So wave 4 hopefully hits soon and it seems give a nice jack of all trades aggressive big ship. Here's what I am thinking about running...

REBEL ALLIANCE

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400

Commander: General Madine

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 points)
- General Madine ( 30 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 166 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 51 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 51 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 51 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
= 23 total ship cost

3 X-Wing Squadrons ( 39 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)

With 5 ships activation and 7 deployments, I shouldn't get out activated too horribly and I have 4 quality activations that can do some damage. The fighter screen is light but actually pretty beefy from my experience. Not saying I'll win the fighter scrum but it can last for more than one turn and take out a few integral pieces. Generally, you use the GR75 to attack with the X-Wings and Jan Ors moves in the squadron phase to set up for next turn, but that can be changed up as necessary. The MC80 is the main hitter in the force of course and with Madine it can dance. My current plan with it is to start at speed 3, bank a nav token, use concentrate fir the next turn, and nav from there on out to try and keep it alive and keep that beefy front pointed in the right direction. I'm sad I couldn't fit in Mon Karren, but Intel Officer helps support the rest of the fleet. Additionally I've been considering of changing the Intel Officer for Walex or Lando to kind of help counter the lack of ECM. Thoughts?

All critique is welcome. Specifically, I'm not exactly sure about my objective choices. My play style prefers being aggressive so anything that gets my opponent to move towards me is great but maybe I'm missing something. I'm also wondering which ship is best to put Madine on. Anyone have any experience on putting him on the smaller ships?

Opening salvo would be ok with all the small ships, and it would be ok if you had a reliable way to remove damage from the MC80 such as repair crews, Leia, or an engineering officer, but you will most likely end the game with some damage, which is not good for you. It is a fun objective, so if you're looking to have a good time, this list is fine for that. If you're looking for tournaments, then probably Most Wanted or Advanced Gunnery. AG sounds counter intuitive since you would probably place it on a corvette (which isn't very effective), but it's a deceptive point grabber. Your opponent will probably never choose Most Wanted.

Contested outpost and Dangerous territory are plenty fine for this list

if you were to drop IO to Lando or Walex, I'd choose Lando as a matter of personal preference. He helps out when you need the help. Walex helps out after the fact. Choosing either of those would also allow you to take the Medical Team, which also helps to counter the lack of defensive options. Lando would let you take Endeavor.

Really though, with a large base ship this cheap and with this many activations, I'd go for a bid to get initiative. It'd be comparable to getting a last/first activation with an ISD. I have a "Fast and Furious" concept, where a short range "Fast" ship, such as a CR90b gets the alpha last/first activation and moves to safety after doing its damage, followed by the "Furious" MC80 with a last/first activation. The 2 ships alternate from there, while the other ships stall with activations and take potshots. It's basically like an MSU, but with a large base thrown in.

My personal take on Large-ship MSU is go lean and bring two

My personal take on Large-ship MSU is go lean and bring two

Might be kind of a cool idea to take Madine with 2 Star Cruisers with Gunnery Teams and XI7s and Two CR90Bs with SW7s. Leaves you 64 points to play with and gives a lot of decent threat.

Opening salvo would be ok with all the small ships, and it would be ok if you had a reliable way to remove damage from the MC80 such as repair crews, Leia, or an engineering officer, but you will most likely end the game with some damage, which is not good for you. It is a fun objective, so if you're looking to have a good time, this list is fine for that. If you're looking for tournaments, then probably Most Wanted or Advanced Gunnery. AG sounds counter intuitive since you would probably place it on a corvette (which isn't very effective), but it's a deceptive point grabber. Your opponent will probably never choose Most Wanted.

Contested outpost and Dangerous territory are plenty fine for this list

if you were to drop IO to Lando or Walex, I'd choose Lando as a matter of personal preference. He helps out when you need the help. Walex helps out after the fact. Choosing either of those would also allow you to take the Medical Team, which also helps to counter the lack of defensive options. Lando would let you take Endeavor.

Really though, with a large base ship this cheap and with this many activations, I'd go for a bid to get initiative. It'd be comparable to getting a last/first activation with an ISD. I have a "Fast and Furious" concept, where a short range "Fast" ship, such as a CR90b gets the alpha last/first activation and moves to safety after doing its damage, followed by the "Furious" MC80 with a last/first activation. The 2 ships alternate from there, while the other ships stall with activations and take potshots. It's basically like an MSU, but with a large base thrown in.

Thanks for the advice. I understand what you mean about opening salvo, and in personal experience I've seen that objective back fire almost as often as it help. Most Wanted does seem like the safest choice.

Your Fast and Furious idea sounds interesting. Have you found CR90bs to worthwhile? I find them intriguing but they seem to melt so quickly.

As for a bid I could replace the Intel Officer with Lando and drop the Battle Cruiser to a Star Cruiser and get a 10 point bid. I'm not sure that's enough though.

