With Worlds Day 1 literally tomorrow I decided to throw a spanner in the works on any last minute list design by delivering some limited intel out of the Warsaw Regionals.(thanks Wawrzyniec “Wawa” Koúcielniak for sending it my way).

Now first off: London Masters and Australian Nationals will follow at some point (more out of sheer principle) but Worlds will obviously be taking precedence! The reports have taken me an excessive amount of time because I’ve been on holidays. In fact I’m writing this while I wait for my flight from Iceland to Adepticon.

Obviously because I’m not at home there will be an absence of the fleet photos I normally include. Y’all can deal with it.

1. Daniel “Black Admiral” Unzeitig – 26pts

You might recall the Black Admiral from his recent 6th place finish at Polish Nationals but it seems I’ve sold Daniel short. From Cracow he is, by all accounts, one of the most talented Armada players in Poland and they seem to be pretty fucking alright at plastic spaceships.

He’s a regular Regionals, Store Champs, and Kit Tournaments winner, 7th at Euros last year and a previous runner up at Polish Nationals .

To all the eligible singles out there the Black Admiral loves playing heavy bomber squads lead by Dodonna, crushing his enemies and hearing the lamentations of their women.

The Black Admiral plans on sailing abroad and will be contesting at Worlds tomorrow. Which means he doesn’t want to share his exact list. I can respect that.

I mean it didn’t stop me from trying to see if I could spy his fleet in the photos Wawa sent (you can’t by the way) but that’s neither here nor there. I do know that it was a 5 ship Dodonna fleet with the same amount of points spent on squadrons as his Nationals list so make of that what you will.

2. Przemyslaw “Przemo” Paluszynski – 22pts

Przemo is an old hand around these parts. Though it looks as if Poland’s international son has returned home, at least for now.

Interdictor Suppression Refit

Admiral Screed, Interdictor, Captain Brunson, Engine Techs, Disposable Capacitors, Grav-shift Reroute, Targeting Scramblers, Heavy Ion Emplacements

GSD-II

Agent Kallus, Ordnance Experts, Engine Techs, Flechette Torpedoes

Gozanti

Hondo Ohnaka, Comms Net

Colonel Jendon, Maarek Steele, Ciena Ree, Morna Kee, Boba Fett, Firespray

Superior Positions, Fighter Ambush, Station Assault

397pts

Alright this is an interesting list (yes, I’m aware I tend to think all lists are interesting). So first off, while they’ve never really left the meta since coming into their own with the arrival of the last wave, I think Interdictors have fallen out of favour for a number of players. That’s a shame because they have a fantastic tool set to handle the massive spike damage that’s been evolving since Wave 2 onwards.

Captain Brunson, Targeting Scramblers, and their ridiculously high Engineering value really make them a tough nut to crack. Interdictors really rely on outlasting their opponents and just slowly but surely grinding them down (a job which has been helped along by D-Caps and HIEs). Admiral Screed actually makes a fair amount of sense here then given that you desperately want those HIEs to go off.

Still, even then the Interdictor often needs a bit of help getting over the line which is why the squadron wing supporting it is bomber heavy. What’s interesting is how you can see the line of thinking that probably developed with this fleet. Interdictor needs help, so take bomber squadrons, because the squadrons are geared for bombing having Demolisher be a flak wagon helps tip the scales of the squadron war. It all kind of flows neatly.

I also don’t actually hate the Agent Kallus / Flechette Torps combo here because of Admiral Screed. It guarantees that the one unique squadron you really don’t want to activate will be shutdown as long as Demo gets into medium range after moving. That’s pretty darn strong. Look as always, I have my qualms when it comes to this hyper specialised form of Demolisher, but there are a lot of squads out there and most of them are uniques so I think now is probably as good a time for it as any.

Objectives seem solid, would have gone Contested Outpost over Fighter Ambush personally. I think with grav-shift its very easy for the Interdictor to really dominate the station, especially with a bomber ball like that.

Oh yeah, there’s a Gozanti. You know what it does.

3. Sebastian Bogusz – 22pts

This has to be my favourite player description I’ve ever heard someone give about themselves, “not a very experienced player, was surprised at his Top 4 finish”.

Keep on keeping on Sebastian, I like what you’re about mate.

ISD Cymoon

Admiral Motti, Minister Tua, Reinforced Blast Doors, Gunnery Teams, Intensify Firepower!

ISD Kuat

Strategic Adviser, Gunnery Teams, Reinforced Blast Doors, Leading Shots, External Racks

Arquittens Light Cruiser

Gozanti

Comms Net

Gozanti

Disposable Capacitors (?), Repair Crews

Solar Corona, Contested Outpost, Targeting Beacon

400pts (?)

