So I just finished a small casual tournament in San Antonio and I was testing some of the new stuff.

Raddus In Your Pants (398/400)

Rebels Commander: Admiral Raddus Objectives: Most Wanted, Dangerous Territory, Contested Outpost

[flagship] MC75 Armored Cruiser (104) - Admiral Raddus (26) - Electronic Counter Measures (7) - Leading Shots (4) - Strategic Adviser (4) - External Racks (3) - Quad Battery Turrets (5) - Gunnery Team (7) = 160 total points

MC80 Liberty Star Cruiser (96) - Leading Shots (4) - XX-9 Turbolasers (5) - XI7 Turbolasers (6) - Gunnery Team (7) = 118 total points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18) - Bright Hope (2) - Toryn Farr (7) = 27 total points

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

GR-75 Medium Transports (18) = 18 total points

Squadrons (55/134): 1x Shara Bey A-wing Squadron (17) 1x Tycho Celchu A-Wing Squadron (16) 2x A-Wing Squadron (22)

Here is my list. Armored Cruiser was versatile bruiser while the Liberty was my bully when it was jumped in. I went with XX-9s as it makes my shots more debilitating to large/medium ships as I find the Liberty is truly a battlecruiser in that it isn't the best for fighting big Battleships.

Game 1 vs THE DREADED FISH FARM

Yes I played it. And it wasn't bad, just not fun, for either of us really. I feel like bomber lists will trump it and Advanced Gunnery should be picked. I picked Fire Lanes and it meant my opponent just piled tokens on Shara at the end. I deployed my flotillas spread out to maximize the Liberty deployment. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to escape a double arc on the Pickle even though it was dead once I caught it. I ended it with a 4-7 not in my favor. If I were to play it again, I would pick Advanced Gunnery and designate a flotilla for my ship. Once Ackbar is dead, you essentially win.

Game 2 vs Mothma Rebels

So my opponent brought 2 scout frigates geared for long range combat, a smattering of squadrons and Mothma on a pelta along with a Draven armed Bright Hope. I am not going to go over this too much. We picked my Dangerous Territories equaling tokens. Raddus deployed Liberty hit a scout frigate, though I wasn't able to follow up leading to escape. However I made my opponent make some tough decisions leading to Mothma's Pelta demolished. I cleared out his squads with flak and the A-wings ending with a 8-3 in my favor.

Game 3 vs @Vergilius Madine Liberty Pair

This was a fun game in the form of Blockade Run. I deployed my fleet all around the place with the Liberties posted on one side of the map supported by two comms net flotillas and one to the far side out of the way of my Armored Cruiser. It is worth noting that one of the Liberty ships had Bail for turn 4. My fleet slow rolled a bit at first with my squads engaging Shara and Tycho. Turn 3 the Liberty came in with a Flotilla in one arc, and Mon Karren in the other. I moved my bright hope for fear of deletion and his Mon Karren engaged Raddus dancing around out of arcs. I nuked his flotilla following after his two cruisers. By now turn 4 happened and Raddus took a hefty beating though a few engineering commands to shift shields and replenish kept him in the fight as our Mon Cal Cruisers had a massive slug fest. By round 6 all our ships were beaten bad, but none of the cruisers were destroyed. I claimed another flotilla only to ****** defeat from the jaws of victory as I tried to kill tycho and ended killing my own Tycho. The match ended with a 5-6 lose for me with a margin of victory of 1. Classic Ben.

Overall I find the Liberty the go to Raddus bomb. Sure you lack a deployment at first, but the finesse in which you can deploy the Liberty gives you a lot of flexibility. Bombers of course will tear you asunder eventually so delay combat for those sort of lists.

I don't know. I have never written a batrep before so first time for everything. I got some pictures with my game with Ben, but I am not sure how to add them unfortunately.

10 minutes ago, TallGiraffe said:

only to ****** defeat from the jaws of victory

Really need to do something about that default wordlist on your profanity filter, guys. For srs.

3 minutes ago, Ardaedhel said:

Really need to do something about that default wordlist on your profanity filter, guys. For srs.

I am disappointed.

3 minutes ago, TallGiraffe said:

I am disappointed.

I live to disappoint.

Also I want to point out that the MC-75 needs double arcs in order to put the hurt on larger ships. For the Armored Crusier, External racks helps push damage out on a target though without XI-7s are just stripping shields of MC80HOs and ISDs. The Ordnance cruiser with ACMs pushes a lot of damage in comparison.

