So today I attended a store tournament and gave some of my Xmas presents a spin. Shout out to Games Cube Parramatta for hosting, good venue.

My list was

AFIIB

- Mon Mothma

- Paragon

AFIIB

- Boosted Comms

- Flight Controllers

MC30 scout Frigate

- Foresight

- Assault Proton Torpedoes

- Ordnance Experts

MC30 Scout Frigate

- Admonition

- Assault Proton Torpedoes

- Ordnance Experts

Tycho Celchu

2x A-Wing

Total 399

Advanced Gunnery, Hyperspace Assault, Superior Positions

So like all good tournaments, I had fun, made mistakes and learnt a great deal (like the fact that you can use your manoeuvre tool on both sides of the ship for a turn, not just the outside, as long as it doesn't overlap)

First of all, wave 2 impressions. Rogues and Villans are a tough nut to crack. They have completely changed squadrons from a supporting act that complements the main event to the centre of gravity for most lists now. I don't think this is the healthiest thing.

MC80s are the the the turtles that they should be, and Raiders seem to be the awkward teenager that doesn't know what to do with itself. Didn't face an ISD, so no opinion there.

Now onto the Shrimps. I tested the list thrice (very underused word) to come to the tournament. So here are the main points I have observed.

1) Survivability. These are glass cannons wrapped in a whole lot of shields. Either titles or Mon Mothma are essential, and if you combine them they are gloriously frustrating to kill. Without either they are made of tinfoil.

B) Manovrability. These are not Glads. They are not Flankers, they are Strafers. You need to spam navigation commands to get them where you need, and plan for that all important Alpha strike. Once you have conducted your strike. Blow through and pick another target. You don't have the Manovrability or flexibility of a glad to slow down, nor the reach of Demolisher. Timing is also critical. Activate last until you are ready to pounce, then scream in, get arcs and range on as many different targets to give your opponent a hard decision.

4) Lethality. When positioned correctly, these little beasties can one shot almost anything smaller than a MC80. Combine with APTs and a well timed concentrate on a double arc, and your punching out potential for 22 damage (or 30 from two side arcs on the side of a large ship)

In summary, great little one punchers that are like an artisans GSD. More expensive, More difficult to drive, but the results are sweeter and very satisfying

Thus why they are my favorite ship. The MC30 is a monster with a clear weakness but they will pound things to dust fast!

I'm a little confused by the inclusion of flight controllers in a list with three squadrons, but other then the comment about the healthiness of squadrons role in the game atm I found your conclusions to be relatively accurate and well thought out.

Can you detail your statement about strafers not flankers ? I'm not sure I picture clearly what you're trying to say

@Madaghmire, obviously I didn't make the list, so this is just my guess at the choice, but because he's only got 3 fighters, Flight controller lets him put out more hurt with just those three. The AF can only command 3 fighters to get the benefit of flight controllers anyway. He may only get to use it once or twice if lucky, but a well time use could tip a fight in his favour. That's my guess.

Can you detail your statement about strafers not flankers ? I'm not sure I picture clearly what you're trying to say

I define flankers as a ship that can get up to speed 4 to get around to the Flank or van of the enemy, then once tucked in close behind, slow down to a speed where they can use there high slow speed manouvrability to stay there and in arc. Glads excel at this, as at speed one with engine techs you have up to 90° movement.

MC30s at speed 1 they have 45° with a nav dial, 67.5° at speed 2. nor can they speed up as fast if they need to get out. Much more difficult to stay tucked in behind a target (if there is anything left to shoot )

I'm a little confused by the inclusion of flight controllers in a list with three squadrons, but other then the comment about the healthiness of squadrons role in the game atm I found your conclusions to be relatively accurate and well thought out.

My comment about squadrons maybe more due the local meta I was playing than the overall experience. 2 of the 3 lists I played were very heavy on the Firesprays, one with mauler and dengar. The other was a Jan Wing. Now yes, I only took 3 fighters and was not expecting to control the fighter battle, but it seems that its almost a case of pay to win. If you can afford to buy 3-6 rogues and villians packs to get the Firesprays, you can bring much more powerful fighters for there points than those who can't. This seems to be taking the focus away from the core of the game - Fleets of capital ships pounding each other to bits with a smattering of fighters for support

When speaking about the anti squadron battle, Firesprays easily lose out to X-wings, A-wings, Interceptors, and Lowly TIEs. Even B-wings if we are talking about a "value per AS die" basis. Now they have their benefits, but I wouldn't say they're "pay to win".

They certainly are "pay if you want to use a lot of them " though!!!

the Manovrability or flexibility

I think you miswrote flexoblobity.

It was a great tournament mate.

Just to be fair to the others we all share our spare cards and models where we can so you'll find a lot of those firesprays were borrows (mine anyway).

Hope to see you at the next match up!

It was a great tournament mate.

Just to be fair to the others we all share our spare cards and models where we can so you'll find a lot of those firesprays were borrows (mine anyway).

Hope to see you at the next match up!

No worries mate, I am not bemoaning those who can afford o by packs in bulk or have to share, thats in the spirit of a good gaming community.

Maybe its more how the Rogues and villains were packaged. Separate factions with 2 of each might have been better.

