Armada: How much should you bid?

Peekaboo.. I'll take first.

That's kinda the question I'm asking myself over and over again when designing lists these days.  I'm not a super big fan of just how bids work in the face place, and as we face more ship-heavy damage-dealing archetypes like the DeMSU-variants and Rebel Swarms with the MC30s, those lists can bid up to a lot of points.  What kind of bids am I talking about?  Well, I've seen bids all the way to 373 before which is absolutely ridiculous.  The dude basically said:  I don't care about anything else as long as I go first.  Hmm.. quite crazy I thought, but maybe he has a point in some instances.

For example, let's examine two lists that I'm using with Ackbar.

The first list I'm going to show you is ACKBAR1.  This is already a tournament-winning list that evolved from a no-squadron, 3-ship control-heavy build with IOs, to this masterpiece you see right here.  Sure, the list is not for everyone, but I manage to make it work and work really effectively.  Notice the bid here at 392.  I would now consider this in the realm of a mediocre bid.  Before the DeMSU and the Rebel Swarm, this would be considered a pretty high-bid, especially when you didn't see anything else run below 390 for the most part.  Just look at this article that I wrote in December.  Can you see the difference between the meta then and now?  And this is without Wave 4 hitting the storefront yet.  This is purely within the time it took for Wave 2 to release to now, after the GenCon Nationals.  My my, how things have changed.

So now I'm going to show you another list.  This is ACKBAR2, which is the list I was going into the tournament season with after Wave 4 came out.  The difference here is a pretty big difference in bid:  392 vs. 384.  This 8-point difference is pretty big when you consider the fact that you can pretty much buy Raymus Antilles or add another TIE Fighter.  For a quick second, swing on over to the official forums and take a look at this chart.  To sum things up a bit here:  Only a certain percentage of players running specific fleet archetypes are going to be running insanely high bids.  The other percentage will fall into the category where they don't care if they go second because their fleet is designed to be bulky, or alpha-strike resistant like Rieekan Carriers.  Everything else falls somewhere in between.  These are your typical "balanced" lists for the most part, but also archetypes that have cut a few upgrades here and there to win initiative over the rest of the meta.  I mean, that's the entire reason why I cut Jaina's Light even though it was just 2 points.  A lot of lists that I was seeing was running 392-4, so I decided to run it tighter to beat them all.

Here's what you typically bid if you want Initiative.

For me, I fall into this camp of thinking.  It might sound pretty extreme at first, but hear me out:  The first step is to find out what the meta is, both locally, regionally and nationally.  This also means reaching out and playing games on Vassal if you want to be familiar with what kind of lists are the world playing.  Now that you've done that, you should have a pretty good idea of what kind of archetypes exist, what their typical bids are, and what your list aims to do.  The last part is strictly fleet and admiral dependent:  It defines you as a player, what your playstyle is and how personally aim to do with the fleet that you constructed.  If you absolutely have to go first because you're running something like DeMSU or MC30s, then you better go big or don't bother.  This direction of thinking comes from the fact that if you're not going to beat XYZ from going first anyway, you might as well spend the rest on upgrades to make your list more effective.  However, this clause changes if you know there are certain numbers your competitors are running.  You might want to cut a upgrade here or there just so you can outrun those lists.

Step #1:
If you absolutely want initiative:  Go big or go home.
If you don't care either way:  Build your list as normal and don't worry about initiative.
If you don't want initiative and want to play missions:  Max out your points.

Step #2:
Now take your analysis of typically run lists in the meta, and decide whether or not you want to outrun those lists.  If so, cut more.  If not, keep your list the way it is.

When I say outrun, I'm actually referring to a Pokemon term used in competitive battling.  Sometimes, you absolutely need to outrun a specific Pokemon or risk getting one-shotted:  Thus, it is often wise to build lists that are flexible enough to be both first and second player.

Keep in mind that I'm not a super big fan of how initiative is done in the first place in this game, especially when it comes to bidding.  There is too much emphasis on bidding for certain lists and the advantages for activating first are IMO, almost too worth it.  It's not like X-Wing where Pilot Skill is a larger determination of activation order and what not.  Personally, and this is just throwing ideas out there:  I wouldn't mind if it was a dice off on the blue, with the person with the better bid only losing initiative on accuracies.

