Okay. So in a fit of sheer greed I opened up the 2nd ISD I bought. Played one practice game. (*read: playing with maaaselfffff)

(upgrades approx)

ISD2 ISD1 Raider Motti sq:Howl+2Ints

Gunnery Teams, ISD Titles, HTTs, ECM. Tractor Beam on ISD1.

vs

AF AF ScoutShirmp Ackbar sq:2A 2Scurrg 1X 1Keyan

All AP, Gunnery Teams on AFs, Admonition, APT, Ordnance Experts.

Well. I "outwitted" myself. My imperial brain thought I was for sure going to down the long side of the board. By placing my AFs facing straight forward along one edge, I was about to move them across the short side instead, and then turn later.

At first, took Ackbar down to hull... but then he recovered shields and flew a little farther.

As the Rebel ships did the turn, they focus fired out the Raider then the ISD1 on turn4. Turn 6 saw the end of the ISD2.

The rebel squadrons bombed the slow moving giant ships for around 8 damage. Were well worth it.

----

Anyway. Does anyone have any ideas for good 2 ISD builds? All I can think of now (since this build did not work that well) is Rhymer ball... and that honestly is pretty boring. Basically the same as the 300pt VSD Ryhmerball that sits in a corner all day and waits for you to come to him.

This build I did I think could be better, but a naked Glad seems to be more useful. While my raider did seriously soak some damage, it just was a little too easy to take down.

Also, I feel like ISD2s are just wayy better. And I like having the extra Defensive retrofit. Even though it wouldn't have helped me. Advanced projectors wasnt useful cuz I used all every single shield and still died. ECM... meh. Redundant shields? I feel like these arent worth 8 points to recoup 1 shield. Perhaps .... dare I say... Engineering Captain?

Does anyone have any ideas for good 2 ISD builds?

Imperial ISDs Carrier List (399pts)

- ISD 2 (120) + Darth Vader (36) + Flight controllers (6) + Extended Hangar (5) + SW-7 Ions (5) = 172 [Carrier for Howl]

- ISD 1 (110) + Relentless (3) + Gunnery Teams (7) + Boosted Coms (4) = 124 [Carrier for Rhymer]

- Major Rhymer (16)

- 3x TIE-Bomber (9*3=27)

- Howlrunner (16)

- 4x TIE-Interceptor (11*4=44)

Vader guarantees damage, Howl provides the 4x Interceptors 6 blue dice + 1 re-roll and Rhymer is effective like everytime. Relentless and boosted coms gives the opportunity to use the ISD 1 front arc black dice firepower as often as possible

I've been playing around with 2 ISD2 and 2 raiders using ozzel and the reroll cards:

ISD2 ozzel ecm gunners leading shots relentless needa

ISD2 ecm gunners leading shots def liason

2x raider 1 ord experts

Can't fit XI7s or tractors though and would much rather have the nav officer than liason.

It should move well, shoot well and shred fighters though.

. . . Yes. . . I don't know how good it is but it destroys ships easily enough. . . It suffers though in activations. . .

+++ ISD testing time (395pts) +++

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (182pts) [Electronic Countermeasures (7pts), Gunnery Team (7pts), Tactical Expert (6pts), XI7 Turbolasers (6pts), •Darth Vader (36pts)]

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (146pts) [Electronic Countermeasures (7pts), Gunnery Team (7pts), Tactical Expert (6pts), XI7 Turbolasers (6pts)]

+ Squadrons (67pts) +

Firespray-31 (18pts)

•Boba Fett (26pts)

•Bossk (23pts)

+ Objectives +

Assault Objective [Precision Strike]

Defense Objective [Fleet Ambush]

Navigation Objective [superior Positions]

ISD-2 for me generally has some combination of- Title (most often Relentless or nothing), Cpt Needa, Gunnery Team, ECM's, Xi7's. I may also take Boosted Comms/Tractor Beams and or Leading Shots in their respective slots. I may go with Intel Officer over Needa, although I really like Needa for his value. I don't generally take expanded hangers because I feel like the squadron value is nice and high as it is. Season to flavor.

Isd 2

Motti

Gunnery team

Ecm

Xi7

Leading shots

Isd1

Leading shots

Glad 1

Demo

Squadrons to flavor(5x ties)

Again the only thing I could think of was boring rhymer ball configurations. Meh. Seen it before. A third ship would be nice too.

My two ISD builds typically include at least one Raider for initial deployment shenanigans. If you go with ISD Is, there's a fair bit of room for squadrons on top of the Raider. Motti, two ISD Is with Gunnery Teams, a Raider I with Ordnance Experts, and 10 TIE Bombers (or five Firesprays) is 396. Replace Motti with Ozzel and you have an 8 point bid, or enough for Leading Shots on your two ISDs. Drop the 5 Firesprays/10 Bombers to 10 TIE fighters, and that's up to an extra 10 points more.

