Having followed threads lamenting the alleged decline of Big Ships, in tandem with the release of wave 5 i started playing about with ways of bringing maximum big ships to the table in a playable form. Im of the opinion fighters, and especially the wave 5 fighters (looking at you Z95) have facilitated, not hindered the big ship game.

Below are a few list ideas i reckon are flexible enough for all settings (caveat 1: i've only come up with Rebel lists because i'm a Reb player and Imperials suck... and i've played about two games using Imperials... caveat 2: these lists are intended to prove big ships can function with current alleged fighter dominance. Im not saying these will take me to the top table at the world championships, nor are they infallible. Other list ideas are available ).

Fleet 1:

[ REBEL FLEET (399 points)

1 • MC80 Star Cruiser - Gunnery Team - Leading Shots - XI7 Turbolasers (113)

2 • MC80 Star Cruiser - Gunnery Team - Leading Shots - H9 Turbolasers (115)

3 • GR-75 Medium Transports - General Rieekan - Boosted Comms - Bright Hope (54)

4 • GR-75 Medium Transports - Boosted Comms (22)

5 • Lieutenant Blount Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (14)

6 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (7) x 7 = 49

7 • Jan Ors Moldy Crow (19)

8 • YT-1300 (13)

Fleet 2:

1 • MC80 Assault Cruiser - MC80 Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (114) - Admiral Ackbar (38) - Electronic Countermeasures (7) - Reinforced Blast Doors (5) - Leading Shots (4)
• Total : 168 •
2 • MC80 Command Cruiser - MC80 Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (106) - Electronic Countermeasures (7) - Leading Shots (4)
• Total : 117 •
3 • GR-75 Medium Transports - GR-75 (18)
• Total : 18 •
4 • GR-75 Medium Transports - GR-75 (18)
• Total : 18 •
5 • Jan Ors Moldy Crow - HWK-290 (19)
• Total : 19 •
6 • Lieutenant Blount Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (14)
• Total : 14 • Code : r45
7 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7)
• Total : 7 • Code : r42
8 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7)
• Total : 7 • Code : r42
9 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7)
• Total : 7 • Code : r42
10 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7)
• Total : 7 •
11 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7)
• Total : 7 •
12 • A-wing Squadron - A-wing (11)
• Total : 11 •

For the Ackbar fleet i'd definitely look to go second player with primarily defensive missions that play to the cruiser's speed two and guns, any bomber balls being drawn towards and intercepted by Blount and friends for a while.

The Liberty list has a little more flexibility but less durability. Will have to play test a few missions for that one...

Looks like a really fun list. Being able to have 8 squads now with the cheap z-95's to mitigate deployment disadvantage and having 4 activations will be nice with being able to line up the two heavy hitters to cover each other. Interested to hear how the Headhunters work for you screening your ships, Id imagine you need to use them more like basic ties but am intruigued by their (potential) damage output vs squads. Reinforced blast doors to keep Ackbar on an even tankier 11 hull pickle is just icing on the cake

I'm also quite curious to see how much damage z95s can put out/ how long they can last. Including Jan will hopefully add a little to their survivability, and with swarm/Blount rerolls they should be able to savage far more expensive fighters. Got my first game with wave 5 in the new year, very much looking forward to it.

First list looks strong. Got a touch of PT's double ISD list about it.

Having followed threads lamenting the alleged decline of Big Ships, in tandem with the release of wave 5 i started playing about with ways of bringing maximum big ships to the table in a playable form. Im of the opinion fighters, and especially the wave 5 fighters (looking at you Z95) have facilitated, not hindered the big ship game.

Below are a few list ideas i reckon are flexible enough for all settings (caveat 1: i've only come up with Rebel lists because i'm a Reb player and Imperials suck... and i've played about two games using Imperials... caveat 2: these lists are intended to prove big ships can function with current alleged fighter dominance. Im not saying these will take me to the top table at the world championships, nor are they infallible. Other list ideas are available ).