Armada: Imperials set the tone

Speak softly, but carry big turbolasers.

With Wave 4 coming to us as early as next week, I think we all need to sit back for a bit and think about how far this game has come.  With the release of the first real capital ships in Wave 2, I think the meta changed dramatically.  It completely revitalized the game in many ways and completely changed the dyanmic that the two current factions play on the battlefield.  Wave 4, I don't think will have the same kind of effect, but it does do a few subtle and important things.

The first thing that Wave 4 does is introduce the Interdictor and a more control-centric playstyle into the fore.  No longer are you concerned about doing maximum damage every time or overwhelming your opponents with fighters, you are now able to dictate his movement, his commands and his dice rolls.  With things like the Suppressor Gozanti, Slicer Tools and the various shenanigans that the Interdictor can do, I think it would be wise to consider why these elements are introduced in the first place.

One of the first things mentioned in this game when talking about the landscape of the meta or competitive play in general is the Demolisher.  Yes, I know that I tease a lot when I say that this is hot news or shit on people who talks about the Demolisher like it's something new, but for the most part, all of what they're saying is true.  In my opinion, when it comes to the metagame at least, there are very few things that define the meta.  Some things are more ambiguous than others like initiative bids or whatnot, but the things that truly define the competitive landscape is typically in the form of successful lists.  When this is considered, it goes without saying that I think that Imperials define the meta way more than the Rebels.  On one hand you have Ackbar and their congolines, and on the other hand you have Demolisher and Rhymer.  The difference between having a commander that changes a faction vs. having unique pieces that changes the faction is that in the latter, you can have multiples of.  In the case of the latest GenCon winning list, you can have the biggest and most powerful ship in the game (the ISD), the Demolisher and a Rhymerball all in one list.  This right here ladies and gentlemen, is how you set standards for the meta.  Shit, even the Firespray falls under the Imperial spotlight of single-best squadron in the game.

Tale your time Demolisher.  You'll get there eventually.

To expand on this a little bit more, I want to reiterate on the fact that I think Imperials define the meta, Rebels just find ways to mold to it.  While Ackbar was sort of the mold-breaker to this, and one of the reasons why I stick with him, Rebels didn't really get anything overwhelmingly impactful.  Some even argue to this day that the MC80 Home One-class ships are pretty rubbish compared to the monster that is the ISD.  One on hand, I completely and utterly disagree with them, but when looking at it from a completely statistical standpoint and without consideration of player skill, I can't really fault them.  In fact, I sort of agree with them:  The ISD-II is the better ship with all things considered.  It has the health, the speed, the damage and the upgrades to be the key on the battlefield, and they pay a mere 6 points more if you're comparing the MC80 Assault variant.  Now, I don't want you to think this is some kind of anti-Rebel rant or Imperial's OP crythread, I want to be crystal clear when I say that Imperials are currently setting the meta standards.  With the Interdictor coming into the fray, it's going to be once again, an Imperial ship that will define whether or not we see more Demolishers on the table.  Even Agent Kallus seems to be much stronger vs. the more fragile Imperial Aces, but he can be equally powerful vs. Rieekan Aces as well.

OK, so let's talk about skill.  Now, I might draw a lot of flak for this, but I take great pride in getting my MC80 to work and laying down the law with my AckbarBB.  A lot of people thought it was a points-sink, crazy or unworkable, but I made that damn thing work time and time again.  The MC30c is another one of those tough birds that only a few people have found success with them, and even the Mon Mothma TRC90 lists that run around need a significant amount of precision and poise to execute correctly.  Unfortunately, I just don't see the same kind of skill cap when examining Imperial counterparts.  The ISD-II just rolls face across the table, the Fireballs practically play themselves, and the Demolisher triple-trapping dudes in the ground has me questioning whether or not all this is intended.  Yes, by fluff the Imperials are supposed to be more elite, harder hitting and more powerful, but should this also translate into table-top design?  Don't get me wrong, here, I'm not saying that Imperials are all faceroll and no skill, I just find them on the lower end of the skill cap compared to playing with Rebels.

