15 hours ago, Iskander4000 said:

Oh yeah, forgot about how Jamming Filed works. That's what happens when I never use a card

Interesting point about the flotillas. In Kaashifar's list, one could remove both and insert another HH with TFA and ER, or trim some of the upgrades on the Lib and perhaps a squad to add a Pelta with Shields to Max and potentially even Projection Experts. (Which I assume stacks with regenerating shields or repairing hull on the Pelta with the remaining engineering points? That's another card that I've never had the opportunity to use)

I've toyed with the idea of a Pelta in this list.

I don't like it for two reasons: While every other ship is capable of moving speed 1-3 every turn with a nav command, Pelta starts falling way behind or you need to slow down your MC80/HHs. The idea of regenerating shields is fine, HHs are so flimsy I find it's a wasted effort. On paper it sounds great, in reality I've found managing my activations and first/last placement helps a lot more.

I could indeed remove both flotillas, add a HH. I could even put expanded hangars on two HHs and voila! control 3 squads per ship. or give the MC80 the Liberty title and control 4! or .. lol. Honestly, I'm not a good enough player to micromanage down to that level.

17 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

Jamming field only frustrates bombers when they're having to shoot at squadrons. It only protects to and from squadron attacks, and if a right bomber wing has intel, then they lose nothing over jamming field.

Personally, I take a jamming field when i have nothing but Intel and Bombers, basically... So I can ignore the enemy fire as much as possible to just get the bomb done... I can see the wisdom ofwanting to keep Zs alive longer to tie up longer, but at the cost of 1/3rd of their notoriously fickle dice, I don't know if its the best call.

Of course, with Leia, there's little point CommsNetting, so you are kind of left with Repair Crews or Bust.

Yeah I agree, Jamming fields wasn't really useful

Good to know! With that in mind I've made some more changes, this time to increase overall firepower and damage output, though I added Lando as an insurance on my flagship. I also played around with my CAP. Let me know what you think. (Also, bids of more than 5 points are pretty rare in my local meta)

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 395/400

Commander: Leia Organa

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] MC80 Star Cruiser (96 points)
- Leia Organa ( 38 points)
- Endeavor ( 4 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Fire-Control Team ( 2 points)
- Nav Team ( 4 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Overload Pulse ( 8 points)
= 166 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
4 Z-95 Headhunter Squadrons ( 28 points

From my experience, HH fleets need to be first player to maximize their efficiency i.e. use Repair before having TF Antilles tapped.

5pts bid is a little bit risky maybe. One Z95 less and with 12pts it makes quite sure to be 1st.

What do you guys think?

I can report back on the Hammerheads and Pelta fleet. The logic was that the Pelta would support the Hammerheads, with Shields to Maximum and Projection Experts, and also provide flak with Flechettes. In theory, it's great, but I did not find it a particularly successful setup on the table.

Hammerheads with Task Force Antilles were great. Sure, it did little to make them properly survivable against lots of dice at close range, but the ability to shift shields around at long distance meant they weren't taking real hull damage. They can throw a serious number of dice once they do get up close (even if I managed to roll just two hits on eight dice (red, blue, five black with a CF)...). Plus, if you do end up losing one, it's a measly 41 points (Task Force Antilles + External racks). Would thoroughly recommend.

The trouble I found was that the Pelta actually did little to really make the Hammers more survivable, and in addition only made a limited contribution to the battle. The ability to gain back one shield is handy, as is throwing across two, but Hammers only have five as it is, and what they can't survive with Task Force Antilles is unlikely to be mitigated by those extra shields. The speed two ship felt like a drag, on a fleet designed to be quite nippy, and the dice on a Pelta are far from stellar, particularly if you're reserving your commands for engineering. On the whole, at 74 points, it felt like a hefty investment for a ship that couldn't deal a lot of damage, but didn't really save you from a lot of it either. It was at best nice to have those extra shields; at worst, it was a headache, working out how many points sorting out all the shenanigans were.

So I'm revising my list, and going with a Nebulon instead. With Salvation and Quad Battery Turrets, it's 11 points cheaper than the tricked out Pelta, can do one **** of a lot more damage, and allows me to put Dual Turbolaser Turrets on my Liberty and Cham on one of the Hammerheads. It's a more aggressive list, but one that still takes advantage of Task Force Antilles, whilst not wasting points on a ship that's only mildly helpful.

Hope this is interesting for someone! If you care about the list, I can post it.

