VASSAL Tournament Round 3: CommanderDave vs GiledPallaeon

This was the third Vassal Round and also the third time I face off against a Thrawn fleet. The first was squadron heavy, the second a medium squadron ball, and this match was squadronless. GiledPallaeon was my opponent and he ran a Kuat, Demo, TRC Arquittens, and a pair of Gozantis. Thanks to his Strategic Advisor, he was able to wait me out with all three combat ships. Unfortunately, he was short on deployments. He chose my Most Wanted and I made his ISD and my Gozanti the objectives. I was able to place my combat ships on the side opposite his ISD to try to force him to fly through my bomber cloud. Here is the setup:

Round one involved positioning. I set my Demo up to hit his Arq and Giled positioned his Demo as a counter. Ouch. Here is the end of round 1:

In round two, I hit Giled’s Demo with my Interdictor and squadrons, leaving it on two health. My Demo hit his Arquittens. The end of the round left my Demo softened up considerably. Here is the close of round 2:

Round three was the deciding point. Giled activated his Demo first and finished mine off. I then activated my Dictor and killed the Arquittens with a double arc shot before Engine Tech ramming the opposing Demo to death. I waffled on this move a lot as it let him move his ISD up for a close range activation next round. Unfortunately for him, the ISD ended up with only the side in arc. This was the deciding moment as I knew that he couldn’t kill my Interdictor, even with Darth Vader boarding and eliminating my Targeting Scramblers. Here is the close of round 3:

In round four, I was able to finish the ISD off with my squadrons. Here is the closing board state:

This was another strong victory, but it was a very favorable matchup for my list. I was definitely starting to sweat when he took my Demo down as it increased my risk of being tabled. The decision to ram his Demo was a little risky, but it worked out. Had Giled gotten the double arc from the Kuat ISD, I would have been in grave danger of destruction with the loss of Scramblers, especially if he could generate an accuracy on the front arc shot. Great game, very tense!