As for the balance, with Wave 4 and 5 on the horizon, I think they're only moving into a good direction.  So far, we know for a fact that Rhymer and Demolisher has been running rampant for a very long time.  The answer from them is similar to their direction with X-Wing, or Netrunner, and that specific cards are not errata'd or faq'd directly, but more and more answers for them are released by waves.  Their design approach is that by increasing player options and providing soft-counters to meta-dominant strategies, they'll add more to the game in the long run.  I agree 100% with this style of balance approach, even though we know at the end of the day, the Demolisher will still be strong, but there will be more tools to deal with it.

Lastly, I want to re-iterate on how FFG is addressing some of these concerns that people are having.  People say that Demolisher and Rhymer ruin the game, or that they're too over the top.  On one hand, I agree with them in the fact that they're too good for the points, but on the other hand, I'm not entirely worried.  For one, there are countermeasures around these as a player already.  I can't tell you the last time I lost to a Demolisher list, nor a Rhymerball list.  What I can say is that FFG is exceptionally well at subtlety addressing balance concerns by expanding player options and adding soft-counters.  Just a few examples:  Interdictor vs. Demo, Snipe vs. Rhymer, Kallus vs. Aces, and this is just scratching the surface.  FFG is an excellent game design company and having seen their work with their other successful titles, I have no doubt that the game, its health, and the state of the meta can only ever improve.

Armada: GenCon 2016 Finals lists

This just in:  The Demolisher is good.  Oh, Rhymer too.

Taken directly from the forums and the play by play brought to you by mythics.

Here are the lists:

Norm Weir

Isd: gunner team, wulff yularen boosted coms ecm relentless

gladiator: apt ordance experts engine techs monferrat ozziel demo

boba fet dengar firespray mauler rhymer vader soonter fel

Dong Lee

isd: motii ecm boosted coms needatrc avenger

gladiator: monferrat apt engine techs ordance experts demo

mauler dengar rhymer 2xtie advanced 2xtie bomber 2xfirespray 

I'm going to post this now and write about this a bit later.  As you can see here: Both lists are running Rhymerballs with the long-forgotten art of 2-ships, with Demolisher in both of them.

UPDATE:
First, let's breakdown the lists in points form right now.

Norm Weir's list
Author: HERO

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 390/400
Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Unknown
Navigation Objective: Unknown

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Ozzel  ( 20  points)
-  Relentless  ( 3  points)
-  Wulff Yularen  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Boosted Comms  ( 4  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
= 168 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Admiral Montferrat  ( 5  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)
= 88 total ship cost

1 Boba Fett ( 26 points)
1 Darth Vader ( 21 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Soontir Fel ( 18 points)
1 Firespray-31 ( 18 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)


Dong Lee 's list
Author: HERO

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 386/400
Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Unknown
Defense Objective: Unknown
Navigation Objective: Unknown

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Motti  ( 24  points)
-  Avenger  ( 5  points)
-  Captain Needa  ( 2  points)
-  Boosted Comms  ( 4  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)
= 169 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Admiral Montferrat  ( 5  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)
= 88 total ship cost

1 Dengar ( 20 points)
2 Firespray-31s ( 36 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
2 TIE Advanced Squadrons ( 24 points)
2 TIE Bomber Squadrons ( 18 points)


The TLDR: Both high-bid ISD carrier/Demolisher lists with Imperial Aces.

My review:
Since both lists are running identical cookie-cutter Demolisher builds, I want to talk about commander choices and Imperial Ace layouts more in-depth.  However, before I begin on that jazz, a quick word to why these players chose APT instead of something like Expanded Launchers.  Also, why Admiral Montferrat instead of Intel Officer is simply because of survivability:  Which works better when running a 2-ship list such as this one.  When it comes to applying damage, one of the surest ways to apply damage is by effects.  That's what APT aims to do and that's to apply sure direct crit damage to hull, past shields and other countermeasures to stop it.  Firepower through traditional means is always subject to the will of the defender unless you're forcing them to discard through Intel Officer.  Since both players are not running Intel Officer because they're looking for a gap-closing flanker, APT is the stronger choice in my opinion.  I've always liked APT in combination with Ordnance Experts, and I definitely like guaranteed damage over IO/EL especially when your bid and damage is spread-out elsewhere in the list.  This isn't a triple-tap list, this is a squadron-heavy list with the ISD fulfilling that role.

