Sunday, September 10, 2023

Raddus Rite-Up from Stewbucket! AKA Fleet Building 313A: A Blue Fish Case Study

More free content from the blog mines! Stewbucket (previous Worlds judge!) wanted to write this and it seemed pretty interesting (and i will freely take most content thrown my way, blog for the blog gods). Take a look about fleetbuilding and his insights, below!

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

LSO 2023 After Action Report - Kelorn

Hey guys, Kelorn asked if he could write an AAR for the Lone Star Open, and I will take any free article that gives me those sweet, sweet pageclicks. You know you want to read what he wrote, so hit the jump!

The key is to make the joke and then never explain it

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Know Your Enemy/Commander's Corner: Davits Draven

Hey, a new Rebel commander! That guy from that thing and some comic books, let's learn about Davits Draven!

He's definitely gonna appear in some other properties, right, and not die in a comic offscreen?

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Two RR Officers!

Before I dive into Draven, I figured I'd punch out Pryce and attack Assaj: hit the jump, kids!

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Four RR2 Squadrons!

Hooray, we got 4 new squadrons! Let me dump them all HERE before inserting them into their own posts. Hit the jump for some cool new stuff!

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

You Underestimate My Power!

It’s a truism of Star Wars: you can never have too much Darth Vader. AMG has brought us another incarnation of the Chosen One with the release of Rapid Reinforcements 2. To distinguish him from the other versions of Anakin, you’ll see this version referred to as “Commandakin” by the Armada community at large, including by yours truly. This is a print and play expansion, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can find the release on AMG’s website or through this direct link. Try not to let your jaw drop too much when you start reading this card…

The Card!

Ani heard you like Salvos

It’s important to recognize this card has two abilities rather than just one. The first paragraph just straight up buffs all of your salvos. This is completely independent of the second paragraph, so don’t let anyone tell you it only happens during the second paragraph’s special attack. That, right off the bat, makes Anakin pretty decent. GAR already depends heavily on salvo for its ship-based firepower, which Anakin makes even better. A Venator under Anakin gets to roll up to four dice for its salvo outright. Before we even get into the second part of his ability, Anakin makes your salvo outright better.

The second paragraph was the most confusing upon release, as it does some things that we’ve never been able to do in Armada before. There's two ways you can use this. First, and most obvious, use allows you to resolve your salvos offensively rather than just defensively. Gone are the days of relying on an opponent to shoot you in order to do a good chunk of your damage potential. After one of your ships attack, you can spend a salvo token to make a salvo. All the normal rules of salvo apply, so a ship can’t salvo you back after this attack. AMG has clarified that this Salvo attack uses the same arcs and line of sight as the first attack. And yes, this does mean that Anakin’s ships get to effectively attack three times during their own activation. You can attack, use Anakin’s ability to attack that same target again with a salvo, and then use a second arc to conduct another attack. You can also attack, attack, and the  salvo if that’s your preference. Force help anyone you’ve managed to double arc with a Venator. They’re in for a bad time.

The second way to use this part of his ability, which might be less obvious at first glance, is what we call the "double salvo". You know what a salvo attack is? An attack. “Once per activation” includes enemy activations, not just your own. That means that after you resolve a salvo attack during an enemy ship's activation, you can spend another salvo to do it again. AMG clarified that it's indeed a whole separate attack, so you could tap a second salvo on your ship or even discard the salvo you just spent. This part of his ability is…controversial to put it politely. At risk of editorializing in a how-to guide, we here at CGYSO really don't like how punishing this is for small ships, such as Hammerheads, consulars, or other small ships that rely on double arcs and finesse to survive. This version of Anakin is very strong against those types of ships, while not helping Anakin at all against things that counter him, such as ignition attacks (which cannot be salvo'd). AMG, if you're listening, I like the design idea, but this part of the ability is too much. I'd love to see the wording here changed to "Once per a friendly ship's activation…" It makes for a strong commander, with a unique ability, but doesn't overly punish small ships.

Why Play Him!

