Armada has a great objective system. They add depth to what would otherwise just be brutal slugfest, and allow us to not only build a fleet that is designed to earn points from the objective but to immerse us in the narrative of the mission. One of the most iconic moments in so many Sci-Fi features is that of a
group of ships attempting to destroy or capture a space station. We see
the fleet jump in nearby and duking it out with the defense forces
until whichever side can take no more, flees. Armada has brought us a
mission set that seeks to capture this feeling with two objectives from
the Corellian Conflict campaign, that also are well suited for building a fleet to take advantage of. The Station Assault objective was added
as a standard red objective, while Show of Force is the Imperial
Special Assault for during campaign play. Let's delve a bit deeper into
the objectives and see what they're giving us to work with:
- Both objectives add an additional obstacle in the form of a second Station.
- The first player does not get to resolve standard station effects
from either station. Second player still does however get to use this
benefit.
- The Stations are unarmed stations for purposes of damage, something we will look further at in a moment.
- Unlike Contested Outpost, the stations still do count for obstruction.
- As second player, you now get to place 4 of the 6 objectives so you really can control the board position.
The
only difference in the two missions is the victory point
total a player can again from destroying the stations. A total of 80
points can be scored from the red objective version, while only half of
that can come from the campaign version. While this might seem to be
an important bifurcation between the two, and how it might impact your
opponent's choice for attacking the stations, the campaign version is
all about garnering resources to continue outfitting fleets. This
actually makes it more likely the attacker will attempt to drive at the
stations, because they have initiated this specific mission to garner
resources.
The unarmed station is an interesting, if
somewhat squishy, target. It has 10 hull, but no shields or defense
tokens to bolster its survivability. The Station Tokens are fairly large, so there is a lot of chance to be able to get line of sight, especially with fighters. 10 Hull can hold up for a bit
against ship based attacks, especially a typical single activation, but a competent bomber wing (Yavris Bs for example) can pretty easily pile on 7 damage in a single command.
General Strategy
With a pair of enticingly soft-ish targets, two
main grand planning strategies spring to mind for how to use them. The
first is the obvious, classical station defense. Placing the stations
near your deployment zone and subsequently deploying near the station
will force your opponent to come to you. In most cases you will be able
to have forced your opponent to approach from a predictable route.
This can allow ships that are vulnerable to flanking such as a VSD, MC80
Liberty or Nebulon B to utilize their large forward-facing dice pool.
This strategy can also help defend against the large threat of bombers
to the stations, since you can see approaches and clog them with your
own fighters. This strategy can face issues against faster moving
swarms that can navigate a well placed obstacle field. A fleet that can
pressure on multiple fronts will make it tough to defend the stations as
well as do enough damage to ships to garner points from their
destruction.
The second overall strategy is what I will
call the Honey Pot. The stations are very juicy target, and setting
one or both away from your fleet can divert enemy forces to try to
destroy them. This in turn can allow your own fleet a chance to gain
local superiority over forces that try to stave off a flanking
maneuver. This strategy is the
much riskier one though, since it places the stations at risk by
necessity. It also likely brings the greatest reward, since most of your
ships should not be bearing the brunt of enemy fire, and could
potentially engage and destroy a large portion of the enemy fleet if it is
misplaced or overwhelmed.
Both overall strategies can benefit by using elements of the other. The Honey Pot can have elements of the first, using a ship
such a VSD that can take a bit of damage to defend the Honey Pot and buy
time for your flanking forces to get in. On the other side, ships like Demolisher and Admonition can be placed away from the station and used to jump into an enemy flank to slow progress towards a station. These objectives offer a lot of choices for both players, and as second player you can determine a lot of the pacing and action.
Fleet Building
Armada has several fleet archetypes that can utilize these objectives, some more effectively than others.
