So I made the following list a couple nights ago:

Imperial Wolfpack

1 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Victory-class Star Destroyer (73) - Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
• Total : 80

2 • Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer - Gladiator-class Star Destroyer (62) - Admiral Screed (26) - Intel Officer (7) - Engine Techs (8) - Assault Concussion Missiles (7) - Demolisher (10)
• Total : 120

3 • Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer - Gladiator-class Star Destroyer (62) - Wulff Yularen (7) - Sensor Team (5) - Engine Techs (8) - Expanded Launchers (13) - Insidious (3)
• Total : 98

Total: 298

Got a chance to use it last night against Mon Mothma leading two AFrogs and five X-Wing squadrons on a Superior Positions mission. I chose to go second. 300 point battle.

Suffice to say, the results were bloody and surprising. I don't have all the results written down or memorized, but the highlights were as such:

Early game both AFrogs moved up to take positions near the starbase in the center of the map, moving parallel but offset so that they could both bring their impressive broadsides (both using enhanced armaments) to bear. Insidious spearheaded the charge leading the Demolisher in a serial line to try to get in behind one or both of the frigates. The Insidious took a lot of fire and was quickly being overwhelmed by the frigate's impressive barrages. However, it was able to get several shots on the rear of Mothma's flagship doing substantial punishment with its expanded launchers, though most of it went to shields.

However, that was exactly what I wanted as the Demolisher and the Vic1 were able to move into position on Mothma's flank and pour deadly firepower into a much weakened shield array, punching through with withering frontal barrages from the Vic1 and mixed front/side volleys from the Demolisher.

The X-wings, meanwhile, had split up and started hunting weakened or downed shield zones on my ships, particularly the Insidious.

By turn three both the Insidious and the rebel flagship had taken near fatal damage. The Insidious had threaded the needle between the frigates coming in perpendicular to them and Mothma's ship had moved ahead of the rebel line. The second frigate, at this point, was largely untouched, but both the Demolisher and Vic had taken minor hits to their hulls (the X-wings were doing a decent job at hitting vulnerable spots, though their shooting was inconsistent).

Turn four: the Insidious, now staring down the barrels of the second frigate's broadside, fires its final volleys, hammering at the frigate's side arc and throwing a parting volley at the rear of Mothma's ship, finishing it off. As the flagship went up in an expanding ball of fire and death, the second AF issued a command to its squadrons and between its brutal broadsides and X-wing support, finished off the doomed Insidious.

However, the Vic1 and demolisher were now in a position to pour still more brutal fire into the frigate's weakened side arc (thanks to the Indisious' efforts), and by turn five the rebel ship caved under devastating abuse from both ships.

Turn six and all that was left was the X-wing squadrons, one of whom caved to combined fire from my star destroyers, and the rest managing to pour a bit more hull damage into the VSD. In the end I had a couple lightly chewed star destroyers, and a moment of silence for Wulff Yularen's brave sacrifice.

I had three victory tokens at this point and had destroyed the rebel frigates in detail. We decided not to bother adding up the final score.

Suffice to say, I was amazed at the brutality of this list. I had worried that I might not be able to bring all those black dice to bear, but engine techs makes that vastly easier, and a VSD moving speed 2 for most of the game makes for a deadly anvil to pound opposing ships against. Though by about turn four or five, I had slowed it down to a stately speed 1 (right about the time I had it in position to hammer away with its cruel forward arc on the second frigate).

I think, for the points, ACM is generally better than the more expensive expanded launchers, though I certainly didn't mind the extra two dice as their presence on the Insidious had a lot to do with its bludgeoning the rebel flagship into submission. That said, ACM's ability to tear down multiple shields and tack in additional hits is far too impressive to ignore. I'm tempted to believe the card is cheaper than it should be.

Screed/Engine Techs/Demolisher/ACM was every bit as deadly as some have said and his ability to work his wonders on my other black dice clad ships was lovely. The Insidious title is solid gold when you've got engine techs moving you into position (without that title, I'd have not been in range to finish Mothma off). The sensor techs and intel officer were marginally useful in this list as we were throwing so many dice that the rebels had to burn a lot of tokens fairly rapidly anyway. Wulff was handy, convenient, but optional in my appraisal. He managed to pull his trick a couple times as the Insidious moved into position.

