I think every game I have played even games where I get a 10-1 I always find something that I did wrong, a mistake I made something I missed, something I could have played more optimally. Sometimes I even get rules wrong, this has become more apparent recently with the newer stuff coming out, bringing things to the table that I have seen or used in quite a while like Cloak and Raid, etc., and also re-reading the rules reference guide for the back to basics series.
It is important if you are wanting to improve your game to look for the mistakes you are making even when you are doing well, and take responsibility for them, and then learn from them. this past week at local game night I got in 3 games of Armada, I also happen to try and recorded one game from game night every week and post it on the SLC Armada you tube chancel ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44zo-hKHzgqcu_PydfdDIg?view_as=subscriber ) . They are not always of me playing, but I just never moved tables and was able to get in 3 games, I played the same list as I was to lazy to grab my other list, but it was a good learning experience, as so I want to share what I learned during these games things I could control, things I could have done better and hopefully this will help you review your own games on what you could have done better. Without any further ado lets introduce the list I was playing.
Imperial II (120) • Admiral Piett (22) • Commander Vanto (7) • Gunnery Team (7) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) • Electronic Countermeasures (7) • Heavy Ion Emplacements (9) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) • Sovereign (4) = 186 Points
Gladiator I (56) • Hondo Ohnaka (2) • Ordnance Experts (4) • Assault Concussion Missiles (7) • Demolisher (10) = 79 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23) • Darth Vader (1) • Comms Net (2) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) = 29 Points
Squadrons: • Maarek Stele (21) • Colonel Jendon (20) • Mauler Mithel (15) • TIE Interceptor Squadron (11) • JumpMaster 5000 (12) • Morna Kee (27) = 106 Points
Total Points: 400
Okay so brief synopsis of the list its really trying to leverage Piett its got that 2.5 ship feel, but in place of an ISD and quasar we have an ISD and Demolisher more ship firepower. HIE, ACM, and the fighters should really help us pile damage on. the Reserve Hanger decks are there to keep Mauler Mauling if they take out the jumpmaster or just keep the damage up in the squadron game with a seemingly never dying Tie Interceptor, they really make list feel like a much more robust squadron ball than it acutely is. I really like Piett, but I am trying to find something that he can be competitive in other than an SSD list as its just not my play-style. Well lets jump into game one.
Game one I was up against double Large Ackbar. He elected to be second player I picked firing lanes, not because it was the best objective, but because the blue was minefields and I have played that objective a ton recently and just really did not want to play it again, though in a competitive game it was the best choice by far.
After he placed the fire lanes tokens I moved them in such a way as to force him to move ships toward the near 3' edge to contest them so I knew where he was going to be moving. He deployed in a fairly standard conga line, and I set up to cut the conga line off, and contest the tokens.
My first mistake was a rules error in this game in the second round I was measuring to see if Jendon was in range of the ISD I was measuring cardboard to cardboard it is a habit I picked up because of attacking, but cardboard to cardboard only applies to when you are attacking all other circumstance you can measure from the plastic base. Its something I need to get into the habit of. So during the game I thought he was out and then just spaced that and activated him anyway, because I saw a clear path to victory and auto pilot turned on, however if I had measured from the plastic base he would have surly been in so in the end the error was a bit of a wash, but was still a mistake on my part something I could learn from to develop better habits.
My second mistake came on the same turn when I moved the ISD I did not hook my front around wide enough to have my front on the tokens, and I believe I had the clicks to do so if I wanted to, this was the biggest mistake of the game for me, even though I won it decisively.
The game went on and I really don't see many other mistakes, I can remember the point spread off the top of my head, but it would have been a 9-2, however if I had hooked the ISD front arc a bit more I could have contested the fire lanes tokens and it would have swung it to a 10-1 fairly easily and in a tournament that can make the difference. Its a small mistake, but in theory it could cost me the tournament under the right circumstances, though to be fair in a tournament I would not have picked Fire Lanes.
Game 2 I was up Against Palpatine, first and foremost we played the objective wrong I was second player he picked Doomed Station. I got so hooked on the word within that I forgot about the new keyword Towards that means I must move the obstacles a minimum of distance one it would have changed the the setup and engagement, but we have to look at what we have we can't speculate what would have happened if we played this correctly.
My second mistake was on deployment I drooped Demolisher and my squadrons on the same side of the ISD this put Demoliser out of possession to help the ISD against his Kuat. My squadrons could have taken out the raiders and Demolisher that where on that ISD flanks by themselves, but Demolisher really needed to be there to help the ISD if I wanted a chance at taking down his Kuat.
My next mistake was I was too wishy washy with the ISD I did not want to commit it to ether flank, and it led to it not getting hardly any shots off at all. I needed to commit it to a plan of attack as aside from its squadron activations it barely contributed.
My last mistake was more a misjudgment, but I thought I could get Demo in close range of his last raider, and it was just short, thankfully Demo was in good health and he decided to ram to try and put enough damage on it to kill demo with a long range shot from his Kuat, but he would have needed a perfect roll and it was not to be so I got a 6-5 was 3 points away from 7-4, but almost dose not count. At the end of the day I won only because the raider landed on a debris field early in the game, and this let my fighters get on the needed damage cards. On to the third an final game against Motti ISDs
I was second player We played contested outpost, probably my first mistake with this list, but I don't like many of the other yellow objectives with this list, probably its weakest point. This limited deployment and manuring if I wanted to contest the objective, and this lead to my next mistake.
I hugged the station far to closely, I needed my ISD and GSD to be further to port (left). This would have Isolated his closest ISD to have to deal with the ISD and Demo alone, and my ISD may have survived if I had done this. I would have been easy to blame the Death of my ISD on good rolls from my opponent, but I have found generally if you look back far enough you will see the mistakes that cost you your ship, this was it for me.
Another mistake I made was spending Mornas brace to aggressively, normally this is a good Idea but with LTT, Kallus and leading shoots on an ISD this lead to Morra dying far sooner than she should have, and I should have been happy with getting 2 damage and only re-roll if I got 1 or fewer.
another mistake I made is that I did not set a dial for my Gozanti, my opponent was kind enough to let me, and as much as I wanted a squadron command I knew that I most likely would have put in a maneuver command.
that was pretty much the last mistake I think that I made, however my opponent sealed his fate once he discarded his brace on an attack from Demo this really sealed the deal for me demo was able to continue hitting the ISD from the rear and killed it with a good amount of damage to spare before the end of the game, it was still possible for me to kill his last ISD even with his brace but it would have been much closer this game ended in a 7-4 to me.
Despite winning each game I made more than my fair share of mistakes and was able to learn from them. This is important of being a good player in any game. Even if you do well evaluate mistakes made, what could have made you "win more" what could have made that 7-4 an 8-3 etc. remember to always evaluate yourself on your ups and your downs and your ups will be more frequent then your downs. Bonus advise when you are losing a game don't panic keep a cool head and look at how best to salvage the situation. Until next time have a great week!
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