Armada: Some basic upgrade principles

That's a lot of upgrades to choose from.

When it comes to upgrades, I have a few rules that I like to abide by.  Let's just say that there is no definitive rule to how players should buy their upgrades, but there some basic principles that can make the selection process a little bit easier.  After all, there are tons of upgrades in the game and it can be absolutely daunting to a new player on how they go about this complicated process.  Before we continue, I think you should first read over what I said about getting the best value from your upgrades.

Now that you've read the previous article, let's talk some basic rules:

• Don't buy upgrades unless they're absolutely needed.
• Cheaper ships don't typically need a lot of upgrades.
• Bigger ships typically want to see more upgrades.
• Not all upgrades are created equal.

Let me expand on these points really quick starting with the first point:  Don't buy upgrades unless absolutely needed.  What I mean by this is that if you ever stop and ask yourself if you really need to add an upgrade to a ship, you probably don't really need it.  There's just no point in adding an upgrade to the ship if it isn't crucial to your gameplan and can assist you in what you want to accomplish with your list.  You want to be able to maximize on the effect that the upgrade can play on the battlefield while having the least amount of cost associated with it.  In simple terms, this is min-maxing your profits.  As a simple rule I tell myself when I'm building a fleet, if you're not getting the best bang for your buck from the purchase, it's probably best to just drop it for points elsewhere.

The next two points are actually one in the same, just from opposite sides of the spectrum.  You typically want to keep the cheaper ships cheap, and give the more expensive ships a little extra.  The reason why I say this is is that there's a reason why you took the cheaper ship and not the more expensive medium grade one for example.  Why buy a CR90 vs. a MKII vs. a MC80?  Well, cost is definitely the biggest one here, but the other one is value.  If you need a cheaper ship to fill out your ranks, it's absolutely counter-defeating to add a lot of upgrades on the ship that will offset the primary reason you took it in the first place, which is cutting costs.  You never want to bloat something cheap; instead, you want to selectively pick the best bang for the buck upgrade (if any) that will elevate the ship to greater heights.  Examples of this can be adding Turbolaser Reroute Circuits to CR90s and that's it, or adding Ordnance Experts to Raiders.

The opposite end of the spectrum are the bigger ships that have a lot of upgrade slots.  Don't be fooled by this; just because the bigger ships have more slots doesn't mean you have to fill them all out!  Some of the bigger ships are pretty straight forward.  By this, I mean the ISD-I basically drives itself with its speed-3, monstrous hull and black dice.  The strategy is pretty linear here and the Imperials know that the gameplan is to go into the action and roll as many black dice as possible before exploding in good fashion.  I'll say this again:  Just because the ship has a lot of upgrade slots does not mean you need to fill them.  Instead, you nee to analyze what you want your heavy-hitter to do and how long you want him to stay in the fight.  If the ship is your primary source of damage application on the battlefield, you want to maximize on his damage.  Likewise, if the ship is designed to tank the enemy ship's fire, you want to maximize his defense.  In most cases, the players who drop the ISD and MC80 on the table will need their ship to perform both roles.  Sure, you want to make sure you're taking full advantage of those 8 dice frontal arc shots, but you're also going to need the damn thing to not get pounded to dirt next turn by something of equal magnitude on the other side of the table.  This is why I highly recommend Gunnery Team and ECMs on every ISD-II that you purchase.

This brings me to my last point:  Not all upgrades are created equal.  This is true in two forms:  The first being that there will be upgrades that are great for your list and upgrades that will only bog you down.  For a well-oiled list to run effectively, you want to maximize on as many upgrades that fuels your game plan.  Looking for outrageous damage but lower defense?  Search the highest damaging upgrade combos to maximize on this.  Want to tank a lot of shots?  Look for defensive retrofits and what the best way is to mitigate incoming damage.  The first form really deals with what kind of upgrades you should be looking at for what you want to accomplish.  Just because TRCs are great on a cheaper CR90 doesn't mean it will be more valuable than Heavy Turbolaser Turrets on a MC80 for example.

The second form of not all upgrades are created equal stems from the analogy that one man's trash is another man's treasure.  The point of that was to illustrate that one upgrade on a certain ship will not behave the same way on a different ship.  For example, what is the point of upgrading the CR90 with the HTTs for example?  It's throwing out minimal damage anyway and it will be completely ineffectual compared to giving the same upgrade to an ISD-II who throws out buckets of dice that can take advantage of it.  Another example would be giving something like the Neb-B Engine Techs.  It already moves speed-3 and has a 2-click end turn, so why even bother?  Give the same thing to a MC80 who only moves 2 and now it's a clicking, turning, moving machine that can navigate the battlefield and setup great sweeping shots.  Always look at upgrade options with both eyes open.  Just because the upgrade might not work for what you're trying to accomplish doesn't mean it's bad.  It's typically this kind of knowledge that separates the obvious from the not so obvious, and the tournament winners from the non.

Alright fellas, that's all I got for today.  Enjoy.

Armada: Imperial Squadron Dream Team

Killing Rebel squadrons and ships all day.

I just wanted to say off the bat that this post will be primarily about Imperial squadron tricks.  The whole thing with Imperial squadrons is that I think they fit under two distinct categories:  Really strong anti-squadron mechanics, or really strong Rhymerball tactics for anti-ship madness.  While you can do something like mass fighter swarm and just go all out with Howlrunner and a billion TIEs, I think there are some things you can do differently that can completely change the way you look at squadrons.

Let me show you my version of Imperial Aces:

The meaning of quality over quantity.

First, I want you guys to meet Dengar, the newest addition the Empire through the Rogues and Villains expansion.  Dengar has arguably some of the best benefits for the Empire because he's fast, durable with Brace/Scatter, and has overall strong stats with 3 blues, Swarm and a black dice vs. ships.  It's important to know that he has Swarm because he gets the full bonus from Howlrunner and other guys nearby with Swarm.  Ideally, you want to take everyone with Swarm if you have Howlrunner nearby because she makes them absolutely ridiculous with her free damage boost and re-rolls.  What makes Dengar great especially is his Intel, making everyone within distance-1 of him Heavy; thus allowing your units to move freely as long as he's alive.  We will get to his other greater ability in just a little bit, but making enemy ships Heavy plays really heavily with..

