Armada Tournament at Game Nite (July 2022)

 

Armada Tournament at Game Nite (July 2022)

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!), 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 Saturday. We had a total of 9 people show up (including myself) and played 3 rounds. The top 4 were super close, as it came down to MOV to determine winner order!

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 Greg with 21 tournament points (and an MOV of 1082)!

Greg (0/398/400)

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Recusant-class Light Destroyer (85 + 28: 113)

· Passel Argente (6)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Patriot Fist (6)

Comms Frigate (70 + 42: 112)

· Mar Tuuk (28)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· Medical Team (1)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Tide of Progress XII (2)

Comms Frigate (70 + 19: 89)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Sa Nalaor (5)

Comms Frigate (70 + 14: 84)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Second place went to Chris N., also with 21 tournament points (and an MOV of 885)!

Grievously Unprepared (114/399/400)

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Comms Frigate (70 + 29: 99)

· General Grievous (20)

· Tikkes (2)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Comms Frigate (70 + 7: 77)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

Transport (47 + 8: 55)

· Bomber Command Center (8)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (27)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (27)

6 x Hyena-class Droid Bomber Squadron (6 x 11)

6 x Vulture-class Droid Fighter Squadron (6 x 8)

Third place went to John with 20 tournament points (and an MOV of 925)!

Antilles (52/389/400)

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Starhawk-class Mk.I (140 + 65: 205)

· Admiral Raddus (26)

· Walex Blissex (5)

· Raymus Antilles (7)

· Caitken and Shollan (6)

· Hardened Bulkheads (5)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· XI7 Turbolasers (6)

· Amity (6)

Providence-class Carrier (95 + 17: 112)

· Hondo Ohnaka (2)

· Shriv Suurgav (6)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Hardened Bulkheads (5)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 2: 20)

· Comms Net (2)

Wedge Antilles (19)

Shara Bey (17)

Tycho Celchu (16)

Fourth place went to Matt, also with 20 tournament points (and an MOV of 673)!

Matt (30/400/400)

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Assault Frigate Mk.II B (72 + 43: 115)

· Mon Mothma (27)

· Ahsoka Tano (2)

· Early Warning System (7)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 + 17: 80)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Foresight (8)

Modified Pelta-class Assault Ship (56 + 17: 73)

· Raymus Antilles (7)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· External Racks (4)

CR90 Corvette A (44 + 7: 51)

· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

CR90 Corvette A (44 + 7: 51)

· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

2 x Lancer-class Pursuit Craft (2 x 15)

Congratulations to the top 4 for their excellent play! We had some pretty awesome prizes today, courtesy of excellent folks in our Armada community (a Tater tool and tray set, a pair of 3D printed C-ROCs to stand in for Separatist Gozanti, and some custom alt art cards), so the competition was fierce!

Fifth place went to Kyle with 19 tournament points.

It's DoGonna Hurt! (33/400/400)

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MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 + 31: 134)

· Ezra Bridger (3)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Medical Team (1)

· Spinal Armament (9)

· XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

· Mon Karren (6)

MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 + 28: 131)

· Lando Calrissian (4)

· Caitken and Shollan (6)

· Spinal Armament (9)

· XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

· Endeavor (4)

Modified Pelta-class Assault Ship (56 + 26: 82)

· General Dodonna (20)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 2: 20)

· Comms Net (2)

Shara Bey (17)

Tycho Celchu (16)

I took sixth place with 16 tournament points.

Hell Kite v. 2.0 (87/400/400)

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Venator II-class Star Destroyer (100 + 21: 121)

· Clone Captain Silver (4)

· SPHA-T (7)

· Electronic Countermeasures (7)

· Tranquility (3)

Charger c70 (45 + 35: 80)

· Luminara Unduli (25)

· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

· Swift Return (3)

Charger c70 (45 + 11: 56)

· Clone Navigation Officer (4)

· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

Charger c70 (45 + 11: 56)

· Clone Navigation Officer (4)

· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

Anakin Skywalker (24)

Axe (17)

Kickback (16)

3 x BTL-B Y-wing Squadron (3 x 10)

Ion Storm

Fire Lanes

Intel Sweep

Seventh place went to Scott with 15 tournament points.

Motti Double ISD (68/396/400)

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Cymoon 1 Refit (112 + 56: 168)

· Admiral Motti (24)

· Minister Tua (2)

· Gunnery Team (7)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Spinal Armament (9)

· Early Warning System (7)

Kuat Refit (112 + 21: 133)

· Admiral Ozzel (2)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Electronic Countermeasures (7)

· Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

· External Racks (4)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 4: 27)

· Darth Vader (1)

· Munitions Resupply (3)

Morna Kee (27)

Maarek Stele (21)

Colonel Jendon (20)

Eighth place went to Nathan with 13 tournament points.