Alright, so commander choices:  Ozzel is used as a push-to-talk key in this instance in the first list.  You want to get the Nav/Squadron command early and then keep it there with Wulff Yularen.  He basically means that you'll only really need to cast it once to keep the speed change game on the rest of the game on the ISD, while the Relentless title allows him to better gauge and react to battlefield conditions.  This means that in the event that there are no more threatening squadrons, he can then concentrate on doing damage or repairing key components.  No additional damage from his ISD in the form of turbolaser upgrades, but Gunnery Teams is there to spray dice into forward targets because the ISD is a carrier first, damage-dealer second.  It's important to know that in both of these lists, the damage is spread out pretty respectably in three key components:  The Demolisher flanker or short-carrier in the early phases of the game, the ISD-II's reds and blues and the squadron activation, and the crapton of Imperial Aces that can deal heavy damage from medium range.  Motti, from the second list is more straight forward:  More hull is always good, but more importantly, a safer choice.

Now, let's look at squadron composition.  Both lists are Imperial Aces but with different components.  The same components to note between the first and second list are as follows:  Dengar, Rhymer, Firesprays and Mauler Mithel.  The first three should be pretty self-explanatory for every Imperial player now, but just in case you don't, read this article first.  I want to talk about why Mithel is in both of these lists that ended up on the Final tables and why he's always been this sleeper element in most Imperial lists.  First, you have Dengar and his outrageous durability on a Intel body.  He moves well, dislodges units whenever you want, and allows Mithel to jump around for millimeters worth of range but still do massive AoE damage before even having to roll.  Simply put:  If you have a lot of squadrons, and he has a lot of squadrons, but he has Mithel, you will lose.  Thanks to Intel, Mithel is just outrageous for his points because he can inflict massive damage for dirt cheap.  As you've probably also noticed, Vader and TIE Advanced are there for the Escort to make sure key pieces like Dengar and Mithel stay alive.  While the Firesprays and even TIE Bombers are a thing of personal taste, it's clear that the first list is catered more towards anti-squadron auto-damage in the form of Boba, Fel, and Mithel.  If you want to deal damage to the squadrons, you have to get past several layers of auto-damage before you're successful.  It goes without saying that the second list, is definitely focused more on the bomber aspect.

Hint:
This also means that in Wave 4, everyone fielding Imperials should be looking at a Raider-I with Ordnance Experts and Agent Kallus to flak the crap out of these aces.

Armada: Wave 5 revealed today!

Wave 5 brings all the boys to the yard.

That's right baby, Phoenix One is coming to Armada.  That means that they're going back and taking the Rebel ships and putting it in Armada.  This also means that big bad Grand Admiral Thrawn will most likely also come to Armada!  Great day for all Armada fans out there for sure.

You can check out the official announcement here.  We will most likely see these by the end of the year, hopefully around the November and December timeframe.  Hmm.. where to actually start with this review?  I'm not entirely sure.  There's a bunch of squadrons that have been spoiled here, with the likes of the E-Wing, X-95 Headhunter, Hera Syndulla and her Ghost, as well as some new key words like Snipe and Strategic.

Imperial Squadrons also get some fancy new stuff like the Phantom, the TIE Defender, the Lambda shuttle, and the YT-49 Decimator.  These also come with some cool new keywords like Relay, allowing the Lambda to essentially relay squadron commands outside a ship's command range, and Cloak because well, there's the Phantom.  We can't really see any of the stats here, but if you zoom in and look closely, you can see some expected designs:  The Ghost and Decimator have a good amount of health and put out a solid amount of firepower as well.  I can't wait to see what some of these keywords do once more of the cards and abilities are spoiled.  Right now the tease article is just too strong for us to get a true depiction how these squadrons will preform and how they will price compared to the seemingly endless amounts of squadron options in the game.