Mauler Mithel.  Mithel basically does Area of Effect (AoE) damage to everyone that he's in contact with.  You got a bunch of fighters clumped up together?  He comes Mithel to apply 1 damage to everyone he lands on.  With Dengar nearby freeing up his movement, he can essentially move every round to do damage where ever he pleases.  Being a natural TIE himself, he gets 4 blue dice and a re-roll when Howlrunner is nearby, and you can bet your ass that his movement and free damage is going to make people upset really quick.  When players get mad at Mithel, they naturally want to throw dice at him until he goes away.  Unfortunately for them, he now has Counter 1 Dengar, Howlrunner's extra dice + re-roll, and attacking anyone other than Fel does 1 unavoidable damage back to them as long as Fel's engaged.  Alright, so forget Mithel, let's attack Fel instead..

Soontir doesn't care if you attack him.  If you just happen to have TIE Advanced in the fleet with Escort nearby, you can make people extremely angry that you have to attack them first.  This basically means that every time you try and attack one of these guys above, you have to hit the 5 HP TIE Advanced while Soontir does free damage to you.  If you finally manage to get to Soontir, just remember that he now has pseudo Counter 4 with a re-roll for everyone that wants to attack him.  You can bet that I'll burn all my Brace and Scatter tokens just so multiple ships can take what is essentially free Interceptor attacks with a re-roll bonus.  If you think about it, it's almost as if you're getting hit by imaginary TIE Interceptors for free.  Talk about value.  That's just asking to get your lower HP ships AoE'd to death by Mithel next round.  Most of the time, you might not even care about the TIE Advanced and just throw out Interceptors for consistent, big damage with speed-5 alpha strike, an improved Counter, Swarm and Howlrunner's effect in full blast.  When this combo here works, it really works.

Now that you're feeling good about your squadrons, let's check out the Fireball.

Rhymerball + Firesprays = Fireball

OK, so what you have here is basically a walking ball of death to ships.  The most important thing to note here is that Rhymer gives all of these Rogue and Bomber ships medium range on their anti-ship attack dice.  That's basically the same threat range as if you're moving as speed-5 ship that can attack freely in the squadron phase.

You'll see Dengar in here as well mainly because he's probably the best overall ship the Imperials have due to his resiliency, tokens and Intel.  Unlike the previous combo, Intel here specifically frees the updated Rhymerball from being tied up by other squadrons.  Sure, the Firesprays are already pretty tanky and throw out pretty good dice with 3 blues (Dengar's Counter 1 basically gives them 4 dice), but the Intel allow them to chase enemy ships without hindrance, and from insane threat ranges.  Realistically, if you're taking say: Dengar, Rhymer, Boba, and 4x Firesprays, you're going to be throwing 9 blue dice and 2 black dice at ships from medium range, all of which have the Bomber keyword.  That's more powerful than every single capital ship in the game right now, and there's a reason why the squadron I just named costs 134 points on the nose.  It's simply murderous.

When you throw together the total hull points here on all the ships, you're looking at something like 39 hull points with some tokens to spend.  That's a lot of hull to chew through and with good placement, Dengar can make sure that he's freeing up your squadrons continuously.  Even if Rhymer does not get to attack, as long as he's providing the aura for the range bonus to the Firesprays that will be moving during the squadron phase, that's all that really matters.  It's almost an absolutely surety that you will beat most players in the damage race if this ball of death goes around unhindered.

As you can see, the Fireball is why a lot of the Vassal meta (international meta) has had a hard on for squadron lists.  If you run into Rhymer and Firesprays without any kind of squadron support, you're just going to lose the game.  Period.  As soon as you venture out of the deployment zone, the Firesprays will be in range to apply damage.  That's how far they can reach and the damage they are capable of is absolutely bonkers.  The best thing that you can do here is to kill off Rhymer ASAP, try and tie up as many Firesprays as possible and keep them on you while you concentrate on destroying the enemy fleet.  Understand that the Fireball costs 134 points, which is more than an Imperial Star Destroyer.  Know that if Rhymer is dead, their threat range drops dramatically because Firesprays are only speed-3.  The tough point here is you need a squadron counter that has a big enough threat range and can deal enough damage to alpha strike Rhymer dead.  A-Wings and Interceptors with squadron commands instantly come to mind.

Hold onto your hats folks, this is only the start of Wave 2 and we're already seeing some craziness.

Armada: MC80 Assault and defensive retrofits

This particular space fish has no equal.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been experimenting heavily with my MC80 and I think I'm in a very good place with it.  I'm consistently able to fly the damn thing well as long as I'm hitting those navigate commands and taking advantage of my Engine Techs.  I might have said this before in the past, but if you guys haven't equipped your MC80 with the Engine Techs upgrade before, you're really missing out.  Being able to move use your navigate in conjunction with techies will allow you to make a relatively tight 90 degree turn.  The pseudo speed-3 also comes in play in a huge way when you're trying to play the keep away game, whittling your opponent's ships down from long range or separating yourself from his bomber force so you can deal with his ships more readily.

The command ship's big brother.

I've been toying around with slotting in my MC80 Assault Cruiser over the command and seeing how double defensive retrofits can play out.  The meta is really experimental right now and surprisingly, I'm not seeing a lot of XI7s across the field (except for yours truly).  People are busy trying the good stuff like Heavy Turbolaser Turrets and other goodies, but if you read my posts in the past you know how much of a hard on I have for Intel Officer + XI7s.  It is, in my opinion, the ideal damage dealer combination if you want to push damage to hull ASAP.

Let's get back to the MC80 Assault Cruiser really quick and see what kind of ship is it compared to the Command variant.  For one, it costs more: 114 vs. 106 points.  This 8 point gap is actually pretty huge because it's the difference between an Intel Officer or close to an A-Wing depending on how you looking at it.  The biggest difference between these two variants is how the armament is configured.  The Assault variant comes with 6 reds with Ackbar at long range broadsides vs. the Command's 5, but in exchange it loses out on a blue.  This means that with red dice, your numbers can get a lot more swingy depending on on the rolls.  Roll a lot of reds and the gods might smile upon you with multiple double hits, and at the same time, there is 25% chance of rolling straight blanks.  Blue dice provide guarantee results, but there's no damage spike in there like the double hits.  I guess it's a great thing that I can always trade a blue to re-roll some epic fails on my reds in case I need it with Leading Shots.  Lastly, while the squadron value of the Assault is lower by 1 (3 vs. 4), the ship gets two defensive retrofits instead of the single one that the Command variant sports.  It's safe to say that for me, the offensive slot basically sits unused most of the time.

A closer look at dice probabilities.