All in all, an educational engagement for both the Empire and the rebels, whom had some time to ponder their choices as they drifted away in their escape pods.

Cool write up, don't forget the game is won as soon as all of one sides ships are destroyed, so if it was just the Assault Frigates then you would have "won" as soon as the second blew up

Cool write up, don't forget the game is won as soon as all of one sides ships are destroyed, so if it was just the Assault Frigates then you would have "won" as soon as the second blew up

Good point!

Very cool that you made Insidious work. I had written that one off before even trying it. Seems like a perfect match for Superior Positions.

Got a chance to use it last night against Mon Mothma leading two AFrogs and five X-Wing squadrons on a Superior Positions mission. I chose to go second.

Maybe you just typed it in the opposite order, but you know that first and second player are determined before missions are revealed, let alone chosen, right?

Lowest points chooses who is first player, then first player looks at second player's missions and chooses one to play.

Good write-up. I was wondering if I should use expanded launches with the Insidious or stick with the trusty Concussion Missiles. . . Hmmmm

Insidiuous is great!

slap engine techs and the gladiator becomes a corvette. It's getting behind something

it's just very overshadowed by demolisher. The trick is finding a list that can use them both!

Got a chance to use it last night against Mon Mothma leading two AFrogs and five X-Wing squadrons on a Superior Positions mission. I chose to go second.

Maybe you just typed it in the opposite order, but you know that first and second player are determined before missions are revealed, let alone chosen, right?

Lowest points chooses who is first player, then first player looks at second player's missions and chooses one to play.

Yes, we do it correctly per the rules. I was lowest points, I chose to be second player. I was at 298, my opponent was at 299. He chose Superior Positions from my hand. I was simply mentioning my place in initiative and what scenario we were playing for detail's sake.

Insidiuous is great!

slap engine techs and the gladiator becomes a corvette. It's getting behind something

it's just very overshadowed by demolisher. The trick is finding a list that can use them both!

Yeah, that's what I suspected, and it was true this time at least. Granted the real trick turned out to be getting there in one piece. Insidious took a fearsome pounding and was ultimately lost, but not before earning more than its points, but it could have easily gone worse. I really think if my opponent hadn't split his x-wing's attacks and focused on Insidious with all his forces, it wouldn't have survived turn three.

Good write-up. I was wondering if I should use expanded launches with the Insidious or stick with the trusty Concussion Missiles. . . Hmmmm

It's worth experimenting with. I think in the big picture, three ships with ACM is going to get more done. As long as it triggers (which it almost always did in my battle) you're basically getting two free damage points on your target. Combined ACM fire from multiple ships can quickly leave a fresh enemy shieldless, and dismantle a vulnerable one.

And with Screed around I could pretty much guarantee a crit to trigger it once per ship as long as we were in black dice range.

What's more, ACM doesn't care much about what arc is shooting as long as black dice are rolling. That's a big plus in my book. Even as maneuverable as E-tech Gladiators are, the rebels are so nimble that you're frequently relying on your broadsides which ExLaunchers don't help. Also, unless you're carrying gunnery teams, at least one salvo is almost always coming from a broadside if your position allows it. Again making ExLaunchers the less desirable choice.

I think where this list will really suffer is against real bombers (Tie Bombers, B and Y-wings). I played against a very similar list earlier today. The main difference was a lot less upgrades in order to fit 4 interceptor squadrons. I was playing Gallant Haven and Yavaris with 4A-wings and 4B-wings. Even with the interceptors the B-wings basically shredded both of the GSDIIs on back to back turns (3 and 4). They are really vulnerable if the rebel player shepherds them along since you are trying to get into short range. The A-wings and interceptors basically canceled each other out. If they had been free to attack ships the bombing runs would have been even worse. It is surprising how fast bombers whittle you down, especially when there is an Assault Frigate waiting for the bombers to finish so it can blitz you in the side. Makes you pretty hesitant to use your tokens against the squadrons.

