Armada: Getting into the game

Just bought in and I'm super excited.

Too late boys, no turning back.  I already ordered almost all the ships from Amazon and Miniatures Market and I've bought into the game 100%.  I've been such a huge Star Wars nerd lately and I'm super excited to start playing the game.  I think this is one of those games that I'll play pretty casually since I already have X-Wing to vent out all of super competitive play.  I know a lot of people around here are tempted to get into the game as well, so I bought two Core sets instead of the usually recommend one so I can start demoing the game.

Now, since I pretty much bought all of the sets and expansions in the game minus the Imperial Raider and Victory-class Star Destroyer, I went ahead and made some lists.  Just keep in mind that even though I play Imperials a ton in X-Wing, the MC80 Star Cruiser is probably my favorite capital ship of all time in space.  It's one of the reasons I picked up Aquan Prime when I dabbled in Firestorm Armada.

First, the Imperial list:

Look at the size of this thing!

GALACTIC EMPIRE
399/400
Commander: Admiral Screed
Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer 120
     Admiral Screed 26
     Relentless 3
     Wulff Yularen 7
     Gunnery Team 7
     Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams 6
     Electronic Countermeasures 7
     X-17 Turbolasers 6
     SW 7 Ion Batteries 5

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer 56
     Ordnance Experts 4
     Assault Concussion Missiles 7

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer 56
     Ordnance Experts 4
     Assault Concussion Missiles 7

Soontir Fel 1 18
"Howlrunner" 1 16
TIE Interceptor Squadron 4 44

This list right here runs with Screed as the Admiral and runs full steam with 2 Gladiator-I Star Destroyers with Ordnance Experts and Assault Concussion Missiles.  The idea here is to let Ordnance Experts re-roll my black dice and have Screed + Assault Concussion Missiles put out massive amounts of damage.

The ISD-II's upgrades are pretty self-explanatory I think.  Relentless is probably the biggest no-brainer title I've ever seen since it reduces your command dial down from 3 to 2 without touching your overall command value.  This automatically means that you will be react to the battlefield much better.  Wulff Yularen I put in because he essentially allows me to upkeep command tokens all day when I spend them.  Even though this works much better with Tarkin, anything that gives me token efficiency makes me super happy.  Gunnery Team is there so I can throw out dice all day from the frontal arc and the Tractor Beams help disrupt everything that's within range.  I chose to go with X-17 Turbolasers in combination with SW 7 Ion Batteries because I think the blue dice will convert to good damage.

Lastly, I have a pretty healthy compliment because I really like the idea of having Soontir Fel, Howrunner and a bunch of TIE Interceptors in my list.  Everyone has Swarm so Howlrunner will benefit everyone, and if enemy fighters decide to attack her, Soontir Fel will deal damage back in return.

The flying squid is quite exciting.

REBEL ALLIANCE
393/400
Commander: Admiral Ackbar
Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

MC80 Assault Cruiser 114
     Admiral Ackbar 38
     Home One 7
     Raymus Antilles 7
     Engine Tech 8
     Electronic Countermeasures 7
     Advanced Projectors 6
     X-17 Turbolasers 6
     SW 7 Ion Batteries 5

Assault Frigate Mark II B 72
     Leia Organa 3
     Gunnery Team 7
     Electronic Countermeasures 7
     Enhanced Armament 10

Assault Frigate Mark II B 72
     Gunnery Team 7
     Electronic Countermeasures 7
     Enhanced Armament 10

With this list, I went the completely opposite direction of list design and took advantage of the Rebel's ability to stay at long range and pour out damage.  I think the MC80 will see a lot of play with me because I absolutely adore the look of the ship, and the abilities that this ship generates is stunning.  Ackbar by himself is a game-changer in every sense of the word:  His ability to essentially grant +2 red dice to his fleet while Home One's ability to change a blank dice into accuracy is just insane.  Raymus Antilles is there to maintain navigation tokens so when its time to move around the battlefield, Engine Tech can essentially give the Home One a pseudo-move.  With this combo, the Home One can essentially move like a better ISD.  ECM + Advanced Projectors for defense, although I'm also eyeing the Redundant Shields because I'm a big fan of R2D2 in X-Wing.  Do you guys think that will be better than the combo I have now?  I also chose to go with X-17 Turbolasers with the SW7 Ion Batteries for straight damage consistency.

The rest of the list is pretty straight forward:  Two Assault Frigates with Enhanced Armament and Gunnery Team gives me 2 shots with 6 red dice (4+2 from Ackbar) at long range at different targets.  That is a ton of damage from such a distance and the low point value ensures that I'll have initiative.  I might even drop ECM for two Intel Officers because I want to pile on the damage as fast as possible before the enemy ships close.  Seeing how everyone can move at 3, that will be a feat most slower Imperial ships won't be able to do.

Alright guys, that's all I have for now.  Let me know what you think about the lists!