Hello all,

Welcome to my first for post on the Star Wars: Armada forum! I've played 1 or 2 games and decided to get a bit more into it. so I've made my first Imperial list with the things I've got:

Hello S1m0n321, welcome to the forums and the game as well. I'm glad you posted this list because it looks like you've made a few mistakes that are very common for new players to make. So hopefully this can a be a good chance to learn.

First of all, I'm going to assume that you're building a 400 point list, given that it is the standard for tournaments now. If that's the case, then you've gone a bit over that limit. I calculate that you have 404 points worth of stuff here, so you will want to trim the list down a bit.

Second, every fleet needs to have a commander (i.e. Grand Moff Tarkin) on a chosen flagship (with one exception, see this special scenario). So you will want to trim a few more upgrades, choose a commander, and choose a flagship on which to place him.

Third, some upgrade cards are "modifications". In your list, both Slaved Turrets and Redundant Shields are modifications. These upgrades have an extra limitation in that you are only allowed one "modification" card on each individual ship. That means that your Imperial Star Destroyer can equip either Slaved Turrets or Redundant Shields, but not both.

To avoid making these common list building mistakes, it is often helpful to use a fleet building website. I recommend Armada Warlords, available here: http://armadawarlords.hivelabs.solutions

I find it easy to use and very handy.

A better turbolaser upgrade would be the X17 especially for an ISD just to minimize the effectiveness of opponents redirects. On your gladiator I would replace expanded launcher with either rapid reload, assault concussion missiles, or assault proton torpedoes as these are better upgrades for the points you are spending. Based on your list a good commander I recommend is Screed get extra bang for all of the critical requiring upgrades or just give you criticals when you want them.

So this is just a very quick example, I tried to make the fleet very similar to your original one:

Example Fleet

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 393/400

Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Minefields

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Weapons Liaison ( 3 points)
- Redundant Shields ( 8 points)

[ flagship ] Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Grand Moff Tarkin ( 38 points)
- Weapons Liaison ( 3 points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Expanded Launchers ( 13 points)

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
1 Boba Fett ( 26 points)
2 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 16 points)

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Of course, you will want to consider the advice of chr335 above and other experienced Imperial players (I really only play rebels) to improve your fleet's potency. Good luck!

Thanks very much for the nudges in the correct direction. The rules bit was always going to trip me up, so it's very much appreciated. (Won't learn otherwise!)

I just built this list with the things I had to hand; I imagined there'd be a fleet builder somewhere on the internet as I use one for Flames of War in much the same way. Just some follow up questions:

1. Commanders - Are all commanders valid on any ship? Or do they have to be deployed on the ship they come in the box with i.e. Darth Vader on an ISD.

2. Modifications - So currently there's a 1 per ship limit. Is there exceptions to this rule? Also:

A better turbolaser upgrade would be the X17 especially for an ISD just to minimize the effectiveness of opponents redirects. On your gladiator I would replace expanded launcher with either rapid reload, assault concussion missiles, or assault proton torpedoes as these are better upgrades for the points you are spending. Based on your list a good commander I recommend is Screed get extra bang for all of the critical requiring upgrades or just give you criticals when you want them.

Does the X17 upgrade come within the ISD box? Are all upgrades available to all ships in much the same manner as Commanders (Provided that's the case).

3. Flagships - Is it better to have your big ISD as a flagship, or the Victory class, much like you've got in your amended list (Thanks for that as well!). Are there downsides to having him there? Or is it down to personal choice.

4. Is there a de facto Commander that people use? Or is it purely circumstantial.
EDIT - Added in question 4 =)

1.Commanders are valid on any ship as are officer cards (commanders have fleet wide effects while officers only effect the ship they are on) However unique character cards can only be in the fleet once so you can't have Darth Vader as a commander and have him as a squadron in the same fleet.

2 No their is currently no exception to the modification rule officially (some local places may have a house rule but that allowed at tournaments and no upgrades are only available to certain ships. The picture on the back of the card indicates what kind of upgrade it is just match it to the pictures at the bottom of the ship card. x17 is in the nebulon b expansion pack.

3 Honestly which ship you put as the flag ship is personnel preference just which ever you feel is more likely to keep your fleet commander alive longer.

4 No there is not a defacto commander at least not for the Imperial side yet. Screed and Motti are the two most popular right now but each Imperial commander has powerful effects if you match your fleet to them. Rebel fleets use Ackbar a lot because his ability is very powerful.

1.Commanders are valid on any ship as are officer cards (commanders have fleet wide effects while officers only effect the ship they are on) However unique character cards can only be in the fleet once so you can't have Darth Vader as a commander and have him as a squadron in the same fleet.

2 No their is currently no exception to the modification rule officially (some local places may have a house rule but that allowed at tournaments and no upgrades are only available to certain ships. The picture on the back of the card indicates what kind of upgrade it is just match it to the pictures at the bottom of the ship card. x17 is in the nebulon b expansion pack.

3 Honestly which ship you put as the flag ship is personnel preference just which ever you feel is more likely to keep your fleet commander alive longer.