Fleet 1:

[ REBEL FLEET (399 points)

1 • MC80 Star Cruiser - Gunnery Team - Leading Shots - XI7 Turbolasers (113)

2 • MC80 Star Cruiser - Gunnery Team - Leading Shots - H9 Turbolasers (115)

3 • GR-75 Medium Transports - General Rieekan - Boosted Comms - Bright Hope (54)

4 • GR-75 Medium Transports - Boosted Comms (22)

5 • Lieutenant Blount Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (14)

6 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (7) x 7 = 497 • Jan Ors Moldy Crow (19)

8 • YT-1300 (13)

Fleet 2:

1 • MC80 Assault Cruiser - MC80 Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (114) - Admiral Ackbar (38) - Electronic Countermeasures (7) - Reinforced Blast Doors (5) - Leading Shots (4) • Total : 168 • 2 • MC80 Command Cruiser - MC80 Mon Calamari Star Cruiser (106) - Electronic Countermeasures (7) - Leading Shots (4) • Total : 117 •3 • GR-75 Medium Transports - GR-75 (18) • Total : 18 •4 • GR-75 Medium Transports - GR-75 (18) • Total : 18 •5 • Jan Ors Moldy Crow - HWK-290 (19) • Total : 19 •6 • Lieutenant Blount Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (14) • Total : 14 • Code : r457 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7) • Total : 7 • Code : r428 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7) • Total : 7 • Code : r429 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7) • Total : 7 • Code : r4210 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7) • Total : 7 •11 • Z-95 Headhunter Squadron - Z-95 Headhunter (7) • Total : 7 •12 • A-wing Squadron - A-wing (11) • Total : 11 •

For the Ackbar fleet i'd definitely look to go second player with primarily defensive missions that play to the cruiser's speed two and guns, any bomber balls being drawn towards and intercepted by Blount and friends for a while.

The Liberty list has a little more flexibility but less durability. Will have to play test a few missions for that one...

. Ryhmer are now untouchable with rapid launch bays.

Thats not true. Play it.

Rapid Launch Bays requires Intel or the enemy not to just pre emptively surround protect the airspace. And Slicer tools to not be used, and the ship to be positioned correctly on the turn when squad command is scheduled. And flight commander to make sure they can be chucked after movement.

hmm, thats a lot of ands.

. Ryhmer are now untouchable with rapid launch bays.

Thats not true. Play it.

Rapid Launch Bays requires Intel or the enemy not to just pre emptively surround protect the airspace. And Slicer tools to not be used, and the ship to be positioned correctly on the turn when squad command is scheduled. And flight commander to make sure they can be chucked after movement.

hmm, thats a lot of ands.

AND requires that it be the last ship and have initiative in the squad phase, or having a follow up ship to ACTIVATE the squads that have been barfed out before they can be intercepted.

I think RLB will be fun and thematic but it won't be unstoppable in the slightest

Trouble with RLB is the host ship has to get itself into position - not an easy task with wide Ackbar'd up MC80 broadsides. Rhymer doesnt fare well if the SD he's on goes down in flames. It's a great card that adds an exciting element to the game for six points, but thats it.

The thing is you can't tie a ryhmer ball down with launch bays but my ties can tie your fighters down allowing them to deploy the ball when that happens.

In a vacuum, you may be right... but there's a lot more going on than the solely ties, Rhymer and a Reb fighter screen.

Aside from the the aforementioned huge (in dice and coverage) Ackbar broadsides an RLB ship has to negotiate, it has to worry about a balanced list within 400 points, deployment, subsequent positioning, correct orders at the right time etc etc - not to mention your opponent is not totally inactive during all this, watching your RLB master plan unfold. They'll be countering.

RLBs are great, but just like a Rhymer ball they ain't the be-all and end-all. Saying that one 6 point upgrade will drastically tip the balance of a game in favour of the user belies the reality of the game situation.

The thing is you can't tie a ryhmer ball down with launch bays but my ties can tie your fighters down allowing them to deploy the ball when that happens.

the thing is, a modern fighter screen is all about murdering fighters and ignoring the "i want to tie up squadrons". its all about the BIG antisquadron damage .

anatomy of a rhymerball:

escorts(i.e. vader, advanced)

rhymer

dengar, to make the Ball "immune to being tied down" (before the Intel keyword, rhymerballs sucked).

full bombers

"kill dengar and the whole list collapses."

if he sends 1-2 escorts to tie you down, the escorts are dead in one turn by your 70-90 pts of interceptors. you then go kill the rest escorts and DENGAR, and its ok. thats what you wanted to do in the first place. NOT "tie them down", because a rhymerball cant be tied down due to dengar. kill escorts. kill dengar. ignore the concept of "tying down" because it never works since wave 2. simple.

remember. Bombers in a rhymerball are ALL ABOUT THE INTEL KEYWORD. know the list and you can defeat it