Team Analysis - Chaos Shanghied

Well, this took way to long to get around to.

Why Gunnery Teams Are Teaching Us Bad Tactics

This has been a topic that has been bouncing through my mind for some time now, and one that is getting me more and more frustrated.  Specifically, it came to a head in the recent Store Championship we had wherein the Second Round had Chris (the eventual tournament winner) and Xavier flying a near mirror match where their big angry space triangles flew up and punched each other in the face, repeatedly, until one broke.

After that round, we took a 45 minute break for lunch, and I had the time to sit down and talk with Xavier about his game (I watched about 1/3 of it or so) and his strategy.  Namely, his big, angry ships flew right up to the opponent and unloaded only their front arcs, and couldn't get enough fire onto any given target to take it down.  Why did he not have enough of a punch from an ISD and 2 VSDs to out punch a ISD as First Player?

Because he had a Gunnery Team on each of his ships.

I need a new camera.

GUEST ARTICLE: Chris's After Action Report - Pittsburgh Store Championship

[Editor's Introduction:  We recently had our local store championship here in Pittsburgh, which I sadly had agreed to sit out and TO if we had an even number of players - sadly there were only 6 people that showed up, not including myself, so I was sitting this one out.  Here is the After-Action Report from the winner - I think it gives a pretty good luck into our local meta.  One store championship to go, locally!]

Hey folks. I'm the occasionally mentioned Chris (Editor's note:  See Round 2). Somewhat recently I had the honor of being the winner of Drawbridge Game's Star Wars Armada Store Championship. Matt is a good friend of mine (and a member of our local Armada group), so I figured I'd throw a guest article at him with some of my thoughts and experiences on and about the win.

Team Analysis - SUCKITIMPS

Only two more analyses to go - this time we're looking at the Seasoned Underground Combatants Killing Imperial Twits and Imbeciles in Many Parts of Space team.

FAQ and Tournament Update - Gunnery Teams and Typos

Wave 3 wasn't the only big news for Armada this week, as we also had a FAQ update, as well as a brand new Tournament Regulations (completely replacing the Tournament Rules of the past).  There were some typos and mistakes in the first round of Regulations, but they corrected some of the most egregious errors (copy / pasting X-Wing rules, in particular).

So, without further ado, here's what you need to know about the new updates:

Analysis of the Wave 3 Preview

I don't think too many people have missed the Wave 3 announcement that FFG posted yesterday.  Maybe we can have a reasonable discussion on its implications?

Approximate Level of Discourse on Wave 3 Thus Far

...please?

Team Analysis - Objectionable Content

Let's jump right on in, shall we?

After Action Report - Morgantown Store Championship

Chris and myself managed to get a group of Pittsburgh players to go down and crash our nearest and closest neighbor's Store Championship down in Morgantown, WV at Four Horseman Cards and Comics.  All in all, 12 players showed up for a day of Armada.  It was an excellent time, and a great job hosting by the Four Horseman crew.

Here's what I brought, and how it did.

Team Analysis - Hammers of Kuat

Continuing our analysis of the various teams, it's time to talk about the Hammers of Kuat, the R1 opponents for Full Jar Jar, and home to World Cup champion Clontroper5.

Match-up of the Week: JJs Juggernaut (Bacta the Future) vs Jarenis (Church of Rocco)

Battle of the J's!  This week the big match-up we will be covering is between the Juggernaut himself, and regular booth commentator JJs Juggernaut - team captain of "Bacta the Future", and relative unknown Jarenis, team member of "Church of Rocco".

Team Analysis - Full Jar Jar

The jokes have already been made, but the most appropriate one seems to be "Never go Full Jar Jar."

Not an accurate depiction on Round 1.

Match-up of the Week - Ardaedhel vs. Caribbean Ninja

For this tournament, we're going to be having a weekly feature - the "Match-up of the Week", which will cover a game that meets the following criteria:

1) It is Important - The game has implications on who will be on the top of the leaderboards.
2) It is Interesting - The game has lists that we haven't seen run before, or some interesting gimmick. Maybe it's just two high level players clashing against one another, or it has an fun story line.
3)  I Can Actually Livestream It - If I can't be there to watch (and record) the game, all this build-up is for nothing, right?

So let's have a look at our first "Match-up of the Week" - Ardaedhel vs Caribbean Ninja!

Team Analysis - Vanguard

The first round opponents for the Alamo City Fleet is the Vanguard, the first team to form for this tournament.  Let's take a look at them as well today.

Team Analysis - Alamo City Fleet

Officially their name is Alamo City Fleet Command Det 1, but I'm damned if I'm going to repeatedly write that out.  There's a reason we call the smallest US state "Rhode Island" and not the "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations".

Let's preview the Alamo City Fleet!

Team Analysis - Alderaan Choices

And the First Time Vassalers first round matchup will be against Alderaan Choices.

Team Analysis - First Time Vassalers

As the name suggests, the First Time Vassalers are all brand new to Vassal.  Let's take a look at their fleets and see how they match up with the field.

Team Analysis - Bacta the Future

And here are the opponents for the Church of Rocco for the first round, the team Bacta the Future.

Team Analysis - Church of Rocco

For the next week or so, I'll be trying to quickly cover the teams involved in the latest Vassal Team Tournament.  We're getting started today with the Australian team, the Church of Rocco.

To follow along with the tournament, follow this link!