I always get excited about worlds, and I unfortunately have never been, this year is no different, but never the less I am still excited. It is exciting to see what happens at worlds and it's always exciting to root for the local guys that go out to play I remember one year we had I think 4 locals go to worlds and it was great just cheering them on as they posted the standing after each round and with so many floating around and in the top 8 it was just exciting to see what would happen. I feel that Empire might finally get its first win at worlds this year, but I have played and played against nasty rebel list so you never know what might happen. It’s exciting to see all the list and everything that happened, this year is even more exciting because we will have a new Armada expansion announced and I am excited to see what that could be. I can’t even Imagine what my excitement would be like if I actually was actually going.
As I have thought about worlds, I have thought what separates the best from the rest? What makes a good player into a great player? Is it a complete and unquestionable knowledge of the rules? Is it unrelenting practice and experience with thousands upon thousands of hours of game play? Is it the players that painstakingly and tirelessly craft and re-craft their list to counter any obstacle? While all of these help and can not be replaced, what really fine tuns and makes players great is the little things they learn along the way while they practice and refine lists, and gain a deeper understanding of the rules, and play the game. I just wanted to share a few of the things I have learned on my journey as an Armada player, and things that can help you become the very best.
Obstacles
Obstacle placement, and use of obstacles is an often overlooked part of the game. What do almost all obstacles have in common, they obstruct things. Obstruction does a few things the first and most often used is you lose one dice when attacking, however obstruction also blocks the engagement of fighters. You may want to be able to move even if squadrons come and engage your squadrons, place your squadrons on an obstacle and you will have that flexibility. Using this can also be helpful in negating the effect Mauler Mithel has on your squadrons as he has to engage them and he can’t because of obstruction this can also block the reroll from swarm.
In addition obstacles can be used to in effect deny an area on the board. Something of note is that the debris fields are larger than the asteroids, in effect giving you a larger area or denial, as such I almost always pace a debris fields first. When placing obstacles, in most cases it is best to create “lanes” to funnel ships into, and restrict their movement. By doing this you are making it easier to predict where your opponents ships are going to be, and this makes it easier for you to set up Killzones with your ships, Killzones are multiple overlapping arhs, making it easier to kill your opponent ships.
The station is the only obstacle people want to overlap, and because to that it can act as good bait for your opponent to take one of the lanes you have created, it is also the largest obstacle so with regards to obstruction can really help your ships hide, or keep yours squadrons obstructed as well. When placing obstacles keep in mind what obstacles can do, and also what you want or need them to do that is a mark of a great player.
Do Everything
Do everything no matter how little you think the Impact will be. let start with an example of doing everything with your squadrons activation when activating a squadron you can move and shoot, in any order. I see people kill a squadron that unties their squadron from engagement and they don’t movie it. I am not sure why this happens you could move onto the station to heal move away so you don’t die or move into engage other squadrons, or even just reposition to be in the activation bubble of a ship next round, this happens a lot with squadrons at least that I have seen, so make sure you do everything you can during your activation.
Another example with doing all you can is during your ships activation, a lot of people shoot ships and then forget to flack or don’t take a shot they think does not really matter like a long range shot at a flotilla, or an attack that will just get evaded away, if there are no better shots take the shot make them spend the token, who knows you might get that one damage on that ship that will be game deciding latter in the game, or make an ace spend its scatter that may end up having to burn it, remember no matter how much you think something does not matter it does. There are the circumstance where they will spend the evade and you have no follow up attack to make them burn it, but always do it so you are always in the habit, of doing everything. Doing everything helps you squeeze as much value out of your points as possible, and one damage in the long run can really be game changing.
Keep your options open
Doing things in a manner that keeps your options open is key. Looking at squadrons first, let me give you an example of keeping your options open, a Tie Defender is tied down by 3 squadrons two of them are at one health the other is at 3, you have Mauler standing by in some cases like this I see players activate the defender to take the shot at the squadron at 3 hull first to try and get it to one so mauler can kill all the squadrons just by moving, while this is cool, it limits our options. Bring in mauler to tick a damage onto everything first killing two of the squadrons then have mauler attack and possibly even kill the other squadron freeing up the Tie Defender to do whatever it would like tie up more squadrons if there are some go bomb a ship, run away, heal on the station etc, by moving Mauler first we have opened up our options.
If we take this concept to ships You may have an ISD with Gunnery teams that has a double arch on one ship and only the front arch on another, take the front arch shot on the one that is double arched first this gives you the most information possible did the ship die, will it most likely die if you take your side arch shot at it now, etc. You get a lot of information and it helps keep your options open. In addition don't keep yours ships to close together as this can limit your movement options, when you have a lot of practice with your ships maneuverability it becomes easier to gauge how close you can fly together, but make sure to still give yourself some room, to maximize your options.
Don't Get Tunnel vision
Tunnel vision is something that can make us make a lot of mistakes and misplays just to accomplish something that may not be that beneficial in the long run. Many lists are designed to do something cool, and or fun, but it is important to not become so focused on one thing that you become oblivious to everything else that is going on; the larger scale of the game. An example would be when you become so engrossed in killing that CR-90 that you forget about the raddus drop that is incoming and you lose the game.
Remember to be aware of the larger scope of the game look at all your options don’t become so focused on one thing that you miss all the other options available to you, or all the options available to your opponent. Being aware of the larger scale of the game will help you see and predict your opponents moves and how best to counter them and to keep their options limited, and help you plan ahead.
Know the lists.
Many times especially at more casual events I have simply looked at the ships and squadrons in a list and I have an idea of what is going on, but its good to be in the habit, of checking your opponents list so you are not surprised when your opponent dumps external racks or they get to add an extra dice with quad battery turrets as you choice to speed up, but where unaware they had that upgrade. The more you know the list you are playing against the more you will know how to work around it.
This same principle goes for the list you are playing if you are playing a list you know inside and out, you will not miss things you will know how your ships fly, this part takes practice and there is no way around it, but I firmly believe that if you have a solid understanding of your list and your opponent does not know theirs you will come out on top far more often than not.
Believe in yourself
Probably the best advice to I can give, regardless of if you are playing against the reining world champion, or someone you have never won a game against, or even your everyday friend that you play games with regularly, have faith in your abilities, don't worry about it even at the highest level of play we are still just here to push plastic spaceships around. Their may be times that you wont be allowed to go back on a mistake, or if you have a misunderstanding of a rule no one is going to get in a scuffle over it just learn from the correction and move on.
Trust that you can win and at the very least you will do better then you otherwise would have. Don't worry to much about mistakes there is no mistake that can't be corrected, ratified, or learned from go out play have fun and do your best.
These are just some of the some of the things I have learned over the course of my time with the game that can bring your game to the next level. Even when playing casual games do these things just so you are in the habit, so that when the time comes they are second nature. In the end they don’t replace knowing the rules, having hundreds of hours of practice, and having refined you list to a T, but they put you on the path and are things you can do to bring your game to the next level without the huge investment, but nothing can replace that investment, so get playing games reread the rules, and start refining your lists! Have a great week everyone, and good luck to all going to worlds, have fun, but remember..
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