I wouldn't mind some constructive criticism and input on this fleet. Take a look at the list and then I'll explain it a bit below. I've played 4 games with this fleet so far, and I'm sitting at 1 win and 3 losses.

Objectives: Most Wanted, Fleet Ambush, Superior Positions

Points: 390

Admiral: Darth Vader

Imperial II-class Star Destroyer

-Relentless

-Captain Needa

-Gunnery Team

-Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams

-Electronic Counter Measures

-Quad Turbolaser Cannons

-SW-7 Ion Batteries

Interdictor Suppression Refit

-Interdictor

-Wulff Yularen

-Projection Experts

-Targeting Scrambler

-G7-X Grav Well Projector

Gozanti-class Cruisers

-Suppressor

-Repair Crews

Fighter Squadrons

Soontir Fel

Howlrunner

TIE Fighter Squadron x2

If it wasn't obvious, the focus of this fleet is the ISD rushing in and smashing through anything that can't handle it's forward firepower. And it's not hard to get ships in that forward arc at least once. And one time can be all that's needed. With the initiative bid I've been choosing second so I can play to my objectives. I've felt that a three-ship fleet is vulnerable to the fleets with more activations, so I keep choosing second to have an objective that helps give me a needed advantage. Unfortunately, not having initiative has hurt me more than it's helped and I'm going to have to try taking initiative in my next game to see if that helps or hurts the fleet.

So from the games of Armada I've managed to play, I've started hitting the point where I feel like Defense Tokens start becoming irrelevant. With the sheer amount of ways for ships to get accuracy icons and/or negate defense tokens, I've started adopting this fleet to not care about Defense tokens altogether. It's going all offense. Hence why I chose Vader as my admiral. That, and Vader is a favorite character of mine and I want to make him work leading my fleets. Plus, Vader gives my entire fleet the Leading Shots ability without losing the Ion Cannon slot or sacrificing a blue die after the attack. And given the popularity and usefulness of Leading Shots, Vader's ability seems really good to me. I just would like if he were 30 points rather than 36. Oh well, it's not that bad.

ISD with Interdictor support is nothing new now that Wave 3 and 4 is out, but I want to try my own version of it. The Interdictor and Gozanti help keep the ISD running so it can stay with Concentrate Fire commands to chew through enemy ships.

I chose Quad Turbolaser Cannons over X17's or anything else because with Vader's reroll (remember, I don't care about spending defense tokens for rerolls because those tokens are more than likely going to be unusable on defense anyways) I almost always get at least one red accuracy while the rest can be damage. And that single red accuracy becomes two, which negates at least half the defense tokens on any ship. With Vader's ability I don't need Leading Shots so I can equip HW-7's to make sure my blue dice are always extra damage if not spent on negating the one or two defense dice left.

Originally I was using the Devastator title on the ISD, given that it is Vader's original flagship and it adds more blue dice that will always, always be damage. But the sheer amount of accuracies the ISD gets hit with prevents me from spending the tokens (minus ECM, but even then that's more limited than Devastator wants to be). So if I can't use my defense tokens, I'm not getting any benefit from the title. Rather replace it with Relentless.

The squadrons are there for fighter defense and some light screening. And this grouping has actually been pretty effective. Surprise squadron commands from my ISD has caught my opponents off guard, and I purposefully only have squadrons equal to the ISD's or the Interdictor+Gozanti's squadron values.

TL;DR: All offense fleet focused on the ISD, with Vader providing Leading Shots effect because Defense Tokens feel like they're becoming increasingly irrelevant. I'll also get some replay reports next time I get to play this fleet.

I'm curious why you think defense tokens don't matter when you're only running two combat ships and no bombers. Are you planning on rolling 3+ accuracies against MC80s and ISDs? Does no one locally run ECMs?

I think that you may find your fleet lacking offensive firepower. While ISD front arc is potentially devastating, it's relatively easy to avoid and you don't have any other big damage dealers.

I also would run spinals instead of QTC in this list.

I'm curious why you think defense tokens don't matter when you're only running two combat ships and no bombers. Are you planning on rolling 3+ accuracies against MC80s and ISDs? Does no one locally run ECMs?

Yes actually. The number of accuracies I consistently get when shooting out the front Arc of the ISD is at least 3+ every time. If I get at least one red accuracy, then that's two blue dice I don't have to use as accuracies and can convert to damage.

Maybe I should have been more specific in saying that, in my opinion, Defense Tokens start becoming more and more useless to defend against attacks from opposing ships. Against fighter attacks, they still have their uses most of the time. I'm not running bombers because I've only bought one of every expansion (until recently where I bought a second Rebel and Imperial fighter pack to be ready for Corellian Conflict's new squadrons), so I've never had enough bombers to run them efficiently. I stick to a fighter screen most of the time.

Locally there's been a lot of Rebel lists being used. Specifically I just happen to keep going up against variations on a build that contains: MC80 Liberty, 2x Nebulon B's, and a mix of CR-90's and/or GR-75's. This type of build is being used by multiple people. So no, ECM has not been much of a factor in what I've been going up against. Maybe I should throw on the MS-1 Ion Cannons onto the Interdictor to deal with ECM?

I think that you may find your fleet lacking offensive firepower. While ISD front arc is potentially devastating, it's relatively easy to avoid and you don't have any other big damage dealers.

I also would run spinals instead of QTC in this list.

The strategy I've been trying to employ is to rush up at speed 3 with the ISD and target the ships that can't withstand the front arc for more than a turn. It's chewed through CR-90's and Nebulon B's very effectively since they don't get the time to avoid the front arc.

I actually considered that a second ISD in this list would be better than the Interdictor, as point costs start to equal near the same (probably would have to drop the Gozanti) and I could load it up pretty heavily like the first. But I don't play in the competitive scene enough to warrant buying another ISD and I try to stick to buying only one of each expansion unless I find a really good reason to buy another one (like buying a second Rebel and Imperial fighter pack in preparation for Corellian Conflict). This is why I'm stuck with only one X17 card for potentially all of eternity.

I haven't used Spinal Armament yet because I"m not sure if the one extra red dice out the front and back is worth it. Red dice are pretty fickle. But considering the reroll with Vader, it may be worth a try.

Whoops, double post.

Here's a solution to the ECM problem on large enemy ships.

Take Avenger instead of Relentless and use the Suppressor's ability to tweak the MC80s brace then watch Avenger scythe into it.

To go further you could drop SW7 and put OL Pulse on the Interdictor but this eats into your bid more.

Here's a solution to the ECM problem on large enemy ships.

Take Avenger instead of Relentless and use the Suppressor's ability to tweak the MC80s brace then watch Avenger scythe into it.

To go further you could drop SW7 and put OL Pulse on the Interdictor but this eats into your bid more.

That's not a bad option at all. Makes the Interdictor a bit more offensive and can actually get into the fight more than being stuck more or less as pure support.

Though I have started really loving the SW-7's since using them as they make every blue dice roll useful.