Fleets that like these objectives:
2
Big Ships: Something like a dual ISD list with a few gozantis could
utilize this objective to really draw enemy forces directly into those
power front arcs. Being big and tanky also helps that even if you lose
the stations, you will not lose ships and can even out the point differential. ISDs and MC80 Liberties are also
tough enough to take some damage if employing a Honey Pot scheme, allow
their counterpart to get into position to hit an isolated flank, or come
in from behind.
Rieekan Aces:
General Rieekan is
surprisingly well suited for this style of base defense for a few
reasons: utilizing ships like a CR90 to help block enemy movement and
obstruct shots are very good for being able to help deflect attacks from
the station, and fleets of this type also typically carry a Yavaris Bomber
Wing, which can be deployed to help force an opposing fleet into taking a
longer route to the stations (limiting firing time) or to help double
tap enemy squadrons trying to get into bombing range. Ace fighters will also find their utility growing by continuing to lock down bombers, and frustrating groups without a strong Intel presence.
Carrier
Wings: Much like Rieekan Aces, carrier wings on the Imperial Side like
this objective. Using Major Rhymer as a land mine is an effective way
to slow an approach, and Vic 1s are well suited to sitting in place and
absorbing damage while tossing out red dice at Rhymer softened ships.
This can also be very good with a Honey Pot, as the bomber wing can help
hold the station while a Demolisher or ISD flanks in from the
other side to overwhelm defense.
Fleets that can utilize the objectives but have better options:
MSU:
Likely not a great choice for using either objective. MSU
fleets tend to not be overly tanky, and work best when being able to
out-activate and outmaneuver around opposing ships. It can work with
the Honey Pot strategy though, as a means of channeling enemy forces to a
position where you can possibly get around both flanks. A 3x MC30 list
could potentially ruin an approaching fleet if the opposing player does
not take care. However, this is a very risky proposition, especially
against heavy bomber wings that can simply sit near the stations and
earn 80 points fairly quickly.
Broadside fleets: Rebel
broadsides will typically struggle to earn a lot of points in these
objectives. Defending the station is difficult when you need to really
keep a ship between the station and incoming ships. Broadsides can do
it, but it far more difficult to do so and keep your guns pointed down
range. Like MSU, broadsiders can get some mileage from the Honey Pot,
but again put themselves at risk for losing the stations to a faster
fleet.
A few other options
A few
different ships and commanders can get quite a lot of utility from these
objectives. For the Rebels, the afore-mentioned General Rieekan and also
Commander Sato both stand to do well with them. Commander Sato likes
big guns that he can keep on target, and knowing a general area of
where to place fighter screens to keep swapping dice.
General Tagge on
the Imperial side sees a small boost to his usefulness, since ships
under his command want the enemy to engage early and he allows you to be
a little more aggressive with token usage to keep soaking hits.
For the Rebels, Nebulon Bs that are not Yavaris also gain a nice
advantage in being able to consistently point their guns down a
predictable path and not face a lot of chance for flanking. Salvation
is a good buy, but even a stock Neb can see some good results. On the
Imperial Side, an often overlooked ship like the Interdictor can see a lot
of utility in these missions. By equipping
Grav Shift Re-route an Interdictor can move the stations and shift obstacles more into the path. It also can utilize the
Grav Well Projector to force enemy deployment to be either further from the station, or spend several turns trying to navigate their way out. This should also serve as a warning in case you are facing an Interdictor based fleet. It should be obvious here that facing an Interdictor can be very difficult in these scenarios as well for the reasons why it helps you. Have a plan to be able to charge ahead or Repair away an early damage card if they toss obstacles in your path.
Final Thoughts
These
Station Assault objectives are some of my favorite in Armada. They allow you to really tailor a fleet to play with them to take maximum effect. It reinforces thematic play,
since its something we've seen in countless science fiction novels and
shows, and the objective can truly capture the feel of defending a space
station that you have to hold. The objectives open up the usage of several ships that don't typically see the table but are able to shine here.
