I haven't had B or Y-Wings since I got into Armada in Wave 5 and just got 2 packs of the original squads. I have used them a little but this is my first try at a serious bombing threat. I just got the Pelta and this was its first flight too. They did well.. brought down Demolisher before it could get in a shot thanks to AFFM, transport blocking, and a Yavaris run. The Pelta was otherwise not really useful and died to 2 TRC Kittens. My squads began to suffer due to a Dengar/Howlrunner ball of countering death that I was afraid to shoot at. When my ships finally got in range the ball got hit hard and most of the Empire squads died but by that point it was too late. Also, I couldn't cover my bomber ball with escort effectively and lost a b-wing right away. I will say that the Biggs/yt-1300 combo is nice for damage control when it actually works.

A few questions.. is it better to let the Imp. squads shoot at you and not shoot back? I did not like at all the 4 and 5 dice counters with a reroll and scatter.. very scary.. and choosing not to fire seemed like a good idea. Also, I wanted more escort but didn't want to sacrifice the bomber potential of the fleet. I suppose Yavaris can only activate three squads.. but I was also planning on pushing them with the transports.

I understand that my squads are different speeds.. but that didn't seem to be too much of a problem and AFFM was really nice.

Pelta You with Pain
Author: durandal343

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- General Dodonna ( 20 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 73 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 51 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
- Yavaris ( 5 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
= 69 total ship cost

Modified Pelta-class Assault Ship (56 points)
- Chart Officer ( 2 points)
- All Fighters, Follow Me! ( 5 points)
= 63 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 28 total ship cost

2 B-Wing Squadrons ( 28 points)
2 Y-Wing Squadrons ( 20 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 Biggs Darklighter ( 19 points)
1 Norra Wexley ( 17 points)
1 YT-1300 ( 13 points)

I hate the Pelta, I've tried to use it in similar lists and I feel the Assault Frigate naked would be a better carrier. The Assault Pelta only works with one squadron, so it may not be what you're looking for anyway. The squadrons look great, but you'll want something to activate them, so you may need to drop something to get a 3+ squadron leader. I like the AFrigII with Raymus so he can activate 4 squadrons with a token. Boosted comms or Expanded Hanger Bay are also great. Toryn works great with many of your squadron dice. There are other carriers, but the AF is sturdy enough not to die quickly with a bad shot.

Have you tried the CR90B with leading shots and Dodonna's Pride? 2 pts cheaper and works really well with Dodonna's crit picker

So my carrier here was the Yavaris.. he gets three with Raymus giving him the token. The Pelta was strictly for AFFM which I did enjoy using.

I have tried the blue CR90's before and find that they die a lot.. especially with no bid and going second. I am getting better at piloting though and maybe I could get them to survive and do something productive

I wish I had room for Toryn but I made some sacrifices to get more bombers in. And Toryn doesn't help the Y's unless they get desperate and start shooting at squads. And going against the Dengar/Howlrunner furball of fun that seemed like a good way for the Y's to die. Oh.. I did one damage that you scattered.. or took.. or whatever? Great! Thanks for that 5 damage counter.. awesome! I'm almost dead now! (I really dislike that particular Empire squad build)

I had to drop the TRC90s, but I think this maintains a punch from the Shrimp to balance out the carriers. Admo cannot be ignored, a couple of TRC90s can be by the likes of the big Imp ships.

notes on other changes are below.

As to the Dengar/Howl combo, prioritize Dengar then let Biggs and Co. pin them while Nora and the Bs go to work. Easier said than done, I know, but it can work. Also, run Bright Hope right up in with your squads for blocking and to add a touch more AS in tandem with Yavaris. They will probably both die, so squeeze them for as much as you can.

Sample Bomber Fleet

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Custom Objective
Defense Objective: Custom Objective
Navigation Objective: Custom Objective

Modified Pelta-class Command Ship (60 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points) I'm starting to think this needs to be an auto-include for the Pelta. Especially without Boosted Comms to keep them away from the fray a bit longer.
- All Fighters, Follow Me! ( 5 points)
= 73 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
- Yavaris ( 5 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
= 69 total ship cost

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 80 total ship cost

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- General Dodonna ( 20 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Toryn Farr ( 7 points) YES! YES! YES!
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 55 total ship cost

3 B-Wing Squadrons ( 42 points)
1 Biggs Darklighter ( 19 points)
2 YT-1300s ( 26 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 Norra Wexley ( 17 points)

this is a standard Rebel heavy fighter layout for me, suit to taste.

