Duel of the Fates: GAR on GAR Action

Duel of the Fates - or Just a Throwdown Between Two Republic Commanders

First of all, we here at It’s A Trap hope you’re all staying as safe and healthy as possible. It’s such a relief to finally have a light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not out of this pandemic just yet. My wife is a physician and received the first shot of her vaccination more than a week ago. On Monday morning, she tested positive for COVID. Given that we both mask and wash our hands religiously, and that I take care of our son at home after pulling him from daycare, you can imagine that this was a terrible surprise for us. Luckily, her symptoms are currently mild, and my toddler and I still feel fine and aren’t exhibiting any symptoms. So keep taking care of yourself and one another, and please keep doing everything you can to stay safe. None of the precautions are bulletproof, of course, but they are still worth taking.


Anyway, before we had to completely lock down upon learning of my wife’s diagnosis, I did manage to get in a socially distanced game of Armada. I FINALLY got to play with some new toys (specifically, Republic ships and squadrons)! As per my earlier article about needing some time to learn how to use Obi-Wan Kenobi as a commander, I decided to fly one of my experimental Obi-Wan fleets. Before I proceed, I should be clear: there’s already been some really good stuff shared about him online in some of the places we list as other online Armada resources. I’ve consumed that advice, and implemented some of it, but also tried to do my own thing. I expect to fail spectacularly. It took me months before I finally had a build with Tarkin that made me feel as though I were onto something. It took me a year of playing with him (across a ton of different builds, both successful and unsuccessful) before I felt as though I’d really actually hit on something. So I expect I’ll have a similar experience with Obi-Wan. Below is the fleet I sent at my opponent:


Snipping Your Wings (134/381/400)

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Acclamator I-class (66 + 62: 128)

· Obi-Wan Kenobi (28)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

· Boosted Comms (4)

· Assault Concussion Missiles (5)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Nevoota Bee (5)


Charger c70 (45 + 15: 60)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

· Fighter Coordination Team (3)

· Radiant VII (1)

· Parts Resupply (3)


Charger c70 (45 + 14: 59)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

· Fighter Coordination Team (3)

· Swift Return (3)


Ahsoka Tano [delta] (23)

3 x Delta-7 Aethersprite Squadron (3 x 17)

5 x V-19 Torrent Squadron (5 x 12)


Ion Storm

Planetary Ion Cannon

Infested Fields


I wasn’t expecting this to be killer or anything, but I was definitely focused on experimenting with two things: Can I prevent “enough” damage between Obi-Wan and Expert Shield Tech? Also, how badly can I abuse Ahsoka’s ability? I did get answers to both of these questions when playing against my friend Ted, who flew the following list:


Token Resistance

Faction: Galactic Republic

Commander: Bail Organa

Points: 390/400

Assault Objective: Precision Strike

Defense Objective: Asteroid Tactics

Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Consular-class Charger C70 (45 points)

- Swift Return ( 3 points)

- Clone Captain Zak ( 5 points)

- Fighter Coordination Team ( 3 points)

- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)

- Swivel-Mount Batteries ( 8 points)

= 69 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Acclamator II-class Assault Ship (71 points)

- Bail Organa (com) ( 28 points)

- Clone Navigation Officer ( 4 points)

- Clone Gunners ( 4 points)

- Early Warning System ( 7 points)

- Swivel-Mount Batteries ( 8 points)

- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 4 points)

= 126 total ship cost

Consular-class Charger C70 (45 points)

- Radiant VII ( 1 points)

- Clone Navigation Officer ( 4 points)

- Fighter Coordination Team ( 3 points)

- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)

- Munitions Resupply ( 3 points)

= 61 total ship cost

1 Anakin Skywalker ( 19 points)

2 ARC-170 Starfighter Squadrons ( 30 points)

1 Luminara Unduli ( 23 points)

1 Kickback ( 16 points)

3 V-19 Torrent Squadrons ( 36 points)

1 BLT-B Y-wing Squadron ( 10 points)

= 134 total squadron cost

Good guy against good guy. Let’s do this.

The answers to my questions would be “No, I couldn’t prevent enough damage,” and “Oh man, abusing Ahsoka’s ability requires planning, but is so, so mean and awesome.” I won’t be covering a play by play here. My batreps can get a little detailed (much more so with my Palpatine experiment because I’m really trying to specify what works and what doesn’t), so I’m not doing that here. This piece will be broad strokes. I had the bid, and I chose to go second. Owing to the fact that Ted’s fleet featured only 4 bombers and his limited ability to push a nasty alpha strike (slow squadrons with no way to speed them up, and against the combination of Obi-Wan and Expert Shield Techs [EST]), I was perfectly happy to let his squadrons come to me. After much consternation, Ted chose Infested Fields. Ever since Geek19 pointed me in the direction of this objective in the wake of a match we played against one another, I’ve been in love with it. It won’t always win me a game, but it always gives me an edge and gives my opponent trouble. To Ted’s credit, he handled this objective fairly well!