I played the following list last night and won pretty handily against an ISD/Quasar/Arquitens/Gozanti list with plenty of bombers. Took out an ISD I on turn 3 and after that it was a matter of mopping up the rest of the ships. I did lose 3 of the Hammerheads (one to the ISD, one to his TIE bombers, and one in the final round because it had been slowly taking damage throughout the game from various sources) but it was a 108 point MOV. Some takeaways:

These are great for hammer and anvil tactics. The HHs moved forward, unloaded their torpedoes, and created a barrier that limited my opponent's maneuverability, while my star cruiser hit him in the flanks after he had been weakened. Alexander the Great would have been proud

Task Force Antilles works as advertised. It doesn't make me invincible, but it kept damage off of my front arcs while I closed range, and the HH I lost in the last round probably would have been destroyed sooner without TFA.

If your opponent has an ISD without gunnery team, don't be afraid to charge it. My HHs and the ISD were staring each other down. Predictably he one-shotted one of my HHs, but then the others unleashed **** while my Liberty hit it from the side for the kill. Had I tried flanking with the HHs his other ships would have shot the HHs in the side or rear, and they wouldn't have been able to bring their front arc to bear once the ISD was gone. Since they were going from the front, once the ISD went down they were in a position to continue flying towards the other ships. And the ISD was his flagship, so he gave up 137 points in contrast to my 42.

Not sure about the squadrons. The Z's went down pretty easily while doing minimal damage, and his fighter screen was all TIEs. Thinking about switching to 2 VCXs. Shara and Tyco will likely stay.

I had the better bid and intentionally chose second player to see how it would go down and never regretted it. He picked opening salvo, much to my delight. Throwing 6 black dice is so, so satisfying.

Leia: I'm officially sold. She helped me repair a hull on an HH. She helped them move exactly where they needed to go. She added a dice and a re-roll. And with the Nav team she allowed me to fly Endeavor the way I had flown them with Madine, with extra clicks when they were needed to always keep my front arc facing the enemy.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback!

Leia Lib 1.5
Author: Iskander4000

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 397/400

Commander: Leia Organa

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] MC80 Star Cruiser (96 points)
- Leia Organa ( 38 points)
- Endeavor ( 4 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Nav Team ( 4 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 168 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
4 Z-95 Headhunter Squadrons ( 28 points)

Congratz guys, nice reports

Leia is awesome, I agree with, and matches perfectly with such swarms.

I'll just give my 2# regarding the Pelta. In my last game, running similar fleet with HH TF Antilles and Pelta Shields to Max + Projection Experts, the Pelta helped A LOT to make the HH more resistants. As, if TF Antilles is tapped, you cannot repair that round, having a repair of 2/3 shields is awesome.

Awesome also is the fact that under Leia, a Pelta fitted like this can:

- repair 3 shields of friendly ship, without losing anything (Mec 4 x1.5 = 6pts -> 2pts to transfer 2 shields, 4pts to regen those shields)

- repair herself by 1 shield + 2hps/3shields, making her also very tough. In my game, she took a front arc shot at middle range from an ISD and did survive the game thanks to that.

But it's sure that ship will ONLY spam Repair orders, so you really mono-task it. But, at least, it makes his job perfectly imo.

My only doubt about the Pelta are the Torpedo flechettes. The ship is slow and struggle to catch up the HH's or the Mon Karren, which is no problem with the ranges of Shields to Max and Projection Exp. But it's tough to get in range for the flechettes I think. What do you think?

1 hour ago, Ritalbringer said:

Congratz guys, nice reports

Leia is awesome, I agree with, and matches perfectly with such swarms.

I'll just give my 2# regarding the Pelta. In my last game, running similar fleet with HH TF Antilles and Pelta Shields to Max + Projection Experts, the Pelta helped A LOT to make the HH more resistants. As, if TF Antilles is tapped, you cannot repair that round, having a repair of 2/3 shields is awesome.

Awesome also is the fact that under Leia, a Pelta fitted like this can:

- repair 3 shields of friendly ship, without losing anything (Mec 4 x1.5 = 6pts -> 2pts to transfer 2 shields, 4pts to regen those shields)

- repair herself by 1 shield + 2hps/3shields, making her also very tough. In my game, she took a front arc shot at middle range from an ISD and did survive the game thanks to that.

But it's sure that ship will ONLY spam Repair orders, so you really mono-task it. But, at least, it makes his job perfectly imo.

