Ballet

Admiral Screed, fanart by Brian-Snook.

+++Incoming transmission
+++ From Bothan Spy network
Imperial flotilla under the leadership of Admiral Screed is moving to to meet with Lord Vader Fleet with a cargo of Spy Drones. It appears that his flagship has the cargo. The fleet will have at least 1 Victory Star destroyer and heavy fighter Escort.
It's imperative to avoid that this cargo reaches lord Vader to stall his effort to find our hidden base in the Outer Rim.
Strike at the waypoint near the Imperial staging point of Corfai in the Core Systems.+++
May the force be with you!+++

I got started off with my friend Francesco to a little campaign in Star Wars Armada. Francesco invented a little background story and now we're taking it from there depending on the results of the battles.

The start of the game. Francesco's Victory class Star Destroyers (VSD) are in the top left and the top right corner. Admiral Screed's VSD in the top left corner first needs to go to the space station at the center and then exit the field through the lower right corner. Because we were playing ambush, Francesco had to set up the Imperials first, but I had the initiative.

Once again the frail Nebulon-B Frigate was supposed to be the anvil on which the VSD has to be crushed.

The end of turn 1. The VSDs were far slower than I thought and I started to worry if I may make it into their backs. Good thing I wasn't going full speed either!

With the gap closing, Screed's VSD coming from the top left tries to shoot the next Corellian Corvette, but she is just barely out of range. I leave it to you to decide if it was luck or skill on my part, but I definitely tried to play my best game.

In the meantime, all TIEs were amassing in the center in one huge blob and both VSDs started to come into the critical range...

...but my Corvettes on the very left finally had the room to flank. Screed surprised me though by reducing the speed of his VSD from 2 down to 1, so it was going to be super tight!

The first shot truly fired goes to Silver Squadron which was supposed to protect the Corvettes, but due to a lack of TIEs nearby it heroically took on Screed's VSD instead.

Once again, the Corvettes did really well because Screed's VSD was only able to fire at them with her broadside.

Up center, half the X-Wings reinforced the A-Wings on their attack against Screed's VSD whereas the remaining two tied down the TIE blob.

So that was the end of turn 3.

Turn 4 saw the activation of the TIEs because of the VSDs' squadron commands. One X-Wing squadron was automatically dead and the other survived with one life left on the dial.

Although I planned in advance and had the Maneuver Command ready, the Nebulon-B had to pass too closely slongside Screed's VSD for my taste. However, the Corvettes both went into her back arc and stripped it of her shields there. The X-Wings and A-Wings took care of her front shields so now Screed's VSD was essentially naked.

The thinning of the Rebel Squadrons in front of Screed's VSD continued since the Rebels decided to ignore the TIEs and concentrate on the mission objective instead. However, now the VSD started to throw around Engineering Commands and restored shields where they were most needed. This was a hard pill to swallow because I still couldn't fire directly into the hull despite previously fully stripping her shields. When you only have three dice to throw, every dice counts.

In this picture, the Nebulon-B Frigate is a goner. I wanted to active her first to bring her to safety, but Francesco asked what good a safe Nebulon-B is in a sector where she can hardly fire at the VSD when the Corvette can throw her full dice (plus I had the Fire Command ready) into the VSD's back. Hence I activated the Corvette first and let the VSD feel her full load, but that was the death sentence for the Nebulon-B as she already had 0 shields on her broadside.

Both VSDs are now heading for the base in the center, but Screed's still has two Corvettes in her back. In the meantime, she couldn't shake off Purple Squadron in front of her either. I still deemed this game winnable despite the loss of the Nebulon-B.

The first Corvette shot and rammed, but because the VSD was still throwing Engineering Commands around, it still wasn't enough to kill it. By now it had lost six out of eight hullpoints and had no significant shields left.

And then disaster struck: just as I was barely out of Francesco's firing range earlier, Screed's VSD moved 2 and now was barely out of the 2nd Corvette's firing range either. These dice would have been necessary to kill the VSD and win the mission.