When it comes to the ships, I think everyone will be really excited for what's to come for both Rebels and Imperials.  For Imperials, we see the Arquitens-class light cruiser that has 3 reds on the side and 4 defense tokens on a small base.  Yes, you're reading that correctly:  An Imperial CL with long-range firepower which seems to beg for TRCs as the auto-include.  Another card that been spoiled is Moff Jerjerrod.  A really weird name, but he has arguably one of the most interesting rules for an Imperial commander.  He allows friendly ships to suffer 1 damage to change the first yaw value of its current speed to 2.  That means VSDs might make it into the meta again because of their ability to rapidly turn with almost Rebel-level maneuverability.  Personally, I think this is one of those gimmick commanders that will find his way into casual-play as there are much more solid options in the lineup.

Fortunately, I don't feel the same way about him as I do my man Commander Jun Sato.  Sato has one of the most ridiculous abilities I've seen on a commander in a long time.  This is what the card says since there's no zoom in on the card just yet:

While a friendly ship is attacking a ship at distance 1 of at least 1 friendly squadron, the attacker may replace up to 2 dice in its attack pool with an equal number of dice of any color.

Let me tell you why this is good, compared to say, Darth Vader.  Not only is cheaper, but..

• This trigger does not sacrifice anything whereas with Vader, you must spend a defense token.  Sato just needs a squadron nearby.
• Sato can not only influence bad rolls (blanks), but he can replace them with any color, therefore allowing you to fish for accuracies with blue, or look for more damage and effects with blacks, or any combination thereof.
• This means that he can bypass range restrictions e.g. Turning blank reds into black dice that can be rolled while shooting from long range.
• This also means he can satisfy crit effects like APT from long-range.
• Vader, does not add more damage whereas Sato can.  Replacing blank reds with possible hit/crits blacks is a huge spike in damage, especially when effects also trigger.
• Sato, universally increases the damage possibility of virtually all Rebel ships without firing restrictions (like Ackbar).

The only real downside to this is that it kinda forces you to take squadrons.  If you don't, or if all of yours get killed, Sato's card text might as well be blank.  Honestly though, who doesn't take at least some squadrons these days?  Do yourself a favor and play a little more defensively with them.

On top of this, the Phoenix One will also have the ability to take a new Fleet Command upgrade.  There are three unique ones right now outside of the current title, but I can't really make out what they say.  It looks like: Shields something, All Fighters something, and Entrapment something.  This most likely means that the Phoenix One will be a pure command ship that can throw out battle-altering effects similar to Ackbar's Home One.  I am ALL about that kind of play.

What do you guys think?  What are you most excited with the Wave 5 announcement?

Armada: That random meta-puncher

What game am I playing again?

Short one from me today:  So I was running a pretty competitive list against my friend tonight and we normally play very competitive.  The list I brought was pretty standard, Rieekan Carriers, basically the bees knees when it comes to being a very solid, all-rounded list.  Out of nowhere, he whips out Motti double ISD-Is with literally a billion ties.  I think he had something like 12 squadrons out there with old school Howl, Dengar and Vader carrying 9 or so regular TIE Fighters.  Despite playing pretty well, I lost the game, but it made me think about something.

If the meta is running Rhymerballs, Fireballs or Rebel Aces, why are people not putting out a billion cheap TIEs to act as a hard counter?  They're cheap enough that they can flood the field, and their damage output is very respectable when you consider the extra dice, the re-roll and the Counter from Dengar.  Sure, the list I brought would have been great against top-heavy lists, as well as Fireballs and other meta plays like DeMSU, but I was completely unprepared to face the TIE Swarm.  For a second, I seriously thought I was playing X-Wing with the amount of accurate blue anti-squadron coming towards my aces.

Think about this for a second realistically:  If Rhymerballs, Fireballs and Rieekan Aces exist in the meta, the most cost-effective counter to them would be in Imperials right?  They already have the Raider I with OE and Kallus (serious counter to Rebel Aces), and now you add a TIE Swarm and I think you can have a very strong list against the meta.  When you have that many squadrons, even synergistic aces like Dutch + Wedge or Yavaris start to feel the pressure is being outnumbered, and out-diced.  You're looking at a 20-point X-Wing like Wedge having to deal with a TIE who costs 2.5x less than he does throwing out questionably better damage over time, especially when you're bidding to go after he does.  If you weren't playing Rieekan for example, and are just running a stock Rhymerball or Fireball, or even 5x YTs, there's a chance none of your squadrons will be able to attack back before they get killed by such an onslaught of anti-squadron damage.

