Hey guys,

just came back from the 2nd armada tournament ever in the area, miraculously taking home the victory (making this the 2nd tournament I've ever won ever between both X-wing and Armada...Ive been playing X-wing for over a year )

but that's not what's important. What's important is that Yavaris carried my scrub ass to first place

out of the total three rounds and a kill count of 3 GSDs and 2 Afmk2s (and not one but two VSD skreeds left alive at one bloody hull ), Yavaris was directly responsible for all but one of them

and by directly responsible, I mean 100% to 0

Yavaris is a goddamn monster. With two B-wings (what do you think the "B" in Nebulon-B stands for?), you're throwing out as many dice as an ISD (only better because your opponent can't brace or redirect it all out once) and that's before she pitches in her own batteries.

I made a bit of a meta call by bringing only 4 B-wings for squadrons (one of them Keyan) and lo, I faced two all ships builds in the first and last rounds. Turns out, not only does Yavaris stand a **** good chance of murdering a Gladiator in a single activation, but she can run like hell at speed 3.

And so, to shed some light through the gloomy overcast of Skreed's ACM spam and the rather finnicky nature of the Nebulons, I declare today to be Yavaris Appreciation Day

IF anyone on these forums has any interest in running these awesome ships but has had trouble (I know I have, dem sides ) turns out the missing ingredients were as follows:

1.) Garm badass motherlover Iblis

for not only giving the lifesaving navigate token, but letting you pop navigate commands on the first round for maximum positioning benefit

2.) Never go to speed 1 (pending extenuating circumstances)

the Neb-B has the widest weak arcs in the entire game, and yet it turns like a goddamn VSD at speed 1. On the flip side, it basically becomes a CR-90 at speed 3 (which is just one nav tkoen away from speed 2). Avoid speed 1 like the plague, unless you absolutely need it.

good luck out there and happy hunting,

Admiral Fickle Greendice

The more I play, the more I'm convinced Neb Bs at speed 1 is a bad idea. Unless you're facing off against a mirror fleet of all Neb-Bs, and you're all going speed 1, you're going to get the worst of the encounter.

Any extra goodies on Yavaris, besides the title?

9/19 is also my birthday, so something else to celebrate!

The more I play, the more I'm convinced Neb Bs at speed 1 is a bad idea. Unless you're facing off against a mirror fleet of all Neb-Bs, and you're all going speed 1, you're going to get the worst of the encounter.

Any extra goodies on Yavaris, besides the title?

I did pull the breaks once on Yavaris to slow roll past an obstacle, but otherwise she was kept at speed 2/3 the entire tournament. I would definetly swear off of speed 1 for most cases now, it's probably the reason for any loss I had playing with triple nebs

As for Yavaris...depends; do you count B-wings as extra goodies ? (so nope, just Escort Frigate w/title)

the irony is that I poured 119 points into an Afmk-A for Garm with Paragon and he got Advanced Gunnery in two games and he still didn't do **** compared to yavaris

The only addition I've ever felt helped Yavaris was Raymus Antilles. You're effectively taking expanded hangars, but with a little extra utility. Otherwise, Yavaris is awesome as is.

Yavaris at speed one is bad. Salvation at speed one is good. But Salvation at speed one is going to run into the enemy lines sooner or later, and you'd better have a plan for what happens then or it's bye-bye Salvation.

The only addition I've ever felt helped Yavaris was Raymus Antilles. You're effectively taking expanded hangars, but with a little extra utility. Otherwise, Yavaris is awesome as is.

That's what I usually run, so I was curious (since there were more than 2 B-wings).

with the massing of sullest coming up oct 3 (and me very nervous thinking I'll never reproduce today's results ) I'm very excited to take Yavaris into the future

and the future is just adding jan ors and putting Garm on a mon cal

Yavaris at speed one is bad. Salvation at speed one is good. But Salvation at speed one is going to run into the enemy lines sooner or later, and you'd better have a plan for what happens then or it's bye-bye Salvation.

one of two reasons I've never run salvation without raymus

that first then nav becomes a banked token for later

(Reason #2 is crit fishing)

Yep. the Imperials have Demolisher. The Rebels have Yavaris. They are some excellent basic throw-togethers.

Congrats, you did better than I did - but basically, I think the difference was luck - its certainly a power combination.

Best of Rebel Luck for Sullust

when you're throwing 8 total dice before batteries (not counting Keyan re-rolls), it's lucky if you don't get mulched

not to mention I had not one but two VSD skreeds escape me on one hull

and, thinking back to my first tournie, that makes a total of three times that happened

so no, luck is sadly not my strong point

Nice Job!

I've been thinking of working Yavaris in, but my current build only lets me work in a Support Salvation escorted by one B and one X (I wasn't happy with the two B's being the only fighters I was running).