I got stuck at six damage cards, whereas one card was an open crit.

Being exposed to the fire of two VSDs, the Corvettes died one after the other. Only Purple Squadron still hugged Screed's VSD...

...until Purple Squadron eventually was all that was left.

So how do I look back at the game. I am very happy with the game because of several reasons:

• it was my first game when I didn't do any major tactical mistakes.
• hence my battle plan worked as intended and the result ultimately depended on the luck of dice and range.
• the scenario was great fun.

Ways to improve my game:

• The Nebulon-B had the Fire Command for quite a few turn when she was still out of range. Rolling Squadron Commands there to take care of the TIE blob would definitely have been more effective. Maybe I should think of my Nebulon-B as less of a firing base and more as a squadron support base.
• I had Engine Techs on all my ships, but forgot to use them throughout the entire game... had I remembered them, the game could have turned out quite differently because of me making those few critical inches.

The battle of n00bs

Me and Armando having a good time before the game already. On the very left Armando's opponent he beat in the previous round.

Last Saturday I got to meet Armando, a great guy to roll dice with. Both he and I are new to Star Wars Armada, so we're about on the same skill level - and he is a devout Imperial player as much as I would never desert the Rebels, so this promised a good match.

We play the Space Station mission (near the Victroy Class Star Destroyer). My goal is to lure Armando's fleet there and use the front of my Nebulon-B Frigate as the anvil and the Corellian Corvettes swinging in through the center to his right flank as the hammer.

Setting up the trap.

Everything works as planned and the Corvettes move into the Star Destroyers' rear field. The two squadrons of TIEs defending it are effectively dealt with by the A-Wings. So far everything is moving according to plan.

In the meantime, the Nebulon-B is slowly moving in...

...sending in its X-Wing squadrons first. Luke Skywalker gets to make a shot on the VSD right flank with no shields, but his torpedo misses! After that the TIEs move in and tie down the rebel squadrons with their TIE Advanced.

After that, the VSD almost rams the Nebulon-B. This was the point that cost me the game, I should have had the Nebulon-B speed up by having a Maneuver Command on her dial. However, this way she was fully exposed to the VSD's broadsides and was about to die soon.

My last ace was the Corellian Corvette following up the VSD's rear, but although she had effectively speed 5 she just managed to catch up, but couldn't fire her laser banks in this round.

And so the Nebulon-B was gone.

The 2nd Corellian Corvette closed in instead and rammed the VSD. Both took damage, but it wasn't enough to run down the VSD's hull points. While his first five hull points seemed to go off easily, the last three were a major uphill battle.

The Corellian Corvette in the VSD's rear finally fired and wrecked the Victory Star Destroyer. However, the Gladiator was still a major threat, especially since it still had almost full shields.

The white Corvette started to pursue now the Gladiator, which turned out to be a mistake. The Corvette's firepower wasn't enough to bring it down...

...and the Gladiator instead made short work of the black Corvette that previously rammed the VSD and was all but dead.

I collected quite a few points by blowing up the Victory Star Destroyer and all those TIE squadrons, but in the end Armando won with a lead of roughly 30 points. This game perfectly illustrates two lessons every Rebel player should learn - and especially me by now:

1. Don't ever fly close to a Star Destroyer - black dice kill. Consider the Star Destroyers' movements and their attempts to ram you, even when they are slow. The Maneuver Command is your best friend in 80% of all cases. You need to compensate your lacking shields with speed.
2. Always activate the ships first that are almost dead. That way they at least get to fire their laser banks  one last time.

Illegal but fluffy

My force for tonight @ 1'500pts.