NR Dooku (63/394/400)

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Providence-class Carrier (105 + 63: 168)

· Count Dooku (30)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6)

· Thermal Shields (5)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Lucid Voice (8)

Recusant-class Light Destroyer (85 + 28: 113)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Veteran Gunners (5)

· Hardened Bulkheads (5)

· External Racks (4)

· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

· Patriot Fist (6)

Transport (47 + 3: 50)

· Munitions Resupply (3)

General Grievous (22)

Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)

2 x Tri-Fighter Squadron (2 x 11)

Ninth place went to Jacob with 11 tournament points.

Jacob (52/396/400)

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Recusant-class Light Destroyer (85 + 49: 134)

· Mar Tuuk (28)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Nova Defiant (4)

Recusant-class Light Destroyer (85 + 26: 111)

· Rune Haako (4)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Patriot Fist (6)

Transport (47 + 17: 64)

· Hondo Ohnaka (2)

· Parts Resupply (3)

· Projection Experts (6)

· Beast of Burden (6)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (27 + 8: 35)

· Tikkes (2)

· Flight Controllers (6)

Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)

DIS-T81 (17)

Haor Chall Prototypes (16)

I was matched up against Greg (the tourney winner) in the first round. He was flying squadronless with 3 Munificents and 1 Recusant, led by Mar Tuuk. Didn't love the commander aspect of the matchup, because it meant he was perfectly happy to be at red range and toss those red dice at me. And I won't lie: I loathe Patriot Fist. It can do so much work that it's gross. But I still felt pretty good about my odds. Greg had the bid and chose to go first; he chose Ion Storm as our objective. So I lined up all of the obstacles on my side, thinking I could skirt them, score off of crits, and throw bombers in his face. I managed to deploy away from Greg's Recusant, so I felt pretty good about taking down a couple of Munificents before he could really leverage all of his guns against me. Turns out my objective was the only thing that kept me in this match.

He was aggressive with two of his Munificents and kept the third Munificent and Recusant flexible so they could bank and anticipate my Venator coming in on the flank. I haven't flown this fleet but once in the past several months and, in general, I haven't played enough Armada to stay sharp. The result is that I definitely made some questionable maneuvering choices: I forgot how I wanted to prioritize my token-tossing from the two Chargers boasting Clone Navigation Officer, and I think I only put the SPHA-T token on the table twice because I either forgot to get the token that could refresh the card or I forgot to place the token. To Greg's credit, he very graciously insisted I place the SPHA-T token when I missed my window because "of course I meant to do it," but I declined because I learn better without that kind of forgiveness. But it absolutely cost me in-game, as my Venator was not doing enough damage to provide support for my Chargers. My Y-Wings were a mixed bag on how their dice turned out, but it all averaged out. I just didn't have any clutch rolls to cover any of my mistakes.

I killed two Munificents and got my Venator around the edge in order to flank, but my Chargers just didn't last long enough to either draw fire from the Venator or deal damage when the Venator went down. Greg tabled me in either the fifth or sixth round (I'm pretty sure we went the full six). He did an outstanding job of using his deployment to his advantage and not simply feeding his ships into my woodchipper. I did snag something like 9 or 10 objective tokens off of Ion Storm, which kept me from a total stomp-fest. But once my Venator left the shelter of the obstacles I'd set up, it just became a points farm for him. This was only the second time I've played Ion Storm and I love the objective as second player. But I also know I can play it better with practice. By the end of the match, I could've spent my defense tokens to keep my Venator alive a little longer, but it was still going to burn by the end of the match and I would just be giving him another fifteen points with every time he rolled a crit. So I just let the Venator explode and tried to rob him of a couple more victory tokens he was likely to get while completing his rout of my fleet. I lost this one 336-490 for an MOV of 154 and a tournament score of 3-8.

I could see the mistakes I made in terms of my own play: some of it was my being rusty, some of it was my underestimating his deployment, some of it was not flying this specific fleet enough to remember all of the various interactions. But at this point, I'm also starting to question the premise of the fleet and worry that it won't let me find that next gear for Luminara that I'm still convinced exists. I've written about this before and I don't have any new reasons to still believe it right now, other than I'm convinced there's something out there that will make her an absolutely bonkers commander. But after this match, I'm less convinced that I'm on the right track with this particular build.

Next up is Nathan and another CIS fleet! I was happy to see the faction spread we had in this event. People are still experimenting with a lot of Clone Wars builds for these casual tournaments, which I love to see. This fleet was headed by Dooku and featured a Providence, a Hardcell, and...another Patriot Fist.

