VASSAL Fleet Exercise Round 3: Dave vs The Jabbawookie

In the third round of the tournament, I paired off against The Jabbawookie. He was running a Raddus Rogue list with a pair of Slicer GR75s, a fairly naked CR90B with Raddus on board, and an MC80C with HIE, ET, QBT, EWS, IO, and Defiance. His squadron component was simply Shara and 7 YT2400s. He outactivated me and I knew that the squadron play would be a key factor, so I took first player. I picked Fighter Ambush which is always my default pick if it’s available. Here is the setup:

In the first round, I pushed ahead conservatively, though I certainly misdeployed the Raider a bit too far forward. The MC80 hyperspaced in at the beginning of round 2. Here is the post-drop positioning:

In the second round, I activated the Raider first. I was able to get into the front arc of the MC80 and place myself in a blocking position. This would have allowed me to close with the Kuat if I could just keep it in place for a mere turn. Unfortunately, the MC80 had a squadron command to push his YT2400s in and soften the Raider a little. This allowed the MC80 to roll perfectly to pop the Raider and move away. At that point, I knew that the game was essentially over. On the squadron front, I was able to pop a YT2400 and work Shara down to a single hull. Here is the opening of round 3:

In the third round, I focused my attention on the squadron game. It was close, but I was able to bring the Kuat to bear in support. Here is the opening of round 4:

In the fourth round, I did more squadron work and set the stage for a kill-shot on the last two YTs in the following round. We called it at this point. I conceded defeat by a mere 6 point MOV. Here is the final board state:

This was obviously a really close game. Jabbawookie played it very well. One of the tough things about fighting against Raddus is that the Raddus player is able to hit and run so effectively. Keeping my combat ships closer together is absolutely imperative. I separated them in the hope that he would drop on the Kuat and I could use the Raider as an emergency blocker, but that involved banking on a mistake, which was unwise. Here is my primary mistake during the game: I should have done a squadron command with the Raider on turn two. This would have allowed me to place IG88 in front of the MC80 to provide squadron cover and prevent the three YTs from softening the Raider’s aft shields.

After these last three games, I have some general thoughts on my list. The HIE/ACM Kuat is fun with Screed, but a BT Avenger Kuat with JJ may just be more cost effective and of course maneuverable. It would also perform better against the upcoming SSD with DCO. The Raider II underperformed in all three of my games. It seems to have a rather niche role of "whale hunting". It is great against ISDs, but is otherwise unimpressive. My squadrons had mixed results. Boba and Ciena are solid, but the Aggressors, including IG88, also tended to underperform. Having only 5 hull and a speed of 3 was tough. The single token on IG88 leads to trouble. My original list had Decimators (Morna included) with Dengar and Mauler. This would have been a significant improvement over the Aggressor/Firespray mix.

VASSAL Fleet Exercise Round 2: Dave vs Cyborg Ninja

In the second round of the Vassal tournament, I was paired with CyborgNinja, who was running a solid non-Yavaris Rebel squadron-heavy list. He had an Adar Assault Frigate, Dodonna on a TRC90, an HIE CR90B, and two GR75s with Toryn and BCC. His squadrons consisted of Hera, Dutch, Jan, 3 X-Wings, and 2 Scurrgs. I picked his Fighter Ambush and we got down to the business of deployment. Here is the setup:

In the first round, I advanced at speed two (instead of 3) with the Kuat to delay the squadron contest, which I was fairly certain to lose. I tried to keep my squads close in order to draw the enemy into flak range if he wanted to engage. I ended up losing IG88 to Dutch and Hera. Both were able to procure the requisite accuracies. Here is the opening of round 2:

During the second round, I squeezed the Kuat in between the asteroids to make for the front of the Assault Frigate (this was at the end, thanks to Pryce). This may have been a bad move as I bumped an X-Wing, which was able to reposition to cover the single health Jan and protect her from Boba. I lost one of my Aggressors and one of my Firesprays. Hera and Dutch were quite brutal and my rolls were very subpar. I did manage to finish an X-Wing. Here is the opening of round 3:

In the third round, I used flak with the Kuat. I fail to bring down Dutch, but managed to finish off Jan. I tried to block the Frigate in, but it was able to increase to speed three and just just barely squeeze past the Kuat. I dropped the BCC flotilla with the Raider and was able to finish off Dutch and Hera, though I did lose Boba. Here is the opening of round 4:

