The general play style in my area tends to favor a lot of squadrons, especially with the filthy Rebel scum. I do not like using a ton of them, but I do hate being plinked to death by them.

In a valiant attempt to do something about that, without succumbing to the 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' adage I want to start experimenting with the list below.

(Until wave 7 comes out, you I could use an ISD-I with Avenger and BT's instead of the Kuat and either JJ or Motti as admiral)

It's designed with both ships and squadron combat effectiveness in mind and certainly wants to get up close and personal quickly.

Thrawn's Command
Author: Englishpete

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 397/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Close-Range Intel Scan
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Kuat Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
- Flechette Torpedoes ( 3 points)
= 176 total ship cost

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (62 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Minister Tua ( 2 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 101 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Impetuous ( 4 points)
- The Grand Inquisitor ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- Flechette Torpedoes ( 3 points)
= 64 total ship cost

4 TIE Phantom Squadrons ( 56 points)

I don't think you need Gunnery team on the GSD as its special rule often overrides the need and rarely would two targets be in the flank arc at close range. OE would make sure you get the APT crit. Kallus on the GSD however I can see a little more of a reason for GTs but I still wouldn't.

I think 5 TIE-Is would be better than 4 TIE-P with only one fewer overall hull and more guns not to mention counter and swarm rerolls on normal and the counter attacks. Should kill a lot more as they die themselves.

I like the Tie > Phantom idea.

The Gunnery Teams are for catching ships and squads in the same arc if needed. :-)

So I don't think your fleet is bad, but I think for the amount of points you've placed into ship-based AA it may be better to just build a more efficient AA screen. If you're in a squadron heavy meta, then you definitely wanna take advantage of the Imperials ability to alpha strike in large numbers. Flight controllers and Howlrunner makes a very mean strike. The real issue I see here is the disuse/misuse of Thrawn. This is one of those fine opportunities to use a carrier style imperial class ship because it can push squads without losing the necessary con-fire or navigates needed to be a threat, instead you have 3 ships that can only move a couple squads at a time.

Consider this fleet, your ships can still run con-fires and have both close and long range attack dice while Thrawn allows you to push a disgusting wall of AA dice almost every turn.

Snuffing squadrons an alternate take
Author: Darth Sanguis

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 397/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Targeting Beacons
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Kuat Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 169 total ship cost

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 154 total ship cost

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
2 TIE Interceptor Squadrons ( 22 points)
2 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 16 points)

I get what your saying Darth, the idea I was attempting is to avoid escalating the squadron war/count and seeing if ship based AS can be used effectively whilst still maintaining ship to ship combat efficiency. (I'm stubborn like that :-) )

22 minutes ago, Englishpete said:

I get what your saying Darth, the idea I was attempting is to avoid escalating the squadron war/count and seeing if ship based AS can be used effectively whilst still maintaining ship to ship combat efficiency. (I'm stubborn like that :-) )

well, you could always do what I do.

Quasar I
-Flight controllers
-Boosted coms


Howl+Mauler+soontir+dengar

(I call it the wambo jambo)

Every turn send Howl in first (4 blue) Then send up dengar (5 blue w/swarm) Then move up soontir (6 blue w/swarm) and end with mauler to finish 1HP survivors (5 blue w/swarm +1pt of auto damage to all enemy squads at range 1).

The beauty, if done right, is it'll eliminate 2-3 squads per activation, and if placed well, it forces them to engage soontir or suffer auto damage, and he's counter 4 w/swarm in this screen (with howl and dengar) so if they decide to fight back, they often lose 1-2 squads... just from soontir. Plus they're all scatter aces, so there's a good chance it'll take a solid moment for your opponent to start picking them off.

It's a good way to thin out squad heavy fleets with a very light squadron screen

I've been running no squads successfully for a while, even against full bomber lists. What I've found is you to trade your squads in for more activations, rather than sinking those points into quality activations.

Rather than thinking of a bomber list as a bunch of ships and a bunch of bombers, you should think of it as a bunch of quality ship activations. If you are able to force your opponent into a poor activation, you can buy yourself some time. Basically, you bring enough ships to make your opponent waste their squad activations by making sure there are no targets in range, or if they are, the squads will be unsupported next turn. Since their squads can rip through your ships, you want to engage as late as possible because you ships will be higher quality than theirs, meaning you can kill them faster.

Right now, I see a bunch of points wasted on making your few ships very strong, but they won't help you when you are forced to move into range of your opponent. And in the grand scheme of things, Quad Laser Turrets won't pay itself off when you have 4 squads attacking the ship, instead of 1 squad attacking 4 times.

If you're trying to ween of squads, I'd run only Ciena and Valen until you can drop them for a Comms Net. Try to fit in another Raider with ER, since it can be used for ship or squad attacks, and invest less points in your ships.

I tweaked some things from your list. I kept the ISD as is, because it is a good platform to attack squads from. I'd prefer to be at 5 ships right now, and 6 by dropping the squads, but I think this will do reasonably well against a standard squad list.

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 389/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Blockade Run
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Salvage Run

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Kuat Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
- Flechette Torpedoes ( 3 points)
= 176 total ship cost

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (62 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 81 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 51 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 51 total ship cost

1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)
1 Ciena Ree ( 17 points)

Toryn farr?

1 hour ago, Ginkapo said:

Toryn farr?

You sir are mean ;-)

Darth, I do like your squadron set-up, might give that a try. I'd need to swap the Gladiator for the Quasar. Certainly worth an experiment.

Agreeing with most folks here!

I usually play Imps and have been picked apart by pesky Rebel X-Wings and B-Wings many times.

However, Imps have some powerful anti-squadron squadrons in the form of Mauler, Howlrunner, Soontir, Dengar and Boba. A bundle of TIEs or Interceptors backed up by Dengar can roll through Rebel fighters with impunity.

however, if you're looking to move away from squadrons completely, I find the Raider is a very, very good AA ship. Both titles are very effective and upgrades such as Kallus and Point Defence make them even better. Of course, the main problem is that they can end up costing you a lot for a fairly fragile ship.

'Squadrons', LOL! (399/400)
==========================
Assault Frigate Mk.II A (81 + 69)
+ Admiral Ackbar (38)
+ Lando Calrissian (4)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Quad Laser Turrets (5)
+ Cluster Bombs (5)
+ Enhanced Armament (10)
Assault Frigate Mk.II A (81 + 30)
+ Veteran Captain (3)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Quad Laser Turrets (5)
+ Cluster Bombs (5)
+ Enhanced Armament (10)
Assault Frigate Mk.II A (81 + 30)
+ Veteran Captain (3)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Quad Laser Turrets (5)
+ Cluster Bombs (5)
+ Enhanced Armament (10)
GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 9)
+ Toryn Farr (7)
+ Bright Hope (2)

All you gotta remember is to keep your guppies in between the primary enemy force and Bright Hope.

I used this once vs a squadron heavy imperial. Hilarity ensued as his squadrons melted like ice cream on summertime blacktop.