Personally, the defensive retrofit slot is one of the strongest slots in the game.  The vaulted Electronic Countermeasures is located in this slot and so is the game-changing Advanced Projectors.  With ECM, the ability to nullify someone's accuracy dice so you can safely Brace an incoming attack is absolutely huge.  Every time I see an enemy ship without ECM equipped, I seriously pity the person when I'm unleashing a full broadside with my MC80.  When you're capable of pushing 8+ damage through with XI7s, locking down your brace without an ECM is considered a death sentence for most ships.  If you have a defensive slot, it's absolutely crucial you take ECM first before anything else.

Should really read first, second and maybe.

Now comes the second choice for the Assault Cruiser.  Do I take Advanced Projectors or do I look at something like Redundant Shields?  The way I look at Redundant Shields is this:  I'm paying 8 points to heal back a shield a turn, or pretty much an engineering token with less versatility.  This means that I'm possibly looking at paying 2 points per turn if combat is going to start on Turn 2 and last until Turn 6.  I might be saving myself 4 hull points worth of damage with 8 points spent, but I'm not sure if that's as flexible as Advanced Projectors.  Right now, having APs is pretty damn useful vs. the majority of the lists I'm seeing out there.  People are trigger happy with TRCs, playing around with MC30s and Raiders, as well as rolling around with Fireball builds (Firespray/Rhymer Ball),  Plus, with the extra 100 points, people are putting down more ships than before and the trusty Gladmolisher is still doing its job just fine.  Most of the big hitters I've seen people field (like the ISD) are either rolling with XI7s or HTTs depending on what flavor of the week.  Realistically though, only the big damage dealer on the other side of the table is sporting the anti-AP XI7s, so everything else is fair game for this amazing upgrade.

My semi-squadron heavy list with the MC80 Assault Cruiser looks like this:

ACKBAR
Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 391/400
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points)
-  Home One  ( 7  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  Advanced Projectors  ( 6  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
5 A-Wing Squadrons ( 55 points)

Check out this sick initiative bid at 391.  With this setup, I'm basically looking to Navigate, Squadron, Navigate..etc to take full advantage of the Engine Techs to keep up the long-range firefight until things settle down.  With 3+3 on squadron commands, I can send in Tycho and the boys to do the initial heavy lifting while Dash joins in the fight on the squadron phase with his Rogue.  The game plan here is simple:  Alpha strike enemy bombers and eliminate enemy ships with your MC80 and MKII from range.

Sounds simple enough right?  What do you think?

Armada: Exploring the MC30c

Hope often comes in small packages.

I hope everyone had a good turkey day!  Now that that's over, let's talk about the MC30c Scout Frigate.  There's also the torpedo frigate, but for the purposes of this article, I'm going to focus on how I think the Scout variant will be the better one of the two.

The devilfish itself.

First thing's first, it's key to note that despite the MC30c having only 4 HP, it has the shield capacity of most capital ships.  The second thing to note is that the thing can throw out absolutely monstrous amounts of damage with its huge black and red broadsides and 2 black, 1 red front.  This means that in a double arc scenario, you are tossing out 5 blacks and 3 reds.  You can almost directly compare this with the Gladiator-I Star Destroyer who throws out 6 blacks and 2 reds in the same scenario.  The third thing to note is that the MC30c has redundant systems:  Sporting 2 Evades and 2 Redirects makes it pretty resistant to Accuracy effects.  This provides more mileage in the long run when trying to approach targets of opportunity and can drastically increase the lifespan of this relatively fragile ship.  The last point I want to make with the MC30c is its speed.  Having a speed-4 option is very nice on a more fragile craft, but being able to turn like Corvette at speed-3 is what gets me excited.

Guaranteed results.

Now that the introduction has been made, let's talk about upgrades.  The most important upgrade on a ship with multiple black dice is Ordnance Experts.  Ordnance Experts let's you throw out black dice with near guaranteed results.  When you're throwing out 80% hits and crits, you want to eliminate any chance of rolling blanks.  On the other 20% chance that you're looking for the optimal hit and crit result, there will be times where you will deliberately fish for that result because you want to activate something more sinister:  The dreaded Assault Proton Torpedoes.  Over the last couple of days, I've been toying around just how powerful this little upgrade is.  When you buy Ordnance Experts and APT together, you're only looking at 9 points for something that can throw out massive amounts of damage.  APTs give you guaranteed damage off a critical effect, and a face-up card directly dealt to the defender is no laughing matter.  When you consider that some of the crit effects in this game are ridiculous, I would personally always go for crits over the one extra damage that the Assault Concussion Missiles can push out.  Of course this will probably come down to personal preference, but right now I'm liking APT a lot.

So why do I think the Scout Frigate over the Torpedo variant?  It's because of TRCs, or Turbolaser Reroute Circuits.  I think TRCs should go on any ship with double evades.  The amount of guaranteed damage you can perform with a ship with TRCs is absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider the fact that some Rebel players like fielding Ackbar.  The height ceiling for damage here can be greater than the Assault Frigate, seeing how you throw out one less red at 4 dice, but can guarantee a blank result to be turned into a double hit.  This is huge, absolutely disgusting. When you look at the possible damage potential of this ship with TRCs in close quarters where evades are pretty much useless, you can analyze the damage potential of this ship at its finest.  A broadside from this little bugger with Ackbar does more damage than the MC80 itself.  The best thing about this ship is that it's not reliant on Ackbar for its damage.  With double-arc, in black dice range, you can potentially deal even more damage than Ackbar's additional 2 reds.  Don't get me wrong though, red dice are fantastic with the right fleet composition.  The larger amounts of red also gives you more options overall, as you will sometimes receive accuracy results to better determine how the damage is done.  With Home One reaching tables in the very near future, having a ship that can throw out big damage both far and near with pin-point accuracy can be very worrisome.

This upgrade is so insanely good.

Here is how I plan to run this little killer:

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)

-  Foresight  ( 8  points) 

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

This is not a cheap ship (93 points vs. the AF's 99), and it only has 4 hull points.  As much as I raved about the amount of damage this thing can put out, it will need expert piloting to get where it needs to be without taking too much damage.  This is why the Foresight title will be mandatory on the MC30c.  Having the ability to get essentially double bonuses from both Evade and Redirects is, for the lack of a better word, godlike.  It's probably the best possible upgrade you can possibly receive on a ship with multiple redirs and evades.  Absolutely fantastic and a must-buy if you're taking the MC30c.

With all things said, how would I run this in the lists I'm running now?

ACKBAR

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 

Points: 397/400 

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 

Navigation Objective: Superior Positions 

[ 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) 

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)

-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 

-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)

-  Foresight  ( 8  points) 

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

2 A-Wing Squadrons ( 22 points) 

Yeah sure, I'm running really light here in terms of fighter support, but I think with this list you're pretty much set on the complete and utter destruction of the enemy fleet.  The A-Wings might buy you a turn against a lighter fighter swarm, but it's safe to say that it's going to be your ships that will be carrying the light of day.  I don't think there's anything more that needs to be said about that.