I need to get some seat time in before Sullust... I may change up my list enough to swap Salvation for Escort Yavaris.

I did almost this exact thing today!

The only addition I've ever felt helped Yavaris was Raymus Antilles. You're effectively taking expanded hangars, but with a little extra utility. Otherwise, Yavaris is awesome as is.

Can you explain how this works, for a complete noob deciding whether or not to buy the Neb-B expansion.

Thanks

nice to see that another one belives in the power of Yavaris can you please share your list?

I assume that nobody in their right mind would end their turn in range 1 of 2 b-wings in yavaris range. Did you bid for first and move into range of already activated ships at the end of your turns?

The only addition I've ever felt helped Yavaris was Raymus Antilles. You're effectively taking expanded hangars, but with a little extra utility. Otherwise, Yavaris is awesome as is.

Can you explain how this works, for a complete noob deciding whether or not to buy the Neb-B expansion.

Thanks

raymus antilles gives you a squadron token when you reveal a squadron command so you can activate 3 squadrons with a neb B escort. exactly as if you had expended hanger bays

Re placement and positioning: You have to be clever and canny to pull this off. If you have the first activation it's a little easier since you can, as mentioned, simply move into range of an already activated ship, knowing you'll get the jump on them next turn. However there is the drawback that, if you don't also have the last activation, that your opponent may force your hand with regards to your activation order. For example, you might be able to activate Yavaris first, but that might mean you miss an opportunity to deal with the Demolisher. Other options include simply running interference with your B Wings by placing them in between your ships and theirs. The enemy is then faced with either blowing through your B Wing screen (and taking some hurt) or skirting around the edges. This tactic is, of course, less valuable against fast moving opponents who can navigate (or blow clean through) a fighter screen. And of course there is the old tried and tested Contested Outpost objective where you know your opponent wants to put his capital ships in a certain place, and you can just place your B Wings there.

The point of more than 2 B-wings is also to cover more ground and threaten more space. Sure Yavaris can only activate 2 (or 3) at a time, but it gets to activate the ones that count.

I run two basic versions of this. (Also having gone to starting at speed two for the extra yaw click). I have no idea what fickles list, but this is what I do.

The "light" list.

Yavaris escort

2x Support refit

CR-90

Dodonna

4x B-wings

Season to taste. You can add the other Neb titles, upgrade a B to Kenyan or Luke, or add different officers.

The "heavy" list

Yavaris escort

2x Support refit

AFM2

Iblis

2x B-wings

A-wing

The heavy list is tight on points so not much available customization. But it's fun have a Neb line with Yavaris and an AFM2 as your flanker.

always bring spare B-wings

whatever you don't activate with Yavaris can be activated by some generic Neb for an additional 4 freaking dice, plus you cover a lot more ground

I assume that nobody in their right mind would end their turn in range 1 of 2 b-wings in yavaris range. Did you bid for first and move into range of already activated ships at the end of your turns?

you'd also think no one in their right mind would fly only without any squadron support

but hey, it's the world we live in

imperials in general just don't like B-wings when their greatest weapons are a.) on their front and b.) close ranged

the only exception thus far is Rhymer Ball, and the poor guy is not as appreciated as he deserves to be. He is to rebels what B-wings are to imperials.

anyway, no. I went in with a full 300 because **** it. The main reason the Bs worked is I brought four and just arranged them where the GSDs could possibly go to get black dice on any of my ships. Distance 1 with 360 degree of fire is a lot larger than people give credit, as is medium range command + distance 1 attacks.

without fighters to engage them, you're absolutely free to just set them out willynilly

the 2nd part of the equation was getting the Nebs the hell out of there after the B-wings were deposited. Garm's Nav token + a stellar speed 3 chart does that just fine

nice to see that another one belives in the power of Yavaris can you please share your list?

bit of a silly one in hindsight

Afmk-A

*Garm

*H9s

*Paragon

Neb-B Escort

*Yavaris

Neb-B Escort

Keyan

3 B-wings

full 300, slapped on the h9s because I really didn't want to try and figure out initiative and then regret it later

brought the extra Neb because I'm very meh on Corvettes without MM and I could always use another outlet for B-wings even if Yavaris didn't trigger (also, couldn't help but be paranoid of lacking anti-squadron). The extra activation was invaluable, especially without the initiative.

