Ok, my first fleet was a total disaster, as I misread an upgrade card, which left me with 129 points of useless Interdictor. Managed to scrape a win out of my first ever match, but got horribly smashed in my other two games (was a tournament, so couldn't change anything up).

Anyway, back to the drawing board and wanted to create a fleet with fairly decent ship firepower and the ability to swarm opponents with squadrons (left me wishing I had 500 points to mess with! lol) Here's the list I've come up with:

Faction: Galactic Empire

Points: 398/400

Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault Objective: Most Wanted

Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon

Navigation Objective: Minefields

[Flagship] Imperial I Class Star Destroyer (120 Points)

- Avenger (5 Points)

- Grand Moff Tarkin (38 Points)

- Flight Controllers (6 Points)

- Expanded Hanger Bay (5 Points)

- Boosted Comms (4 Points)

- Leading Shots (4 Points)

- XI7 Turbolasers (6 Points)

= 178 Total Ship Cost

Arquitens Class Light Cruiser (54 Points)

- Hand Of Justice (4 Points)

- Captain Needa (2 Points)

- Reinforced Blast Doors (5 Points)

- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7 Points)

= 72 Total Ship Cost

Gozanti Class Cruisers (23 Points)

- Suppressor (4 Points)

- Boosted Comms (4 Points)

= 31 Total Ship Cost

1 Howlrunner (16 Points)

5 TIE Fighter Squadrons (40 Points)

1 Captain Jonus (16 Points)

5 TIE Bomber Squadrons (45 Points)

= 117 Total Squadron Points

Tarkin constantly feeds squadron commands to all ships, allowing the ISD to control 6 at once and the Gozanti, 3. TIE Fighter swarm has potential for 5 die per attack, which is handy for going after unique squadrons, while remaining cheap. Jonus supports ship fire, with enough bomber squadrons to put a dent in most ships (unless I roll horribly). I AM considering swapping out Howlrunner for Mauler Mithel. Cause it looks like I get the same effect when attacking, but with a guaranteed hit, plus I save another point overall towards gaining choice for initiative.

I added Leading shots as I only get one blast from the front arc of the ISD and most die have the potential to miss. It also works as a little insurance if my AS attacks from the ISD completely miss.

I figured the 3 ship titles should compliment my fleet well too. Thoughts? :-/

Your ISD-I has a solid carrier build, but then follows it up with also trying to double as a gunship. With such a points heavy ship, if someone rolls accuracies into you, you're going to have a very difficult time keeping alive when you can't use your brace, I'd drop Avenger and get Minister Tua on there to ensure your giant expensive flagship can survive.

72 points for an Arquittens is very intensive, especially on a light cruiser. Also the Hand of Justice title isn't going to be fitting with the build you seem to be running for. I would actually upgrade to a Command Cruiser, and maybe give it the Centicore title to allow additional activations nearby. Drop the RBDs, and cut down from Needa and TRCs to a Dual Turbolaser to open up the points.

For Squadrons, I feel like you need to find a way to fit some escorts in so your aces don't just get rolled over. Tempest Squadron goes great with a bomber ball. Is there any particular reason you aren't running Rhymer?

I ended up with 2 expensive ships, cause I felt I needed the best chance of hitting hard if a ship charges through the squadrons. I'd be rolling dice that could give me a Christmas roll and smash just about any ship I'd encounter, or give me the kind of result that gets me wiped out. So I wanted to give myself the best chance to put out damage.

When it comes to Dual Turbolasers, I haven't really grasped the benefit of them. So if I'm rolling 3 red die, I can add one more, but then I have to remove a die from the resulting roll? Great if I've rolled a miss, but if I get a good result, I have to ditch one of my hits? If I've got that right, TRCs seem a better option for the extra 2 points, as I change a miss to a double hit, or a single to a double.

As for Rhymer, he was definitely considered, but I went with Jonus, as he can help my ships that are firing at his target. Ideally, I'd have liked to fit both in, as Rhymer would be great for bombing ships that only have black AS die.

I did aim for a command cruiser, but the ship points were building and I wanted a good number of points for squadrons, so I could swarm targets. I figured my ISD and Gozanti would be shifting a good number of squadrons, so the 1 squadron I can use with my light cruiser can be used to move Jonus.

