Super Star Destroyer Expansion Officer Upgrades

Oh, look at all these new officers!  There's quite a few in the SSD expansion, so let's dive right on in.

Saturday at Scarif - Grand Army Battle at Drawbridge Games

It happened.  We had the casual play event "Saturday at Scarif" at Drawbridge games, which included a "Grand Army" size battle.  Played on Jake's custom Scarif board, it would be me and Sean as a two headed monster for Rebels, with Luke as our only commander (being the only one we could legally take) while Jake and Kasey ran the Imperials with Vader and Veers.

Special thanks to Rebel Light Works who sent the custom objective tokens to Jake to play on the board.  I hope you can see them well in the pictures provided.

Exact upgrades are unavailable at this time, but the following units were on the board:

Luke supports the Rebel landing from the center, with 7 Trooper squads.

Ground Commander's Guide - Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith

We need to talk about the Empire.  I've been doing a good job putting out Rebel units, but there's a whole 'nother group out there just begging to be talked about.  So let's start with the "Wave 0" Commander, the biggest, baddest thing on the battlefield - Darth Vader!

Speederbike for Scale

After Action Report - More Legion from Biggs (Game 2)

This time I was playing my old Armada buddy Chris again.  You may remember what happened when I played him last time.  This time would be different!  I'd just played Jake, so two games in one day!

After Action Report - Biggs Plays Legion

Biggs here!  I finally had the chance to play an 800 point game of Legion.  I've bought in with Rebels, and my friend Chris went with Imperials, and we both had assembled our core set and one of each expansion.  We were playing at our local game store, which had a lot of custom terrain available for us to play with.

World Cup 2018 Final - JJs Juggernaut vs Green Knight - Thursday, March 1st, 2000 hours GMT!

Watch the game "in person" on Vassal, or LIVE on Twitch.

Here it is, the final match for the 2018 World Cup Armada Vassal Championship.  We've had some amazing games up to this point, but ultimately there could only be two players that made it to the end.  It is no surprise that either of these players made it all the way, after all they were the winner and runner up of last year's World Cup.  In one corner, the 2016 World Champion and 2017 Vassal World Cup Champion JJs Juggernaut, and his "Raddus Bomb".  In the other, Green Knight, the 2017 Nordic "National" Champion and 2017 World Cup Runner-up.

GRUDGE MATCH!

*Raddus / Profundity means JJs will start with 5 deployments & 3 activations.

Semi-Final Round - Green Knight vs Tokra

Two of the best European Players face off.  Only one can make the finals.  Green Knight and Tokra.  Darth Vader and Admiral Sloane.

Games and Stuff AAR

New addition to the collection!

So yeah, Vader worked out pretty well. As promised, I'll go into my thinking for the list and then get to the details of the tournament.

Back in Black

We interrupt CC month to bring you coverage of the ongoing Store Championship season. I'm heading to Games and Stuff again today and I think Biggs is heading out to Ohio. Expect to see something from him a little later (I hope you lose you back stabber :P ). I've been playing my Madine list to death lately so despite it not having a Store Champ title, I'm mixing things up away. I'm going to back to the high risk/high reward lifestyle of Vader. Work has been so busy that I didn't have time to do up a list explanation article, so I'll circle around and do that later on. For now, here's the list (minus objectives). I'll try to update throughout the day.

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.

Experimental After Action Report - Vader's Gozanti Wolfpack

Decided to try something that had been kicking around the back of my head for a bit - Gozanti Assault Carriers can get 2 Red Dice with a Concentrate Fire dial down field for cheaper than anything else.  Could I make a list that takes advantage of their benefits?

Well... kind of?

Wave 1 Memorial Tournament - Round 3 vs doobleg

Here's the final round of Pod 4 for the FFG Forums Wave 1 Memorial Tournament, verses my "first" opponent doobleg.  An excellent player and the winner of the previous tournament, I knew he was going to give me a run for my money.  I also knew that at 15 points I'd have to pretty much win outright to stay in control of the pod.  At this point, doobleg had 8 points having played only a single game against Brian Black, and still had to face off against DabDarklighter.

