I play Armada every Wednesday with a friend. We are "training" for Battle of Sullust. He plays Empire, I play Rebels. He largely switches between a dual gladiator/rhymer ball build and a VSD/Glad combo with a huge interceptor swarm.

OTOH I have been experimenting with lots of stuff to see what works and what doesn't, and to practice my technical skills across a range of encounters.

My options include 3 corvettes, an AFG, 3 Neb-Bs, and the rebel squadron pack. But I have access to a much bigger range of ships because dude owns multiples of everything. So I can field pretty much whatever.

Last week I ran 3 corvettes and 2 Neb-Bs and it went poorly. I had an impressive first two turns but poor navigation choices resulted in a rather spectacular defeat.

Prior to that I've tried an AFG/NebB/Squadron list and a NebB/NebB/CR90/Bomber Squadron list.

What should I try to night? Corvette Swarm looks appealing, or modified swarm with an AFG. I've also never done Double Potatos. My personal preference for builds is action economy and flexibility. So I usually run builds with lots of activations and skimp on upgrades. Consequently, I have used very few of them.

Tell me what to play!

Why don't you try your 3corvette/2Neb list again? I find it usually takes me 2-4 games to get the "feel" of a list. Apply lessons learned from the last game, and make better navigation choices.

Yup. Stuck with a list and refine it's Tactics and figure out what works with it. Jumping from list to list is ok but not going to help you in the long run.

It is one reason why Imperials have it easy. They have 2 ships so their builds are simple and repetitive. This makes it easier for them to refine their Tactics.

Yup. Stuck with a list and refine it's Tactics and figure out what works with it. Jumping from list to list is ok but not going to help you in the long run.

It is one reason why Imperials have it easy. They have 2 ships so their builds are simple and repetitive. This makes it easier for them to refine their Tactics.

Arguable.

I've outfitted both the GSD and the VSD to fill a surprising number of roles for fleets that play entirely differently.

That said, I've had the best success with running a list with a particular focus in mind, trying it against as high a variety of other lists as I can, and making tweaks between games to take out the things that didn't work and try new combos that will reinforce the things that did work.

6x cr90

6x cr90

This specific list I'm not interested in trying. I'm considering a 5x CR90 list with engine techs and overload pulse. 6 naked corvettes seems not great.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

With Advanced Gunnery it's an absolute deathbeast.

If you REALLY want your opponent to pick a non-red objective card, include Paragon and AG and I guarantee they'll pick something else.

Aside from that Paragon is very threatening. Having experienced its fury I'm reluctant to get anywhere near medium range of it at any sort of angle on the off-chance he picked concentrate fire and I'm about to eat like seven damage from a dual-arc.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

With Advanced Gunnery it's an absolute deathbeast.

If you REALLY want your opponent to pick a non-red objective card, include Paragon and AG and I guarantee they'll pick something else.

Aside from that Paragon is very threatening. Having experienced its fury I'm reluctant to get anywhere near medium range of it at any sort of angle on the off-chance he picked concentrate fire and I'm about to eat like seven damage from a dual-arc.

That's an interesting observation actually. AFG + Paragon + Advanced Gunnery might make your opponent seriously consider the navigation based ones, so including a bunch of mobile corvettes forces him to pick the best of a bad situation. I had never thought of that.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

With Advanced Gunnery it's an absolute deathbeast.

If you REALLY want your opponent to pick a non-red objective card, include Paragon and AG and I guarantee they'll pick something else.

Aside from that Paragon is very threatening. Having experienced its fury I'm reluctant to get anywhere near medium range of it at any sort of angle on the off-chance he picked concentrate fire and I'm about to eat like seven damage from a dual-arc.

That's an interesting observation actually. AFG + Paragon + Advanced Gunnery might make your opponent seriously consider the navigation based ones, so including a bunch of mobile corvettes forces him to pick the best of a bad situation. I had never thought of that.