Anyways, I just wanted to share this semi-random, but totally valid experience.  If the meta is going into an arena where you'll encounter more squadrons, Bomber Command Center, and carrier lists and/or Rhymerball variants will be strong, I think it would be wise to entertain the idea that we might be onto something here.

For now, I'm picturing: Tagge, ISD-II, Raider with OE/Kallus, a Demolisher maybe or stock VSD, and run a big, healthy TIE Swarm with Howl, Vader and Dengar.  Who knows, maybe Dengar isn't even needed, but having him there to give accurate pseudo-Counter 2s is always good.

Armada: Rebel tournament lists for 2016

Who will be the better commander this wave?

I don't know what you really call this at this point, late summer, gearing up for Winter? I don't know.  All I know is that Wave 4 is around the corner and I got my lists ready to go for extensive playtesting.  As you guys have probably seen in the past, it takes a good amount of time for a list to be fully saturated against all the other lists in the meta.  I'm already counting on some of the brutal archetypes in Wave 2 to make its way into the new meta, so one has to be prepared to face both the old and the new.  It's definitely going to be a challenge, but this is one of the healthiest things for a growing game:  You have to be constantly challenged, and the meta should be ever-evolving and not stagnant.

With that said, here are the two Rebel lists that I'm going to be taking for Summer-Winter 2016:

ACKBAR1

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 

Points: 384/400 

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Most Wanted 

Defense Objective: Contested Outpost 

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) 

-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points) 

= 183 total ship cost

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)

-  Toryn Farr // Raymus Antilles ( 7  points) 

-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

= 99 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)

-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points) 

-  Comms Net  ( 2  points) 

= 22 total ship cost

5 YT-2400s ( 80 points) 

The first list here is basically me trying to make Ackbar work in the new meta.  I'm not really sold on the Liberty-class ship and I'm still pretty sure that the space cigar is better.  It has stronger stats, good defensive options, and a solid firing arcs.  With Ackbar, I'm actually doing more damage per volley than I am with the Liberty, so I'm happy with this current selection.  The one thing you will find missing here is the fact that I no longer have the TRC90 in the list.  This means that I will not have the extra ship there to do extra damage and the GR-75 is purely in a support role.  However, this also means that I don't lose the ship activation and I gain another YT and Toryn Farr.  On paper, Farr is one of those components that still need to be tested, but on paper she will allow me to perform more accurate YT-2400 alpha strikes and will allow the MC80 to fish for whatever dice it needs from the blues.  There are three questions that need to be asked when piloting a list like this:  Is 5x YT-2400s enough even with Toryn Farr support?  Is a 384 bid enough to outrun DeMSU or Rebel Swarm?  Lastly, is the Home One title needed with only one ship that can take advantage of it.  Currently, I believe it is simply because of Gunnery Teams.  That one ship, is firing at two potential ships, which can always need that additional free accuracy on fickle red dice.

The zombies are coming.

RIEEKAN1 

Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 

Points: 400/400 

Commander: General Rieekan

Assault Objective: Most Wanted 

Defense Objective: Contested Outpost 

Navigation Objective: Superior Positions 

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)

-  General Rieekan  ( 30  points) 

-  Defiance  ( 5  points) 

-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points) 

-  Fighter Coordination Team  ( 3  points) 

-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 

-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 

-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points) 

= 168 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)

-  Yavaris  ( 5  points) 

-  Medical Team  ( 1  points) 

= 63 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)

-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points) 

-  Bomber Command Center  ( 8  points) 

= 28 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)

-  Comms Net  ( 2  points) 

= 20 total ship cost

1 Nym ( 21 points) 

1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points) 

1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points) 

1 Jan Ors ( 19 points) 

1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points) 

