Corellian Confilct - Campaign Speculation

I've talked about the new Objectives.  I've compared the campaign box to the X-Wing Aces packs.  Now, let's talk about the actual campaign system and what we can expect.

A Long Time Coming...

Did you know there is an expansion for Star Wars: Armada on the way called the Corellian Conflict?

You do?  Oh good.

Had I mentioned that I'm really excited about it?

I did?  More than once you say.  Well, good.  Because I am REALLY excited about this expansion.  I love campaign systems.  I think it's the board gamer in me, but I really enjoy it when my tabletop games feed into a bigger picture.  That I can earn bonuses in future games (or limitations if I screw up), just raises the stakes and lets me enjoy the game on a whole other level.

But aside from the campaign, FFG is using the Corellian Conflict to do something really awesome for Armada.  Something that both Armada and X-Wing players have been asking for since the launch of the respective games...

New Objectives!!

I'm back from my vacation and getting prepped to head to GenCon in a couple of weeks.  I'm looking forward to the tournament there and knowing hat I will be able to buy some Wave 3 & 4 ships is pretty exciting.  Even better though was the announcement of the Corellian Conflict Campaign Expansion.  I love campaigns and this one looks to be really fun.  It also looks like it will expand the game in new ways with 16 additional unique squadrons to choose from.  Rogue Squadron looks to be  a staple for me.

What I think will really be great for the game as a whole will be the addition of 12 new Objective cards.  This is something the game needs as the original 12 had gotten a bit stale and this should provide some fun new challenges when it comes to fleet construction.  Let's take a look at the thee new objectives that were previewed:

Fleet Building Contest

Here's my entry to the Fleet Building Contest and the strategy that I submitted to FFG that goes with it.

Garm Strikes back

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400
Commander: Garm Bel Iblis
Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions
MC80 Star Cruiser (96 points)
-  Liberty  ( 3  points)
-  Skilled First Officer  ( 1  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Nav Team  ( 4  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)
= 115 total ship cost
[ flagship ] Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Garm Bel Iblis  ( 25  points)
-  Paragon  ( 5  points)
-  Skilled First Officer  ( 1  points)
= 103 total ship cost
Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
-  Yavaris  ( 5  points)
-  Flight Commander  ( 3  points)
-  Fighter Coordination Team  ( 3  points)
= 68 total ship cost
GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points)
-  Toryn Farr  ( 7  points)
-  Bomber Command Center  ( 8  points)
= 35 total ship cost
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
2 X-Wing Squadrons ( 26 points)
2 Y-Wing Squadrons ( 20 points)
1 B-Wing Squadron ( 14 points)
 
Fleet created with Armada Warlords

When new ships come out, I always like to look at how they can interact with old ships and upgrades.  The Liberty is a great opportunity for that.  I am a huge fan of Garm bel Iblis and used him as my admiral when I took 2nd place last year at GenCon.  When Wave 2 came out, I found myself playing with the new admirals and not getting Garm onto the table much.  He just didn't seem to fit the Rebel fleets I was flying.  Well, the Liberty looks made for Garm and I am excited to use him again with the Liberty.

When I design a fleet I think about the formation that I want to use as much as the ships that go in it.  Well, I expect people will react to a Liberty in much the same way as an ISD, which is to try to run around a flank.  So, the plan will be to use that knowledge to get the opponent to go where I want.  I have a post on my blog (concentratefire.blogspot.com) about Herding With Star Destroyers that uses this basic concept and it fits here.

So, the Liberty should be placed on the very side of the deployment space.  The goal is to use the table edge to protect one flank.  It wants to then head forward and eventually turn in parallel to the long table edge.  How far it goes depends on what the opponent is up to.  The Paragon will deploy about range 3-4 from the Liberty and heading mostly parallel to the long table edge.  It will turn in once it is outside of the enemy.

So, basically we are using the Liberty and the Paragon to invite an 'Ackbar Slash'.  Both ships need to have Navigate as every other command.  They can use my new best friend, the 'Skilled First Officer', to switch to Nav at any time and turn in towards the enemy fleet.  Yavaris and Bright Hope will fly slowly back between the 2 larger ships along with the squadrons.  The goal is to herd the enemy between the big ships and into the bomber cloud where hopefully Yavaris combined with the Bomber Command Center will do some good damage. 

I will definitely be using this fleet as soon as I have the chance.  So, even if it is not selected, you will see a battle report with it here eventually.