Okay, so I know Liberty's and Ackbar aren't typically associated with each other, but I was playing around with it and I think I have made something pretty dangerous.

Nebulon B Support Refit

Admiral Ackbar

Spinal Armament

Salvation

MC80 Star Cruiser

Gunnery Team

SW-7 Ion Batteries

Spinal Armament

Mon Karren

MC80 Battlecruiser

Gunnery Team

High Capacity Ion Turbines

XI7 Turbolasers

Heavy Turbolaser Turrets

Sqauds:

Z-95 x2

X-Wing x2

Objectives:

Advanced Gunnery

Fire Lanes

Solar Corona

Total: 400 points.

The idea here is to make it dangerous for my opponent at any possible angle. I would fly the Nebulon in between the two Liberty's, to protect it's side. If anyone tries to flank around to the backside, they have to make it past Ackbar using his ability, which generates 4 red and 1 blue on the Star Cruiser and 4 red and 2 blue on the Battlecruiser. Incorporating a few minor squads due to the weakness of the Liberty's AS at longer range. I picked objectives to help this build because I am going for second player. What do you guys think?

I think it has potential, but why keep Gunnery Teams on both the MC80Ls? You'd have to target different ships anyway and Ackbar is limiting your hull zones. Plus withno bid you might always be going second you have AG objective to cover that anyway. I'd free up those 14 points, remove Spinal from the Star Cruiser, and replace that with X-17s. They will help more than Spinal and then I'd also think about dropping Mon Karren for Damage Control Officer and Endeavor. Will give your heaviest hitter more staying power.

I would think about DTT and/or QBT + Leading Shots as a combo. Add that one Blue at long range and get to reroll all those reds. Will even help from the side arcs, and even the Neb B can benefit from DTT and QBT over Spinal.

With the points you free up I would replace the two Z-95s for anything with Rogue, preferably YT-2400s. Will give you an extra round or two before your squads are all gone.

The main problem is all of those ships have very weak side hull zones. So anytime you could use ackbar, you are in major danger. And ackbar is so expensive you better get to use him, not just maybe use him.

Also gunnery teams and advanced gunnery does not stack. So you will definitely want a different objective there.

I love Ackbar Salvation but swap out Spinals with DTT or very least slaved turrets. You will always only REALLY need either a big front arc or big side arc from Salvation, Spinals is a waste of points there. Slaved turrets on an Ackbar Salvation is glorious when it rolls well, and DTT takes some of the swing out for less points at the expense of a lower damage cap, letting you roll +1 dice and just get rid of the eventual blank result, or a standard hit if you roll like a monster.

That said, I don't see Ackbar having the same effect for Liberties. With Salvation you give yourself a wasp- a ship that is small, puts up too much damage to be ignored, but when it sinks does put you point hole you can't climb out of. The Liberties share all the weaknesses of salvation (weak side dice and shields) along with the added weakness of not being likely to be able to trade up for anything. If you really wanted 2 large bases, just go more generic and swap them out for 2 assault MC80H1's with Defiance and Leading Shots (add the blue with Defiance for LS at long range) on one and a Home One, QBT, and leading shots on the second. Home one will turn a red blank into an acc, leading shots and blue dice tech will give you long range rerolls, and Salvation makes a good "Tip of the Spear" leading out in the front arcs of the big ships where it can still contribute broadsides but also blow through any blockers (H1 title makes a strong argument for slaved turrets over DTT as well).

Those are my 2 cents. Take them as you will!

14 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

I love Ackbar Salvation but swap out Spinals with DTT or very least slaved turrets. You will always only REALLY need either a big front arc or big side arc from Salvation, Spinals is a waste of points there. Slaved turrets on an Ackbar Salvation is glorious when it rolls well, and DTT takes some of the swing out for less points at the expense of a lower damage cap, letting you roll +1 dice and just get rid of the eventual blank result, or a standard hit if you roll like a monster.

That said, I don't see Ackbar having the same effect for Liberties. With Salvation you give yourself a wasp- a ship that is small, puts up too much damage to be ignored, but when it sinks does put you point hole you can't climb out of. The Liberties share all the weaknesses of salvation (weak side dice and shields) along with the added weakness of not being likely to be able to trade up for anything. If you really wanted 2 large bases, just go more generic and swap them out for 2 assault MC80H1's with Defiance and Leading Shots (add the blue with Defiance for LS at long range) on one and a Home One, QBT, and leading shots on the second. Home one will turn a red blank into an acc, leading shots and blue dice tech will give you long range rerolls, and Salvation makes a good "Tip of the Spear" leading out in the front arcs of the big ships where it can still contribute broadsides but also blow through any blockers (H1 title makes a strong argument for slaved turrets over DTT as well).