They're definitely related


Anakin does what most versions of him do: better living through offense. If you want to play a more aggressive, ship-heavy style with GAR, Anakin is your guy. I like to say he’s essentially “free double arcs” because his salvos often match or exceed the side arc of the GAR ships he likes to use. I think AMG also did a great job of tying this to the salvo token. By doing so, they allow for some interactions that reflect Anakin overreaching and getting himself into trouble. For example, you really *really* don’t want to get yourself caught by a ship packing Boarding Troopers. While that’s dangerous for anyone, stripping away key defense tokens like your brace, it’s especially nasty for Anakin because you’re also losing uses of major offensive firepower. If you enjoy playing aggressive to the point of recklessness, Commandakin is your guy.

Ships!


When you see Anakin, your mind probably goes straight to a Venator. It is easily the most natural fit for an Anakin fleet. It has the slots to take both Flak Guns and DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers. This combination gives the Venator four salvo dice at medium range with Anakin and guarantees at least one critical. At medium and closer, that equates to two damage with a black die. Anakin and SPHA-T make an interesting combination for GAR. SPHA-T, as an ignition attack, doesn’t allow a defender to salvo. Since Anakin’s offensive salvo is still…you know…a salvo, it too doesn’t allow a defender to Salvo. If you’re dealing with a salvo monster on the other side of the board (looking at your Mr. Starhawk), Anakin and SPHA-T is a pretty interesting way to crack that can open. It also creates a rather hilarious paradigm where Anakin is his own best counter. I think there could also be room for cheap Acclamators looking to use their salvos offensively. An Acclamators 2 with Thermal Shields, External Racks, and Ordnance Experts is only 84 points. With a close range double arc, it can throw six dice out the front, five dice out the side (with the Racks), and follow it up with three more dice from its salvo. Peltas with Reactive Gunnery are also a solid option. Three reds are nothing to laugh at.

Fleet!


Unless Anakin loses the double salvo, the obvious thing to do with him is to start with two Venators and then build a support structure around that. I'm always loath to go without squad cover as GAR, so you'll need to navigate some list building tension between maximizing Anakin while covering yourself against potential weak points. Here's one possibility:

Don't Stop Me Now v2 (89/400/400)

=================================


Venator II-class Star Destroyer (100 + 47: 147)

· Anakin Skywalker (29)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Local Fire Control (4)

· Flak Guns (3)

· Electronic Countermeasures (7)

· DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)


Venator I-class Star Destroyer (90 + 20: 110)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Local Fire Control (4)

· Intensify Firepower! (6)

· Flak Guns (3)

· DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)

· Tranquility (3)


Pelta-class Transport Frigate (45 + 9: 54)

· Munitions Resupply (3)

· Projection Experts (6)


5 x ARC-170 Starfighter Squadron (5 x 15)

Matchstick (14)


Blockade Run

Contested Outpost

Doomed Station


The strategy here is pretty straightforward. Venators do the bulk of the fighting, blasting away with salvos. The ARCs follow along and behind, looking to either cover the Vens or finish off any ship lucky enough to get past. Matchstick allows the ARCs to operate independently of the Vens as needed, freeing up the Vens to Nav or Repair. Be sure to lead as best you can with the Ven 2, as even with Tranquility, PE support, and squad commands, the Ven 1 is liable to go down quickly. Still, I love Intensify Firepower, as it stabilizes your normal attacks and makes your Anakin salvo ridiculously dependable in combination with DBYs. You can all but guarantee five damage from your salvos at medium range, with the occasional spike even higher. Just be warned, you’re probably not going to be winning many friends if you bring this to a casual game night. Anakin is looking extremely strong at the time of writing, so we recommend giving opponents a heads up before you become “that guy.”

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Rapid Reinforcements 2 Announcement Post!

Alright, we finally have enough rulings that I can start getting these articles out. Almost everything has been clarified and these sure.... are cards, alright. I'm working on getting all these out for people and may even have some help soon writing them up, but we'll see how those all get out soon enough. I have..... many feelings about these cards, and the FAQs that arrived today.  I will try not to let them color my judgment too much as the site exists to advise people how to play these cards; I will use those rulings to help write the articles, though!

Expect the first ghost when the clock strikes onnnnnnnne! Or uh, I mean, article, uh, soon

Wednesday, April 26, 2023


Bonjour mon amis! I'm here (again) with Elred's article, as the first time it didn't seem to take and I was having trouble wit the pictures. So, let's let Nicolas take it away for trial number 2!

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Xantos part 2!