2 X-Wing Squadrons ( 26 points) 

On the other hand, I also have this list as the safety net.  I know Rieekan Carriers works well, I know the kind of damage it can do with the right kind of squadrons, and I know how ridiculous Bomber Command Center will elevate this list to.  In fact, out of all the archetypes out there, this is one of the lists that I feel most confident about because I don't see any glaring problems.  Yes, it's one of those lists that like to activate later so it can better analyze enemy movement, but that's also its biggest downside.  While you can pretty much play to your objective strengths any which way, being the one who shoots later is not always the best thing, especially when there's really dead archetypes out there that can deliver massive amounts of powerful damage.  A triple-tapping Demolisher and/or a MC30c in prime firing position will utterly wreak havoc on any ship in the game.  It gets even worse if the ship has Intel Officer to strip vital brace tokens off so it can deliver one-two punch before you can deal enough damage to it back.  Fortunately for us, Rieekan is basically anti-alpha and can basically assure that I will get to shoot back, and harder as well (e.g. Raymus + Defiance).  The key to fighting those kind of lists will be to cockblock the alpha ship with cheapest transport and then send all your fighters after it.  Hopefully between Yavaris, all the bombers and BCC, you will be able to severely maim the primary target as it tries to swim through your horde of squadrons.  In this case, it makes plenty of sense to sacrifice a pawn to take the queen.

Armada: How has your list changed?

Can never seem to find enough air support these days!

In the last couple of weeks, I have been tweaking, re-tweaking and bashing my head against the wall for what kind of list I'm going to play in the new meta.  If you guys saw my last post on Wave 4 archetypes, you can see that there is a lot of variation in the meta now.  The key to understanding how your list will fare in such a meta is to look locally, and bring the safest option.

Now, the biggest question I have to ask myself immediately is this:  How many squadrons is enough these days?  Even back in Wave 2, there were tons of lists out there that scared the crap out of my 4x YT-2400s.  While the YTs were very good in my kind of list, they were literally the first and last line of defense I had against the more squadron-heavy lists out there.  Once the YTs died, my ships would literally crash and burn and there was nothing I could do about it.  A lot of this was completely dependent on a few things:  Whether or not Rhymer was dead, or I've done enough damage to their bomber core that cut their damage significantly enough that they can no longer win the damage race.  You see, when some goes big in squadrons, they really have to go super big.  When you're fighting with 4x YTs vs. a full 134-point fleet of squadrons, your job is to buy enough time for the rest of your fleet to annihilate the other fleet.  The entire reason I brought YTs last time is their Rogue ability, their 6 HP each and their 4 blue dice that can't really be ignored.  This forced squadrons to engage and annihilate them first, which gave me the breathing room necessary to seek out and destroy the opposing enemy fleet.

Make no mistake, this is one of those meta defining cards.

With the introduction of flotillas in the metagame, this has become a little more difficult.  When you have more cheap ship activators, you can telegraph enemy movement a lot better.  Cheap transports can also act as a life raft for your admiral, so putting your commander on a flotilla, CR90 or Raider is not completely out of the question.  Big ship lists have always run into difficult matchups when fighting something like Rebel Carriers or Rhymerballs.  Unfortunately, with the introduction of Bomber Command Center, I no longer believe that it is possible to out-pace carrier fleets in terms of damage with just minimal aircover.  While 4 YTs is not really what I would consider minimal, the question I've been asking myself in the last couple of days is just how enough is enough before the entire meta turns into one big bomber-filled holiday.  With BCC in the meta, I think big ship lists as we know it has to adapt drastically, or die in a fire.

So, when we take the time to examine our tournament winning list here and expand upon it, we need to analyze a couple of things:

• Game ships like to go first unless you're swinging crap ton of bombers.  Since we're not, we have to rely on the alpha from our big ships, and our smaller interceptors to stagger our opponent.  Therefore, we need to be able to outbid a lot of lists out there.
• How many squadrons is enough?  What kind of squadrons should they be?  They need to be able to alpha the opponent while providing enough durability to stay in the fight.  You are going to be fighting maxed out squadrons after all.
• Your list should still be able to put out massive amounts of damage.  If you're not, that means you're not fulfilling the big ship archetype that you want to play in the first place.
• Home One looks less desirable because you don't have the ships to take full advantage of it.

With that said, if I dropped the TRC90 completely, I can fit in Toryn Farr and another YT-2400 bringing up the total number to 5.  Do you think 5 YTs and a 384 bid be enough to fight the incoming hordes of bombers we're sure to see?  What if we brought in A-Wings instead, something like 7 of them?  All good questions that will be answered in time I'm sure.  For now, what do you think?  Trust me, nothing is off the table.  I'm just not ready to play Rieekan Carriers for the rest of Wave 4.