My only doubt about the Pelta are the Torpedo flechettes. The ship is slow and struggle to catch up the HH's or the Mon Karren, which is no problem with the ranges of Shields to Max and Projection Exp. But it's tough to get in range for the flechettes I think. What do you think?

Cheers for this, it's interesting to see how our takes differ! I think my key issue wasn't so much that the Pelta was poor at its job. Far from it, if you want something that won't die and can just throw around shields, it can be pretty great. I can see it working actually as the flagship of a proper Hammerhead swarm - maybe Pelta + 6 Hammers - where it's role is solely to keep the other ships alive.

For me, it was more that it wasn't so great that it felt like it had a huge impact on the game, and it didn't really do anything but spam engineering, which isn't always what I needed. I had it there to keep three Hammerheads alive, which ended up being a heavy points investment for three small ships; I lost two anyway, and I'm not sure that having the Pelta really kept them alive for longer than they would have done otherwise. And because all it issued were engineering commands, it added little in firepower, and bogged down the fleet with its speed 2.

In sum, it didn't really feel like it was taking full advantage of Leia; too slow, too single purpose, too expensive. Whereas the Nebulon loves Leia for concentrating fire, loves her for manoeuvring, loves her for repairing itself, and is a good bit cheaper. It can deal more damage with something like Salvation (which loves Leia even more) and you can even put on projection experts if you really want with its generous 5 engineering.

16 hours ago, Iskander4000 said:

I played the following list last night and won pretty handily against an ISD/Quasar/Arquitens/Gozanti list with plenty of bombers. Took out an ISD I on turn 3 and after that it was a matter of mopping up the rest of the ships. I did lose 3 of the Hammerheads (one to the ISD, one to his TIE bombers, and one in the final round because it had been slowly taking damage throughout the game from various sources) but it was a 108 point MOV. Some takeaways:

These are great for hammer and anvil tactics. The HHs moved forward, unloaded their torpedoes, and created a barrier that limited my opponent's maneuverability, while my star cruiser hit him in the flanks after he had been weakened. Alexander the Great would have been proud

Task Force Antilles works as advertised. It doesn't make me invincible, but it kept damage off of my front arcs while I closed range, and the HH I lost in the last round probably would have been destroyed sooner without TFA.

If your opponent has an ISD without gunnery team, don't be afraid to charge it. My HHs and the ISD were staring each other down. Predictably he one-shotted one of my HHs, but then the others unleashed **** while my Liberty hit it from the side for the kill. Had I tried flanking with the HHs his other ships would have shot the HHs in the side or rear, and they wouldn't have been able to bring their front arc to bear once the ISD was gone. Since they were going from the front, once the ISD went down they were in a position to continue flying towards the other ships. And the ISD was his flagship, so he gave up 137 points in contrast to my 42.

Not sure about the squadrons. The Z's went down pretty easily while doing minimal damage, and his fighter screen was all TIEs. Thinking about switching to 2 VCXs. Shara and Tyco will likely stay.

I had the better bid and intentionally chose second player to see how it would go down and never regretted it. He picked opening salvo, much to my delight. Throwing 6 black dice is so, so satisfying.

Leia: I'm officially sold. She helped me repair a hull on an HH. She helped them move exactly where they needed to go. She added a dice and a re-roll. And with the Nav team she allowed me to fly Endeavor the way I had flown them with Madine, with extra clicks when they were needed to always keep my front arc facing the enemy.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback!

Leia Lib 1.5
Author: Iskander4000

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 397/400

Commander: Leia Organa

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] MC80 Star Cruiser (96 points)
- Leia Organa ( 38 points)
- Endeavor ( 4 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Nav Team ( 4 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 168 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
4 Z-95 Headhunter Squadrons ( 28 points)

I'm about to try a variation of this but with a slightly heavier bid to go first.

Questions - Do you use HHs to activate squadrons ever or just leave them around to buffer?

Have you ever found that lacking a VCX hurt you?

Leia Z'ces No flotts
Author: jdmarcellin

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 393/400

Commander: Leia Organa

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

[ flagship ] MC80 Star Cruiser (96 points)
- Leia Organa ( 38 points)
- Endeavor ( 4 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Nav Team ( 4 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 161 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
- Task Force Antilles ( 3 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 42 total ship cost

5 Z-95 Headhunter Squadrons ( 35 points)
1 VCX-100 Freighter ( 15 points)
1 Lietenant Blount ( 14 points)

And how do you plan to activate those 7 squadrons?