And in the interest of getting off my butt and finally posting both of these (to which I again thank Xantos and Elred for their patience), let's get Xantos's Worlds experience out as well.

Full credit, this was Damon's joke, I'm just stealing it for the header

Truthi vs the World



Hey all! Your friendly neighborhood Truthiness here again. With all of our guest takes on Worlds experiences, it only seems right that I also add my own perspective as part of the BIG crew. We can’t let Biggs be the only one of us writing something, after all. I think it’s pretty common knowledge at this point that I went into Worlds pretty dejected with the state of the game. With no confirmation that a Worlds 2024 would even happen and no news from AMG on the horizon, I was bracing for this to be the last hurrah. But then I actually got there, surrounded by people who love this game. That kind of energy is infectious for me, and as the weekend progressed, my optimistic nature reemerged. If you take the combined LCQ and Worlds numbers, there were over 130 individual people that showed up to Adepticon to play competitive Armada. That is the most people we have ever had. And man, the play that was on display was, in my opinion, the best I’ve seen. And the meta? Holy hell was there a lot of fleet diversity. Each of the top 8 was a completely unique fleet, heavily tailored to the person running that fleet. Adam had his signature Ackbar, Sebastian was rocking that crazy Onager+Firesprays fleet that originated in Europe, and Nick had his now infamous Irish Cream GAR. Jason’s Donager was a fearsome force. The two fleets that could be said to be closest in structure were Daniel’s Rieekan and Justin’s Cracken, and well, those fleets play noticeably differently because of who the players are and what their commanders do. Oh and neither fleet on the top table of the final round had maximum squads. That’s the first time that’s ever happened in our game. All of that put together says to me we have an exceptionally healthy game. Anyway, time for my journey!


It wouldn’t be a Truthiness fleet if I didn’t make a last minute swerve, and this tournament was no exception. I had been rocking a Venator/Acclamator/Consular GAR fleet leading into Worlds, but I had become increasingly concerned that the Acclamator, even with Nevoota Bee, wasn’t pulling its weight. I had an alternate idea, but I hadn’t run it at all. I got two pick up games on Thursday to warm up and give my fleet the final shakedown. Thanks to Adam Newton playing with a 2V2P Lumi fleet for that game, all my worries were put on full display. I decided to implement my back up plan, and geek was kind enough to give that fleet a pick up game. It performed much better, so I made the last second call to change. I ended up with something very close to Nicholas Larson’s (UnskilledFirstOfficer) VWC winning Y-Wing spam. Here’s the full fleet:


Does my naming convention make sense? Nope.


Name: Seven Seas of Y

Faction: Republic

Commander: Bail Organa


Assault: Precision Strike

Defense: Fighter Ambush

Navigation: Superior Positions


Venator II (100)

• Bail Organa (28)

• Flight Commander (3)

• Ruthless Strategists (4)

• Flag Bridge (0)

• Electronic Countermeasures (7)

• Ordnance Pods (3)

• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

• Tranquility (3)

• Mercy Mission (0)

= 155 Points


Pelta Medical Frigate (49)

• Clone Navigation Officer (4)

• Projection Experts (6)

• Bomber Command Center (8)

• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)

• TB-73 (5)

= 77 Points


Consular Armed Cruiser (37)

• Radiant VII (1)

• Comms Net (2)

= 40 Points


Squadrons:

• Anakin Skywalker (Delta-7) (24)

• Axe (17)

• Kickback (16)

• 7 x BTL-B Y-wing Squadron (70)

= 127 Points


Total Points: 399


The key difference between mine and UFO’s fleet is the squad ball and the Venator. They’re minor differences, but it created a significant difference in how we each played. UFO has the same aces, but had a generic Delta-7 instead of a seventh Y-Wing. While I love that squad ball, I wanted some of the ship upgrades a bit more. I felt I could slim down a bit to get all the ship toys I wanted. I fell in love with Flight Commander, Ordnance Pods, and Ruthless Strategists while I was messing around with a Plo version of this fleet because of the order of operations. By having Flight Commander allow flakking to happened first and then commanding squads, I found that between flak and the aces, I could break Y-Wings free for bombing faster and easier, but since it came at the expense of the squad ball, I was more reliant on RS to clear other squads. I should note that Mercy Mission is a quiet star of any version of this fleet. Mercy Mission is damned near required for GAR in my mind, as it flips the dynamic of games. That free 40 points (assuming you don’t go and die), makes getting a 7-4 win a very easy prospect, and also flips the scoring dynamic if someone opts to just run away. In a tournament as competitive as this one was likely to be, I was looking for every advantage I could get.