After the last two heavy losses with my Blood Angels against the Iron Warriors it was decided that my balanced army list needs less Bolters and more mobile Multimeltas - plus a unit that an really suffer a torrent of fire. So out the Tactical Squads went and in came the Devastators, the Attack Bikes, and the TH/SS Terminators:

--HQ--
Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armor *
--Elite--
Death Company (6 Men, 1 TH, 2 Power Swords)
Terminator Assault Squad (5 Men, 5*TH/SS)
--Troops--
Scout Squad (5 Men, 4 Sniper Rifles, 1 RL, Camo, Homer)
Scout Squad (5 Men, 4 Sniper Rifles, 1 RL, Camo, Homer)
Scout Squad (5 Men, 4 Bolters, Vet Sarge with PF)
--Fast Attack--
Assault Squad (5 Men, 2 Flamers, Vet Sarge with Power Sword & Inferno Pistol)
Attack Bikes (3MM)
--Heavy Support--
Stormraven (AC, MM, Searchlight, Locator Beacon)
Devastator Squad (10 Men, 4 ML)

* I know this list illegal because Sanguinary Priests can't have Terminator Armor in the current Codex: Blood Angels. However, our house rules say it's ok. I calculated his point value by taking the base cost from the current codex and adding the Termie cost from the old codex.

With this list I wanted to test if my force is more balanced against heavily armored vehicles while still providing enough capability against infantry. Every unit in this list is either a dedicated anti-infantry or anti-armor list with the exception of the Terminators and the Devastator Squad who can flexibly react to what they get thrown at.

We set up across corners, so here you can see the field from the Blood Angels' corner. On the left you can see two units of BA Scouts with their yellow desert camo cloaks, two the very left two Obliterators because sin once again rolled D3 Infiltrate for his warlord traint again, so that was a headache. Then you have my combat squadded Devastators and the Attack Bikes.

On sin's turn 1, the Vindicator pulled up and started blasting at the Scouts killing three.

The Scouts didn't like it in the open so they started to run away from the MO.

The Scouts on top of the hill to the very left lost one Scout to the Obliterators' fire.

The Devastators in the central ruin lost their two ML to the Obliterators' (left ruin in the picture) and Havocs' (right ruin) fire.

sin got a VP for some MO he held.

In my turn nothing really exciting happened because three of my ML were already dead and the other three failed to do any damage. My Attack Bikes moved up into cover closer to the Land Raider to take shots next turn.

So with me not really doing anything, the score was still the same at the end of round 1.

Overview at the start of sin's round 2.

To my foolish surprise, the Land Raider moved up and the Chosen disembarked. This was going to have a bad end.

The Vindicator and Obliterators moved up, shot,...

...and killed all Scouts save two. These two survivors started to run, too.

The remaining three Devastators got all shot to pieces leaving the MO in the ruins empty...

...while the Emperor (praise to him!) had his protective hand here: the Chosens' fire caused only 1 wound, which I was able to save, and then they failed their charge roll.

Yet sin could collect MO points and First Blood so his score shot up to 4 VP.

In my turn, the Stormraven with the Death Company, the Terminators and my third Scout Squad (way in the back in the opposite corner) arrived.

The Terminators scattered a bit from the center of the table, but that was actually even better.

The Scouts arrived via sin's table edge...

..and were now right in the back of his cultists who held that MO that I had to hold, too.

The Attack Bikes circled around the wood...

...and fired at the LR, but due to my dismal luck with the dice were able to achieve a Weapon Destroyed on one of its laser banks.

The Scouts' Bolter fire in the meantime killed three Cultists.

So at the end of my turn 2 I still had no VP and I started to feel a little disheartened again.

In sin's turn 3, the Chosen had enough with playing games and wiped out the Attack Bikes.

The LR rolled back to support the Cultists against the sneaky Scouts. With their combined fire they managed to kill two Scouts.

The Vindicator turned now to take shots at the Terminator Assault Squad...

...and even the Obliterators came out of their Terrain to have LOS to the Terminators, too...

...yet with all the fire poured over them, still only two died.

sin's score shot up to 7 while I still banked a big zero.

In my turn 3 I got luckier with my MO. I still had to take this MO held by the Cultists, so the Scouts and the Terminators were assigned to this task.

The Storm Raven changed from zooming into hovering mode, unloaded the Death Company,...

...and shot the Blood Strike Missiles into the Obliterators now out in the open with great effect.

