Help Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!

Basically I feel I may have a slight Demolisher addiction, I can't build an empire list without it featuring in some form or another whether bare or fully kitted out 98 points of fury. I haven't had much luck with non demo glads and this is where I call upon the knowledge and good will of the Armada fans. What are your suggestions and alternative builds for Gladiators that do not include Demolisher? Is Insidious worthy? What different play styles are there for a Gladiator? Is it ever worth taking a Gladiator II?

I look forward to reading your wisdom and insights.

Insidious....if you have Hyperspace Assault as your objective, and it gets picked, it can be great.

Otherwise, being in a position to take advantage usually means a ship has moved passed you, and its rear arc is now open to your side arc, again a situation where being player two is best, which is counter to what you want to get the best bang for your buck from Demolisher. I mean you can of course get into position as player one at the end of the round to use your black dice, but you don't need Insidious to use them.

Before the addition of the Raider Class, Gladiator II's were pretty good for the 2 blue AA dice, now you can get 2 black AA dice for cheaper, so it seems the Gladiator II has gone the way of the AFMK II A, I haven't used one since Wave 2 launched, and I have not come across one being fielded against me either.

The way I weaned myself off of Demolisher was by building a fleet designed around being player two, So player One = Aggressive Offense (for me) Player Two = More Defensive than outright melt your face aggression.

So for a player two build I'd pick an ISD I or II, a couple of Raider I's as escorts, and a load of Squadrons, as close to 400pts as I can get.

There is life after Demolisher!

I run 3 GSDs in my list...Demo is one...but the others are just as kitted out. You can just do a double tap with them at the beginning of the turn rather than a triple tap like Demo does. 8-10 dice (from 2 arcs) can still wipe most small - med ships. I find people are so concerned with my Demo they forget about my other 2. Kind of how I used to use my ISD 1...people would be so worried about that the other ships were doing all the killing.

Gladiator, Wuluff.

Pocket squadron token and nav token. Boom mini carrier with legs to engage at the right moment.