I've played 4 or 5 games of Armada, and I've already become very intrigued by the strategy of it all. Particularly, I am interested in fleet building and getting the most bang for your buck from your choices.

Now, I am also very much a Star Wars fan aside from the game (and a massive fan of the Empire and of Sith lore), and thus, have tried to make an Imperial fleet that could be competitive, with Darth Vader at the head.

Vader wants to have a lot of ships to maximize the effectiveness of his ability, but I also wanted to have enough of a fighter screen to keep the ships alive long enough to set up Vader's devastating shots. With help from comments on the thread I made about Imperial Fighter Screens I think that I have made a fairly decent squadron list.

However, I wanted even more advice and opinions on the list as a whole, as there is always room for improvement, and decided to post the list in the Fleet Builds thread.

What do you think of the list?

Vader's Fist v2
Author: Saryn

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)

3 TIE Interceptor Squadrons ( 33 points)
1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)

Firstly I would Ditch sw-7. It's effect is very redundant for you especially with Vader. Instead take a higher bid or you could place admiral Montferret on something for more survivability

I would probably also use Minefields instead of superior positions as Superior position can backfire pretty easily. Use minefields to make a "funnel" forcing the enemy into your front guns

I agree about SW7. If you don't like those extra accuracies just activate Vader and reroll the blue dice, there are no blank results on them. 1-2 accuracies are usually useful on a large ISD volley anyway.

Advanced gunnery will not give your ISD the brutal double shot as it has gunnery teams. The recent FAQ clarification says the word "Cannot" on the gunnery team card can never be overridden. So you could drop it for Flight controllers or give the Demolisher the Advanced gunnery bonus but it wouldn't work on the shot after moving.

You could drop Ordnance experts on the Demolisher but then a double reroll can be devastating with lots of black dice.

I think your fighter screen is easily good enough so drop the instigator title for another APT.

^What they said. Loose Sup Pos!

I'd also consider adding Engineering Captain on the ISD with the points you save from dropping SW7. You'll never have to set Repair on your dial but if things go badly, a banked repair token and EC can save Vader's bacon fo sho. Also, with no initiative bid, know which objectives you need to absolutely avoid with this fleet. You will likely be choosing.

With suggestions from people on this thread, as well as from Snipafist, Ard, ceej, and others on my thread about fighter screens, I have updated the list to this:

Relentless
Author: Saryn

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 395/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
4 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 32 points)

This is my Vader Fleet, got a chance to use it this week and won the Hyperspace Assault objective. My normal rolls sucked, but Vader re-rolls on the ISD and the Ord Experts on the Glads really shined in this game. I am looking at tweaking the ISD

Roll die fleet
Author: jpersons73

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 390/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Engineering Captain ( 6 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Ion Cannon Batteries ( 5 points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Insidious ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)

4 TIE Interceptor Squadrons ( 44 points)