Armada: Adding the CR90 to the mix

Move like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

For a while now I've been thinking about downgrading one of the ships in my Whaling Fleet down to something cheaper so I can fit in reliable squadrons cover.  I've been trying running two ships and just going super squadron heavy instead of the third ship slot, but I think I like having more activations so I can control the flow of the battlefield more.

So here I am thinking to myself:  What ship can I possibly add to replace the Assault Frigate, but also compliment my fleett?  After much deliberation, math and light trials, I've decided to slot in the CR90 with Turbolaser Reroute Circuits, or TRC for short.  The reason why I chose to go with the CR90 is because it's inexpensive and can potentially cause a lot of damage if left unchecked.  Sure, it's incredibly fragile with only 4 hull points, but the ship can potentially toss out more damage than an Assault Frigate when used correctly.  With Ackbar, you're looking at throwing 3 red dice (4 with CF) at long range that can potentially turn into 2 guaranteed double hit reds with an accuracy.  That's a lot of damage coming from something so small and cheap, and the damage only increases when you get in for that sweet double-arc.  You don't even need Ackbar in this case as you can deliver 3 reds and 2 blues and just turn dice into bigger damage once the evade tokens are of no use to you.  With the CR90, you have a ship that can reliably ping enemy ships for damage, forcing them to spend defense tokens or eat shield damage so you can set up the real damage from the rest of the fleet.  You can also use the CR90 as an opportunist; finding those hard to reach areas to exploit a naked hull zone for guaranteed damage.

This is what I'm talking about right here:

ACKBAR4 
Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 395/400
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ 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)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  Jaina's Light  ( 2  points)
-  Leia Organa  ( 3  points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points)
3 A-Wing Squadrons ( 33 points)

Just the upgrades I'm looking for.

OK, so check out this sweet interaction that I have going on with this incredibly cheap and effective Corvette.  It has Jaina's Light for dirt cheap but is arguably one of the most effective upgrades I can possibly have in this list.  The reason for this is because I can hide behind the massive Home One, gain the bonuses of being obstructed myself, but I ignore that when I'm shooting outwards to the enemy.  This means that I can stay at long range if I want to while I'm basically acting like an extra set of long-range guns for the MC80.  Being obstructed yourself also allows you to play a little more ballsy, burning more tokens because your opponent will be naturally down a dice when shooting back at you if he so desires.  When it's time to strike, the Home One activates first with Engine Techs and you burn and turn into an opportune location.

Leia Organa is also there because she's especially good on one command ships.  What she does essentially is allowing me to change the command dials on any of my ships as long as the Corvette activates first.  For example, I decide that I don't really need to navigate next round on Home One and decide I want to CF instead.  Not only do you get that extra dice on the CR90, but now Home One also gets the opportunity to go to town.  This is a very powerful mechanic that allows you to act on the depending on your opponent's actions and can potentially lead to even more explosive damage on turns where it really matters.  It's definitely a more reactionary ability, but a good one at that on the right ship.  With Dash and 3 A-Wings for fleet support, I'm confident that this list is a solid balanced list that can take on anything confidently.

Let me know if you like this new take on Ackbar.

Armada: Another look at double ISD

Looks good.  Is good.

I think I'm convinced by now that double ISD-II is going to be a real thing.  I think out of all the admirals out there that can make the list work, Motti does the best job.  For one, he's one of the cheapest admirals that you can take for the Imperials and his effect on the ISDs is the largest.  Giving each of these titanic beasts 3 more HP is out of control.  When you think about this from a points perspective, he's essentially handing out 6 free HP to some of the nastiest ships in the entire game.  When you're being shot at by two 14 HP ships with 4 reds and 4 blues with Gunnery Teams, very little in the game can withstand that much firepower.

Here's my current take on Motti double ISD:

MOTTI 
Author: HERO

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 398/400
Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Motti  ( 24  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
7 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 56 points)

In this version of the list, I pretty much loaded the rest of my points with as many TIE Fighters I can possibly bring with the remaining points.  Yeah, it sucks not having Relentless, but it's completely not needed if you're a good enough admiral with expert planning.  The extra points there allows you to fight in another TIE, and there's some awesome synergy to be had here with 4 command on each ship and 8 total squadrons in all.  This number also allows you to drop more deploys when setting up so you can better plan your position on the battlefield.

Howlrunner is great.

When it comes down to the last couple of points here, there's going to be a good amount of options you can mix it up with.  Assuming we drop Howlrunner and all the TIEs, we can get..

• Raider-I, Impetuous, Ordnance Experts, IG-88
• Relentless title, Boba Fett, Bossk, IG-88
• Relentless and Avenger title, Boba Fett + 2x Firesprays
• Relentless title, Howlrunner, 5x TIE Interceptors
• Relentless title, Howlrunner, Soontir Fel, Dengar, 2x TIE Fighters
• Rhymer, Jumpmaster, 5x TIE Bombers

Let's just say that as Imperials, you have a lot of options to play with, especially when you have the safety net of 6 additional HP to get the good Emperor's work done.  It all comes down to personal choice and whether or not you feel strongly about taking dedicated anti-squadron, heavy bombers, or a mix of the two.  I think in a decision like this, it's best to look at how much overall durability you have for the mission assigned.  Howlrunner and 7 TIEs might seem like a lot, but that's only 24 hull points at the end of the day.  Boba and 2x Firesprays is 18, have Rogue, Bomber, but has a lot less attack dice when it comes to anti-squadron.  The anti-squadron amount of Howlrunner and her 7 TIEs adds up to something like 31 blue dice with re-rolls for her squadron.  TIE Interceptors are even more hardcore due to their counters as well, but remember that you're getting less hull for the same price.  Their place will be to alpha strike squadrons down before they even have a chance to strike.

I'm more leaning towards the Howlrunner builds myself because I think the ISDs can handle the majority of the heavy lifting.  When it comes down to using Howlrunner, how you position her will be absolutely crucial.  Ideally, you want to almost form a spaced-out O around her with the TIEs so that your opponent can't get into range to shoot her, and can't place models on top of yours.  This is something I picked up in my years playing 40K and it's very effective.

Which one of these setups would you take in your double Motti ISD list?

Armada: Screed or Ozzel?

The only thing that sucks about this is that I need 3 APTs..