Those are my 2 cents. Take them as you will!

To prove @BrobaFett right, I submit to you the Australian Nationals 2017 winning list:

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 399/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Capture the VIP
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)
- Home One ( 7 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
= 187 total ship cost

MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
- Defiance ( 5 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 136 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 20 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Leia Organa ( 3 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 23 total ship cost

1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)

Obviously this is completely different than what you were looking at, but this list packs a **** of a tanky wallop...

Wow that looks fun! Too bad i'd have to buy another mc80.

Just now, Tiberius the Killer said:

Wow that looks fun! Too bad i'd have to buy another mc80.

<---- Same boat. Tempting, since I love Dual pickle lists....

@Tiberius the Killer

If you want to try something you don't have just hit me up sometime. For instance, I got a (couple) spare pickles I could let you use.

This would lay on some serious pain Probably less balanced than our Australian counterparts, but banged it together in like 30 seconds since **** if double pickle salvation ackbar didn't sound FUN.

Ack-Whacked
Author: Brobafett

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)
- Defiance ( 5 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Quad Turbolaser Cannons ( 10 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 182 total ship cost

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Home One ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 137 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 points)
- Salvation ( 7 points)
- Slaved Turrets ( 6 points)
= 64 total ship cost

1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)

22 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

This would lay on some serious pain Probably less balanced than our Australian counterparts, but banged it together in like 30 seconds since **** if double pickle salvation ackbar didn't sound FUN.

Ack-Whacked
Author: Brobafett

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)
- Defiance ( 5 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Quad Turbolaser Cannons ( 10 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 182 total ship cost

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Home One ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 137 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 points)
- Salvation ( 7 points)
- Slaved Turrets ( 6 points)
= 64 total ship cost

1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)

Salvation and Slaved with Ackbar is entirely unneccessary. You'd be happier with Redemption in that case, I feel.

1 minute ago, Drasnighta said:

Salvation and Slaved with Ackbar is entirely unneccessary. You'd be happier with Redemption in that case, I feel.

My only regret is that I can't take Slaved turrets and Enhanced Armament

Just now, BrobaFett said:

My only regret is that I can't take Slaved turrets and Enhanced Armament

Even if you could, why bother with Salvation then? (It applies to front arc only)

Salvation is for discouraging someone to get in front of your MC80s while not being useless out the side. Plus, I did say DTT is the preferred choice when you dont have a Home One to shift the inevitable blank to an ACC. But I have hard time seeing why I wouldn't want to throw 4 dice out the front with a nasty effect and have a backup huge nebulon side arc with 4 red as a backup.

I get that you are focusing on the ability, I am focusing on the flex-ability

Plus, something doesn't have to be good to be fun Dras.

5 minutes ago, BrobaFett said:

Salvation is for discouraging someone to get in front of your MC80s while not being useless out the side. Plus, I did say DTT is the preferred choice when you dont have a Home One to shift the inevitable blank to an ACC. But I have hard time seeing why I wouldn't want to throw 4 dice out the front with a nasty effect and have a backup huge nebulon side arc with 4 red as a backup.

I get that you are focusing on the ability, I am focusing on the flex-ability

Plus, something doesn't have to be good to be fun Dras.

Uh, Hello, Nose Punch

There's a big difference between not being "Good" and being "completely counterproductive. I mean, having a hand tied behind my back is one thing. Using that hand to shoot myself in the foot at the same time is another

Here is a list I've been testing/tweaking recently. It hits hard and doesn't require owning two MC80's

You could replace the Pickle with a Battlecruiser and I think it would still work.

I was running A-wings, but they were a bit 'squishy' so I am trying the Biggs ball. The list did well against a tooled up Sloane/BT/Avenger list

Mon Cal 4th Fleet
Author: Englishpete

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)
- Defiance ( 5 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 194 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Walex Blissex ( 5 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 103 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Leia Organa ( 3 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 23 total ship cost

1 Corran Horn ( 22 points)
1 Biggs Darklighter ( 19 points)
3 X-Wing Squadrons ( 39 points)