Vader's Kite Club

If you've been reading this blog long you know that I prefer to not fly directly at my opponent.  More than anything, that is why I tend to play more Rebels than Imperials.  Unitl recently, the Rebels just had more ships where the primary firepower wasn't pointed straight ahead.  However, the release of the Arquitens really changes that.  The Imperials have some fun new options, so it's time to build a fleet to use them.  Let's see how well Vader can fly a kite.

Return of the Trailer

While I haven't been playing much lately, I have been brainstorming lists.  So, knowing I was going to make it to Armada night at the FLGS this week I had a bunch of ideas I wanted to try.

Rather than trying out fleet builds, I started thinking in terms of formations I wanted to try.  So, I went back to my 'Trailer' fleet builds that I used for the Massing at Sullust events and gave it an update to Wave 3/4 ships.

Trying out the Interdictor

After playing a bunch of games with Rebels in the lead up to GenCon, I was actually looking forward to playing some games with the Interdictor.  After the last two posts theorizing how to get the most out of the Interdictor it was time to build a fleet.

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.

Building a Fleet Around Objectives

After writing about the different objectives and how they can help you score more points, I wanted to see if I could build a viable fleet around my conclusions.  Precision Strike, Superior Positions, and Fire Lanes all have the highest point scoring potential for their color of objective.  Is there a fleet that can maximize the bonus points from those objectives, while still being able to compete with other tournament level fleets?  Let's find out.

Gallant Haven in Wave 2

Gallant Haven is an interesting title.  It has huge potential to tilt the squadron game in your favor.  It does limit the maneuver options for your ships and squadrons, but I think the benefits it can provide could be worth the effort.  I haven't had much chance to use it in Wave 2, but wanted to build a fleet that would really feature it.

Fleet Build - Mothma's MC-30s

Wave 2 was finally released to day!  That meant I was able to round my Wave 2 collection from what I had been fortunate to win during Massing at Sullust Events.  Having multiples of some of the Wave 2 ships has me eager to try out some lists that I have been sitting on for awhile.  First up?  Building a list to see what I can get out of the MC-30.  

Trying out Projection Experts

So far, the general impression of Wave 2 is that offense has gotten a significant boost and ships are being destroyed much more easily.  Cards like Ackbar, Vader, and the new turbolaser upgrades are really increasing the overall damage output.  Still, there were a couple of new defensive upgrades in Wave 2 that have some merit.  One of those is Projection Experts.  I thought I would try to build a fleet around them and see how well they work.

How I Build Fleets

I tend to follow the same rough process when I put together fleets in Armada.  With a game coming up I set about designing a new fleet for it.  I thought I would walk you through my process.

Fleet building at 400 points.

Having brought home 3 new ships from Massing at Sullust events I've been excited about playing some 400 point battles soon and incorporating all of the new goodies, etc.  But I've found that building at 400 points is surprisingly harder than 300!  Maybe it's just the lack of practice, but in some ways it feels a bit more restrictive.  So, I decided to look at how I was spending my points at the 300 point level and see how that might translate up to 400 points.