A friend of mine uses a build (I forget the exact squadrons he uses) that allows his bombers to attack from medium range (I believe Rhymer allows this). At the moment I have no answer for this and got my arse handed to me. Any tactic suggestions or advice on the following build are most appreciated (I am also willing to totally scrap it):

Whale and Guppy build

Author: Phillipsosophy

Faction: Rebel Alliance

Points: 395/400

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery

Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush

Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)

- General Dodonna ( 20 points)

- Intel Officer ( 7 points)

- Engine Techs ( 8 points)

- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

- Advanced Projectors ( 6 points)

- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

- Overload Pulse ( 8 points)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)

- Intel Officer ( 7 points)

- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)

- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)

- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

8 X-Wing Squadrons ( 104 points)

Thanks in advance for any help/support.

Seems you have a lot of points tied up upgrades for them 2 ships.

What do you have available to make a fleet with? I can give you a few build suggestions if you let me know.

Seems you have a lot of points tied up upgrades for them 2 ships.

What do you have available to make a fleet with? I can give you a few build suggestions if you let me know.

Thanks for getting back to me. This is what I have:

MC80: 2

MK2B: 1

MC30: 1

Nebulon B: 4

Corvette: 3

4x reb squadron expansions

1x rogue pack

No worries, now we have some stuff to work with

Fleet One

MC80 Command Cruiser : General Rieekan : Adar Tallon : Boosted Comms : ECM : X-17 Turbolasers : Independence

Nebulon B Escort : Veteran Captain : Yavaris

CR90 Corvette B : Tantive IV

Luke

Wedge

Dutch

Keyan

Jan

B-Wing

B-wing

400pts (Precision Strike / Hyperspace Assault / Superior Positions)

The idea here is Rieekan will keep all the named Rebel squadrons alive for a whole round regardless of what befalls them, he will also keep Yavaris alive, Tantive is there to feed command tokens to both the MC80 and the Nebulon, and add an extra ship activation. The MC80 with Independence can move Keyan at speed 4, then flip his activation slider with Adar Tallon, allowing Yavaris to activate him, which is deadly, Keyan moving either speed 6 and firing once, or speed 4 and shooting twice, has made me want to weep before now after being on the receiving end of it. So lots of squadrons and great synergy between the ships.

Fleet Two :

MC80 Command Cruiser : Admiral Ackbar : Raymus Antilles : Engine Techs : Boosted Comms : ECM : X-17 TL : Defiance

CR90 A : TRC

CR90 A : TRC

CR90 A : TRC

A-Wing x 6

400pts (Advanced Gunnery / Fire Lanes / Superior Positions)

This build more ship focus, than squadrons, the combo of Ackbar and TRC is a nightmare for Imperials, 4 red dice from range from each CR90 A, one of which you can change with the TRC, you have enough activations to get the most out of Defiance, and the A-wings should be more than enough to deal with a Rhymerball.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just a couple of quick builds, one I have faced in tournaments, the other a pretty standard Ackbar build.

I use an AF2 Gallant Haven with expanded hangers and flight controllers with squads to counter tie balls. It's not perfect, but at max range you squads can hit about mid way through med range. 4 x-wings throwing that many dice cut ties down pretty quick, and under the protection of Gallant Haven they're pretty hard to kill.

No worries, now we have some stuff to work with

Fleet One

MC80 Command Cruiser : General Rieekan : Adar Tallon : Boosted Comms : ECM : X-17 Turbolasers : Independence

Nebulon B Escort : Veteran Captain : Yavaris

CR90 Corvette B : Tantive IV

Luke

Wedge

Dutch

Keyan

Jan

B-Wing

B-wing

400pts (Precision Strike / Hyperspace Assault / Superior Positions)

The idea here is Rieekan will keep all the named Rebel squadrons alive for a whole round regardless of what befalls them, he will also keep Yavaris alive, Tantive is there to feed command tokens to both the MC80 and the Nebulon, and add an extra ship activation. The MC80 with Independence can move Keyan at speed 4, then flip his activation slider with Adar Tallon, allowing Yavaris to activate him, which is deadly, Keyan moving either speed 6 and firing once, or speed 4 and shooting twice, has made me want to weep before now after being on the receiving end of it. So lots of squadrons and great synergy between the ships.

