The Assault Frigate MK II A is an unloved ship, rarely if ever seen, due to the increased cost over the B variant, for a blue dice extra front and rear.

But with the advent of Flotillas incoming with Scatter Def Tokens, will the MK A finally get its chance to shine? H9 Turbolasers and suddenly that extra blue dice front and rear could be very useful.

What do you all think? would the ability to guarantee an accuracy from any arc at blue dice range, be a good enough investment for you to choose the A over the B variant?

I have been spending a fair amount of time, trying to work out how best to deal with Scatter tokens as an Imperial player, only the VSD II and the ISD II get blue dice in each fire arc, and the ability to take turbolaser upgrades, the ISD I gets it front and rear. Leaving me wondering how best to combat enemy flotillas.

What thoughts do other Imperial players have to deal with them?

Yes, but for a different reason: I believe that ship-based anti-squadron is about to get much better. Kallus makes 2-dice AS attacks much better against Ace squadrons, and if there's a similar ability to improve AS attaks we may see ships suddenly become much more powerful vs. squadrons in general.

I think it will still come down to cost. If you can take it you will

Also AFIIA gunnery teams and quad lasers - this will make it pretty good at providing area defence against the swarms of generic bombers starting to come back in, and quad lasers are a cheap way of getting them to go elsewhere too, especially with torryn...

I put one into one my Wave 3 builds, I figure that fighter defence is essential now. So either pay for squadrons or pay for extra AA but just hoping to wear it just isn't going to last. Flotillas make it too easy to activate large amounts of generic squadrons, intel makes it too hard to tie them down with a small defense force and bomber command takes much of the luck out of the equation.

I do think Wave 4 has a strong possibility to bring AF2A's into the fold thanks to the new Turbolaser Battery Increase. Double arc with identical damage output is extremely valuable especially when combined with Paragon to punch it through.

It's a 9 point premium.

There are lots of arguments in favour of having 2 A.S. dice or having a blue from front and rear, but when list building it always comes down to the 9 point price tag what else those 9 points could have bought.

Before adding 9pts for the A and 8 for the H9, I'd prefer to either tackle the flotillas side-on with that huge wide arc, or just send squadrons after them.

IMHO, YMMV, ETC

9 Points and a squadron activation.

90% of the time, I'll pay the 9 points. But I need that Squadron point....

yeah, I think AF2's b's with extended hangers are destined to remain my carrier of choice. New cards are going to have to add a lot to make me consider the "a" over a different ship

I am really looking forward to using Toryn Farr in some fleets. I think she benefits the A variant as much as any other ship the Rebels currently have.

I can see using MK2A in Ackbar fleets for extra AS. Especially with Toryn Farr

An A in a well-built fleet is good. I think we've not seen it much so far because the meta is mostly tilted toward builds that make more sense for the B. I've tried the A in a Mon Mothma list with an attempt to get a bit closer and double arc. I haven't gotten quite the way that I want it yet.

I used a pair of A's in a seasonal tournament a few months ago and came in second witha group that included a lot of our eventual Store Champ players. Hardly the best thing ever, but the ability to Gunnery Team for hitting squadrons ended up being a good threat, if not always the most powerful ability.

I think ship-based AS needs to be buffed slightly, which is what we're now seeing with the prevalence of black dice in the AS attacks on many ships. It needs to go just a bit further though before it finally feels right. Squadrons should be swarming ships to outpace the return fire, not sitting their almost immune to massive anti--squadron batteries. The introduction of Agent Kallus, which not only buffs 2-dice AS ships but also massively improves Quad Laser Turrets against ace squadrons, is another indication that FFG sees the need.

Nothing comes close to the tenacity of an AFMk.II A brawler barreling down your nose and double-arcing your enemy. The extra die in front and back makes a huge difference when you're double arcing. A double arc is just one die short of an ISD front, and I'd argue having it split over two attacks actually makes it better. Toss in Paragon and you can fogettaboutit.

The double AA is super helpful when trying to assure air superiority. I loooooove me some Yavaris, and my AFMk.II A's AA help make sure I can clean out enemy fighters so I can focus on tearing up ships in rounds 4-6.

If you're looking for a pure carrier that will skirt the edge of the battle, then yes, the B is better. However, if you're looking for the centerpiece of your fleet, you can't beat the A. Don't think of it as a 9 point increase to the B, think of it as a 33 point savings on an MC-80 Assault.