This Patriot Fist isn't as threatening as the previous one, as it doesn't feature Swivel-Mounts and APTs it can use from long range, but I still hate eating those dice. He's got some squadrons, but I'm confident I can win the squadron battle anyway. Nathan chooses to go first and selects Intel Sweep. The last time I played with Intel Sweep was when geek19 from CGYSO fame turned it against my Tarkin fleet at a charity tourney in Chicago pre-pandemic. He's the one who introduced me to the joys of Infested Fields! But I thought that with the benefit of three Chargers, it was time to dust it off and bring it out again.

Spoiler alert...

I agonized over how to deploy my objective Charger simply because the tokens were close enough together that I worried I'd get caught in the fire. And my fear was justified, because that's what happened. But it's really only part of the equation. The other part is that Nathan chose his Recusant as his objective ship and then flew it very aggressively. He was first, so he was absolutely storming across the board to rob me of my own objective tokens. My Charger was deployed too far forward to adjust by slowing down and just waiting until the Recusant was cleared from the table before it mopped up the remaining tokens. So I was pot-committed at this point, much to my chagrin. The upside of his Recusant being so committed was that I knew I could take it down between my Venator and my Chargers. Except that Luminara had kicked out too wide and wasn't able to take a shot it needed to contribute to my taking the Recusant down. I needed to kill it by the end of round 3 so that it couldn't go first, reveal a command dial, and pick up its second objective token. My Venator did some work on it, but my remaining Consulars just didn't roll enough damage (and one of them was short an Evade token because of Patriot Fist, which meant I couldn't just correct a die to read as 2 damage instead of blank). I had a long shot of ramming into Patriot Fist and then landing enough damage with my last Consular to finish the job. I talked it all through and made sure I had everything lined up. I then proceeded to ram Patriot Fist with my Consular.

Do me a favor, would ya? Scroll up to Nathan's list and look at the upgrades on there.

No hurry on coming back; I can wait.

...

...

...

Yeah, there you go. I neglected to notice it had Hardened Bulkheads on it. I went out of my way to ram Patriot Fist with my Consular in a move that only did damage to me. So, that felt great.

C'mon, Chris! You're better than that!!

I did kill Patriot Fist, but it was simply too late. It had succeeded in picking up a second token, doing some damage to my fleet, and moseying along. If I activated my objective ship first, it might kill Patriot Fist. But then it would die before picking up any other tokens (so Nathan is now already up on me by 75 points by poaching my objective), and I'd also lose my other Consular because Patriot Fist had unloaded on it. But if I activated my non-objective Consular first, it would ram my objective Consular, and they'd both explode because each only had one hull left and I couldn't bump up my speed. I couldn't risk Patriot Fist getting away after all of that, so I activated my non-objective Consular first so it would have two shots on Nathan's Recusant. I got it on my first shot, so I took my second shot against his Providence. It did minimal damage, but Nathan used Salvo and blew it up, which meant I didn't blow up my own Consulars by having them collide. My objective ship was still absolutely dead, but at least he'd have to spend some firepower on it. He did with his next activation and it died. I got his Hardcell, we traded some squadron casualties, and Nathan ended up winning this match, 204-185 for a 19 point MOV and a 6-5 tournament win.

I was at the bottom of the standings by the end of the second round, so I had the third round bye. I looked back over my list, thought through my matches, and while my own mistakes were very frustrating and definitely contributed to my bad losses, I also just came to the conclusion that the Chargers can't do what I was asking of them. They can't leverage enough damage AND stick around long enough for me to not be pretty luck-dependent to win and win with a decent MOV. I retooled the fleet entirely, taking out two Consulars, adding Nevoota Bee...I did a couple of other things, but ultimately, I just wasn't happy with it. I've got the new list saved, but I've unstarred it and moved onto trying something else. Part of my ambivalence is I haven't really had a new major tourney to build toward. I'm not going to GenCon and I just can't get out to NOVA this year, as much as I want to. So I guess I'm planning for Adepticon next year? But it's so far off that I just haven't prioritized building anything. And the lack of playtime recently has contributed to my ambivalence as well. So I picked up my Yularen fleet again, since I've never flown it, made a couple of light changes, and am going to fly that next.

Ultimately, it was great to finally get plastic on the table again and we had a great group show up to compete. I've mentioned before that it was the community that got me to stick around after I quit Armada the first two times. It's the community that makes me want to keep playing, despite my life becoming increasingly busy. Proud to be part of the 314th Fleet here in STL!