Armada is a remarkably nuanced game thanks to the Objective system.

Successful commanders will start fighting the enemy long before they even get to the table.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

With Advanced Gunnery it's an absolute deathbeast.

If you REALLY want your opponent to pick a non-red objective card, include Paragon and AG and I guarantee they'll pick something else.

Aside from that Paragon is very threatening. Having experienced its fury I'm reluctant to get anywhere near medium range of it at any sort of angle on the off-chance he picked concentrate fire and I'm about to eat like seven damage from a dual-arc.

That's an interesting observation actually. AFG + Paragon + Advanced Gunnery might make your opponent seriously consider the navigation based ones, so including a bunch of mobile corvettes forces him to pick the best of a bad situation. I had never thought of that.

Armada is a remarkably nuanced game thanks to the Objective system.

Successful commanders will start fighting the enemy long before they even get to the table.

So I need to shank my opponent before he enters the store?

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

With Advanced Gunnery it's an absolute deathbeast.

If you REALLY want your opponent to pick a non-red objective card, include Paragon and AG and I guarantee they'll pick something else.

Aside from that Paragon is very threatening. Having experienced its fury I'm reluctant to get anywhere near medium range of it at any sort of angle on the off-chance he picked concentrate fire and I'm about to eat like seven damage from a dual-arc.

That's an interesting observation actually. AFG + Paragon + Advanced Gunnery might make your opponent seriously consider the navigation based ones, so including a bunch of mobile corvettes forces him to pick the best of a bad situation. I had never thought of that.

Armada is a remarkably nuanced game thanks to the Objective system.

Successful commanders will start fighting the enemy long before they even get to the table.

So I need to shank my opponent before he enters the store?

I personally opt for the "Tonya Harding Maneuver".

6x cr90

This specific list I'm not interested in trying. I'm considering a 5x CR90 list with engine techs and overload pulse. 6 naked corvettes seems not great.

Oh don't knock it until you try it :-p

At 400 run 9 of them.

You could always run a Paragon, slip in Advanced Gunnery, and hope your opponent doesn't notice.

I failed to realize what that meant once.

Once.

I struggle to make Paragon do anything for me.

With Advanced Gunnery it's an absolute deathbeast.

If you REALLY want your opponent to pick a non-red objective card, include Paragon and AG and I guarantee they'll pick something else.

Aside from that Paragon is very threatening. Having experienced its fury I'm reluctant to get anywhere near medium range of it at any sort of angle on the off-chance he picked concentrate fire and I'm about to eat like seven damage from a dual-arc.

That's an interesting observation actually. AFG + Paragon + Advanced Gunnery might make your opponent seriously consider the navigation based ones, so including a bunch of mobile corvettes forces him to pick the best of a bad situation. I had never thought of that.

Armada is a remarkably nuanced game thanks to the Objective system.

Successful commanders will start fighting the enemy long before they even get to the table.

So I need to shank my opponent before he enters the store?

I personally opt for the "Tonya Harding Maneuver".

Sweep the knee.

Here is another idea for you.

+++ (297pts) +++

++ Rebel Alliance (Standard) (297pts) ++

+ Assault Frigate MkII (97pts) +

Assault Frigate Mark IIB (97pts) [XX-9 Turbolasers (5pts), •General Dodonna (20pts)]

Profiles:

Assault Frigate Mark IIB: Hull:6|Anti-Squadron Value:1 Blue|Command:3|Squadron:3|Engineering:4|Defense Tokens:Evade, Brace, Redirect|Front Firing Arc:2 Red|Left Firing Arc:3 Red, 1 Blue|Right Firing Arc:3 Red, 1 Blue|Rear Firing Arc:2 Red|Front Shield Value:4|Left Shield Value:3|Right Shield Value:3|Rear Shield Value:2|Upgrade Bar:Officer, Weapons Team, Offencive Retrofit, Defensive Retrofit, Turbolasers

General Dodonna: Commander Ability:Before an enemy ship is dealt a faceup damage card, look at the top 4 cards of the damage deck, place 1 on top of the deck, and discard the others.