Might as well bring 4 YT-2400s and activate them once or twice or not at all and then let the rogues be rogues (if they live that long).

43 minutes ago, Kaashifar said:

Questions - Do you use HHs to activate squadrons ever or just leave them around to buffer?

The only moment I gave a Squadron order to one of my HH, was for a Cham token

1 hour ago, Doppelganger said:

And how do you plan to activate those 7 squadrons?

Might as well bring 4 YT-2400s and activate them once or twice or not at all and then let the rogues be rogues (if they live that long).

You know, honestly, that's what I had there originally. Maybe Hera + 2 As. But otherwise the sole purpose of the squads would be to lurk behind my HHs and MC80 until they get aggro'ed by say.. Sloane, then engage to tie them down for a round a two

18 minutes ago, Kaashifar said:

You know, honestly, that's what I had there originally. Maybe Hera + 2 As. But otherwise the sole purpose of the squads would be to lurk behind my HHs and MC80 until they get aggro'ed by say.. Sloane, then engage to tie them down for a round a two

Therefore take Shara and Tycho, and that's it. Play them wisely, lock a max of fighters with them. They last average 2 turns, ways enough

1 minute ago, Ritalbringer said:

Therefore take Shara and Tycho, and that's it. Play them wisely, lock a max of fighters with them. They last average 2 turns, ways enough

This is my strategy at the moment. If all you need is to tie up their squads long enough to attack the carrier, they can do a surprisingly effective job. Shara in particular can mince through TIE swarms on her counter alone.

Right.

Otherwise, if you want to really PLAY squadrons, without anything meant to control them, go for YT2400s, which usually do fine.

Rogue Squadron as well.

20 minutes ago, Ritalbringer said:

Therefore take Shara and Tycho, and that's it. Play them wisely, lock a max of fighters with them. They last average 2 turns, ways enough

This should actually make for a fun fighter screen especially with how many hull points Hera has to spare

1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Hera Syndulla ( 28 points)

3 minutes ago, Kaashifar said:

This should actually make for a fun fighter screen especially with how many hull points Hera has to spare

1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Hera Syndulla ( 28 points)

Fun maybe, point-efficient, not sure. Shara and Tycho are great also because of the little 33pts you have to spend for such pain.

Hera 28pts... it's a lot... Find 16 more points and add another HH TF Antilles w/racks (jk) And she is really fun with other fighters to push and control. Otherwise Solo can be more interesting.

Yeah I thought of Solo too, he has the same armament, but they're both slow. At least with Hera you can jump the gun and stop your opponents fighters pretty fast. I wish I had an escort to go with her, but eh.. I'll try it and see.

1 hour ago, Ritalbringer said:

Fun maybe, point-efficient, not sure. Shara and Tycho are great also because of the little 33pts you have to spend for such pain.

Hera 28pts... it's a lot... Find 16 more points and add another HH TF Antilles w/racks (jk) And she is really fun with other fighters to push and control. Otherwise Solo can be more interesting.

For that kind of points, might as well just go Shara, Tycho and two generic A-wings. 6 points cheaper, and an extra deployment.

Love Hera as I do, she's always hard to justify.

I never had a chance to use squad commands because my Zeds got chewed up almost immediately. I have never flown a VCX but I really want to try putting in two (I'll probably remove XX-9 to make up for the point gain).

Though Hera could be another solid choice, since she's awesome and she can push around Tycho and Shara. But as I said in my first post, since I have a lot of ships to protect, I'd prefer a larger screen. But then again I haven't tried this 3 squad screen either and since I only get to play every other week at the most I rely on the opinions of others here as much as my own experience

16 hours ago, Iskander4000 said:

I never had a chance to use squad commands because my Zeds got chewed up almost immediately. I have never flown a VCX but I really want to try putting in two I'll probably remove XX-9 to make up for the point gain).

Though Hera could be another solid choice, since she's awesome and she can push around Tycho and Shara. But as I said in my first post, since I have a lot of ships to protect, I'd prefer a larger screen. But then again I haven't tried this 3 squad screen either and since I only get to play every other week at the most I rely on the opinions of others here as much as my own experience

Believe me.. a Rogue'd Shara and Tycho are an evil pair hahaha! Especially since tycho can move around like he has auto-intel

3 hours ago, Kaashifar said:

Believe me.. a Rogue'd Shara and Tycho are an evil pair hahaha! Especially since tycho can move around like he has auto-intel

Ok, to heck with points efficiency. That does sound like fun *laughs maniacally*