The light cruiser is being used to fly with the ISD and back it up, hence why I put the Hand Of Justice card on, to help the ISD's brace. As you said though, I should try to get Tua and countermeasures onto the ISD to make sure I can actually use the brace. Reluctant to get rid of the Avenger title though, cause it stops ships and unique squadrons from spending exhausted tokens. :-/

I'd suggest not playing Minefields or Ion Cannons without at least 1 squadron with Strategic. If you run into a opponent with strategic they can totally negate those objectives if you don't have an answer for it.

Ship wise, you are going to get tabled an awful lot. You will be forced to spam repair tokens with Tarkin and repair commands constantly with both ships to keep them alive, which negates your flight controllers, Exp hangers, and Boosted Coms. I'd suggest getting more ship targets so the ISD doesn't get focused and you have more Tarkin benefit dropping those 3 upgrades and using the points to pick up a shuttle gives you a little bit of the benefit of Boosted Coms and fixes problem 1, but you lose the big alpha strike you are trying to get. All in all, the list just seems at odds with itself. One thing is forcing you to play in a way that another thing is devalued and visa versa.

In regards to fighter screen, I would trade the 5 ties for a Mauler, Adv., and a jumpmaster. You are going to get more mileage out of 3 fighters that last 3 turns (with the advanced allowing you to force their target) than 5 that last 2. Or go the interceptor route and bring Ints with Dengar for counter 4 (Counter 2 +1 Howl +1 Dengar). That way even if the interceptors die, they take stuff with it, like a double sided alpha strike.

I understand why you went Jonus instead of Rhymber, but since you only have 2 ships I think its the wrong decision. If you were running 4 Arquitens in your list then Jonus would be the man, but your ISD with leading shots is going to roll some accuracies, maybe more than you want, so the Arq is the only one that is really going to love Jonus. Not enough benefit for the points IMO.

Yeah, think I'm gonna have to scrap this list and think of something else.

Try and try again! If it was for a casual game, I would say run it cause lots of ties and a big fat ISD is a ton of fun to play.

But since it seems like you are working toward tournaments, it's best to go into building saying, "I want my fleet to....." and fill in the blank with two threats.

"I want my fleet to.... Lure them with a big ISD and bomb them into submission."

"I want my fleet to.... have 2 Arquitens threaten from a distance with TRC while 2 gladiators lurk to pounce."

"I want my fleet to... use an ISD to threaten while my Interdictor farms objective points (forcing them to make hard choices is a nuanced form of threat! Your opponent would rather hit the ISD, but if they do that for two turns, your Interdictor is going to score 6 Firelanes objective tokens. If they go for your Interdictor, it spams repair while your ISD lights them up. Hard choice!)"

Only bounds are your creativity. If you have 2 threats and a decent plan on how to handle squadrons you will be well on your way to a good fleet.

Yeah, the local place to play for me has a tournament day once a month and being new to the scene means I'm lacking in contacts right now. Hopefully I can get a few casual games arranged soon. :-)

But right now, I'm dropping into tournaments, which isn't the best setting for learning and taking everything in. Time limits make it worse, cause I feel under pressure to try and move fast, which leads me to forget to do certain things. I had Admiral Titus in my last fleet and I forgot to use him twice out of 3 games! lol

I take in as much info as I can, but being new, it's different standing at the table with all the ships, cards, etc in front of me.

I was surprised at the lack of squadrons when I played. Had a few TIEs to deal with, but that was about it. Even Rebel players were going ship heavy. One guy was using 3 Liberty ships. :-)

I have a Rebel fleet I'm working on at the moment which consists of an Assault Frigate B, an MC30, a CR90, 2 GR75s and a few Rogues. Aiming for broadside firing with Ackbar commanding. Wanted an MC80, but it was pretty costly and would really limit my activations. So I dropped it for the Assault Frigate, cause it seems to be able to do a similar job for me.

Main threat is the MC30 and I wanted to use Rogues so I can concentrate on other commands, like repairing and moving. Plus I can move them anywhere without having to be in range of ships. Need to pick out some objectives soon. lol

Haha man your rebel list sounds like it has the same issue that the imperial one does! It is at odds with itself. You are investing 38 points into Ackbar and only bringing one "Broadside" ship. With the MC30 you really need to be shooting for a double arc, because if it doesn't destroy it's target it will often get erased in return fire.

If you want to run MC30's, look at Mothma or Reeikan. Even Cracken or Dodonna are better choices than Ackbar*. If you want to build towards Ackbar, look AF's and MC80's. Both can work great, but they don't mix very well together. The MC30 has a big broadside, but adding 2 reds does not increase your damage output more than rolling your black out the front and rerolling with Ordinance Experts to try and proc your Assault Protons or Concussion Missiles.