Two ISD Builds with ISD IIs are harder, just because usually they eat up another 34 points over ISD Is for me (10 points for the ship, plus 7 points for ECMs, times two). Motti with two ISD IIs with Gunnery Teams/ECMs, a naked Raider I, and eight TIEs is exactly 400.

I don't know that either build is qualitatively better than four ship builds featuring a single ISD, Demolisher, a pair of Raiders, and 10-14 squadrons.

Well, obviously you use the points to stick a third Imperial in there. Run Motti and a small mix of your favorite upgrades, and you're set

My second Imperial is on it's way with a couple of Raiders and other reinforcements. One list I wanted to try was a 2 ISD-I build with a Raider and a swarm of fighters. Gonna see if I can punch Ackbar with something he's not equipped to demolish.

I've used 2 ISDs a lot and they work. They work better as a I and a II with a third ship and anti-squadron cover in my experience. I tried two I Is with a fireball and it didn't work as well as I thought it would.

May try out the tri-destroyers for my league though

(don't tell BiggsIRL)

Well, obviously you use the points to stick a third Imperial in there. Run Motti and a small mix of your favorite upgrades, and you're set

My second Imperial is on it's way with a couple of Raiders and other reinforcements. One list I wanted to try was a 2 ISD-I build with a Raider and a swarm of fighters. Gonna see if I can punch Ackbar with something he's not equipped to demolish.

It's a very small mix of favorite upgrades (like, 16 points with ISD IIs... Is can support a far more flexible 46)... but yes, this is the dream.

I wouldn't run double ISD without Motti IMO. He just gives them so much.

I would also probably run 3 ships, 2x ISD (II and I) with a Raider-I in the mix. You need the activations and a ship that can block retreat paths so your ISDs can get in there and do the heavy lifting.

ffs, that copy and paste was terrible:
http://nanotanks.pythonanywhere.com/fleet/str/400u17s12u50u38u3u6u41u37s11u38u41u37s13u73u77q7n3o4o7o10

Well, obviously you use the points to stick a third Imperial in there. Run Motti and a small mix of your favorite upgrades, and you're set

My second Imperial is on it's way with a couple of Raiders and other reinforcements. One list I wanted to try was a 2 ISD-I build with a Raider and a swarm of fighters. Gonna see if I can punch Ackbar with something he's not equipped to demolish.

Have you actually tried a 3 ISD list? I'm actually leaning toward it being possible. ... but not easy. Acutally, i dont think so.

I tried some IIR lists... meh. Its very easy to be deploy-countered.

I'm thinking of a naked Glad, as much as it pains me not to have Demolisher title.

Planning on running this list next tournament. Its simple, has alot of hull, decent fighter screen and a 5 point bid.

ISD I (117)

-gunnery team

ISD I (117)

-gunnery team

VSD I (97)

-motti

Tie Fighters x8 (64)

Planning on running this list next tournament. Its simple, has alot of hull, decent fighter screen and a 5 point bid.

ISD I (117)

-gunnery team

ISD I (117)

-gunnery team

VSD I (97)

-motti

Tie Fighters x8 (64)

Not an Imperial player, but wouldn't it make more sense to go with six TIEs and Howlrunner? If all they're doing is interfering with enemy fighters, seems like that extra die would be nice.

This is probably going to seem overly uninspired but this is my Two ISD list. I've run it to great effect with my Rebel friend who has a fair share more experience then I. An right now the two of us are trying to figure out Rebel Combo's to kill it. As with both games the mix of dice and flying ended with the Rebels as space slag. Either the both us are ply Rebels wrong or Akbar was severally over billed during the Massing event. It has us both wondering how Imperial's are losing to Rebels. That said I am no expert, and I'm only speaking from my own experience in both fighting, and commanding this kind of list.

Imperial Battle Group

-Ships-

- Imperial II - Class Star Destoryer

Admiral Motti, Electronic Countermeasures, Intel Officer, Overload Pulse, XI7 Turbolasers, Gunnery Team

- Imperial II - Class Star Destoryer

Electronic Countermeasures, Intel Officer, Avenger, XI7 Turbolasers, Gunnery Team

-Squadrons-

- TIE Interceptor Squadron

- TIE Interceptor Squadron

- TIE Interceptor Squadron

- "Howlrunner"

- Dengar

I like this, you want to be player 2. It's not subtle, but t gets the job done.

SHIP: Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (176)

Admiral Motti

Gunnery Team

Boosted Comms

Electronic Countermeasures

SW-7 Ion Batteries

Heavy Turbolaser Turrets

Relentless

SHIP: Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (160)

Engineering Captain

Gunnery Team

Boosted Comms

Electronic Countermeasures

SW-7 Ion Batteries

Heavy Turbolaser Turrets

Avenger

Aggressor Assault Fighter (16)

Aggressor Assault Fighter (16)

Aggressor Assault Fighter (16)

Aggressor Assault Fighter (16)

Advanced Gunnery, Hyperspace Assault, Minefields.