The VSD finally fell in round 6 and I had the frigate and 2 B-wings left.

I think where this list will really suffer is against real bombers (Tie Bombers, B and Y-wings). I played against a very similar list earlier today. The main difference was a lot less upgrades in order to fit 4 interceptor squadrons. I was playing Gallant Haven and Yavaris with 4A-wings and 4B-wings. Even with the interceptors the B-wings basically shredded both of the GSDIIs on back to back turns (3 and 4). They are really vulnerable if the rebel player shepherds them along since you are trying to get into short range. The A-wings and interceptors basically canceled each other out. If they had been free to attack ships the bombing runs would have been even worse. It is surprising how fast bombers whittle you down, especially when there is an Assault Frigate waiting for the bombers to finish so it can blitz you in the side. Makes you pretty hesitant to use your tokens against the squadrons.

The VSD finally fell in round 6 and I had the frigate and 2 B-wings left.

I hardly doubt it. It's a gamble not taking squadrons. But it can pay off.

Of course, it could blow up in your face too.

Part of the beauty of such games really.

HNN has the scoop:

Total Rebel Defeat in the Arbra System

Sounds cool.

So tempted to get a 2nd GSD

Question... You can put more than 1 commanders in the fleet? And their effects are shared?

Thought only 1 flag officer per fleet or fleet division???

Correct, "A fleet cannot have more than one commander." (Rules Reference Guide, pg. 3)

But speaking of that, can 1 player technically have 2 fleets onder his command?

Say a main battle fleet and a scouting fleet, each commanded by a flag officer? If that's leagal, would their flag officer effects be combined or limited to the fleet that the respective flag officers command?

Think I might try this list today. I feel a bit antsy without any fighters, but it could be a lot of fun. At the very least, it'll surprise the folks at the shop - our meta is rather fighter-heavy.

The more I think about it, I might throw point defense reroute in there - but then again I don't know how useful that'd be on the Vic with its single, solitary blue die. Eh. B-Wings scare the living crap out of me, I guess I'm just rambling at this point.

But speaking of that, can 1 player technically have 2 fleets onder his command?

Say a main battle fleet and a scouting fleet, each commanded by a flag officer? If that's leagal, would their flag officer effects be combined or limited to the fleet that the respective flag officers command?

Sure, you could have separate commanders for separate fleets, provided they were in separate games.

So, no - you just get one commander: no more, no less. All your ships in the play area (or still to be deployed through hyperspace assault) constitute one fleet. The rule is unambiguous.

HNN has the scoop:

Total Rebel Defeat in the Arbra System

Woot! We made the news! The dark side will be so proud!

Question... You can put more than 1 commanders in the fleet? And their effects are shared?

Thought only 1 flag officer per fleet or fleet division???

Bear in mind that Wulff is not a commander card, he's an officer card. In case you were concerned about the presence of him and Screed in the list.

Think I might try this list today. I feel a bit antsy without any fighters, but it could be a lot of fun. At the very least, it'll surprise the folks at the shop - our meta is rather fighter-heavy.

The more I think about it, I might throw point defense reroute in there - but then again I don't know how useful that'd be on the Vic with its single, solitary blue die. Eh. B-Wings scare the living crap out of me, I guess I'm just rambling at this point.

No, those are valid concerns. It certainly crossed my mind, and when I saw those five uncontested x-wing squadrons headed my way, I was a bit concerned. Granted, when my GSDs fired their combined total of four dice at fighters, they shed some blood. Even the VSD's one die seemed to be hot that night. But I didn't do that much in that battle. I focused on killing cap ships and neglected the x-wings except when there was nothing else to shoot at with my second shot.

That could have cost me big if my opponent had focused his squadrons efforts. Even split, they made a noticeable difference in how much abuse my star destroyers were taking. Not a single ship in my fleet had gone unscathed, and all of them took at least one crit. The bomber keyword on the x-wings makes them a credible threat in that regard.

Inspired me to order another Gladiator... Alas Wave one is yet to land down here in Oz.

Inspired me to order another Gladiator... Alas Wave one is yet to land down here in Oz.

That's unfortunate. Hope that changes for you soon.