About to start the campaign, and I'm going to try to build a Vader list (since my other favorite commander is taken).

I thought I'd create an ISD as a primary threat and two EA Arquitens as the secondary threat.

With Vader, I don't have to worry about re-roll upgrades and can concentrate in other areas.

I have 61 points for my anti-squadron group left. I'm not super happy with what I put together for my squadrons, so any suggestions are appreciated.

Many thanks!

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Corellian Assault Group #101

Author: Democratus

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Navigational Hazards

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
= 163 total ship cost

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 points)
- Enhanced Armament ( 10 points)
= 64 total ship cost

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 points)
- Enhanced Armament ( 10 points)
= 64 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Jamming Field ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

1 JumpMaster 5000 ( 12 points)
1 Soontir Fel ( 18 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
1 Zertik Strom ( 15 points)

Its really hard to say with CC being new and the build restrictions and game format being somewhat different from the usual 400 point competitive tournament fair.

My thought is to have an idea of what you want to build toward. Your ships for the list that you're ultimately aiming at should already be present in your base list, as is your general strategy for attack. I like EA on the Arq, but you might be better off with 2x DTT. That's half the points and likely the same level of effectiveness. That would represent points that you could send toward squadrons. It looks to me like the concept for your squads is to have Mithel auto-damage, and then get them shooting at Zetrik so that Soontir's damage triggers, and then jamming field keeps everything alive. Have you tried a similar concept before? If so, I'm curious to see what the experience is like.

Also, if you have room for another gamer, I'm available.

It's a totally experimental squadron approach. Never really tried it before.

The ships I have there are most likely all I will field. The next 100 points will be used for upgrades and extra squadrons, if my economy allows.

My Rebel opponents love to play Ace-heavy lists, often with damage mitigation like Gallant Haven and Biggs. So I was looking for ways to do damage that bypasses all those shenanigans.

However, I'm a bit worried that sheer weight of dice (5+ top aces pushed by Yavaris, Gallant Haven, and protected by Rieekan) will brush my token screen aside.

Gallant Haven and Biggs are solid damage mitigators. I've been thinking through them a bit both as possibly playing them or against them. Unfortunately, I don't think there are great solutions. They're pretty tough overall and bound to be tougher in the layout of CC. My Oct/Nov/Dec solution was simply to cede the squadron game and push damage fast enough that it shuts down the carriers. I think the key point is that if someone has invested 134 points into highly synergistic squadrons AND brought upgrades on their ships to buff that squadron game further, its going to match-up well against anything that's spent less.

The Arq presents an interesting solution in that its beefy enough with a good defensive token layout to survive a round of squadron bombing. Reinforced Blast Doors can then trigger and possibly keep it alive a lot longer in the following round. The problem then is I'd just gun for the ISD if I were the opponent, but maybe you can fly it conservatively enough to prevent it from being destroyed.

There's a real danger that the opponent can farm those 60 points of squads, and you still have to unscar them if you want them around for rounds 4-5.

Let's see. I wonder what YT-666s would be like, especially if you planned on building toward Ruthless Strategists, maybe a Raider-II/Kalus/Impetuous down the road. It seems to me that something high hull could also survive a bit better if you had to fly it scarred for a round. Boosk/Zetrik could be a real interesting combo as well. Beyond that, I'm still getting a feel for the new squadrons. Maybe something that can push 3 damage against a squadron reliably.

Any suggestions for a better 61 points of squadrons? The squadron game has always been my weakest.