XX-9 Turbolasers: Turbolasers Ability:Critical Hit: The first 2 damage cards dealt to the defender by this attack are dealt faceup.

+ CR90 Corvette (88pts) +

CR90 Corvette B (44pts) [ion Cannon Batteries (5pts)]

Profiles:

CR90 Corvette B: Hull:4|Anti-Squadron Value:1 Blue|Command:1|Squadron:1|Engineering:2|Defense Tokens:Evade, Evade, Redirect|Front Firing Arc:3 Blue|Left Firing Arc:2 Blue|Right Firing Arc:2 Blue|Rear Firing Arc:1 Blue|Front Shield Value:2|Left Shield Value:2|Right Shield Value:2|Rear Shield Value:1|Upgrade Bar:Officer, Support Team, Defensive Retrofit, Ion Cannon

Ion Cannon Batteries: Ion Cannon Ability:Blue critical: Choose and discard 1 command token from the defender. If the defender does not have any command tokens, the defending hull zone loses 1 shield instead.

CR90 Corvette B (44pts) [ion Cannon Batteries (5pts)]

Profiles:

CR90 Corvette B: Hull:4|Anti-Squadron Value:1 Blue|Command:1|Squadron:1|Engineering:2|Defense Tokens:Evade, Evade, Redirect|Front Firing Arc:3 Blue|Left Firing Arc:2 Blue|Right Firing Arc:2 Blue|Rear Firing Arc:1 Blue|Front Shield Value:2|Left Shield Value:2|Right Shield Value:2|Rear Shield Value:1|Upgrade Bar:Officer, Support Team, Defensive Retrofit, Ion Cannon

Ion Cannon Batteries: Ion Cannon Ability:Blue critical: Choose and discard 1 command token from the defender. If the defender does not have any command tokens, the defending hull zone loses 1 shield instead.

+ Nebulon-B Frigate (112pts) +

Nebulon-B Support Frigate (56pts) [XX-9 Turbolasers (5pts)]

Profiles:

Nebulon-B Support Frigate: Hull:5|Anti-Squadron Value:1 Blue|Command:2|Squadron:1|Engineering:3|Defense Tokens:Evade, Brace, Brace|Front Firing Arc:3 Red|Left Firing Arc:1 Red, 1 Blue|Right Firing Arc:1 Red, 1 Blue|Rear Firing Arc:2 Red|Front Shield Value:3|Left Shield Value:1|Right Shield Value:1|Rear Shield Value:2|Upgrade Bar:Officer, Support Team, Turbolasers

XX-9 Turbolasers: Turbolasers Ability:Critical Hit: The first 2 damage cards dealt to the defender by this attack are dealt faceup.

Nebulon-B Support Frigate (56pts) [XX-9 Turbolasers (5pts)]

Profiles:

Nebulon-B Support Frigate: Hull:5|Anti-Squadron Value:1 Blue|Command:2|Squadron:1|Engineering:3|Defense Tokens:Evade, Brace, Brace|Front Firing Arc:3 Red|Left Firing Arc:1 Red, 1 Blue|Right Firing Arc:1 Red, 1 Blue|Rear Firing Arc:2 Red|Front Shield Value:3|Left Shield Value:1|Right Shield Value:1|Rear Shield Value:2|Upgrade Bar:Officer, Support Team, Turbolasers

XX-9 Turbolasers: Turbolasers Ability:Critical Hit: The first 2 damage cards dealt to the defender by this attack are dealt faceup.

