No-one expects the Draven-quisition!

14th June 2025

Tasadur

5 mins

Hello, my name is Tasadur. I am the producer and editor of the Coolant Discharge podcast along with my friends Ninja Boomer, Mundo and Jim (just Jim) in discord. And I just won a tournament in Australia with General Draven. 😀 Here is my journey.

Let's take a step back…

Pre-amble - The downtrodden

I will admit that, at the start, I couldn't understand Draven. Many have stated that the trigger window doesn't immediately affect the action of the opposition and that the opposition is still able to act on that command. There are also a number of ways to bank command tokens to remove raids. These are still valid and persisting points.

I relegated Draven to the binder for a long time. Even when Draven was reduced in points from 28 to 20. Draven's mechanic was very unusual.

My good friend Mundo brought me back a shiny Draven card from the 2024 AMG worlds, because he knew my predilection to jank mechanics.

Even after getting the shiny, it still stayed in the binder for a while until, for a lark, I decided to run a Draven MSU fleet with 3 Peltas and 1 Redemption. It was fun to have 2 fleet commands, IF and StM, (but that's another discussion). And… it was beating fleets.

First against an ISD-Quasar Sloane fleet and the other against a SSD.

What I noticed in playing these games, is that it created additional mental load for the opponent, AND that it made their fleet less efficient.

What does it mean if a fleet is less efficient?

Let me put it into another point of view.

What could you do with 2 engineering points?

What could you do with another black bomber dice?

Would it be better to discard your dial, to remove the confire and engineering raids so you could use your confire token to trigger the Gunnery teams and with your engineering token relocate your shield to the front?

Would you rather your Gozanti supported your fleet to give it an edge instead of reacting to getting a raid?

Draven isn't there to deliver the coup de gras. He is there to fight dirty and hobble the well-honed, finely tuned killing machine of your opponent. Accept that there are many ways for the opponent to remove the raid and take that as a win, as they still use resources to remove a bothersome raid.

Listen to others’ perspective

On missions

The jank machine clicked to another gear after listening to another friend, Barry. He theorised that Draven would benefit greatly where commands are required in missions.

The following missions, I found, were complementary. Abandoned Mining Facility, Ion Storm and any mission that has a Rift that pretty much necessitates a nav command dial. Blue Missions were a little harder to pin down as there isn't a specific mission that requires the use of commands.

But the earlier you can force the opponent to use a command, the sooner you can apply raid to clog up the machine.

Design for flexibility and redundancy

This might fall into general fleet building philosophy, rather than Draven specifically.

Have multiple attack options

This fleet has 4.5 points of attack to put pressure on the enemy fleet. All of which are potent. The Salvation TRC will guarantee 2 hits(which is also a crit), Redemption with DTT, a bomber wing of lancers and a very robust MC80 Defiance with Salvo (1.5)

Fighter screen, redundancies and fighter tactical reserves

The fighter screen of Shara and Tycho is there to delay, delay and delay, and should it need bolstering, Gold and Ketsu are there to clog up a determined squadron ball. While the fighters are preoccupied, the bombers and the ships will lay in on the enemy within the kill box. For the survivable longevity of the fighter screen, I would send out the lancers away from the battle with the intent to swing in and put pressure on a lightly hulled support ship, or add pressure on a tough ship. This forces the opponent to spread his forces from fully attacking Tycho and Shara.

Git gud - because mistakes are severe

This might sound obvious. But Draven, because he is not a proactive admiral, meant that you had to play better, smarter and to make use of any gifts he drops along the way. In some ways he is rewarding to play because of that.

A finely costed Admiral

Lastly, don't underestimate how cheap Draven is. I think 20pts is the right place for him. (@LargePackage, don't touch him. He is perfect :D )

The Grand Casual.

Round 1 - the Sean - Imperial - Sloane

BT-ISD, Quasar, Gozanti. Sqds (Jendon, IG-88, Maarek, Mauler, Saber and Lambda)

Sean was the 1st player and chose my Advanced Gunnery mission. His ISD was his objective ship, and my MC80-Defiance was my objective ship.

