Played your shredderball against a MC-80 and two assault Frigates with a compliment of A-wings. Won by 30 pts. It was pretty predictable. The ISD served as a tank and absorbed the abuse till it died, which gave the VSDs a chance to command the squadrons and blow up the two Frigates.
I could see a triple VSD working well, with even more squads. My only concern would be the lack of a "tank" as it were. But I'd be willing to try it if I bad a 3rd VSD.
The triple VSD list is what I'm toying with for a Store Championship in about two weeks.
Grand Moff Tarkin
Precision Strike
Contested Outpost
Superior Positions
399/400
Victory I-class Star Destroyer
- Grand Moff Tarkin
- Ruthless Strategists
- Boosted Comms
- Director Isard
Victory I-class Star Destroyer
- Ruthless Strategists
- Boosted Comms
Victory I-class Star Destroyer
- Ruthless Strategists
- Boosted Comms
2 x TIE Advanced
7 x TIE Bombers
Jumpmaster 5000
Major Rhymer
I'm toying with the idea of dropping Isard and a bomber, and taking a second Jumpmaster for redundancy or a third Advanced for a better escort screen. But the idea is very similar and very straightforward. The Vics line up and try to keep Medium range to the fighters so they can pump out RS damage against enemy fighters. The bombers are dropping about 8 damage per turn, and the Advanceds can throw down pretty hard with their black dice once the enemy fighters are dealt with. The reason I'm thinking of taking Isard is simple - if my enemy has a fighter screen and something that's an obvious carrier (something with Squadron 3/4+ or Yavaris or Adar Tallon), I look at that ship's dials to see if there's a Squadron command coming up. That can tell me whether I have to activate my escorts or my bombers first.
So eight damage from bombers is either going to chew through tokens or destroy enemy shields. Two rounds of all eight bombers backed by only two of the Vics at long range should be enough to take out an ISD. And five hull is a lot to go through with flak, so they should have some staying power. Plus, against MC80s who can't take Gunnery Teams, keep them in the same broadside as the rest of the fleet. Does your opponent ignore the Vics coming into black die range or ignore the bombers? And once those Vics do arrive (slow as they may be), that's 17 black dice and 9 red.
Would it be worth it to swap Ruthless Strategists for Flight Controllers on one of the Vics?
Edited by reegskI think Tarkin and Boosted Comms are the lynchpin of the three VSD I fleet.
Tarkin is a nice way to get around the single Offensive Upgrade slot. He basically serves as Expanded Hangars until you've taken some fighter losses or it's late in the game and you need to start generating some extra Engineering points. Probably going to spam Squadron commands until turn four or five, then switch to spamming Repairs. Even though they don't have ECM, they can repair themselves just as quickly as an MC80 or ISD, and with Tarkin that means dropping two damage cards or bringing back three shields. Not too shabs.
This is the variation I'm considering. It uses two separate balls. The Howlrunner/Interceptors fly with the ISD as a screen, the mini-Rhymer waits for the attack of opportunity blasting off the VSD. With screed I'm guaranteed any time I fire my blue dice with the ISD I can exhaust all defense tokens on the target. However the list has 0 bid.
Admiral Screed (26 pts)
Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 pts)
Avenger (5 pts)
Flight Controllers (6 pts)
Boosted Comms (4 pts)
XX-9 Turbolasers (5 pts)
Overload Pulse (8 pts)
Total: 148pts
Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (85 pts)
Corrupter (5 pts)
Wulff Yularen (7 pts)
Expanded Hangar Bay (5 pts)
1x Howlrunner (16 pts)
1x Punishing One (20 pts)
3x Tie Advanced Squadron (36 pts)
1x Major Rhymer (16 pts)
4x Tie Bomber Squadron (36 pts)
Objectives: Advanced Gunnery , Contested Outpost , Minefields
I'd put the Overload Pulse on the VSD. That way you can activate it first and exhaust the tokens. When the ISD fires, your opponent can do nothing.
I pulled that trick in the last tournament. Unfortunately some maneuvering errors caused me to lose my second game. But it can be brutal. A VSD-II with XI7's and OLP in a Screed list can eat some shields and exhaust tokens. Then the ISD blasts away with SW-7's for a guaranteed five damage (four from blues, one from red if you need to use a Screed crit flip).
Heh,
Well, when I last tried this, I ran Headfirst into a Dual MonCal list with a whole mess of Fighters...
With Dodonna, I kept taking so many crits... So many bad ones... I ended up losing the ISD, and had both Victories Seriously On Fire , and only 3 Cards left in my Damage Deck at the end of it...
It was a Win, but the Rhymer Ball was split into pieces simply to try to get potshots at the MonCals...
Definately needs some tweaks...
Man, I wish I could run a list like this.
When I DARE go without an ISD II with ECM, I get two-shotted by even non-ackbar whales with XI-7 lasers. "Oh look, an accuracy and 6-8 damage. Oh look, I did it again!" Poof.
Man, I wish I could run a list like this.
When I DARE go without an ISD II with ECM, I get two-shotted by even non-ackbar whales with XI-7 lasers. "Oh look, an accuracy and 6-8 damage. Oh look, I did it again!" Poof.
Yeah, the only time I won't have ECM on an ISD is if it's an ISD-I. There's really no other defensive upgrade that's worth it.
Of course, the emerging response to ECM seems to be Intel Officer, so YMMV.
And my Meta is a Low XI-7, High-Intel Officer Meta....
So Screw ECM. Go Cheap and Disposable
I think that's the problem with the ISD-II versus the ISD-I. You WANT to put tons of upgrades on it. But for some reason, maybe because you can't take ECM, you just don't on the ISD-I.