In my last game yesterday, I was happy with my performance for a number of reasons. Firstly, I didn't net list a fleet and actually put some thought into the choices I made and they turned out to be reasonable. Secondly, it included an Interdictor.

My re-match with Todd took place the very next day, which included some minor changes to our fleets to continue to sharpen our blades.

Today my usual sparring partner Todd joined me for another game of Armada. This time however I was running 8 TIE Defender squadrons who were all freshly painted. I'd never been able to get a solid win against Todd's current build and I was even more inspired as I was running an Interdictor.

Finally I got a pair of Armada games in and took some photos!

I attended a local gaming club in which I have been slowly sowing the seed which is Armada with success.

The first game i had was against James who hasn't had many games under his belt but as soon as he placed down as Interdictor he won my respect immediately. I was running a dual MC75 fleet helmed by Admiral Ackbar and was really keen to see how it would go. The fleet can be found here. 

This game was won/lost during deployment. I gave James first player making him choose between opening salvo,  fire lanes or sensor net. After seeing his squadron ball lacking any shuttles i steered him towards opening salvo as i had a pair of vcx's and it wouldn't have been a very fun game. 

Fleets went down and the interdictor took centre stage whilst the isd deployed away from the action. 

All of my fleet was deployed at speed 1 forcing James to come to me and endure a bucket load of dice on the way in. 

In summary the ISD didn't keep up with the Interdictor meaning it eventually got taken out by the pair of MC75's. James' squadron ball was effective however in handling my transports but it simply did not balance the amount of points the Interdictor cost. 

James certainly wasn't deterred by his performance and I continued to stress to him how different the game would have turned out had the ISD deployed centrally or had more navigate commands. 

I do look forward to playing him again I  the future. 

My usual wingman Todd was also up for a game and even though I was super keen to face off again with a heavy squadron build I had played against him with a few nights earlier I wanted to see how the dual MC75's would go used more aggressively. 

This time sensor net was selected as Todd had bought a shuttle and was keen to play some token shenanigans. 

His 'Msu-ish' fleet easily out-deployed me simply because of his maxed out squadron capacity however I did force his hand a little by deploying both MC75's facing his deployment zone allowing me the flexibility of turning into the action which ever way it may turn out to be.

What was to take place was a fantastic game of Armada. As his squadron ball warily approached, I setup some tokens to farm but it wasn't too long until ships were throwing dice at one another. A transport was first blood as I reacted too slowly to his squadrons. His Raider was the first ship to go from his forces as I positioned my flag ship in a way he wasn't going to be able to get around and escape. His bombers started to remove shields from my flagship however but the Exodus fleet title certainly increased its life span by at least a turn.

I spent a turn from both ships on flak duty even burning external racks trying to drop Maarek but he limped away on 2 hit points. In the following turn however the Quasar was a little too close to escape and was just within medium range and a single broadside snuffed it out of existence before gunnery teams kicked in scratching the paint on the Arquitens.

My flag ship was eventually destroyed but I had gained a few more victory points than Todd. As we tallied up the points I was ahead by a piddly 2 points, the closest game we've ever had.

It was a great game and I am thoroughly enjoying playing this fleet although upon careful inspection I realised I had forgotten a vital upgrade card being quad laser turrets. That certainly would have come in handy! Oh well, there is a re-match already being planned so this time all upgrade cards will be on deck with some subtle changes to the fleet.

Thanks for reading. 

- James

Although the B-Wing is such an iconic ship and a personal favourite in X-Wing, it unfortunately suffers due to being an early wave ship. The ARC-170 appears to be so much that the B-Wing wants to be at a much more affordable price tag. An in-depth look will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each ship and why you should include them in your Rebel squads.