Sean set up his ISD backed up by the Gozanti facing my board and the Quasar was set to the side in a skirting vector to lend support to the fight whilst keeping its distance. I set up my Defiance matching his ISD position with Salvation and Redemption to its right. All at speed 2. Both sides deployed their respective squadrons in the middle of their fleet.

Round 1: A bit of posturing and setup on both sides. The Sean started to save his tokens, to counteract the raids, storing an engineering and squadron token on the ISD, and a squadron token on the Quasar. I kept my ships in their formation, maintaining the kill box, and dropped to speed 1.

In the squadron phase I set up my A-wing aces and Gold squadron in a defensive screen at the centre to buy me some time. My Lancers positioned to the far right, in the depths of space, ready to put pressure on the Quasar. Ketsu lagging behind a bit, ready to jump into the centre in case the fighter screen fell. Sean positioned most of his fighters at the centre. But have started to pull some squadrons away to intercept the lancers. This was good and all going according to plan. Rebel aces are great, but doesnt do so well against a lot of attacks. The more squadrons I can pull away from the screen, the longer the screen will last.

Round 2: The Sean started to pick up his tempo. He set his Quasar squadrons to attack my defensive screen. His hired scum IG-88 and imperial aces, set about on Shara and Tycho. Predictably, Shara fell, but not before doing some damage in turn. Tycho was also damaged. Draven gave him a Squadron raid.

The screen held, and we survived a round of enemy squadrons.

I activated my Redemption as an activation buffer edging closer to the squadron fight and Sean then activated his Gozanti passing a nav token to the ISD.

I activated the Defiance next. It shot the ISD at long range. And with advanced gunnery it shot the ISD front arc twice with 4-red 1-blue dice. The shots hit good and started to strip the ISD shields.

A little shaken, the ISD had to make a decision to commit an unfavourable attack on the Defiance being in its side arc. Or go after easier targets. It took a pot shot at Defiance, in return, reactive gunnery salvoed back dealing 2 damage then swung towards the Redemption that is closer to the squadron scrum, landing in front of it. Draven gave it a Nav Raid token.

The ship phase finished off with Salvation serving out a front shot of 1 hit and 1 crit and 1 blank, which was TRC'd to 1 hit 2 crits. For a total of 5 damage. This left the ISD shield-less to its front and both sides, with some damage cards.

At the squadron phase, Gold squadron and Ketsu bolstered the fighter screen. Now that all imperial squadrons were engaged, the lancers were able to start putting pressure on the Quasar.

Round 3: The ISD knew it was in trouble. It had to get rid of Redemption. It activated first. Unfortunately it was not in close range, so was not able to trigger BT. It was shot with 4 red 4 blue. After spending some defence tokens, the Redemption came out with no shields to its front and 2 damage cards. The ISD collided with Redemption for another damage card, landing back on the station. The ISD was now stuck and in the kill box of the Defiance and Salvation.

Both ships in their activations let loose, obliterating the ISD.

Rounds 4 and 5 were a mop up operation for Dravens’ fleet. Defiance was able to line a shot at the gozanti and the nebs and 1 lancer were able to take out the Quasar. Tabling him and concluding the battle.

10-1

Round 2 - Andrew - Rebels - Krysta

Mc75, 2 xCR90, Hammerhead, GR-75, Shara and Tycho

Andrew was 1st player and chose my Abandoned Mining Facility.

Andrew deployed his ships in a line, (including Garel’s Honor) within distance 1 of the dust field, all at speed 1. That sets him up to be gaining 5 objective Tokens a turn against my 3.

That set the tone.

I had to take the fight to Andrew. I also had an ace up my sleeve. Every turn he would only be able to gain 4 objective tokens, bar the 1st round, as Draven gave him an engineering raid.

