We are now onto the Semi-Finals, only two games stand between our remaining contestants and the World Cup. Things are heating up on this side of the brackets, with Madaghmire having won a dramatic victory vs Caribbean Ninja, and Truthiness defeating Reith28 with some help from a lucky critical effect. Let's look at our Semi-Final contestants for this battle:
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| Typical Thursday Night for Madaghmire? |
Madaghmire
Madaghmire - Corrupted Fireball
Author: Madaghmire
Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 398/400
[ flagship ] Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Admiral Motti ( 24 points)
- Corrupter ( 5 points)
- Wing Commander ( 6 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Avenger ( 5 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
2 Firespray-31s ( 36 points)
1 TIE Advanced Squadron ( 12 points)
1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Soontir Fel ( 18 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
Madaghmire is participating in his first Armada Vassal Tournament, though he's certainly not an unfamiliar sight on the FFG boards. Author of the Chewie Awards, and several After Action Reports, he is certainly not a newcomer to the game.
He did had a rough path to go through to get into the elimination round - his POD wasn't particularly responsive to games. After winning his first matchup in a 10-0 blowout, he did find himself on top of the list, but it would be the only game he was able to schedule until nearly the end of the POD round. There, the only other player in the POD to have even gotten a technical win, Quadro28, squeaked out a 7-3 victory and earned himself top billing. Madaghmire meanwhile found himself with just 13 tournament points, though it was enough for 2nd place and a pass to the Elimination Round.
There, his first opponent was the much higher scoring Cutter9999, who was running a 4 ship list of small size Imperials with Rogue support. Madaghmire won, though it was reportedly closer than the final score seemed to indicate. Still, a victory moved him on to face Caribbean Ninja in the Quarter-Finals.
His game against Caribbean Ninja was set up to look something like a mirror match. Both were running 2 ship, Bomber based lists, though Madaghmire had the advantage in initiative bid and deployment. He used those to good effect, and maneuvered perfectly in a Contested Outpost fight, giving up the outpost to preserve his ISDII with a bold Speed 0 maneuver for two turns, and wound up tabling Caribbean Ninja to secure the win.
His list, the "Corrupted Fireball", gives up a lot of points from Bombers to bring a strong fighter coverage, supported from his VSD. Howlrunner, Mithel, Fel, Dengar, and a TIE Advanced support Rhymer and 2 Firesprays in a balanced squadron offense. His heavy hitter is the Avenger, who uses the threat of cancelled tokens to keep them from being used on squadron activations, and Motti sits on the VSD as a cheap commander to keep his brusiers flying, since he doesn't have many actual ships.
His list leaves the bare minimum in points off the table, setting his bid at 398. His deployment advantage is a slightly lower 6, and his activation advantage is equally low, coming in at only 2. His "Motti Scale" is roughly average at 5.
Truthiness
Truthiness
++ Imperial Navy (Standard) (400pts) ++
Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (79pts)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes (5pts)
- Engine Techs (8pts)
- •Demolisher (10pts)
Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (109pts)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes (5pts)
- Expanded Hangar Bay (5pts)
- •Admiral Screed (26pts)]
Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (83pts)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes (5pts)
- Expanded Hangar Bay (5pts)
+ Squadrons (129pts) +
TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)
TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)
TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)
TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)
TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)
TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)
Darth Vader (21pts)
Dengar (20pts)
Major Rhymer (16pts)
Soontir Fel (18pts)
Truthiness has been a common sight in the Vassal tournaments since the very first one, in which he finished in the middle of the pack after suffering a painful loss. It wasn't until the Holiday Tournament and the start of Wave 2 play that he came into his own, taking First Place with his B-Wings / Independence / Yavaris / Salvation list. In addition to being very active on the forums, particularly in Fleet Building, he maintains his own blog to talk about gaming, including Armada.
He got himself a bit of a bum start to the tournament, being crushed 10-0 in the opening game of the entire tournament against Clontroper5 which was played within hours of the POD round pairings being announced. Still, he came back from that loss by winning his next two - a 9-1 victory vs his POD mate, and a 8 point technical win due to his final opponent withdrawing from the tournament.
In the first round of Elimination play, he faced Doobleg and his 3 Ship Imperial Brawler list, which seemed designed to mess with his strengths. Boasting anti-squadron fighter cover, and better long-range engagement from an ISDII, he nevertheless came out on top of Doobleg in a 149 MOV win, moving on to the Quarter-Finals.
Once in the Quarter-Finals he would be up against Reith28, who had thus far dominated every game of the tournament. However, a lucky critical hit from his Demolisher left Reith's most powerful weapon, an ISDII, slowed to speed 0 and without defense tokens. It was dead before it had the chance to activate again, and the rest of the game went from there.
His list is anchored by a pair of VSD1s, both with APTs and Expanded Hangers, which are used to activate his 6 TIE Bomber Squadrons as well as Major Rhymer with Fel, Vader, and Dengar as fighter cover. Admiral Screed leads from one of the VSDs, while Demolisher with Engine Techs and APT comes in from the flank.
His list makes use of every point available, 400 total, giving up any question of an initiative bid. It does have a deployment advantage of 8, which is relatively high for the tournament, and an activation advantage of 3, putting it roughly in the middle of the pack. It's "Motti Scale" comes out at 5.
The Matchup:
Madaghmire has the advantage in initiative bid, same as with his previous game, though he gives up both deployment and activation advantages to Truthiness. Choice of initiative is likely going to be very important for Madaghmire's success in this matchup.
In terms of squadrons, Madaghmire has a stronger anti-squadron bent to his forces, with Truthiness being based around direct bombing attacks with only a limited cover for his bombers. It will be very interesting to see how the two forces close with one another, and how they are used to pin one another down.
In terms of ship vs ship, Truthiness has a significant advantage if he can get the fight into close range, as his VSD1s and his GSD can be absolutely murderous with the combination of APT and Screed. Madaghmire though, doesn't really have that much of an advantage at long range, and will likely have to close to finish off the enemy ships.
Biggs' Pre-Match Bet:
There are too many things going in Truthiness's way this matchup to think that he won't be able to take the win and move on to the Finals. His advantage in close quarters brawling, and having enough Bombers to keep them from all being pinned in place I think will be the path that leads to his victory.
With one caveat - a brawl in the middle of the field, while it favors Truthiness, is random and chaotic enough to go either way. With a lot of dice being thrown, and a lot of squadrons being displaced as ships overlap, anything could happen. It should be a fun one to watch - and we will be streaming it live as it happens! Tune in to our twitch.tv/biggsirl to see our live commentary on the game as it happens!
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