I'm at a point that I'm unsure whether or not I want to take Screed over Ozzel in a competitive event.  Both of the lists I want to run with these guys look pretty similar with all things considered.  Screed is definitely more damage based with his ability to shift bad rolls into critical results, but Ozzel makes the Imperial ships move like UFOs and is completely unpredictable in his movement.  In a way, movement can be considered another type of damage because of the ability to move into more advantageous areas.

Either way, here's what I'm looking at here.  Keep in mind that both lists are extremely similar, almost too similar in design.

SCREED/OZZEL
Author: HERO

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 398 or 397/400
Commander: Admiral Screed/Ozzel

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Screed  ( 26  points)
-  Relentless ( 3  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
-  Instigator  ( 4  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
-  Impetuous  ( 4  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)

1 IG-88 ( 21 points) / 1 Boba Fett ( 26 points)

This is what I'm currently undecided with.  I can either take Screed and just go for the all out damage with the Assault Proton Torpedoes, or I can go with Ozzel and his movement tricks to take better advantage of positioning.  I decided to drop Bossk in the build that I had before and added Assault Proton Torpedoes to all of my ships.  The reason for this change is two fold:  It gives Raiders a little more bite so you get the most mileage out of these extremely manuverable ships, and some of the crits in this game are absolutely disgusting.  In a recent game I had, I was able to push through two crits onto my opponent's ship and got Blinded Gunners and Compartment Fire.  Let's just say those results single-handily changed the result of the game.

We all know what Screed can do with the ability to hand out crits, but let's take a closer look at someone I only recently discovered.  Just think about Ozzel for a second and his interactions with the ISD.  With a navigate command, Ozzel allows the ISD to go from speed-3 with 1-click on each notch to speed-1 with 2-clicks.  On the Gladiator, you can go from Speed-3 3-clicks to double-click speed-1 to another double-click speed-1 with Engine Techs (essentially making you move like a Raider).  And then you have the Raiders, who can prow the sides at long-range going speed-4 before turning 90 degrees in on speed-2.  The only difference between these two lists is that Screed is guaranteed to make the Assault Proton Torpedoes sing where Ozzel is relying more on the Ordnance Experts re-rolls.  In either list I would suggest taking the Ordnance Experts because re-rolling black dice at enemy squadrons is why the Raiders are so dangerous vs. enemy squadron play.  The Boba Fett vs. IG-88 is to offset the difference in price for the two admirals, and IG-88 is a very solid answer to light A-Wing cover and can possibly out-duel any solo pilot in a 1v1.

Which one would you take to an event?  The Eldar player in me is begging me to take Ozzel, but I'm all ears in hearing what you guys think.

Armada: The Wave 2 meta and squadrons

Changing it up big time.

Ever since I started playing Vassal, the word metagame has largely been dropped form my vocabulary.  When you're playing from players from all over the world that have their own local meta and everyone seems to take something different, you're bound to play against highly experimental lists that will kick your brain into overdrive.  Just the other day for example, I played against Ozzel who took me out for a spin.  Over the last couple of days, I've fought against stereotypical lists that everyone has seen or heard about, but against some of the newer stuff that might have dismissed or put on the backlog of things to try.

Things to try is another brief topic I want to talk about.  When you're playing in the real word, there's a little thing out there called personal finances.  If you're anything like me, I typically like to try before I buy.  This comes with a lot of research ahead of time and reading tons and tons of user reviews to see if the product suits my needs.  Fortunately for us, you guys have this blog and hopefully a few other resources around the net to read on the wacky things I've experienced ahead of time so you don't need to.  Over the last couple of days, I've reported that massing Firespray hordes are indeed a real thing, Ozzel might be a sleeper admiral, and the Whaling Fleet that I'm fielding has some obvious weaknesses.  All this can be found out on Vassal, the ultimate try before you buy program so you don't have to buy 6 packs of Rogues and Villains to try out spamming Firesprays.

A friend of mine brought up the fact that the metagame might be limited to personal finances.  It's one of those oddities in the table-top world where I used to hear about players not wanting to bring their Skaven armies to tournaments because they are a huge pain to carry (a ton of models).  Or, they didn't have time to paint them all up because there's just so models to tender to.  The same thing can be said about the recent Firespray hotness that I've been seeing.  Will competitive players really go out there and buy 6 packs of R&V?  You bet your ass they will.  I will tell you straight up that spending that type of cash is nothing when it comes down to winning games in a competitive setting.  Some dude on the X-Wing forums recently added up the cost of all the Top8 worlds lists and they claimed that playing competitively has become expensive.  Yeah, no shit fella.  Coming from competitive TCGs, I can tell you with confidence that 6 packs of R&V is like one of my less-played cards in MTG (and you need 4 for a playset).

Anyways, let's go down to the list that I've been bouncing around.  Thanks to the ever-changing, ever-shifting meta of Wave 2 exploration, I'm confident to report that I've seen a lot of the lists I predicted seeing earlier.  The one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is just how rampant squadrons are in a lot of these lists and man, are they brutal to fight against.

Getting ready to turn the tide.

ACKBAR2 
Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 395/400
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points)
-  Defiance  ( 5  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
5 A-Wing Squadrons ( 55 points)

Like you guys saw in the previous article that I had featuring the Independence and B-Wings, I'm running a two ship variant here.  The BIG difference is that I'm running predominately fighters that can somewhat multi-role and hit enemy ships as well.  This is about 120 points of squadrons while my ships are tooled for anti-ship combat.  The Engine Techs back on the MC80 Command allows me to spam out Navigates while the Defiance Title and Leading Shots makes up for the lack of CF commands.  Both ships here are geared for control and anti-ship combat, but the lack of the Home One title for the MC80 means that the Assault Frigate has to rely more on the Intel Officer.  I'm not too concerned because I can easily make the swap back to Home One if I think need it.

The big elephant in the room here is my fighter selection.  A-Wings are always a sure bet when you're flying squadrons for the Rebels, and Dash, Luke and Tycho should be pretty self-explanatory because I'm looking for something that is versatile, has durability and can switch to anti-ship roles when they need to.  The objective here is to pose a threat to enemy squadrons that you can potentially encounter in the wild.  I'm talking about squadrons like: B-Wing hordes, Firespray hordes, YT-2400 hordes, A-Wing hordes, TIE Fighter hordes, Rebel or Imperial Aces, Rhymerballs, or the Mithel/Fel/Advanced/Chirpy combo.

