Has anyone considered this, or played it? If so, how'd it do?

Faction: Rebel Alliance

Points: 391/400

Commander: General Rieekan

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- General Rieekan ( 30 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

The idea is pretty straightforward. Fly into the enemy death cannons, clogging them with wreckage. Or spam Nav commands until blue die range, then spam Concentrate Fire, so each ship is chucking three guaranteed damage, hopefully out of two arcs. Braces become useless, and a pair of CR90s hitting a single target would mean some discarded Redirect tokens. Against ISDs or VSDs without Gunnery Teams, simply cram three or four of them in the front arc and unload. Even with Gunnery Teams, I'd gladly trade 88pts of CR90s for a minimum 117pts of ISD. And yes, there is nothing to counter a Rhymerball. But with good maneuvering, the Rhymerball should only get one or two rounds of shooting before a carrier or two is dead.

Thoughts?

Alternatively, I could drop one ship and swap them all to CR90 As with TRCs, but then I have to somehow find five TRC cards.

I did play against a similar build on vassal some time ago and it is nasty.

The board gets awwwwwfully crowded...you'd better have practiced a lot!

I prefer to sprinkle a few heavy hitters into the mix and leave a bit more maneuvering room. MC30s fit nicely...

The board gets awwwwwfully crowded...you'd better have practiced a lot!

Which is why I haven't tried it yet. And I've considered adding a few Nebs. Then I could swap Hyperspace Assault for Contested Outpost, and leave the Nebs to guard it while they spam CF with Slaved Turrets or TRCs.

They do take some skill to fly. Yes, it is a bit much when you encounter it. Lists like this are why it is helpful to have a plan for one-shotting Corvettes. You left off one key bit, and that is that the enemy can shoot you dead, then activate and bump into your already dead ship taking damage. Then you get to activate, shoot, and then bump them back for more damage!

This list is fantastic, and has the added bonus of making you handsomer, taller, and more successful with the ladies (or gentlemen, if that's your thing).

I have flown the all-SW90 version of this list lots of times, and I love it. It's a lot of fun to fly, and it's so uncommon that nobody knows how to handle it.

The downside is that it's so uncommon that you yourself have to get some practice with it to not be terrible. It's not easy, and it takes some discipline. A couple of the challenges:

It gets crowded. I fly it in flights of 2-3. Set up three CR90's on a table and figure out how to position them in an inverted V formation as close together as possible. Learn that distance very well, and set them up in that formation at deployment. This will help you concentrate your fire, which is a huge deal for this list, while still having the flexibility to navigate them pretty much how you want. The trick is, you have to essentially fly them as one big ship with this approach, issuing each the same commands and moving the same along the template. If you do this for the first round or two, you should be able to keep your forces organized enough that you can afford to be flexible with where you place them later, because they'll all be spaced appropriately so you can make some pretty tight maneuvers and still be sure you won't ram yourself.

You have to concentrate your fire. Mass is HUGE for this list. As many of your ships as possible have to strike all at once with as many arcs as possible. You're going to lose ships: your defense is overwhelming your opponent with so many targets he can't take enough shots to kill them all. Clog the alien death cannons with your wreckage, as Zapp Brannigan says. You will usually lose around 3 ships on Round 3. That's fine, as long as you're getting a good trade for them. Your strategy is to force the other guy into a very fast war of attrition. Your damage output per point is unrivalled as long as your double-arcing; you pay for it with flimsy ships. Maximizing Rieekan's strength means pushing that advantage as hard as you possibly can.

Speaking of Rieekan, use him to lock your targets in place. The only way you're going to put out the 24 points of damage you'll need to do in one round to kill a Motti ISD is with four double arcs, all with CF queued up. The only way you're going to get four CR90's double arc shots is by blocking well. Sure you'll lose the ship you're blocking with (probably); but I'm pretty sure a 44-point CR90 is a good trade for that 165-point ISD flagship.

A couple of other points of advice:

If you see lots of squadrons, your #1 priority is whichever ship has the most squadron activations, period. Inactivated squadrons--yes, even a Rhymer ball--can be juked with CR90's, with practice. Remember, a Rhymer ball at medium range can be evaded, and you have lots of those.

If you see lots of rogues, on the other hand, you probably want to stand and fight them, unless you can table the carriers fast. By stand and fight,I mean try to keep your AS arcs concentrated, and then draw them into your range. 8 blue dice with judicious use of CF dials will do a number on any squadron ball.

Navigation is your defense; CF is your death blow. Save nav tokens as early as you possibly can, and then blow them only to save your life or end someone else's. If you're taking a side arc shot, you should have a CF.

Do the math on how much damage it will take to kill each ship you're facing, being sure to add in the +2 for the 2 (lol) damage they can brace off. Then, do the math for how many of your 3-damage arcs it will take to deal that much damage. Assign only that number of ships to deal with the threat.