Interesting all ship Imperial list. We’ll start from the bottom and work our way up. The Gozantis for the most part do good old Gozanti things, though DCAPs is such an odd choice that part of me questions whether my intel is correct. My advice would be to spend those points on just about anything else. EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that with IF! those 2 blue dice would be auto damage. Consider me thoroughly flip flopped, that’s a surprisingly cheeky little trick and I actually really like it!

Naked Arquittens is also an odd choice. I actually like Arqs in general but they really do need some upgrades to get the most out of them (Duck’s Vader Arq list comes to mind). They’re great little skirmishers and flankers, and IF! does help mitigate the swing on those three red dice, but still I would love to see something like an Intel Officer on this thing just to make it a more legitimate threat.

The heart and soul of this list though is its two Motti ISDs. They’re not exactly christmas trees, but they do have a smattering of upgrades. RBDs on Motti ISDs are really good. That 14 hull base makes it very hard not to get the full value out of them, and 17 effective hull especially once you factor in engineering commands and the support from the gozantis, is actually ludicrous. The Cymoon’s dice, even with IF! are going to be a bit swingy I feel, but it is a solid fire base. The Kuat is the real punch of the list with ExRax and Leading Shots.

Look its not my favourite ever all ship Imperial build (Duck’s list or the Australian National Champ build are a bit better put together in my opinion) but there’s just something really intimidating about those ISDs. That is an obscene amount of hull to chew through and for a lot of lists out there I really wonder if they’d be able to punch through it fast enough to prevent the two ISDs from rolling over the top of them.

Objectives are solid – Solar Corona is always good for the low deployment all ship builds, CO is great for Double ISDs, and Targeting Beacons helps mitigate a lot of the re-roll issues I’e spoken about.

4. Dawid “Czart” Czartoszewski – 21pts

MC80 Command Cruiser

Admiral Ackbar, Home One, Strategic Adviser, Electronic Countermeasures, XI7 Turbolasers, Leading Shots

MC30c Scout Frigate

Admonition, Lando, Ordnance Experts, Assault Proton Torpedos, Quad-Turbolaser Cannons

Assault Frigate Mk.IIb

Caitken and Shollan, XI7 Turbolasers

GR-75

Leia Organa, Comms Net

GR-75

397pts

Oh yeah this is a cool kind of list. Bit different, definitely trying some things. I’m down with it Demon Shoemaker, I’m down with it.

So the GR-75s, they exist. Leia Organa with Comms Net is especially fantastic for Command 3 ships like the AF and the MC80.

The AFII I really kind of love. It’s one of those ships where it punches way above its cost. 5 re-rollable red with an auto-set to an accuracy and XI7s will absolutely put the hurt on anything. Which makes you want to kill it, but then it isn’t actually worth that much which makes the opportunity cost of killing it quite high (if you’re committing resources to killing it then that’s power that isn’t being clamped down on the much more valuable MC80 or MC30). If you don’t kill it or react to it, it will hurt you. If you do, then its kind of throwing good points after bad. Units like this are fantastic components of any competitive list as they force your opponent to make a decision between two bad choices.

The MC30 is kind of like a less reliable version of this, but one that packs a much higher punch if it can get to close range. Speaking of, if it can get in close 3 black, 4 red, with APTs and two accuracies if its in range of Home One will murder small ships and put the pain on big ones.

MC80 seems pretty solid as well and would I imagine try to hang back behind the AF and the MC30. Really its just a lot of red dice that can be thrown down range.

Now obviously this list is going to have some problems with squads, in particular I think against very aggressive squad builds like two-shipper or AFFM Rieekan Aces it could run into some real trouble. With how popular those builds are in general it probably prevents this list from being top-shelf competitively right now, but definitely a really interesting fleet.

5. Piotr “Swietlik” Swietlicki – 20pts

If you’ve been reading any of the other Overnight Reports I’ve done on the European sector then this name ought not surprise you. The Firefly himself. Hard not to laugh a little, but such is his reputation now that Wawa himself was surprised at his “poor” showing (not even Top 4!). Wawa suspects Swietlik might have been experimenting with something before Worlds.

That’s right America, he’s coming for y’all!

Also it means he didn’t want to hand in his fleet list. C’est la vie. Based on the data I did receive it looks like it was a Sloane Two-Shipper, but the exact details one can only guess at.

6. Dawid Gry – 20pts

Pelta Command

Phoenix Home, Flight Commander, Adar Tallon, Fighter Coordination Teams, Boosted Comms, Entrapment Formation (?)

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate

Yavaris, Flight Commander

GR-75

Toryn Farr, Comms Net

GR-75

Bright Hope, Bomber Command Centre

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette

General Rieekan, Hondo Ohnaka

Dutch Vander, Norra Wexley, Corran Horn, Gold Squadron, Wedge Antilles, Ten Numb, Jan Ors

Precision Strike, Jamming Barrier, Superior Positions

400pts

Yeah so this is very much in the vein of the Pelta Rieekan Aces that have been floating around since Rikki Porter at last year’s Worlds. In fact I have to question whether Entrapment Formation is correct just because it seems like that really is meant to be AFFM. To be fair, I can definitely see utility from EF for allowing the carriers to bounce easier so its not completely ridiculous, it just would be more in keeping with the archetype to be AFFM.

