Monday, November 2, 2015

Wave 1 Memorial Tournament - Round 4 vs MattShadowlord Game Play

Final match of the Wave 1 Vassal Memorial Tournament - I am up vs Matt Shadowlord and a chance to pull into 2nd or 3rd place with a convincing win.  To review, here is his fleet:

[ MattShadowlord FLEET - 396/400]
- DESPOT Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Screed (99)
- JUSTICE Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Assault Concussion Missiles (63)
- ORDER Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Assault Concussion Missiles (63)
- PACIFICATION Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Assault Concussion Missiles - Insidious (66)
- AUTHORITY Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer - Engine Techs - Assault Concussion Missiles - Demolisher (81)
- TIE Fighter Squadron (8) x3 = (24)

My ships would be the so far intact original Porkins as Garm's new flagship, the Memories of Alderaan from the previous game, and the new Darklighter II.  BEAST and Dinner Squadrons had been reformed.




Setup:

Unsurprisingly, MattShadowlord chose to be First Player, to take advantage of his activations.  However, actually surprising me, he chose Superior Positions as his objective.  My strategy was then to fly by his fleet, dropping a broadside as he turned to face me.
Initial Setup
His setup was slightly offset to the left of center, with his Demolisher taking up the right flank, and his VSD anchoring the left.  Insidious had the center, with two generics filling the gap.  His TIE screen set up behind the GSDs.

Turn 1:

Garm hands out Squadron, Engineering, and Navigate tokens to everyone.  The VSD activates first, coming around hard to get into the fight.  Memories of Alderaan then did a shimmy inward, forming a line with the Darklighter II.  All the remaining enemy ships completed the same maneuver, except for the Demolisher, which jumped ahead to take a potshot at Memories.  Squadrons moved into position to engage their preferred targets on the next turn.

End of Turn 1
At this point I mention to someone who popped in to watch that it was about to be a bloodbath.

Turn 2:

The Demolisher's first activation slapped in directly into the path of the Memories, and by extension the line Memories had formed with the Darklighter II.  This was... not a good thing to happen for me, and excellent flying for MattShadowlord, putting a good hurting on the Memories in addition to cutting off the line.
Whelp.
The Memories tried to move anyways, in the hopes that a speed 3 could get around the Demolisher, or that a speed 1 could just fit into the gap.  Neither one was going to happen, and when that became apparent, the ships thumped, and the Memories didn't move.  The VSD moved next.  After that, the Porkins attempted to finish off the Demolisher, launching squadrons at it and ramming it.  It managed to limp away with a single hull, and essentially no shields.  If the Darklighter II could finish it off, we'd be doing fairly well.

But the Authority activated next, launching a single fighter with a banked squadron token into the middle of my un-activated squadrons.  The Demolisher would limp to the end of the turn.  While the Darklighter II did manage to activate squadrons and take out the TIE, it was just enough to keep the Demolisher alive with a single hull.

And now, his ships were closing in with my line, and things were not going according to plan.

End of Turn 2 - Outmaneuvered, outgunned - things were looking poorly for the rebel fleet.

Turn 3:

The Demolisher, somehow still alive, gets off one last pair of attacks on the Alderaan and Porkins, then flies off into the collective broadside of my fleet.  The Alderaan, now critically damaged, is forced to take the first movement.  The Alderaan opens fire on the Insidious and Authority, doing respectable damage, before trundling forward at speed 1 after slowing the previous turn to try and fit past the Demolisher.  This proved costly, as Speed 3 might have gotten it to a safe distance.

The Porkins took a squadron command, and used it to rain down squadron fire on the Demolisher, and finished it up with a broadside, scoring 3 Victory Tokens in addition to the prize of the Demolisher herself - a better trade than I had hoped to collect.

The Authority finished off the Alderaan, but suffered considerable damage in the meantime, as a Squadron managed to plink off the last shield, and a Victory Token for smacking the rear of the ship.  Unfortunately it lived to the end of the round, and would certainly be activated first next round.

A bit out of position, you might say.  End of Round 3.

Round 4:

Authority had just enough left in it to cripple the Porkins with its start of the round activation.  Porkins scored a hit on the rear of the ship, getting another Victory Token, but the damage had been done.  The Porkins also poured damage onto the Insidious, stripping shields and landing a crit onto the hull.

Insidious decides to shoot the Porkins in the rear and gets to use its title, picking up a Victory Token and removing the Porkins from play.  This leaves just the Darklighter II on the board.

Well, crap.
There is one good thing about the Darklighter II's position though.  While it will certainly be dead, it does have several shots on enemy ships from it's left broadside, including the heavily damaged Insidious directly in front of it.  Activating BEAST Squadron with it's remaining squadron token, it deals 1 damage to the Authority, and then finishes it off with a broadside.  2 Victory Tokens and another GSD off the board!  The Insidious is heavily damaged as well, losing all but 1 rear shield and 3 hull.
End of Turn 4 - still not looking great, but a chance to grab some last few points to keep it close.

Round 5:

Not a good chance of the Darklighter II making it past Round 5, but with the Insidious in the position it is in, there is a good chance of claiming that, and some other points from the TIE squadron and maybe rear arc shots besides.

Insidious went first, moving more fully into the Darklighter's arc, but denying a rear arc shot.  Though I had several shots on its rear from squadrons, they would not be enough to kill it, so a broadside was taken.  It wound up being a really good one, dropping the Insidious, but denying me a chance to pick up any extra Victory Tokens if the Darklighter II could survive to Squadron phase.

And it did, but just barely.  No squadrons remained in range to shoot at the enemy, aside from one being able to drop the last TIE Fighter squadron.

Final Round - A good game flown by MattShadowlord.

Round 6:

I'll admit I was a little surprised I survived to Round 6, though there was essentially no way that the Darklighter II survived the first activation.  And it didn't.  This put the final score at 415 (table sweep and 1 Victory Token) - 339 (210 for ships, 24 for squadrons, 105 for Victory Tokens) giving Matt Shadowlord a 7-3 tournament point victory, and 76 point MOV.

Excellent flying by MattShadowlord throughout the entire game.  His blocking with GSDs was exceptional, and he always managed to put them exactly where they needed to be, frustrating my plans and movements.  I can't wait to get another crack at him, hopefully when Wave 2 is available.  I'd love to hear your comments on the match as well, if you have the time to write them up in the comments, Matt!

Until next time, everyone!


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