Going by what I'm expecting to see out there, I think this list might have a shot.  Keep in mind though, that despite the squadrons I'm naming off, the rest of the fleet composition is just as important as the squadron make-up itself.  For example, I can easily see a heavy Firespray build but with two Motti ISD-IIs, or a heavy A-Wing list with Ackbar and triple Assault Frigates.  I'm just happy that the age of exploration is upon us and we're taking on new point of views every day.  Just look at how many times my list has changed since I first built it to what it is now.  Hell, if I fight one more squadron-heavy list, I might just think about converting.

Armada: Rogue Squadrons

Firesprays are out of control in Wave2 Armada.

With Wave2 just around the corner, there's going to be a good amount of players running the new Rogue and Villians squadrons with their ships.  The best part about having a large batch of ships with the Rogue keyword is that they're entirely self-sufficient.  You don't need a dedicated carrier to make them work, they can cover ground and do their job without you having to babysit them.  Since they activate just like they were issued the command, they can fire and move in the same turn; drastically increasing their ability to stick onto enemy ships that might be trying to run away.  That is seriously good.

When you think about it, it's almost entirely not worth dedicating one the ships in your list to be a fleet carrier.  To take it a little further, it wouldn't even be worth having one of your ships issue a Squadron command because a ship with Rogue will be able to do that himself later in the game.  In some cases, you can run a good amount of Rogue squadrons (coincidence?) without needing carriers at all.  All you need is the points to buy them.

In terms of getting the best bang for your buck, I would seriously considering taking the Firesprays when you're fielding Imperials.  If your running some double Motti ISD bully list for example, spending the rest of your points into Firesprays can drastically increase your list's effectiveness because of how multi-purpose they are.  They have 3 attack dice on squadrons, 2 blues on ships and carry the Rogue and Bomber keywords.  This makes them extremely efficient at attacking all targets, and with 6 HP to boot, you can't really get better value.  For the Rebels, you get the YT-2400, which moves at speed-4 and packs 4 blues vs. squadrons, but they don't have the essential Bomber keyword that makes Firesprays so lethal against all targets.

Just to give you guy a picture of what I'm talking about here, today I fought against a list running 134 points of Firespray death.  It had Boba, Dengar, Rhymer, and 4 Firesprays that moved in a tight formation.  That's a lot of hull right there and a ton of anti-ship firepower that can threaten from blue-range.  If we throw down some quick math, you're looking at 9 blue dice and 2 blacks that you're throwing out with Bomber and your opponent has 47 hull to chew through, 3 of which are hero ships with brace and scatter tokens, and they all have Counter 1 because of Dengar (which acts as a pseudo +1 blue dice).  That's a lot of points right there, but it most certainly provides results against ship heavy lists.  I know, I've fought against it and other Firespray-heavy variants and they are disgusting to fight against with my 3-ship Ackbar list.  It's just too much for me to handle even when I'm playing flawlessly.

Over the last couple of days, I've been tuning my Ackbar Control list a lot.  I've tried the solo Dash, 2x-3x A-Wing, heavy Intel and without, and now I think I've found something that's a good balance overall.

Current iteration:
MC80 Command, Home One, Ackbar, Intel, ECM, Leading Shots, XI7s
MKIIB, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7s
MKIIB, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7s
Tycho, 2x A-Wings

I've found over a ton of games that the Intels were not really needed on the Whales because of the free accuracys Home One hands out.  Engine Techs have also been removed in this current iteration because I haven't really found myself straying too much out of speed-2 for the most part.  Leading Shots are in because I was really getting sick and tired of me rolling epically fail dice when I needed the shots to matter.  Tycho is in over the stock A-Wing because I wanted someone who can stay in the fight a little while longer while being able to move around freely.  I'll tell you one thing's for sure though:  I'm probably going to regret not having those Engine Techs when I really need them.

Armada: Admiral Ozzel doing work

Apparently, getting choked to death only makes you stronger.

I just got my ass handed to me by Admiral Ozzel and man, did I face off against some craziness.  The list I took was pretty standard, running my Ackbar Control but slotting in Dash Rendar to check out what he can bring to the table.  Unfortunately, my opponent showed up with Boba Fett and Bossk and poor Dash, well, died horribly.  I'm not going to cover the entire battle report as I did get really ballsy and took a big gamble.

Check out some of these sick screens:

Strategy: Blue is safe, red is dangerous.  I like dangerous.

I immediately regret this decision.

Boxed in by the Gladiator.

All is lost.

Keep in mind that we talked for a long time after the game about what I most likely would have done in a tournament setting, but I really just wanted to try and see how my list could perform against what seemed like lighter targets.  He had initiative on me and had the activation advantage, but I thought I would have the damage to cover it up.  Boy was I wrong.  As soon as Ozzel full-stopped and angled that Gladiator trapping my Home One, I knew I was done for.  The constant-refreshing Navigate token with Ozzel's super stop put that ISD in prime firing position while I was stuck in there with nowhere to go.  With 11 hull on the ISD, he just rammed me all day while Gunnery Team put out insane amounts of damage.  Once the Gladiator started ramming and adding its ACM to the party, it was as good as done.  I tried to tie up Boba with Dash, but between the constant free damage and Bossk's Grit just totally ignoring Dash (and actually eventually killed the Home One), I called the game at the end of 4.  Sure, I blew up the ISD, but I also lost Home One and my Whale2 was also close to death.

I was totally caught off-guard by just how ridiculous Ozzel is.  His synergy with Wulff is out of control.  My opponent was able to just smack the token on the ISD turn 1 and it basically sat there the entire game until he wanted to change it; changing the speed of the damn thing from 3 to 1 in a heat beat.  Ozzel is also ridiculous with the Raiders.  I was absolutely overwhelmed by how fast they can move, how tight they can turn, and how fast they can change speeds with Ozzel's speed adjustments.  Going from 4 to 2, performing the tightest turns in the world, and flying up my ass with speed 4 again from 2 next turn.  Unbelievable.  Best of all?  His entire list had command 2 for rapid response thanks to the Relentless title on the ISD.  With all the speed changes in his list, the movement on his ships was completely unpredictable.  I had no idea what the ride was about until it was over.

My opponent admitted he was just trying some things and his upgrades were not optimal.  I said no worries man, you played incredibly well and definitely taught me a thing or two.  I absolutely love the Boba and Bossk combo as it really puts a single Dash to shame and is a huge threat to ships and enemy ships as well.  What about a lot of fighters?  Looks like he had both Instigator and Impetuous to do some heavy lifting vs. squadrons: Raider-Is with Ordnance Experts will be ridiculous against swarm tactics.  Plus, the Raiders can just block congo lines all day, stop full force and keep them jammed up while the ISD and Glad goes to town.

