Hey all, so I'm toying with a slight revamp on my regionals list from last year. I haven't been able to get a ton of games in this year (not a lot of players in my area, and all three Store Champs I attended were low attendance), so I've been doing more list crafting than testing. The main things I'm debating are my squadron build, Red mission selection, and choice of commander. Here's the list:

Red - Station Assault

Yellow - Fighter Ambush

Blue - Superior Positions

Modified Pelta-class Command Ship

• Phoenix Home
• Raymus Antilles
• Flight Commander
• Fighter Coordination Teams
• Boosted Comms
• All Fighters, Follow Me!

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate

• Commander (Rieekan or Dodonna)
• Yavaris

GR-75 Medium Transports

• Adar Tallon

GR-75 Medium Transports

• Toryn Farr
• Bomber Command Center

GR-75 Medium Transports

• Bright Hope
• Slicer Tools

Squadrons

• Ten Nunb
• Keyan Farlander
• HWK-290
• 2 x VCX-100s
• Biggs Darklighter
• Wedge Antilles
• YT-1300

Last year, I fielded a very similar list with Ten Nunb, 3 x B-Wings, no Wedge, upgraded the HWK to Jan, and dropped the VCXs for two more X-Wings. Yavaris died almost every single game because it had to stray too close to enemy combat ships, is a huge priority target, and has those really wide, really wide side arcs. So I'm trying to fix that by adding in Relay and keeping it hidden with my commander. It also lets me tuck a flotilla away with Adar Tallon, for shenanigans. My concerns are that, with fewer Escorts, the Biggsball might not last as long as I'm used to, and with only two dedicated Bombers, I'm not going to have as much hitting power as I'd like, even with Yavaris double-tapping them from across the map. And here are my thoughts on the three questions from above:

Red Mission

Right now I have it as Station Assault. The thought there is that I can either stack them up behind my fleet and hopefully kill or tie up anything before it gets to the stations, grabbing 80 points, or put them in opposite corners to force my opponent to either ignore one and guarantee me 40pts, or divide their fleet so I have at least one fewer ship to worry about. The only other one I'd consider in this list is Precision Strike, but that one can be just as points-effective for my opponent as it can for me.

Commander

Last year I rolled Dodonna. With all of those Bombers landing crits, getting to apply some specific ones was pure money. But now I'm thinking Rieekan, because that increases the effectiveness of the Biggsball AND it means I could feed some Flotillas to BTvenger one at a time and slow it down. Also, worst case scenario, if I have to suicide Yavaris in to double-tap some bombers, it would be guaranteed to get the attack off even if it died.

Squadron Build

I kind of touched on this earlier - I like the idea of Relay, but it's a 30pt investment just for the privilege, and thins out both the Biggsball for taking an alpha strike punch and the bomber compliment. Last year a Biggsball of Biggs, three X-Wings and Jan accepted incoming fire from pretty much every configuration imaginable (Sloane TIEs and Defenders, too), survived with at least three if not all of them alive, and saw at least one or two alive at the end of every game. I guess it comes down to this - how many squadrons are people seeing in regional-level lists? Will seventeen Hull with Biggs and Brace tokens on two of the squads be enough to survive a Sloane alpha strike?

If you can figure out a way to upgrade the hwk to Jan it will go a long way in keeping your escorts alive longer since she can lend out her braces. I’d drop Biggs to a generic x- wing. Wedge and the x wing can pull forward escort duty while the pancake pulls up the rear. Riekaan and dodonna are both great picks, but I would try to have a bid for first with dodonna.

Red objective you can never go wrong with Most Wanted.

I too was hesitant in including two VCX’s, it cuts into your aa squads for not a great return, right? Wrong- as I found out and others can attest, VCX’s are great for targeting enemy counter units and can soak up the shots with that 8 hull. They are sneaky with 3 blue die with a Toryn reroll, and relay 2 is absolutely bonkers with yavaris.

I hate doing this, but have you considered changing the pelta to GH? It’s almost brokenly good at reducing damage from an alpha strike

You may keep one VCX (vs 2), upgrade the HWK to Jan and change Biggs to Dutch. Biggs effect isn't that much now, and Dutch/Wedge are killers together. You may also take advantage of Norra there, and maybe get rid of the speed 2 fighters for 1 more generic XWing for tanking purpose, and 2-3 YWing for the Norra effect. If you go that way, I would go for Dodonna.

But with only one VCX he doesn’t get Relay two, and will need to keep yavaris in the fight, which he wants to avoid so he could use it as a lifeboat

Precisely with the two VCXs - it keeps Yavaris at a safe distance while still being wholly effective.

I'm reluctant to drop Biggs. I've been out of the serious meta for the better part of a year, but at Store Champs this summer, he helped take sucker punches from Sloane/FC Defenders and Sloane/Howl/FC TIE Fighters while keeping the bombers untouched. Even dropping down to three Escorts, he and Wedge have Braces of their own, and the YT is there for the extra hull.

The main reason I'm keeping the Pelta as opposed to GH is for AFFM. Ten Nunb is just too nasty, and last year I was only running him with Yavaris and not Adar Tallon. With Toryn Farr re-rolls and a Tallon/Yavaris triple-tap, he has a very decent chance of triggering his ability twice, or a smaller chance of wiping out an entire TIE swarm by himself (he did that last year going last/first). Combined with FCTs, the B-Wings go from Speed 2 to effectively Speed 4.5 (moving Distance 1 then flying Speed 3). If I drop the Pelta for GH, I could swap the Nunb and Farlander for a pair of Scurrgs and drop the YT for an X-Wing, which would bring the entire force to Speed 3 and reduce the need for AFFM. But I'll also have to find some room to cut, because the Pelta with all of its upgrades clocks in at 85pts, and an AF with GH and nothing else is 80pts.

Thank you both for the input. I've got some musing to do. . .

6 hours ago, reegsk said:

Precisely with the two VCXs - it keeps Yavaris at a safe distance while still being wholly effective.

I'm reluctant to drop Biggs. I've been out of the serious meta for the better part of a year, but at Store Champs this summer, he helped take sucker punches from Sloane/FC Defenders and Sloane/Howl/FC TIE Fighters while keeping the bombers untouched. Even dropping down to three Escorts, he and Wedge have Braces of their own, and the YT is there for the extra hull.

Understood. But I still think Jan would be a perfect insertion in your list. For both damage mitigation and Intel.

Good luck mate!