Monday, March 6, 2017

Matchup of the Week - JJ's Juggernaut vs Green Knight

We're finally here!  After 2 months of tournament gaming, we're at the last two tournament players.  On one hand, Green Knight, most famous for being the point man on Vassal updates for Armada, and a Norwegian juggernaut.  And he is up against the Juggernaut himself, JJs Juggernaut from the US of A and current World Champion.  Can JJs add the World Cup to his list of accolades?  Will Green Knight take it from North America and bring it home to Europe?  Will we ever see Clontroper again?

2 of these questions will be answered March 9th at 1830 hrs GMT.


Green Knight - Return of the Vader,  WC 2017


Points: 395/400

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Darth Vader  ( 36  points)
-  Avenger  ( 5  points)
-  Agent Kallus  ( 3  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Quad Laser Turrets  ( 5  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
= 189 total ship cost

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (62 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Skilled First Officer  ( 1  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)
= 90 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
-  Instigator  ( 4  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)
= 57 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
-  Suppressor  ( 4  points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 29 total ship cost

1 Ciena Ree ( 17 points)
1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)



JJs Juggernaut - Random Last Minute Stuff: 394/400

Imperial I-class Star Destroyer (110)  
- Minister Tua (2)  
- Electronic Countermeasures (7)  
- Leading Shots (4)  
- XI7 Turbolasers (6)
Total:  129

Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer (62)  
- Ordnance Experts (4)  
- Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)  
- Demolisher (10)
Total:  81

Raider I-class corvette (44)  
- Agent Kallus (3)  
- Ordnance Experts (4)  
- Flechette Torpedoes (3)  
- Impetuous (4)
Total:  58

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23)  
- Moff Jerjerrod (23)
Total:  46

Lambda-class Shuttle (15)
"Mauler'' Mithel (15)
Black Squadron (9)
Captain Jonus (16)
JumpMaster 5000 (12)
Tempest Squadron (13)

Want to see a writeup of the lists themselves?  Take a look at Green Knight's writeup on the forums.


Keys to Victory:


1:  Captain Jonus:  Really, this is the only dangerous squadron on the board, if you don't count the possibility of Lambda shuttles messing with objective tokens.  Can he be taken out of the equation, or will he feed accuracy results at the right time to drop the Raider / Demolisher / Gozanti trio?  All 3 are very reliant on a single good defense token for their survival.

2:  Avenger:  Of any other ship on the board, the Avenger is worth more points by far.  Yes it is loaded for bear, but if it is cracked that is a hard loss to come back from for Green Knight, representing not only his Admiral but nearly 1/2 of his total points.  On counterpoint, JJ's ISD1 can afford to sacrifice itself to bring down the monster, for a net 60 point gain.

3:  Deployment Advantage:  With 5 deployments vs 7 deployments, Green Knight needs objectives in its advantage to mitigate putting down his Avenger before JJ's heavy hitters come down.  He has likely enjoyed going Second Player so often due to good objective selection that forces the game to come to him, and prevents enemy from setting up easy flanks.  One one hand, Second Player would give JJ 2 whole deployments to 210 points of heavy destruction on the board (ISD / Demo) and deny Green Knight use of his objectives, but on the other hand even a single lost ship as Second Player swings activation into first/last territory for First Player.


One Last Thing


Did anyone else notice that there are TWO Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyers in the final?


Biggs' Pre-Match Bet 


It sucks when you're friends with both players and you have to be objective.

I have a feeling this comes down to a capital ship slugfest with a minor fighter skirmish.  Green Knight has the advantages here, even with Jonus running around unchecked, his Admiral is on the biggest, nastiest thing on the board and isn't in a flotilla life-boat for a Jonus raider team to hunt down and kill.  He has reach, both with is ISD2 over the ISD1 and with his Demo having Engine Techs.  He has better damage potential from his ships with Avenger (ISD), Vader (All) and APT (Raider).

I can't count JJ's out though.  He has choice of first or second.  He has better trades that he can make if it turns into a brutal slugfest.  He has deployments to spare.

Still, given the advantages and how I see the fight developing, my bet would be on Green Knight bringing the World Cup to Norway.

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