My first opponent of the tournament was the reigning Polish National Champion, Piotr, running the very fleet that had carried him to Polish victory. This was a field full of familiar names, but he was one I especially didn’t want to play right off the bat with so few reps with my own fleet. And oh man did I botch this match up. I took first and selected his fighter ambush. Piotr outplayed me in the squad game big time, wiping my squad wing with minimal losses in return. My biggest mistake, though, was failing to use my Bail repair not once, but twice in a row. That’s four shields I could have regen’d on my Venator. Guess how many hull it died by? One. I had essentially sacrificed my squad wing to take down the ISD, so a win was contingent on getting the Venator out alive. Remembering either of my two missed Bail repairs would have flipped this to a win to me, though a narrow one. Alas, instead I took a 4-7 loss to start the day. I could console myself with the fact Mercy Mission changed the MoV enough to save me a tournament point. This became a theme on day one.




My second opponent was my evil nemesis, the DreadLordLoki. Loki and I have squared off a few times before, and he was rocking a fleet similar to the one I had barely beaten at NOVA Open. Instead of an Onager, however, he had an Interdictor supporting his Gunnery Team Cymoon. Loki gave me first player, and I decided to risk Most Wanted, banking on my ability to Bail repair and Projection Experts through the damage. This game came down to two critical moments. First, my Pelta managed to slip directly between his Cymoon and Interdictor, ensuring it was able to keep contributing throughout the game. The second was my Venator activation on turn three. I had activated my Pelta first to avoid taking a gunnery team shot from the Cymoon. Loki then opted to activate the Interdictor, which had a double arc shot on my Venator. Between Romodi obstruction and Most Wanted, man did it hit haaaaaaaaaard. It did six damage with an accuracy (I opted not to ECM at this point) and then seven damage (which I braced without having to ECM) to my Venator. My Venator then went, just barely killing the Cymoon with its own double arc and its commanded bombers. If I failed to get that kill, I don’t think I was going to be able to avoid the Cymoon front arc, and would have had to burn my brace to stay alive. I think Loki made absolutely the right call in doing the Interdictor first, but the dice were with me on this one. With the Cymoon cleared out, I had a comfortable path to victory from there on. I almost got the Interdictor for the table, but couldn’t quite get through its repair spam. Mercy Mission again pushed me up a tournament point, taking an 8-3 to a 9-2.




My third game was against Ryan Becker, who was running a BT SSD with a BT ISD 1. To say going right at this fleet would have been dangerous is an understatement. I thought hard about going for the SSD kill, but opted for the more cautious route of getting the ISD 1 and hoping I could pull even enough on Contested Outpost points that I would still get the solid win. In hindsight, it was definitely the right choice. I nailed the ISD with my flood of bombers on turn three. I started trying to work on the SSD on turn four, but with the Jerjerrod SSD repairing and fishtailing every turn, depriving me of both ship and bomber range, I couldn’t even get it to half health. Still, Contested Outpost ended up being an even split, giving me a solid 8-3 This was my only game of the day where Mercy Mission made no difference to the tournament points.




My final game of the first day was against Louis Andre, running a Jerjerrod ISD and supporting squads. I took his Asteroid Tactics, confident I could keep moving well enough to avoid the worst of the Exogorths. In hindsight, I majorly messed up my Mercy Mission ship movements, going wide left out of habit rather than cutting across the center of the board, far away from the ISD. Louis turned that into a beautiful and continuing fork, repeatedly forcing me to activate the consular first to keep it alive. There was a moment on turn three where I knew I could either win the squad war, or save my Mercy Mission ship. I think I again made the wrong choice here. I wasn’t confident I could fully clean up his squad wing without significant losses, so I opted to save the safe points and hope Anakin would hold out just a little bit longer. That didn’t happen, and my squadrons just collapsed from there. In retrospect, I think the Anakin activation I passed up would have saved me the game, albeit very tightly. Despite that choice, I still came awfully close to losing Mercy Mission. It came down to the last Firespray activation, which left the Consular on a single hull. In the end, I lost most of my squads while only getting a Gozanti kill in return. Thankfully, the Mercy Mission’s points kept it to a 5-6 loss, which kept me in contention for day two.




