Trying out Projection Experts pt 2

In my last post I put together a fleet that featured Projection Experts.  I had the chance to try the fleet out at the FLGS.  Although my phone was dying I managed to snap a few pictures of the game.


 
For a reminder of the fleet that I'm using, click here.

My opponent was Chris, who was running a 5-ship, no squadron list led by Admiral Screed.  His fleet contained:

VSD-I (with red trim)

• Admiral Screed
• Veteran Captain
• Gunnery Team
• Dominator

VSD-II

• Gunnery Team

Gladiator-I

• ACM
• Demolisher
• Engine Techs

Raider-I

• Impetuous
• Quad Laser Cannons

Raider-I

• <other title>
• Quad Laser Cannons       

He was trying to get a feel for the 2 Raiders with his list.  I'd watched him play a match before mine and he'd had some success with them, but struggled a bit with their limited range.  The 2 black anti-squadron dice are effective, but limited.  He also did really well with the 2 Quad Laser Cannons.

We both had the full 400 points and I won the coin toss.  I elected to go first and chose Advanced Gunnery, figuring that my MC-80 would get more out of it than any of his ships, even as first player.

I deployed my ships in a line, with the squadrons placed near the Gallant Haven.  He deployed opposite me, with the light ships in a position to attack the rear of my formation and the 2 VSDs in position to head me off.

Not wanting to fly directly at him, even with Projection Experts, I turned my line parallel with the table edge.  He moved forward cautiosly, having been on the bad end of Admiral Ackbar before.

Turn 2 saw both of us continuing to position ourselves.  He was speeding up his flanking ships, while I moved my squadrons in position to attack.

In turn 3 I chose to bump my Nebulon-B into the back of the MC-80.  I wanted to see if I could get him to move a ship into my range.  He responded by slowing his Demolisher to Speed 0, well out of my range.  I used the Gallant Haven to attack him with some squadrons, stripping some shields in the process.  His Raiders moved up to counter my fighters and one of them took a bit of damage from Home One.  As his VSDs moved, they bumped my squadrons, which helped me position them in places that were safe from the Raiders.

Turn 4 saw some serious damage start to get kicked out.  The B-Wings killed off one Raider, while the other squadrons continued to soften up the VSDs.  The Assault Frigate took full advantage of Ackbar and Home One to start pounding the VSDs with its Gunnery Teams.  I took some light damage to the shields in return, but was able to patch them with the Projection Experts.

In Turn 5, my phone finally died, so there were no more pictures.  The Assault Frigate killed one VSD and the MC-80 took out the other and the second Raider.  The Demolisher moved up and attacked the Nebulon side to side, but without Screed to boost the attack the Nebulon was able to survive.  It then used Engineering commands and the station to fix itself up.

A combination of a Squadron Command from the MC-80 and some other fire finished off the Demolisher in the final turn.  All of my ships ended the game with full shields, although the Nebulon still had 2 damage cards.

Some thoughts:

• Projection Experts wasn't really used enough for me to draw any conclusions about it.  I was out-numbered 3 ships to 4, so I chose to fly defensively and try to maintain range.  I think Chris was a little too cautious on the approach and may have done better to close at higher speed.

• This game was more about the extra firepower from squadrons.  The Ackbar/Home One boosted super activations with the squadrons were just more firepower than he could absorb.

• Leading Shots continues to be amazing on the MC-80.

• Home One and Projection Experts do go pretty well together.  Home One + Ackbar means you don't really need other offensive upgrades on the rest of your fleet.   

• If you aren't playing an MC-80 don't take Advanced Gunnery as one of your objectives.  Even as first player, I would pick that every time with an Ackbar led MC-80 in my fleet. 

I don't see any obvious changes to make to the fleet yet.  I am looking froward to getting in another game or two with it to get a feel for Projection Experts.