Armada Casual Play Battle Report: Gladly Decimating VS Leia's Hammerheads

After a far too long hiatus, we finally were able to work in a weekend to get a nice casual game of Armada in.  Since it showed up in X-Wing, I've loved the look of the Decimator.  In Armada when it showed up I was very excited to get a fighter that would be great at burning down generics and also pressure ships.  All too often Imperial fighters are so specialized that you're forced to go down just one route.  The Decimator solves this, although in a very expensive package.  I've put the report after the jump, since this article is going to be long.



My list features both Gladiator Titles, and a Quasar to push all of the fighters.  The common thinking with Rogue capable ships is to not worry about a carrier.  However, the Quasar gives me the threat of being able to activate all of them now at once, or to leave the Decimators to activate during the squad phase to react to my opponents squadron usage.  The Decimators also provided a giant Meat Shield for Valen Rudor, who becomes almost unkillable by squadrons.  Squall is nice since it also allows the Decimators to effectively get to speed 5 for a turn. 

Gladly Decimating (394/400)
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Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier (54 + 49)
+ Admiral Motti (24)
+ Wulff Yularen (7)
+ Flight Controllers (6)
+ Boosted Comms (4)
+ Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
+ Squall (3)
Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer (56 +24 )
+ The Grand Inquisitor (4)
+ Ordnance Experts (4)
+ Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
+ Demolisher (10)
Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer (56 + 12)
+ Ordnance Experts (4)
+ Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
+ Insidious (3)
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 2)
+ Comms Net (2)


Morna Kee (27)
2 x VT-49 Decimator (22)
Colonel Jendon (20)
"Mauler" Mithel (15)
Valen Rudor (13)

Hyperspace assault
Superior Positions
Most Wanted

 My opponent brought a list he's been tinkering with, consisting of 4 Scout Hammerheads and a Command Pelta with 4 A wing Squadrons and Dash Rendar.  The HHs were all outfitted with Task Force Antilles, and Quad Turbolasers.  The Pelta had the Phoenix Home title, with Raymus and Ahsoka on board with Leia, and Shields to Maximum.  This set up would allow him to always have an engineering token each round to proc Shields to the Max and let the HHs pass the damage around and get that shield back every turn.

The Set up

 I chose to go second, and force him to play one of my objectives.  He didn't have any strategic so Hyperspace Assault could have gone very poorly for the hammerheads that can't shoot backwards, and allowing me the extra dice to toss at the Pelta would likely just mean it got burnt down faster.  So we played Superior Positions.  He set up in the far right corner from me, with everything going speed 1.  I placed Demolisher on that side going speed 2, with Insidious flanking along the left at speed 3.  I want to try and make sure he either had to split his HHs to take on the Gladiators, or end up getting flanked.  His slow speed Also worked to my advantage, because with Leia it meant he wasn't going to be able to speed up unless he skipped the Concentrate Fire Command to do so. 

The first couple of turns went by with the fighter squadrons beginning to engage around the far left HH, with my Decis and Valen Rudor quickly making short work of his fighter screen.  Dash was able to only put one damage out before being focus fired down and the A's fell to Mauler and Rudor the next activation.  The Left HH did put some serious hurt on my Quasar as it continued forward, thanks to that CF command and the QT adding lots of dice and him getting some well timed accuracies. 

Hammerhead Down, Quasar Hurting

 The other HH in line also followed up with some nasty shots on the Quasar, which though was able to survive and get out of the arcs.  It was a bit closer than I would have liked, and I think I got a little lucky to have survived this exchange.  THe issue came from my deployment choice.  I think if I were to do it again I would have used both Gladiators to try and flank on the left side, while having the quasar move a little more parallel to the backline.  This would have either forced him to come to me and into the Decimators or turn to face them and expose the flank to the Decimators instead.  If he had sped up he might have also been able to get past the trap, but that would have left the Pelta ore vulnerable earlier.

At this point Demolisher was getting into range and starting to take some shots but also pepper the Pelta with fire.  I was able to unload two sets of APTs into it, giving him a Crew Panic and the effect that he could only a target a ship once during the attack phase.  Demolisher though was taking a lot of fire from the other HH.  At the end of the turn the Decimators were able to get in and finish off the other HH on that left side.

Insidious closes

THe game went pretty quickly from here, with Demolisher getting the killing blow on the Pelta and then getting into range of the next HH.  Demolisher ended up getting destroyed, but Insidious and the Decimators were able to avenge him.  It ended up being a roughly a 520 to 70 victory, based on the fact that I was able to rack up a lot of Victory tokens. 

A fun game for sure, and I continue to appreciate the Decimators for their ability to just withstand a ton of fire and wipe out fighters and ships.