+ Objectives +

Assault Objective [Advanced Gunnery]

Profiles:

Advanced Gunnery: Setup:After deploying fleets, each player chooses 1 of his ships to be an objective ship, starting with the first player.|Special Rule:The first player's objective ship may perform each of its attacks from the same hull zone. It cannot target the same hull zone or squadron more than once each round with that hull zone. The second player's objective ship may perform each of its attacks from the same hull zone, and it may do so against the same targets.|End of Game:The fleet point cost of a destroyed objective ship is doubled. Do not double the cost of its upgrade cards.|Victory Token Value:

Defense Objective [Hyperspace Assault]

Profiles:

Hyperspace Assault: Setup:Before deploying fleets, the second player sets aside 1 of his small or medium ships and up to 3 of his squadrons; he does not deploy them during setup. Then he places 3 objective tokens in the play area beyond distance 3 of both players' starting edges.|Special Rule:At the start of any round after the first round, the second player can deploy the ship and squadrons that he set aside at distance 1 of 1 objective token. Then remove all objective tokens. the ship can be deployed overlapping squadrons; the first player places those squadrons as though the ship had overlapped them while executing a maneuver. If the second player does not deploy, he may move each objective token to within distance 1 of its current position.|End of Round:|Victory Token Value:

Navigation Objective [superior Positions]

Profiles:

Superior Positions: Setup:The first player must deploy all of his ships and squadrons before the second player.|Special Rule:After a ship or squadron performs an attack against the rear hull zone of another ship, if the defender suffered at least 1 damage, the attacker's owner gains 1 victory token.|End of Game:|Victory Token Value:15

Created with BattleScribe (http://www.battlescribe.net)

Wow battlescribe sucks for copy and paste.

Fear the wall of text.

Was actually looking at using this:

[ REBEL FLEET (294 points)
1 • Nebulon-B Escort Frigate - Raymus Antilles - Nav Team - XX-9 Turbolasers - Salvation (80)
2 • Assault Frigate Mark II A - General Dodonna - Advanced Projectors - XX-9 Turbolasers (112)
3 • CR90 Corellian Corvette B - Engine Techs - Leading Shots (51)
4 • CR90 Corellian Corvette B - Engine Techs - Leading Shots (51)
5 • Objectives - Advanced Gunnery - Hyperspace Assault - Dangerous Territory (0)

On a serious note...this sounds like me and my pal. I try for once a week with him. I play Rebels, and we try to get 2 games in, but rarely do. I want to go to Sullust, he's got no desire to play tournaments.

On a serious note...this sounds like me and my pal. I try for once a week with him. I play Rebels, and we try to get 2 games in, but rarely do. I want to go to Sullust, he's got no desire to play tournaments.

Ya. It's pretty hilarious. We both want to win stuff in our tournament. The only game I lost was against him in the last tournament, and he was really afraid of my list because he saw it as the only real challenge to his fleet. So his preferred list is tailored to my list. I want to practice my tourney list against his setup. But I don't to test it against his list while he plays it. So I play random stuff to try and get a feel for his abilities and what ships can do in the hopes that my overall knowledge of technique helps me in the final showdown.

From here on out, I'm going to run my tournament setup for any tweaks with him. I'll let him fly whatever he'd like against me. I wish we had a 2nd Gladiator so we could get more 'standard' tournament builds against me, but I've enjoyed getting stomped with all sorts of mixed fleets. Never more than 3 Imperial ships against me however.

Wow battlescribe sucks for copy and paste.

Fear the wall of text.

Stick with a list for 2-3 games, but tweak what some stuff between each match. Especially when playing Rebels, you're going to want to have ships that can be specialized in one role of the fleet. Neb-B Escort ? Great, manage a couple extra fighters + 2 blue anti-fighter dice to keep the enemy off of your ships.

I ran two different lists last night and it was brutal. I got tabled both games without a single kill. Going to just start practicing my bomber list until Sullust

Don't get discouraged! Keep practicing.....it'll get better. But stick with a list for a while, even if you lose 3,4,5 times in a row. Analyze your mistakes, and you should improve any time!