Fleet Two :

MC80 Command Cruiser : Admiral Ackbar : Raymus Antilles : Engine Techs : Boosted Comms : ECM : X-17 TL : Defiance

CR90 A : TRC

CR90 A : TRC

CR90 A : TRC

A-Wing x 6

400pts (Advanced Gunnery / Fire Lanes / Superior Positions)

This build more ship focus, than squadrons, the combo of Ackbar and TRC is a nightmare for Imperials, 4 red dice from range from each CR90 A, one of which you can change with the TRC, you have enough activations to get the most out of Defiance, and the A-wings should be more than enough to deal with a Rhymerball.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just a couple of quick builds, one I have faced in tournaments, the other a pretty standard Ackbar build.

Wow thanks for this comprehensive advice! A few questions regarding fleet 1:

1.) What do you mean about "adding another ship activation" with Tantive?

2.) Should I play for initiative with this build?

3.) Do you have any further tactical advice on this build (speeds, movements, etc)? I have not had much luck with Nebs or corvettes in the past but want to get better.

Thank you! I play next weekend and will report back how it went!

I use an AF2 Gallant Haven with expanded haven and flight controllers with squads to counter tie balls. It's not perfect, but at max range you squads can hit about mid way through med range. 4 x-wings throwing that many dice cut ties down pretty quick, and under the protection of Gallant Haven they're pretty hard to kill.

Thanks for the advice! I will try this after my next battle... So you only go one ship and the rest squads?

Wow thanks for this comprehensive advice! A few questions regarding fleet 1:

1.) What do you mean about "adding another ship activation" with Tantive?

2.) Should I play for initiative with this build?

3.) Do you have any further tactical advice on this build (speeds, movements, etc)? I have not had much luck with Nebs or corvettes in the past but want to get better.

Thank you! I play next weekend and will report back how it went!

1 : Basically having 3 ships, means you have 3 ships to activate, CR90B with Tantive IV, is not there to do much other than allow you to react to your opponent, hand out command tokens as needed to the MC80 & Yavaris, shouldn't be trying to get it into shooting range, just have it sit some where between MC80 & Yavaris, so it is in range of both.

2 : Only bid for initiative with this fleet if you want to pick player two, and ensure your opponent has to pick one of your Objectives.

3 : Ideally, keep them low speed initially, keep your squadrons inside activation range of your MC80/Yavaris (IE don't move them off outside of the range you can activate them the following round), use CR90B to get command tokens for the MC80. A lot will depend on the Objective you are playing. Use your squadrons to kill the Rhymerball, Yavaris (with a squadron token) will allow 3 squadrons to shoot twice as long as they do not move, very powerful, either for killing squadrons, or dealing damage to a ship with Luke (ignores shields) or Keyan (2 black dice and can reroll them if no shields on target hull zone) with Independence and Adar Tallon, it is quite possible to have either Luke or Keyan shoot something 3 times in one round.

most of all, play it, learn what its good at, what its poor at, and have fun while doing so.

Wow thanks for this comprehensive advice! A few questions regarding fleet 1:

1.) What do you mean about "adding another ship activation" with Tantive?

2.) Should I play for initiative with this build?

3.) Do you have any further tactical advice on this build (speeds, movements, etc)? I have not had much luck with Nebs or corvettes in the past but want to get better.

Thank you! I play next weekend and will report back how it went!

1 : Basically having 3 ships, means you have 3 ships to activate, CR90B with Tantive IV, is not there to do much other than allow you to react to your opponent, hand out command tokens as needed to the MC80 & Yavaris, shouldn't be trying to get it into shooting range, just have it sit some where between MC80 & Yavaris, so it is in range of both.

2 : Only bid for initiative with this fleet if you want to pick player two, and ensure your opponent has to pick one of your Objectives.

