This past weekend I flew to Montreal to take part in the St. Lawrence Open, Canada's top Armada event.  It was my third time attending, and I can honestly say it's consistently been one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.  Not only are the TO's very well organized, the players are extremely friendly (and extremely forgiving of my horrible French), the venue is *fantastic* with a full restaurant and bar (think drinks delivered to your table while playing), and the quality of Armada play is extremely high.

I enjoyed my time there a lot, and thought I'd give back to the community with some musings about my experience there.  So please indulge an old Armada player his ramblings!  I'll start with an overview of the fleet I flew, and then summarize the 6 games I played over the course of the weekend.

The Fleet: SL-at-O

I started playing Armada with the Rebels when the game released. Although I also started playing with GAR ships when the Clone Wars released, I've always carried a torch for Sato. Poor underperforming Sato continued to hold an allure for me - probably as I watched too many episodes of Star Wars Rebels. Full disclaimer: as part of the ARC Core Executive I was always aware of the tweaks being made to Armada cards in the development of ARC01. However, as Project Manager (and not a playtester) I didn't have a chance to play a single game with the new content until after it was publicly released. So I was as excited as anyone else to give new Sato a try!

It usually takes me several months to develop a fleet I'm fully satisfied with taking to a tournament; I like to fiddle as I test it against various opponents and discover strengths and weaknesses. This fleet concept started after chatting with Chris "Truthiness" Fritz, who had come to love Sato while testing for ARC01. He had pointed out that two Assault Frigates with Boarding Troopers could be quite effective in taking down a single large target; the concept made me curious as I'd never run a Boarding Team on an Assault Frigate before. Over the course of the summer and fall, I kept playing and modifying the fleet. I decided I only needed one Assault Frigate, and the second could be split into smaller ships for more activations and flexibility. More details below, following the list itself:

So at first glance, you might scratch your head at the composition of this fleet. What is it? Technically, MMSU, but with only three combat capable ships only sort of? With an overpriced AFMk2A, an escort Nebulon, and a Rebel Pelta? The squadron component weighs in at exactly 100 points, which qualifies it as a medium-large, and according to common wisdom makes it ripe for harvesting by a 134 list. In it we have a B-wing ace, and a generic Lancer, and no Tycho, who is well known as Sato's inseparable best buddy. So what gives? Let's break it down into components.

SLO 2025, Assault Frigate Mark II A

Note that this is an AFMk2A, which is significantly more expensive than the much more frequently seen AFMk2B. What do you get for the premium price? A smaller squadron value, but more punch with an extra blue die out the front and back, and double the flak. The additional firepower out the front is significant once we get into Boarding Trooper range, as it reliably bumps you up to 3 damage, the magic number where defenders might consider using their brace but also really dislike doing so. With a double arc, being able to put 4+3 damage on target at medium range means the target is taking 2+2 damage even if they use brace twice, instead of 1+2 (the likely outcome with an AF2B).

The Boarding Troopers might be an anti-synergy with the AFMk2A since it’s only squad 2, but two tokens flipped is usually enough to significantly pressure a large target. The ECM ensures the AF is survivable enough to do its job in this era of large dice pools, though it will still fold to sustained fire. The Veteran Captain has proven to be extremely useful, and at 2 points is value for points spent. It provides a single command token - but it will provide exactly the token you need exactly when you need it, which is extremely valuable when it comes to triggering Boarding Troopers.

For most of my testing period I was using the Paragon title, but I made a last minute swap to Gallant Haven as the squadrons needed more help against 134 lists, and it’s proved useful.