Having tried Raddus a few times, I agree the Liberty is definately the easier Raddus drop. It's much easier to fork* two ships with the Liberty's medium-range front than it is to double arc multiple ships at close range with an MC75, and unless you've blocked a ship, you need to set up a fork since your primary target will run away when Raddus drops. However, the MC75 is much better at mauling a battleship in the following turns; The Liberty's front arc is going to take a long time to chew through an ISD, and it's going to lose the exchange with a doom pickle. I'm definately going to enjoy cracking the Raddus puzzle, and I'm glad I'm not the only one.

*It's a chess term. Get your mind out of the gutter.

1 hour ago, Squark said:

Having tried Raddus a few times, I agree the Liberty is definately the easier Raddus drop. It's much easier to fork* two ships with the Liberty's medium-range front than it is to double arc multiple ships at close range with an MC75, and unless you've blocked a ship, you need to set up a fork since your primary target will run away when Raddus drops. However, the MC75 is much better at mauling a battleship in the following turns; The Liberty's front arc is going to take a long time to chew through an ISD, and it's going to lose the exchange with a doom pickle. I'm definately going to enjoy cracking the Raddus puzzle, and I'm glad I'm not the only one.

*It's a chess term. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I had planned for tackling ISDs actually. XI-7s to drill along with XX-9s to cripple. And thanks to Raddus I can drop the outside of the front arc. Lucky for me I was playing the Liberty with Leia which was good practice.

14 minutes ago, TallGiraffe said:

I had planned for tackling ISDs actually. XI-7s to drill along with XX-9s to cripple.

Solid plan, I like that. Up to now I haven't really found it to be worthwhile, because you're not putting enough damage cards on anything big to make it actually do what you're trying to pull off, but since you're shooting at their soft spots in this scenario, might have potential. I'm not sure it'll be worth the opportunity cost, but it's worth trying out.

3 hours ago, TallGiraffe said:

I had planned for tackling ISDs actually. XI-7s to drill along with XX-9s to cripple. And thanks to Raddus I can drop the outside of the front arc. Lucky for me I was playing the Liberty with Leia which was good practice.

Hmm... If you can catch an ISD between your two Mon Cals, you've probably got it dead to rights. If the ISD out deploys the MC75, though, though, the MC80's shots are just going to bounce off the brace token. I think Intel Officer would be a better choice to improve the Liberty's ability to chew through a large ship's defenses over several turns.

33 minutes ago, Squark said:

Hmm... If you can catch an ISD between your two Mon Cals, you've probably got it dead to rights. If the ISD out deploys the MC75, though, though, the MC80's shots are just going to bounce off the brace token. I think Intel Officer would be a better choice to improve the Liberty's ability to chew through a large ship's defenses over several turns.

I don't have the points to spare really. And generating accuracy isn't too hard with the star cruiser especially which leading shots. If I catch the side of a large ship, I will punish it with criticals enough to reduce the threat. Intel officer will certainly improve your Punch though.

10 minutes ago, TallGiraffe said:

I don't have the points to spare really. And generating accuracy isn't too hard with the star cruiser especially which leading shots. If I catch the side of a large ship, I will punish it with criticals enough to reduce the threat. Intel officer will certainly improve your Punch though.

I recommended Intel Officer for ECM, which in a metagame that's probably going to swing strongly toward large ships is likely to start showing up everywhere. By itself, the star cruiser has to roll near perfectly to cut through an ISD's rear shields if ECM keeps the brace token in play (5 blue dice*+3 red dice with leading shots needs to roll almost perfectly to get 7 damage, and the first three damage will be lost to shields even with Xi7s).

*I'm curious, actually- Would Concentrate Fire be your preferred command for a Raddus Ship's turn 1, or would you rather bank a nav token for later turns?

18 hours ago, TallGiraffe said:

I would pick Advanced Gunnery and designate a flotilla for my ship.

Wow this never occurred to me. Pro tip right here. Now my Draven Combat GR-75 will lay waste to all the squadrons.

@Squark Navigation for my whole dial usually. Position is key with the Liberty. Plus you are not going to get the ideal shot first time due to the rules for a Raddus ship. This is if you decide to go after a large ship. Ideally I find deploying between 2 medium range small ships or a large and a small. Reducing activation advantage and carriers is important.

7 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

Wow this never occurred to me. Pro tip right here. Now my Draven Combat GR-75 will lay waste to all the squadrons.

Pretty much. It means you are gonna win big when Ackbar dies.

6 hours ago, Squark said:

*It's a chess term. Get your mind out of the gutter.

I, in absolute, unmistakeable, crystal clear, and resolute terms, will not.