3 : Ideally, keep them low speed initially, keep your squadrons inside activation range of your MC80/Yavaris (IE don't move them off outside of the range you can activate them the following round), use CR90B to get command tokens for the MC80. A lot will depend on the Objective you are playing. Use your squadrons to kill the Rhymerball, Yavaris (with a squadron token) will allow 3 squadrons to shoot twice as long as they do not move, very powerful, either for killing squadrons, or dealing damage to a ship with Luke (ignores shields) or Keyan (2 black dice and can reroll them if no shields on target hull zone) with Independence and Adar Tallon, it is quite possible to have either Luke or Keyan shoot something 3 times in one round.

most of all, play it, learn what its good at, what its poor at, and have fun while doing so.

Wow thanks for this... I can't wait to let you know how it goes!

I use an AF2 Gallant Haven with expanded haven and flight controllers with squads to counter tie balls. It's not perfect, but at max range you squads can hit about mid way through med range. 4 x-wings throwing that many dice cut ties down pretty quick, and under the protection of Gallant Haven they're pretty hard to kill.

Thanks for the advice! I will try this after my next battle... So you only go one ship and the rest squads?

Run a fleet. One AF2 is just kitted out to kill squads. If you want to hedge you bets against running into a low squad fleet use gunnery teams instead of Flight Controllers.

I use an AF2 Gallant Haven with expanded haven and flight controllers with squads to counter tie balls. It's not perfect, but at max range you squads can hit about mid way through med range. 4 x-wings throwing that many dice cut ties down pretty quick, and under the protection of Gallant Haven they're pretty hard to kill.

Thanks for the advice! I will try this after my next battle... So you only go one ship and the rest squads?

Run a fleet. One AF2 is just kitted out to kill squads. If you want to hedge you bets against running into a low squad fleet use gunnery teams instead of Flight Controllers.

Thanks I'll let you know how it goes!

Funny I only recall using the bomber build on you one time......... I always come with a new build so get ready for the head spinning build that I have cooked up for you next

Funny I only recall using the bomber build on you one time......... I always come with a new build so get ready for the head spinning build that I have cooked up for you next

You have used variants of it yes. And no worries I have tricks of my own!

UPDATE: I took both pieces of advice offered here (save for a few small differences that suit my play style) and found success! This was the first time one of my nebulon-b's delivererd their payload and actually survived. Speed and course are as vital as any factor in Armada. This is especially true for nebulon b's and when using a guppy with safe harbor. If executed properly, they are a sight to behold. Thank you guys again for your wonderful advice!

UPDATE: I took both pieces of advice offered here (save for a few small differences that suit my play style) and found success! This was the first time one of my nebulon-b's delivererd their payload and actually survived. Speed and course are as vital as any factor in Armada. This is especially true for nebulon b's and when using a guppy with safe harbor. If executed properly, they are a sight to behold. Thank you guys again for your wonderful advice!

Congratulations, I'm glad it all worked out well, even if you are Rebel Scum!

UPDATE: I took both pieces of advice offered here (save for a few small differences that suit my play style) and found success! This was the first time one of my nebulon-b's delivererd their payload and actually survived. Speed and course are as vital as any factor in Armada. This is especially true for nebulon b's and when using a guppy with safe harbor. If executed properly, they are a sight to behold. Thank you guys again for your wonderful advice!

Congratulations, I'm glad it all worked out well, even if you are Rebel Scum!

That's Mr. Rebel Scum to you!

UPDATE: I took both pieces of advice offered here (save for a few small differences that suit my play style) and found success! This was the first time one of my nebulon-b's delivererd their payload and actually survived. Speed and course are as vital as any factor in Armada. This is especially true for nebulon b's and when using a guppy with safe harbor. If executed properly, they are a sight to behold. Thank you guys again for your wonderful advice!

Congratulations, I'm glad it all worked out well, even if you are Rebel Scum!

That's Mr. Rebel Scum to you!

I concur! Mr. Rebel lol!