Following up from X-Wing, Jeff Vader had convinced me to play Armada day two as it is also a single day event which I can manage. Though for this one I wanted something simple to execute – but different to my last CANCON list of triple Interdictors. Having tried a Raddus Bomb at the last Armada GT I opted for Imperials again with something I don’t recall ever putting on the table in anger.

A Super Star Destroyer.

It was with this in mind I came up with this list to embody the closest thing I have to a plan in the game – which is disrupting my opponents. Hence the Interdictor to support the SSD remains in play, though points are tight and in searching for how to best manage the lumbering beast of ship I opted for an Admiral I don’t recall really getting used before with the use of Admiral Piett.

The list:

SSD Command Prototype (220)

• Admiral Titus (2)

• Emperor Palpatine (3)

• Skilled First Officer (1)

• Intensify Firepower! (6)

• Boarding Troopers (3)

• Quad Battery Turrets (5)

• Eclipse (3)

= 243 Points

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)

• Admiral Piett (22)

• Taskmaster Grint (5)

• Projection Experts (6)

• Grav Shift Reroute (2)

• G7-X Grav Well Projector (2)

• Interdictor (3)

= 130 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)

• Darth Vader (1)

• Comms Net (2)

= 26 Points

Total Points: 399

That being said, I struggled with planning Objectives and I invariably resorted to ones I had been using previously. This is an egregious error which will become glaringly obvious when due consideration is given to the list.

Assault: Surprise Attack

Defense: Asteroid Tactics

Navigation: Infested Fields

Round 1 Ops Brief

Situation:

Factions: Imperial (me) vs. Imperial (NinjaBoomer)
Location & Objective: Deep Space – Doomed Station
Ruleset: Pre-27th January 2025

Order of Battle (ORBAT):

Me: (per above) First Player

Ninja Boomber:

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120)

- Admiral Konstantine (23)

- Chimaera (4)

- Intel Officer (7)

- Sensor Team (5)

- Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6)

- Electronic Countermeasures (7)

- Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

- Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

- Entrapment Formation! (5)

= 188 Points

Interdictor-class Suppression Refit (90)

- Interdictor (3)

- Captain Brunson (9)

- Engineering Team (5)

- Proximity Mines (4)

- Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

- Grav Shift Reroute (2)

- G-8 Experimental Projector (8)

= 125 Points

Gozanti-class Assault Carriers (28)

- Suppressor (4)

- Admiral Titus (2)

- Proximity Mines (4)

- Comms Net (2)

= 40 Points

Gozanti-class Assault Carriers (28)

- Darth Vader (off) (1)

- Proximity Mines (4)

- Comms Net (2)

= 35 Points

Total Points = 388

A battle of two Interdictors! Both ships implementation of Grav Shift Re-Route by both of us turns the setup into as close to a blank slate as was possible as nearly all the obstacles are sucked into the rift leaving just one with a mine sitting on a rock in front of my Interdictor which it’ll be able to suck up without too much difficulty. But any pretence of a plan goes out the window because of this.

Dan’s ISD takes a somewhat disappointing shot at my SSD, which apparently nothing can resolve. His Interdictor finds itself stuck in front of my SSD unable to escape its path. As a result, we’re constantly ramming into each other in a battle of attrition. Normally this would seem entirely in my favour except for the ISD shooting into my flank – though that also simplifies my attacks since I can don’t realistically have to choose.

Ninja Boomer isn’t able to repair either of his ships enough to overcome the damage being dealt out by the SSD, though he is rapidly getting into my hull at a good rate. Once the enemy Interdictor is out of the way, the ISD loses front arc on the SSD as Piett uses a Nav token to turn away, leaving my Interdictor to finish the fight as the ISD tries to turn away.

The game ends with the score 400-122 courtesy of half-points on the SSD.

For a first trot out I’m happy with the result, though positioning of the Grave Well token is a bit off though it meant the opposing ships were in a joust and not flanking. Boarding troopers on the SSD is a bit of overkill that helped really sink the damage into Ninja’s Interdictor.

Still getting to grips with tokening up Piett in the right order to ensure Intensify Firepower and boarding troopers are good to go while the front arc shot is good and ready.

Round 2 Ops Brief

Situation:

Factions: Imperial (me) vs. Rebel (Scott Bellamy)
Location & Objective: Deep Space – Infested Fields
Ruleset: Pre-27th January 2025

Order of Battle (ORBAT):

Me – (per above) Second Player

Scott Bellamy:

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)

• Admiral Ackbar (38)

• Ahsoka Tano (2)

• Engine Techs (8)

• Electronic Countermeasures (7)

• Leading Shots (6)

• XI7 Turbolasers (6)

• Home One (7)

= 180 Points

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)

• Ray Antilles (7)

• Engine Techs (8)

• Electronic Countermeasures (7)

• Leading Shots (6)

• XI7 Turbolasers (6)

• Defiance (5)

= 145 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

• Parts Resupply (3)

= 21 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

• Comms Net (2)

= 20 Points

Squadrons:

• Shara Bey (17)

• Tycho Celchu (16)

= 33 Points

Total Points: 399

This write up is easy as the game is available on stream here at approximately 3h25m mark.

