Armada: Spring 2016 Tournament Prep

Trolling the Empire before it was cool.

Just like X-Wing, it's time to start prepping for the store tournaments coming up in SoCal for Armada.  There's not as many of them as X-Wing, so I'll have to adjust my playtime accordingly, but I'm excited to go to all the events that I can.  I think I'm pretty set on taking Rebels to the tournament because I've had the most experience playing them in the last couple of months.  I've tried an epic asston of lists and I think I'm set on 3 of them.  I'll need your help to decide which one I'm eventually going to take.

Here are the lists that I'm pondering, all of which have Ackbar as the Admiral.

ACKBAR1

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 

Points: 390/400 

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery 

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ 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)

-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

4 YT-2400s ( 64 points) 

This is the first list that I'm thinking and arguably the one with the most playtime under my belt.  I went from a MC80 + 2x MKII no squadron, pure damage and control list to this beauty that you see here today.  This list is the epitome of my list design for Ackbar and will probably be the list that I'm going to take.  Unlike X-Wing, I don't think I'm going to write off difficult choices because there doesn't seem to be any for me here.  The only other one that I can think off immediately off the top of my head is replacing Gunnery Teams with Flight Controllers so I can get a better alpha, but I think I like everything where it is right now.  The YT-2400s will be the mainstay in my Rebel fleets as long as I'm running nav-heavy MC80s with Engine Techs and I'm happy with how they're performing.

ACKBAR2

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 

Points: 390/400 

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ 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) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points) 

2 YT-2400s ( 32 points) 

This one is another list I've been toying around lately and I think it has the highest damage output out of any of the lists here.  It has an insane amount of damage coming from 3x of the TRC90s, and the change from Home One to Defiance allows me to put out even greater damage from the MC80 itself.  The secret forumla here is the 4-ship activation with a 390 bid, giving me an incredible first player and last activation advantage.  Dash and the 2x YTs will do what they can to keep Fireballs at bay, but by that time I'm looking for game over with the complete and utter destruction of the enemy fleet.  The other alternative would be to replace Defiance with Home One, what say you?

ACKBAR3

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 

Points: 391/400 

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Most Wanted 

Defense Objective: Fire Lanes 

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)

-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points) 

-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 

-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  Heavy Turbolaser Turrets  ( 6  points) 

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)

-  Foresight  ( 8  points) 

-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)

-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 

4 YT-2400s ( 64 points) 

Lastly, the MKII fleet that you see here is a list that's currently being worked out and fine-tuned, but I think its in a good enough place that it's tournament-worthy.  The 391 bid with a 4-ship list is still really solid in giving me activation advantage, and the 4x YT-2400s gives me a solid baseline for decent squadron support.  The damage output here is almost as impressive as the MC80 list featured above, but the biggest difference comes from the MKII's Gunnery Teams that can put out 2x the amount of long-range firepower, and the damage spike potential offered by the MC30c.  Overall, this is a very solid list, but has the least amount of playtime compared to the others.  Is that worth the risk?

Well, there you have it folks.  All of these fleets are tournament ready, I just need to get in a few more practice games but I think it's as good as it's going to get.