I was confident that I’d win the squadron game, but I didn’t think I’d be able to table him because there was very little chance of my owning all three of his combat ships. So after we deployed, I felt comfortable bogging down his squadrons and winning that matchup while killing off both of his Consulars, and then bolting. My biggest priority was keeping Ahsoka safe from engagement so I could make sure she could continue moving with Fighter Coordination Teams (FCT) and giving other squadrons bonus attacks. The biggest problem I quickly ran into was figuring out how to manage the Acclamator’s speed and course while also pushing squadrons. I debated setting my first dial to Concentrate Fire so I could take the token to prep the Swivel-Mount Batteries after I’d used them. But at the end of the day, I decided to let it ride if I ever used it because I couldn’t afford the dial. I worried that we’d be engaging by turn 2 and then I’d never be able to Navigate. So I needed to bank a Navigate token, then commit to pushing squadrons.

I’m literally only talking about doing two things at once. That doesn’t seem unreasonable...

Ultimately, I was correct about my squadrons winning that fight. My V-19s did die several times, but they kept coming back, courtesy of Reserve Hangar Deck. The bonus attacks that Ahsoka handed out 2-3 times a round (in addition to her own attack when I felt confident that I could kill whatever caused her to become entangled in Engagement) really took a toll on his squadrons, even on the few attacks when my dice were only average. It took me several attacks, but I was able to kill off Kickback fairly quickly because Ted over-committed his squadrons. The result was a quagmire that even Luminara’s ability couldn’t overcome to fully protect his various unnamed squadrons. He tossed Anakin into the mosh pit, but couldn’t land any damage on Nevoota Bee because I used Obi-Wan’s Redirect and EST. At that point, everyone piled onto Anakin because Ted’s V-19s were committed elsewhere, and Luminara’s ability does not protect Anakin. It took several attacks, but Anakin went down without firing another shot.


However, Nevoota Bee had wandered just a little too far out into the fray and was at the mercy of Ted’s entire fleet. My Consulars did a fine job of pushing one or two squadrons and then bumping Ahsoka so she could tell other squadrons to attack. So I felt really good about my squadron play. But once he could focus fire on Nevoota Bee, it just couldn’t weather that storm. I killed off his Radiant VII before it ever passed out a token, but Nevoota Bee dropped shortly after. After I’d collected 3 of the 5 tokens (and was on my way to collecting a fourth, out-of-the-way token with a severely damaged V-19), and dominated the squadron battle (at this point, I’d maybe lost one of my Deltas, but I’d killed Kickback, Anakin, Luminara, a V-19 and an ARC?), I figured I would still win on points. He’d get Nevoota Bee and one of my Consulars, but I’d be able to get both of his Consulars (or Radiant VII as well as his Acclamator), all of his squadrons, and I’d have him on objective tokens 60-15. But disaster struck.

Is this really a disaster, though?

I didn’t snap pictures, and it’s been a minute since we played, so I don’t remember what I could’ve/should’ve done differently. However, Ted flew his Acclamator well, prioritizing fire the way he needed it to go. The result was he got both my Consulars and tabled me. He beat me, 415-224. So, what happened? Well, my Acclamator wanted to Navigate as well as Squadron, couldn’t do both, and my planning was insufficient to keep Nevoota Bee safe since I couldn’t do both at the same time. That was definitely part of it. I was also overconfident with regards to a combination of factors: that Ted’s Acclamator was out of position, and that I had built a nice little barrier of obstacles over which he couldn’t jump (one debris field, one asteroid, two Exogorths, all clustered together with no daylight, courtesy of Infested Fields). I was thinking about Bail being able to speed up the Acclamator, but I was so mired in my considering it a sort of Victory Star Destroyer that I forgot it could jump to speed 3. Once it jumped past the obstacles (landing only on the debris field and the asteroid instead of all four obstacles, and also not being stuck behind them with obstruction), I knew that was the show for Nevoota Bee, and I was right. So I underestimated his Acclamator’s ability to get back into position with Bail’s assistance.