This is where I realised I won’t win this objective – it definitely favours him with his squadrons despite the fact it’s mine. I positioned the objectives in a way to try and have the Interdictor take them. There is a debate about positioning the grav well again. Had I positioned it in such a way to prevent his deployment he could have just as readily taken the objectives and run away.

If I were to revisit the list – and I may - I would probably choose Doomed Station to farm extra points to close that score and really complicate the enemy setup/approach. The mistake of the objective is further compounded by taking the flotilla away from supporting the SSD where it needed to be feeding tokens to keep it going.

Another big mistake was the attack where I trigger boarding troopers and have a mediocre attack roll. In that moment I should have used Vader to go fishing for some hits as opposed to keeping those accuracies – at that point I just want him to expend tokens and I literally break that upgrade by stopping him spending the spent tokens.

This result isn’t great but it makes the path to victory very narrow as I need a 10-1 next game and I need some real upsets at the top of the ladder.

Round 3 Ops Brief

Situation:

Factions: Imperial (me) vs. Separatists (Mark/Asunakeno)
Location & Objective: Deep Space – Volatile Deposits
Ruleset: Pre-27th January 2025

Order of Battle (ORBAT):

Me – (per above) First Player

Mark/Asunakeno

Providence Carrier (105)

• Mar Tuuk (28)

• Thermal Shields (5)

• Jedi Hostage (3)

• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)

• Rapid Reload (8)

• Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)

• Invisible-hand (9)

= 167 Points

Recusant Light Destroyer (85)

• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

• Patriot Fist (6)

= 94 Points

Squadrons:

• DBS-404 (17)

• DIS-T81 (17)

• General Grievous (22)

• Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)

• 2 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (22)

• 3 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (33)

= 130 Points

Total Points: 391

I’d like to say as usual I don’t have a plan though reading objective very carefully, I at least nominate to place asteroids first near me. Mark places a debris field near me and I place a second asteroid near me. He immediately recognises his mistake and places an asteroid on his side of the board. Setup continues carefully though I will manipulate it to reduce the amount of points Mark can score.

Deployment wise I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going down with the Providence in front of me and the Recusant opposite the Interdictor. I wasn’t able to completely deny his access to the asteroid on his side of the board though it means he has to waste some commands just to get to it.

The SSD absolutely king hits the Providence turn 1 with a shot at medium range and leveraging the objective critical effect strips shields on the side and back, the second turn it loses shields on the front and the third turn it’s removed from the board. The fighters provide some discomfort to the shields however between engineering commands and the Interdictor feeding it shields it really doesn’t come to anything.

The Recusant bearing down on the Interdictor is another thing entirely though. He speeds up to compete for the objectives taking them off me for a turn, though without a nav command he finds himself in a spot of bother and ends up facing the board edge after copping a couple of decent hits from the Interdictor and copping some damage from a combination of being rammed or proximity to the asteroids.

In his last grasp he manages to destroy my flotilla and throws whatever squadrons he can that’s out of position to try and kill the Interdictor though fortunately they’re dispersed and only a handful get hits in. The Recusant then moves off the board-edge. The Interdictor moves across the dust field to avoid any additional shots.

Game ends 520-101.

I think Mark/Asunakeno is incredibly fatigued – he misses a lot of his triggers that could have kept him in the game longer like Thermal Shields on the Providence. This is confirmed as much as Jeff Vader and I drop him off at his hotel that he also hasn’t drunk any water all day as the cost of bottled (well canned technically) water at the event was practically criminal.

The critical effect from the objective was something that took a while for him to be able to really leverage because of the positions of the obstacles and only really took effect near the end of the game. Scoring objectives on the other hand worked really well in my favour and forced the Recusant to move into a position that undermined his front arc. This also plays into my discussion about objective selection round 2, as I’m not sure Mark was ready to actually leverage all aspects of the card.

This game result puts me on that narrow path to victory with a 10-1. It really depends on what happens in the other games.

Debrief

The results are incredibly tight with a couple of big swings from Lester and Jeff Vader with both of them and Andrew B all sitting sweet at 22 tournament points. I escape by the skin of my teeth on 23 tournament points while Scott takes the day with 25 tournament points. So second overall is a result I’m really pleased with for a list I’ve never used before in a tight field.

There was a good mix of representation across factions and arch-types considering the size of the competition. Running with no fighters always feels like a bit of a gamble - and in Round 2 it probably would have been helpful but an SSD doesn’t give you a lot of room to play with.

As for prizes, the Ahsoka themed template tray is amazing. Mundo gave me the one he earnt winning the Brisbane GT, and so it seemed only right that I give him mine – much to the amusement of Jeff Vader. But that wraps up probably the last tournament with the old ruleset – with AMG having (finally) released their update just a few days prior to the CANCON event.

Rosco and I have been rapidly throwing ideas back and forth, look for a blog entry about that coming up later.

Stay salty!

- Barry