The fast and furious concept is really just that at the moment, an academic concept. It's supposed to function like the Demo Triple tap, but with 2 key differences: no triple tap, but further range. Come speeding in with the last activation, double tap, then speed out with engine techs. If you take on,y the 1 SW90, and use this tactic, you shouldn't have problems with servo ability.

I guess 2 more key differences from the Demo triple tap is that you will also have a "furious" to follow up the "fast," and after the Dodonna's Pride has done its damage, your opponent will be more interested in trying to focus down the furious. Dodonna's pride simply isn't as threatening as Demo, so your opponent will not be as focused on it, which allows you to be daring.

As long as you can stay in rear arcs at medium+ range after the double tap, you shouldn't have to worry about surviving too much, barring rhymerballs. I still don't know about rhymerballs. Am considering far flung fighter screens (A-wings or YTs)

The fast and furious concept is really just that at the moment, an academic concept. It's supposed to function like the Demo Triple tap, but with 2 key differences: no triple tap, but further range. Come speeding in with the last activation, double tap, then speed out with engine techs. If you take on,y the 1 SW90, and use this tactic, you shouldn't have problems with servo ability.

I guess 2 more key differences from the Demo triple tap is that you will also have a "furious" to follow up the "fast," and after the Dodonna's Pride has done its damage, your opponent will be more interested in trying to focus down the furious. Dodonna's pride simply isn't as threatening as Demo, so your opponent will not be as focused on it, which allows you to be daring.

As long as you can stay in rear arcs at medium+ range after the double tap, you shouldn't have to worry about surviving too much, barring rhymerballs. I still don't know about rhymerballs. Am considering far flung fighter screens (A-wings or YTs)

I like the thought. I think the Battlecruiser will be better for that type of build than the starcruiser just because you can more reliable put more dice down range and keep up the pressure.

As for the Rhymerball, the first trick to the Rhymer ball is to figure out if you want to stop it completely, or just slow it down. It's completely feasible to slow it down with 40-60 dedicated to it and considering the Rhymberall costs 134, that's not a bad investment.

I guess 2 more key differences from the Demo triple tap is that you will also have a "furious" to follow up the "fast," and after the Dodonna's Pride has done its damage, your opponent will be more interested in trying to focus down the furious. Dodonna's pride simply isn't as threatening as Demo, so your opponent will not be as focused on it, which allows you to be daring.

I think that the main weak point of this concept is the fact that any good opponent will try to threaten your other ships, so once you follow up with your "fast", his next activation will put a lot of hurt on your ship.

This is the reason I prefer Furious and Furious type of build.

I guess 2 more key differences from the Demo triple tap is that you will also have a "furious" to follow up the "fast," and after the Dodonna's Pride has done its damage, your opponent will be more interested in trying to focus down the furious. Dodonna's pride simply isn't as threatening as Demo, so your opponent will not be as focused on it, which allows you to be daring.

I think that the main weak point of this concept is the fact that any good opponent will try to threaten your other ships, so once you follow up with your "fast", his next activation will put a lot of hurt on your ship.

This is the reason I prefer Furious and Furious type of build.

Great point. If your opponent can manage to pin one of the other ships, then that will incentivize you to forgo the strategy. But with Madine, you can now do some pretty fancy maneuvers to allay your opponent's efforts.

I guess 2 more key differences from the Demo triple tap is that you will also have a "furious" to follow up the "fast," and after the Dodonna's Pride has done its damage, your opponent will be more interested in trying to focus down the furious. Dodonna's pride simply isn't as threatening as Demo, so your opponent will not be as focused on it, which allows you to be daring.

I think that the main weak point of this concept is the fact that any good opponent will try to threaten your other ships, so once you follow up with your "fast", his next activation will put a lot of hurt on your ship.

This is the reason I prefer Furious and Furious type of build.

Great point. If your opponent can manage to pin one of the other ships, then that will incentivize you to forgo the strategy. But with Madine, you can now do some pretty fancy maneuvers to allay your opponent's efforts.

In that type of situation it's all about risk vs rewards. The good thing about playing the list I posted is that it's pretty simple - as long as it's not the MC80 it's basically expendable. Always try to trade up when you piece trade. Madine does make it easier to get out of tough situations though.

I guess 2 more key differences from the Demo triple tap is that you will also have a "furious" to follow up the "fast," and after the Dodonna's Pride has done its damage, your opponent will be more interested in trying to focus down the furious. Dodonna's pride simply isn't as threatening as Demo, so your opponent will not be as focused on it, which allows you to be daring.

I think that the main weak point of this concept is the fact that any good opponent will try to threaten your other ships, so once you follow up with your "fast", his next activation will put a lot of hurt on your ship.

This is the reason I prefer Furious and Furious type of build.

And why I prefer Furious, Furious, Furious and Furious types of build.

Multi dimensions of threat.