To refresh our memory, here is what I was up against:

DOOBLEG'S EMPIRE FLEET (385 points)

Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Motti (97)

Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Weapons Liaison - Assault Concussion Missiles (83)

Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Chiraneau - Expanded Hangar Bay - Corrupter (93)

Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)

TIE Bomber Squadron (9) x4

Mauler'' Mithel TIE Fighter Squadron (15)

Darth Vader TIE Advanced Squadron (21)

TIE Advanced Squadron (12) x2

Armada Commanders - Wave 2 - Imperials

It's time for more Wave 2 discussion, this time though we will be talking about the Imperial Commanders that are coming out in the 2nd wave.  That's right, we are talking about the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, now firmly in command instead of just in the squadron voted "most likely to be destroyed first".

Oh, and also Admiral Ozzel.

Commander's Guide - TIE Advanced

Well, we are almost at the end now, not very many squadrons to go and the Commander's Guide is about to wind to a close, at least until Wave 2 hits.  We are on now to the odd ducks of the fighter expansions, the two squadrons that really do not have a comparable analog on the other side of the fence.  Today, we will be talking about the Imperial red headed stepchild, the TIE Advanced.

TIE Advanced ESCORTs Soontir Fel's Interceptor Squadron

TIE Advanced

The TIE Advanced Squadron really has more in common with the Rebel X-Wing than the TIE Fighter does, aside from being the baseline for other squadrons.  The TIE Advanced has a similar cost (12 for the TIE Advanced and 13 for the X-Wing), similar average anti-ship attack (.75 average on 1 Black without BOMBER vs .75 average on 1 Red with BOMBER), and both come with the ESCORT keyword.  Arguably though, it is the TIE Advanced that can make the most use out of ESCORT, both from the stance of positioning and what it is protecting.

For the Rebels, the X-Wing is the most efficient "pure" squadron.  Without the COUNTER of the A-Wing to inflate its anti-squadron capabilities, the X-Wing is the best pure anti-squadron squadron per point that the rebels have, and the best by far if you factor in for the points you also wind up with a hull of 5.  Simply put, you don't really want your opponent to fire at your X-Wings, not while there are still enemy squadrons on the board, the Y-Wing has more hull, the A-Wing needs to be attacked for COUNTER to be useful, and the B-Wing is a border case.  Better to use the X-Wings to break up engagements - protect an A-Wing or B-Wing that is down to 1 hull.

The TIE Advanced though has a different role it can fill within the Imperial lists, protection of more valuable anti-squadron fighters.  The TIE Interceptor, while it does have COUNTER 2, is also 11 points for the enemy and only 3 hull to burn through, and 4 SWARM attack dice that the enemy wants to get off the board.  The TIE Fighter, is also a 3 hull squadron, and easy enough for even a generic X-Wing to swat out of the sky.  An Advanced escort can keep these squadrons in alive longer, to win the anti-air engagement.

The Advanced is even better when paired with Soontir Fel.  Suddenly the Imperial squadron with 5 hull has effectively been granted COUNTER 2 in terms of damage.  And more importantly Fel is free to save his defense tokens for anti-squadron fire from ships.

For other statistics, the Advanced comes with 3 Blue anti-squadron dice and 1 Black anti-shield die.  Speed 4 which allows it to keep up with the other TIEs, and keep close with a full speed Gladiator.

Darth Vader engages an enemy unique squadron.

Darth Vader

The Dark Lord of the Sith is the most expensive squadron for the Imperial forces, at 21 points.  For this, you get the best anti-squadron fighter in the game, with an average of 3.25 damage (Vader can use crits as hits, getting .75 average from his Blues, and 1.00 average from his Black die), and a maximum of 5 damage.  This means Vader can do some serious damage to high defense squadrons, and even put out a respectable amount of pain to named squadrons.

To keep himself alive, Vader has 2 Brace defense tokens in addition to the Advanced's 5 hull.  Vader also has 1 Black die for anti-ship, though with his special ability (criticals count as hits) he functions as a mini-BOMBER for purposes of anti-ship attacks.

Vader is definitely a bit of a one-trick pony, but he is especially good at his trick.


Overall, the TIE Advanced is an overall average squadron, who's big draw is the ESCORT ability and its exceptional hull value relative to Imperial squadrons.  But it is definitely one that you find a use for in your fleet - either Darth Vader's anti-squadron role, as a friend to your Interceptors, or as an all-around jack-of-all trades in an otherwise highly specialized Imperial fleet.

Well, that is it for this round.  Just one more to go, the Rebel's heavy BOMBER, the B-Wing.  Then we can get to the real fun - list building and strategy!