*Every rule, of course, has an exception. If you search "Ackbar Star Destroyers" on the forum you will find a fleet with MC30's and Ackbar but it is very difficult to fly, because it essentially revolves around your ability to line up a perfect attack vector where you T-bone the enemy ship so you actually double arc them with both side arcs, which are as powerful as the forward battery of the ISD. When it works, you table them. When it doesn't it fails spectacularly. Not recommended for anyone but a skilled MC30 user and only then it's not crazily competitive, because it's super weak to flotilla ran bomber fleets.

Been constantly building new fleets and to be honest, I think I'm giving myself way too much to keep track of, for someone who only just started playing tabletop.

Besides the fact I messed up with my first build, one of my biggest problems was that I was using 4 ships with a bunch of different upgrades. Ok when I'm sitting at home, thinking of how it could work. But pretty overwhelming when doing everything else in the game too for the first time. I forgot to use Titus in 2 of the games, forgot to switch the activation on the 1 squadron I was using, forgot to change my round tokens. I was all over the place! So I figured, if I take these other varied fleets, I'm just setting myself up for more of the same problems.

So I'm going for something a lot more straightforward and basic. That way I can get used to flying the ships easier and give myself less to keep track of. I'm not going to be placing at the next tournament, so I'm just going to use the games to get used to my favourite ship and maybe destroy something. lol

Anyway, here's the build I'm going with:

Faction: Galactic Empire

Points: 399/400

Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Close Range Intel Scan

Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon

Navigation Objective: Minefields

[Flagship] Imperial II Class Star Destroyer (120 Points)

- Devastator (10 Points)

- Admiral Motti (24 Points)

- Intel Officer (7 Points)

- Gunnery Team (7 Points)

- Electronic Countermeasures (7 Points)

- Leading Shots (4 Points)

- XI7 Turbolasers (6 Points)

= 185 Total Ship Cost

Imperial II Class Star Destroyer (120 Points)

- Avenger (5 Points)

- Intel Officer (7 Points)

- Gunnery Team (7 Points)

- Electronic Countermeasures (7 Points)

- Leading Shots (4 Points)

- XI7 Turbolasers (6 Points)

= 156 Total Ship Cost

1 Major Rhymer (16 Points)

3 TIE Bomber Squadron (27 Points)

1 Zertik Strom (15 Points)

Went with the Devastator title, so that if the opponent decides to go for Motti first, burning away my defense tokens will make the Devastator's front arc increasingly dangerous. Something to think about with another ISD firing at them. I've set up both ISDs to hopefully burn through and limit the opponent's defense tokens as well.

As for squadron choice, in the event of someone having squadrons of their own, I'll be using mine to tie them up (pun kind of intended) at close range. Hopefully Strom will keep them occupied long enough for the ISDs to help take out any intel ship with AS shots. That way the bombers might get to last long enough for the ISDs to take down a few more squadrons.

In the event that like last time, most players go ship heavy, with little to no squadron support, I'll use my bombers and try to guage where enemy ships should roughly end up. Rhymer's ability should help get shots in, if my guess is slightly off. It might also push opponents to move their more fragile ships further out than they'd like too, in order to avoid having 5 black die chucked at them.

In terms of objectives, I picked Intel Scan, cause it's about the only assault objective that doesn't put me at a large disadvantage. Advanced Gunnery would be ok, up until someone running Home One or worse, Defiance comes along and starts throwing dice at both my ships from one side arc.

I figured I can use the other two objectives to either dish out some damage to the enemy ships, or funnel them towards my front arcs.

Probably completely open to being wiped out by the end of round 3, but hopefully I present enough of a danger to get some points on the board. Sure can't do a lot worse than last time. lol

Dont pick any objectives with tokens without strategic you will go second, and get rolled by a first player with a shuttle or VCX.

Big ISD fleets like this like contested outpost, most wanted (add a flottilla, put motti on it, make it your objective ship), and solar corona. These all benefit you with no downside, unlike your current objectives.

Stripping the ISDs down to gunnery, leading shots, and xi7s will give you nearly the same damage, since you have a lot of points invested in diminishing returns and free up a lot of points to add flotillas with coms net and an admiral boat, which will help your activation and deployment count.

Its totally awesome that you are putting this much thought into the lists, and honestly don't sweat losses. I probably played 2-3 tournaments before i started netting wins.