By the end of round 2, Andrew got 9 objective tokens and I got 9. The Defiance using 8 engineering exhausted my dust cloud for 4 objective Tokens.

At the end of round 2 both my nebs and lancers were moving into attack speed, to pressure his MC75, and Defiance coasting into speed 1 and parked in front of the bulk of the enemy small ships.

By staying into speed 1 to try and mine the dust cloud, it left Andrew's fleet vulnerable situation, as he was not able to maneuver effectively. This allowed my ships to know where to apply the most damage in a kill box.

In the next turns 3-5, my fleet was able to systematically take out his ships. First taking out the MC75 with a combined attack of 3 lancers and Gold squadron, Salvation and Redemption. Then Jaina’s Light was taken down with Defiance. Turn 4 saw Garel’s Honor up next, then the GR75 and finally the other Cr90.

Tabling him and concluding the battle.

10-1.

Andrew all the while, heroically mined that dust field. Ending up with 14 objective Tokens to my 13. The Defiance was coasting next to the station grabbing objective Tokens.

Again, Draven hadn't made an explosive impact, but was hobbling the enemy fleet from capturing too many points and contributing to the nav raids on the Mc75 and sqd raids on the Gr75.

Round 3 - James - CIS - Trench

Providence, Recusant, squads (Phlacc, DIS, DFS, 3 Vultures, Jango, 3 Hyenas)

Mundo, my old nemesis. There is an old joke in our Canberra circle. If James and I are in a tournament, (locally or travelling), we always draw first. In this case we ended up playing at the top table.

Mundo actually taught me Armada 4-5 years ago, well before the clone wars.

Many many, many… many hard lessons were learnt. Mundo has a near supernatural ability to roll double and crit red dice.

This is a two-ship fleet, Patriot Fist Reci and Invisible Hand/Rapid Launch Bays Providence with a very very nasty payload of Hyenas and Vultures, plus Jango Fett for backup.

Mundo had the bid, so he decided to go second. I chose to play his Superior Positions. feeling confident with my ships that I could keep my rear safe.

I deployed my fleet in what is now a typical Defiance, Salvation and Redemption kill box formation. Two layers of squadron screens and a flight of lancers to harass the edges.

James matched my positioning, with all but one squadron. Nine squadrons, tucked away in the belly of the Invisible Hand.

Round 1: James boosted his large ships into top speed of 3 with his Recusant to be in a position to flank and get behind my ships and stay away from the kill box. His Providence with the more maneuverable speed 2 chart, arced into towards the Defiance. My ships coasted along at speed 1, adjusting to either block or at least double arc the more lumbering Providence At the Squadron phase, I moved my screen and crucially gold squadron and lancers up within striking distance of the Providence at Round 2.

Round 2: I used my activation advantage to force James to move his ships forward. It was my Redemption, his pass token, my Salvation, his Invisible Hand used a Nav command to go up to speed 3 (Draven gave him a raid) , and due to its current speed, was in range of my Defiance. At this point he still had not released his squadrons from his ship.

Activating the Defiance I had a squadron dial, (storing a token for Ray Antillies). I activated Tycho, Shara and Gold squadron, reducing the Providence rear and side shields to zero. Defiance shot into the un-shielded side and dealt 2 damage, splashing 1 on the shield and the first hull damage. Not too bad. In the maneuvering step, still coasting at speed 1 the Defiance moved and ended up in a nice double arc on the Prov.

The next thing that happened was a pivot point for the game. James activated Patriot Fist, and was within long range of Defiance. 4 red dice and 2 blue from the title he rolled 7 damage / 1 accuracy. That's a natural 3 (double hit) red dice, 1 hit blue and 1 blue accuracy. He blocked my brace. This forced me to use my ECM, and that put a lot of pressure on the Defiance. A blow, to be sure.

