Star Wars Armada

At the weekend I ventured down to the club and we played a simple points based game of Star Wars Armada.

As is traditional I played Imperial and had a 400 point fleet based around one Imperial class and two Victory class Star Destroyers with two fighter squadrons each (TIE fighters for the small ships and TIE interceptors for the larger).

My opposition adopted a different strategy having more smaller ships and lots more fighters.

Having not played for a little while I made some fundamental tactical errors with my fighters early on and they took a pasting as a result.  Then the capital ships came into range.  The Rebels tried to use their greater speed and manoeuvrability to evade my main front batteries but I got enough salvoes into the destroy two of their ships. And whilst one of my Victory class ISDs had taken quite a bit of damage they couldn't bring enough resources to bear to finish it off before the end of the game.

Here are a couple of photos from the game:

Retribution at Ryloth

Since we hadn't got Armada to the table for ages, I put on a narrative scenario at the club recently.  Each side had 400 points to spend and the briefings were as set out below. 

Rebel Briefing

Following the capture of a Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier and the destruction of an Arquitens-class light cruiser by Rebel forces over Ryloth, Imperial activity in the sector has substantially increased. This puts the abandoned Clone Wars era station orbiting the system’s outer planet which is being used as a Rebel supply station at risk.

With an Imperial task force under Admiral Motti appearing at Ryloth itself it has become imperative to relocate the vital supplies from the station and also transport Cham Syndulla, leader of the resistance on Ryloth to recruit more Twi’leks to fight the Empire.

Rebel Victory Conditions

The station holds 10 units of supplies each worth 10 points if they are aboard a ship which has left the system. Small ships can only carry 1 unit, medium ships 2 units and large ships 3 units.

Cham Syndulla is worth 20 points if he is aboard a ship that successfully leaves the system.

You will also score points for every Imperial ship and squadron destroyed equal to their point value but lose points for every Rebel ship or squadron destroyed on the same basis.

Imperial Briefing

Following the capture of a Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier and the destruction of an Arquitens-class light cruiser by insurgent forces over Ryloth, Imperial activity in the sector has been substantially increased.

Your Imperial task force under Admiral Motti has been dispatched to Ryloth to root out these rebels and neutralise them.  You also need to locate and capture or eliminate Cham Syndulla, leader of the resistance on Ryloth to prevent him from inciting more Twi’leks to resist the Empire.

Imperial Agents have brought intelligence of activity near an abandoned Clone Wars era station orbiting the outer planet in the system.

Imperial Victory Conditions

The station holds 10 units of supplies each worth 10 points if they destroyed whilst still in the system. Note that small Rebel ships can only carry 1 unit, medium ships 2 units and large ships 3 units.

Cham Syndulla is worth 20 points if he is aboard a ship that is destroyed in the system.

You will also score points for every Rebel ship and squadron destroyed equal to their point value but lose points for every Imperial ship or squadron destroyed on the same basis.

Here are some photos from the game:

Despite the Star Destroyer obliterating the station, some clever play by the Rebels including the escape of Cham Syndulla, meant a Rebel win this time. 

Star Wars Armada

We have been playing a few games of Star Wars:Armada as part of a campaign using The Corellian Conflict expansion.  I am fielding an Imperial Fleet complete with two Victory class Star Destroyers, the Chimera with Grand Admiral Thrawn and a couple of squadrons; however, it has meant not having much in the way of points to spend on anything else!

The Rebels decided to go for more smaller ships and upgrades but once again failed to get behind the Star Destroyers, spread themselves out and and were defeated in detail.  Here are some pics from the game:

Star Wars Armada

Lenin came for another visit over the bank holiday weekend - so we managed to fit a few games in.  On the Saturday we popped up to the club and gave my Star Wars Armada collection an outing.

This was the first time that my Wave 2 ships had hit the table, so I was interested to see how they would play.  Lenin and I took the part of the Empire, complete with Darth Vader commanding his own Tie fighter squadron and Grand Moff Tarkin aboard the Imperial Class Star Destroyer (and she is a big beastie!).  Facing us the Rebels had Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles commanding their own X Wing squadrons with Admiral Ackbar on their flagship.

It was really interesting to see how the new ships performed and try to recall how best to use the base and wave 1 ships too.

Here are a few photos from the session (apologies for the quality but I only had my phone with me):

Ultimately, Luke and Wedge bought the farm and order was restored to the galaxy!