4 No there is not a defacto commander at least not for the Imperial side yet. Screed and Motti are the two most popular right now but each Imperial commander has powerful effects if you match your fleet to them. Rebel fleets use Ackbar a lot because his ability is very powerful.

Thanks for the hasty reply. I'll look into both Screed and Motti as commanders, for sure. Excuse my ignorance, but did the Nebulon B come in the starter box? Because I should have one of those X17 if it did =)

It does, but there is also a Neb expansion. The expansions come with different upgrades than those that came in the core box, even those with the same ships (VSD, CR90, and Nebulon). XI7 is one of those that came in the expansion box but not in the core.

If you don't have or want to buy a Nebulon expansion, some good alternatives for the turbolaser slot on your ISD might be H9's, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets, or XX9's. I wouldn't say that any of those is quite as good for an ISD as XI7, but they're all pretty good, and all better than Slaved Turrets. The single-shot restriction on ST is a pretty significant cost.

You may also consider trying to trade for XI7. Alternatively, iirc it's supposed to be the "participation prize" for one of the upcoming tournament kits, if you're interested in tournament play at all.

If you don't have or want to buy a Nebulon expansion, some good alternatives for the turbolaser slot on your ISD might be H9's, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets, or XX9's. I wouldn't say that any of those is quite as good for an ISD as XI7, but they're all pretty good, and all better than Slaved Turrets. The single-shot restriction on ST is a pretty significant cost.

You may also consider trying to trade for XI7. Alternatively, iirc it's supposed to be the "participation prize" for one of the upcoming tournament kits, if you're interested in tournament play at all.

I'm friendly with the TO at our local shop, so I imagine he's got some spare kicking around. Thanks for the info!

Regarding your questions 3 and 4 from earlier-

I put Tarkin on the Victory in order to spread your points out a bit. Suppose I put Tarkin on the ISD; if that ship is lost, it's worth 172 points, which is 43% of your total fleet. On the other hand, putting him on the VSD makes it worth 114 points (28.5% of your fleet) and the ISD remains worth 134 points (33% of your fleet.) I personally like to spread the points out so that it lessens the loss of any single ship. Usually people will put their commander on either a fast maneuverable ship that's easy to keep out of danger (a Raider or CR-90, for instance) or a beefy strong ship with a lot of hit points (Victory, ISD, or MC-80). Like chr335 said, people are usually looking to keep them alive as much as possible.

I chose Tarkin in the first place because you had a Weapons Liaison in your original list and Tarkin works well with that upgrade. However, in retrospect, having both Weapons Liaison and Relentless on the ISD is a bit excessive. Consider this alternative example fleet, where I try to get the most out of Screed with the same ships:

Example Fleet 2

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 398/400

Commander: Admiral Screed

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Minefields

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)

[ flagship ] Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Admiral Screed ( 26 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)

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

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
4 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 32 points)
1 Boba Fett ( 26 points)

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Both the Victory and Gladiator have Assault Concussion Missiles. As long as you are in black dice range with those ships, you can use Screed to get a black crit and trigger this effect. While the ISD2 doesn't have a special critical effect upgrade equipped, it still gets use out of Screed because you have lots of red dice. If you roll two red blanks, you can spend one to turn the other into a crit. Really what commander you choose will depend on what kind of fleet you want to run. You get more firepower with Screed, more durability with Motti, more command flexibility with Tarkin, etc.

Anyway, hope this was helpful and have fun! Also, feel free to let us know your new list once you've refined it some, I always love seeing the ideas that other people have.

Now go play. You are ready

Hello all,

Welcome to my first for post on the Star Wars: Armada forum! I've played 1 or 2 games and decided to get a bit more into it. so I've made my first Imperial list with the things I've got:

Imperial Class 2 Star Destroyer - 120

Relentless - 3

Slaved Turrets - 6

Redundant Shields - 8

Support Officer - 4

Gladiator Class 2 Star Destroyer - 62

Engine Techs - 8

Demolisher - 10

Expanded Launchers - 13

Victory Class 2 Star Destroyer - 85

Overload Pulse - 8

Weapons Liason - 3

Howlrunner TIE Squadron - 16

TIE Fighter Squadron x 4 - 32

Boba Fett - 26

Any criticisms are welcome and pointers in the right direction are greatly appreciated! Does this list seem alright? I don't expect it to win any competitions, I just wanted to play with some big space pizza slices haha

Others above have noted the functional issues with your list.

I'd like to suggest a future change: replace your VSD with 1-2 Gozanti flotillas (and Expanded Hanger Bays), which will let you activate more squadrons for fewer points. This will make your larger number of cheap TIE squadrons more efficient.

The ISD2 has a very good front arc, so I recommend taking Gunnery Teams instead of Slaved Turrets to let you shoot at multiple enemies there. The most common tactic against am ISD is to flank around the side, so the ability to shoot at ships when they're in your front is a big deal.

I think Relentless is a great title, but I have also realized that age a few games I already know what my Commands should be after a turn at most and the first 1-2 turns are usually doesn't getting tokens for turns 3-5.

Gladiator didn't need Expanded Launchers. Save some points and take ACMs,and maybe a few extra fighters or fighter upgrades.