John and I have been sparring pretty regularly as we practiced up for the Adepticon tournament. Earlier on I was still regularly beating him but the more experience he got against my fleet the better he's done, winning the last sparring match we had pretty decisively. I'm not quite sure how I would have expected a game between us to go. I'd give it roughly 50/50 odds. His fleet is a rough matchup (slippery two-dice bombers, Rieekan, multi-activated Nym, TRC Salvation is a nightmare at medium or short range) and his objective suite makes me cry, which is what you want against a bid war fleet.

That's roughly been my path with Rieekan. I got crushed early on, but I've started to really settle in. He's a very different commander. Like Ackbar, he's a bit newbie friendly. He lets you make some mistakes without having to paying for them too badly, which Ackbar just makes lining up shots very easy. They both, however, don't seem to do as well with experienced Armada players on the whole. Unlike Ackbar, however, Rieekan seems to have a graduate level, but to get there you have to almost completely reprogram your brain.

That has been my experience with Rieekan as well. Activation order isn't as straightforward as it is with the other commanders.

John and I have been sparring pretty regularly as we practiced up for the Adepticon tournament. Earlier on I was still regularly beating him but the more experience he got against my fleet the better he's done, winning the last sparring match we had pretty decisively. I'm not quite sure how I would have expected a game between us to go. I'd give it roughly 50/50 odds. His fleet is a rough matchup (slippery two-dice bombers, Rieekan, multi-activated Nym, TRC Salvation is a nightmare at medium or short range) and his objective suite makes me cry, which is what you want against a bid war fleet.

That's roughly been my path with Rieekan. I got crushed early on, but I've started to really settle in. He's a very different commander. Like Ackbar, he's a bit newbie friendly. He lets you make some mistakes without having to paying for them too badly, which Ackbar just makes lining up shots very easy. They both, however, don't seem to do as well with experienced Armada players on the whole. Unlike Ackbar, however, Rieekan seems to have a graduate level, but to get there you have to almost completely reprogram your brain.

That has been my experience with Rieekan as well. Activation order isn't as straightforward as it is with the other commanders.

I agree. Rieekan can be played extremely effectively, but I feel like he requires a playstyle shift that takes a fair amount of practice to really feel out and isn't really applicable to other Rebel commanders.

At the very least, he's probably the strongest Rebel counter to Screed lists right now.

Minor update to post #2 to accommodate the better information from marinegrunt01 regarding Nebulon-B numbers (up to 3) and a Bigfoot CR90B sighting.

For those of us just learning the game, can you elaborate what a Clonisher build/fleet is, and why it's affecting meta play/plans? I get the general idea from reading the posts above, but not clear on the details.

I am still learning what an "ackbar fleet", "screed fleet" and the like are, I should check if they are in the glossary thread in this forum...

This: http://xwingtactics.blogspot.no/2016/02/clontroper5-vs-madaghmire-world-cup.html

For those of us just learning the game, can you elaborate what a Clonisher build/fleet is, and why it's affecting meta play/plans? I get the general idea from reading the posts above, but not clear on the details.

I am still learning what an "ackbar fleet", "screed fleet" and the like are, I should check if they are in the glossary thread in this forum...

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/203083-is-clontroper5s-build-invincible/?p=2061041

For those of us just learning the game, can you elaborate what a Clonisher build/fleet is, and why it's affecting meta play/plans? I get the general idea from reading the posts above, but not clear on the details.

I am still learning what an "ackbar fleet", "screed fleet" and the like are, I should check if they are in the glossary thread in this forum...

The provided links(above) can help a lot. I can talk a little bit about it here too.

The problem right now is "Clonisher" means a few things and it gets really confusing. It stems from the fleet clontroper5 won the Vassal tournament with, but by now it can mean:

• A Demolisher set up clontroper5 style (Gladiator-I + Demolisher + Engine Techs + Ordnance Experts + Expanded Launchers + Intel Officer), which is a single super-upgraded Gladiator than can, by triple-tapping (one end-of-turn attack + two start-of-next-turn attacks) with the Intel Officer destroy most non-large ships (and even some large ships, depending!).
• A fleet including a Demolisher set up that way, but not necessarily the same list that clontroper5 used.
• A fleet with 5+ activations with Gladiators and Raiders that bids to get first player, but may or may not actually include a "Clonisher" Demolisher set up in that fashion.

My fleet was the last of those 3, but the overlap makes it very confusing. That's why I've been trying to use the term 5-activation fleet rather than clontroper5 fleet (as it's not a direct copy, even though it shares some core concepts).

Basically the fleet "works" because it will (almost always) get both the first and last activation. This means that (at least) one of your black dice ships can wait out the enemy then jet into short range and activate first next turn to deliver their payload and escape. It's a great way to get the maximum value from black dice ships and get around their disadvantages - the benefit of this move is best seen with the Demolisher title. It's more nuanced than just that simple trick, though - you can have your Raiders/Gladiators wait out enemies who MUST move into their front arc to deliver their attacks and then leave, etc. It's very flexible but very dependent on positioning, maneuvering, and activation order. It doesn't stand up to punishment that well, so you need to think of your activation order and maneuvering as your primary defenses.

The reason this type of fleet is discussed widely on the Armada-net is because it's pretty strong in the hands of an experienced practicioner and because it's a strong meta counter to the most common Rebel fleet: the Ackbar conga line (and to a lesser extent, civil war games versus heavier Motti fleets). The Ackbar conga line loads up on Assault Frigates (+maybe an MC80), runs them in a rough line with Gunnery Teams (when possible) and other punchy upgrades (Electronic Countermeasures and XI7 Turbolasers) and pretty much says "hey, if you want to come get me, head into this killing ground in our broadsides." Many Imperial fleets using heavier ships (VSDs and ISDs) pretty much have to head into the shooting gallery because they don't have the speed/maneuverability to do anything else. Then the Ackbar fleet drowns them in red dice and overlapping fields of fire from Gunnery Teams and the Imperial fleet loses. You can get around some of this by using faster support ships (like Gladiators/Raiders) to get to the front of the conga line and start causing logjams/maneuver problems, but your heavier ships are still stuck with the same problem of "either be useless or drown in red dice," neither of which is a very palatable choice. The inevitable next thought is "well, if my lighter ships are getting work done but my heavier ships are still having problems, why not just bring nothing but lighter ships?"

This then leads to a fleet build that accentuates the benefits/minimizes the downsides of the small black dice Imperial ships: 5+ activations, a point bid for first, and upgrades to up your reliable black dice damage when you do get attacks in. The 5-activation fleet largely avoids taking serious attacks from the best arcs and uses its superior maneuverability to get to places it can dispatch Assault Frigates with minimal trouble. Ackbar is extremely weak to this approach because the entire conga line assumption is "the enemy is going to come into this one good arc I really care about and suffer for it," to which the 5-activation fleet says "actually, no I won't." I'd feel bad for the Ackbar fleets, but they've been running wild and being boring for months now (they're an extremely good way for novice players to slaughter other novice players) and anything that can diminish their popularity feels like a net win to me.

This isn't to say it's the only solution to Ackbar conga lines (a solid Rhymerball can get some work done, provided you've got the patience to wait for it to drop a ship before you commit your bruisers), but it seems less prone to bad matchups than a Rhymerball fleet.

Imperial commanders

I saw a lot of Motti (ISDs, VSDs) and Screed (fleets with more Gladiators). A little Tarkin. I don't recall seeing any Ozzel or Vader.

Great write up and congrats on winning. Just a slight correction, I was flying Ozzel with Demolisher, 3 Raiders and a Fireball. Came in 4th with 24 points.