I have a small amount of opponents to play where I am so fleet builds and ideas can become a little stagnat. I currently have a fleet that mops the floor with them so they are worried about balance.

My goal is to make an Imperial fleet with any amount of wave 1 ships and cards and 1 ISD with cards. If you know any cheese or good fleet cominations throw them in, my fleet won't change.

My fleet:

MC80 Assualt Cruiser (114)

-Raymus Antilles (7)

-Home One (7)

-Projection Experts (6)

-Advanced Projectors (6)

-Admiral Akbar (38)

Assualt Frigate Mark II B (72)

Assualt Frigate Mark II B (72)

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)

-Foresight (8)

Total points: 399

(Yes, I can make it better and such but I like it for now)

It just has to be a fleet that can contend or beat this fleet. Not one that is great against any others. I'll give after action reviews for each fleet builds I play against. Also add stratagies if you think the fleet you made needs to act a certian way.

Best of Luck, I look forward to losing (Maybe)

Anything with bombers.

EMPIRE FLEET - BOBA AND HIS BUDDIES (357 points)
1 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Motti (97)
2 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer (73)
3 • Victory I-class Star Destroyer (73)
4 • Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)
5 • Boba Fett Slave 1 (26)
6 • Firespray-31 (18)
7 • Firespray-31 (18)
8 • Firespray-31 (18)
9 • Firespray-31 (18)

He doesn't have SaV right now so I assume tie bombers as replacements.

Sure, without rouge he'll have to consider squadron commands. Or you could just proxy a few squadrons and track damage somehow.

Again with the squadron-less build. If you want a direct counter: that's supremely easy. 134 points of bombers backed by rhymer will decimate you. Add in some Rogue squadrons like Firesprays and/or Boba then you'll have a nightmare to deal with. I can gun for your big ships with all mine, and my squadron-ball will melt your MC30 if it gets anywhere near me.

You'll have a better chance against all-comer lists...but not much. MC30 still doesn't stand much chance against Rhymer, a Bomber, Fett, and Dengar backed by 6 superioirty fighters with nothing better to do: that's 3 black 1 blue dice with bomber and 1 black 6 blue without.

I agree with a bomber heavy list can eat this one. But I have my own feelings that bombers would be better against this then firespray since you know with rymer I have to kill your ships. Place them nicely and let the bombers sit munching on something.

Now if you wanted that list more rounded then I can see Firesprays

Since you said

You'll have a better chance against all-comer lists...but not much

I'd like to hear a list that fits that.

Well for starters there is no garuntee that any list will be beat your fleet because it matters a great deal with who is behind the helm. Maybe you just have a higher understanding of the games core cencepts then your opponents. It sounds like you are looking for an auto play list that will just beat you by the odds alone? Doesn't exist. Even the biggest cheese will fail without a decent commander. That said you can assure your opponents that the balance is in check.

ISD-II, Gunnary Teams, Electronic Countermeasures, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets, Expanded Hanger Bay

VSD-II, Darth Vader, Boosted Comms, X17 Turbolasers

GSD-I, Assault Concussion Missiles

Major Rhymer, 5 Tie Bomber Squadrons

The Idea is to make sure the ISD is flying at the Rebel line from the front, not charging into its broadsides. The ISD moves very quick, so it can readily dissrupt the enemy formation by moving at speed 3 and staying out front. Worst case steer into the rebel front, and use hitting their ships as a slow down lol. Let the Victory command the Rhymer ball with the help of a token here and there while it moves slow towards the rebel line. The Gladiator can either support the ISD or even stay in reserve with the Victory until springing into action. The bombers want to stay in the same arc as potential ship targets for the Rebels so they either have to waste attacks on the bombers or concentrate on the Imperial ships.

I would also consider expanded hanger bay and replace it with a cheaper upgrade like Leading shots to make sure I had a chance to choose first or second activation order. I would usually choose to go second as the Empire against your list. Objectives I would bring are Precision Strike, Superior Positions, Hyperspace Assault.

I agree with a bomber heavy list can eat this one. But I have my own feelings that bombers would be better against this then firespray since you know with rymer I have to kill your ships. Place them nicely and let the bombers sit munching on something.

Now if you wanted that list more rounded then I can see Firesprays

Since you said

You'll have a better chance against all-comer lists...but not much

I'd like to hear a list that fits that.

I listed the squadron-dice you'd be facing against mine. It's enough to pop your MC30 before it shoots with decent rolls. The scarriest part is the 3 bigger ships with tons of red dice. However, I'll have a Demonlisher and Raider that can very easily get in your front arcs while you try to get my VSD into your sides. Not to mention the dilema of my missions if you go first.

As Wes stated: this game is pretty much about the player not the list. I'm of the opinion that squadron-less builds will get shreded hard in Wave 2, however.

Well for starters there is no garuntee that any list will be beat your fleet because it matters a great deal with who is behind the helm. Maybe you just have a higher understanding of the games core cencepts then your opponents. It sounds like you are looking for an auto play list that will just beat you by the odds alone? Doesn't exist. Even the biggest cheese will fail without a decent commander. That said you can assure your opponents that the balance is in check.

