Armada: Double MC80 attack!

The MC80's big brother, the MC90.

OK, so I have a list here that I've only tried twice, and one time it ended in spectacular failure mainly because I couldn't stop myself from ram humping my own ships to death.  Seriously though, have you guys tried flying two fatfish in a congo-line with so many faster and more agile ships out there these days?  It's a damn nightmare!  The other game I was able to just double-arc multiple ships and just blow everything away through attrition.

The idea of this list is really bare bones and simple.  You're running two fat ships and a dinky little ship just to act as an extra set of guns.  Nothing else really matters because the two heavy hitters in list is the Home One (mainly to hand out a free accuracy with every shot), and the Defiance (who loves to throw more dice).  Because the Home One doesn't get the accuracy buff himself, he will roll with Intel Officer and be a nav junky, but the Defiance will the second ship to activate of the lot and carry Raymus Antilles for max utility and command compression.  Ideally what you want to do is use Concentrate Fire with Defiance so he gets to shoot with maximum effect.  You're looking at tossing out free black dice here with every attack, even at long range.  Since the dice you add is already in the pool and CF kicks in after dice have been rolled, you can add another black if you want.  Talk about power overwhelming.

Behold, the might of the Mon Calamari:

BIGFISH
Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 390/400
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)

MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
-  Defiance  ( 5  points)
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
-  Tantive IV  ( 3  points)

2 A-Wing Squadrons ( 22 points)

The trickiest part about a list like this would be getting it to fly exactly how you want it.  There are two ridiculous fat ships there and unlike the ISD, you are not very point and click.  Not only are you more particular about your activations since you want the Defiance to go after another target ship has been activated to get the most out of it, but you are also looking to maximize your side arcs without obstructing the other ship's shot.  I mean yeah, with CF you can shoot through another ship and not lose anything, but having that extra dice is what you paid for with your dial.  Plus, you really want that CF to trigger off of Defiance's free dice that it gets to throw.  Throwing something like 5 red dice and 2 blues at long range is murderous (5 from Ackbar, 1 blue from Defiance, 1 blue from CF copying Defiance, fueling Leading Shots if you roll blanks, with a re-roll from Raymus because he gives you a token).

Like I already said many times now, getting these fish to swim without fondling each other is going to be difficult, but I think it's do-able.  I'm not sure if a list like this needs first or second player, but going first does give you the option of not getting blocked in by smaller ships that might be swimming around.  Yeah, you will blast them away if you get close, but if they get stuck up your nose it might ruin your day completely.  To ease the need for better maneuverability, I think Engine Techs will be needed more than ever as you will be playing with a lot of speed changes.  Going from 1 to 2, to Engine Techs, and back to down to 1 will be very common so you can maximize your shots without blocking each other to death.  The sharper and fuller turns offered by Engine Techs will also greatly assist in setting up shots.  Since Defiance has Raymus on board, he can take advantage of this to the fullest as he can navigate first turn and receive a token to bank.  On your second turn, you might decide to go with Concentrate Fire for the damage spike but still want to move with Engine Techs.  Luckily, Raymus is so good that he's going to let you do that with the token you generated last turn.  Unfortunately, you will not be able to go hard with the navigate's yaw, so you gotta plan for that.

The CR90B is really there to provide an extra set of guns, hopefully shooting what he can and just overall plinking away shields.  I'm bummed that I can't fit TRCs in on the little guy, but 3 ships for this style of list is very important in making sure you're not completely stuck on activations and missing out on key opportunities to strike multiple targets.  Getting multiple ships in you arcs is difficult enough with the MC80, now trying two on the field.  The plus side to taking the Tantive IV over Jaina's Light is that I get to just pile on tokens while taking no dials on the CR90 since he doesn't really need it in a support role.  This helps keep Engine Techs running on Defiance so he can keep spamming CF, or Engineering Tokens for that amazing 3 shield heal on Home One.  The tricky part about this is how well you can plan for future dials while keeping your activations silky smooth.  That's where having a command-1 ship with this ability really helps.

Hell, if anything, the list is thematic and looks awesome on the battlefield.