Thanks for the help! Was thinking of adding a flotilla, but didn't know what to sacrifice for the extra activation and to make Most Wanted a viable choice. Should I remove Electronic Countermeasures? Seems a big risk to take with only two ships. Unless Solar Corona gets picked. lol

Contested Outpost could work well - I can dump my bombers on the station and have them take pot shots at any ships that get close. :-)

Removing just the titles and intel officers gives you 29 points. That's a coms net/motti flotilla you can run tucked in behind your ISDs.

Rest of the points increase your bid so you have a better shot of getting first activation. If you allow your opponent to have both first and last activation you are just begging to be destroyed by a double arcing mc30 in black range who is going to end up in your rear arc by the time you can do anything about it.

Another way you could give yourself points is switching the ISDs to I's and using Tua/ECM on one.

Might do that for the 29 points. That extra activation will be useful and I still get to keep my bomber squad intact.

OR, at 394 points, I can use your tip with the Flotilla, change my squadrons to Rhymer, Maarek and 2 bombers and include Titus, so I can maybe mess with a ship at the start of the game. Providing of course I actually remember to use him. lol

Actually, nah. Bomber squad is better as is, I think. Will take longer for the opponent to burn through. lol

So should I always aim for first turn? Or am I better off forcing opponents to play my objectives? Cause this fleet doesn't seem particularly suitable for any objectives other than it's own.

First or second player depends on what you want to do with the fleet. A heavy bomber fleet (like, 134 pts into bomber) will typically have few activations but doesn't mind going second. If your ships are your major damage source, you typically want to go first so your enemy can't jump over you.

My brain has been throwing ideas around again. lol Not that this will be a fleet I can use right now, even if it works, cause frankly, I'm probably not good enough to fly it effectively yet. But what do you think of this? (Haven't added objectives yet):

Points: 395/400

Commander: Screed

Raider I Class Corvette

- Instigator

- Agent Kallus

- Ordnance Experts

- Flechette Torpedoes

Gladiator I Class Star Destroyer

- Demolisher

- Ordnance Experts

- Engine Techs

- Assault Proton Torpedoes

Gozanti Class Cruisers

- Admiral Screed

Gozanti Class Cruisers

- Expanded Hanger Bay

Gozanti Class Cruisers

Gozanti Class Cruisers

2 Lambda Class Shuttle

1 Darth Vader

1 Zertik Strom

1 Tempest Squadron

1 Major Rhymer

4 TIE Bomber Squadron

So 6 activations, decent shout for initiative, which I'm guessing should make it a little easier to attack and get out with the Demolisher and Instigator.

Flotillas use shuttle relay to activate squadrons from safe distance and in certain situations, can come in to help pepper shots at enemies with their blue die.

Vader, Strom and Tempest are combined with Instigator to delay and destroy bomber balls and opposing squadrons. But in the event that the opposition is all ships, all 3 of those squadrons can join Rhymer and his bombers in pounding the enemy fleet with black die.

Haven't spent any time on objectives yet, but my first thought is that this fleet can handle most of them. Shuttle strategic even means I can move tokens around for my ships to pick up easier. With the Raider and Gladiator builds, Screed seemed the obvious choice to make them both that bit nastier. :-)

Looks decent to me! You are right that this is a very fragile fleet that is going to get tore apart if you get closer than red range to a ship that can generate accuracies.

Lately I have been running a Gozanti with Minister Tua, Electronic Counter Measures, and Bomber Command Center. It is a great blocker and the ECM guarentees the scatter making it tough to kill. Run one flotilla with Screed far away relaying through the Lamba, and one up close for Bomber Command, as you will need to throw everything you have into a big ship to kill it fast.

Tua and ECM is great for a Flotilla that's supporting with bomber command. :-)

I bet that would be handy for a Flotilla with Slicer Tools too. :-)

Yes it would! But Bomber Command is more useful in a bomber fleet. The ECM/Slicer Flotilla is especially good at preventing bomber/fighter alpha strikes if you are first player and can slice the Squadron Command away from a big carrier like an ISD/MC80. Also good at preventing engine techs on Demo if they don't have a token banked.

I know I said I was looking to keep to basics. But I'm so tempted to run that squadron fleet. lol

I don't have any mats to use, but I guess I could set the fleets up and try a few mock games, controlling both fleets. Might give me a few insights into how I could tackle larger ships, when to send in the Demolisher and Instigator, etc.

That way, if I go for it and use it, I won't go into proper games completely clueless on what works and what doesn't. If I'm not comfortable with it by the next tournament, I can switch to the more basic, straightforward setup. lol