ISD-II, Gunnary Teams, Electronic Countermeasures, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets, Expanded Hanger Bay

VSD-II, Darth Vader, Boosted Comms, X17 Turbolasers

GSD-I, Assault Concussion Missiles

Major Rhymer, 5 Tie Bomber Squadrons

The Idea is to make sure the ISD is flying at the Rebel line from the front, not charging into its broadsides. The ISD moves very quick, so it can readily dissrupt the enemy formation by moving at speed 3 and staying out front. Worst case steer into the rebel front, and use hitting their ships as a slow down lol. Let the Victory command the Rhymer ball with the help of a token here and there while it moves slow towards the rebel line. The Gladiator can either support the ISD or even stay in reserve with the Victory until springing into action. The bombers want to stay in the same arc as potential ship targets for the Rebels so they either have to waste attacks on the bombers or concentrate on the Imperial ships.

I would also consider expanded hanger bay and replace it with a cheaper upgrade like Leading shots to make sure I had a chance to choose first or second activation order. I would usually choose to go second as the Empire against your list. Objectives I would bring are Precision Strike, Superior Positions, Hyperspace Assault.

This basically shows us what wave 2 is likely to look like: 3-4 ships kitted with some toys and squadron support. I don't forsee 5-6 naked ship lists performing well. The rather high costs of large ships helped immensely to keep the ship count down to 3-4 imo. Sure we'll see people squeezing in lots of small ships, but decent squadron wings will throw enough dice to essentially kill one of these small ships per turn with good rolls. Back that with pot shots from other ships and you needn't worry about small flankers wrecking your day when you can just drop a few firesprays on their head and melt them.

I would toy with something like this,

The big boys.

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (162pts)

Gunnery Team, Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams, •Admiral Motti, •Captain Needa, •Relentless

3x Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (79pts)

Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams

Total 399

Wes Jason you are right it comes down to the commander. Someone with better understanding of the game will run better then someone with less.

Bitharne I agree the dice throws are enough to melt the MC30 and other small ships. I don't thing squadronless builds will be shredded but I agree with a disadvantage. Rogue rule really mixes things up.

The goal I'm trying to get is to make a fleet that is good against this but would prefer it to be well rounded. I'm much more ingrained with Rebel thinking it's hard for me to make an Imperial list besides one for fun.

Wes Jason your post on fleet and basic tactic is pretty much exactly what I want/wanted to see. And I am thankful for the list. I am serious about playing them out and giving a battle report of sorts so you can critique both me and my opponent.

Cubanboy, funny enough one of the people I play against just thought up something similiar to that. So we'll give it a shot too.

Wes Jason you are right it comes down to the commander. Someone with better understanding of the game will run better then someone with less.

Bitharne I agree the dice throws are enough to melt the MC30 and other small ships. I don't thing squadronless builds will be shredded but I agree with a disadvantage. Rogue rule really mixes things up.

The goal I'm trying to get is to make a fleet that is good against this but would prefer it to be well rounded . I'm much more ingrained with Rebel thinking it's hard for me to make an Imperial list besides one for fun.

Wes Jason your post on fleet and basic tactic is pretty much exactly what I want/wanted to see. And I am thankful for the list. I am serious about playing them out and giving a battle report of sorts so you can critique both me and my opponent.

Cubanboy, funny enough one of the people I play against just thought up something similiar to that. So we'll give it a shot too.

You'll need squadrons to be a well-rounded list imo. Without them you're relying on some form of gimick: generally kill their ships as fast as humanly possible with more activations (and you don't actually have a large advantage here). Even a handful of A or X wings will allow you to screen yourself from bomber fire while you kill them, and even deter their very fast flankers if you place a quartet of x-wings right where a raider might fly to hammer your MC-80 to death.

Sorry, If I sounded like I disagreed. I agree a list should include a few squadrons for that exact purpose. And as a Rebel player I am lucky to have a few that can multi-role better then the Imperials.

The list I am using is one I'm just playing with. I know if I wanted to make my fleet better I would need squadrons.

I'm trying to make a fleet for an Imperial player to play against me. Does this make sense? or am I being confusing again?

Here's a varient of one I had great success with (I dropped my fighters in favor of an extra glad for this version)

Pretty straight forward, use the Intel officers to mitigate evades and brace and kill stuff fast

+++ Anti-defense (399pts) +++

++ Imperial Navy (Standard) (399pts) ++

+ Gladiator Star Destroyer (244pts) +

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (88pts) [Assault Concussion Missiles (7pts), Engine Techs (8pts), Intel Officer (7pts), •Demolisher (10pts)]

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (78pts) [Assault Concussion Missiles (7pts), Engine Techs (8pts), Intel Officer (7pts)]

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (78pts) [Assault Concussion Missiles (7pts), Engine Techs (8pts), Intel Officer (7pts)]

+ Imperial Star Destroyer (155pts) +

Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (155pts) [Gunnery Team (7pts), Intel Officer (7pts), •Admiral Screed (26pts), •Avenger (5pts)]

+ Objectives +

Assault Objective [Advanced Gunnery]

Defense Objective [Fleet Ambush]

