I bought the core set yesterday and Imp fighters I today. I'm loving the game. I come from an X-wing background, which has far fewer decisions that are much harder to make, in comparison to Armada's plethora of choices with every ship each turn. I've got numerous players around my FLGS with tons of both rebel and Imperial ships, so I've got plenty of access to all cards and ships until I can build up my own collection.

What I'm trying to do is exercise my strategic understanding of the fleet building aspect of the game. So I present to you, Defensive Offense:

Points: 394/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Targeting Beacons
Defense Objective: Fighter Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Avenger ( 5 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
= 182 total ship cost

Quasar Fire II-class Cruiser-Carrier (61 points)
- Taskmaster Grint ( 5 points)
- Boarding Troopers ( 3 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 82 total ship cost

4 TIE Defender Squadrons ( 64 points)
1 Maarek Steele ( 21 points)
1 Major Rhymer (16 Points)
2 JumpMaster 5000s ( 24 points)
1 TIE Fighter Squadron ( 8 points)

The basic premise is that the combination of Thrawn, Taskmaster Grint, Boosted Comms, Flight Controllers and the Quasar's immense squadron value combine to allow 5 squadrons to activate first each turn, and an additional 5 on each Thrawn turn (I'm thinking 2 squadron and 1 engineering on him). The defender's are the go-to for the first activation, since they're so utterly devasting - 3 blue dice and 2 black dice against squadrons. The JM5Ks utilise intel to allow the rest of the list to get past any fighter screen, for a single turn, at least. Rhymer gives the Defenders a massive boost to their ultimate goal - destroying ships like there's no tomorrow.

The Quasar itself dedicates pretty much all its attacks to anti-squadron volleys, given its unique red die in that department. It also carries boarding troopers for the Avenger.

The ISD carries Thrawn, naturally. Given the Cymoon refit's tendency to blast away at long range from its front hull zone, Spinal armaments, Gunnery Team and XX-9 turbolasers make for some brutal salvos, especially with coordinated fire commands. Quad Laser turrets discourage squadron attacks, especially from lower-hull squadrons. Intel Officer

The ideal crucial turn is the Quasar to trigger its boarding troopers, exhausting all defense tokens of a major enemy flagship (another ISD or MC-80) while blocking their maneuvering options. Then the Avenger activates with a coordinated fire command, massively damaging the enemy flagship.

I'm wondering what the flaws in the list are, and how they can be improved.

1 hour ago, Astech said:

I'm not an expert by any means, but these are my thoughts

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Targeting Beacons
Defense Objective: Fighter Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Avenger ( 5 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points) Your flak is better, esp with gunnery teams, I think 5 pts could help you elsewhere.
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points) I like some other combs better for the cymoon, but try this and tell us how you like it.
= 182 total ship cost

Quasar Fire II-class Cruiser-Carrier (61 points)
- Taskmaster Grint ( 5 points)
- Boarding Troopers ( 3 points) If the quasar gets to use these, your opponent is worse off than you think. This ship should be dead before you ever get into range. Frankly, I'd slip down to this down to the 54pt quasar and put disposable caps on it.
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 82 total ship cost

4 TIE Defender Squadrons ( 64 points)
1 Maarek Steele ( 21 points)
1 Major Rhymer (16 Points)
2 JumpMaster 5000s ( 24 points) I've tried to make these work but Dengar is so much better, I'd probably just take him. Jendon really is a beast as well. Up top I've saved you 12+4 pts which means you could get another defender maybe. Black sQuadron is also fun or the escort Tie advanced.
1 TIE Fighter Squadron ( 8 points)

I'm wondering what the flaws in the list are, and how they can be improved.

I'd really like to get another ship in there even a raider or something to take advantage of Thrawn a little better, otherwise why are you not flying Sloane if you're counting on the fighters to pull some weight?

7 hours ago, buckero0 said:

I'd really like to get another ship in there even a raider or something to take advantage of Thrawn a little better, otherwise why are you not flying Sloane if you're counting on the fighters to pull some weight?

Thanks for the feedback. I looked as Sloane long and hard, but thought I was paying extra points for her crit reroll ability when 2/3 of my attacking ships had Bomber.

I think you're right about the Quad Laser Turrets, given I've got a gunnery team anyway, the flak will carry me through. I'm thinking the ISD and Quaser were a bit bloated, so I've shuffled some points around as you suggested:

Points: 398/400

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Avenger ( 5 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 165 total ship cost

Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier (54 points)
- Taskmaster Grint ( 5 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 69 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 55 total ship cost

4 TIE Defender Squadrons ( 64 points)
1 Maarek Steele ( 21 points)
2 JumpMaster 5000s ( 24 points)

I was intending to use the TIEs, and the Quasar's red anti-squadron die to keep an opposing swarm away for a turn or two, but the Raider is absolutely the better alternative for that, and can potentially be used to first-last an opponent. The ISD lost spinal armament in favour of TRCs and Needa to use them, giving significantly higher accuracy to pretty much all attacks.

I wish you could fit Needa and Strategic Advisor at the same time.

I still think you should try Jendon or Dengar instead of the Jumpmasters at some point. but it looks about as good as its going to get right now.

deployment practice is the next step for me so I don't put my ships in horrible positions.

I'll certainly try Dengar, and probably Jendon instead of the TIEs. My main concern is Dengar's incredibly low hull value. I was only adding them for the intel keyword, which allows the Defenders to get to their true targets - ships.