Sunday, September 25, 2016

Matchup of the Week - Maturin vs emfrank72 (World Cup Qualifier)

Today we are going to look at our first World Cup Qualifier matchup of the week.  Per the rule, this game is worth +1 points to each player for being chosen as the matchup of the week.  Congratulations to both of them.  That means the game could theoretically end in a 7 / 6 split, which isn't particularly bad for either party, but that if one wins big, it could be big indeed.

Maturin's goal


Points: 400/400

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points) 
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points) 
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points) 
- Leading Shots ( 4 points) 
= 140 total ship cost

- Admiral Motti ( 24 points) 
- Relentless ( 3 points) 
- Intel Officer ( 7 points) 
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points) 
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points) 
- Leading Shots ( 4 points) 
= 171 total ship cost

3 Firespray-31s ( 54 points) 
1 Boba Fett ( 26 points) 
1 Black Squadron ( 9 points)  - (Spoiled Corellian Conflict squadron!  Shame on you!)

This is interesting.  Let's break it down first then talk about the specifics.  2 activation, no bid, 4 deployments.  Not a subtle or finess list there.  Motti gives extra health to the ISDs which both boast ECMs.  Needa's ISD2 is built for long range engagement with TRCs, while Motti's is built to fling squadrons out as part of its attack.  Both have leading shots to make sure they put a lot of hurt downfield from medium range.

Noticeably absent from the Fireball is Rhymer, though Flight Controllers mean that the Firesprays are there to do double duty, and mop up ships after engaging squadrons, with Motti's ISD probably commanding them until they or the opposing squadrons are dead.  Relentless helps make that less of a guess when that will occur. 


Start Your Attack Run v6 
Points: 400/400

MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 points)
- Liberty ( 3 points) 
- Chart Officer ( 2 points) 
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points) 
- Nav Team ( 4 points) 
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points) 
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points) 
- Leading Shots ( 4 points) 
= 134 total ship cost

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- General Dodonna ( 20 points) 
- Bright Hope ( 2 points) 
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points) 
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points) 
= 52 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points) 
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points) 
= 30 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Toryn Farr ( 7 points) 
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points) 
= 33 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Quantum Storm ( 1 points) 
- Comms Net ( 2 points) 
= 21 total ship cost

1 Jan Ors ( 19 points) 
6 Y-Wing Squadrons ( 60 points) 
3 X-Wing Squadrons ( 39 points) 
1 HWK-290 ( 12 points) 

On the other side of the board:  Again, no bid.  5 Activations, 10 deployment.  A bit of overkill on deployment, but 11 squadrons and 5 ships with only one being a combat ship.  On the other hand, he should have squadron superiority quickly, with the ability to move his Y-Wings wherever he wants them.  The Battlecruiser will be a bit undergunned vs the dual ISDs with XI-7s not being as effective against the high hull of the ISDs, but the XX-5s doing some good work with Dodonna.  

Lots of squadron activations on the field, between Liberty's potential 4, and 4 more from boosted comm transports.  Toryn Farr will need to stay close to the fighter engagement and adds another 2, while Comm Net Quantum Storm is probably there to feed Liberty tokens.  If he can win the squadron game early, Maturin should be in good shape to take down an ISD or possibly both.

The Matchup:

emfrank72 needs to eat the transports fast, and avoid overcomitting to the fighter game early, but his ISDs are more than capable of eating a Transport a turn if they find themselves in medium range.  Both players are at 400 points, so winner of the coin flip to determine initiative will also determine the tempo of the game.  Maturin having first / last would be huge with his one heavy hitter, while either player's choice of objectives could also cause some strategic shifts.

Biggs' Pre-Match Bet:

Maturin I think takes this one, just because of squadron superiority.  At least he does if we know who has First Player and what objective is being played.  At the very least, I will say that this is his game to lose. 

I wanted to be cute and say "whoever wins the tied bid coin flip wins the game" because honestly that is going to open up a lot of possibilities to the bid winner.  At the very least this should be a fun game to watch.

Anyone who wants to watch the game can see it live on Vassal at 12:15 PM PDT (-7 GMT) / 3:15 PM EDT.  I'm not saying I will have twitch up in time to record it.  I am not saying I will be awake in time to record it (working nights).  I'm just saying watch it on Vassal if you defiantly want to watch it.


  1. Did the battle happen? Is there a recording?

    What happened? :)

  2. Sorry,we didn't record it! While my (Maturin) squadrons won space superiority, the ISD's ramped up to speed 3 and managed to escape before I could inflict the bazillion points of damage needed to bring them down. On the other hand the Liberty flanked the ISDs all game and never was in serious danger. 6-5 victory to Maturin, MoV something like 9.