Navigation Objective [superior Positions]

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

The tactics with this fleet is gladiator boxing using the glads in "wolf pack" sort of hunting duo's. Use the speed to get in front of the enemy especially the mc80 in order to trap them allow your other ships to line up shots as well

I normally take a nav command every other turn to trigger engine techs with engineering or con fire on the other turns

Here is another anti-defense fleet

This one utilizes Darth Vader and star destroyer-2s for that longer range damage plus a much more survivable ISD

+++ IVV (397pts) +++

++ Imperial Navy (Standard) (397pts) ++

+ Imperial Star Destroyer (188pts) +

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (188pts) [Electronic Countermeasures (7pts), Gunnery Team (7pts), Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6pts), XX-9 Turbolasers (5pts), •Avenger (5pts), •Captain Needa (2pts), •Darth Vader (36pts)]

+ Victory Star Destroyer (200pts) +

Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (100pts) [Gunnery Team (7pts), Overload Pulse (8pts)]

Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (100pts) [Gunnery Team (7pts), Overload Pulse (8pts)]

+ Squadrons (9pts) +

TIE Bomber Squadron (9pts)

+ Objectives +

Assault Objective [Opening Salvo]

Defense Objective [Fire Lanes]

Navigation Objective [Minefields]

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

I don't know how many games I'll be able to play this weekend with this any fleet but I'll try to get as many as I can.

Thank you for the two lists. I'll give my initial thoughts.

While I like the first list personally and if I rand Imperials this would be a base for any fleet I made. I think despite it being straight forward it requires quiet a bit of skill to pull off. Mainly because I don't know how many would be able to get there and deal all the damage as necessary. Though if they do get through they would blap ships pretty well.

As for the second list I think it would be good to see. The support of the Vics would be very painful. It reminds me of how I think wave 2 changed things.

So did you play any games in with these fleets?

I showed my friend the lists and he built his own fleet from the ideas presented. One game was significantly closer going to turn 6, while the other was over in 3 turns.

The suggestions and ways to played started to make him think of other fleet ideas. So while I unfortunately don't have battle reports for all of you, the goal for him to be happy playing imperials and not feeling rebels are overpowered did occur.

I'll try to get a report in proper if I can but I think he wants to try another list his is working on.

Sorry, and Thank you

Yea... I'd let the ISD go. I'm just not a big fan of it.

For me? I'd pull a list consisting of 3 VSD's and a Gladiator.

I'd place the VSD's first, and see how he's trying to deploy.

And because his list is obviously going to be a speed 2 conga line, I want you to have your Gladiator Book it to the area of space right before his lead ship! And just have it sit there. Let him ram you. And watch how silly a tight conga line formation is.

I've done this before. And after two turns of ramming. And having all the ships behind him ram each other. The guy rage quit!

Oh Rebels being in a Conga line is really just poor planning on a Rebel leader. If anything you'll find The Ackbar fleet moving much like AFs and rebel ships were moving before pretty free and kind of all over the place. Only ever been bumped on my side.

To burst the Vic bubble. Rebel fleets with Home One will eat them alive. You need an ISD II with ECMs pretty much because of the number of ACCs being used against them. Once the ISD dropped that's when the game pretty much ended and the fleet could turn to the other ships punching through their shields quickly.

With the games I've played I don't worry about any ship besides the ISD since none of them have ECMs and can throw out that many dice.

Oh Rebels being in a Conga line is really just poor planning on a Rebel leader. If anything you'll find The Ackbar fleet moving much like AFs and rebel ships were moving before pretty free and kind of all over the place. Only ever been bumped on my side.

To burst the Vic bubble. Rebel fleets with Home One will eat them alive. You need an ISD II with ECMs pretty much because of the number of ACCs being used against them. Once the ISD dropped that's when the game pretty much ended and the fleet could turn to the other ships punching through their shields quickly.

With the games I've played I don't worry about any ship besides the ISD since none of them have ECMs and can throw out that many dice.

Lol! I need to stop posting while drunk!

I don't like Admiral Akbar. I feel that his ability is going to create a mass of lazy Rebel players who won't make unique play styles. Just like the mass of lazy Imperial players we had during Wave 1.

We could try... Just taking 4 VSD's with Tarkin. Fly in a wedge formation. And spam Repair.

I really, REALLY feel like the VSD needed two brace tokens to be on-par with rebels. A pair of whales with XI-7 and spamming concentrate fire just MURDER VSDs. Three double hits and an accuracy. And if they don't get the accuracy you breathe a sigh of relief. Now with home one they're guaranteed to get one.

I really, REALLY feel like the VSD needed two brace tokens to be on-par with rebels. A pair of whales with XI-7 and spamming concentrate fire just MURDER VSDs. Three double hits and an accuracy. And if they don't get the accuracy you breathe a sigh of relief. Now with home one they're guaranteed to get one.

nah

people are just very late in realizing that squadrons are amazing

with Akbar around, everyone'll pretty much be forced to recognize that fact sooner or later

Bombers , especially Rhymer, have been and always will be the Imperial's premier source of long range firepower. You're not beating Akbar at anything but close range without them.