Hi guys - not so much a rule query ( I incorrectly posted this in that forum) as a tactics question.

How do people keep the Rebel fighters in GH's protective bubble?

When I tried GH the Rebel fighters were engaged by Imperial fighters which meant GH just left them behind or collided with them allowing the Imperial player to place my fighters were he wanted them..

Any help gratefully received.

Cheers

Andy

I'm still practicing and figuring it out, but I think the best use of Haven is to have your squadrons close, probably next to the ship, for only a round or two as an escort until you can engage enemy squadrons on your terms (with a well timed squadron command). You might need squadron commands to help with the escorting as well.

When the fighters get engaged, the GH should be moving at speed 1, and can circle to keep the fighters at range 1. The fighters should be alongside the flight path, not in it.

Now this does limit GH's maneuverability and makes its flight path predictable, so you'll have to decide if it's worth it or not. GH is often a big fat target, so queue up those engineering commands if you're going to stay by the fighters!

either force the engagement by flying a long range capital ship force with fighter escort (been doing this with haven and paragon, both sporting x17s and int agents) or fly slow squadrons that the enemy will have to bounce on or get alpha struck by (X-wings are pretty good for this, as are B-wings against ships)

even a single round of combat under haven can be enough to swing the squadron war in your favor. then, it's worth every point

Best thing would be to have plenty of A-Wings around the Mark II to counter2 every attack from the enemies. It gives a protective bubble by decreasing the damage to the A-Wings... and causing damage at the same time with counter2. The inconvenient on this is the A-Wings loose his ability to fast intercept other fighters.

You keep B-Wings at close range with a couple of X-Wings with the escort ability to fight capital ships.

I just played a game of this, and the enemy squadrons was Fel, Howlrunner, Major Rhymer, and Mauler/ They would attack anything that got close, and then take medium range potshots at Havan

Gallent havan did NOTHING. I could have done better with Yarvis.

in fact I had so much trouble keeping the fighters in range that it wound up in the front arcs of a GSD and VSD

because:

X-wings B-wings and Y-wings cannot stay close to a ship going speed 3.

EIther the ship moves, and leaves the fighters behind, or you squadron command the squadrons and hope you can place them in the right spot AFTER Haven moves

It is a passive ability, and the stragglers can be picked off by the far faster IMperial squadrons and never allow the ability to be effective.

Nope, not going to use it again. Better ways to spend those points

You want Yavaris and Haven. It's a prisoner's dilemma, do you die by the Assault Frigate's broadsides, or do you eat triple tapping Farlander to the face? You can't win the damage race at long range because he has an evade. You can't get close or his squadrons kill you.

I just played a game of this, and the enemy squadrons was Fel, Howlrunner, Major Rhymer, and Mauler/ They would attack anything that got close, and then take medium range potshots at Havan

Gallent havan did NOTHING. I could have done better with Yarvis.

in fact I had so much trouble keeping the fighters in range that it wound up in the front arcs of a GSD and VSD

because:

X-wings B-wings and Y-wings cannot stay close to a ship going speed 3.

EIther the ship moves, and leaves the fighters behind, or you squadron command the squadrons and hope you can place them in the right spot AFTER Haven moves

It is a passive ability, and the stragglers can be picked off by the far faster IMperial squadrons and never allow the ability to be effective.

Nope, not going to use it again. Better ways to spend those points

Gallant Haven requires a certain playstyle. First, you're correct in that the fighters can not keep up with GH going speed 3. GH should never go speed 3, unless you have A-wings. Even then, at speed 3 if the A-wings get engaged, then GH will have left the A-wings way, way behind it. I firmly believe GH should move no faster than speed 2, or speed 1 if you intend to shield B-wings.

You need to plot out your movement of the fighters and GH together, ensuring that GH doesn't end up blown to bits, and simultaneously ensuring your fighters are where you want them to be. This can be tricky, to say the least.

GH will often be the fire magnet of your list. So it really should have a lot of engineering commands dialed in. Which means it can't command squadrons....instead, I recommend you have Yavaris (or another ship) tagging along with GH (and shielded by it), which will then issue the squadron commands. Teamwork is needed - sword and shield.

It's quite restricting, and perhaps not to some people's playstyles. YMMV. But it CAN be a very strong ship, when played correctly, in the correct list.

Hello guys !

Sorry for the Necro but rather than starting out a new thread, might as well bump this one.

So, I did play with the Gallant Haven for my second game yesterday and I was pretty impressed with its capabilities already in my first game, but I'm a bit less impressed now. It's still a great card though !

____

I'd love if we could discuss the following points

1) Gallant Haven is definitely a squadron support card, no question about that. And one would hint at using the AFMK2B due to a higher squadron capacity (and why not with Expanded Hangar Bays).

2) However, the Gallant Haven wants to stay close to its squadrons to provide its benefits, while the AFMK2B kind of wants to stay further.

3) The Gallant Haven works well to protect the squadrons, but when using Bombers they are likely to get tied up by enemy Fighter Screens. So, if you're using the Gallant Haven to protect your squadrons, they will survive but won't perform better in engagements.

If you're using your squadrons to kill ships you might want them to get freed up the engagement then move in to attack ships as early as possible. However, with a single blue anti-fighter dice, they're quite likely to get stuck in there. So the AFMK2 A with 2 blue anti-squadron is quite interesting.

4) The Gallant Haven has the same efficiency regardless of which variant you put on. On top of that, regardless of whether you activate the squadrons or not, the title works the same.

So, the question is now is the Gallant Haven more defensive or more offensive in your opinion ? I did have a very offensive fighter force (Wedge, Luke, Dutch and an X-Wing) that got tarpitted by the enemy force, and while they came out on top, I would have loved if they could have struck against ships earlier in the game and more consistently throughout (meaning that, yeah, they kind of want to punch through fighter screens).

How would you go about that ?

I see it mostly as an insurance against getting jumped on early by a swarm of TIEs. For squadrons to justify their cost, they need to be shooting at ships, not at other squadrons.

The fact is, nobody in their right mind will attack your squadrons while they're under GH protection. But you can send them ahead during the squadron phase, e.g. to pin down some enemy bombers, and then bring up GH to the furball rather than the other way around. You shouldn't be needing it for more than one turn of shooting.

I feel like Haven will become more of an escort than a carrier with the powerhouse carrier capabilities of the MC 80 available. If you are not having to rely on the Haven itself for commands, it'll be more apt to wade into the enemy, keeping your fighters safe and spamming engineering commands. Switch to the MK1 for the extra anti squadron, add in a redundant shielding and a Ruthless Strategists and you're getting back 3 shields a turn while decimating enemy squads. Every health you save is an extra damage to be done with Ruthless. If you're worried about your own squadrons health, a vanilla YT-1300 gets you a cheap 7 health escort with counter 1.

Having the extra points seems like it will open up possibilities for support ships like the above. Where currently you'd be solely reliant on a Nebulon, maybe two, to command in the Haven's stead, the extra options allow it to be a front line for your MC80 and Yavaris.

Definitely agree with you. I think the counter is a swarm of TIEs to tie up units around the Haven to prevent them from hitting at ships.

So, perhaps a single Escort Frigate with Yavaris so that yeah, sure, people can either come and try to them up and get blasted to bits with the double attacks + double blue dice.

If I'm fighting against TIE Bombers/Advanced, Gallant is indeed much less useful and I can just throw the fighters on the Bombers for superiority.

Ha so it's true. Haven never dies

I'm still using her as a roving barricade of nope. Just 3 aces under her is enough to break a tie swarm, and the aces themselves are no slouches when it comes to helping her fend off demolisher