Day two started out baaaaaaaaaaaad. For one, I forgot to take all but one picture all day. But more importantly, I knew Donager was going to be a problem, and sure enough, Jason’s Donager was brutal. I was hoping to get one of the Onager in exchange for the inevitable death of my Venator, but just couldn’t pull it out, unable to pile on enough damage to an Onager before my ships went down. I did really well in the squad fight, though, breaking my Y-Wings off to bomb and cleaning up his squad wing without losses. This was almost a 4-7 loss, but my Mercy Mission Consular took a side shot at medium range that included a double hit red and critical hit blue. I tossed my evade…only to have the exact same results come up. That clinched a full tabling for Jason. Had I taken just a single less damage, the Consular was likely to live to get the Mercy Mission touchdown. It was going to be a brutal game regardless, but starting day two at the very bottom of the field was not something I wanted.


The next game was against Jason Dedrick and his Ackbar MSU. We have played more times than I care to count, so I knew what to expect from his fleet. He had a seven activation advantage to my three, so was able to last-first with key ships no matter how much passing I did. We played my Precision Strike, which ended up fairly even, with a token or two advantage to Jason by the end. I tried to nail a CR90 early with my squads, but it slipped away on one hull. Bail and Projection Experts kept the Venator largely out of trouble, so Jason focused down the Pelta. Unfortunately for him, one of his CR90s got in the way of his MC30’s escape route, and ended up costing him his flagship. That gave me the 7-4 win I needed to start climbing back into the field. The dice were unkind to both of us in this game, so at times it felt like a bit of a slap fight. Still, the win was a win to get me climbing of the hole.


My third game of the day was easily the most frustrating for my opponent. The dice HATED poor Aiden and his TF-1726 LMSU swarm. I had played Aiden in the VWC, and I knew he could quickly overwhelm my Venator if given the chance. He took my Fighter Ambush, which I leveraged immediately. Bypassing my usual turn one repair to use for ECM later on, I instead passed a squad token to the Venator and used my Flight Commander to launch a turn one squad attack at a Gozanti. My goal was to try and get the early kill and knock Aiden off balance from the start. Despite the BCC being out of range, all of my bombers hit with every single roll of my seven squadron attacks. Even the ones that were evaded. The game largely cascaded from there. I was able to pick off all of his Hardcells, and nailed his other Gozanti with a perfect roll from my Pelta. The one bright spot for Aiden was his Patriot’s Fist absolutely demolishing my Venator. Remember how I forwent that repair token on turn one? Yeah…I wasn’t able to ready my ECMs because of needing to clear raid tokens, so PFist got a brutal shot at my fleeing Venator to finish it off. Fighter Ambush tokens were the main decider of this game. I had no chance at killing PFist with the Venator down, but I kept pushing Y-Wings at it anyway to farm tokens where I could. This was almost a 10-1, but my last three Y-Wing whiffed their shots without the BCC in range, depriving me of Fighter Ambush tokens and keeping me 10 MoV short. Still, I couldn’t complain about a 9-2, which put me firmly back in contention for a top eight finish to the day.


The pairing for my final game pretty much sealed my fate. I expected to need an 8-3 or better to be able to make the top eight cut. However, the match up gods gave me a farmhawk instead. And not just any farmhawk. A boarding troopers farmhawk. My Venator had no real shot at surviving any kind of prolonged engagement with that thing. And with PDIC and a full complement of rogues, I had no real hope of killing the hawk with my squadrons. So instead, I took Advanced Gunnery, looked to leverage my Mercy Mission advantage, hoped I got an opening to kill enough squadrons to make it a 7-4, and prayed that was enough for the cut. The game played out pretty much as expected, with no meaningful engagement until turn six. I had an opening to try and nail two YT-2400s with my last activation. I played the engagement perfectly, getting one YT down to a single hull, had Anakin come in with the perfect roll to splash the wounded YT and get another down to a single hull. I just needed a Y-Wing to come in and finish the job. Instead…whiff. That single hull YT then went on to be the deciding factor in killing Kickback. Had the Y-Wing not whiffed, I would have had my 7-4 with a 64 MoV. As I expected, though, I would have needed an 8-3 to make the cut anyway, so it ended up not mattering.