The Death Company charged the Vindicator...

... and the combination of Krack Grenades and TH gave me another VP desperately needed.

The Terminators failed to charge the Cultists, but the Scouts did and though they lost another Scout to the Cultists' defensive fire, they managed to wipe them out in close combat providing me with another important VP from this MO.

So at the end of round 3 with a score of 3 to 7 I had finally found back into the game.

sin's turn 4 had the two remaining Obliterators in this ruin use twin-linked Meltas on the Storm Raven. A success would have brought him another VP because had to destroy a vehicle - luckily the Meltas only took off two HP and destroyed the Storm raven's Multimelta.

Just an overview.

The LR moved up again and killed my heroic Scouts.

The Terminators lost one more to the Havocs' fire from this ruined building.

While the Cultists in the ruin near the Storm Raven also managed to kill one Marine of the Death Company.

So sin went up from 7 to 8.

On my turn 4, the DC moved into the ruins. I didn't care how many Cultists I could charge as long as I could charge 1.

Luckily I rolled well for the charging distance and this meant the end of the 2nd squad Cultists (=1 VP).

With the Cultists gone, the DC now shared these cozy ruins with the two remaining Obliterators.

The Storm Raven decided to chicken away - its job was done, so the only thing it could do now was not to die to enemy fire.

Accross the table, the Terminators charged the Havocs in this ruined building because I had to get the MO they held.

The Sanguinary Priest issued a challenge to the Havoc Champion (1 VP), the Havocs ran after that (another VP), and I now held twice as many MO than sin (D3 = 3 VP)...

 

...and all of a sudden I lead the scoreboard with 8:9.

In his turn 5, sin still had to get that pesky Storm Raven, so the Obliterators moved away from the DC and out of the ruins into the open, but their shots missed.

The Havocs failed their regroup roll and continued to flee...

...whereas the Chosen were now truly pissed...

...and boltered the two remaining Terminators away. There is always a point in time when you roll enough 1s.

sin took the lead again with 11:9.

In my turn 5, the Assault Squad finally arrived. Apparently they had to wait that long for their tea to be hot enough.

The Storm Raven continued to play chicken while initiating a turn so it wouldn't fly off the board.

The Devastators finally did their job and removed this plague...

...called Obliterators. Another VP.

Meanwhile, the DC sat on this MO in idle mode, yet earning another VP.

So at the end of turn 5, the score was tied at 11:11. I though this score was perfect because it did the game justice...

...but post game analysis showed that I scored Line Breaker (Assault Squad, DC, Storm Raven)...

...so after all the post game math was done, I narrowly won by 2 points.

Looking back I am really happy with the game because the list mostly worked as intended. With the Death Company and the Terminator Assault Squad I have strong units who can bring me back into the game against a shooty heavy opponent, yet they are not broken and still leave the opponent a fighting chance. What I'd like to do next is to play this list against my friend McMortison's fluffy mono-Khorne army to check if he also has fun against this list, too. If he does, this will be my new default allrounder list for pickup games.

Then I of course also have to work on my mistakes, the mistake with my Attack Bikes being the most blatant one. As the Colorblind Crusader says: "always check your opponents' threat range". Looking back it was also a bad decision to go second (so I could line up the Attack Bikes in relation to the Land Raider), because this gave sin the opportunity to pick the side with more ruins which had my Scouts more or less sit in the open.

Another thing I am uncertain about is having the illegal yet fluffy Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armor as my HQ. My capability to ban the Chaos Sorcerer's spell was bad and I could have easily scored another VP because one Maelstrom card just wanted me to manifest a psychic power. So while I paint my Sanguinary Priest, I'll have the Librarian in Terminator Armor substitute for him to check if I like it better to have a Librarian in my army again. It totally makes sense because Blood Angels Librarians are still among the most cost efficient HQs, he opens up new Maelstrom cards for me, defends my units against enemy witchcraft, plus depending on the spells I pull he can also be quite a nice bonus to my Terminator Assault Squad.

Well, we'll see.