SLO2025, Modified Pelta-class Assault Ship

A Rebel Pelta! While Peltas are well known as a GAR mainstay, they’re much less frequently seen in the Rebel faction. When they do make an appearance, it’s usually for their Fleet Command slot or for Squadron 3 & Fighter Coordination Teams. But here we have an Assault Pelta made slightly beefier and more punchy via the addition of ASTs and APTs. 3/3/1 isn’t a bad shield profile, and it can usually take one or two punches. Sato makes the APT’s more reliably trigger (not guaranteed, it’s still time for a party whenever it activates) and the AFFM helps the bomber squadrons get on target. At speed 2 it’s not really getting away from a big threat, but I’m willing to let it explode in the name of trading up. Its blue-black flak helps with the fleet’s counter-134 plan (sensing a theme here?).

The Fleet Command All Fighters Follows Me is actually an important part of the fleet functionality. Traditionally Sato’s ride-or-die buddy is Tycho, who is notably absent in my fleet. Instead, AFFM allows Ketsu or the Lancer to achieve speed 5 and play spotter, if needed. Ten Nub also benefits greatly from the speed boost. And since the squadron ball often starts the game sheltering behind my ships, AFFM gives them the little extra reach to become relevant.

SLO 2025, Nebulon-B Escort Frigate

Nebulons are one of the most iconic ships from the Star Wars movies, and it’s a shame they’re not seen more often on the tabletop. In this case their flaws (weak sides, no redirect, mediocre nav chart) are outweighed by the long range firepower potential that Salvation offers. Sato makes the red dice less of a liability, and the potential spike on front arc damage output is very strong (though unreliable). In addition - once again - two blue flak dice help with the anti-squadron plan. I learned to mitigate the weakness of the side arcs by keeping the nose firmly pointed toward danger; it was a painful lesson as the plentiful mistakes I made would often result in a vaporized Nebulon-B.

It may surprise you to find out that I frequently used Salvation as a squadron pusher. The Skilled First Officer allows for command dial flexibility when needed and works best with Command 2 ships, so using it to call up a squadron command to push 2-3 bombers into a target often caused a lot more damage than a single die that had been added by Concentrate Fire!

SLO 2025, GR-75 Medium Transports

Ahhh Rebel Flotillas, the Swiss Army Knives of the faction. Cheap reliable token sources, extra activations, squadron activators, and deployment delayers. Their praises have been sung many times and I don’t need to add to the chorus. Toryn is worth a mention as her presence is one of the keys to the antisquadron plan for the fleet. Flying the three combat ships in a loose formation with her nearby presents the opponent with an immense flak bubble where their squadrons are in danger from repeated volleys of double flak dice, boosted with a reroll.

Maturin's SLO 2025 Squadrons

And now let’s examine the quirkiest part of the fleet. At least, from a Sato player’s view - there’s no Tycho! While he’s an outstanding spotter for Sato ships, I just didn’t have enough points or ace slots to spare. Instead, this squadron component is focused on cramming as much Norra-boosted bombing into the list as possible. Gold Squadron, Ten Numb, and Ketsu all benefit from Toryn rerolls when trying to proc Norra’s special ability, which can help take a large target down quickly. Every single squadron has the bomber keyword, and many throw two dice into ships.

Ketsu and the Lancer provide a burst of speed when spotting is needed (see the Pelta entry), and their Rogue keyword lets them chase down a wounded & fleeing ship more easily. In addition the squadrons perform well mixing it up with other squadrons; despite being half composed of Y-wings only one squadron (Dutch) is Heavy. Everyone except Gold squadron has an average antisquadron pool of three dice, which when combined with flak support from the ships (and Ten’s ability) is often enough to take down bigger squadron balls. There’s no bid as I prefer not to waste brain cells trying to decide on going first or second, and instead have a plan for either eventuality.

Now, with that analysis of the fleet in mind, I flew to Montreal on Friday and went to the store to help set up and have some beers. I headed back to the hotel and since my body clock was still on west coast time, I decided to get a practice game in online with Relent26 - who proceeded to wreck my shop. Not the most confidence boosting experience for sure. I made a lot of mistakes, but resolved to learn from them in preparation for the coming games of the weekend…

The game reports will come in future posts, but for another take on the SLO weekend, head over to The Aluminum Falcon to read RoscopantsAU’s awesome report!