It's OK, where his list wasn't perfected, you sure bet I'm going to try to replicate and improve:

OZZEL TYPE1 
Author: HERO

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 400/400
Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Ozzel  ( 20  points)
-  Relentless ( 3  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Assault Concussion Missiles  ( 7  points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
-  Instigator  ( 4  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
-  Impetuous  ( 4  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)

1 Boba Fett ( 26 points)
1 Bossk ( 23 points)

So what we have here is the original list on steroids.  Rather, it's more focused and puts out more consistent damage.  The ISD is now a death machine with Intel, ECM and XI7s added, and I even have the Intel Officer in there over Wulff just because I prefer the damage.  Keep in mind that Wulff is still very good with Ozzel because of the navigate token procing Ozzel's ability constantly, and the incredible token efficiency that it naturally generates.  I just don't think its very needed because with good command management (and on command 2 mind you), you should be able to maintain control of your speed according to battlefield conditions.  I would much rather like to Intel a Brace token and just having the target eat the damage.  The rest of the list is pretty much history:  Added Demolisher and ACMs to the Gladiator for max damage, and have the Raider-Is take both titles for supreme AA coverage.  Ordnance Experts helps ease out the rolls and increase damage overall against both capital ships and squadrons.  Boba Feet and Bossk will stay in the list because they can absolutely maul fighters and at the same time, pose a huge threat to ships.

I'd like to thank my opponent JafarIronclad for the awesome game and introduction to how to make Ozzel fly.  I hope the rest of you guys learned something new as well.

Armada: Raymus Antilles vs. Intel Officer

I will come back more powerful than ever.

I'm going to get down right into it and say it:  Raymus Antilles might be one of the best bridge officers in the entire game.  He costs 7 points and he has arguably the most powerful ability when it comes to managing command effeciency.  What he does for you is simple:  Whenever you reveal a command, you may gain a matching command token without spending the command dial.  This means that you can spend both the dial and free token immediately, reaping in both effects for free.

Too good.

In short, he can do the following things:

• If you do Navigate, he can increase or decrease the ship's speed by two while still increasing a yaw by one.  If you have Engine Techs, you can basically keep the token to activate Engine Techs twice without having to issue another Navigate command due to the free token.  If you have Nav Team, since you're spending a token, you can now increase or decrease your ship's speed by 1 and change the yaw twice on the reveal instead of holding onto a token.  This can make something like the MC80 move in a way that is otherwise impossible for its size.
• If you do Squadron, you can now activate one additional ship on top of your current squadron number.  That means the MC80 Command can activate 5 squadrons without having to buy into Expanded Hangar Bays (which costs 5 points by itself), or can activate a ludicrous 6 squadrons if you have Raymus and the bays.  That's just insane value right there.
• If you do Concentrate Fire, you can now throw an extra dice into your pool and re-roll one as an added benefit.  This is a straight damage improvement while making your shots more consistent at the same time.  Given how many critically activated effects are in the game, this can potentially turn a crappy blank into a game-saving accuracy or crit trigger.
• If you do Repair, you are flat out getting an extra shield.  An engineering value of 3 will immediately reap in 5 points to spend on stuff while a engineering 4 will take in 6.  Something like the MC80 can immediately bring back 3 shields with Raymus in the bridge (4 base, 2 from token, 6/2 for 3 shields).  That's crazy good in sustained fights where you absolutely need to survive and tank the extra shots.  It also helps mitigate a lot of the incoming hull damage presented by XI7s.

So from reading this, you're probably thinking that Raymus is the staple officer to go to when you're playing Rebels right?  I would say that 90% of the time, it's a resounding YES! because he flat out gives you a more powerful command dial.  No matter what dial it is, he just outright improves its effects and at times, makes it so you can do things you wouldn't be able to do.

Who's your daddy now?

For me and my lists, there's only one other upgrade that can contest his spot and that's the Intel Officer.  When I look at this dude, I see straight damage potential and control.  For something like the MC80 and Home One for example, aside from a few lucky rolls, you can't risk having your shots be braced because you didn't roll an accuracy.  Or worse, your oppoenent has an ECM and he can just flat out negate your accuracy regardless of how many of them you throw on the brace.  So what do you do in this situation?  You take your one huge ass shot and you tell him if he braces, that's all he's going to get for the rest of the game.  This type of pressure and control is something that Raymus simply does not offer, despite the fact that he can do everything else.

From here, I think it really comes down to personal preference.  Do you take the jack of all trades or do you take a control bully?  For big ships like the MC80 who really likes to throw one huge hand of dice and can only really make one shot per turn normally, that shot really needs to matter.  I can see Intel Officer being a staple on Ackbar's flag, but maybe less so on other ships with the Home One bonus.  If you're running squadron heavy or you're not really looking at the damage output of a solo ship, then I would say Raymus should always be on your most action-oriented ship.  He's simply too good to leave out of your Rebel list.

Armada: Ackbar Control vs. Vader ISD, double VSD

This is what Vassal looks like for Armada!

So I played a game last night on Vassal where I took a screenshot of the end result using paint, but forgot to save it and my computer decided to restart by itself in the middle of the night.  Whatever ghost is messing with me right now did not want to share the results of last night's battle.  Either way, I'll try and describe it the best I can and share with you my learning experiences.  I think you'll get a lot out of this despite the lack of pictures.  Sorry again admirals!

My list was:

MC80 Command, Home One, Ackbar, Intel, Engine Techs, ECM, XI7s

2x Whales with Intel, Gunnery, ECM and XI7s

2x A-Wings

His list was:
Vader, Relentless, ISD, Intel, Gunnery, XI7s, no ECM (more on this later)

2x VSD-II, Intel, Gunnery Teams

1x IG-88

He gives me initiative and I pick Superior Positions.  The other option was Advanced Gunnery (LOL yeah right) and Fleet Ambush (yeah hard pass).  At least with Superior Positions I know its going to be a straight up capital ship brawl, and I might have a good shot at winning that.  Can you believe it?  Rebels willing to throw dice in a headlong match with the Empire?

