Just wondering if anyone has tried this out - and if so, was more than a gimmick?

• Take Tarkin as the admiral
• Have at least 4 ships (just so you get 4 tokens to play with)
• Take a Lambda (for relay)
• Take "figher cover" squadrons as a counter to anything the other player may have (maybe interceptors for damage or advanceds as speedbumps)
• Have Tarkin hand out squadron tokens to allow each ship to activate any one squadron (nearly) anywhere on the board thanks to Relay
• Ships are then free to concentrate on other commands

The idea is that while you're paying over the odds for Tarkin, you're freeing up a ship from having being a dedicated squadron control ship. It also lets you quickly switch to other token types later in the game if your squadrons have...er...given their lives selflessly for the Empire.

This does tie up Rebel fighters into squadron combat and acts as a good sentry line. I did manage to take out about half of the Rebel fighter squadrons this way, but the A-wing and X-wing squadrons that got past did manage to put the extra point or two of damage that took down my Interdictor.

It's a good idea but it is limited to taking 1 squad per ship unless you focus squad commands. But Relay is limited to 2, and anything except a Raider and the non-command Arq will be wasting the token everytime since the squad command is at least 2. This also limits you in getting a good alpha strike in since you are activating 1 at a time.

I could see this working with high hull squads like Defenders and Decimators, which will likely be screening your ships anyway. 6/8 hull is enough to take a few attacks, which means you will still be able to activate them when your turn comes around. Plus they have a wide threat profile so they are multi use if you manage to kill all the squads or play against a squadron-less fleet.

It's not as good as a full on, real fighter push, but yes it works fantastic letting your ships do other commands and still having some tactical use of the fighters during the turn.

I used Tarkin in a Glad swarm, handed out nav tokens for engine techs and then that allowed me to use squad/CF dials. That way you don't feel like you are missing out on squad activations

The fleet I was going to take to regionals was a couple Intel Offocer Arquitens and a couple gladiators with Tarkin to do exactly this. I was using 1 Lambda, 2 Defenders, Zertic and Tempest.

Better idea for you. Take admiral you want and floatillas with expanded hanger bays. Command 3 squad per float from across the board, burn activations, gain deployment advantage.

On 25/2/2017 at 4:51 PM, Undeadguy said:

It's a good idea but it is limited to taking 1 squad per ship unless you focus squad commands. But Relay is limited to 2, and anything except a Raider and the non-command Arq will be wasting the token everytime since the squad command is at least 2. This also limits you in getting a good alpha strike in since you are activating 1 at a time.

This is literally the list I took the other day. Four Raiders and two Light Cruisers, with two Lambdas. Let me tell you, wasting that dial for a single activation hurt big time. Tarkin would have helped a lot, but so would literally any other ship given the squadron command value, and the latter option would be a hell of a lot cheaper in the long run.

Hell, run a command Arq with the Centicore title on an end around and you can almost bypass needing the Lambdas in the first place.

Its an awesome idea, but dunno if useful. Lets hear more about the plan?

Tarkin is 38pts, a Gozanti and Motti is 47pts. For the 9pt difference I think having Motti would be better.

And I love Tarkin. But I feel dismissing his flexibility and just using squadron tokens constantly is missing out on what makes him worthwhile.

Once upon a time I ran 3 GSDs Tarkin and 10squadrons of rogues/bombers. It was the most fun under the sun. But this was wave2, and only 3 ships, so... not gonna suffice vs the 5 activations of the modern flotilla-age.

3 hours ago, Grey Mage said:

Tarkin is 38pts, a Gozanti and Motti is 47pts. For the 9pt difference I think having Motti would be better.

And I love Tarkin. But I feel dismissing his flexibility and just using squadron tokens constantly is missing out on what makes him worthwhile.

Can't really disagree with you - was kinda trying to see if there was something a bit different that could be done with the ol' Moff.

I'll probably try it out myself a few times just to see though - the idea I was thinking of was that any squadrons may not really last past turn 3-4. They would really only be there to slow down approaching bombers to give the big ships a chance to close the distance and then later in the game I can start handing out other tokens as they are needed.

Interesting question:

One of the things about using TarkinTokens(TM) I had thought would be a weakness is that you'd be limited to committing squadrons piecemeal (one at a time) as you activate ships. But could it actually be an advantage to work this way?

For example: if you are facing a bomber heavy fleet, throwing in a single Advanced won't slow them up much, but may cause some of them to be left behind - just engage one or two of them at the edge. Sure, an Intel ship can free them up, but then the Intel Ship may be out of position for the next Advanced you activate etc...

Tarkin is a great commander, and extremly underestimated.

If you have enough ships, you gain a good number of tokens. And you are total flexible in doing your commands. Because you can always get what you need with his effekt.

He is several Commanders in one. He has parts from Ozzel, Motti, Vader. With the ability to choose what you need.
The flexiblity saved me alot of games.

But all on the cost of expensive 38 points.

But i would not "waste" his ability for a squadron token to activate a single squadon via relay.
And with only 4 ships you can only activate 4 squadron. These are by far not enough to beat any normal squadron list (not even to slow them down). And against a solid Rhymer ball? No way.
Or you need two shuttles, give out squadron commands, and use alot of squadrons.

2 hours ago, Tokra said:

And with only 4 ships you can only activate 4 squadron. These are by far not enough to beat any normal squadron list (not even to slow them down). And against a solid Rhymer ball? No way.

My fault here for not explaining all of the master plan (rubs his hands and cackles maniacally...)

I'm toying with the idea of a mainly ship focused fleet with JJ as the admiral, that features a Fletchette Raider as one of the squadron countering tools, but I'm wondering if Tarkin might be a better choice.

I've had some success with this Raider (1) recently, but a lot comes down to timing - and having an Advanced in just the right place to act as a sandbag helps enormously with this. So having the flexibility to throw a squadron about when needed could be an advantage. Not fully convinced myself though

Its a good idea but i'd still have a Gozanti dedicated to bulk activations, which this gives it 4 activations if it wasnt banking a token!

Reason being, youre only activating 1 at a time. Great for moving the stragglers around but for the initial strike or chasing a weak ship you need multiple activations. One ship zipping up to tie up the enemy squads and only 1 will only tie up a few depending on how far you had to go/can go, which will not only get vaporized but has a good chance of not even stalling the squads you really want to stall.

Even still, its VERY common to have 1-2 random non-rogue fighters unable to hit something. My 3 command ships i tend to bank a squadron if i didnt think i could get a use out of it at turn2 for this purpose. No idea how many times in the past i could have killed a ship if i had a squad activation to move that Xwing/Defender 1/4 of an inch lol