could fly around them without activating them.

Even going first, I had the advantage in deployments, so that would really be where our match was decided. I deployed my GR-75s first at an angle but towards the center of the board so I'd have options. He deployed his first Starhawk (the one that wasn't his flagship) directly across from me. We exchanged squadron deployments, and then I put Dodonna's Pride on my far right (having decided to put Garel's Honor in Profundity), knowing it could get to wherever it needed to be. Once he set up his flagship to the right of his other Starhawk, I knew the rest of my fleet was running wide left to flank it as well as avoid any Mine tokens.

You can see that Salvation has swung out too wide, and actually, so has Profundity. Garel's Honor gets dropped in a good place, but Salvation and Profundity have difficulty bringing their biggest guns to bear because I've simply not cut the angle sharp enough when I was flanking.

One Starhawk down, though it's quickly pretty evident that I won't get the other one.

Daniel ended up getting my GR-75, Garel's Honor, and he must've gotten Salvation, too, because I only won this first match 201-145. He had also managed to take down my generic X-Wing. Ah, now that I'm writing, I remember! I had to decide whether to turn in or out with Salvation on that last turn (the picture above was before Salvation moved). I had used Engineering to put shields back on the front and turned in hard as an attempt to ensure my front arc was all he could shoot. But it was really hard to do without landing on that debris field you can see just next to the Starhawk. I couldn't slow down, and turning out meant exposing myself to even more danger from the Starhawk. He had saved a last pass token for this round, and it worked out well for him, because my Neb couldn't afford to take more damage to the hull, such as by ramming into an MC75 that passed before it! So I turned in, but couldn't turn in enough. His Starhawk got me in the side and blew me to smithereens. So it was a 6-5 win for me. Daniel flew well to recover from not only his deployment, but to overcome some really ugly crits he drew into on both ships at the beginning of the game. Dodonna's Pride hit his flagship early before running away, and the crit it landed was Coolant Discharge. That's right: if he used Salvo against me, he couldn't get another ship attack in the round. If he fired at a ship once, no Salvo tokens. Just ugly ugly UGLY. It meant Dodonna's Pride could really just hit and run, even though the Starhawk had nothing else to shoot. The other Starhawk drew into two awful damage cards: Compartment Fire, so he couldn't refresh Defense tokens, and then Faulty Countermeasures, so he couldn't use exhausted defense tokens. Seriously, just what? At that point, with no Engineering on the horizon, his Starhawk was quite simply dead. It took awhile for my MC75 to get into close range, but once it did and used Boarding Troopers, the deal was sealed. Awful. I was glad to see those come up together, but I also felt terrible because sometimes, there's just nothing to be done about bad crit combos. And this one was devastating.

So far, I don't love my fleet, but it's fun, and I know some of my bad choices are owing to the fact that I'd never flown this fleet before. Onto round 2 and Kyle's Thrawn fleet!

Ruh-roh. Pretty sure I can't compete with his squadron presence...

You can pretty much see how it all unfolded: he gets a good alpha strike on my squadrons so I don't get to tie him up or eliminate any threats. Instead of sailing by with my Profundity, I try to avoid the Debris Field so I can get off a decent shot, but without a double-arc (I couldn't quite turn hard enough on that last maneuver), it's just not that meaningful. Especially with Salvation and Garel's Honor woefully out of position. I got absolutely slammed in this match, losing 482-0. That's right: I didn't kill so much as a TIE Interceptor. I was certain I wouldn't like any of his objectives, but also didn't want to eat an alpha strike. I was hoping that by going first, I could offset his squadrons advantage. A fool's errand, since I ended up playing Fighter Ambush. At this point, it's clear to me not just that I've made errors, but that this fleet I've built is much more of a balancing act than I previously realized. I haven't flown Rebels in forever and I'd never flown this fleet before today. It's all been hypothesis up to this point. Still, it never feels good to give up a 10-1!

For my final match of the day, I was paired with Mike W. and his Venator helmed by Luminara and supported by two Acclamators. You might have noticed while reviewing the lists that this Venator does not have every upgrade slot filled per the format rules; that's on me. I should've reviewed all of the lists before we got started, but it was a casual tournament and we were eager to get plastic on the table. As anyone who has ever run a tournament knows, you can feel the time crunch even more when you're playing because you also have to get your own fleet set up to play so you're not unfairly siphoning time from your opponent during that first round! It's also why when I'm playing in a tournament I'm running, I stay at the same table. I feel bad making people come to me, but I just save so much time that we can all spend playing. The perks of being a TO.

Anyway, for this last match, I see that Mike is fielding 6 bombers. And while I'm not awfully worried about the ARCs because Mike has no way of speeding them up, I still don't want to eat a bomber alpha strike with so few of my own squadrons. So I take first player for the third and final time in this tournament. I end up picking Fighter Ambush again, hopeful that I'll play it better this time.

I decide Garel's Honor will be my Profundity drop because I suspect that I'll be happy to pull an upgrade off of any of Mike's ships. I figure Dodonna's Pride can harass a ship it catches on the outside (in this case, the Venator). I feel pretty decent about my deployment (particularly because Salvation has gotten caught on the outside before, where it was basically unable to snipe anyone).

As you can see, I ended up winning this match because I was able to isolate the Acclamators and take them out without really worrying overly much about the bombers or the Venator. I won this match 400-297, netting me a 7-4. I wasn't thrilled with the way that I flew; I mostly got lucky that Mike hadn't seen a fleet like mine before and that he was also flying something he had only just put together and had not tested.

Ultimately, I had a lot of fun with this fleet, but it needs changes if it's going to be effective. I imagine I only did as well as I did because I was playing against other people who were also fielding fleets for the first time. So that's really saying something, given that I landed in seventh place. I like it enough that I'll keep it in my repertoire, but Rebels sort of remain my least favorite faction for the moment, so I don't imagine I'll be returning to it any time soon. Which is sort of a shame, because it's fun! But with Adepticon in a couple of months and limited time for me to play Armada in the first place, Rebels are just unlikely to hit the table for me any time soon. In fact, had I known what kind of faction breakdown we'd have at this tournament (4 Rebel and 4 Imperial fleets, 2 Republic fleets, and 1 Separatist fleet), I absolutely would've fielded a Separatist fleet for a little more Seppie representation (though, obviously, Chris did just fine being the only one flying Separatists!).

I will say that while I forgot to move Kyrsta and Raymus off of Profundity in 2 of my 3 matches (I'm pretty sure; it might've only happened once), I really loved having that particular ace up my sleeve. I'd never really flown Profundity before, but man, it was fun! I also liked having the option of holding back either my Hammerhead or my CR-90. Ultimately, I think it'll be Dodonna's Pride more often than not, but I can absolutely imagine circumstances in which I must deliver Garel's Honor (and Shriv) to its target so it can live long enough to strip a vital upgrade from an opponent's ship.

Fun times were had by all, another hearty congratulations to our top players, and a big thanks to Admiral Tater (https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdmiralTaterShipShop) for our excellent blue and gold shield dials for our 314th Fleet! Players were thrilled to get them and immediately equip them to their flagships!