At the end of day two, I had climbed back up to 11th place, missing the top eight cut by 2 tournament points. Not bad for a fleet I barely knew and changed the day before, eh? Just with previous years, I had an absolute blast meeting people and playing such challenging games. As a consolation prize for not making the top cut, I got to play in the 800 point sector fleet tournament, where I beat up DreadLordLoki again, and then got to create this moment with Gilarius:



Spoiler, I did NOT successfully run that blockade. Leia Nebs OP, please nerf. We had people coming and watching our game just for the cinema of it. It was just pure, unadulterated fun.


The cherry on top of it all? AMG announced both Rapid Reinforcements 2 and the OP system for the coming year, including confirmation that Worlds will once again be at Adepticon in 2024. I’m going to hold off on a RR2 reaction until we get some clarification on some of these cards. Until then, Imp players should feel free to drool uncontrollably over the new Governor Pryce. My enthusiasm for this game got a huge shot in the arm thanks to Worlds, so expect some more editorials from me in the coming months. I’m going be trying to focus on a single fleet this competitive season (no, seriously, stop laughing), so expect me to do a breakdown of that development process. And, of course, I’ll be here for all the juicy RR2 details…just as soon as we understand how most of them are supposed to work.

Sunday, April 16, 2023

James AKA Malador AKA Did John Get the Winner

Why YES I did get the man who won it all to write one of these up! I'm most grateful that he hasn't sent me a "dude, where's my article" e-mail having sent me this write-up a solid week ago.  To THE write-up!

Did I find the lamest Google image search possible? Listen he was in A STAR WAR!

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Gilarius and THE Sector Fleet Game!

I'm currently in process of getting more of these together; I've got a write-up from James, the winner, who I appreciate and have in a longer format that I promise I am getting to but currently have a bit of editing to do, along with a few more.  However, today I have Gilarius from the UK.  As a man after my own heart running Leia, how could I NOT give him the floor? Hit the jump for the details!

I have been advised to tell you lot that it is in fact, coming home. Also, Richmond FC wooo.

Monday, April 3, 2023

Black Admiral's Worlds Write-Up!

Today's Writeup: Black Admiral! Top 8 player write-up below!

Looks just like him, coat and everything!

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Armada Worlds 2023 LCQ Recap: Xantos1159

In what I'm hoping will be the first of many of these, I've reprinted Xantos's LCQ write below the jump. There will hopefully be more of these, but for now, hit the jump for one of the LCQ winners!

Amusingly, John was the one to grab this gif 

Friday, March 31, 2023

Armada World Championship Recap: Biggs - Or "How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Crab Bucket"

 Long time no see, huh?

Fun fact, I wasn't supposed to go to Worlds.  I had Shmitty's "extra ticket" from winning 2019 GenCon, and figured it wouldn't even be honored, and that I'd just be showing up to hang out and watch some Armada games.  But, the ticket was honored and I was off to play Star Wars Armada on the big stage.  Garm Bel Iblis and the Dumpster Fire that Shmitty and I came up with earned me the ticket, so in the spirit of "dance with the one who brought you" I resolved to bring a Dumpster Fire to Worlds and see how well I could do.


I remember joking just prior to the tournament starting: "I shouldn't be here, and I'm going to make it someone else's problem."  Oh, how right I was.

My List


Garm Fire: The Final Dumpster - 397/400

Assault Objective: Marked For Destruction
Defense Objective: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation Objective: Infested Fields

Modified Pelta-Class Command Ship (60)
- Intensify Firepower! (6)
- Disposable Capacitors (3)
- Ahsoka Tano (2)
= 71 points

[flagship] Assault Frigate Mark II A (81)
- Garm Bel Iblis (25)
- Boarding Troopers (3)
- Electronic Countermeasures (7)
- Ezra Bridger (3)
- Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 126 points

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
- Yavaris (5)
- Skilled First Officer (1)
= 63 points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
- Slaved Turrets (6)
= 47 points

1 Lando Calrissian (23)
1 Shara Bey (17)
1 Tycho Celchu (16)
2 A-Wing Squadron (11)
1 Gold Squadron (12)
= 90 points

A classic Biggs style Dumpster Fire build, with an AFIIA as the flagship, with LTT for extra flak powers, Boarding Troopers to punish anyone who gets close, and ECM to keep it alive.  I had included Ezra Bridger as extra insurance against Interdictor related shenanigans.

