Cracken MSU vs Dodonna Pelta & Yavaris

For this epic showdown, I brought my Cracken MSU list, changing out a few things from my previous game. I dropped the generic A-Wings and added Toryn/Bright Hope on one flotilla and Slicers/Quantum Storm on the other. On the other side of the table, Andy, brought Yavaris, Pelta (With Adar, Dodonna, and a bunch of other upgrades), a CR90B with Dodonna’s Pride, and a pair of flotillas with Toryn and a BCC. His heavy hitters were the fighters. He brought Luke, Gold Squadron, a pair of Scurrgs (Proxied with Lancers), Green Squadron, Rogue Squadron, and a YT2400. I took first and picked his Jamming Field.

After he dropped his first ship, I knew his general deployment location and direction of travel and deployed accordingly in order to get in front of him. Here is the setup:


Full steam ahead for me in round 1:


In the next round, I positioned a pair of TRC90s ahead of him in order to wait for him to jump forward and then pounce to limit my time inside medium range of Yavaris and its double-tapping bombers. My left most TRC90s was not so well positioned and got hit by Luke and a Scurrg after one of my aces went down. Some good rolls brought it down to a single hull remaining. It was hanging on by a hair without doing anything to show for it. Here is the close of round 2:


Round three was eventful. I moved Quantum Storm in to slice the Pelta and scooted the highly damaged CR90 out of the action. Quantum Storm went down and then Admonition moved in on the Pelta and Yavaris. The TRC90s were both able to put some damage on the Pelta and then close in. Here is the close of round 3:


Round four was decisive. I activated Admonition first, who had been burning tokens to negate Luke’s ridiculously good ability (with its own ridiculously good ability). With the side arc and CF command, I managed to finish off the Pelta. I then put some damage down on Yavaris to really soften it up. With the nav token, I jumped to speed four and landed behind the enemy formation. My next activation was the CR90 closest to the board edge, which put some double arc damage through as well. I was then able to finish it off with my CR90 out front after it had activated. We called the game at that point. My ships were out of reach of his remaining squadrons. It ended as a fairly decisive victory for me.

AAR:
First off, the asteroids ended up being something of a non-factor for both of us. The horizontal line nearer the enemy side has been a somewhat useful to me in the past, but it ended up being a non-factor this game. The jamming barrier was placed to the rear of Andy’s formation to discourage me from approaching from that direction. This was something that I had little inclination to do anyway as the forward approach better allows me to get my guns on target. My setup was adequate, though I would have been better off placing the left most CR90 between the flotillas or even on the right flank of my formation.

During the maneuvers, I would have been better served by at least holding that left-most CR90 back at a lower speed. This would have allowed me to save my meager squadron support for another turn rather than having to jump forward in order to try to protect this rather exposed corvette. My quantum storm sacrifice was useful, but the Pelta was still able to use fighter coordination teams to line up the Yavaris double taps - something I had overlooked. I think I would have been better served slicing Yavaris. I maneuvered Admonition and the other two CR90s well enough to get the job done without any serious setbacks. In all, it was a solid success.

Lessons Learned:
- Be very careful when dealing with Yavaris. A strong alpha-strike is the right approach. Hold back until ready to hit it at high speed.
- Try to save Shara/Tycho for the exact right moment, preferably in conjunction with the alpha strike on the carrier(s).

Cracken MSU vs Thrawn ISD & Dual Vics

My usual opponent, Andy, and I decided to check out a local Armada league that had recently begun to meet without us noticing. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but decided to run a Cracken MSU. I had Admonition as the flagship, three TRC90s, and a pair of naked flotillas with Shara/Tycho and a pair of A Wings. My opponent, whom I had just met, was running a Kuat (with Thrawn) and a pair of Vic1s with TIE Fighter support, including Howlrunner. I took first with a large bid and chose his Hyperspace Assault.

During asteroid setup, I tried to arrange things to disrupt his movement while allowing my small bases to move between the rocks with relative ease. I’ve found a horizontal line nearer the opponent side to be a good move when possible. Thanks to the chosen objective, I had a large deployment advantage. My opponent placed his ships on opposite ends of the board. I concentrated my ships on the ISD side and set them up for a pincer movement.

The first round went as planned, my corvettes positioning just outside of long range of the ISD. Admonition was set up to try to catch the speed three Kuat at close range after its activation on the following round. I wasn’t too worried about the Victory in hyperspace as Admonition would be able to take whatever it could throw. Sure enough, the Victory was placed between Admonition and one of my CR90s at the top of round 2. Here is the board state immediately after the Victory was placed at the beginning of round 2:


In round two, I activated my threatened CR90 first to prevent it from being popped by the Victory. It was then a waiting game for the Kuat to move. The Victory put some damage on Admonition, but with Lando and no X17s involved, it was not an issue. Admonition was able to put in a double arc shot at close range and then move line up another close range shot at the top of the following round. The CR90s added their own respectable damage to the mix and I was able to bring the Kuat down to only 2 hull remaining. Meanwhile, my fighters went to work on his. Here is the board state at the close of round 2:


At the beginning of the third round, I activated Admonition and finished off the opposing flagship. I then managed to put some more damage onto the Victory with my CR90s and then lined them up for the attack on the following round. My A-wings did more good work, thanks to the nearby flotilla, which allowed them all to activate before any of the TIEs. Here is the board state at the close of round 3:


During round four, I finished off the left Victory and moved into position to begin work on the last. My A-Wings finished off his fighter cover. At this point we called it. It was a bit of a bloodbath.

AAR:
In review, my high-activation, maneuverable, long-range fleet was ideally suited to deal with my opponent’s low activation, ponderous, short-range fleet. My asteroid placement was reasonably effective, forcing the enemy to deploy and move in a predictable way without affecting my own ships. My deployment advantage was also huge. After the Victory and ISD were placed apart, a blunder on the part of the enemy, I prioritized and placed my ships well. The whole operation was smooth and the only notable error would be the maneuver at the top of turn 2 of my CR90. Had I turned the other way, I would have been able to hit one of the Victories by turn 4. My fighter cover did good work racking up points without taking any losses. I pulled Tycho out on turn three with a single hull left.

Lessons Learned:
- When executing a post-attack maneuver, consider the next target, even if it may be a round or two before engaging.