Thursday, August 25, 2016

Armada: Which squadrons to take?

I freaking love myself some A-Wings.

Trying out a hybrid Ackbar tournament build using the template I used for my Wave 4 tournament list here.  Basically, I'm running into a little bit of a thought bubble, and I'm not sure what to take when it comes to squadron composition.

Basically, you have this template here:

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points)
-  Home One  ( 7  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)
= 183 total ship cost

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
= 92 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 20 total ship cost

You have 295 points here out of 400 total, and I want to stay below <385 bid.="" p="">
This basically gives me 90 points to play with when it comes to having a good bid, and having some decent squadron coverage.  It has dawned pretty painfully on me in the last couple of days playing IRL and on Vassal that try as I may, I don't think the 3-4 YTs are good enough in a meta now filled with BCC and other threats out there.  We already knew that going in, but I needed to some hard games vs. some competitive gamers that share the same mindset to confirm it.  Either way, we now have 90 points to spend on squadrons and/or other upgrades.

Here are some things floating around in my head:

  • 8x A-Wings - T2 squadron queues from H1 and MKII, 24 blue alpha, 5-range threat and Counter 2.  8 black dice to use against ships.  32 hull total.  Even though these guys want commands, I'm not sure I want to use any just to keep these guys going.
  • Dash + 4x YTs - Same points as the above.  Throw a squadron token on the H1 and launch all 5 into the enemy on T2.  20 blue alpha, 4-range threat.  Dash has Bomber and some brace tokens, but otherwise 30 hull total.  4 blacks and Dash's Bomber black vs. ships.  Big bonus here is that all ships are Rogue, which frees up commands on all ships.
  • 4x A-Wings, Dash + YT - 4 points less than the above.  H1 can throw A-Wings on T2, transport can throw the other 2.  20 blue alpha, mixed 4-5 threat range.  Some have counter, some have more HP, some have Rogue.  A mixed bag over here, but still effective.

The first thing we should ask ourselves here is:
Which one of these will be most effective in the new meta?  Think Rieekan Aces, Imperial Aces, Rhymerballs, Fireballs, and just the oddball Y-Wing spam or TIE spam.  I'm not looking to beat a dedicated anti-fighter list, but I do want something that can fight the meta squadron-threat so my bigger ships can get to work.

Just some food for thought.

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