The only exception to these rules is Demolisher. If Demolisher is on the field, it's priority #1, everything else is secondary. You can wreck him with early, massed corvettes; he can wreck you by wearing down your force if he gets to face them in ones and twos. You have to form a horseshoe around the front of Demo to block it in range, otherwise it'll be too slippery for you to chase down and it will get you on the alpha strike every time. Set this up a few times to figure out how to do it, or it will lose you games. The nice thing is, this list, more than ANY other, has the maneuverability, survivability, and activation advantage to actually pull that off.

Sorry, that was really long. I play this list a lot and have lots of advice. Take what helps; ignore what's dumb, and good luck!

How viable would you say the list is in a tournament? I don't imagine too many scenarios could give the list a high points standing, as the strategy appears to be trading small ship points for other ship points

How viable would you say the list is in a tournament? I don't imagine too many scenarios could give the list a high points standing, as the strategy appears to be trading small ship points for other ship points

It works great.

If you're going to win with this list, the preponderance of the time it will be by tabling your opponent. If you do the math, you can lose fully four of your CR90B's and still pull off a 9-1 if you win with a tabling (objective points aside). You can lose six and still potentially pull off an 8-2.

Yes, the strategy is to make advantageous trades. If you think about it, though, that's what basically every list ultimately boils down to. The thing is, you're really efficient at it. You just have to play aggressively enough to make sure you're going to get that table.

I just thought of a rather. . .cheeky combination. Upgrade one to Dodonna's Pride. Hypothetical - you roll up and drop three damage from your front arc. Your opponent Braces and Redirects. You trigger Dodonna's Pride and deal one face up damage card to the hull. Now they've suffered one damage and exhausted two tokens, and you only reduced your damage by one. Or they can use no tokens, and take three damage on the chin. Either way, it's kind of a win for you.

I just thought of a rather. . .cheeky combination. Upgrade one to Dodonna's Pride. Hypothetical - you roll up and drop three damage from your front arc. Your opponent Braces and Redirects. You trigger Dodonna's Pride and deal one face up damage card to the hull. Now they've suffered one damage and exhausted two tokens, and you only reduced your damage by one. Or they can use no tokens, and take three damage on the chin. Either way, it's kind of a win for you.

Is that the right activation order? I've never done that despite playing with DP a lot, maybe been missing out. I've always called my single damage or letting the attack hit normally before the tokens had been spent.

That's actually a pretty clever way to mind-game an opponent. Though I feel that by flying the 'vettes in swarms, they will just save their tokens for your non-Dodonna's pride ships, expecting you to activate his critical effect anyways.

But yes, having Dodonna's pride would certainly be a great opening shot on a ship with lots of shields. Leading with DP could potentially strip an opponent of shields or tokens, making the follow-on attacks from your other 'vettes that much more effective. The real question is wether to take the SW Ion cannons (to salvage no crit rolls) or leading shots (to try try again) with it.

And something else I thought of was having a designated ramming ship(s). Currently, you've got enough bid to put engine techs on one 'vette, which could be used for a double tap to finish off a ship or to take advantage of the fact that it is going to die at the end of the round any ways. I think it would want to fly at the front of the formation so that it obstructs attacks against the other 'vettes, making it the obvious target.

DP's ability is a critical effect. You resolve critical effects after defense tokens are spent. The order is basically:

- Gather dice

- Roll dice

- Add/modify/re-roll dice

- Spend Accuracies

- Spend Defense Tokens (Evade and Scatter take effect now, Redirects are spent and the adjacent hull zone declared, Braces are spent)

- Activate critical effects

- Apply damage

This can definitely lead to shenanigans. If your opponent isn't paying close attention, you could theoretically spend a Redirect and declare a hull zone that has one shield left, only to have that single shield taken away by Assault Concussion Missiles. Or you choose a hull zone with the most remaining shields, then suffer Projector Misalignment from Assault Proton Torpedoes, which drains those shields away and makes your Redirect wasted.

I just thought of a rather. . .cheeky combination. Upgrade one to Dodonna's Pride. Hypothetical - you roll up and drop three damage from your front arc. Your opponent Braces and Redirects. You trigger Dodonna's Pride and deal one face up damage card to the hull. Now they've suffered one damage and exhausted two tokens, and you only reduced your damage by one. Or they can use no tokens, and take three damage on the chin. Either way, it's kind of a win for you.

Is that the right activation order? I've never done that despite playing with DP a lot, maybe been missing out. I've always called my single damage or letting the attack hit normally before the tokens had been spent.

Yes. Your opponent spends defense tokens before you resolve critical effects. So they have to gamble wether you will use the effect or just do the damage. At the beginning, when they have full shields, the obvious answer is that the crit effect will be used. But when there are no shields, and you'd be dealing 3 damage with a face up instead of just a single face up, that's when things get tricky.

Even at the beginning when they have full shields, it's a tough call. Do you drain your shields by three, or waste a token or two and suffer a face up damage card anyway? Admittedly, Braces will only save you one damage per shot, but spending them and taking damage anyway is kind of a slap in the face.