Its more the over emphasis on squadrons now that I am not a fan on. Im Navy, I like ships

Is it an over emphasis though? I think squadrons are just a part of the game, and with Wave II they now fill the role they were meant to. Squadrons are an aspect of the game, ships are still the main part in my view. The only difference is that squadrons are now viable and a threat that can't be ignored.

Equally that doesn't mean that you have to go heavy squadrons (nor especially rogues). I took out yesterday's tournament and I only ran four squadrons (Mauler Mithel, a TIE Advanced, and two TIEs). They're there to help my raiders mitigate / take out if possible heavy squadron lists.

Are bombers / squadrons a substantial threat now? Yeah for sure, but they have their own detriments (ship activations, loss of game if all ships are destroyed etc). I think it's just all part of a crackingly tight balance the game currently has.

Sounds like the dengar fireball was a pretty big thing at this tourney. Funny that the one I went to featured quite a few firesprays - I think most of the imperial players had at least two - but I don't think anyone went full fireball.

Anyway, Firesprays are great. They are so punchy, tough and flexible that I feel for Imperial players the answer is when in doubt - Buy More Firesprays! I've said before, I think we are going to be hearing a lot about the meta implications of the firespray. The fact that they are out there, and obviously a lot of people are seeing their value, is going to mean if you want to compete you are going to have to have a plan for managing them.

But to be honest, I don't think anyone should be legitimately surprised that 3 Awings is inadequate in the Wave 2 environment

On the fireball, I still think its not the be all. You have to pay such a premium for Dengar, Rhymer, and whatever escorts you put in that you are running nearly 50 points just to make the fireball operate, and to be honest, I'd just snipe the firesprays from the edge of the ball anyway rather than trying to hit Dengar/Rhymer.

Thought experiment - 3 Xwings (12 dice on the charge) will kill a firespray each activation. Multiply the three by however many firesprays you want to be able to kill per turn. Add flight controllers etc as needed. (probably keep a couple of YT2400s in reserve to disrupt the squadron phase).

Completely agree on the strafer's comment. The name 'scout' frigate really describes it well. Scouting in front and taking a few pot shots at an approaching fleet.

@Funk Fu : Got what you mean with strafers and flankers, I agree as well

Sounds like the dengar fireball was a pretty big thing at this tourney. Funny that the one I went to featured quite a few firesprays - I think most of the imperial players had at least two - but I don't think anyone went full fireball.

Anyway, Firesprays are great. They are so punchy, tough and flexible that I feel for Imperial players the answer is when in doubt - Buy More Firesprays! I've said before, I think we are going to be hearing a lot about the meta implications of the firespray. The fact that they are out there, and obviously a lot of people are seeing their value, is going to mean if you want to compete you are going to have to have a plan for managing them.

But to be honest, I don't think anyone should be legitimately surprised that 3 Awings is inadequate in the Wave 2 environment

On the fireball, I still think its not the be all. You have to pay such a premium for Dengar, Rhymer, and whatever escorts you put in that you are running nearly 50 points just to make the fireball operate, and to be honest, I'd just snipe the firesprays from the edge of the ball anyway rather than trying to hit Dengar/Rhymer.

Thought experiment - 3 Xwings (12 dice on the charge) will kill a firespray each activation. Multiply the three by however many firesprays you want to be able to kill per turn. Add flight controllers etc as needed. (probably keep a couple of YT2400s in reserve to disrupt the squadron phase).

Actually there were only 2/11 that had firesprays which came 7th and 9th (mine came 9th). Funk Fu just happened to vs both lists.

And you are correct, you pay quite a premium to do the gimmick and your ships suffer. My list involved 2 VSDs and a raider, in previous tests flights it would be an ISD and a VSD. The other fireball list had 2 raiders and 2 gsds.

I like all you're points about the MC30s and ships in general but have to agree with some of the others about you being too harsh on squadrons. In wave 2 the fact that squadrons are much better has been said and said again, you went to a comp with 3 light squadrons and got eaten... does that mean they are OP...

For rebels the only real way to combat enemy squadrons is with our own, we don't have nifty little raider options to do it with so take that on board. Downgrade an MC30 to a corvette if you are so keen on 4 ships and flesh out your anti-squadrons so you can do something more than get cranky when your opponents inevitably turn up with enough to blow your 38pt investment apart in 1 turn!

I think the thing I've discovered about the MC30 through my games is that it's not always a great idea to focus on it's black dice. You said it yourself, that ship is not demolisher.... I'd be inclined to focus on boosting it's red dice armament and using it more like a traditional whale with the bonus of black dice op opportunity than worrying about upgrading it's potential there. If you're plan is to focus on it being a black dicer then you really need Mothma and a decent going first bid, only way it's going to happen.

Great points though, glad to hear you had fun, yay wave 2.

I'm not cranky about my 3 squads gettting eaten, they didn't; they did there job as a speed bump against the bomber swarms (hell, one A-Wing had a shot to kill a VSD but....blank ) its just the current love of mass bomber balls or fire balls or jan balls. Mass squadrons slow the game down and, like I said, I like ships, I came for the ships

As for turning the shrimp into a mini whale, I think they are way too expensive for that, you pay a premium for those black dice, for the same cost you could buy a AF2 if you want to stay at range