The battle:

• I deploy all my ships pointing diagonal towards the left side of the map because there's a repair station there.  My order is Whale-1, Home One, Whale-2, with the A-Wings not blocking any of the ships but in a position to fly up and intercept his IG-88.  His deploy was as predicted, pointing all of ships at my Home One, but not tight enough where it would mess up his slower and more predictable VSDs.
• OK so off the ships go, I'm sailing NW of the map at speed-2 but I moved everyone up to 3 with Navigate commands on all.  My order for this battle is Nav, Nav, Concentrate Fire, as I'm trying to to get maximum fire solution while playing keep away with my ships since I have initiative.  He comes straight at me on his turn which is no big surprise.
• The initial exchange here caught me off guard.  So I'm trying to sail NW but my Home One is angled in just a slight way that his ISD is able to see the ass of my Home One by literally a fraction of a hair.  OK, that kinda sucks, but he fires and rolls blanks.  Nice I thought, until he Vaders and rolls a double hit, 2 hits and a accuracy on the Brace.  All shields gone after I redir to left shields.  Bad start.  My exchanges into him with my whales sees him lose all his shields on the ISD's front, while my Home One rolls absolute garbage with 2 accuracys and no damage at all.  His right most VSD on the flank of the ISD is too eager to join the battle and runs into an asteroid field, but his crit didn't really matter.  I queue up repairs knowing that we're going to be swinging pretty hard at each other really soon.
• My A-Wings engage the IG-88 with my initiative and he puts one to 1 HP while I do one damage to him in return.  Not too good for the A-Wings.
• So here is where I misplay somewhat.  Keep in mind that my ships are swimming up NW to the repair station and my ships are pretty damn close to each other.  I get super greedy here and activate my Home One first on his ISD who is now in prime firing range.  I thought I would be able to clear my AF in front of me but end up rolling like complete garbage, and then not being able to clear the whale, ramming into it from the back.  So now I'm stuck in exactly the same place as I was before, took a damage on a misplay, but in an arguably worse location because his ISD is in blue range and I'm literally going to eat it all this round.
• That's exactly what happens, and he fires with an absolute monstrous roll, Inteling my Contain, while shutting down Brace and letting my meager XI7s work with the redirect.  I burn the contain token to minimize the crit, but end up taking 4 points of damage on that exchange.  His Gunnery Team on my lead MKII was also vicious, stripping down side shields by 2 since he's only in reds.  My Home One literally couldn't be in a worse place, stuck between two whales that haven't moved yet, already activated, and now his rightmost VSD is coming in for that ass with reds.
• I let my tail MKII shoot into the front of the ISD who's now closing in for the killing blow and I put heavy damage and a crit on him.  My other shots strip shields off the right VSD and I fish myself further away to the port side of Home One for obstruction.
• Now, his right VSD fires into Home One's ass and even with an asteroid in the way, I take 2 more damage for 6 points out of 8 total hull.  I'm literally sweating right now because the next VSD hasn't gone yet and Home One is a breath away from dying.  My lead MKII activates and puts more damage into his ISD while stripping shields from the left flank VSD.  After I shoot, I finally move the lead whale and he's no longer blocking Home One any more, which is something I probably should have done this turn.  I just got super greedy and that's the reason my flagship is at 2 right now.  Anyways, I sail north onto the repair station and heal off the ram damage.
• His VSD shoots, but rolls poorly with reds despite the Concentrate Fire.  He re-rolls some with Vader but ends up rolling blanks and accuracys, so I transfer the damage onto frontal shields and call it a day.  Phew, the big fish lives.
• The IG-88 kills both A-Wings through Counter 2 and rolling 4 straight hits on the other one with full HP.  RIP A-Wings, you did your job.
• Next round is going to be make or break because his ISD is right in my face and my Home One is hanging on by a thread.  Repairs bring back 2 shields on my side and I rip into the ISD with 5 reds and 3 blues.  Looks like the dice gods came back in my favor because I rolled like a beast and lock down both Brace and Contain while letting the XI7s do its work.  I scored 8 damage with a crit and Vader's ISD freaking explodes.  My Home One hits it hard at speed-2, angle ticks on the right and boosts with Engine Techs into red range again from all targets again.  Primary target destroyed and now I'm feeling a little better about my chances.
• My opponent is not liking what he sees and after the next couple of exchanges, failing to kill the now 3-repair queued Home One, and losing a VSD through concentrated fire from the Whale, my opponent calls it a day.

Thoughts:

• I don't think triple Intel Officer is needed because Home One's accuracy bonus was able to lock down Brace every time while letting the XI7s do its work.  I can definitely see the Intel Officer on Home One, but I wouldn't say it's entirely needed on the other ships.  Maybe 2x will be the better number because Intel is still good in conjunction with accuracy dice on the fact that ECM exists as a card.  If ECM blocks the accuracy on brace, you can still Intel the Brace so he'll burn both the ECM and the Brace.
• Speaking of ECM, the fact that my opponent didn't have it on his ISD is what might have caused him the game.  He was in prime position to shoot, but I was able to lock down his tokens and go to town on him.  I think in the new meta where people are throwing 8+ dice on an exchange, you absolutely need ECM and Brace.  Even if he burned his Brace after I intel'd him, he still would have survived which is the important thing.  Cutting down 8 damage to 4 and then redirecting 1 is better than just exploding into space dust.
• That IG-88 surprised the hell out of me with his speed-5 and Rogue.
• I think in terms of damage, Vader is really good with anything that throws plenty of dice.  The ISD especially benefits from Vader because of raw consistency.  His ISD, despite drawing a lucky shot on the Home One's rear, was able to consistently throw out dice that mattered because Vader guaranteed it.  No other admirals could have done that, and for burning out Contain, which is pretty useless if you still have shields and generally don't care about crits.  Is Vader better than Screed?  Or Motti?  I'm not sure.  In a list like this one where he wanted to chuck dice and do damage, I think Vader did him pretty good.
• The speed of the ISDs is out of control for a ship that can shoot so well, is so heavily armored, and have so many shields.  I would seriously consider going two ISDs and maybe a Glad or something.  If you want pressure, I think this can apply it a lot faster, and with much better speed and handling than VSD escorts.
• Don't get greedy:  Shooting with Home One didn't really get me anywhere, the only thing that it did was get the ship stuck between the space whales and almost got it killed because it allowed the VSD to get closer.  If I moved with the lead MKII first, I would have given the Home One room to move and Engine Tech out of the rightmost VSD's range, while keeping the other VSD at reds, and still being able to shoot the ISD with full effect next turn.  I just really wanted that ISD to die, but for some reason I lost touch with the rest of the ships on the board and where they will be next turn.
• The damage potential of reds with Ackbar is good when it's good, but seriously bad when it's bad.  When you're chucking reds the majority of the time and not blues or blacks, there's a good chance you might roll like complete garbage like my first exchange with the ISD.  The free Home One accuracies more than make up for that one the whales, but not so much on the Home One itself.  Just something to keep in mind.

I hope you guys enjoyed it!  I look forward to playing some more in the near future.  I think I'll try my Independence list next, take it out for a spin and see where it goes.