To finish the round off in the squadron phase, I sent Ketsu and 1 Lancer to hit the front of the Prov, dealing 1 hit/crit black with lancer and hit+crit blue from Ketsu. This burnt the redirect on the providence, and left it with 3 shields out the front, and 1 shield to one side, and 8 hull.

Round 3 was the big one.

After commands were set, Draven looked at the command dials of the providence, and was shocked to see no squadron dials set. Realisation kicked in when his Admiral Trench revealed a Squadron dial for the fleet. And his Recusant had a squadron token and the officer of the Providance is Rune Haako…

At this point, I had advantage in the field, with a fairly untouched MC80 and I was going first. I activated the Defiance, revealing an engineering dial, and recovered shields from my damaged sides.

I activated Ketsu with my sqd token from the previous round and attacked the side with 1 shield*, with a hit+crit blue. He contained and I dealt 1 to the shield and 1 to the hull. Providence at 7 hull.

Defiance first shot from the front to his unshielded side with 2 reds and 2 blue (inc QBT). dealt 2 hits 1 crit 1 accuracy. I accuracy his Contain*. He braces and salvoes back. Dealing 2 damage and i redirected to my side. Providence at 5 hull.

Defiance second shot from my side had only his front arc which still had 3 shields. This time he used his thermal to reduce my shot to 1 red and 3 blue (inc QBT). I rolled 5 damage. He salvos back and deals 3 damage to my side. Providence has 3 hull.

I finished the activation of Defiance by moving up to speed 2 and ramming the Providance leaving it with 2 hull.

I’d like to stop at this point and reflect on this truism: If you can get damage, just take it and don't try to be too fancy. There were 2 moments in that activation that I should have gone for damage rather than trying to fish for a crit, or to remove his shields. (I’ve left an * to note where it happened in the previous paragraphs). One was with Ketsu when it bombed the shielded side, and the other was when I accuracy his Contain rather than the Brace. But hindsight is a 20/20 after the fact.

And the fact is that the Providence is about to unload ALL his squadrons. He revealed a Nav dial, declared he was going to use that, but first discarding his nav token to remove the raid. He then used Rune Haako to gain a squadron and engineering tokens from the Patriot Fist. James used the engineering token to recover one shield, which Draven gave him a raid. Using the squadron token, being super charged by Trench, he unloaded his rapid launch bays Hyenas and Invisible Hand Vultures.

Vultures with AI:2 are scary. With the super vultures and Jango Fett, James was able to just cut through Shara, Tycho, Ketsu and Gold Squadron. The Providence then shot his side arc to the Defiance dealing a decent amount of damage at close range, reducing my sides to 0 and dealing 2 the hull. Leaving me with 5 hull left.

At this point my Nebs were out of position and couldn't contribute to the fight. Redemption threw 2 Projection Experts shields in the hopes it could weather the coming attack from Patriot fist.

This is where the Hyenas start to arrive. After dropping them with the Rapid Launch Bays from the Providence, the Recusant sent 3 Hyenas into the Defiance. The Defiance spent redirects to spread the damage around, reducing the front and sides to zero, and with 3 hull left.

That was the end of Defiance. Patriot Fist with a TRC shot was able to finish it off.

At this point it was a matter of disengagement to save the rest of the fleet. Luckily with speed 3 of the Patriot Fist it got the point that it was no longer able to command squadrons within range of the Nebs, and we tallied our points.

4-7

I felt that the game could have swung either way. That turn 3 was the pivot point. In this scenario Draven wasn't able to make much of an effect, as his ability defaults to triggering later in the game.

A loss, but a win for the competition!

Closing out

Wanted to say thanks to Marz for organising the Grand Casual. It was a blast to be able to play the game with like minded people that are passionate about the game. It was a pleasure to show everyone that Draven may not be trash. The game continues to have surprising combinations and a little bit of grandeur when set up the table. These cinematic scenes, and nail biting moments keep me coming back to it.

Remember,

“Rebellions are built on hope…

…and some forward planning”.

-General Davits Draven, certified chad.

Tasadur signing off.