Would you be attempting to put 3 Aggressors in Hyperspace assault by themselves ?

Much better to go with Fleet Ambush, methinks. Chow down on half the fleet while the rest catches up.

1st ISD 2

Screed

Gunnery team

Ecm

Avenger title

2nd ISD 2

Gunnery team

Ecm

Overload pulse

Rhymer and 3 bombers

3 tie advance and fel interceptor

1st isd goes and either launches rhymer ball to toss 4 black dice or tie advance and fell to lock down fighters or fire on ships. Whole plan is for 1st ISD with overload to fire and lock down the targets defense tokens and weaken it. While the second ISD launches the rest of the squadron to weaken the 1st target or another.

With gunnery team and overload pulse the isd can shut down two ships tokens

While the second ship with avenger just unloads on the target as it has no tokens

Took a mc80 with a single shot from each ISD. 1st one burned front shields and locked dow. The tokens. Second one had a unshielded front and just need to due 8 hull.

Will you be able to due it every time no. You due need to get both ships in medium range to get that bkue crit for the overload pulse.

A caveat before you read on. I don't play tournaments. I rarely play the same list twice.

I really like the souped up ISD II, but you could definitely drop a handful of the upgrades to add a smaller ship of more fighters if you wanted to. Even switching out some generic TIEs for interceptors would probably work as well.

Double SDs!!!!!

Faction: Galactic Empire

Points: 393/400

Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery

Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush

Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)

- Grand Moff Tarkin ( 38 points)

- Avenger ( 5 points)

- Defense Liaison ( 3 points)

- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)

- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)

- Advanced Projectors ( 6 points)

- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (110 points)

- Devastator ( 10 points)

- Defense Liaison ( 3 points)

- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)

- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)

3 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 24 points)

1 Dengar ( 20 points)

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

I really like Tarkin with the Defence Liaison because it means you can basically set your command dials to concentrate fire and get engineering or navigation whenever you need to. The leading shots are my way around not having Vader or Screed, as you can get a reroll anytime you throw abysmally within medium range. I wonder if that works with anti squadron dice?

The turbo lasers on the ISD II are awesome, and the advanced projectors make the two redirect tokens even better.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy whatever list you decide on?

A squadron heavier, less upgraded version could be:

Double SDs!!!!! (take 2)

Faction: Galactic Empire

Points: 395/400

Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery

Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush

Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)

- Grand Moff Tarkin ( 38 points)

- Defense Liaison ( 3 points)

- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)

- Advanced Projectors ( 6 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (110 points)

- Defense Liaison ( 3 points)

- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)

- Leading Shots ( 4 points)

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)

3 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 24 points)

3 TIE Interceptor Squadrons ( 33 points)

1 Dengar ( 20 points)

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

@Drasnighta

I am not, without a ship, nothing can Hyperspace Assault as I read it.Hyperspace Assault says "and up to 3 squadrons" meaning it requires a viable ship to assault the squadrons. Hence the battle comes down to kills and that list is good at it. No one in their right mind will pick Adv. Gunnery if I am player 2 and Mine fields allows me to close off an area of the game play.

On a foot note, you could change out the squadrons to taste, but I really like the Aggressor, it is slower than an A-wing but is as good against ships, ignores Escort and Counter and one more blue die.

Planning on running this list next tournament. Its simple, has alot of hull, decent fighter screen and a 5 point bid.

ISD I (117)

-gunnery team

ISD I (117)

-gunnery team

VSD I (97)

-motti

Tie Fighters x8 (64)

Not an Imperial player, but wouldn't it make more sense to go with six TIEs and Howlrunner? If all they're doing is interfering with enemy fighters, seems like that extra die would be nice.

Nah, extra tie is one extra die vs a ship. Actually i tend to avoid enemy fighters and send most of my ties to ping away sheilds. Howl is awesome don't get me wrong, i just like plain ol ties. If i took a unique pilot it would be rhymer.

@Drasnighta

I am not, without a ship, nothing can Hyperspace Assault as I read it.Hyperspace Assault says "and up to 3 squadrons" meaning it requires a viable ship to assault the squadrons. Hence the battle comes down to kills and that list is good at it. No one in their right mind will pick Adv. Gunnery if I am player 2 and Mine fields allows me to close off an area of the game play.

On a foot note, you could change out the squadrons to taste, but I really like the Aggressor, it is slower than an A-wing but is as good against ships, ignores Escort and Counter and one more blue die.

But couldn't you put literally any other objective into the Hyperspace slot, and get a better outcome? Remember that objectives give player 2 an advantage - why would you purposely pick an objective that will give you no advantage? Fleet Ambush splits their fleet, why wouldn't that be better?

Also, though we don't have an official ruling, the overall consensus seems to swing towards the interpretation that if you lack a medium or small ship then you can still deploy up to 3 squadrons. Nothing on the card indicates that you can't, but the reading suggests that you probably can.