Card view link

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Ok, so I like the suggestion by @RogueCommander to use a shrimp. I worry that I'm left with just 2 real threats in this fleet (bombers and mc30). I'm also fairly sure that Dodanna will die no matter where I put him since my transport is going to be right in the middle of the fight. I am down one activation, but I like the idea of quality activations instead of quantity of activations. I got rid of the Y's and added Ten Numb for that awesome splash damage against fighter screens. I really wanted to trade him for a standard B-Wing and change my torp mc30 to a scout.. maybe with TRC's for more of a distance threat, but I like him in there I think. I also added in a YT-1300 for a bump in my escort so my bombers don't get jumped and killed. I tried to save some points for a bid since I'm not sure I could get a shot off with the mc30 without the benefit of going first. I could get rid of Lando and have a better bid. I decided on the standard Pelta since it's main purpose is fending things off the sides of Yavaris, Flak if he gets a shot, and AFFM and not actually activating squads.. I'll do that with the transports and Yavaris. I realize that only gets me 5 squads out of my 8 but I think I can make that work.

I was fairly happy with how this fleet flew with 5 activations going second.. but here's what I've got now after all the suggestions:

Pelta You with Pain
Author: durandal343

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 397/400

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
- Yavaris ( 5 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
= 69 total ship cost

Modified Pelta-class Assault Ship (56 points)
- All Fighters, Follow Me! ( 5 points)
= 61 total ship cost

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- General Dodonna ( 20 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Toryn Farr ( 7 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 55 total ship cost

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 84 total ship cost

1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 Biggs Darklighter ( 19 points)
1 Norra Wexley ( 17 points)
2 YT-1300s ( 26 points)
2 B-Wing Squadrons ( 28 points)
1 Ten Numb ( 19 points)

Having just been spanked by the above fleet by @durandal343's last night, I can attest that that particular bomber ball is hearty and difficult to deal with. The damage mitigation of Biggs and 2 YT1300s coupled with Jan's brace sharing is a real headache. Still trying to decide on an Imperial fighter screen that will be effective against it.

On 5/5/2017 at 11:33 AM, SgtDurandal said:

Having just been spanked by the above fleet by @durandal343's last night, I can attest that that particular bomber ball is hearty and difficult to deal with. The damage mitigation of Biggs and 2 YT1300s coupled with Jan's brace sharing is a real headache. Still trying to decide on an Imperial fighter screen that will be effective against it.

I am really pleased how this list flew.. thanks again @RogueCommander for the idea of the mc30.. it did pretty well

For anyone interested in seeing that spanking here's the link

Watched some of the video, were using Dodonna's ability on the asteroids?

11 minutes ago, RogueCommander said:

Watched some of the video, were using Dodonna's ability on the asteroids?

Nope.. sure wasn't.. I get so into flying my ships around that I forget things We realized partway through that I hadn't been using him. I've been taking Madine out lately and usually don't have to remember stuff like that. Luckily it didn't end up making much difference or I really would have been pretty upset.

Clearly we are still learning and have quite a ways to go. And one of the biggest problems I have is remembering everything I need to remember while also trying to figure out what to do and where to go with my ships. When I watch other people play it seems to be second nature to them when for me it can really be a struggle. But.. without playing and making mistakes there's no learning.. we're already quite a bit better than we were a few months ago when we started.

Yeah, I still forget cards from time to time, but then, everyone has/does. When I first started playing, I did it often enough that one of the regulars at my FLGS had a t-shirt made in time for the Wave 2 regionals. It said, simply, "READ YOUR CARDS".

If you haven't seen it, this is a good article discussing some of the finer points on how to think about the game that I found very insightful.

https://intelsweep.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/pick-your-battles-a-thought-system-for-star-wars-armada/