Honestly I feel like I don’t really need to say much about this list given that I’ve gone over similar lists in earlier reports. Rieekan Aces are still, shock, really strong, and everyone has their own personal brand of it. These GRs can especially get some flotilla work done. Yavaris, Yavarises. They are all pretty known qualities and very, very effective especially in the right hands.

I will comment on Jamming Barrier though. It is something I have seen floating around and I really like it for Yavaris Squad builds ever since the changes to tabling. This list has pretty much all its power in its squads so losing the dice from its ships really doesn’t hurt it, but being able to minimise the damage coming into its fragile carriers is a very big deal.

7. Bartek Kostuch – 19pts

ISD-II

Admiral Sloane, Avenger, Expanded Hangars, Gunnery Team, Electronic Countermeasures, Governor Pryce, Leading Shots, XI7 Turbolasers

Raider I

Hondo Ohnaka

Gozanti

Comms Net

Maarek Steele, Colonel Jendon, Mauler Mithel, Valen Rudor, Tempest Squadron, 2x TIE Phantom, Dengar

Most Wanted, Fighter Ambush, Superior Positions

386pts

Now you might notice I’ve been cutting down on the player intros, that is because my plane is about to board and I want to get this bad boy out there before wheels up (so apologies to Bartek and Przemek! Y’all are great I’m sure).

Ok so there is a lot to like about this list. Sloane, Avenger, Pryce dropping one big “fucking eat shit and die” activation where it can put out a serious amount of anti-ship pain between the Super Best Friends and the TIE Phantoms.

I’m less sold on the Raider. I have to wonder if my intel is slightly off and Sloane is actually lifeboating on the Raider. That would make more sense. I’m still not necessarily sold on it, but it makes a lot more sense.

The Goz does Goz things.

If it were me, personally, I think this list is probably better if it just fully commits to the 2-ship archetype. If that Raider is acting as a lifeboat, it kind of seems like a waste of points, I get that its protecting your squadron points in case the ISD bites it but realistically if the ISD goes down you’re probably scrapping a draw at best anyway.

I really love Phantoms with Sloane, and the rest of the squad ball is nice even if overall its a bit squishy.

Objectives are solid.

8. Przemyslaw “Przemek” Niedzielski – 19pts

MC80 Battle Cruiser

General Rieekan, Gunnery Team, Leading Shots, Mon Karen, Spinal Armaments, XI7 Turbolasers, Engine Techs, Bail Organa

Hammerhead Scout Corvette

Turbolaser Reroute Circuits, Task Force Organa

Hammerhead Scout Corvette

Turbolaser Reroute Circuits, Task Force Organa

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette

External Racks, Task Force Organa

GR75

Leia Organa, Comms Net

GR75

Slicer Tools, Quantum Storm

Most Wanted, Fire Lanes, Intel Sweep

369pts (?)

They’re boarding my plane so this will definitely be a breeze through.

I really like all ship builds, especially rebel ones based on a Lib even if I personally am kind of garbage tier with them. They’ve been really present in the current meta (see Truthiness’ build or the Vassal World Cup finals for great examples). They require a lot of skill I think but they’re strong when they are in deft hands.

First off I have to query whether the points total is right or whether I’ missing something because even for Europe 31pts is a pretty ludicrous bid. Power to you if you’re playing with that kind of handicap though because I can’t do it personally.

GR-75s. You got it. They do things. Slicer Tools are always fantastic in the current meta though and I wish more people would take them.

2 Scout Corvettes with TRCs and TFO are kind of like weird ass budget TRC90s. I kind of like it but it’s definitely an interesting choice and I would have loved to have seen how this list flies.

External Racks, TFO Torpedo Hammerheads are such a great budget puncher. They dish out a god awful amount of pain for an obscenely cheap price point. Yeah they’re flismy but whatever its like 41pts who cares if they die!

And then the big chungus, the Liberty. I mean this is really where the list kind of rides or dies its just got an intense amount of punch and a good amount of manoeuvrability. I personally prefer the twins for the reliability of damage, but Gunnery Team is scary if you can get two targets in blue range. Bail is interesting, I can see how it would be good but it makes me really question my intel. Why have Bail if you have such a huge bid (and vice versa).

Objectives are good for this kind of fleet if somewhat susceptible to any fleet that has strategic.

PHEW I’ve made it in time.

Have some photos and go and think about your lists boys and girls! I’ll see yall at WORLDS.