My first game to the full 300 points was yesterday (I'd only played the introductory game before).

I was to use Rebels and my opponent Imperials. I suspected my opponent would go heavy on fighters and I though he might take Major Rymer and some TIE Bombers. So I selected a list that I hoped would be able to wine (or at least pin down) his TIEs while I could get behind him.

BillMcG (298 of 300 pts)
Flagship: (106 pts)

• Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 pts)
• General Dodonna (20 pts)
• Flight Controllers (6 pts)
• Gallant Haven (8 pts)

Fleet Ship 1: (62 pts)

• Nebulon-B Escort Frigate(57 pts)
• Yavaris (5 pts)

Fleet Ship 2: (46 pts)

• CR90 Corvette A(44 pts)
• Jaina's Light (2 pts)

Squadrons (84 of 100 pts):

• 1x Luke Skywalker X-Wing Squadron (20 pts)
• 1x Wedge Antilles X-Wing Squadron (19 pts)
• 1x Dutch Vander Y-Wing Squadron (16 pts)
• 1x Tycho Celchu A-Wing Squadron (16 pts)
• 1x X-Wing Squadron (13 pts)

Objectives:

• Opening Salvo (chosen as objective by opponent)
• Hyperspace Assault
• Intel Sweep

I was right about my opponent using plenty of TIEs but his fleet surprised me as he used two VSDs and a Gladiator with no upgrades apart from the commander.

Opponent (297 of 300 pts)
Flagship: (97 pts)

• Victory I-Class Star Destroyer(73 pts)
• Admiral Motti (24 pts)

Fleet Ship 1: (73 pts)

• Victory I-Class Star Destroyer(73 pts)

Fleet Ship 2: (56 pts)

• Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer(56 pts)

Squadrons (71 of 99 pts):

• 1x Mauler Mithel Tie Fighter Squadron (15 pts)
• 7x Tie Fighter Squadron (56 pts)

In the end, he generally eliminated my fighters before I could deal with his and I only won because he rammed on VSD into the other.

But I'd be interested in your opinions on the two fleet builds.

I like your build but I would drop the Neb B and the Corvette for another AF if you have one. You will be very happy with that I suspect.

How'd he kill your fighters? Did he use squadron commands? Mithel should only do one damage to a few ships since he has no escorts...and he's only got a handful of 3-dice attacks with 50/50 odds with a single re-roll on most....and you have defense tokens on your fighters. So I fail to see how you lost that fight unless he dumped a lot of shots into your fighters from his ships...also you have Haven? I'm at a loss actually. It would take a squint with good rolls, flight controllers, and howl to do 1 or 2 damage per named X-Wing...

Good you won, but you'd have to give us details how you lost a fighter war with the odds so in your favor.

I like your build but I would drop the Neb B and the Corvette for another AF if you have one. You will be very happy with that I suspect.

I had the same thoughts, so I ordered a second AF the following day. My opponent didn't manage to get through the AF's shields all game.

How'd he kill your fighters? Did he use squadron commands? Mithel should only do one damage to a few ships since he has no escorts...and he's only got a handful of 3-dice attacks with 50/50 odds with a single re-roll on most....and you have defense tokens on your fighters. So I fail to see how you lost that fight unless he dumped a lot of shots into your fighters from his ships...also you have Haven? I'm at a loss actually. It would take a squint with good rolls, flight controllers, and howl to do 1 or 2 damage per named X-Wing...

Good you won, but you'd have to give us details how you lost a fighter war with the odds so in your favor.

We both made mistakes with our fighter game. He rushed forward half of his (including Mithel) and I managed to pin them with Tycho Celchu but I couldn't support Celchu before he was attacked by three of them the following turn. He did use squadron commands and managed to catch Wedge with another 3 Ties when Wedge was just out of Galant Haven's protection (I'm still getting used to the relative movement rates of ships and squadrons) and killed Wedge before he could get a first shot in. His squadrons generally got decent shot in with a couple of hits and an accuracy to limit use of all the defence chits.

I did manage to get a decent shot at a VSD with Luke before he was engaged. Luke survived and we ended up with one squadron left each at the end of the game.

However, what do you think of my opponent's fleet build? Is it common to take as many ships as possible with no upgrades (apart from the commander on the flagship)?

No, that's not that common. I don't see the gladiator as being that good without a title, and the VSDs need upgrades, usually, to really get the most out of their limited maneuverability. My opponents can usually dodge my front arc well enough, so I find enhanced armament is crucial.

Also, he was using VSD-1's, which really limits their lethality, in my opinion.

Sounds good...I do keep forgetting about accuracies in squadron combat. One of the few things I have trouble wrapping my head around. Range 1 is pretty tiny...I actually don't care for haven because of it; and don't really fear it.

As for the ships...at my tourney there were 6 imps and 4 Rebs. I was the only one with a diverse squadron list, a few were chalk full basic ties and some had half ties, half bombers/advances. 1-2 lists had zero fighters...my last game was against one such list.

Basically, I feel squadrons are too important not to use 90-100 points on them at all times unless you bid a ton of points, and tailor your list VERY hard towards your 3 objectives...objectives that have no squad synergies. If you end up with suppositions and no squads, you are gunna have a horrible game.

I could see his list benefitting majorly from outpost, gunnery, and at least one or two navs.

So yes, those types of lists are common, I ecpect them to be less so soon as squads rip people apart though.