I just like a D-Caps Command Pelta vs an Assault Pelta, though I feel like the Pelta was often in a better position for flak than it was for commanding squadrons.

Yavaris was a new entry into my Dumpster Fire.  It did give my squadrons a little more punch, but it was often the primary target of any opponent.

The Slaved Turret Hammerhead punches way harder than you expect a Hammerhead to punch.  10/10 no comments.

My squadron ball is my favorite squadron ball.  "Medium-Well" point cost, punchy for it's price with A-Wings, the A-Wing aces, and Lando, plus Gold Squadron could punish anyone who went with no squads, and should be able to trade up against anyone that brought 134 of squads.  At least that was the plan going into the games.

For objectives:  Marked for Destruction is an objective no one ever seems to take, gives me dust clouds to hide behind, and involves Purrgil which opponents don't quite understand.  Even at a high level, it gives me a good advantage against someone not expecting it.  I expect to play this objective the most because other than the novelty factor, it doesn't explicitly benefit my list much.  Asteroid Tactics and Infested Fields let me win squadron fights, which let me win games, simple as that.


Round 1: Daniel Wolf - Germany - Table 2


MC30c Torpedo Frigate
- Lando Calrissian
- Ordnance Experts
- Assault Proton Torpedoes
- H9 Turbolasers
- Foresight

CR90A
- General Dodonna
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits
- Jaina's Light

CR90B
- Dodonna's Pride

GR75 Transport
- Adar Tallon
- Boosted Comms

GR75 Transport
- Toryn Farr
- Quantum Storm

Squadrons:
Hera Syndulla (Ghost)
Dash Rendar
Corran Horn
Norra Wexley
YT-2400
Rogue Squadron
Gold Squadron

Daniel came in at 400 points, and that meant I got to hand him my objectives.  He quickly decided on Asteroid Tactics

I had set up to have my smaller ships catch his MC30 with my squadrons, and set up a kill box if it tried to cross over.  He gunned up to speed 4 in an attempt to double arc my Yavaris, but just missed the double arc, and instead got Foresight eaten for his troubles.  Unfortunately for me, other than Corran Horn and Foresight, his other ships were much to fast and his squadrons too punchy for me to put much more of a dent in his fleet.  I lost a few squadrons squadrons, Yavaris, and the Hammerhead in the exchange.  Unfortunately the game was called on turn 5, and swung on him getting just enough to kill one of my A-Wings.  He got a small MOV win, 148-141, giving me a 5-6 loss but a respectable number of tournament points.

Round 2:  Przemyslaw Niedzielski - Poland (I hope I spelled that correctly) - Table 21


Recusant Support Destroyer
- General Grievous
- Rune Haako
- Boosted Comms
- Reserve Hangar Deck
- Linked Turbolaser Towers

Recusant Support Destroyer
- Tikkes
- Flight Controllers
- Boosted Comms
- Reserve Hangar Deck
- Linked Turbolaser Towers
- Patriot Fist

Gozanti Cruisers

Squadrons
- DBS-404
- Phlac-Arphroc Prototypes
- DIS-T81
- Droid Tri-Fighter Squadron x5
- Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron x2

I had the bid once again, and chose 2nd player, and he chose Marked for Destruction.  We both deployed cagy, with me in a similar deployment to my last game, my ships angling to the right.  We began to punch one another, trading ships and squadrons.  I got one of his Recusants, and a decent number of squadrons, while he got everything but the AFII, and most of my squadrons.  Ultimately, the score was 248-194, in another 5-6 loss for me.



Round 3 - Silvio Gollnick - Germany (Table 21)


Starhawk Battleship Mark I
- Krysta Agate (commander)
- Walex Blissex
- Ezra Bridger
- Point Defense Ion Cannons
- Linked Turbolaser Towers
- Amity

Pelta Command Ship
- Adar Tallon
- Projection Experts

GR-75 Medium Transports
- Toryn Farr
- Comms Nets

Squadrons:
- Lando Calrissian
- Corran Horn
- Shara Bey
- Dutch Vander
- VCX-100 Freighter x2

 Well, that's not what I wanted to see.  With a bid of 396, Silvio was able to choose 2nd player for himself, and with that I knew I was out of luck.  I was not build to take out an Agate Starhawk, especially not one with projection experts feeding it more shields.  I had a choice of Advanced Gunnery, Fire Lanes, and Doomed Station.  Both Doomed Station and Fire Lanes were just inviting him to have free points (120 and 270 respectively), so my only hope in winning, and salvaging any sort of points from the match were to take Advanced Gunnery, hope to win the squadron fight...