Ultimately, I think my Acclamator needed to start at speed 1 instead of speed 2, and then sped up to get away as best it could. Also, there is absolutely a balance to be struck with Obi-Wan. The inclination may be to mitigate damage as best as possible. However, sometimes, it makes more sense to save the Redirect token to shift around more damage rather than saving an additional damage with EST. I can’t remember the exact order of operations, but my Redirect was burned earlier than I would’ve liked. Was it the right call? Maybe? Hard to say, since the details escape me. But there is for sure a balance to be struck with only a single Redirect and a single Brace (as Salvo doesn’t help protect the ship beyond discouraging attacks). So I’m still adjusting to using Obi-Wan as a commander. But I LOVED leveraging Ahsoka for additional attacks. Ted wasn’t expecting it, so I doubt I’ll be able to abuse her ability quite that much again in the future. But as long as I play carefully with her, I’m confident I’ll get a lot of mileage out of her. Even if Ted had been expecting her, she was never in a position where he could jump her. And she does have Grit to escape single engagement anyway. So I’m looking forward to using her again. After much thought, though, I can’t count on Nevoota Bee and V-19s working together to do enough work to put down other ships. If I’m flying squadrons this way, then I need some bombers to pose a threat. In the wake of this last match, I combined this fleet with another idea I was working on to come up with the following:


Slim Pickens (131/389/400)

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Acclamator I-class (66 + 62: 128)

· Obi-Wan Kenobi (28)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Flight Controllers (6)

· Hyperspace Rings (3)

· Expanded Hangar Bay (5)

· Ordnance Pods (3)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Nevoota Bee (5)


Charger c70 (45 + 20: 65)

· Clone Navigation Officer (4)

· Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

· Fighter Coordination Team (3)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Swift Return (3)


Charger c70 (45 + 20: 65)

· Expert Shield Tech (5)

· Reserve Hangar Deck (3)

· Fighter Coordination Team (3)

· Radiant VII (1)

· Bomber Command Center (8)


Ahsoka Tano (23)

4 x ARC-170 Starfighter Squadron (4 x 15)

4 x V-19 Torrent Squadron (4 x 12)


Station Assault

Fire Lanes

Infested Fields

“I toyed with Slim PIckens on the bomb…”

I know Farscape is a space opera and not strictly a Sci-Fi series, but nonetheless, it was my favorite Sci-Fi show, no holds barred, until The Expanse came along. You should watch both.


As you can see, I’ve kept a lot from the previous iteration of the fleet, “Snipping Your Wings.” Ahsoka and a bunch of V-19s, RHD, EST...but I’ve made some other changes. It was great having the 3 Deltas bop around at speed 4, picking off strays. But they’re also fragile, so I was keeping them at bay to jump enemy squadrons. More often than not, they came in after the V-19s had already arrived. So why not replace them with ARCs? The ARCs provide a threat to enemy ships as well as squadrons, and have a pair of rerolls between Nevoota Bee and Bomber Command Center (BCC). They’ve got Counter and 7 hull to protect them from other squadrons. But when commanded with Flight Controllers, they’re throwing 3 blue, 1 red against squadrons. It’s not the ideal way for them to spend their time, but it does mean I can continue winning the squadron game with V-19 escorts, RHD to bring those escorts back, and bonus Ahsoka attacks. I obviously need to get those ARCs into position, so I’m going to mess with Hyperspace Rings. And while I did end up using all three RHDs in my match against Ted, I’d have been fine fielding two and being able to push 4 squadrons at a time from Nevoota Bee. Hence Expanded Hangar Bay in addition to Hyperspace Rings.


As Radiant VII is now sporting BCC and is more essential to my fleet’s success in blowing up enemy ships, I thought it warranted the continued protection of EST. However, I did not feel the same way about Swift Return and thought I could afford to drop EST for something else. I thought that a single Clone Navigation Officer (CNO) could toss much needed tokens to Nevoota Bee so that it wasn’t responsible for all of its own tokens outside of Repair (previously thrown by Radiant VII, but of limited usefulness once Nevoota Bee was the life of the party). Finally, ACMs at long range can be fun, but it was just too much invested for me in this iteration of a fleet. I never bothered tossing them at the Consulars, because they would simply Evade the black die and at the time didn’t have to worry about any other attacks. Ted’s Acclamator did eat one ACM attack, but that was it. I flakked several times to help out my squadrons, and so I think I’ll be happier with Linked Turbolaser Towers (LTT) and perhaps Ordnance Pods (though I think I’m more likely to end up with some other Ordnance upgrade before long) than I was with Swivel-Mounts (which I really don’t have an opportunity to reset once I’ve used them).


Anyway, that’s my first time messing with Obi-Wan, and I had a lot of fun doing so! Also lots of fun seeing Bail on the table, so my gratitude to Ted for the opportunity to finally play some Clone Wars Armada! Hopefully, I’ll get to play Armada again soon, because I hadn’t realized just how much I missed the game until getting in a match. Y’all be well, stay as safe and healthy as you can, and I look forward to throwing dice with the Armada community again as soon as we can!


-IratePooka