Armada Battle Report: Cymoon Arqs vs Dual ISD

We finally found some time this morning to get in a game with some of the new goodness from Wave 7.  I have a couple of new lists, but I wanted to try out the Cymoon ISD with a couple of Arquitens.  I love the look of the Arq, and when it was introduced I was very excited to add another cheaper ship to the stable that could also flank effectively.  The issue has always been you really need to take Darth Vader, with those 3 red dice because they are super fickle.  And a lot of the better Imperial offerings had better options than the 36 point Lord of the Sith.  But the latest wave added an ISD platform that has a huge amount of reds and no good way to re-roll them.

Cymoon Stand Off /B (397/400)
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Cymoon 1 Refit (112 + 71)
+ Darth Vader (36)
+ Strategic Adviser (4)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Intensify Firepower! (6)
+ Spinal Armament (9)
+ XI7 Turbolasers (6)
+ Relentless (3)
Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 + 10)
+ Enhanced Armament (10)
Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 + 10)
+ Enhanced Armament (10)
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 7)
+ Taskmaster Grint (5)
+ Comms Net (2)
Howlrunner (16)
5 x Tie Fighter Squadron (5 x 8)
Most Wanted
Contested Outpost
Solar Corona

The Gozanti with Taskmaster Grint is there to feed the ISD tokens for Intensify Firepower!.  The Squadron screen is there just to tie up opposing fighters and attrition them down.  

My opponent today Ran both of the new ISD variants and a handful of ace fighters.  His Cymoon had Motti aboard, with Gunnery Team, DTT, Quad Turbolaser Cannons, Governor Pryce and Intensify Firepower.  His Kuat had Reinforced Blast doors,Hardened Bulkheads, Strategic Advicor and Wide Area Barrage.  His squads consisted of Whisper, Cienna Ree, Morna Kee and Boba Fett.  

I had originally miscalculated my point total because I changed around a few things before we played, and thought I ended up at 400.  If I had calculated it correctly I think I would have taken the first player to keep him from having the option of First last with Pryce and keep that Kuat from being able to dictate the engagement,  But, we ended up with myself going 2nd, and playing my Contested Outpost.  We set up the obstacles in a bit of a diagonal line through the middle, and I placed the Station on my left at just further than distance 5, and about distance 2 in from the edge of the deployment zone.  My two Arquitens ended up on the far left going speed 1, and the Cymoon ended up centered on the station also going speed 1.  The Gozanti was to the right and was going speed 2 heading towards the ISD parallel to the board edge.  His Kuat deployed to my left going speed three, along with all his fighters.  The Cymoon was in the middle of the board going speed 2, angled at the station.  He picked turn 3 for Pryce after we deployed.

The first round saw everyone slide forward, by the Kuat got very close.  We both Strategic Advisored to start turn 2 and the Kuat did a little damage to the lead Arquitens.  Both Arqs went and did around 7 damage total to shields.  My Cymoon then double arced, and with the XI7s I was able to put 11 damage onto the ISDs hull.  The Squads began engaging and the TIEs traded damage with his two non-rogue aces.  At the start of turn 3, he procced his Reinforced Blast Doors to bring his Kuat back to 6 hull, and regenerated some shields.  Then he murdered the Arquitens that was in front of it, and triggered Wide Area Barrage to put Howlrunner down to one health.  The next Arquitens did five more damage to bring the front shields down and put a couple more damage onto the hull.  Because of Pryce activating this round, I had to do my remaining ships.  My ISD then had a side shot to the front, and I needed 4 damage to put the Kuat down.  I rolled one accuracy, and 3 damage.  I decided to chase the big play and concentrated in a red.  It got lucky and rolled a double to pop the Kuat.  I moved forward then onto the station and pointed it at his Cymoon. Things got stupid here, because he rolled 8 damage with 2 accuracies ( one added via QTC).  I burned my redirect and my contain.  He started round four then by rolling another 8 damage with 2 accuracies and rammed my Cymoon to kill it.  From there, it went quickly as my Ties died taking down Cienna and Whisper but barely failing to kill Boba, and his Cymoon killed my Gozanti and controlled the station. It ended as an 8-3 for him.

Overall I had a good time.  The Arqs and Cymoon pumped out a ton of damage, almost taking down a full Motti ISD in one round.  I dont know if Intensify Firepower is needed as much here with Vader.  If I had been running Motti I think its better to ensure damage, but with Vader its 6 points thats maybe adding 3 damage a turn if I'm unlucky.  So possibly Shields to the Max is better here, to just help keep everything a little healthier.  The Squadron Compliment was solid, but it didn't kill a lot.  In a world with a lot scatter aces I feel like maybe I need a bit more firepower.  I could change out to four Interceptors with Howl, and stay at 399.  I also might try the 3 Shuttles and Valen, because I think Contested Outpost is not the objective for me.  It draws enemy ships in too fast, and none of my ships is built to want a close in confrontation.  Fire Lanes might be the better choice.  With a high number of Red Dice, I should be able to control them fairly easily, especially with a couple shuttles for support.  I could also keep my current fighter compliment and do Planetay Ion Cannon to just have a little chance of doing some extra damage.