You can see the generic neb in the picture I posted in the OP, getting the **** out of demolisher's way

the AFmk-A was more of a call for demolisher shenanigans (extra blue out of the front in case it ever wormed its way into that arc) and extra anti-squadron in case I ever ran into imperial squadrons

in the event that more enemy squadrons start showing up, I might go back to running triple Nebs with 4 As and 3 Bs (with Garm at the helm ofc)

How did you coordinate B-wings moving at their pokey distance 2, vs Yavaris moving at speed 3? Heading straight at enemy VSD's and GSD's is sure to get you in trouble, while heading away from them exposes your flanks and possibly takes your Yavaris away from the B's...

Yavaris is a heavy hitter in my triple Neb lists usually, but it also rarely survives a battle...

How did you coordinate B-wings moving at their pokey distance 2, vs Yavaris moving at speed 3? Heading straight at enemy VSD's and GSD's is sure to get you in trouble, while heading away from them exposes your flanks and possibly takes your Yavaris away from the B's...

Yavaris is a heavy hitter in my triple Neb lists usually, but it also rarely survives a battle...

I'm sure I have Garm to thank for that

With Garm, I always set every ship at speed 2 because I always navigate as my first command (no reason not to, because Garm gives you all the tokens you could possibly want; you're not shooting or squadroning or repairing anything on round 1 unless there's a fleet ambush occurring)

One of those tokens is always navigate

B-wings start within distance 2 from the commanding ship and stay ahead of Yavaris as a roving gang of little bouncers

After Yavaris has blown her pro-verbial load, she navs up to speed 3 to gtfo

so, it's a combination of Garm's ability to let you navigate on turn 1 (amazing for angling nebs) and then Garm's Nav Token

managed to get this to work beautifully in both games against GSD spam. I could upload the images if I knew how from my phone (don't want to spam my FB group any more ). Basically, what happened is that Yavaris + B-wing + Keyan did enough damage to brutally murder a GSD and then Yavaris just booked it and left the Bs in the middle of the table to be the painful little landmines that they are.

My first game in the tournie was the most passive one I've ever played (not kidding, the first dice were exchanged on round 4) and I won by having Yavaris, the other Neb, and the B-wings basically nom a GSD on round 5 and then run for their lives.

My final game I won by having Yavaris kill a GSD (angled for a very nice double arc + B-wing + keyan) and then speed 3 away while still being in command range of Keyan to eviscerate another GSD (later died to an unactivated B-wing in range). I basically gave up any notion of getting another squadron command in and just navigated for the rest of the game

biggest advice I can give: don't worry about your sides. They are not a death sentence except at close range. At longer ranges, they hurt like the dickens but that damage is more than worth opening up your navigation opportunities (especially if the alternative is GSD to face)

granted, if Yavaris dies it doesn't really matter. The little lady is 62 points to an ACM GSD's 63, so it's not like she's a high (point) value target. I'd trade her away for demolisher in a heartbeat, especially because her dying doesn't mean the B-wings go away

what I really need to work on, however, is Paragon. I played way too cautiously with him and didn't use him like I wanted (using that double-arc threat as a deterrent to GSDs) scared at having happen to him what Demolisher generally does to my haven

Congrats on your victory Fickle !! The Yavaris is by far my fav Neb title too, Paragon, however, i like it but never seem to be able to line up the bugger for the double arc shot. Wrong approach perhaps?...any how, Well done my man!!

I think the biggest lesson to be learned from Mr FGD here is that even a dedicated carrier like Yavaris doesn't want to only use Squadron commands.

I've seen players invest heavily in upgrades on their carriers, then feel obligated to spam a squadron command each turn. That limits them so much tactically that they lose out pretty badly.

Congrats on your victory Fickle !! The Yavaris is by far my fav Neb title too, Paragon, however, i like it but never seem to be able to line up the bugger for the double arc shot. Wrong approach perhaps?...any how, Well done my man!!

I'm afraid we're in the same boat, there the only Paragons I got that tournie were from Advanced Gunnery. Poor Yavaris got scoliosis from how much carrying she did.

I think the biggest lesson to be learned from Mr FGD here is that even a dedicated carrier like Yavaris doesn't want to only use Squadron commands.

I've seen players invest heavily in upgrades on their carriers, then feel obligated to spam a squadron command each turn. That limits them so much tactically that they lose out pretty badly.

indeed

since I'm not a particularly great player, I had to have Garm open my eyes to this. With the nav token potentially saving my ass, it was much easier to just abandon the B-wings (much like an army "abandons" a bunch of mines in a field) and to just haul ass away from the exploding star destroyers

by contrast, here's a scene from the tournament before when I was still running Big-D and doing like one Navigate command per game:

the space-waters ran red that day

funny thing is I actually almost won, losing two escort nebs (poor yavaris) and some A-wings to a GSD and a handful of interceptors. The deciding factor? ******* Skreed living on one goddamn hull

not that I deserved the win for how I played; it's just fascinating to see what B-wings do to poor imperial cap ships