... and run.
Top of Turn 2, Running


I gave my AFII Advanced Gunnery, the plan being to have it dance into the squadron fight just long enough to snipe a few squadrons with LTTs, and then bail out.  The other ships would just run for the edge and avoid the Starhawk entirely.  From there, my squadrons could win the squadron battle netting me a 6-5, or a 7-4 if I was lucky.  It wasn't a good plan, but the only one I had that could reasonably give me a win, and it nearly worked.

Nearly.

The AFII did manage to get into range of the enemy squadrons, and flak some of them down.  But the Starhawk turned in and added it's own flak, and chased the AFII away from the fight.  Ultimately he had squadron commands for his squadrons, and I did not.  More annoyingly, his Lando escaped death on 1 hull, which let him eat my Lando instead.  The part of the plan that worked?  Not a single shot was taken against a capital ship the entire game.  Shara was left alive to escape to fight another day, but I had only managed to kill Corran and Dutch.  73-38, for another 5-6 loss.


Round 4: Nathanial Beaver - North America(?) - Table 24


ROGER ROGER SWAWC

Munificent Star Frigate
- Mar Tuuk
- Wat Tambor
- Projection Experts
- Electronic Countermeasures
- Point Defense Ion Cannons
- Linked Turbolaser Towers
- Sa Nalaor

Munificent Star Frigate
- Projection Experts
- Electronic Countermeasures
- Point Defense Ion Canons
- Linked Turbolaser Towers

Recusant Light Destroyer
- Tikkies
- Veteran Gunners
- Assault Proton Torpedoes
- Swivel-Mount Batteries
- Patriot Fist

Hardcell Transport
- Hondo Ohnaka
- Engineering Team
- Parts Resupply

Going in to this game, at 15 Tournament Points, I knew I needed a 10-1 or at least a 9-2 to claw my way into a Day 2 position.  With this in mind, I shifted to a new plan: Table the Opponent, fast.  Now, a Dumpster Fire is not build for this plan, but you've gotta try with what you've got.  With this in mind, my plan going in was to take 1st player, my opponent's red objective, and try to win the joust.  Seeing no squadrons, I thought I had a decent enough shot at it, as I could do bombing runs on his fleet without worry.  So I took his Rift Assault, and hoped for the best.

Again, it was a plan that nearly worked.

We both deployed aggressively, and he drove his flagship forward too quickly, trying to cut off my AFIIA which was cutting in fast and hard from the right flank.  The AFII then jumped in front of his entire deployment with my final activation, jumping in front of his flagship, and then Garm Tokened himself, and activated first the next turn, raiding Mar Tuuk's Brace and Redirect.  From there it was a matter of mopping up the crippled Muni.  Unfortunately, that was the last thing that really went well.  I would eventually bag the Hardcell with my squadrons, but the combined Patriot Fist / Munificent were too much for the rest of my fleet, and my AFIIA limped away with 3 hull as the only survivor that wasn't a squadron.  Token scoring was 4 vs 3, primarily because my AFII was way, way out of position as the rest of our fleets fought in the obstacles.  Final Score:  222-255, for yet another 5-6 loss.


Takeaways:


Worlds has always been an amazing time to have some good games of Armada, and 2023 Worlds was no different.  I could not imagine having more fun losing 4 really close games against some amazing opponents.  Every single opponent I played deserved to be in Day 2, and I like to think that playing me knocked them out of it.  (In the case of Round 3 and Round 4, that is almost certainly true, Silvio missed the cut by 1 or 2 spots.)

Does this mean the Dumpster Fire is viable in 2023?  Maybe?  With a few tweaks and a player who's had more than a handful of games since COVID started?

But more than any of that, Worlds continues to be where the community comes together to make Armada something truly special.  Until next we meet, all of you!