In the fourth round, I activated the Raider first and hit the Frigate before landing directly in its path. I succeeded in preventing it from escaping the double-arc (side and rear) of the Kuat. Ciena and the Aggressor went down while I was able to destroy an X-Wing. The Assault Frigate was destroyed, thanks to the Heavy Ions and ACMs. Here is the opening of round 5:

In the fifth round, my Raider killed the Scurrg and the X-Wing tied down my last Firespray. We called it there and I conceded the loss of the Firespray, assuming that he would kill it in the final round. Here is the final board state:

This was a nail-biter; a really good game. It could have easily gone either way. Had I held back with the Kuat in round 2 instead of jumping forward, I might have done better in the squadron game, but that isn’t a foregone conclusion. CyborgNinja’s squadrons were at a large advantage and I’m pleased that, despite some terrible rolls on my side, I was still able to eliminate a good number of those squadrons. Hera and Dutch did especially good work for him. The real clincher of this game was when my Raider blocked the Assault Frigate. This gave me the points to take the victory.

I believe that I misplayed the Kuat. I went speed two on the first round and speed three on the second. Going speed three from the beginning may have allowed me to close with the Frigate at the top of round three. Alternative, setting Pryce for round three and playing it conservatively would have been a better choice than the one I made.

CyborgNinja played a really good game and he has a solid list.

VASSAL Fleet Exercise Round 1: Dave vs Outbound Flight

In this VASSAL tournament, we had a number of restrictions on fleet building to encourage unorthodox playing. After some consideration, I settled on another Screed list. I brought a Kuat with Pryce (best upgrade ever), HIEs, ACM, Fire-Control Teams, and ECM; a Raider II with Brunson (second best upgrade), HIEs, and Disposable Capacitors; a Gozanti with Comms Net; and a squadron wing consisting of Ciena, Boba, IG88, 2 Firesprays, and 2 Aggressors.

In the first game, I was paired against Outbound Flight, who definitely outdid me in terms of sheer unorthodoxy. He brought 2 Nebulons with Salvation and Redemption titles (We need some Justification and Sanctification while we get theological), Dual Turbolaser Turrets, and Projection Experts; 3 CR90s with DTTs and Engineering Teams (one with Admiral Leia on board); and a pair of GR75s with Repair Crews.

Going into the round, I knew that I had a strong advantage with my unopposed squadron wing, A slightly higher bid, and Pryce (Turn 2 of course). I picked his Capture the VIP. Here is the deployment:

In the first round, I just missed the VIP token with my Raider. I moved my squadrons forward (into flak range), but otherwise it was an uneventful round. Here is the opening of round 2:

In the second round, I positioned the Kuat for the kill against one of the CR90s. I used my squadrons to destroy the GR75 that had picked up the token. This let me drop it again behind the opposing ships. Here is the opening of round 3:

In the third round, I destroyed the CR90 in front of the Kuat and then moved in front of the Nebulons, hoping to block one of them in. My squadrons dropped the Leia CR90 to a single hull, but failed to get the kill. Unfortunately, I had to restart Vassal, ending my log, and I forgot to grab pictures of the next several rounds. In the fourth round, I managed to procure the exact right roll to one-shot Salvation, thanks to HIEs and ACMs. I also lost my Gozanti to a bunch of ramming. In the fifth round, I was able to finish off Redemption with my squadrons. I lost my first Firespray due to bad placement on my part. In the sixth round, I was able to snatch up the VIP and drop Leia’s CR90 back down to a single hull after it had completely repaired. I also lost a second Firespray, again due to bad placement on my part. Here is the close of the game:

I ended up with a solid win, despite some lapses in my judgment. Outbound Flight played a good game, but was not well equipped to handle squadrons. He deserves great credit for bringing an unconventional fleet with an interesting concept. I like the idea of an MSU list that is geared to tank damage. It worked really well against my squadrons when I wasn’t quite able to finish off the flagship. It did not work as well against the spike damage of the Kuat.

On my side, the Raider underperformed. It is able to put out a fair amount of damage against a larger target, but didn’t manage to contribute much against other small ships. The Kuat really pulled its weight thanks to Pryce. She negated the massive activation disparity. My squadrons did fine work, though I miss Morna and the damage that she can put out.